A while back now I picked up some extra bits for my British bolt action force. HE seems to be king at the moment in v3, so I picked up a 25pdr and a centaur tank to give my force a couple of HE options.
Can't wait to try V3 and try these guys out as well!
Just flicking through my blog and saw my post about plans for 2024 ( Check it out here). So I thought I would add an update!
40k
Imperial Guard has stayed the same apart from one unit that will be Tempest Scions. Not been tempted by the jump pack ones .... Yet. With the new codes expected in the first or second part of next year it's a kind of just wait and see now.
My Lion Warriors have been reinforced! Assault intercessors acquired and all painted up along with some other character options as well oh and a new dreadnought on the painting table. So these are going strong.
Bolt Action
Got the 3rd edition rulebook still not managed to fully read through it so haven't played a game yet but I did buy a 25pdr and a centaur tank for my British (ooo haven't done a blog post about them!!) so plodding along nicely.
Last Days
Still not played this. Thought it might be a good idea to try with the kids one school holiday but we shall see.
A Space ship game
I played battlefleet Gothic! An oldy but a goody. Had a great time
Starship Trooper Project
Well I've gone from 15mm to 6mm!! I even have actual models. I do need more bug models at the moment. The troopers have got to be outnumbered it's the only true way.
Star grave
I still wanna try this maybe next year . I might start actively planning an idea for 2 crews and see what's out there.
Anything Else
Gaslands and Rumble slam are fine, I'll play them if a game opportunity appears but don't need anything adding to them I don't think.
August's hobby money was spent on Socratis Melee units from the station forge printed by Hammer line miniatures. As ever with Socratis models you kind of have to decide what model is what in the space marine range . From this set I made up a unit of 5 assault intercessors, a chaplain, a judicar and a Reiver Lieutenant. I have 2 models left over I don't really know what to do with.
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| A Judicar |
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| Yet to be decided could be an alternative assault intercessor Sgt |
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| No idea with this guy! |
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| A Riever Lieutenant |
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| 5 Assault intercessors |
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| The Chaplain |
Also with the coming of Bolt Action Version 3 I decided to treat myself to a new officer. I found the range from Stoessi's heroes and really liked British Army Lt. Col. – John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming “Mad Jack” Churchill. He shall lead my British forces in V3.
Today I got to play in a mini Bolt Action tournament at my gaming club Safe Haven Gaming . Only 4 participants but fun was had!
My list was airborne and commando.
Safe Haven Airborne
Reinforced Platoon 998 pts 12 Order Dice
Special
Artillery Forward Observer (Forward Observer) Regular (free)
Composition: 1 Soldiers
2nd Lieutenant (Ofcer) Regular (60pts)
Composition: 1 Ofcer + 1 Soldiers
Paratroop Section Veteran (83pts)
Paratroop Section Veteran (83pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 4 Soldiers
Infantry
Commando Section Veteran (191pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 9 Soldiers
Veteran Infantry Section (Late War) Veteran (81pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 5 Soldiers
Medium Mortar Team Regular (60pts)
Sniper Team Regular (50pts)
Flamethrower Team Regular (50pts)
Artillery
QF 6-PDR Regular (75pts)
Tanks and Tank Destroyers
Cruiser Tank MK VIII Cromwell Regular (205pts)
Transports and Tows
Bren Carrier Regular (60pts)
First game up was against another paratrooper list
The prep bombardment gave everyone pins. My Bren carrier was destroyed and 2 of his flame jeeps were destroyed. The battle raged for 8 turns! Both sides took a beating, my sniper was useless and didn't do a thing! After adding all the VPs up I took the win by 3 or 4 .
The last game was against Germans. Not.maby infantry but 2 huge Panzer 4s!! I failed my prep bombardment roll and got hammered by my opponents. 2 pins on everything and my arty observer was taken out. From then on I struggled to move anywhere with pins and was pounded by the tanks. My poor Cromwell was hammered by shots set on fire twice and turret jammed. When it finally could move I thought let's go and it charged forward but missed a point blank shot.
Surrounded my Cromwell survived another turn and then it died .
I called the game when I had 1 unit left as everything else had been destroyed. A true stomping!
But awesome fun getting to play 2 games in one day .
Last Sunday I set off to my first proper bolt action tournament. Held at Warlords and Wizards in the little town of Netherton ( the anchor for the titanic was made there I believe) West Midlands. The shop is a great shop with super friendly staff, who are super helpful and always up for a gaming natter. I had planned my list a lot more than I normally do. The only stipulation was mid war. So I found a Tunisia theater selector that would do.
