Cold War Gamer

Andy

This post looks at Artillery support within the Division and specifically at the composition of the Divisional Artillery Regiment, how the capability changed over the period and how it might be represented within games and scenarios.

The organic components of Divisional Artillery units were broadly consistent across both the MRD and TD however their detailed composition varied, these Artillery units included:

Artillery Commander and his Staff
Artillery Regiment
Frog Battalion
Anti Tank Battalion (not in TD)
Artillery Battalions of subordinate MRR/TRR

Whilst in other armies air defence would be a component of the Artillery in the Soviet Ground Forces this was a separate arm of Service. The Anti Tank Battalion's deployment and grouping have been considered in an earlier post and I'll leave the Frog Battalion for another day.

Equipment and Organisational Change

The composition of the Divisional Artillery Regiment and the amount of organic artillery available to the Division varied significantly over the period from the 1970s through to the end of the 1980s and whilst my focus is on the 1980s it's worth understanding this as it accounts for a variety of conflicting information presented across the various sources which can lead to confusion if the general pattern of transition is not understood.

In the 1970's the MRD's Artillery Regiment comprised two battalions of towed 122mm D30 Howitzers and 1 battalion of towed 152mm D1/D20 guns, in a TD this was 3 Battalions of towed 122mm D30 guns. Each regiment included 3 Batteries of 6 Guns and most units used trucks as the gun tractors.

By The end of the Cold War units would have an Artillery Regiment equipped with self propelled guns, in MRD's this could include 3 battalions of 2S3, in TD's 2 battalions of 2S3 were more likely. In both cases batteries were of 8 guns and the regiments included an MLRS Battalion also of 3 batteries of 8 Launchers. The 8 gun and 8 launcher batteries seem to have been largely confined to GSFG.

The MLRS units were incorporated into the divisional Artillery Regiments in the mid 70s and 2S1 and 2S3 started to be introduced to replace the towed guns and howitzers from around 1973. As individual Regiments transitioned from the D30/1/20 /MLRS mix through the introduction of initially a mix of 2S1 and 2S3 and then to all 2S3 units this created the conditions for a variety of Orbats to exist within the divisions of any particular Army or Front at a given point in time. The limiting factors on the transition and the principal cause of the variability being the rate of production and the sheer size of the Soviet ground forces, of note 2S3 production did not complete until 1993.

The broad roll out following acceptance in 1971 as outlined by Zaloga was:

From 1973 1 2S3 battalion to each MRD Artillery Regiment: A MRD could include 2 D30 battalions and 1 2S3 battalion
From 1973 1 2S1Bn to each Cat 1 TD: A TD Could include 12S1 and 2 D30 battalion
From mid 70s 1 122mm D30 battalion was replaced by 2S3 in TDs: TDs could include 1 2S1, 1D30 and 1 2S3 Bn
Cat 1 MRD received 6 battalions of 2S1 two in the Artillery Regiment and 1 in each of the maneuver regiments: MRD Artillery Regiments could have a composition of 2 2S1 battalions and 1 D1/20 or 2S3 battalion. (this also rather defeats the view of BMP units having 2S1 battalions and BTR units having D30 equipped battalions)
Cat 1 TD received 6 battalions of 2S1 taking them to 3 2S1 battalions or 2 2S1 and 1 2S3 battalion.
Additional 2S3 battalions were deployed releasing 2S1 Battalions to the maneuver regiments
All this did not happen as a simple sequence and the different policies and deployments interacted with each other unpredictably.

So what does this mean from the Wargames perspective, there were a lot of options, it was a big army, the role out did not complete before the economic impacts at the back end of the Cold war began to hit. You have a lot of choice, my late period Divisional Artillery Regiment has one 2S1 battalion and two 2S3 battalions. For operations the Soviet Army task organised units into Artillery Groups which introduced a lot more variation and are discussed further below.

