Painting Challenge Submission Seven - Leopard C1s for "Team Yankee"

Canadian Leopard C1s in 1/100 scale for "Team Yankee"

My pent-up interest in Cold War armour has been well and truly unleashed in this edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I haven't painted this many 15mm tanks in several years, and it has been a lot of fun so far. I love tanks! After a couple of weeks of working up my West German Bundeswehr forces, we turn today to another NATO member - my home team, the Canadians!

In this I follow the trail blazed by Conscript Mike F.  A search through dusty old posts at the side of this blog will reveal his exhaustive efforts to put together a force of 1980s-era Canadian Forces in 15mm.  He started with Leopard 1s, and then did head swaps for infantry! Now THAT is commitment :)  Mike completed this project back in 2013, but it is still awesome, and as Battlefront's "Team Yankee" game arrived, these efforts were often in the back of my mind - I really wanted to get some Canadians into a game of "Team Yankee".

During most of the Cold War, and particularly the mid-80s period envisioned by the game "Team Yankee",  Canada's contribution to the forward-deployed land defences of West Germany was the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group. They were based in the Central Front zone and were intended to act as a reserve for the US VII Corps or German II Corps. While the 4th CMBG was mostly a mechanized formation, with stoutinfantry of the Royal Canadian Regiment and the "Vandoos" trooping around in M113 APCs, the cutting edge were the Leopard C1s of the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

RCD FTW!!

The Canadian contingent was not a large force overall compared to the other NATO elements in 1980s Western Europe, but it was well-trained and would have given a solid performance if called on, I have no doubt.  As I have mentioned in other Cold-War-Gone-Hot postings, thank goodness (at so many levels) that this is all fictional, as several friends, including a few Fawcett Avenue Conscripts, served in and around these formations...

Leopard C1 troop - 1/100 models from "Armies Army"

In NATO reserve, the Canadians could expect to be waiting for a Soviet breakthrough, and be sent to block it. NATO commanders would count on them them to stop and hold these Warsaw Pact elements for 24, 48 hours or longer, while other NATO formations rallied and counter-attacked.  The Leopard C1s of the Royal Canadian Dragoons would have been key to these operational expectations. So for me any "Team Yankee" games with Canadians would start with getting models to represent the Leopard C1s.

Armies Army models - showing the lovely casting of the low-light TV system over the mantlet, and the FN MAG on the cupola

The Leopard 1 was a widely exported tank, and trying to make sense of all the countless small variations that seem to emerge on the different versions used by different nations (Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Australia, Italy, Brazil, and more) gives one a headache. And while I'm not much of a rivet-counter (or so I like to believe, at least), I still get bugged by little details, small things here and there that still stand out on even small model.  Get them right, and bang, it all "looks" right!  Get them wrong and it's...well, it's OK...but it just bugs me...

Leopard C1 in 1/100 scale from Plastic Soldier Company - the FN MAG on the cupola is from Peter Pig; the decals on this tank are 1/87 - and the Canadian flag on the front plate is my own useful identifier for tabletop purposes...I don't think they actually had a big marking on the front of the tanks like that...

In the case of the Leopard C1s, two such "little details" nagged at me.  One was the targeting system mounting on the main gun mantlet - a container for a low-light TV and other gadgetry designed to help the gunners engage targets in darkness. On the Bundeswehr Leopard 1s this is a box-shaped gadget, but on the Canadian C1s it is a sort-of rounded cage. Why? Well, the Canadians had a different camera/targeting system. The other "little detail" is the cupola MG.  On the Bundeswehr tanks this is an MG3 (a.k.a. MG42), but the Canadian Forces had a 7.62mm MG, I think it was the FN MAG, mounted up there.  Even in a very small scale like 1/100, the MG3 has such an iconic silhouette that the vehicle looks German.

Should either of these things really matter on a 1/100 scale model of a tank? Well, no...but...yes! What is wrong with me?  I'm such a DORK.

Another view of the PSC models...the targeting camera is not as detail as it is on the Armies Army model, but still great and well done to PSC for thinking of those sorts of "little things"...

