First Bolt Action Game

Now then,

The Youth surprised me this morning, when as he was going out the door to school, he asked if I could set up a game for when he gets in!!!  He wants to be the Soviets, which is fine by me.

Gaming with non gamer's or young uns!

Here's my take on it. The most important thing is preparation. To that end I have made some bits and bobs, to make things as easy as possible. Obviously the armies are sorted out, points worked out and reference sheets all done and ready.

Pin markers. These are actually blast markers that I made for epic, but they will serve nicely I think.

Dice cup. I couldn't find anything else, so my "Dads Army" teacup will have to do!

 The cup easily hold about 20 of my homemade BA dice.

German platoon, Pl HQ, 3 squads Grenadiers, MMG team, and a sniper team.

Soviet forces. Pl HQ, Free 12 man conscript squad, 2 LMG squads, 1 10 man SMG squad, MMG squad Light Mortar team and a sniper team!

The massive stone Die, turn marker!.

The mission we will play will be Scenario 2 from the rulebook, Maximum attrition. This one sounds like it will provide suitable carnage. The game needs to as straightforward as possible, so no extra rules etc.

In this mission, no forces are set up initially, half your troops are in reserve and the other half are in the first wave. When troops receive an order, they move onto the table, with either an advance or run.

The beginning of the game saw both sides running into position, The German platoon commander ordered his MG42 team over to his left, to cover that side and the remaining forces moved into the center. The Soviets hastily moved their support weapons into position, with the Soviet sniper taking up a position ready to threaten the MG42 next turn.

The Soviet sniper got the first shot off, and shot one of the MG42 team,  placing a pin marker on it. The return fire was way off its mark. The rest of the troops on both sides moved onto the table, or moved into
position ready for next turn.

The MG42 team took another casualty from sniper fire, before the remaining gunner went to ground. It was to stay that way for the rest of the game, all the while harassed by the sniper. On the soviet side, combined rifle fire and a little bit of help from the light mortar pinned down and hampered the Grenadiers.

The game turned into a long range exchange of fire with the Soviet forces taking heavy casualties, but in the end Soviet manpower overwhelmed the Germans and by games end the German platoon was in a desperate position and withdrew.

Thoughts

The game flowed along at a good pace, despite it being our first game, and trying to teach it to the lad, however he still beat me in the end, the little git. We got a few of the rules wrong, such as order tests for pinned troops etc, but it was good to push some figures about and roll some dice!

He wants another game tomorrow too, we have decided on a Spartan vs Athenian battle using basic impetus.

Cheers
Steve

Cant see the wood for the trees?

Now then,

This weekend has seen me in a frenzy of terrain making (or just making a mess, if my wife is to be believed). To be fair I did drop my flock tub no less than 3 times, once spectacularly covering myself and everything else in the stuff....

Being clumsy aside, I managed to get this lot done:

First of all, I reinforced the edges of the boards with Green tape to protect them.

6mm Scale Trees

These are cheap trees bought via Amazon from China, a few quid for 50... Cant go wrong really. I should have toned down the green a bit, but they are done now.

15mm Scale trees

These are homemade trees, made out of wire and clump foliage, then dunked in watered down PVA and then the (for some reason hard to keep hold of) Flock.

The end result here is that I reckon both sets of trees, now that they are done will work fine for both scales, what do you think?

Hedges.

These are homemade, out of scouring pads, cut to shape then dunked in the PVA and then flocked. They work really quite well for 6mm, and at a push 15mm too. Thats good because I just don't have the space to store loads of terrain in different scales.... I'm pushing my luck already...

Here is my Terrain setup so far.

Whats next?

Well, for my 6mm I have these that need painting up.

Models - Total Battle Miniatures

For my 15mm, i'm going to order some pre-painted MDF buildings from 4Ground. I'm thinking the timber village set, and maybe a few fences and walls.

The inspiration for this board comes from my favorite Osprey book, Aspern and Wagram 1809. These pictures here....

Cheers for looking,

Steve

Terrain tiles

Now then,

Waiting for stuff in the post can be frustrating. Especially when your on leave, and have planned to get loads of painting done, and forgotten to order bases..... So my projects have stalled a bit. My own fault, My options are to punish myself by watching daytime TV, or be a bit more creative..but what to do?

