"Which FOW book for late war ussr?" Topic

Dear all,
I'm a little confused and would like some advice. I want to run some big armor battles using my colection of late war Soviet and German 1-144 scale tanks using FOW rules.
I want to know, if I choose only one book, which one should I buy, Festung/Fortress Europe/a or Bagration?
I want to run lots of IS 2's and ISU152's vs King Tigers, a small company of Panthers, a couple of Jadgepanzer IV's Hetzers. Does FE include late war German & Soviet tank units
of the types mentioned above or do I need to get Bagration as well? (I'd rather just get the one book-since I'm not interested in running Straff or Sturm companies).
Thamks in advance to all,
Tony Banks,
Sth Korea

Fortress Europe, or Festung Europa. Bagration is just a scenario book.

Thanks for the very swift reply. Is there any diff between Fortress Europe or Festung Europa?
Thanks again, all.
Tony Banks,
Korea

For now, FE is probably what you want. The newer books are all scenario-specific, while FE covers the full range of Soviet and German late war stuff.

You do need the core rule book in addition!

The composition of forces you're describing does not sound like an 'official' list for FoW though. At most, you can take 5 IS-2 in support of an armored company, for example. There's nothing wrong with ignoring the formal list guidelines for friendly games. The rules work fine with anything you care to field that's provided in the stat lines. Just be aware of the formal list requirements if you're interested in doing tournaments and such down the road.

- Bob

Fortress Europe is the latest book and has revised point values and a few organisational changes. Festung Europa has more lists but is the old book and for Soviets you will be much better off with Fortress Europe.

There is a series of campaign books in progress about the Bagration offensive. The first of these is Stalin's Onslaught which includes three Soviet lists:
Shtraf (penal battalion)
Udarny Strelkovy (assault infantry)
Guareyskiy Tyazhelyy Tankovy (heavy tank battalion)

and a couple of German ones:
Sturmkompanie and StuG Batterie

Hammy lays it out well.

Festung Europa was the introductory "generic" collection of lists, published before Battlefront really had the whole "Hey! Let's issue specific lists in a boatload of campaign books!" concept down. So it included a bunch of interesting variants. It also included a bunch of errors; Battlefront eventually caved in to popular demand and issued errata. Battlefront states that you can still use the lists in Festung Europa. Whether this is practical if the book is not reprinted is a concern for some players.

Fortress Europe is the simplified introductory list collection that Battlefront now probably wishes they had come out with first. It is not really a replacement for Festung Europa, as it omits nearly all the Commonwealth variants that were in the previous book, as well a number of other favorite lists, such as British recce.

Fortress Europe is praised by some for adopting the "simpler" organization charts that were pioneered with the Cobra supplement. Combined with the reduced list selection, it is touted as more accessible for beginners. It also was published with notable errors, some of which have been addressed in an errata PDF.

There is no Bagration supplement per se; the operation will be covered with a number of specific supplements, just as the Normandy campaign has been covered with a number of specific supplements. As Hammy says, Stalin's Onslaught is the first of the Operation Bagration supplements.

For a broader range of generic lists: Festung Europa.

For a smaller range of lists, but possibly longer legs for gaming in official events: Fortress Europe.

For specific divisional variants: keep an eye out for the future supplements. It doesn't sound like Stalin's Onslaught has much that would appeal to you, apart frokm the Soviet heavy tank battalion.

Allen

I would possibly recommend purchasing the "Stalins Onslaught' to build your Soviet forces, and then "Fotress Europe" to build the German ones. They are both late war books, and will give you the advantage of building large (big Heavy) units.

For example: in Fortress Europe you can run MULTIPLE Panther Coy's, and use KT's or Tigers as Support units. But in each book you have to have the alotted CORE units to faciliate 1)an army…and 2)Support units

Hope that helps!
-Troy

Stalins Onslaught is not just a scenario book, it has some specific lists in there (IS2 comp, up to 16 IIRC), a Shtraf penal company and normal Strelk.
Next up is "Hammer and Sickel", details are a bit sketchy at present but it will feature T34/85 company and (?) ISU122/152 Comp, Rota Razdesky (mech recce).

FOr someone new to Soviets I would not recommend the Stalins Onslaught. THe units in there are pretty specialised. Get Fortress Europe as a generic book and try a few games and forces. If you then feel happy that the forces you use would benefit from the changes involved then move on to the Stalins Onslaught ones, or possibly by that time other units in the Bagration series of books, go for it.