The popularity of the period and scale sparked by the entry of a large player like Battlefront has inspired the creativity of some of the smaller figure companies to step up and offer more models. Plastic Soldier Company issued a box of plastic Leopard 1s that could be built as the "C1" variant used by the Canadian Forces. "Armies Army", another fringe-ish producer of cool 15mm figures did even more, producing, in late 2017, a full range of Canadian infantry, Leopard C1s, M113s, M150s (APCs with a TOW launcher) and even the Lynx recon tracks. WOW. So of course I ordered a bunch of everything...so here we go...naturally the Leopards were first under the brush...

There are nine tanks in the photos here - three are from the Plastic Soldier Company, and the balance are from Armies Army.  The Plastic Soldier Company models are a treat to assemble, and they have options for the little targeting camera on the mantlet to suit the Canadian variant, which is just great for a nutter like me! Only downside if the cupola MG is still the German MG3, and that is the only option on the sprue.  I worked around that by swapping in some FN MAGs from a pack of Peter Pig 1/100 IDF Centurion Shots that I haven't painted yet (long-abandoned Lebanon project - don't ask).


The Armies Army vehicles are a mix of resin and metal parts. I love that the Armies Army variant comes with all of the proper accessories - the FN MAG for the cupola, a well-sculpted thermal jacket on the main gun barrel, etc.  PLUS he sells you tons of stowage, something I will add more on later. But they are slightly trickier to assemble - you don't get the razor-sharp precision you do with the plastic kits from PSC. With the treads in particular there were a few challenges...but in all, the Armies Army effort is just so cool because it is so utterly complete - EVERYTHING you could want - well aligned to the mind of a wargaming nutter like me!


AND, major bonus, you can get DECALS! Yes, the little things that really finish off the models! The downside is that, other than the maple leaf on the turret, the decals are hard to see, as they are small and the black stencils don't show well on the green.  Or, they might show in the photos if I ever purchase a light box - but, if you ever see me buying one of those, you'll know I have finally painted every single figure and model I ever want to paint and have moved on to less important things...but anyway...

Ready to roll out against the Warsaw Pact, eh?

It's just as good that most of the symbols don't show up too much...the Canadian forces used a series of call signs, numbers, letters and symbols on their vehicles that would leave ancient Byzantine commanders asking "Are you sure? Seems a touch complicated..." Mostly I just wanted to be sure the Maple Leaf showed up on the tabletop - and it does!  One of the tanks you see here does have larger decals than the others - these are from a 1/87 scale decal sheet, while the rest are from Armies Army 1/100 decals.  I reason the one with the larger decals is just an extreme patriot of some sort, and I'll use it as a Squadron commander or something.

Keen to try any of these models yourself? I would say "go nuts" with either provider, but to further confuse things (so appropriate for a post about Leopard 1s and Canadians), Plastic Soldier Company appears to have acquired Armies Army...all involved are excellent folks to deal with, and it looks like PSC will sell the Armies Army range.  Should be good news long term, and you can take your pick of Leopard 1 models!

Furthermore, Battlefront itself has hinted at providing figures for Canadians later this year, part of a rules expansion to be called "Free Nations" or something similar...but if you are like me, and you don't like waiting, go visit PSC right now!

Anyway, these tanks joined Mike's established collection to receive a baptism of fire on the gaming table last night...and as newly-painted models...well, you know how that goes...stay tuned for a separate blog post about that...

Big thanks to Mike F for the inspiration, assistance with decals and sources of information on the 4th CMBG. Also want to give a shout-out to Stanley Martens and his similar efforts (check them out here) - very inspiring stuff Stanley, and your posts were very, very helpful! I have a few more models to finish to round out the Squadron, and from there it will be on to some Canadian infantry...stay tuned!

Soviet VDV/Special Forces for Team Yankee

15mm Soviets - figures from Peter Pig

As part of the "Team Yankee" fun I wanted to paint up an infantry unit that might represent some of the special forces or airborne units I expect would play a role in any (thankfully fictional) Soviet ground assault into 1980s Western Europe. I find fictional accounts like "Team Yankee" and "Red Storm Rising" dramatically underestimate the likely impact that Communist sympathizers and fifth columnists would play in any invasion.  The west was chock full of useful idiots and their various appendages which could be leveraged by the KGB and other Soviet state elements as they prepapred and executed a ground invasion, sowing, at the very least, wide-spread confusion behind the NATO lines if nothing else.

Love working with these Peter Pig castings

I had some AK-equipped modern 15mm infantry from Peter Pig, and I figured that with a few paintbrush tricks, these could reasonably represent Soviet special forces or VDV/Airborne forces which might bring an interesting additional element to the table.

