Recently one of my customers sent me a Bunch of Soviet Navel Infantry troops to paint some of them were from the Resistant Rooster line and a majority of them were from the Battlefront Line. After I was finished with his stuff fortune smiled upon both of us and my local store decided to get rid of their Resistant Rooster stock. I had done quite a bit of research on Soviet Naval Infantry and there they were in the store at a significant discount. So I bought all that they had. After all was said and done I picked up enough to out fit my Crossfire force and give my customer enough stuff to outfit 2 Machine gun companies and a few other pieces

References:
For me a big part of the fun of painting these things is the research. I did quite a bit on these guys.

As distinctive as the uniform is there are very few color references to how they should look. You see a couple of them in the movie "Enemy at the Gates" and both Battlefront and Resistant Rooster have pictures on their website but nothing specific as far as painting directions. In the end I ended up using these two resources:

1. Osprey Men-At Arms Series 216 The Red Army of the Great Army of the Great Patriotic War 1941-5
2. And this picture: http://www.miniart-models.com/HQ_IMAGES/BOX/1_35/35043.jpg

The thing that was difficult was figuring out was the officers and how they differ from the normal enlisted. So that second reference mentioned was invaluable for this. Besides this is in 15mm so, if there is a mistake or two on that, as long as it is not blatant then it is really not a big deal. Where there was stuff that I was unsure of I used the standard Soviet infantry paint scheme.

Painting, Basing and Finishing:
When painting these I mounted liked posed figures on tongue depressors. When I had finished painting them, I based these on 1 ¼ in. Square bases for most of these (1 ¼ x 5/8 for the Platoon commanders). I mounted them like I do my other 15mm figures. I spread a layer of premixed concrete patch on the base. The I make a slurry of the premixed concrete patch (about the consistency of a milk shake) and I dip the base of the figure in so the slurry gets to the top of the base. Then I gently place it into the still wet concrete patch on the base.

After the concrete patch has cured for about a day or so I will take and dip these figures in my figure wash. This figure wash is made up of a bottle of Vallejo Model Color black ink and a bottle of Brown ink. For each bottle of ink I add 2 parts Future Floor Wax, and 3 parts water.  After I did this, I went back with a Q-tip and got ink that puddled here and there in bad looking places. I let it dry and when dry I shot it with some Dull Coat.

When everything above was dried and cured I sanded the bases with white glue. And put a Brown Glaze wash on the partially wet sanded area in order to seal it. After this had dried I dry brushed it with Cobra Leather, Bubonic Brown, and then bleached bone. Static grass was then applied and then foliage clumps.

The Battalion:
After all of the painting was said and done I now have a Soviet Naval Infantry Battalion for Crossfire here is what is in the force:
Battalion Headquarters:
1-Batallion Commander
Battalion Heavy Weapons:
3-HMG Stands
3-81mm Mortars (The mortars are represented on the table by their forward observers)
1-45mm Anti-Tank Gun
3-Infantry Companies each with:
1-Company Commander
Company Heavy Weapons:
1-HMG Stands
1-50mm Mortar (The mortars are represented on the table by their forward observers)
3-Rifle Platoons; each with:
1-Platoon commander
4-Rifle Squads
 In addition to this I have a submachine gun platoon an Extra 45mm anti-tank gun and some snipers. 

Terrain and Battles:
When researching this I got to explore pretty much a new area of the Eastern Front: The area from Estonia to Eastern Prussia. I got to glance over bits about the battle of Narva and the siege of Königsberg. At this point I am fascinated by actions taken by the Soviets on the Frische Nehrung.

The Frishche Nehrung (or Vistula Spit) is a fascinating piece of Real Estate on the coast that straddles the border of Poland and the Russian Enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast. It is bordered on the North by the Baltic Sea and the south by the Vistula Lagoon.

Found some great pictures of the area here: http://ipicture.mobi/?c=pl&UF=-535709&UN=-757068&DG=SPIT

In the later part of the war it was invaded from the sea by Soviet Naval Infantry. Elements of the 260th Naval Infantry Brigade were still fighting remnants of the German army up until the end of the war a month later. Prior to that it was one of the routes used for the evacuation of Germans fleeing the Soviet advance. One of the unfortunate things about this is information on the Internet is fairly sparse.

So getting back to why I am interested in the area besides the geography. For Wargaming purposes this gives a pretty good land mass for eastern front fighting that I can use interchangeably with some western front actions and with other non winter north eastern actions (Like Finland). Another reason that it is a nice area to do things with is the "button counters" that manage to inhabit game stores and conventions. Something like this is obscure enough that they will have no idea about it and I can get away with the odd mistake or liberty here and there.

The terrain for action here can be very simple: Tree's and clearings. If you look at the pictures in the above link you will see some over grown bunkers that look like the had tank turret on them at one time in their lives. I have no idea what type they would have but I would guess that it would probably be one from a r.35 French tank. If I wanted to get fancy I could do beaches but I do not see how that is going to gain me anything significant but it could look very cool and frame a table nicely.