A real life BTR-80
Well, I made a weird New Years Gaming Resolution, and that is to not buy a single model in 2013. So just my luck that on Dec 27, 2012, my gigantic 15mm Modern Soviets army shows up! A few guys and I decided that we should branch out into the Cold War what-ifs, and when deciding on scale, 15mm had a number of benefits, chiefly that we already had western european and desert terrain in this scale, and when I laid eyes on that pic WWPD Steve took of the NVA tanks, I was sold. I decided to run generic Soviets, which can be used as Syrians, Egyptians, basically any Communist country from late sixties to the 2000's, so long as you don't rivet count, as BTR60/70/80 its really only the turret that differs, and the T-54-T90 pretty much look similar. The actual models I got represent mid 80s Warsaw Pact stuff.
First test models, left is Red Dawn style Spetznaz, right is more generic 3 tone camo. I picked the one on the right. The spackle when wet is pink, white when dry, so you can tell these are "fresh" pics!
RKelly is doing Canadians, and QRF Miniatrures is the only way to get a few Cdn vehicles, while Mark is doing West Germans. Yes, they kept WW2-sounding names, like Luchs PanzerSpah vehicles, Marders, but have moved up the feline tank name tree to Leopards!
Below is a little video I made just before Christmas (and before all this loot got here) of my test models.
For those that like to know these things, here is the full list of what I got (weighs almost 3 kilos)
Command BTR, Company Command squad, 3 x AT Guided Missile teams.
BTR 80 platoon: 3 BTR 80s, each with 2 fireteams
BTR 80 platoon: 3 BTR 80s, each with 2 fireteams
BTR 80 platoon: 3 BTR 80s, each with 2 fireteams
Command T-72
T-72 Platoon (5 tanks)
T-72 Platoon (5 tanks) My order was expensive compared to the other guys' because I wanted to be able to run either full armored, full Motor, or a mix.
BRDM scout car with Anti tank missiles x 4. Not going to lie, its weird seeing your anti tank assets mounted on such a flimsy vehicle! I am used to beefy ISU-122s.
ZSU-23-4 quad AA vehicles x 3. This is more for show, as I love the models, and I wanted something to go with..
"Straight Flush" mobile Anti Aircraft Radar station (my objective piece)
And the Mi-24, probably the second objective, though some rulesets (Cold War Commander) allow them. Again, badass looking vehicle and was a must-have.
So there we go, my football pool winnings blown on Soviets :)
That camo looks like you should start with the green as a base then its splotches of brown and tan, not a brown base. looks good though.
ReplyDeleteHalf of them are in fact exactly that, the green Spetsnaz repainted. I think I will gun out everything in Russian Green spray (vehicles and men) and take it from there. Just finished assembling a ZSU-23 and a T-72. Makes you appreciate Battlefront's better fit for parts, that is for sure. The T-72 has great detail though, and is crazy low.. a turretless T-34 is the same height as the full T-72. I will post pics when I have a bit of paint on them.
ReplyDeleteThe t-72 was 7'4'' and the t-34 was 8'0'' so the scale is off for one or both the models.
ReplyDeleteWhat years are you doing?
We are doing anywhere from 60's to 90's. If I go 90's with 60s stuff, itll just be some former soviet bloc country with older stuff, the BTR is pretty similar from the 60s to the 90s, T72s were made into T80s and T90's so they look pretty much the same.
ReplyDelete