Urod for the Red Blok is quite a power house. The Hetman is quite a capable Type 2 AFV, but give it 2 repairs and it becomes very hard to take down. This, in a nutshell describes Urod. With high leadership, high armour and the long range AT-Cannon it is best used to pick off battle suits initally as it charges towards the enemy. The Medium Rocket Launchers have limited range so in order to get full use out of this AFV, it needs to keep moving towards the enemy.

The activation of Urod becomes very important as using his repairs at the right time is essential. Make no mistake, your opponent will throw everything they have at this guy and he will go down eventually, but this will buy you enough time to move the rest of your forces into position.

Backing up Urod with a min sized squad of krasnye with mechanics will increase his survivability, giving him 4 repairs a turn. This becomes even more feasable with Urod being given shield formation in order to protect the delicate repair unit.

Urod with his range and repairs makes for a highly survivable AFV commander, in a frontline list he becomes almost a must have and there is hardly a time when taking urod is a poor tactical decision.

There is a nice little AT-43 scenario available called Premier weapons. It is for UNA and Red Blok and uses 2 units for each side. Should be a pretty fun game to play if you’re short on time or want to make a little demo for people. You can download it here.

This also sets some back story for Sgt Timofiyeva. I sure hope that more back story of the various AT-43 Heroes and history will be revealed through mini scenarios like this. Especially if they become a frequent occurrence.

So you’re thinking of starting a Red Blok army but don’t know where to start? This article is for you. There are a few basic units that will fill out your Red Blok army that you will likely use no matter what type of list you want to take. Later I will go over a bare bones red blok list, it wont win you every game but if you’re on a budget it is a very good starting point to expand on later.

Captain Vrachov

This commander can either drive a Kossak or join a krasnye Soldaty unit as a third medic. He is very useful on foot and makes the unit he joins very hard to dislodge from cover.

Sgt. Tymofiyeva

When on foot in an RPG soldaty unit Sgt. Tymofiyeva gets the disruption ability. in addition she has interference which allows her to move any card in the opponents activation sequence (before it has been revealed) to another location. This can play havoc with their activation order and give you the upper hand. (especially nasty vs  UNA with Col stark as he must deploy first)

Kransye Soldaty

These guys have your only mechanics you’ll likely want a full unit of them as they also are very difficult to dislodge from cover when Captain Vrachov is with them. This gives them 3 medics and the ability to stay alive forever.

Urod / Kossak

You will need one of these type 2 AFV’s both are decent choices. If you get Urod you have some extra long range weapons and the ability to self repair, if you get the Kossak you can turn him into KK5 which can heal nearby troops (especially useful for getting kolossus to the battle alive). Urod will be more forgiving to mistakes as his repairs turn him into an absolute beast. If you take the Kossak though you may find you have trouble filling up a 2000 pt list without buying another unit of something if you aren’t using RPG kolossus.

RPG Soldaty

These guys get rockets and combat engineers they’re supposed to get in close and melt enemy AFVs. They have to get close like most red blok units as they have very poor accuracy. their standard weapons also have twice the shots of the krasnye so they will score double the imacts with their standard weapons over the krasnye. The combat engineer can blow up terrain to speed this units movement since you dont have to move around something that no longer exists. Blowing up cover is a good way to attack without triggering overwatch as well.

Sierps, 2 of them

Sierps are feared by any army that faces red blok. with 2 light mortars they have a strength of 6, enough to impact even karman type 2 infantry 50% of the time. If 3/4 of the shots hit from this unit you score double impacts. what isn’t killed outright will be grounded. With a unit of 2 of these badboys you can be sure to ground 2 infantry units a turn. In addition to this the sierps have the disruption ability which drains the Enemies LP pool by 1 point per sierp. This can constrain what the enemy will do with their LP and can be a game changer if you can snipe / kill their commander.

Kolossus, RPG or Dragomirov

Both of these kolossus are good choices. The Dragomirovs have one rocket launcher and one mgauss giving you 6 rocket shots and 9 mgauss shots to divide among your opponents. If you want some pure anti AFV firepower go with the RPG kolossus they get 12 rocket shots and once in close very little can survive that sort of onslaught. I prefer to have each unit dedicated to a certain task so RPG’s are what I would take, but if you’re on a budget the dragomirovs might be more flexible.

Dragonov Kommandos

With their Sniper rifles your enemy will think twice about exposing their commanders and battle suits. Keep these guys in the back and pick off high value targets. You can use AT-Gauss Guns with them as well if you need to beef up your AT firepower. They also get the disruption ability just like the sierps, each unit of Dragonovs can cause 2 LP of disruption if they take 2 electronic warfare specialists. This leaves them without medics so it is a bit of a tradeoff.

