JOD WW2 RED ARMY

Red Army STL Miniatures: 28mm Soviet Forces from Stalingrad to Berlin

The Eastern Front was a different war. Longer, colder, fought over distances that make the Western campaigns look like local disputes, and decided by an army that absorbed losses no other force could have survived and kept coming. Fielding a Red Army list means fielding weight of numbers and the doctrine built around it.

Part of the Join or Die WW2 collection, sculpted at 28mm and supplied as digital STL files for home printing.

An army that changed as the war went on

The Soviet force of 1941 and the one that took Berlin in 1945 were barely the same institution. The early war army was under-equipped, badly led at the tactical level and reeling. By 1943 the doctrine had matured, the equipment was arriving in quantity, and the same army was conducting operations at a scale nobody else attempted.

That range gives a Soviet collection unusual scenario reach. Defensive actions in 1941, the grinding urban fighting at Stalingrad, and the advances of 1944 onward all use the same core infantry but play completely differently.

The submachine gun army

What defines a Soviet squad on the table is the PPSh-41. No other army fielded automatic weapons in that proportion, and entire units were equipped with nothing else. In close terrain that produces a force with terrifying short-range firepower and very little to say beyond thirty metres.

It shapes how you play them. A Red Army list wants to close, wants urban and wooded terrain, and wants the fight to happen at a range where the PPSh does the talking. Against a German force built around the MG42 at longer ranges, that tension is the whole game.

What’s in the range

Infantry and command. Rifle squads, officers and the core troops that make up a Soviet list, with the pose variety needed to build sections that don’t look like repeated ranks.

Support weapons and artillery. Weapon teams and guns for building positions worth attacking, and for giving a Soviet force the indirect fire that its doctrine leaned on heavily.

Armour. The T-34, which is the tank of the Eastern Front and arguably the most consequential design of the war. The KV-1 heavy for the early period, when its armour was a genuine problem for German anti-tank guns. And the IS-2 for the late war, when the Soviets brought a gun large enough to make the argument in one shot.

Rulesets these work with

The models are sculpted to standard 28mm proportions and work with the WW2 systems most people play, including Bolt Action and Chain of Command. Neither publisher is affiliated with us and neither endorses these models. Compatibility is a matter of scale and basing, not licensing.

The two systems reward Soviet forces differently. Bolt Action’s national rules and troop grading let you field the numbers advantage explicitly. Chain of Command’s focus on small-unit leadership makes early-war Soviet command problems into a genuine mechanical constraint rather than a flavour note.

Recognising the kit

The SSh-40 helmet with its smooth rounded shell, the Mosin-Nagant with its long silhouette, and the PPSh with its unmistakable drum magazine. Padded telogreika jackets for winter, and amoeba camouflage suits on scouts and specialists. Uniform colour ran from a green-brown khaki to something considerably more washed out depending on year and supply.

Printing

Around 0.03mm layer height on resin covers gaming figures, tilted 30 to 45 degrees for drainage. Mosin-Nagant barrels are long, which makes them the fragile part of the infantry range, so check orientation and support placement before committing a plate. Files are designed for home printing and scale cleanly if you want to adjust size.

Frequently asked questions

How do I paint Soviet uniforms without the force looking flat?
Variation is historically correct here, which makes it easier rather than harder. Soviet uniform colour was inconsistent throughout the war because of dye shortages and multiple production sources, so a squad where figures range from green-khaki through to a browner, greyer tone looks more authentic than one painted in a single flat colour. Start with a mid khaki base, then vary individual figures warmer or cooler by a shade. Winter forces open up further options, since the padded telogreika was often a noticeably different tone from the summer uniform, and quilted texture takes a wash beautifully.

Should I print tanks in resin or FDM?
Either works, and the choice depends on what you value. Resin gives you crisper detail on hatches, tools, tow cables and the weld seams that make a T-34 look like a T-34. FDM handles the large flat hull surfaces well and is cheaper for a vehicle that size, which matters if you’re printing a platoon rather than a single tank. Many people run FDM for hulls and resin for the small detail parts and crew figures. Whichever you choose, print the hull and turret separately so the turret rotates, and check your build volume before slicing, since a 28mm heavy tank is a substantial object.

What terrain suits Eastern Front scenarios?
It depends entirely on which part of the front you’re playing. Urban rubble for Stalingrad, which is some of the best terrain in the hobby because the fighting was building to building and floor to floor. Open steppe with minimal cover for the summer campaigns, where the game becomes about long fields of fire and very little to hide behind. Or winter terrain, where a white table changes the visual character of a game entirely and suits the padded winter uniforms. All three are worth building for, and they produce genuinely different games with the same models.

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