Bolt Action - First Impressions

Amazon managed to send out Bolt Action rulebook, only about ten days after the official release date, which wasn't too bad.  So ends my attempts to paint up a platoon before the rules were released (who am I kidding, I'd have a better chance of becoming Prime Minister than finishing a nerd project on time!)  I thought I'd put up some of my first impressions from the rules, not a review as such, just what jumped out at me after reading and playing.

Physically, Bolt Action is similar to Osprey's other hardback rulebooks like Force On Force or the Field of Glory range; lots of artwork from both Orsprey and Warlord Games, as well as lots of photos of Warlords miniatures.

The rules themselves take up about half of the book, with the scenarios and army lists take up the remaining pages.  Although that is a lot of pages of rules, the basic rules themselves are surprisingly brief, particularly as the pages are taken up with lots of diagrams and photos.  In keeping with Warlord's other rulebooks, there are also lots of little panels filled with trivia about particular weapons, tanks or anecdotes from World War 2, a really nice touch.

The order system is a nice little element to the game, nothing ground breaking, but it simply means that activating a unit isn't always automatic (think Black Powder or Hail Caesar.)

The random unit activation doesn't seem as much of a negative as I thought it would be, in fact, there looks to be a bit of depth to the mechanic.  Quickly, each unit in the game has an order dice, all dice from both sides are placed in bag or cup and are drawn out one at a time, each dice lets the relevant player activate one unit.  A couple of things to keep in mind; forcing a unit to go "down" before it has activated removes it's order dice from the pool, giving your opponent less activations that turn, while going into "ambush" makes one of your own dice unavailable for the next turn, again limiting the activations available.

The pinning mechanic is very simple, but elegantly affects every facet of the game.  Again quickly, a unit takes one pin marker for each enemy unit that fires upon it (some weapons inflict more than one marker,) each pin marker inflicts a -1 modifier to your order tests, shooting attacks and morale tests.  So more pins makers, the harder it is for your unit to be effective.  It's kind of a risk management mechanic where you have to decide to actively remove pin markers or to try to move or attack and manage the pin markers on your unit. Simple concept, lots of depth.

Combat looks pretty straightforward, a standard "to hit" score of 3+ with lots of modifiers (mostly negative,) with a fixed kill score based on how experienced your troops are.  A nice wee twist to the shooting is that if a "to hit" score goes above 6+ (Bolt Action only six sided dice exclusively,) the roll simply becomes a 6 followed by a 6, so no having to work out what an 8+ or 9+ would be.  Again, shooting looks to be pretty quick with just the two steps (roll to hit, roll to kill,) which kind of explains why the sample army lists from Warlord Games were much larger than I thought they would be.

Close quarters (melee) combat is suitably brutal, even more so than in Flames of War. Simply charge, take the defence fire, then both sides roll to kill.  No saves of any kind and assaults are always resolved in one turn, with one unit being removed from the table.  In rare circumstances, it looks possible for both units to wipe each other out too.

There are a nice mix of weapon and unit special rules, many of which aren't used with the army list in the book.  Presumably, we'll see a lot more of these in the nation supplement books.  Most of the special rules read like they are appropriate to what they are describing, flamethrowers work like they should, assault weapons are good in assaults, that kind of thing, but I haven't tried out too many of them yet.

The six scenarios included in the book are mixed nicely and are simply what you would expect from a wargame rulebook.  There's a free-for-all mission, a hold the line mission, a couple objective missions etc.  Nothing startling springs out at me, but on the other hand, nothing seems out of place or missing either.

I've only skimmed through the vehicle, building and artillery rules, all of which look appropriate enough, if a little simple when it comes to vehicle profiles, my concern being there isn't a huge amount of difference between different tanks etc.  The four army lists have a good mix of units for each nation, with options for veteran and green troops, along with plenty of support units.  A little flavour is added through the different army special rules, eg. the feared German machine guns roll extra shooting dice, while the Soviets get a free squad of conscripts for their army.  Nice enough, but I hope there will be a lot more depth from the nation supplement books.

Having only had a couple small games, I'm pretty impressed by Bolt Action.  The rules are simple enough to grasp the basics on the first read through, but I think there will be enough depth to keep me interested.  As with all games, how enjoyable you find Bolt Action will depend on different factors, most of which are nothing to do with the rules themselves; your opponent, your armies and the table you play on.  I'm looking forward to getting some games in at the club in the near future.

