Bolt Action: Building my British Infantry at 500pts

Now I have my figures, thanks Tamsin, I need to work out my force composition. Normally I build my forces on paper and then buy the figures I need but this time I need to make the figures I won fit a force.

My first thought was to make all the 'extras' from the box (PIATs, mortars, snipers, lmgs etc) to maximise the points and then use what's left as my troops. But on reflection I decided that was a bad move as the core of the force should be the infantry. So I looked at what was compulsory and then what would be good additions.

So I have to have an officer and two squads, each of five men minimum, I also get a free Forward Artillery Observer as the British 'perk'. This uses twelve of the twenty five figures in the box. I thought about giving them some anti-tank capability with the PIAT but discarded that idea. It's unlikely that I'll be facing much in the way of armour at 500 pts plus the PIAT only has a range of twelve inches limiting it's effectiveness.

The next thing I looked at was artillery support. Getting a free FAO is nice but you only get to call in one barrage which may or may not be effective. So I decided to include the 2" mortar. It's not particularly powerful but it gives your opponent something else to think about plus some well timed smoke may make the difference between success and failure for an assault. This brings my running total to fourteen figures used.

Like most wargamers I have a thing for snipers so adding a sniper team was a no-brainer. Having them sitting on an objective picking off advancing NCO's can really stall an enemy advance as well. Which brings my total to sixteen figures.

My force is a little short on firepower so I decided to add a Bren gun to each of my squads. There is some discussion as to whether LMG's are worth the points but I like the longer range and extra firepower they bring. This leaves me with seven figures spare.

So I've added three infantry to each squad making them nine man squads. I decided to use the last figure as a Medic because it gives me an extra dice and in a small force being able to cancel out a casualty could be crucial.

Next I had to decide on the various options like regular, veteran, weapon choice etc. To do this I used the army builder spreadsheet from BoltAction.net. This gave me the following force:

Veteran 1st Lieutenant
Medic (Veteran)
Forward Artillery Observer (Regular)
1st Squad: NCO with Sten, LMG, 7 Riflemen (Veteran)
2nd Squad: NCO with Sten, LMG, 7 Riflemen (Veteran)
Regular Light Mortar
Veteran Sniper Team

This works out at exactly 500 pts and uses all the figures in the box. It's far from being the best 500 pt force you could build for the Brits but it has the benefit of being free. Now I've decided on my force it's on to the hard part, assembling the figures. I think plastic miniatures are the way to go for lots of reasons but I hate the fiddly assembly. This is my first set from Warlord so I'm interested in seeing how they go together.

First Look: Chain of Command by Too Fat Lardies

While researching the best mix for my Bolt Action Brits I came across a mention of another set of WW2 skirmish rules that are coming out later this year, 'Chain of Command' from Too Fat Lardies. They seemed to be generating some buzz so I decided to check them out. I noticed they'd done a set of videos explaining the rules and a play through of a game so I've linked them all here with my thoughts.


The forces seem to be about the same size as Bolt Action so I should be able to use my figures for both games with just a little tweaking. The 'Patrol' phase sounds interesting and provides some nice pre-game tactics to add flavour to the game. So far so good.


Not too clear what the benefit of ending a turn is at this stage, but it becomes slightly clearer in later videos. The use of dice to activate troops is nothing new but does provide command & control problems for you to solve. It's not too clear what the benefits of having a 'chain of command' dice are, I guess you need to play a few games to fully understand why moving a jump off point or ending a turn might be important. The use of sixes to adjust the flow of phases again requires you to think a bit more carefully about what you intend to do. What if my opponent rolls two sixes and gets to move twice, am I too exposed. Alternatively if I roll two sixes am I in a position to take advantage of a double move. Still seems an interesting rule set with no drawbacks so far.


I like the option to move and fire or move further but with less options, that's fairly standard in lots of rules. However I don't like the rolling to see how far you can move. It just seems like a random effect for randomness sake. I understand if you're moving through bad terrain the distance you could move might be affected and that effect could vary depending on how bad the terrain turned out to be. But if you're moving along a road with no enemy anywhere near you why would your move be so variable? If I get these rules I may house rule to remove the randomness or maybe make it 3" minimum move plus a D3 or something like that. I like the ranges of the weapons but not sure about the combat mechanisms, they seem a little simplistic. The 'shock' mechanism and morale system isn't really covered in enough detail here or in the later videos to allow me to make a decision on it. A couple of things here that make me think I might stick with Bolt Action but we'll see.


Some fuller explanations of things here. I like the way that the Germans can come in on the Jump Off points giving them a sort of ambush. The rallying is a nice feature, but I would like to know more about 'Shock' and it's effects. I'd also have prefered to see more of the actual combat resolution than just the end results.


More of the same here nothing really new covered.


