First Look at Soviets in Bolt Action 3rd Edition
By Kreighton Long
Following up last weeks article covering how the Germans may end up looking in Third Edition, I set my sniper scope sights on the Soviet Union.
Most of the Army Special Rules remain the same from Second Edition. Veteran players will see the return of The Great Patriotic War, Not One Step Back!, and Massed Batteries.
The Great Patriotic War allows infantry and artillery models to reroll failed morale checks to keep shattered units on the table longer.
Not One Step Back! covers the inclusion and abilities of Commissar units. Massed Batteries allow artillery barrages to potentially effect a larger area.
The notable change with the Army Special Rules is that the Quantity Has a Quality of Its Own rule has been replaced with For the Motherland! This is in keeping with statements from Warlord Games that an effort was made to eliminate free units from the game.
Instead of a free Inexperienced Rifle Squad, Soviet players will apply For the Motherland! to keep their inexperienced units moving when pinned. Inexperienced units with pins receiving an order with 12″ of an enemy unit can shed one pin on a 1D6 roll of 4+ before receiving the order. Having the opportunity to shed a pin before receiving an order will help to keep Inexperienced squads operable when in proximity of enemy units.
As for cost changes, most units faced small changes. A Regular T-34/85 is ten points cheaper and a Regular IS2 is five. Regular Forward Observers dropped from 100 points to 75 and Inexperienced junior officers dropped from 35 to 21 points. The ubiquitous PPSh-41 of the WWII Soviet Army is one point more expensive in the new addition. Ultimately this is a small change that can add up quickly for Soviet players who like their SMGs and assaulting units.
The cost of horses also increased a point from the previous edition, but as horses are few and far between among most Soviet lists I’ve seen, this change will be negligible. A more exciting update is that the cost of the SN-42 body armor, available to Tank Riders and Engineers, has decreased from 5 to 3 points. I smiled reading that as a few months ago I painted a batch of Assault Engineers to add to my Soviet collection. For three extra points a model I will certainly be taking more of these big guys in the future.
Returning Soviet players will be relieved to see that the Soviets will still be allowed to take three anti-tank teams as one anti-tank team selection.
For now, this is limited to anti-tank rifle teams, Ampulomet Molotov-launchers, and dog mine teams. These options will hopefully be expanded when the Armies of the Soviet Union book is updated for Third Edition.
I personally have a lot of fun building my Tank Hunter Squads as two man, Veterans, with a panzerfaust and two SMGs who can forward deploy.
Combining those three with my three forward deploying Scout Squads and my Sniper allows me to claim key terrain features right off the bat. I personally hope we see something similar appearing in the next Armies of the Soviet Union book. The same could be said for anyone who enjoyed the new Soviet anti-tank team units that we received in the Case Blue book.
As an already versatile Army, the Soviet forces of Third Edition will continue to be a common sight at club and competitive events. The lower cost of Forward Observers may encourage more Soviet players to take that option to utilize an Army Special Rule that I haven’t seen much of in Second Edition. I’ll be sure to experiment with taking one in my first few games to see if I can get some mileage out of it.
I foresee the dropped price of body armor yielding more Assault Engineers and Tank Riders. That is for sure going to be on my mind when I start experimenting with the new force structures of Third Edition. The For the Motherland! Army Special Rule will be a powerful bonus for Soviet players who like their Inexperienced infantry hordes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more of those types of lists popping up moving forward.
Happy gaming!