Stalingrad Redux Part 3 - Dug in T34

This is one of those "I have a cunning plan" moments. Reading up on the battle it became clear that the German Panzers had a lot of problems with dug in Soviet T34s, mainly due to the difficulties in spotting them before they could get their shot away. Initially I was very sceptical about how powerful these would be in Chain Of Command (and said so on the Facebook Group), My experience with CoC over the years is that if you sacrifice your mobility you lose. Stationary tanks in CoC are very vulnerable to infantry close assault, particularly in close terrain. When I thought about it a bit more however I do see the point - in real life, and in CoC, the tank that gets the first shot usually wins against another tank, so being able to deploy and shoot with a tank near a Jump Off Point is actually very handy indeed (apols to the guys on Facebook).

Anyway I decided I needed a dug in T34. I didn't want to just put some earth banks around a normal full kit, I wanted to show it was properly dug in. I contemplated buying a kit and chopping the hull down, but that seemed like a faff too far. Then I wondered if Paul Davison could print me something suitable on his 3d printer? I explained \ badgered him about this and he went away and seemingly forgot, then a week or so later dropped off a pla print of a T34 that he had amended the files so as to cut the hull down to just above the running gear. I have to say it was almost perfect for my needs.

I decided to paint it as one of the alleged unpainted models that was rushed out of the factory onto the battlefront. I suspect this is a bit of propaganda but it certainly looks different. I built up some earth around the hull and a quick paint later here is the result - and most pleased about it I am.

Here it is cunningly hiding on my painting table!

The only problem now is I want to build and paint a full hulled version in a similar scheme - maybe a "bitser" with a painted hull and bare turret or................



     

The Rotterdam Project Part 5 - Roadblock

The whole lockdown thing has meant I've been flitting about gaming projects even more than normal, as there is no particular rush to finish anything for an upcoming game. One of the casualties has been the "almost" finished Dutch for 1940 Chain of Command which I got mostly done just before lockdown. Mostly. I was short some roadblocks, a few entrenchments, that sort of thing.

When lockdown was announced I was just about ready to order some pre made barricades, but then in all the uncertainty I decided to try scratch-building a barricade myself. Only a couple of problems, one of which was I was not sure what one would look like (!).

Luckily google came to my aid, unearthing this pic of a Dutch squad heading out (or back) through a rural roadblock.

It's a fascinating picture because it tells an interesting story. This is clearly a well thought out obstacle, not a hastily felled tree, and the more I looked at it, the more I liked the idea of copying it - "Play the Period" and all that. The other advantage was I thought this would be a minimum cost build - and so it was.

I initially went for a short constitutional walk, coincidentally bending down every now and then to pick up some likely looking twigs. When I got home and in the cold light of day I realised I could do just as well with some off-cut dowel, and was less likely to get any suspicious creepy crawlies coming out of the woodwork. I also stole a couple of the cats' chew sticks (sorry guys) for the main trees. After that it was just a case of sticking everything together. That took about half an hour. Then I put it off to one side to dry - and forgot about it. Yesterday I was casting about for something to do and saw the roadblock, and got it painted up in short notice. I'm quite happy with how it worked out. Obviously not quite the same as the original, but recognisable. The idea is it will sit on the road rather than being an extra road section.

It may be a bit too rural to really fit the Rotterdam theme, but it will do for now.
 

Battle Group Northag - Red3 Miniatures BTR

I was looking to fill the gaps in my Northag Soviets and generally scanning around for alternate models in 10/12mm when I heard a new company had entered the fray recently - Red3 Miniatures. They had some models that were not available elsewhere so I thought it would be interesting to put in a small order to check them out.

What I ordered was a BTR60 Command version, and some Gaz Jeeps . Turnaround was quick, and I have to say I am impressed with what I got.

Red3 BTR60PU and PSC BTR60PB comparison

Models are all white metal. Casting is clean and sharp with a minor sink hole on the rear of one of them which I expect will be invisible to the eye when in use.

