Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Bolt Action: Operation Torch Part 2

15 November 1942

Pushing out further into the desert our heroes in the 92nd infantry were tasked with securing two high points and an oasis nestled between them! A platoon and two tanks were despatched to clear off any Vichy that might be trying to hold on to them. 

My copy of Bolt Action arrived today. Usually on Tuesday we play Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound. But Nick was busy working on a costume for a show this friday, so we cancelled... but then Orion came over to play some more Bolt Action! 

I still haven't had a chance to fully read through the rules. I'm mostly going on memory of how the first edition worked and the quick reference sheet. I looked up a few things to clarify stuff I hadn't bee sure about, but I really need to give it a thorough read-through... 

We played Points Defence (a "story scenario") where a small force of Vichy French were holding three objectives and the Americans had to wrest at least two of them away from the French. 

We both used similar forces to last time. Orion dropped the M10 and added a Mortar team and made a few of the units veteran. I ditched the tank and a squad of regulars and all the VB launchers and added an understrength platoon of French Foreign Legionnaires. 

The French position from the South East. Point 435 in the foreground had a Machine-Gun Team sitting on the ridge with a Squad of Moroccan Tirailleurs on the reverse slope. The Tirailleur Platoon Headquarters was stationed in a ruined tower (along with the platoon medic). The Second Squad of Tirailleurs was stationed in the Oasis. 

 

From the Southwest corner. A Forward Observer Team sits atop Point 437. Behind the rise are Mortars and a close-supporting 75mm Howitzer (and some accompanying staff)  

The second squad of Moroccan Tirailleurs waiting in the Oasis. 

The French Foreign Legion Platoon was waiting in reserve. 

After a brief preperatory barrage, the Americans started to close with the Oasis and Point 435 - the tanks hammering the latter with shell and machine-gun fire, destroying the MG before it even got off a shot. 

Mortar, Sniper Team, Forward Air Controllers and a Bazooka Team moving into positions in the foreground, above. 

The first Moroccan Tirailleur squad, behind Point 435 was ordered to reposition into the Oasis, to support the solitary squad holding it, which seemed the more likely main destination of the attacking Americans. 

Tanks moving up supported by infantry squads. 

POW! firing upon Point 435 and destroying the MG team positioned there! 

At the beginning of the second turn, the artillery barrage my Forward Observers had called in on the first turn arrived. It went wide... but saturated a rather large area and still hit the original target - and a few others as well!! 

I'm going to be sad when I play something that ISN'T French and doesn't get these two barrages per game... 

Initially I was just trying to hit the Mortar Team, but the barrage ended up catching the Bazooka and the Snipers AND the Forward Air Controllers!! It didn't kill anyone - or even seriously injure anyone - but it sure did make a few people keep their heads down! 

Orions Forward Air Controller had called in an air strike... unfortunately a rookie pilot thought the attacking American Stuart tank as a "Kraut tank" and attacked that instead of the French holding the oasis! The Tank survived the attack - but was damaged and the crew extremely rattled! 

The next round another French artillery barrage landed among some of the attacking infantry and the Sherman tank. Again, there were no serious injuries, but it did momentarily blunt the attack and pin many of the Americans down. 

Eventually the part of the platoon of French Foreign Legionairres arrived to hold behing Point 435. 

The Stuart and supporting squad of US infantry regained the advance on the Oasis, but the infantry began taking fire from the Moroccans within, taking serious casualties! 

The Bazooka team maneuvered to a spot where it could fire on the French 75! Their first shot killed of the guns crew! 

The American attack stalled as more artillery and mortar fire was brought to bear! 

The Tanks started filling the treed area around the oasis with fire, causing some casualties among the Moroccans! 

Another air attack... another rookie pilot... completely missed the forward observers on Point 437 and instead attacked the Artillery Battery Commander - killing him - but leaving the guns and crews and forward observers untouched! 

The Platoon command team maneuvered around to a position where they could close assault the American Bazooka Team! After a brief and violent melee, the two Americans were killed and the Platoon Sergeant and Runner were seriously injured - but the American threat had been neutralized! 

