FOW LW Tournament - Toywiz October 2017

I headed down to Nanuet, NY to participate in a tournament run by Troy Baker and Ordo Malleus.  Its been a while since I've gotten a game with these guys since they manage to schedule their tournaments during every wedding I've been forced to attend over the past 2 years.  And there have been many weddings.  As my Friend "Matt Varnish" and his Canadian cohorts know, I've been unable to attend Canadian Nationals for 3 consecutive years due to weddings on Labor day weekend.

But the good news is that I'm running out of friends who haven't been married yet.....so I may have more time to do the important things....like painting models, and fighting with toy soldiers.

Some shots of the store:

The Tournament would be played in three rounds, and I brought my airborne, along with their over sized but pretty tray.  It would be the second time I had played Brit airborne in a tournament and I had learned some lessons from last time. I hoped they would pay off.

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Making an Urban Display Board in 15mm

One of my first articles for WWPD was on building my British Airborne Company.  Having bought more infantry than anyone would ever need, and having it sit in my closet for 2 years, I decided to try and start working on it.  Years have past, and much has been done, but one major project eluded me:  a display board for this army.  Below is the finished product, but I will be trying to walk you through how I got it to look like this.  I don't profess to be as good as many terrain makers as I have seen, but hopefully I can give you a little inspiration and a few easy steps you can build off of.  

I started, as one always should, with a rough plan.  I already have a carrying tray that fits these pieces of pink foam (with some modifications before construction.) I made the frame out of scrap wood that I sanded, cut and fit together, follower by sanding and staining. I won't be showing that part however, just the assembly of the main display piece.

The original idea was to use a few ruined buildings I had partially painted, or at least primed, as centerpieces or accent pieces for a destroyed intersection.  But these are valuable pieces, and I found they were too tall for my purposes.  Their ability to hide guys inside of them work great in game terms, but not so much in display terms.  And they take up enormous space on the display itself, making it more unwieldy than I intend.  I resolved instead to use balsa wood and craft sticks to glue together my own wrecked buildings. (you see the scraps of wood in the foreground.

Some of my weapons of choice:

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FOW: EW V4 Indian vs French (Vichy)

Over the past few weekends, Raymond and I were able to work in a few games of Early War to try out the Version 4 Flame of War rules. We set up the latest battle one Sunday afternoon at the Brookhurst Club in Garden Grove California.

I found the depth the the EW lists refreshing after the past several weeks running demo and introductory games with the new and extremely limiting Desert Rats/Afrika Korps V4 books. Plus, it was fun to dust off the 2 pounder Portees and let Raymond get his Axis French forces out of storage for a bit.

We created lists of 1,500 points each. Raymond used the Burning Empires book, and I went to Hellfire and Back for my British Commonwealth Indian lists. I had to proxy my generic British Infantry stands for the Indians troops I don't have painted yet.

Unfortunately, I managed to forget to bring my dice tin. I got lucky, however, and scored a deal. Raymond had brought along an old Desert Rats dice tin with dice and markers, hoping to sell it to me. How could I say no to that offer?

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June 5th - DDay AAR - 1500pts British Airlanding vs. GrenadierKompanie

The Normandy Battles book has seen a lot of play around our neck of the woods this time of year.  For several years, we would put together our 30 feet of table, and launch a landing for the ages. Getting all that lead on a table is an awful lot of fun, but the smaller games are too.  And the Coup de Main glider assault is one of those missions.  Eager to try out some V4 with the D-day lists, My buddy Shane and I met over at his place for a pre-dawn face off. Shane played his Brits, and I brought my Germans with some Tigers in support.  1500 pts per side.

The Board

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Warlord Games new snipers in ghillie suits - review and painting guide

By Patch,

Warlord Games have just released a pair of British snipers in ghillie suits to coincide with the Sea Lion campaign book and I got my hands on a pair of pairs a few days ago. Of all the releases they have been teasing over the last month or so I think these were the most anticipated by the community, as they look absolutely amazing.

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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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Cold War Singles 2017 - Last Call for V3

I was foolish enough to sign up for 6 games of FOW in 2 days.  I had a blast, and even squeezed in a team Yankee game in between, but man, was that a lot of standing and measuring and rolling dice.  cheers to the folks with the stamina to do that at nationals, I haven't yet had the pleasure.

When choosing a list for my last major tournament in V3, I wanted ride out on the horse I rode in on.  The 2nd Household Cavalry.  With the new V4 rules, recce isn't quite as fun anymore.  no more disengaging.  no more exposing ambushes.  the recon move itself has less utility than it did.  the special rule these guys have, to disengage after having shot, would be gone.  So i gathered all my dingos for one more crusade.

Kurt Reese was nice enough to lend me his display board, he carries a spare.

