Dead Men Speak No Ill of Stalin Making Suitably Soviet Sized Pin Markers By Casey Davies When my Soviet army appeared on the site a number of people mentioned that they would like me to do a step-by-step showing how I made my “Pin markers”.

Making dead infantry stands, or putting dead miniatures onto your bases is an easy process. Start off by choosing miniatures that are suitable for making corpses. I usually look for miniatures that are reasonably flat to start with, that have arms and legs thrown out to stop their fall. Right: Here is an example of standard Soviet infantry miniatures that I’ve used for dead bases before. Below left: For the examples I’ve used these miniatures.

After selecting your miniatures and cleaning up any mould lines, carefully cut the bases away from their feet. This can be done with either a pair of clippers or a sharp knife. I usually do enough for 4-5 bases at a time.

Since my army is a mix of regular, greatcoat and naval infantry I have access to a greater amount of ‘flat miniatures’. If you want to have a bit more variety in your dead miniatures another thing to do is to cut the bases of your models, then place them between a few sheets of cardboard and hit them with a hammer. Be careful not to hit them too hard, as all you are trying to do is straighten them out a bit, not turn them into pancakes.

After you have all of your miniatures prepared, take the base that you are going to put them on and base it as you would any other team in your army. Here I have covered the base in ready mixed filler, up to the level that I normally have on my bases. It pays to have a fairly thick level of ready mixed filler on the base as it gives you something to squish the dead miniatures into.

Next take the models that you have prepared earlier and put a small amount of PVA glue on the side of the miniature that is going to be put on. (I always put my miniatures face down because I feel that it shows that they died running forward, and it also means that I don’t have to paint their faces.) Squish your miniatures into the putty. You may need to go back over your base and add a little more putty to areas of the miniatures that are not touching the ground.

After all your models are squished into the putty, leave to dry. Once this is set you can paint your base and infantry as you normally do. Below right: We also have casualty miniatures that can be used this way as well available Special Order.