Operation Sting , a Yank brings his Brits

 

In effort to keep on posting, given my long absence, I set up my Army Display for the weekend and took a few shots. Not much different than my Adepticon list with exception that I dropped my QF 6-PDR and replaced with a Stuart M5A1. some adjustment to my veterancy levels allowed me to squeeze in a Flame Thrower team. Considering how much abuse I took from Flame Throwers last event I figured I return the favor. This list plays well against a like minded opponent who want to cover all the bases at 1000 points with a little of everything in one platoon. Planes or Heavy Tanks

I dont really have an answer for. Even against a medium tank, I have my work cut out for me but at least now all my Anti Tank stuff is mobile. Aaron and I are playing tomorrow night so I'll have some pics of all our stuff on the new completed table and you can see where my hobby time has gone.

really looking forward to the weekend, we will see if can win a game at tournament for Bolt Action which has so far eluded me. Excuse the photos my lighting wasnt the best some are a bit washed out.

Bolt Action- bringing an Army to the table

 In any miniatures skirmish game, for me a measure of ones interest in said game can easily be gauged by the what they put into their models. Whether it be causal or competitive, I find it rare that people slave away on the models for game they dont really like. The reverse can be true as well ,where you may love the game but models just don't inspire you. I've bounced around a bit quite since I quit playing Warhammer, I had brief affairs with Warmachine, Kings of War, Flames of War, etc. all of my attempts to work around the various nuances that irked me, be it the IP, the models or scale all lead to my inevitable lack of interest in the games. Even my longest serving miniature passion, Lord of the Rings has suffered not due to not only my fading interest in the state of the game but failure of the new ranges to inspire in either the visualization or the physical material (failcast). After spending a year with Warlord Games, Bolt Action, its clear to me, I really like this game.

First of my 4 teams on 60mm bases my Sniper Team, finally finished up this morning.

 I've got two Bolt Action Armys, my British Paratroopers, and my favorite nemesis of theirs Germany's Waffen SS. I actually think this will only be the second minatures game where I can field more than one completely painted army ( other being LotR where I can field at least 600 points armys from numerous incarnations from 4 different factions but I have also been playing that game since 2007)

My Humber Mark IV is only 90% complete, I still have a bit of touch up to do and put some decals on it. The guys walking along aside are British Commandos from Black Tree Designs they work great with WG figures.

 Adepticon is about 47 days away, This about half my army I still have 6 commandos, my HMG team, ATG Team, Mortar Team, and Jeep to paint...they are all built modeled up and base coated
so I am going right into painting, My goal here is to be done the end of the month, that's looking unlikely but it will close. I'll surely crank about the rest of my Commandos and  my HMG team by next weekend, my 6 pounder ATG in the week after that..leaving me my Mortar and Jeep for the last month going in. Keep in mind I am simultaneous working on both the Pirate Table and Bolt Action table in between. While everything for the tables might not happen in the end, I am not worried about my Tournament armies, and for Pirates I already have more stuff then would fit on the allowable gaming space before I built the stuff recently built.

As for my painting I kept it pretty by the book, the uniforms are the uniforms however being military uniforms are bit drab I like to bring a bit of color into the miniatures, I am using a lot of bright highlights of the base colors hopefully getting them to pop out a bit more. The camo smocks on the Red Devils and extra work of all the resin bases definitely add on to the time to get them done.
Regardless, I am loving painting this army more so that any army in recent memory, looking for forward to posting shots of these guys on the new table, against another fully painted army.
(speaking of which any BA fan should check out my pal Jeremy's Japanese over at his Blog)
I am glad to report that reality is going to happen very soon!. Next weekend is my pal Tim's Gathering in Desert Reboot  "Operation Scorpion"  taking place in the Phoenix area. Bolt Action was the transition game for former LotR players as the game died out there, IL/WI is definitely following suit as   while LotR is still soldiering on here, almost every regular I played at events with for the last 5 years is playing BA, in fact 3 of my local LotR compradres are making the trip and I wish I was joining but alas, this time of year its night impossible for me to get out of town.

In other news coming up we are running a couple demos for public events I am involved here at out Bi-Weekly game nights which look to be back on track after getting sabotaged by this brutal winter
We are doing our Hail Ceasar demo of a huge Crusades game on a 12 x 4 table, this game is happening post Adepticon at Little Wars  which is great little local convention that always gets overshadowed by Adepticon.

Then we are demoing Pirates the week after, basically just to make sure the scenarion plays the way I want it to..again a 12 x 4 table...painting is underway on the Gatehouse piece I recently posted and Rich brought the ruined castle back over on Tuesday I'll be setting the whole thing up very soon to get sorted.. So hopefully I'll be back to posting a bit more frequently in the coming month, as all these
thing come to fruition I'll be psyched to talk about it.

