From Millsy: Russian Civil War Whites (275 points)

G'day All,

This is very likely (never say never!) my last submission for this year's Challenge and will see me pass my 1,500 point target which I am pretty pleased about. This force is the start of my White faction for my Russian Civil War project and will face off against my recent Bolshevik efforts.

The majority of the miniatures are from the Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond range again with a few extras from Empress Miniatures including the armoured car.

Command and Hangers On

Various command types to lead my men in defence of the Czar's right to rule and resist the red menace. The priest was fun but don't look too closely at my attempt to represent a religious figure on the icon, otherwise you'll realise it look more like someone drew a face on a pink balloon and sprinkled glitter on it :-P

Rifle Squads

Three rifle squads with LMG support. Uniforms colours were a bit of a challenge as the Whites in particular seemed to use whatever was available and colours varied by unit, geographical location and more. In the end I went with a mix of ochres and greys, with a smattering of khaki and greens to make the visually distinct from the Bolsheviks but still representative of what I found in source imagery.

Supports

Field artillery isn't something I usually represent on table. If the enemy get that close to your guns you've got real issues, like having them pinched and made into medals for starters. Having said that this is a cool model and I wanted something to give fire support and mortars were still very rare outside trench warfare.

An HMG and a couple of prone Lewis guns. Prone figures are something I have an odd relationship with as they look out of place with so few in a force. These come in a pack with standing and kneeling gunners and it seemed wasteful to leave them sitting in a cupboard. One chap is a Red who wormed his way in here and will likely sneak off during the night.

Armoured Car

Another great Empress Miniatures model to build and paint, just like the truck version from my Bolshevik force. This one is a Mgebrov-Renault with twin turreted MGs based on Renault chassis. At 3.4t weight and with a 14hp engine it was woefully underpowered for it's weight which was common problem with ACs of the time. The wonderfully weird wedge shape must have be helpful for deflecting small arms fire from the front but makes is pretty long overall. The crests are hand-painted and came out OK.

The turrets sit so close together that when I magnetised them they rotate in opposite directions when turned as the rivets interlock. Its unlikely that this was a design feature of the real world version but promises some hilarity on the table if I turn it into a special rule.

Points wise this adds up as follows:

- Command and Hangers on - 7 x 28mm = 35 points

- Rifles squads - 30 x 28mm = 150 points

- Support - 10 x 28mm + 2 x crew served weapons = 70 points

- Armoured Car = 20 points

Total = 275 points.

There's a Renault FT-17 light tank (awful model, sitting to the side of me desk in frustration at present) and some cavalry to add but that was too much to get done in time so they'll get added sometime soon.

So that's me done for Challenge XIII...

All that remains is to thank my minion Stuart for his kind words and curation, Curt and Sarah for being amazing and worthy of all the superlatives that are regularly used to describe them, and finally to fellow challengers for their comments and enthusiasm. Thank you all!

Cheers,

Millsy

From TeemuL:  Very nice painting, Millsy! Now you something for the both sides. Those Armoured Cars are bit of a soft spot for me and this one is lovely. And very nice and neat paintjobs in general. See you in December, if not sooner!