RPG teams

Realistically these fellows would probably be wearing helmets into battle - and one or two models are wearing them - but I wanted to go with the beret/caps to reinforce the different status.  I painted up enough bases for a large platoon/small Soviet company. 

Heavy recoilless rifle

I also did up a large-calibre recoilless rifle to give them some enhanced firepower.  By the era of "Team Yankee" these weapons would have been a tad obsolete, but I could see small air-dropped units landing behind NATO lines and linking up with some old-school pre-positioned weapons waiting for them at the local Green Party HQs, etc.

As usual, flowered shrubs mark out command bases

I doubt I will have a full-on battalion of these fellows - but rather will try and equip them with some of the VDV vehicles (like the BMD infantry fighting vehicles) and add some of the more modern AT weapons in additional bases.  We'll pop them up in some unexpected locations and give the NATO players some headaches in future games of "Team Yankee". 

12th Painting Challenge Entry - US Mechanized Infantry for "Team Yankee"

US Mechanized infantry in 15mm

Submission number twelve to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Paiting Challege was another "Team Yankee" offering - US mechanized infantry and M113 armoured personnel carriers.

Modern US infantry in 15mm from Peter Pig

It has been nearly two months now since Battlefront "released" their US mechanized infantry figures for their new "Team Yankee" range. Many companies can experience delays in getting their products shipped, but the supply chain Battlefront uses is so glacial that I often snap my crayons, give up waiting, and use an alternate product.  I used Eureka 15mm Soviets in place of the Battlefront motor rifles, and I have opted to use Peter Pig modern US troops instead of waiting any longer for the Battlefront "releases" to reach Canada via whatever snail-driven hot air balloon they use for shipping.

More US grunts

US Mech Company command stand - blue flowers to denote officer

The Peter Pig troops - actually listed as "US Marines" in their website - are a little more modern than the ones from "Team Yankee", more 1990s-2000s than 1980s.  The body armour is a little different, small differences in the harnesses etc.  The only really noticeable difference is the portable anti-tank weapons.  In "Team Yankee", this is the M-47 Dragon missile launcher, but these figures are carrying the AT-4 rocket launcher.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think the AT-4 is a little later than the M-47...but I have no idea what the differences actually are...also, the Peter Pig line does not have a casting carrying an M72 LAW rocket. 

But Peter Pig figures have one marked advantage over Battlefront's - when you order them, they arrive in the mail and you can then paint and use them.

AT-4 teams stand in place of the Dragon AT teams

A view of the camo and webbing

Despite the differences, the Peter Pig castings stand in very well. Peter Pig makes, in my opinion, some of the best 15mm castings out there.  The sculpts are excellent, and the casting quality it top of the line.

The blue flowers denote platoon command base

Painting camouflage is the bane of any hobbyist, but the US Camouflage of the 1980s is particularly challenging.  I try to give an impression of the pattern more than copy it faithfully, particularly in a smaller scale. The results are not too bad.

Propaganda photos - US infantry confront Soviet dismounts near a rail line...

AT team has a surprise for that T-72...

To be mechanized, these fellows need a ride.  The M113s from Battlefront were nowhere to be found either, but it finally clicked that I could just order a box of Jordanian M113s from Battlefront's "Fate of A Nation" game and get the same models, so that's what I did.  Four M113s are enough to mount on platoon of troops - enough to at least get a game in.

M113s...ugliest APCs in existence

I think all of us have some models or figures in particular periods or settings that we dislike or dread painting, and for me, one of those is the M113.  I hate the look of this vehicle - it's just a lame box on some treads.  Whatever its merits in real life (and they might be considerable - I don't know personally, I'm a civilian) in the hobby perspective, these things are totally, totally lame.  The BMPs look waaaay cooler.

Nice models of terrible vehicles

You will notice that none of these M113s have tread covers on...the crappy quality of the plastic struck again, with the tread covers snapping when I tried to clip them off the sprues, so I just avoided them entirely on these models.

Battlefront plastic strikes again...

 ***

And now a short diversion on something I noticed in the "Team Yankee" rule book.  One thing I do appreciate about Battlefront is their painting guides - they have a lot of them in their books, and I find them to be generally helpful.  They often combine art work from Osprey books with Vallejo paint recommendations. I was particularly pleased to see one for the US infantry camouflage in the "Team Yankee" rule book, and once I received the figures from Peter Pig and started painting, I opened up to the guide and noticed something odd...

