Some more Whites

Some more Whites on the painting table.

For the other 4th Siberian Division units I couldn't find anything specific, so I have gone with Mark Plant's supposition to follow imperial practice and used 'raspberry' shoulder boards.

Also this is the link to My LAF Thread

Not so anti-shine

Hmmmm....

These guys will be 16th 'Ishim' Siberian Regiment from 4th Siberian Division in Kolchak's army of 1919.

Update 10-04-2020

I ordered two more pots of Warpainter anti-shine from two different online suppliers.  Both arrived quickly but one of the new arrivals was also really gloss varnish.  The bottle on the right is the old style packaging, now empty.  The bottle on the left is genuinely matt varnish.  The two central bottles are gloss varnish with a matt varnish label. Note the liquid in the left-hand bottle is white-ish and the liquid in the centre two bottles is brown-ish.  If you get anti-shine that looks brown it is probably gloss.

I emailed Warpainter customer services in Denmark and quickly received a response.  They accepted the mistake, apologised and immediately dispatched me two new bottles free of charge.  They arrived a couple of days later.  Everyone makes occasional mistakes, these possibly came from a single mislabelled batch as I haven't has this issue before, but I usually find the mark of a good company is how they react when those mistakes occur.  I can't fault Warpainter's customer service from this experience, so top marks.  Thanks Peder.

The Bolo Horde

This is a quick group shot I did of all my painted Reds so far.  Time to do some Whites now.

The Painted Train

Here is the train with a basic paint job I did last night.  It's quite clean and simple at the moment, which I like but I'm not sure if it needs more detail.  Maybe some writing or posters on the sides, some red flags or a bit more weathering would add to it.  The weird colour of the fuel in the tender is supposed to be Birch logs.

I took these outside where the light was a bit better.  Although there is still too much shadow.

Sonya the Green Engine

Here's the result of a bit of spray painting this evening.  I think all the guns and wheels still move.

The colour is WW2 Russian Armour from the Plastic Soldier Company.  I've had the tin for ages.  I think I did use it for some 6mm Cold War tanks before but there was plenty left.

Gun Carriage Update

I did some gun making this morning.  The 'ironwork' looks like it was done by the drunken proletariat but the guns do move and it will be dark inside the turret when assembled and painted.

 Here is the completed gun carriage.

Copplestone Conversions

Here are a few simple conversions I have made using the excellent Copplestone Castings range.  I wanted some different command figures to avoid too much repetition and add some missing options.  Nothing terribly skilled just head and arm swaps but enough to create some additional variety.

A White officer standard bearer and Lewis gunner.

Some Bolshevik commanders.  I think the one on the left will be painted in red leather and make a good train detachment commander.

Some mounted Red Commanders.

Last is my attempt to model a Red Sailor in the mould of Anatoli Zhelezniakov and inspired by this painting.

The Mauser pistol arm came from the Bolshevik cavalry figure above, now carrying the corresponding sword of the great coated Bolshevik officer that forms the base for this conversion.  The head was from the kneeling sailor that comes with the machinegun pack.

I'm quite pleased with the result and I hope my painting can do the concept justice.

RCW 28mm Figure Choices

My main source of figures is the original and wonderful range that started it all. I have been a fan of the very talented Mark Copplestone since the 80s and his Back of Beyond range is one of my favourites in any period.

 

The Copplestone Castings ranges are now distributed by North Star, from whom I have always had great service, so have I no worries about continued availablity.

Next to mention is Studio Siberia from Russia.  They make and distribute some great figures for the period and the site forum is a gold mine of information.  Michael/Cuprum can often be found at the excellent Lead Adventure Forum, especially at the Back of Beyond page, where he is an inspiration with his knowledge and modelling skills.

Others worth a look at Empress Miniatures particularly the Tsuba and Jazz Age ranges.  Mad Bob Miniatures make some useful pieces and a very nice looking Zaamurets/Orlik train in 1/56. Sloppy Jalopy have some useful vehicles and figures as do 1st Corps, their Austins looks great, and Grand Manner do some nice Model Ts amongst other things.

I'll add more links here when I think of them.

Starting a Railway War

This is the armoured train I have been working on. I think I'll name it the Red Sonya (Krasnaya Sonya, красная соня - according to Google translate and Wikipedia), which sounds about right for a Bolo train and is a hat tip to the fictional heroine.

Though not at all a copy, my train is inspired by the Red Siberia that was captured from the Whites at Chelyabinsk station in summer 1919. 

