I am not absolutely sure when I started to collect my first Soviet World War II wargames army, but I suspect that it was very soon after I bought my copy of Charles Grant's book, BATTLE: PRACTICAL WARGAMING. The Airfix Russian figures formed the basis of one of his armies, and I followed suit.
Since that early beginning I have continued to collect and model Soviet World War II wargames armies, but this time using metal figures alongside my plastic (and sometimes metal) vehicles and artillery. My first large-scale attempt was designed to be used with GDW's COMMAND DECISION rules although I later switched over to using them with Chris Kemp's NOT QUITE MECHANISED rules. This army was eventually passed on to Tim Gow (for a very reasonable price!), and a 'new' Soviet Army was raised and used to fight MEGABLITZ battles.
One thing that I learned very early on was that painting wargames figures in Soviet uniforms could be done quite quickly. Only a very small palette of colours was needed, and a basic paint job could easily be enhanced with a wash of Nut Brown ink.
Recently (if you call three or four years recent!) I have not done much work on my Soviet World War II wargames army although the advent of several new ranges of figures has made the prospect very tempting. Therefore it is not surprising that the arrival of a book entitled THE SOVIET SOLDIER OF WORLD WAR TWO (written by Philippe Rio and published in an English language edition by Historie & Collections (ISBN 978 2 35250 100 8]) in the post on Saturday has reignited my interest in adding some more units to my existing Soviet World War II wargames army.
This book is an excellent source of information and photographs of both real and recreated Soviet Army uniforms, and I am very pleased that I now own a copy.
Since that early beginning I have continued to collect and model Soviet World War II wargames armies, but this time using metal figures alongside my plastic (and sometimes metal) vehicles and artillery. My first large-scale attempt was designed to be used with GDW's COMMAND DECISION rules although I later switched over to using them with Chris Kemp's NOT QUITE MECHANISED rules. This army was eventually passed on to Tim Gow (for a very reasonable price!), and a 'new' Soviet Army was raised and used to fight MEGABLITZ battles.
One thing that I learned very early on was that painting wargames figures in Soviet uniforms could be done quite quickly. Only a very small palette of colours was needed, and a basic paint job could easily be enhanced with a wash of Nut Brown ink.
Recently (if you call three or four years recent!) I have not done much work on my Soviet World War II wargames army although the advent of several new ranges of figures has made the prospect very tempting. Therefore it is not surprising that the arrival of a book entitled THE SOVIET SOLDIER OF WORLD WAR TWO (written by Philippe Rio and published in an English language edition by Historie & Collections (ISBN 978 2 35250 100 8]) in the post on Saturday has reignited my interest in adding some more units to my existing Soviet World War II wargames army.
This book is an excellent source of information and photographs of both real and recreated Soviet Army uniforms, and I am very pleased that I now own a copy.
Great find here is another you might find useful:
ReplyDeleteRKKA IN WWII
The aim of this project is to provide information to the English-speaking community about the role of the Soviet Army (RKKA) in World War II and to supply you with translated information from the Eastern side
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/index.htm
Don M,
ReplyDeleteA very useful link. Many thanks for bringing it to my attention.
All the best,
Bob
A nice book, and one which I narrowly resisted buying at Partizan today!
ReplyDeleteTim Gow,
ReplyDeleteBut what were you unable to resist buying?
All the best,
Bob
Glad you found the link useful, I've been using it since I found it.
ReplyDeleteDon M,
ReplyDeleteIt is a very useful source of information, and I found the brief histories of each formation of particular interest.
All the best,
Bob