Bolt Action: Early War British

Having completed my Early War Germans (originally for Chain of Command), and already having a Russian platoon from back in the first edition days of Bolt Action I found a collection of Early War British figures I’d collected years ago for A Very British Civil War.

So, I thought that as Bolt Action is on our gaming schedule, I’d break out what I have and get them painted up.

This is the lion’s share of an older Warlord British infantry kit, and I have to say that these infantry miniatures are the worst multipart figures I’ve ever struggled to build. Model building is my least favourite part of the hobby in general, so I like to push through and get that chore done quickly. That wasn’t possible with this kit. Sadly, I neglected “work in progress” shots (mostly as I was in a state of frustrated rage during the process), so you’ll have to take my work for it, but these were horrible.

After 6 hours of tedious work, I finally managed to get 30 British Warlord plastic miniatures glued together.  They were absolutely dire to build.

As it happens, I have a couple of sprues of what I think are the later Warlord British and they are FAR better.

To give you an example, to construct ONE of the kneeling Brits from the older kit, here are the separate parts that need gluing:

• Left leg
• Right leg
• Torso
• Head
• Helmet
• Left arm
• Right arm
• Weapon
• Backpack
• Hip pack (with knife)
• Hip pack (with entrenching tool)

There are then other tiny bits like binoculars, extra ammo packs etc., that I generally left off.

All those bits for ONE figure. All of which were tiny, fiddly, and didn't really fit together neatly, and often needed filing to fit together. And all of which had mould lines and in some cases flash from mould slippage to be shaved off.

I have no desire to ever repeat that process.

Anyway, with the figures built I then set about the painting process. British WWII uniforms are tricky to get the colour right without a dedicated mixed paint. This isn't helped by there not being one uniform, particularly during the early war.

I tried out a couple of options and settled on the darker (left) scheme.  I don’t think its entirely accurate, but its close enough.

Agrax Earthshade wash on the left, Seraphim Sepia wash on the right. Left seems closer to the correct colour to me.

Also, I often use 2 pence pieces for basing 28mm figures like this, but I’ve run out, so some are still on the flimsy warlord plastic discs. No worries. I wonder where I can get some rolls of 2 pence peices?

All told it took about 8 hours to build everything, and 2 hours to paint. 8 hours is WAY more time than I would usually spend in building stuff. Not great, but it’s done now.

So, here’s the result! This is the core of a British Early War reinforced platoon for Bolt Action.

• 3x 10 Infantry Sections (all rifles + 1 LMG (Bren))
• 1x 2pdr Anti-tank Gun
• 1x 6pdr Anti-tank Gun
• 1x Univeral Carrier (with LMG)
• 4x Spotters
• 3x Medics - this includes two what i think are "special" figures that Warlord released, a paratrooper carrying a wounded man
• 3x Commanders
• I also have an an extra rifleman and three extra LMG troops.

The Ruperts assembled and ready to lead the lions to war.

Extra LMG troops. These will come in handy for future unit expansions.

6pdr ATG. This kit was actually for North Africa, but I painted it for Europe.

2pdr ATG

The ubiquitous Universal Carrier (plastic kit).

The core of the platoon - "PBI". They are equipped for early war so only rifles and LMG.

The "spotters" and forward observers. The British in Bolt Action make good use of these.

The special Warlord figure (for some reason I have two), which I'll use as a medic.

As its where I'm from I painted these up thinking of them as Royal Hampshires, therefore the black beret. However, that presents a bit of an anachronism. Early War, the Royal Hampshires did not deploy in Europe. they spent most of the War in Africa, Palestine, and Italy and didn't make it to Europe until 1944.

No worries though...

Bolt Action Russians: Part 2 - the cavalry arrives!

With the 'core force' done I'm steadily building up and trying out various options.  Reading through the rules, army lists, and with a few practice games under my belt, the effectiveness of close assault has become quite evident.

My core force: this has turned out to be a highly successful 1000pt build so far.  Aggressive, flexible, and able to achieve most objectives in most of the scenarios.

So the possibilities of cavalry look quite appealing.  I put an order in to Copplestone, whose figures are pretty much exceptional quality across all their ranges.  From their Back of Beyond range I ordered two packs of White Russian Cossacks and a pack of White Russian Cossack Standard Bearers.

When they arrived however, the standard bearers were missing and a pack of Caucasian Cossack Cavalry were included instead.

The erroneous Caucasians lurking in the box.

Bob loves this wheat-based packing material for some reason.  She's not happy that we stop her from eating it though.

Hmm...

So I emailed Copplestone to raise the issue.  A few day's later this arrived!  

Copplestone simply sent the missing pack, not asking for the return of the pack sent in error etc.

All I can say is thank you Copplestone!  Excellent customer service well above and beyond the expected level.  

Anyway, I'll be painting these chaps up in the next week or two ready to take into battle.  They look splendid.  Great sculpts, well cast with minimal flash and beautiful crisp details.

The standard bearers don't come with flag poles so I'll have to pick up some brass rods next time I'm at the model store.  I normally have some knocking about but I appear to have run out.

Bolt Action Russians

I guess I should engage in a bit of throat clearing as its been a good while since I posted to my blog.  I've actually been really busy with real life, other less blog-friendly games (like board gaming and roleplaying) and also working on a wargames project that has taken a good deal of my time and attention.

And of course during that time I've also been wargaming, but I've neglected the blog here for various reasons.  I shall take the shame.  I also noticed that the last few posts showed the start of a few projects without then covering the finish.

Hmm....

