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Hello Dakka,

A friend and I are looking to start playing Flames of War - I have played 40k previously, but this will be his first wargame.
We were going to jump for the starter set, but my friend is really eager to play Russians - I've done some research, and I'm struggling to find a cost-minimal way for him to do this! He doesn't want to invest too much before he's got a taste for the hobby, so I'm looking for an army list/variation that he can use to do this.

I am looking at taking on a German Panzerkompanie, and love the look of some of the lists in "Grey Wolf", but cannot decide between a regular Panzerkompanie with lots of Mark IV H's or Kampfgruppe Bake with lots of Panthers - any suggestions either way?

So, to summarise, how can my friend get involved with the Soviets for a minimal cost, and which of the above lists is suggested? I apologise for this post in advance!

Thanks everyone!

Unfortunately there really isn't a way to get a 'cheap' Soviet army. The model count is always going to be far higher than most other armies, meaning right off the bat you're going to need to buy more. About the only way to save money is too look at other manufacturer's models. Plastic Soldier Company would probably be his best bet depending on if he want's to build an armored or infantry force. Not sure if they updated the Soviet infantry to the thicker model style, but I can vouch that the T34's look very good when they're painted up well. Downside is you'll still probably need to buy 21 of them though....

Hope this helps a bit

If you're looking at a German Panzerkompanie, then for your friend I like Breakthrough Assault's advice on the (limited) Vasily's Hammer which should still be available from UK discounters for £54. Their posts on the topic can be read here:

http://www.breakthroughassault.co.uk/2015/05/expanding-vasilys-hammer-suab06-part-one.html
http://www.breakthroughassault.co.uk/2015/05/expanding-vasilys-hammer-suab06-part-two.html

I personally like the second part because I've read that Hero Tankovy (the default build of Vasily's Hammer) is a fast way to hate Soviet tanks. Obviously though that ups the buy-in to £108, which could be too much. Still, you could do smaller engagements with a regular tankovy list and fudge on the compulsory platoons to see if it's something you want to go into further or not. Another option if playing fast-and-loose with model count isn't something you want to do is 1 Vasily's Hammer and 1 T-34 Open Fire box (£9.90 from discounters), which would enable regularly Tankovy without huge outlay. I happen to like the T-34 though, so I am perhaps biased in favor of an armored force.

Plastic Strelkovy will be out soon, but since they're not SMG-equipped they don't work well as Motostrelkovy that you'd take with armor. However if he wants to go foot-slogger instead of treads then that's going to be out soon-ish and will be comparatively cheaper than the metal equivalents. Plastic anti-tank guns and artillery will be out within the next couple of months for the Soviets as well.

That being said it's probably never been cheaper to play Soviets.

PSC and Battlefront have now got plastic Strelkovy sets, and some of the later war books have 'trained' Soviet infantry which are therefore more points expensive. Although, having a smaller/more elite Soviet army has always seemed a bit nonsensical to me!

I would recommend your friend getting the 'Red Bear' book, it's got a large variety of lists in it of different sorts. Then, you can use PSC or Zvezda if you want to take the cheapest/quickest route (which would be an armoured company).

No way to do cheap Russians but a cheaper way is to run the emcha tank list. It needs 76mm Sherman's and 75mm Sherman's plus some support but it's still 20 tanks plus SU100s but plastic soldier Sherman's arent to expensive and if he doesn't like Russians he can make them American. Russians are a very tuff first army unless it's infantry that sit in there holes and don't move

Get the "Italy battles" book, specifically for the "infantry aces" escalation campaign, it's a very good "in" as you start small and simple (just troops) then add other stuff later.

Suggest for soviets to run a guards list, they are more points but act more like normal troops and in IA can be a handful for the enemy.

IA also at the initial point level is a four foot square board, so you need less terrain

leopard wrote:
Get the "Italy battles" book, specifically for the "infantry aces" escalation campaign...

Or you can just get it HERE.

Soviet hordes only apply to infantry, and they are cheap via plastic boxsets.

Soviet tanks are NOT a horde army in terms of numbers, that distinction goes to US tanks. Soviet tanks are deployed as a horde, but are actually fairly expensive in points unless you go light tanks, and western allies can do that too. Shermans cost less than Soviet equivalents so you get more. All this may seem counter-intuitive, but this is the price of a points balanced game.

If you go for heavy tanks KV, IS or ISU then they can get quite pricy and clock up points quickly. Soviets are possibly a better option than German for heavy tanks, as you can get a lot via support.

Soviet tanks can definitely be a horde if you are playing Mid War T-34s. It's only in LW when they get more access to the heavier stuff like IS-2s and the ISU assault guns that they have more options to take smaller, more "elite" lists.

All i can say is for the starter soviet player is that Plastic Solider and Zvezda are the cheapest and best options.I have built some really nice soviet forces for a good price.Even better with the new FOW plastic infantry.

 Orlanth wrote:
Soviet hordes only apply to infantry, and they are cheap via plastic boxsets.

Soviet tanks are NOT a horde army in terms of numbers, that distinction goes to US tanks. Soviet tanks are deployed as a horde, but are actually fairly expensive in points unless you go light tanks, and western allies can do that too. Shermans cost less than Soviet equivalents so you get more. All this may seem counter-intuitive, but this is the price of a points balanced game.

lol check the price for a full easy eight jumbo 5 platoon tank that rivals a pnather platoon
that said soviet tanks and us armour can be a horde army and a eltlie army
t-34 cost mor than shermans not sure what book your using?

There's a review of the new Battlefront Strelkovy box on this blog now (linked through the Battlefront site)

http://www.breakthroughassault.co.uk/2015/07/review-sbx33-strelkovy-battalion-plastic.html

Have to say they look very nice!