More Heroes. Also, lists.

Hi all,

Some more Heroes of the Soviet Union join the ranks today.  Traditionally, Soviets in Flames of War have been the "horde" army.  Most FoW forces are basically reinforced companies in scale; the Soviets, in contrast, run reinforced battalions.  For purposes of game balance, the inflated number of troops is compensated by generally lower quality; Soviets are much easier to target, lower skilled, and lack critical defensive options like smoke.

In the latest version of FoW, Soviets have the option to go with a scale of force a little more in keeping with the other nations; the "heroic" formation option.  In terms of background, the conceit is that these are formations after several days of fighting, where the survivors have learned a few tricks.  Generally speaking, they're higher quality, if a little more cautious on the field.  I suspect the option was included to make starting Soviets a little less daunting for new players, but it works just as well for someone like me, who's gettting back into the game.

I'm still getting over the clarity in these pics compared to before.

I'm likely going to base my force around a "Heroic" rifle battalion, primarily because it lets me use as much of the stuff I already have as possible.  As the group I'll be playing with seems to have opted for Late War (FoW divides the war by period, and to some degree theatre), I'll base the list for now on the "Fortress Europe" book.  The core list will likely look something like this:

Battalion HQ 2 points
2x Rifle Company (10 stands) 18 points
Attached MHG, Flamethrower, Mortar/PTRD 8 Points

My usual in-game view.  Hopefully not the opponent's.

For a total of 28.  I'll almost certainly attach a full unit of 45mm AT guns (I have one, and can pick up some PSC ones cheap to fill out the unit) for another 6 points, leaving me with 16 points to add some artillery or tanks.  I also have enough infantry for another company, if I'm feeling masochistic.

By the time I get all that done, and we've played a few games, the first "dedicated" LW soviet book should be available, and I'll likely have a wider selection of toys to expand the force.  In the mean time, I'll just have to keep watching Russian movies on YouTube (White Tiger, Panfilov's 28, and Schtrafbat are all recommended).