So im sat in the Garden, enjoying the Cyprus sunshine, when I have a thought (rare as that may be). I have 4 TSS terrain tiles upstairs. But they are desert ones that I bought for playing Crusades games etc. What I really need is some terrain for my Napoleonics, and for Bolt action. Now on the other side of these terrain tiles they are blank......

So a quick woodbine later, and I'm off to the local paint shop. I bought a big pot of mossy green paint, and a few random tester pots, (about 10 euro). Here's what I came up with!

The sight that confronted my wife when she got home from work.... 

So these are the backs of the TSS desert tiles, painted first with the moss green, then while still wet, using the tester pots, random fields are painted on in different shades. It turned out much better than I expected if Im totally honest, and in total took me about an hour to get all 4 tiles painted!

Once dry Iv'e continued working on them, so when the lad got home from his mates house this is what greeted him in his room! (no one is safe from the geekyness in my house). Although he did say or rather mumbled that "they look alright" High praise indeed from James the moody arse teenager.

So next Im going to get some trees sorted out, and some hedges (ill have to make 6mm and 15mm versions of these).

Ill post some better images when ive got some trees etc done, and with some troops on. has anyone got any cunning ways of making hedges?

Cheers for looking,
Steve

le.IG.18 75mm and Pak 40 AT gun

Now then,

With the Soviets getting some fire support, I thought it only fair that the Germans get some too. The  le.IG.18 75mm Infantry Support Gun is classed as a light howitzer in Bolt Action, so will provide the grenadiers with a bit of fire support.

Gun and crew by Peter Pig

I'm really liking the Peter pig figures, they have loads of character, the only slight negative is that the faces are a bit dodgy...

What is needed now is a bit of AT capability....

Pak 40 Anti tank gun.

Gun and crew, Peter Pig

This has got to be my favorite bit of kit yet for my Jerrys. A really nice model, it comes with all the camouflage already cast on, so really looks the part, waiting to ambush an unwary soviet tank!

Bolt Action Page!

Anyway, still no bases for the Austrians, so ill have a dig about and see what else there is to paint for tomorrow.

Cheers,
Steve

Soviet Zis 3 Divisional Gun

Now then,

As I have neglected to order a new batch of bases for my Austrians, I have instead painted up this nice Peter Pig Gun for my Bolt Action Soviets. I thought I might need one as I dont think the 45mm is going to cut the mustard!

Gun by Peter Pig, Crew Peter Pig and Battlefront.

All My Eastern Front BA stuff can be seen here - Bolt Action Eastern Front page

For some strange reason I have overlooked Peter Pig models, I really don't know why, they are really nice. For those wishing to do BA in 15mm, I would highly recommend them, as not only are the figures top notch but they do custom orders, so you could order just what you need, instead of having loads of surplus stuff.

I'm already planning my next WW2 project, Western desert anyone?

Cheers for looking.

Steve

IR 51 Splenyi

Now then,

I Have got my latest units done, IR 51 a large Hungarian infantry regiment, in the 1809 campaign the regiment was quite under strength, but still fielded 3 battalions.  I have chosen to represent it with only 2 Battalions, but at full strength. Just makes things easier....

Anyway, here they are!

Thats the last of the line infantry done,

The Austrian army is slowly but surely getting there, with a few gaps here and there, namely Hussars and artillery with some more commanders and 4 Battalions of landwehr to do now. Unless of course I add a reserve division, Kurrassiers and Grenadiers...hmmm

The full Austrian army can be seen here - Austrian 1809 page

I know I said it was Austrian 6mm month, but ive ran out of bases for them, so ill be cracking on with something else for a while, then back to the Napoleonics next month!

Steve

Grenzer Regiment 8 and 13 Done.

Now then,

I actually finished these two units of Grenz light/irregular infantry off last week, but have been too busy to get them photographed etc...

Here are the newest additions to the Army of Austria!

GRENZ REGIMENT 8






GRENZ REGIMENT 13






Another 2 units done, these guys are a welcome addition, as irregular light infantry, they should prove to be very useful in an army almost devoid of skirmish capable troops.

Next on the painting table are IR51, a large Hungarian infantry regiment.

The full army can be seen here - Austrian 1809 Page

Cheers for looking.
Steve