Entry #6 to the Lead Painters' League: 'Reds 1918'

My interest in the Russian Civil War began this past winter as a 'little side project' but, as these things often go, has slowly grown out of all proportion with various armoured cars, herds of cossacks and even an armoured train (!) all vying for space on my hobby desk. It's a bit ridiculous actually. To be honest, when I first contemplated getting into the period I was concerned that it would be too boring, with nothing but browns, greys and khaki to look forward to. Nonetheless I soon discovered that the uniforms of the RCW were actually quite colourful and incredibly varied, such as these Kronstadt sailors below who first fought for the Bolsheviks, but ended up as hunted fugitives after refusing to come to heel under the Soviets. 

Another thing I quite enjoy is that the combatants frequently carried huge honkin' banners, usually emblazoned with cryptic political slogans, imperial heraldry or religious iconography. That being said, at times they could also be quite simple affairs, featuring a single colour, like this Red banner proudly being held by a female commissar.

Several of the figures (and the armoured car) pictured above were completed during the last Painting Challenge, so I decided to top them up with another half dozen assorted models for the LPL.

The prone MG team and riflemen are from Copplestone whereas the NCO is from Musketeer and the female Commissar is an Artizan casting.

Similar to my Wars of the Roses figures I'm using red and white flowers on the bases to denote Soviet and White Russian combatants.

I really can't face that armoured train right now, so onto something else, wot!

Next up: French Indochina, 1954

Yet more Whacky Pulp Adventurers and Ship Mat from Deep Cut Studios

I ran a Strange Aeons scenario for some of the Conscript lads last week. I based the game on a seemingly derelict whaling ship. The title of the adventure was: 

'The Mysterious Occurrences & Strange Events on the Whaling Ship Pequodrangle'

The fellas really got into the spirit of the game which goes a loooong way in scenarios like this and so we all had a great time. 

To make things a bit simpler, and to  get the game off the ground in short order, I decided to make up characters for each of the guys beforehand, playing to their personalities, backgrounds and sense of humour. For example, Manus 'Mug' MaEoghan, who I profiled last week, was created for Dallas who I suspected would enjoy 'Mug's' psychic abilities and his quirky IRA background. 

For Greg I decided to give him a manic guns 'n bombs team as I knew he'd appreciate the mayhem they could cause on the table. Here is short rundown on his group.

First up is the leader of the team, Major Sir Humphrey Birch aka 'Bark', Scots Guards, DSC and Bar, MC, ret. Sir Humphrey has been seconded to the League of Nations League to represent His Majesties' desire to have the United Kingdom play a leading role in the secret war against the Cthonic threat. 'Bark' has a long history of leading men in combat and is no shrinking violet when it comes to horrific missions. He is armed with his trusty Lewis Gun, 'Der Kaiser', which is always at his side and with which he is frighteningly proficient. Figure from Artizan Designs.

Sir Bark's batman is Fagan McBride aka 'McBoom' who is the team's demolitions 'expert'. 'McBoom' lost most of his face in a botched bomb disposal attempt and so often wears a gasmask to hide his horrific visage. We see him here hauling a jury-rigged fuel bomb to help 'confound and demolish' the enemy. 'Don't trip McBoom!' Figure from Musketeer's (now Footsore Miniatures) Inter-War range.

The third member of Sir Humphrey's team is James 'Jock' Campbell. A past member of the Scots Guards 'Jock' is a large, very dim-witted fellow (yes, it takes one to know one) but has one redeeming quality: he is quite proficient at using a wide variety of very large weapons, his current favourite being a Boys anti-tank rifle, which, as as a testament to his great strength, he can fire from the hip. Indeed, nothing ruins a Mi-Go's day like a wee .55 caliber anti-tank round through the brain-case. Casting from Pulp Figures.

The last figure is actually not from the game but a recent addition to the League. This is Christopher 'Crash' Higgins, big game hunter and private detective. We'll have to flesh the poor lad out before the next adventure. Miniature from Pulp Figures. 

