Not One Step Back! – Soviet Armoured Lists from Enemy at the Gates

Hello All

With Enemy At The Gates about to be released, I thought I would take a look at some lists I have made and hope to get onto the table at some point soon. In this first part, I will be looking at Soviet Tank forces.

First off I decided to take a look at an M3 Lee list. For me, the Lee might be the best tank in the book based on its points and use. As I talked about in the preview of Enemy At The Gates, the fact the M3 Lee doesn’t have Overworked is a massive plus, compared to the T-34 (Early), making it a good mobile gun platform. So as I thought it was a good place to start but getting 11 of them, 1 for the HQ and 10 for the first company.

For the next compulsory choice I wanted something a little cheaper, to this end I added the 10 M3 Stuarts. These guys are a bargain, for 17 points you get 10 fast tanks. Use they are Overworked so moving at the high speeds will reduce their effectiveness with the main gun, but they do have 5 MG shots which are unaffected. This should also be a good assault unit as with a realistic chance into contact range of 16 inches. There isn’t much that won’t be worried by that many tanks charging into them and if infantry gets out of their foxholes, the sheer amount of shots should wipe out all but the largest units. I decided to save some points and add in the second company of M3 Stuarts to maximise the number of hulls on the board.

After this I wanted to round out the force, to his end I added a recce unit in the form of 3 BA-10’s so I could make the forces as aggressive as possible and 4 Katyushas for some pinning and to dig out infantry. Finally, I had 8 points left so upgraded 8 Lees to have the Long 75mm.

• HQ M3 Lee 4pts
• 10 M3 Lees + 8 upgraded Long 75mm 52pts
• 10 M3 Stuarts 17pts
• 10 M3 Stuarts 17pts
• 3 BA-10s 2pts
• 4 Katyushas 8pts
• Total 100pts

Next up I moved to the Mixed Tankovy. This was one of my favourite lists in V3 and I was looking forward to trying it out again. While it is a slightly different list now, the core parts of the list are still there. To start with I went back to my favourite tank of the Soviets, the KV-1. This beast of a tank will cause most armies to take note; I have gone with the heavier version as I think the main issue will be German Pak40s (7.5 cm guns) and Marder (7.62cm) so the more armour the better. 5 is less than the 7 you use to get but I think it’ll be ok as artillery is less of a treat in V4.

Next, I added the medium company, the option was between T-34 (Early) and Valentines. I went with Valentines as the T-34 was too expensive after dropping 40pts on the Kv-1 company. Also as there is only 5 Kv-1’s I wanted this platoon to be a big as possible and as 10 Valentines is only 24pts compared to the 50pts for the T-34’s. The main issue will be the lack of speed but the light tank company should help with that. On the subject for the light platoon I had two options I wanted to look at, firstly there is the M3 Stuart (for the reasons talked about above). The other option comes in the form of the T-60, this is a very light tank and comes in at 9pts for 10! I’m going for the T-60 in this list, but I will add in an alternative list afterwards.

To round out the list I added recce as before with the BA-10s. This time I opted for the 82mm mortars for the artillery support. You get 9 of them for only 6 points, so I hope the numbers will make up for the lack of the larger template. One thing I worry about is the lack of good AT so I have added a Shturmovik to the list, the Rockets will make for a scary treat to opposing tanks (even if they only range in on a 5+) but the 23mm cannons will worry any medium tanks and will wreak Marders. Finally, I have added in a Hero Rifle command with two flamethrowers and a 50mm mortar. As the tanks are so slow this should be good to support them on the move using the flamethrowers to assault platoons off objectives. They can also hold an objective if you have to defend.

• 5 KV-1 40pts
• 10 Valentines 24pts
• 10 T-60s 9pts
• 9 82mm Mortars 6pts
• 3 BA-10s 2pts
• Hero Rifle Company + 2 Flame Thrower + 50mm Mortar 12pts
• Shturmovik 7pts
• Total 100pts

In the alternative list, I dropped the T-60s and the Rifle Company for Stuarts as it gives the list better mobile first power. This leaves us with 4 points left, with these I would take some of the KV-1 cards we heard about at the open days (they cause enemy platoons to run away when near KV-1s) but I haven’t seen the finalised cards yet so I think 4 points should be enough. If it’s too many I guess you can always swap the 82mm Mortars for Katyushas.

• 5 KV-1 40pts
• 10 Valentines 24pts
• 10 Stuarts 17pts
• 9 82mm Mortars 6pts
• 3 BA-10s 2pts
• Shturmovik 7pts
• KV-1 upgrade cards 4pts ish?
• Total 100pts

The final list I’m going to look at in today’s post is the T-34 (Early) list. As we talked about above T-34’s are pricey, but with the cheap support you can still get a good number of them and they are one of the best tanks in the game right now (just looking at the stats). With a very good gun that can penetrate all but the heaviest tanks on their front armour, high-speed values and strong all-around armour, the T-34 gives you a strong variety of options on the board. With this in mind I decided early on that I would look to run two Companies of T-34s, it was just a matter of how many in each.So with that in mind, I started with the mandatory and support options and worked my way backwards. First off is the HQ T-34 (Early) and It comes in at 5pts. Next up was the recce in the almost mandatory (in my lists anyway) BA-10 platoon. This leaves us with 93pts, which would be enough for a company of 8 T-34’s and a Company of 9 with 4pts left over and not much to do with it. So, taking another look at all the options and to improve the hulls on the board I went for a Company of 10 T-60’s for 9 points. For the cost of one T-34 and the spare 4 points, I have added another 9 tanks taking the total of models on the board from 21 to 30, plus added a few more tactical options. This left 84 points which are spot on for two companies of 8 T-34’s at 42 points each.

• HQ T-34 (Early) 5pts
• 8 T-34 (Early) 42pts
• 8 T-34 (Early) 42pts
• 10 T-60s 9pts
• 3 BA-10s 2pts
• Total 100pts

And that ends my look at Soviet armour from Enemy at the Gates. I hope this has given you some ideas for lists. I’m not 100% sure these lists are quite as good as they could be, but I look forward to getting models on the table and giving them a try. Let me know what you would do differently in the comments below.

Thanks for reading, it’s been emotional.