The weapons thrown up by these changes were re used, initially they increased the Regimental artillery from a battery to a battalion and as towed assets in these units were replaced with Self propelled platforms then the size of Army and Front Artillery brigades were increased. The quantity of organic Artillery in the division including the regimental Artillery units therefore increased from a likely minimum 78 Guns in the 70's to a maximum 192 guns by the end of the Cold War.

The broad equipment change time line over the period with respect to Artillery equipment looks like this:

1963 D30
1966 PSNR 1 Ground Surveillance Radar
1971 2S3 entered production
1972 2S1 entered production
1973 first deliveries 2S1/2S3
1974 ACRV IV 12 Series Vehicles

IV13 Battery fire direction centre,
IV 14 Battery Command Vehicle with PN44 night sight and D11M-1 Laser range finder,
IV15 Battalion Command vehicle with additional radios,
IV16 battalion Fire Direction Centre with Field Artillery computer

1975 SNAR 10 Target detection and fire adjustment
1975 PRP 3 with PN 61 Image Intensifier, D11 Laser Range Finder, IV 520 Fire Control , Computer, dismountable D13 LRF (I think this came later), RL 126 ground surveillance radar
1975 2S3M upgraded loader increased rate of fire
1976 PSNR-5
Late 70s DK-1 Dismountable LRF Sage Gloss at Regiment and Division
1980's 9M28 Rocket Grad P (Airburst)
1980 PRP 4 as PRP3 but with PN 71 Thermal Imager a D14 LRF and PSNR -5 ground Surviellance radar
1983 ACRV upgrade
1986 152mm PGM 2K25 Krasnopol complex deployed by 2S3. The 122mm Kitalov 2 complex was a post Cold War system deployed in 2002
1987 2S3M1 Gunsight and data terminal to receive display command information from IV 13
1988 PRP 4M

So not dissimilar to Western developments with the principal areas of change being:

The Introduction of Self Propelled Guns.
The Introduction of dedicated Command and Observation Post vehicles specifically equipped for role.
The development, deployment and improvement of target acquisition systems including radars, lasers, and night observation systems.
The development, deployment and improvement conventional munitions to include PGMs and sub munitions.
The development and deployment of data systems for processing and passage of command and fire control data.

A wide range of munitions were available for both 122mm and 152 gun systems for the 2S3 these included:

OF-540 HE
OF-25 HE Frag
BP-540 HEAT-FS
Br-540B AP-T
OF-38 Krasnopol Laser Guided
S1 Illuminating
ZH3 Smoke
and Nuclear Warheads with a 2kt yeild

The impact of all these changes were quite considerable in terms of the effectiveness of Soviet Artillery the impacts included;

Increased protection of the gun crews,
More rapid displacement between fire positions,
Reduced time into and out of action,
Improved target acquisition
Increased range, of munitions and target acquisition capability
Reduced time to resolve targets at greater ranges
Increased speed of transmission of artillery data reducing engagement times and data errors.
Increased speed of processing fire missions, through use of fire control computers
Improved Lethality, both through munitions developments higher rates of fire and the increase in size of the fire unit from battery to battalion.

These increases in the scale efficiency and overall destructiveness of Soviet Artillery over the period and acted as a significant counter to NATO proliferation of handheld anti tank weapons and enabled the Soviet Army to reduce its doctrinal dependence on nuclear weapon use.

The Divisional Artillery Regiment

The Organisation of the Divisional Artillery Regiment is outlined in the diagrams below, TD's would generally only deploy two battalions of 2S3. Both Isbey and FM 100-2-3 contain detail on the composition of the various Sub Units.

From a Wargames perspective the main elements that we might want to represent will be rules dependent, from my point of view these are:

Command and Control Battery
2S3 Battalions
BM 21 Battalion
Target Acquisition Battery
Regimental Aid Point

The gun battalions and BM 21 battalions are broadly similar organisation and include:

For my games I use a vehicle scale of 3:1 so I represent the battalion as 3 batteries with each battery containing:

A supply truck, either a Zil 131 or a URAL 4275,
A command vehicle either an IV 12 Series COP/FDC (2 batterys per battalion) or a BTR 60 PU radio vehicle (1 battery per battalion and effectively representing the Battalion HQ).
2 firing platforms 2S1/2S3 or MLRS depending on the unit type.

