"Warlord Games - New Soviet KV-85 Tank " Topic

Warlord Games released the Soviet KV-85 tank.

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warlordgames.com

Amicalement
Armand

I did not even know this tank existed. Was it a success? And is this the tank Tamiya has in 1/48 with German marking and a gun with a muzzle brake?

According to Wikipedia:

A stopgap upgrade to the KV series was the short-lived KV-85 or Objekt 239. This was a KV-1S with the new turret from the Object 237(IS-85) still in development, mounting the same 85 mm D-5T gun as the SU-85 and early versions of the T-34-85. The 85 mm proved capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m[12] and the demand for it slowed production of the KV-85 tremendously (only 148 were built in the end).

Darereaper….Thank you for posting that.

Yeah it always seemed odd to me that every manufacturer feels compelled to make a model of the KV-85. This was probably the least relevant tank in the Red Army of WW2.

I mean, OK, I can understand making a T-35. It was an odd and interesting beast, that pushed the limits of technology and theory (in odd directions) at the time it was built. But the KV-85? It was just cobbled together in 2 weeks to overcome a mis-match between IS turret and IS hull production schedules. Only 2 regiments were ever equipped with it, and it seems that almost all of the tanks were used up within about 4 months of fighting in the winter of 43/44. So why does every gamer need some of these???

Oh, and this Warlord Games model uses the wrong hull. The standard KV-85 was built on a KV-1S hull, which has a characteristic slope to the top of the engine deck. It seems a handful were also built on KV-1 model 1942 hulls, probably as factory-rebuilds rather than new production (as the KV-1 had been out of production for many months by the time the KV-85 was built). This hull had characteristic re-inforcing plates on the glacis and on the lower hull sides, and splash strips around the turret ring (which were removed on the sides of the ring when the fillets were installed to widen the turret ring, but should still have been visible on the front hull roof.

This model clearly shows a KV-1 hull, probably 1940 (or maybe early 1941) production, characterized by the flat engine deck and the lack of welded-on armor plates. Wrong hull altogether.

Or so it appears to me.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

I did not even know this tank existed. Was it a success? And is this the tank Tamiya has in 1/48 with German marking and a gun with a muzzle brake?

You're probably thinking of the PzKpfw KV-1 756(r) by Trumpeter. This was a one-off German conversion of a KV-1 fitted with a German 7.5cm L/43 gun. Hence the muzzle brake.

Why do gamers want it? Why do companies make it?

All I can say is that it's a pretty cool tank.

Glad you like it my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

"I did not even know this tank existed."

70 years after the war, Soviet maskirovka and desinformatsiya score another success.

Evidently not 20mm (?).

Would make a great support option for a Soviet Survivor Plt in "Secrets of the Third Reich". Although 19RPs is a "lot of eggs in one basket" for a 50RP game

"Why do gamers want it? Why do companies make it?"

Because it actually gives Soviet tankers a chance in late 1943 when the Germans can mysteriously field fleets of Tigers and Panthers, and the poor old Russians are stuck with T34/76s.

Besides, 148 tanks is seven regiments worth!

Because it actually gives Soviet tankers a chance in late 1943 when the Germans can mysteriously field fleets of Tigers and Panthers, and the poor old Russians are stuck with T34/76s.

Ah, but that is why we have the SU-85 and (wait for it …) SU-152!

And as for late 1943 … well, see, the problem is that I don't think ANY of the KV-85 equipped units saw combat with it until the first half of 1944. Maybe some in December of 1943 … maybe. But it was certainly a winter of 1943/44 entry into battle, not an Autumn of 1943 combatant like the SU-152.

Besides, 148 tanks is seven regiments worth!

Well OK, I can find 3, not 2, regiments that were equipped with KV-85s. But certainly not 7!

15th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment: Equipped with KV-85s in late 1943, re-equipped with IS-2s in April 1944.

29th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment: Equipped with KV-85s in November 1943, re-equipped with IS-2s in October 1944.

31st Guards Heavy Tank Regiment: This is the one I have just found out about -- the late comer to the party. It was not equipped with KV-85s until April-May 1944.

Now there may have been some other units that operated a few. It seems that German front line troops saw KV-85s everywhere … who knows how many of these were actually KV-85s? For example in March of 1944 German Intelligence identified the 55th Guards Tank Battalion (of 29th Tank Brigade) as operating 3 KV-85s in the first company (with KV-1's and KV-1S's filling the rest of the slots in the 1st and 2nd companies).

In any case there were more IS-85 tanks in service in the first half of 1944, and many more KV-1S tanks remained in service through the end of 1944. Yet most gamers I know who run Soviet armor, have some KV-85s but none of these more significant contemporary Soviet heavies.

I don't mean to rag on the poor KV-85. But I find it is more prominent in gaming than it's history warrants.

It just seems an oddity to me, that everyone seems to need some of these relatively obscure and entirely mediocre tanks. Does every gamer running French armor build a unit of Char D2's?

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Many thanks for the good data my friend.

Amicalement
Armand