Elite White officer

Following on from the infantry unit, here is a commanding officer for my Russian Civil War 'Whites'.  He is also of the General Markov Officers Regiment, but wearing his Imperial Army greatcoat to fend off the cold.  I opted for a nice Imperial purple for his sabre scabbard, as it sets off nicely against the grey, & ties in with his Tsarist loyalty.

Elite White infantry

This week I finally finished my unit of elite 'White' infantry for my Russian Civil War collection.  I have painted these troops as the General Markov Officers Regiment, which initially consisted entirely of ex-Imperial Army officers opposed to the Bolsheviks.  This is the first time I have painted 'smart' uniforms, & it was a nice change from camouflage & drab fatigues.  I'm really pleased with the overall look of the black-&-white colour scheme against the snow bases.

The miniatures are from Copplestone Castings, whose Back of Beyond range is very characterful, with great sculpting - only the gesturing non-comm officer lets the quality down in this unit for me (the raised hand is a bit basic).  The other Back of Beyond packs also have a much greater variety of poses, though even here there is nice variation in faces, expression, & gear.  I think the mass of advancing poses adds to the sense of this unit as well-drilled elites too.

Burned-out farm buildings

This weekend I put the finishing touches to a pair of fire-damaged farm buildings, for use in a Russian Civil War setting.  My 28mm scale RCW project stalled several years ago, despite having most of the troops painted to a half-decent standard.  My original idea was to go with a winter theme, because snow has always been so evocative of this setting for me, ever since I first saw Doctor Zhivago (1965).  First-time round with my figures I ditched this idea as too limiting, given that I fancied expanding my collection into Central Asia at large (the Back of Beyond expansion for the Contemptible Little Armies rules), & that the Russian winter is never a good time for conducting warfare.

However, having recently revisited this old project, I decided to go with my heart & rebase my figures with Gale Force Nine snow.  I'll probably break-up the effect with tufts of dead grass, but I'm still getting the hang of snow effects.  I've also been improving the paint jobs on my RCW figures, because I think my technique has improved in the past couple years.

I picked-up these burned-out buildings discounted in the aquatics section of the local garden centre.  I haven't painted them at all, just based them up on ply, with dark-brown & black painted sand for the scorched earth/debris, & now a few patches of unmelted snow to tie-in with my new-look troops.

If I get round to gaming with these figures, I'm not sure what rules I'd use. Perhaps a home-brew version based on the Necromunda-era W40K ruleset, because I'm thinking of skirmish-level action.