MOAR WW2 Italians!?

Just when I thought all the Italians were DONE... a few more arrived...  

Italian Bersaglieri Weapons Teams

Okay, truthfully, I KNEW they were coming... I'M THE ONE WHO ORDERED THEM!? So I didn't really think the Italians were all done - other than in the sense that all the ones that were in my house currently were done... 

Yeah, they're Bersaglieri... I bought them before I really thought things through and I just ordered them because they were at a significant discount from the regular suggested retail... 

Maybe I could carve the feathers off...? 

I was a little surprised to discover they were RESIN!? The pictures on the website were all painted and I didn't read the fine print... 

This fellow has one of those fancy, bendy, shoots-around-corners Italian trick rifles... 

Uggghhhh... 

 

It is nice that they come with their own activation dice... even if these don't really match either of the sets that I have... I guess as long as I'm not playing against someone who has this particular colour, I could add them in with the ones I have... if I needed them... I probably won't though, as I have a LOT of them! 

Still working on the Game Report from the most recent Warhammer Quest game.

Orion and I are planning to have a go at Bolt Action tomorrow afternoon, so there should be an After Action Report of that engagement sometime over the weekend! 

And now that I've taken stock of the Afrika Korps, I'll probably be powering through to finish up the last of the Armour I (currently) have for them! 

WW2 - Taking Stock of the Afrika Korps

 With the renewed interest in the Second World War, I've been taking stock of things and seeing what I have that I can finish up to make into a playable force, and what I might need to add to make forces I have playable (in Bolt Action - Third Edition), and so far I have been focusing on forces that fought in the desert war in North Africa (primarily because I recently bought a Desert Game Matt... and didn't bother to get one that would be useful for European fields or jungles of the Pacific...) 

Having mostly sorted out the Italians... I thought I'd shift focus to the Deutsches Afrikakorps - my small collection of Germans for the North African campaign. I am sticking with Axis forces (rather than working on an allies force to oppose my Italians) largely because my sole opponent has an American army, so working on forces that can face the Americans! 

This force, as with most of my other 28mm World War Two forces had their genesis in Pulp Adventure/Weird War gaming with Savage Worlds over fifteen years ago - before Bolt Action was even released! After the release of Bolt Action, I did try to add things to the forces to make them playable with those rules - which mostly focused around a solitary Infantry platoon - with lots of potential support options. 

I didn't really get around to doing this with the Afrika Korps before mostly abandoning 28mm World War Two when interests shifted and I coudln't find anyone that wanted to play World War Two games in 28mm (most locals that were interested were still playing Flames of War - or other games making use of 15mm minatures) 

This is what I have ready for the Duetsches Afrikakorps, a lot of which was painted recently! 

this is all the Nazis-in-the-Desert stuff that I have - including some more Pulp-y characters and such. 

This is the force I can currently use in Bolt Action... 

This is what that might look like in Bolt Action (maybe.. I don't have the rules yet, I am basing this on all the lists I do have access to, they all seem to be the same across armies for Regulars - except when special rules apply - like "tough fighter" or whatever): 

Rifle Platoon

Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 30pts (Regular)
Runner/Batman (2) @10pts (Regular) = +20

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
1 additional men at +10pts each = +10
Submachine gun for +4pts
light machine gun for +15pts 
= 79 points

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
1 additional men at +10pts each = +10
Submachine gun for +4pts
light machine gun for +15pts 
= 79 points

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
1 additional men at +10pts each = +10
Submachine gun for +4pts
light machine gun for +15pts 
= 79 points

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
1 additional men at +10pts each = +10
Submachine gun for +4pts
light machine gun for +15pts 
= 79 points

Forward Observer - (air force or artillery) 75pts (Regular)
Radio Operator +11pts per man (Regular) 

Heavy Weapons Platoon

Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) - 30pts (Regular)
Runner/Batman @10pts  (Regular)= +20 points

Machine Gun Team  - 50pts (Regular) 

Mortar Team -  30pts (Regular) 

TOTAL: 612

STILL TO DO

I still have a few things I could paint up to make a rather ad hoc "armoured platoon". these include:

Panzer IV - a later one (like F2..?) with the longer barrel. These, I think, were only available in the later stages of the war in North Africa... 

An Sdkfz 222 armoured car. 

Panzer I - they had quite a few of these in North Africa - expecially at the beginning of it all in 1941!

I have no idea how many points this might add... hopefully enough to get to 1000 points

Stuff to Get

There are a number of items I would still like to get for this force. 

Primarily some more appropriate armour and some anti-tank weapons! 

