New 15mm WW2 Soviet troops

These are all additions to make my 15mm Soviet units compliant with Chain of Command V2;

Everything is from Peter Pig. 

Above are two additions to fill a gap I had previously; two 50mm mortar teams.

Next, I have an additional squad for a standard Rifle platoon. These will either work as a support option or for games set in 1941-43.

Below are figures that I needed to add to some SMG-armed figures to make a second squad for a SMG platoon, all armed with the PPSh-41 SMG.

CoC2 changes Soviet platoon HQ sections. So, I now have a rifle platoon commander (peaked cap), a platoon sergeant (helmet) and a sniper team (in the middle). Platoon commanders are now equipped with SMGs.

Below is the HQ section for my SMG platoon with the same organisation as above for the rifle one.

Next up, a heavy squad for my SMG platoon. Both the rifle and SMG platoons now have a "heavy" squad with two DP-27 LMG teams. This is a big change. I was able to make the necessary changes for my rifle platoon from figures I already had.

Here are two more sniper teams and a couple of spare SMG-armed men. I did these because the Peter Pig sniper set gives you four teams and the SMG guys are just spares.

Below are "resting" SMG men, who I have painted up to use as extra DP-27 LMG team members, because in CoC2 the Soviet LMG teams now have either three or four members.

So, all in all, that is 56 more recruits for my Soviet forces. 

This has allowed me to reorganise what I have available for the Soviet Union. As core troops, I now have a Rifle platoon, a SMG (or tank rider) platoon, a Motor Rifle platoon and as supports (including things I had already), I can field two 50cm mortar teams, two sniper teams, a rifle squad, a SMG squad, a Scout squad (Junior leader and 6 men, all with SMGs), two Maxim MMG teams, a 45cm anti-tank gun with crew and a junior leader and a Commissar. 

I have armoured cars, various tanks and a SU-76 as vehicle support too and I have a number of painted figures that are surplus to my units.

I've also still got a few things left to paint, mostly extra riflemen, so who knows what else I'll be able to turn the leftovers into in the future? 
 

Cheap MDF houses

I bought a load of cheap MDF houses from eBay just before Christmas, because I needed a lot of basic houses that might do for my games. Specifically, I wanted houses that would mostly work for WW2 games, but maybe also be useful for earlier periods. I've finally got round to photographing them. There are thirteen buildings of varying sizes in total. Scroll down to see them all and read what I did to zhoosh them up a bit.

 As you can see, I've given them all a rough plastering with ready-mixed filler and roofed them with printed slate paper. I've also given some of them little gardens with bushes, paths and vegetable patches.

The base models were very cheap. The whole lot, plus a church that I've stuck together but not done anything else to yet. They came as a three separate plastic bags of bits with no instructions, so working out what went where took a fair while.

Quality-wise, they are very basic and I had all sorts of issues with getting them to fit together properly, the roofs being a particular problem. You can't actually remove the roofs, because they have to fit into slots cut into the end walls. Therefore, only the multiple storey houses can have figures put inside them. I converted one of the longer single storey buildings into a barn, which doesn't look that great, but it'll do on the table.

My aim was to make them look a bit run-down and bedraggled, which I think works OK. The main reason for this is because they lack any detail and I couldn't be arsed to spend much time on them and I also didn't have much time because I needed them for my 15mm Big Chain of Command game that I ran at BIG a couple of weeks ago. I'll do a separate blog post about that.

I thought that I'd finished my Soviets ................

 .... but I decided that I needed to paint up a fourth section of scouts for my recce platoon.

I already had the figures but after play-testing the scenario I will be running at Winter Wonderlard at BIG on Saturday 12th February, it became apparent that what I was planning wasn't going to work in the time allowed, so I re-wrote the scenario. That meant trimming down the size of the opposing forces and beefing up the scouts a bit, so I quickly painted the remaining squad.

Nothing different to the previous lot here, Junior Leader with SMG, 2-man LMG team, four men with SMGs and four with rifles.

Still, the bonus here is that my game will run a lot more smoothly.

I've been thinking about what to do with the various bits I have stripped out and my plan is to turn this scenario into the opening one of a PSC (a pint-sized campaign). I am thinking about four or maybe five separate scenarios that will expand upon the narrative that drove my ideas for the initial too unwieldy one I've had to slim down. I shall have to see how it goes once the inspiration pixie has come to visit me.

 

Soviet scout platoon

Here is my second full platoon of Peter Pig WW2 Soviets; razvedchiki, i.e scouts.

The reconnaissance platoon organisation is taken from the 2016 TooFatLardies Christmas Special. 

