Cold War Games Hobby News - April 2012

There seems to be quite a lot going on this month with a number of the suppliers of cold war wargaming hobby related products so I thought I'd provide a quick round up of what I'd picked up over the first part of this month. This news slot will be running every couple of months or so. If you're a manufacturer in the Hobby with products relevant to any components of the Cold War and want to let people know what you're up to drop me a line at coldwargamer@gmail.com

Osprey

As might be expected with the 30th Anniversary of the Falklands War Osprey are releasing a new title available for Pre Order next month for £14.95 on the Falklands War. The Book Falklands War 1982, Ground operations in the South Atlantic aims to cover, the origins, forces engaged and conduct of the campaign, more detail is available from their web site.

Osprey are also releasing the next title in the Force on Force series from Ambush Alley Games, this time the focus is on Bush Wars in Africa, this becomes available next month for Pre Order. The title covers the many proxy conflicts of the cold war period that occurred in Africa, and should prove a useful addition to, the force on force stable of publications with these titles providing relevant historical, Orbat and scenario information for specific conflicts along with additional rules and cards.

Blogs

Staying with the Falklands theme for a few minutes if you have not visited the "Hurry up and Wait" blog spot of Rusty Nail your missing an Historical and gaming treat of the first order. As the story of the crisis is retold and replayed in miniature on a day by day basis, a true labour of love and a terrific tribute to those that served. Well worth following as the various aspects of the conflict role out inspirational stuff on a blog with a large amount of focus.

The Hobby Den.

Brian at the Hobey Den has just announced he is taking over the MMS modern Range, which will augment his existing range but with a major emphasis on Cold War and in particular Soviet equipment. The kits will be produced in resin and White metal and the first release of an MTLB is expected towards the end of this month.

Over the coming months the intent is to expand the range to cover; BTR 60, BMP 2, BRDM2, 2S1, T 64, MTLBU, 2S9 and BMD, so some good Soviet staples along with a few items where there are only a limited number of existing suppliers, the BTR 60 looks especially tempting for those fed up with wrestling with the ICM kit of Doom and one I have my eye on for command vehicles for Air Defence, Artillery Command Observation Posts and transport for Engineers.

Elhiem Figures

Matt at Elhiem Figures has been busily sculpting and casting over the last few months and has recently announced a number of additions to his growing Cold War Range which should become available shortly after the end of the Easter holiday period. The range is focused on providing the figures to enable gamers to play all the scenarios in Ambush Alleys various titles which includes the Cold War Hot title and hence his expanding range of Cold War Soviets.

The Soviet expansion starts to fill in the Soviets in Cam uniforms, VDV in Afghanistan, and the range of Soviets with body armour (Pictures Updated 16 Apr 2012).

On the British front Matt has added a pack in NBC black which will fit in well with his existing Soviets in NBC gear, a great addition to the range and one for which I have a number of ideas (Picture Updated 18 Apr 2012).

Hopefully the announcement that Ambush Alley's Bush Wars will release in the next month or so will see some African Bush Wars figures popping on to the scene as well.

S&S models

Shaun announced a while back that he would be spending more time on the range. He has certainly been busy and has a number of new releases and updated models in the pipe line. The major new release is a GSP Ferry which I am looking forward to getting a copy of as it rounds out my assault river crossing capability. Although Shaun says he currently has no plans to make the road version he still has in his back Catalogue the wonderful PTS model, a couple of which I currently use to mark the progress of the ferries as they move across the board.

Also becoming available sometime over the next month will be the Soviet T80B and BV, filling in the gap left by the disappearance of the somewhat legendary Revel T80BV kit. The ferry will retail for around £18 and the T80s for about £11.50 which as with all the S&S range includes P&P.

Cpl Overby Models

Ken Overby is back from an extended break abroad and Cpl Overby models are once again available. So if your after anything from his range you can reach him at cpl_overby@yahoo.com.  If your unfamiliar with the range check out his page on Cpl Overby's Motorpool on Henk of Holland, the main Cold War interest being Israeli M50 and M51 HV Shermans

And Finally

A big thank you to all of you who take the time to view and comment on my musings which I hope are interesting, useful and mostly accurate. If you have any suggestions on how the blog can improve, anything you'd like to see or a desire to chew the fat feel free to drop me a line at coldwargamer@gmail.com.

