Bad Squiddo Soviet Sniper Team

Well, winter has certainly arrived on the Canadian Prairies so why not reflect that with some quick painting. Accordingly here are a couple of models to get in before the start of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (16th edition). It's a lovely pair of female Soviets from Bad Squiddo games.

These came in an order I won't be repeating... I picked up the Israeli unit cards for "Fate of a Nation" and the excellent Battlefield in a Box set of 15mm railway tracks, and saw these models on the site and popped them in the basket, as one does. Then I got to the checkout and found that the store didn't ship to Canada. I even asked them by email and they said they wouldn't. Usually I would have stuff such as this sent to a parcel business in Pembina ND and drive down, but with the current state of "relations" I'm not anxious to visit our neighbours. So I asked Pam's cousin if he would accept the package and forward it on. He said he would, so far so good.

The parcel duly arrived at its US destination and was forwarded... cost of postage to Canada, $47USD (this is for $70USD worth of stuff). To add insult to injury, CBSA relieved me of a further $22CAD in duty upon receipt. So I ended up paying nearly as much in postage and duty as the goods themselves cost. Like I said, I won't be repeating that escapade.  

Anyway... the figures are lovely and well-cast with hardly any cleanup required. I painted them in the standard Soviet scheme of Khaki/Tallarn Sand with Dark Rubber boots and Doombull leatherwork. Not much to these and I like the result. They'll be a good addition to my Soviet winter forces.

The Challenge starts in one week and I have something in mind to start it off, it's just a matter of whether I can hold off till then!

Winter Soviets in the Painting Challenge

 

I opened the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge with an entry just in under the free-fire wire. This is a bunch of models I started before the Challenge so they're suitable for the first Circle - Limbo. 

Earlier last year I spotted a smokin' deal on Warlord Winter Soviets from Meeplemart - it was like $100 less than the price on the Warlord Games website. So as with many hobby projects it started with a "great deal" :-)

Anyway the box came with a plastic KV-1/2 model tank, 80 infantry, and some HQ/mortar/Maxim HMG models. As the first tranche for the Challenge I've painted 40 infantry, a metal Maxim HMG, and one of the HQ models. Colour scheme mirrors the one on the Warlord site. GW Zandri Dust [or Vallejo Khaki) washed Agrax Earthshade for the uniforms, black with Vallejo Dark Rubber for the boots, Celestra Grey washed Nuln Oil for the scarves, Doombull Brown for the belts and leatherwork. Some of the webbing was highlighted with a lighter khaki tone. I'm painting on an assembly line here so not a ton of extra detail. 

This chap with the Molotov cocktail is definitely my favourite but one is probably enough for the platoon :-) 

Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of multipart plastic models but the Warlord ones are tolerable, if you can get them at a deep discount like I did. At regular price it's $68USD for 40 models and at those prices I would buy metal models from Crusader or someone like that. 

But if you get 'em cheap they're OK, even though they have separate arms and weapons. I really prefer the weapons molded onto the arms for ease of assembly and good looks. But these went together mostly OK and look good when painted. Next I'll do another MMG, the mortar, and some command I think.  

Look out for more frozen Russkies!

Bolt Action Soviet Winter 1:56 KV-1/2

I'm making a tentative start on a new project here, a winter-themed WW2 Soviet force. I picked up the big Bolt Action box set from Meeplemart (they had offered it for an unbelievable deal - less in CAD than the MSRP in USD!) and it included a 1:56 KV tank that can be assembled as either (or both!) a KV-1 and KV-2. 

First I'll show the big chap, the KV-2. Equipped with a 152mm howitzer, the KV-2 was designed as a bunker buster par excellence. Plus it just looks insane with that top-heavy extra-tall turret. So cool.

Of course the heavily-armoured KV hull was identical on both the -1 and -2. In the early part of the war in the East, the Germans' tank guns and AT guns had real problems with the Russischer Koloss; there's a famous story about a KV holding up an entire kampfgruppe of 6. Panzerdivision at Raseiniai. 

I used the Sonic Sledgehammer technique to paint the tank - basecoat with Castellan Green, panel highlights with Deathworld Forest, then sponge with Corax White.

Mr. Sledgehammer recommends as a next step that you sponge on some of the basecoat - but using straight Castellan Green sponged on, is too light - probably because it's going on over a white basecoat rather than black. But I just darkened the Castellan with some craft black and it worked OK.

Before that though, I applied the decals. The Soviets often painted tactical markings and slogans over top of the whitewash so that's what I did on the KV-1. With the KV-2, the yellow didn't show much contrast over the whitewash, so I put those decals on top of the green, then sponged the Corax around it.

I also applied some sponge Corax on the tracks and running gear, like it had been driving through snow. I didn't use Sonic's baking soda mix to apply snow to the model though.

I'm OK with how the model turned out. Lots of base colour showing through the whitewash and I like the effect.

Sadly all of the Bolt Action models are in 1:56 scale rather than my preferred 1:48, and especially with larger vehicles the difference is quite pronounced. At left is a Hobby Boss 1:48 KV-1 I painted for my Finns, and at right is the 1:56 KV-1 I just painted. But I guess as long as I don't put a 1:48 KV next to it on the wargames table it should be OK. But it'll be kinda weird for the 1:48 T-34 I'll be building next to be a bigger model than this one. So it goes. 
 

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!