Bolt Action Plans

Although I don't have the rule book yet, I've been looking at the options for my Waffen SS force for Bolt Action.  Thanks to a couple great posts on WWPD and the Warlord Games site, you can get a rough idea how many points your force will amount to.

Firstly, my initial force should look something like:

Officer with a radio team and a medic
2 squads each with 1 LMG, 2 smg, 1 assault rifle and 1 Panzerfaust
81mm Mortar team
MG42 HMG team

That should come in at just under 500 points and, handily, includes all the stuff I either have at the moment or have ordered and am waiting for.  Once they've all been painted and (presumably) I've managed to have a few games, I think I'll add in:

PaK 40 team
MG42 team (another one)
Panzerschreck team (or two)
1 reduced squad with 1 LMG and an smg 
Armour, either a Panzer IV or a StuG

That should take the force upto the 1000 point mark.  From this point, assuming I've still got the mojo for it, I'd like to double up the LMGs and add some halftracks for a full panzergrenadier force, drop in some specialist troops like a snipers, flamethrowers or pioneers and maybe .  Based on Scipio's effort  I also really want to paint up a Schwimmwagen (ain't it cute!)

P.S.  Our internet access is still out and the mobile broadband stick I've got is really playing up, hence no photos or WIP shots lately.

Bolt Action SS - WIP 2

Just a quick update on the Waffen SS figures.  Camo patterns are almost all done, only the dots on the Pea Dot scheme need added, and I've started the detailing and equipment.

Mostly happy with how the camo looks so far.  The Oak Leaf looks the best to me, with a good bright green.  The Plane Tree looks really good up close, but from further away, the brown looks kind of washed out, I may go over the brown in a darker shade, but maybe not. The Pea Dot pattern still doesn't look right, the tan/light brown colour and the green both look off to me.  I'll see how it looks after the dots are added, but don't think it will make a huge difference.  So far this has been a decent learning experience, as I've mixed quite a few colours myself and tried a couple different tricks.

Next job is getting the equipment painted.  I really like mixing up the colours used on late war Germans; the idea being that with their supply problems, these guys will have picked up equipment whereever they could get it, so different helmets, breadbags, gaiters etc.  My new bases arrived so I can get to work on the next batch of figures, more riflemen and the squad LMG.  I'd like to get these finished at the weekend, but recent history suggests it'll be a bit before they're ready to go!

Bolt Action SS - WIP 1

Some WIP pics of the first seven Waffen SS figures.  Two NCO's with MP40s, two with StG44 assault rifles and three with good old Kar98 rifles.  I need a larger base for the LMG team, so I'm waiting for them to arrive; the rest are based on 2p coins.  I've managed to stick to the "do something every day" ethos this week and am relatively happy with the progress I've made.  There are another dozen or so figures prepared and based, but I'm only working on a few at a time.

The first job was to paint all the skin on the seven figures (I hate painting faces, I'm terrible at it,) before starting on the camo patterns.  I'm just winging it at the moment, using Google to get an idea of the patterns and an Osprey book for the colours.  The first two figures, in Oak Leaf Spring camo, taught me that I can't add shade very well, so now I'm working from a much darker basecoat and highlighting up before adding the camo pattern.  Hopefully it will turn out ok.

They are by Warlord Games and I have to say that they are really excellent sculpts.  Some very dynamic poses along side some great expressions on some of the figures.  Of course, as metal miniatures, they take an absolute age to prepare, too many mould lines and flash, but definitely worth the effort. 

Going forward, I plan to finish all the camo patterns before moving onto the equipment.  Still undecided whether or not to use metallic paints or to try my pseudo-nmm technique.  I think they would look better the second way, but for convenience they might get the old Boltgun Metal, wash, highlight treatment.