The BTR60 Command looks to be a BTR60 PU minus the frame aerial. Having assembled a 15mm version of this particular machine I can understand why they decided to omit the aerial in 10mm - or it could be one of the many sub variants. The model itself comes in 2 parts - the hull and the turret \ generator \ aerial. The 2 part thing seems an excellent idea as it allows the model to share the hull with the standard BTR60 PB personnel carrier with a straight turret swap. Detail and proportion are excellent. All in all it is a very nice model.

The BTR60PU is probably a bit higher up the food chain than you would usually see on a Northag table and you wont need many - mine will be a Battlegroup Tac Command hauling around my ECM capability.

Will it mix with PSC? Not wishing to open the "10 mm isn't a scale" argument but the Red3 model is marginally bigger than the PSC ones, but I expect once they're  on table they will mix well enough.

All in all I like these - and expect I will be picking some other  models from them.

Check them out here : Red3 Miniatures

Battlegroup Northag BTR 60 "Bloody Tricky Resin???"

Box has arrived. Lock down slippers and vaguely interested cat

So I've spent a chunk of my hobby time over the last couple days assembling the models on my Soviet starter army for Battlegroup Northag from Plastic Soldier Company. The army arrived two days ago, so I've had some rather nice lunchtime sessions in the garden armed with a craft knife cleaning up the vehicles.

First thing that needs to said is that contrary to the name, these are NOT hard plastic. They're in a grey plastic \ resin which PSC are calling "Ultracast". To the uninitiated eye like mine this seems very similar to Warlord's new resin. This has some pro's and cons. For the gamer it is lightweight and holds detail quite well. Allegedly it takes paint without undercoat too, but I'm nothing if not a rebel so I'm going to undercoat mine - if only to keep Halfords in business in these hard times. Apparently it also resists chipping and paint rubbing off - the bane of any models in this scale. It sticks together with superglue - though in my case I must admit some bits took quite a time to cure. It is also a bit flexible. I know some people are worried about bendy barrels but mine seemed mostly ok and straightened out where needed with a quick hot water bath, and I suspect you will really have to try to actually snap one of these gun barrels. The other pro on this material is that it doesn't have the massive up front costs injection moulding carries with it, which I'm guessing is one of the reasons it is becoming more common.

Now the cons. I hated cleaning mould lines and flash on these models. My previous experience of similar - ie Warlord resin on Blood Red Skies models, was relatively pain free. They were mostly flash free, and where there was flash and mould lines these were on smooth and regular surfaces so could be carved off with a sharp Xacto. This stuff doesn't like scraping or filing - it just frays, so the best way to deal with it is to carve the flash away with a knife. The PSC BTR60 is a collection of bloody awkward shapes with mould lines in about the most inconvenient places - ie around the top of the wheels and around the turret at the mid point. It was made worse by there being rather a lot of flash between the wheels too on some of them - I got the impression PSC were rushing these through and QC may have taken second place to quantity. The turrets on the BTRs and BRDMs were equally frustrating due to the shape and position of the mould line -  ie half way down the conical turret sides. After cleaning 88 wheels and 12 turrets I was ready to stab someone - thankfully Social Distancing saved me. In fairness I have had the same problem with metal conical turrets but they seemed easier to fix.

The actual models seem reasonable. Proportions are good, detail is good, and parts fit is mostly excellent. There are a couple of models which have sink holes - I assume where the resin has contracted for some reason, but I would guess these will not be that obvious once painted (fingers crossed). The BTR 60 is a four part model - hull, turret and two sets of wheels (4 each). I wasn't sure if these were supposed to fit a certain way round - one slot on the hull is slightly different to the others and there was a corresponding tooth on the wheel frame, but they did fit either way around. In practice I didn't have enough of the corresponding wheels to be picky and once assembled I am unable to tell which had been assembled the "right" way anyway.

The T64s went together smoothly and are rather nice - again 4 parts, hull, turret and 2 track units, and the BRDMs were similarly straightforward.