P.S.  Sorry for the wordy post, still having trouble uploading images, I had to resort to hotlinking the picture above!

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.

A day out and some Bolt Action... errr... action

As the big orange warm thing was in the sky again today (two days on the spin,) the Mrs and I decided to trek out to the beach.  The picture below is proof positive that you're never too old to go paddling, but not piddling, in the sea!

Without sounding too much like an old man, it was nice to see that families with toddlers still go to the beach, build sandcastles and run into the sea etc.

On the gaming front, I decided to go ahead and pre-order Bolt Action from Warlord Games. Having read the couple articles Rick Priestly has written and a couple reviews from play testers, the game has a lot of promise.  I like the pinning mechanic and the leadership tests needed to activate units, although I'm less sold on the random activation sequence.

The release is about a month away, so it seems perfectly possible to paint up a small platoon for some early gaming.  So I've started work on a first squad of SS Germans, with a view to having these finished next weekend.  Another squad, a command platoon and three or four support options should finish the platoon off nicely.  But we'll see how I get on, best laid plans and all that.

Hoplites WIP 2

I managed to get a couple hours painting on the Hoplites today.  Finished the skin tones and most of the armour/tunics.

I'm really out of practice on 28mm figures and keep letting the paint run into areas I want shaded.  Although I'll probably go over the recesses with some inks, I really don't want to get too hung up on every little detail.  Another job finished today was cleaning up the 24 shields for these guys and it took *$&$%"&£*$ ages!!! Next time this is the first job I'm doing!

 
Lastly, and keeping with the Greeks, check out this weekends Pearls Before Swine comic. Nothing like a good pun and some cartoon violence to brighten your day!

Venexia Miniatures - Some Good News?

Some good news courtesy of Madaxeman, that Venexia have sold their miniature range to an unnamed American company.  No mention of timescale for any releases, or even if there will be a release, but this is still better than no news whatsoever.

   

Sadly, progress on my Italian Wars project stalled quite suddenly when Venexia stopped trading.  This was all the more frustrating in when I missed the announcement and so missed the opportunity to pick up all of their excess stock.  Damn.

Great book, but haven't enough figures for a game yet.

There are a few companies out there with a range of 16th century figures, but after looking around, none approach the quality Venexia gave.  Fingers crossed for some more news.

An Inspirational Shot in the Arm

  

This morning I picked up the latest issues of both Wargames Illustrated and Wargames Soldiers & Strategy.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed both issues - the last few issues of WI didn't do much for me and the last WS&S was garbage.

Instead, this issue of WS&S had plenty on offer; an interesting theme of Colonial warfare including a Saga variant, a Dux Bellorum dark age rules Q&A and the usual entertaining editorials.

Of particular interest was the Norman scenario article (I automatically associate Normans with the Conguest) and a showcase of 15mm WW2 rules manufacturers.

Speaking of World War Two, Wargame Illustrated devotes a fair chunck of space to the new Flames of War book, Devils Charge.  Fortunately, it looks really impressive.  I mentioned earlier the great studio paint job on the German tanks; WI has not only the Konigstiger, but Panthers too.  Both, along with the new American gear, are showcased in a huge battle report that didn't sound too scripted.  Great work.

And staying with World War Two, the designers notes for the Warlord/Osprey rulest Bolt Action are really engaging.  Bolt Action reads like a fairly predictable game with the odd flourish thrown in - the random activation mechanic sounds interesting, it could be a blast or be absolute pants.  I've begun painting my Bolt action Germans in preparation for the release.  That's still two months away, surely I can finish a platoon of figures in that time?

Other than that, there are two hobby articles, one on painting skin and faces and the other on photographing miniatures, both areas where I struggle just now.

What really got interested though was the amount on new releases announced.  Victrix are apparantly releasing plastic Republican Romans (can I get a woooh at the back!)  Quality, the Punic Wars is THE period in history that gets me going - my first wargaming army was an "eclectic" mix of plastic and metal figures that vaguely resembled Romanan and Carthaginian armies.  Nowadays, with so many different ranges of 28mm figures, it would be much easier (and cheaper) to build up a legion or two.  Maybe I should get some Warlord Macedonians painted now, so I've an enemy of Rome ready to go.  And now I think about it, I've been looking for an excuse to buy that metal Phyrrus figure someone released.

