Bolt Action Reinforcements (Panther and Siberians)

The three day weekend provided an opportunity to get some painting and modeling done this week.  I thought starting my Masters course would seriously hamper my ability to get any hobby projects done, but so far the work load has been manageable.

I have had some Warlord Siberian VETS on the bench.

Initial Siberian squad and support weapons assembled

I was able to finish assembling the remainder and start painting.  I like to use the Army painter dip on all my 28mm troops.

Block painted and dipped

Once the dip is dry I go back and add highlights, some details, dry brush and flock the bases.  I have a friend who is a great painter and has been providing me tips along the way as I tackle this new scale.  I have to say these are some of my best yet.  I know there is still still plenty of room for improvements.  As I learn new techinques I am tempted to go back and re-work older troops.

Completed Siberians with support weapons and Commissar

Full twelve man Squad

ATRs and Sniper team

Commissar and MMG team

Partial Squad, extra NCOs and LMGs

These reinforcements will allow me to filed two full Siberian Squads or up to four small squads. 

Next up I tackled a Warlord Panther Ausf. A Tank.

Completed Tank with the Box for reference

I assembled this one Saturday night after a long introductory Bolt Action game for some friends during the day who are just getting into the game.   I wish I could say this project went as well as the Siberians, but unfortunately I found this one very difficult due to the fact that the tracks were misshapen and the hull had some serious bulges.  These defects meant that  the tracks did not fit snugly to the hull and were slightly bent out.   I almost thought about contacting Warlords customer service again for replacements.  As that would have delayed the project several weeks I decided to press on.

After some shaving sanding and the use of C-Clamps the tracks were aligned and secure to dry for the night. When I checked back on it Sunday I discovered one side had shifted and was badly out of place.  As a result needed to be removed it and re-glue. This did not go well and the track came off in three pieces. In addition, I broke off a section of the inside of the tread as well as some bits on the upper hull by the forward hatches.

Not to be deterred I put the track back together like a puzzle and was able to get it properly positioned. The use of some modeling putty filled the gaps between the hull and track. I pulled out some styrene strip/ plasticard and was able to fashion the bits by the hatches that broke off the hull.  It truly was a test of my modeling skills.

Finally I was ready to prime and paint. From that point forward everything went smoothly. I did have some extra parts. Again being a Warlord kit no instructions are included. Finally I found a picture on the web which showed the light I had not initially included and have since added to make it complete.

 I opted to leave the side skirts off for now.

Panther Ausf A ready for battle

Rear of the tank which my opponents will hopefully never see :)

All in all I am very happy with how this model turned out especially considering the difficulties I had assembling it.  I was very close to scraping the project a couple times especially when I was piecing the track back together.  As it is now none of the damage is visible to the casual observer.

I guess I did OK as my son who is my primary opponent was impressed.  At the same time he declared getting a Tiger in now out of the question....Muuuuhahahha. :)

I have to say not bad for a weekend.  Now I just have to find time to put them into battle.

Sails of Glory- KS unboxing

A new game is hitting the street today, Sails of Glory by Ares.  Ares is the same company that took over Wings of War and made it Wings of Glory a couple years ago.  They have done a wonderful job with that game not only keeping it going, but greatly improving the offerings and the time frame between new releases.

This past spring Ares announced they were producing a new similar game based on the Age of Sail with pre-painted ships.  An instant sell for me.  They also decided to go a unique route to secure funding for the new project by offering it as a Kick Starter which is becoming more and more popular in the gaming community.  They started with a $30k goal with a number of stretch goals.  By the time the KS ended they had meet all the stretch goals and had to create many more and ended up with a pledge level of almost $277k with close to 1200 backers.

Kick starter page:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1402889231/sails-of-glory-miniatures-ship-combat

This is the first KS I have ever supported and I bought in at the Captain level which secured me the basic game all the ships that would be offered on the retail market plus four exclusive ships for the KS (16 ships total) and many other extras.

