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After the mega build over my summer holidays I had some more Russian tanks to add to the collection including some heavier stuff. I had some SU76s unpainted from summer (I forgot to take them on holiday with me) along with some Zvenda kits I had picked up off the tinterwebnet.
4 SU76s give and some nice Anti Tank and Support options for my Russians, like the way these look, especially the crew figures.
The KV1s are from Zvenda, although these models don't have as much detail as the PSC ones they do fill a number of gaps in the PSC range, the tracks on these need a bit of dirt but I do like how these have come out.
If there are KV1s then their will be KV2s, although most of these vehicles were out of action / becoming obsolete at the time of Kursk there were a few still kicking around, they could certainly still do a job.
In addition I have got some ISU 152s, (yes I like one is the wrong model) only 24 saw action AT Kursk but these are big dangerous beasts.
Finally some rather nice Zis trucks again from Zvenda. That's the last of the current planned stuff for Kursk for the moment, I'll do some playtests etc before I invest in some more.
Last week I had a look at the Germans I had built up for my Project Kursk, this time it's the turn of the Russians, so here is my "starter" army for the Red Hordes. We don't really do skirmish gaming here 😂
As last time I've done a Utubes video covering the army, including the Infantry and support weapons.
So I have 26 T34/76s, 5 Valentine's, 10 T70s, 2 Field Guns, 2 Anti Tank Guns, 3 Companies of Infantry and some support weapons.
I did have a dabble at the Russians a couple of years ago and did some Infantry but got side tracked with Italian Wars and Crusades. All the models are from The Plastic Soldier Company and I have to say I have been very impressed, the details on the models are really good.
I've got some heavy Russian reinforcements in the spray booth as we speak to bolster the Soviet troops. This time the models are from Zvezda who are very basic compared to PSC but the range covers some gaps.
I've even put a Russian Front solo game out on the table here at Yarkshire Gamer so let's see how that goes over the next few weeks.
Those of you who follow Yarkshire Gamer on the Twitters will no doubt have seen this bunch of German tanks grow during my recent holiday in Scotland. I had bought some 15mm Russians a couple of years ago and painted up a few but drifted off onto other projects. This time last year, again whilst on holiday I bought some Germans having decided to build some Kursk Forces. I have big collections of Early War (Desert) and Late War (Normandy) so wanted something in the middle and Kursk always fascinates.
I've done a short video on the Utubes covering the tanks with the usual still pictures and text below.
There was no real plan to this initial purchase it was simply a case of 1 box of each of the tank types at Kursk, first up is my favourite tank, the Tiger. I've deliberately not gone for a specific unit although I have used Otto Karius (Tiger Ace and author of Tigers in the Mud) number 217 on one of the vehicles.
These are lovely models with various crew options and really look the business. After looking at a ton of photos from Kursk I've gone for a two tone camo pattern which very much seems to be the norm in Summer 43.
Next up Panthers, 5 of them. They had their first outing at Kursk and had a bad time of it, poor deployment and mechanical problems plagued their first outing. I've gone for high numbers on the tanks as that seems to be the numbers I have pictures of, I struggled a bit with the decals I had so they are no sequentially numbered.
Next up the workhorse of the German Army at the time, the Panzer IV, not my favourite tank as I always seem to lose them all in Normandy games ! Let's see how they get on against T34s 🤔
And finally on the Tank front some lovely PzIII, these have got a bit of a sports car look about them. I really mixed up the additional armour on these, photos from the battle show IIIs in all sorts of states.
When is a Tank not a Tank ? When it's a Stug ! and who doesnt love a Stug. I put numbers on the side of these although I couldn't find any pictures of them at Kursk numbered up (only later Normandy pics) sometimes tabletop recognition takes precident over historical accuracy.
So there we have it, the start of Project Kursk, I really don't know where I will go with it, it's been one of those, I fancy doing that, rather than a group project thing. I have some German Infantry, AT Guns and Transport to do before I have enough for games but then with Covid games aren't happening !
I'll probably try and solo a few things with the Kursk stuff to tweek our existing rules for larger numbers of vehicles. I will be adding some more IVs IIIs and Stugs and look at getting some SP Anti Tank Guns, Marders and the like.
Next week I will do a similar thing with the Russians I've done. I'm off to try and persuade myself not to buy a Crusader Castle, somehow I know I'm going to fail 😎
I have been working on some forces for WW2 Kursk and usually terrain comes last in my priorities but this time I thought I would try and get ahead of the game and get some done. After a search of the tinterwebnet I found some suitable candidates at Empires at War, a company I was familiar with after building lots of their 28mm Italian Renaissance buildings. 5 buildings for 35 quid, I'm in.
I will hold my hand up and admit I find terrain a real chew, don't get me wrong I love a good looking table and enjoy having great looking buildings etc, I just have zero enthusiasm for actually building or painting any !
So if I can find some easy build MDF buildings that are pre coloured that you literally put together and plonk on the table I'm pressing the "Add to Basket Button" right away. I've done a Unboxing (or sunbathing in this case 😁) video and built one of the buildings live on camera, so if you want to see my wonderfully agricultural modelling skills have a watch of my Utubes video.
For those who prefer the written word below are some pictures of the 5 buildings.
The buildings are nice and easy to put together even for a clumsy modeller like myself, they come with some nice straight forward instructions and all I used to put them together was a modelling knife and some Bostick Glue.
The buildings can be bought direct from Empires at War on the link below,
My only query on these is the scale, they do seem rather big for 15mm, I'm sure it will be to do with the strength of the parts, it's not something which is going to stop me buying them but something to be aware of.
So there you are, some great buildings to grace to your Kursk games or even your Borodino games. Later in the week I will have a look at the forces I have built up for the initial Kursk games.