Final Lists

• 12 krasnye soldaty grenade launchers + captain vrachov
• 12 RPG soldaty +rocket launchers + Sergeant Tymofiyeva
• 9 Dragonov Kommandos + sergeant + sniper rifles
• Urod
• 2 Sierps + sgt

or

• 12 krasnye soldaty grenade launchers
• 12 RPG soldaty +rocket launchers
• 3 RPG kolossus + sgt
• Urod
• 2 Sierps + sgt

or

• 12 krasnye soldaty grenade launchers
• 12 RPG soldaty +rocket launchers + sgt tymofiyeva
• 3 RPG kolossus + sgt
• KK5
• 2 Sierps + sgt

or

• 12 krasnye soldaty grenade Launchers + captain vrachov
• 12 RPG soldaty +rocket launchers
• 9 dragonov kommandos + at-Gauss
• kossak
• 2 Sierps

(final list has a few points to spare)

As you can see all these lists are very similar and will let you get into the game with no wasted purchases. All the units listed here you will use and provide a fairly balanced starter army.

I’ve been playing some games with the available tier 3 units and this week it was the Baal Golgoth. I set up a 2000 point list for either side, the Therians using the Baal golgoth plus some min sized grim golem units and a unit of assault goliaths. On the Red Blok side I ran a standard list Urod, Krasnye soldaty, some RPG kolossus Dragonovs and molots.

The Red Blok list had tremendous trouble inflicting enough damage to defeat the Baal. With 16 armor even the Dragonov at-gauss need 5+ to wound. Atis was very quick in recognizing that the dragonovs were going to be the largest threat and quickly engaged and dispatched them. Urod wounded the baal on a 3+ but for a maximum of 2 damage. The Soldaty took rockets and needed to be in range of the deadly heavy flamer in order to engage so they weren’t much use.

I tried out some bacterial grenades to no avail. Essentially Atis gives the Therians the ability to remove enough strong AT firepower (dragonovs) to make killing the baal extremely difficult. When Dotch Yaga comes along it will be a different story, but I don’t think that Tier 3 should be the only way to deal with the Baal.

Some Quick math came up with the following. assuming that the Baal has no cover and a range of 3.

• RPG kolossus 1 impact (2 damage)
• Dragonov AT-Gauss .83 impact
• Urod .88 impact (1 damage) + .25 impacts (2 damage)
• Kossack .5 impacts (2 damage)
• Dotch Yaga 1.25 impacts (2 damage)
• Soldaty .33 impacts (2 damage)
• Bacteriological Grenades .33 impacts (2 damage)

As you can see nothing comes near the effectiveness of Dotch Yaga in defeating the Baal, there is nothing in the Red Blok arsenal that for equivalent point cost can effectively deal with a tier 3 threat. Which basically forces Red Blok to take a tier three unit because they never know if they will be facing one or not themselves. Even 4 units of min sized krasnye with grenades can potentially put out the same damage as dotch Yaga, but they have to get so close to the baal that its heavy flamer will just melt them.

The Red Blok Kolossus are a very hardy battle suit. With 12 armour regular weapons just bounce off them. Couple that with the take cover drill or an infantry screen and you can give your unit a good chance of getting in close. KK5 with his medic ability can make all the difference though. Especially coupled with the new frostbite combat drill that lets AFV’s become cover, these hardy troopers can advance up the battlefield virtually unscathed.

This works particularly well with Kolossus that have indirect fire weapons as you can advance and still fire with all three while only exposing a spotter to any fire. Should this unit be shot and actually take an impact there is the 3+ cover and a medic provided to KK5 to keep him in the fight.

Use RPG kolossus and hide them entirely, By the time KK5 is in effective range so too will the kolossus and they can simply move out from behind him and unleash their rockets. back KK5 up with a min unit of krasnye soldaty with mechanics and you’ll have a very hardy column of units that all need to get close to the enemy and support each other in getting there.

Overview

Fighting for Justice Equity and Unity the Red Blok seek to fight against those that oppose those values. Each soldier is dedicated to bettering the collective which has been striving for their goal for over a century.

Play Style

The Red Blok combine very heavily armoured AFV’s with large numbers of ground troops. They are a faction that is constantly moving towards the enemy due to their limited effective range. Once the Red Blok guns are within their effective range though they have the potential to unleash an enormous amount of damage. They have many tricks up their sleeves to slow the enemy down and need to use all of them to be effective.

Strengths

• Highly armoured AFVs
• High damage potential of infantry units
• Effective snipers
• Disruption reduces the LP available to their opponent each turn
• Large numbers of troops lets them take and hold strategic positions easily

Weaknesses

• Inaccurate weapons forcing them to advance on the enemy
• Difficulty taking down very heavy AFV’s (Type 3 for example)
• Infantry has lighter armour compared to the other factions