2012 a year of trails and challenges! 2013 a fresh new start!

Well, 2012 has been a hellish year to a point with my wife's mother in the hospital the early part of the year and my own mother in the hospital twice (one for blood clots and another time to have a brain tumor removed) and throw in the loss of one of our hounds Lucas this  has been a craptastic year.

So, what can I be thankful for for last year in gaming for Dice of Legends?

• I started out dabbling with just Games Workshop Gladiator, Legends of the Old West and Legends of the High Seas late in 2011, 2012 saw those collections grow.
• Now I now have a great looking Old West figures painted up (mainly Knuckleduster) but loads more ready to be painted.
• I have had an excellent start to adding a few more pirate ships and crews ready to rumble over the high seas. Just need to start painting!
• I also have a small smattering of gladiators with my eye on a few new extras that I hope to add to round out the selection for games. Most are ready for some paint and then blood in the sand!
• 2012 also introduced me to Blackwater Gultch gaming, this introduced me to a local guy here Ryan that has been a great person to line up independent games with that are often hard to get people into. So far, we have had only a few games but they have all been a wild ride. With the new mounted horse counters by Litko things should be taking on a new pace soon!
• Supersystem 3 was discovered this past year. I have since picked up close to 30+ super hero and villain types ready to do battle among the pages of comics. I started to paint up a few already to have something different to do.
• Bolt Action (28mm WW2 gaming) just launched this past year and I had picked up Iron Ivan's Disposable Heroes and Point Blank. I am about 2/3 finished with a FJ army and then finish off some vehicles and then start on my  German Heer army. I also lucked out on some cheap French this year at an online clearance sale and now I have a new option to build up a new 1k list for to have a possible loaner army or at least something different to play.
• There also has been a trek across the wastelands of the dark future of apocalyptic gaming  with a few good trades with some old GW goodies has now landed me some excellent figures to toss out into Wastelands 3 or After the Horsemen. I keep looking for a good set of rules to motivate me to get into this genre of gaming.

Well, this next year is a hopeful year of some Bolt Action games, some Supersystem 3 Games and I hope some more Old West gaming. Already the Winter Offensive is on Feb. 9th and should be a blast to have a full day of gaming with a variety of new games to dabble in.

Plus, I plan to launch my "New Year in the Old West" contest starting tomorrow, I figure it would be cool to start the year off with a bang. I  had hoped to do something to celebrate my 100th post but with my mother being in the hospital really set back my plans, throw in the holidays and well just no time really to focus on the fun stuff!

French List for Bolt Action *updated*

Well, after making the online purchase of the French, I figured it would be a good idea to develop a 1000pt list that I could have designed and ready to play. So, here is a draft of what I think I will end up with. Maybe in time I will expand it once the official French list is released.

1^st Lt. Vet with pistol                            90

Medic Vet w pistol                               30

FO Artillery Reg                                  100

Reg Infantry (12) LMG                        101

Reg Infantry (12) LMG                        101

Reg Tirailleurs (12) LMG, 2 SMGs      143

MMG Team (Reg)                               50

Med. Mortar Team (Inxp)                    35
Spotter                                                10 

Field Artillery (Reg)                              50

R40 Tank (Reg)                                   165

AMC P16 Half Track (Reg)                 125

*made a few tweaks to the list*

So this leaves me with a short shopping list to finish the French off:

Goumier Riflemen I & 2 (Artizan) (as Tirailleurs)

Goumier SMG and LMG (Artizan)

Med Mortar Team (Crusader)

Field Artillery (Warlord)

R40 Tank (Diewaffenkammer)

AMC P16 (Warlord)

Have a Lobo Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Enjoy this short with Lobo out to kill Santa Claus!

A Raid into Santa’s workshop! Well, sorta…

Well, last night the wife let me do some orders with FRP games (yes, did two after I saw more stuff I wanted). They dropped a bonus 50% off sale off all items already discounted down. You just use the code END2012 and save big at the end when you place your order.

So, here is what I got since I got to be a little naughty….

