Some Bolt Action Vehicles

The game last week inspired me to get some painting down (at last!). I had a few models base coated (panzer IV, 222 armoured car and hanomag) that belonged to my friend Nigel and that I'd been meaning to paint for him. I am happy to report that they are now done

I'd previously done a Puma armoured car and Stug for him and gave them an ambush scheme so decided to do the same for his new vehicles. 

And for myself I bought my self a platoon of Warlord Games Panzer IVs and have painted them up this week.

 And their support, a 233 armoured car and two half tracks.

 On Wednesday down at the club Ken and I had a game using the new Panzer IVs vs Jacob's Germans. i was trying out a new camera and the pictures were a tad blurry.

Jacob ran 16 units, including 5x SU 76s. Ken and I attacked with our panzer force and pretty much tore the Russian to pieces. The problem with lots of units is many of them were small an easy victory points. In the end Ken and I won 14-4. Even though it ended up a bit one sided it was still a good, fun game and I am really enjoying the tweaks made in 2E, they seem to have fixed many of the more glaring issues with the system. 

A panzer IV takes out an SU 76 on turn 1. Hmmm, that SU looking very similar to a turret-less Sherman, young Jacob using several of these as stand ins. I'm not really a fan of this type of gaming and are a firm believer if you haven't got it, don't field it and field what you do have. It may upset the odd person out there but life's too short and for me I don't enjoy massed subbing of units, and don't do it myself. We all get different things out of the hobby but for me the aesthetics of the game are a big part of my enjoyment and that comes down to using appropriate, and painted, kit.

 A sniper team lurks in the belltower.

Panzer grenadiers debuss to tackle a house thought to be hiding a Soviet tank hunter team.

A Katushla caused a few problems early on,the Zis 3 was kept in ambush for much of the game.

The panzer IVs advance, our objective to reach the far eide of the table.

The 233 armoured car offers some indirect support, taking out the sniper (eventually)

 Towards the end of the game Soviet reserves swarm forward. Our panzer grenadiers have occupied the house to the left of the road, having successfully ejected the soviet tank hunters.

Craig

BA- Soviet M3A1 Scout Car

One of the iconic vehicles of WWII was the M3A1 (White) scout car. A large number were sent to Russia under lend lease and were used in a number of roles, including by rota razvedi, Soviet reconnaissance troops.

In Bolt Action the Russians can take them as a lend lease recce option instead of a Soviet BA 64 armoured car. A Regular M3A1 scout car is 86pts and comes with a 50 cal but for 15 pts each you can add up to two more 30cal MMGs.

As soon as I saw the new Warlord Games M3A1 I knew my Soviets needed one, hell so do my Americans!

I decided that the scout car needed a crew of infantry manning the machine guns so have added 4x Warlord Games plastic Soviet infantry and am pretty happy with the result. I also used two of the crew that comes with the scout car (driver and NCO with a map) using a simple head swap to Sovietise them.

I decided to paint it in the ubiquitous US Olive Drab. I'm not sure if the Soviets would have bothered repainting them when they arrived in Russia, I recall reading somewhere that they didn't.

The resin model is very, very nice Minmal flash and lots of stowage moulded on to give it a great look. I can't wait to terrorise the Germans with this. I also intend to add a M3 half track to motorise one of my squads and make my Soviets into a more mechanised force representing a motostrelkovy platoon.

BA- Artizan & Crusader Russians

Last night and tonight I have been busy painting up my latest Russian reinforcements, a mixture of Artizan Designs and Crusader miniatures. The two manufacturers figures mix well and make for a good variety for the force- I much prefer metals to plastics, though the oneWarlord plastic has been mixed in with the SMG squad.

1x LMG Squad (11 men, incl SMG and LMG)
1x Siberian Squad (10 mn incl SMG and LMG)
1x SMG/ tank rider Squad (10 men)

The LMG Squad

SMG/ tank rider squad

The Siberians

Th force assembled.

For recognition purposes the LMG teams are on square bass and each squad has a couple of bases of the new Warlord 40mm round bases (as always simply to move less figures).

I really like the figures, they paint up easily, have great detail and are really well proportioned. I was going to mix the helmeted and fur hat figures up for a more rag tag/ veteran appearance to the squads but decided that the fur hatted figures would be more easily identified as Siberians if in individual units.

I need to add an inexperienced squad and will get another LMG and Siberian squad as well.

Craig

Bolt Action Tank Riders

Last weekend's game has inspired me to get working on my Soviets again. In fact I'm going to do another 3-4 squads using Crusader and Artizan Design metals- I still aren't really a fan of plastics, the Warlord ones are quite nice but I still prefer to use metals whenever I can.

My aim is to theme my force on a  LW Motostrelkoy. The thought being it will represent an exploitation force from one of the Mechanised Corps during 1944 (I always try to build my forces round a theme or campaign). So with that in mind am aiming for:

2 LMG squads of 10-12 troops
1 SMG tank rider squad
1 Med Mortar
1 MMG (though most likely to be dropped to add poitns elsewhere)
1 Zis 3
1 JS 2 or SU 122
1 M3 Scout car (Recce)
1 M3 Half track

Later on I'll add a truck or two too (for big games). I can do it all except for the M3A1 Scout Car, half track and SU 122. I really love the look of the new Warlord Games M3 Scout car, it is a fantastic looking model so any excuse to get one and convert up some Russian crew. I have ordered the M3 half track, SU 122 and M3 Scout car.

