Early '80's Soviets

1:100 A-10 from Revell

Soviet Inf from Peter Pig

T-72's from QRF in one of Byron's excellent storage boxes

T-64's from QRF w/ ERA

ZSU 23-4 with scratch built gun because QRF didn't send one. This a blessing in disguise when one considers the quality of QRF gun barrels.

BMP 2's from QRF w/ replacement barrel's

Mi-24 Hind D from QRF. Metal bits are very soft. I think the molds are old as the resin was badly pitted. It is however, the only 1:100 scale Hind out there. There are a few details I had to add using green stuff that aren't sculpted onto the model.

Some More 15mm Soviet Vehicles

More Soviet armour for the subjugation of the running-dog Yankee capitalists...

The build up continues for the 15mm Cold-War- Gone-Hot project. Here are a few more vehicles - a pair of MBTs and another IFV. These were painted while traveling on vacation in Northern Ontario.
There are two T-80BVs and another BMP-2D troop carrier in this painting batch.  The models are all from QRF.

QRF T-80BV tanks - ERA bricks mounted on the hull and turret

My prior experiences with the QRF T-80BVs were not great, but Geoff at QRF told me had re-done the molds - and he has.  These tanks were much, much nicer to work with than the previous ones.  And as mentioned previously, QRF is the ONLY one out there making this Soviet beastie in 15mm.

This MBT mounted a 125mm main gun

A view of the rear deck of the tank with the snorkeling equipment stowed behind the turret

Lots of stowage is modeled on these QRF vehicles

Ready to face off against NATO troops

The QRF BMP-2D is a very nice model - very clean.  To make this one stand out a little bit I put an antenna into the turret and mounted an un-ditching beam on the back of the vehicle.  These beams are usually seen on the back of the Soviet tanks, but I saw several photos online of BMP-2s carrying them so I thought it would be a little different to add one.

A view showing the un-ditching beam attached to the rear of the BMP-2D hull

As with my other Soviet vehicles, these are painted in a three-tone "Fulda" cammo pattern.

30mm cannon and AT-5 missile launcher on the turret

The liberation of the proletariat is imminent...

This brings the vehicle contingent for my Soviet Motor Rifles to a healthy level - six T-80BVs (two platoons' worth) and five BMP-2s.  I will continue to add odds and ends to the column, but the main fighting power is in place.  Can't wait to get them on to the table!

More Pico Armor Fun

Soviet T-72 tank, BMP-2 APC and infantry section - and a Canadian penny

Over the past few years I have periodically dabbled in the Oddzial Osmy's 3mm tanks and troops (example here).  We have even played a game of Cold War Commander using them (back in 2008, I think, but I'm guessing - I couldn't find it on the blog, so it must have been a while).

Motor rifle company in BMP-2s

I am very impressed with the sculpting and casting quality of this range - these are really, really neat.  And the scale offers a chance to "air out" the game a little bit on the table, with engagement ranges that "look" more realistic on the table, and crowds of armour that don't crowd up.  But would this catch up with other gamers?

BMP command unit (round base), BRM recon track, and a platoon of BRDM AT launchers

When I had first purchased these figures I based them in groups, so each stand would literally represent a platoon. But the look still didn't quite work for me - I have always loved tons of tanks on the gaming table, but disliked the "hub to hub" effect this produced in terms of the look.  This happens even with the smaller size figures like 15mm (for examples, see nearly any Flames of War game).  

ZSU-23-4s - an essential for any Warsaw Pact commander

The hub-to-hub effect happens for a lot of reasons on the gaming table which I'm not going to drone on about here.  I thought 3mm might solve it, but the group bases still looked crowded...even allowing for the smaller scale, the tank platoon, for example, still looked crammed into the square base. 

Before on the right, after on the left

T-72 command base (20mm round)

There are certainly times when armoured vehicles mass on the battlefield, but generally they are quite spread out. How to get this on a reasonable sized table, while still playing with a ton of tanks?  I started to experiment with individual basing for the 3mm stuff last summer - example here.  Recently I finished another round of the figures, and re-based some of my previous stuff on individual bases, enough to get tonight's game going.

