20mm WW2 Soviet Rifle Regiment

Well… most of it…

I really only did this to wrack up a lot of points for Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge… mostly… A month or so ago I briefly had a notion I should have another go at Blitzkrieg Commander and while the notion has, for the moment, passed, I did get excited about organizing and finishing up (if not playing with) a few of my 20mm WW2 forces. The Russian Rifle Regiment seemed the easiest to do… so I tried to get most of it finished…

Some of these have been painted previously…. Most were finished up this last week….

We shall start with the Regimental Assets…

(Do keep in mind most of the element/stands represent platoons)

First of all I should have a Regimental HQ stand… but I don’t… I’m thinking I might pick one up from SHQ Miniaturesat some point (under their “Russian Vehicle Crew” they have a pack called “ RT40 Staff Group, Infantry, Tank Officers being Briefed” that might fit the bill).

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)



Regimental AAMG Platoon (I think this was from FAA).

This was based some time ago and doesn’t really conform to the current basing system (80mm frontage). I’m kind of torn about whether to rebase this or not. As an Anti-Aircraft element I don’t really think of it as having a “front” and thus all side should probably be equal… but an 80x80mm base for these two guys!? Seems a little HUGE!?

I do like the fact that with the bigger bases there is the the potential to make mini-dioramas on them. Perhaps if I could find (or convert) some Soviet infantry men running and ducking for cover I could have them all scattering away from teh gunner as though an airplane is flying directly at them to strafe and the fearless AA gunner and the pilot are going to have a little showdown...


Regimental Reconnaissance Company - one Foot, one Mounted Platoon. The foot are from Platoon 20. The mounted I have no idea where exactly the minis came from... Combat Miniatures...? Maybe...? with plastic horsies from Eagle Games...?


Regimental Pioneer Platoon – also Platoon 20. Some Orders of Battle I’ve seen claim there was a Regimental Pioneer COMPANY, others just a platoon... All I currently have is this platoon... so I'm going with the OOBs that said only one platoon... (until I find some more Soviet Pioneers!)


Regimental SMG Company. There should be 3 platoons. I have only the two at the moment. The one on the left is made up of figures from Platoon 20, the platoon on the right are all from Plastic Soldier Model Company.


Regimental Gun Battery. Two platoons of 76mm Infantry guns all from Plastic Soldier Model Company

There should also be a Regimental Heavy Mortar Company (with 120mm Mortars)... but I don't have those yet... I’ll probably pick up a few from Platoon 20 at some point.

I should also have a Regimental Anti Tank Battery (with 45mm AT guns)... I DO have those (well, two of them…), but I just didn't get to painting them...

Then we have the three Rifle Battalions of the Regiment….


First Battalion (Rifle companies). These are all from Plastic Soldier Model Company


Second Battalion (Rifle companies) These are also from Plastic Soldier Model Company.


Third Battalion (Rifle companies) The two files on the left, one of the CHQs and the Battalion Command stand are older assorted plastic 1/72 models (Revell, Italieri, etc). The file of the right (and two of the CHQs) are metal Platoon 20 figures.


The Heavy Machine-guns. The three platoons in the front row are plastic figures (from Revell, Italieri, etc), The two in the rear are metal Platoon 20 models

Now, here's where I get a little confused... More than a few of the OOBs I've seen state that each battalion had a complete company of Machine-guns (three platoons each) AND each Rifle Company had an HMG platoon, in addition to it's three rifle platoons... for a whopping SIX platoons of HMGs per Battalion (compared to nine rifle platoons in the battalion) and EIGHTEEN Machine-gun Platoons in a Regiment... Is that for reals?! Or is that wishful thinking on behalf of the Soviet general staff!? I have only five at the moment... guess I need to get a few more! I'll probably just pick up four more at some point and have three per battalion...


The Mortars – Plastic 1/72 on the left, Platoon 20 on the right…

Again, according to most OOBs I've seen the Soviets apparently had a Mortar COMPANY per battalion - three platoons serving NINE 82mm tubes! Compared to one platoon in each German or Commonwealth infantry battalion!? So I need another SEVEN for the Regiment at some point - if I ever care to kit out the force with their full authorized strength... to start with I'll probably pick up ONE more and give each battalion a single platoon...

