Specnaz – army of many ways

Article by: Balint Lengyel

Do you like playing Spetsnaz? I bet you do. The more accurate question is – do you like playing against them? Any traumas? We will try to heal these below

My first encounter with SSU forces dedicated for battles in the hottest places on earth wasn’t a happy one. Compared to their closest rivals from NDAK  they looked weak. Less firepower, better point costs, cooler models.. But under the bit of doubt an army that always stands up to the task is present. The numerous forces od soviet commandos have many aces in their sleeve. Where to look for them?

Spetsnaz has 2 spectacularly good platoons and some “accompanying” units. My first pick is of course Rosa platoon, that allows all of your special forces soldiers to go camo – and stay that way as long as our brave sniper woman is alive. So be careful with her and you’re gonna be good. With minimal walker support – required Natasha and some Aleksei or Nadya – that army stays invisible and closes in, until it’s too late. Commanding officer is able to plan one or two surgical strikes right were the enemy gonna bleed most. Afterwards some remnants elimination is needed, where shoot first, go camo later can do miracles. And make the other player go down cursing loudly.  

What I should remember constructing an army based on Rosa? Spetsnaz Red Yana accompanied by a squad of killers is a must have. She’s a tough catch but why noot convert an armor 2 version for some desert warfare? The base of your anti tank infantry will be the old “Specialists” anti tank squad – so take plenty of those. I don’t leave my house without 3 squads of them, same for good old saboteur squads. They don’t bring so much AT punch as their fellow commrads but are a tad cheaper and are faster – which is the clue when working with Spetsnaz. 

Other good combos coming into your army are based on light vehicles. PT-47’s driving your concealed troops using their separate camo platoon allow to speed up your setup and take over key positions before first shots are fired. Also the new spetsnaz Red Rain looks very interesting when you add a few squads of arty observers into the mix. On the last EU Championschip such setup worked very well for me, decimating dozens of enemy combatants. 

Not everybody likes the covert operations approach and instead of staying in the shadows prefer lighting assaults on enemy positions, that Guderian himself would be proud of. For them the Vasiliy platoon was created – allowing a free at the double ability for your units. For those who are not familiar with it – it allows a free move action after a unit marched (and it’s the only case allowed by rules in the whole game). If the map is not too open, then the ability to sprint for 6 to 8 fields opens up a variety of tactical maneuvers. Of course charging forward is usually not the best tactic to use, be mindful of your enemy actions! 

In case of Vasili you can also lower the number of infantry units used, focusing on walkers!  Four of these are the right receipt for a glorious raid in the name of the motherland. But that’s no all! It’s one of the few rare cases when your units can make it to the enemy positions in turn one! How? In this army I would not use the artillery support, focusing on officer support in a command vehicle. Well placed reactivation can be quite a shock for your opponent. 

Comparison of 2 mentioned platoons shows us how much variety Spetsnaz brings into the game. A feat that in my opinion is not there for NDAK. And never forget the most expensive air transport in the game! The dangerous and crazy Invader. That assault vehicle is as i mentioned crazy expensive, but it’s fire and transport capabilities are making up for it easily. The ability to transport troops and allow them to activate afterwards is the real prize here. Imagine a Red Yana supported by a killers squad riding your enemy forces in turn one or two. Assaulting from the safety of Invader troop compartment. That machine can find it’s place in any Spetsnaz army. Just don’t be too brave with it! 25 points is a costly toy to loose from some pesky AA fire.

As always there are some less perspective units in the army. I myself cannot find a place for Red Fury when my Anti Tank Squads focus on enemy armor. Similar problem comes with Anatoly who seems a bit too expensive for my taste. But overall these few examples shouldn’t cover the very interesting army which Spetsnaz is.