Long weekend

As our US readers are no doubt aware, this upcoming weekend is extra long, due to the MLK day holiday on Monday. To compound the painting and hobby potential of this weekend, my wife will be out of town visiting her grandmother, so I will have an inordinate amount of time to paint/hobby etc. I believe that I should have plenty of time to work on current or special projects. I may be able to finish the company of 6mm tanks I have been painting for DSII, or I may make use of that new photo set up I got for Christmas. Then again I may just sleep…
Yesterday I picked up a packet from my parents’ house, where most of my mail currently goes, and was delighted to see that it was from Copplestone Castings. I ended up ordering three packs of 10mm Horse Lords to serve as Rohirim in my eventual LotR forces, a pack of Bolshevik heroines, and a pack of Neo-soviets. As you might expect, the miniatures were well cast and sculpted, and should serve their appointed purposes well. In addition, the packet came in less than 10 days from the UK, and Copplestone has switched to a more “eco-friendly” packing material as well.
I have been pondering a Neo-soviet force for StarGrunt II, and seeing the figures painted for the Hammers Slammers demo game has not helped things. I figure that a platoon of figures, with a support weapons squad, a squad of Revolutionary Guard, and a power armor squad should be a good grouping to have. The basic platoon is easy to figure out, just use the Copplestone figures, 2 squads of line figures, command squad, and an inductee squad using the partisan figures. Revolutionary guard would be the same as the regular figures, but with heavier armor, and a commo helmet. For power armor, I was thinking that an amalgam of Tau Stealth suits and space marine legs should work to give a Ma.K look. Have to check out the sizes though. Old Crow looks as if it will be able to supply any vehicles needed, again as shown in the HS demo game shots.
The only part I have trouble with is the heavy weapons squad, and other supporting figures (medic, radio man etc) since the Neo-soviet figures are lacking in those areas. I have been looking around for suitable WWII Russians to use, since the Neo-soviets are not too “modern” looking aside from their rifle, but so far nothing really matches the Copplestone look. I may have to go with Russian civil war figures and a head swap, which at a current price of around $2.32 a figure, is somewhat expensive. Another option is using the West Wind Separate Head System to my advantage, and getting a pack of their helmeted heads. Either way, I also need more modern guns for the loader types to carry around, and probably will go with either TAG AK-47s or plastic 1/35 AK variants. PPSs may be a good option too, with “modernized” furniture.