My Russian / Soviet vehicle park.

My Russian / Soviet vehicle park. These models are in various stages of completing. All bases have to be finished. I think that all green vehicles will receive white crosses. This will help them while gaming against other soviet forces. All models are made by QRF/ TSS and Zvezda. These are T-64s, T-72s,  T-90, Shilka, Gviozdkas, BRDM, BTRD, URAL and BTR-80s.

Rebel Minis - 1/100 15mm - US Army Platoon 2

Some better photos of my Rebel Minis Team Yankee US Army platoon.

Rebel Minis - 1/100 15mm - US Army Platoon

Just some quick photos of my completed american army infantry platoon. The figures are by Rebel Minis supplemented by some QRF/TSS Modern US Army designated marksmen  there are also some QRF/TSS Modern US Army commanders. I sculpted parts of body armour, backpacks and googles on QRF/TSS figures to blend them better with Rebel Minis troops. I don't think that those two lines should be mixed together, the sculpting is very different even between both QRF/TSS packs, with marksmen having a superior sculpt. 

The figures are based individually and then magnetised to FOW/Team Yankee style bases. I followed platoon composition that was previewed which does mean I had to add additional Javelin armed soldier and remove two men from platoon (Real platoon has 28 men including 3 Javelins vs 27 men including 4 Javelins in TY).  The TO&E I fallowed is for Bradley mounted soldiers and is rather modern with designated marksmen present. I probably should have one SAW per fire team and not per squad but I didn't had necessary figures. I might order some Peter Pig SAW armed troops to make my platoon more real. 

Lighting is bad on the photos and detail is lost but its better to show something than stay quiet. The camouflage is some type of modern dry one. I wanted those miniatures to be usable as any army using AR15 and Fritz helmet post 2001 year, thus there are no markings painted and camouflage is abstract one. I think I might add one more type of foliage to the bases but I am not 100% set on it. The hardest part was matching new figures to the ones painted over a year ago. 

Preparing for Team Yankee

Team Yankee by Battlefront is coming soon. Thus I started preparing my forces. I am not sure what side I will play thus I have incentive to paint both Russians and Americans. I have enough American army figures by Rebel Miniatures to create two full Team Yankee platoons. One is almost finished.
For Russians I have modern Zvezda T-72 tanks, which are historically inaccurate, but so are T-72 tanks by Battlefront, as in 1985 in Germany Russians would have used T-80 and T-64 tanks. I have 4 T-64BV tanks that need last coat of paint. But I don't want to use them as inferior T-72s. I think of creating count as force using American rules. I will use figures by QRF/TSS and have everything replaced by soviet stuff that Battlefront is not making. This way with photoshopped cards it should create less confusion than using for example Hind and saying it is Cobra.  I envision this count as force this way:

Soviet replacements    - USA

T-64BV                       - M1 Abrams
BTR-80                       - M113
BRDM-2 (AT-5)         - M901 ITV
SA-9                            - M163 VADS
2S29                            - M106
2S3                              - M109
Mil Mi 8 Hip E           - AH-1 Cobra

For infantry I'd probably use Eureka Miniatures modern Russians painted like 1985 Soviet troops. They could represent afghanka uniform wearing soldiers in body armour.

Sneak peak of US Army infantry platoon. Painted figures by Rebel Miniatures, unpainted by QRF/TSS - those are designated marksmen from current TO&E. All figures are based individually and magnetised to FOW style bases.

Modern Syrian Army T-72 - 1/100 15mm

I don't have much to write, because I haven't painted much. I have several tanks waiting for the last coat of paint, multiple bases to be done and infantry to be finished. I have Team Yankee preordered and plan on  getting Osprey - Black Ops game rules.  When I have some spare time I fiddle with green stuff.

Here are my modern Syrian tanks in 1/100 15mm. Two tanks are made by Zvezda and one by QRF/TSS. I have added sandbags to the front of  Zvezda downgraded one, to hide modern armour. The QRF/TSS had a lot more done to it: side skirts were covered with sandbags and tower received additional armour to make it higher (More in line with Zvezda tanks, as it was sitting low.), last but not least its tracks were replaced by Zvezda tracks. I think that when painted it would look ok. 

