URSS Heavy Assault group for Soviet Bagration book
By Paolo Paglianti
The Bagration Russian book allows the player to choose very different tactics and formations. You can play a strong defense army, sitting on the objectives and valiantly waiting for the enemy to come out of cover and taste some Motherland lead; or you can assault opponents with lots of AT14 guns and cheap but effective artillery.
As for any new book release, Battlefront has a for players who want to start a new Russian Late army: we’ve received one of these boxes, and we can’t wait to see what there is inside and to see what we can do with all this steel from the Motherland.
What we have inside the box
Lots of sprues! And also, the unit cards, some decals, and a small rule book
Inside the box, you’ll find a lot of sprues – the box is pretty filled up! The IS-2 sprue allows to build also the IS-85, and both of them have the same chassis used by the ISU-152/122. The infantry is very good hard plastic, while the SU-75 crew has only two poses and it’s the far worse resin. You also have the usual tank crew sprue (x2) and some “heads” you can place in open hatches.
Is it cost-effective?
First of all, let’s see if the Soviet Starter Force box is cost-efficient. As we just saw, inside the box ($100), we find four IS-2 tanks, four ISU-122/152 assault guns, four SU-76 assault guns, three new BA-64 scouts, four 57/76 guns, and a Hero Shock rifle (1 Kommissar team, 1 unit leader, 2 HMGs and 8 DPMG bases) Company. If we had to buy all of these, we would have to pay:
Su-76 x5 box, $45
IS-2 x5 box, $45
ISU 152/122 x5 box, $45
BA-64 x4, $18
Rifle Company (2 Kommissar team, 4 unit leader, 4 HMGs, 2 flamethrowers, 3 PTDR and 18 DPMG bases), $58.50
57/76 guns x4, $36
For a total of $247,5. Actually, the Soviet Starter Force has less than half the infantry of the Rifle Company and 4 tanks/assault guns instead of 5 of the single boxes, so the adjusted price should be around $200. It’s still a very good bargain since it costs $100, half of the price if you buy the single items.
“I can’t see any Tiger around, only cat kittens now” – Tank Commander Pagliantovich on his brand new IS-2
What you can do with the box
As it often happens with Battlefront Starter set, you can theoretically do a FOW force.
The base company would be a Heavy SP Artillery Regiment (page 22 of the Russian army book)
Heavy SP Artillery Regiment
HQ – IS 2 (7 points)
SP Battery #1 2x ISU 122 (13 points)
SP Battery#2 2x 152 (15 points)
Hero SMG Company (7 bases + Komissar team) (7 points)
Support
Tank Killer company 57mm gun x4 (12 points)
Light SP Battery Su-76 x4 (10 points)
IS-2 Guards Heavy tank company IS-2 x3 (22 points).
For a total of 86 points.
Actually, the SMG company is made by the Rifle (slightly different infantry), but in general, it is a legal list. However, a very weak one: if your opponent hit a couple of ISU, you can easily lose the Company and the game. There is surely some space for improvements, and some good way to spend those 24 missing points.
How fun can be to deploy twice the tanks of a German opponent with the same armor and the same AT?
How to upgrade the box
If you buy an additional ISU box ($45), you can easily upgrade this list adding three ISU-122 to the first Company platoon, and two 152 to the second. This is the “upgraded” list:
Heavy SP Artillery Regiment
HQ – IS 2 (7 points)
SP Battery #1 5x ISU 122 (32 points)
SP Battery#2 4x 152 (29 points)
Hero SMG Company (7 bases + Komissar team) (7 points)
Support
Tank Killer company 57mm gun x4 (12 points)
Light SP Battery Su-76 x4 (10 points)
“Reconnaissance by combat” card (2 points)
For a total of 99 points. You lose the IS-2 platoon but now you have two bigger ISU platoons that can afford prolonged fighting with German (or any other Blue) tanks. You can use the two ISU platoons to hunt other tanks (or anything else, the “brutal” trait is very effective vs infantry or guns in holes) or stay hidden and bombard the enemy position with the artillery the 72” range means you hit basically everything on the table.
The “Reconnaissance by Combat” card is vital to move the Range In maker of one of the ISU to the best spot after the opponent deployment, as the ISU batteries have skill 4+ and will struggle to range in during the game.
Speaking of the ISU, I actually prefer to have all ISU-122 (the sprue is the same, you can build all the tanks as 152s or 122s). The cost is inferior (you save 1 point per tank) and you have AT 14 – it’s like to play with a Tiger, but paying it 6.5 points instead of 12.
The Force is strong in this one
This leads to the list I’ll build with my Russian Start Force (made after a chat with my friend Claudio Tiso, one of the best FOW players in Italy).
Motor Hero Rifle
HQ (2 points)
Hero Motor Rifle Company#1 (8 points)
Hero Motor Rifle Company#2 (8 points)
Hero Motor Rifle Company# 3 (8 points)
120mm Mortar Company x3 (3 points)
82mm Mortar Company x3 (2 points)
Tank Killer company 57mm gun x4 (12 points)
Maksim Machine gun Company x3 (2 points)
Support
ISU-122×3 (22 points)
I IS-2 Guards Heavy tank company IS-2 x3 (22 points).
Katyusha x4, (8 points)
BA-64 Observer (1 point)
Reconnaissance by combat card (2 points)
Total 100 points
To build this force, I’d need to buy a Rifle Company ($58.5), a mortar team ($13.50), and a Katyusha battery ($36)
One point per base and they kill on 2+ during assault. And they Blitz 3+. And they have a boosted motivation 3+. And they shoot ROF 2 while moving and assaulting.
Why Hero Motor rifle? If we compare the Hero Shock Rifle with the Hero Rifle, we can see the second is much better. It costs the same, even if it has two fewer bases. However, they have a 2+ Assault, and the shoot the double even in movement or if pinned down. Also, the Hero Motor Rifle is more flexible: it’s the only formation with four infantry slots (five if you count in the Recon platoon), two mortar slots, and two antitank gun slots.
A bit cheaper, but the shot half bullets. And can you miss the face of your opponent when you remember him that your troops kill during assault on 2+?
Hero Motor Rifle Vs ordinary Rifle? The cost is lower, but the lower save (4+) it’s something I really try to avoid. The “hurrah” trait is not enough to counter a worse assault and skill factor, and the risk of being cut to pieces at the first charge.
Save 4+ is something suicidal if you plan to charge enemy position, but it’s also a bad idea if you will ever be under an artillery barrage.
I’d go for the Katyusha battery for a double reason. They are very good in killing or at least pin down large infantry masses, and they allow to get the BA-64 observer, which will be really useful and always busy with 5 units capable of Artillery shots.
“I love the smell of Salvos in the morning” – Comrade Pagliantovich
With two infantry and the HMG platoons, I can easily cover one or two objectives designated by any mission and have the IS-2 and ISU-122 free to assault enemy positions with the support of the other infantry. I can afford to lose all of them and my Formation will be almost untouched, with its 8 platoons, but I bet my opponent will have great losses! For the Motherland!