Building Russian Platoons

 

Russia has three platoon types included in the CoC v2 rule book, the Rifle platoon , the SMG platoon and the Motor Rifle platoon. The first two each have 31 figures plus a sniper team (that can be a token or one or two figures) while the Motor Rifle platoon has 25 figures (with no integral sniper team)

The structure of the platoons differ and so each needs a different selection of figures to create in game, however they do include elements common to all. If each platoon is put together separately from the others a total of 89 figures is required, however if figures are used across the three platoons where possible this number can be reduced to 45 - almost half. The biggest impacts of this saving is cost and a reduction in the number of figures that have to be painted. Over time I will aim to build each platoon as free standing units not dependant on sharing figures with other platoons, but to get started I will purchase the minimum number to figures required to build the three platoons. 

Peter Pig have an extensive range of Russian WW2 infantry, and a slightly smaller range of scout (Razvedchiki) figures which provide a wide choice of figures that can be used. As far as I can tell Forged in Battle (FOB) offer a Russian platoon with a total of 40 figures in the box, and a Russian SMG platoon again with 40 figures. The latter does not include any LMG's and so is not a good fit for the CoC SMG Platoon despite the name. Flames of War (FOW) look to offer a Rifle Company (if it can be found in stock) which seems to include 135 figures (including 18 LMG's, and 54+ riflemen, along with 50mm mtr teams, anti tank rifles, Maxim MMGs and flamethrowers). Neither firm offer packs that are a good match for the CoC platoons, and so again I will stick with Peter Pig whose figures (in the main) come in packs of eight with three differing poses per pack.

Based solely on the number of figures in a pack and the poses available six packs are sufficient to create all three types of platoon. This is because the "Prone LMG" pack includes an observer figure with binoculars rather than being armed with a LMG, and so that pack will provide five or six LMGs and two or three crew figures depending on the make up of the pack. When these figures are combined with the spare leader, rifle and SMG figures there are sufficient to provide the LMG crews required. (In game these crew figures do not use their personal weapons and so it does not matter what weapon they carry). However Peter Pig offer an "Observation Team" pack with four crackin' poses, and so I can't help but add that to the mix. This means seven packs will provide 56 figures, of which 11 will be redundant. I can live with that as I always find it handy to have spare figures knocking around as they will likely help man heavy weapons when I get hold of them as well as be the basis for the required sniper team. While all this might seem a bit anal (hey we are all wargamers here) I find it helps me determine what figures to order and avoids the frustration of being a figure or two short.

Pack 623 - Russian NCOs

Pack 638 - LMGs Prone

Pack 644 - Observation Team

Pack 625 - Russian rifles advancing

Pack 627 - Russian kneeling rifles pausing

Pack 621- Russians advancing under fire.  SMG

Pack 662 - SMGs pausing

All photos from the Peter Pig website

The seven packs mean that I will have a total of 56 figures, with no figure being duplicated more than three times which really helps with the aesthetic when on the table. I have deliberately chosen one advancing pack and one kneeling pack for both the rifle and SMG figures as this allows greater flexibility for how the figures are used. The advancing figures will be the bulk of the rifle and SMG teams, while the kneeling figures can be used with the prone LMG teams as crew, as snipers or other specialist roles. Its just a shame that I can't bring myself to mix infantry and Razvedchiki in the same platoon as I do fancy painting some amoeba camouflage. 

This weeks reinforcements

 The Jungle Vegetable Patch is Neutral

At 15mm I find that individual pieces of table scatter can often be overlooked and lost on the tabletop due to their small size. To get around this issue I'm now building small vignettes with which I can decorate the table.  I finished the second of these this week - a second garden plot. 
Based on 2mm mdf (which I can cut to shape and size with a Stanley knife) these are designed to be modular if required.

The fence, barrels and cart are all printed in FDM from free STL files found on the web, while the crops are various types of flock, clump and static grass and tree is also scratch made from wire and artificial moss. The tree and cart are not attached to the base to ease storage. The crops have all been sealed with thinned PVA and so are nice and robust.

Both these pieces have virtually no impact on gameplay, but they help strengthen the aesthetic and that is important to me.

Table Design

Laying out a Battlefield 

The CoC rule book provides six missions, ranging from a Patrol action to a full blown Attack on an Objective, but very deliberately rather than providing a scenario map a brief précis of the suggested terrain is provided. This means that each mission can be repeatedly played with the terrain and table layout differing every time. Scenario maps are typically provided in Pint Size Campaigns as these,for the main, are recreating specific actions at known locations. 

One advantage or disadvantage of playing at 15mm, depending on your point of view, is that it allows for more terrain to be used as each terrain piece has a substantially smaller footprint than its equivalent at 28mm while still being played on the standard 6'x4' table. To my mind this allows for slightly more complex or detailed layouts. However I must admit that I find laying out a table challenging as it is difficult to know how much terrain to put down and what is an appropriate and balanced layout. 

Mission Two -The Probe

The terrain guide for this advises "This table represents one force's outpost line. The ground should be terrain typical of the region but should have a limited number of buildings which can be occupied as small observation posts and defensive positions. One or two roads may be present with tracks leading off them."

At present my terrain is predominately for the Normandy region, although I'm slowly building up pieces for the Market Garden area, and so I try and recreate something that looks vaguely Norman when laying out a table based on the numerous photos I have viewed over the years. I have no real methodology for this and first and foremost try for a natural look with a strong visual aesthetic although I generally have in mind the two sides of the table which will belong to the attacker. Once the layout is complete I always ask my opponent if he wants to move anything, although to date he's never done so.

