Desperate Defense: Hungarians in V4 FOW

By Ian Birdwell

Editor: This week we take a look at one of the first User-Generated Content pieces produced for No Dice No Glory. Author Ian Birdwell on his Flames of War for the Hungarians in WWII:

Hungary and the Eastern Front

By the end of 1942 Hungary was dealt a series of sobering blows by the Red Army, and had lost the entirety of the Hungarian 2^nd Army by March of 1943.

In short, the Hungarian Army was in a bad way following the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad. With their history of continual losing ground, along with their dramatically outdated equipment the moment it enters service, what’s not to love about the Hungarian army?

Especially with mid-war, when it all begins to circle the drain. 

Desperate Defense includes a variety of formations worthy of attention, with the T-38 (Pz38G to German players everywhere), PzIV, Turan, and Motorized Infantry making an appearance to attempt to stem the Soviet Tide. Each formation and unit has been meticulously looked over to ensure maximum crunchiness for historical flavor and only limited changes to playability, as a player who is proud to say he loves his Hungarians it really was a labor of love to make sure they were both fun to play and fair to play against.

The National Special Rules

A wonderful thing to be excited about as a Hungarian player in Mid-War is that every unit in the army will benefit from a National Special Rule of some kind.

Speaking of which two of the special rules are ones we should all be familiar with in days past, but with a newcomer to the field speaking to the bravado of the Hungarian tanker. From books past, preparing for the coming storm and hussar return to boost the ability of units to dig in and to follow me respectfully.

Magyar Steel, though, highlights the willingness of Hungarian tankers to dismount and lead infantry assaults, giving nearly every tank in the Hungarian arsenal a bonus to assault. And those tanks will need to get close given their relatively low AT values….

Units to Look out for

As far as units to look for with the new Hungarian Mid-War PDF is most definitely the Tank Destroyer Company.

The Nimrod is just an amazing light-AT vehicle and this company allows you to take an entire formation of them. While it may seem odd for an Anti-Aircraft tank to be in such a role, the Hungarians both initially purchased the Nimrod’s design to serve as an anti-tank platform and organized them as such in ’42.

It was only after the disasters on the Don with masses of T-34s which saw the Nimrod relegated to shooting down Soviet Aircraft.

With a maximum of 18 tanks in the company you’ll likely never have to worry about light vehicles or aircraft again….the low front armor, relatively low AT, and lack of an MG leave some things to be desired at times especially from the things which historically destroyed them, like waves of Soviet infantry and T-34s.

Check out the files for the Hungarians on the