Friday, February 14, 2025

French Force for Bolt Action - Redux

Almost ten year ago, I painted up a force of early war French, nominally for Bolt Action (first edition!?). You can find them here:

Early War French for Bolt Action

(and a few weeks later I added a Renault R-35):

French Renault R-35

I've pilfered the pictures from those posts to use in this one. Because the pictures in those posts are fine and I'm feeling lazy... 

This is kind of to illustrate the changes between the editions...  

The old bog-standard "Reinforced Platoon" is what EVERYONE built their Bolt Action armies around in the previous editions:

1 Lieutenant - First or Second
2 Infantry Squads

Plus: 

0-3 Infantry Squads
0-1 Captain or Major
0-1 Medic
0-1 Forward Observer (either Artillery or Air)
0-1 Machine-Gun Team
0-1 Mortar Team
0-1 Sniper Team
0-1 Anti-Tank Team
0-1 Field Artillery, Anti-Aircraft, or Anti-Tank Gun
0-1 Armoured Car
0-1 Tank or Tank Destroyer
0-1 Transport Vehicle or Tow (soft-skins or armoured) PER Infantry or Artillery unit in the Reinforced Platoon

Here's what this force looks like as a Reinforced Platoon for 1st/2nd Edition Bolt Action

1 First Lieutenant + 2 men (Veteran) - 116 points

1st Section - 1 NCO and 9 men (Regular), + LMG, + loader with pistol, + VB Launcher - 137 Points

2nd Section - 1 NCO and 9 men (Regular), + LMG, + loader with pistol, + VB Launcher - 137 Points

3rd Section - 1 NCO and 9 men (Regular), + LMG, + loader with pistol, + VB Launcher - 137 Points

Medic (Regular) - 23 points

Forward Observer Artillery + 1 man (veteran) 128 points

Machine-Gun Team  (veteran) - 65 points

Medium Mortar Team (Regular) - 50 points

Light Artillery (veteran) - 60 points

Renault R-35  (veteran) - 144 points 

Total: 997

Easy Peasy, right? 

I could tinker with which units are Veteran and Regular, but I've got a force here that CAN be fielded as a 1000 point Bolt Action Reinforced Platoon. 


BOLT ACTION - THIRD EDITION

I cannot field this force in Third Edition... 

I can still field the Platoon Commander and three Infantry Sections, and the Medic and the Forward Observer Team as part of my basic Rifle Platoon - of which everyone needs at least one! 

It's the rest of the stuff that's become a problem... 

If I want to field the Machine-Gun Team and Mortar Team, they need to be fielded as a Heavy Weapons Platoon - lead by a platoon commander (and potentially joined by up to two MORE Medium Mortar teams AND two MORE Machine-Gun Teams AND up to THREE Anti-Tank Teams!?)

If I want to field the 75mm Artillery piece, it has to be as part of an Artillery Battery, again, commanded by a Battery Commander... and potentially joined by up to THREE MORE Artillery pieces of any sort - light, medium, or heavy howitzers, or anti-aircraft, or anti-tank guns!? 

If I want to field that Renault R-35... I need at least ONE other tank (or tank destroyer, or assault gun, or self-propelled artillery or anti-aircraft vehicle or armoured car).. then either the Renault or the other vehicle has to be designated a Platoon Command Vehicle... and then can be joined by up to THREE MORE  tanks or tank destroyers, or assault guns, or self-propelled artillery or anti-aircraft vehicles or armoured cars!?

So, if I want to field ALL the things I currently have... I need to acquire at minimum two more officers (to command Heavy Weapons Platoon and Artillery Battery) and another tank or tank destroyer, or assault gun, or self-propelled artillery or anti-aircraft vehicle or armoured car.. to join the Armoured Platoon (Troop?).

It's not THAT big of a deal, I guess... I just need to pick up those things and then monkey around with which units stay as veteran and which have to be downgraded to Regulars to make it all fit into 1000 points? I'm still annoyed by it... 

I've seen it suggested that this is more "historical"... but my "armoured platoon" could include an AMC Schneider P16 Half-Track, an AMD Panhard 165/175, a Laffly W15 TCC, a Char 2C, and the good old Renault R-35.. I'm not sure that was a historical thing... My Artillery Battery could include a 47mm Mle 1937 anti-tank gun, a 25mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun, a 75mm model 1897 field gun, a 1913 Schneider 105mm howitzer, and 155mm Mle 1877 gun...? I mean, I get it... sometime scratch units were put together with whatever was available... but that seems silly to me...