Review - Model 1/72, Military Wheels 2S6 Tunguska

The 2S6M Tunguska was deployed quiet late in the cold war period with the intent of replacing both the ZSU 23-4 and the SA13 Gopher in TR and BMP equipped MRR.

The system followed a traditional introduction into service for Soviet equipment with limited production from 1984 followed by an upgrade and full production of the 2S6M from 1990. It's introduction into Service also heralded an enhancement to the MRR establishment by increasing the air defence component from an air defence battery to an air defence battalion. This unit now included a 2S6 battery of 2 platoons of 3 2S6M and an SA16 Battery with 2 Platoons of 3 BMP2 deploying 9 SA 16 each. I'll be deploying them into my post 1990 MRR, with the late 80s MRR fielding an SA13 Gopher ZSU 23-4 combination and the early 80's MRR a SA9 Gaskin ZSU 23-4 combination.

Interestingly the 2S6 weapon system's gun/missile arrangement was seen as a solution to the A10 and AH64 problem where the guns gave it a faster engagement time and the heavier shells would defeat the armour plate on these platforms which were designed to defeat the 23mm shells of the ZSU 23-4. The you tube clip gives an excellent impression of the effect it can acheive. I would echo one of the other reviewers comments, that it's only when you see something like this that you realise how much you miss the Soviet Union, an unusual piece of equipment that only their procurement process and system would ever get into service.

I don't think you have a choice if you want to field these, as far as I can see the Military Wheels kit is the only one out there in 1/72 scale, which is good because if you had a choice you'd probably exercise it. Not that the MW kit is a challenge to build, it's like doing an ACE kit but with more filing, although I must admit that I find that therapeutic. The Henke of Holland review is excellent and a strongly recommended read before starting the kit.

On with the detail, if you build the hull straight from the box you won't get the tracks on, the return rollers are too close to the hull, which is a bit of a disappointment if like me you have built the whole of the hull before you find out.

So it was out the dremel and the needle files for some fairly severe filing in order to provide the clearance for the track. As the top of the hull also sits indside the sides of the hull a fair amount of trimming of the sides was requeired where they meet the hull top which scared the surface a fair bit. This was remedied by the rapid application of a quantity of Mr Surfacer.

Moving onto the turret the principal issue here was a number of sink holes that required filling, particularly on the forward radar and the back of the raised sponsons at the turret rear. If I were doing the kit again I would also drill out the launch tubes.

The instructions are quite poor around the construction of the front radar and reviewing some photos before assembly will help you avoid the mistake I made. Note how on the real vehicle the framework supporting the radar curves away from the turret.

The most frustrating component of the whole build was the rear radar. Fitting the reflector to its base before adding the elements of the receiver eventually made it manageable.

I left completion of the tracks to last and would note that I have had worse experiences with track sections. I removed the drive sprocket teeth over the covered arc, which made the fitting of the links very straight forward, the links themselves requiered little effort to clean. The biggest problem I found on the tracks was the need to divide the bottom two sections into four sections in order to complete the track, not difficult but a degree of extra pain you could happily do without.

If you enjoy a challenge you'll love this baby, having said that you would not really want a Soviet force in the 1990s without at least one, so despite the effort it is a bit of a must have.

Painting the beast was fun, for the base green I used Vajello Russian green, washed with badab black and highlighted by mixing in sand yellow, the camouflage pattern was done with khaki mixed with Iraqi sand which is a better match than I achieved on the T72B using khaki grey and sand yellow. The launch tubes were painted in Russian uniform and after the pin wash I dry brushed the raised detail with iraqi sand. An overall very dilute wash of khaki grey was applied before heavier washes of khaki grey and khaki were used to weather the lower portion of the vehicle. Tracks, metal tools and lights were picked out in sea grey, wooden components in filthy brown and I used the decals straight from the box.

