March 17, 2014

Battle Report: 3/13/2014, 3/16/2014 Bolt Action

This past weekend my son and I were able to get a couple games of Bolt Action in.  Seeing how I had the day off on Friday, we played a 600 point game at Empire Games on Thursday night, then a 1000 point game Sunday in our garage.

Thursday 3/13/2014
Points: 600
Scenario: Maximum Attrition
Objective: Destroy the enemy.
Armies: Soviet Union (Dean) vs United States (Dragi)

Thursday nights game we rolled 'Maximum Attrition', this scenario seems to be the one I like with my Soviet army (seems I always somehow pull of a victory).

The Soviets were able to jump ahead with their T-34 outflanking the US Sherman and getting off a side shot and knocking out the Sherman.  Then the US started to come back eliminating the Soviet Free Rifle Squad and Sniper Team.  Once the Soviets lost those two units, there was no looking back for them and cleared the battlefield to the last man.
4x4 Table Setup.
Soviet T-34 'outflanked' US Sherman, just far enough up for side shot.
Soviet Sniper view of US approaching.
US Infantry assaulted Soviet Rifle and won (there were more US Infantry
prior to photo).
Soviets preparing assault on the US Officers unit.
Soviets eliminate the remaining two Americans.

Sunday 3/16/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Demolition
Objective: Destroy the enemy base.
Armies: Germany (Dean) vs United States (Dragi)

I spent all day the day before (Saturday) building the German army that we have and we thought to go ahead and give them a try (so it is not always Soviet Union vs United States).  This German army will be our 'shared' army and we will take turns playing with them.  Seeing how I am waiting for some Assault Rifles from Warlord Games, we elected to build our lists based on Early War.

We ended up rolling 'Demolition' for the scenario with the objective of destroying the enemy base.  The Germans started with 5 units deployed on the table, same with the US.  This was the first time I was ever playing with an 'Artillery Observer', so I wanted to see if they were worth the 100 points.  The Germans also had a Sniper Team on the table, a full Heer Infantry Squad and two 5 man Heer Veteran Squads.  In reserves was the Stug III Ausf G Tank, full Heer Infantry Squad, 5 man Heer Infantry Squad, Oberleutnant and a Flamethrower Team.

The Americans came out firing bringing one of the Veteran squads down to 3 men right away.  That was all they could do the first turn.  The German Artillery Observer fired placing the 'marker' between the US Rangers and an Infantry Squad.  The rest of the Germans concentrated their fire on the US Rangers, they did not cause too many casualties, but the pin markers were starting to stack up.

At the start of the Turn 2, the 'Artillery' went off causing an additional 2 pin markers on the Rangers, and 1 pin marker on the Infantry Squad and the US Officer.  Then once again the Germans concentrated their fire on the Rangers causing even more pin markers.

By the the time Turn 3 came around, the US Rangers had 9 pin markers on them, 1 more and they would be removed from the game.  Seeing how the 'Artillery' had already went off, the Observer decided to take a shot with his rifle at the Rangers..... hit.... and that was the 10th pin marker for the Rangers, removing them from the game.  Turn 3 also saw the German Tank outflanking onto the board (my left side) and start approaching towards the enemy base.  The Flamethrower Team and 5 man Heer Infantry Squad came in from my right side of the board.  In the middle of the board, the American were still advancing up with 2 Infantry Squads, Officer and Medic.

Turn 4 the Americans outflanked with 2 Squads on my left.  When it was time for the Germans, we also outflanked with a Heer Infantry Squad just behind the Americans and laid down some fire.  It was a great roll of the dice and we had managed to kill 7 Americans.  During this Turn, the Americans also outflanked with their Sherman on my right side of the table.

Turn 5 saw what was left of the Infantry Squad (4 men) assault my German Infantry Squad.  Now it was bad dice rolling for the Germans and the battle was a draw and the fight continued.  After losing 2 men each, the Germans then finished off the Americans and consolidated towards the next US Infantry Squad.  The Germans now received the 'order' and proceeded to assault the US Infantry Squad and won the combat.  The one Heer Infantry Squad then managed to hold my left side of the table.  Germany advanced the Stug III even closer to the enemy base, as did the US with their Sherman.  The Sherman had to go through some rough ground, so time was running out for them.  In the middle of the table the Germans were still protecting their base with the Americans still approaching.

