Fortifications for Bolt Action

 

I decied I needed some dug in markers/ trenches for Bolt Action... along with some minefields and other miscellaneous field fortifications/ terrain. I had a fossick yesterday and discovered some barbed wire entanglements I'd made a few yars back and have made some more fortifications to go with them.

They are made out of MDF, balsa and premafilla. Pretty stright forward but turned out pretty good and I look forward to incluing them in my next battle. 

And a pillbox for a medium machine gun team. 

Craig

Back to WWII gaming

 Happy New Year and welcome back to my humble blog. 

It has been a while since I played any Bolt Action… a long while, more than five years in fact but have finally dug out my 28mm forces and decided to have a few games. I am using forces I painted up for the Italian campaign and getting used to the rules again playing some solo games.

Kent and I had quite a few games of Bolt Action mainly with first edition which we house ruled a fair bit to mitigate some of the dodgier aspects of the ruleset but had only a smattering of 2^nd edition games under our belts.

I’ve decided to have a few games focused on the Italian Campaign 1943-44 and it is in this area that I think that Bolt action shines- along with the War in the Pacific, both of which I don’t think Flames of War does a very good job of representing.

I have never rated Bolt Action as a tournament game, too many dodgy things that can be exploited in the rules (and the various lists) but played with like minded people in the right spirit with appropriately themed and matched armies (I detect a slight hint of unconscious bias there) it can be a lot of fun and lends itself to solo gaming quite nicely too- that way I am guaranteed to get an opponent playing with a similar expectations of what they want out of the game.

Anyway, I dragged out some of my old terrain the other day and have had a couple of solo games to get used the rules and discovered that I missed World War Two gaming more than I realised so am keen to get a few more games in.

28mm German forces for the Italian Front

My plan is to concentrate on the campaign in Italy 1943-45, which is where most of my Bolt action armies have been themed for. It’s a bit different to the games set in NW Europe  an LW Germany where many players seem to focus an oft neglected sideshow both in the actual war (Rome was liberated 5 June 1944 and D-Day became the world focus the following day) but is a very interesting campaign, with a range of nationalities including Chech, Free French, South African’s Pole, Kiwi’s, Indians an many others along with the usual protagonists. As I said above Bolt Action lens itself quite nicely to this theatre where the terrain was often mountainous and the poor boy infantry slogged their way up the Peninsula. Along with the most well known battles of Salerno, Anzio, Cassino there were many other bloody battles fought in 43-45 as the allies sought to fought their way up the Italian Peninsula. I recall as a young lad of maybe 14 or 15 reading a book on Monte Cassino and being enamoured then spending several weeks scratch-building ruined buildings, preparing then running a game based on the Māori battalion’s attack on Cassino and the railway station- featuring my old Airfix pontoon bridge as well several buckets of fine shingle from my father’s garden path… ah good times.

Free French- manily using Artisan Designs figures. 

I have a bit of a mission ahead, going though old terrain, making some new stuff including some new pillboxes and fortifications.

I’ve had a couple of solo game of Bolt Action to reacquaint myself with the rules and have purchased myself some more Rubicon Shermans to support my Free French (what can I say they are on special) an hope to sort out a small campaign in the near future. I will try ot post a a few updates on this much too neglected these days blog but have made a couple of videos of my first solo games so far.

Battle #1- Free French vs Panzer Grenadiers

Battle #2: Free French vs Panzer Grenadiers: 

My Free French needed some more armoured support in the shape of Sherman Vs so grabbed a few while on special the other day. I have  a wee job ahead of me...

Finally, Jeff Plowman's The Battles for Monte Cassino then and now is an absolute treasure trove for anyone wanting to game Monte Cassino. It is one of my favourite books in my collection and can't recommend it highly enough.

Craig  

Warmaster Chaos Army update

 've contnue to make progress on my Chaos army for Warmaster and now have wel over 2,000 points of troops painted and ready for battle. 

