HQ  120 points

• HQ
• AT-Rifle platoon
• AT-Platoon  obr 1942

Strelkovy Company I 305 points

• 3 rifle platoons
• 2 mortar squads

Strelkovy Company II 335 points

• 3 rifle platoons
• HMG
• 3 mortar squads

Strelkovy Flame thrower Platoon  320 points

• 4 sections

Rocket Mortar Battery 215 points

• 2 rocket mortar platoons
• AA

Assault Gun Company 200 points

• 4x SU-76M

You are going to expect a lot of losses. This is why there is a full rifle team who’s sole reason for existing is to protect your rifle/MG mortar teams. Any of the Rifle squads that survive long enough will join in assaulting your opponent. To deal with tanks from long range you get the full squad of assault guns and if you get your command HQ into assault range, the AT guns are there to punch holes in side armour.

The flamethrower unit is there to deal with deeply entrenched infantry and heavily armoured tanks. You need to keep these guys alive as long as possible as they will cause tremendous damage in close.

No Soviet force would be complete without rocket support. This unit will cause a tremendous amount of damage to your opponent forcing them to either keep on the move or face bombardment. You could change this unit for standard artillery, but nothing says Soviets like rockets do.

Take your losses strategically, swarm the enemy and overwhelm them at short range where your numbers will prevail. With soviets it is all or nothing and this army takes that approach with all but one platoon at full strength.

This is a mid war 600 point Soviet Tankovy list from the Ostfront book.

HQ 95 points

T-34  with cupola

Tank Company 500 points

5 t-34 tanks + tank riders

This list is very straight forward. Attack with the tanks and unload your SMG teams to help hold positions or lead the assault. Tank companies are always attacking and cannot waste any time taking their objective. Hit your target hard and fast and kill them before all your tanks are destroyed.

T-34 (mid/late war)

The backbone of a soviet tank platoon. The T-34 is fast, not particularly well armoured but also very cheap. Great for flanking the enemy or engaging infantry, these fast tanks are best used in numbers. Like all soviet forces taking losses is just a part of winning, you just need more tanks than the enemy can kill!

If you are playing mid war you may opt for the up armoured version. it loses its fast tank ability but gains an additional point of armour on the front and sides around. Against very highly armoured tanks the faster version is sometimes the better choice as even with the stronger main gun you will still need side armour shots to destory them.

T-34/57 (mid war)

If you need some extra firepower to take out heavier armour the t-34/57 can give you that extra punch. It is still a fast tank which makes it useful for flanking.

T-34/85 (late war)

This is the late war replacement of the T-34/57. It has better anti tank firepower and slightly better front armour, but it loses its fast tank ability. Given that in the late war you start seeing some very heavily armed and armoured tanks, this is a good trade off.

When taking Soviet infantry it is always a good idea to take the maximum size of company available. The reason behind this is twofold. Since during the early to mid war they have a skill rating of conscript, they will get shot very easily. If there aren’t sufficient bodies to soak up the damage they tend to get scared and run away. Remember that if your company drops below half strength this forces a morale check. With only 2 platoons in an infantry company and the conscript level of training, wiping out a platoon isn’t terribly hard to do. Increasing the number of platoons in a company to  3 means that the enemy must destroy 2 of them before a company morale check is forced.

The second reason to take full companies is to put enough fire on the enemy to cause some damage. When fighting against highly trained troops the Soviets will need a large volume of fire to take down the enemy. A veteran unit that is concealed and gone to the ground is only hit on a 6 while the equivalent Soviet is hit on a 4. The soviets need to keep up their volume of fire to inflict damage or they will find they are dying and running away much faster than they can kill the enemy.

Soviets are strong when they have the numbers but their effectiveness quickly drops off as they take losses. They need to act while they still have critical mass, for everything else is stacked against them.

It is worth noting that the Soviets become trained in the late war. This opens up a lot of flexibity since their troops become a lot harder to hit.