Bolt Action Normandy Terrain

Just a quick post of a recent game of Bolt Action, 2 vs 2, 1500 points a side. Everything except the trees were made over a 2 week period just for this game. My brother and I used cardboard, foamcore sheets, bits of wood, and cork tiles to complete the table. We're planning on doing a Winter Eastern Front set for our next big game.

Bolt Action US Infantry

I managed to get some shots of my US Infantry from Warlord Games. Unfortunately the pics came out a bit dark, hopefully when I complete the next batch of Infantry I can do a complete Army shot with some better lighting.

 ::Combat Platoon::

 ::Squad One::

  ::Squad Two::

 ::Squad One::

 ::Squad Two::

::Sniper Team::

So far I have a Reinforced Combat Platoon consisting of two 8 Man Squads, a 1st Lieutenant, a Veteran Medic, a Sniper Team, a Sherman 75, and an M8 Greyhound. For my first game of Bolt Action I was playing against the Russians played by Tony who was also playing his first game. We agreed to play a 500 point game so minus the Sniper team and Greyhound this put me at 491 points.

We rolled up Top Secret for the scenario, which means everything starts in reserve and moves onto the table. The objective of the game is to secure secret documents set up in the middle of the table and retrieve the info by running it off your table edge. My first unit to move on was my Sherman which I moved up to cover the objective to make Tony think twice about trying to capture the documents. Once all the units moved on, we started taking pot shots at each other across the table. Eventually my Sherman got assaulted and destroyed, and it went downhill from there. The same Russian unit that destroyed my Sherman then went on to assault one of my squads, and in Bolt Action its a fight to the Death. The assaulting unit has the advantage as any casualties inflicted are removed and whatever is left get to fight back. He was running full 12 man squads while I had only had 8, so I was outmatched in close combat and he destroyed my squad. Even so, I managed to get the Secret documents to within a turn of running off my table edge and winning. It all came down to whose order die was pulled first at the start of turn 5. Tony's order die came up first and he ordered his squad, the same squad that destroyed the Sherman and wiped out my squad in an assault, to gun down the courier. At that point I had just one squad left, so we decided to call it.

My lesson from that game is that you really need to put more units on the table to generate order dice. I started with 5 and the Russians had 9, so his chances of activating units when he needed to were pretty good. 

After the game we realized we messed up on some of the rules. The Sherman would have survived the assault (we misread the Tank Assault rules) and possibly changing the outcome of the game, and also using my medic to save an NCO from his sniper.

I'm currently painting up another two full 12 man squads of Infantry with extra BARS (to run as vets if I want), a Bazooka Team, and a Forward Air/Artillery Observer. I also plan to paint up a Medium Mortar team and three LMG teams.

Bolt Action World War II

BOLT ACTION BY WARLORD GAMES

Well it's been awhile but I'm back into building and painting stuff, for now. The latest project I've been working on is for Warlord Games World War II game published by Osprey, Bolt Action. I already completed a small 500 point US Army and played my first game and it's awesome. So hopefully I'll remember to post updates here as I journey into another game...

Warlord Games Plastic US Infantry Box. Excellent figures. Some WIP shots.

Here the US Infantry are done. I just need to take some proper pics and post them. In the background you can see a 1/48 Tamiya Sherman assembled and ready for paint. I also built Tamiya's 1/48 Greyhound.

Final Shots of the Tamiya 1/48 Sherman and Greyhound.

Now, to paint more infantry!

Sherman Tank Company

::The Complete Sherman Company::

::The Complete Sherman Company::

::The Complete Sherman Company::

::HQ and 2ic::

::75mm Sherman Platoon A::

::75mm Sherman Platoon B::

::76mm Sherman Platoon::

All models by Plastic Soldier Company, Stowage by Peter Pig and Battlefront.

1500 Point US Tank Company - Finished

I finally managed to Finish off the Sherman Platoons, so that means my 1500 point Flames of War army is done. Well until the PSC M3 halftracks are released, need those to finish off the Armored Rifles, but for now they'll have to go to battle on foot. I'll add another post in a few days with more detailed pics of the complete army, here are some overall army pics.

::front to back: 1x Tank Co HQ, 2x 75mm Tank Platoons, 1x 76mm Tank Platoon::

::The Complete 1500 US Tank Company::

Whats the next project? My brother and I picked up the Field of Glory Ancients rule set and decided to do a classic match-up, I'll be doing the Alexandrian Macedonian's while my brother is doing the Persians in 15mm. I decided to go with Xyston for the figures, amazing sculpts, but a bit on the large size, they're more like 18mm. I figure as long as I stick with Xyston and not mix figures from other manufacturers it'll be fine. At the moment I'm still going through and organizing them into battle groups and prepping them for priming.

Forged in Battle - WIP

This is where I am currently at on my M8's and Jeeps.

After I finish these off I just need to finish 15 Shermans. I already assembled 10 of the cast hull versions so they are ready to go. I am waiting on Plastic Soldier Company to send me a box of the welded hull Shermans, I want mixed hull types in my force.

Forged in Battle

I just picked up my order for the Forged in Battle M8's and Jeeps for my US Tank Company. The M8's are packaged 3 to a clampack and the Jeeps are 4 to a clampack. Comprising Resin and White Metal parts the castings on these are excellent. I just had one jeep with a chip on the front hood. Only downside (for me) is the molded on bases, it doesn't affect them in terms of gameplay, I just prefer my vehicles unbased.

On the M8's I decided to model the 50. cal's as if they were on a ring mount on top of the turret. It's wrong, I know, but I just like the look of it. As modeled they are supposed to go on the rear of the turret as some M8's were fitted with them in this position for AA duty.

US Armored Rifle Platoon - Finished

Here is the finished US Armored Rifle Platoon.

To finish off the Company I still need 15 Shermans, 2 M8 Greyhounds, 4 Jeeps, and 5 M3 Halftracks. I have 10 of the shermans assembled so far. Just waiting for Plastic Soldier Company to ship another box of Shermans and I have an order out with Forged in Battle for the M8 Greyhounds and the Jeeps. As for the M3 Halftracks I'll just wait for PSC to release theirs and run the army without halftracks for now.

Flames of War 15mm

What I have been working on recently. I got back into Flames of War with the big V3 release as its a good time to get back into the game and learn the rules along with everyone else. I haven't played since first edition, and I skipped second edition, so its been about 6 years since I last played. To start off, I picked up a box of the Plastic Soldier Company 15mm Shermans...

Here, I have assembled them out of the box. They build up very nicely and are easy to put together. I used some "Combo Weights" intended for Pinewood Derby cars and just glued 2 sections inside each tank to increase their weight. At this point they looked like they were missing something and looking through reference pictures and videos of Shermans in combat they all have one thing in common...

Lots and lots of junk strapped onto the rear deck and turret sides including, in some of the pics I saw, bicycles and pianos. So I picked up a pack of US stowage. For $12.50usd it includes a ton of sprues, only problem is there are only 2 types of sprues. But what it lacks in variety it makes up for in the number of sprues, and with careful arranging of the stowage tank to tank, you can get unique stowed tanks.

and here is a shot of 2 figs from the US Rifle Company pack I painted up to figure out color combos. I paint 15mm figures Assembly Line style, so painting one or two test figures helps to see what the end result will be and to work out any problem areas I may run into when going down the line of 50-100 figures.