Back in the USSR

I've been feeling distinctly unwell this weekend.

Thank heaven for Mrs. History PhD (and Teddy)!

Anyway, after a couple of weeks of fiddling with other things, I'm back to 3mm Cold War and it's Soviet tanks. We're back in the USSR ("You don't know lucky you are"). Despite my misery (mild food poisoning, not brought on by my wife's Thai cooking!), I've managed to finish the battalion command stand that I was lacking for a T-64A battalion which I had been working on earlier in the week (before I was cruelly struck down):

And the whole thing:

That's what I love about 3mm! Battalions really look like battalions. 

I had planned on using a BRDM-2:

as the second vehicle on the battalion command stand, given that each Soviet armored battalion had a section of them as a recon unit. However, wheeled vehicles mixed in with my tanks just rankles, regardless of the authenticity. So I swapped for a BRM:

which fulfilled the same role. I know, I know! But it's MY Soviet Army!

More after my recuperation!

Some Soviet armor, for a change

In my 1981 LANDJUT scenario, most of the WarPac forces I'll be fielding will be East German, but there will be smaller numbers of supporting Polish and Soviet forces. As far as the Soviets go, the majority of the troops committed in reality would most likely have been VDV (airborne and air assault), but it's quite probable that Soviet motor rifle and possibly armored forces would also have participated in the thrust northward toward the Danish border, at least as far as the Kiel Canal. 

That being the case, at some point in the far-flung and misty future, I'll need some Soviet ground troops, in addition to VDV. So, as a change of pace from my usual endless painting of East Germans, I've done some Soviet armor: T-62s!

By the early 1980s, the Group of Soviet Forces Germany (GSFG) had almost totally replaced its T-62s with T-64s in all armored divisions that were part of the 2nd Guards Tank Army and the 3rd Combined Arms Army (it stopped being the "3rd Shock Army" after the late 1950s) and they were well on the way to total replacement in the armored divisions of the 1st Guards Tank Army and the 8th and 20th Guards Armies. However, in all the motor rifle divisions of the GSFG, the replacement rate lagged well behind that found in the armored divisions and about half of their attached tanks were still T-62s. 

Here's the first company of a planned T-62 battalion for a Soviet motor rifle regiment:

Now just two more companies to go. I think I have too many irons in the fire for any of them to get really hot! I suppose most wargamers are the same. 

More from me next weekend. 

Painting Soviets for 1981

This weekend, I've decided to break out of my East German/Danish painting rut and do something different. Quite a few posts ago, I said I'd (try to) stop going off on tangents and stick to finishing units that I actually need. In an effort not to wander too far afield from that effort, I've chosen something that I will certainly need, though that need is somewhat in the future, as I've still got quite a few East Germans to finish, as well as some Poles. I'm doing Soviets this weekend!!

I've already talked about doing some VDV troops (Soviet airborne), but operations in the LANDJUT area would almost certainly have involved at least some Soviet ground troops. The seizure of the Kiel Canal was a priority that was reasonably high up the Soviet "to do" list and while the VDV would quite likely have been used in the initial operation, they couldn't have held out for long without heavier support. So, at least some armor and mechanized infantry would had to have been committed as a support/relief force.

So, how to paint Soviets? Firstly, like all my painting, this isn't the real Soviet Army. It's MY Soviet Army, so certain wargaming realities must be accounted for; primarily, easing tabletop identification at a distance. Soviet troops, like all armies, wore different uniforms at different times of the year and in different periods of the Cold War, as well as different types of Soviet troops wearing different uniforms. My scenario begins on March 30th, which in northern Europe is still quite cold. Snow in northern Germany in late March and into April is common. 

What I'm getting at is that I should be portraying winter uniforms. But those aren't the ones I like!  I like this:

The brown summer uniform! This photo would appear to have been taken in the late 1960's or possibly the very early 1970's. The right-hand figure carrying an RPK dates this to no earlier than 1961, but Soviet military color photography in the early to mid 1960's was relatively rare, so it's very likely to be a bit later. In any case, for mechanized infantry, I like the uniform and it helps me differentiate my Soviets from my other Warsaw Pact troops. To get close to that particular shade of darkish brown, I make a 50/50 mix of two Vallejo paints: Game Color Charred Brown (045) and Model Color US Field Drab (873). It looks pretty close to the correct shade to my eyes:

For the helmets, I use Vallejo Russian Uniform (924).

For VDV troops, I've already touched on the blue beret (see my post of May 4, 2014), but for the uniform, I like the look of this:

Again, it wasn't their only uniform, but it's the one I like. I use Vallejo Reflective Green (890) with tiny patches of Model Masters Sand: 

Let's be honest, at 3mm, there's only so much you can do to represent a camouflage uniform. That macro lens does come in handy from time to time, doesn't it?

For vehicles, the Soviets used a fairly dark green, which, like all paints, faded due to sun, wind, rain, etc, but I've chosen to go with the darker shade, again for purposes of differentiation. Vallejo 894 used to be called Russian Green, but the name has been changed to Camouflage Dark Olive Green. Whatever they call it, it's an extremely good match for recently painted Soviet vehicles: 

I then apply the usual wash of thinned black enamel and finish off by dry brushing with Russian Uniform, then paint any obvious details and add "bling". In this case, in addition to white dots for vehicle numbers and silver for searchlight lenses/headlights, there are dots of Vallejo Deep Red (926) to represent Soviet stars on the turret sides. 