I thought this was really, really dumb.  Like, really?  I don't know the stats, but I'm confident a large number of the front line troops in the US Army of the 1980s were African American.  So, there was no way to give us a painting guide for that? Just....this was really, really dumb. I hope some copy editor is banging his head against the wall...

*** 


So there are a total of 47 infantry and four vehicles, all in 15mm size, in this submission - worth enough points keep me within a possible striking distance of Byron in the "Modern Mayhem" side duel.

Completed US forces to date for "Team Yankee"

With this I will have concluded my little "modern tear" over the past couple of weeks.  I have enough 15mm stuff on hand now to play a few games and get a sense of the rules - and we even got a game in with these little fellows when Curt visited over the weekend.  Stay tuned for more on that in a later post...

This submission took me past my points goal for the Challenge. Just in time too, as the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is nearly done. I REALLY need to get back to some 30k stuff - I hope I will have more to share before things conclude...

11th Painting Challenge Entry, Part 2 - WarPac BMP-2 Motor Rifle Company

This is the second part of the "points bomb" I dropped into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge over the weekend - a WarPac motor rifle company mounted in BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles.  There is also a BRDM-2 recon vehicle.  The BMP-2s are multi-part plastic kits from Battlefront.  The infantry are from Eureka.  The BRDM is a metal kit from QRF.

Multi-part plastic kits make me grumble quite a bit, particularly for 15mm size vehicles, but I have to hand to Battlefront, they came up with a really, really nice kit.  Assembly was tricky, but pretty straightforward - and that is by the standards of a total grouch like me.  Each box has five models which you can assemble as either a BMP-1 or BMP-2 (and if you are one of those ninjas with the little magnets, you could theoretically make them as both).

I did encounter one confusing element when approaching these model kits, relating to the IR lamp to the right of the cannon on the BMP2 turret.  Here are examples of the lamp from some photos:

But when I checked over the instructions on the assembly, it didn't seem to have one...

And when I checked the photos in the Battlefront products, it looked like there was no lamp beside the cannon either...

But the actual part is on the model sprues, and it fits quite nicely beside the cannon. So I don't know what sort of mixup may have happened with Battlefront - or perhaps I am mixed up, and maybe not all BMP-2s have that lamp beside the cannons? Perhaps a sharper treadhead out there can enlighten me.  At any rate, it was a small bump, and I was able to figure it out after only messing up one of the models :)

Battalion commander and his ride

I managed to sort out the IR lamp beside the cannon

The infantry are 15mm sculpts of modern Russian troops from Eureka.  While Battlefront has apparently "released" their own line of 15mm modern Russian troops - and they do look quite sharp in the pictures - my order for these figures remains nowhere to be seen.  I got tired of waiting, so I decided to go with the Eureka Russians instead.

Eureka motor rifle troops

PKM LMG stands

The Eureka Russians are, I believe, intended to represent the Russian troops who participated in the initial Chechen War in the early 90s, and so their kit is not the same as the troops from the era of "Team Yankee", which is late 80s.  The Eureka Russians are also lacking a sculpt with an RPK squad automatic weapon.  But with 15mm figures, it looks close enough to me - in fact, I'm not sure how different an RPK would look as compared to an AK-74 in 15mm.  The Eureka range has troops with RPG-7s, RPG-18s, AKs with underslung grenade launchers, and also things which haven't found their way into the "Team Yankee" rules as yet - HMGs, mortars and the terrifying automatic grenade launchers!  It's a great little range, and I quite like the look of the figures.

Another shot of the PKM LMGs

"Team Yankee" gives three different sizes for Motor Rifle Companies in the Russian force lists - this is a middle sized one - seven AK-74 stands, two PKM LMG stands, and six RPG-7 stands.  I've also done one battalion command stand.  And there are 10 BMP-2s to have the whole lot roll into battle.

Propaganda photos - Hind covering the BMPs

Motor rifle dismounts sweep the town...

PKM LMG team deploys

Marksman in position

Hind deploys troops behind the NATO lines...