Bolt Action - After Action Report GB vs GER

German Panzer Grenadiers (aaron)
1st Lt.    2 Troops, Veteran
Artillery Foward Artillery Observer    Veteran
Infantry Section (7) Panzergrenadier    1LMG, 3x SMG, Panzerfaust    Veteran
Infantry Section (7)7 Panzergrenadier    1LMG, Reg, 2x SMG
Infantry Section (7) 7 Panzergrenadier    1LMG, Reg, 1x Assault Rifle, 1x SMG
120mm Mortar   w/ Spotter   Veteran
MG42   Machine Gun Team Regular
SdFzk 222 Armored Car    Regular
Panzer IVh  Tank  Regular

1000 points -9 Orders

British Paratroopers , Red Devils ( John)   
all Veterans
1st Lt, +2 Troops
Paratroop Section (6) , LMG, SMG   
Paratroop Section (6) , LMG, SMG
Commando Section (6)  6x SMG ATG
Medic
Forward Observer
Vickers MMG
Medium Mortar w/ Spotter
Sniper Team
PIAT anti tank team
Humber Mark IV armored Car
6 pnd'r Anti Tank Gun
Transport Jeep with MMG



 1000 points -13 Orders

Scenario: Point Defense

So my Red Devils got another go at Aaron's Panzer Grens on Tuesday evening, we choose the Point Defense scenario which is one we have not played before. Aaron won the roll off, and choose to attack. leaving my Paratroops to defend. The board was set up as a small village on the hill with some surrounding buildings stretching across the table.

In Point Defense, the defender has three objective that need to be protected, I am also allowed to have several units in reserve. Aaron, as the Attacker must capture two objectives to win the game. I placed two of the objectives on my left, near the village and one objective on the right side near my farthest table edge.  I choose to keep my vehicles in reserve and my commandos ( who would use their "Behind enemy lines" ability later in the match), this was the first time I used a Commando section so I was curious to see how they would perform.

The rest of my army was deployed as follows:

I placed  2 Paratroop squads. my HQ section with  my1st Lt and 2 men  , 1 6pdr AT gun around objective 1.

The Mortar , PIAT team , Vickers HMG , Sniper Team, Mortar Spotter and Forward Observer were all around the large building on the hill close enough to cover both objectives.

Aaron deployed the majority his force across from the village leaving only a single 7 man squad and forward observer across from objective one..he had his heavy mortar with a MG 42 for cover in the center of his deployment zone, 

I had went first on Turn One and had my units on the right advance toward hard cover  and aarons single squad , the rest of my troops on the left were hidden or set into ambush mode,..lastly I had my FO call in some bombarments from afar...this was a particular pain the rear for Aaron as I rolled  "delay" an got to recenter my target point up to 12 inches from my intital target- I moved it right to where his troops would he advancing.

With  the threat of  heavy artillery bombardment right in his face...Aaron advance was bit shooken up -trying to advance but keep his troops apart from a potential disaster of a lucky artillery strike. He managed to maneuver and advance his scout car up toward my objective on my left flank. 

Turn Two- I make a reserve order roll and my Humber scout car comes on the board right where objective 3 is and proceeds to blow the turret right off Aarons 222 scout car...mortars , artillery and my sniper soon start hitting  put a whole bunch of pin markers all over Aarons units.

Turn Three- things get grim when my commandos and Jeep with MMG come on the board further putting causalities on the Germans. The artillery threat has forced he Panzer IV out of position and Aaron is shelling the building with my Sniper in it to little avail. On the Right side of the board my troops are advancing on Aaron's loan squad.and his forward observer. Fire is exchanges, the german take some pin markers, nothing major, my Sniper kills one German soldier.  Aaron then decides to have his FO call in artillery stike on his own position! in an epic bit of martyrdom , He  hopes to wipe a bunch of my men  but in the end takes as much as he gives..

Turn Four My farthest right squad over runs his FO and capture on building  but My whole HQ is wipoed out by aarons ambushing squad I has forgotten about, My two remaining squads, standfast both prepping for shoot -then assault- two squad attack..

Back in the village things get a litte better for the Germans  who have taken many casualties and pins, after my sniper kills his Lt..., Aaron decides he's had enough sniping he's be zeroing in with the 120mm Mortar for 3 turns now and finally scores. the heavy mortar basically levels the big building on the table, killing my sniper team and Mortar spotter. my FO survives the pile of rubble.
 My jeep and Humber are shooting at his Panzer IV and his squads and keep the pins and  kills coming

Aarons rallies a squad and rushes the clearing at the top of the hill to assault my PIAT team in preparation for his Tank to advance. The Panzer IV is pinning down my Commandos with co axial MMG fire , BUT The German assault team forgoets my Vickers MMG is close by AND in ambush and lets loose killing two of the squad. The assault advance happens but Aaron trolls terribly and loses to my PIAT team in assault and the remaining squad is wiped out.

Turn Five. My Commandos with the tough fighters rule all armed with SMGs and Anti Tank grenades- assault Aarons tank and blow it hell up . The successful vehicle assault being a nice ending to the entire left flank advance, the right flank s position is also looking grim being heavily outnumber and my AT gun can start shelling anything on the left or center of his board. Facing heavy losses the surviving Germans retreat, to fight another day.

