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.

X-wing Miniatures Slave I repaint

Another game I've been playing lately is Fantasy Flight's X-wing Miniatures game. Quick to learn rules and fun to play, games usually play in under an hour. With the recent release of the Slave I, my favorite Star Wars ship piloted by my favorite Character Boba Fett, I had to pick up two of them. So to make identifying it on the table easier I decided to repaint one as Jangos. I just painted right over the original finish with no problems.

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!

WIP - Saga: Viking Warband

 Some Work In Progress pics of the Viking Warband.

An overall shot of the 4 point warband starting from the back row, left to right: Hearthguard unit, Warlord, Hearthguard unit (the berserkers), Warriors with swords, and warriors with spears. They are all missing shields which will be painted separately. I decided to arm them for easy identification on the table top. The Gripping Beast Hirdmen box went together pretty easy, took me an evening to put together. Only complaint would be the limited amount of poses available in the box.

Close up of the Berserkers, for these I used the Warlord Games Ancient Germans box. Nice action poses and they fit right in size wise with the Gripping Beast plastics. At this point I'm waiting on an order for bases and they'll be ready for paint.

Homemade Saga Dice

With the nice (and expensive) engraved Saga Dice being sold out everywhere, I figured I'd try and make my own dice. Using a sheet of clear decal paper, some blank d6's, and a bit of time, I have dice for my Viking army. We'll see how durable they are though, I'm hoping a spray of some gloss clear will help to prevent the decal from flaking off over time. They should be fine for at least the first couple games.