Volksmarine Machine Gunners

Finally finished my Volksmarine Maxim-Gunners.

These were Spartist allies in the German Civil War of 1918.

Bolt Action: VBCW: The World's First Tank Destroyer.

The British Medium Mark C would have been the standard British tank of late 1918. It looked much like other WWI rhomboid tanks but that it is misleading. It only had a crew of four and could be steered by one man. It carried machine guns in a fixed turret and a cupola for the commander.

In the event the war ended and only a handful of Medium Cs were built. They were used to quell the Glasgow riots. :)

A Tank Destroyer variant of the Mk C was planned with a long barrelled 6pdr gun and two forward facing MGs for self defence in the turret. This was never built but would have been the world's first specialised tank destroyer.

This is a resin model from Copplestone. I have painted it in Russian colours as I believe some Medium Cs were sent to Russia during the Civil War.

The last four Cs were melted down in 1940, a fate dished out to many WWI survivors.

A great model for interwar and VBCW players.

Bolt Action: Russo-Balt Armoured Flak-Wagon

This is a Russo-Balt flak-wagon with an armoured cab from Scheltrum's excellent Shattered Empires range.

This was not an easy model to make. The wheel axles were way to weak and I had to support them with Milliput. I added the side panels from plasticard. The side stabilisers have hinges on the top but nowhere to attach them. They should have the spades flat on the ground but I could not achieve this without using a vehicle base, which would have taken up more space than it was worth so I settled for sticking them to the side panels in a semi-lowered position.

I added the additional side struts that were found on the real vehicle using plastic sprue. The figures are Warlord Blitzkrieg Germans.

On the plus side the model is unusual and looks good when kit-bashed a bit.

Recommended but expect to add some creative input.

Indiana Jones and the Very Big Tank

Fans of the Indiana Jones movie will remember the very big WWI-type tank in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

The movie tank is a mock-up based on a civilian plant but it was a copy of a real tank: or perhaps inspired by might be a better description.

This is the tank: the British Heavy Tank Mk VIII also known as the International or the Liberty Tank as it was intended to manufacture them in the USA as well as the UK.

The movie designers added a turret to the top, presumably on the grounds that modern audiences know a 'tank' has a turret.

For those who want to model this bad boy - well now you can.

I give you 'The MkIX Beast' from Copplestone Castings.

It ain't cheap: a model this big will set you back  £40 when you add postage and another £6 if you wish to buy the baggage set to kit it out like the movie.

Bolt Action: VBCW: Volksmarine Division, Spartacist Uprising

A Volksmarine Division from Scheltrum Miniatures Shattered Empires range. The Volksmarine Division mutinied as part of the German Revolution of 1918-1919, the Spartacist uprising.

I always find it odd that the American extreme right refer to themselves as followers of Spartacus given that the name has always been associated with left wing class revolutionaries. Strange old world

The unit includes a ten man section with rifles, and SMG and an LMG team. I also bought an HQ unit of an 'officer' and flagbearer. I bought a MMG team as well but seem to have lost it.

Below some photos of the real thing.

Bolt Action: Battle of Riga - Bolshevik Attack

Comrade Johnski, he's the chap in Royal Blue, is a 'technical expert' (i.e. ex-Czarist officer) in the Army of the Petrograd Soviet. His quiet life in 1919 is interrupted with the arrival of Commissar Spart, the chap in the brown leather coat, who orders an immediate preemptive attack on von Shaun's Freikorps massing outside the City of Riga. Johnski's desperate protests are waved by the promise of heavy tank support.

As well as a Ricardo (British heavy Mk V male) Spart provides two Renos (FT17s), a half track armoured car and a gun truck to add to Johnski's force of three conscript companies (Inexperienced), two companies of Petrograd sailors (Regular), a company of Lenin's Red Guards (Regular) and a field gun.

Johnski positions a Maxim gun behind the conscripts to encourage them to move forward.