Yesterday, I decided to make a few tank riders for on the back of "Papa Joe" (as I've nicknamed my JS 2 which is named after the most benevolent ruler of Mother Russia- and don't let the commissars hear you say otherwise!). I think they turned out pretty good.

Hmm, the photos really picks up the lines on the helmets, not anywhere near as evident on the figures themselves but they may get a slight improvement.

Just a quick block paint and wash- which did the trick.

They also work on the T34- but need to do another set of riders for this one.

Urrah!

Craig

BA- Somewhere in Russia...

Kent was keen for a game of Bolt Action over the long weekend and we organised a game for today. The guys were having a Dystopian Wars comp down at the club so we decided to game down there. One of the young guys at the club, Jacob, has a Soviet army so I took Finn and his Soviets along. I and took on role of mentor/umpire/advisor for the Russians.

Each army was 800 pts, so 1600 pts per side.

Jacob ran: HQ, Reg LMG quad, large vet engineer squad, large SMG squad, T34, free green squad, and maybe a sniper.

Finn had: Reg 2nd Lt, reg LMG squad, reg SMG squad, reg Siberan squad, 81mm mortar, MMG, SU 76

Kent ran FJ: Vet HQ, 2x large squads, 75mm recoiless gun, stug, free observer, medic, 222 armoured car

Stephen ran my panzer grenadiers: Vet 2nd Lt, 2x Vet squads (2x LMGs), 1x Vet pioneer squad (with flamethrower), 1x 25/9, 1x 251/9 stummel, 1x 233 armoured car

We used an 8 x 6 table and to keep things moving allowed each side to deploy 1' onto the table. I forgot some objective markers so it was basically just a max attrition.

Finn's troops deployed in the foreground, Jacob's in the top of the picutre. Jacob deployed his T34 with the SU 76. Finn has his SMG squad flanking.

A view for the German lines, Kent's troops cowering behind the rolling steppe.

A view of Jacob's masses of infantry.

turn 1 the stummel advances and was the only unit to score a hit, killing 3 of Finns regualr LMG squad.

Finn's maxim team advances towards a ruined church. In the background Kent has called in his artillery strike and palced it near the T34 and Suka.

Jacob ponders his next move.

A view form the German lines. the 233 armorued car had tried to rcce away from the Soviet AT gun but was hit and its crew momentarily stunned.

Turn 2 the Soviet mortar ranges in on one of Kent's squads, killing a coupleof pinning them.

The inexperienced Soviet squad advances towards the 251/1

Meanwhile Finn's SU76 has been hit by the Stug and its crew stunned.

On the Soviets far right Jacob's infantry advance is protected by one of the rolling hills.

 The inexperienced close assault the 251/1 and destroy it.

But a second hit from the stug destroys the SU 76.

Stephen's troops have occupied the wood facing the road while in the lower corner Finn's troops advance through the cornfields.

Crossing the ridgeline proves deadly as Stephen's mortar ranges in on the Soviets, the LMG squad is badly mauled and eventually breaks.

The Soviets and Germans square off near the road with Stephen's two panzer grenadier squads using the woods as cover to hopefully halt the Soviet attack.

Jacob has redeployed the T34 to support his troops.

Finally the SMG squad comes on and destroys the 222 armoured car.

Th 233 armoured car bounces a shot of the front armour of the T34.

The SMG squad advance behind the T34.

On Finn's flank the maxim covers his infantry, suppressing the German units.

The SMG squad about to launch an assault on the Germans, 16 dice and only two Germans killed! The German survivors kill 5 or so Soviets and the squad surrenders. Unlucky dice rolling by Finn.

Charge!

 The assault goes in.

 The 233 tried for a flank shot on the T34 but misses, return fire from the T34 destroys the pesky armoured car though.

 End of turn 6. Both the stug and 251/9 stummel have been immobilised by the Zis 3 but neither is knocked out.

And there we ended with a 3-3 draw.

A close game and everyone had fun, the big table worked well, there was plenty of room to manouvre but still enough terrain and cover to make things interesting. As tends to happen the game slowed down the longer we played as we had to sort out one person's action before the next. To keep things moving though, we had enough dice for the maximum units in one force for each side and when a die was drawn both players got to use one of their units. this worked well.

Overall though, I am starting to want something with a bit more depth to it, not sure what though. The games are enjoyable but lately have gone a bit flat towards the end, I'm not sure how to speed them up but I'm also starting to want a bit more flavour or detail to the games and aren't sure of what rules to try for this, or maybe I just need to tweak BA to speed it up a bit more.

Things I'm considering are:

1. Transports must be attached to an infantry or artillery unit and are activated as part of that unit- thus reducing a few dice.
2. SMGs don't have a long range penalty, simply 12" range and point blank range- figuring out if SMGs are in point blank or long range really slows things down and don't see it as being a really big difference (not giving them the move without penalty would help too- I need to think on this a bit more )

Craig