Russians Pt.3- Rifle Squad 1

Rifle Squad 1

This was one of the first elements that I built and painted for my Russian army. I had already bought a box of plastic Soviet Infantry from Warlord, but then I supplemented that with a box of Siberian Veterans for more variation. I used a lot of the metal Siberian heads in this and the second Rifle squad I have built so far, because I plan to have more- three or four squads- to represent the 'teeming millions' the Germans believed Stalin had at his disposal. With that many guys armed with rifles and molotov cocktails, I wanted to have a little more variation of heads than the plastic ones in the kit.

With everyone in the squad armed the same, I wanted the NCO to stand out a bit (for snipers, obviously), so this first squad has a typical 'pointing' officer. The soldier striking with the butt of his rifle is an adaption of the metal SMG arms from the Siberian box, altered to become a Mosin-Nagant. Note- a red base rim denotes a squad NCO.

To help me keep track of my Green Rifle Squad's level of troop quality, I created these little sabot bases as a visual reminder. Once I have three or four of these squads, I'm sure I'll struggle remembering who is regular and who is Inexperienced. I produced something similar, later on, for my German Volksgrenadier squads, who have a similar Green ruling. I printed colour tabs and backed them on card before mounting them on the sabot base. These particular ones came from Supreme Littleness Designs.