I like the use of smoke and that you can use grenades. The fact that the Germans got too spread out to be able to use a lot of their dice was interesting and makes you consider the command and control implications of your tactics a lot more than you see in other games. But I'd like to have seen more about morale and shock.

I like the idea of using videos to explain your rule basics and show how the game plays, so kudos to TFL for that. But I have a number of questions, such as do the rules include scenarios; are there national differences for the various troop types; is there a campaign structure; do the rules include comprehensive army lists or are we going to have to buy supplements etc. Overall the rules seem to have some interesting ideas and offer a different tactical challenge to Bolt Action. Not sure if I'll buy a set, it depends on the price, but worth another look once they come out, which is expected to be sometime in August.

Quick Review: Warlord Games British Infantry

Having won these in Tamsin's giveaway I thought it was about time I gave them a quick review. The box contains enough parts to make twenty five 28mm figures with various weapon options. The quality of the casting is excellent with no flash and very little in the way of mould lines. You get lots of options and everything you need to assemble a 500+ points force for Bolt Action.

The front of the box has nice action shots reminiscent of the old "Commando" books I used to love as a kid.

The back of the box gives you details of some of the weapon options you get as well as some pictures of the painted up models.

You get five figure sprues each containing four standing figures and one kneeling figure. In addition there are eight head options on each sprue as well as six different helmets to give your figures some variety. There are also six back packs with options like tea mugs and spades. The twenty two arms on the sprue are related to specific weapon options, I'll talk about these later. Each figure is also supplied with a 25mm plastic base.

As well as the figure sprues you also get three weapon sprues. These contain eight .303 rifles (four with bayonets and one with a sniper scope), two Sten guns, two Thompsons, three pistols, one Bren gun, one PIAT with ammunition, one 2" mortar, as well as various grenades, shovels, a pickaxe, ammo packs and even a pair of binoculars. So lots of options on how you want to equip your figures.

There is also a sheet of transfers with shoulder patches, rank stripes and arm bands for medics and MP's. I've never come across transfers for figures before but it seems like a good idea. I'm not sure how it will work out in practice though as you may need to use transfer softener to get them to sit right. I'll give them a try on the NCOs and see how they look. 

Lastly you get a double sided instruction sheet. One side identifies the components on the weapon sprues while the other covers the figure sprues. This is a vital piece of information as it shows which arms have to go with which weapons. I would strongly recommend that you don't remove everything from the sprue in one go as trying to identify the various arms later would be a nightmare.

I'll look at how well they go together once I've decided what options I want to build for my Bolt Action British force. However they do look like they will be quite a bit more fiddly to assemble with all the various parts than my PSC 28mm Russians. So what do I think about them? Well I'd have to give them a 10/10 as I can't find anything to criticise, but this may change once I try to assemble them.

Bovington Tank Museum Photos

Although the entry fee for the Battlegroup South wargames show at Bovington is expensive, you do get a pass which gives you a years free entry to the museum. So on Friday I decided to take advantage of my pass and pop over to have a look around and take some photos.

I'd forgotten it was half term so the museum was very busy but I still managed to avoid getting hordes of kids appearing in every picture. The star of the show for me is the Tiger II because it is just so massive in the flesh. You don't get any idea of the size of these things from models or photos. But to stand in front of one and imagine it's advancing towards you with all guns blazing is just terrifying. This is one photo I would have liked someone to be standing near the tank to give you a size comparison. Although it doesn't look it, it must be six feet from the floor to the top of the deck

Another thing I found interesting was some of the camo patterns. The Somua shown below is pretty typical of what I think of as a French camo pattern, lots of bright colours. 

So I was surprised when I saw this Char B1 in the next hall. It's camo is very dull. A dark brown overlaid with patches of black.

And I was even more surprised by this maroon and sand camo pattern on the Panther. I guess that's why it's good to visit places like Bovington. Nothing like seeing the real thing to put things into context.

So on with the rest of the photos:

A Vickers Light Tank

Mk IIa Light Tank

A Matilda

Daimler armoured car

A Hetzer, I was surprised by how small it was.

Tiger II

Panzer IV

Tetrach in its air drop container

Stug III with interesting log 'side skirts'

 

Stuart

Staghound

Comet

Engine compartment and interior of a JagdTiger

JagdTiger

If you painted up a model like this people would criticise your painting skills! It just goes to show modellers can get too precious about how their tanks look. That being said i don't think I could bring myself to paint one like this!

Battle of the Bulge camo Greyhound and M10

KV 1

An SU 100 in Iraqi colours

The museum also has lots of informative static displays like this section through a Centurion tank

A Firefly and Churchill

Renault FT 17

A tiny Vickers light tank

A Matilda with an interesting camo pattern which really does break up its outline.

A colourful Lee/Grant

An interior shot of the Lee/grant

A Firefly

Lastly a Sherman DD