From the battalion I deploy two OPs using the ACRVs as theoretically this organisation could generate seven OPs if required:

4 from the COPs (IV13/15)
1 from the PRP
2 additional flanking OPs which would be created on an Ad Hoc basis from battery staff and vehicles.

The Regimental Command and Control Battery

A BTR 60 Command Wagon represents the 3 ACVs admittedly 2 are MTLBus but I have a lot of them in the unit already. Other than that I have added 1 UAZ 469 and 1 Gaz 66. I also included a PRP 3 which might seem a bit strange.

One of the things I wanted to resolve within the HQ was the representation of PRP 3. Because of the way the PRPs are distributed with three sitting in the Regimental Artillery battalions (one each) and three in the divisional Artillery battalions (one each) and one in the Target Acquisition Battery. You end up with no representation of the vehicle due to the 3:1 vehicle scale, which is a shame as its a good looking wagon. Technically two would be deployed within the division (at 3:1) to accommodate this I added one to the Regimental HQ and one to the Target Acquisition Battery

The Target Acquisition Battery

It's a bit of a challenge to work out what's going on here and with this organisation having components that would sit in the off board force and the onboard force it needs to be divided up. This is how I viewed it;

Recce Platoon @ 2 BTR 60/70/80 + 2 LRF - represented by 1 BTR 60
Comms Platoon @ 1 UAZ 452 Compute, 3 UAZ 469, 3 Gaz 66 - 1 UAZ 469, 1 Gaz 66
Surveillance Radar Platoon @ 1 SNAR 10, 1 PRP3, 1 Counter Mortar Radar - represented by 1 SNAR 10, 1 PRP 3 (see above for explanation). The SNAR 10 would normally be deployed along side Artillery COPs.
Sound Ranging Platoon @ 4 Gaz Vans, This example of the 1B19 Complex provides a view - 1 Van
Topo Survey Platoon - not represented
Met Survey Platoon - not Represented
Radar Platoon - 3 radar direction finder, 3 Gaz 66 - 1 Gaz 66 and a PSNR -1 or 5

So In Summary 1 BTR 60 ACV, 1 UAZ 469 & Gaz 66, 1 SNAR 10, 1 GAZ VAN, 1 GAZ 66 + Radar. I have found no source data that attributes the number of vehicles to the platoons within the Target Acquisition Battery so have applied some thought and generated the answer. If anyone knows of better data on this I would be grateful for any pointers as to a more accurate representation.

Regimental Medical Point

FM 100-3-2 covers the Regimental Medical Point under the MRR and I have assumed its the same for all regiments. The core of this is a treatment section and one or two collection sections. I assume of the four Ambulances available three are in the collection section and one in the treatment section and the other sections all collocate with the treatment section. I have gone for a three vehicle representation of a Gaz 66 for the Treatment section and 1 UAZ 452 for each collection section.

Krasnopol

Krasnopol was a Precision Guided Munition(PGM) for 152mm Artillery pieces deployed in the late 80s. PGM's effectively allowed artillery firing in the indirect fire role to engage point targets such as vehicles or field defences. This was achieved through laser target marking and steerable control surfaces on the projectile allowing for in flight course correction. The amount of correction possible was limited so the round had to be lobbed into the right space relative to the target and the observer for the whole thing to work. Rounds were provided for all the major 152mm systems in Soviet service. The complex consisted of the OF 39 projectile and a D15 Laser Target Designator together with a couple of command devices one for the gun line and 1 for the OP.

