By now you may have read an introductory guide to the two main fighting organisations, a motor rifle regiment and a tank regiment. However, the mighty soviet army had many more organisations to lead the overall forces to victory. If the previous guide focused on decks which were sufficient in itself, this time the soviet command decided to give you decks to support the main fighting force. As such, these decks are not really viable on their own and are designed for serious team-play in a division level game. You are a serious commander, right comrade?

In case you have not consulted a the previous guidehere it is comrade

Unfortunately, specialised equipment such as artillery reconnaissance vehicles and air radars, along with many more, are not represented in Wargame. This may lead to many more compromises than with Motor-rifle and Tank regiments. However, worry not comrade, the overall structure and, most importantly, intended use of such organisations is preserved. As always, we cannot discuss VDV due to lack of BMD’s.

So:
No you still can’t represent VDV.
No you can’t mimic the special units exactly.
*other peculiar limitations will be discussed in text.

Yes you can represent proper specialised regimental and brigade with sufficient level of authenticity from late 70’s (not really, but at least partially) to the late 80’s.
Yes you can make sensible compromises when needed.

As a re-statement of what the previous guide said, and in case you skipped it comrade, because the game is still in beta, and just to make yourself more flexible you will need to lose “era” and “type” bonuses, but by all means keep the glorious USSR national deck bonus for more units. 2+ activation slots is quite a benefit when trying to make as fewest possible compromises. Also, to note, it is best to not try and copy the number of units in a regiment directly, the game does not lend itself to that, the best solution devised by the Motherland is to represent percentages. For example if a real regiment has say 70 tanks to 30 BMP’s than its wise to keep a respective percentage in your forces. Wargame’s unit “veterancy” reduces the number of units so you can always adjust just how many you need.

To correctly represent and play a division it is essential to know what a division was composed of and how many players it would require to play such a game. For the sakes of simplicity and playability, lets again examine the two main types of divisions: Motor-rifle division and Tank Division.

If I wanted to play a realistically structured division level game I would ideally choose at 8v8 and a minimum of 6v6, but the latter that would have to be without division level assets. For instance, lets look at Motor-rifle division.

Well, MRD 1984=
3 MR regiments (3 players) +
1 Tank regiment (1 player) +
1 Artillery regiment (1 player) +
1 SAM/AA regiment (1 player) +
1 Recon bt. (0.5 player)
1 AT bt. (0.5 players)

Total 7 players. 1 extra player could either choose to be a supporting Air (really ideal with some proper investment into SEAD+Air Superiority), supply battalion (tons of trucks and a couple of FOBS), recon battalion or simply be the "propaganda squad" in the chat.

It is slightly more hectic with a 1979 MRD, so it would require an additional player or a compromise with the battalions.

MRD 1979=
3 MR regiments (3 players) +
1 Tank regiment (1 player) +
1 Artillery regiment (1 player) +
1 AA regiment (1 player) +
1 Recon Bt. (0.5 players)+
1 AT bt. (0.5 players)+
1 MBRL bt. (0.5 players)

Total 7.5 players. Here again, the last 8th player would have to compromise between the MBRL bt. and some other halved function, alike the ones I have described above. Also possible to play this with only 6 players per side giving up division level assets.

TD 1984 =
1 MRD regiment (3 players) +
3 Tank regiment (1 player) +
1 Artillery regiment (1 player) +
1 SAM/AA regiment (1 player) +
1 Recon bt. (0.5 player)
1 AT bt. (0.5 players)

TD 1979=
1 MRD regiment (3 players) +
3 Tank regiment (1 player) +
1 Artillery regiment (1 player) +
1 AA regiment (1 player) +
1 Recon Bt. (0.5 players)+
1 AT bt. (0.5 players)+
1 MBRL bt. (0.5 players)

Same numbers of players and division of “labor” as with the MRD. For the sake of not making too many compromises and sticking to the wargame “1985” setting, I recommend sticking to the 1984 type of division, at least for the first time playing.

Example: Soviet tank division structure as in real-life (1984 structure):


Example: Soviet tank division structure as in real-life (1979 structure):

Again commander, the high command cannot stress enough that if you want to properly represent a specific regimen you must research its nature and unit compositions.

HQ
HQ represent all elements which are too small to be represented by individual players such as supply batalion, engineering batalion (flamethrowers) and other little units.

Example: Generic HQ (1985+) with tank, recon, AA and supply battalions along with AT battalion.


Separate Tank Battalion 1984-1991
Should be used in games by the divisional command to protect their assets.
Tanks (T-64/T-80) - 40
Battalion command - 1 (should be represented by T-80UK)
UAZ-469 - 2
BRDM 2 - 1

Separate recon battalion 1975-1985
Recon battalions were used on division level, as a separate element to give information directly to divisional command. Even though each regiment had a recon battalion on its own, direct information is invaluable.

