Russian Combat Group

Just a quick post of the Russian quad mechs I've been working on. You can see the old scheme here. I call these walkers Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma, but I'm still noodling the nomenclature I'm going to assign them.

All for now, catch you later.

Russian Quad Mechs WIP

It has been a moment too long since I last posted any what's on my workbench. What can I say? I've been distracted by real life. It is what it is.

So, as slow as I am, I've managed to work out what was niggling me about the scheme I'd used on my Russian combat walkers aka Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma. And above is where I'm at, below is where I was.

Obviously, duh, this is me we're talking about, they're not finished. But, proof of life. Given the adverts I've been seeing on YouTube, the algorithm seems to suggest otherwise.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Russian Quad Mech Repaints

It has been a year since I posted anything about my Russian four legged walkers. I seem to be suffering from the time loss equivalent of the MCUs Infinity War snap. Instead of half the population disappearing, it's time.

I start writing something, get distracted by something else, then look around to find the whole day has flown by.

I was going to apply decals, but I wasn't happy with the paint job. I wanted more contrast and to also make the models look sharper. Make them pop. So here's a comparison shot of the revised paint on the left versus the old paint on the right.

And I'm still not convinced this new look is the look I want (edit to add first version of this scheme).

My painter's lament, sigh...

Russian Commonwealth Infantry

These are using the same colour palette to go with my walkers that a posted here.

And another two jump-off marker for my SF version Chain-of-Command games.

And that's it until later.

Happy New Year - 2023

Decals to do, but otherwise done.

And here we are. The end of another year. And here I am slipping in the last painted miniatures of 2022.

It has been a quiet year on the blog, for reasons. Those being the need to get my arse in gear and back to writing, which has not gone as well as I would like. Add to that ongoing health issues and here we are.

But, making and painting models have been good for my general well-being. So no grumbles.

I don't make resolutions as such, though I have some goals for next year. Namely get a working draft of Big Little Wars written. The current one is a mess, bloated, over written, and not working as it should to be a set of understandable rules.

That comes from having large aspirations to be the best rules I could write. Failure to deliver said rules being its own critique. But, I can learn from that, and remain hopeful I can pull the rules together.

After all, how hard can it be? Hard, but not impossible.

So, Happy New Year to one and all. Let's hope 2023 is better than the last three years.

Strike Dog: Russian Quad Mech

   

Not every model I make ends up on the cover of my novels, or at least not yet. Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma or Object 295 appears in Strike Dog, Chapter 9, Assault: as the "big bad" that ruins the day for CASDA 5136.

In the past I've played WW2 wargames with Soviet forces. Despite reading a bunch of books about the history of the Eastern Front, my Russian language skills leave a lot to be desired. I know a handful of words and the odd phrase.

The usual yes, no, thank you, good-bye platitudes etc., but it's all Greek to me (pun intended).

Also, when I was doing the research I found that there's no one way of transliterating Cyrillic into Roman letters.

Worse still, the number of letters in each alphabet don't even match. So, if you take the phrase, "I can't read Russian," it looks like this when written in Cyrillic script:

Я не могу читать по-русски.

Transliterated from the Cyrillic alphabet into our Roman one, it comes out like this:

Ya ne mogu chitat' po-russki.

To my Western eyes this looks a lot like squiggly maths.

 

This model was nearly finished two years ago, when I planned on using Dream Pod 9 Heavy Gears for my Bad Dog games. But, now I've gone up from 12mm to 15mm, this model is not that big when compared to the RAFM Gears.

So I may have to make another, larger model. We shall see.
   

Object 295 WIP

I was shocked to find that I started work on this model in June last year. As readers may have noticed I've been putting up work in progress reports as I seem to have found my model making mojo again, which is a good thing.

Above is the current state of my Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma or Object 295, which is less of a mouthful for my non-Russian speaking readers.  

The picture shows how untidy and rough looking my models are as I work the paint to get the battle-worn finish I'm trying to achieve. For those who are interested in techniques, what I do is paint solid colours first, then I apply Army Painter dark wash tone.  

Then I paint what are effectively highlights with the original colours and apply Army Painter light wash tone. To finish, I reapply a lightened version of each of the colours as a highlight.

Then it's a matter of picking out details, drybrushing silver on any metallic parts, and finally a coat of gloss varnish. After that it's time for decals and then matt varnish to seal.

Object 295: Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma

Preface:  If you're confused by the changes made to this blog post title it's as a result of email exchanges with native Russian speakers.  See the notes at the end.

I've been following the latest Russian tank developments, and the introduction of the new T14 Armata tank, which replaces the cancelled T95 prototype that's better known as Object 195.  I mention this as an indicator of how my imagination works.  I had need to write a new opening chapter to the second novel  I'm editing.  I hadn't planned on introducing the Russian to the world of Bad Dog until the fifth novel, but the needs of plot required something bad happened to one of the supporting characters.  And it had to be a threat that would cause the teams mission to go pear shaped, big time; as in people dying.

Or as we like to say here in Britain, "It's all gone Pete Tong."  Rhyming slang for wrong, named after a former disc jockey.

So I came up with Progulki Boyevaya Platforma – Ob”yekt 295, which is Russian for walking combat platform, or Object 295, which would be the manufacturers project name.  I thought about making the name a reference to the Heavy Gear name Ammon, which means people, but decided I didn't like the sound of that in Russian.  However, see notes below, about the name and blog title changes.

Not only did I change the main armament to a rotary cannon, because they look awesome, but I've also tricked the model out with some stowage, including fuel tanks at the back, which is a very Russian thing.  I'm really, really pleased with how this turned out.

Notes:  

I've gotten some feedback on my poor Russian translation that suggests this should be called Mobil'naya Boyevaya Platforma (Мобильная Боевая Платформа), which means Mobile Combat Platform.  I'm awaiting a secondary confirmation from another source and we shall see what they say.

Just in: Shagayushaya Boevaya Platforma (Шагающая Боевая Платформа), which literally means Walking Fighting Platform.  Google translate suggest that the English transliteration should be Shagayushchaya Boyevaya Platforma, so close enough.  Many thanks to XXL from the Red Alliance forum for his suggestion.

Further developments: Pohodnaya Boevaya Platforma (Походная Боевая Платформа), which translates as Hiking Fighting Platform, and the English transliteration should be Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma. Many thanks to my other Russian speaker and Robert Avery for acting as liaison officer with her.