Bolt Action Battle Report

We posted a quick bolt action battle report on YouTube tonight.

We had a great time with the game.  Scenario was quite tense, especially in the first turn where my paras were staring at a heap of guns daring them to get the objective.

We played a "what if" scenario where to erstwhile allies clash over secret documents. My British paratrooper force was made up of:-

Second Lieutenant (Vet)

medic (vet)

fAO (regular and free)

2 full para squads

Flamethrower team (vet)

jeep (vet)

Airborne recce jeep (vet)

Sniper team (vet)

My opponent had a ton of troops it would seem, and the most annoying mortar EVER.

2nd Lt (reg)

Medic 

Mortar (reg)

2 SMG squads (reg)

3 LMG squads (reg)

Rifle squad (free and green)

Here is a link to the video

Bolt Action Battle Report

I am uploading a Bolt Action battle report as I type this.  We play the "Last Stand At Arnhem" scenario from BattleGround: Europe.  The battle has some tense moments (especially with the luck preliminary bombardment and the combat with umbrella!).

We fight at 1280 points as we decided to add some extra stuff.  We use John Frost, using the rules from Battleground: Europe and my new 4Ground building.  I am going to have to buy more of these, really solid and good quality.

The army lists used were...

British Paras 

All troops Veteran except the free observer 

John Frost with bugler

Sniper 

Flamethrower in jeep

6 pounder QF ATG

Recce Jeep with dual vickers

PIAT team

4 para squads with everything

Medic (who we decided added his morphine to the tea he was drinking as he never fixed anyone up)

German panzer grenadiers 

All regular except for officers who are veterans 

Leutnant with soldier

Hauptmann with soldier

3 panzer grenadier squares with assault rifles SMGs LMG 

3 Hanomags 

Flamenwerfer 

Sniper team

Mortar team (inexperienced) with spotter

Puma

MMG

Medic 

Link here (when uploaded)

Paint Challenge - British Paras

So I have a painting challenge this week.  I am trying to paint a full force of 28mm WW2 british paratroopers.  The first part has been done now, namely they have been assembled, based and primed.

There are a lot of the little blighters.  Mainly from Warlord, Artizan Designs and Crusader Miniatures.

Over the course of the week I will post stage by stage photos, and will hopefully combine them into a guide at the end of it all.  In case you were wondering why the challenge?  It is to motivate me to paint them.  I tend to find it hard to motivate myself to start a painting project without a goal in mind.  I also find it really hard to go back and add to things later.  This is why all the paras that are needed have been purchased (even extras where I think they maybe needed) and they will all be painted as one batch.

Well wish me luck and here goes......

Bolt Action Painting Target

We plan on doing a bolt action battle report next week end, with British Paras vs Germans.  This all depends on whether or not I can get the stack of British infantry painted in time.  They are all sitting on the table at the moment, waiting to be sprayed.  I will try to take some pics during the process to keep you up to date.

My Paras consist of...

• 4 Paratrooper Squads
• 2 Platoon Leaders (1 with umbrella), both with buglers.
• 2 Light mortars
• 1 Medium Mortar
• 2 MMGs
• 2 PIAT Teams
• 2 Sniper Teams
• 1 Flamethrower Team
• 1 Transport Jeep
• 1 Recce Jeep with Dual Vickers
• 1 6 pounder ATG
• 1 Higher Commander with cup of tea (if model arrives)

Don't know how this is going to be fielded in the game, as it depends on the size game we are playing and my ability to meet a hobby target when I am out on Monday night lol.

I do have a Tetrarch as well, but that isn't on the target list for this week, it is waiting for the tank airbrushing binge.

Bolt Action Carentan Battle Report

Had a great game of bolt action this evening.  We tried out a homemade scenario for an assault on a town by an infantry force.  Used U.S. airborne against veteran Germans.  Was a thrilling game.  Will post the scenario when I neaten the presentation up (it is scribbled on my iPad at the moment).

So without further waffling, here are the army lists:-

U.S. Airborne

Richard Winters (rules from Battleground: Europe) with one Veteran soldier

2nd Lieutenant 

Sniper Team

2 Bazooka Teams

Medium Mortar

Eugene the Medic

3 Paratrooper Squads(11 men plus NCO with SMG, 1 SMG, 1 LMG, Anti-Tank Grenades)

German Forces

Hauptmann

Oberleutnant 

Medic

Sniper Team

MMG Team

Panzershreck Team

Flammenwerfer Team

Medium Mortar

Pak 40

2 Veteran Grenadier Squads (9 men plus NCO with Assault Rifle, 2 LMGs, 5 Assault Rifles)

2 Veteran Grenadier Squads (9 men plus NCO with Rifle, 2 LMGs)

Veteran Grenadier Squad (9 men plus NCO with SMG, LMG, 7 SMGs)

