October 22, 2014

Bolt Action: Panther Ausf A Plastic Box Set (ordered)

Back in March of this year, Warlord Games and Italeri announced a partnership to have Italarei bring more plastic vehicles and terrain pieces to the wargaming world and further enhance the Bolt Action range.

The first two vehicles they were going to release are the United States M4 Sherman and the German Panther Ausf A.  Well in August the Panther was officially released.


The Panther was the best all-round German tank of the war and although conceived as a medium tank, at 45 tons and with frontal armour over 100mm thick, it could easily be rated more highly.
The Panther’s thick, sloping front armour was copied from the Russian T-34 but the main gun was a weapon that far excelled anything the Russians possessed, the high velocity KwK 42 L70, which was capable of penetrating any Allied tank in service when it was first introduced.
This is the second variant of the Panther – bizarrely the Panther’s marks don’t run alphabetically, instead running D, A and then G. Built from mid 1943 onwards, it saw action on both Eastern and Western fronts, serving with distinction.  Changes on the original Panther Ausf D include a redesigned hull machine gun and a commanders cupola.
Seeing how I am just getting back into Bolt Action from a short hiatus, I thought adding a new German tank would be a great start.  I was really considering adding the Tiger 1 (after watching FURY), but seeing how Warlord Games will probably be releasing more and more plastic kits, I opted to go ahead and order the new Panther Ausf A.

I happen to come across a new retailer with an online presence the other day, www.boltaction.us with all of their models being 10% off and free shipping on all orders over $25.00.  I placed my order late yesterday afternoon and received an email today that my order has shipped.  So far so good with this retailer.  More than likely my order will come in sometime next week and I will then start on the assembly.

October 17, 2014

Bolt Action: United States 'M10 Tank Destroyer'

WOW! it has been 4 months since I last posted a model that I painted, let alone a few actual months that I posted anything at all.  It's not that I haven't been gaming, I have been playing some X-Wing during that time, I just haven't been posting any battle reports on it.  But it has been since D-Day that I last played a game of Bolt Action.  Other things in life just get in the way.  I've been trying to get back into shape....again.... and waking up early every morning to go bike riding just makes me too tired in the evenings to want to do anything.  Plus our Sundays are now devoted to playing the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

So lately I've been thinking about Bolt Action again, what a perfect time to jump back in with the new WWII movie that opened up today 'FURY'.  With having my wife and kid work at the theater, my son and I did catch the late night premier last night and I really enjoyed the movie.  It got the blood pumping again to get back to painting my Bolt Action.  I probably wont go all out crazy like I did to start the year off, but I will slowly be adding more models to the painting table when time allows.

I have a lot of Bolt Action models that need assembling and painting, and in honor of the movie, I started off with a tank.  My sons United States M10 Tank Destroyer.  This is only his second tank for his US army.

United States: M10 Tank Destroyer

United States: M10 Tank Destroyer
Painting Points: 10