Flames of War in Plastic

So I have "finished" my project for two Flames of War armies done using the Plastic Soldier Company range. Neither of them fits too well inside a force organization chart but they both give me lots of options.  The Soviets, which I have already shown close ups of, have: one 23 stand Rifle/Mg platoon, 15 stand Rifle/MG platoon, 15 stand SMG platoon, 10 T-34 76/85, Shturmovik air support, and 4 unfinished Katyushas and some trucks. So not fully done, but done enough to play with.

Full Army

Battlefront Flamethrowers, the only metal.

Full size Strelk Platoon

SMG's

Never mind those unpainted Katyushas I snuck in there.

Tank Support

The Germans are really the core of two company's Grenadiers and Panzer IV's but can draw on each other and the rest of my collection for support.  

Battlefront 8-rads only metal german models

Grenadier Platoon

Pioneer Platoon

Panzer IV's with Decals!

Full German Army

Gepanzeret Panzer Grenadiers

Opposing Forces

Close up of MG team

 

Space Ork Cowboy, Tuff Git

     

Back to the Bases

Managed to Dullcote the dipped infantry without getting the dreaded frosting that people talked about.  I was a bit worried since it was colder outside than the optimal conditions but I did a couple test stands and when they were all right I went ahead and did all the Germans and Soviets. 

A group shot of all the bases being Dull-Coted some based some not.  Bit worried about the cold, note the snow on the ground, but no problems.  

Rifle/Mg Bases

SMG Bases

For the soviets I ended up with 35 Rifle/MG bases, 5 Rifle bases to be used as Pioneers and 14 SMG bases. I think that should cover most of my infantry needs. I'm also planning on ordering a couple of the heavy weapons boxes which should give me an ample number of mortars, HMGs and AT Rifles and should pretty much finish off the Soviets.

The Germans also were based but I will have to get some pictures of them up later.

Dipping PSC Infantry

So for the sake of mass production I decided early on that I would do a Flames of War Strelkovy battalion with PSC miniatures and by dipping them to speed painting time.  Somewhere along the way I got the idea that if I was already doing a ton of Strelkovy I might as well do some Grenadiers to oppose them.

Now the Strelkovy I sprayed with Army Painter bleached bone and when dipped I think it came out the right shade of tan for their uniforms.  For the Grenadiers I painted them using Vallejo Field Grey and the impulse decision to dip them lead to them looking a little dark.  So I think the Strelkovy turned out well and I regret dipping the Grenadiers but you can see for yourself.  Hopefully I will start basing them up today.

MG Team

Rifle Team

Advancing MG Team

Command Team I tried actually "dipping" rather than brushing on.  They looked like they went swimming in an oil spill.

Battlefront Flamethrowers the only metal figs in the Soviet Army

MG Team

SMG Team

Rifle Team

Command Team

 

Dipping some PSC Germans

A nice place for a dip.

Taking advantage of the sun and some warmer weather. 

So after finishing my Soviet and German PSC infantry around Christmas I had to wait for the weather to warm up before I could get outside and give dipping them a try.  I have never dipped before so hopefully all my work painting doesn't get ruined.  That is why I decided to dip the Germans first since there is only half as many of them.  And of course there was no way I was just going to do one test stand to see if it works....

I brushed the dip (which was Minwax Poly Shade: Antique Walnut Satin) on rather than actually dipping it.  I did try dipping one stand and they looked like baby seals after the Exxon Valdez spill so I quickly daubed it off with a brush.  I am a little worried that the lighter details on the PSC infantry might get covered up by the heavy stain.  If all is good tomorrow I might have a go at dullcoting them (that I will do a test stand first.)  I brushed the dip on the 130 figs in about half an hour.

German Light Armour and Stuka.

Painted up my Zvezda Stuka for Flames of War I tried to go with a generic scheme that could be used across multiple periods.  I placed some decals on just to add to the over all look and they are not historically accurate.  I have very little experience with decals so I just wanted to try them out.

I also have "completed" 5 Plastic Soldier Company Sdkfz 251 Halftracks.  I didn't paint the tools and such because I just don't feel it is worth the effort at this scale and I am working to get through my backlog of painting. I also need to add the decals to them so I might be having a decaling party with myself these guys and my Panzer 4's.  These means I can now run one of my Grenadier platoons as Armoured Panzer Gren's as support for those Panzer 4's.  If I order a box of the PSC Panthers I will probably get another box or two of these Halftracks as well.

And lastly some 8-rad reconnisance armoured cars these models are from battlefront and after the PSC kits I found the metal and resin not very nice to work with. However the wheels seem to be sticking now (all 8 of them) and they sure are cool looking little blighter's.

All Plastic Soviet Army for FoW

So I thought I would provide some details  on what my all plastic soviet strelkovy battalion for Flames of War looks like and the associated costs.  This army list was made to max out the points and involves the use of a few proxies.  The proxies are: The HQ Pioneers are just regular rifle teams. The horsedrawn supply wagon is a truck. The extra crew for the Katys is actually an ammo supply truck for each.  And the Shturmovik Tips are actually just regular Shturmoviks.  So it's not quite 'cricket' but it's good enough for a rugby player like me.        

Strelkovy Batalon

Soviet Late-War

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Strelkovy Batalon HQ  p.141	2 1 5 1	Cmd Rifle team Komissar team Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer Supply Horse-drawn wagon	130
Combat Companies
Strelkovy Company  p.142	1 1 21	Cmd Rifle/MG team Komissar team Rifle/MG team	335
Strelkovy Company  p.142	1 1 14	Cmd Rifle/MG team Komissar team Rifle/MG team	230
Weapons Companies
Strelkovy Scout Platoon  p.143	1 4	Cmd SMG team SMG team	165
Corps Support
Tankovy Company  p.130	5 5 10	T-34 obr 1942 with Cupola T-34/85 obr 1943 with Cupola Tankodesantniki SMG team	650
Guards Rocket Mortar Battalion  p.152	1 1 1 4	Cmd Rifle team Observer Rifle team Truck BM-13 Katyusha (5+ crew)	155
Air Support  p.147	7	Priority Air Support Il-2M Tip 3M Shturmovik	290
Company Points:			1955

Source document: Fortress Europe


I live in Canada and ordered the miniatures for my army from one Canadian and one American online store.  I didn't notice much of a difference between costs and fees from either and customer service from both was excellent. 

To make this army I used.
2 boxes PSC Soviet Infantry from Woordrows Warstore at $49.00 total
2 boxes PSC T-24 tanks also from Woordows at $49.00 total
4 Katyushas order from The Warstore at $14.00 total
3 Shtrumoviks from The Warstore at $10.50 total
5 Zis-5 Trucks from The Warstore at $17.50 total
2 Packages of Battlefront Medium bases at $20.00 total
And 10 small bases worth say $2.00

The Grand total being: $162.00

There would also be associated taxes and shipping and I got a discount on my order from the Warstore since I ordered on black Friday.  But I think it is feasible to make a 2000 point Soviet force for under $200.

Going to be my last post for a while I'm off to Belgium and Northern France for 2 weeks and then some time in Turkey.  Hoping to get to Waterloo, Normandy and Gallipoli.

Adios