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.
by Tom Burgess
My friend, Charles, and I continued on with our narrative gaming following the stories and scenarios from the World War Three Team Yankee British Book. In our last battle, A Squadron of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, the “Bays,” did little to thwart the Forward Detachment from the organic tank battalion of the 207th Motorized Rifle Division in a scenario we played a few weeks ago.
Following up on that success. the 207th Motorized Rifle Division has now committed the rest of its organic tank battalion against the mainline of the British 3rd Armoured Division. This main attack is directed at the town of Shellerten defended by C Squadron of the 17th/21st Lancers, the “Death or Glory Boys.”
Like our last game. the forces were pretty much set. The scenario is effectively a modified Hold the Line mission. Charles would continue to play his British while I play the Soviets.
In this battle, the Soviets would have to advance across very open fields towards the north end of Shellerten. Just to the north of the town, there is a factory. This would provide the British and advanced position to try to break up the Soviet assault. Further back, the main town would prove a mainline position. To the east and the west of Shellerten, there was a small copse of woods that could serve as a good ambush position into the flanks of the Soviet advance.
The British would have some hastily emplaced minefields and a one platoon size ambush. However, they would be hampered by Deep Reserves requiring most of their heavy hitters to stay have board initially.
By Tom Burgess
When the WWIII Team Yankee US nationals point levels went to 120 points this year, I was a bit beside myself on how I was going to expand my Soviet collection. At 100 points it already was huge and filling up my ground unit transport cases.
So I decided to go “vertical” and buff up my air support for my Soviets. I already had two of the older resin SU-25s that Battlefront offered previously and a friend offered me a set of the new Battlefront plastic SU-25s () at a price that I could not pass up. Since I now had both the older new sets, I thought it might do be nice to a bit of a combination review and comparison.
By Tom Gall and NDNG Dane
The (PSC) will be releasing shortly* a much anticipated new set of rules covering World War III, while a “what if”, a conventional war has touched off and the forces of NATO and WARPAC are enjoined in battle across Europe, each in a desperate struggle to take/give ground before presumably, the nukes might fly.
Titled Battlegroup: NORTHAG, the book focuses on the Northern Army Group section of the front, thus NORTHAG. The setting is 1983 which Warwick Kinrade choose as it was a time of heightened tensions between the powers and was the dividing line before the introduction of a wide range of new equipment.
In this series of articles, we’ll be looking at the rules, the British and Soviet army lists that are included with the new book and finish up with a couple of BatReps.
By Benny Christiansen
At any time, when I participate in a tournament, I have to choose what to field. Most gamers I know change their list from tournament to tournament. In parts because of points, restrictions or new lists being available, but for me, it’s also to continue trying out new things with old lists and seeing how they work.
In this article, I will try to give you a day-by-day look at how I plan my lists for a tournament that I participate in.
As I write this, I’m two months away from my next tournament. This is a great time to begin thinking about the list I want to bring to the event.
By Benny Christiansen
After reading through the new LW book, Fortress Europe, I decided to challenge a friend of mine for a quick match. We decided on 71 points, and I would play the role of the Germans, while he would play the Soviets.
I decided on a list that would let me try some of the well-known things from MW and see how it would pan out in the LW era.
4th Battle of Kharkov – August 1943
Mega-Game
by NDNG_Dane
The Huntsville Historical Gamers gathered in April to recreate the Soviet offensive that aimed to recapture Kharkov and destroy the German 4th Panzer Army. The 4th Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles between 3 and 23 August 1943, following the Battle of Kursk. After their defeat at Kursk, the Wehrmacht was clearly on the defensive, with the Soviets launching a massive offensive. The 4th Panzer Army conducted a fighting withdrawal to fighting positions around the city of Kharkov.
The Kharkov Mega-Game was the culminating engagement of our spring Ghost Panzer – Red Banner, Eastern Front Campaign.
By NDNG Dane
The Huntsville Historical Gamers gathered on December 8th (the day after the day that will live in infamy) to recreate the German attack on Stalingrad as part of Operation Fall Blau (Case Blue) and the Soviet Heroic Defense. The Mega game was the Culminating engagement of our Mid-War Eastern Front escalation league using the Flames of War V4 system.
Our three board Mega Game centered combat action on: Board #1: The Univermag Department Store and Barmaley Fountain, Board #2: The Red October – Tractor Works, Board #3: The Grain Elevator and Pavlov’s House. Additionally, we added a few campaign specific rules such as sewer movement. Infantry teams were allowed to use sewer movement, based on a skill roll, to enter and navigate throughthe Stalingrad sewer network.
By Benny Christiansen
In the new Eastearn Front book for the Soviets, Red Banner, the Soviet players has many interesting choices.
When I was planning this article, I had to choose what to focus on. I have many thoughts about the new German book, Ghost Panzers and what I think it will do to the tournaments I attend. I don’t really find a concern when it comes to the Historic Scenarios or events, as I generally find the books to be fairly balanced towards each other.
However, in this situation, I have had a hard time recovering from the Ferdinand/Marder combination, that I think many will be fielding. Being an eternal optimist, I was certain that I could find something, that would balance the new meta that the German players will have with Ghost Panzers. Here I believe I have found something, that might make a big dent in the Ferdi/Marder combo. On top of that, it might be able to be of interest in tournaments, but I’m uncertain how much I would appreciate it in a historic setting.
By Benny Christiansen
As we all know by now, all new books will be accompanied by command cards. These cards add to the diversity of the books and can present you with an easy way to spend a lot of points, instead of spending them on troops.
To the best of my knowledge, it seems like there is in the USA a trend of not spending many points on command cards, while in Denmark (at least where I play) we spend up to 10% of the total amount of points on cards. So there is no doubt, that the cards can produce a significant change in the list you field.
For the new Red Banner book, there are also new command cards. A lot of them are exact replicas of the one from Enemy At The Gates, but some of them are very new. I have chosen only to focus on a few of them. The ones I mention here are the ones I find to be the most spectacular, though more may come in another article in a not so distant future, where I have had the chance to test them more.
