Plastic Soldier 15mm Russian Infantry - painted far better than I could manage!
I must confess to having been particularly lethargic over the holiday period and so modelling and gaming has been virtually non-existent. I have managed to carry out some concentrated 'pottering' though the spare hours have not been entirely idle. I have spent some time thinking great thoughts about how to take both Fezia and Rusland forward to the mid 1930s and have more or less worked out what I am going to need and the shape the end result will take. Without further ado then, I will share my 'vision' and how it will be realised.
On Land
I have acquired a box of the 15mm hard plastic 'Plastic Soldier: Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform' set which contains 130 figures and is suitable for both the Rusland and Fezian infantry element. As far as I have been able to tell the Russian uniform would be fine as is and in 15mm is close enough to what a Turkish soldier was wearing at the time to make no difference. Obviously as an 'imagi-nation' it makes little difference but the historical cut seems quite similar although the Turkish army wore some strange looking leggings which replaced the WW1 era puttees. There is a box of Russian heavy weapons due next year which will doubtless furnish HMGs, mortars and possibly some AT weapons; again, this can readily be split between the two forces. Vehicles will come primarily from Zvezda from their 'Art of Tactic' range - especially the T26 and BT5, not to mention the trucks. I shall need to get some artillery (Plastic Soldier are releasing some in due course but the numbers I shall need will be very small and can probably be sourced from Irregular Miniatures if need be). I may also raid Peter Pig for some bits and pieces and the Spanish Civil War range may yield some useful items. I have sourced some Roco T28 and T35 tanks (a pair of each) and so the former will be got to Fezia (the Turks actually had two of these from Russia!) whilst the T35 will be used by Rusland. Fezia will use T26 and Vickers light tanks whilst Rusland will use BT5s and T26s.
Rusland T28 soon to be in Fezian service
At Sea
The two navies will be largely conversions from currently available 1/1200th plastic kits. Rather the fixtures and fittings will be used on scratch built balsa and plastic card hulls with a maximum size of around 7" in length. This is because I plan to use my Hexon terrain but with larger models covering two hexes. The rule implications of this are quite simple - basically I will assume that the model is only occupying the hex that the bow is in and so all movement and measurement is from there! I already have a number of models in mind including, for starters, a cut down KGV in which the super firing twin turret is removed leaving a ship with two quad turrets - one forward and one aft. The Gneisenau will also come in for some similar treatment; as will the Hood and Bismarck, not to mention the cruisers and Tribal class destroyer from the Airfix set. In effect I will be placing most of a ships superstructure on a smaller hull and then messing around with the detail to create some unique models.
That is the plan and so reaching for my trusty copy of Conway's 1922 to 1946 will be the research of choice for a few days at least!
No comments:
Post a Comment