I took a trip south yesterday and umpired a game between Gerard (Russians) and Byron (Germans). The game depicts a last gasp counter attack by German forces against the lead elements of the 6th Guards Tank Corps, east towards Kurozweki whose capture would have provided a staging area for further offensive operations against the Soviet hordes
The table looking west from Kurozweki, the main German objective
Here German heavies on the crest of a low hill engage a company of T34s at a range of about 3000 yards
Turn 2. Center. German infantry loose their only local armoured support (Stug IIIg) to long range fire from advancing T34/85s
The German reply is effective but the Russians have far greater numbers and their advance continues, T34 by HaT with SHQ tank riders in the foreground
Turn 3. Despite some early set backs Byron made a bold advance on the main German objective with a company of PzIVs supported by another of armoured infantry
And, in the same turn brought his heavy tanks into the fray. Things were already looking shaky though as more Russians pushed forward, limiting his room to manoeuvre
Turn 4, despite this company suffering 50% casualties they continued to apply pressure to the German flank and remained in good morale throughout
Extreme left of the German line. Russian KV85s move to the outskirts of the town of Kurozweki, KVs are some of Gerard's excellent scratch builds
Byron's Panzergrenadiers secure the town but can do nothing else at this stage as they have nothing that can really harm the KVs on the other side of it. Figures here are mostly Caesar and the 251s are scratch builds
On the western side of the battlefield things start to go horribly wrong for the Germans. Here, Soviet armour advancing west from Mokre force the Germans into giving up up good field position, and most of their heavy armour is crippled in the process
The resulting withdrawal of the German heavies. Panthers are either Airfix or Matchbox
Turn 5. The Germans enjoy a small respite from the Russian advance by forcing a heavy tank platoon from the fighting now just 1500 yards from Kurozweki
Same turn. Byron pushes his infantry forward in an attempt to support his drive on the town as there is still a small chance that success here will swing the game back in his favour, these figures are by Valiant
Turn 6. More Russian reinforcements arrive in the Kurozweki area but as they only have a few tank riders they cannot really afford to make a full scale assault on the town, German infantry now having been in possession of that for a couple of turns, and fairly well ensconced they were too
These PIVs arrived to support the German occupation of Kurozweki only to be forced out of the fight on the same turn
Turn 6, last turn. What was left of the PIV company attempts to smash its way through the lead Russian tank platoons and secure the ground west of the town, which would have made things difficult for Gerard's Russians, to no avail however, the PIVs are no match for the KVs
A very good game. It was always going to be difficult for the Germans. Though Byron handled his forces as well as he could, he was always going to be out numbered by Gerard's Russians, who started the game with far better field position and far superior numbers.
Being unable to obtain any figures for this period, this is the latest attempt. In this company all of the figures are a cross between Esci WW2 Russian Infantry and Modern Russian Paratroopers. First up, the command platoon
Rifle platoon, as always some turned out better than others
Second rifle platoon
Weapons platoon
The full company. Will try to include a few different poses in the next but I'm not exactly spoilt for choice when comes to donor figures, anyway, we'll see.
This is the second one of these I have now and a very good addition it is too
About 40 parts, well engineered and no flash
I cut out the turret hatch and included a crew figure from the spares box
Some minor tidying up still to do on the black lining and tracks but otherwise complete
This seems to be a difficult model to get hold of, and eventually I'd like one more so as to have a full company of three
This is the first one of these that I did whilst living in Asia. Its paintwork has had a little touch-up also
Probably my favourite French tank of the WW2 era.
Here, one of Gerard's scratch-builds next to a commercial one
As with many models the inclusion of crew figures are a nice little addition
One of my favourites this
Not a hundred percent sure but I think this is a converted Airfix model?
KV85. 
Not a lot extra done on these, except a light green wash on one or two stands
The difference in uniforms doesn't matter too much as they look okay as a group
The masks were probably the most difficult to paint
Awkward things to wear at the best of times and rather unforgiving on the soldier who hasn't shaved for a day or so, rub, rub, chafe, chafe, ouch!
The command platoon
Most modern stuff has a higher rate of fire than your standard WW2 platoon owing to the high proportion of assault rifles; this means for heavier loads to yomp however, you really feel it carrying all that extra ammo
All ready for the capitalist west imperialist aggressors, comrades.
The table looking west from Kurozweki, the main German objective
Here German heavies on the crest of a low hill engage a company of T34s at a range of about 3000 yards
Turn 2. Center. German infantry loose their only local armoured support (Stug IIIg) to long range fire from advancing T34/85s
The German reply is effective but the Russians have far greater numbers and their advance continues, T34 by HaT with SHQ tank riders in the foreground
Turn 3. Despite some early set backs Byron made a bold advance on the main German objective with a company of PzIVs supported by another of armoured infantry
And, in the same turn brought his heavy tanks into the fray. Things were already looking shaky though as more Russians pushed forward, limiting his room to manoeuvre
Turn 4, despite this company suffering 50% casualties they continued to apply pressure to the German flank and remained in good morale throughout
Extreme left of the German line. Russian KV85s move to the outskirts of the town of Kurozweki, KVs are some of Gerard's excellent scratch builds
Byron's Panzergrenadiers secure the town but can do nothing else at this stage as they have nothing that can really harm the KVs on the other side of it. Figures here are mostly Caesar and the 251s are scratch builds
On the western side of the battlefield things start to go horribly wrong for the Germans. Here, Soviet armour advancing west from Mokre force the Germans into giving up up good field position, and most of their heavy armour is crippled in the process
The resulting withdrawal of the German heavies. Panthers are either Airfix or Matchbox
Turn 5. The Germans enjoy a small respite from the Russian advance by forcing a heavy tank platoon from the fighting now just 1500 yards from Kurozweki
Same turn. Byron pushes his infantry forward in an attempt to support his drive on the town as there is still a small chance that success here will swing the game back in his favour, these figures are by Valiant
Turn 6. More Russian reinforcements arrive in the Kurozweki area but as they only have a few tank riders they cannot really afford to make a full scale assault on the town, German infantry now having been in possession of that for a couple of turns, and fairly well ensconced they were too
These PIVs arrived to support the German occupation of Kurozweki only to be forced out of the fight on the same turn
Turn 6, last turn. What was left of the PIV company attempts to smash its way through the lead Russian tank platoons and secure the ground west of the town, which would have made things difficult for Gerard's Russians, to no avail however, the PIVs are no match for the KVs
Scored this a couple of weeks ago, absolutely mint condition 
Painted mostly on the sprue. This kit had zero flash and is an awesome model for its age
These only appear in limited numbers in early war OOBs, so I'll probably never need more than three
Tamiya German Grey, highlighted, then black washed
Getting better with decals since I started using warm water in the application process
This kit also comes with a 7.5cm Pak, which I'll also do in this colour. Vehicles such as these count as weak AFVs in CD as they are open-topped and therefore venerable to grenades and, to a lesser extent, small-arms fire. 
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