For my German WW2 army I picked up a West Wind Tiger 1 and Wirbelwind each tipping just at $10 each! I also grabbed up about 32 miniatures for the French Army as well as it cost me maybe $20 at most for the Platoon Box (24 figures), Command (4) and French Hotchkiss HMG (4 figures) all by Crusader miniatures.

I grabbed up some bases (wished these babies was on sale) for a good price of $8 for 50 30mm Round Bases and 80 25mm Round Slotted Bases.

Also, I nabbed the last box of a stet of two British Universal Carriers (Warlord Games) and a Bren Gun Team Blister (2 teams) by Crusader Miniatures to round out his list. I knew he wanted to add them and if I waited they would have been gone.

Last I added a few new Heroes and Villains to the Miniature Roster at about $1-3 each who could say no? Here is the lineup:

Chronoscope: Shadow Talon, Super Hero
Chronoscope: Rhinocerix, Super Villain
Chronoscope - Super Villains: Dr Dread, Super Villain
Chronoscope - Super Villains: Dr. Voodoo, Super Villain

Superfigs: Kid Boomerang

Superfigs: Super 10 - Super Charger and Kid Dynamo
Superfigs: Blaster 4 - Mystick

Superfigs: Brawler 8 - Stalker

I also tossed in a Gibbering Mouther blister from Reaper to go with my Cthulu figures. I figure again for $2 things could not go wrong!

Happy Holidays to all!

Happy Holidays to all!

Take time out to remember family and friends during these times and appreciate every moment! I know I am despite all the setbacks this year with the loss of our dog, then my wife's mother in the hospital and my mother in twice with a nice tumor removal from her brain just before Christmas! She is recovering and doing well as can be. Time will tell in the end.

 

Added another car to the lot!

The just opened another Dollar General just around the corner and the store is loaded up with 10 new cars, most of them are sports models and I already have the orange mini cooper also. Still, I grabbed te 2006 Dodge Challenger Concept. Looked pretty cool and fits my other modern cars. Figure they would look nice on the table when I get my super hero/villain figures done.

Armies of Germany Review

Well, just finished going over the Armies of German book, there is still much I need to go back and read again to absorb all the content but I wanted to let people know what to expect from the first book of the big four armies by Warlord Games.

First, the Osprey/Warlord concept produced again another solid book that was full of quality. The book is soft back, 96 pages and full color with tons of detail. Sure there are some typos but I can live with that if the book has enough eye candy. The book is packed full of excellent examples of artwork depicting uniforms and historical blurbs in the “top secret” format as before.

The opening of the book has a short historical rundown so if you are into that, otherwise flip over a few pages to the meat of the book.

Again it gives the Reinforced Platoon list found in the core rules and also goes over the Army Special Rules (same as the core rules). Later in the book, there is several modified Platoon lists that allows you to play somewhat more historical accurate games with some minor changes to the selections you can take.

There are no major changes from the core rules for the Officer, Medic and Forward Observer. Then it moves on to infantry squads, 16 by my count in all. The points are almost the same for standard/veteran units with small changes to options for early/late war units. It also presents a few new units like Kradschutzen (Motorcycle). Pioneers (Engineers) and Waffen-SS Calvary Squads. There are also a few options for many lists to take bicycles as a mode of quick movement early in the game. It also breaks down the Ostruppen (occupied conscripts), Volksstrum (old/injured conscripts) and Hitler Youth fleshing each out and giving the more purpose in the game than the prior core rules. They also included the Kriegsmarine but not the Luftwaffe infantry divisions that were formed up later in the water. Granted there are models to use as Kriegsmarines but not anything official for Luftwaffe was ever made by a company.

Then it falls back to the standard Medium Machine Gun and Panzerschreck Team with a quick inclusion of the Anti-Tank Rifle Team (cheap but hard to sell against the Panzerschreck and Panzerfausts). Then on to Snipers and Mortars (same as the book).

Flamethrowers (now able to take two one shot flame throwers instead of one) gives you more options now but now forces you to choose between double up your firepower in a single shot or gamble that you can keep a single flamethrower around for multiple uses.

