Bolt Action: Vehicle design system

By Bryan,

Welcome to another PDF supplement for Bolt Action by the community, for the community. This time around it's a system for generating rules and points costs for vehicles of the Second World War that do not as yet have rules for them in the game. Richard Humble, the man responsible for this great new game resource has compiled a complete system for you to get your obscure, 'what if' or prototype vehicle onto the tabletop. 

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A Trip Back in Time; Normandy 2017 By Glenn Goddard

Ed Note: Glenn Goddard is a huge friend of WWPD has provided this excellent article and pictures for you to enjoy!

As a player of FOW since 2003, and posting when I have time, on the forums (Baghdaddy), I thought you might enjoy hearing about my latest adventure.  Some people are lucky and then there is me, the luckiest guy in the world.  No, I am not talking about my die rolls at last year’s Nationals, I am talking about the fact that I was invited to be part of the U.S. Army contingent who jump into Normandy every year to re-create the D-Day jump by the American Airborne troops.  I expect most military veterans and gamers dream of going to the annual celebration of one of the most epic battles in history, the Allied invasion of Normandy to liberate France and defeat the Nazi regime.

Ed Note: I did the jump at Nijmegen and the subsequent walk to Arnhem many years ago and it was a blast!

Our first day involved a commemoration ceremony at Carentan.  We started at the site of the "Cabbage Patch".  This was an epic battle between the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division and the 2nd Fallschimjager (German airborne).  This battle of Carentan was finally settled by a hand grenade and bayonet charge by the American paratroopers at great cost.  Read about the battle here.

At the ceremony, the French Government awarded several of the American veterans and one French Resistance veteran the Legion of Merit.  It was amazing to see the veterans, most of whom are in their 90s.  You really get perspective when you realize that there won't be many of these veterans left soon.  I should note that we had representatives from all the Allied nations plus German Soldiers.  Some might think it strange to have Germans at a ceremony like this, but what better way to demonstrate that we will never fight each other again than to be unified in commemoration.  After laying wreaths and a flyover by four C-130s, we then marched through the center of town with bands playing.  It was pretty cool and almost every structure in the town remains just as they were in World War Two.

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Behind Enemy Lines Episode 36

Download the episode here

Behind Enemy Lines Episode 36 - Contains Coarse Language

In part 1, we must unfortunately farewell a dear friend of the crew.

We'll then dip into some Noob News for you, getting the lowdown on the latest release and rumours from the gaming world.

We'll then tell you what we've been doing gaming-wise in Part 2! It Star-licious!

In part 3, we.....well we....ummmmm.....you'll have to listen. It's just....it's too shocking

Want to join the conversation? Please sound off in the comments below, or let us know on our forum!

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Bolt Action - Playing an event with the Official Australian Supplement

The Australians in the South West Pacific 1942-45 official supplement was launched almost a year ago now as a free download on the Warlord Games website. As a co-author of this document, assisting the amazing Master Bryan Cook, I was really hopeful we would see more Australian forces on the table but they have been a bit sparse. With a New Guinea campaign book due to be released later this year (hopefully soon!). I thought it was time to roll my Jungle warriors out and promote the supplement once more and hopefully prompt some interest in playing these venerable forces.

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Team Yankee Nationals Update

Can you hear the rumble of the massed tank formations getting closer? If you do it is because the first ever North American Team Yankee Nationals is fast approaching. We at WWPD are excited to host the event along with the folks at Battlefront and we really think it will be a premier event that players will remember for years to come. Right now, we have over 30 players who have committed to the event and we are still almost 3 months away from rolling dice; so if you want to reserve a spot please follow the directions listed here.  While we need to have your final lists - linked page above - in by 30 June, you are free to change it around as many times as needed before then.  If you’re worried about getting s spot, just send in your name and faction to the email listed on the info page.

I am really blown away by the prize support for this event. It seems that many of the participants will be walking way with something besides Wolfgang’s Bratty Wagon! Prizes for the best player from each nationality and best “team” will give you that much more to play for.  So far we have no “teams” registered so the competition may not be that steep.
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Many of Team Yankee’s players are new to the game having never played Flames of War before and may be worried about what an event will be like. First of all the atmosphere will be fun and if it is your first time playing the game, many of the old vets will show you the ropes. To prove this point I talked a friend from work, who has never played historical minis before to play in a recent event put together by Brian Sherry and details of which can be found on his excellent blog. After two games, “D-Rell” really got the hang of the game and even thwarted my DDR tank blob with a few well-placed Leo2 tanks. The take away here is that you do not need any playing time to learn and have fun with the game.

As of right now, we have not picked the missions; however we are recommending that everyone become familiar with the missions in the Team Yankee rulebook and the Expanded Missions PDF.  We will not be using the “Battle Plans” rule mentioned in the PDF because we want everyone playing the same mission each round, so plan your forces accordingly.