As I learned is common with most KS projects there have been many delays along the way.  Ares decided to improve the quality of the ships which meant a significant delay from the initial projected August release date.  As a result my KS rewards arrived DEC 19th.  I had been very excited for the release, especially after playing a pre-production demo version in October at ROCKCON.

Part of ROCKCON  Demo Game

As a result my interest has wained a bit.  Additionally, I was a bit upset with Ares in that they had initially promised KS backers would have the rewards weeks in advance of the street date.  While this is technically the case for me it is not for all.  One of my close friends who operates an online store just received his rewards Friday which negated his ability to fill orders over the holidays and any competitive edge he had over his competitors other that the fact that he does have the exclusive offerings and regular retailers will not.   I do not feel that Ares or their third party distribution company has handled the roll out as well as they good as they set allot of false expectations and then failed to deliver on time.

At the same time I discovered a new game, Bolt Action, as you can see from my other Blog posts so my gaming table was full when my rewards arrived.  Anyway, I decided to get over my KS disillusionment and finally unbox my rewards last night to check them out and ensure everything was present and undamaged.

My rewards as they arrived

The Play Mat: This was an additional freebie as part of the stretch goals and will be offered to the retail market as well.  I was disappointed that it was shipped in the retail box with shipping labels attached and a bit beat up as a result.  not a huge issue for me, but I know many like to keep their boxes and use them for transporting it.  The mat is very nice made out of the the mouse pad type material the same as the Wings of Glory play mats.  It is a bit smaller than what i had imagined and will likely only work for a smaller battle of 4-6 ships realistically.  I may eventually purchase a second, but the nice thing about the game is it can be played on any surface and I do have a large Blue cloth for my other Naval Games.  In the end it is nice eye candy.

Sails of Glory play mat

The Core Set:  This is the basic set and includes all a new player really needs to play SoG.  It is well packaged and easily allows all the components to be stored back in the original box for safe keeping.  I would say Ares lived up to their promise to produce a higher quality model as well.  The ships are much nicer that the pre-production demo models I previously saw.  Not sure what the actual MSRP will be in stores, I believe it is $80.  I am sure you will be able to find it offered for less.  All I can say from what I have seen so far it is it worth every penny.  Well Done!

Sails of Glory Core Set

Core set with top removed

Damage Bags: SoG uses chits to assign and keep track of damage very similar to the WoG WWII game.  These bags were a freebie with the KS as a stretch goal.  they will keep all the chits together and allow for a blind draw.  Very well done.  As an aside for the past couple weeks one of them was serving the same purpose to draw Bolt Action order dice. ;)

Free set of Damage Bags

Extra Counter, terrain and ship cards: As part of the KS stretch goals I also received an extra set of counters (duplicate of what comes in the core set), two coast and shoal terrain packs, two shore battery terrain packs, and 12 extra ship boards (4 come in core set).  Al these extras will allow for some variety of scenarios as well as the use of all 16 ships at one time. They appear to all be heavy card stock similar to the WoG components and should hold up well under play.

Counters, terrain packs, and ship boards

Laser cut wood accessories and cards:  Finally I also received a set of laser cut parts to compliment the cardboard ones that come in the core set(ruler and wind gauge) as well as a two sets of smoke clouds which work great to mark ships that have fired. Additionally two captain and crew ability decks are included.

Laser cut ruler, gauge, smoke clouds and two decks

The Ships: The most important part of the game.  In addition to the four ships that come in the core set I also received twelve additional ships, Six Ships of the Line (Battleships) and six frigates.  Four of these (2 SoL and 2 frigates) are exclusive to the KS and supposedly will not be offered in stores, so only the KS backers that does includes some retailers will have these four ships.

The ships are simply amazing.  They are suppose to retail for $18-20, but I am sure they will be online for much less.  Like the WoG planes they are worth every penny.  Ares really did a nice job in insisting the highest quality of minis.  They look amazing right out of the box, but as I have already seen I am sure many will be customizing them with even more details and paint schemes as they already do with the WoG models.

