Russians Pt.7- Anti-Tank Teams

Anti-Tank Teams

I love that Soviet platoons can take 0-3 teams here instead of the regular one. After reading a couple of different books about the Battle of Kursk/ Prokhorovka, I knew that I wanted to include Tank Hunter teams in my force. I could have taken them in all three slots, but wanted a bit of variation, and was intrigued by one of the other entries in this section (see below).

Tank Hunters

Team one includes figures from the original Warlord metal Red Army box. The guy with a grenade was a no-brainer, and the SMG firer had the right armament, so good. The NCO and Panzerfaust firer are recent additions from Bad Squiddo's Soviet Women Kickstarter. When I saw these figures, I immediately knew I wanted to back the project and include them in my army, which meant I could swap out some other SMG armed guys to create my mounted recon squad. 

As veterans, Tank Hunters are a little harder to hit; a team of four has a bit more longevity, and their Hidden set-up and 'Tough Tank Hunter' rules mean they can be a nasty surprise for an opponent. So why wouldn't I want more than one team?!

                          

Team two's NCO is the third figure from the Warlord Maxim MMG pack who I'd swapped out previously. The trooper with the cape is one of the options available in the Tank Riders pack- but as he is standing, and looks like he is creeping up on a target, I thought he fit in better here. The grenade thrower is another of the Bad Squiddo ladies who slotted into the team just perfectly!

The Panzerfaust firer in this squad moved over from the first team once the new female soldier joined their ranks. This allowed me to remove a really poorly moulded version of this figure and replace it with the marginally better cast that you see here.

Dog Mine Team

This is a quirky and unusual option, which illustrates the desperate lengths the Soviets were prepared to go to to deal with Axis armour during Barbarossa. The NCO and the dog come from the old Anti-Tank pack, and I originally supplemented the team with a couple of other SMG armed troopers and kept count of the dogs 'fired' in the manner you can see in the picture. With the release of the latest Soviet Anti-Tank Teams box, a couple of new handler sculpts were introduced, so I had to have them.

As a dog lover, I don't dwell too much on the grim realities or the finer details of this particular teams modus operandi, but I only field them if my opponent has no issue with facing them. (In fact, I have had one opponent who has asked me explicitly not to field them, so I agreed out of respect of their wishes...)

I like how the NCO is tapping his leg trying to coax his dog to follow him. He looks exasperated. I think the canny dog has got a healthy dose of self-preservation running through him, so I don't mind when they run away in the midst of a battle and achieve very little.