Bolshevik Blockbuster

I managed to track down the least expensive source of a 1/55th scale HLBS Schneider CA1 tank for my Back of Beyond Bolshevik army. This turned out to be HLBS rather than Copplestone or First Corp, which was a pleasant surprise. I've always wanted one of these after seeing a Steve Dean example painted up as a Chinese Warlord's armoured support. This is the one on the Copplestone webshop over at Northstar, where it's a couple of quid more to buy.

It's also a useful alternative to my existing Whippet tank, which only has one machine gun in the Contemptible Little Armies rules despite having four on the model, the idea being that the crew could only manage to fire one at a time. The Schneider, by contrast, has two machine guns and a tank gun which makes it a much more effective piece of kit, even if it is much slower and thirty points more expensive.

I've spray undercoated it in Humbrol Matt Grass Green, which is the approach I took with my other vehicles for the Bolshevik army, although I'd normally use a black undercoat and dry-brushing these days. Instead, I'll give it a wash followed by layered dry brushing and weathering to match the rest of the Bolshevik AFV's. A job for the weekend, along with the extra Cheka figures and field gun which I made a start on earlier in the week before work stopped play.