Six Ships of the Line

Six Frigates

All in all I am very happy with the Sails of Glory KS offering.  Yes, I am still disappointed that they did not push back the street date when shipping was delayed, but that does not take away from the quality of the overall product.  If you are already familiar with the Wings of Glory WWI and WWII lines than you are familiar with the type of quality products Ares puts out.  you will not be disappointed with Sails of Glory and if anything I think it is even a slightly better quality.

Complete Captain level KS rewards

The final KS reward not pictured is the HMS Victory and USS Constitution ships.  They are not pictured because they have not been produced yet.  I pledged up to get early copies of each of these ships once they are made and really look forward to it.  What it does tell you is that Ares already has plans to produce more offerings for this game.  Based on the excitement it generated with the KS and now that it is finally hitting the streets my guess it this will be another hit potentially legs to be around for awhile.

Additionally, you can purchase some of the laser cut parts through a third party, Aerodrome Store, that also makes extra parts for the WoG games.  I have already purchased extra smoke clouds so I will have enough for all my ships to have a set of two.

Aerodrome Store:
http://www.aerodromeaccessories.com/

If you missed out  on the KS you can purchase the game at the Aerodrome store or check out my friends store (12-7 Games) who also has several copies of the exclusive ships.

12-7 Games:
http://www.12-7-games.com/catalog/ares-games/sails-of-glory/napoleonic-wars

In the next week or so I will finish opening  the individual ships and set up a few test plays to teach my sons and other interested parties. I will make sure to share pics of this as well so you can see the amazing quality of these models even better.

Until Next time....

Bolt Action 1500pt German vs. American AAR

My kids were off school Monday and Tuesday this due to the extreme cold.  When I came home Monday night night my oldest son (17) was excited to show me that he had reset the game table and was hoping to play a 1500pt battle.  I agreed to the match after dinner.
 

New Set Up

I have been playing my new Soviets lately, but do not have quite enough to make a realistic 1500pt force.  Of course my son was ready with an American list he had been tweaking throughout the day.  As a result I rushed some Germans that were still on the paint bench into service and put together a 1500 pt force adding to the 1000pt build I previously had.  Another kudos to Easy Army as this would not have been possible without that tool.  Not the ideal list, but I made do with what was available.

We picked the demolition scenario (the one where each side defends an area while trying to destroy the opponents). 

During set up he announced he had three units to forward deploy that included two Air Observers.  I thought you were limited to one, but could not find that so we moved forward.  I have since confirmed this is legal as he had two platoons, we just had not seen it before.  I had brought one air observer for the first time for me.

Turn one did not see a lot of action.  My squads were able to put some pins on his Greyhound.  My Panzer IV did not have a good target so it forced his greyhound to recce and go down and fired upon one of the observers in a building scoring one hit and then a lucky six for the kill.  My Mortar scored a rare first turn hit on his sniper team, but only managed one kill.

Turn two saw both Air Strikes come in.  He scored a fighter bomber and laid waste to the MK IV.  I was not so lucky and only received a straffer which managed to put some pins out, but did nothing to the M5 Stuart I had targeted.

Panzer IV Destroyed by Air strike

American Staurt and other units receive pin markers

At that point some reason he decided to try to move his greyhound early and failed the morale roll (4 pins at the time) which forced it to go down.  This brought up a question on recce.  It is my understanding that if a vehicle is down it cannot recce.  The rules/errata do clarify a vehicle can only recce once per turn, but do not state what happens if it is already down.  Since you have to put a down marker on a vehicle after it executes a recce move we agreed prior to the start that a vehicle with a down order cannot recce. (This is currently being asked and debated on some forums)  As a result I was able  to  successfully bring on my 251 w/anti tank gun and target the Greyhound.  I scored a hit and a kill (Such a good Dad).

M8 Greyhound the victim of Anti-Tank Gun

My large Vet Grenadier squad also advanced and took out hisParatrooper MMG.  My success was short lived. Just as he was complaining that the tide was turning against him his Sherman came on took a long range shot at the 251 and obliterated it.

