Jan 25, 2024

WARNO - [EUG] Gal Marcel Bigeard

Hello commanders!

We will continue our “divisional house cleaning” series with a new installment in today’s DevBlog. Each WARNO division will spend some time in the Eugen workshop updating its arsenal and unit roster. We want to ensure that each battlegroup is up to scratch, has a unique flavor, and - of course - is fun to play!

The first part you can read here, and part deux here. The Warsaw Pact will take center stage in today’s part three.

We’ll tackle the Soviet 39th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the tankmen of the 79th Guards Tank Division, the East German 4. Mot-Schützen-Division, plus some miscellaneous updates.

Let’s go!

39th Guards Motor Rifle Division

Let’s begin with the motorized riflemen of the Soviet Army. Like updates to other battlegroups, we found the time was right to add a bit more flavor to the 39th Guards Motor Rifle Division. A jack-of-all-trades, the battlegroup didn’t have any apparent weaknesses. For this particular Soviet division, we focused on its infantry, with strong helicopters, but streamlining its armor component. We wanted to remove the “substitute tank division” the formation had going for it.

What will we change?

One 1-point TANKL slot to be removed.
All T-62 tanks have been removed (see the previous DevBlog regarding the K.d.A changes).
One 1-point HELO slot added.
Mi-24P added.
One card of Mi-24V [AA] to be removed. Note that this helicopter is way too common in-game compared to its real-life presence.
One card of the (new) Mi-8MTPI electronic warfare helicopter added.

The 39th Guards will also see some changes to its infantry, specifically its IFV arsenal. The division wasn’t at the top of the replacement list for this type of vehicle. While it had some BMP-2, the first-generation BMP-1 remained the mainstay. We want to represent this better.

Another change, which sure will be more controversial (but which change isn’t, right?), is the removal of the BMP-3 from this division. It will be passed on to the 27th Guards. The reason? By 1989, roughly one battalion worth of the advanced BMP-3 had been delivered to the Soviet 8th Guards Army stationed in East Germany. But which division? We couldn’t pinpoint this in our research.

At first, the BMP-3 were housed in-game with the 39th Guards but, as we found out, the 27th Guards was earmarked to be the new “Division ‘90”, testing the more modern and latest equipment available to the Soviet Army. Hence, the transfer of the BMP-3 to this division allowing us to focus on the playstyle of each battlegroup.

The BMP-3 to be removed (transfered to the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Division).
MOTOSTRELKI (RPG-22) to be limited to the BMP-2.
All BMP infantry granted a truck as an alternative transport (on par with other divisions).

79th Guards Tank Division

Next up, the WARNO “old-timer” 79th Guards Tank Division. One of the main issues of this division was to distinguish it better from the 39th Guards, as historically (and in-game), a lot of units were shared. A Soviet Army tank division and motor rifle division had many commonalities, though they differed in the allocation of these units.

One thing we missed when designing the division, and we noticed only after researching the Army General Order of Battle, was that its (sole) infantry regiment - as well as its tank regiment’s organic infantry battalions - used BMP infantry fighting vehicles. None rode to battle on the wheeled BTR (except for its combat engineers).

Unlike the 39th Guards, the BMP-2 was featured more prominently. To give this division a bit of flavor, we changed it so that its infantry would be IFV-only (a bit like the U.S. 3rd Armored Division). This means lots of BMP-2, including some variants currently only found in the 27th Guards.

Changes to the division include:

BTR-80 to be removed.
BTR-60PB removed as a transport option for PULEMETCHIKI squads.
BTR-60PB stays only for SAPERY squads.
MOTOSTRELKI removed (being BTR-borne infantry).
MOTOSTRELKI (Metis) removed (being BTR-borne infantry).
Two cards of MOTOSTRELKI (RPG-22) added as a replacement of the above units.
BMP-2D added.
BMP-2 RAZV. added as a transport option for MOT.RAZVEDKA squad.
All BMP infantry granted a truck as an alternative transport (on par with other divisions).