9 platoons (when you include the Staghound HQ platoon)

Priority air would also do a lot of work this tournament.  The v4 rules at first had me excited, but after looking that they had nerfed the Typhoons rockets to be AT 3 in a bombardment, I don't really ever see a reason to be taking them in the future.  I would have used them to kill heavy tanks, but now that's not going to happen.  Cannons are AT 8, and on a side armor for a tiger of.....8. what's the point? Live it up while you can I suppose.

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1945 LW FOW Tournament - Feb 18th "The Final Hour" - Kirwan's Game Store

The end of V3 is fast approaching, as many regular readers of this blog are aware.  And with it comes a possible end to many lists and models we held dear.  In an effort to say our final goodbyes to a version of the rules many of us loved dearly over the past 1/2 a decade, Chris Johnson (my arch enemy) helped put together a tournament up at Kirwan's Game Store. 1945pts LW, 3 rounds, beginning at 11am.

Below - Chris Johnson and a raffled off German Panzer Army for EW.  Everyone started with one ticket, but each loss earned you another ticket. (very good idea)

My List: I debated a lot about what to bring.  I decided on something I could never get to work.  I had only played them once, at 1425 pts and they were the worst list I ever brought to a tournament.  I should have known better at the time, but there it is.  What is over pointed like crazy? What is a fast tank? What has the stink of the oddly non-synergistic British rules about them.....you guessed it.  Comets.

My List - Nachtjager
British Motor Company (which for some reason is an Infantry company)
HQ - 2 white scout cars with cmd and 2ic
1 - Motor Platoon (cmd MG team + 3 MG teams w/ piat and lt mortar) (6 stands)
2 - Motor Platoon (full)
3 - required scout platoon (3 UC's)
4 - Wasp platoon
5 - AT guns 6pdrs
6 - mortar platoon
7 - 4 comets
8 - 4 comets

for a grand total of 1945 pts.

First Round - Joey Laderoute from Blackmoon Games in Lebanon NH

I missed the chance to play him last tournament so I was glad I got a shot this time around.  He brought American Tanks, Jumbos and Easy 8s, and an assortment of other trained armor. He reasoned that in V4, Easy 8s were dead, and Jumbos wouldn't be nearly as good. He attacked, since I was an infantry company.

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Bolt Action - My British Expeditionary Force, A Run Through the Ranks

Howdy folks, I have been gathering and painting my British Expeditionary Force for Bolt Action for some time now, and it is finally in a game ready position to write about. I will cover off on why I chose to play a BEF force, what units I intend to take to the table and where I sourced the miniatures from.

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Games British Airborne Polsten Gun

I've had a Canadian Para army for a few years now, but outside of a running at the infamous Field of Dreams/Face-off tournament, it has sadly gotten very little game time. I can't really pinpoint why the desire to pull them back out always seems to fade in the face of playing Hungarians or Germans instead, but I am attempting to play a 'regular' Canadian force at Cancon next year and when this model came out from Warlord Games, I couldn't resist including one to my Paras. While it has taken me a long time to build it and get it painted (due to a hobby lull), it's finally done and I can't wait to get it on the table soon.

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Pardon my French, British vs French, Napoleonics, Black Powder rules

"One does not simply walk into Mordor Portugal" Sean Bean, Sharpe's Rifles.

Below, we have an 8 foot by 6 foot table, with new cloth gaming mats from http://cigarboxbattlestore.bigcartel.com/, for a rousing game of Napoleonics.   My French with foreign allies vs Scott's British.  We have been using Warlord Games' Black Powder rule set (written by a bunch of ex-GW guys) an unlike almost every other block-unit game I have ever played,  the mobility is HUGE in Black Powder, so we are starting with nothing on the board, except each unit touching the board edge, if they rolled a 4+ to deploy.  If you click the below picture you will see I only got 4 units out of 11 while he got 9 out of 11!  He also rolled to get first turn....

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Games Plastic Mark V Sherman

I recently decided I needed some armour support for my Canadian Kangaroo army list and what better way to do that then to add in a Sherman? As a fan of plastic kits, I knew I had to try out the Warlord Games Sherman V and I recently picked one up as a prize from the All Over October event I attended in Melbourne. The Sherman V is also known as the Sherman M4A4 and is the lend-lease version of the Sherman used by Great Britain.

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Bolt Action - Painting BEF and Tartan

My latest project is to create an all metal British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Whilst I have predominately used Warlord Games miniatures (which are excellent) I jumped with excitement when I saw Pulp Figures come out with a range for Highlanders. There are three separate packs being offered, Infantry Rifles, Command and Special Weapons, all wearing early war attire with kilts which is perfect for my BEF. While many of you out there might be put off painting tartan, I will hopefully show you an easy way to get them to a simple but effective standard so that you too can include them in your force. I will talk more about the composition of my force in a later article and leave this one just for the painting.

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Games LVT Buffalo

The Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) is a beast and I love it. It is among one of the largest vehicles you will see on the table and is a real centerpiece for an army. Today I will review the LVT Buffalo from Warlord Games and discuss it in game. I will only be speaking about the use of the LVT with Commonwealth forces this time, as the entry differs slightly from those available to the US.

