Enemy at the Gate Command Card Preview

After a look over the new Version 4 book Soviet book, Enemy at the Gates, I could not imagine anything better for them, good infantry, good tanks and good special rules. They seemed to have it all.

Over all I was pleased with the release of Russians into V4 MW. How could it get any better Then I opened up the Command Cards and I saw this:

Heros:
Vasily Zaytsev: So as amazing as snipers already are in MW, this special character, while pricey, is someone worth his points. Almost a must bring if you bring the platoon of snipers. Vasily shoots his targets, (those pesky AT guns,) on their base ratings, then forces them to re-roll saves! Oh, and he makes all other  Soviet snipers hit on 4s. All told, a beast!

Georgiy Khachin: A hero for PTRD platoons and 45mm gun platoons, that reads, “any tank team up to 16” hit by the unit leader must re-roll saves. Not too impressive considering the cost of 2 pts, but in defensive fire, it could mean more.

Nikolay Andreyev:  Is a hero for KV-1, KV-1s and T-34. 3 pts will buy your unit leader the chance to re-roll all failed rolls to hit in the shooting step. pretty pricey for the effect, considering that the KVs are already super expensive.

Units & Formations:
NKVD Batallion: If the Soviet player was wondering if a German sniper would be the end of his Kommisars, have no fear! For a measly 3pts you to can bring an NKVD Battalion to the table. This is effectively a rifle battalion with the added bonus of your Kommisar can never die. Basically ensuring your tide of infantry is never slowed by something as trivial as a motivation test to unpin, or counter-assault. For the points, a must bring formation!

Militia Battalion:  Six pts for reluctant Rifle Battalion, nothing amazing considering they cannot use the Smersh card.

Naval/Hero Naval: 4pts for your Rifle/SMG company to be 4+ motivation, 3+ rally, with the Kommisar making them 3+/2+. Flavor formation for those with Soviet sailors. A 2+ rally is really nice, however at 4 points its a point sink that could be used to bring a template weapon or other support gear.

Cossack Regiment: Many people wanted to see the return of cavalry, and the command cards make this a reality.  This card costs zero and makes a Rifle or Hero Company Cossack. The only difference being your Rifle Companys cannot contain Flamethrowers or Maksim HMG. Also, you must pay 2pts per unit to mount them as cavalry teams. Worth it…?

Special Abilities:

Smersh: This may be the single most amazing soviet card. 3pts to make fearless troopers. The perfect addition to an NKVD Battalion. or any of your main assaulting units. It reminds me of the old Kommisar rule, on a role of 1 you inflict a wound on your own unit, but, its a price Stalin is willing to pay.

Unkillable: 4pts for KV tanks, Bailed out tanks take a motivation test at the start of the shooting step, and if passed, may shoot as normal. Let me collect my jaw from the floor… OK, its pricey, at 4pts its the cost of a platoon of German Armored cars. But, if you invest in KVs, you may as well invest in making sure they never stop shooting.

ORDER 66… I mean… Blocking Detachment: 0pts. If you take a Maksim HMG platoon you may use this card to add this feature to it. If an infantry unit fails a Motivation test. This unit Immediately shoots the unit if it can, automatically passing firepower tests. Once the shooting is resolved, if you reach 10 hits, the platoon rallies from unpinning and automatically passes the motivation test. Unclear if this is ALL motivation tests or just unpin… a very deadly, but possibly useful card. To keep your troops in assaults, or rally.

Weapon Systems:

Infantry Guns: A free upgrade to FP 3+, while losing 4″ of range and AT value, this makes it a better weapon to drag up and knock out pesky HMGs with direct fire.

Uparmored T-34: Just in-case the T-34 wasn’t amazing enough for 2pts more per tank, you gain 1 point of armor to your front and side. You lose 2″ of movement to your tactical speed and your cross check becomes a 4+.

Molotov Cocktails: What Russian infantry would be complete without cocktails. for 3 points you can discard the card to give your troops AT 3, FP1+ until the end of the TURN, A very powerful weapon for when you assault a poor platoon of tanks.

Conclusion
As I read through the other 48 cards, I am seeing more and more good things. Soviet Command Cards are simply making a good thing better. Take this card… Fresh from the Factory, 9pts, yikes soo expensive, and costly…. but you roll a dice every turn and on a 5+ you get a T-34 rolling on the field, for free!

It may have taken Battlefront a while to release the Soviets into V4, but boy was it worth the wait, Battlefront has “Made Soviets Great Again” for sure. It’s a good thing I have so many Soviet boxes laying around. My new go-to armies, (Until the Romanian PDFs) will be Soviet. If the pricing follows the same as the other decks have cost, these cards will be well worth their cost!

Hope this helps!
James Copeland