Editing Ostfront/Tactics/Soviet Army (section)

==Why play Soviet Army?==
'''Pros'''
*Heavy tanks available in ''every'' period, including Fall Weiss
*Versatile roster
*Have the benchmark medium tank
*Access to rockets
*3+ AA gun that can fire at ground targets
*Access to a 2+ towed gun from Mid War
*3+ gun in Fall Weiss
*Comparatively cheap heavy tanks
*Wide assault gun roster
'''Cons'''
*All tank-mounted 2+ guns have a load check
*No half-tracks
*Lacking in specialized vehicles
*No AT rifles in Fall Weiss
*Some otherwise great vehicles have no AP
*Their mid-war is pretty weak, and their late war options are generally a little weaker than their counterparts.

The Soviets are actually pretty straightforward - they have a decent set of artillery options and they have well-rounded tanks. Just like in reality, they do best when using T-34s in quantity, but their assault guns give them some options for digging in. Generally a jack of all trades army, they can adapt to most situations fairly easily.

===Units===
====Light vehicles====
'''GAZ-67''': Generic jeep, provides a viable option for assault infantry transport due to lack of half-tracks.

'''Aerosani''': A situational jeep for winter fights. Actually armoured, if lightly

'''BA-10''': A remarkably nasty armoured car. Not the fastest, but packs tank-grade firepower.

'''Katyusha''': Stalin's Organs. Squishy, but excellent if you need a grid square erased. One-shot, ungodly scatter, but boy does it hurt anything that's unlucky enough to be where it hits.

'''ZSU-37''': A slightly less squishy mobile AA. 
====Light tanks====
'''BT-7''': A very speedy little tank, but can damage light armour at best.

'''T-26''': A slow light tank. Cheap in points, though squishy and models can be hard to come by in 1/72. Zvezda has them in 1/100. Generally best used to support infantry.

'''T-70''': Fairly standard light tank, though its speed is nothing to call home about.

'''Fall Weiss'''

'''T-27''': A barebones tankette. Can harrass infantry or light vehicles, but can't do much more.

'''BT-2''': A rather basic light tank, sort of fills the stronger tankette niche.

'''BT-5''': Mighty fast light tank for an average price

'''T-37A''': A ''very'' situational tank; it's amphibious so it pretty much requires a map with water to justify its use. It also doesn't have a lot of firepower, as it only has access to a machinegun and isn't too fast.
====Medium tanks====
'''T-28''': Cheap, but rather squishy for a medium. Its lack of AP puts it firmly in the infantry support role, as it has extra machineguns.

'''T-28C''': Trades some of the T-28's rather shabby speed for Medium-class armour. The Fall Weiss version is stronger.

'''T-34/76''': The benchmark medium tank. On the expensive side early war, it's unusual in that it has no weaknesses. Granted, other mediums are cheaper or with stronger front armour, the T-34 doesn't care if it gets flanked, since it's irrelevant to them due to their armour layout. The 4+ gun and all-around medium armour are a reasonably priced package. Has a flamethrower option.

'''T-34/85''': The upgunned T-34. It's pretty much the same, just a little more pricey and with a 3+ gun instead. The whammy here is that it's not available mid-war, where it could be very useful. 
====Heavy tanks====
'''KV-1''': A nasty wake up call in early war, it's still pretty pricey and the 4+ gun means it's not really a heavy tank killer. A bit of a distraction carnifex, especially so in early war and Fall Weiss, since these periods don't have much in way of guns better than 4+. Falls off when 3+ shows up and falls off hard when 2+ are in the field, since its own gun isn't very strong by then.

'''KV-2''': Essentially a KV-1... just with a howitzer, letting you wreck stuff hard, even more so with two of them to form a battery. It's even more expensive, however, so it's in between situational and fluffy.

'''IS-1''': A Tiger I counterpart. A little slow, but fairly well-armoured and with a 3+. One of the two non-towed mid war 3+ options, it faces a minor case of the KV syndrome - the 3+ is not as hot on a heavy tank late war, but it doesn't have a load check.

'''IS-2''': The full-fledged late war heavy tank. It's squishier than Wehrmacht counterparts, but it's still on par with most other heavies. Its main problem is the load check - and it happens to be the reason why someone might opt for an IS-1 instead. A thing of note is its caliber: the 122mm gun can do a number on any infantry it hits. Of course, at its points cost and with the load check, it's not the optimal use.