(and we learned how close combat worked!) 

Not to be outdone, the single surviving member of the infantry squad that had been following the Stuart, charged the French in the Oasis! Grossly outnumbered, he was almost instantly killed... but not before injuring two Moroccans in the spray of bullets from his Thompson Submachine-gun! 

The Stuart also decided to assault the Oasis and cleared away the rest of the Moroccan Squad. 

At that point, however, we called it... there was NO WAY the Americans were going to get enough infantry onto the objectives before the end of the game! 

I guess that's why you give squads anti-tank grenades - especially when you don't really have ANY other anti-tank weapons!

I'm still hopeful and think the game has definite possibilities... there are a few things that I'm not so sure about... but hopefully a full read-through of the rules may clear things up. 

I don't know about scenarios where you attack troops holding a position with a roughly equivalent force!? That seems odd to me... 

We agreed to try and play the same scenario on Friday but in reverse roles - a Vichy counter-attack trying to shift Americans off of a position that they're holding! 


WW2 - Italian Weapons Teams

Today I finished up the Italian Weapons Teams that arrived last week. The miniatures were Bersaglieri, but I tried carving off the feathers on the side of their helmets. Some came off okay. Some ended up with damaged helmets. On one I shattered half the rifle slung across the back, and ended up having to carve the rest of it off as well. Despite these setbacks, I think they turned out pretty okay.... 

After the lack of success I had with the French VB launchers in our first game, I'm not sure how useful!?

Italian Weapons Teams - Anti-Tank Rifle, Light Mortar (Brixia) and Marksman. 

Italian Army Solothurn Anti-Tank Rifle 

Italian Army Brixia Model 35 Light Mortar

Italian Army Marksman Team

Italian Army Rifle Platoon

Italian Army Rifle Platoon plus supporting elements of the Heavy Weapons Platoon

ALL THE ITALIANS!? 

Also, this arrived today! With the actual lists, I expect I'll do a bunch more stock-taking this week... (and a game report later in the week!). 

Monday, March 3, 2025

WW2 - US Marine Corps Raiders

A few more soldiers of the Second World War rolling off the workbench this week! 

An assortment of USMC Raiders from Warlord games. 

These are joining a few raiders I already had (from Brigade Games, I think..?) 

These new ones took WAY TOO LONG to paint!? I painted and repainted them ALL a few times as I just wasn't happy with the frog skin camouflage... It STILL doesn't QUITE match the previously painted ones (which were probably painted between 10-15 years ago!? with paints I made no notes about and likely no longer have!?) 

I made notes this time!!

Just in case I buy more of them... 

Which would be silly... 

I have enough, now that I could organize these into an understrength platoon with a command team of three and three squads of eight... there are a CrAzY number of Thompson submachine-guns and B.A.R.s... I was wondering if I'd need to find some actual RIFLEmen to make something remotely historical... but according to the first edition rules for Marines - which doesn't have a listing for Marine Raiders, specifically - an early war squad can have 5-8 men and up to THREE submachine-guns and TWO BAR!? 

In mid-late war the squads can have up to 12 men and THREE men can have BARs and three men can have SHOTGUNS?!

When my book arrives I'll figure out how many points this is for Bolt Action. 

I have a handful of regular USMC (like, one infantry infantry squad and a four medics and four casualties) and I might just repaint their uniforms in the Frog Skin camouflage to look a little more the rest of these. There's no point in having ONE  squad of regular infantry, is there...? (Unless I was going to use them for Embassy guard duty in some pulp adventure game..?) 

Sunday, March 2, 2025

WW2 - Taking Stock of the Fallschirmjägers

This weekend I also took stock of the small force of Fallschirmjägers that I have - to see how close they might be to fielding a playable force for Bolt Action (Third Edition)... Or, at least, a force that is 1000-1250 points in Bolt Action (Third Edition) - as I really have no idea what makes a "good" or "playable" force in the game... 

