Stacks and Blasts

When I was placing an order with Pendraken for the 10mm Bolt Action stuff I opted to pick up some of the pieces of scatter terrain that I'd been eying for a while.

First the pack of Haystacks - these I thought would be useful for a range of settings and games in this scale:

I think this will suffice for detailing a field... guess I'll need to source one of those at some point!

I also went for a couple of packs of craters with Bolt Action firmly in mind.  I intend to paint most of them in my general basing scheme - with some in my desert basing scheme for use with the Operation Compass stuff.  I got a pack of each size craters Pendraken offer:

These are obviously very useful for marking out some difficult ground on the tabletop in a nicely thematic way.  

All the pieces were cleanly cast with next to no clean up required (except the usual resin wash of course!).  There's enough texture so that simple painting techniques should work well I think - which is always a bonus, especially for scenic items!

10mm World War II - introduction

If you follow me on Twitter (@alex_and__a) you may have seen over the last month my painting of some 10mm Bolt Action forces.  I haven't shared them here yet as I'm awaiting some basing materials - but I really enjoyed the process of painting them; far more than many things I've painted recently, so I decided to expand further into this hobby area!

Whilst I'm still not a rivet counter, it has been fun researching a bit about a range of forces - I'm not aiming for absolute accuracy or to recreate specific engagements from history.  For me, this overarching project, and the smaller sub-projects, are about having lots of interesting, fun and varied forces to maximise different painting and gaming experiences.

So far everything has been sourced from Pendraken's excellent WWII range - I'm not ruling out other sources, but so far Pendraken has had what I've needed and they are great value!

Far East - 1000pts British and Japanese 
This was the project that started it all off - it was a small project to show respect in some small way for those who fought in the Far East that are often overlooked compared to other theatres.  I'm just waiting on some trees and foliage to come then I'll crack on with the basing and some specific terrain features for this sub-project.

Black's Division goes Nazi Hunting - 550pts Partisans and Germans
I've mentioned my intention to do a small project covering Black's Division - a partisan force headed up by a Romani hero, Josef Serinek.  I've used the general Partisan list to plot a 'what if' force (eg. what if Josef and his partisans got a bit more equipment to go hunt down some Nazis), and I have got miniatures from both the WWII and Spanish Civil War ranges to suit a ragtag look.  The Germans will hopefully get butchered every single time (I've headed up their list 'target practice') - but I have given them a SdKfz 222, presumably as a show of force to terrorise the locals and provide Black's Division with a trophy target!

Operation Compass - 1000pts British and Italian
I decided I wanted to include a project including an Italian force - and thought it would be interesting to head to the Western Desert and have a couple of Operation Compass themed forces.  To increase variety across all the projects I elected to make these two lists as Armoured Brigades so they each feature five tanks and an armoured car (I do like armoured cars so plenty of these sub-projects include them!) alongside some supporting infantry in transports.

Eastern Front - 1000pts Romanian and Soviet
I wanted something from the Eastern Front (yes, I know Black''s Division would be Eastern Front, but something a bit more 'properly' military).  The Soviets were an obvious choice, but to go a little different I checked out the range of various Axis powers that were involved and saw that Pendraken had a varied range - that made up my mind; Romanians!  This is another 'what if' force in that I've included a Panther for the Romanians - but it was as much to include an SU-85 for the Soviets to allow for an armoured clash as the Russians go tank hunting!

Continuation War - 800pts Finnish and Soviet

When I found out that the Finns called the StuG 'Sturmi' I knew I wanted to have a small project as an excuse to have one!  Of course they had to be against their bitter enemy in the Soviets - this project will be a good excuse to have snowy bases!

Blitzkrieg - 900pts French and Germans
To represent Western Europe I opted for the French - putting this project into the early war provides a different German experience too.  I definitely wanted a Char 2C - there's something really cool about that titanic tank! 

These sub-projects are all in varied states - and I'm not ruling out others if the inspiration strikes!  Oh, and as for the sometimes odd point values - that's because for some I made a list of what I thought would be cool for that sub-project and it came out at that weird number for one of the sides, so I made the opposing list to match!

Hollywood Germans HQ

Inspired by the Trials of a Casual Wargamer blog podcast on Bolt Action and Konflikt 47 (available on the podcast app thingy of your choice, so please do check it out!) I looked back over my related posts and it seems I missed posting my little three-man Bolt Action HQ back when I covered all my (non-vehicle) stuff!  About time I put that right I think!

It's headed up by one of the metal Officer minis from the German Army HQ (1943-45) pack from Warlord - the two bodyguard chaps were made from left-over SS sprue bits IIRC:

Yeah, I cheesed out a little by giving the bodyguards assault rifles - but as they aren't a massive squad it's not too bad I think!

Of course, these can be used in games of Konflikt 47 too where they are co-opted into the Okkultekorps!

Flammenwerfer

One of the least-used units in the Bolt Action (/Konflikt 47) collection is the Flamethrower team:

I'm pretty pleased with how the flame turned out, but I just don't seem to find much of a place for it in my lists!  I'm still pleased to have it in the collection, maybe I'll have to try it out more to get to grips with how to better use it in games!