According to the organisation listed,  the Scout platoon consists of;

HQ;

Leytenant; Senior Leader with Pistol
Serzhant; Junior Leader with SMG

3 Squads, each with;

Junior Leader with SMG
LMG with 2 crew
4 SMGs
4 Rifles

Actually, the 2016 Special says that the rifles should be SVT-40s, but these weren't hugely reliable and, in any case production was heavily disrupted after the beginning of Barbarossa in 1941, so the Mosin–Nagant 91/30 rifle remained the standard for most Russian units throughout the war. Obviously, the SMG used is the PPSh-41 and the LMGs are the Degtyaryov DP-27.

These troops are wearing the "amoeba" camouflage smock and trousers with the pilotka cap. I've chosen to do the amoeba pattern in green, although it could have been brown. I've also chosen to give the platoon commander an officer's cap with a raspberry red band, so he stands out on the table.

As with all my WW2 15mm units, the rank and file are on 1.5 cm bases and leaders are on 2 cm ones.

I am beginning to think that I've got enough core troops for my Soviets now, and I ought to start building up their support options. I'm thinking of snipers, anti-tank rifles teams, 5 cm mortar teams and engineer teams with flamethrowers and additional rifle squads.

Tank riders to accompany my Soviet tanks

I always knew that I wanted tank riders as supports for my WW2 Soviet force, because they are such an iconic thing, and here they are;

These are again from Peter Pig and I've based the two squads on the platoon organisation provided in the Chain of Command rulebook. I really need to do a third squad at some point, but currently I would have to make the squad up from spare scout figures, which would look a bit odd. So, as things stand, I'd have to field them as a weakened platoon.

My next post will cover a second Soviet platoon, a scout one.

A few more WW2 Soviet bits and pieces.

Here are some support options and senior leader types.

Above are two Maxim MMG teams on either side of an anti-tank gun. In Chain of Command, such support weapons have a team of five to service the weapon. With some nations, support weapons like this come with an attached Junior Leader, but this isn't the case with the Soviets.

The anti-tank gun is the M1937 45mm L46 gun, based upon the German PaK 36 3.7 mm, which the USSR acquired from Germany before the war under licence. The German gun was also the basis for an earlier Soviet A/T gun, the 3.7cm M1930 which was used early on in the war but, being obsolete by 1939 was no longer in production, so I won't be using it as one of those.

Next, here are some leaders;

On the left is a Ranking Senior Leader, with a radio operator. He will be used in games of Big Coc. Next to him, with blue breeches is a Commissar, whose role in games will vary according to the period and the scenario.

The two figures sharing a base in front were originally going to represent an on-table FOO, but in CoC the Russians don't have access to in game artillery or mortar support, something I'd forgotten, so I'll probably use the base for something scenario-specific, or maybe as a Jump Off Point.

Once again, these are all Peter Pig 15mm figures, painted as for the infantry platoon I posted previously, apart from the RSL, who I've given a green uniform.

Soviet Rifle Platoon

You'll need to scroll down to see all the troops. 

This is a WW2 Soviet rifle platoon in 15mm, using Peter Pig figures and the platoon organisation in the TooFatLardies Chain of Command rule book.

The platoon is made up of three squads;

According to the TFL rules, the platoon is led by a Leytenant (senior leader) with a pistol, who is with the middle squad in the pictures above, and each squad is comprised of a Serzhant (junior leader) with a PPSh-41 SMG, a two-man DP-27 LMG team and seven riflemen with the Mosin–Nagant 91/30 rifle.

In the pictures above, the serzhants are wearing pilotka caps and are mounted on 2cm bases and the leytenant is wearing a peaked cap with a red band and is also on a 2cm base. The LMG teams are on 3cm bases and the rifles on 1.5cm ones. In reality, the serzhants would most likely have been wearing helmets, but the pilotka and larger base makes them stand out for gaming purposes.

In CoC, the Russian infantry squad cannot be broken down into two separate teams, unlike the Germans, British or Americans, although two riflemen can be split off to create a small scout team.

These were a pretty quick and simple paint job. I spray-coated all the figures en masse with Citadel Zandri Dust, which is a pretty reasonable basic colour for Soviet uniforms and then added in the details with Vallejo paints. The helmets were done with Brown Violet and the pilotka cap with Green Ochre. I used German Camouflage beige for packs etc, saddle brown for the wooden parts of their weapons and gunmetal for the metal parts. Finally, everything was given a wash with the water-soluble Army Painter Strong Tone that comes in dropper bottles.

Bad Squiddo Winter Soviet Kickstarter update

OK, so there is more news about the Kickstarter. It will now be happening on the 7th of April, for administrative reasons and will run for seven days.

Anyway, I have now finished the two sample figures Annie sent me.

We have an officer, with a pistol and a crumpled map, and a infantry figure with a PPSh sub-machine gun. 

Here is a rear view;

Lots of nice details on the two sculpts here, so plenty of scope for really going to town with textures and shading.

