Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Update: Tempering Steel

With the new rules released for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, I feel it appropriate to give a quick run-down of the changes to the lineup and rules available to them. The new rules reinforce the PLC as an independent faction, by removing the old borrowed Russian Coalition units such as the Kursk and Belgorod and replacing them with more flavourful units, and adding fleet-wide MARs and national commodores. New units include modified Russian Coalition units such as the Grunwald Land Dreadnought and Rarog Landship in place of the aforementioned Kursk and Belgorod, as well as brand new medium and small flyers. First, we'll go through those new fleet wide rules and then each of the units and how they've changed.

First up, Fleet-wide MARs: Flame Retardant Armour and Incendiary Rounds (Primary Weapons).  All models in the Polish-Lithuanian fleet have these MARs, when applicable. Flame Retardant Armour will really help out against incendiary heavy fleets such as the Empire of the Blazing Sun, as well as French Heat Lances, meaning that you have a better chance of surviving that early Blazing Sun rocket barrage to get in close, and you have less to fear from getting into Heat Lance range of the French. Incendiary Rounds are on all Primary weapons in your fleet, giving AP-removal abilities to the Land Dreadnought, Landship, Bombard and any flyer bigger than an Interceptor. With these guns extending to Range Band 3, there's a good chance of having removed some opposing AP before reaching boarding distance.

Also, all Polish-Lithuanian Flamethrower weapons are now Heavy Flamethrowers, inflicting an extra raging fire token every time an attack causes at least one raging fire token to be added.

The Fleet Commodore for the PLC has some very entertaining abilities relating to flamethrowers: With Fire and Sword, and Incineration Protocol- Both once per game, sadly. The first allows the PLC fleet to shoot and board a target in the same activation, provided it was only shot at with flamethrowers, and grants the attacking AP the Ferocious MAR. Because sometimes, a target really has to die. The other allows flamethrowers to use normal ordnance damage rules. Since flamethrowers can combine fire, this gives the PLC a single use hard-hitter attack- often 18AD in any full squadron.

Modified Units

Zamiec Sky Fortress

The Zamiec has increased in cost 30 points, and for that increase, we get a small handful of upgrades (including fleet wide MARs):

• Additional fore flamethrower, both of which are now heavy (Meaning an extra fire marker whenever you inflict one!)
• Upper turrets are now "Raised Turrets (P)" and have 270 degree arcs, meaning we can now get three turrets on a target. Turrets also have Incendiary Rounds and have gained 1AD at RB1
• Flame Retardant Armour
• Streamlined Hull, which means that in a straight line, it will keep up with your medium tanks
• Deck Crews and +1 to Tiny Flyer Complement, meaning that it's now a full carrier.
• Combat Drop (Infantry, 2) is now Combat Drop (Mechanised Line Infantry, 2), making the infantry more flexible. On the downside, Combat Drop (LZ5, 4) is 10 points more.
• +1 AP, bringing it up to a more average AP count.

Overall, the Zamiec still fits the same core role as it did in the previous ruleset- supporting the PLC ground forces at close range and providing TFT cover. With an extra TFT, it can now provide a recon plane as spotter for the upgraded bombards, too.

WZ6 Szpada Medium Tank

The Szpada is up 5 points and has had some tweaks. The additions reinforce the role of the Szpada in the PLC fleet.

• First up, the flamethrower has +1AD, and is heavy.
• Fuel Reserves has been added.
• +1 maximum squadron size, now 2-4.

The real killer here is the extra squadron size, allowing a full squadron to bring a respectable 12AP to the board- pushing the PLC up as a boarding faction. The Szpada is still going to be the backbone of PLC ground forces for the foreseeable future.

 SWZ3 Palnik Flame Tank

One of the biggest wins in the updated units for the Commonwealth, the Palnik used to be a bit of a joke- a unit whose sole upgrade was to make them less vulnerable to their squadronmates dying. Now, they're a very viable choice. Here's why:

• 10 points cost reduction, and Flame Retardant Armour is included in that price.
• +2AD on flamethrowers, which have been upgraded to heavy.
• Fuel Reserves and Vulnerable instead of Combustible Cargo- meaning it no-longer explodes when the enemy looks at it funny.
• Attachment is now 1 rather than 2, and is specific to Szpada Medium Tanks, but has a second Attachment MAR, allowing one to be attached to a Rarog Landship.

Still a model that is vulnerable to enemy fire, but much more reasonable as a choice. Cheap and flexible, it can reinforce your tank squadrons with an extra 2AP and 6AD of extra fire- allowing a full squadron of Szpadas with a Palnik to put out 18AD of fire.

ZB2 Burza Bombard

Notice the lack of "rocket" in that name? The bombards are no-longer a rocket armed oddity. An interesting experiment while it lasted, but rather lacklustre, especially as they cost a whopping 75 points. They're still the same price, but are simply a terrifyingly focused conventional ordnance weapon.

• The gun itself is a fixed channel gunnery weapon and has lost the ability to attack at RB4, but has 7AD and Sustained Fire (2). As primary weapons, they also benefit from Incendiary Weapon.
• An extra inch of movement, as they'll need to move more to get into effective range.

Not many changes, but all around tightened up and brought into line.

LZ5 Rygerz Small Tank

Sadly, these beauties have lost Fast Target. A moment of silence, please. On the upside, no-longer in the utterly backwards class of "models in a boarding fleet that have 0AP".