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Bolt Action - Mission Debrief: Michigan Grand Tournament

By Seamus

Recently, several members of the Chicago Bolt Action group made a little trek to an event run by our friends in the Michigan Bolt Action Group. Despite grossly early mornings, time zone differences, and biblical rains, we made it and had a great time over the two one-day events! The Michigan Grand Tournament was special for me because it was the first games out with my newly painted Royal Marine Commandos.

I’d modeled my Commandos around No. 10 Inter-Allied Commando, a unit consisting of displaced men from many of the conquered countries of Europe in 1940. There were Poles, Belgians, Dutch, Norwegians, French, and even some displaced Austrians and Germans!

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Bolt Action - How I painted the Infantry for my LRDG force

I have been building and painting my LRDG force for a while now and this is the latest in a series of articles I have written about the journey (the other articles can be found here and here if you missed them). In this, part 3, I'll describe how I painted the infantry component, as they have garnered an amount of interest with some of the community. Hopefully I can explain so others can do the same should they wish.

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Bolt Action - AAR: D-Day Double Game Special

Nearly 2 months ago, I got to attend a very special event up in Sydney, Australia, hosted by the gracious Bryan Cook and the Company of Dice gaming club to commemorate the battle for Normandy on D-Day and the days following it. I drove up from Victoria (a 9-hour drive) and met up with Baconburgers, Tristans and Rob who had flown up from Melbourne and we all spent the weekend enjoying Bryan's gracious hospitality.

In the lead up to the event, there had been a lot of good-natured friendly banter between the players from both sides and we knew this was going to be something special. Unlike your typical open style event, this was a team focused, scenario driven event, very much rooted in the historical aspects of Bolt Action. It consisted of 2 rounds, played over the one day, with 13 players per side, battling for control of the Normandy beaches and surrounding landscape. While I was initially excited to give my Canadian Airborne another run out on the tabletop, I ended up playing Germans to help balance the numbers on the both sides.
My first game was to be on the stunning table below, made by the talented Joseph Simeon, as part of a 2v2 game. We were using the Gold Beach scenario out of the Battleground Europe theatre book which proved to make for an interesting game. As a German commander tasked with holding the beaches, what else could I take but an Ostruppen horde?

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Bolt Action - Review: Rubicon Models M5A1 Stuart/M5A1 Recce Kit

By Garratt


As far as plastic kits go, we have come to expect Rubicon to produce high quality, easy to construct vehicles. Does the M5A1 Stuart / M5A1 Recce kit live up to the name?

The box states that it allows the choice to build either a mid or late production M5A1 (Stuart VI) with 37mm gun or for those who like a lower profile, the M5A1 (Stuart VI) Reece / Kangaroo.

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Bolt Action - AAR: A Daring Raid, LRDG vs Germans

Casey here from deep in the Lone Star State with a After Action Report on the Bolt Action scenario 'A Daring Raid'. The scenario can be found in the newest Warlord Games supplement 'Duel in the Sun'. A Daring Raid pits the infamous LRDG and SAS attacking an Italian airfield and attempting to destroy three parked aircraft. My close friend Tyler Wallace of "Winter Americans and LRDG truck" fame has been asking me to play a historical scenario for awhile. So seeing how a day before the game he got engaged to be married... I had to get a game in with him before his gaming time is drastically reduced!

Colonel David Stirling greets a SAS jeep patrol after a successful raid.

The forces are equal points with the Italians starting on the table with a 12 inch by 36 inch airfield in the middle of the table. The LRDG may come on in waves from any table edge. To secure victory, the LRDG must end the turn touching an enemy aircraft. Empty transports do not count. At the end of the game the Italian player scores 1 point for every enemy unit destroyed and scores 3 points for every undestroyed plane left on the airstrip. The LRDG player scores 1 point for every enemy killed and 3 points for each destroyed airplane. For this scenario we had to substitute the Italian forces with my Desert Afrika Korps force since neither of us have a Italian army. On to the battle!

The calm before the storm.

                                                         

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Bolt Action - Blitzkrieg Wolverine vs Rubicon Achillies

Back in February 2015, I attended my first ever Bolt Action event. Is was called BAMF and it was a 750 point event where I met some incredible and lasting friends. Bryan showed up with his incredible French to show everyone what the gold standard was. Anf showed up with a multiple vehicle list and freaked me right out! And the LRDG were in the house strong with Old Man Morin running the floor and Lachlan and Dave throwing dice like a couple of furious honchos. At that event I was lucky enough to to win the prize I had my eye on all day, namely the Blitzkrieg Wolverine. 18 months later, and the Rubicon M10/M36 has crossed my desk. So as opposed to doing a straight up review of the Rubicon kit I thought I'd pit the two models against each other and see what's what.

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