If that wasn't enough, Conquest Games have announced a date for their plastic Norman infantry set.  Suddenly a six point Saga force becomes readily affordable.  Lastly, one of the magazines (I didn't notice which) has the greens for Warlord Games plastic WW2 Soviets! Well, those Germans will need someone to fight, won't they.

I remember thinking this last year, but this really is a golden age for wargaming; plenty of new and expanding companies in the historical range; Privateer Press and Mantic muscling in on GW, GW responding with bigger and crazier kits, new RPGs on the way from FFG and Privateer Press, the appearance of Kickstarter etc.  I could go on.  This kind of inspires me to get some projects finished, lest I miss out on any of the goodness.

Hoplites - Work In Progress

Not a bad days work, 24 Warlord Games Hoplites assembled and undercoated.  I'd forgotten how long it takes to get plastic minis assembled!  Overall, the figures go together easily enough, some of the spear arms don't line up flat against the body, but that wasn't really a big deal.  I've left off the shield arms to make painting easier.

Sixteen of the Hoplites have linen linothorax, while the other eight are unarmoured.  The best (and most elaborately) armoured Hoplites would be at the head of the phalanx with the less well armed would be at the rear.  This mix should give me two ranks of armoured and one rank of unarmoured Hoplites, although I may mix them around when it comes to basing them.

The skin has been basecoated and washed and the tunics have been basecoated in a couple different colours.  One thing I've noticed about using the wet palette is that it makes doing multiple thin coats of paint a doddle!

Most of the helmets come with separate plumes and this does give you a nice variety to use, but these helmets all have a groove cut in them for this.  As I wanted some of the helmets to be plain bronze, I filled in some of the gaps before painting.  It's just a little detail, but I think it looks appropriate 

Hoplite Headache Solved!

Last week I wrote about the confusion I was thrown into by a simple box of Warlord Games plastic Hoplites.

The big issue, apart from the confusing box and sprue names, was the box only containing thirty two shields to go with forty figures.  Fortunately, Dave at Warlord Games replied to me saying that this box should have also contained eight metal shields in addition to all the plastic sprues.

After a bit of poking around the internet (some of it wargaming related,)  I've also been able to confirm that all three of Warlord Hoplite boxes (Ancient, Classical and Spartan) have the same main sprue, with the specific themed components coming on a smaller custom sprue.

So now I've cleared that up, I think I'll order a box of Spartan Hoplites and a pack of metal Hoplites. With that mix of figures, I should be able to make two units of Hoplites in linen armour, one large unit of levy Hoplites in tunics and one unit of Spartans in bronze armour.

The only thing left to do is start painting. . . .

Hoplite Headache

   

I mentioned earlier that I've been a bit fed up lately.  So in an effort to pick myself up, I did what any self respecting wargamer does in that situation. . . I bought some more toy soldiers!

Thanks to Maelstrom Games 25% discount offer, I picked up a box of Warlord/Immortal 28mm Hoplites.  Never painted any hoplites (at any scale) so these should be something fresh to get my teeth into.

I had, however, to choose between the Ancient and Classical box.  Officially, the difference seems to be that the Ancient box is more suitable for the Persian Wars, whilst the Classical box more for the Peloponnesian and Alxandrian Wars.  Looking on a few forums blurred this distinction however, with most people happy to use both boxes - but the odd vocal individuals raising their voices about using Pilos helms at Thermapolae or bronze cuirass at Ipsus.

So I opted for the ancient box, seeing as I'm more interested in the Persian Wars than in any other Hoplite period, and waited for the box to arrive.

Arrive the box duly did, but I received a Classical box.  Never mind I thought, they were bought as a distraction, so I'll just carry on regardless.  So I started sorting through the sprues.

Eight figures with eight shields

Four large sprues have components for eight Hoplites each, with multiple helmets and spear options - confusingly, the sprues are marked as "Ancient Greek Hoplites".  Four smaller sprues, marked "Classical Greek Hoplites" have two torsos each with multiple helmet options.  I assume that the three Hoplite kits available from Warlord Games all have the same big sprue and four small sprues with the specific components (Ancient, Classical or Spartan.)

Two figures with no shields, what am I missing?

