Moving to 1,500 points

While finishing the painting on my 600 points of Russians, I’ve been thinking about the composition of the full 1,500 point army. My short list of options is to continue building the Strelkovy Battalion by adding the second infantry company or switch to a Tankovy Battalion using my one painted company as the tank riders for the tank battalion. I’ve had a chance to see a tank battalion on the battlefield when we used it in a previous Flames of War scenario and it performed well.

Adding to my desire to field the tank battalion is the fact that I have one box of T-34 tanks in the closet just waiting to be painted. It wouldn’t be too much more to get a second box of T-34’s and a Battalion HQ T-34. Another possibility might be to get lighter tanks or even heavier tanks like KV-1’s. Being that SU-152’s will stay in the army from the 600 point version, perhaps the KV’s are too much. The tank battalion would also give me the chance to add Cossacks which would really look different. I welcome comments regarding the Tankovy Battalion’s strengths and weaknesses from anyone who has been using the army.

Speaking of the SU’s, they arrived in the mail yesterday and I plan on working on them right after I finish the command teams that I am currently working on. Given that I am painting fewer figures, production has increased although this is offset by the greater variety in figure types. Infantry finished by the weekend is a definite possibility.