For scoring, we will be using an enhanced scoring matrix for the event.  The only difference is that when you hand in your card after a round, we want each player to add up the costs of all their units that were destroyed or not in good spirits when the game ends. This method lets us figure out the relative ranking of players who win with the same score and ensures that you will play an opponent who is on par with your performance.  For many of you this method will be invisible if you know how to add.

Let me also take some time to answer a few questions that have been asked so far. The two upcoming Team Yankee books will not be out before the sign up deadline, so you will not see them at the event. Another question was on the BRDM-2, Gaskin, and Spandrel units being allowed on Soviet lists.  I have seen nothing official on this yet and I will do some research before the event, however as of right now they cannot be used with a Soviet formation. The other big questions was on proxies, which are models used to stand in for another. In some cases, like if you wanted to paint up and use some T-55’s from Vietnam or AIW as East German T-55AM2 tanks that is fine. However if you cannot find enough Scorpions/Scimitar vehicles for your list you cannot use Panzer II’s from WWII to fill in for them.

So keep the sign-ups and questions coming and I will try to answer them here on WWPD when I can.
Twitter: @MitchWWPD
Mail: WWPDMitch@gmail.com

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Bolt Action - A look at the Turks in WW2

I have been inspired recently by articles from Patch (regarding non veteran/early war armies, found here) and Casey (regarding his foray into the armies of Romania, link here. As always needing a reason to buy even more minis I felt that the time was right for me to take up the challenge and build myself a unique and decidedly non-veteran army and for personal reasons I quickly settled on the Army of Turkey. I'll hazard a guess that a few might exclaim ”I think you'll find that the Turks never fought in the second world war!”. This is certainly true, but I didn't let absolute historical accuracy and the fact of a nation being a non-belligerent stop me when I built my Swedish WW2 army and I won't let it get in the way of my hobby now either. As such I started to aggressively trawl the internet for any and all information that I could find regarding the Turkish army during ww2.

As it turns out there really isn't much information out there. Obviously this doesn't come as a huge surprise since the fact that Turkey wasn't an active participant in the conflict means that only a select number have had any interest in the Turkish armed forces of the time. The search for information and images is further complicated by the fact that the Ottoman empire, from which ashes the modern Turkish nation was to rise, was an active belligerent in WW1. As such it is sometimes hard to determine when a certain picture was taken and if the image is of WW1 Ottoman or ww2 Turkish soldiers.
 

However the information that I have found has proved to be rather interesting. I have found references that the Turkish infantry most likely at the start of the conflict in Europe had access to some German MP 18 Bergmann SMGs as well as the somewhat portable ”LMG” MG 15/08 and the Hotchkiss Mark 1 LMG. I have also found images of both the Brodie and the Adrian helmets in use with Turkish infantry although exactly when the Turkish army gained possession of these helmets is unclear.

It also seems that the Turks were at least somewhat successful at playing out the major powers against each other in their bid to sway Turkey into taking their side. What this meant for the Turkish army was that during the years of the conflict it came into possession of both Axis and Allied war materiel. I have only been able to find mention of the types and amount of tanks that were given, but I don't feel that it's implausible that the Turkish armed forces also came to receive other military aid as well in the form of infantry equipment and weapons. Possibly this is the source of the Adrian- and the Brodie helmets. The Tanks that were given were Panzer IIIs and IVs, Sherman's, Valentines, Stuarts as well as a number of Bren carriers. I should also be noted that the Turkish army already had in their possession a number of T-26 tanks and B-6 armored cars bought from the soviet union prior to the outbreak of war.

At first I found the lack of information quite difficult to deal with. However at a certain point I simply decided that the lack of information was actually a boon since it allows me to use any and all
kinds of quirky weapons which might well have ended up in service with the Turkish army. A fighting force which must have been quite desperate for any kind of weaponry that could pass for a light machine gun or a sub machine gun. I am using this desperation to also justify the use of some older WW1 and interwar era weapons since some of these are likely to have been captured by the Ottomans during WW1 and subsequently found their way into the hands of the nascent Turkish armed forces. I therefore decided to hunt down any and all miniatures armed with French Chauchats, FM 24/29s and Hotchkiss Mark 1 LMGs, Italian Breda m-30s, British Lewis guns as well as German mg 15/08s. I found quite a few suitable miniatures and also ordered a bunch of WW1 Ottoman infantry miniatures (since as far as I have been able to tell the uniform didn't changed all that much in between the two world wars. I ordered these miniatures from the North star miniatures, Empress miniatures, Gripping beasts and Eureka miniatures webshops.

 For my actual Bolt Action army I plan on using the Soviet army list and fielding a mechanized yet predominantly inexperienced force, portraying a fictitious ”elite” Hücum Tabulari or Assault detachment. A unit which has been given some of the more modern equipment available to the Turkish military at the time, but whose men all the same are lacking in experience. I plan on trying to use some of the same tactics described by Bryan in his great article about his German Aufklärungs force, but obviously with the necessary changes to account for my assault force being made up of almost entirely inexperienced infantry. I imagine my force will be quite the glass hammer but I'm hoping that when the hammer blow connects it will be enough to swing me to victory! In any case I know I will have fun and that is what is most important after all!