'''IS-3''': The lean, mean, UFO turret boi. Essentially a tougher and faster IS-2, it still suffers from the load check and is quite a pricey choice.
====Assault guns====
'''SU-76''': A lightly-armoured and open-topped 4+ assault gun. It's cheaper than the ZiS-3, but it's also a little squishier. Still, it is a 36" 4+ on the cheap, so not too shabby.

'''SU-122''': An unusual assault gun and howitzer mix. Two cost as much as a howitzer battery, so it's an unusually viable way to have a more mobile howitzer battery. It's also the cheapest non-towed 3+ option in mid war, though it has a load check.

'''SU-85''': ''The'' Soviet answer to the strong German mid war. It's a little unwieldy - it comes with the assault gun territory - but it's still easier to move around than towed guns. On the squishy side and rather expensive, by late war it's a fluffy choice at best, as the T-34/85 is just plain better all around.

'''SU-152''': Pretty slow, but it has a Heavy armour facing, and a 3+ gun... if with a load check. Now, the trick here is it's a 152mm gun, so it's going to munch infantry for breakfast. Generally more of a fluffy choice, since it's pretty expensive for what it brings.

'''SU-100''': Late war only. Heavy up front, 2+, and actually pretty fast. Quite a practical choice for a tank destroyer, it's still in an awkward place - it's not quite a light-to-medium 2+, and by late war the Heavy facing isn't quite the protection it is in earlier periods. Still, it might be capable of stopping or discouraging a tank rush by putting some serious firepower in a choke point.

'''ISU-122''': Late war only. With H2, it can hold its own and pop mediums like nobody's business; it's still pricey, but it's still cheaper than the IS-2. In general rather situational.
====Towed guns====
'''45mm AT''': Cheap short-ranged 4+. Great for covering narrow openings and such at a low cost, but that does make it situational - it's hard to dislodge when dug in, like all towed guns, but its short range means it can often be ignored.

'''Regimental gun''': No AP means it won't hurt tanks, it's still 4+, so it can be a pain for any light vehicle or soft armour facings. It's pretty much an anti-infantry gun, bringing HE to the yard at a low price.

'''ZiS-3 Gun 76mm''': The generic field gun. 4+, 8 points a pop. Good when you can dig them in and provide a resilient source of medium ranged kill zones.

'''85mm 52-K''': The Russian version of the 88. Can provide AA saves, and provides the Soviets with an immobile but effective 3+ before it's a common sight. Absolutely ridiculous in Fall Weiss, since it happens to be the meanest gun available bar none. 

'''ZiS-2 AT''': The 2+ gun. Not only does it become available mid-war, it's also the cheapest source of 2+ firepower available to the Soviets... and ''without'' their usual load check. Of course, it's still a towed gun, so it isn't going to be able to move much. The only real issue is availability of the models in some scales.


===General tactics===
'''Massed T-34s''': Self-explanatory; the T-34 is a very good medium tank and if massed, wreckage can block the enemy or the sheer number of shots can overwhelm the enemy. They can't be outflanked, since they're Medium all-around, and they can still move just fine. It's harder to do maneuver warfare against them than, say, Shermans, but you will need quite a lot of them. You still want other units, but T-34s are pretty much your bread and butter, so you'll definitely always want them - they can work in pretty much any situation and make great offensive tools.

'''Static defence''': The Soviets have a wide array of assault guns, which work well when they don't have to move, and a full spectrum of towed guns. In between howitzer fire and the various field guns, they can form a real nasty defensive line.

'''The Heavy''': Early war and in Fall Weiss, the Soviets have the KV-1. The 4+ 36" gun is strong rather than average in that period and the KV is practically unkillable in those periods - it can bounce a lot of 4+ fire easily, so the only real recourse is focusing howitzers or 3+ AA guns if you have them on the KV. The third option is grenades, but getting infantry this close might be difficult. Of course its points cost means it might be hard to accomplish objectives, so bear that in mind

'''Infantry''': The Soviets have the T-28 early war and the T-26 later. They are cheap and they do a great job accompanying infantry, either drawing fire off infantry or providing them with extra firepower, at infantry range and beyond.

[[Category:Ostfront/Tactics]]