I decided to go for a nondescript grey greatcoat for the ordinary soldier and a better quality sheepskin-lined coat for the officer. The officer is also wearing a nice pair of leather gloves.

I didn't want to overdo the snow effects, so restricted it to a bit of frosty ground and frost on the dead grass around the feet of the two soldiers.

These were really nice to paint. Lovely crisp casts with plenty of detail and character to the minis.

I used Vallejo paints, Army Painter strong tone wash and Gamer's Grass tufts.

Here is the announcement for the Kickstarter;

A new Bad Squiddo Kickstarter is nearly upon us.

This is just a short post to let people know that Annie Norman of Bad Squiddo is planning a short Kickstarter, planned to open on March 31st.

The subject is one close to her heart, 28mm WW2 female Soviet troops, this time in winter uniforms with greatcoats and Ushanka fur caps, to add to her existing range of Soviet troops.

There will be a number of different figures, rifles, PPSh-41 SMGs, a LMG team with the obligatory Degtyaryov DP-27, an officer and other figures.

The picture below shows what will be available, and also shows some of the current minis too;

I have been sent two figures to paint myself already, they are currently based and undercoated and I am planning to get them completed over the next day or so, puppies permitting.

I am happy to report that they are up to the usual high standards we have come to expect from Bad Squiddo.

These will be perfect for Chain of Command, Bolt Action or any other set of WW2 rules.

More CoC on a Sunday afternoon

The impromptu "campaign" between my Germans and Brian's Soviets rumbled on yesterday at the club. The scenario we were playing was Number Five in the rules - Flank Attack, and I was defending. The support dice rolls would obviously favour the Soviets, but I did end up with four points, which I decided were best spent on a FOO and an off-table battery of 81mm mortars.

The game also gave me the opportunity to get my new JoPs and ruined buildings on the table. The first few pictures show the table. My German platoon would be defending the ruined factory complex which was being used as a fuel dump. The Russians would have to cross some fairly open ground, much of which was pockmarked by craters from the Russian artillery's pre-game bombardment. 

Here are the German Jump-off Points, all close to the factory, except for a more forward one on the corn field on the left.

Brian had the higher Force Morale, 9 to my 8 and went first. Amazingly, he rolled 3 sixes, thus ending the turn and removing the effects of the pre-game barrage. I was now able to deploy my troops at will. I put my first section into one of the ruined factory buildings. 

The second one followed shortly, in the corn field.

On my right flank, Brian pushed two squads forward, detaching two scout teams.

I didn't care much for this and my FOO, who had already deployed,  contacted the mortar battery and shortly after was able to call down a barrage. This successfully pinned Brian down and blocked off my right flank.

This was the only action so far. I had deployed all my troops and most of them stayed on Overwatch while waiting for the Soviet assault to start. What I was really worried about was Russian armour, which I was certain would appear before long. 

I wasn't wrong. Two 76mm T34s soon appeared, together with the third Soviet squad and the senior leader. My anti-tank capability was my Panzerschreck team, plus three Panzerfaust 30s. Not great.

I decided that I needed to shift the mortar barrage, which had done its work, causing the loss of one scout team and several casualties on the Soviets on my right. I soon had mortar fire dropping down on the area where the tanks were advancing. I knew that it would be very hard to damage the T34s, but I wanted to keep the infantry as far away as possible.

I pulled my lefthand section back at a run, hence the shock marker on the rifle team. The JL had already removed the shock on the MG42 team. I needed to bring these across to my right, because the section there had already lost the MG42 team in a bout of Russian initiated hand-to-hand-combat.

Despite loosing the MG42, the rest of the section were slowly whittling away the Russian squad with close range rifle and SMG fire. The other Russian squad here had been pretty badly knocked about by the mortars and I didn't see it as a threat.

Before long, the remnants of both squads were pulling back. One was routing and the other in no fit state for anything. Soviet Force Morale was dropping fast.

My troops in the ruins were pretty comfortable. They were not suffering at all. Things were looking OK, apart from the armoured threat.

Brian had pulled his final infantry squad back to a more central position, a turn end having unpinned it, but it had suffered shock and a couple of casualties. I used a CoC dice to maintain the barrage, though.

I pushed a section forward, in the hope that I might get lucky with a 'Faust or the 'Shreck.

The T34s rumbled forwards. All I could do was wait.

At this point, time was running out. Elsewhere, Brian had done a typically Soviet thing and thrown his last strong squad into a charge against the intact section on my right. No pictures of this, because I forgot to take any. I ended up with a huge number of defence dice and easily won the combat, killing both his SL and the squad JL. His Force Morale plummeted to 2. At this point we called time. 

It seemed unlikely that the Soviets could win, given that they had no infantry and Brian was rolling a mere two command dice.

So, another engrossing game of CoC and another win for the Germans, who I think are ideally suited to a defensive role in Chain of Command.