T-80's for days!

Hello there! Rob here again with a little blog post about what I'm up to with my Team Yankee Soviet forces. 

Last year a few of us decided to get in to Team Yankee WW3, a game in which the Cold War has gone very hot indeed. Due to the lockdown I had plenty of time to paint a full force of Soviets and then during the brief period where we could meet up last year we got in as many games as we could. I loved it, I loved the setting, I liked the rules and I liked the way the missions were constructed. 

My Red Thunder Soviet forces.

The tail end of last year saw another lockdown and the release of the new Soviet book and so I've decided to do a t-80 Shock Company. These are the guys who received some real training rather than working on the collective farms during their conscription. They're harder to hit and and have better courage and morale than standard Soviet forces. However, this has a trade off, they are very expensive to field. In a 50 point game I can field 5 tanks in total with some SA-9 Gaskins for anti-air duty. In comparison, at 50 points in a t-64 battalion, I could have 10 t-64's with room to spare. Suddenly I know how Dale feels trying to fit his Challengers in a list!

I had bought the starter set when it was released because of the value (I love a bargain, call me David Dickinson!) and the fact that it had t-80's and BMP-3's in it. So I had the beginnings of the Shock Company in my possession already. How very convenient!

The mighty t-80's of the Soviet Army.

I'd basecoated the t-80's with Zandri dust and the used a Tamiya Olive Drab for the green. In hindsight I would have used a less yellow basecoat and instead gone for a more stony colour. Still, I'd done it and I had to make the most of it.

I used Seraphim Sepia wash on the Zandri Dust which, gave it a warmer tone. To make them look like they were in the thick of it I used the GW texture paint to make them look like they in the thick of it charging through the Fulda Gap. For highlighting, I used Vallejo Stone Grey to pick out the Kontakt armour blocks and GW Dawnstone to pick out the rubber skirts.

To mark out the Company HQ I added a tank commander sticking out of the cupola. For the team leader of the platoon, I added an antenna and gave the barrel a white tip just to make it easier to distinguish on the table top. I'd quickly discovered in previous games that an platoon commander is difficult to pick out at 15mm in a sea of army green.

Next on the pile is the SA-9 Gaskin platoon I've just built and the new Tunguska AA platform to build and paint.  After that I've got another t-80 platoon and some TOS-1's on the way so I can complete the force and take the fight to NATO.

Da svidania comrades!