What I can't work out, however, is how you make forty Hoplites out of one box - there are only thirty two left arms in the whole box!  It's not like there are any musician or skirmisher parts you can use, so have I missed a really obvious solution to this or is there a missing sprue or two?  Confusing.  I've emailed Warlord Games, so I'll wait to see what they say.

Lastly, to finish on a positive note, what a great set of plastics though.  Great sculpting, excellent casting quality and lots of options make this a superb kit.

Pike & Shotte - Not from Amazon?

You may have already seen this on a few blogs out there, but, as it raised my hackles a bit, I thought I'd bring it up again here.  Amazon sent me an email on Monday saying they were not able to supply Pike & Shotte, the upcoming ruleset from Warlord Games.

Image from Amazon - isn't even the actual cover of the book

I preordered this a couple months ago, mainly because Amazon were charging £21 as opposed to the £30 Warlord are.  I remember reading a comment on Warlords own forum (by one of their staff) that Amazon were "cheeky buggers" for advertising something they didn't yet have the rights to sell.  Now I've no idea as to why Amazon aren't (yet) selling this, but the cynic in me thinks it's down to the price they're charging I.E. Warlord don't want the product lessened by big immediate discounts.

I don't mean to imply that the book won't be worth the £30 asking price, indeed I paid full price for the Hail Caesar rules last year, and I will get the book sooner rather than later.  It's just that, in this case, I'm not sure I want to fork out the extra £9 for the book based on the fact I thought I'd get it cheaper.

The correct cover from Warlord's website

Is this a case of a smaller company standing up to the tyranny of a multinational conglomorate or simply a company not wanting their new product cheapened?  Or is it simply that I'm conforming to an Aberdonian stereotype and being a bit tight with my cash (times are tough!)  Probably somewhere in the middle.  In fact, my grumpyness about this is probably exagerated by the fact that Warlord still haven't sent me my Persian miniatures "Unfortunately, due to various issues there has been a delay!"

So I'll probably order the rules direct from Warlord, get my rules and the free miniature - but I won't be entirely happy about it!

January, WIP

Just over halfway through the month, so how am I getting on with my resolutions.  Well, not bad to be honest.  Frustratingly, I've not been able to finish off any individual projects so far, but plenty of progress has been made.

In order of "almost completedness:" 

• Dystopian Wars Empire of the Blazing Sun Dreadnought and Destroyers (yes, before anyone asks, this is the same ship from October 29th last year)
• Vexillia 15mm Landsknecht Arquebusiers and Crossbowmen
• Battlefront 15mm German Pioneers
• Bolt Action 28mm SS

The biggest problem I'm having is deciding when a miniature is finished.  For instance, those Landsknechts are covered in little details (powder cases, drinking horns, sidearms) and I can't seem to say "That's enough detail, he looks fine, get on and base them!"  Add in the fact their uniforms are painted in a variety of colours, they are taking much longer than planned.

Away from the painting table, a pleasant surprise arrived in the post this morning - a Covenant of Antarctica fleet box set from Spartan Games!!! I won this prize from Tabletop Fix, so a big thanks to both them and Spartan Games.

We've had another Black Crusade session (our third,) this time with some new characters (Chaos Space Marines) and a heavy combat mission.  Still loving the rules, I'll try and get a write up of this session up in the next few days.  The first supplement is due for release shortly, hopefully once it's out, FFG will get on and product some player and GM books for this great game.

Lastly, for this update, my Infinity eBay purchases look like they've gone missing.  There shouldn't be any problem getting the cash back, but it's still a hassle.  Particularly considering I paid a lot less than the RRP, it'll cost more to get the same collection of figures.

Rationalizing. . . Or selling off some unwanted loot.

Part of this past weekend saw me spending some time rationalizing (terrible word!) my wargaming activities and priorities.  This meant making some decisions about what games to keep around and what to move on.  In the end, three things have been given the heave:

First to go was Malifaux.  I've played a couple dozen games of Malifaux, but can honestly say I haven't really enjoyed any of them.  The first few games, we were still learning the rules.  Then, I played a few games with my first starter set; moving on to trying a couple other crews.  In the end, I'm perfectly comfortable with the rules and have worked out several different tactics, but I'm still waiting for the fun to start!  I still think it's a very commendable game, with a great card mechanic and some wonderful background fiction and artwork, but I've decided it's just not for me.