Inexperienced Panther

Of course both sides could rely on intermittent support(hindrance) from Beelzebubbles the hobby cat

The scenario would see a desperate infantry assault on the town.  Due to the rules of the scenario, the defenders may be more or less prepared to deal with the attack.  However, due to the Veteran status of the German troops, it was more than likely that they would put up a hard fight and be organised in defence.  As it happens, the only unit to not come of when and where they wanted from reserve was the Hauptmann!  He actually rolled a FUBAR!  We reasoned that he must have been served improperly prepared strudel and coffee, so executed his pastry chef before joining the defence.

As usual, I will edit the video then post a link here and on the Battle Reports list.  It does seem to take a huge amount of time to upload the video to YouTube in 720p though,  last video took hours!  The files are massive it would seem.

Finishing off ruined farmhouse

Nearly finished the warlord games ruined farmhouse.  Just need foliage for the tree, but I ran out and the local hobby shop has none in stock :-(

When the PVA dries they will look great.

And they are done....for now

So here they are.  All done at last.  A full shelf packed tightly of German infantry.  There are 5 full squads and some men left over so I can change it up a bit.  I have 2 squads with STG44s, 2 with rifles, 1 with SMGs and some extra rifles and a LMG if I need to change the setup.  All have some panzerfaust a in them, with a selection of NCOs (I doubt I will ever field all of them in 1 game, so this gives me a lot of versatility)

Also present are a Panzerschreck team, sniper team, flame thrower team, MMG team and a Mortar team (should cover the support base lol).  I also have a Pak40, just in case.  

Command options are a platoon commander with aide, a higher command model (Otto Skorzeny), a medic and an observer.  There are also 3 field police waiting for their checkpoint to arrive!

I have 5 or 6 spare minis, that I can assemble up if I do need any more rifle men.  Don't think I will but just in case lol.

As I mentioned before, due to the Vallejo Airbrush Paint set being ordered as a Christmas present, I cannot paint vehicles yet.  Waiting on a shelf that is beginning to look like a car park for painting are the following:-

3 Panthers

1 Hetzer

1 Marder 2

1 Puma (I think, may have this one wrong)

1 Jagpanther

1 Tiger

4 Hanomags

1 Junkers

the chances of fielding all these tanks are very slim, but they do look awesome lol.

Will post vehicle update after Christmas.

Grassing the Wermacht now

Using a Flockbox, which is great for clumping the static grass onto bases in a realistic manner.

The static charge attracts the grass to the model, sticking it to the glue in a upright manner.  Quite cool actually

German Heer Nearly complete

The second batch of my panzer grenadiers are nearly finished.  They are just waiting for their bases to be dry so I can finish them and flock/grass the little buggers.  That will probably wait until tomorrow now, 

I am liking the flamethrower team and can't wait to use them.  The helmets with webbing will have scatter on them like the first group when I get round to basing them tomorrow, shown here...

Ah some hobby time at last

Managed to do some work on the Germans.  

Base coated them all in German field grey, then went through painting the pouches, bread bags, webbing, gun sticks, canteens and so on.  This took most of the evening, but I finally got them done and inked with Athonian Camoshade ready for the layering tomorrow.  

I also got the epaulettes done on the first batch whilst waiting for paint to dry :-) they are for gaming so too much time wasn't spent on them.  I went with white for the standard here (and it looks best on the minis I think)

Argh work

Work has decided to conspire against my hobby time this week.  I have two publication deadlines (one of which is rather tight) so I have had to delay some hobby stuff. :-(

This is my German "to do" pile.  It is getting out of control and that is before the platoon's worth of Waffen SS arrive from Warlord Games tomorrow.  Don't even mention allies, as the giant box of Americans is getting rather feisty with my painting schedule of late.

I have a 1:72 scale Junkers waiting for assembly to use as my air strike market too.  That is a lower priority I guess though as it is only a marker.  Hopefully I can get work done so I can do some gaming on the weekend.  Hoping to play some Infinity (I was meant to finish the buildings this week but deadlines argh)

Germans vs US Airborne Battle Report

This is our second battle report.  This time we are playing a scenario.  We are doing point defence with the Germans defending fuel supplies against the Screaming Eagles.

The German army list for this game is...

Oberleutnant  with aide (both with MP40s)

Forward Artillery Observer with STG44

Sniper team (armed in this gave it would seem with a pot of coffee and some Bavarian strudel)

2 regular Panzergrenadier squads with LMG, SMG, 2 STG44s and NCO with MP40.  Oh and 2 panzerfausts

1 Regular Panther (unpainted sorry, but I have an excuse see below)

1 MMG team

My opponent had

First lieutenant with aide

Forward Air Observer

Medic

Sniper team

3 full squads of paratroopers with all the trimmings

1 inexperienced Sherman with pointless MMG 

This time we kept the cat (beelzebubbles) off the board to film it.