A typical Recon battalion 1975-1985 had:
BMP-1 - 21
BRM-1K - 3
BMP-1K - 1
BTR-60PB - 3
MTLB- 3
T-55 - 6

Separate recon battalion 1975-1985
Same idea as with the previous section, with slightly updated equipment.

A typical Recon battalion 1985-1991 had:
BMP-2 - 21
BRM-1K - 3
BMP-1(2)K
BTR-70/80 - 3
MTLB - 3
T-62 - 6

Recon brigade 1975-1985
Recon brigades were units in high command reserve, but in case you want to play a game with such units in representation (for instance division level game of 1984 structure with 8th player being the Recon brigade).

A typical Recon brigade 1975-1985 had:
BTR-60PB/70 - 42
BMP-1 - 40
Т-62 - 40
BMP-1K - 2
BTR-60PU/70K - 2
BRDM-2 - 10
2B9 Vasilker - 6
BM-21 Grad - 6
Strela-1 - 8
Zsu-23-4 “shilka” - 8
Mi-8 - 20
Mi-2 - 2

Recon brigade 1986-1991
largely the same structure, with additional units and newer alternatives

A typical Recon brigade 1986-1991 had:
BTR-70/80 - 42
BMP-2 - 40
Т-62/72/64 - 40
BMP/BRM-1K - 2
BTR-70K - 2
BRDM-2 - 10
2B9 Vasilker - 3
2S9 Nona-S - 6
BM-21 Grad - 6
Strela-1/10 - 8
Zsu-23-4 “shilka” - 8

VVS support:
Mi-8 - 20
Mi-2 - 2

Example: Generic recon brigade 1985+


Artillery regiment 1979-1985
The 1979 regimental organisation is not really viable because of the amount of towed artillery. Really, new “type” of regiments were introduced in 84, so we’ll use that instead. From here on, there will be a lot of “compromises” because proper equipment is not included in WAB.

A typical Artillery regiment 1979-1985 had:
PRP-3 -4 (should be represented by BRM-1K)
1V12 - 16 (should be represented by BTR-70K)
2S3 “Akatsiya” - 18
152mm “giatsint-B” - 12 (should be represented by Msta)
2S4 “tulip” - 4 (should be represented by MTLB “Vasilek”)
D-30 - 18 (Can be omitted or represented by 2S3/1)
BM-21 - 18
UAZ-469 - 2
SNAR-10 “leopard” - 1 (can be represented by BRM-1)
ARK - 1 “ris’” - 1 (can be represented by BRM-1)

Artillery regiment 1986-1991
Virtually unchanged, with some specialty units added.

A typical Artillery regiment 1986-1991 had:
PRP-3 -4
1V12 - 16
2S3 “Akatsiya” - 18
152mm “giatsint-B” - 6
*152mm “Msta” - 6
2S4 “tulip” - 4
D-30 - 18
BM-21 - 18
SNAR-10 “leopard” - 1
ARK - 1 “ris’” - 1

*Very late units, historically not deployed in large numbers.

Example: Generic artillery regiment 1985+


AA regiment 1975-1991
Not viable in WAB due to being entirely composed of towed AA guns. Use SAM regiment instead

SAM regiment 1984-1991
Two types of SAM regiments functioned after the military reform of 84, one armed with OSA’s and other with BUK’s. This is somewhat an incomplete deck, because many things are not included.

R-145BM - 1 (represented by BTR-70K)
UAZ-469U - 7
BRMD-2U - 5 ( doesn’t have to be BRDM-2U in W:AB, can be simple BRDM-2’s)
BUK(OSA) - 20
*multiple radars for BUK regiments.

Example: Generic OSA SAM regiment 1895+


These are all the “regular” formations of units needed to play an authentic Wargame: Airland Battle game with your Comrades commander. In case you wanted something..with a little extra punch, you can play a Division level game with attached artillery unit of increased firepower with either 2S7’s or BM-27. A separate unit of increased firepower has 12 units of either 2S7’s or BM-27’s.

As an extention for 10v10 multiplayer, one player would have the role of mixed air superiority regiment with helicopter element of squadron size.

Example: Generic AAS/HS


The final player would be A2G (Air to gorund) mixed or homogeneous regiment with elements of helicopter recon squadron.

Example: Generic homogeneous Air Assault regiment with Su-22's.

Wargame: Airland Battle lends itself quite well to playing a well structured serious or authentic Division level game for the Soviets. Indeed some decks are not complete, or do not have exactly matching units, but that should not stop true patriots from achieving great success on the battlefield. I fancy playing this one day, as a authentic division deck lets all units shine in their roles and brings quite a punch to the battlefield. Remember, again, to make due justice to a division, please research the specifics of each it before using its name- for the sake of authenticity. Also, if you decide to play such a game, by all means film a video and PM me about it on the forums. As always, I encourage the capitalist pigdogs and other glorious proletarian nations to compose similar guides to make wargame even more interesting to play.

Don't forget to visit http://wargame-ee.com/forum/
-Comrade BTR signing out.