RCW artillery and Armoured Cars

Lucky for me, Mitch at the club put his 3d printer to work, supplying me with a Schnieder 155mm howitzer and a couple of armoured cars. He has also promised to add a Whippet  FT-17 and a Rolls Royce armoured car.

First up is the Howitzer, it certainly dwarfs my field guns in the collection. The crew are just some spare figures put to good use. A couple more would have been better, but I haven't come across anyone selling the crew separately. Mitch actually supplied the gun already painted, so just had the crew to do.

This will certainly add some extra firepower to the Bolsheviks. Next up was a couple of armoured cars, these are the Russo-Balt that were used as part of the Imperial Russian army. I haven't added any markings to the models so I can use them for either side.

As the models didn't come with machine guns I just added some simple plastic tubing for now. Looks fine from 3ft or so. The White rubber for the wheels were muddied up a bit as they were too bright.

RCW - Red artillery

More RCW stuff rolls of the painting table. This time for the Reds. It's another field gun. This time I picked up the model from  STP miniatures for a bit more variety. On first inspection it looks like a good match to the Copplestone gun. The crew do seem a little chunkier but fine on their own.

I'm now in the unenviable position of having nothing left to paint for the Russian Civil War. I may just have to make a few more small purchases in the future, in particular some White cavalry and armoured cars / tanks etc.

RCW - White Infantry

A few posts back I had painted up 5 figures to start up another company of White infantry. They were a mix of Brigade and Copplestone miniatures. So I duly picked up 5 more from Forgotten Front to add to the mix. Even went with some fur hats as these are simply to be a generic White infantry unit.

I'm quite happy with how the 3 ranges have mixed together. The ensign needs his banner added as soon as I source a replacement printer cartridge to get it printed off.

Russian buildings and Trojans

I picked up another set of Pegasus buildings for the RCW collection. These are designated as farm cottages. They are slightly smaller than the other set. I like that the slightly larger of the two has a lean-to added.

A pretty quick and simple paint scheme, helps them blend in to the rest of the collection. This brings me up to 7 houses, a Railway halt and a couple of outbuildings. I could do with one larger building to act as a focal point  probably try and pick up a Dacha or church in the near future.

For the Trojan War collection I added a couple of units of slingers for my Trojans. Like the rest these are from Museum miniatures.

I've also added a page for the collection showing both armies as they currently are. I only have a few heroes and 5 units to complete.

Trojan War - Myrmidons

Another 3 units for the Achaens. this time it is some of the Myrmidons that were led by Achilleus. The figures are all from Museum miniatures. I deliberately went for a dark leather armour and darker clothing to easily distinguish them from the rest of the Achaen force.

I've now got some Lukka warriors prepped for undercoating as the Trojans need some additional troops as they are in danger of being heavily putnumbered.

A random mix

I currently find myself jumping in between projects at the moment. I've been completing a couple of blood bowl teams for our upcoming tournament https://orcidasbb.blogspot.com/2023/05/caroburg-chargers.html as well as a few odds and ends. 

First up is another unit of Trojan infantry, inspired by our recent games. I now have some slingers and Myrmidons prepped and ready for painting.

Next up is a HMG team for my Bolsheviks. I picked these up ready painted, they just required a few touch ups and an actual HMG which was missing. Luckily I had a spare one. These will help add a little more firepower to the Bolsheviks while I await an additional artillery piece. Not to be outdone though, I added a few more figures to the 'Whites'. There is another HMG team, this time using some spare WW1 Brits. Painted up to look suitably Russian. It does help that Britain supplied extensive stocks of weapons and uniforms to the 'White' cause. There are also 5 spare infantry, I've ordered the rest from Minifigs to round out the unit. These look a mix of Copplestone and Brigade miniatures. These have simply been painted up to represent a generic 'White' infantry company.

Lastly -  Thrud the Barbarian. He has been partly painted for a number of years so I decided to quickly complete him and add him to one of my Dragon Rampant armies.

Time to get back to the Trojan War figures.

A clash of Bronze

Being at a loose end at the club this week, myself and Mitch decided to give the Basic Impetus rules a run out using my Trojan War collection. This will likely get me inspired to get the rest of them painted up. I went with 2 pretty similar forces, A mix of heavy and light infantry supported by some skirmishers. I donated the generals by adding a hero to one of the units. So Diomedes would be facing off against Paris.