Of all the World War Two figures I have, this is one collection that has barely any of them painted!? MOST of the World War Two forces, with the exception of the Italians and DAK and my Desert Raider (SAS/LRDG) trucks, most, if not all are painted! 

These I only ever painted a handful testing out schemes for camouflage jump smocks... and I could never decide if I wanted to paint them for early war - Blitzkrieg or Operations Sea Lion - or for use in Crete or North Africa or Italy... or for the Eastern Front...? 

When I started considering finally getting them painted a few weeks ago, a part of me thought I should paint them for use in the Mediterranean.. but then returned to the idea of Operation Sea Lion (thanks in no small part to the fun little games Alan has been playing over at The Duchy of Tradgardland). Ultimately I've decided to go with a Mediterranean them for them - as much of the other stuff I'm working on is for the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy - and I'll just have to enjoy Fallshirmjägers landing on Jolly Old England vicariously through Alan's blog. 

As with the Japanese I took stock of earlier this weekend, Fallschirmjägers seem to have a preponderance of light machine-guns... and my initial plan was to try and incorporate ALL of them into a force of two platoons!? 

This would look like:

1st Fallshirmjäger Platoon

Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89

Forward Observer (air force or artillery) 90pts (Veteran), +2 men @14pts  = 118

Medic 30pts (Veteran)

Light Mortar Team 39pts (Veteran)


2nd  Fallshirmjäger Platoon

Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 89


Heavy Weapons Platoon

Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) 39pts (Veteran) - don’t actually HAVE a model for this… unless I grab one of those spares in the background!? 

Machine Gun Team  - 65pts (Veteran) 

Mortar Team -  45pts (Regular) 

Total: 974pts

Soooo... pretty close to 1000 - which is a good place to start!  

To this I could add… 

+1 man in each squad (6) @ 14pts each = +84pts 

+1 man to Heavy Weapons Platoon command = +13pts

Artillery Platoon

Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts

2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41 - 65 (Veteran) 

7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 - 59pts (Veteran) 

That would bring the total to 1247 points! 

Or maybe add a company commander (instead of the extra men in the squads)...? 

Or make the second platoon into pioneers? but maybe with just two squads? 

I don't know... I guess there are a lot of ways to play around with this. The important thing is, I HAVE enough stuff that I can kind of pull off a 1000 point force if I got all this painted up. If I add an artillery platoon with two guns and a platoon commander and a handful of extra guys (which could be accomplished by ordering four pack sof minis from Perry Miniatures)... I can make it 1250...

Because I have NO IDEA if a larger number of understrength squads is better or worse than a smaller number of larger squads (and can kind of see advantages and drawbacks to both!) I wondered if I dropped two of the LMG teams and organized them all into a single platoon of slightly larger squads what that would look like: 

(not going to lie, I'm not fond of prone LMG teams, which is also a reason I'm considering a single platoon of four squads - so I can ditch that MG team!) 


Fallshirmjäger Platoon

Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 2 men @13pts each (Veteran) = 65pts

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103

Fallshirmjäger Squad - 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 70pts (Veteran), +1 Man @ 14pts , light machine gun for +15pts, SMG for + 4 pts = 103

Forward Observer (air force or artillery) 90pts (Veteran), +2 men @14pts  = 118

Medic 30pts (Veteran)

Light Mortar Team 39pts (Veteran)


Heavy Weapons Platoon

Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts (Veteran) = 52pts

Machine Gun Team  - 65pts (Veteran) 

Mortar Team -  45pts (Regular) 


TOTAL: 826pts


Again, to this I could add… 


Artillery Platoon

Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 39pts (Veteran) + 1 men @13pts per man (Veteran) = 52pts

2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41 - 65 (Veteran) 

7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 - 59pts (Veteran) 

Which would bring the total to 1002 points! Dammit! Where do I lose 2 points?!  One of the platoon commands loses one of their extra men, I guess…which would make it 989

What could I add to make it 1250, though…? 

