Cyrillic alphabet, part 2: the consonants

As you've seen, the modern Russian Cyrillic alphabet looks like so:
А Б В Г Д Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я

Let's seperate the alphabet out into vowels and consonants. To my eye, the vowels are the things that look like vowels, plus the things that look backwards. The consonants are:
Б В Г Д Ж З К Л М Н П Р С Т Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ь

Group one: the Greeks
Most of the consonants come directly from early Greek, and are similar to the modern Greek consonants:
Β Γ Δ Ζ Θ Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Π Ρ Σ Τ Φ Χ Ψ Ω
The first group includes:

1. Б and В: Both originally come from the Greek beta (Β), but he pronunciation  has shifted.  The Б is pronounced like the English B, while the В is pronounced like the English V. That might seem odd, but B and V  share a historical connection. In some languages--Spanish, for example--B and V are pronounced the same, and somethimes even substituted in spelling (frex, ceviche, an acid-cooked citrus seafood appetizer, can be spelled ceviche or cebiche). In Russian, as in English, B and V are distinct sounds.  Just remember: in Cyrillic, the В is the V, and the Б is the B.
2. Г comes from the Greek gamma (Γ), and is pronounced like a G, as in gamma.
3. Д comes from the Greek delta (Δ). Take a close look at the shape--the trpezoidal Д looks like a truncated Δ. It's pronounced like a D, as in delta.
4. Both Ж and З come from the Greek zeta (Z). The З sounds like our English Z, while Ж is more like a ZH.
5. К is one of the easy ones.  It comes from the Greek kappa (Κ) and is pronounced like the English K.
6. Л comes from the Greek lambda (Λ)  Like Д is similar to Δ, Л looks like a truncated Λ. It's pronounced like the English L, as in lambda.
7. М is another easy one. It comes from the Greek mu (M), and is pronounced like the English M.
8. Н is confusing. It's not the English H, nor is it related to the Greek eta. Rather, it's a form of the Greek nu (N), so it's pronounced lin the English N.
9. П comes from the Greek pi (Π), and is pronounced like the English P. 
10. Р is not an English Pee, rather, it comes from the Greek rho (Ρ), and is pronounced like the English R. If you're familiar with Greek, that's not so bad, but if you're not, it's confusing. 
11. С comes from the Greek sigma (Σ).  Yes, it looks like the English C, but think of it as a soft C, like in city or celestial, pronounced like the English S.
12. Т is another easy one: it comes from the Greek tau (T), and is pronounced like the English T. 
13. Ф comes from the Greek phi (Φ), and is pronounced like the English F (or PH, if you prefer).
14. Х comes from the Greek chi (X).  If you're unfamiliar with Greek, the letter "chi" is pronounced "kai," and so the Russian is Х is pronounced like the English K.

Group two: the double letters
The remaining four true consonants are not Greek in origin, Confusingly, they all look similar, and form sounds that are all represented in English with double letters. They are:

1. Ц, pronounced as TS
2. Ч, pronounced as CH
3. Ш, pronounced as SH
4. Щ, pronounced as SHCH (as in "borscht")--this consonant is relatively rare.

Group three: hard and soft

There are two more "letters" that are not really consonants, per se, because they don't have a phonetic value.  Rather, they affect the pronunciation of the preceding letter:

1. Ъ (the hard sign) indicates the preceding consonant should be voiced seperately (when it would normally be slurred).
2. Ь (the soft sign) indicates the preceding consonant should be softened.

Next up: the vowels.