Armour could include a few more Panzer I, Panzer II and Panzer III - in earlier models that would be appropriate for North Africa (most of the Panzer III easily available - and least expensive - are the J and later versions - which would have only showed up at the very end of the campaign - or were only used in Europe in the later part of the war), 

A few anti-tank weapons would be handy - Pak 36 and Pak 38... maybe even an Anti-Tank Rifle team...? If I get these, though, I'd need an Artillery Platoon Commander!? 

I could get some more infantry to fill out the Infantry platoons (two packs of six from Perry Miniaures would be 12 and add three to each squad bringing them to NINE, which is plenty... that would also add 120 points, right there!) 

Ideally some transportation...? but not entirely necessary... most transport would have likely been dismounted from and left far enough behind that it would remain off the table, if on the advance - and even further behind if defending!   

Not something that this force could use on the tabletop... but I wouldn't mind getting a mess of 1/72 German aircraft and painting them in desert colours - to use as objectives/targets for raids by the LRDG/SAS

WHEN am I going to get any of these?! I have no idea... I need to finish painting the last few things I have (the two tanks and armoured car). Then we'll see... 

This feels a little like a repeat of the post from a week or so ago... I mostly did this because I was reexamining the force and actually trying to put points to them in anticipation of playing SOON!! Also, I was taking a BUNCH of new pictures for the new WW2 - Afrika Korps Gallery, which you can see here:

WW2 - Afrika Korps 

Also, I recently made a new Gallery for all the Italians:

WW2 - Italy

The plan is to keep those up-to-date as I finish things off... 

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Fourteen - Deliverance Journey

Whoops! As I was starting in on the game report for this week, I just realized I never finished up this game report from LAST WEEK!? We'd missed playing a game of Warhammer Quest: Cursed City the previous week because, after the two games of FiveCore the day before, I was a little gamed out... This week (last week) we were back at it!

All set up and ready to go!

Of the remaining Charaters, three are at Level Two (Brutogg, Cleona, and Glaurio), and three are at Level One (Octren, Holden, and Qulathis). So the Journey was to be at Level Two - for encounters - there was no escaping that! So they brought along the three at Level Two and Octren Glymscry, as he only had a silver experience token. Characters adventuring with characters of a higher level gain experience twice, which would instantly bring Glimscry to Level Two, if the Journey was a success. 

Because of the Extraction Event of the previous game, this Journey started after Nightfall, which meant all of the Hostiled encounter would all be EMPOWERED = meaning most move faster and/or deal more damage! 

The initial Encounter wasn't too scary... two groups of Deadwalker Zombies - with Gorslav the Gravekeeper nowhere in sight! 

Glaurio and Cleona killed the first batch, then Octren and Brutogg ppwered forward to clear away the second batch... 

Octren disappeared, momentarily to deal with a Crisis... we rolled SO MANY Crises as Round End Events... and Octren went on every single one of them! 

Glaurio moved up and finished off the final Zombie. 

Cleona shot past and searched a Mysterious Object! 

The next encounter... a VARGSKYR!!! 

Ven Alten was the first to charge in. He has a weapon enhancement that disallows hostiles from reducing damage, so he was able to deal it some serious blows!!

Octren Glymscry moved up and tried to help out a bit... 

It was Brutogg that finished it off... 

and then charged past to crush the Ulfenwatch Banner Bearer with one swift blow!

This was the first time encountering Banner Bearers... they show up whenever there is a Hostile Group of four or more Ulfenwatch... while a Banner Bearer is there, all Ulfenwatch re-roll failed attacks!! So that had to be dealt with QUICKLY... and it was! 

Cleona then moved up and exploded the rest of them... 

Octren shoved by and prepared to open the next door... 

the first group beyond the door was more Ulfenwatch... which were quickly taken care of.. 

and then Gorslav charged in with Zombies in tow.. Octren got a little mouthy with Gorslav, tauntin and teasing... so Gorslav tried to smash his head in.. 

OUCH!!! 

The next round, things looked bad when I dealt out the initiative cards... Gorslave and Zombies would be going first!

The heroes don't often attempt Gambits... but this seemed like a good time to try! 

So Glaurio, the most likely to succeed, who was in last place... Succeeded and swapped place with Gorslav on the initiative track (He's allowed to re-roll gambit attempts now, and DID have to re-roll!)

So going fist... 

Glaurio also used another ability that allows his to switch places on the board with an adjacent hero. Switching with Octren put him right next to Gorslav, to whom he laid a BEATING@

Gorslave and the Zombies were taken care of... but the Suffocating Gravetide was hot on their heels! 