Zvezda - Hot War - 1/100 - 2S1 Gvozdika

Artillery is the queen of battle and with the new Zvezda release you can add it to your Russian / Soviet / Warsaw Pact armies. The 2S1 Gvozdika is a very popular kit that saw use in many wars, sometimes on both sides of the conflict. This new 1/100 model was supposed to hit the market in 2014 with  ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", now both kits are here. Although it is not as complicated as Shilka it is still nicely tolled kit. The turret moves and the gun can be moved upwards and downwards. It's a fun a useful model. Below are some photos of the assembled 2S1. Painted example should follow soon.

Zvezda - Hot War - 1/100 - ZSU-23-4 "Shilka"

Finally! Thats what can be said of this new release by Zvezda.  ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" was supposed to hit the market in 2014, then it was in 2015 catalogue, now it's here in flesh. And let me say what a kit it is. It's the best 1/100 Zvezda Hot War model. When put next to Abrams it really shows how far have they improved their tooling. It has tons of parts with the turret assembly mirroring the chassis, having the "skeleton" to which the armour panels are added. This serves one purpose: moving guns! Yes, this kit has moving guns. It's amazing in this scale. Below are few photos of the model kit. Painted example should follow soon. 

QRF / TSS - 15mm T-72BA with ERA (T-72BV) and Zvezda 1/100 T-72BV

Like most wargamers that want to get 1/100 15mm Cold war or modern figures I was drawn to Geoffs QRF Models. I've acquired several packs of infantry models and some vehicles. QRFs range of kits is quite amazing so it's the place to get your cold war / modern models. One thing that many wargamers find themselves questioning is figures comparability between ranges. With infantry you can end up having Xyston Republican Romans on one side and Corvus Belli Carthaginians on the other, the Romans being more than a head taller! With modern vehicles it is industry standard to make kits not in 15mm scale but in 1/100 scale. So in ideal world every T-34 should be the same, but there are some casting issues that lead to differences. With the advent of computer designed plastics that have exactly 1/100 scale those new kits become benchmark for scale purposes.  Not always rightly so as show measurements of Zvezda 1/100 - Hot War - BTR-80 compared with wikipedia (it could be wrong, I suppose that Russians know the right measurements of their APC).  

Back to the QRF and Zvezda 1/100 T-72 kits. With QRF T-72BV being in many figure collections it must be interesting how it compares with Zvezda T-72BV.  I will not post straight photos side by side as the tanks are only in name the same type. Whats funny is that the T-72 variant shown on Zvezda art box is not in the box, but can be bought from QRF.  If you get both tank you will quickly find out that they are different measurements wise. But the close inspection will tell you that both tanks have tracks of the same length, guns of the same length, turrets of the same diameter and main tank chassis of very close length. The differences stem from the way tracks are mounted in QRF tank compared to Zvezda making it sit lower, Rear fenders that are much shorter on QRF tank, and turret being shorter than Zvezda. What you can see on pictures is Zvezda and QRF chassis with Zvezda turrets. The QRF chassis has been slightly modified to match Zvezda tank. I believe that both tanks are compatible and with the little work they will blend well together an any army. Personally I prefer QRF Models T-72 detail and Zvezda T-72 fenders length, and turret height. The QRF turret / Zvezda chassis kit will be shown here later. 

Zvezda - Hot War - 1/100 - Ural 4320

At last! A new blog post and a new modern release in 1/100 15mm scale from Zvezda. The Ural 4320 truck. I hope we will soon see all the other kits that are in pipeline: Shilka, 2S1 Gvozdika and M109. 

About the new plastic 1/100 15mm Ural 4320 - it's a nice kit. Very, very well detailed it's definitely in different league than Zvezdas M1A1 Abrams. On the downside it's not that easy to assembly and some parts are quite fiddly. 

Here you can see some pictures of it with some other Zvezda 1/100 15mm modern Russian vehicles, QRF BTRD and 15mm soldiers by: Oddzial Osmy - "Green Man",  QRF - Modern German and Rebel Miniatures - Modern American.  As soldiers are based on 10mm coins, and have their own moulded bases I've put the new Ural 4320 on a base for some pictures.

All models other than the modern german soldier are on various stages of work in progress.