The game was very close, with lots of nail biting moments.  The orders system in bolt action really does lead to some cinematic moments.  I will do a review of my opinions of the game sometime during the week.

Enjoy.

Link here when YouTube vid finally uploads

http://youtu.be/GHgPKsv0e_E

German Panzergrenadiers vs Russians

Using the nearly finished board we had a 1,000 point match this evening.  It was a tense affair, with the end result being much closer than it looked like it was going to be.  I won't spoil anything, as we tried to shoot a video battle report of the game, so I will post that when I get it formatted correctly.

My army list was.

Oberleutnant (Veteran) and guard

Forward Air Observer (Veteran)

Sniper team (veteran)

3 Veteran late war Panzergrenadiers squads

    -each one had NCO with SMG

    -2x LMG

    -Assault rifle

    - 1 or 2 panzerfausts

1 Regular gun shielded Pak 40.

1 MMG team (veteran)

CO and a grenadier squad move up into the village.  Hoping to secure the vital crossroads.

 

This has been uploaded to YouTube (http://youtu.be/y3Afq-CBJiA)

 

The Soviet Army List as far as I am aware is...

CO with bodyguard (Regular)

Medic (Regular)

2x7Man SMG Squads

3xLMG Squads with 2LMGs and some extra Rifle men,

1x Free 12 man Green Rifle Squad

1 AntiTank Rifles team (2 Anti tank rifles)

1 Medium Mortar

1 OT-34 (Which I forgot about road movement for oops)

 

 

Panzergrenadiers prepare to flank the enemy.

The last trees being made

Finally finished the last of the fancy trees for the board.. 

More trees will probably be needed (especially do do a forest board for Infinity (acontecimento/paradise themed) but these are going to be of the simpler type following the beasts of war tutorial...

http://www.beastsofwar.com/backstage/hobby-lab-making-trees/

When I get 5 min, I will take some pics of the finished terrain pieces.  These have all had scatter and grass etc. put on them.

WIP WW2 House

Here is a WIP of some of the terrain for the bolt action board.

  It is a resin building I have had for ages.  It was a pig to get together, but looks good when done.  I have started to put the detailing in, will add more ivy when the extra packs arrive.  Also need to finish the garden etc.  needed it for a game against my friend's Russians tonight though so had to stop work in time for everything to dry lol.

German second wave

Having finished the first pile of German infantry, it is time to complete the rest of them. 

 As it is unlikely I will field all 60 infantry at once, the aim is to make all the weapon types so I can mix and match the squads.  To that end every SMG, STG44 and panzerfaust left over will be put into these.  Also, various different NCO's will be built to allow for options.  

I also have the metal panzerschreck and flamethrower teams to put to good use

More WIP shots of these being painted when I get some black spray.

Germans are done :-)

Finally finished the Germans yay!  Here are some images of the force. When I get the table finished (you can see the WIP in the shots) I will bust out my DSLR at lighting and take some proper pics.

I am trying the App for the iPhone to write this (having had no success uploading pics to the web version on the phone). God it is annoying. It uses a larger than normal keyboard that obstructs the text, and has no easy accessible features for formatting the text other than bold and italics lol.  Perhaps it is a guerrilla move against iOS?  Anyway it will at least allow pictures to be uploaded which is something.

I have finished off the bases with some shading, leaf scatter and foliage clumps. They look reasonable I think, and when the bird is finished should be right at home on it.  The next task will be to finish the next few squads.

I have had to put painting the vehicles on hold, as I am getting a set of Vallejo Model Air paints for XMas and therefore I am forbidden from buying any until then.  When I get them I will airbrush the vehicles in one batch.  Anyway, here are some close up pics to finish this post off so I can get to bed lol.

Sniper team, ready to remove some NCOs and pin the crap out of the enemies of the Fatherland.

NCO and members of one grenadier squad.  Note the converted LMG

The tried and trusted Pak 40 with foliage cover.

The mortar team.  Not used yet, but will give it a try someday.  I don't know how effective they will be though as in my opinion they are a little inaccurate.

MMG team.  Again this hasn't come out to play yet, but with the "Hitler's Buzzsaw" rule I guess it may be a good asset.

Another grenadier squad.  Again with 2 LMGs and some other nasty toys.

Next I will build a squad of SMG troops (maybe with no LMGs) but I guess a panzerfaust will be essential?

Well that's it time for bed lol