T-72 company

I think Oddzial Osmy has a devoted fan base - the range is very, very comprehensive and new stuff keeps coming out. Check out the Pico Armor online store to see for yourself. On forums like TMP, however, I have often seen the small scale panned on the grounds that the figures are impossibly small, and "might as well be paper counters".

Leopard C1 squadron

TMP door-knobs aside, 3mm will not be for everyone. For me, it is a lot of fun to work on these little tanks and troops.  It is a challenge to find the right colour shades to make the figures more visible, to shape the groundwork a little bit, etc. You can get a pile of them for a small sum, the range is unbelievably complete, and I even love that they mildly evoke counters - after all, I was a huge fan Avalon Hill games like "France 1940".  I'm also a big Cold War tank geek, so I can "see" the shape of the vehicles right away.  I'm not sure that will hold for the more casual participant.  These will probably need some labels to help with identification. 

Another view of the Leopard C1s

Will this work for gaming? We'll see tonight - we will be playing an imaginary WW3 game, using the overall Soviet invasion plot of the 1984 movie "Red Dawn", in which three Soviet army groups crossed the Bering Straight and tried to link up with a southern Communist pincer coming up from Mexico.  The Soviets are trying to pass through Brandon on their way to the states - and the Canadian Forces have a little something to say about it!

More 15mm Cold War Soviets

More Soviet/Russian forces to tackle the West

I finished a few more odds and ends for my 15mm Cold War Soviets during the long weekend. There are three QRF vehicles - another BMP-2D APC, a BRM recon vehicle and a "Tunguska" 2S6 anti-aircraft tank.  There is also a solitary infantryman with an SA-7 shoulder-fired SAM.

Another BMP-2D from QRF

The BMP-2D is an upgraded variant of the Soviet BMP-2 APC.  It is equipped with some extra armour on the skirts and the turret intended to give some extra protection against infantry AT weapons like LAW rockets or (much more likely to be faced) RPGs.  This is a very nice model from QRF.  I painted this in a "Fulda" cammo pattern to match the other AFVs in my Soviet column.

A BRM recon APC from QRF

The BRM is a recon variant of the BMP APC platform.  It has a larger turret and carries all sorts of radar and ranging/sighting equipment.  The Warsaw Pact forces will know NATO has been encountered once they watch this thing burn up a few hundred metres out from the head of the column.  This was a QRF model too, and was OK in terms of quality. Like the other vehicles, the BRM received a "Fulda" cammo scheme.

SA-7 trooper from Peter Pig

This figure is from Peter Pig's AK47 "Professionals" line

Trying to keep enemy aircraft and helicopters away from your column is a key worry for any Warsaw Pact commander.  Helpfully Peter Pig offers a pack of "regulars" from its AK47 Republic line carrying the Soviet SA-7 shoulder-fired SAMs.  I don't know how effective these weapons are but the motor rifle troops will take all the help they can get.

The Tunguska is a heavily armed anti-aircraft platform

I wish I had decals for the numbers...my free-hand isn't great

For some serious anti-air work we will have the 2S6 "Tunguska".  It lacks the charm and character of the better-known ZSU-23-4 AAA tank, but it packs more punch, carrying a pair of 30mm cannons and a set of SAMs on the turret.  I didn't add any cammo to this vehicle, figuring it would have been attached to the column from a higher-level formation.  This is a QRF casting, and it is very good - very clean, crisp lines and not much flash.  The only area where they might improve would be the tow cables stowed on the front of the hull - the detail is a little soft there.  

Cold War Russians - 15mm

The west is doomed...or just a former Soviet republic...you know, whatever comes up for the gaming table

Another fun 15mm diversion!  A few weeks ago our friend Mike F posted some pictures of a budding modern project.  Of course I like to encourage new projects here among our group, so when Mike sent me a note asking if I had any 15mm Russians for Cold-War-Gone-Hot type games, I promised right away to come up with some - after all, I had been thinking about just this kind of thing as my own 15mm Golan Heights project had gone ahead and is pretty much finished now (in as much as anything is ever "finished" for me).