Overall I am happy with them. I would much have preferred the hard plastic that PSC are famous for, but on the whole they are nice models. IF however I decide to do another Infantry Company, they will be in BMPs so I don't have to face those bloody wheels again. I have not looked at the infantry beyond a quick glance so I will deal with them later - I'm praying they are relatively flash free.

No pics as yet - everything is out in the garden drying off from the undercoat, but I will do a follow up post "soon" once the paint is on.

Cheers

Battlefront Northag - Back to the Future ?

I was always a great fan of Cold War \ What if? games. Being around at the time I was fascinated by the prospect of "Modern" warfare, and now I fondly remember the excellent WRG and Challenger rules. When Team Yankee came out a couple of years ago we gave it a try (there are a couple of blog posts way back if you are interested) however for a couple of reasons it never took off here.

Last year Plastic Soldier Company started talking about doing a version of the "Battlefront" series set in the early 80s, and they were planning to do it in 10mm scale. This peaked my interest. I've always found 10/12mm to be an attractive option for tank battles. This was reinforced by my experience with Dropzone Commander. It went on pre order at a time when I had a bit of spare ££££ so I thought "why not". The game was originally planned for release around Salute in April, but the current situation has forced that back. The new release date is today (3rd May) so I'm hoping the toys will arrive soon. In the meanwhile PSC sent a pdf copy of the rules to those who preordered, so I've had them a couple of weeks and given them a read through - or two, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I've not read or played any of the Battlefront series of games. I've nothing against them, but just not had the time. Having read these, I may well have a look at some of the others.

Battlefront Northag is set in 1983. This is an interesting and deliberate choice because it predates most of the West's new tanks getting into service. Games are going to be something more than a few un-killable super tanks versus a horde of junk Soviets. There is the usual Cold War goes Hot intro, then rules, and finally a couple of army lists for UK and Soviet forces that would have faced off in Northern Germany - other armies are planned. Thankfully artillery is very much an off table thing, and the infamous "Team Yankee" tank park would also seem to be absent - all good to me!.

PSC are supporting the game with a full list of vhicles and infantry in 10mm. I already have a stash of 10mm \ 1:144 models waiting for paint. I bought them to use with Team Yankee, but as I said, the urge was not there so I have something of a head start. I'm going to be playing Soviets, so having the odd tank Company spare may not be a bad thing!

T80 in 1:144 from Takara

I'll hopefully go into more detail in another post, but  for now I think this is looking like a great little game. Rules are £20 and the two starter armies are £30 for the Brits and £70 for the Sovs - but you get your Rubles worth as that Soviet set includes 22 vehicles and over 100 infantry. The starters are up for sale on the PSC website now, with support units to follow "soon".

Worth a look.

Stalingrad Redux Part 2 - The Workers United Will Never Be Defeated!

This has turned into a bit of a Covid19 Project. I already have some German Pioneers so I decided to try and do some opposition. The obvious option would be Soviet infantry but there are already plenty of those. Second choice was Naval Infantry, but in a moment of confusion \ inspiration I decided to do Workers Militia.

(The History Bit)
Depending on how you look at it the period before the battle of Stalingrad was either a skillful Soviet retreat or a sort of coordinated rout. Either by skill, luck or judgement the Soviet troops facing the 1942 German summer offensive (Fall Blau \ Case Blue) didn't get caught by the repeated encirclement attempts as they had the year before. Rather, they fell back in a series of local retreats that left the Germans clutching at thin air. This really stumped the Germans as their strategic plan, in fact the whole concept of Blitzkrieg, was to encircle opponents armies in the field. It could be argued that the Red Army was just doing the traditional "trade ground for time" thing that had worked time and time again (I'm looking at you Napoleon). The problem was this was rapidly turning into a habit and the Soviet people were starting to get a bit worried. By the summer of 1942 the Germans were in control of a rather large portion of the Soviet Union - sure, there was plenty of it out East, but the main population centres were all either under German control or under threat. If the Red Army kept falling back as it was in Summer 1942 there was a very real risk that there would be nothing left worth defending. Enter Stalin and his infamous Order 277 "Not One Step Back" . Order 277 is probably one of the most misunderstood orders of the war and has been used repeatedly to paint the Soviet Union and the Red Army in negative terms. There isn't enough time to fully discuss this here, but the overall effect was to make it clear that it was no longer acceptable to keep falling back. From 28th July 1942, it was time for the Soviets to stand and fight.

