Building a Swedish Starter Force with WWIII: Nordic Forces

Building a Swedish Starter Force with WWIII: Nordic Forces By John Lee With the launch of WW3 Nordic, I thought I would look at how a new player, or someone on a budget, could get a force on the table that would be competitive, or at least hold its own with new equipment such as the S-Tank and Centurion.  For the new player, it opens the door to playing WW3 without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.

So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value army deal (Swedish S-Tank Company), that will help decide what formations to run.  The army deal contains the following:

1 x Complete A5 Rulebook 1 x “Start Here” booklet 8 x S-Tank 3 x Pvpjtgb RBS Jeeps 2 x HKP 9 Helicopters with rare earth magnets and flight stands 2 x Decal Sheets 5 x Unit Cards

The bonus here is that the rulebook is included in the box – so the new player makes a saving right away.  Now if we look at what formations are in the WW3 Nordic book, we can see what we can maximize from what we get in the army deal.  The only formation is the STRV 103 S-Tank Company, but we will look at a couple of ways to build the force.  We will look at options for 100pts. Before diving into the formations, let’s look at the new kit in the army deal for this release.

The S-Tank sprue is a long-awaited release in plastic.  This is a cool looking model, and you can also purchase extra tracks to showcase and model its unique ability to elevate the gun.  It has 3+ skill and remount – so great for movement orders and getting back into your tank!  The rest of the stats are 4+.  Hit on 4s with FA12 SA5 TA2 armour.  Tactical speed of 10” with a handy 16” terrain dash and 24” cross country dash.  4+ cross check, so you don’t want to be moving around too much in difficult terrain.  It’s armed with a 105mm gun with AT21 (higher than other 105mm gun armed tanks!) and ROF 4 AAMG.  The main gun has ROF 2 stationery and RO1 moving with Overworked – so you will pay a penalty when moving and firing (unless you blitz successfully on a 3+ of course).  The gun is also brutal, can fire smoke, and has a laser rangefinder.  This tank also has two more rules that are unique to it.  The first is Ambush Tank – Teams with this rule can remain Gone to Ground while shooting its main gun.  Very useful to have, especially in cover.  The second is Slat Armour – where the Front and Side Armour rating is 13 against HEAT weapons.  Useful especially against infantry anti-tank weapons and older missiles.  As you can see, as well as looking cool, it is rather unique and has some useful stats.

The Pvpjtgb is an offroad vehicle that is used as an anti-tank platform.  You can field either the anti-tank missile version or the 90mm recoilless anti-tank gun version.  It has 3+ skill – so great for movement orders.  The rest of the stats are 4+.  It is hit on 4+ with a 4+ Unarmoured tank save.  Tactical speed of 10” with a terrain dash of 12”.  Handy 20” cross country dash but impressive 48” road dash.  4+ cross check, so you might not want to be moving around too much in difficult terrain.  You have two anti-tank missile options – either the RBS-55 with AT21 FP3+ and 48” range or the RBS-56 with AT22 FP3+ and 40” range.  The 90mm recoilless anti-tank gun has AT17 FP3+ and 28” range with the Accurate and Recoilless rules.

The HKP9 is an existing PAH helicopter but with resin RBS-55 missile downgrades – so AT21 instead of AT23.  Hit on 4+ with a 5+ aircraft save.  Courage and Morale 4+ with a skill of 3+.

Onto the formation now, let us look at what units comprise this formation: 1 STRV 103 S-Tank Tank Company HQ 2-3 STRV 103 S-Tank Tank Platoon 0-2 PBV302 Armoured Rifle Platoon 0-1 PBV302 Armoured Recon Platoon NB: Very interesting to see a tank formation have two slots for infantry in it – making it more rounded and stable as a formation – just missing integral mortars/artillery and AA. Based on the formation and what we get in the army deal, I am going to suggest grabbing two army deals!  I know – sounds outrageous but let’s see why:

Grabbing two boxes allows us to field a dual formation plus use all the helicopters and one unit of anti-tank missile platoon (we can only field one in the force diagram).  Adding one additional box of AA to round out the force.  So, we maximise the boxes (only 3 Pvpjtgb not used).   Each formation only has three units for the formation break, but the advantage is that there are two of them – so that does mitigate it somewhat.  No infantry, artillery or recon but there is AA plus helicopters and more anti-tank options.  The S-Tank itself has the brutal rule so can dig out infantry if needed. To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $291:

2 x TSWAB01: Swedish S-Tank Starter Set $220 1 x TSWBX05: Pvrbv 551 or Lvrbv 701 Platoon $46 1 x WW3-08: WW3 Nordic Forces $25 TOTAL $291

If we want a more rounded list with recon, infantry, and artillery then we look at getting one army deal plus all the supporting boxes.   This is what it could look like:

We use everything in the army deal plus several more boxes to round out the force.  We now have six units for the formation break along with recon, infantry, and artillery.  Two AA platoons to provide more coverage.  S-Tank platoons maxed out.  The Bandkanon artillery has autoloader making it easier to hit targets once ranged in (104” range!) and AT4 FP2+ to dig out enemy teams and even armoured vehicles including tanks must be careful! To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $440:

1 x TSWAB01: Swedish S-Tank Starter Set $110 1 x TSWBX01: Strv 103 S-Tank Platoon $30 2 x TSWBX03: PBV 302 Platoon $104 2 x TSWBX05: Pvrbv 551 or Lvrbv 701 Platoon $92 2 x TSWBX06: BandKanon 1 Armoured Howitzer Battery $46 1 x TSW702: Armoured Rifle Platoon $20 1 x TGBX12: PAH Anti-tank Helicopter Flight $32 1 x TSWSO02: HKP 9 Missile Launchers (Direct Only) $7 1 x WW3-08: WW3 Nordic Forces $25 TOTAL $440

The last thing to take note of – the Swedes would have operated closely with the Finns, and this is reflected in the force diagram.  You can take an option of either T-72F1, T-72F2 and T-55 tank platoons, BMP or BTR Jaakari infantry platoons or a 2S1 Carnation artillery battery.   If I wanted to take a second artillery option for the S-Tank based force, I would add in the 2S1 Carnations for 7pts.  You could replace the PBV 302 Armoured Recon Platoon and one of the Lvrbv 701 AA Platoons.  The TSBX07: 2S1 Carnation Battery box is the same price as the Lvrbv 701 box, and you would save $52 by removing the Armoured Recon Platoon. For an assault unit, I would consider trying to work in a T-72F2 tank platoon with its ERA armour for 19pts.  To get this unit onto the list we would remove the extra S-Tank platoon box and one of the Lvrbv 701 AA Platoons and add a TSBX29: T-72B Tank Company box with a net saving of $26.

There you have it – some options to ponder for getting started with the new army deal running S-Tanks.  Enjoy! ~ John