This is the table I put together yesterday for the Probe mission, with the rear and left edges, as viewed, being the attackers potential start lines. Which edge is used and whether the attack will be along the short or long axis of the table will be determined by a die roll before the Patrol Phase is undertaken as per the mission rules.

Two hedge lined roads crossing the map in both axis, with a couple of junctions and smaller tracks, three houses and two barns, along with a small orchard and some fields. Seems to match the Mission Terrain Guide and hopefully is balanced from both the attacker and defenders perspective.

I took the opportunity to draw a rough sketch of the layout for future reference and from this created a scenario style map which will enable me to recreate it in the future. Given it can be played in four directions this offers a great deal of flexibility, and with a little tweaking it can probably be used for each of the six mission types as well, or form the basis for a brand new layout.

And now to see how it plays out.

This weeks reinforcements

 

A bit of this and bit of that.

Still working on getting all the various infantry support units completed for the British and finished off some Sappers this week. I can mix and match these figures to reflect the task(s) for which the team is being used.

And the printer has also been busy this week.

Various Flak wagons. These still need to be worked on and cleaned up a little before I can start painting them.

This weeks reinforcements

 Burnt out M9A1 Halftrack - Table Scatter 

Cheating today as this model was completed sometime ago, as due to a busy Bank Holiday week I've not finished any new models this last week.

What do you do when the print quality is not as good as you would wish - beat the model up and make a wreck, in this case a burnt out M9A1 halftrack from the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade, for use as table decoration.

And previous to painting the M9A1 I did an angled chop on this Bedford MWD 15cwt truck so it sits as if its been driven into a ditch and abandoned. In this case the vehicle is from 7th Bridging Troop, Royal Engineers, who presumably got a bit to close to the front line.

Both pieces add a bit of colour and spice to a game table. I have some German horse drawn wagon models I'm working on to do the same with.

 

This weeks reinforcements

 
US Parachute Infantry Platoon - Normandy

I finally finished the last few figures to complete my US Parachute Infantry Platoon. This is the two section version used in Sicily and Normandy. I have sufficient figures to complete a third section  as used in later operations including Market Garden but these are still in the painting queue. 

I am looking forward to giving the platoon a spin on the table as it is quite a unique force. It is the only platoon in the CoC rulebook to field only two sections, but despite this still has a force rating of +1. (This increases to +6 if the third section is fielded !). The platoon also qualifies for a red die purchase.

Its potency is easy to see, with two Senior Leaders, and integral Bazooka and Mortar teams

In addition the five man crew for the 60mm mortar deploys with a Replen Point due to its size giving it six HE rounds at start, although it cannot fire smoke.

Each section comprises of a .30cal LMG with a crew of three and eight riflemen. That is sixteen Firepower dice for a full section with the rifle section benefiting from Storm of Steel. 

In addition the platoon is Aggressive in Close Combat

The nuance of playing with only two sections will be an interesting challenge and likely will emphasis firepower over manoeuvre - not my usual style.

15mm

 

Rather than being a scale 15mm (or 20/28mm for that matter) is a measurement of a figures height. In the past this seems to have been the height between the ground and the top of the head of a standing figure, but now is typical measured to the figures eyes. Regardless of this figures described as 15mm are likely to vary in height by a couple of millimeters. This will have no effect on game play but may affect the aesthetic on the table if noticeable. 

Peter Pig are my 15mm figures of choice. They are metal rather than plastic or resin and so have that nice heft and are also robust. The level of detail sculpted into the figures is impressive and not always noticeable on their website, and their WW2 range is extensive, particularly for British and German troops.

Not perfect measurements but enough to get a good feel for the size of their late war figures. (The earlier sculpts seem to be a little smaller)   

                     

     

15mm is generally considered to be 1:100 scale. Simple maths confirms this. A standing man that is 5'11" (1.8m) tall will be 18mm high - very close to the figure above.

Model vehicles and buildings are typically quoted at their scale, and for 1:100 the maths is very easy if working with metric numbers - just divide actual size by 100 - very handy when printing STL files to ensure they are the correct size.

Chain of Command

The quoted ground scale for CoC is 12" equals 40 yards (1"=10ft). That is a scale of 1:120 and so given the variance of 15mm figure heights is pretty close to matching the 15mm ground scale. Interestingly when scaling a 6'x4' table we get a battle area 220m x 146m (240 x 160 yards) which is a surprisingly small area. This shrinks to 102m x 68m (112 x 75 yards) if 28mm figures are being used which are generally considered to be at 1:56 scale. Therefore there is a degree of abstraction creeping to the game at that scale, whereas  when playing with 15mm what you see is what you get in terms of weapon ranges and the like.

The Game Changes part two...

 

In the previous post I detailed the three game changers that led directly to where I find myself today.  

So where is that ?

At the start of May last year I had no 15mm figures, vehicles nor terrain - Zero, Zilch, Nada !

Today I have 

• Four complete CoC platoons, plus the ability to make a couple more by adding or subtracting figures as required.
• 12 fully painted and table ready British vehicles
• 8 fully painted and table ready German vehicles
• a small village of French styled farm buildings and barns
• a small forest of trees, hedges and table scatter.
• and sufficient road elements to create a realistic road network. 

In addition I have a dozen or so partially or unpainted vehicles, more trees in construction and over 500 STL files covering vehicles, buildings and other terrain features that I can print as required.

All of this has been driven by the move to 15mm, which really hits a sweet spot. The vehicles and figures can be more quickly painted when compared to their larger brethren, and yet retain a good level of detail so they also look good on the table.