In this blog, I'm going to discuss the tactics of the Soviets. I have played a couple of games being the Soviets. That experience has been different than my experience playing the USA. That's what prompted me to write the two blogs about the tactics. I definitely felt I had to play the two countries differently. Where the USA wants to move a lot, as discussed in the previous blog, Soviets can move or sit still.
The Soviet national rule is called Coordinated Fire. The rule states "If this tank shoots at a target that friendly tank within one Measuring Stick shot at earlier in the phase, it becomes" +1 attack. Basically, if this tank shoots at an enemy tank that one of its friendly tanks has already shot at and it is within one arrow length of that tank, this tank will receive one bonus die on its attack roll.
For example, if the SU-100 decides it is going to shoot at a Sherman. It has six attack dice.
However, since it has Coordinated Fire we need to see if it is within one measuring stick of a friendly tank that has already shot this turn and that shot was taken at the same Sherman target. The IS-2 already shot this turn and it shot at the Sherman.
This allows the SU-100 to gain a bonus die on its attack roll against the Sherman. So now the SU-100 will fire at the Sherman with seven dice, not six. Therefore, the white die below would not have normally be given to the attack roll of the SU-100, but Coordinated Fire added it.
So, this is going to affect how the Soviets will feel in the game. When I play the Soviets they generally move together in a herd. Unlike the USA, where each tank can go its own way, the Soviets lose their extra attack dice if they don't stay together.
Pretty simple. Not quite. The Soviet's Achilles' heel is their initiative. Most of their tanks have initiative four or below. So, that means that Soviets will generally have to move first and shoot last. This allows the opponent to see where the Soviet tanks end their movement and place their tanks where it limits how many Soviet tanks can shoot them. Thus, this limits the bonus attack dice the Soviets receive from Coordinated Fire.
However, the Soviet tanks do have some advantages. Most of the Soviet tanks have armor two. That is pretty good. That bonus die on defense helps them survive more hits.
Also, most of the Soviet tanks have six or higher damage capacity. This allows the Soviet tanks to take a little more damage than most other countries' tanks can tolerate.
Another advantage Soviet tanks have is attack dice. Most Soviet tanks have five or six attack dice when they fire. If you use Coordinated Fire that range increases to six or seven attack dice. Pretty potent amount of attack dice.
So how do you play the Soviets? My experience has been that they stay together and constantly move to finally corner the opponent. The opponent is going to move around and use terrain to limit the number Soviet tanks that can shoot at one tank. The Soviets basically try to pick one target and unload their attacks on that target. Receiving bonus dice for every tank that shoots that target after the first Soviet tank has shot can dramatically increase the damage inflicted.
This is not easy. The Soviet's initiative means they are moving first. So you generally move your tanks to try to corner the opponents tanks to be able to take them out later in the game. Your Soviet tanks are going to be hit early in the game. However, Soviet tanks have good armor and damage capacity to soak-up those early hits.
From my experience, once you start to be able to hit the opponent's tanks with Coordinated Fire, later in the game, the opponent's tanks start to be taken out. Yeah, your tanks are damaged, but your tanks are built to take it. In addition, each time you move you gain an additional defense die. So, that means you will be rolling at least three dice for defense before adding dice for opponent's movement and terrain. I am even thinking about just moving twice in a turn to get up on the opponent quickly and start the cornering of their tanks. This will allow four defense dice on rolls before any other modifiers.
Also, some of your tanks have Heavy Tank rule. Which states "Do not subtract any Defense dice when this tank is the target of a side shot." So, even if the enemy gets close they will drop your defense by one die for being within one arrow length but not another defense die for a side shot. This allows the Soviet tanks to have a little bit more to help them survive.
So, if you play Soviets, in general, don't worry too much about taking damage early in the game. Your tanks have good defense and a lot of damage capacity. Once, you start cornering the opponent's tanks your attack dice will start to eliminate their tanks pretty quickly. So, don't get frustrated early in the game. Know you are going to be outmaneuvered and be hit early, but you will finally get in there and start to lay-on the massive damage that your Coordinated Fire can unload on the opponent's tanks.
Another thing to consider is upgrades and crews. It might be advantageous for Soviet players to gain cards that increase their initiative. Just a point or two on a tank's initiative can help it move after the some of the opponent's tanks and shoot before they do. Cost wise I'm not sure if it will be worth it or not, but is a thought of how to spend those extra points if you have them.
One problem I do have with the Coordinate Fire ability though is one of its limitations as compared to other nations' special abilities. USA's Gung Ho, Germany's Blitzkrieg, and Britain's Semi-Indirect Fire do have an advantage over the Soviets' national rule in one respect. If the Soviets are down to one tank the Coordinated Fire is useless. USA, Germany, and Britain can still use their country specific rule even if they are down to one tank.
As always, have a good game.
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