28mm WWII Russian Tanks

These were all obtained from Wargames Command Post, they are all Company B models.

I like the early and mid-war period and if you are going to get a Russian army at this time there are certain vehicles that I think are must haves. One of those is the T-26.

By this time it was a bit naff, but at the time it was designed it was streets ahead of anything any other nation had. The T-26 with its 45mm gun was superb in the Spanish Civil War. It seems to me that Russia was always ahead of the game in terms of tank design right through the war, the problem was that they didn’t retire the old designs and used them on the field. So the T-26 was still a major part of the tank divisions at the start of hostilities in Summer 1941…not that many of them survived very long afterwards since they only had an equivalent amount of armour to an armoured half-track!

I particulalry like this tank commander miniature. Firstly I like the pose and secondly because the miniature is holding the top of the hatch it means that the open hatch can be securely glued in place, which is always a bonus. The droopy gun is a bit of a let down though. I dont know how/when this occured.

For a medium tank of course there are a few iconic vehicles in the Soviet Russian aresnal. The T-34 is probably the one most people would think of but to me it is just too good. I dont really like wargames with things that excell at everything they do and the T-34 certainly did that. Admittedly during the early war it had its problems (lack of radio…) but I just dont like the idea of it, at the moment anyway.

So bring on the T-28! What a monster! Multiple turrets…it looks like a proper early war vehicle.

Now you could take umbridge at my previous comments about uber vehicles but the T-28 is certainly not that. They did all have radios but the tank performed very poorly in the Winter war against Finland becasue of its thin armour. As a result this was increased to ~80mm which is comparable to a Panzer IV but the extra weight took the top speed from something around 45km/h to ~25km/h. The main armament is also lacking in punch since it was designed as an infantry support tank and fitted with a low velocity 76mm gun. So in game terms, this is decently armoured but slow and only passingly effective against other armoured targets. And it is huge…there is no way you are going to be able to conceal it behind anything much.

To get a better idea of the size of the T-28 here it is with the three T-26 I have.

You will notice there are no markings on any of the tanks. Strictly for early war they should have coloured bands around the turret that designated the organisational level of the tank. However, in later war it was common for Russian vehicles to leave the markings up to the local Brigade to decide or have no markings at all – that way you can’t tell what formation you are fighting. taking that into account I trawled the ‘internet’ for contemporary pictures of T-26 so I could copy the markings. What I actually fouond was loads of pictures of tanks with no markings. So I went for that. Of course I can always add markings at some point in the future.

Now, although I prefer early/mid-war I dont want to constrain my opponents. If they really must field a late war German Kampfrugge complete with Tiger II, Panther and all manner of infantry equipped to the teeth with assault rifles and panzerfausts, then I need something of that period too.

So here is my answer, an Su-76…its not spectacular but it was extremely common and had a long post war carreer too.

   

And finally..in order to get about sometimes a comrade needs a truck:

One fine day I’ll probably sell-out and get a KV-2, if for no other reason than it is just sooo Russian! The T-35 sorely tempts me too…although it would be a purely early war tank since mostly they were used on the parade ground. Some did see action though, for what they were worth – which was not a lot.