Friday's Bolt Action Force

This coming Friday I have a big bolt action game planned. Using all my models (except a medic) I have amassed a large force of Brits, 18 order dice!! My force is half airbourne troops and half regular army. First up my airbourne command

1 Second Lieutenantwith Submachine gun
2 Infantry with sub machine guns.

Then the first paratroop section

1 NCO with Submachine gun
4 Infantry with Submachine gun
1 Infantry with Light Machine gun + loader
3 Infantry with Rifle
Entire squad equipped with anti-tank grenades

Second section

1 NCO with Submachine gun
2 Infantry with Submachine gun
1 Infantry with Light Machine gun + loader
3 Infantry with Rifle
Entire squad equipped with anti-tank grenades.

That's the airbourne infantry sections. Next up are the special teams

1 Medium Machine gun team
1 Light Mortar team
1 Sniper team ( New ghillie suit models 1st outing!)
1 PIAT team
1 QF 6-pdr
1 Cruiser Tank Mk VIII Cromwell

That's the airbourne half of my army all but the tank are veteran's.

Next up is the regular army half of my force
1 Second Lieutenant
with Pistol  (Well the model has 2 cos he loves westerns)
1 Infantry with a rifle.

Now the infantry sections.

Veteran Late war section.
1 NCO with Submachine gun
2 Infantry with Submachine gun
2 Infantry with LMG + loaders
3 Infantry with Rifle

Regular Late war section
1 NCO with Submachine gun
1 Infantry with Submachine gun
6 Infantry with Rifle

That is the the main infantry sections. Now on to the teams and vehicles etc.
1 Free Artillery Forward Observerwith pistol + 1 Infantry with Rifle.
1 Light Mortar team
1 PIAT team

1 M5 Half Track
1 Bren Carrier
1 Sherman V (75mm)

That's it, all the above apart from one veteran squad are regular troops and the national characteristic I'm using is Blood Curdling Cry (A hint to my tactics lol)
I reckon i have a fairly decent force plenty of anti tank and machine guns but we shall wait and see. I have  a fair idea what type of battlefield we will be using but how I use the forces all depends on who is the attacker and who is the defender though I'm pretty sure there will be some charges into close quarter combat at some point!!
Veteran bolt action players will see from the list that it is spread over 2 platoons. My opponent is also doing the same thing so he will also have 2 of a few things. Basically the idea for the game is to use everything we have. I'll write up a battle report after Friday to let You know what happened!

I also forgot!!!!!

I also forgot I painted my prototype Drexyl that I won in a Facebook competition in the Across the Dead Earth game group.  Here he is!!

A painting bonanza!!

Had a lovely break in dawlish now back home and thanks to my shift pattern I've had a good few evenings to assault the painting queue!!
First up was the rest of my Test of Honour warband. A samurai, a musician and spearmen (evil long spears i kept stabbing myself on! !).

Half painted spearmen

Spearmen done!

Musician and Samurai

Next up was some spectre miniatures I won way back during the Across the Dead Earth Tournament. (Blog here ). Love these modern CIA types and I'm sure they will find a home in an Across the Dead Earth gang or as dino hunters.

Painting going well

All done

My favourite miniature of the four

After that I had found some resin ammo crates on eBay that were super cheap and I wanted them for scenery in my bunker complex. They quality around the sides wasn't super great but they were cheap ☺

Not rough and ready but they'll do

Next up was the Across the Dead Earth gang the Sisters of Acquisition. I was a little daunted by these models as they are  a smaller scale (different sculptor I believe). Fantastic miniatures but my broken eyes struggle with them lol

The gang awaiting paint

Completed Sisters of Acquisition

My attempt at making the pistols look like they have red dot sights (hopefully gonna get some gloss to give the red a glint and maybe the sniper scope)

There ya go, that's a massive dent in the paint queue!! Have a great day folks

Rule of Cool

Thought I would have a ramble so I actually do more blog posts as any new models are dependent on finances so not guaranteed.
One thing I've noticed since starting bolt action is a divide between players.  Some want utter historical accuracy down to the right shade of green on a uniform and correct headlight etc etc. Now absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. I even admire the dedication!. Lots of people seem to want to make the unit or outfit there grand parents were in, an idea that I love  idea. Both my grandads served one spent most of the war as a far east  POW and had a rough time so that puts me off quite a lot. My other grandad served at Dunkirk then Africa and Italy but he never spoke much so the family are still in the process of finding what he got upto.
After the historical accurate guys there are the  people that don't really have a unit in mind and just make a list up of things they like (I'm in this camp) and fit them in a platoon (though with bolt action you still have to choose early mid or late war). This is equally as good an idea and allows a bit more freedom in what units to have. The new Konflict 47 I guess will allow more variety for bolt action and hopefully I will get a few walkers and heavy infantry which along with my normal bolt action will make a handy K47 army as my friend and regular opponent wants lots of Nazi zombies to control!
The other game systems I play (Dystopian Legions, Across the Dead Earth, X-Wing and Star Wars Armada) are all fiction based so gives a lot more freedom. Which brings me to the Rule of cool.  I live by this rule in 98% of situations (as I really really want Gurkhas for my Bolt Action Brits but I have a late war European army and that I feel would be pushing it lol😢 but in Konflict 47 I reckon I can get away with it 😃) Across the Dead Earth is a game made for rule of cool. The options are wide and unless you are using the pre done rule book gangs (even then after a few games that will twist and mould to your style) you can make what ever type of gang you want.  I have a dude who is armed with a bow and sword in the middle of one of my gangs as I thought the model was cool and wanted him in. The same with my gunslinger model I got in a kick starter. Thought the model was ace so got it and now he's a gang member! X-Wing and Star Wars Armada are a bit more resrictive due to game style but that's when tou use the Rule of cool as a guide for your tactics.

