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Seems this game is gaining popularity! Hahaha

Anyway, im a total new guy here. I played a bit of W40K, and are slowly kinda realizing I just don't have the time, budget, or friends interested in sci-fi enough to keep going on with it as my main game. If there is one thing I have though, it's friends who love historical stuff. So im here.

I'm not quite sure what to do though. I know I want to play as the Soviets, I just love their "tactics" and ideas. It always interested me, lots of poorly equipped and trained men charging forth to absorb bullets for the tanks (thats why I played Imperial Guard too hahaha). But their are a lot of books and unit boxes that im just a bit confused as to what I can buy. I may buy the new starter set though, to give me and my friends both some mini's to try it out with before I dedicate myself. Any tips?

Oh, and I live in the Philadelphia area (Delaware Country, Springfield if you know where that is) and mostly go up to Showcase Comics up in the Granite Run Mall for my gaming. So if anyone around here or there plays FOW and wants to show me a bit., I would appreciate it.

Welcome to Flames of War

I live in the Philadelphia area too (Delaware County, Glen Mills). I know Showcase Comics has a good FOW following. I am sure if you go up there and if there is anybody playing they'll show you the ropes. Tuesday nights are the FOW open gaming. Friday and Saturday is when more people are there too.

I too am a FOW noob. I have one game under my belt. Just haven't had a chance to get more in. As for books, if you want to go Russians, Red Bear is a good place to start. But yes the starter set coming out soon would be a great place to start, plus it is a great deal price wise.

Hey-o! Here to join the Philly party!

Well Soviets are always a fun army to play.

I'll explain to you how to create an army the best I can and in the simplest way possible to make it easy. Trust me, when I got into FoW, I was a bit lost and confused myself.

Ok, first of all, there are three different periods, Early War (1939-40) Mid War (1941-43) and LW (1944 to End), the Soviets are mainly LW but can also be played in MW and soon to be Early war! and like you said they are indeed a massive horde army, and I mean massive.

Second, do you like the idea of lots of tanks, or lots of infantry? Lets say you like tanks for example. You could have an army like this

HQ:
1 T-34/85 Obr Command Tank
Combat:
5 T-34's, 5 T-34/85 Obr, all have Cupolas
5 T-34's, 5 T-34/85 Obr, all have Cupolas
10 10 T-70 obr 1943
5 5 SU-85

That gives you 36 tanks to play with in a 1750 game. I'm not sure how competitivly sound that list is, but hey, if you like tanks, YOU LIKE TANKS!

If your asking me how I made that list, here is how; first you have to buy specific army books (like 40k Codex's) for certain periods and what battle, like the Allied D-Day Late War book which gives you lists for British and American Infantry, Paratrooper and Armoured Companies. But for Soviets, you could buy the "Red Bear" book for Soviet LW Infantry and Armoured Companies.

And when you find a list you like or are interested in you'll see a selection page, but first you must select the blacked out squares, sorta like the troops and HQ slots, then you go out and fill in what ever you want, like Air Support or Artillery etc etc. But like you said, the starter set could be a start as well, lots of models for a really good price, what is it, like 75 bucks American?

Hope that helped a little bit.

^This did help a whole lot! Good to know there is some local following, so I shouldn't have too big a problem finding games.

Thanks for the info about the soviets! Personally, I was always a "Drown them in Infantry" kinda person, but from what I have heard getting started with Infantry in the Soviets gets expensive fast and for starts I would like to keep it realitvly low on the price side (plus, the T-34 is my favorite tank of the era so....yay! Haha).

Question about the eras. For instance, if I play a Mid-War Soviet tank army (which I was planning on), could I play against late-war US Paratroopers for instance? AKA could games happen across eras or are they there to keep the lists and armies balanced (so crossing eras could OP things)?

Lastly, if I can't cross eras, does anyone know what era seems popular around me? I don't want to collect something to learn I can't use it hahaha

Correction, im gonna do Late-War Soviet Tanks. My friend LOVES the Finnish army and he just found out they have a model count in FOW. So we are doing late-war haha

Cross era can't happen, a Tiger 1E in MW for example is an absolute monster and weighs in at over 300 points. By LW it's still relevant, but at a cheaper 240ish points due to the relative increase in weapons that can hurt it (Tiger II takes on the behemoth role in LW).

Late War is probably your best bet in terms of popularity, that seems to be the case in most areas. People start on LW and often start collecting another force from another era.

Costs aren't too bad from Battlefront but you can get cheaper 15mm figures from other companies which work out fine.

^Ahhh okay thanks for answering that! I will have to check out the meta, just in case.


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Oh, and is there any particular brand of model that people seem to like for the Soviets that are cheaper? Im not feeling the $58 for 5 tanks thing (I looked at PSC, they had the T-34 deal which is 21 tanks for $90. That looks nice, and I won't need many more than that haha)....

PSC is probably the best company out there for 15mm tanks. The models are high quality and very affordable. I built a 2000 pt. German Panzerkompanie for about $100 because of their tanks.