Not part of the Rifle Regiment… but Russian and could potentially be attached to make an even BIGGER force…


Soviet Naval Infantry (from FAA, I think)

At some point I wouldn’t mind putting together a tank force… company… battalion… possibly from an independent tank brigade for supporting these infantry… Those Palstic Soldier Model Company fast-assembly T-34s look awful tempting…

I didn’t take a picture of the entire force as… well… the entire force isn’t complete. It thought I’d at least finish up those AT guns I have before I take a picture of the works all together!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Gosh… I don’t know… what to do now…? Space Ships? Greeks? 20mm WW2 Germans for my Soviets to steamroller!

20mm WW2 Odd items

A couple odd items for my various 20mm WW2 forces

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Canadian 6-Pounders and crew. The guns are from RAFM and the crew, I think, are from FAA.


Casualty marker – some plastic 1/72 figures… I’m not sure of the manufacturer… Italieri, maybe?


A German officer – to use as a Forward Observer element. Also a plastic 1/72 figuresof unknown manufacture… If I had to guess, I’d say Revell…?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More 20mm WW2 madness…

WW2 British and Canadians – in 20mm!

A while back I had a hankering to bust out the Blitzkrieg Commander and throw down with some battalion-level WW2 gaming. Mostly the feeling has passed… but during that time I’d dragged out a pile of these 20mm WW2 figures and got to thinking and organizing and figuring out what I’d need to finish up this formation and that formation and how very little I’d need to get ready to play…

Well as I said the feeling has mostly passed, but I was still feeling like painting a few things up and now that I don’t have to be painting all 28mm dark ages all the time to get ready for the campaign weekend… it’s nice to mix things up a bit..

(well… that, and it takes me less than half the time to paint a 20mm figure, but I get 80% of the points in Analogue Hobbies Spring Thaw Painting Challenge… I thought I’d crank these out jus tto make Ray sweat…).

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This is a company of Camadians. The figures are from old Platoon 20 (that were produced under license by RAFM many moons ago. Actually only seven of these are newly painted – the rest were previously painted and only recently re-based along with those newly painted to meet my New Basing Standards for WW2 and Modern 20mm figures


Some 3” Mortars. I think the figures were from FAA…? Apparenlty I was thinking I’d do an entire Brigade of Canadians at some point (as these stands represent platoons, and there is a single mortar platoon in each battalion – three per brigade…)


Some Forward Artillery Observers – also, I think, from FAA.


An RCA 25-Pounder and crew. The model and crew are from and old Airfix kit that I had kicking around forever. I’m sure it had a Quad tractor and limber trailer, but I can’t for the life of me find them… I’d like to find the limber trailer at some point as I could probably fit it onto this stand…


Five platoons of British (or Canadian) Paras to finish up a battalion. Again these are all old Platoon 20/RAFM castings.


An odd stand of British Commandos. I think they might be SHQ – I picked them up off ebay along with a pile of other stuff a few years back. I think it might have even been a command pack – but lacking any other commandos to COMMAND I based them as a platoon stand and decided they could be a small detachment attached to my Canucks – or perhaps inadvertently drifted into the Canadians Area of Operations after their LCA was crippled by a “too close” mortar round… or something like that…

Also, because it’s WW2 and I don’t have anywhere else to put them…


Some GERMAN Forward Artillery Observers – again, FAA (I think)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Some Vietnam Artillery...

20mm WW2 Soviets!?

And now for something completely different…

I knocked these off in an evening. I feel like a cheap point whore… I totally did them just to gain some points in the Analogue Hobbies. Spring Thaw Painting Challenge... I will paint something more... worthy...? next...

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The whole group. Most of these are old Platoon 20 castings, though the command element and one of the Infantry stands is from Plastic Soldier Model Company. The 20mm stuff I will use for Blitzkrieg Commander - when I get around to playing that again… hopefully someday…


The Infantry


The Support – Machineguns, Mortar, and Sappers (though in BKC the stands represent platoons and the mortar looks a little small-ish to be a support platoon mortar – it looks more like a light mortar that might be organic to a company or something… Ah well… it’s a mortar… players will understand…)


A comparison shot – 20mm (1/76) Platoon 20 on the left, 1/72 (25mm) Plastic Soldier Model Company on the right.