I GUESS there IS some more flexibility in this... but I also feel like there will be far more opportunity for abuse and min-maxing... Not that I have ANY interest in leagues or tournaments, so... who cares...? 

AM I going to run out and try to buy a few more French officers and a tank just so I can field this army...? Well... probably not RIGHT AWAY... maybe I'll wait and see if I actually get playing the game... 

Not going to lie... the Char B1 bis Platoon does look tempting... 

I have a playable Italian force of 999 points that I've sorted out (though I need to PAINT 24 more infantry and four vehicles for that to be playable...!?). 

I haven't re-orged them yet, but I'm certain I could field a German, Russian, or Canadian force (and possibly a Canadian or British Parachute force?) without buying or painting a single thing... Wow, looking back through this blog those Canadians and Russians were painted FIFTEEN YEARS AGO!? 


Thursday, February 13, 2025

Second World War Italians

So it seems I am fully distracted by the second world war (and pulp adventuring) again. 

After finishing the Rat Patrol, I decided to paint up these Italians. It seemed a small enough force that I could reasonably get them done quickly and then I'd have some opponents for the Rat Patrol (and/or the SAS/LRDG, should I finish up THOSE jeeps and trucks!?). Maybe figure out a way to play some raid missions using the FiveCore rules...? Or maybe something else...? 

I have a few tanks to finish up for these as well... but I need to pick up a bottle of paint for that so they're just waiting... 

Oh, and in the meantime, I ordered MORE Italians... 

The Italians

One of the above was simply re-based, I'd painted it years ago as a sample and then wasn't sure if I liked the colour and got stuck on whether to proceed with those colours or try something else... and here I am, YEARS later, and I just decided, yeah, fuck it, lets go with those colours (it's the specific Vallejo colours suggested in the Flames of War Avanti Savoia book!) I've seen illustrations that have shown Italians in everything from bright yellow to something closer to a very light tan... I have no idea for sure, so I'm going with this. 

Stuff to still paint/rebase 

Stuff that literally just arrived today... it's... a long story... (mostly explained in the previous post!) 

I was starting to look at how this might be organized for Bolt Action (as I've resigned myself that they'll probably be used for that at some point). I have ALL THE BOOKS from first edition (well... MOST of them..) and a LOT of the books from second edition, so that was easy enough... but then I went searching for information about how stuff is organized for third edition, as I suspected it was quite different (considering they are producing all new army books for the new edition). 

I did find a very handy article on the Warlord Games Community website - Bolt Action: Third Edition – Army Composition! Additionally I was able to download the army lists for Italy and France (as they're presumably not in the main book?). I have to say, I'm not loving it... 

While piecing things together, I will probably be able to bullshit something together for the Italians here... Things will get more tricky for the French (unless I buy a bunch more officers)... 

This is what an Italian force in Bolt Action 3rd Edition could look like:

What this would all look like: 

(note in the picture above I have a Company Commander with a batman/runner and a Platoon Commander with a Batman/Runner, I realized that without the company commander I could have a force of EXACTLY 999 points, so I've deleted that option and added the runner to the Platoon command below) 

ITALIANS for Bolt Action (3rd Edition)

Rifle Platoon

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

Infantry Section - 1 NCO and 7 men +SMG +LMG - 99pts (Regular) 

Infantry Section - 1 NCO and 7 men +SMG +LMG - 99pts (Regular) 

Infantry Section - 1 NCO and 7 men +LMG - 95pts (Regular) 

Colonial Troops Infantry Section  1 NCO and 9 men +LMG  95pts (Inexperienced) 

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) 

Machine Gun Team  - 50pts (Regular) 

Mortar Team -  30pts (Regular) 


Armoured Platoon 

M13/40  - Platoon Command Vehicle - 125pts (Regular)

L3/33 -  65pts (Regular)

L3/33 - 65pts (Regular)

AB41 - 100pts (Regular)


Total: 999 pts


Well that worked out nicely... I have NO IDEA if these will even remotely be playable in the new Bolt Action... but I have a force potentially worth just shy of 1000 points. 

Thinking on it some more, I realized I definitely do not have ANY way of really dealing with any enemy armour... other than the M13/40... which will FOR SURE be the first target of any enemy... 

THIS is why I am terrible at competitive games... I build forces that are historical or interesting to me (or just whatever miniatures i could get my hands on cheap-like, at the time). This could be an historical force... and... historically Italians did not do well against any modern force that had armour or anti-tank guns... so... 


ALSO....

