Hi, Blackwolf back again, with a look at my completed Soviet Guards Tank Battalion.
I showed some sneak peaks of this force a while ago back in this post. Well, after quite a while of procrastination, I've finally finished it. It had been staring at me from across my hobby desk for quite some time. Basically, at 1750 points, its the HQ T-34/85, 2 companies of 9 T-34/85's, a Decoy Tank Platoon of 2 Panthers, and a full Rota Razvedki Platoon with Universal Carriers including a flame thrower team.
These boys had there first hit out last weekend, vs a Fallschirmjager list from Hells Highway, commanded by fellow WSWA clubmate Ange, and the boys did me proud. Although I didn'ttake any pictures for an AAR, a particular highlight for me was when 2 Fallschirmjager platoons got too close to one of my T-34/85 companies hiding in some woods. Well, 9 T-34/85's put out a lot of MG firepower, and wham, a lot of elite German paratroopers bought the farm, awesome job ;) Also, the sight of my SMG totting Rota Razvedki overrunning a battery of Flak36's on a hill was inspiring, I love those little guys already!
I'll end up adding to this force, maybe even expanding on the infantry to create either a full Rota Razvedki Company, or a Motostrelkovy Battalion. I actually found painting Soviet infantry quite fun, so wont see painting more as chore, plus I found Soviet armour quite easy to paint. Then again, I'm used to painting German armour, so any vehicle in a monotone paint scheme would be fun to paint ;)
Oh, and just because it would cause Griddon no end of trouble, I'll add some IS-2's and ISU-122/152's... He loves it when I roll out heavy tanks :)
Anyway, here's the pics of my Soviets. Enjoy!
wow, that's some serious painting. Very nice!
ReplyDelete"I actually found painting Soviet infantry quite fun"... how is that? I'm about to start a Udarny battalion, need all the motivation possible for painting.
Nice! Love em! Huge inspiration :) Probably gonna steal your idea for the captured Panthers, to be honest :)
ReplyDeleteBraxen. Mat also likes traffic jams, Lady Gaga and losing at flames of war. So the fact he enjoyed painting Soviets is probably no help to your motivation ;)
ReplyDeleteBut seriously. Great job Mat. I got to see these in the flesh last weekend. The Infantry is just superb and the tanks look totally realistic on the table top. Great work! And to consider this was a 'side project'. Lol.
Traffic jams and losing at FoW I'll accept, but come on, Lady Gaga? Not a huge fan of chicks with dicks ;)
ReplyDeleteBraxen, I think I enjoyed painting Soviet infantry cos I usually paint German SS Infantry, and these guys were so much simpler, no complex camo smocks! But in all seriousness, I found them easy to paint, nothing complicated about them. Good luck with your Udarny Battalion!
Steve, I've seen your T-34's and they look better than mine. Captured Panthers were fun to include, as I love Panther tanks. Being about to infiltrate with em will be a bonus!
Griddon, thanks for the kind words :)
Thats a lot of T-34's. Very cool indeed.
ReplyDeleteVery good indeed!
ReplyDeleteNice work Matt.
ReplyDeleteI've just finished painting my first batch of soviet infantry and I also found them very straight forward. Not daunting at all if painted in reasonable sized batches. (say 40 or so).