Unknown episode of WW2 (part 2)

Last Friday night history of World War II took another surprising turn and had a pleasure to re-enact another unknown episode of war: battle between US and Italian forces against Soviet and French menace. It's another game we had to play at Rilian's place - last time it was Italian vs US and since then we were still kinda hungry got more WW2 gaming.

Since the last game Rilian also found 2 more commanders willing to start Bolt Action adventure, so we had 4 armies on the table - each 1250 pts worth. Must say no matter how much I like the game, the size of battle was just too big: the battle started about 20:30 and the last bullet was fired after 2:00 a.m.
My side clearly lost but we didn't manage to bring game to the 6th turn.

Any post-battle conclusions?
Not realy: it's Bolt Action so no matter what brilliant plan you prepare the dice drawing and rolling is true god of war. Because all other armies were early war, I also had to adjust my force to this period. Sadly that made my unit choice very limited but still it was fun.

Also I tried to upgrade some photos with AI so make the report more eyecatching but I'm not really sure it was good idea. I got feeling the upgraded photos look like taken from WH40000 battle of video game 🤔 Here's the material anyway - judge for yourself:

Below: brave G.I.s defending crucial supplies...

And here: Rilian's seld made aerosans:

That's it. Hope the next time I get opportunity to field proper mid/late war stuff 😎

Big forest

After dealing with some Warhammer Fantasy puppies and repainting Bolt Action winter G.I. squad decision was made to improve game table a bit. Some time ago I've managed to assemble small piece of forest, but after using it for over 2 years I've realised I want something bigger. For 2 reasons:

1. It provides more tactical options during the game.

2. Decently made terrain feartures look great on battlefield and on photos, which is double important if you are planning posting battle report. Especially when it comes to Bolt Action.

This piece was made more less same way as the previous one. I wanted it to be useful for gaming purposes so you can remove trees to move even large units or models inside (tanks,  warbeasts or whatever). It's pretty large terrain feature (~24" x ~18") so decision was made to cut it with a path, so units can cross it this way without penalty. Otherwise this thing would be just a line blocker most of the time probably.

I wasnt's sure about final result when I started working on these Heki trees (they still are pretty fragile despie all the varnish I sprayed over it) but I really like the final result. This is the first wood / forest piece I've ever had which shows the scale of models staggering around ^^ 

There's an empty space in the middle so I'm going to add another tree to make it look pretty thick from above of from a distance. I should have enough materials for another 6 ot 7 "trees strong" piece of wood so sooner or later my game table shoud get even more dense.

So here're the piccies:

Below - column of US vehicles crossing cutting the forest:

Most of trees are removable so any model can easily get inside:

Even such big as Mercurian Maculator!!! 

Cat is banned from entering the forest but it's ok for showing the scale.:

And some pics from the gaming bunker. Looking at this now I am sure I want another one! ^^

If anyone's interested those sweet buildings come from Black Grom Studio. And since we're here - big thanks to Andrzej from Terrains4Gamers for ideas and actually encouraging me to give this project a shot. You can surely call youself godfather of this piece! 😁

Cannot wait to test this piece in combat!

US infantry (winter war) #3

Another squad trusty G.I.s has just arrived to winter bitten Ardennes, ready to eat their own guts, ask for second and then kick zee Germans back where they came from! 😋 
I am pretty surprised I've managed to paint these guys so fast but apparently taking a break from Bolt Action was just kinda breath of fresh air for the hobby. Looks like there are about 15 or so models to paint / re-paint to fit winter style and I should be able to field 1000 pts fully painted wysiwyg Battle of the Bulge force. Really cannot wait - that artificial snow looks just great contrasting with rather dull olive uniforms.

This squad is kinda different then previously painted models and the test squad. Although I like the sculpts I really don't like metal heads so this time I decided replace original reads with plastic from US set (big thanks to Marcin for the idea and Mirosław for the body parts!). These simple conversions surely aren't my best surgery works, but I really like the final result: new heads look just SO MUCH BETTER then originals! There are still several spare heads in the bits box, so they will surely be used sooner or later. 

I got this squad second hand and sadly didn't notice some barrels were broken off before placing a bid. Oh well - no one should notice that from distance, when models are placed in the crowd. Besides from afar they kinda look like carrying shotguns 😁 

So here's the current state of Snowball Company: 2 squads, some extra weapons + a taxi:

And below: fresh, regular 58 points worth G.I.s (including BAR and SMG):

Next stop: dragon ogre - most probably... 

US infantry (winter war) #2

After dealing with recent Warhammer Slaanesh Vampire I came back to western Europe WW2 front. Back days I was just so tired of painting everything green but now, after taking a break for fantasy stuff, working on Bolt Action stuff is just refreshing.

My trusty U.S. army hasn't found new owner yet, so decision was made to refresh the boys and repaint them in winter fashion. A while back test squad has been done like that and must admit I really like the result. I'm guessing it's the matter of contrast between uniforms and snow. Would really like to see tanks painted long time ago re-done for winter fighting, but that's not gonna happen until I get enough G.I. to field full winter selector army.

While waiting for the undercoat on infantry is dry and ready for painting I decided to adjust one of old Dodge 3/4 transporters to winter conditions. I don't really like the muddy effect on the car, so some field winter camo supported by artificial snow should improve the look.

I think after the second half of the squad is finished I might come back to terrain building. I was hoping to rebuild piece of forest we use during the summer, but somehow it was pretty busy period. Maybe long autumn evenings can provide better atmosphere for such stuff.

Selling 2000 pts Bolt Action army

The time has come. I am selling my trusty Bolt Action US force. Don't have spare space for more models and that might be opportinity to change sides: always wanted to paint some more Axis stuff...

Selling what you can see below. All models painted with acrylics, sealed, with bases done. All models apart from vehicles are metal from: Warlord, West Wind, Artizan, Black Tree, Stoessi's Heroes. Metal is tougher then resin or metal and US GIs are toughest  of all! 💀 

For gaming I prefer regulars so here's the list of units + point cost: 

• 1st liutenant regular inc. assistant 85 
• medic regular inc. assistant 33 
• forward air observer 75 
• 10x regular infantry inc. SMG & BAR 108 
• 12x REG infantry inc.SMG,  2 BAR 128 
• 11x REG infantry inc. 2 BAR 125 
• 6x veteran infantry, 4 SMG, 2 BAR 113  
• 2x MMG section regular 100 
• 2x regular flamer section 100 
• 1x regular bazooka team 60 
• heavy mortar regular 65 
• medium mortar regular 50 
• light mortar regular 40 
• heavy AT cannon 110 
• medium AT cannon 75 
• medium howitzer + spotter 85
• Chaffee 185 
• Hellcat 190 
• Greyhound 135 
• Jeep, MMG 36 
• 2x Dodge, MMG 92 
• Jeep,transport 21

If you are interested - contact me for details (contact form in right panel) or visit Bolt Action buy / sell group on Facebook. Shipping worldwide.