4x Units of Chaos Warrors and Chaos Marauders

The Cavalry wing: 3 Units of Chaos Chariots, 1 unit of Dragon Ogres, 2 units of Chaos Knights, and 3 units of Marauder horsemen

Miscellaneous units: 2x units of Ogres, 2x units of Harpies, 2x units of Chaos Hounds. 

Craig

Scatter Terrain

 I've been playing a few solo games of Warmaster on my arid themed table over the past few days as I try to get more familiar with the rules. I felt that I needed a bit more scatter terrain- scrub and rough going- to give a bit more variety to the table. I've not made any terrain in quite along time but I'm on holdiay this week so today between other tasks around the house managed to build some suitable terrain to add more interest to the table. 

Over the years I've tried many types of terrain, from dedicated terrain boards to various types of scatter terrain but feel that scatter terrain makes the most versatile table top terrain. 

Rock outcroppings

These are simple to make and look good on table. I make a base out of 5mm MDF using a jigsaw to cut the basic outline. I then file the edges of the MDF base with a wood rasp to make it slightly more rounded. 

I then find some suitable bits of barkchip from the winter wood pile and then glue it on to the MDF base with PVA. 

Once the PA is dry I use some permafilla to texture the base.

Once the permafilla is dry I then paint the barkchip with slightly watered down PVA. PVA shrinks when it dries and this creates a firm skin on the barkchip which prevents it from chipping. 

I then paint the base using a base clour plus plus 1-2 highlight colours.

Finally, I put some dabs of PVA glue and sprinkle on catlitter to represent rock falls .

Once the cat litter is dry I again paint a layer of watered down PVA over it to make it more solid- again the PVA shrinks when it dries creating a solid protective layer. 

And that it is, done. 

Well, almost. I need to add some bits of Woodlands Scenics clump foliage to add a bit more interest/contrast which is a wee job for tomorrow. 

And a few bases for the scatter terrain using the same techniques.  

Craig

Warmaster Chaos + Battle report

 A busyt week getting the Chaos army ready for battle. I've still a few more units to paint but can field at least 1500 points now

So, wiht that in mind, yeterday I decided to ahve a solo game of High Elves vs Chaos. The way the commnad rules work in Warmaster lends itself nicely for solo gaming so dug out some of my 15mm terrain for a practice game to get better at the rules. 

The game played well and worked as expected and will defintitely do some more solo games in future. 

Craig

Warmaster Chaos Army- WIP

 I popped down to Dunedin for my first game of Warmaster last weekend, vs Jonathan and his Tomb Kings.  A battle report can be found here: Warmaster High Elves vs Tomb kings. 

I enjoyed the command and control aspect of the rules and the uncertainty that that created and although the game took a while as we were both relearning the rules it was a lot of fun and I look forward to a few more games in the near future with the Dunedin gamers. 

I wanted a second (well and a third eventually) army to do some solo-gaming and as a pair should anyone want a game in future, so had a 2000+ point Chaos Army printed up for me by one of the Dunedin gamers and picked it up while in town. 

So this week I've got started on my Warriors from the Steppe, Chaos Warrior army.  Once again the sculpts are the awesome Forest Dragon 3d prints, the quality of which continues to blow me away. I can not recommend them highly enough. 

4 units of Chaos Marauders- Solid infantry which will form the core of the army either brigaded by themselves or combined with Chaos Warriors units for a bit more staying power.

Chaos Chariots. I've just painted these this morning and again the sculpts are incredible. They will become the backbone of the army and intend to paint up another 5 units worth! I've just done the basecoat on the base so yet to add the other bits and pieces to tie them in with the other units.

2 units of Ogres. Again great sculpts. I forgot to get some Chaos Warrriors printed so until I rectify that they will be used as Chaos Warriors.

The army so far assembles. 

I've another unit of chariots and  2 units of marauder horsemen and I should amost be ready for a game with them. I am aiming to get 1200 points table ready and then built the army towards 2000 points from there. 

Craig

More high elves

 A few more pictures of the 10mm high elves for Warmaster.

I completed another two regiments of Silver Helms today. 

Craig