I have a few ideas... but for now this is all fine and I just need to work on painting these up and then acquiring the Schwere Panzerbüchse 41 and Leichtgeschütz 40 and additional platoon commanders... then I'll worry about what other options could be considered... 

The three groups of three soldiers lurking in the background of the above pics that aren't really accounted for in the lists

Three random dudes that look like Pioneers...? One thing I might consider is making a two platoon force, but having the second platoon have only two squads of pioneers...? They would mostly be regular Fallschirmjägers with these three mixed into them - I can't seem to find any other Fallschirmjäger pioneers... and I have no idea where these even came from!? I thought they might be Bolt Action minatures from Warlord Games. But if Warlord made them in the past, they do not seem to any longer! 

When I get to later parts of the war, I can add in these guys with FG42s... 

Three guys with captures weapons... There were five in the pack the other two were a guy with a soviet submachinegun (which i left on another table and forgot to include in the pick) and a guy with a rifle (possibly a soviet one? it was close enough so he's hiding in one of the regular squads.... I might use the guy with the thompson... I don't care for the prone one with the sten (because he's on an odd-sized base) and the one with the M1 Carbine looks like that rifle barrel is going to break off... which I HATE... 

Speaking of broken barrels... this is why I may end up using the Thompson! (and an additional reason to go with the single platoon)... GAH!? 

There will probably be more of this in the next few weeks as I figure out what I might need - if anything - for each collection... 

WW2 - Taking Stock of the Japanese!

Stepping away from the North African desert, for a moment, I thought I'd try and sort out what I have for Japanese and whether it would be useable in Bolt Action (Third Edition).

I have been using the Japanese, lately, in our Fourteen Men in the Solomons campaign. I recently added a Chi-Ha tank to the force, thinking it could be a considerable challenge for the men of First Platoon, Company J, 25th Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division to deal with! 

I have... some options... 

I somehow have a LOT of Light Machine-Gun Teams and Light Mortars and Officers!? I first wondered if there was a way I could incorporate ALL of those!? 

My initial thought was an understrength COMPANY of two wildly understrength platoons!? 

This would look like: 

Company Commander - 60 pts (Regular)
Runner/Batman (2) @10pts (Regular)= +20 pts

Medic 23pts (Regular)


1st Rifle Platoon

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

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
light machine gun for +15pts
= 65

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
light machine gun for +15pts
= 65

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
light machine gun for +15pts
= 65

Grenadier Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
2 additional men at +10pts each = +20
3x Light Mortars @20 = +60
=130

Forward Observer - (artillery) 75pts (Regular)
Radio Operator +11pts per man (Regular) +22 

Suicide Anti-Tank 20 pts (Regular) 


2nd Rifle Platoon

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

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
light machine gun for +15pts
= 65

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
light machine gun for +15pts
= 65

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
5 additional men at +10pts each = +50
submachine gun for +4pts
light machine gun for +15pts
=119

Grenadier Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
2 additional men at +10pts each = +20
3x Light Mortars @20 = +60
=130

Forward Observer - (air force) 75pts (Regular)
Radio Operator +11pts per man (Regular) +22 

Suicide Anti-Tank 20 pts (Regular) 


Heavy Weapons Platoon

Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) - 30pts (Regular)

Machine Gun Team  - 50pts (Regular) 

Mortar Team -  45pts (Regular) 


Armoured Platoon 

Chi-Ha Medium Tank (+Command vehicle) 145pts  (Regular)

Chi-Ha Medium Tank 135pts  (Regular)

Total:  1546pts!? 

Wow... that DOES add up to quite a bit! The Company Command and two Rifle Platoons on their own add up to over 1000 points. 

I do have a second mortar I could add to the heavy weapons platoon. With that addition and no tanks, I'd have 1203... but that leaves the force without much in the way of anti-armour capabilities - save for the suicide bombers... and.. I HAVE a tank, I'd like to USE it!? 