Whoops I just realized I'd planned to do 6/base for the Soviets regular infantry and I'd only put 5 on the PSMC base... (the Platoon 20 stand above with 5 is an SMG platoon)

I picked up two boxes of the PSMC Soviets (114 infantrymen!) Which should finish up a Battalion of Soviets. I also picked up a box of guns – the come with different barrels and could be an assortment of different AT guns or an Infantry gun. There four in the pack, I’ll probably do two anti-tank guns and two infantry guns.

I also re-based some 20mm WW2 Soviet Sailors. I should finish off two more companies worth so I can field a battalion...

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

On the workbench I have a pile of spaceships, some Greeks (both historical and mythical), some Norman/Frankish Knights, and a number of other odd and sundry items… I DON’T have more soviets at the moment… but you never know… I do have some 1/72 Soviet cavalry tucked away in a box somewhere…

Basing… Again…

Or RE-basing, I should say….

I’ve been thinking about re-basing my 20mm WW2, modern, and future war stuff for some time… the current impetus is my desire to try out Bruce McFarlane’s HOTT WW2 and Modern HOTT variants. More on that in a moment, though….

I’ve also been re-basing a bunch of 15mm WW2 stuff so they all have a common base frontage – mostly for the same reason. It hasn’t been so much work as only a few things that need rebasing. All the infantry and tanks were already on a 50mm frontage, some of the smaller guns and vehicles were on smaller bases and had to be redone.

There are a couple problems with the 50mm frontage… First is that it isn’t one of the suggested base sizes in DBA/HOTT, so will require some tinkering to figure out what “100 paces” and I’ll have to make new measuring sticks just for that lot. The other is that the deeper bases are all deeper than the base frontage (~63mm deep – I’m using the standard base sizes for Flames of War), which causes some funny business when units are flanked and have to turn to face…

I COULD have re-based the whole shebang to 60mm frontages and everything would have been just ducky. But that would have been a whole lot of WORK… (just to “try out” a game) and also from time to time I get thinking I’d like to sell or trade off the last of the 15mm stuff and I figure it would be easier to do so if it were left on a base size that would be most useful to other people (i.e. the FoW crowd)…

As for the 20mm stuff it’s, more or less, ALL going to have to be rebased. The question is what frontage to use…? I’m considering 60mm or 80mm.

Now, I’m not JUST doing this to play the HOTT variants. Whether they work out or I go back to playing Blitzkreig Commander, Cold War Commander, and Future War Commander. I’ve wanted to do this for a while - get everything on at least a similar frontage and, if possible, only a few different base depths – for maximum uniformity…

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages I can potentially foresee:

If using 60mm it would be the same frontage as 28mm DBA/HOTT. I could therefore use the same measuring sticks, terrain and game boards. Also some of the Modern tanks and vehicles are currently on 2.5” bases and would only require shaving ~3mm off one side to make it 60mm (it’s not as difficult as it sounds - I’ve tried it). This would make for a bit less work and wastage of basing materials.


The downside of 60mm is that some of the big sci-fi tanks won’t really fit at all and some of the bigger WW2 and modern tanks and guns that do fit are still on proportionally much deeper bases.

80mm is double the “suggested” base widths as 15mm figures – so everything’s pretty easy to figure out. This frontage would require proportionally less deep bases – even for the big stuff. This is really one of the biggest issues for me. Having units on bases that are much deeper than they are wide just kind of looks funny to me and causes issues in the geometry of most games –especially in maneuvering and falling back and turning to face flanking enemy. The infantry would be on 40mm deep base so that the total depth of 2 stands in column is the same as one base width, which makes things loads easier in terms of the geometry of the game.

My primary concerns about the larger frontage is that they’d look freakin’ HUGE and I might need MORE storage bins!? The space required to play would be bigger but for a standard DBA HOTT game it would only need a 4’x4’ area – which is no problem at all for me… of course if I was going back to BKC/CWC/FWC I might be pushing it for table requirements. And if I ever suffered the kind of head trauma that would make me think that skirmishing with 20mm figures would be fun some of the vehicles would be on bases that are just way too huge… of course… if I suffered that kind of head trauma I probably wouldn’t mind re-basing the whole shebang all over again anyway…

I did a few samples of each size for comparison and just to see what they look like….

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


From left to right; 50mm frontage (current), 60mm frontage, 80mm frontage.


