I recently decided that I wanted a third company of Soviet infantry to fill out my WWII 15mm Soviet army. I wanted a unit that would stand out a bit, to represent different company types. Basically, I wanted stands to represent dismounted cavalry or recon units, but wanted them easy to identify on the tabletop.
While scanning through the Gajo Minis website, I noticed that they offered the old battlefront cossack cavalry units. They looked perfect to fill the need and would add some color to my army, so I went clicking and ordered some troops.
I ordered all the foot troops I needed plus a few cavalry minis. The plan was to make two extra foot bases with cavalry and two command with cavalry, to represent the unit being mounted. I would switch these out when dismounted. I just glued a cavalry figure to each base to represent the unit. I may go back someday and get mounted figures, but this will due for now.
The line does have some shortcomings, as there are no support weapons available, just troops. I wanted some ATRs and flame-throwers, so had to fill those out myself. I painted these up as best as I could to match the Gajo figures (had to live with helmets though) and mixed them in with the figures I got from Gajo.
I sprayed all my bases tan and glued the figures to the appropriate bases. I then covered these with Vallejo what pumice to give ground cover to match my existing troops. I then hit all the bases with a sepia wash and, once that dried, drybruashed the bases with tan. I then painted the base edges flat dark earth. Next came the Silfor California grass tufts to give a Russian steppes look (which is what I did on my other Soviets). It took a while (the pack of tufts were a bit on the thin side), but I managed to get it all down. I finished up with some dull coat and now have my extra small company of Soviets, thanks to Gajo and a little extra painting.
- Manteuffel