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. 
A bit of progress from my good friend David Russell 
Dave has one of the biggest mid-late war Soviet collections that I know of and these AAHMG figures by Orion will clearly fill a gap or two
Here are a couple of pictures from a game he recently played with his son, US Marine assault on a Japanese held beach
Dave's board systems uses interlocking boards that can be arranged to suit the action you're after, much like his trench-board terrain
Dave's gaming space and table allows for regimental sized actions for CD3 but slightly larger ones if he's doing WW1 as the man-to-ground ratio is almost double. 
Being unable to obtain either the Airfix or Esci Russian Cold War sets or in fact any figures matching that description this is what I have resorted to... 
Most of them aren't Soviet at all and the weapons platoon features a former member of the Viet Cong and some sort of aircraft mechanic, but in the end I managed a full company... of sorts
Still a wee way to go on the paint work but the basics are all done. If anyone's got any bright ideas I'm all ears! 
Finished this the other night. It's actually quite a tidy little kit with some good detail, tempting me to look at other guns by Ace, particularly an M2-101 howitzer; I'd like to compare this with Paul's most excellent conversion http://plasticwarriors.blogspot.com/2010/06/m2-m101-105mm-howitzer.html 
I originally tried to use a Revell horse artillery figure but it was too big, this one, though cruder in appearance, is much better - clearly a veteran if the tally-record is anything to go by! 
Scored three of these for NZD$30 yesterday, a good buy. I got them with my small cold war collection in mind and although they date from the early 1960s they will no doubt feature in a couple of other periods as well. It is similar enough in appearance to the Sikorsky YH-19 to make for a Korean War chopper too, me not being a purist, and I'll try to find enough non-descript decals so they can stand in for either UK or US heavy-lift transports. 
Quick update of what I've been working on lately, 2cm Flak Gun by Ace. 
One of their better efforts this one in terms of engineering, although the instructions left a bit to be desired. The crew figure is from the spares box
This one shows the last of our puppies from our very last litter playing with my Great Dane. The pup flies out to Sydney Australia tomorrow, and whilst it's been hard work having them all, part of me will be really sad to see this one go. 
Been working on these off and on since they arrived last week, Orion's latest offering of WW2 figures 
The sculpting is quite good although there was a little flash to remove, still they paint up well. CD doesn't normally require three figures on the base to represent the platoon, but with a number of them pointing their weapons skyward I thought I'd use them anyway
This unit appears in a variety of places in early war Russian OOBs in particular, but most commonly at the regiment or brigade level. You get a few other poses of figures in the anti-aircraft mode also, and I will try to use some of them on the next stand I do just to make it look a bit different from this one. 
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