Overview: Bagration Axis-Allies

By Mitch Reed

The Germans are no longer going at it alone for late war with the addition of the Bagration Axis-Allies book that brings the Hungarians, Romanians and the Finns into . Many gamers have been eagerly awaiting these forces to come back into the game and now their wait is over with new book that contains three of the most important allies that Germany had in the Second World War. The book spans 126 pages and covers the three allies of Germany with some greats lists but also includes painting guides, a linked five mission narrative campaign and some great special rules to make these missions historically accurate. As you leaf through the book you will notice that the format makes it seem like they put three books into one, so each nationality has a separate section in the book.

What players will like is how these forces interact with the German lists in the game. A German force may take either a formation or a black box unit from any single allied force. This gives a German player a reason to look over these books to see what platoon would be best to augment their force in a game.

We Begin with the Finnish
In previous versions of FoW, I hated playing against the Finns. They were very good and had some units, like the ski troops that just gave me nightmares. While these ski troops are not in the new book, they still have some great infantry and with the command cards they get even better.

When it comes to equipment, the Finns get a mix of Soviet and German along with some domestically developed equipment. The two Finnish tank list resemble this mix of equipment, with the T-26 list having all sorts of Soviet tanks and the Sturmi list which is made up of German STuG assault guns. One of the cards allows you to field some Panzer IVs and you can take an ISU-152 as a support option.

Overall, the Finns still bring great infantry into the game and with the Hunters special rule these units move fast across the table. Pairing a formation of Finnish infantry with some German tanks may be a very deadly combo.

Hungary for some Tanks?
The armor heavy Hungarians are back and feature their very popular Turan and Zrinyi vehicles that a lot of players really enjoyed running. The five other tank lists all feature German tanks and assault guns with their stats and cost not very different from the German lists we saw in German Bagration.

The single infantry in the book I thought was just “OK” at first but then I saw how much artillery and AT support they have organically and I started to like these guys. The AT Rocket Platoon is an interesting unit which has an AT of 14 but only a range of 12”, which makes the Hungarian infantry perfect for defense.

The best unit here is still the Zrinyi formation, which has the same stats as the German STuH, however it has a morale rating of Fearless and a Veteran skill level.

The Hungarians get the Huszar special rule which allows them to use a lower die roll to execute a Follow Me command. Speaking of Huszar, the Hungarians get a scout cavalry troops as a support unit for you to horse around with.

Romanians for Comrade Detective
The final ally is are Romanians which are a very interesting force. They have the Peasant Army special rule, which makes you roll after set up to see if your unit is Elite or not. This status gives them a better Skill and Motivation ratings. The other interesting rule here is the Defending the Homeland rule which gives units a better Assault rating.

However, the most interesting thing about the Romanians is that they can be allied with either the Germans for the Soviets.

The Romanians get a wide variety of armored vehicles. The three main lists are the R-2 formation, with some really old relics in their ranks and the T-4 and TA units which are Romanian designations for the Panzer IV and the StuG respectively.

When it comes to infantry, the Romanians get the option to have their riflemen mounted in German halftracks and come with decent AT and artillery support within their formation.

For support they get two versions of tank hunters, the TACAM R-2 or T-60 and also get the option to take some cavalry scouts.

Overall Impressions
The trend we are seeing in V4 is that a lot of the old chrome of these lists are now included in the command cards, so they are now a must purchase with each new book. This book has three sets of command cards that will be available upon the release of the book.

In the past I never played any of these lists but I played against them a lot. One can see how this book has a little something for everyone. For players who loved these formations in the past, they are now back in the game. For newer player, the list of options, especially for a German player just got a lot bigger and, in some ways, better.

Horde players may like the Romanian R-2 tank lists, with the opportunity to run a bunch of tanks that cannot really kill other tanks. Gamers who like balance will be attracted to the Hungarians with their diverse tank lists. Defensive players will love the Finns, who know how to defend better than any army in the game.

This book brings back some of the most loved “boutique” lists the game had and will also bring a lot of flavor in late war.