Bolt Action - Russians vs Germans

John Lantz came over on Friday (we had the day off from work) and brought his table and Russians for Bolt Action.  I pulled out my Germans (yes, the tanks are not painted for the eastern front ...) and Roy and John played through a game of Bolt Action while I snapped some pictures and made progress on some projects.

A T-34 managed to destroy a Tiger ... that was entertaining.  I was taking pictures and continuing to build my Pegasus Bridge stuff from 4Ground so I don't have any kind of battle report to share ... just pictures ... which you can find below ...

More to come over the July 4th break.

Destroyed Vehicle Markers

This is certainly not a new idea ... it has been done before.  My recent game with Adam Clark had him pull out his destroyed vehicle markers ... which are based on using electric candle tops covered in cotton.  They look great on the table so I quickly set forth on creating my own pile of destroyed vehicle markers for my Bolt Action games.

Outside of waiting for the "tea light candles" to show up, it takes almost no time at all to make these!

Here is what you'll need:

• Tea light candles (LEDs) - I bought these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GKX9RFU/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• White (PVA) glue
• Black primer
• Cotton balls

The supplies needed to make the markers.

The first step is to shape the cotton.  I pull at the sides to make it into a larger circle (larger than the diameter of the tea light candle), then I use my finger to create the hole for the tea light candle to fit in ... place it over one of the tea light candles then pull on the top part to form the plum of smoke.

Form the cotton ball.

Next I put white glue on the top and sides of the tea light candle (but not on the "flame" part).  Once the glue is on I put the formed cotton over the tea light candle and then I roll the tea light candle between my hands and form it around the base of the tea light candle ... and work on the rising plum top.

The cotton attached with white glue.

Next I use the black spray primer at a distance of about 1 foot to ** lightly** spray the cotton ... moving closer as needed.  I hit the very top part of the plum of smoke a little heavier ... but mostly I make sure to get a good even hit around the marker.  The paint will help the cotton maintain it's form and add some durability.

Black spray primed cotton.

Let it dry and done!

I test the light before I start the whole process
(I've had a single DOA so far).

Here you can see the marker in action on the table.

This is a super easy and cheap why to add a ton of flavor to your WW2 gaming --- I plan to play a couple of games using these for the windows of burning buildings ... another great application for them.

In other news ... I'm nearly finished building 4Grounds Pegasus Bridge set --- I plan to run this scenario at CelestiCon a couple of times.  It is a rather large bridge ... can't wait to see it fully done ... I'll be attaching it to a custom board with river, etc.  I've also got to finish painting the edges on the main span ... but getting there.

85% finished Pegasus Bridge by 4Ground.

That is it for now ... but more to come soon!

Bolt Action AAR - Meeting Engagement

After finishing some big boardgame related campaigns on my regular Wednesday gaming night and with our Bolt Action and other miniatures collections wanting more use, the regular Wednesday night gaming will now become a night for miniature gaming.

This past Wednesday I got together with Roy Scaife to play some more Bolt Action - wanting to follow up our recent game with some more fun.  In this game we just played a regular "meeting engagement" between veteran Fallschirmjager (my first really "full" game with them on my own) and US army regulars.

GERMAN FORCES (Fallschirmjager - Veterans)
1 x 1st Lieutenant
1 x Medic
1 x Forward Artillery Observer Team
1 x Sniper Team
2 x PanzerSchreck AT Teams
1 x Medium Mortar Team with spotter
1 x Medium MG Team
2 x Infantry Sections (with 1 x SMG, 2 x AR, 1 x LMG, 1 x Panzerfaust, 5 x rifles each)
1 x Panzer V (Panther)
1 x StuG III G
1 x Sd.Kfz. 222 Armoured Car

US FORCES (Army - Regulars)
1 x 1st Lieutenant
1 x Medic
1 x Forward Air Observer Team
2 x Bazooka AT Teams
2 x Light Mortar Teams
1 x Heavy MG Team
3 x Infantry Sections (with 2 x SMG, 1 x BAR, 9 x rifles each)
1 x 75mm Sherman
1 x 76mm Sherman
1 x M10 Tank Destroyer
1 x M8 Greyhound Armoured Car

This engagement was a blood bath.  The US Army pulled out a minor victory by the end of the game after having a large swing turn (turn 5 - last turn played) that saw a bazooka team do massive damage on the Panzer V (Panther) - hitting it the flank, the second air strike had a ground attack aircraft come in and blew up the StuG III G, a Fallschirmjager section was wiped out, and the second infantry section was whittled down to just a few guys.

Another allied air strike backfired, with the call coming down on the Sherman 76mm --- but it was not a ground attack aircraft and only managed to put a few pins on the tank and some of the infantry units nearby.  At this point I'm happy with my artillery ... at least it will not land on my own troops! HA!

I managed to get a clear shot with my sniper on the US officer and killed him - but it was too little too late (last turn). In retrospect, I did a stupid move with the Sd.Kfz. 222 --- I realized it right after I completed my action --- when I moved it forward on the first turn, I should have positioned it "sideways" (parallel with the street between the houses) so that I could recce back out of sight of the Sherman in the woods ... forgetting to do that (by default I try to keep all enemy in my front arc for vehicles ... need to remember I don't always have to do that for recce vehicles) cost me that 222.

I had a PanzerSchreck hit the 76mm Sherman in the ass ... and rolled massive damage, but I only rolled a "1" and a "3" on the table and he passed his morale test ... so just 3 pin markers there.  My parting gift, before the end of turn 5 (finished it out, even after the US had already won), was landing a medium mortar round on the medic, and hitting two infantry sections at the same time.

Anywho, another great game was had!  Pictures below ...

Fallschirmjager section advancing!

The Panzer V getting ready to do some serious damage ...
of course, that wasn't to be ... I missed every single
shot with it before a bazooka blew the crap out of it.

The big guns ... 76mm Sherman and M10 tank destroyer.

I should have positioned the 222 so it could have
recce'd back down this road out of sight of the Sherman.

The StuG III G would make short work of the M8.

PanzerSchreck!

My costly mistake with the 222 ...

Fallschirmjager move to reinforce the center.

Allied air strike ... ka-pow!

I've also built my stand to hold my airplanes to use for marking the air support location (when the air support decides to show up!) ... since the planes are die cast and fairly heavy I needed a really sturdy base ...

Overall a great start to our Wednesday night miniature gaming nights!  I'm looking forward to the next one.