Not a straight forward kit to build but the end result is a very attractive looking model of an unusual vehicle so on reflection well worth the effort.
References:

On The way Model review 2S6
Henk of Holland 2S6
Reference Photos 2S6
2S6M1 walk around
AirPower Australia system assessment
You Tube Video

ORBAT - 1980s Soviet MRR and TR, Part 3 Engineer Support

Engineer support was provided to the Soviet MRR and TRR in a number of ways. The engineer company's assets could be grouped with other regimental or divisional assets to produce Manoeuvre Support Detachments MSDs, Mobile Obstacle Detachments MODs and specfic assault river crossing support dependent on the units mission. Engineer and chemical reconnaissance would be provided in support of these functions.

The MOD was covered in the Post on the Anti Tank Reserve and essentially consisted of minelaying capability for rapid obstacle creation in support of such groups as the anti tank reserve, and could include:

• The provision of Scatterable Mines from Trucks, Helicopters or MRLS (BM27),
• Cratering, booby trapping and hand laying of mines or other obstacles from an engineer platoon which could be reinforced by attached MR assets
• The provision of mine laying capability through either towed PMRs or tracked GMZs from division. The rates of laying that could be achieved by these assets make this very gamable. 1000m in 30 minutes by GMZ, 500m in 30 minutes by PMR. 

Interestingly the Soviets include the deployment of persistent chemicals as a means of channelling an enemy and the deployment of them can therefore be considered as part of the obstacle plan. The deployment of the Anti Tank reserve together with the development of obstacles would be triggered by the reconnaissance and march security elements of the unit or higher formation. At my 1:3 vehicle scale the regiment can support the creation of one MOD as can Division further groups could probably be generated from Army and Front assets. Groups would be allocated based on the priority of the mission, units acting as covering forces or dealing with flank protection of key forward detachments could receive considerable support, which makes for some interesting scenario options.

Big Game 2011, Rutgers MRR approaching the River Line

The Manoeuvre Support Detachment

The Manoeuvre Support Detachment was responsible within the MRR for the identification, clearance/breaching and marking of obstacles on the supported units route as well as the provision of route marking capability, the maintenance of the route and an element of its own security.  The detachment would include reconnaissance, security and engineer elements. Bridging capability was limited to small gaps crossable using either truck or armoured vehicle launched bridges from within the regiments own assets.

 The assets that could be drawn on to form an MSB include:

• AVLBS and VLBs the engineer company in a tank regiment deployed 3 AVLBS either MT - 55 or MTU  in a MRR this was 1.  The VLB being the TMM , this could have included the TMM6 toward the later part of the period but I am unclear on the in service date.
• Mine ploughs and rollers were the principal method of clearing mine obsticles. The Regimental Engineer company in a MRR could deploy 9 KMT 3/4, and 3 KMT 5 rollers/ploughs for the TR the figures are 28 and 9.
• Tank Dozer blades. 3 BTU are held at regiment, essential for filling small gaps improving and maintaining entry and exit points from bridging and breaching AT ditches. I will probably use these to represent general earth moving capability as there are limited models available for the other equipment.
• Explosive mine clearance devices were available based on T55, BTR 50 (MTK) and 2S1(MTK2) hulls.  The divisional Engineer battalion held between 2-6 depending on source. They had considerable utility on assault river crossings where the BTR 50 and 2S1 elements could swim and therefore begin mine clearance in advance of getting tanks across.
• Tank platoons/companies could provide both security and clearance assets when equipped with either dozers mine ploughs or mine rollers.
• Engineer Platoons. The Regimental Engineer Company fielded 2 Sapper Platoons 1 mounted in BTR 60 and 1 mounted in trucks. The divisional Engineer battalion had a further 2.  Against the Orbat shown above these were probably components of the Bridge and Mine warfare platoons, Isbey breaks them out as separate entities.
• Engineer Recce. Divisional engineer Recce fielded 3 BTR 60. The BTR 60 equipped sapper platoons could provide a similar function.
• Motor Rifle Platoons/Companies, provided security and additional labour for tasks such as hand breaching.
• Chemical Recce detachments provided chemical recce capability, 3-4 BRDM 2 Rkh existed within the Regimental Chemical Defence Company, and 9 within the Divisional NBC Defence Battalion.

Big Game 2011, Rutgers MRR commences the River Crossing

So for my Wargames MSD I intend to use at 1:3 with some poetic licence to maintain each capability and introduce some interesting models:

Engineer and Chemical Recce (Reinfoirced from Division) 1 BTR 60, 2 BRDM 2Rkh (These will work forward on the main march routes with Regimental Recce and March security elements)

Mine Clearance, 3 Tanks 1 per Company with KMT 3/4/5. The KMTs can be held on trucks (1) and be issued as required to the tank companies. Additionally I'll provide MTK2 to the MSD

Route Improvement Maintainence 1 Tank with BTU Dozer

Route Marking and Security 1 BMP Company.

Bridging 1 MT 55 AVLB

1Truck mounted Sapper Platoon 6 Figures

The Tank Platoon and MR Company will be drawn from the 2nd Echelon Battalion

Assault River Crossing group

If the unit was expected to meet a significant water Obstacle then an Assault River crossing group could be provided from Divisional assets. The composition would probably vary dependent on the type of unit being supported as wheeled MRR would have a lot more trucks because of there towed artillery, particularly in the earlier organisation options.

 The Divisional Engineer battalion had 6 complete GSP ferrys and 12 PTS2 Tracked Amphibious Load Carriers. David Glanz in The Soviet Conduct Of Tactical Manoeuvre sugests a grouping of 3 GSP and 2 PTS, given the numbers I am going for 3 GSP and upto 6 PTS. The assault crossing assets would be grouped with units and sub units acting as forward detachments as these would be the lead element and be responsible for creating the initial crossing of water obstacles.  Deliberate bridging would most likely occur once an initial bridgehead had been established and cleared to the point where the enemy could not bring the bridging site under direct fire.

For Wargames representation of this I will be using 1 GSP and 2 PTS

River crossings make for excellent scenarios as they allow considerable scope for task organising and could include;

•  An airborne forward detachment drawn from the Divisional or Army second echelon using helicopter insertion, 
• A ground based MRB strength forward detachment drawn from the divisional second echelon and supported by air and aviation to establish the initial bridge head
•  The Divisions first echelon MRR which would have the Divisional bridging capability grouped with it and if on the main axis could be reinforced by key divisional assets which could include Recce, anti tank, engineer and artillery. 

I am currently working up a post which will look in detail at the force composition the TTPs and a Scenario that could be played at a few different levels.

Significant additional engineer assets were held at Army and Front which would allow quite a number of such groupings to be formed if required.  Forward detachments would potentially be created at each level  such that an Army advancing with two divisions in the first echelon each with two regiments BTR in the first echelon, could have across the front two divisional forward detachments of Battalion Strength (BMP) and a regimental Strength Army forward detachment (BTR or BMP), effectively putting 5 Battalion sized reinforced groups across the frontage with the opportunity to put at least one in front of every regiment in the first echelon. Within the scope of the Army and Frontal engineer assets most could have significant MSDs and Assault River Crossing capability, without touching the MSDs of the first echelon regiments.

S&S PTS2 Amphibious Tracked Transporter

This video gives a reasonable impression of the sequencing of an assault river crossing, sadly no GSP ferries.