Von Shaun's advance guard of Freikorps takes up a blocking position at a crossroads.

The game really ended on Turn 2. Von Shaun had cunningly hidden a forward observer in the village who called down a perfect artillery shoot (white marker). One of the FT17s was hit by six heavy shells and was turned into instant razor blades. The real damage though was done by he impact of the shelling on the remaining troops. They were bogged down with suppressive fire (lots of pin markers).

Meanwhile, the first unit of Bolshevik conscripts were wiped out by massive fire from an ambush of elite stormtroopers.

The Bolsheviks never recovered. Most of their infantry remained pinned down and was massacred by the endless stream of artillery. The gun truck blew up after a shell set of its ammunition and the Mk V was pinned by continuous fire from an anti-tank rifle and a heavy armoured car with a light howitzer.

The photo shows the situation after turn 5. Comrade Johnski is feigning death in the foreground. As soon as Spart falls, Johnski legs it.

Bolt Action: Chinese Warlord Officers

Another couple of Copplestone Chinese warlord figures for the Back of Beyond. On the right we have a general and on the left an officer.

Bolt Action: Chinese Warlord Infantry

This regiment was known as The Tin Hats, as they wore a Russian copy of the French WWI trench helmet.

The gun is a German WWI SMG.

Figures by Copplestone Castings.

This picture is from an early Osprey and the olive green uniform is probably incorrect. Light grey was far more likely.

More or less the same models with more common headgear.

A more recent Osprey.

Bolt Action: VBCW: All purpose armoured car

I bought this little beaty on ebay for a fiver. All I had to do was touch up the paintwork a bit as it was very nicely constructed.

It can be pressed into service for a variety of factions in the interwar years or for anti-partisan operations.

Bolt Action: Lancia IZM Armoured Car

Another great 28mm miniature from Copplestone, the Lancia armoured car made in WWI. It had a roomy rotatable turret with two MGs. Originally, it had another small turret with an MG on top of the large turret but weight distribution issues caused it to be removed. The MG was relocated inside and fired through a rear port. The Lancia had decent ground clearance and off-road capability.

The Lancia was used by Italy, the USA and Germany in WWI and Italy in the Spanish Civil War. Some were still operational in Italian E Africa in WWII. Later the Germans took over surviving vehicles and used them for antipartisan operations in the Balkans.

Internal layout: the rails were added to the upper hull to cut wire.

Lancia IZM Panzerspähwagen, PK 501 on anti-partisan duty.

Bolt Action: Czech Legion

The Czech Legion were an elite group of units recruited by the Imperial Russian Army. After the Russian Revolution they remained loyal to the Allies and took over the Serbian railway so as to have an escape route out of Russia.

These are Copplestone figures. The Legion used standard Russian uniforms and equipment so can also be used as White or Red Russians.

Ragged Freikorps

This is the fourth figure in the Scheltrum ragged Freikorps pack As this one is wearing a stormtroopers helmet I painted him up as a Freikorper.

Broken Empires Freikorps: Partisans: VBCW

Some figures from the Shattered Empires range at Scheltrum, who have one of ther most useless websites in the business. Come on guys, people need to see your models to buy them.

These are 'ragged freikorps' but I have painted them as partisans. This range is suitable for all interwar militia or WWII partisans.

As black propaganda, the OSS changed the words Deutsches Reich (German Empire) to Futsches Reich - which could be translated as 'shattered empire'.

Bolt Action: British Mk V Heavy Tank

A British Mk IV WWI male tank from Urban Construct. I have to confess that this resin model was like a blast from the past compared to Warlord's Panzer III. It comes as a single block and the original sculpt hadn't been properly fitted together squarely before creating the mould.

Still a bit of filler and a lick o' paint works wonders and the finished model ain't too drecky.

I intend to use it as a 'Ricardo', a Mk V, for my Russian/German Civil War games so it is well dirted up: two or three not very carful previous owners. I may even put another rust wash on as it still looks a bit new for something that was winched out of the harbour and refurbished.

