From JasperO: low budget fun on Babylon 5 with some T34s (72 points)

Tamsin asked me on my previous post where the “lovely vehicles” (her words) were. Well, here they are. The Red Army is often portrayed in (older) books and movies about WW2 as a giant sledgehammer, rolling forward with hordes of cheap T34s racing out to meet the German defenses. I believe that idea has now been discredited thoroughly, but I’ll happily claim it today to claim the score for Babylon 5.

Today’s offer consists of two T34s. One (the one with the tank commander) is the Rubicon T34/76 with the later turret that comes with the T34/85. That kit comes, fortunately, with two /85 turret tops that each have a commander’s cupola. I carefully cut one out of a spare and attached it to the M1943 turret to make it into the final version. TL;DR: I glued some plastic on other plastic and stuck a Rubicon plastic commander in it, and provided a saw from their new Soviet Stowage set. 

This T34 is one of the earlier Rubicon plastic sets, somewhat simple, but far more detailed than the Warlord Games offering. It is only let down by the very simple tracks, and the driver’s hatch in the front hull which requires a lot of filing and putty to fit well. The Warlord T34 is equally old, quite a bit simpler (but with nicer track details) and comes with a very specific rounded late model turret , a somewhat odd choice. For some added interest, I painted two tank rider figures, ready to defend the tank from Panzerfaust-wielding ambushers, or jump off and take the fight forward. 

Two tanks, two-and-a-half figures and the Babylon bonus should net me another 70-something points, I think!

From DaveD

Very nice T34's - always one of my personal favourites, and a fine job you've done 

From ValeryN Soviet tanks (18 pts)

Greetings to all!

Last time I almost did not post messages here. Alas, the work swallowed me up. But I still made an effort and painted three tanks to cross the line of 1500 points.

Thanks to everyone who has been with us these three amazing months!

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From SidneyR (stand-in Minion) - Yet more fantastic work, Narval! Well done again - these are a perfect final post - beautifully finished, fitting perfectly with your many other great submissions in this Challenge.

Your output over these three months, and your friendship and contribution to the Challenge has been wonderful. I can only hope we will all see so much more of your splendid collection as your forces grace your wargames table. Another well-deserved 18 points here, and huge congratulations on making the 1,500 points line!

From KevinH - T-34/76 and T-34/85 Squadron (42 pts)

As many will know by now, GregB has re-introduced 20mm WWII to the Fawcett crew (quite possibly, God's one true WWII gaming scale!).  So, wanting to help add to the gaming possibilities, I bought some items from the Plastic Soldier Company's "Black Friday" sale.

Along with a Rubicon Panther G (I wanted a PzIV, but they were sold out), I picked up a box of 20mm PSC T-34's, some 20mm PzIV's, and some 20mm Shermans and a Firefly to do a unit to support my Canadians (more on that, if my Warbases order arrives before the Challenge winds up!) 

These kits were pretty quick to build, but being plastic, they were a bit light and I didn't want them bouncing around on the tabletop.  I super-glued three mid-sized washers into the bottom of the hulls for added weight, and mounted all of them on plastic-card (I started basing my 15mm vehicles, after FoW started releasing vehicles with cast-on bases - they just looked better with all the based infantry!).

And as much as I love the Late Fall/Early Spring camo and basing GregB did on his models, I thought we should have some options for doing battles in other times of the year - so I went for simple "Steppe" grasslands basing and paint.  The bases were great too, as I was able to depict the churned up turf of the tank tracks!  It's just Liquitex Resin Sand smeared on the bases, with "track ruts" left open.  Then, paint and flock as desired.  I think the effect turned out quite nicely.

Oh, and all the turret numbers and slogans were painted - no decals (didn't have time to order any - and it's pretty straight-forward for the Russians!).

The great thing about these T34 kits, is that they come with BOTH turret options!  This allows you to build both the '76 versions, or the '85 versions.

Here are the same kits, with the '85 turrets.

And finally, all the components of these kits!

These are great kits - good detail, pretty quick assembly, and a decent price!  I would heartily recommend them, if you're looking to do some 20mm Russians.

Now... where is that Warbases order? --I have some FAA Russians to paint as Tank Riders ("Tankovy Desantniki") to go with these tanks!

Thanks for looking!


From Curt:

Great looking T34s Kevin! I like the hand painted numbers and slogan - ace work! (and  I'm adding a few extra points for this and the additional turrets)

With this entry Kevin has breached his initial points target of 300. Congratulations Kev, great work!  Let me know what you'd like to target running in to the conclusion of the Challenge.