Back to the Militia. The withdrawals of the summer were almost instinctive rather than planned. That meant the Red Army in the area of Stalingrad were in no shape to hold the city. They needed time to reorganise. Luckily there was a pool of manpower available - the Workers Militia Battalions, mainly based around the factories. These local forces formed the first line of defence at Stalingrad, along with the AA batteries, and they suffered heavily when the Germans arrived, being almost wiped out. What they achieved however was to give the Stalingrad Front the time it needed. The rest is history.

As a gaming force the Workers Militia is interesting. There is an official Bolt Action army list, but nothing for Chain of Command. The Bolt Action list is pretty basic - in fact the platoon has no SMGs or LMGs - just rifles - and has the option for unarmed squad members - "the one with the rifle shoots" etc. How realistic or historical this is overall I don't know. Maybe for the winter of 1941? but by the summer of 1942 the Soviets had recovered and their armaments industry was churning weapons out in impressive quantities. The photographic and documentary record is clear that at least in Stalingrad the Militia were equipped with both SMGs and LMGs. After that the support weapons available are probably going to be the same as line infantry, and once the regular army arrives will be regulars too. In Chain of Command there is no "Official" list, however there is a Partisan list that fits the bill for the main body well enough, and I can write a reasonable support list.

So here we are - Workers and Peasants united against the Fascist invader

I wasn't too keen on the Bolt Action Soviet Partizans -partly due to the lockdown making availability questionable at the time, so I went a bit "off the reservation"and mixed and matched, which I think is perfectly acceptable given the subject matter. Most of the rifle armed figures are Bolshevik Militia from the Copplestones Castings "Back of Beyond" range. Ok they're a couple of decades out on date but are otherwise fine as armed Soviet civilian types, and I'm sure Grandpa Ivan would be out manning the barricades anyway. The SMG and LMG armed figures are from Artizan Designs. As I was casting around the net for more suitable figures I stumbled across the Eureka 28mm Workers Militia. This is a very small range and a bit more expensive than the Copplestones, but are spot on for the job in boiler suits. If I had known about these at the start I would probably have just used them. My Commissar is Warlord plastic, as are the ATR and some of the support weapon crews. The support weapons are mixed, with PSC providing the 45mm ATG and crews, and a 3d print of the 76mm M1927 and Ampulomets. The PSC 45mm ATG set is fantastic value and although still available it looks like the link is not working if you try and find it through the website menu - but if you search for it directly you can order it. You get 2 guns and crews and you can assemble the guns as either of the 45mm ATG variants or as a 76mm Infantry Gun - sadly this is the version that entered service in 1943 so isn't available at Stalingrad. The medics are PSC and 3d prints. Lastly the Commander is none other than Warlord's Johnny "Red" Redburn who is taking a couple of days off from commanding Falcon Squadron to do some fighting on the ground. He probably had to ditch due to engine failure and decided to help out.

Eureka Workers Militia Squad

Support weapons

Commissar, Johnny Red (out of focus) and the nurses

All the militia were painted with this new fangled Citadel Contrast paints - and I have to say it works quite well.

I need to add a sniper or two - these just arrived from Bad Squiddo Games and the pose and details are stunning. I also have some tank hunter teams to paint, a couple of guys with Molotov Cocktails or AT grenades. After that all I will need are a tank, and some barricades. And Jump Off Points, and Patrol Markers, and...............