The Mk IV and V looked superficially similar on the exterior. I have added a front Lew is gun. The Russian ones were mostly hermaphrodite with one male and one female sponson but a male will do.

Bolt Action Interwar Militia: Flying Squad

A bit o' mobile support for your militia: a maxim gun mounted on a motor bike and sidecar from 1st Corps.

This company has some very nice unusual vehicles that one can't find anywhere else.


I have almost finished the model. It just needs a bit of tarting up and permanent fixing of the gun.

 

Bolt Action: Bolshevik Reinforced Platoon

Here is my completed Bolshevik reinforced platoon for Bolt Action, which comes in at about 750 points.

Leaders
Regular Military Specialist (Tsarist Major), Inexperienced Lady Bolshevik and Commissar: centre front.

Infantry Sections
Two inexperienced conscript rifle sections (shirkers): left rear.
Regular Trotsky's Red Guards: front left.
two sections of Regular Petrograd sailors: right front.

Armour
Inexperienced half track armoured car with maxim gun and Renault FT 17 slow, light tank with light low-penetration anti-tank gun: rear right.

Fire Support
Regular field gun plus maxim gun team: right.

The above pic was taken with a three second exposure with the tripod on a wooden suspended floor. The one below is Nikon built in flash.

Petrograd Sailor Revolutionaries

The Russian Revolution started in the spring of 1917 while Lenin was in exile and the sailors in Petrograd were one of the key movers. Afterwards they provided reliable regular soldiers for the Red Revolution.

Three years later they revolted again in the Kronstadt Rebellion, against the Bolsheviks and in support of democratic socialism. They were crushed by Trotsky's Red Army. Some of the sailors managed to escape across the ice to Finland but many died or were massacred after surrendering.

Apologists for the Soviet Union like to suggest that Stalin was the problem and that if Lenin had lived longer or Trotsky had succeeded then the Russian Revolution might have produced a workable socialist state. The Petrograd sailors show this as nonsense. The pattern of repression and brutality was integral to the Bolshevik philosophy. If not Stalin then someone similar would have replaced him.

The sailors were crushed by Trotsky on Lenin's orders for - demanding socialism.

Red Gun Wagon

Really pleased with this one: a scratch built Red gun waggon.

It was mad from a Lesney diecast 1:48 1927 Fowler Steam waggon. these are readily available on Ebay for modest money. I lowered the steering wheel and fitted a Warlord Games French Tank commander as a driver.

The gun mounting is made from Leman Russ sponsons and the gun is a Plastic Soldier Soviet 76mm field gun with a plasticard shield. The ammo box on the back is from a Leman Russ turret.

I sprayed the waggon with cellulose primer to blend the different materials and added the crew from the Great War late German range.

It is painted with Humbrol and dirtied with Citadel washes and textured paint.

I will probably use it for my Chatham Soviet army but it will work for any Red force.

A real Freikorps gun waggon.

Jolly Good Chap

I have had this Copplestone British Officer in tropical dress knocking around in my unpainted box (well trunk really) for years. The receipt of a Roller as an Xmas present from my beloved family gave me the spur to finally paint him.

I think you'll agrre that he looks a Jolly Good Chap.

Trotsky's Armoured Red Guard

I am still plugging away at my Bolt Action Bolsheviks using Copplestone Castings for the figs. The Bolos (c. British Army) are mostly inexperienced so you need a lot of figures. This lot, Trotsky's Red Guard allocated to armoured trains,  are classed as regulars.

I have kept to rifles as a weapon as I reckon the Bolos would be short of lewis guns. The Tzar's army certainly had them but I'm not sure the average Bolo force was up to maintaining them.

Next up some Petrograd sailors and cavalry and I am finished.

I have taken two pics using the two sorts of natural light available to N Europeans at this time of year, low diffused shadow or bright direct on the horizon. Take your pick.