60mm Froantage with 4 (SS on the left) or 3 (paras on the right) figure. I think if I went with the 60mm base widths I'd stick with 3 figures per base...


French Somua tank on 80mm (left) and 60mm (right) frontages. A lot of the WW2 tanks would fit on a 80mm square base – much reducing the number of units on bases deeper than they are wide.


British 6pdr on 60mm (left) and 80mm (right) frontages. On the 60mm frontage the base is deeper than it is wide and I think the barrel STILL pokes out a bit. On the bigger base there is no barrel overhang – a consideration for storage stands that have overhanging barrels (or any overhanging parts) are harder to fit into storage together and more likely to be damaged… I suppose it’s also an issue on the tabletop when trying to line up stuff.

The down side of the 80mm frontage here is it looks HUGE – the small gun and tean seem a little lost in the base… now this could be rectified with a bit more clever modeling – making these bases into mini dioramas. Perhaps some ammo boxes and extra crew could be added (of course that would require buying or manufacturing said sundry items… but..


German Pak 43/41 AT gun and crew on a 60mm frontage (left) and the British 6 pdr on the 80mm frontage (right). Even on an 80mm base I think the Pak 43/41 would still have some barrel overhand… unless I went with a REALLY deep base.


Jadgpanthers on 80mm (left) and 60mm (right) frontages. I think this is the largest of the WW2 tanks that I have in my arsenal currently.


Same Jadgpanthers with others for comparison – on the left are Jagdpanther and Somua on 80mm frontages and on the right are a jadgpanther and a british 6pdr AT gun on 60mm frontages. The Jadgpanther on the 80mm frontage is on a base that’s only 1.5x base width deep, whereas the Jadgpanther on the 60mm wide base is over 2x the base width deep.


Tanks supporting infantry. The 80mm frontage units (on the left) end up being only 2x the base width total depth. The 60mm frontage units end up being almost 3x the base width.

On to the Moderns…


These are Cold War Canadians, form left to right; 50mm frontage (current), 60mm frontage, 80mm frontage.

It’s in the modern stuff that the difference in base sizes between infantry and vehicles is most pronounced – for me at least. In the above example neither looks terribly wonky, though I’m preferring the 80mm (on the right) – it just looks a little closer to the right amount of stuff to have de-bussed from the APC. Below however…


With bigger APCs/IFVs this difference is definitely more pronounced. When I was playing
I said stands of Infantry were HALF platoons. Where the vehicles represented FULL platoons… of course if you lit up one IFV and the two half platoons were knocked out with it... that was a sizable chunk of your unit lost in one shot...


Same issues with the Canadians mounted in Grizzlies.


These are the largest of the Cold War tanks I have to deal with Russian T-72 (left) and American M1 Abrams (right).. they are on their current bases which are actually 63mm frontages (2.5 inches) – again they seem really deep – even if I move up a scale in gaming (where stands are companies or battalions)


On the left are 80mm wide bases (with an M113 and a blank one), on the right are ~60mm wide bases. With the 60mm wide bases the tank unit takes up almost twice the area of the mechanized unit… Where as the tank unit on the 80mm wide base would take up only 1.5x the area of the mechanized unit mounted up – and would be the same size as the mechanized unit once the infantry debussed (should have taken a picture of THAT!)


For the Russians I think both BMPs and T-72s would end up on the same 80x120(?)mm bases…


Another consideration… the future war stuff… The super heavy grav-tanks would just not fit on a 60mm front base… I could do the future war stuff on a different sized bases than the other stuff – but then I wouldn’t be able to use them together… and I WOULD like to be able to use them together, because the modern (and even WW2) stuff could be used with Future war units as troops from planets with lower tech levels… I even mix up ww2 stuff with modern stuff in brushfire conflicts where one side might be using obsolete WW2 vintage surplus while another is supplied by the latest their super-power supplier has to offer…


More of the Future War stuff and modern stuff that has already been re-based to 80mm wide bases.


One last shot – an M577 command post on it’s current base (63mm wide) on top of a 80mm wide base – the extra room could give me space to add some officer looking types looking though binoculars to make for a slightly more interesting looking general/command stand for my army…

Well just in putting this post together I think I’ve pretty much convinced myself to go with the 80mm wide frontages… What I should have done is done a couple infantry stands with 4 and a couple with 5… that’s pretty much the only question remaining – how many infantry to put on the base…?