 

Here are a few shots of the same scenario I ran previously for the guys at home. Please excuse the crap iPhone photos, but you can get an idea of the wonderful ship mats from Deep Cut Studios. Great stuff. 

The teams come aboard and go into overwatch (denoted by the yellow markers)

A team opens the door to the Captain's cabin and finds... a Formless Spawn. Note the red 'Oh Sh*t' exclamation mark...

Here you can see two of the decks on the table. There are three in total.

Zombies attempt to overwhelm and feed on one of the the adventurers. Nom, nom, nom...

Action in the middle deck. Blood spatters mark where previous action has occurred. The yellow 'WTF?' question mark denotes 'a place of mystery'. Very, very scary...

28mm Pulp Adventurers for 'Strange Aeons'

These four figures are to bolster our 'Strange Aeons' and pulp adventure games.  I thought it would be good to get some more 'common men' done up to help to flesh-out the ranks. Three of these are from Footsore Miniatures' Irish War of Independence range, while I can't for the life of me recall where I sourced the smoking fellow (any ideas?). I believe all of them are Paul Hicks sculpts. 

I think I was channeling 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' when I was working on these. Lots of muted earth tones with just a little punch of bright colour to liven things up.

The guy in the green jacket below has a .38 revolver and is about to toss a hand grenade. Let's hope he doesn't roll a 1 for the scatter...

I like the animation of this fellow in the blue sports coat and grey trousers. He looks as though he's dashing for cover, hoping that the opposition doesn't get a bead on him first.

I thought I'd give this chap a natty red vest as he looked to be a stylish cove. I've always liked the look of the old 'broomhandle' Mauser (even before it became ubiquitous as Han Solo's blaster).  I know it's supposed to weigh a ton, is as ungainly as all hell, but it just looks so darn cool and seems perfect for pulp adventure settings.

This last guy, taking a drag on his cigarette, was just intended to be a low level thug or an innocent bystander, but as I was working on him I began to imagine him as something much more. The fact that he doesn't have any weapons made him somehow more menacing and strangely interesting. He's since become quite the hard-ass character in our imaginary Pulp world. His name is Manus 'Mug'  McEoghan, ex-IRA hitman and powerful psychic. He now works for the 'League of Nations League' investigating and defending humanity from Cthonic activity.

His primary 'weapons' are his psychic abilities (telekinesis and clairvoyance), with his only physical attack being a deft (and understandably short range) 'cigarette flick'. A nasty, nasty little man. In our last scenario he was teamed up with the 'Limerick Twins' and as a trio they were an absolute terror. Great fun.

With a bit of luck I should have another group of pulpy silliness ready in a few days. Thanks for visiting!

28mm Russian Civil War Sailors, Commissar & Austin-Putilov-Kregesse Armoured Car

(Please excuse the cross-post from the Challenge blog)

In 1963 the Soviet Union released the film ‘Optimistic Tragedy’.  It won ‘Best Revolutionary Epic’ at Cannes that year (though one wonders how many other films were in the running) and within the Soviet Union it took in 46 million tickets at the theatres (again, ticket ‘sales’ may have been encouraged by the state or perhaps even made free). Politics aside, it was regarded as an important film and was credited for its technical authenticity and production quality.

'Optimistic Tragedy' - Yes, only the Russians could come up with such a title for a movie...

The movie tells the story of a Russian Naval unit which comes under the leadership of a female commissar (named simply ‘The Commissar’) played by Margarita Volodina. The film centers around the struggle for the control (and identity) of a band of anarchist sailors during the Russian Civil War. This group of sailors basically has acted as a self-governing detachment until a female commissar is detached from Party headquarters to bring them under the wing of the Red Army. 

Russian Sailor Beefcake

The plot will remind many of today’s viewers of the movies in which a steely-willed teacher slowly civilizes a classroom of unruly teenagers. It's a historically interesting film, and so inspired by it, I thought it a great opportunity to put together a small vignette depicting a female commissar who is urging forward her unit of Russian sailors for the glory of the Revolution.