Getting the round in the right place at the right time from the right direction to acquire the illuminated target was critical to success, as was the need to limit the time the target had to react. All this required a degree of thought to be applied to the process, as such engagement zones needed to be recced and engagements planned. This required a degree of preparation of the target zone and the gun line which would improve hit probability and reduce the effectiveness of any target counter measures. Clearly more Ad Hoc engagement would lead to a lower probability of hit.

Krasnopol was allocated in sets, each set included;

50 Rounds
The shot synchronization system
The LTD.

A battalion might be allocated 4 sets for a total of 200 rounds. Common practice seemed to allocate one battery as the Krasnopol Battery and one platoon within that battery as the Krasnopol Platoon . This platoon would carry 140 of the 200 rounds with the remainder being spread across the rest of the battalion. One LTD would go to each Battery COP and 1 to the Battalions mobile reconnaissance post (PRP 3).

In order to engage the OP had to position between the target and the gun line within a 15 degree arc and within 7kms of the target. Rounds would be fired in succession into the target area either on command of the OP or every 30 seconds.

Krasnopol seems like very useful addition to the indirect fire inventory of the Divisional Artillery Regiment and one which makes the deployment of the related COPs a consideration from both a task organisation perspective and enabling targets to be engaged. I can think of a number of scenarios where It would be interesting to explore the impact of this such as the deployment of the Anti Armour Reserve at divisional or regimental level and the deployment of the Advance Guard.

Artillery Groups and Control of Fires and Units

With the Artillery assets at its disposal the division artillery staff would form a Divisional Artillery Group (DAG) and a number of Regimental Artillery groups (RAG). The Division would be allocated assets from Army and Front and allocate assets to its subordinate Regiments enhancing the organic capability.

RAGs would generally only be composed for the units in the first echelon. The implication from the Xenophon lessons on Divisional Artillery is that all the divisions artillery assets would be allocated between the DAG and the first echelon RAGs. RAGs for the 2nd echelon units would be composed prior to that echelon being committed effectively being withdrawn from the first. The staff planning data for these add hoc groups were:

DAG 4-6 Units
RAGs 3-4 Units (For lead Echelons only)

Clearly these would be impacted by the priority of the axis of advance (main or secondary) and the type of operation, advance, breakthrough or pursuit.

Battalions would be allocated fire units from RAG as required this would generally be when acting as an advanced Guard, Forward detachment or for an assault. The composition and distribution of non organic assets has been covered in earlier posts on the MRR and Non Divisional Artillery Units which contain examples of such groupings and provide a view on the range of units from which these elements might be drawn.

In addition reinforcing fire from the Army Artillery Group and the Front Artillery Group could be superimposed by the higher headquarters as it saw fit or as part of a fire plan.

Groupings and hence control of the Artillery units would change with the different phases of the Plan. In general the DAG would retain control in the preparatory fire phase, then resources and control would shift to the RAGs for the Assault phases before being transferred to the 2nd Echelon as they were committed. Fire Units Ammunition and Time slots could all be held in reserve.

I aim to explore this further in a TTP post about the deployment and use of divisional artillery after I have digested some more of the data in the Xenophon archive.

Wargames Representation

Whilst the Divisional Artillery Regiment does not easily lend itself to most peoples idea of a 20mm table top action there are a number of ways its assets can be included in games, although I do admit that you have to try hard. There are a number of mechanisms which allow exploration of their use and role, these include;