As the final move at the end of turn two I also brought on my truck loaded with an assault squad and officer and parked it in range of a building with an American Squad inside.  I did have a MMG right next to the building so we agreed this was legal as the MMG was closer to the enemy than the transport.  Either way it was going to come down to that had the first die n the next turn.

Fortunately for the Germans they drew first Die and the 7 man Assault squad wiped out the American is the building taking 3 casualties themselves as it was simultaneous.  My transport was now prime target for him and he spent the rest of the turn on the side lighting it up with small arms until his HMG finally provided the killing blow taking out the truck and the officer who could not dismount in time.

Opel Blitz succumbs to small arms fire

I also attempted to assault his Stuart which was able to Recce to a safe distance leaving my squad in the open.

This ended Turn three and our play for the evening as it was already after 11PM.  The plan was to finish the next night as school had already been called for the next day.  The American final air strike was poised to come in on my last vehicle on the board (222) and my Ketterand with Flamethrower team are on a flanking move.

At this point I would say he has the advantage with two tanks still in play, but he had taken up a strong defense and to win he would have to advance across the board to get my base.  At best I felt I could still force a draw.  This is Bolt Action and we all know in turn 5 and 6 anything can happen. :D

The action resumed again as scheduled Tuesday night right after dinner with the start of Turn 4.  The American air strike came in and effectively destroyed the only remaining German combat vehicle the 222.  The U.S. Commander was feeling pretty good at this point as he now had two operational tanks (Sherman and the Stuart) and started talking a little trash.  

Not to be thwarted I pressed on as I still had a surprise or two remaining.  I opened with my Mortar team who amazingly hit again taking out what was left of his sniper team.  This Mortar team would go on to be cited for valor as they ended up hitting 5 of the six turns (twice with a roll of six).

Mortars range in and keep the fire hot

Now that the sniper was removed my Veteran Grenadiers were free to move on to other targets.  Since they contained two Panzerfausts they sought to even up the match a bit and successfully struck the Sherman with one causing massive damage and removing it from the battle while the rest of the squad took out the only other visible target a lone American officer.

Panzerfaust strike hard

Oh how quick Bolt Action changes with the pull of two order die the Americans were down three units and no longer feeling as confident.  The rest of the turn was spent maneuvering my Germans up closer to support the vets in hopes of possibly taking the objective and some long range shooting.  His Stuart blew away my one small Squad that was caught in the open, but I was now significantly up on Order dice.  At the end of the turn I then made a critical error.  I missed the fact that he had a unit which had not activated and I revealed which direction my flame thrower team was flanking from.  DOH!  Of course he drew the next order die and wisely put the 6 man squad in ambush.  At first I was going to abandon the flanking move, but then I decided to throw all caution to the wind and bring them on anyway right in front of the ambush squad.  He hit, but failed to roll the required six to destroy the ketterand.  The flamethrower dismounted and of all things rolled a six wiping the entire Vet Paratrooper Squad out…OUCH!

Flame on!

Turn Five was very interesting.  I had a large advantage in order dice and luckily pulled the first one.  In order for my flamethrower to get a shot they had to advance into the open, but this time only rolled a one.

Flame on Part two

I drew the next die and in a last ditch effort to save the flamethrower my reduced 4 man vet SMG squad assaulted the target.  He took one out coming out of the building leaving me with six dice vs.  five guys.  I only rolled two successes.  He rolled two hits as well causing another round of combat.  I hit one more time and he eliminated my squad.  Now reduced to two men he had to make morale roll and failed…mutual destruction.

Desperate assault results in mutual destruction

The Flame throwers were now his target and he successfully eliminated them with his HMG, but they had accomplished their mission.  My Vet Grenadiers advanced to take up position behind the destroyed Sherman and possibly get a chance to destroy the objective and snatch victory from what earlier seemed like certain defeat earlier.

