Sunday, September 30, 2012

The Human Wave

My Allied list got me thinking- what if I were to take the SSU "human wave" concept to its natural extreme. What if I were to completely remove the KV47 walkers from the picture? I'd end up with almost 60 soldiers on the table is what would happen. That's a lot of angry Russian goodness.

Here's the idea:

Faction: SSU ( 295 / 300 )

---  Heroes
Nikolaï (20)
Yakov (21)

---  Defense Platoon (137)
Upgrade: Improved Command (5)
Command Section: "The Medvedi" SSU Command Squad (25)
1st Section: "Frontoviki" SSU Battle Squad (20)
2nd Section: "Frontoviki" SSU Battle Squad (20)
3rd Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
4th Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
Commissar: "The Sumarokov" (5)
Commissar: "The Trediakovsky" (8)
Support: "Jnetzi" SSU Sniper Team (14)

---  Defense Platoon (117)
Upgrade: Improved Command (5)
Command Section: "The Medvedi" SSU Command Squad (25)
1st Section: "Fakyeli" SSU Close Combat Squad (21)
2nd Section: "Fakyeli" SSU Close Combat Squad (21)
3rd Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
4th Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
Commissar: "The Derzhavin" (5)

It's my current SSU army with a couple of tweaks. First of all, no armor. Again, this is to deny my opponent's anti-tank assets. Anything that rolls a lot of dice against vehicles has a tendency (not always, but frequently) to roll a lot less dice against Infantry 2 targets. I'll still need to look out for Spray weapons, but with two more Rifle Squads the enemy will have to dump a lot more fire into my anti-tank assets to silence them. I still have my five machinegun squad, and it still cranks out 15 dice at 16". It was withering against Axis Zombies, and for units that rely on mob tactics like that it can be a game changer.

The Rifle Mob will still contain Nikolai, allowing them to hit on blanks when they sustained fire. That means hitting on blanks with re-rolls. And Armor Penetrating. Nasty. The other two Rifle Squads, as well as the Snipers will dig in and use their 30" range to discourage enemy units from advancing.

Finally, there's the two Close Combat squads. with their commissar and Yakov the mob can crank out an insane number of dice. Of course, Yakov could always join the Battle Squads, and that would mean that the mass of dice would also deny cover, which means a very dead squad. I suppose it will depend on my opponent's army and the scenario.

What does this army fear? Vehicle 7. I simply cannot stop walkers that big. The loss of my walker mounted Sulfur Throwers will really show then. That's a minor factor though. Short of an air-dropped Fireball, I should be able to shrug off the enemy's firepower.

That's it for this brainstorming session. Maybe this list will supersede my Allied list. That really depends on my financial situation, but the odds are pretty good.

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