Direct incorporation into the onboard elements as a focus of the scenario an example might be penetration of NATO forces into the depth of the divisional defence where Reserves and Artillery elements might be the core components of the Soviet Force. Such games can be built as stand alone scenarios or be components of a mini campaign.
Representation as off board support providing the Divisional wrap of supporting fires and Air Defence, in this instance the elements needing to be represented would be limited to on board Target Acquisition components.
Representation on subsidiary boards enabling aspects of the depth fire battle to play out using Air, Artillery, Air Defence and follow on Maneuver assets as part of a larger game. Personally I like this approach and a variety of additional commands can be generated around the Artillery, Air and Air Defence aspects allowing examination of both deep and rear operations, both of which had significant impact on the outcome of the engagement being fought. Without additional players the scope is more limited as there is a significant amount of thinking needed and additional game mechanics to play through that would otherwise consume too much time.
Linked Games, pre game play and mini campaigns offer approaches to resolving the issues outlined in the subsidiary board approach and if the number of players are limited offer a way to explore elements of Deep and Rear opps. The detail of the sequencing of the games then becomes the major challenge.
Smaller Scale, heresy so not considered further :). Not my particular poison but alternative scales 1:300/600/700 offer the opportunity to develop these aspects in a more manageable space both from a cost and storage perspective, my problem is I am far to in love with the joys of 20mm to go there.

What gets represented and how the support is applied is a key component of designing the scenario and something for the TTP post and some scenario ideas I have been working on. Both the Big games covered on the blog the Wisenberg Counterattack and Storming the Weidhouse Gap contained significant artillery components.

Models and Availability

Having identified that you want to build something as challenging as an Artillery Regiment and you have managed to convince your self that it will get the odd outing. Sourcing the models isn't always easy, the table below outlines a range of suppliers for the vehicles required to represent in whole or part the Divisional Artillery Regiment.

Whilst the coverage of the vehicle fleet is fairly complete now with the release of conversion sets by S&S for the BTR series vehicles some of the ground equipments will require scratchbuilding if they are to be represented, notable ones include:

Counter Battery Radars
D15 Laser Target Designator
DK-1 Laser Range Finder (Imagery of this is proving a challenge to find)

where I have already written a review of the relevant models they can be found here:

References:

Books:

Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics, WP Baxter
Red God of War, Soviet Artillery and Rocket Forces
Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army
Soviet/Russian Armour and Artillery Design Practices
Jane's Armour and Artillery 2002/2003
The Warsaw Pact: Arms Doctrine and Strategy

Internet:

Other Posts of Interest

Andy

As part of creating artillery and air defence units for the breakthrough project I kicked off a year or so ago I discovered a need for some armoured command vehicles. The thought was to use specific communications vehicles rather than the k variants found in Motor Rifle Battalion and Company headquarters. Armoured command vehicles were produced by the Soviets for the BTR 60/70 and 80 series vehicles and these were used extensively within the units I had in mind.

The obvious choice was the BTR-60R-145BM or one of its more modern variants the vehicle is a turretless version of the BTR 60, fitted with:

A collapsible frame antenna
The AMU 10m telescopic mast
The AB-1-P/30 generator,
5 Radio sets
A TA-57 field telephone.

The vehicle also seems to attract the designation BTR 60 PU and is visually similar to the BTR 60PU-12 an Air Defence command vehicle which would also be useful.

An analysis of the available imagery identified the following tasks to complete a conversion from a BTR 60 PB into the required command vehicles:

Fill Hole in hull for turret

Build a box to represent the AB-1-P/30 generator

Create some stowage box's for the side of the vehicle

Create a representation of the AMU 10m telescopic mast

Represent the stowed antenna tube on the top deck together with its end caps

Mount jerry cans on sides of vehicles

The BTR 60PB I have chosen for the conversion is produced by the Hobby Den, which is an imposing resin and white metal kit with some clever ideas that give you a lot of crewing options as hatches are white metal castings that fit over recessed hull areas providing scope for crewing options at much reduced effort compared to other resins where the hatch and hull would need drilling and a new hatch creating to achieve the same effect.

Since I commenced this project a number of other models have come onto the market giving a degree of choice in the models that can be used notable amongst these is the S Models BTR 60 PB kit. The quality of both the resin hull and the white metal wheel set and hatches has been good on all the copies I have received with small amounts of flash on the white metal parts and almost no air bubbles on the resin hull and turret. The base of the turret is marginally convex but this was not really relevant to the model being built.

