Red Army for GPW

 Lisa from the Trumpeter's wargaming club has put a call out as she is planning a Stalingrad campaign.  So I pulled out the Red Army to see what state they are in.  Turns out that I can field a fairly substantial force!

Here's the breakdown.  The figures are from a variety of sources.  The biggest contingent are from the Plastic Soldier Company, from their regretfully small selection of 28 mm figures (regretfully, as they have such a large catalogue of 15 mm and 20 mm figures!).  There are also Crusader Miniatures, Rubicon, AGNM, Die Waffenkammer, Warlord Games, Bad Squiddo, Stoessi's Heroes and more in this army.  

Starting out with the command, looks like I have about 18 officers, commissars, agents and generally 'in charge' types.

The riflemen are proportionately under-represented.  There are 33 of them, but there should be more, especially for early war before SMGs got to be so popular!

Here are the SMGs - 22 of them.  

8 Degtyaryov light machine gun teams, plus a lost sailor with a Lewis gun (he's strictly speaking a RCW figure but he'd not be out of place in the WWII Red Army).

A brace of 45 mm anti-tank guns.  

Three 'angels of mercy' - nurses to save the injured soldiers.  

A scout or sniper team.  I have another 20 scout figures primed and ready for paint, if needed to add some elite support to the Red Army.

A pair of anti-tank mine dogs.  Notoriously ineffective (they tended to run for any cover they could find, which was more likely to be under a Soviet tank than a German one!).

Anti-tank rifles - we've found these to be surprisingly effective things to bring to a fight, as even if they have only a limited chance to damage a tank, they are still dangerous to armoured cars, trucks, or fortified troops.

No Red Army force would be complete without Maxim medium machine guns!

A battery of two 50mm mortars and two 82mm mortars.

The quad-Maxim MMG (from Rubicon) will provide some useful anti-aircraft support, which could be turned against infantry in a push!

And of course the armour:  a T-26 and a T-34/85 from Rubicon, two Waffenkammer lend-lease Valentines, and an AGNM T-34 (mysteriously damaged - I will definitely need to repair that before its next outing!)

(South) Western Figures

 A few more wild West figures today - clearing out the old lead pile!  Mostly Pulp Figures plus an old Copplestone Castings Urban Cowgirl.  I'm not certain where the other urban cowgirls are - hopefully they turn up sometime.

I had thought that these figures would be enough to ensure that I'd have enough 'Mexican' figures for any random events required in my games.  This based on a slightly stereotypical assumption that Mexican = big sombrero and poncho!  As it happens, I have a baker's dozen of 'figures with big sombreros' - more than enough for any likely encounters.  'Badges? We don need no steenkin' badges!'

Cattle

 Pegasus Hobbies' Farm Animals is truly the kit that keeps on giving!  I've previously featured the sheep, goats, pigs and dogs from this set.  And I've still got the poultry to finish up some time!  However, today it is the turn for the cattle.  

My immediate inspiration to get these cows table-ready comes from What A Cowboy and the possibility of a cattle stampede appearing as a random event.  However, sharp-eyed observers may detect a top secret hint for another gaming possibility.  I am definitely no expert on cow breeds, but I decided to include a few different patterns - these cattle are as likely to appear on a European WWII table as they are in a Wild West game!

The cow at the left rear is not Pegasus, but Eureka Miniatures, and is part of a vignette featuring a couple of milkmaids.

Here she is being milked.  The milkmaid's face turned out nicely, if I do say so myself.

Her companion's face, however, is a bit unfortunate!

Higgins Boat - Sarissa Precision

 Here is another impulse purchase from a few months back, the LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel), aka the Higgins Boat, by Sarissa Precision.  The Higgins Boat was a landing craft developed in the USA and was widely used by all allied forces.  I've painted this one slightly inaccurately, as mine is inspired by the similar LCA (Landing Craft Assault) used by the Royal Navy.  The model is laser-cut MDF, with card used for some of the details.

The pilot doesn't come with the kit - he's a deck crew model from Eureka Miniatures.

Action shot with my Op Husky Canadians, and a wading tank that Doug modelled out of the left-over bits from a Rubicon Sherman kit.

More French armour for 1940

 

My collection of French tanks for 1940 has expanded to include a SOMUA S35 and a Hotchkiss H35, from AGNM, originally mastered by Tony Ashcroft of NZWM.

The early war French tanks are my favourites, not based on their actual performance but for their art-deco aesthetics.  It helps that they have more interesting camouflage than the plain grey of the Wehrmacht or the two-tone green/brown tones of the BEF.  Of the French tanks, the S35 is the most interesting of the lot.  Its main drawback is the one-man turret, which overloads the tank commander with too many responsibilities.  The TC needs to load, aim and fire the tank's 47mm gun, as well as maintain situational awareness, locate and identify enemies and direct the driver.  However, in comparison with its rivals from other nations, the S35 had a powerful anti-tank gun (for 1940, at least), good armour thickness, and was reasonably fast at 40km/h.

The Hotchkiss H35 was very similar to the Renault R35.  Both had the same turret and 37mm gun, and the H35 was only marginally different in armour and speed - as in, way too slow, at 28 km/h it was barely faster than the 20 km/h of the R35.  Like the R35, the H35 comes across as an updated Renault FT-17.  

Here are a couple of comparison shots of the H35 and R35 - size difference is minimal, but I am pleased to have both represented in my collection.

I have one more R35 in my collection, a Waffenkammer model painted by Doug to represent the Italian R35s that counterattacked the American Operation Husky landings on Sicily in 1943.

All four French tanks together.

I also finished up a couple of Warlord Games snipers in ghillie suits.  Nominally British snipers, I'm sure they could stand in for snipers from other nationalities as needed.