And here's a company of T-64A's that I've finished:

You'll notice that I put one digit of the vehicle number on each of the left-side turret stowage boxes. When I was looking at T-64 images on the Internet, I was struck by these two:

On the right-hand side, the number is all on the single box, as it's larger:

I plan on doing a regiment with two battalions of T-64A's:

And one battalion of T-64B's:

(It's honestly not easy telling the real things apart!) As well as the requisite support units, ie: a motor rifle battalion (tracked), antiaircraft and reconnaissance companies, and a field artillery battalion. 

That's all for this post. More as projects progress (or as I think of other drivel to drone on about). 

East German/Polish/Soviet organization (and my 100th post)!!!

First things first. This is my 100th post!! Yay!!!

Ok, let's get down to business. This weekend, I've spent my time texturing and flocking some bases (I try to stay ahead of my useage rate), which isn't terribly photogenic. That being the case, I thought I'd talk a bit about East German, Polish, and Soviet military structure as it pertained to the LANDJUT area of operations. 

East Germany was divided roughly in half into two military districts; District V in the north and District III in the south. Along with elements of the East German Army (the National Volksarmee - "NVA"), about 60% of all Soviet troops in East Germany (Group of Soviet Forces Germany - "GSFG") were also stationed in District V:

which itself was subdivided into northern and southern zones and, as my 1981 campaign deals with operations in LANDJUT, we'll concern ourselves only with District V's northern zone. (As an aside to the above maps, the 3rd Shock Army wasn't called that after the mid to late 1950's, when the name was changed to the 3rd Assault Army. In the late 1960's or early 1970's, the name was changed again to the 3rd Red Banner of the Soviet Union Combined Arms Army, which is what it remained until the unit was dissolved in 1991). 

The East German 5th Army was assigned to the thrust into LANDJUT and was made up of the 8th Motor Rifle Division and the 9th Armored Division (which didn't have "Heinz Hoffmann" appended to its name until after his death in 1985). In addition to its front-line divisions, East Germany had a further five motor rifle divisions that were kept in a reserve status, but which would've been called to active duty prior to the outbreak of any hostilities. The unit dedicated to the northern zone of District V (and to the 5th Army) was the 20th Motor Rifle Division. The 9th would've been equipped with T-55's, as well as about one battalion's worth of T-72's. The armored elements of the 8th would've had only T-55's and the 20th a mixture of T-54's and T-55's and probably even a few T-34/85M's. Reserve divisions would also have been more likely to use at least some obsolete APC's as well as some infantry that was motorized (ie, truck-transported), as opposed to mechanized. 

Supporting the East Germans (or vice-versa) would've been the "2nd Guards Red Banner of the Soviet Union Tank Army". You can see why it was always referred to by its short form: the 2nd Guards Tank Army. To be fair, the majority of these Soviet troops would have been committed to the seizure of Hamburg and the subsequent push on to the North Sea, but at least a few units would likely have been diverted into the advance up the Jutland Peninsula to seize the Kiel Canal, particularly the airborne (the VDV; likely elements of the 7th Guards Airborne Division based at Kaunas, Lithuania) and possibly a few naval infantry units, in addition to any ground troops. 

In the early 1980s, the 2nd Guards Tank Army consisted of the 16th Guards Armored Division, 21st Motor Rifle Division, 94th Guards Motor Rifle Division, and 207th Motor Rifle Division. In early 1981, all of the 16th and the armored elements of the 21st, 94th, and 207th would've been equipped with mostly T-64A's. In the 16th, there would've been a healthy minority of T-64B's and the three motor rifle units only would have been not quite half T-62's. 

Behind East Germany, in the second echelon, was the Polish People's Army (the "LWP"). It was the largest non-Soviet Warsaw Pact army, but a decade of weak economic conditions in Poland had left its army less modern than that of East Germany. A large portion of the Polish Army was stationed in the south of the country, earmarked to support the Soviet/Czech push into central and southern West Germany. Likewise, the bulk of the Soviet Northern Forces Group ("NFG") was in southern Poland. 

The force which would've been involved in LANDJUT, apart from the airborne and marines, was the Polish 1st Army, comprised of the 8th, 12th, and 15th Motor Rifle Divisions and the 16th and 20th Armored Divisions. The 16th and 20th would've been equipped with a majority of T-55's, with a few companies of T-72's. The armored elements of the motor rifle divisions would've had T-55's, with a few T-54's mixed in. Like the East Germans, some T-34/85M's would also have been seen. The majority of the 1st Army would've been thrown into the assault on Hamburg, but at least part, if not all of the 12th Motor Rifle Division in particular would likely have been diverted to bolster the forces pushing into LANDJUT, as it was to assume the far northern flank position during the advance of the 1st Army. 

And finally, behind Poland lay the Western Military Districts of the Soviet Union, which would have held major reinforcements for the ground offensive into Western Europe. For the purposes of LANDJUT, the northern portions of these districts would be present-day Kaliningrad, Lithuania, and northern Belarus. Large reserves were held just inside the Soviet Union to provide a strong third wave of units, generally equipped with quite modern matériel. This is where the vast bulk of Soviet T-72's and most of the then still fairly rare T-80's and T-80B's were held in readiness. 

This is all obviously the short and simplified version of an ORBAT that otherwise would be far too long and overly complex for a wargaming blog. In my wargaming, I strive for historical accuracy, until it begins to bog everything down with minutiae. At that point, I switch to "historical plausibility" and begin using a simplified version. 

I hope this has provided a coherent overview. More from me during the coming week!