Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Even more Bolt Action + some summary


Hey again,

I should've published this post like 2 days ago but I was kinda distracted by playing Civilisation IV...
Beware if you ever decide to give this game a try - it's just f#%king addictive!

But since I managed to turn off that time waster it's high time for some hobby report from my painting station. This time: more Bolt Action (yup - again!) and annual summary.

Let's start with the boring part - miniatures are dessert.
2016 has just passed so I checked the hobby chart and looks like I've been about as much productive as in a year before: I managed to paint 49 models and play 24 games while in 2015 these were 53 and 20.
Sure it's not enough but all in all it's still decent result for fully employed family guy. Bravo!
What's most optimistic is the fact the result is slowly getting  better and better since 2011 (when ye blazing comet was spotted in the sky and shortly after my kid was born).
I regret so much I haven't started such a statistics earlier - I've been wondering many times how many models left my painting station since the day I got sucked into the hobby abyss.

As for overall conclusion - it was busy year, VERY busy, mostly by real life. I am glad I managed to finish most of started project and that I haven't put hobby bar too high: big painting plans usually mean big disappointment.
I am very glad one more 100% oldschool gang was finished (EM4 Scavengers aka Necromunda Orlock proxies) and that we gave a try to Bolt Action game - it's such a breath of fresh, battlefield air!
Even my brother dediced to join the gaming ring as der deutch Heerfuhrer.
Which reminds me I have to order some more US infantry to repel those nazi pests...

And some solid numbers: summary on the bottom relates to the period since 2011.




And the promised candy.
Since the last time I managed to practice Bolt Action game rules a bit, add some terrain and of course - slap paint on some models.

We're still building the battlefield so in order to make games more demanding (and our soliders' fate even more f&*ked up) I built 4 more hedges sections. These are just tall enough to provide cover for sneaking  infantry but I am also considering building some really tall hedges, tall enough to hide tank or scout car behind. It's a bocage setting after all!

Building such obstacles is very easy and quick (except for waiting for pva and base color to dry) and you can probably find most of needed materials at yout place:
pcv sheets left-overs, sand, white glue, some sponge, steel wool or seat filling, hobby paints, hairspray.

 
 
And miniatures:
since the last time my US force has been reinforced by 2 BAR assault rifle operators, forward air observer and some paratroopers veterans.
Painting Artizan Designs' stuff is just great - models are well scaled and simple. They remind me EM4 models a bit. With no usless gear hanging on models painting single trooper takes like 2 evenings and that is while still keeping decent painting quality. 
Decent for gaming purposes to be clear.

For BAR guys (for whole regular infantry actually) I chose convincing color scheme but to make gaming more clear, I decided to paint the helmets black. It turns out sometimes in the very heat of the battle player may forget weather there is or not BAR operating in the squad.


Forward Air Observer is the first painted officer in my army.
It's quite expensive but since it can call 2 air strikes instead of one (US special rule) I try not to leave the base without it: at this point I found whole pinning effect it might cause slightly overestimated, but on the other hand the final attack is able to rip tank apart. Just like during last game - my brother, I mean: der Bruder, didn't know that painted models fight better (MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HAAA...!!!)


And the guy who cause the mess above himself:


And for the final - paratroopers.
These guys were my first Bolt Action investment and I am really satisfied about them: both sculptures and combat performance.
Thank to special gear and slightly different paintjob this team is pretty eyecatching amont other US units. I have to consider mounting them on half-track or some truck to bring light machine gun fast closer the action.
Anyway since the last time I managed to paint 2 more paratroopers, 4 models more and I can concentrate on cannon fodder. Regular infantry that is...



Thats it for starters.
Thanks for reading and seeya in 2017!

6 comments:

  1. Cheers buddy, all I hope for is to see my small Bolt Action force finished ;-)
    Ane all the very best to you too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When we add ruined house (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0288/8306/products/wg-ter-02-ruined-farmhouse-c_grande.jpeg?v=1383705734) and few walls (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0288/8306/products/WGB-TER-38-Stone-Walls-b_grande.jpg?v=1396602608) the battlefield will be real dense.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It sure will:
    I still have mold for bricks so I coyld actually try to build some ruins myself.
    But now painting paras is the top priority... :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting... Blog didn't recognize me any more - my comments profile is 'Unknown'. Is this becasue my Brits ate your Yankees on breakfast?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nope, it's because only cowards charge US infantry...

    ReplyDelete