3mm Team Yankee - Soviet vehicles and Infantry

Hi folks,

In the week before the wedding I decided to tackle some more of my 3mm Team Yankee project. Having been back home for a while, I've managed to get them off the painting table - with the exception of the helicopters which I will tackle next time.

This batch consisted of:

My first 3mm Infantry Company:

This unit used 2 packs of Oddzial Osmy Soviet infantry - one standard infantry and one heavy weapons pack (SA 675 and SA 676). The standard infantry provided the bulk of the troops, with the heavy weapons RPG teams helping out. The two small bases consist of a representation of the MG platoon, with 4 prone MG figures and loaders, while the other small base consists on a SAM platoon with the heavy weapon shoulder SAM teams.

In game, each base will move as a squad does in TY. Coherency remains the same as the standard platoon. I'm giving each medium infantry base 5 hits with 5 shots each turn (max of 2 RPG-7 shots per turn per base). The LMG and optional SAM bases will have one hit each and have one shot each a turn. This keeps the platoon at 21 hit's (equivalent of 21 teams in TY) with the optional +1 of the SAM's. I'm unsure how to mark hits currently - one idea is small blast markers - or else dice. Each hit takes a 'shot' off of the base.

I need another 3 of these units to fill out the infantry for my BMP companies.

Speaking of BMP Companies (to transport my infantry), I completed another of these. This consists of 4 large FoW MDF style bases with 3 BMP-1's on each for a whole unit of 12.  One base worth can be seen here with one of my T-72 bases:

The T-72's from this batch made up my 4th Company, allowing me to field a full Battalion plus have a company supporting my Motor Rifles. This unit consists of 3 large bases - 2 with 3 tanks, 1 with 4 (marking the command base and bringing the unit up to the max book strength of 10 models). Each base moves like a single tank, coherency is the same as for tanks in a company at 15mm and each base has the same number of hits as the number of tanks - and the same number of shots as the surviving tanks.

Then we have Artillery (sorry, for some reason some of these pictures are very dark):

4 units (bases) of 3 vehicles each. 4 lots of BM-21 Hail Rocket Launchers and 4 lots of 2S1 Carnation SP guns. I also have another single BMP-1 to use as an OP stand. A little touching up on these guys needs where they have come off the painting sticks.

Lastly we have AA assets.

2 units (bases) each of 4 vehicles for the ZSU-23-4 Shilkas and the SA-13 Gopher SAM's. I also did a few (3) medium bases of these with 2 models each, with 2 vehicles. This gives me a few options and spreads the AA out a bit more.

As you get 15 vehicles in a pack for £3, some vehicles were spare. The last two BMP-1's from this lot I based on a large base to be the foundation of a BMP-1 Recce unit. Some of the other T-72's were added to my existing companies to bring them up to 10 tank strength. Other than infantry, the Russians now have every option from the army book represented. I'm tempted by some of the 3mm bridging units, just for scenarios and the likes, as well as the larger SAM batteries and other such options. But none of those are in game and I have other things I would like to pick up.

Really nice models to paint - very quick! Basing took longer but mainly as I went for 2 tone 1mm static grass on the bases. I used MDF laser cut bases from East Riding Miniatures - who do excelling work and who's stuff is very competitive priced compared to some other retailers. Customer service is also excellent. To the bases I added a coat of PVA and some fine sand, then painted the whole thing Flat Earth. PVA and 1mm static grass made up the top layers - I applied this in two batches, painting irregular patches of PVA and dipping in 1 shade, leaving to dry and repeating the process with the other uncovered parts.

So that's the Soviets done for now! 2 Hinds to paint and they are all done. Now just the US support units and Cobras.