21 T-34s should be exactly what you need, as common advice for Soviet Tankovy is to max T-34s.

 washout77 wrote:
^Ahhh okay thanks for answering that! I will have to check out the meta, just in case.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and is there any particular brand of model that people seem to like for the Soviets that are cheaper? Im not feeling the $58 for 5 tanks thing (I looked at PSC, they had the T-34 deal which is 21 tanks for $90. That looks nice, and I won't need many more than that haha)....

I put built a nice Soviet Tank company awhile back for somebody.All i can say is that the Warstore will be your new best friend.They have everything you need for the Soviets.I bought everything from them.Here is a list that i started with from them.
PSC
One box of Infantry
2 boxes of t-series(i made t-86 out of the set)
Ifantry weapons set,Goto have heavy mortars
ZVezda
Stormvik planes
4 katys
1 truk.
3 KV 1s
BAttlefront
One tanker hero used as a command tank
quad 50. cal half track
Blockade hero set for my infantry command.
I dont remember price on what i spent but it was under 200 dollars.

^Oooooo okay I like that. I mean....I spent nearly $150 to make my current IG army and it's barely hitting 700 points( Tanks are a good $60 for one, 150 point tank...ugh...). I think I prefer that more. So im doing a late-war Tankovy army. So i'm planning on getting the 21 T-34 army deal I saw....somewhere, I need to re-find it. That should make most of my army for $90. Oh, and I need to get the books. I know what im spending my next pay-day on....

I think you were probably looking at the army deal on PSCs website: http://theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_83_84_87&products_id=474

If this is what you are looking at, I would not suggest it. With the conversion rate and the high shipping to the US (shipping is 20% of the price of the product to US for PSC) it will cost you about $130 for the 21 tank army deal. Alternatively, it will cost you $101 to buy 4 boxes (20 in total) of PSC T-34s from the Warstore (http://www.thewarstore.com/theplasticsoldiercompany15mmscale.html). Like Col. Krazy Kenny, I would suggest getting the T-34s and the rest of the trapping for your army from the Warstore, as they usually have the best prices, and if not, the $5.95 shipping helps!

I actually wasn't hahahahaha, but the prices changed from the last time I looked or I was blind when I read it last XD

I really like the Warstore, if only the stuff wasn't so out of stock hahaha

Send the owner, Neil an email and he'll give you an estimate on a replenishment time. I've heard that the War Store's customer service is second to none.

They do. I have used them in the past for other things, and I always loved them hahaha


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I was just curious, looking at a ton of stuff from different manufacturers and was wondering what people thought of Zvezda?

I found this (http://www.thewarstore.com/product67172.html) and a bit of calculation made it out to be cheaper. But with that does it come at a lower quality? Just curious what people thought about it....

I have some of them they are decent. But you will want the PSc set. It has both turrets and in lw you will want the 86 gun.The t-34 that we use are just a screen to take hits away from the other tanks.
As for books depends on your budget. I would get Red bear if you can afford it. or the old Fortress Europe book has a decent soviet section.But red bear has alot of background info in it.Also a nice store for Battlefront is Discount games.It is a ebay store with a discount and free shipping.That is my current supplier for my BAttlefront models,especially if i am not doing a large order.

I see. I was planning on getting Red Bear, im not THAT cheap hahahaha I can afford the books. I just couldn't afford $300 worth of models *cough* GW *cough*. I see, Im still planning on the PSC set, but for $3.49 I can still see them being useful if I need a cheap singular model for something (I do a lot of diorama too).

Now to begin the money saving....

Another thing to note is the Zvezda T-34/76 is the 1940 model, which has substantial (most noticeably the turret) differences from the PSC T-34/76 (which is a later version of the T-34/76). So for use together, they would not work well.

I really enjoy my zvezda models. I have the KV-1s and some il-2s. The quality for the price is amazing. The only problem is that they are early war versions. The KV-1 is a model 1939 with a L-11 76mm instead of the F-34. Also, the il-2 is the earlier single seat version. The plastic is good quality and it fits so tight that you do not need any glue at all.

Most Zvezda stuff is intended for mid-war - even their IL2 Sturmovik is an earlier version, but it can work if You are not that picky. IIRC the only Zvezda stuff which can go directly to Late War is katyushas. My friend is doing exactly the same thing as you and he said that he actually preferred PSC to Zvezda because of the turret and gun issues. Also, You can look at the Forged in Battle resin kits, except that they come with pre-cast bases which You cannot remove.

 Albeezie wrote:
I really enjoy my zvezda models. I have the KV-1s and some il-2s. The quality for the price is amazing. The only problem is that they are early war versions. The KV-1 is a model 1939 with a L-11 76mm instead of the F-34. Also, the il-2 is the earlier single seat version. The plastic is good quality and it fits so tight that you do not need any glue at all.

I guess i have been lucky that all of the people i have played are not picky about that type of stuff.

