Challenge Submission #16 - Soviet Infantry in Winter Uniforms

 

 

Here is another contingent of defenders of Mother Russia that was completed for the Painting Challenge, specifically 42 Soviet Winter Infantry from the Warlord Games boxed set of the same name. The set consists of five identical sprues of eight figures, plus three weapons sprues, enough to build 40 miniatures. I transferred two additional figures from the Siberian Veterans I did last week to beef up the numbers a bit. They are dressed in either greatcoats or quilted jackets, many wearing mitts, or having them dangle from 'idiot strings'. The selection of heads provided a lot of choice from a variety of fur hats, pilotkas, or helmets, with many of the faces wrapped in scarves. The only criticism I have with the set is that the weapons sprues don't provide enough basic Moisin-Nagant rifles. but I was able to make up the shortfall by carving away telescopic sights, or grabbing rifles from the sprues that came with the box of Siberian Veterans.

These were all painted in my usual style, starting with a dark brown primer. All the basic colours were painted using Vallejo acrylics, followed by a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. At times it was a little tricky getting the brush into the deep recesses. I might try a method I saw on YouTube where all the parts were painted while still on the sprue and then assembled. I used AK Diorama products 'Snow' and 'Snow Sprinkles' on the bases to give them that frosty look. The dead grass is Vallejo Scenery 'Wild Tuft - Beige'. The end result is a platoon of three identical 10 man sections, each with a submachine gun, a mix of Moisin-Nagant rifles and carbines,  a DP-28 light machine gun team, plus some hand grenades and Molotov cocktails, and a section of 9 conscripts armed with rifles, all led by a senior officer with a pistol. Add to that a PTRS-41 or Simonov anti-tank rifle team, ready to engage the Fascist invaders. 

The Bolt Action rules for Soviets allow a free section of conscripts as one of the force selection options, or I can use them to increase the strength of the other three sections up to 12 men, so this group will provide me with some options on the wargames table of either bigger sections, or a free group of 'Grot'. They will be teamed up with my Soviet Winter Support Group and my whitewashed T-34 for a battle in the snows of Russia.

 

A platoon of Soviet infantry in Winter uniforms

Veteran Officer and Anti-tank Rifle Team

Squad No. 1

Squad No.2

Squad No.3

Призывники Фосетт-авеню

 This was the last of my Soviet infantry. The last of the Soviets? Stay tuned for the next submission.

Challenge Submission #12 - Soviet Army (Winter) Support Group and T34/76

 

Having completed all my PSC Soviet troops in Summer uniform, it was time to move to those dressed for colder weather in front of the gates to Moscow. I didn't get a huge number of miniatures completed this week as I have been experimenting with different materials to get a 'Winter look' to not only the bases, but the tank as well.

First up is a boxed set of Soviet Army (Winter) Support Group sold by Warlord Games. It consists of a Soviet HQ of two officers, a radioman, and a medic tending a wounded soldier, a Soviet Maxim MMG team, and a Soviet 82mm medium mortar team, all dressed for the cold in a variety of greatcoats, fur hats, felt  winter boots, etc. Each of these groups can be purchased separately, but you save $5 by getting the 'package deal'.

All of the minis were painted using Vallejo acrylics followed by the application of the Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. This is pretty much what I have done up to this point with the Summer Soviets. I used AK Diorama products 'Snow' and 'Snow Sprinkles' on the bases to give them that frosty look.

 

Soviet Army (Winter) Support Group

Soviet HQ (Winter)

Soviet Maxim MMG and 82mm Medium Mortar teams (Winter)

 The second item is a 1/48 scale Tamiya T34/76 in Winter camouflage. The kit was very easy to assemble, even though a lot of the track comes as individual links. The chassis is made of metal, so it actually has some weight to it. 

Once assembled, the tank was primed dark brown, and then painted olive green using Tamiya acrylic paint. Since I already have four T34/76s in various shades of green, I wanted to put this one in Winter colours to go along with my Winter Soviet infantry. I first applied AK Chipping Medium to all the areas that I thought would get a lot of wear and allowed it to dry thoroughly. I then applied a heavily diluted coat of white acrylic paint to give it the appearance of whitewash that was starting to wear off. Once that was completely dry, I used water and a brush to remove the chipping medium to reveal the olive paint underneath. Finally I applied AK Interactive Splattereffects 'Wet Mud' to the tracks and underside to make it look like it had been driven during the Rasputitsa. I may decide to add more 'Wet Mud' to the road wheels, but I am calling it done for now.