I'm not 100% sure I can even TAKE two forward observers...? From the pages on Warlord Communitys website explaining Force Composition, it looks like in a Rifle Platoon you can take 0-1 Forward Observers - I didn't see any mention of there being only one allowed per force.. but Orion seemed to think it was only one per force...?  

The next idea i had was... What if I didn't use ALL of those LMGs and Mortars and Officers and tried to just fill out something closer to a full-size rifle platoon, with what I have. 

This would look like: 

Company Commander - 60 pts (Regular)
Runner/Batman (2) @10pts (Regular)= +20 pts


Rifle Platoon

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

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
5 additional men at +10pts each = +50
light machine gun for +15pts
= 115

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
5 additional men at +10pts each = +50
light machine gun for +15pts
=115

Infantry Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
5 additional men at +10pts each = +50
submachine gun for +4pts
light machine gun for +15pts
=119

Grenadier Section 1 NCO and 4 men with Rifles 50pts (Regular)
5 additional men at +10pts each = +50
3x Light Mortars @20 = +60
=160

Forward Observer - (air force or artillery) 75pts (Regular)
Radio Operator +11pts per man (Regular) =22

Light Mortar Team 30pts (Regular)

Suicide Anti-Tank 20 pts (Regular) 

Medic 23pts (Regular)


Heavy Weapons Platoon

Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) - 30pts (Regular)

Machine Gun Team  - 50pts (Regular) 

Medium Mortar Team -  45pts (Regular) 

Medium Mortar Team -  45pts (Regular) 


Armoured Platoon 

Chi-Ha Medium Tank (+Command vehicle) 145pts  (Regular)

Chi-Ha Medium Tank 135pts  (Regular)

Total:  1259pts

Without the Armour, that comes to 979 points... 

That does leave a bunch of left-over machine-run teams and light mortars and a few officers and observers... But maybe that's okay... this second option has a force that's just shy of 1000 points and one that's just over 1250. The former maybe I could add a helper or two for the medic (change one of the suicide AT guys into a guy carrying satchels full of medical supplies?!) - which would bring it to 999. For the latter... drop a second guy from the Heavy Weapon Platoon Commander and that would bring it to 1249! 

I'm not 100% sure having FOUR light mortars and two medium mortars is the greatest idea... but it's what I have... The mortar I used in our first game wasn't particularly useful... 

Now all I need is that second Chi-Ha Medium Tank I have in the list!!

(I've also been taking stock of the German Fallschirmjägers... I'll probably be posting my plans for them as well soon!) 

Friday, February 28, 2025

February Games

I played some games in  February... Here's what I played! 

Saturday, 1 February 2025

Kicking off the month, we FINALLY got back to playing out online Soulbound game... The entire session was the players fighting a Putrid Blightking!! YIKES they are TOUGH! I've basically been using Warhammer Quest: Shadows over Hammerhal... and the room they were in had just one, but after a round or two the north wall was supposed to just crumble revealing TWO MORE!? I decided NOT to do that, as that would have likely ended them! 

This ended up being the ONLY session we managed to play this month (for the Online Campaign). We did meet up one other Saturday, but I'd been having a rough week and we just ended up chatting for a couple hours... Maybe next month. 


Sunday, 2 February 2025

Sunday afternoon Orion returned for a second game in our Fourteen Men in the Solomons campaign (using Five Men at Kursk!). This week the men of First Platoon, Company J, 25th Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division went on a patrol and encountered a sniper!

The full after action report can be read here:

Fourteen Men in the Solomons - Patrol - 23 June 1943


Tuesday, 4 February 2025

This week's Soulbound adventure saw the characters starting the Faltering Light adventure in earnest. They were introduced to the main players, the broken Realm Gate and began to explore the city of Brightspear! 