• No more Fast Target, but does have Small Target.
• Removed Limited Availability. Now we can take hordes of the little things!
• Has 1AP. Praise be!
• Loses Electrical Defenses and Rapid Fire, but gains Sustained Fire (Ack Ack, 1).

Slightly less broken now, I feel. But it has AP and still moves 12" (And with Hit and Run), so a cheeky fast boarding assault on something your opponent has left vulnerable is an option.

Replaced Units

A couple of the previously available units have been replaced with similar with a new classification- the Grunwald Land Dreadnought and the Rarog Landship, instead of the previous Land Dreadnought and Landship options.

Grunwald Land Dreadnought

On the forums, just after new PLC units had been confirmed, I may have pondered about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth modifying a Kursk by removing the Ablative Armour and adding speed and fire. The Spartan gods were apparently listening to my prayer that day, as the Grunwald is exactly that. The biggest change is the replacement of all that "bridge" nonsense with a Heavy Flamethrower. Emphasis on Heavy. So, in comparison to the old Kursk:

• First, we're paying 20 points more for the basic version, 230 points.
• Losing Ablative Armour, but gaining a Shield Generator.
• Losing one point of DR.
• Losing 2AP, but losing Conscript Crew.
• Losing a turret to make way for the shields.
• Losing Sturginium Boost.
• Losing Sheaf Fire.

So far, it all sounds pretty negative, right? Here's where it gets good:

• More manoeuvrable: 1" turn limit instead of 2".
• Turrets can hit at RB3
• The mortars have been replaced by one Bombard Battery with 10AD at RB2&3, and Sustained Fire (3).
• One bloody huge 12AD Heavy Flamethrower.
• An extra inch of movement- on average, faster than the Kursk.
• The Squadron Support upgrade is 5 points more, but supplies four of the fantastic LZ5 Rygerz.

The biggest advantage to the Grunwald is actually its size- as a massive model, it can see over your medium tanks, allowing it to hang back and provide firing support to the advancing mediums, without worrying too much about keeping up as well as being screened by them. A very different beast to the Kursk.

Rarog Landship

For the same price as the Belgorod, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth can take the Rarog Landship. Compared to the Belgorod:

• As before, no Ablative Armour, but it does gain a Shield Generator instead.
• +2" movement but loses Sturginium Boost.
• +2HP.
• 7AP without Conscript Crew, instead of 9AP with.
• Weaker broadsides.
• Polish-Lithuanian gunnery on the Turret and Fore and Aft guns- Less dice at close range, but with RB3 firepower. Fore and Aft guns are now primary, so gain Incendiary Rounds, and the Fore guns can link with the Turret.
• +1" minimum move.
• No option for Rocket Jammer/Mimic Generators.
• Gains the same 12AD Heavy Flamethrower as the Grunwald.

The Rarog gains more from PLCifying than the Grunwald does- Gaining extra HP and movement, the Rarog is a true Polish-Lithuanian choice- fast, tough, and able to set many things on fire.

New Units

The main expansion of the Polish-Lithuanian forces has been a significant boost to their air power. Previously, they could borrow some of the less exciting Britannian and Russian air units. With the update comes a set of flying units that actually fit the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Gryf Flame Blimp

The real mainstay unit of the new flyers, the Gryf is a barrel of fun. Very fast, very fiery, and very scary in a boarding action, the Gryf should find its way into many PLC lists. Here's the salient points for the flyer:

• Cheap, only 60 points each.
• Standard medium flyer toughness, supplemented with a Shield Generator.
• 5AP and Dash and Elan, making it a fairly strong boarder.
• Fast- 10" move with Streamlined Hull.
• 6AD Heavy Flamethrower for making the bad mans go away.
• Swift Ascent for important tactical bailing.

On the downside, it has Fuel Reserves, but nothing's perfect. A cheap, fairly resilient medium flyer with strong boarding capability- definitely a model to watch in the PLC fleet.

Grom Gunnery Blimp

Pretty much a Gryf with the fire and boarding swapped out for more guns. Also restricted with Limited Availability.

• 25 points more expensive.
• Loses Fuel Reserves and Dash and Elan.
• Moves 2" slower.
• Loses 1AP and 1AA
• Loses the Heavy Flamethrower
• Gains two Primary weapons- a Turret and Fore Gun.

Both being primary, the guns cause raging fires on targets, and have a fair number of dice. Essentially a rather literal interpretation of fire support that makes sure your target is on fire before you get to them. It does seem that these combine the abilities of the Gryf and gunnery abilities of the Zamiec, and don't do as well as either choice. They're passable in boarding, fairly good at gunnery, but very expensive. If you're using them for their guns, then you're pretty much required to use three of them, as two of them only equal a Zamiec's guns and cost only ten points less, without all the other benefits of the Zamiec as a carrier. Otherwise, I can only see them as a "filling the gap" unit.

Szabla Interceptor

And finally, a good anti-air choice for the PLC. Lightly armed in terms of gunnery, but heavy on the anti-aircraft MARs.

• 30 points
• Fast, at 14" with Hit and Run and Swift Ascent.
• Weak secondary Fore gun, but 2AA with Sustained Fire (AA, 1) and Air Hunter on all weapons.

With that complement of AA and MARs, the Szabla should make light work of enemy TFTs, as well as being able to damage obscured flyers and avoid retribution.