I have one squad of painted Bersaglieri... I COULD repaint them for service in North Africa... but I think I'll just keep them as they are and use them for Pulp Adventure games or Role-Playing Games or smaller scale skirmish games... 

An Odd Assortment

 An assortment of sundry items rolling off my paint desk this week... (or arriving in the mail!) 

This is some of the stuff I've been painting that I've finished up this week. 

(There is a bunch of other stuff... but I'll deal with that in another post!) 

This group can be broken down into roughly three groups... 

The first is nine British Soldiers from the Second World War. While I was snooping through drawers of WW2 stuff - looking for things I might use in a future FiveCore skirmish campaign, if found these in one of the Canadian drawers... and they were the only unpainted miniatures in the drawer and, honestly, I do NOT need MORE Canadians, so I thought I'd quickly knock them out as regular Tommies for use as extras in any smaller skirmish or role-playing game... 

When we started the Fourteen Men in the Solomons campaign, we generated the force using Five Men in Normandy - which includes tables for people your squad knows in the area... and one of those rolled for the squad was members of another military unit... and we'd wondered about maybe some Australians or New Zealanders with indigenous troops that might get along better with the African Americans of the 93rd Division troops... 

I had imagined that Australian and New Zealand forces might be like Canadian forces in the second world war and just incorporated them in the regular army units... instead they were more like the US - where they were allowed to serve it seems it was generally in separate units. There was a whole battalion of Maoris that served... but they apparently served in Europe!? 

I did read somewhere that many served in the Coast Watchers... so I imagined these two as Coast Watchers stationed on New Galloway. 

Also, while listening to an audiobook about the Marine Raiders they mentioned marines having to go on missions to rescue Coast Watchers that the Japanese had figured out the location of and were moving in to capture or kill! 

After my first game of FiveCore Pulp Adventure, I decided I might spend the little cach gained to hire two more followers. I'd initially rolled "Guards" but wasn't sure what a "guard" should look like... then I rolled a "Ex-Military" and "Hired Gun"... and then I figures all three of those could pretty much look the same!? so I went looking in the bins of THINGS TO PAINT and found a few spare military types that weren't needed for any units and painted them up... but painted some of the clothes a little different. The idea being they're civilians now, so can wear whatever they want, but maybe are comfortable and familiar with the equipment they used in the military - which is why they're wearing the webbing they'd have used and carrying the same rifles they'd used?

Not something that rolled off my workbench... but something that just landed on it!

Because I was planning to pick up the Aeldari Codex and have been thinking about playing more Age of Sigmar (using the Ravaged Coast campaign) and both of those suggest using a 60"x44" playing area, and was concerned about the potential upcoming trade war (as most of those available in North America are sourced from the United States) I got looking around for one of those and on place I'd been considering buying from had a BUNCH of deeply discounted Bolt Action miniatures (like, less than half the current suggested retail!?)... so, even though I ended up ordering the mats from a completely different seller... I bought a few packs of the discounted Bolt Action miniatures!? There were MORE that I was considering getting, but I had to draw the line somewhere!?

I got these Marine Raiders because A) I just finished listening to an audiobook about the Marines Raiders (which I'd gotten months ago and only picked up because there was a two for one sale and there was one book in the sale that I was going to buy anyway... and they only other book that looked remotely interesting was the Marine Raider book... I wasn't sure if I'd ever get around to listening to it, but it was free so...), B) We started playing a game set in the Pacific Theatre of Operations and maybe some marine raiders could show up as allied supporting troops... or C) I have a small force of Marine Raiders already, and I thought I could add these to the force and start my own SOLO campaign that could be also be fighting elsewhere on our fictional island of New Galloway, and occasionally bump into/team up with the troops in the other campaign...?

I also bought some Italians... but I'll deal with them in the next post which is ALL ITALIANS!? 

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank (and the Imperial Japanese Army, so far...)

I think the Japanese force I have is the ONLY World War Two force that I didn't have any armour for... and... Honestly, I probably didn't NEED any... The Japanese did not have PILES of armour - I think there were a total of four armoured divisions and a handful of independent brigades, but MOST of those were employed in mainland China...? For my purposes I didn't feel I needed any since my initial plan was just to use them in jungle battles in Burma against my Chindits... 

Since starting up again with World War Two gaming again and making use of the Japanese against my friend Orions American forces, I got it in my head I should pick up a tank to support them from time to time... (since Orions force of Americans has an M10 tank destroyer!?). So I picked up a Type 97 Chi-Ha tank from Warlord Games (for the M10 to blow up!)

Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank

This is only the second 28mm plastic tank kit I've built. I've built other plastic tank kits in 1/35 or 1/72... but for the most part, all of my other WW2 vehicles have been mostly resin and metal kits. This had a LOT of little fiddley bits that really wanted to stick to my fingers and not the model! 

In the end I persevered and got it all together...  

The Japanese force, so far... 

well... the stuff that can be worked into a Bolt Action army... or at least a first and second edition Bolt Action army... I have no idea what has changed with the new edition, but there are totally new army books coming out for all factions, so I'm guessing SOMETHING had changed in terms of army building?!

(and then I realized there are two men what should be with the Platoon Commander that are missing from the photo!? GAH!?)  

I also have these odd extras... Three more light mortars (one with a loader), 2 light machine-gun teams, FIVE officers (Seriously, how did I end up with SO MANY?!), and one spare anti-tank suicide bomber? (or maybe he's just an engineer bringing up some mines... Honestly, I'd like to replace the mines with some carrying case for light mortar bombs, so he - and the other one - could be no.2 for a pair of the light Mortars!?) 

I also have a few still to paint. Though, the only Japanese models I still have to paint for this collection are a group of a dozen cyclists and two snipers! 

I'm not sure I NEED anything else for this... I guess I could add an anti-tank gun of some sort... or maybe an infantry gun... Possibly an anti-tank rifle team (to replace the suicide bomber)? Additional/different options for tanks and other support vehicles....?  

I know there's a NEW EDITION of Bolt Action out, and with it the army lists and point values have likely all changed... but for the previous editions (the ones that I HAVE) this could be... 1075 to 1460 points in first or second edition (depending on troop quality), which is LOTS! I think the basic army was built around 1000 points. 

(Once I finish up the bicycle squad and snipers that would make the force between 1195 and 1626 point - if all was fielded (the lower number being regulars and inexperienced, the higher number if they were all veterans!) 

Sunday, February 9, 2025

FiveCore Pulp Adventure - In the Sands of Arabia

February 1934

Travelling with her trusty gang of adventurers and compatriots, Professor Winthrop led an expedition to Arabia to determine what has happened to her colleague's expedition. Professor Betmead's archeological expedition almost a year ago to explore a lost city rumoured to be recently uncovered by the shifting desert. No one has heard from them since they put ashore at Tyre and signalled to say they'd arrived and plans were moving ahead. 

They set off in Erin Updike's trusty Fokker F.VII, making rest stops at Tours, Milan, Bari, Heraklion and Tyre to refuel and resupply. At Tyre they took on extra cans fuel and supplies and checked with local contacts to determine more precisely where Betmead's expedition was headed, before heading southeast towards Arabia! 

Along the way, they'd picked up an ally, who thought he might be helpful in finding lost souls in the deep desert of Arabia...

None other than Colonel T.E. Lawrence! 

Following rail lines then bedouin trails and then a compass heading... they eventually ended up at what they thought might have been Betmead's site. Setting down on some more stable sand, they group continued on foot. Arriving at the ruins there was no immediate and obvious sign of Betmead's expedtion, but as they continued to move in to explore more thoroughally, they realized they were not alone!

A shot rang out! Colonel Lawrence tried to get the attention of the locals, thinking he could "clear things up", but they did not seem interested in parlay and fired a few more shots at him! 

The Adventurers approach the ruins of the Lost City and a shot rings out! 

The boss thug and his lieutenant watch from a rise off to the west. 

a mix of Thugs and Bandits approach from the south. 

Our heroes ducking for cover hehind a sand dune at the North end of the ruins. 

Starting off, Joslin Humphries took an aimed shot at one of these two Thugs on the outcropping... 

POW! Wow... what an opening shot... 

And just like that, one was Dead and his fellow next to him Shaken! 

The rest (that I could activate) moved up and blazed away with with pistols and shotguns - well out of range, but even so, they can roll a shock die... and one of them caused the Thug to Flinch and climb down off that outcropping and cower behind it... 

So my first activation for the Hostiles was to rally the Shaken Thug, and...

He remained shaken and retreated another 6"... and that took him off the table... 

The rest of the activations were used to move some of the Cretins up... 

On the Heroes next move, Neville Stirling rushed forward to cover and blasted at the Cretins with his shotgun. One was shaken. 

Then Lawrence charged up and shot at another one, who flinched and ran a short distance away. 

Professor Winthrop moved up as well. 

I tried to rally the Shaken Cretin... and it routed... and when a Cretin leaves the table for any reason, you roll a d6 for the closest Cretin, on a 5+ they leave as well... 