The 79th Guards Tank Division will see some more updates.

One 1-point LOG slot added.
One 3-point TANK slot changed into a 2-point slot.
One 1-point AIR slot changed into a 2-point slot.
BURATINO removed.
Mi-24V [AA] removed (featured too much, as explained above).
One card of the (new) KRAZ-225B heavy supply truck added.

The division was too limited in LOG, hence the addition of a 1-point slot and the new HEMTT-like heavy truck. And the Buratino’s removal? All the TOS-1 produced by 1989 could be counted on one hand. In our alternative timeline (and the Army General’s), they will be featured with the 21st Independent Flame Battalion. While the 79th Guards was in WARNO, we also released the tank-heavy 119th Independent Tank Regiment. The sole attached infantry to this division are the combat engineers from the 21st Independent Flame Battalion. Thus, to be consistent, the Buratino will move to the 119th Independent Tank Regiment.

4. Motorisierte Schützendivision

Onwards to the East German 4. Motorisierte Schützendivision, or 4. MSD. This motorized rifle division required some buffs, and in the same vein as the Soviets above, needed to be better distinguished from its armored counterpart, the 7. Panzerdivision.

The division's main boost will come from the [url]Tank Rework[/url] (making older, “medium” tanks more efficient). All of its T-55 will perform better. But the 4.MSD is not a tank division. It has one category that is pretty well-equipped but tight on space: RECO. So, we focused on upgrading the East German recon.

The key changes are:

One 3-point LOG slot changed into a 2-point slot.
One 2-point ART slot removed.
One 2-point RECO slot added.
One 1-point TANK slot changed into a 2-point slot.

To set it apart further from the 7. Panzer another major change will affect its air support. We found out (a bit too late) that the East German Luftstreitkräfte’s Su-22M4 were all stationed in the north of East Germany (facing NORTHAG and Denmark). In the south, so in our CENTAG area of operations, the nation’s air forces were strike squadrons equipped with the MiG-23BN.

Now, the Su-22M4 is too widespread to be removed completely and retained only for NORTHAG, but we have made sure that the proper squadrons are featured in Army General. Since the BRUDERKRIEG Army General campaign relies heavily on 4. MSD and MiG-23BN coordination, we changed (almost all) the Su-22M4 in this division. The new MiG-23BN - from the Army General - will play a much more prominent role!

The Su-22M4 [AT] will be replaced with the MiG-23BN [AT].
The Su-22M4 [HE] will be replaced with the MiG-23BN [HE].
The Su-22M4 [CLU] to be replaced by the MiG-23BN [CLU].
And the Su-22M4 [NPLM] by the MiG-23BN [NPLM].
The MiG-23bis [RKT] will be replaced by the MiG-23BN [RKT].

This means that the 7. Panzer will be the “Su-22M4” division, while the 4. MSD becomes the “MiG-23BN’s” domain. The one variant that will remain with the 4. MSD is the Su-22M4K. There was no dedicated East German SEAD version of the MiG-23BN (and we didn’t want to deprive the division of its SEAD capacity).

Miscallenous

We also have a bunch of assorted changes coming. One addition to an already addressed division (the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade) is the Soviet Mi-24D DESANT. This is an older variant of the Hind gunship.

We decided to add it as a transport option for the RAZVEDKA (DSh) squads in the air assault division. The Mi-24 could carry up to 8 soldiers at the expense of most of its weapon loadout. Therefore, the Mi-24D DESANT. will be armed with its YaK-B nose gun and two 16-shot 57mm rocket pods. The helicopter’s armor, speed, and resilience will be a trade-off compared to the alternative Mi-8’s transport, which featured much heavier weaponry.

Furthermore, as we feature the new Mi-8MTPI electronic warfare helicopter to the 39th Guards, NATO we’ll also get the EH-60A QUICK FIX II to be added to the U.S. 3rd Armored Division.

Until next week

That’s all for this week’s divisional housecleaning. We can’t wait to hear what you think. Play it calm, cool, collected commander.

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See you on the battlefield!