 Jakob.

Jakob never rests in his search for unique forces and I cant wait for the follow up articles! Patch

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The Blitzkrieg Miniatures 222 Scout Car.

As many of you know, from various podcasts and articles on this site, I love wheeled vehicles. A lot! As an avid German player I own, and regularly use, several of Warlord's excellent resin 222 kit. While I am a fan of that kit, when I started working the vehicles for my Chinese (Battle For Shanghai) army, I wanted to add something a little different while still adding a 222 to my force. I decided to give Blitzkrieg Miniatures' resin model a try.

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Armor of the Arab-Israeli Wars - or - Mike's Visit to Yad La-Shiryon Part 2

In this second part of my article showing vehicles from Yad La-Shiryon, I'm focusing on more recent Israeli armor, starting with variants of the M48 and M60 on through the current indigenous Merkava Main Battle Tank.

In the mid to late 1960's, the Israelis were desperate to upgrade their aging tank fleet, and sought to purchase U.S. M48 tanks.  Initially the IDF received several gasoline powered vehicles from West Germany, though shipments from the United States followed.  M48 tanks in Israeli service use the designations Magach 1-3 and 5 (there is no 4).

Early Magach with the 90mm gun

During the 1967 war, roughly 150 Magach 1 and 2 tanks were deployed and fought well within the limitations of the relatively weak powerplant. After the 1967 War, the IDF began to upgrade all Magach to the M48A3 standard creating the Magach 3 - this included a new diesel engine and the British 105mm gun. Several M48's had been captured from Jordan, and these were upgraded as well. M60 tanks began to be procured as well creating the Magach 6.

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How to Collect and Paint Early War Fallschirmjäger, Part 1

By Seamus,

With the release of Warlord's new Campaign Book, Unternehmen Seelöwe, I thought this would be a good time to share with you my formula for collecting and painting Early War Fallschirmjäger!

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The LRDG II: Episode 15 - Operation Sea Lion

The LRDG II: Episode 15 - Operation Sea Lion

The LRDG II is back with another action packed episode! Old Man Morin is joined by, friends of the cast, Jeremy (of San Diego Bolt Action Fame) and Luke Emerton to talk serious shop.

The guys discuss Jeremy's recent successful event at the Kingdomcon convention, Luke's hobby progress and Brad's being led astray by other podcasts. They then move onto the history, development and game use of the T-26 tank. 

In the main part of the show, the crew dig into the newest Warlord Campaign Book, Operation Sea Lion and give it a good looking at. The guys then chat about "What if..." scenarios in BA and the ins and outs of small size gameplay. 

Please tune in and let us know what you think. You can find the cast at "Land O' Misfit Toys: Home Of The LRDG Podcast" on Facebook. 

As always you can find this fine episode in the iTunes store or you can download directly HERE.

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Behind Enemy Lines Episode 35

Download the episode here

The coolest littlest podcast from the Southern Hemisphere is back!

In the first part, the guys bring you all the news they've scrounged from the interwebs and deliver it in their own irreverant fashion! Also....special discount offer enclosed!

Part 2 is all about the local scene. There's a run-down of what happened at the Auckland Grand Slam as well as the usual happenings at TCOW.

In part 3, we skirt controversy and talk all about the elephant in the room for this month...Command Cards and Fog of War Cards for Flames of War V4. Warning, rants may happen...

Wubba Lubba Dub Dub....

Want to join the conversation? Please sound off in the comments below, or let us know on our forum!

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The LRDG II Podcast: Episode 14

The LRDG II Podcast: Episode 14

Welcome back to another episode of the LRDG II. In this two part edition of the cast, Brad brings old friends on to discuss two subjects that he is extremely excited about. Games Workshop's "newest" game, Shadow War Armageddon and the trial run of The Bolt Action World Series event!

In part one, DaveOwaR and Jeremy from the Red Jokers and Green Dragon Podcasts jump on and the guys talk about their experiences playing SWA and what the game is all about.

In segment two, Brad is joined by Leigh Avery and Dave Munro to critically assess the World Series format of event and to talk Bolt Action in general. 

For those of you not interested in hearing about GW games, the Bolt Action discussion begins at the 1:10 mark in the episode.

As always, we at the LRDG love to hear from you. If you have any feedback about this episode, please let us know what you think. You can find the cast by typing the LRDG podcast into Facebook. The page is called "Land O' Misfit Toys: The Home Of The LRDG Podcast.

Thank you for tuning in!

As always you can find this fine episode in the iTunes store or you can download it directly from HERE.

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Bolt Action - Playing my British Expeditionary Force in an event

By Patch

Earlier this year I wrote about my British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and how I expected them to play here. Well I have just finished a four game league event here in Canberra, Australia at Jolt Games and thought I would report back to you guys how it played out.

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