From MarkG: Anarchist Infantry for the Russian Civil War (135 points)

With a sigh of relief, I get my last entry over the finish line. These are supposed to represent a unit in the Anarchist Army of Nestor Makhno in Ukraine (the Makhnovshchina). All are a mix of various figures from Copplestone Castings - Ragged Whites, Partisans, and Bolshevik Infantry,

Given their mongrel nature, and appearance, they are generic enough to be used for any side in the conflict. Most were poorly dressed/ragged most of the time, and they are perfect for any conscripts/prisoners changing sides, or even seasoned veterans.

The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, or "Makhnovishchina" were rural Anarchists, who fought against nearly every army in the conflict: the Whites, the Germans, the Austro-Hungarians, Ukrainian nationalists, and finally the Bolsheviks (after allying with them for a short while, and then realising what a nasty bunch they really were). 

In essence, they wanted to have their own "stateless" state, but none were willing to accommodate, the Bolsheviks finally defeating them in 1920.

In terms of wargaming they make an interesting force; plenty of cavalry, and tachanka's (which are claimed to be one of their innovations), ex-sailors, peasant conscripts, and a whole mix of men from both the Red and White armies (ex-prisoners, deserters etc.). Despite their mixed nature, they were quite effective, motivated and well led; a real headache for any army that had to fight them.

So finally, many thanks to everyone who made this such an enjoyable challenge. To all of you who made kind comments on my efforts, to Sander for his curation of the "Saturday crew" and his encouraging remarks, and of course to Curt for setting this fine show up.

The points summary:

27 x 5 = 135 points for twenty seven 28mm foot miniatures.

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Doomed rural anarchists who had a bone to pick with all levels of authority? I have to say these Makhnovishchina sound like my kind of people. Fabulous work, Mark. I really enjoyed following your progress with with project. This was especially helped with your fine brushwork and historical backgrounds - a real treat.

Have a great spring and summer and I hope we see you out with us when the weather turns chilly.

- Curt 

From MarkG: White Infantry for the Russian Civil War (55 points)

This final week I'm adding another elite unit of White Infantry. These are from the Partisan General Alekseev Regiment, an elite coloured unit that fought with the Armed Forces of South Russia (ASFR) against the Bolsheviks in the South (the Don, the Kuban and in Ukraine).

I've given them very faded khaki shirts as a nod to their supposed white uniform shirts in 1918 (which didn't last long, their white shirts providing excellent targets in battle, and then units being refilled with conscripts and Bolshevik deserters/prisoners). Only the officer has their classic parade ground look. By 1919 they were mostly wearing British uniforms.

This may be the last unit I post up for the challenge (I'm hoping to get one more unit over the line before the deadline, so we shall see). If so, then I can say that the challenge was an absolute blast. Really enjoyable, and it's definitely helped me to rediscover my painting mojo. I was also inspired by others' efforts, and picked up some great ideas. It has also given a needed boost to my Russian Civil War project, which had been languishing in various drawers for the last 10 years. 

The points summary:

11 x 5 = 55 points for eleven 28mm foot miniatures.

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Hello Mark - given that we are in the final hours of AHPC XVI, I am just pipping in to help out with this post...and also to just take the chance to share how cool this is! I have really been enjoying your RCW work, and it has been totally inspiring to see. In particular, you are genius in achieving various tones of khaki. It looks lived-in, sun-blasted...just tremendous, and in turn it adds so much to the parade-ground precision of the officers. Very, very nice!!

That is another 55 points for you, no problem - and best of luck getting one more submission done (I am attempting to squeeze one more in myself...)

Brilliant stuff, and thanks so much!

GregB

From MarkG: Russian Civil War Armoured Train and Artillery Crew (160 points)

For this week's entry I finally get to present a project that I've been thinking about for ages, and tinkering around with for a few weeks.

This is an armoured train that I printed on my filament printer over Christmas. I obtained the files from the Kickstarter that Mad Bob Miniatures ran last year. 

Though designed for a resin printer, the carriages came out quite well on the FDM printer. The few visible filament lines on the upper surfaces were easily dealt with by applying some tile filler, which was then smoothed out with some water.

The train in question is the "2nd Siberian," a Bolshevik train that was in turn captured and used by the Whites. For the moment I will keep it generic for use by both sides, just adding the appropriate flags for which side it's currently on.

I've tried to achieve the effect of sun bleached paint on rusty armour. I was inspired by the look of the numerous weathered tanks at the Lesany tank museum outside Prague.

The carriages themselves are quite big, easily twice the size, or more, of an average 28mm tank/vehicle (as you can see in the picture next to the 28mm armoured cars for scale). For this reason I am proposing to score the engine, tender, and two artillery carriages at 30 points each (as for a 54mm scale vehicle). That said, whatever the agreed final points allotment is fine.

For the artillery crew I used the wonderful Copplestone castings again. I cannibalised these off the White field gun set. 