 

 This is my first foray into Winter figures, and I am happy with the results. Now that I have the method worked out, I will be ramping up production to meet the quotas of Stalin's latest five-year plan.

Tamiya 1/48 M8 Greyhound and Winter GIs

Well, it's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and last year at this time, we had a foot of snow on the ground... thankfully it's pretty nice here still this year (I cleaned the leaves out of my house gutters today) but we know that winter is just a matter of time. 

When I posted about the Solido M20 Command Car and winter Sherman I threatened to post again with the entire army, and it's only taken seven months :-)  Most of the infantry are from Artizan Designs.

These are supplemented by a command squad from Bolt Action, that I've posted about before.

I also augmented the Artizan troops with a veteran Bolt Action squad. All of the models in the army are metal.

Lots of .50 cal. "Ma Deuces" in the force... along with one tripod-mounted HMG, there's also one on the Sherman, one on the M20 armoured car, and one on the Greyhound.  

A couple of Artizan .30 cal. MMG crews in the force as well.

The latest addition prompting this post is the completion of this Tamiya M8 Greyhound.

Turned out pretty good. I also added resin wheels and tirechains from Black Dog (blackdog.cz), a manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. The fit was absolutely flawless and a really easy conversion to make.  

I left off securing the front and rear fenders to the model until after I'd painted the wheels. The paintwork was done the same as on the M20 and Sherman - Catachan Green basecoat, Rakarth Flesh stipple followed by White Scar. Done! 

The crewman required a bit more thought. The crew model was supplied in the Tamiya kit but the pose was kinda boring - just holding a pair of binoculars in front of his chest. So I pinched a pointing arm from a handy Bolt Action plastic US Infantry set and added that.

Now, how to secure him in the turret? Magnets to the rescue of course... I superglued a 5mm rare earth magnet to the crewman's feet...

...and stuck a corresponding magnet on the top of the seat in the bottom of the turret (see next pic)

You can just see the magnet on top of the seat in this pic. It actually worked really well; the crewman stands up nice and straight and is quite secure.

A couple other models added to the army... first a .50 calibre machinegun team. This one is from Warlord's Bolt Action range and is actually a weird little set. You get these very useful crewmen for the .50, but the pack also contains two other oddballs, one of which is warming himself over a fire (!)

I haven't painted the other two models from the pack yet.

I also got a couple of .30 cal. MMG teams from Artizan. They should come in handy in a game, if these guys ever get to see the tabletop.

Hope you enjoy the post and stay healthy, friends.

Solido 1:50 US Army M20 Armoured Car

So this project has had a bit of a long timeline... I got this Solido M20 diecast model years ago, probably in a package deal with some other stuff. But once I started on the winter US Army project in earnest I dragged it out of mothballs to paint.

But I needed a crewman for it! After casting around the Internet a bit, I found that Company B produces some very handy vehicle crew models, including this .50 Browning gunner. The model is nice - it actually comes with a .50 cast on in one piece. However, I ended up cutting off the barrel and using a spare plastic one from a Tamiya kit in its place.

I ordered the gunner and some appropriate decals at the end of February but had some problems with the postal system. It got from Washington state to Canada OK and fast, but once it got to Winnipeg it sat for a week without moving, then suddenly scanned as "delivered"... when it never actually got to my house.

Fortunately Bruce at Company B was great about sending a replacement model. The decals haven't arrived yet though so I used some spares I had left over from the Tamiya M4A1 build.

The Solido M20 isn't super-detailed by any means but will suffice for our gaming needs. As noted, it's 1:50 scale so is just a skosh smaller than the M8 Greyhound I'm building (the vehicles shared a chassis) but not enough to notice, really. The M8 is suffering from postal delays too as it's fully built and basecoated but is waiting for its winter tires to arrive from Australia.

I painted the M20 in my standard US livery - Catachan Green base, then camo'd up with Rakarth Flesh and White Scar stippled on.

Gunner is good enough to justify a full-length shot. I had to stand him on an ammo box to make him tall enough to fit the M20 interior dimensions.
 