My force was regular Brits,
1st Lt
Free arty observer
3 x 8 man squads with one smg and one lmg
Veteran sniper team
Medium mortar with a spotter.
5 man SAS squad
Bren carrier
Daimler armoured car
Sherman tank.
Rapid fire special Rule
The armoured car was purely in there as I had it for Christmas. I felt this was a decent list my tank was my main anti tank asset. And my sas would be riding in my Bren waiting to strike and take objectives.
Arrived and there were around 20 of us. Lots of very nice models and tables on show. We we re assigned our first. At h and I got Dave! My good friend who I dragged into Bolt Action. So Germans vs British! This match was on a jungle board and scenario was no man's land so kill everything. The match was wierd in that no one scored any points till last turn. Lots of pins and a few kits bit no units taken put until last turn. Dave took the win 4-2.
Game 2 was on a winter table and Germans again! This time is was take and hold. 3 Objectives were placed no units on the board. We all put our units on the board and here is where my inexperience showed. My opponent had a truck filled with troops who came on and ran virtually into my half of the vaord where as I had been very Conservative. The Germans held one objective in cover and would prove hard to shift. The truck contained a flamethrower who jumped out and hit one squad who broke and ran barely taking any casualties (I hate flame throwers but now want one for my army lol). This happened again on turn 2 to another squad leaving me seriously lacking infantry and having no clue what to do. I took and objective with my SAS and had to charge one decimated German squad to clear it of enemy. My last squad managed to hold when attacked by a second flamethrower!! The flame thrower team was killed and I managed to pin the other flamethrower squad so they were not that effective. In the last turn I managed to contest one objective. So with one objective each and one contested that game was a draw!
What I learnt.... Be aggresive!!! You don't have to just come into your own half push forward.
Last game was Double Envelopment on a jungle type board but more ruins than trees. I was facing British Airborne, I had the advantage with 3 vehicles to 1 for my opponent. The most VPs were for getting models off the board so plan was to push my vehicles forward as hard as possible. I pushed my armoured car forward and after a brief scare from a tetriachs shot the armoured car drove off the board bagging me some points. My tank and Bren carrier went for it but a PIAT shot stunned the tank making it miss a turn. My Bren carrier had to drop off the SAS to stop an enemy squad from getting off the board. So I got one unit off and 2 unit kills which gave me the win.
Dave won 2 matches and lost one Matt won 2 and lost one also I believe.
Was a great day everyone was super friendly and all the games were played in a great spirit. Would love to do it again!
As I've mentioned I've entered a tournament so I thought I would do a post about what forces I will take. I would love for this to be an in depth choice but a lot of my choice is necessitated by the fact that's the only models I have. It's mid war so 42 to 43 ish. Which straight away is a problem as my army is mainly late war (no firefly for me) but I have used the Tunisia selector on easy army. I chose Tunisia as my guys are late war European so have the the khaki battle dress and wouldn't fit a desert rat 8th Army type selector but on a quick Google I found some pics of British soldiers in Tunisia who looked similar to my guys so that will do.
So here we go
HQ Choice
Regular First Lieutenant with one guy as a bodyguard. The lieutenant has a pistol and his bodyguard an SMG.
Infantry
8 man squad featuring 2 SMGs and an LMG.
8 man squad featuring 1 SMG and an LMG
7 man squad featuring 1 SMG and an LMG
5 man SAS squad featuring 4 SMGs and an LMG
Team Weapons
Sniper team
Medium Mortar with spotter
Vehicles
Sherman 2
Dainler Mk 1 Armoured Car
Bren carrier
National Characteristics
Rapid Fire
Free Artillery Observer
That's it 995pts and 11 order dice. I have a few infantry squads to give me a bit flexibility, the SAS to provide some punch in assault. The armoured car is purely as I want to play it. The sherman is in as its the only tank I have that fits the mid war. The spotter with medium mortar is a new thing for me so I have to learn the spotter rules! The sniper team to take out weapons teams, officers and enemy snipers. The Bren carrier well I love Bren carriers and will always have one. Either the SAS will use it or my free observer after he's dropped his artillery can jump in to provide a mobile gun platform.
What does everyone think? I never was good at min maxing or finding the exact right mix of units. I've font with what I have and what I think is cool as that what I always do!
Of course this is all bound to go quite wrong but hey it will be fun!!
