Various 28mm Figures finished in the last few days

First up, a Bolshevik Lewis gunner for the Russian Civil War

Next are the command figures that came with the Hinterland Sailors. Their headdress made them impractical to use in the RCW, so I will have to find a use for them in the colonial/pulp collection...

Four 1920's ladies by Eureka - not sure what they can be used for but I just liked the look of the figures....

A lastly five left over "Elite" Bolshevik infantry by Brigade Games. I have painted them as per the troops shown on Trotsky's armoured train in the Netflix Russian TV serial "Trotsky"

A Few Random RCW Figures

Today being Easter Monday and the weather in Auckland not that great, I had the opportunity to spend many hours at the painting desk, and completed the following seven RCW figures, all by Copplestone.

They are still on the 10c coins I use to hold figures while I paint them, as I intend to put them in amongst other units or command bases when I finally get around to reinforcing this collection...although, the Red Actions rule set we have been using of late does require individually based commanders, so that may change.

There are four Bolshevik Heroines (the second of these packs I have painted) plus three standard bearers. The flags are suitably Proletarian looking ones that I found on the net 18 months ago when this project started.

Heroine One - Inspiring the Masses to Greater Sacrifice!

Heroine Two - Combat Leader

Heroine Three - More Inspirational Speech Making

Heroine Four - Looks like she comes from Siberia!

First Standard Bearer in flat cap

Second Standard Bearer wearing Schlem

Third Standard Bearer in Great Coat

15mm WW2 Tachanka

As I mentioned in a previous post, Julian purchased a couple of "end of line" Tachankas from some online retailor, that were listed as 28mm at a price that seemed too good to be true - and it was, because when they turned up, they were actually FoW WW2 in 15mm! No use to Julian - but as I have a 15mm WW2 Russian collection, he kindly donated them to me.

It comes in about ten parts - four horses, separate shafts for the rear two horses, the spar that the shafts attach onto, two axles, four wheels, the HMG and three crewmen - quite fiddly to put together in this scale as you may imagine!

I put it off for a couple of weeks and then the assembled model sat on the painting table for another week or so till I undercoated it a couple of days ago. I then completed the whole thing from start to finish in about two hours yesterday - its always a revelation how quick and easy it is to pant modern 15mm figures - Napoleonics etc would be a bit different I imagine!

I searched through the multitude of box files in the garage to find the 20 bases of mounted Peter Pig Cossacks I painted 15 or 20 years ago, just to make sure the uniforms matched - and as I went to the trouble of finding them, I touched up some of the paintwork and put some of the bases into the final shot below....

Two RCW Snipers

Several months ago, my colleague Rick made me a gift of a couple of WW1 French snipers that were surplus to requirements for his WW1 French collection. They have been sitting on the painting table ever since, but with the lead pile at precariously low levels, I was finally motivated to paint them up. I decided from the outset that they would be drafted into my Russian Civil War Bolshevik collection - the distinctive "Adrian" helmet of the French army did make an appearance amongst the forces engaged in the struggle for Russia, so I thought I could get away with this "repurposing"!

Not much more to say - being RCW, I decided they would have no uniformity whatsoever, so coats, packs, webbing, even helmet, are all painted different colours on each figure.

And below, some evidence to back up m y claims re the helmet.....

The French supplied their Russian allies with Adrian helmets during the First World War. These were used following the Russian Civil War by the Soviet Red Army. Produced in France during World War I for the Czar, these helmets were used by the Soviet army in the 1920s, featuring the Communist Red Star.

Also known as the Soviet M28, these helmets that were in service in WWI were repainted and rebadged in the late 1920's, hence the M28. The large star was stamped from a thin piece of brass, this helmet has been known as the "Big Star" to collectors for obvious reasons. These helmets remained in service until 1936.

RCW Tachanka - Finally Completed!

This is another part of my RCW project that has been sitting on the painting table for over a year, waiting to be completed.

During my mass buy up in Nov 2017, I obtained one MDF Tachanka and a couple of individual crew from "Warbases" for the grand cost of about seven quid- a pound each for the drivers and four forty odd for the vehicle. If I had not been so tight, I could have paid twelve pounds fifty and got the entire thing, three horses, three crew, the HMG and the cart....

Anyhoo, long story short, I assembled and painted the Tachanka more or less immediately, then it sat forlornly on the painting table for 16 months until Julian donated three horses and a third crewman. This then motivated me to search the lead pile - in my case it is quite minimal, but like all wargamers, it does exist - and located a WW1 era HMG that was originally intended for use by Old Glory Arabs against a European colonial enemy.

I have now finally combined the various constituent parts and bases the completed model - I think it looks pretty good. I may well get a second one but if I do, I will probably just pay the full price and get everything at once!

This is how the model looked after assembly but before painting

And here are various angles of my completed model

And finally, an image of an RCW memorial statue somewhere in the ex Soviet Union

A Few RCW Figures

These guys have been kicking around the painting table for 18 moths or more now, waiting for more troops to join them so they could be added to appropriate command stands; however, with the Red Actions rules we have recently used a couple of time, individual officer/leader characters are required, so I finally based these up.

Copplestone Bolshevik Officer #1

Copplestone Bolshevik Officer #2

Copplestone Bolshevik Commissar

Copplestone Trostky

Brigade Games Trotsky