References:

The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manoeuvre, Spearhead of the Offensive, DM Glantz
Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Union, D Isbey
Identify Engineer and Decontamination Equipment
FMSO Instant Obstacles Russian remotely delivered Mines
FM 100 -2-1 The Soviet Army Operations and Tactics
FM 100-2-2 The Soviet Army, Specialised Warfare and Reara Area Security, Chapters on Airborn, Heliborn and River Crossing Operations
FM 100-2-3 The Soviet Army Troops, Organisation and Equipment, Engineer and Chemical Sub Units and Units
Wargames Unit - Soviet MRR Anti Tank Reserve
Wikipedia Military Engineering Vehicles
ORBAT- 1980's MRR and TRR, Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

Review - Model 1/72, Britannia FV 4201 Chieftain

The Britannia Chieftain represents a 1/72 Chieftain mk 5/3 or 6/3 with LRF but no TOGS and no Stillbrew armour so it's great for the early 80s force, less good for the late 80s. Stillbrew came in post 1986 and TOGs for Cheiftain was introduced from 88/89 this is covered in the various 1980s British Battle Group Posts.  Other model options for British tanks for battle groups in the 80s Included for Chieftain the Airfix model and Matador do a stillbrew conversion kit .  If you want to dodge the Chieftain Stillbrew issue the best bet is the Revell Challenger but this will limit the units you can represent up until the end of the cold war when the last of the Chieftains were retired.

The main armourment, commanders GPMG and the commander are all cast in white metal, with the commander wearing the old US style crew helmet rather than the kevlar crew guard which came into service in the late 80s.  All the white metal castings I have received have been of good quality with no flash.  The remainder of the vehicle is cast in resin and comprises turret and hull. The quality of the casting whilst adequate can require a fair deal of filling and filling although I have not come across anything that defeats me here.  I highly recommend studying pictures of the vehicle to understand the rotational orientation of the barrel, I got three wrong, this is recoverable through covering the barrel with a cam net which look good and was a common practise. The MBSGDUs are much better represented than on the Revell Challengers.

A model with the stowage in the turret baskets unchanged

The main draw backs of the model are pre cast stowage and a commanders hatch cast open.  Neither are insurmountable problems but if you don't want the whole squadron looking the same they do require some adjustment. either through the addition of extra stowage or the removal of existing stowage.  in nearly all cases I have done both.  The principal areas for stowage removal have been on the turret baskets where the stowage has been sanded down on one or both baskets before covers made of green stuff have been added.  these have later been painted to represent either ponchos or KIP sheets.

Additional stowage added includes antenna, cam nets on the NBC pack and over the MBSGD, hessian on hull front and sides, cam poles on either side of the back decks, the occasional lube can on the back decks, roll mats on the outside of the turret basket or Jerry cans on the turret rear. On one vehicle I have removed the commanders hatch and have replaced it in the closed position.  Webbing around the turret is also a common stowage option as is the bin bag I have put on the back deck.

Stowage in the turret baskets removed and covered with green stuff tarpaulins

The model provides a solid representation of the vehicle, and once you have introduced a bit of variety in stowage it looks great when deployed as part of a unit the look and feel of the beast are absolutely spot on.

The obvious conversions are into the AVLB and AVRE versions for which a number of available S&S components may be of use notably, the AVRE trailer, the dozer blade or mine plough and the T-55 bridge, which is also a scissors unit. A conversion of the S&S trailer into a Giant Viper is also worth a thought.  I think BW also do some bridge units that could also be used, a future project so more to follow.

The model is painted in Vajello Russian Uniform, with the cam pattern marked out with a dilute solution of black before the central component of the panels laying within it are painted in black grey.  The remainder of the vehicle is washed with badab black before panels are painted in using the base colour, I then pin wash in badab black and dry brush with a Russian Uniform/Buff mix. Cam nets are Bronze Green highlighted with Russian Uniform. Cam poles are filthy brown from the game colour range, highlighted in buff. Kip sheets are Gunship Green mixed with Buff and ponchos Reflective Green.

The transfers are from TL Modelblau and I gloss varnish the surface before applying them and, varnish the transfer after application. Once dry I apply a matt varnish by brush before weathering.  Weathering is completed using washes of Khaki and Khaki Grey, dry brushed with Buff.

References:

1980's British Battle Group - Part 3 Equipment
Encyclopaedia of the Modern British Army, ~Terry Gander
Chieftain Main Battle Tank 1965 - 2003, Osprey
Britannia Post WW2 Vehicles