This first photo is from the time of it's capture in July 1919.

This second photo is later at Kurgan station. Probably August-September 1919.

Here are some close ups of the parts so far.

The basis for the train was this set I got from a well known tax dodging online marketplace.  The set includes the engine and carriages shown plus seven curved, two straight and two points/switches.  Each piece is about 12" long.

I also have this one, which matches track and truck couplings.  Be careful when buying, there are others that don't match on the track joins even though the trains are very similar.  The couplings on the others will join even though they are different.

The second set has no points but does come with six curved and four straight track pieces.

These are some earlier photos of the work in progress.  Look at the size of that funnel!  And why is there a Pritt stick lid on that train?

This is the earliest concept image.  Note the clever use of train tickets as ersatz gun carriage rooves.

Getting a bit Bolshie

Here are some pics of my Bolsheviks so far.

The start of the red army

The nefarious Bolshevik Commissar Trevsky and some of his Cheka

Some heavy support

So you say you want a revolution!

The idea

My latest project is to build some armies for the Russian Civil War or the more nebulous 'Back of Beyond' wargames period.  This has long been an aspiration and I actually started this project a while ago but it dropped off the radar a bit.  I have rediscovered some mojo recently and now that we're all going to be spending more time indoors I thought I would get back on it and post up some pictures of my progress and thoughts.

The Russian Civil War is a dynamic transitional period when cold steel was still very much a threat but the industrial age was beginning to emerge.  Add to this the chaos of the revolution, ad-hoc nature of the forces, and the smaller scale of the fighting compared to the Great War, then the period lends itself well to wargaming.  In terms of forces thre is a nice mix of the classic infantry, cavalry and artillery but with  armoured vehicles, gunboats and early aircraft to spice things up.  Combining these assets with the exotic locations, wild characters and epic events of the historical backdrop and we have lots of inspiration for model building and scenario concepts. 

The scope

I hope to maintain my enthusiasm long enough to eventually build a few different armies.  The 'period' covers a very wide group of different and distinct factions from the core Reds and Whites, through a host of Central Asian, Chinese & Partisan Warlords, via the numerous Interventionist powers and the various would-be and fledgling separatist Nations.  I'm not going to try to build every faction specifically for every front though, so a certain level of generic re-usability will have to built in.  Having said that I'll try to give my units some basis in reality rather than just make everything up.

The Theme

To start with I'm going to build some armies based on the fighting in the east.  With the revolt of the Czech Legion in 1918 the Reds were in disarray and the Whites quickly seized power throughout Siberia but failed to push into the heart of European Russia.  Several Social Democratic states rose up and for a while looked to present a revolutionary alternative to the Bolsheviks but were swept aside by a military coup in late 1918.  The militarist faction of Admiral Kolchak took power, declared him supreme ruler of Russia and launched a major offensive.  Politically incompetent and increasingly unpopular, Kolchak's forces were defeated and forced into headlong retreat down the trans-Siberian railway.  Some of the Whites survived the long retreat and terrible ice marches to join forces with the Cossack Warlord Semyonov in the far east.  There the remnants fought on in an increasingly hopeless struggle until dead or driven out of Russia entirely. 

The Reds

My initial red force is based on the Red Army in the summer of 1919 but intended to be generic enough to fill in for the Bolshevik and allied forces from across Russia and provide a core opposition to the more distinctive white forces. They will have a rag tag feel but be uniform enough to look like they could be a campaigning army.  I'm using a mixture of headgear to add variety and probably over representing the budenovka for the early period of the fighting but hopefully they will give the right impression.

The Whites

For the Whites I am basing them on Kolchak's Siberian army, specifically the forces emerging from the officer groups around Omsk such as the 1st (later 4th) Steppe Siberian Division under the command of Verzhbitsky and Kazagrandi.  The early fighting in 1918 is interesting and I want to do some later scenarios based on the Red defence of the railway bridge at Vyatsky Polyana and the fighting for Tobolsk.  I'm going to use the later style uniforms, assuming they ever existed, as this gives a more classic 'White' look with shoulder boards and National colours but I'll add some green and white for a Siberian flavour.

Not quite dead

Apparently this blog isn't entirely dead.  Ok, I'm now fully aware of my lack of will power but I need somewhere to post some photos online, so I might as well put some posts here about my latest project.  This is primarily for me but if anyone else notices and enjoys them that's great.