Since my last post I have played a 40k game. Just a 3 way battle to get an idea for the rules suffice to say my guard got absolutely pummelled (I had a whole squad wiped out and all they did was walk 12" across the board and Bam dead) !!! Was good fun but I struggled with doing everything in one turn. So I have to learn to switch my brain between the bolt action system where you can react to an opponents move very quickly and the 40k way of having a whole turn to yourself. I prefer the bolt action style system I have to admit and it would be cool to see 40k using an I go you go system instead of the whole try and wipe out as much of the enemy on turn 1. My highlight of the battle was my commander, commissar and 4 remaining guard charging a ghost keel and managing a wound with a bayonet!! I mean they all died but that's not the point.
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| Fot the Emperor!!! |
I had a good time and enjoyed the game though and am looking forward to the crusade type thing. I've painted up my first squad. I thought they looked a bit like starship troopers so I went with that style
Was a bit awkward as I had undercoated the models grey, then had to paint the armour and clothes grey as well. Next time undercoat white!
Next up was my veteran squad (Otherwise known as Schaeffer’s Last Chancers)
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| My motley band of vets |
These were an interesting mix of characters. Finished in the last few days was my take on the militarium Tempestus Scions. In the GCPS Mantic set I brought there was options for some different looking troops with heavier Las guns so I made these into my Scions. They do have a Halo look to them I think?
I have bought a leman russ of my friend Matt who also gave me a Sentinel as well which was super nice of him! So on the painting tray at the moment are my heavy weapons team, a leman russ and my Daimler armoured car.
Which is a lovely segway into Bolt Action. I noticed one of my local gaming shops advertised a bolt action tournament and I was off work so decided to give it a bash. Its 1000pt mid war, should be fun. My 2 friends who I got into Bolt Action are going as well. Matt will be bringing his Soviet horde and Dave will be bringing his Germans.
I'll do another post on my list and stuff later. Well that's all for now!
First of I need to address my little moan about the mantic plastic sprues arms and guns etc in my last blog. Sooo it turns out if I looked at the sprue more carefully each arm has a letter next to it and all you have to do is find the other arm with matching letter!!! This sped up the building process no end! So 2 squads built and some heavy weapons
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| One of the heavy weapons is clearly a GW model I know but the 2 at the back ar the Mantic ones |
Both sgts from the Mantic sprue had to have a bolt pistol and chain sword added but they are all prepped awaiting paint. As my unit will be called the Roughnecks in thinking of going the starship trooper grey uniform. I will have to try one model see how it looks.
So far I have managed to get my 2 Company commanders and Commissar painted!
Two of the models are from the Last Chancers set. I really like the bandaged up commissar. The rest of the Last Chancers are being painted as a veteran unit.
I have also completely forgot to mention I got a new Blood Bowl team!! In September so sorry about that
Meet the Bakersfield Massacres my chaos team. The yellow was a pain but I had some great advice from the staff at my local games shop Warlords and Wizards.
Oh and I also painted up my British Support group for Bolt Action.
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| Regular British MMG team |
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| 3 officers and a medic |
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| A medium mortar. My army really needed this! |
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| The tables were all really nice with less scenery than I use so will remember this for future games
Meeting engagement everyone starts off the board. I kept my para squads inside my been carriers and in reserve but everything else went on the board first turn. Shots were exchanged and this is where I learned how tough Fallschirmjäger are!!! His squads were packing assault rifles or twin LMGs . My Brits took a battering, they got plenty of hits back in but being veteran I needed 5's to kill them and I just could not seem to roll enough fives. My shock and awe of paras let me down by failing several much needed order tests. The Bren carrier s being opened top got pinned a fair bit. On the left flank panzerfausts took out the Bren Carrier. The surviving Paras got out and assaulted a Fallschirmjäger squad. They put up a brave fight but lost and were destroyed. The pic below shows that combat but doesn't show the other 4 Germans on the other side of the hedge!
On the right flank the Bren Carrier got a blast from a flamethrower knocking it out. The paras inside spilled out, losing a couple then they were shot at leaving one man with 5 or 6 pins. Luckily as a para he is stubborn passes his morale test with ease and charged the German officer and body guard. He killed them both in close combat.
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| Lone para after close combat victory |
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| Second board |
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| My PIAT Team getting rushed |
99% finished my Sherman Firefly (it just needs mud effects which I have ran out of) but I thought that's good enough to put up a post about it. It was a nice model to paint. I appear to prefer painting vehicles as they are bigger so easier on the eyes 😂.
The tank is called Havoc in all honest because there were two names in the transfer sheet, Andrea and Havoc. Havoc got my vote.
I think it has come out ok. I tried a new thing for me of highlighting some of the edges of the tank. I've seen people do this before. As I mentioned it does need mud effects added but I need to buy some.
Have a great day!