The conversion is very straightforward and can be done with the frame antenna erected or folded. To simplify the problems around building the frame antenna I attached it directly to the hull . This avoided the needs to build the mounts and created a robust structure. I also simplified the frame from a double tube to a single tube. The frame supports and the frame itself were made from lengths of brass rod and to ease the problems of height adjustment I used green stuff to attach the frame to the upright frame supports.

Both the AMU 10 Telescopic mast and what I have termed the stowed antenna tube on the hull roof were cut from plastic rod. The use of a cover fashioned from green stuff for the AMU 10 got around the need to model the detail at the top of the telescopic mast, although this could have been produced using the mast components that come with ACEs BMP-1Ksh.

The Generator box was the final component of the fixed vehicle equipment and this was created through layering plastic strip to create an oblong box structure that would be easy to replicate consistently given that I needed a few of these vehicles. All the other components I viewed as part of stowing the vehicles as the images I had collected showed a degree of variability in type and placement. The Images variously show jerry cans and a large external stowage box mounted on the left and right hand side of the vehicle. which goes on which side seems to vary.

Stowage baskets are also seen mounted over the rear engine louvers and there are a number of images with command vehicles supporting a number of roof mounted stowage boxes. Unusually for Soviet vehicles but less so for command vehicles in general these wagons are often seen with a variety of additional equipment.

I have confined my stowage to include the Jerry cans on the right hand side and a large irregularly shaped stowage box on the left. In addition I added a folded tarpaulin/tent on the roof made from green stuff and marked using a wet knife blade to create the straps folds and creases. To get the various boxes and jerry cans to mount effectively on the hull it's necessary to file away some of the hull side hatches.

I commenced painting the vehicle with a pre shade of the lower hull wheels and underside of the vehicles using Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black. The model was then sprayed with Tamiya XF-13 JA Green, using a lighter coat on the lower hull ensures it remains a darker shade. The panels were then picked out with Tamiya XF-65 Field Grey. A pin wash was applied using the Humbrol Black enamel wash and a blue grey filter applied to selected panels and hatches using a diluted Humbrol Blue Grey enamel wash. The raised detail was dry-brushed using a mix of Vallejo Russian Uniform and Buff. Detail was then painted in as follows:

Vallejo Black Grey for the HMG, Sight blocks, jerry cans and wheels
Vallejo sky grey was used for tools.
Vallejo Medium flesh washed with Agrix Earthshade was used for wooden tool handles
Vallejo Khaki grey was used for the canvas stowage, washed with GW's Agrix Earthshade before being highlighted with a mix of Khaki grey and buff.

The vehicle was then weathered using a heavy wash of Vallejo Mahogany Sand primarily targeted at the recesses, before the whole was over-sprayed using Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow.

Markings consisted of a regimental symbol and tactical 3 digit number, with the number coming from QRF and the regimental marking from the model collect large decal sheet.

The vehicle is based on laser cut MDF bases supplied by East Riding miniatures, these are covered in a mix of sand and white glue before painting. Once dry a range of bsing materials have been used to create the vegetation on the base.

References:

Books:

Jane's Armour and Artillery 2002/2003

Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army, D Isby, 1988
Red God of War, Soviet Artillery and Rocket Forces

Web:
BTR-60PB Mini Walk-round Prime Portal
BTR-60 Army Guide
BTR-60PU-12 Walk-round
BTR-60-R145BM

Other Posts of Interest:

Modelling - Cold War Soviet Vehicle Markings and Decals
Wargames Unit-Soviet Late 80's, 2S1 Battalion
ORBAT-Soviet Late 80's Breakthrough Capability, Part 3 Non Divisional Artillery Assets
ORBAT - 1980's Soviet MRR and TRR, Part 4 Artillery

Andy

Artillery units are a critical component of any Soviet force and whilst less flexible in terms of coordination of fire and OPs than their western counter parts this was less of a problem than might be imagined as it was nearly always available in overwhelming quantity. In order to play Soviets effectively you do need a reasonable number of guns and even in the late Cold War period these can routinely deploy in the direct fire role, so unlike western units could be a component of the on board force. In developing my views on the Soviet Breakthrough capability, I refined the Soviet Artillery Orbats for our adaption of the Rapid Fire rules and have been busy collecting models ever since. The first of the units to reach a completed state was the 2S1 battalion shown below.