Wednesday, 5 February 2025

The following evening we were back to playing Warhammer Quest: Cursed City! Initially , Amanda and Finnegan had discussed taking along their newly levelled up 2nd Level heroes... as they would cause others to gain experience faster... but in the end decided to just go with the four remaining Level One characters. Along the way, I noted what the difference in the encounters would have been... and they were glad to have only brought the first level characters. 

you can read all about the adventure here:

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Thirteen - Deliverance Journey


Sunday, 9 February 2025

Initially I'd planned to play Fourteen Men in the Solomons with Orion, but Orion had a last minute changed of plans, so I finally tried out FiveCore Pulp Adventure on my own! It was a lot of fun! You can read about the Adventure here:

FiveCore Pulp Adventure - In the Sands of Arabia


Tuesday, 11 February 2025

In the afternoon Orion stopped by to play through the next scenario in our Five Men at Kursk campaign (Fourteen Men in the Solomons) 

You can read the full After Action Report here: 

Fourteen Men in the Solomons - Skirmish at Smith Ridge

Initially, Orion was to return with Nick in the evening to play Soulbound... but I just wasn't feeling it and had FiveCore games on the brain and offered to run a game of FiveCore Pulp Adventure... and initially Orion was interested... but then Nick was feeling sick, so they decided to stay home... 

Somehow I DID convince Amanda and Finnegan to give it a try and I ran a little one-off game for them (maybe...? or maybe it will turn into an occasional campaign!?) 

you can read the full game report here: 

FiveCore Pulp Adventure - Cult of Cthulhu 


Wednesday, 19 February 2025 

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 we also missed our Soulbound game because Orion was out of town. 

This week we were back at it!

You can see the whole game report here:

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Fourteen - Deliverance Journey


Tuesday, 25 February 2025

After a few weeks off, we were back to playing Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound on Tuesday! This week the party located the guide and began their explorations of the undercity in Brightspear! 

And I forgot to take a picture during the game... AGAIN... I'd even had a sticky note on my GM screen... 


Wednesday, 26 February 2025

This week we finally played the first of the decapitation journeys to take out one of the named characters in Warhammer Quest: Cursed City! 

You can read all about the adventure here:

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Session Fifteen - Shuffling Horrors


Friday, 28 February 2025 

Finally, Friday afternoon, Orion and I tried out our first game of Bolt Action (Third Edition)!? I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about playing Bolt Action... My general feeling from having played it... a decade ago...? was that it wasn't awesome and I didn't have a lot of fun. Maybe I was just souring on World War Two in general - from having played too much Flames of War (and SO MANY other WW2 games!? Blitzkrieg Commander, Tactical Commander, WRG rules 1925-1950, I Ain't Been Shot Mum, Disposable Heroes, etc, etc, etc...) over the decade before that... Maybe it was just the people I was playing with...? I don't know. I had a LOT of fun playing this and think it has a lot of potential - looking forward to playing MORE! 

You can read all about it here: 

WW2 - Bolt Action: Operation Torch (Part 1?)

Hopefully there will be more in the coming month(s)!? 


And that's it! 

In total, this month I have played: 

  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound x3 (one online, two in-person)
  • Warhammer Quest: Cursed City x3
  • FiveCore Pulp Adventure x2 (one solo, one game-mastered) 
  • Five Men at Kursk WW2 Skirmish Warfare x2
  • Bolt Action (Third Edition) x1


So far this year, I've played: 

  • Warhammer Quest: Cursed City x8
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound x7
  • Five Men at Kursk WW2 Skirmish Warfare x3
  • FiveCore Pulp Adventure x2
  • Five Men in Normandy .30 Cal edition x2
  • Patchwork x2
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Crypt Hunters x2
  • Lost Patrol x1
  • Warhammer Age Of Sigmar (Fourth Edition): Core Rules x1
  • Bolt Action (Third Edition) x1

I DID get a LOT painted this month... 

Foot:

Vehicles:

FIVE Vehicles and over ONE HUNDRED foot miniatures!? (a LOT of those were started BEFORE February... this is just when I happened to finish them off!). So far my total for the year is 152 foot! Not bad... Not at all what I was PLANNING to paint this year... but not bad... 

The best part is, I've only bought 42 foot and three vehicles!

(I did receive another 49 in trade, but in the process got rid of nearly 100 foot and two vehicles!!)