Saturday, 15 January 2011

1941 on the Russian Front


Now this is something that looks very intriguing. Zvezda, the Russian figure manufacturer has produced a WW2 game based on Operation Barbarossa in 1941 with not only a cracking looking starter set but also the supporting models available separately. Not only does the game hardware look very nice - I was taken with the choice of 1/100th for the vehicles and the fact that they have concentrated on the early war rather than the usual late fascination with Tigers, JS 2s and such like. The booster packs of infantry are available at Modelzone for £2.75 a pack and contain 10 infantry (two squads) or 2 machine guns and crew together with all the bases and game cards etc. They are made from what seems like a hard plastic; or rather a harder plastic than the usual soft plastic used for 20mm figures. Interestingly the infantry are scaled at what looks like 20mm although I could be wrong. The game uses a hex grid (hurrah) and judging by the website advert uses handfuls of dice for combat resolution.


I must confess that the Russian Front early war has not really ever been my period (despite taking part in a really enjoyable Barbarossa based campaign many years ago using Command Decision) but I would be willing to have a stab at it using such a game set up. The vehicles look particularly appealing - especially the T26 tank. The website is http://art-of-tactic.com/archives/101 so have a look and see what you think.
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4 comments:

  1. Robert (Bob) Cordery16 January 2011 at 09:07

    David,

    I have not seen this on sale in my local Modelzone ... and was unaware that it was now available. I must admit that it does look very tempting, but as I already have lots of 20mm WW2 stuff still to paint, I don't know if I can justify buying a load more at the moment.

    The idea of using 1:100th scale vehicles with 20mm figures is something that I have played around with in the past ... and it is not quite as silly as it sounds. Most vehicles are very large in comparison to human beings, and if they are both in the same scale on the tabletop, the vehicles can easily dominate the space. By using 'large' 1:100th scale vehicles and 'small' 20mm figures on the tabletop, the difference in size is less noticeable whilst the vehicles seem more in balance with everything else.

    I feel a blog entry about this may be needed ...

    All the best,

    Bob

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  2. David Crook16 January 2011 at 18:10

    Hi Bob,

    I ought to clarify the availability issue with this - I have only seen the infantry packs available at Modelzone - NOT the core game or the supporting vehicle kits. Should I see them on my travels I will of course report it on the blog. Sorry if I have confused the picture somewhat!

    All the best,

    DC

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  3. Steve17 January 2011 at 21:50

    The planes are 1/144th - my local model shop had the Sturmovik and Stuka in along with a T-26 but no infantry...

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  4. David Crook18 January 2011 at 05:40

    Hi Steve,

    Thanks for the heads up - 1/144th for the aircraft eh? Three scales in one game? Whatever will they think of next? I am really intrigued by this concept and will look out for the extra bits and of course, the starter set.

    All the best,

    DC

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