Historically the Russian navy provided some of the highest quality cadres for the Bolshevik cause. They were often committed to hardest fighting in both the Revolution and the Civil War – they were depended upon for their professionalism, aggressiveness and steadiness under fire.

A.Z. Zhelezniakov, a Russian sailor who became a prominent Bolshevik commander during the Civil War.

Ironically the sailors themselves became some the last casualties of the Russian Civil War.  In 1921, when based back with the Fleet at Kronstadt, they made demands for the return to the original purpose of the Revolution, namely free elections, free speech and free right of assembly. They were swiftly labeled as counter-revolutionaries and were attacked by approximately 60,000 Bolsheviks, who stormed them over the ice at Kronstadt harbor. After fierce fighting, where they caused appalling casualties amongst the attacking Red Army, the sailors either surrendered or escaped into exile in Finland. Overall, it was an embarrassing closing chapter for the Bolshevik's revolution.

The sailors seen here are all from Copplestone Castings. Wonderful models with very little cleanup required - a real joy to paint. I’ve done them up in a mix of either their regular blue or white(ish) dress trousers.  I did this to add some variation as many of the poses are virtually identical so I reasoned that some men could have resorted to their dress trousers when they wore-out their blues.

The female Commissar is also from Copplestone. On the same base I’ve added a NCO from Footsore Miniatures (previously Musketeer). I had them both based, primed and ready to paint when I realized he had epaulettes on his shoulders and an Imperial rosette on his cap. This is a BIG no-no with the Bolsheviks, especially after December 1917 where they made it mandatory to remove all symbols of imperial rank. In fact it was regarded as a damning insult to be called a ‘Golden Epaulette’ in the Red Army. Anyway, knife and file were duly brandished and the offending insignia was removed so he could be a proper 'Soldier of Equal Rights'.

As with the squad of Whites that I did a few weeks ago, I’ve placed flowers in the groundwork which aligns with their political affiliation (though with all of these fellas being festooned with red armbands and accompanied by a commissar who's waving a honkin’ huge red banner it does seem like a bit of overkill, oh well…).

The vehicle seen here is an Austin-Putilov-Kegresse halftracked armoured car. The Kegresse variant was particular to the Bolsheviks who modified twelve Austin cars to this halftrack model.  The machine gun turrets were off-set to better allow overlapping fields of fire (and just in case you're wondering, the shields on the sides of the guns were designed to protect the barrels’ water coolant casings from being holed from incoming fire).

This 1/55 scale model is from Copplestone Castings and while a bit small for my liking, was a very easy build.  Nonetheless, when I originally unpacked it I discovered that while the resin body was excellent, some of the white metal parts were flawed in that they were missing some of their edge detail, and the existing detail was rather soft.  I sent a note to Mark Copplestone outlining my concerns to which he immediately replied, apologized for the defects, insisted on sending out another model of equal value (post free), and also stated that he would pull the Putilov model until the quality issue was resolved. Wow. Now, how’s that for excellent service?! I'm very impressed and must thank Mark again for being such a gracious vendor, he’ll definitely be getting my business again soon.

Magnetics installed for the turrets.

I painted this model in a two-tone camouflage pattern which I understand was typical to the period. Photographic evidence suggests that some of these vehicles operated without any insignia or slogans so that is what I went with here (and it allows it to be used as a captured vehicle by the Whites, Poles or even for Pulp gaming).

Next up... either some Napoleonic Spanish Guerrillas or something in micro-scale...

The First VCs of The Great War: Lieutenant Maurice Dease and Private Frank Godley, 23rd August 1914

One hundred years ago today, on August 23rd 1914, the 4th battalion, Royal Fusiliers were ordered to defend the Nimy bridges, which were only a few kilometers from the main British force at Mons.

By 10:00 that morning the British positions around the bridges came under heavy German artillery fire which was then followed by direct assault by the 84th Infantry Regiment. 

