Product Description
Soviet Starter Force - Heavy Assault Group (Plastic) (SUAB13)
The Soviet 11th Guards Army (11-ya Gvardeyskaya Armiya) and 31st Army (31ya Armiya) fell upon Orsha on 26 June 1944. A solitary Soviet tank brigade from the 2nd Tank Corps swept around to the west of the city, completing the encirclement. The German remnants of General Volkers’ 27th Army Corps were now trapped inside the city and prepared for a tenacious defence of the city centre.
With the launch of the Bagration: Soviet release, I thought I would look at both new starter boxes to see what sort of force you can put on the table. This article covers the Heavy Assault Group starter box. This box is ideal for someone either starting out or for the veteran player who needs to add some additional firepower to their existing force. For the new player, it opens the door to playing Flames Of War without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.
So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value starter set (Heavy Assault Group), that will help decide what Formation(s) to run. The starter set contains the following:
Complete A5 Rulebook
Soviet “Start Here” guide
4 x IS-2 or IS-85 Tanks
4 x ISU-122 or ISU-152 Assault Guns
4 x SU-76 Assault Guns
3 x BA-64 Armoured Cars
4 x 57mm or 76mm Guns
1 x Hero Shock Rifle Company
2 x Decal Sheets
12 x Unit Cards
Army Building With The Heavy Assault Group Starter Box
The bonus here is that the rulebook is included in the box – so the new player makes a saving right away. Now if we look at what Formations are in the Bagration: Soviet book, we can see what we can maximize from what we get in the starter box. The best Formation to maximize this straight out of the box is the Heavy SP Regiment. Let us look at what units comprise this Formation:
1 Heavy SP Artillery Regiment HQ
2-4 ISU-122 Guards Heavy SP Battery or ISU-152 Guards Heavy SP Battery
0-1 SMG Company or Hero SMG Company or Engineer-Sapper Company
Looking at the Formation and what we get in the starter box, we can use all the Heavy Assault Guns in the Formation plus one IS-2. To maximize our investment, we can add an IS-2 or IS-85 Guards Heavy Tank Company in Formation support along with a SU-76 Light Artillery Battery and a Hero Shock Rifle Company. We can also add the following support options; 57mm or 76mm Gun Battery and an Armoured Car Platoon. This means we can use everything in the box for our list! So how does this look from a list building perspective:
Models are supplied unassembled and unpainted.