The ones dressed in the classic Russian Imperial Army uniform, with green hats (piped red), represent the Kornilov Artillery Brigade, and the second set in red hats, the Drozdovsky Artillery Brigade. The last two generic figures in shirt sleeves, are from Scarab Miniatures. 

Based singly they can be used for the train, or any field pieces.

The rail track pictured is from Sarissa Precision, and will be sent as a separate terrain piece entry on Sunday.

The points summary:

4 x 30 = 120 points for 4 large armoured train carriages/engine

8 x 5 = 40 points for eight 28mm foot miniatures.

Excuse me?! Are you kidding me? Is this gorgeous piece of hardware an fdm print? Surely not? Well either way it is dropdead beautiful Mark! The weathering is awesome and the guns and crew are excellent too. Sometimes a finished project really shows how much thought and care went into it's production and this is no exception on that. I will go with your suggestion for scoring because this truly is huge, what a whopper, well done!  

Cheers Sander 

From MarkG: Bolshevik Infantry from the Russian Civil War. (55 points)

This week I'm adding another unit of Bolsheviks to the growing roster for my Russian Civil War project. Copplestone Castings Miniatures again.

I've tried to give them a greater degree of uniformity (if faded) to represent the more regular nature of units on the Red side from 1919/1920 onwards.

These chaps are kitted out in the 'Budenovka' hats, which were introduced in 1919. 

These became an iconic image in propaganda posters, and Socialist Realism art from the late 1920's onwards.

The points summary:

11 x 5 = 55 points for eleven 28mm foot miniatures.

Great painting yet again Mark. Those Bolsheviks are getting a lot of reinforcements this week and very well dressed they are indeed! 

Cheers Sander 

From DaveD - 1 Tachanka, 2 Tachanka (100 points)

This week sees some more mobile firepower in the form of Tachankas . On the WW1 eastern front , RCW and in the Back of Beyond the roads are often poor quality or virtually non existent. Likewise internal combustion vehicles are likely to have poor maintenance a lack of spares or just fuel . Just the thing to get around these issues of course is a horse drawn carriage - and let’s stick a Maxim on it . High speed manoeuvrability and Dakka Dakka . What’s not to like.

3 would of course be a better number , but 2 will do for now! 

28mm options seem fairly limited or overly expensive. Warbases have filled a nice little niche , offering the Tachanka as an MDF kit for £5  , then crew and horse as seperate items . I am not of fan of the Warbases horses so I have used Pendraken 28mm draft horses , which are nicely proportioned and have correct horse furniture . (link -draught-horses-red-h02) The warbases crew figures are little stumpy , but they work well enough on the carriages.

The MDF kit for the  carriage is neatly designed and goes together well enough in a short time . For the crew I had to take a file and knife to them to scrape off the shoulder boards as my Bolos don’t have those . 

These should provide my cavalry force with some decent firepower 

A bit of extra work was done to make some reins from garden twisty wire about 300mm folded in half this is fed  through a hole drilled  through the drivers hand and then the loose end attached with solder to the bridle at each side the the middle horse .The traces from the horse to the carriage are made from thin black card . I had an interesting delve into how the horse furniture and attachment were generally done , and most seemed to have leather rather than rope or chain that I could see so the black card looks to have done a decent job replicating it . 

My storage trays box for these is now completely full . So I guess that’s it for now . I do have a larger boat to complete , but not sure that will be this side of challenge end 

My Bolos army has 3 large battles coming up in our ongoing campaign, so wish em luck.

Points 

2 x 28 vehicles = 40

6 x 28mm crew = 30

6 x 28mm horses =30 

2 guns = 20 

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More tremendous hobby engineering here Dave, and the subject is one of those bits of kit that are icnonic for a given period. You see these, and you immediately think "Russian Civil War". Well done. Also a nice touch that you touch the time to remove the shoulder boards from the crews, as of course those symbols of Imperialist oppression are just a no-go in the fight for the brave new future. 

I am sure they will look amazing in your approach game - but the only fate I will ever wish on Bolsheviks is to be mowed down in droves :)

A slight adjustment to the points calculation, as the guns and vehicles are together on this complicated little assemblage, but you still end up with a tidy 100 points - and a fitting cap to this incredible project!

GregB 

From MarkG: Another batch of Czechoslovak Legion Infantry (55 points)

This week I have another batch of Czechoslovak Legion figures ready. Again from the range of Copplestone Castings, they are simply splendid and a joy to paint.

I've tried to vary the colours to give them a more worn and summer campaign look.

Thankfully the Painting Challenge has kickstarted my painting mojo again, so I have a whole pile of Russian Civil War figures waiting on the painting table to keep me going post challenge.

I quickly took the pictures this morning after emerging from the bomb shelter (we're currently posted to Tel Aviv). Just off to Jerusalem for a day or two to avoid the inevitable missile attacks. 'Bon chance' to all. Hopefully my next post will be 'Postbellum.' ;-)

The points summary:

11 x 5 = 55 points for eleven 28mm foot miniatures.