The brains behind the Okkultekorps

The infamous chief scientist of the Okkultekorps is Professor Doktor Egon Lange - a brilliant man who takes advantage of the freedom granted to him by his position to carry out ever more reprehensible acts of experimentation in the name of the Reich.

He has often taken to the field to lead special missions of the Okkultekorps where he cannot trust Untersturmführer Mayer - although his tactical acumen pales compared to his scientific mind he has not been without success in a series of bitter clashes with the hated Britische Schwein. 

Professor Doktor Egon Lange

Lange's long-suffering assistant (and nominally second-in-command of the research division of the Okkultekorps) is Doktor Karl Fischer.  Karl is an experienced and able scientist - but years of berating from Lange have torn his nerves to shreds.

Doktor Karl Fischer

Recently dispatched by Obersturmführer Klingemann to act as bodyguard for Lange, Sturmscharführer Helga Stocker was actually a childhood friend of the Professor - although he doesn't like to admit it, he is actually quite fond of the statuesque soldier even if she does sometimes annoy him with her optimistic attitude.

Sturmscharführer Helga Stocker

The Okkultekorps are often used by the Propagandkompanie to show the overwhelming power and certain victory of the Reich - it is common to find taskforces of the Korps accompanied by a cameraman to capture footage to show the Volk their successes.

Propagandakompanie Kameramann, probably called Karl

I got Lange from eBay but do not know the manufacturer.  Same goes for Karl and Helga!  The Kameramann was a gift from Trials... 😀

Boom!

Today I thought I'd share my Panzerschreck team - they don't seem able to hit a barn door with a banjo, but they provide a mobile anti-tank threat (at least in theory if not in practice - but then maybe the threat itself serves its own purpose? 🤔

The team are quite dynamic, posed as though running from cover to cover to try to line up the perfect shot... 'try' being the operative word! 😅

Headshot!

 

One of the options that is easily made from a standard sprue is the Sniper Team - so given I've had some spare chaps left over from the squads I've assembled it's no surprise I've got a couple of teams made up.  First this one is from the Grenadier sprue using a couple of kneeling legs:

I went for a map on the spotter guy (aka the first casualty to remove).

The other team used bits from the Waffen-SS sprue if I recall correctly:

The first casualty in this team is carrying a loaded rifle ready to hand off to the actual sniper.

I tend to take a Sniper team in almost every BA or K47 list, which one depends on which is nearest when I'm picking the list from the Easy Army PDF 😂

Medic!

I got a medic as part of the HQ pack from Warlord Games - over the years I've added a couple of other minis to allow me to field a small team if I choose to:

The central chap is the Warlord Medic, the pointy chap is an Artizan Fallschirmjager Command mini - I picked him as he has a couple of satchels that look like he is carrying medical supplies.  The chap with the stretcher I got from a random eBay seller but can't find a source for the mini - if it rings any bells with you, please let me know!

Wargaming Idea Stew

Like all good hobbyists I have tonnes of ideas reaching far beyond what I already have - I think of it as a kind of wargaming stew on the stove being slow cooked - some of these bubble up to the surface with more regularity than others and are likely to be dished up sooner rather than later (keep stretching that metaphor Alex!).  

Photo by Shikhar Singh from Pexels

Anyway, I thought I'd ramble a bit about the current ideas that just seem to keep popping up!  These are in no particular order, they are just what most commonly comes to mind when I start thinking about that 'next project'.

Germans vs Black's Division (Černý oddí)
A very small BA project to pay tribute to my Romani heritage in some small tabletop way (I have plenty for my Irish side already after all!).  This idea had floated around a little while (largely inspired by the article on Romea.cz - They weren't just victims: Roma, forgotten heroes of the anti-Nazi resistance) and the freebie Winter German sprue that came with an issue of WGI cemented it a little bit more.  So for the German side, I plan on sorting a very small list on Easy Army to guide the purchases to finish that half.  For Black's Division I'm toying with a couple of options - Artizan's Resistance and Partizans range and/or Crusader Miniatures Partisans. I'm going to keep this very small - couple of small squads of Germans and then a Resistance force of equivalent points - around 500 points I think should give a few options each side but not break the bank.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Ottoman Empire
I spotted the 16th century Polish and Ottoman ranges on Pendraken's site whilst ordering my Tyrone's Rebellion stuff and haven't been able to shift it from my head since. Seriously, it just keeps on popping back into my brain! I think I'll see how I feel painting up my Tyrone's Rebellion stuff - if I take to 10mm, this could shape up to be a decent sized project.

Post-Human Republic
I'd toyed with the idea of starting Dropzone Commander a few months ago, but couldn't quite make the value for the Post-Human Republic work out enough to convince me to take the plunge and I didn't want to 'make do' with one of the others that offered a better value starter.  Well, TTCombat must have been reading my mind or something because they are releasing a PHR Starter Army in a couple of days time that looks a great value starting point! This is definitely on my radar now - might not even need much beyond that starter set... who am I kidding, those walkers all look awesome!