Secondly, some WWII stuff has gone.  Some rules, Disposable Heroes & A Coffin for Seven Brothers and Rapid Fire, and some miniatures, 28mm Bolt Action Brits.   Why these choices? Well, I don't see any point in collecting the same army in two different scales (I have a 15mm Brit Infantry army for Flames of War,)  and I've never really liked some of the mechanics in either of the two rule sets.

Lastly, the last of my Warhammer stuff has been packed up and is ready to ship out.  Actually, I only have a couple of  army books and some unpainted Vampire Counts miniature left.  I've never been able to enjoy 8th Edition Warhammer.  When it was first released, I felt that GW had accentuated all of the things I disliked about WH Fantasy; random movement, random magic, super-hero characters, uber-monsters.  After a year or so, these trends seem to be firmly entrenched in GW's business plan, so it's time to say cheerio to Warhammer World (at least for the moment.)  So, for the first time in about 20 years, I'm not able to have a game of either WH or 40K with my own books and minis!  I'll still keep up with GW news and products and, of course, I'm loving Fantasy Flight's 40K RPG series of books, but for the moment it's time for a break.  Maybe with 6th Ed 40K next year I might change my mind. . .


So with a bit of space on the shelves, and some cash in the PayPal account, I kind of feel like starting something new.  No idea what yet, historical or sci-fi or fantasy?  Completely new game or existing rules?  6mm of 28mm? So many choices.  Any suggestions anyone?


I'm not a big fan of blogs advertising things for sale, so I'll just point you in the direction of my eBay page, just in case you may be interested in my castaways!

Warlord, Hordes and Spartan news

The biggest nerd news of the last couple weeks is Warlord Games announcement of a new set of WWII rules.

Not the biggest shock in the world, especially with Warlords vast Bolt Action range of miniatures.  Perhaps the most surprising thing about the release is their decision to join with another company to produce the rules.  After the success's of Black Powder and Hail Caesar, Warlord must have been tempted to try this alone.


However, the joint venture with Osprey really makes these rules a great prospect.  Now I'm assuming that as Osprey will be publishing, the books will follow their Field of Glory/Renaissance/Force on Force template of a hardback rulebook and smaller, softback supplements.  This format is something Osprey have become very proficient in; each release since the original FoG rulebook has improved on the previous one.


The books will presumably have access to the vast library of images and artwork from Osprey's back catalogue which can only be a good thing.  Lastly, in my opinion, Osprey have never been a company to take the piss with the amount and frequency of supplements they print.  So hopefully we won't see an endless stream of unnecessary supplement books simply to generate £$£ (I'm looking at you Flames of War!)


Meanwhile, Privateer Press are busy preparing us for the next Hordes book, Domination, with two new Epic Warlocks, Vayl and Hexeris:

Vayl, Consul of Everblight

Lord Arbiter Hexeris 

Massive improvements on the original, Primal sculpts.  Considering all the movement phase shenanigans she gets upto, Vayl always looked surprisingly static.  Here there's much more fluidity and dynamism to her.  Hexeris looks suitably malevolent, but I think he could have been given a little more variety compared to the original. 


Now what we really need to see are the Hordes Battle Engines (the Circle Celestial Fulcrum looks a bit meh to me.)


Spartan Games have posted up some images of their upcoming Capital Class flyers for Dystopian Wars:

Kingdom of Britannia Eagle Class War Rotor

Initially, I thought this looked a bit of a mess; the hull looked too bulky and the propellers seem pathetically tiny.  However, after looking at it for a little longer, the Eagle does grow on you.  It has a certain "plucky British gumption overpowers the laws of physics" feel to it; bloated, ungainly. . . armed to the teeth!

Empire of the Blazing Sun Tsukuyomi War Gyro

This guy looks the place though, kind of an amalgam of the Nakatsu Cruiser and the Inari Scout Gyro.  It also has plenty of character with all those gyros and turrets.  Certainly looking forward to seeing this in the flesh (resin.)


And also from Spartan are the first of their new sculpts for Uncharted Seas: 

Human Condor Flagship

Great looking new design there, very "Age of Sail" - I'd love to see how this would look with some rigging and webbing.  I've never been that interested in Uncharted Seas, but with all the resculpts being released, I might have a closer look.  Considering it's one of the cheapest games out there to get into, that shouldn't be too hard.


So there we go, some news from the last couple weeks and a few comments.  Love to know what everyone else thinks. . .