Dystopian Legions is a bit more defined as you have an army list but as long as you have an officer and infantry after that you can have what you want (a bit like 40k from what I remember).
My main regular opponent has the same view that I carry what ever happens the Rule of cool mostly prevails. We treat our games like little movies so any chance of a cinematic moment we will take regardless of more sensible options. This often leads a to disaster (PIAT team missing a point blank shot and paying the price. Corvette in Star Wars Armada charging a Star Destroyer with the inevitable happening) but hey we had a laugh doing it so to me that's what the game is all about.
So my Bolt Action British may be a mix of airborne (A Bridge to Far and my visit to Pegasus Bridge inspired) and regular Tommies. Plus a Sherman, Cromwell ( Tanks I love em), Universal Carrier, mystery vehicle soon to be added ☺ and half track  may all be a random mix with only a faint nod to history (A British Airbourne  recce unit used Cromwells...I found out after I had bought tank) but they are are what I think  cool and in my wargaming world rule of cool prevails! (Just wait till I get my Winston Churchill model painted as he had rules in Operation Sea Lion so he'll be put in a scenario soon! !)
Does not matter how you game though as long as you're having fun who the hell cares! !
Sorry If it was a bit of a ramble just trying something new.

Hedgerows

Now i had made my country lanes i decided i needed some hedge rows to add ro the effect  (one day I'll stop making terrain). I wanted a super simple way to make them and luckily Lukes APS again came to the rescue. Following his video (which you can find here ) I bought some draught excluder, was a little concerned on the size so only bought 1 metres worth and green spray paint then I broke out some lolly pop sticks. The draught excluder is self adhesive which sounds great but caused me some problems.

Green spray paint and draught excluder

To make the hedges you simple cut a length of draught excluder to match the lollipop stick and using the self adhesive stick them together. I then spray painted them green. Then I had a slight issue

This happened every time!!!

As the draught excluder came rolled up it kept lifting at the edges ahhhh!!! So I had to glue the ends down and use the clamps from the pound land epoxy. That seemed to solve the problem.

The hedges were as I suspected a bit small, hence why I only bought a metres worth. Luke does another video on making hedges out of wire wool brillo type pads so I'll try those next.

I need to pick up the blog pace!

Sorry it's been so long. Kids have had chicken pox and as ever work. Had an evening with the kids who fell asleep reasonably early so broke out the paint tray that has some 80% finished Test of Honour troops.  Also had undercoated my new Bolt Action British Snipers yesterday so I thought I would paint those as well and my model gunslinger from the last kick starter I backed.

First up finishing off the Test of Honour troops. Only needed a little bit more paint on them.

Then onto the snipers. Checking out the warlord website to see How they painted them for a bit of inspiration and there be a lot of green! !! (Which makes sense really! ) so I did my best and they don't look terrible!

Lastly was the gunslinger from a Icarus Miniatures. I'm planning on using this in Across the Dead Earth as a gang member who just walks around with a hand cannon (a desert eaglen or magnum type gun). He has the sharp shooter skill tree so hopefully he'll be handing out head shots soon ☺.

Country roads!

Another blog post following the I'm fine making but terrain but here's something else. I have roads and a river so decided i needed some country lanes / tracks were in order. I had seen a few videos in YouTube so had a few ideas but as I wanted quick and easy I distilled the ideas down to a basic idea.
First up cut out the shapes you want. I went for seven (that was what I could make from the nappy box I had pilfered) straights around 20cm long and 4 corner pieces. Nothing elaborate but enough to add to a game board. Then I glued lollipop sticks to the outer edges and middle. This is an easy way of creating the ruts caused by vehicles.

Next up was every terrain makers friend filler!! I applied a layer of filler over the top, the lollipop sticks creating the rut effect I was after.

2 different colours as I ran out of filler and had to buy more.  Once they were dry I started painting. Just Just basic brown and then dry brushing a couple of lighter browns on top.

As I mentioned quick and easy was what I'm aiming for.  I added flick and that's your lot all finished!

Above there are pics of the finished article.  Not bad as basic a country track / road  I don't think!!

Also my great friends went to the games expo in Birmingham last weekend and picks me up the new bolt action british snipers all in ghillie suits so can't wait to get them painted up!

Have a good one folks!!