Turn 6 the Germans advanced the Stug III on top of the enemy base and moved in 2 additional units for protection.  The US Sherman advanced closer to the German Base and had one shot left to save the game...... The US Sherman fired on the German Stug III....... and missed.....  Germany then managed to hold off the advancing Americans and at the end of the Turn, the US Base exploded for the German win.

It did not look too good in the beginning for the Germans, but they managed to pull it off.  I am still not sure if it really worth 100 points for the 'Artillery Observer', I'll probably still have to try him a few more times to get a full evaluation.

6x4 Table Setup.
Germans deployed and protecting their Base (German Officer was actually
removed and placed in Reserves since 5 units were already deployed).
View from the US Medium Mortar Team.  The US Mortar did manage
to take out the German Sniper Team.
Pin Markers are stacking up on the US Rangers.

Germans providing fire on the Rangers.
US Rangers at the max 10 Pin Markers.
Germans protecting their Base with American approaching.
German Heer Infantry Squad causing 7 casualties on the Americans, then
win when assaulted.
US Sherman outflanking the Germans.
German Stug III destroys the United States Base.
The US were close, just not enough time left.

March 15, 2014

Bolt Action: United States 'Rangers-Veterans Squad 1'

After getting some terrain built for gaming table in the garage this past week, I also was able to start on my son's US Rangers squad.

The rules for the US Rangers call for a 11 man unit, we decided to build this unit to 12 men so that we he can also play them as a Veteran unit if he elects to do so.  The 12th man would be the addition of a 2nd BAR to the unit.

I do not have a steady hand to paint 'patches' and 'emblems' on units, but I made an effort to somewhat paint the 'Rangers' patch on each of the arms.  This way he can easily identify them as 'Rangers' or 'Veterans' on the gaming table from the rest of his Infantry.

I also labeled the post and pictures as "1" just in case in the future he decides to add a second unit.

United States: Rangers - Veterans Squad 01
United States: Rangers - Veterans Squad 01
Painting Points: 12

March 12, 2014

Daily Chronicle: 3/12/2014 'Terrain: Ruins-Hedges-Woods'

As you can see, I have not posted any completed models this week.  This past Saturday I had decided to start on some terrain for our gaming table in the garage so we can play Bolt Action anytime we feel like it.

It has been a very long time since I had built any terrain (back when I started with Warhammer Fantasy), and I am not very artistic, so I gave it my best shot.

Ruins:

While digging through some of my gaming bins, I recalled seeing some old W40K ruined buildings that I must have received from one of their starter sets.  I had decided to dig these out and proceeded to glue them together.  I also decided to shave off any 'skull markings' and 'imperial eagles' since I wanted to used these more for general gaming.

Ruins glued down to MDF.
Basing rocks/debris glued down.
Finished product.
I was actually hoping the buildings were going to be a bit darker.  I did not have a darker grey paint, and when I tried to 'wash' them with my Army Painter 'Strong Tone', they were then too brown.  I did not have and greyish/black wash on hand.

Woods:

Up next I decided to build some 'area terrain' to represent the Woods (instead of the green felt we usually use).  At the same time, I also painted the bases of the Trees to match the Woods.

MDF all cutout and sanded for the Woods and Ruins.
Sand and Gravel applied to the Woods.
Base color applied to the Woods.
Finished product: Woods:
Finished product: Trees

Hedges:

Now it was time to work on some Hedges, to outline some towns on the table and to go up next to the roadways.

I got the idea of making the Hedges from 'The Demo Gamers' blog.  He goes into more detail on his blog on how he made them.  I changed mine ever so slightly from his.

First we have the supplies.  I went to the $.99 store to pick up some scour pads.  Then we have some large craft sticks and super glue (I thought I could use the super glue, but switched to using hot glue instead)

Supplies.
Round edges were trimmed off the craft sticks.
Scour pads were cut in half.


This is where I decided to change how I was going to do it.  Instead of folding each pad in half and glueing them, I decided just to cut each pad in half again, the hedges would not be as thick, but would save me a little time.

Folded vs. cut in half.
Glued and based.
Bases were painted the same shade of brown as the woods, and then drybrushed.
Finished product.
Before I applied the green turf to the Hedges, I did trim each one down about an 1/8".  I noticed they were a bit too tall for my models.  I wanted my models to see over the Hedges and not use them as blocking line of sight.

Painting Points: 60

March 10, 2014

Battle Report: 3/9/2014 Bolt Action 'Soviet Union vs United States'

Sunday March 9th, 2014 my son and I headed over to Empire Games to play a 1000 point game of Bolt Action.  I had wanted to get a game in the garage, but I spent all day Saturday working on terrain and did not get to finish it, so I had terrain laying across our gaming table.

