Muster: Soviet Army

The somewhat battered Soviet hordes

With the Kursk game coming up, it was time to dig out my Soviets and make an account, now unfortunately my laptop was out of comission, so this was composed and photographed on my phone. Some of the pictures may not be as sharp as I would like. 

Urrah Podieda!

Most of these figures were based about a million years ago for a game called Warhammer Panzer Battles, which eventually became Flames of War. This like Crossfire, was a game that came with strict basing conventions which being young and foolish, I strictly adhered to. That said the figures have seen a great deal of service in WPB, Crossfire, Rapidfire and now Memoir '44. 

More infantry

Towards the end of my Second World collecting carreer, I started basing figures singly which is a great improvement.  The chap in the camoflage suit is a Razvedchiki, a Soviet Long Range Reconaissance Scout.  He and several like him played a large part in my long running GURPS Second World War game. These chaps a mix of Revell, Battlefield and Irregular. 

Chaps with PTRD anti rifles 

Revell Siberian Riflemen and a Battlefield Ravedchiki

I'll be using these guys to mark units with anti-tank assets in Memoir '44 game. The Battlefield figure was Danilko, the sniper from our Razvedchiki game.  He normally used a Moisin Nagant, but it must be said he did some great work with a PTRD.  One of my favourite moments from the campaign was how he discovered his father was dead.  I used to run a mailbag and get the players to write letters home and their family would write back. Life being what it is and the Red Army postal service being so awful, the letter were delivered in the wrong order and poor old Danilko thought his mother was losing it because she had started referring to his father by a different name. 

What had happened of course was that his father had died, his mother had met another man and remarried, but those letters hadn't arrived yet. 

A Britannia sniper and some homemade flamethrower chaps. 

The Soviets were aware that troopers carrying flamethrowers tended to be targeted, so they would disguise the flamethrower as a rifle. I needed some guys for a game at short notice and stuck some sprue on their backs as a stopgap measure.

One that seems to have lasted rather longer than I anticipated.

Soviet heavy metal

A Frontline KV next to two Pegasus quickbuild KVs. The chap on the right is a Pound shop Churchill, whose tracks have long since gone west. Not entirely sure what I'll do with him. The Pegasus kits are fine pieces and went together well. I must throw some paint on them shortly. 

These fellas are both hardened campaigners

One of the scenarios in the Rapidfire Eastern Front book called for a captured Stug.  This is an Airfix model with an extra thick barrel added from plastic rod.  The M3 on the right is another Pound shop special which I stuck together with crazy glue.  The camo netting is old plaster bandage that I went a little over the top with.

Hordes of T-34s

The chaps on the left are I think Italeri, I bought them made up from Mark Bevis to bulk up by Soviets. The Airfix T-34 however is the mainstay of my Soviet armour and despite the gun barrel being a little more delicate than I would like has served well.

Lend Lease armour

Armourfast Shermans to the left and Pound Shop specials to the right. I may have gone a little bit overboard with the weathering on the chap on the far left.

T-34/85

These were the best of the Pound Shop special armour that I picked up as an impoverished student.  I stuck them together as best I could, painted them brown and drybrushed GW goblin green over them. They've rampaged over most of Europe and took a brief detour via Korea towards the end of the second phase of my wargaming career. Whatever they lack in looks, they certainly made up for in durability.

PSC Russian guns

These are fine models and deserve to be photographed rather better than I have done.  Unfortunately, the suffered from my inattention and need repairing. The last gun also needs to be based properly, but we'll get to that. 

This is a truly awful picture of a really, really nice model. 

Britannia Soviet AA truck - this model is just a cracker. Simple, rugged, the little Britannia sculpts have bags of character and you can't argue with four Maxim guns can you?

This particular piece belongs to Fatz and has been on long term loan for quite some time now.

Soviet trucks

These have appeared in plenty of scenarios and appear on closer inspection to be ZIS-5s from Britannia. Really nice solid resin models. Recommended. 

Lend lease Studebakers from Frontline

Not quite as crisp and nice as the Britannia trucks, but still very serviceable.

ISU-122

These were in a box.  They were in the same box as the Tigers, so I'm beginning to think they were a gift from someone, possibly Vinny, though I'm basing that on his painting style more than anything else.  I would reckon that these are Pegasus quick builds based on the tracks and the fact that there are two of them. I've never used 'em in action, but we shall have to see about changing that. 

IS-2 

Lest my extremely sketchy knowledge of tanks lead me into repeating any of my mistakes of the last few days, I sent Mr E these pictures, an avid World of Tanks player, who correctly identified them for me. I won't expose my shame any further, but I console myself that I wasn't too far off.  These accompanied the IS-122, so I suspect Vinny again. They also haven't seen much service, but I've never really played much late war stuff.

And there you have it. A little shorter on infantry than I thought, but generally well provided for - there are no particular gaps that I can see. I might add a Katyusha, a few additional infantry and some special weapons, but on the whole I think the Soviet collection is in good shape.

And on a completely unrelated note, roll on laptop, typing this on a smart phone is not my idea of fun.