The last little bit is the BRDM scout car.  Again, no stats or rules for this vehicle in "Team Yankee" as of yet, but I'm sure it won't be too long, and it won't be hard to bodge some in the interim.  This is a little kit from QRF - the quality there is hit and miss, but this one was not too bad.

A nice little disposable recon asset

Here is a group shot of the entire force from this past submission:

Ready to assault on the west...

The delays from Battlefront on the second wave of "Team Yankee" products are significant - even by their own standards.  I'm not sure what the hold up is, but if you are impatient like me, I recommend Eureka, and you can also try Khurasan, who has two different versions of modern Soviet motor rifle troops in 15mm.

As much as I enjoy tank battles, having infantry for both sides I think is important to round out the game, so I'm now trying to work on a solution for the NATO mechanized infantry. But I'm looking forward to getting these guys on the table soon!

11th Painting Challenge Entry, Part 1 - Potecknov's Bears

Soviet armoured column rumbles through a town..

My eleventh entry to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge was a big one - a "points bomb" in the nomenclature of the Challenge.  It's a big slug of 15mm Soviet stuff for "Team Yankee". This stuff was a lot of fun to submit, but I want to break it down into a couple of different postings over here on our blog.  So here is part one of that submission - the elements of the "Potecknov's Bears" box from Battlefront - 10 T-72A tanks and two Mi-24 gunships.

"Army" box from Battlefront - lots of toys in this one

All of these models are multi-part plastic kits.  I've blathered before about my little-love-mostly-hate relationship with plastic models in this scale.  These models were par for that course.  Overall the T-72s are very nice looking kits, but the cupola MG was prone to snapping while on the sprue (they give you two on each sprue, in fact, to try and protect against this).  The connection points for the unditching beams - a ubiquitous feature of Soviet MBTs - barely touch the actual unditching beams, leading to nearly all of them being re-mounted. The smoke launchers tend to break while coming off the sprues, and are so fiddly they will not survive any real effort to remove the plastic flash.

T-72A platoon

Painted with a mix of Vallejo and GW paints

Lots of tank commander figures included for you

Mine plows! Nice touch...

But let's look at the positives too - nice models at the end of the day!  Very, very nice in fact! You get options on whether the cupola is open or closed.  There are a whole bunch of tank commander figures.  And there is a set of mine plows on each sprue, a nice feature you can use to your heart's content. And you get two really neat helicopter gunships! If you are psyched about gaming the Cold War in 15mm, this box will really get you fired up!

Mi-24s ready to attack!

Fiddly, but fun to have

The Mi-24s, like the tanks, are also a little tricky to assemble.  But you can't fault Battlefront for lack of ambition with these suckers - you even have the option to model them with the landing gear down! And you get magnets to assist with mounting on the base as well as mounting the main rotors. The small parts are sure tricky, but compared to other 15mm options out there for Mi-24s - and I'm not really aware of any beyond QRF - this takes the cake, and whatever my challenges with the models it is a very nice treat to have these pieces of iconic Cold War kit ready to stalk the table.

Clear discs would look nicer than static rotors, but still, overall, these are nice kits, nicer than any available competitor

Areas for improvement with the helos? Well, as with the other kits, they could improve the plastics.  Again, the risk of the parts snapping on the sprue is high.  In fact, one small piece meant for the rotors was broken on the sprue while in the box for both of the helos.  Fortunately, it is not visually that significant, so no big deal, but again, !#$!$## plastic!!!  And while I on the subject of the rotors...I find the static rotors don't look very compelling when the model is sitting there on the flying base.  An acrylic disc would look better, and probably be easier to model.  Maybe something I can look into in the future.

T-72s advance in propaganda photos

I modelled the Hinds with the gear down, so they can land on the table to drop off troops

On the whole, I find the effort to create multi-part plastic models of 15mm tanks a significant effort to re-invent the wheel.  When it comes to tanks, I much prefer the simpler mixed-media kits which are still very nice (for example, the tanks available from Khurasan) that probably would have arrived a lot sooner to store shelves.

T-72s roll out

But I'm not in the business, they are, and I think Battlefront must know their business!  On the whole, Battlefront's launch of "Team Yankee" has sent a nice jolt through 15mm moderns, and I can't complain about that.  I'm pleased to have these fellows finished, and I look forward to adding more - probably another company of tanks and another pair of Hinds.  Hopefully the guys will be up for a Cold War tank battle soon...

Up next - some Soviet motor rifles!