I know, I know... I wouldn't even have to worry about this if I only did micro armour... don't even suggest it I'm not going to switch to a different scale.... but not that I've mentioned it... I DO have some Future War microarmour (battle tech and GW Epic stuff, etc) that I'm going to have to reconsider the bases for - they are all sorts of different sizes... I even thought about doing bigger bases for them (perhaps 60mm fronts) and putting multiple vehicles on a base - at lest for the smaller vehicles...

20mm WW2 TO-DO List

So, of the ten, or so, forces I have “on the go” I’d have to say that the Late War German SS and the British/Canadian Paras would be top priority (not that anything in the 20mm WW2 category is really a BIG priority or anything right now… I got Other Things to be doing)! This is due to the fact that they have the least stuff that needs to be done for them to be fielded on the tabletop.

Next I would say… the Canadian Infantry for Northwest Europe ’44? After that…. Hmmmmm… I don’t know, maybe the Early War Germans, or the Russians, or the Fallschirmjagers…? Let’s have a look at the TO-DO/TO GET list and see what needs to be done…

British/Canadian Parachute Brigade

Since posting this originally I have finished up a few of the things I had to do – the CO, and mortar and Pioneer stands. You can see those in a recent Painting Update.

STUFF TO GET:
**1 Pack of Rafm/Platoon 20 Paras to finish off the 3rd Battalion
*2 stands worth of Pioneers (SHQ? Britannia?)
1 Recce (Britannia?)
3 Rafm Jeeps (to tow AT guns)
3 Jeep drivers (SHQ)
Dead and Wounded for suppression markers! (Britannia has dead, wounded and surrendering paras in three packs!)
1 more 6pdr and crew (Gun – Rafm, Crew – SHQ or Britannia)
17 Pounder and Crew?! …and something to tow it!? (SHQ or Britannia)

STILL TO DO:
*Rebase one mortar team
*Paint one Vickers team
*Paint 6 stands to finish off third battalion (need to get 3 of them - see above)
*Paint anything else on the TO GET list as it is got!
Paint a fourth battalion? I have them prepped and based… they could be an Airlanding (Glider) Regiment…?


Late War German SS Panzer-Grenadiers

STUFF TO GET!
**2x HMG (Hät kit?)
*2-4x Pak 38 + crew (gun – Rafm, Crew Britannia or SHQ)
CO stand (Britannia or SHQ)
Dead and Wounded for suppression markers (Britannia or SHQ)

STILL TO DO:
**Paint two infantry stands to finish off third battalion!!
**Paint one (or two) Pioneer stands to finish off Pioneers!!
**Paint two mortar stands!!
*Paint any of the stuff to get above!
Build and paint plastic kits by the dozen!


WW2 Russians

STUFF TO GET!
**2 stands of Russian Naval Infantry (one Platoon 20 pack)
*1x MG stand to finish off Infantry Batatlions (Britannia?)
*1x Pioneer stand (Britannia?)
*RHQ (Britannia?)
*4 Stands of Platoon 20 Infantry to finish battalion (2 packs)
-Another box (or two) of Italeri Russian Infantry – includes 3 HMG to finish off Divisional MG Company.
-2-5x Cavalry stands!? (SHQ)
-1x 76mm Infantry Gun (SHQ)
-1x 45mm AT gun Platoons (Britannia?)
-1x 120mm Mortar Platoons (Britannia?)
-4x Hat/Armourfast T-34/76 kits to make a whole 9 tank battalion! (yeah… someday…)

STILL TO DO:
Paint EVERYTHING!
The Naval Infantry, when I get some, should be first.
The cavalry next might be fun!
Then the Platoon 20 stuff…
Plastics…

Canadian Infantry NEW ’44-‘45

STUFF TO GET!
1x Carrier for Carrier Platoon
3x Carriers for Mortar Platoon
3x Carriers for AT Platoon
1x 6Pdr (have crew already!)
3x Pioneer stands
3x Jeep+trailer+driver (Jeep+trailer – Rafm, Drivers?
2x Carriers for Divisional Recce Sqn!?
1x 4.2” Mortar & Crew
1x 17Pdr AT gun+crew+towing vehicle…

STILL TO DO:
PAINT EVERYTHING!!!