Thoughts
This game played out with a great narrative- which is one of things I love about Bolt Action. Both our commanders KIA, artillery and mortars everywhere and  the troops carried on until victorious or forced to retreat. Aaron was knocked off his game by the turn 1 FO bombardment (we did not use preparatory bombardment in this scenario) which ended up screwing up his advance, my fast vehicles in reserve coming on strong further halted his advance where he needed a quick foothold to push on from and it wasnt there. My Commando squad with 12 dice for shooting and 18 in assault just added fuel to fire...The simultaneous push from the right really bound the Germans up. The secret to defense in this scenario was for the British to Attack!  This was definitely the most lopsided victory of our games so far, but I am sure the Germans will be back with a vengeance.

LPL7- Round 7. Re-Run.

Round 7 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 7

Above is my 6 round entry, "Red Devils".  Which is my very first painted Bolt Action figures. The rest of my 1000 point BA army is based, primed, basecoated and ready to go..but no additional paint on these guys is happening until I finish my tight schedule for the LPL.

This week due to again time crisis/holiday weekend plans, I ended up re running my round 1 entry
my recently painted Rohirim who lost in Round 1 against one the current fellows at the top of the Leaderboard. This week they got matched up against another great painter with a great entry, but I am glad to say they are winning so far, but please go ahead and check them out and go vote if you are participating in this!


Having to paint 5 figures (and photograph them in a good scene) week to week is a tough, tough challenge especially if you've got way too much going to begin with, the thing to do is really have everything done when the thing begins ,except rounds 5 and 10 (the big bonus rounds) and spend your time working on those.  Right now I have a month to paint 3 more entries...and 10 is the big one.
pretty sure I have it covered but its going to be tight...hindsight is all well and good but let what I get done this week!

LPL 7- Round 6 -Getting back on track.

Round 6 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 7

Above is my 5 round entry, "Warwick_WotR.  Which was supposed to be "Warwick", a.k.a "The Kingmaker" or Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick staring down both York and Lancastrian troops in a scene from Englands War of the Roses. If you remember anything about the man, he switches sides about half way through the war. So I had planned about 7-10 troops on each side starring each other down with him in the middle, it being not obvious to which side. This was also the big bonus point round. In the comedy of errors that went on that week, not only was I totally slammed for time, only completing a small portion of the planned entry, but my regular camera broke, I had to rush the photos with my unfamiliar back up camera I hadn't touched in years, then I go a typo the guys name as "Warrick" instead of "Warwick", and don't notice all week, then to further the comedy of the whole episode, I win by a 3 to 1 margin, with what was to me, my worst entry of the contest. all the way from my paint to photograph.

Sucking up this embarrassment, I had just come off a great time learning, playing and building my British Airborne "Red Devils" for Warlords Games Bolt Action game. I was jacked up to paint these guys and had a week to paint 5 models which was doable, with some crisis management on my real life work project well in hand, I got my entry submitted no problem on friday morning with a re-submit later in the day when my wife pointed out that while she really liked the photo and minatures there was big ol' screwdriver on the table in the background that I didnt ever notice..(Ooofff)

Anyway I am happy with the way these guys came out and am really digging painting some WW2 in 28mm, I am going to bang out the whole army this summer which is only about 40 models with 3 vehicles and some heavy weapons.  So check out my Red Devils this week and go vote, I am holding a comfortable lead as I type this so I am hoping I can still salvage this thing with strong entries the next four rounds.

Next week, back to some generic fantasy stuff...should be fun to paint!

LPL 7- Round 5, I barely make it!

Round 5 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 7

Above is my 4 round entry, "Red Devils 15mm"  Which again, lost. I briefly talked about 15mm having a tough time in this thing in my last LPL post, and a combo of that and I guess the photo not being good enough did it in. .

This round was a disaster for me..first of all my good camera broke (older Canon G9, apparently suffers for an internal short circuit) No idea when I'll get that fixed but pictures with my back up are definitely tougher to do. Then this project I am working on for work spiraled out of control
and I went from planning 15 figure for the Historical Civil War bonus round, to 10, to 7
finally settling on one team of 5, and they're pretty mediocre to boot, I just didn't have the time to do them justice and then had to rush photos to meet the deadline I couldn't get the right lighting with my old camera.

The kicker is, so I hastily enter my mediocre entry and I am kicking myself how this just isnt my year for this thing and then I go to vote and see I am winning by over 100 votes?? my biggest margin yet! Sometimes I can't figure out peoples tastes in this thing, for instance my Red Devils above should have been a way tighter margin in  round 4, than margin I currently have in round 5, your guess is as good as mine.

I still managed to get half the bonus points..I am going to really need to knock it out the last 5 rounds if I want to even stand a chance and beating my score last year.  So check out my Historical Entry
Warwick_WotR  and check out this weeks entries some really cool stuff in there.

Next up Bolt Action , Red Devils 28mm WIP, and Painted for round 6...