We did manage to get through 2 games in the night. Added chariots and archers for the second game. Each side claimed a victory. The rules themselves are simple and fun. They can also be quite brutal. We both enjoyed them and found by the second game we were able to easily work out the combats and cohesion tests. No game report but a few pics from the game. I didn't take many as I was too busy enjoying the games.

Battle lines close

Trojans await the Achaians

Heavy infantry prepare to clash

Achaian centre collapses with the loss of Diomedes

Brown chips represent disorder

Trojan right flank collapses

So these rules will definitely be getting another run out in the future.

Back to the Trojan War

After adding to my RCW collection, it was time to get back to the Trojan War as I still have a fair few figures to paint up. So I decided to paint up another unit of Achaen spearmen. They've sat patiently waiting,  undercoated.

I've prepped two more units of these. They are the last of the heavy infantry for the Achaens. In the meantime I have a couple of units of Trojans to finish off before I can make a start on the Lukka and Myrmidons. Should keep me busy for a while.

I have picked up the Basic Impetus rules. Had a quick flick through and seem quite interesting. Hopefully give them a try out with collection in the coming weeks.

Bloody Vostock - part 2

So this week we continued with the game. Thankfully we had the same players so no amendments required on the line up.The Bolsheviks were reinforced with a couple of companies of Naval troops with a supporting HMG. The Whites gained a second artillery piece to support in the defence. The game picked up with the Bolsheviks trying to force their way past the German ex-POWsdefending the farm.Despite their low quality the Germans really hindered the advancing Bolsheviks, beating off a number of assaults before eventually being overun.

Bolsheviks preparing anotherassault

A desperate struggle for the farm

Bolsheviks bring up an armoured car to clear out the defenders

Bolshevik cavalry sweep past the farm, heading for the White infantry

2nd company of the Markov battalion caught in the open, put up a sterling defence

Eventually the Bolsheviks begin to get the upper hand, wiping out the White officers

1st Markov reached the defence just in time

The struggle for the farm continues

The farm eventually falls to the Bolsheviks

The Whites bring up some armour

The Alexeyv Partisan seek shelter in Vostock from marauding Bolshevik cavalry

Bolsheviks prepare the assault on Vostock

Just as the Bolsheviks began to get into position, their cavalry came under heavy fire from the village, destroying one unit and causing heavy casualties on the other. Then the White tank came forward and with its first shot knocked out the armoured car. With the earlier loss of their artillery, The Bolsheviks called off the attack. The tank was king of the battlefield, allowing the Whites to cling on for victory.

A good fun game with 6 players who all seemed to enjoy the simplicity of the rules. I did amend the order system as with so many units we often lost track. Depending on the card suit each overall commander designated which unit to activate. It did help speed things up. One thing I did realise is that the Bolsheviks either need more artillery or armoured cars to compete against the White tank.

RCW - artillery

To bolster both sides of my RCW forces I've been looking at obtaining more artillery pieces. While Copplestone model is very nice I wanted a little variety. So searching through my memory banks I remembered that Irregular miniatures used to produce a range of artillery in various scales. So a quick search and I found a WW1 Russian gun and crew. Promptly bought for less than £10. I also saw Turkish model and added that to the basket.

The Irregular model and crew are noticeably smaller, probably true 25mm not 28mm. However as it is a stand alone piece that is not much of an issue.

Overall it's not a bad model, the crew aren't the greatest, obviously the Copplestone model is superior. But the price more than makes up for it and I will purchase another model, just need to remove the shoulder boards of the crew for the Bolsheviks. It does actually come with 4 crew, I've however kept 1 back as I have my eye on a 3d printed howitzer and I can use it towards the start of a crew.

Thoughts on future games

Despite being in the middle of a game my thoughts are already turning to future games and what I'll need. One thing that seems very common in the Russian Civil War is the use of armoured trains. I've already done a little research on converting my own or using a ready made one. I have found an Ebay seller who does tracks as well as the train/carriages etc so I made a quick purchase for some track pieces to see what they are like. At least it is a start.

These were quickly done and will at least cover the width of the table for now. In keeping with the rustic theme for my village I picked up a Railway halt from Warbases ACW range. I pretty simple affair that fits in. I will add some boxes, sacks etc to the base once I source some.

As Mitch pointed out during our current game  the Whites had more HMGs than the Bolsheviks. I then remembered I had another one with naval crew so painted them up.

They may get their first action next week as reinforcements.