So, anyway, I'll kick off again with a basically completed project:  Bolt Action Russians.

A good while ago, when Warlord first released Bolt Action my group and I gave them a go.  We were in a different place regarding our gaming interests at that time and the rules got shelved.  However, of late we've been playing 'bitty' games, not really settling on anything and we decided we wanted to put something on the table that would be tournament based, good fun, simple, with lots of pretty toys, decent rules, and gaming that encompassed list building, as well as good solid game tactics.

We tried a few games that didn't quite fit the bill, including Bolt Action.  Then we played Bolt Action again.  And again.  And we looked around at our collections and said, 'hey remember those figures we bought for Rules of Engagement and never used?!

Yeah, so...its safe to say we've been playing Bolt Action pretty solidly lately, with proxies to learn the rules as we build up our tournament forces.

As ever, I've gone for Russians.

We're playing 1000pts, so I've been steadily building a 'core force', plus a bunch of options to try out.  I suspect, as ever I'll end up with far more than I'll ever actually field!  Hehe...

So these figures are a mix of Black Tree Design minis that I bought a few years ago, some Copplestone stuff and the maddeningly fiddly Warlord plastics.  They all mix in quite well which is good. 

Here's my main force so far.

Russian Reinforced platoon (generic list), 1000pts.

The Lt is accompanied by a flag-bearer.  Their role is mainly to ride with the assault units and keep them going forwards, hence they are armed with SMGs.

Vasily!  Get that left flank moving!!

The platoon is supported by three teams with anti-tank rifles.  I've found them to be a really useful and flexible part of the force, able to take on light armour, enemy infantry dug in buildings, and also snipe and pin if no other targets present themselves.  Spread out across the battlefield, I can usually get at least one of them firing into the side or rear armour of an enemy tank!  Hehe...Also they are easy for the opponent to miss in the chaos f a battle and they have popped up from cover unexpectedly a few times.

My main armour is a T-28, which is a monster infantry killer!  As I've not been able to find a T-28 model this is a Copplestone Vickers MkIII - basically the same tank anyway.

And my tank killer armour is the BA-10, a highly mobile 'glass cannon' recce armoured car able to take out all but the heaviest enemy tanks with its main gun, and nippy enough to get itself out of trouble when the enemy returns fire.

Light, fast, and able to react as a recce vehicle to get out of trouble, the BA-10 carries a main gun capable of brewing up all but the heavy tanks it'll face.  Recce vehicles are a must in any Bolt Action force, and the crew of this BA-10 are speed racers, hooning about the battlefield and putting shells into buildings, or any enemy armour they can come across.

  

A unit of Guards with rifles and a Panzerfaust provide me with tactical flexibility and this unit usually ties all the other elements of my force together.

Hang on chaps, my bolt has jammed.  anyone know how to clear it?

 I also take advantage of the Russians free unit of conscripts.  Here they are armed with rifles and Molotov cocktails.  I use them mainly as reserves or to take and hold easy objectives. 

Brand new shiny kit, bayonets fixed, and burning vodka bottles at the ready!

Over there comrades!  Duck and cover...

A dreadful waste of good Hrenovuha if you ask me...

 My main attacking force is made up of two units of veteran assault engineers fully equipped with SMGs and a flamethrower team.  They usually start in the trucks, steam forwards of turn 1 to decamp into a solid position to launch a vicious close assault or close ranged fire.

The utterly brutal flamethrower - king of any Bolt Action table.

Oh, and I've made some useful little pin markers too.

Made from the Minibits 'dice herder' frames and Warlord's pin markers.  Very useful and unobtrusive on the tabletop.

So that's my main 1000pt force, but I'm steadily building a variety of options to try out. 

Standing ready in reserve.

A T34 of course.  I've not tried this out yet, as I'm trying to get to grips with the core force outlined above.  The T34 is an expensive points option to go with.  I might field it as the flamethrower variant though.

Grubby and oil stained as befitting a working battle vehicle.

I have a heavy field gun which I've used as a heavy howitzer.  Its utterly brutal, able to flatten whole buildings and wipe out units in one shot, but its basically a static unit and Bolt Action is definitely a game that requires mobility in your troops.

After a particularly heavy night on the turnip vodka, Alexei tries desperately to remember how to fire the field gun.

I've got a sniper team.  Not used these yet, but I pretty much face snipers in every enemy force so I should give them a go sometime.  I've found that when they're placed high up in a central building they can be devastating, but otherwise, not so good.

  

Zaytzev's got nowt on you Boris...right through that officer's cap-skull at 1000 yards...

I've converted a leader/commissar model to be a spotter in a camouflaged coat.  Russian WWII camo appears to have been...um...basic.

Uh...vodka-soaked camera...

What the Hell are they shelling THAT building for!?!?  I said the church, not the tavern!

A couple of weapon teams next.  The MG team has been highly underwhelming on the table top.  In fact the Bolt Action rules have LMGs, MMGs, and HMGs underperforming in the hands of infantry, which is why my infantry don't use the iconic DP-28 LMG.  Not worth it.

And finally...bomb dogs!  Cruel I know, but these anti tank weapons appear to be highly useful.  I've not used them yet, but our British faction player fields a Churchill AVRE which is devastating.  I may need to spam bomb dogs against that monster! 

Woof!  Woof!  Woof!

Copplestone huskies with some Warlord backpacks glued on.  Simples!

Next up, I have some cavalry to paint.  Copplestone messed up my order though so I didn't get the flag bearers I asked for.  Might be a delay there then...  I've got enough to try out so far though so no worries!


Part 2 here