By Bryan
This past weekend was huge for the hobby it seems. Of course there was Adepticon in the US, with well over 40 players in the Bolt Action event. Here in Sydney, Australia, I ran a smaller but no less fun event called "Operation C.O.D". That stands for Company of Dice, my club who helped put it on and hosted in its fine facilities. There were 20 players and an even split of Axis and Allies. The 750pt armies they brought were all truly fantastic feats of hobby effort and with fun attitudes to match. What follows is a gallery of goodness showing off all the action.
The event was generously supported by a few hobby retailers here in Australia, War and Peace Games, The Mini War Store, Campaign Books & Games Logistics, Laser Touch and Proelii, a new tournament software development studio. Thanks to their support we could award players for generalship, painting, sporting behaviour and many fun awards, from most FUBARs rolled and for the players who travelled the furthest to attend the LRDG award! The best Axis General was Rob Vella with his Japanese and the best Allied General on the day was Chris Papas with his Greeks. That should tell you something about the diversity of armies that players chose to bring. Speaking of, here is a gallery of these great armies, all of which were full of character.
Zane's early war Fallschirmjaeger, based on the Crete landings.
Andrew's British force from the defence of Habbaniya airfield in Iraq 1941.
Theo's Nebelwerfer wreaks havoc, brushwork courtesy of Jason.
Chris' Greeks ended up being undefeated in the 3 rounds.
Peter's French howitzer battery was the heavy support for his horde of inexperienced conscripts .
The mighty FT-17 tank!
The French infantry.
Steve took a nimble but deadly German recon platoon.
Antoney's Commandos in their first games.
Matthew's combined Imperial Japenese Navy and Army force proved deadly.
Dave's new USMC took home the Best Army award as voted by the players.
Anti-tank grenades actually doing something!
Matt's US GIs advance on Italian forces in Tunisia.
Jo's beautifully painted Italian Paratroops.
Joel's IJA infiltrate forward...
...supported by a tank destroyer
Steve's autumn time armoured panzergrenadier recon force.
Some great objective markers added character to the force, who doesn't want to get their hands on the Nazi gold?!
Jason's awesome US army platoon.
Zane's full force of Crete Fallschirmjaeger.
Again, awesome objective markers help tell the story of this platoon.
Top notch brushwork, this was Zane's first ever Bolt Action event.
Bryan's Italians brought a collection of exotic troops.
Including Askari, Bersaglieri and Paratroops.
Theo's Germans fought hard in his first event ever.
Andrew deployed the US Airbourne and did well, managing to win the award for the most airstrikes hitting his own men during the event!
Luke's early war Soviets complete with this stunning centrepiece, the T-28
Company of Dice resides inside a lawn bowls club and enjoys cold beer on tap, great to quench that thirst from chucking dice!
Jo's Italians advance on the objective in Hold Until Relieved .
Chris' Greeks hold them off.
The French fight over a familiar objective...
Timothy's mighty Panzer IV battles the Americans in Bocage country. This was not only his first event...it was his first 3 games of Bolt Action ever! Good man.
Bryan's Italian Askari hold the line.
Andrew's British infantry prepare the defence.
City fighting for the Fallschirmjaeger.
Steve took his time with the camouflage on his Germans and this efforts were well rewarded.
Andrew's 18pdr artillery piece was WW1 vintage but still gave a good account of itself.
Dave's converted USMC war dog teams reveal the enemies hidden units.
Joel's Japanese light howitzer with extra crew was tough to shift.
Banzaaaaaaaai!
Luke's T-28 faces of against the Germans down the road.
Andrew's Rolls Royce armoured car advances.
Bryan's Italian Saharianna armoured car uses the road network to it's advantage.
Peter's mighty French 105mm howitzers.
A big thanks to club members Jo, Byron and Spyros for all their help with setting up the event and also David and Peter of The Demo Gamers for donating tables worth of terrain and helping answer rules questions on the day. It was thanks to the efforts of the Demo Gamers that so many of the new players in this event had their introduction and help starting out in the game.
If you would like to come and and play Bolt Action with us in Sydney simply join the Company of Dice Facebook group for all the details of club meeting days and details. We'd love to have you with us.
I am also on the forum if you have anything you'd like to discuss about this event:
