This set contains:

• 1 x Soviet HQ
• 1 x Soviet Medium Machine Gun Team
• 1 x Soviet Medium Mortar Team

Soviet HQ

Like the soldiers they commanded, many Soviet officers were inexperienced and lacked training at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Stalin’s ruthless purge of the officers of the Red Army in 1937 had denuded the organization of leadership and left deep scars in the survivors’ minds. Throughout the war, showing initiative was seen as a dangerous trait, and most Soviet officers would follow their orders to the letter even if they meant marching their men to certain death.

Soviet operational leadership improved immeasurably over time, but the heavy casualties endured by the Red Army indicates that overall battlefield control remained a blunt instrument. A great reliance was placed on forward planning, timetables and pre-set objectives to overcome shortcomings. An officer unit consists of the officer himself and can include up to two other men acting as his immediate attendants. Soviet officers can be rated as Inexperienced, Regular or Veteran.

Soviet Medium Mortar Team

The standard Russian medium mortar of the war was the 82- PM-41 or 82mm battalion mortar Model 1941. This served alongside the otherwise similar 82mm Model 1937. Both were very effective and accurate weapons with a range of about 3,000 yards. 82mm mortars were regarded as artillery rather than infantry weapons by the Russians and were usually massed together in batteries for battalion-level support.

Soviet Medium Machine Gun Team

The Red Army used the venerable Maxim Model 1910 as its medium machine gun throughout the war, the very same weapon that had served the Tsarist army in World War I. It was a capable weapon that could be tripod-, sledge- or wheelmounted and was often given a useful shield to help preserve the crew. The Maxim was so heavy and cumbersome, however, that, unlike most other Soviet weapons, the Germans seldom made use of captured examples. The Maxim was slowly replaced by the newer, lighter but equally effective SG43 model machine gun, which was also usually deployed on a small, wheeled mount with a gun shield.

The T-34 series, with its sloping armour, changed the principles of tank design during the war. The sloping, angular layout of the T-34 increased the effective armour thickness and also saw a larger proportion of shells deflected away than penetrated its armour. The introduction of the T-34 into action saw German tank design follow suit with similarly angled armour on the likes of the Panther and King Tiger. As German tank design came to the fore, the Soviet war machine once again raised the bar with the T-34/85.

The T-34/85, the very symbol of Soviet military strength in the Second World War, had a new turret to house the more powerful 85mm ZiS gun. A supremely rugged and reliable tank, the T-34/85 had excellent off-road capability, especially in the marshland or snow of the Eastern Front, and was easy for the crew to operate and maintain.

The T-34/85's great strength lay in its adaptation of the T-34/76 tank design which preceded it. This ensured a far smoother and faster production line than would have been the case with a completely new design. Another major advantage of the relatively simple design is the sheer number of tanks the Soviet tank factories could produce - by the summer of 1944 the Soviet war machine could produce more T-34/85s in a month than the Germans had Panther tanks in the whole of the Eastern Front!

With over 21,000 of the 57,000 T-34s built during WWII being T-34/85s, the Russian credo was clearly one of quantity over quality, although it was an unwise Panzer commander who discounted the ability of the T-34/85.

The T-34/85 would be used by many nations post-war. 120 were used during the invasion of South Korea in 1950. They proved highly effective in the early days of this action until newer NATO tanks arrived in theatre

Box contains 1 plastic tank, Bolt Action stat card, damage markers, leaflet and decal sheet.

The KV1/2 plastic box is absolutely crammed packed with the might of mother Russia:

• Enough plastic components to create one tank body and both complete turret variants (KV-1 turret and KV-2 turret)!
• A detailed construction booklet.
• A set of full-colour waterslide decals to allow you to put the finishing touches on your tank.
• A squad of 8 infantry that double-up as tank riders!
• A blast, smoke and fire marker to allow that cinematic touch.
• A stat card for either tank which holds all the information you need for your Bolt Action battles.

The KV-1 Heavy Tank

The KV-1 is a huge monster of a vehicle weighing at 45 tonnes it was one of Russia's first heavy breed of tanks used within the second world war, it was famed for it's near impregnability. The German anti-tank weaponry of the time had nearly no way of penetrating its armour, only the lack of training and manoeuvrability allowing it to fall foul of superior German tactics.

Their size allowed KV-1s to literally crush anything beneath its giant treads, firing lines and encampments were abandoned on the sheer sight of it. The 76.2mm cannon still punched through any of the current German armour, so during 1941, it was nigh-unstoppable.

The KV-1 set the example of how a heavy tank could or should be, nearly indestructible and to cause terror in their enemy. Over the following years it did fall out of favour, but it was used as the base for the next generation of heavy tanks.

These are the men who fought ferociously to defend Mother Russia from the German invasion of 1941 through to the fall of Berlin in 1945. Simple peasant soldiers, they were taught to obey orders and do as they were told. Their life was hard and their battles probably unequalled in history for scale and suffering.

The Russian divisions grew from a disorganised mass to a fully capable and experienced force of modern infantry in just a few short years, a deadly weapon tempered in the cauldron of battle against the German invaders.

"Quantity has a quality of its own" said Joseph Stalin, alluding to the huge numbers of men he could put into the field. Well-equipped with simple, solid weaponry the Soviet soldier was a terror in attack and the very devil in defence as the legendary sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad hold in stark testimony.

This box gives you a platoon of grim Russian infantry with a variety of equipment and weaponry. Assemble your men, fix bayonets, look to your front and don't let the Commissar see you lag behindǃ

Soviet Infantry contains:

• Enough plastic components to make 40 Soviet Union infantry miniatures
• Round plastic bases (25mm diameter)
• Background leaflet
• A host of options to allow for different weapon configurations and command models
• Weapons include:
• Mosin Nagant rifle (scoped, with bayonet and without)
• PTRD Anti-tank rifle
• submachine guns (PPS-43, PPSh-41 and PPD-40)
• Mosin Nagant carbine
• DP-28 light machine gun
• Tokarev semi-automatic rifle (and bayonet version)
• Pistols
• Captured Panzerfaust

Requires Assembly

IS-2 Heavy Tank

IS-2 Heavy Tank

What do you do when you are told to upgrade an already giant metal monster that took a whole new generation of tank to actually deal with? You make it bigger and make it louder. The IS-2 is that very same beast, made as a competent replacement for the KV series and it was a far better designed machine than its predecessor.It had thick frontal armour and a huge 122mm gun, despite its size; the weight is comparable to that of the German Panther. The IS-2 was intended as a breakthrough tank so it was given a weapon suitable for such a task; and it broke through gloriously, right through the German lines and into the heart of Germany itself.IS-2 in Bolt Action

• Enough plastic components to make the IS-2 heavy tank!
• A detailed construction booklet.
• Full-colour waterslide decals.
• A 8-man squad of infantry that can used as tank riders or normal infantry!
• A stat card which holds all the essential info you need to use your tank!
• A set of damage markers for that real effect!

Bolt Action

Warlord Games

Bolt Action Starter Army - Russian

Bolt Action Points Values

This army deal is made up of the following:

• 1x plastic T34/85 medium tank
• 1x Soviet 82mm mortar team
• 1x metal Soviet officer(random selection)
• 1x metal Medic
• 8 plastic Soviet body sprues
• 5 plastic Soviet weapon sprues

Please be aware that models and poses may vary from those shown in the picture.

Bolt Action

Warlord Games