Motor rifle squad - the officer (pointing) is Peter Pig - the balance are from the new Eureka line

These infantry are the (still relatively) new Eureka 15mm modern Russians, with a few Peter Pig figures thrown in.  The vehicles are all QRF castings.

Another motor rifle squad

Squad number three

The Eureka Russians are amazing.  Just awesome sculpts, easily on par with Peter Pig and some of the flat-out best 15mm castings out there. They are part of a range intended to represent the Russian army at the time of the first intervention in Chechnya (and there is a range of Russian troops wearing those awful and ridiculous-looking sphere-shaped helmets if that is your thing) as well as some Chechen rebels.  I think in terms of equipment they fit anywhere from the late 1980s into the mid 1990s - or even later.

BMP-2D from QRF - a really nice model (and a very cool variant of the BMP)

I painted the infantry in a sort-of-woodland camo that I have seen on Tim Rich's figures.  Of course, his paint job is WAY nicer, but it's still fun to try to copy the best.

BMP-2 - detail is softer on these

The only knock I would have on the Eureka range is that it lacks an ATGM set - a touch disappointing considering how amazingly complete the range is otherwise.  You have AK-74s, AK-74s with grenade launchers under the barrel, LMGs, RPG-7s, the little RPGs that look like LAW rockets, heavy MGs, automatic grenade launchers and mortars.  Wow.

Officer on the left is Eureka, the medic on the right is Peter Pig

Two Russian marksmen - Eureka castings

The other knock I would have gently put to Eureka is the shipping - they go cheap (which is great when you're paying), but I lost three LMG troops with broken weapons thanks to the sloppy packing, which kind of sucks.

Heavy weapons to support the troops

I bodged an AT-4 missile team using an AT-4 missile set from QRF, a spare Eureka grenade launcher crewman and spare Peter Pig heavy weapon crewman.

Automatic grenade launcher - a problem solver on a tripod

AT-4 ATGM team - missile from QRF, crew on right from Eureka, on left from Peter Pig

A motor rifle platoon ready for the attack

The infantry are supported by a smattering of vehicles painted, once again, in a poor copy of a Tim Rich cammo pattern known as "Fulda", a three-tone scheme seen on many Russian AFVs at the time of the fall of the Berlin wall.  I'm not sure how widely used it was, but it looks neat, and I was tired of painting Russian stuff just plain green.

T-80BVs from QRF, infantry from Eureka

The vehicles are QRF castings.  As always with QRF the casting quality is hit-and-miss.  The tanks are T-80BVs, and I have to give QRF credit as being the ONLY one out there offering these vehicles.  They had lots of flash, needed a LOT of drilling and fixing, and each had only left-side track sets.  But in the end they painted up pretty well, and I'm happy with how they turned out.  You can't notice the track SNAFU very much with the weathering etc. I think QRF has re-workd the molds on these models, which would be great, as I ordered several more to round out the force :)

The T-80BV makes use of reactive armour

The APCs are a mix of two BMP-2s and a BMP-2D. The BMP-2s were not too bad casting wise, but the detail was soft and the track assemblies very soft.  The 30mm cannon on the turret was also very thin and I worry they will break before long. On the plus side, as with the tanks, you hardly notice flaws in the tracks once the vehicles are based and weathered.

Are those road wheels on the right side? :) Add more mud...

In contrast, the BMP-2D - an up-armoured model of the BMP-2 with applique plates on the turret and sides - is a top-notch casting.  Super clean, really durable, lots of clean detail, top notch.  And once again, as far as I can tell, QRF is the only company taking the trouble to offer this vehicle.  I have ordered a couple more of these suckers as well.

Another view showing the ERA "bricks" on the turret and hull

Overall the force represents (very roughly) a motor rifle platoon and heavy weapon platoon.  There are three seven-man squads, each with an RPG-7 and LMG, a small command element of an officer and a medic, two dudes with sniper rifles, two heavy MG teams, an AT-4 missile team, a mortar team and a grenade launcher team.

Ready for the advance! Is that a Leopard C-2 over there?

So Mike - over to you....I'm sure you have more than a solitary M113 lurking to defend the NATO lines...I'm looking forward to battle with the Canadians in the Fulda Gap!