A couple of shots with the M4A1 Sherman to finish off the post. The winter camo is looking OK and I can't wait to get the Greyhound done - it's such a cool looking (and heavily armed) vehicle. I gotta give props to Company B for making the crew model. It's a really niche kind of thing to make, but adds so much to the LCF for our games.

Stay safe everybody!

Winter Whitewash: Tamiya 1/48 Sherman M4A1

Readers will have seen Conscript Greg's copious updates on progress made with his winter WW2 Germans. He's amassed quite a few models in his project. And as these things go, his progress inspired me to assemble some opponents to face those Germans, if the coronavirus pandemic ever allows us to get together in person again, of course...

Fortunately I didn't have to go far for this Tamiya M4A1 kit... it was in the "Model Kits - Unbuilt" box in the basement, and went together very quickly. I built it as the later version.

I also used some resin stowage bits on this kit - the pile of stuff on the rear deck as well as the spare track links etc. on the front of the model are both from "Value Gear", an ebay seller offering tons of 1/48 stowage bits.

I painted the model Catachan Green and applied decals, then started in with the whitewash treatment. This consisted of stippled Rakarth Flesh to create a nice light base, followed by more stippled White Scar. I left a margin around the insignia markings as you see on most period photos. The vehicle was then mudded up with Rhinox Brown and Mournfang Brown.

I used a synthetic broom bristle for the antenna - these seem to work well and are pretty hardy.

Here's a better view of the Value Gear stowage.

Ready for some winter battles against Greg's Germans! Of course, it will likely be summer by the time we're able to get together...! But in the meantime, stay tuned for some more winter US Army content...

Bolt Action Tank War Battle Report - Hungary 1945

Last Thursday the group gathered at Conscript Towers for a game put on by Conscript Greg:

"We'll play 'Bolt Action' - using the 'Tank War' supplement and 15mm models.  The game is set in Hungary, January of 1945, and 50,000 German and Hungarian troops are trapped in Budapest, surrounded by Russian forces. The Panzers of IV SS Panzer Corps have launched a relief attempt, hoping to reach the Danube and the trapped defenders in the city, and also buy some more time for Germany to fight on.  The Panzers have caught the Russian forces by surprise, but Soviet Guards Armoured Regiments are now rushing to block them. Germans will confront the Red Army and the winter as they fight to break through Soviet defences."

Here's the table: German short table edge at top, Soviet at bottom. Germans need to destroy Soviet units, but get more VPs for exiting their own units off the Soviet table edge. The rules used were "Bolt Action" of course, but unlike most of our BA games we played this one with 15mm models, most of which were tanks!

Conscript Mike F and I played the Germans and we had a straightforward plan: foot to the floor and devil take the hindmost! Our first activations were "Run" orders and we used the armoured troop leader's activations to order the other two Panthers with him. That worked well.

Of course the Soviets had to appear and mess up our plans... they had two IS-2s and three T-34/85s with two infantry sections against our four Panthers and two Pionere Hanomags.

Peter Pig tank riders get into action...

We started to run into problems about halfway across the table. The lead Hanomag was picked on by the Soviet tankers and despite surviving being set on fire, it was destroyed in the next turn.

Here the second engineer track veers away from enemy fire in the direction of the Panthers, while one of the big cats burns in the field. Just past the trees another knocked-out Panther is visible - it was supposed to anchor our flank after daringly driving onto a frozen pond. While the ice held, the incoming 85mm round finished it off...

More bad news on the German left as the remaining Panthers are knocked out. We did manage to mislead the Soviets somewhat as to which vehicle was the troop commander's, because we'd lost track of that ourselves and were therefore quite believable... "Oh no, there goes the commander!" "Oh no, that's not him!" etc.

The surviving Pionier zug beside its crippled vehicle...

The game itself was super-fun but Mike and I underestimated the hitting power of the T-34/85s for sure. Those suckers lit us up comprehensively and no mistake. I'm not sure if deploying differently would've helped as the Soviets had several turns to get into firing position while we steamed across the table. This made it difficult for us to maneuver to minimize their firing solutions. The big cats sure looked awesome though.

Thanks Greg for bringing out the amazing looking game and to the boys for playing!