For this game I had wanted to try one of the Attacker/Defender scenarios from the book, so during the week we built our army lists based on the scenario "Point Defence"

Sunday 3/9/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Point Defence
Objective: The attacker must try and capture the three objectives.
Armies: Soviet Union (Dean) vs United States (Dragi)

My son's US army were going to be the attackers, and my Soviets were the defenders.  In this game I was trying out my new 'Sniper Team' for the first time.

We did forget to do the 'Preparatory Bombardment' special rule to start the game off, this would have really helped the Americans out.

The Americans were holding two Infantry units in 'outflank' along with a Half-track, and the Soviets kept their free Rifle squad in 'outflank', The rest of the Soviets were deployed on the table in defensive positions protecting the objectives.

This is the first game where I actually played with a lot of assaults.  We had four assaults in this game all between Turns 4 and 5.

Turn 4 the American Half-track entered on my left hand side of the table to go for an objective.  The Half-track fired on my Veterans protecting the objective, the Veterans 'Ambushed' with a Panzerfaust grenade but missed.  Later that turn the Americans disembarked from the Half-track and laid down some fire on the Veterans.  Turn 5, I was able to pass my order test on those Veterans and assaulted the Americans, after two rounds of combats, the Soviets prevailed and then consolidated back to protecting the objective.  The left flank was still protected.

On my right flank the Americans outflanked with another Infantry unit towards an objective.  My Soviet Guards squad 'Ambushed' with 2 LMG's in their unit killing 8 Americans, and the Americans failing their 'morale test' and removed from the board.  The right flank was still protected.

Coming up the center of the board was an American Veteran squad and Regular squad followed by their Lieutenant.  We had a Veteran on Veteran assault in the middle of the board, with the Soviets being the victor.  Then the American Lieutenant assaulted my Soviet Senior Lieutenant.  The Soviets could not prevail in this one with the Americans wining that assault.  5 inches away was a Soviet Anti-tank team with the guts to assault the American Lieutenant and managed to score 2 kills on the American Lieutenant.

All the Americans had left was a handful of Regular Infantry coming up the center of the board, the game entered Turn 7 but the Americans were more than 12" from any objective to make a 'Run' for one of the objectives.  The game ended with a massive Soviet win.

Besides forgetting the initial 'Preparatory Bombardment', the game flowed quite smoothly without any real 'rules queries'.

Here are a few shots I did manage to take of the game.  I really like playing on tables that look full with terrain, so that was my goal when setting up this table with the terrain that was available.

Left side of the table.
Right side of the table.
Turn 1: Right Flank
Turn 1: Left Flank
Turn 2: Right Flank
Turn 2: Left Flank
Veterans vs Veterans preparing for assault.
Americans 'outflanking' with the Soviets 'ambushing', Americans then
failing their 'morale test' and removed from the board.

March 9, 2014

Daily Chronicle: 3/9/2014 'WW2 T-shirts'

The Monday before 'Gathering in the Desert' back in February, I was debating about getting some WW2 T-shirts for my son and I to wear to the event.  I first looked online for all of our local 'army surplus' stores.  Of the one's I found online, none of them had any Soviet shirts in their web store.  Then thanks to Google, I came across 'Achtung T Shirt' and I was pretty amazed with their selection.  I also noticed that when you purchase 3 shirts you receive free shipping and it's Priority Mail.  So I thought Priority Mail usually arrives in about 2-days, so I have time to order the shirts for the event.

I ordered 2 Soviet T-shirts for myself and for my son I ordered a German and US shirt, since my son was playing Germans in the event and we would eventually be collecting a German army, that was the reason for the German shirt.





2 days after I ordered my shirts I decided to check on the status, my account was showing that have not shipped yet.  Since we were getting closer to the event, I decided to send an email to the owner Bill to check on my status.  Turns out Bill was on vacation that week here in my state of Arizona and he was not going to be able to ship the shirts out to the following week.  I was a little disappointed since I really wanted the shirts to wear at GitD, but Bill the owner provided some awesome customer service and if I wanted to wait till he gets back to ship the shirts, he would throw in another shirt for free.  So I thought ok, I wont cancel my order and I had him add another German Iron Cross in my size.

The T-shirts did finally arrive the week after GitD (I had just forgotten to write about them until now).  So if you are looking for any WW2 T-shirts, decals, I highly recommend "Achtung T Shirt".


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