NKVD

Russian NKVD platoon. I have a few of these attached to the various Russian assets I have in my collection. This particular stand has been in more battles than I can remember, and they show it. For the rules CD3 most Soviet battalion sized formations have this plus only one other command unit to issue orders. A comparable US formation of this era has a lavish six.

Alpine Infantry

Just the one today. The very old Aixfix figures mixed with some from Caesar. As you can see the height match is reasonable, although I may yet remove the bases from the new ones, if anything it is the proportions of the figures that is most noticeable. I have added ruck-sacks made from Greenstuff and will post some pictures of the completed unit later so you can decide how well they mix together in the final ensemble. This picture doesn't really show the comparison accurately so don't hold off buying some, if you were thinking about it.

Weapons Platoons

For the rules I use many armies have Weapons Platoons at the company level. In actuality, such a unit would have about four MMGs and a pair of 81mm mortars, however, for gaming units usually the best one can do is represent this with an LMG or other such special weapons figure, so here are a few examples of some of my weapons stands.

WW1 Italians

The only Great War Italian figures that I am aware of.

MMG and one or two other figures burgled from various sets for variety, plus a few pack-packs and rifles added.

An engineer platoon using an extension on the flame-thrower from the WW1 German Airfix set. The officer from the Italian set was a behemoth and required substantial alterations before he would fit in nicely with other figures from the same set.

BT5s

Here are a couple of pictures of the new Pegasus BT5s. The detail is quite outstanding for what is basically a snap-together-kit. These arrived earlier this week along with some Caesar WW2 German Mountain Infantry.

You get two models per box, which I can't show because the store I brought them from will take them out to save you money on the postage, at your request.

They took all of about five minutes to complete and are an excellent addition to my early war Soviet collection.

German Armour and Figures

The Tiger. I only have three of these in my collection, which represents a company. I plan to get all of my Tigers painted in the same colour scheme eventually.

Next, the awesome Jadpanther. You only get two of these in a company, they come from the heavy tank destroyer battalion, which at times included Stugs, Elephants and the even more deadly Jadtiger.

And here are a few platoons from my SS Motorised Infantry Regiment. They are mostly from the Pegasus set but, as always, there are a couple of other brands included for variety.

Legion Etranger

A recent e-mail from a very dear old friend has prompted this post. Happy now Corporal Chef?

Some more Allied armour

Apart from the awkward track assembly, these Revell Cromwells' are really great models to make. The detail is very good all round.

Not sure what make these Stuarts are but they are among my favourite Allied tanks.

Later War Allied Armour

A Sherman 105 and two 75s, the HaT kits make for very good wargames models. All of them used to have aerials but they are fragile little additions indeed.

A couple of Churchill bridge layers, one rigged and one deployed. Don't use these much but they are a good kit to make, well engineered, with clear instructions.

One of my favourite buildings

A few pictures of one of the most versatile building I own. It has featured in many games as a brewery, mill, etc. Catwalks have been installed at various points to enable the maximum use of second floor windows, etc.
As you can see, the scale is very good, and the building fits into almost every conceivable theatre of the war, style wise.



I don't think it was too expensive. It was a model train building but I can't remember the brand name, possible 'Life Like'. I would recommend this kind of building to all gamers.

WW2 figures and a hill

A few more pictures of some infantry

A company US Marines for 1941-2, why this unit is better represented in plastic more than Royal Marines is beyond me!

Command units for the Alpine Infantry, with engineer and mortar platoons from the same formation Finally, some Soviet Naval Infantry, and a half finished hill

Latest Arrivals

The Alpine Infantry will need an MMG platoon or two added to it, so I'm looking at possible conversion options, and will post the results another time. The Bristols will probably be joining the small Finish force that I am building, and the Americans will be split between late WW2 and Korea - minus a few that I am looking at converting into Royal Marines, also destined for the Korean conflict.

Late War Armour

These were really good kits to make, and they may even get some more detailing eventually. I usually use crew figures to designate the command platoon of each company, as always some look better than others.
These are the soft plastic Airfix Centurions. They have featured in only a couple of games thus far, but will certainly be in a few more now that my Korean War project is becoming better researched. The lead tank has had the turret hatch drilled out to accommodate a command figure. I can understand that serious model makers aren't that fond of this kind of kit (if you can call it a kit) but for wargames they are just fine.

German Recon

Some of my German recon vehicles, not sure of their manufacture.

Next, a couple of half-tracks, the front one is part of my German engineer units, and the rear one belongs to the Panzergrenadier regiment.

Die Casts

These are Die Cast vehicles that I wish I had more of. The car is a bit crude even with the late-pipes removed and some normal wheels added, but it fits the bill for some armies. The truck is an old Matchbox metal of 1920s vintage; it counts as a heavy truck for game purposes and can transport three stands. Again, fits well enough for most purposes, and is frequently used to move the engineer company of my Polish Motorised Infantry Regiment.

Other Soviets

1943 SU122s. Not the best engineered kits but good enough for wargames.


T26 of unknown manufacture. I would like to get some more light tanks, such as BTs, to add to this part of my collection.
Last one, a resin BA armoured car. Really looking forward to seeing some of the new Pegasus Soviet additions in our stores, having said that however, stores are few and far between in New Zealand.

Soviet Truck

Have no idea what make the truck is, but the gun is the excellent Airfix Bofors, with head-swaps for the crew.

WW2 Soviets

Some pictures from my Soviet collection, mostly early war stuff but I can also do some small later war actions as well.

KVs
Resin T35, they only made about sixty of these before the war. Showing its age a bit now, I bought it in Poland but it has been to many more places since then.

T28M2s, one resin, one metal which caused quite a stir in Changi one night with customs officers passing it around with reckless abandon after it set off the metal detectors.

Scratch Built Guns

Here are a few models that I created out of bits and pieces, mostly whilst living abroad. Sometimes you can make quite reasonable things out of very limited resources; I think that the barrel for the AT gun in the top left of the picture is from one of the Thunderbird models that you can buy at service stations in Japan. The infantry gun in the top right comes from an Airfix WW1 tank, not sure about the barrel for that one.

Another anti-tank gun sporting a Thunderbird leg barrel.

Last one, actual kitset gun barrels on scratch-built chassis.

Weekend Gaming

Don't get to play too many games these days for mostly geographical reasons. However, this weekend a Friend braved the alpine pass, and we played two games. The first, the battle of Stonne, France 1940; historically this hilltop village changed hands fourteen times in a single day.

The second game we played was a possible encounter between UN and Communists forces in Korea, 1951.The scenario included some quirky special rules to give it a bit more of a Korean flavour, these included road-blocks behind the lines that would hamper relief and, later, evacuating UN forces.

The evacuation turned into a 'Bug-out' for the outnumbered US troops, with most companies at low morale and carrying wounded. Fortunately for them, the first of the British
relief forces arrived after fighting through the road-blocks. (US figures are a mixture of several brands, British are from A Call to Arms)

Last picture is my friend mustering more UN relief forces, which would engage the Communist road-blocks, so that the trucks and jeeps they were escorting could evacuate the Americans.