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Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company

Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company

Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company
with John Lee
With the launch of Bagration: Axis Allies release, there are several unique forces to play including the Turan Tank Company.  The Turan Tank was Hungary’s home-produced tank, and the formation also includes the home grown Toldi II Light tank and Nimrod Self-Propelled AA Guns. There are two variants of the Turan Tank. The first is the Turan I armed with a 40mm AT7 FP4+ gun.  The second is the Turan II armed with a 75mm AT9 FP3+ (HEAT) gun.  Both versions have FA5 SA2 TA1. These tanks can be bolstered by in-formation Hungarian Panthers or Tigers. 

Turan Tank (HU030)

Turan Tank (HU030)
The 1st Armoured Division’s Turán I and II tanks first entered combat on the Transylvanian frontier in September 1944. The Turáns of the 2nd Armoured Division had seen combat in Ukraine from May 1944.

Check out the Turan Tank in the online store here...

You can also take allied German units and formations. The Turan’s are Confident Careful Trained with a couple of rules. Huszar gives you a 3+ for follow me and Protected Ammo gives you a 3+ remount.  Much easier to advance quicker across the table and easier to remount when bailed out! The other thing of note is they have a 2+ cross check! That is right, they can take advantage of moving with relative ease through woods staying in cover!  

The formation’s makeup:

Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company

You can take a minimum of three platoons and a maximum of seven. What I like about this formation is the flexibility of taking what suits your playstyle and points. For this article I will focus on the standard 105pts limit and 80pts for smaller games and what you need for a balanced force.

The Turan Tank Platoon is comprised of either three Turan I for 7pts, four Turan I for 9pts, five Turan I for 12pts or three Turan II for 11pts. For me, I would probably take mainly Turan IIs for the AT9 and FP3+, but maybe one platoon of five Turan Is depending on what else I am taking. The HQ you can take either two Turan I for 5pts or two Turan II for 7pts.

Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company

Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company
The Toldi IIs are an auto-include for their ability of Scout and Spearhead. You want a unit to be able deploy forward to create a bubble to launch your assault/attack from (in those missions that allow it) and this unit is part of the formation.  Again, you have two choices.  The Toldi II has a 20mm AT5 FP5+ gun with FA1 SA1 TA1 armour.  Three for 4pts, four for 5pts, five for 6pts. The Toldi IIa has a 40mm AT7 FP4+ gun with FA3 SA1 TA1 armour. Three for 5pts, four for 7pts, five for 8pts.  For the points, I will most likely take the Toldi IIa’s most of the time with better front armour and gun.  They are Reluctant Careful Trained and have a cross check of 4+. Huszar rule gives them the 3+ Follow Me whilst the Scout Remount rule gives them a 4+ remount. Being Scouts means they have a worse assault rating of 5+. They also have the Armoured Reserve rule.  In missions with Deep Reserves, you may only field one Armoured Reserves Tank Unit, one Tank Unit with Front Armour of 4 or more, or one Aircraft Unit on the table at the start of the game. Effectively they count as medium tanks for deep reserves.

The Nimrod, a self-propelled AA gun based on the Toldi chassis is an optional choice for me.  Brings flavour and dedicated AA against those pesky aircraft your opponent might bring but only come in platoons of two vehicles – so might be considered fragile. 

They are 4pts for two.  Mounting the 40mm Bofors gives you AT7 FP4+ with FA1 SA1 TA0 and 4+ cross check.  Confident Careful Trained with the Huszar rule giving you a 3+ on Follow Me but has the SP Gun Counterattack rule and SP Assault rule meaning those are on 6s.

Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company
The Hungarians received the Panther tank from the Germans as well as the Tiger.  All the same stats of the German ones except no stormtrooper of course and they are Confident Careful Trained.  Same Huszar rule meaning 3+ for Follow Me.  Two for 19pts, three for 29pts for FA9 SA5 TA1 with AT14 FP3+ and cross check of 2+.

Now the behemoth, the Tiger. The Hungarians get their own and being part of the formation means its going to hang around longer.  All the same stats of the German ones except no stormtrooper of course and they are Confident Careful Trained. Same Huszar and Protected Ammo rules meaning 3+ on both of those. Two for 21pts, three for 32pts for FA9 SA8 TA2 with AT14 FP3+ and cross check of 2+. Now we have an idea of what is in the formation, lets make a couple of lists starting with 105pts:

 Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company

This is a balanced force with six platoons for the formation break.  Eleven Turan IIs to take on any light or medium armour or infantry.  You have high end AT with the Tigers, spearhead with the Toldi’s, infantry to hold objectives or assist with assaults.  Zrinyi’s to provide a template and help with light medium armour duty if required.

Looking at the 80pt list now this is what we have:

Building a Bagration Hungarian Turan Tank Company

Five platoons for the formation break. Changed out the HQ to have Turan Is.  Panthers instead of Tigers and taking Nebelwerfers instead of Zrinyi. Still has everything for a balanced force as above.

This is an interesting formation to take and one I intend to build as it suits my playstyle. It has built-in high end AT option and spearhead. I can pick and choose support options depending on points and what I feel I might need.  The core tanks (including the light tanks) can be upgraded or downgraded depending on what I might need for points.  Well, I hope this has been of some use. Happy list building!