Vet Grenadiers take cover

Turn six started with the Americans having only five units remaining set up in a strong defensive position around their base.  Three of the five were set up in ambush.   They had no chance of taking the German base as they had yet to even cross the center of the battlefield.  It was going to come down to could the Vet Grenadiers get to the objective   and then stand the fire until the end of the turn.  With only two dice in the bag to my 8 it was pretty good odds that I would have initiative.  I drew first die and opened with my mortar scoring another hit on the HMG.  My MMG then opened and finished off the HMG.

Hitler's buzz saw opens up

With the third die it was time to make the assault and I moved in on his Stuart who chose to recce.  This would put me within 3” of the objective and a possible win if I could hold out.

Assault to challenge the objective....maybe not

Wait a minute it is not within three inches we read it wrong you have to be touching the objective.  Additionally, with the water right there my squad could not reach the Stuart as we had rated that rough terrain….REDO!  The Squad went back behind the tank and chose just to fire as they could not reach the objective do to the water.

Do over back behind the Sherman

They took out the only available target his officers.  This was likely a mistake.  I probably should have advanced them anyway if there would have been a turn 7 I might have had a chance at victory, but that would have meant standing for two turns.  Either way there was no turn 7 and the game technically ended in a draw.

My son wanted to figure out the points remaining.  The Americans had four units remaining, the Stuart and two greatly reduced squads (1 Paratrooper and 1 reg Infantry).  The Germans still had the Mortar MMG, small regular squad, large Grenadier squad  a large Vet grenadier squad and the ketterand.

Final disposition

Based on other reports I have read this was a typical Bolt action style game with it see sawing back and forth.  We were both convinced at the beginning of Turn four after the airstrike that it very possibly could be an American victory.  In the end it was a draw, but the Germans were clearly in a better position to continue the fight.

Most importantly in the end we had a great time.

Some of the post battle carnage and troop positions:

Road littered with German casualties

Killing zone

Facing off

American hanging on to the objective

Bolt Action Painting Progress-Productive Weekend

This past weekend was probably one of my last free ones for awhile as I am starting a new assignment at work as well as a new semester for my masters program.

As a result I was very motivated to get some painting done. One of my resolutions is to paint all my existing BA before I buy anymore. Once all this is complete I doubt there will be much else I could need.

German Vehicles: 

American Officers:

 

American Infantry:

 

 American HMG (2nd one):

American M2A1 105mm howitzer:

Soviet Command:

Soviet Infantry (These will be my standing free inexperienced Squad):

Soviet Sniper Team:

Yet to Finish (German MMG, Infantry and Half-track crew):

 

The Germans are now painted and dipped. Once dry I will just need to highlight and base.

This will leave me about a half box each of American, Soviet and German Wargames Factory Infantry to assemble and paint. I plan to save these though in the event I discover a need for a specific unit as I get more familiar with the game.

Additionally, I do have a couple Black Tree Design orders due in from the recent sale which includes Soviet Naval Infantry(2 Squads, Soviet MMG(x3), U.S Jeeps(3), Soviet Jeep and German Motor cycles(2 Squads worth). Probably be awhile before they see the table though.

Not bad for weekend's work though. Amazing what one can do when motivated. Now I just need to find time to battle test them.

Warlords Ruined Hamlet-Bolt Action

In addition to the Soviet Army I received for X-mas I also received the Ruined Hamlet set of buildings.  These can be used for many periods, but my initial intent is for Bolt Action.  As I am finding with most Warlords kits they do not believe in providing assembly instructions.  As a result I browsed the Internet and then took some artistic license.  I came up with five separate structures that i then arranged on three separate card stock bases so I could add some additional terrain based on what I found on the Internet.

As I did not have any 28mm terrain prior to starting Bolt Action as few months ago these are much appreciated.  They fit in nicely with the 4 ground building I have started collecting as well as the other odds and ends I have picked up along the way.

This is a shot of our most recent set up before adding the Hamlet:

My Bolt Action X-mas presents are now all officially assembled, painted and ready for action.  Now I can get back to the pile of other stuff hiding in drawers on the work bench. :)