Bolt Action - Roman Orlik, Polish Tankette Ace

Welcome to Tanko Thursday, a semi-regular article for the next few weeks exploring some of the lesser known legendary tankers from the minor nations with house rules for representing them in your own Bolt Action Tank War battles. This week we discover Roman Orlik, Polish Tankette Ace.

An architecture student prior to the war, Roman Orlik enlisted in the Polish army and became a Sergeant First Class in command of a Polish TKS tankette with 20mm Autocannon, one of the few up-gunned tankettes Poland had. He would become one of the first tank aces of World War II in defense of his homeland.

On the 14th of September, Orlik and his driver Zakrzewski were involved in the Battle of Brochów, a Polish victory in which Orlik destroyed 3 German tanks.

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Bolt Action - First To Fight… Last to Fight

Hey guys, Uncle Mal is back to talk about he used a historical perspective when creating his unique Polish army. 

As my friends know, I am absolutely crazy for polish militaria. I have toured Poland and almost camped in the Museum of the Polish Army, in Warsaw. But as I have been told “it is not a problem until it inhibits your ability to function on a day to day basis” and I am going to hold on to that.

We all know that the Poles were the first to come to blows with Nazi Germany.  We have the idea that the Polish army was backward and we embrace the image of the Polish Cavalry charging the German tanks (a myth both the Germans and Poles have propagated), this was not actually the case.  The Polish Army was an advanced, modern army and had embraced the idea of “motorized” warfare.

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Bolt Action - Partisans Part 2: My List and Why

In part one of this duo of articles concerning the Partisan army list, I talked generally about the Partisan army list, why I chose the theme of my particular brand of Partisan force, and listed a few of the specific challenges that the army generally encounters in game. Today I am going to talk about the list that I have built, used and tweaked over time to create a historically accurate, fun and effective group of resistance fighters.

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Bolt Action - Partisans: Some Recent Thoughts

About a year ago I found a Partisan army up for sale on the buy/sell forum attached to boltaction.net. It had been painted to an excellent standard but had been created for another game system (an alternate future WW2, which explains the mech in the background of one of the photos). This meant that while the army was beautiful, it was also too small for a 1000 point game of Bolt Action and included things that might not work very well in the game (*cough cough* hangomags). I paint-matched a few units to supplement what I got in the deal and took the army to the BA MOAB tournament in Sydney last year. Over the next couple of articles I plan to look at the Partisan army as a viable force given the current culture of Bolt Action, based on my experiences using the army. I will also show my army as a whole, both from a painting and from an army list standpoint.

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On the Pole -- Building a Polish Army, Part Three

TKS Tankette. No, there is NOT a bicycle in there. Source: http://www.wp.mil.pl

 By Tom "The Crotch" DeMayo

“Fathers, our only job is to keep our daughters off the pole.”  - Chris Rock

If you may remember, I had two early articles on starting an Early War Polish army here and here for Flames of War.  For various reasons, this project never came together, and my initial purchase of several Dismounted Cavalry platoons ended up un-assembled in my basement.

This Christmas, I decided it was time to revive things.  So I splurged on more platoons, and began assembling.  Back to Early War!

More Dismounted Cavalry

I purchased another blister of Dismounted Cavalry.  This enables me to assemble three full Companies of 15 stands each.  I usually do not put all five figures onto a base like Battlefront recommends -- so I bought the last blister largely to get the final AT rifle I would need.

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Road to Rome, the Allies in Italy 1944-45 Review

By, The WWPD Crew

Today, the WWPD team is happy to bring you our review of the first of two compilation books for Flames of War late war play in Italy, Road to Rome: The Allied Assault on Italy January 1944 - May 1945, along with our first impressions of the two book set.

Road to Rome and Fortress Italy, Overall Impressions

"Stubborn defense characterized the German Italian Campaign.  They made full use of the difficult Italian terrain, criss-crossed with river valleys, hills and mountains.  Each Allied push was met with equally determined defense." Excerpt from Fortress Italy

Road to Rome and Fortress Italy are a two book compilation from the original Dogs and Devils and Cassino books.  Wayne Turner is credited with compiling, editing and adding new material along with a host of other contributors.  Fortress Italy is a hardbound, 181 page, full color book covering both the Italian and German forces, in the Italy campaign, from January 1944 through May 1945.  Road to Rome is also hardbound and full color, but is 245 pages and covers the British, American, Polish and French armies that participated in the Italian campaign during the same time period.

The lay out of both books is visually superb. They present not only the basic army lists for building your force, but also contain detailed campaign maps with force movements for the many battles fought during this time period. The multiple Axis lines of defense as well as the Allied operations by land, sea and air to complete the conquest of Europe's soft underbelly are well illustrated in detail. Complete overviews of these engagements provide great reading and can establish a solid basis for the Flames of War player to create fantastic scenarios.

The overall graphic design and layouts of the books is visually appealing and, despite some surprising editing flaws, the extraordinary number of well designed pictures of miniatures speak volumes to the quality and thought that was put into these projects.  Both books have a solid table of contents that allow you to quickly reference which force, special rule or warrior you wish to review.

There are several new forces, new warriors and myriad revisions to some favorite lists from Dogs and Devils and Cassino that are sure to appeal to everyone. So without further ado, please enjoy part one of WWPD's review of Road to Rome and Fortress Italy.

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Bolt Action - Review: Armies of France and the Allies

Here it is, folks. Fresh off the printers, and sold into the greedy hands of Historicon goers. The Armies of France and the Allies book for Bolt Action!

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Polish Tankette

I recently acquired a Warlord Polish Tankette. This is for my upcoming Bolt Action Polish army. The model was pretty simple - one piece plus a gun, which I ended up not using and replacing with brass rod instead (there's no way that thin piece of pewter would survive the way I treat MY models!)

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