I didn't roll a six for THAT one... I rolled a five, and another one left the table. 

The rest of the activations involved the remaining Cretins  shooting at Colonel Lawrence, and missing... 

Rushing up Lawrence blazed away with his Webley... missing... 

Neville blasted with his shotgun.. 

BLAM! One Cretin died... rolled a die to see if the other fled, and on a six it did... 

Which left only the Boss Thug and his lieutenant. 

Lawrence charging the Cretins brought him in range and view of the Boss, who took a shot and Lawrence went Down! 

The other thug started down off the rocky outcropping... just as Joslin made her way to the corner of the ruins. 

BLAM!! 

Another well placed shot from Humphries downed the Thug and obliged the Boss to flee a few inches off the Rocky outcropping to cover.... 

Ramona went to check on Lawrence... 

Turns out he was just fine, bullet caught him in the flask he keeps in his shirt pocket! 

The Boss Thug rounded the outcropping and took a shot at Professor Winthrop.

.. and she Flinched and ran away a bit. 

Neville shot back with his shotgun.. 

... and Shook the Boss! 

With the Boss cowering, Lawrence decided to rush him! 

Unfortunately he recovered very quickly on his turn and shot at the mad dog Englishman, causing Lawrence to be shaken... 

The following turn, everyone advancing... 

Lawrence took a shot at the Boss Thug... and missed... 

Whoopsie! Got a bit cocky... 

The boss charged Lawrence with his sword and cut him down! 

Professor Winthrop charged forward pistol blazing... and missed.... 

Neville rushed up and blasted at the Thug with his shotgun and took him out! 

Archibald Allcock charged the Downed Thug and gave him a rather stiff prod with his umbrella and took him out of action! 

Erin Updike was still taking cover at the north end of the ruins. 

She's an amazing pilot... not so much of a fighter! 


This was a solo game of FiveCore Pulp Adventure!

Earlier this week I had rolled up the adventuring party: 

Party of Five

  • Hero
  • 2 Adventurers
  • 1 Hanger-on
  • 1 Follower

Details can be found on the Campaign Page here:

FiveCore Pulp Adventure Campaign

There I rolled up this First Encounter...

Looking for: Lost Expedition in the Middle East 

Research and Preparation - Ally - An Ally with a pair of pistols joins for one encounter - Colonel T.E. Lawrence! 

THE ENEMY - Bandits and looters   (8) 1 Boss, 3 thugs, 4 Cretins 

Boss has: +1 Brawling

The Setup - Searching the area of the location of the Lost Expedition - Set up on opposing, random table edges, at least 20” apart. Determine randomly who sets up first.

It's strange that there isn't more guidelines for success in the scenario... I guess it's just last one standing wins...? 

In the post game sequence, between Loot and Scraps, the party gained Two Fistfulls of Dollars (2F$) (coinage and weapons taken from the thugs, I guess...?). I'll probably use that to just hire two new followers at some point... 

The Campaign even was "Not Feeling It" a random Follower leaves the group! Joslin Humphries is the ONLY follower... perhaps she felt like she signed on to be a mechanic, not a murderer (feeling somewhat bad about blowing one thugs head off and seriously injuring another - that was finished off by Allcock)

Luckily, Archibald Allcock has the Motivator Skill! If a character would leave the party, he can attempt to roll a 5-6 on 1D6 to deter them.

After a stirring speach and rolling ANOTHER SIX Humphries was convinced to stay on!! 

(and here I thought that was a stupid skill when I rolled it up! I didn't really GET what it was supposed to do!) 

Checking on Lawrence, it turned out he was injured and will not be available the next game (should an ally be rolled for bonus stuff!) 

There were NO LEADS gained... searching the ruins and the bodies of the Thugs and Bandits, there were no clues as to what might have happened to the Expedition... 

So... I wasn't entirely sure where to take this narrative... Thinking on it a bit, there were Thugs and Cretins that escaped, so perhaps they tracked them back to their camp, hoping to take prisoners and interrogate them as to why they attacked and/or where their friends had gotten to! 

I picked up Sandbox - Infantry Patrols in Occupied Territory - which, as the titles suggests, are advanced rules for FiveCore Skirmish rules for modern day campaign of patrolling in an occupied area... and that gave me ideas... Stay tuned for the next episode to see what I've dreamed up... 


Later this week, I will be playing another game in our Fourteen Men in the Solomons Campaign, running the in-person Soulbound game, and playing through another Journey in Warhammer Quest: Cursed City!