At a representative model scale the battalion offers a few challenges as the organisation evolved over the period from 3 Batteries of 6 Guns to 3 Batteries of 8. This was a component of the Soviet response to NATO's mass proliferation of ATGWs and hand held anti tank weapons which the Soviets quickly realised would severely disrupt their operational tempo in the absence of weapons of mass destruction. As a consequence they focused on improving conventional artillery effects through maximising the weight of fire that could be delivered over short time periods to destructive effect. This was achieved through both the increased battery size and shifting to the battalion as the primary unit of fire. Having said that the upgraded capability had not been fully deployed across units in the Western TVD or even the forward groups of forces by the end of the Cold War.

After a deal of consideration around how to represent the 24 gun battalion, I plumped for the easy option and stuck with 3 batteries of 6 guns each represented by a couple of 2S1. 2S1 is the primary combat component of the battalion but at the level of representation chosen only equates to around 50% of the vehicles in the model battalion. I have used the S&S 2S1 for all my vehicles its a simple robust wargames model and a reasonable representation of the vehicle that paints up well. The only alternative that I am aware of is the ACE model which holds the distinction of being the only model from that company that I started but never finished, not an easy build.

As well as the Guns in each battery I also wanted to represent a reasonable number of Command and Observation Post vehicles which introduced the next challenge. I was keen to have a standardised battery organisation but the maximum number of OPs that a unit could deploy were around 6-7 so two vehicles at a scale of 1:3. The solution to this was the radio truck required by the WW2 rules, in this case a plumped for a BTR-60R-145M or BTR 60PU which was used extensively in unit headquarters. The remainder of the vehicles would then be deployable COPs using MT-LBus or ACRVs.

The ACRVs I have used here are from Cromwell and are very nice 1/76 scale wagons that look all right along side there 1/72 cousins. Sadly the vehicle is now OOP so my future battalions will largely be relying on the S&S version which is a somewhat simpler model. The vehicles have been stowed using green stuff or Goffy stowage items and are crewed by either Wee Friends or Elheim Soviet crew.

When I started this project the options for BTR 60's were limited to either Liberation which are a little under scale or the Hobby Den's both are resin and white metal kits. The representation is based on a simple conversion using plastic rod, plastic strip, brass rod and green stuff. Like the ACRVs and unusually for soviet vehicles these are often quite heavily stowed. The Crewman in this case is provide by Elhiem. Since building this S Models have now released a plastic BTR-60 and S&S have produced a nice little conversion kit for the Command variant, so making life easier for the next few iterations.

The final component in the battery is a truck either a Zil 131 or a Ural 4320, after making a lot of the ICM kits I have started to use a number of the Amercom Zil 131 ready mades no effort to build although painting over the all white UN schemes can be a challenge and quite time consuming of itself. The one shown here is an Amercom Zil 131.

So I intend for each battalion to comprise of 3 batteries and at the moment I am not representing the BHQ, primarily as a cost saving measure. The paint schemes are outlined in the review posts below and the markings come from a variety of sources, the regimental symbol is from the large model collect decal sheet and the numbers either from their or the QRF white numbers sheet, The markings on the truck doors are all from the decal sheets provided with the ICM kits. Hopefully the first of a number of Artillery battalions that will be working their way into the collection.

Cold War Gamer

Sunday, 12 February 2017

ORBAT - Soviet Divisional Units, Part 2 MRD Artillery Regiment

Saturday, 2 January 2016

Modelling - Converting Hobby Den's BTR 60PB to a BTR 60PU

Tuesday, 22 December 2015

Wargames Unit - Soviet Late 80's 2S1 Battalion