Achaemenid Persians
I mentioned about 6mm catching my eye on Twitter and ended up having a conversation with Trials... about it - he mentioned that he had eyed the Greeks for this scale, which as luck would have it would be a perfect foe for the Achaemenid Persians that had piqued my interest! Not sure what ruleset to use for this project, which is a bit of a sticking point to this moving forward at the moment.

Between all the existing stuff and this little lot I think that should keep me going... yeah right! 😉

Forward Observers

 

Early on in my Bolt Action journey my good friend Trials of a Casual Wargamer gifted me with the German Heer FOO team - the chap with the map became a spotter for my Mortar, but the pack included a couple of other Observers - first the rather cool radio operator:

This mini is almost like a self-contained little diorama with the SMG resting against the radio. Really nice mini - probably one of my favourites in my Bolt Action collection.

The pack also included a scissor scope-using mini (the scope was less than co-operative to get to stick to the base!):

Finally on the Observer front, when I got an HQ pack (primarily for officers), it included another Observer, this time firing his flare gun to call in a barrage:

I based them all on the pill-style bases from Warlord to give them a little more room to breathe! Of course, these can also see use in games of Konflikt 47 too.

Medium Mortar Team

Another weapon team included in the Army Box was the Medium Mortar:

It's quite easy to fit into force lists for Bolt Action or Konflikt 47, but I found I wasn't making great use of it, so I added a spare observer mini I had to use as a Spotter:

I cannot lie, I'm quite pleased with his little map!  I still don't make great use of the Mortar due to tactical ineptitude, but the Spotter does help a bit!

MMG Team

What's a German army without an MMG team eh?

This team came as part of the Army Box I bought - of course, machine guns are a staple in German armies due to one of their national rules in Bolt Action and this does see a fair bit of use.  It's often fielded as part of Okkultekorps forces for Konflikt 47 too - even if it didn't do much to help protect the Okkultefabrik!

PaK 40 - anti-tank gun

In the German Grenadier army set from Warlord there is a PaK 40 anti-tank gun.  Well, as it came in the box it would have been mean to not paint it up alongside the rest of the project - so I did just that (ordered a big MDF base especially to accommodate it!):

This was an absolute nightmare to assemble - found some tips on a forum from days past if I recall correctly that helped me get it right.  I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out but it just doesn't see much use in games - partially that might be because I was quite late in adding some towing capability to my collection now that I think back on it....

Panzerfausts!

In that German Army Box I picked up when I started Bolt Action there felt like a ton of infantry sprues - I'd made up the squads and assorted other bits but had some bodies left over... what to do, what to do....

Panzerfausts of course!

I generally use these so that I can play 'properly' and sub them out once I've fired the 'fausts.  They most often get used in the 10-man Heer squads, but in smaller games of Konflikt 47 I have used them to offer an additional threat in one of my smaller SS squads too.

The 36 Chambers - Sandbag Wall

Ages ago back when Dystopian Legions was a thing I needed (well, wanted) a sandbag emplacement for my Prussian PAK 69 field gun.  I found (what seems to be an eBay only) seller The 36 Chambers - they offer a nice range of resin bases and scenery bits and bobs.  I picked up their 28mm Resin Sandbag Wall (curved) and while I was impressed with it, I prepped and primed it then it sat in a drawer for years with the Dystopian Legions stuff. Ahem.

Cut to near present day, and after my better half bought me a load of cases for the mini collection I started getting organised - and found once more the sandbags from The 36 Chambers.  Well, I didn't fancy starting painting the Prussians just yet, but decided on a whim to paint up the sandbags!

There was a nice amount of texture to the bags, so it painted up nice and quick with simple wash and drybrush techniques.  I think it'll also come in useful for games like Bolt Action or Konflikt 47 too.

I'd happily consider picking up more stuff from The 36 Chambers - check them out!

SS Squad 2

To be able to make a full-SS army I needed a second infantry squad - well luckily I had enough bodies, and ordered some extra SMGs from a bits seller, to make a small squad of SMG-armed fanatics.

While not as useful as their Assault Rifle armed comrades, they cost a few less points so sometimes I'll switch down to these if I'm tight on points and don't need both squads (mixed Heer/SS force for example - or in Konflikt 47).

Here's the squad:

The pointy chap is the leader (obviously!) - so he gets a name: Oberscharführer Anselm Steube. 

These tend to get loaded into a Blitz and put on suicide missions - I'm not a subtle guy!

Heer Squad 2

Here's my second squad of Heer - having two squads means I can fulfill the requirements for an all-Heer force, plus at 10 men it's more bodies on the table.

Like the first squad, the core is 7 rifle-armed men:

Providing a bit of firepower is an LMG team - I posed these as footsloggers:

Of course, every squad needs a leader - so here's Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel Andre Schiffer; if you look closely he wears his Iron Cross First Class with pride. I armed him with an assault rifle for a little extra punch:

Like their Heer comrades posted previously, these are called upon to support Lange's Okkultekorps from time to time in games of Konflikt 47 too.