 Oh dear Mark, I do hope you and yours will keep safe and get through this ordeal in top shape mate! It is incredible that you have been able to put out these excellent figures seen the circumstances. I am glad to hear the Challenge has given you the drive to keep going on this awesome project indeed! 

Cheers Sander 

MarkG: Czechoslovak Legion infantry from the Russian Civil War (50 points)

This week I’m presenting another unit from my Russian Civil War project. The Czechoslovak Legion have always been a favourite of mine, and these fellows have been sitting unpainted on the lead mountain for many years. 

I had planned to get these done for a display game the Prague Wargamers put on at Crisis in Antwerp way back in 2018, but there were already too many units painted up for this, so were unneeded. I have a pile of these to paint, so enough for one side in a game (along with some SR Menshevik/Komuch allies in Siberia). 

These again are from that lovely range from Copplestone Castings. I was inspired by pictures of the "Legiovlak" exhibition, that’s been touring the Czech Republic in a reproduction Legion train. 

Thus, they are all in suitably faded/mixed uniforms. Their only distinguishing marks being the lack of shoulder boards, and the red and white ribbon on their hats, and sometimes as a buttonhole ribbon. I plan to expand this force further before the end of the Painting Challenge.

Hoi Mark, another excellent rendition of forces involved in the Russian Civil War. Those photographs of the re-enactors are brilliant reference material and you have used them to the greatest effect! What an awesome project to see developping, 

 Cheers Sander 

From BillA: The Ever-Glorious Workers' and Peasants' Red Army! (70 points)

Inspired by MarkG and DaveD's exemplary efforts this Challenge, I've begun work on my own set of Copplestone figures for the Back of Beyond. I've admired these figures for a long time, and in 2024 I started buying quite a number of them with an eye towards...something, gamewise, with the Back of Beyond? I've quite enjoyed reading histories about the region and its conflicts in the Interwar years, but whether or not I can translate that into something on the table (the various local wargamers who'll touch historicals at all, unfortunately, believe historical wargaming begins and ends with WWII). I did two packs of White infantry and an artillery piece over the course of 2025, and primed a couple packs' worth of Bolsheviks, Chinese and some Cossack cavalry ahead of the AHPC this year. So to start off, here's a dozen Bolsheviks:

This is one pack of Bolshevik infantry, and I decided to try some different things paint-wise with these, since I'd treated myself to Mark Hargreaves' painting guide last year, and used more washes than I usually do - predominantly Army Painter Soft Tone. Tunics I did all the same, but there's a total of four different colors used for trousers (two browns, two greens), and the rolled greatcoats are done in two different shades of dark gray, one warmer and one cooler. 

Accompanying them are a Commissar and one of Mark Copplestone's wonderfully characterful Bolshevik Heroines, sporting a Mauser C96 broomhandle. The Commissar was given a black leather jacket in my usual way - Reaper's "Coal Black" highlighted with "Midnight Blue," which was also used on all the boots. He's also got a heck of a lot of character to him, with that exaggerated yell he's got going on. I might have gone a little bright on his teeth! 

Finally, I've got a set of objective tokens to go with my Maya, and they're a grisly set indeed - three piles of severed heads, produced by Acheson Creations as single-piece resin castings. These were painted pretty quickly and intended to look like putrefaction had set in - a base coat of Reaper's "Ghoul Skin," washed with GW Druchii Violet, and then drybrushed heavily with another layer of "Ghoul Skin" followed by "Moldy Skin." They're on a raised integral base that's been glued to a 40mm Renedra round base, and are probably pretty close to 28mm tall overall. 

That's 12 28mm figures, for 60 points, plus whatever my illustrious minion considers the head-piles to be worth. And I'll claim a Squirrel point for "Back of Beyond," bringing me up to 5 (Maya, Modern Horror, Modern Africa, Dinosaurs, and now BoB).

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Sylvain: Very colorful figurines indeed, both in palette and in character. I find your collecting choices very interesting because I'm a big fan of Corto Maltese, a graphic novel character created by Hugo Pratt, who had adventures in the back of beyond, among other places. As for your heaps of heads, how about 10 points for the three of them for a total of 70 points? Fabuleux!

 

 

MarkG: Bolshevik infantry from the Russian Civil War (75 points)

This week I’m continuing the Russian Civil War project with a unit of Bolshevik infantry. 

All Copplestone Castings again. Given the add-hoc, and often ragged appearance of the Red armies, I’ve tried to mix up the uniforms a bit, and equally give them a toned-down look.

I painted one of the officers/commissars in a conjectural Cheka uniform, with the mandatory black leather jacket and hat (though at the time, they were most likely dressed the same as the rest of the infantry). Let’s just say he needed to resemble “Strelnikov.”

The flag is one I lifted off the internet, apparently representing some Red unit opposing Yudenich’s White Army near St. Petersburg in 1919.

The points summary:

15 x 5 = 75 points for fifteen 28mm foot miniatures.

Mark, you are beavering away on this most excellent Civil War project of yours for sure. Another great unit to bolster the bolshevik ranks. The banners really enhance the overal look of the unit. Well done can't wait to see a group shot of the entire project!