WWII 20mm Soviet "Shadow" Project

As you may know from what I have already posted in 2017/2018 I am engaged with one new "active" wargaming project, i.e. collaboration with a group of "like minded wargaming individuals" to put on a 'mini' Chain of Command campaign in early spring 2018 , the twist being it is in 28mm. Hence the "I am gonna do this thing" 28mm painting posts to jump start my efforts. You may also recall  my wargaming world view is that 20mm is "the one true [certainly in Skirmish "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) and possibly higher level (MegaBlitz probably "yes", but Command Decision a "maybe" or "no" [if there are lots of tanks flying about]) aka the Operational Art of War level] WWII wargaming scale". All other scales are whims and fancies, the dragon's teeth thrown down by the necromancer in Jason and the Argonauts! OK. I think I had an early, formative Airfix experience when I was young, my older brothers gave me lots of Airfix "presents". Hence as I descend into this 28mm madness I have hatched a cunning 20mm "escape plan". I will replicate my 28mm OrdBat in 'fresh' 20mm as well. Mirroring the Warlord Soviet 28mm Winter Infantry is the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) 20mm-1/72 Summer Russian Infantry Platoon (see below):

I immediately noticed one 20mm advantage, there are "more of them" per box. That means one PSC 20mm Russian Infantry box contains more than enough infantry to complete the full Russian Stalingrad platoon OrdBat I am after without the annoying need to supplement 'gaps' with expensive metals or begging unwanted LMGs from other people's plastic sprues, or buy another expensive 28mm "box" of figures. Besides that I literally have hundreds of other plastic (even metal) Russian figures I could pull in at a stretch to fill in any of those "silly gaps" + required support options, seriously NO PROBLEM. I am not going to purchase a 28mm Soviet Tank! Additionally I really like the PSC Soviet Infantry as I think they have plenty of character and are nicely posed. Therefore this is a "win-win" scenario for me (see below):

Hence the first Stalingrad Chain of Command (CoC) Platoon has now been primed in my preferred Airfix Acrylic (01) Grey. I hope to shadow the 28mm in 20mm as it progresses along (Note: Madness would mean I should also paint the 15mm PSC Soviet Infantry I have .. but I don't think I'll go there just yet)!

Note to self: This mean I am slightly updating my 20mm Russian WWII Infantry Painting Guide

Painting Prep Phase:

• Step 1: Fix washed plastic soldier to a base via UHU glue
• Step 2: Apply Airfix Acrylic Grey Primer (01)
• Step 3: (Next) Wash figures in Vallejo Brown Wash

Plastic Soldier Company Soviet 1/72 Summer Infantry and WWII HeavyWeapons

Following on from my New Years Resolution to de-box my plastic kits or "get rid" (shock, gasp and horror) any infantry that needs some form of assembly comes under close scrutiny. The PSC Summer Soviets fit into that category. Firstly there is the basic infantry (with six LMG teams in the box, three deployed and three moving). The PSC kit is hard model plastic and have some very nicely posed figures that I am really looking forward to paint (see below):

Then there is also their Russian Summer clad "heavy weapons" box of tricks (see below):

This includes a variety of standard Russian support weapons, the PTRD anti-tank rifle both in position and being carried, Maxim MMG in position and being pulled along, an 81mm mortar being fired and a 50mm mortar being fired (see above). The last item being the prize catch IMHO for Soviet light support weapons needed in Chain of Command.

Nice Description of Painting WW2 Russians

I was thinking of painting some WW2 Russians next and found these nice blog postings:

http://balagan.info/ww2-painting-guide-russian-infantry
http://rhannibalswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/soviet-infantry.html