Yeah, I don't think my friends are gonna be really picky about the difference. But thanks for all the help guys!

 col. krazy kenny wrote:
I have some of them they are decent. But you will want the PSc set. It has both turrets and in lw you will want the 86 gun.The t-34 that we use are just a screen to take hits away from the other tanks.
As for books depends on your budget. I would get Red bear if you can afford it. or the old Fortress Europe book has a decent soviet section.But red bear has alot of background info in it.Also a nice store for Battlefront is Discount games.It is a ebay store with a discount and free shipping.That is my current supplier for my BAttlefront models,especially if i am not doing a large order.

Well if you want Picky, thats an 85mm gun


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I love the Zvevda Tanks, but I do play early war.

So Neal told me he doesn't know when PSC is gonna restock them. He told me weeks to a few months....okay then haha

 Aldramelech wrote:

 col. krazy kenny wrote:
I have some of them they are decent. But you will want the PSc set. It has both turrets and in lw you will want the 86 gun.The t-34 that we use are just a screen to take hits away from the other tanks.
As for books depends on your budget. I would get Red bear if you can afford it. or the old Fortress Europe book has a decent soviet section.But red bear has alot of background info in it.Also a nice store for Battlefront is Discount games.It is a ebay store with a discount and free shipping.That is my current supplier for my BAttlefront models,especially if i am not doing a large order.

Well if you want Picky, thats an 85mm gun


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I love the Zvevda Tanks, but I do play early war.

your rite! That one i will give you!


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 washout77 wrote:
So Neal told me he doesn't know when PSC is gonna restock them. He told me weeks to a few months....okay then haha

Try Noble knight games. They sale all of the major manufatures.

Looks like they got all that you need in stock. http://www.nobleknight.com/ViewProducts.asp_Q_ProductLineID_E_2137426766_A_ManufacturerID_E_2145086218_A_CategoryID_E_17_A_GenreID_E_

Also the carry, Old glory,Zvezda,Forged in battle,Battlefront and some of the smaller 15mm companies models.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 col. krazy kenny wrote:

 Aldramelech wrote:

 col. krazy kenny wrote:
I have some of them they are decent. But you will want the PSc set. It has both turrets and in lw you will want the 86 gun.The t-34 that we use are just a screen to take hits away from the other tanks.
As for books depends on your budget. I would get Red bear if you can afford it. or the old Fortress Europe book has a decent soviet section.But red bear has alot of background info in it.Also a nice store for Battlefront is Discount games.It is a ebay store with a discount and free shipping.That is my current supplier for my BAttlefront models,especially if i am not doing a large order.

Well if you want Picky, thats an 85mm gun


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I love the Zvevda Tanks, but I do play early war.

your rite! That one i will give you!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 washout77 wrote:
So Neal told me he doesn't know when PSC is gonna restock them. He told me weeks to a few months....okay then haha

Try Noble knight games. They sale all of the major manufatures.

Looks like they got all that you need in stock. http://www.nobleknight.com/ViewProducts.asp_Q_ProductLineID_E_2137426766_A_ManufacturerID_E_2145086218_A_CategoryID_E_17_A_GenreID_E_

Also the carry, Old glory,Zvezda,Forged in battle,Battlefront and some of the smaller 15mm companies models.

my typing suks this morning,need more coffee.

So, again thanks for all the help here! Im running out to my FLGS to see there stock of stuff and possibly observe a game if I get lucky. Pay-day is coming up soon, so I money won't be an issue for long...

So, im thinking about infantry as well now that my budget has built up incredibly. What do people think of Old Glory? I saw they had packs of Soviet Infantry (50 minis) for $15, and was curious if that reflected the quality for im just being paranoid because im used to mini's being ridiculously expensive?

 washout77 wrote:
So, im thinking about infantry as well now that my budget has built up incredibly. What do people think of Old Glory? I saw they had packs of Soviet Infantry (50 minis) for $15, and was curious if that reflected the quality for im just being paranoid because im used to mini's being ridiculously expensive?

You will need to buy command models,Just buy the PSC set it has command models included in it. Buy it and the Battlefront Bloclkade hero set and you will probably not need any more infantry. with the two set should give you around a 140 models total plus a commisar and 3 maxim mg teams and also a nice pewter charcter for your commander..

But ido have the smg pack of 50 from old glory they do make decent tank rider(the ones that actually ride the tanks in combat not the battalion.
but remember you will need to buy bases.

Hey, sorry for the delay.

I've been looking into infantry, and I like the choices but I must ask something.

What do you mean by the blockade hero set? I can't seem to find it or am I just blind?

Oh, and I have some questions about PSC's infantry. Do they come with bases? And are ALL the models like one piece sculpts? I got the Open Fire! set today and it was a pain in the ass trying to assemble 15mm multi-part infantry (the prone MG gunners for the US Paras)...

Here is the product code. http://www.flamesofwar.com/online_store.aspx?CategoryID=13117

I should have told you it was a Warrior team set. I am pretty bad a bout buying up warriors and just using them as generic officers etc.

As for Basaes the PSC kits do not include them ,So you will have to buy them seperately.Also the infantry are multi part.

Ahhhhhh okay, thanks!

Bases shouldn't be that expensive though, as far as I can tell. The multi-part thing kinda puts me off, I should be used to it since I've built a crap-ton of infantry models but 15mm is just so hard to work with outside vehicles haha