Cleona rushed forward to open the way, finding mroe Zombies and Rats! 

Brutogg smashed apart the Zombies and the rest moved up and waited for the rats to move in! 

Everyone in this room ended up being bitten by a rat at least once and became diseased! Good thing Cleona was with them! 

This was a particularly frightening and potentially DEADLY encounter... the first room was big and had TWO Hostile groups, which included Watch Captain Halgrim with three Ulfenwatch and a second hostile group of four MORE Ulfenwatch (including a Banner Bearer). Halgrim boosts the damage of ALL Ulfenwatch on the board, and the Banner Bearer lets them all re-roll any failed attacks! YIKES!! 

So Brutogg's first order of business was to smash Watch Captain Halgrim! 

Next Glaurio moved in and took out the Banner Bearer 

And then Octren joined in... 

Brutog smashed down the Vyrkos Blood-Born with two swift blows the vampire was unable to dodge! 

Around the corner, two more Vyrkos Blood-Born were encountered and quickly despatched... 

Glaurio pushed past the detroyed vampires and blasted at the undead ogor of the Kosargi Nightguard.

Then Brutogg swept in to finish him off. 

Another Kosargi Nightguard was encountered, and quickly dealt with! 

At this point, they were moving and slaying SO FAST that they'd gotten a few chambers ahead of the Suffocating Gravetide! 

With the undead Ogor out of the way, Octren and Cleona moved in to clear away the swarms of bats. 

A moment was taken to explore a mysterious object! 

Moving on to the last few chambers, more Corpse Rats were encountered, along with Watch Captain Halgrim and a few of the Ulfenwatch! 

Glaurio shot Halgrim in the face. 

Everyone made it to the Extraction Zone! 

A failed Crisis during the game had raised the Fear Level... but then an end game event lowered it. Success at the Deliverance Journey lowered it further... but the Influence grew... 

With this game, Octren Glimscry made it to Level Two, but none of the others were able to gain experience. Being at Level Two, they cannot gain any more experience until the next two Decapitation Journeys have been completed. With four characters at Level Two, they now CAN go on the next Decapitation Journeys! 

Dagnai Holdenstock and Qulathis the Exile still need one experience to get them to Level Two. They may wait until after completing the Decapitatio Journeys before brining them along to gain said experience! 

I really, REALLY need to finish painting Torgilius the Chamberlain! He should be showing up in these Level Two adventures (I removed the card from the deck!). I guess I have a week - or two, if they try a Decapitation Journey next week! That should give me time to finish up the last of the Italians and THEN finish up Torgilius!!

WW2 Soviet Scouts

I realized, recently, that the ONLY Russian models I had that weren't painted were a handful of scouts I picked up from Bad Squiddo Games a few years back and I thought this an excellent opportunity to just finish off all the Russians! This partly came about because I'd been flipping through the Warsaw is Burning - the Poland 1939 campaign book for Five Men at Kursk... which prompted me to look through the Russian collection and realize I had only these left to paint! 

I also got it in my head that it would be interesting to play a little solo Five Men at Kursk campaign following a squad of Scouts that were mostly carrying out sneaky-beaky missions... 

New Minis from Bad Squido Games. 

I'd LOVE to get a pile more of the Soviet women they produce... but I already have SO MANY RUSSIANS!? 

While I was at it, I also carved the sights of these two and repainted them... they were in a brown camouflage and I did not like it... also, I have FAR TOO MANY Russians sniper and next to NO Scouts with Rifles. 

All the Scouts

It's weird that almost all the Russian Scouts I can find have sub-machineguns - I was looking through a book about the organization of the Russian Army in World War Two and it suggested that the scout platoons were only ever armed with rifles. Later in the war there was a Sub-Machinegun Company (I think at the Regimental Level)... but it looked like the scouts were, on paper at least, still just armed with rifles?!

Organizing these for Bolt Action...

Sniper Team

Forward Observer Team (although they really need some method of communicating their observations to the battery - or air wing... probably need a spool of wire and a field telephone...) 

Scout Squad

I could split the squad and add an officer and I'd have a basic  understrength platoon!

I guess I'll have to wait until my rulebook shows up and I can start figuring out how I'll organize all the Soviets... Stay tuned for that!! 

(Okay... If I'm being 100% honest... I also have a little metal Russian tank that isn't painted... I'm not sure where I got it from. I think it's from the old Battle Honors WW2 line (which doesn't seem to be produced anymore)? I don't really count it as I don't think I'm EVER going to assemble and paint it... Maybe I should give it away... Maybe I could melt it down...?)