The Black Death – Part 2

Shopping & Painting

This article is brought to you by guest writer, Luke Daley – an avid Team Yankee Soviet Naval Infantry player, painter and gamer. It is published with his consent. Many thanks for allowing us to bring your hard work to the Team Yankee and Flames of War community, Luke. 
The models are from Battlefront, by and large, so it would be great to see the option of adding Soviet Marines to the forces available to Warsaw Pact players.

– Dunc

Having previously detailed the appearance and nature of the Soviet Marines, let us now look at how you can make your own Soviet Naval Infantry force.

Shopping Lists

This is pretty straight forward but just in case:

• For Soviet Marine Infantry, buy Soviet Motor Rifle Company sets.
• For Soviet Marine T-55s, buy T-55 Tank Platoon sets.
• For Soviet Marine PT-76s (Using BMP-1 rules), buy K-2 Ironclad Platoon (‘Nam) sets.
• For BTR-60s, Shilka AA Platoons, BM-21 Hails, MI-24 Hinds, BDRM-2s and SU-25 Frogfoots, buy the Soviet Army models and just paint them up as Naval units.
• Soviet Marine MT-LB transports – use modified Storm ATGMs

Recommendations on Modelling

I recommend that ‘Polish’ Support units be painted as Soviet Navy units, but this is up to you! Surprisingly enough, Naval Infantry uniforms were literally Soviet Army uniforms that came in black. They used the same helmets and AK-74 rifles and personal gear as the army, albeit sometimes in different colours.

I converted my BTR-60s into BTR-60PBs (open-topped), a variant the Marines used. I got a Battlefront BTR-60 and never gave it a turret. I decided to give each transport a funky twist – a Soviet Navy flag for identification – so the hole for the turret was covered.

Modified T-55s used by the Naval Infantry should use the T-55AM2 turret used by the East Germans (with the laser rangefinder), but without the exterior plating. The marines gave their T-55s ‘Drozhd’ active protection systems, which means they’d have a turret with no exterior plates, but similar armour effectiveness to the T-55AM2.

Even Storm ATGM platforms can be converted to Soviet Marine MT-LB transports. I count them as OT-64s.

Painting

For Vehicles
The colour scheme is a dark green, darker than usual Soviet green. They often have the Soviet Navy flag on them.

• Prime with Soviet Green (Battlefront)
• Vehicle exterior – Cayman Green (Game Color)
• Tracks/wheels – Black Glaze (Model Color)
• Storage and jerry cans – Goblin Green (Game Color)
• Silver/metal parts – Chainmail Silver (Game Color)

For Soviet Navy Flag Markings
I freehanded with:

• Bloody Red (Game Color)
• Dead White (Game Color)
• Macragge Blue (Citadel).
• Wash with Sepia Shade (Game Color)
• Add Stirland Battlemire (Citadel) for mud and weathering effects

Tank crew
Uniforms are a very dark blue, not black. Try mixing any black and dark
blue and that should work.

For Infantrymen

The uniform is black with subtle differences in colour to the Soviet Army. Some marines, mainly scouts, wear camouflage suits.

• Prime with Soviet Green (Battlefront)
• Majority of uniform (including boots) – Black Glaze (Model Color)
• Helmets – Cayman Green (Game Color)
• Combat belts and satchels – Elf Skintone (Game Color)
• Wooden AK-74 parts – Khaki (Game Color).
• Metal AK-74 parts (including magazine) – Chainmail Silver (Game Color)
• The red star on helmets – Bloody Red (Game Color)
• Wash with Sepia Shade (Game Color)
  
  I usually paint bases with Flat Earth (Model Color) and add modelling grass to taste.