Yeah… there’s a lot of kit I need for this one.. maybe it should be a bit lower of the list…? I guess they’d be more USEFUL and/or INTERESTING than the next two listed as they would have obvious opponents – the 12th SS! I guess once the Russians were done, though, the Fallshirmjagers could fight them, as could the Early War Germans…

Fallshirmjagers

STUFF TO GET!
*4x HMG Stands
*1x Mortar Stand
2-3x 28mm sPzB41 Stands
3-8x Pioneer Stands
4x Pak 36 (3.7cm) & Crew
3x 7.5cm LG40 groups & Crew
1x Recce Stand
1-2x FAOs?
1x RHQ

STILL TO DO:
PAINT EVERYTHING!!!

Early War Germans

STUFF TO GET!
*6x HMG
*1x 81mm Mortar
3x 7.5 cm Infantry Guns (Hät?)

1x 15 cm Infantry Guns
4-8x Pak 36 (3.7cm) (Hät?)

STILL TO DO:
PAINT EVERYTHING!!!

Hopefully, by the time I get to these Hät will have released their Infantry and AT guns…


The rest I’m not even going to worry about – they are so far down the list of priorities…

Like I said in an earlier post these are ALL low in priority at the moment as I am, in theory, concentrating on my 28mm Seven Years War stuff for the 2009 Wargames Weekend (though Pete’s making noises about getting to work on a Great War version of BKC/CWC – so that will likely prove to be a MAJOR distraction over the next year!)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

The rest of the Modern 20mm… Then on to the last of the 28s…

20mm WW2 Americans

Last, but not least, the Americans. I got almost all of these in trade. To be honest I would never have considered building an American force. It’s not that I don’t like Americans, or think their contribution to the war effort wasn’t significant… It’s just not a force that ever really interested me.

But now I got a pile so I might as well organize them into something I could potentially use for Blitzkreig Commander.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


US paratroopers. The flanking battalions are ESCI, the one in the middle is Airfix. I have all the Paratroop infantry I need. I just need a couple more MGs, some mortars, an HQ and some observers and this force is complete (well, except for that whole PAINTING thing…).


This is a mix of Esci and Revell US Infantry. From left to right: 4 MG stands, 3 Mortar stands, nearly two infantry battalions, 3 engineer stands. One more box of the Revell and I’d be right kitted out except for the guns and trucks!

THE PLAN

20mm WW2 Americans

Airborne! United States Parachute Infantry Regiment

RHQ/CO - HAVE: 1 To Paint,

3x Parachute Infantry Battalions (each/total for regiment):
-1/3x HQ - HAVE: 2 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 1
-9/27x Paratroop Platoon stands - HAVE: 27 To Paint,
-3/9x HMG Platoon stands - HAVE: 3 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 6
-1/3x Mortar Platoon stands - NEED TO GET: 3

Divisional Assets

Artillery
FAO - NEED TO GET: 1 - 2
3x 75mm Pack Howitzer Battery stands (off table – don’t need)

USAF
-FAC - NEED TO GET!
-P-47 of one variety or another…

United States Infantry Regiment

RHQ/CO - HAVE: NEED TO GET!

Cannon Company
-1-2x 105 Howitzers + trucks? - NEED TO GET!

Antitank Company
-3x 57mm AT Gun platoon Stands + Jeeps - NEED TO GET: 3

3x Infantry Battalions (each/total for regiment):
-1/3x HQ - HAVE: 2 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 1
-9/27x Infantry Platoon stands - HAVE: 15 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 12
-2/6x HMG Platoon stands - HAVE: 4 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 2
-1/3x Mortar Platoon stand - HAVE: 3 To Paint
-1/3x AT platoon (57mm) stand - HAVE: NEED TO GET!

Divisional Assets

Artillery
FAO - HAVE: X Painted, X To Paint, NEED TO GET: 1 or 2..
3x 105mm Howitzer (off table – don’t need)
1x 155mm Howitzer (off table – don’t need)

Engineers
3x Engineers Platoon Stands - HAVE: 3 To Paint

Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop
-1x Jeep Recce Stand - NEED TO GET!


