Have You Seen the Carnage? – Building Lists in Soviet Bagration

As a Soviet player with tons of models, I have been patiently waiting for the Soviet Bagration book for . After getting a good look at this book, I will be making a lot of lists. Two songs I have found to match the energy and sheer amount of awesome coming out of this new Soviet Late War extravaganza have been my inspiration. The first one is Energia by The second is . Listen at your own risk. You may become a Communist.

Let me start out by saying I’m not a hyper-competitive player, instead, my main goal when building a list is to see how many tanks I can fit into it. I want to play a list against someone just to see their face when I flood the field with Soviet armor. I want to laugh while eight units of artillery rain hellfire down on my opponent.  After looking through the new book I am ecstatic to say I am going to drive so many tanks down my opponent’s’ side of the table that the number of wrecked vehicles will make it look like a Mad Max demolition derby.

With a mighty eighty-seven pages of sweet  Soviet fluff, special rules, army lists, historical missions, and painting guides. Experienced Soviet players can use their already painted models to lay down a carpet of death. People who are just starting out can get the new units that are coming out in plastic (and given how many of everything you will be fielding, plastic is important).

We have the usual formations that we all know and love out of Late War Soviets ranging from the spammable T-34  to the mighty IS-2; a beefy monstrosity that demolishes all but the heaviest armor.  Infantry lovers now have engineer sapper companies for assaults or for two extra points per stand, an all you can eat panzerfaust buffet. Having access to some elite units that get hit on 4+ and opposed to a 3 or 2, is a big deal for any Soviet player.

The command cards are a big game changer for list building as well, and I tried to take advantage of some of these in the builds I made below.

I’m going to show four 100-point lists I plan on building with this new book that I can use to horrify people across tabletops, and get all my models on the table.

List #1 – T-34 Spam

Command cards:
Vasily Storozhenko 
Lucky
T-34 Tank Battalion: 
1 x T-34/85 command tank
10 x T-34
10 x T-34
10 x T-34

What makes this list fun/great:
T-34 spam was the first list I ever played when I got into Flames of War. Seeing the new ability to now Spearhead the whole army down the table is fantastic. Obviously, with this list you would want to attack head-on into an objective with everything, hoping to demolish a flank with a mass of shots and hulls.

Pumping the breaks is not an option with lists like these, because your force can burn out quick if you allow your opponent time to breath while your losses mount. One thing that is always true of Soviet lists is that they will take massive losses. With this book and lists like these, you can afford them.

List #2 – Tournament List (My big competitive push)

Command cards:
Lucky
Partisan Guides
Motor Rifle Battalion:
2x MG command teams
8x MG infantry teams
8x MG infantry teams
9x 82mm mortar teams
8x 120mm mortar
4x 57mm AT GunsSupport options:
5x IS-85
2x IL-2 Sturmovik (37mm)

What makes this list fun/great:
When going for a more defensive list like this, my goal is to hunker down and let the plane destroy high-value targets with its ROF 2 AT 8 guns. with the new command card: partisans guide, it won’t be long until your forces hit the table. The tank platoon is the only unit in reserve that now gets an extra die to come in per turn giving better odds of coming in when they are needed.  The Soviets have so many good options in this book, it’s hard to go wrong no matter what play style you find suits you.

List #3 – Every template on the Earth

Light SP Artillery Regiment: 
1x T-70 command tank
5x SU-76
5x SU-76
5x SU-76
4x SU-76
Light SP Artillery Regiment: 
1x T-70 command tank
5x SU-76
5x SU-76
5x SU-76
4x SU-76

What makes this list fun/great:
This list is more of a silly one. Although it does have some scary things to it, it will struggle to deal with heavier armor. This shows it is possible to run eight units shooting artillery! Every infantry heavy list will tremble as fire rains from the sky. After a few turns of laying barrage after barrage of arty strikes on your opponent, it will be easy to mop up the remnants of a defense that will be on an objective. I wanted to give the underrated SU-76 some love.

List #4: Sappers for days (attacking or defending)

Engineer-Sapper battalion:
2 x SMG command teams
15 x SMG sapper teams
14 x SMG sapper teams with 1 panzerfaust
14 x SMG sapper teams with 1 panzerfaust
every unit is also equipped with smoke pots
Light SP artillery regiment:
1x T-70 command team
5 x SU-76s
5 x SU-76s
5 x SU-76s

What makes this list fun/great:
At first glance, you might think, “how could this ever win against another list when there are no anti-tank guns and most of the tanks will wind up in reserve?” Well, I thought that at first until I saw that you can replace up to six teams with special equipment. Going up against an infantry heavy list? No problem just take six flamethrower teams. (that’ll make your opponent wish they bought an extinguisher.)

Can’t get close enough to the enemy because they have a lot of machine guns? “BAM” just turn these guys into mortar teams to rain fire on them until the tanks can come in. If your opponent is running a full mechanized list with a lot of half-tracks? Also not a problem, you can just take PTRD and HMG teams to be able to throw down enough dice to make your opponent roll saves forever. And you’ll still be able to field 6 flamethrower teams to burn the opposition.

I expect to see a lot of Soviets on the tables in the coming months should we get opportunities to game together. New and Old Players beware, the Soviets have arrived. Hopefully, after reading this article you are as excited and energetic as I am to play the new soviet book. and as always stay safe and happy wargaming.

Rob Riley is a new writer for NDNG and games up at Kirwan’s Game Store in Catskill, NY. He loves kittens and hardcore metal music.