BA Gurkhas

During our big battle at TAGCON I realised I needed some more variety in my 14th Army Force to differentiate my troop types so decided to order some Warlord Gurkhas for more variety. Gurkhas in Bolt Action are one of those completely over the top forces that makes me scratch my head and wonder what the hell were they thinking when they pointed them up.

Now don't get me wrong, I've read a more than a few accounts of the Gurkhas in action in Burma and I think that vs the Japanese their fearsome reputation and martial prowess was more than justified. However, the rules in Bolt Action are, in my not so humble opinion, completely out of whack. For 14 pts per figure you get:

• Veteran troops
• Tough fighter (doubles dice in assaults)
• Not so bad I hear you say until you add their other special rule,  Scary Blighters- which halves the enemies combat dice in close combat!

Couple that with the British National characteristic of Blood Curdling charge, which prevents opponents from reacting to an assault by shooting means you have combat monsters that are pretty unstoppable, all for the same price as commandos or paras! Indeed they are a whole pt more expensive per model than standard regular veteran infantry that don't get either of those special rules. Hmm.

They are so over the top that I would be embarassed to run them vs my regular opponent Kent. Indeed we self regulate our forces to run things which we think will give us both a fun game rather than surprise each other with "ha, gotcha" units- that's just not the way we want to play or why we wargame. So I usually run commandos to represent Gurkhas- the Gurkhas were experts at patrolling in the jungle so the Behind Enemies lines to my mind is just as relevant a special rule for them.

Anyway, tonight I painted up the first section of the excellent Warlord Games Gurkhas. Sizewise they fit pretty well with the Assault Group which aren't bad figures, just some of the sculpts are a bit wooden. The fact that many of these sculpts are wearing helmets will make them much easier to pick out on the table than the rest of the force which are mainly Assault Group figures.

The pictures don't really do them justice but I'm happy with how they turned out.

 
 There is one (SMG armed) Assault Group miniature to act as the NCO.

Also, the other night I finally got round to base up and paint the walls that I purchased from Debris of War last year. They are really, really good sculpts and at some point I'll buy some more. 

Major Lumley,  the commander of the Gurkhas force. 

And an image of the real Major Lumley, father of Joanna, after the battle of Moguang in June-July 1944 where two VCs were won by the Gurkhas.

Finally, having sold off my ACW figures I've treated myself to a few vehicles for my forces:

• Wittman's tiger & a panther G for my Germans
• An SU 76- my favourite Soviet vehicle for the Ruskies
• An M10 for my American Paras

Craig