In answer, the Royal Fusiliers caused heavy casualties amongst the Germans, who initially advanced in tightly-packed formations. Being shocked by the rapid fire of the Fusiliers, the Germans soon abandoned this costly tactic and began to advance in open order. As more German troops were thrown into the attack, the situation for the Royal Fusiliers became perilous in the extreme. Yet to withdraw while still in contact with the enemy would expose them to close-range enemy fire. Therefore it was vital that the battalion's machineguns, now under the command of Lieutenant Maurice Dease, hold back the Germans long enough for the rest of the men to withdraw.

Lieutenant Maurice Dease, the first posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross of the Great War.

By this time, however, virtually all the men of Dease's two sections had either been killed or wounded. So the young Lieutenant, along with Private Sidney Godley, took over a gun and kept the Germans at bay. Having been wounded several times, Lieutenant Dease was taken back to the dressing station where he later died of his wounds.

Dease and Godley depicted at the railway bridge near Nimy. Painting by David Rowlands

Meanwhile, Private Godley, himself wounded by numerous shell fragments and a bullet wound to the head, maintained fire from his machinegun. 

Sidney Godley, first Private soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War One.

Godley continued to hold his position for two hours, allowing the rest of the British force to fall back safely. Once out of ammunition, Godley, dismantled his gun, threw it into the canal and attempted to crawl away. Weak from his wounds he was eventually captured by the advancing Germans.

A contemporary rendition of the defence of the bridge at Nimy.

For their actions that day, both Dease and Goldley were awarded the Victoria Cross, the first of the war. Godley was informed of his award by his German captors while being held at a prisoner of war camp near Berlin. He was formally awarded the decoration by King George V on February 15th, 1919.

Drawing inspiration from this event I painted up a 28mm early war British Vickers crew sculpted by the talented Paul Hicks, sold by  Musketeer Miniatures. I've gone with my usual greyscale treatment with this trio. A great set, with very clean castings and exhibiting excellent animation in all the sculpts. 

The Vickers Crew along with some infantry support.

Next up is a new indulgence from across the pond and something else for the Spanish Civil War...

From MartinN: 28mm Late Romans, Fallshirmjaeger & AWI Militia (50 points)

From Nick:

Here's my last submission for this years challenge. It has been a tough ride and I enjoyed it a lot. I've taken part for the very first time and I have to say I was impressed by the high level of painting, the mutual support and of course by Curt's great organization. I guess this were some pretty hard but fantastic three months for all of us.

So my heartfelt thanks to you Curt for shepherding the 'Wild Bunch' and to your wife for giving you the time to do all this.

My last submission is a pretty mixed bag again. First we have three Late Roman Infantry men from Musketeer Miniatures.

Again from Musketeer Miniatures two lonely Late Roman archers. Originally I planed to finish the remaining four also but you know what Sun Tsu said about plans...

This German Fallschirmjäger I painted for a tutorial on painting splinter pattern. So regular followers of my blog probably have seen him already with only his Schmock painted.

And last but not least we have here four AWI Southern Militia from Perry Miniatures. I guess Chris aka Axebreaker will likely be happy to see them as they're proof of him finally succeeding in luring me into AWI. 

I'm pretty chuffed with how they turned out but to be honest they were a real pain in the ass to both clean and paint. Some years ago I already painted some Crusaders from Perry Miniatures so I already knew what I have to expect in terms of cleaning. But what I didn't remember was how hard they were to paint using my usual approach to painting.

And now to finally round things off nicely I've included a group shot of what I painted over the course of the last three month. 

There are two figures missing as these are by now sitting in one of Curt's cabinets in far away Canada.  In total I painted 47 Miniatures, six casualty markers, two Weapon teams consisting of three figures each plus weapon, two mounted guys and one armoured car. In comparison to our top scorers this might not be much but to me this is quite a lot. So much in fact I'm planing not to do any actual figure painting in the next weeks but go for some much needed terrain making. There's still some goodness from Tactica awaiting my attention. So hope to see you all next year again.

Fabulous work as usual Nick. All of these figures are top drawer but the highlight for me is the amazing camo on the Fallshirmjaeger and the wonderfully smooth work on the breaking Americans. Marvellous stuff (and I love the final group shot).

This fine and varied collection of miniatures will give Nick 50 points.