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

A master plan for the prioritizing of painting and purchasing assets for 20mm WW2 armies! BWA-HA-HA-ha-ha… ha… ha… uh… cough-cough…

20mm WW2 Russians

I know what you’re thinking… “How could he POSSIBLY have any more 20mm WW2 armies…!?” I know that’s what I’M thinking!

So… Russians…

Never was a huge fan of the Eastern Front… Of course it is THE front for ALL of the guys I play WW2 with… so…

They certainly will be versatile. These lads will, if they ever get painted, get to fight my Early War Germans, The Fallshirmjagers, the Italians, and the Late War SS. I even thought I’d do a scenario where fighting breaks out between the Canadian Paras and 3rd Russian Tank Corps when they refused to stop for he Canadian’s Roadblock at Wismar!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


HUZZAH! Russian Cavalry! There are some Combat Miniatures here, some plastic horses from Empire Games, some WW1 Russian Cavalry of unknown origin, and even three horses and two riders from Grenadiers old Twilight: 2000 line!


Soviet Naval Infantry. Almost a battalion of them! These are from Figures, Armour, Artillery USA.


Russian AAMG… I don’t actually see stats for any Russian AA in the BKC book… or even anywhere that it shows up in any Russian OOB/TO&E… Hmmmmm pretty model… Not sure what to do with it.


The plastic stuff. From left to right: an HQ, Almost a battalion of infantry (8 stands), 3 HMG stands and two mortar, a CO, another Infantry battalion, and an HQ for the second battalion. These are all from ESCI or Italeri.

The CO is kind of ugly – I’d like to replace it with something… well.. nicer at some point.

The Infantry battalion on the right are all in winter uniform – many of them are even on skis which limits their usefulness…. So another battalion might be handy if I ever wanted to field an entire regiment in the summer….


I’m not sure of the make of the T-72. I got it at this large antique mall/flea market type thing and then gave it to a friend who was interested in doing Russians – he gave it back to me a couple years later after he abandoned 20mm…. the two IS-2 are from the new Italeri Fast-assembly line-up. I don’t really care to have big late war tanks, but, like the Jagdpanther it was the only thing available at the time and I wanted to check them out. I could always use them with post war Chinese (If I ever did an army of those) or with my “AK-47 Republic” African forces.


A pile of Platoon 20 that just took a pinesol bath. From left to right: 2 stands of Pioneers, 1stand of scouts, 3 stands of SMGs, half a battalion of regular infantry (5 stands), 2 HMGs, 1 mortar, and two HQs

THE PLAN

Russian Infantry Regiment

RHQ/CO - HAVE: 1 To Paint, NEED TO GET: ?

Infantry Gun Battery
-1x 76mm Infantry Gun Platoons - NEED TO GET

Antitank Gun Battery
-1x 45mm AT gun Platoons - NEED TO GET

Heavy Mortar Battery
-1x 120mm Mortar Platoons - NEED TO GET

Sub-machinegun Company
3x SMG platoon stands - HAVE: 3 To Paint

Antitank Rifle Company?

3x Rifle Battalions
-1/3x HQ - HAVE: 3 To Paint,
-9/27x Infantry Platoon stands - HAVE: 21 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 6
-2/6x MG Platoon stands - HAVE: 5 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 1
-1/3 Mortar Platoon stands - HAVE: 2 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 1

Divisional Assets

Machine-gun Battalion
-3x HMG - NEED TO GET: 3

Reconnaissance Company
1x Scouts - HAVE: 1 To Paint

Pioneer Battalion
3x Pioneers - 2 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 1

Artillery
FAOs? (or just schedule it ALL!?)
Lots of guns, all off table!


Corps/Army Assets

Tank Battalion
-1-9?x T-34 - HAVE: X Painted, 1 To Repaint, NEED TO GET: 2-8?
2x IS-2 - HAVE: 2 To Paint

Naval Infantry
-HQ - HAVE: 1 Painted – DONE!
-9x Naval Infantry - HAVE: X Painted, NEED TO GET: 2
-1x HMG - HAVE: 1 Painted – DONE!
-1x Sniper – DONE!

Cavalry Regiment
-1x HQ - HAVE: 1 To Paint,
-9x Cavalry Troop stands - 7 To Paint, NEED TO GET: 2

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

20mm Americans (and you thought I was done with the 20mm WW2… HA!)