Artillery got a few boosts once you get past the Light, Medium and Heavy Artillery with the introduction of the Recoilless Artillery and Nebelwerfer. Then it shifts to Anti-Aircraft guns and Anti-Tank guns. Some nice fleshing out here from the core rules making plenty of options for the German player.

Onwards to Tanks, Tank Destroyers and Assault Guns, well this is where the book shines and all those generic tanks get broken up into various separate types and pointed up offering a huge variety of weapons and point scales to meet your needs. It also inserts rules for using Schurzen Armored Skirts in the game. This slips on to Self-Propelled Artillery, Anti-Aircraft vehicles and on to Armored Cars. Fleshing out more and more options for your army to add in. Then it finishes with more transports than you can shake a swastika at. 

This interesting news story popped up online, normally I don’t really post things like this here but this hits home with me in how I think. Morgan Freeman’s publicist claims this is a hoax and not true. If he or whoever said this was on to something here…

The remark floating around online that was said to be from Freeman stated the following, "You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why. It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody."

The falsely-attributed quote continued, "CNN's article says that if the body count 'holds up,' this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations­, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next. You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem."

Mind you I am not a monster, I feel for the families that lost loved ones but the media just pushes this stuff too much, it is all over Facebook says my wife and is just a runaway media train. Meanwhile we have other mentally ill people in the US watching this right now and perhaps getting the same idea. Don’t think so? Ask the al Qaeda, they were reading the tragic events of 9/11 like it was an ode to their labors of evil and hate. They basked in that media coverage and prior to that they was just a little know terrorist group. Again, another tragic event that I feel sorrow to those that lost loved ones at that time. Yet, we do feed the monster.

There are three simple facts we should learn from this horrible incident:

1)      We should stop feeding the monsters. Sure we can report the news and have feelings but only so far.

2)      We need to improve our mental health care here in the US and perhaps worldwide. We allow these people to suffer without help, the acts they do are a cry out for attention in their lives.

3)      Gun control is not the answer. I keep reading this garbage over and over again but the bottom line is if these psychos are going to do something like this do they care about legal or not? No, they will buy the weapons illegally or make them in other ways. Think I am wrong? Remember the 1996 Centennial Bomber? I do, didn’t use a gun and made his explosives from household stuff. I still recall this because I was working a radio shift that night. I passed on news reports as I learned things from our news network with the radio station I worked at on the fringe of Atlanta. Here again is another idiot we made into an over hyped media guy.

Oh also tell all these celebs to quit saying insincere comments about the incidents. They all release these statements and such as a PR hype for their career, maybe they care, maybe they don't. In any case until they do something about it like donate money to pay for the funerals or travel expenses for families you should shut the hell up and quit using a tragic event as your media boost of the week for public relations.

Bolt Action Review Part 6: Scenarios and General Lists

Inside the Bolt Action book are 6 Scenarios, for the most part very generic in design and I have heard a few people say they remind them of 3rd Edition Warhammer 40k missions. Maybe so, but let's think about that all games for the most part have the same elements in them and so there will always be similar aspects from one game system to another. 

Flanking is unique in Bolt Action as the turn when your unit shows up determines how far up the side of the board you can place it. So, if it appears early you are closer to your lines, the later it is the further you are up the board to your opponent. You also write down which side there is no random element, so pure planning and luck comes into play here.

Here are the missions:

Envelopment: Attacker gets points to destroy units. Attacker gets points destroying enemy units, getting units off the enemy deployment zone and just being in their deployment zone.

Maximum Attrition: Kill one another, earn points killing units. Highest total wins.

Point Defence: Attacker has to capture 3 objectives.

Hold Until Relieved: Capture an objective in the center of the table.

Top Secret: Objective in the center of the board that you have to capture and get back off your table edge. A tough one here and you will need transports to win this one.

Demolition: both sides have to destroy their objective by getting into base contact with it and blowing it up as well as defending their own.

Army Lists:

I won't go much into army lists except to say they are all in the same format and what is in the book is just a sample list for each of the four main armies of WW2 to get you going until your Army book is released. The format is the basic list like this:

Required:

1 Lieutenant - First or Second

2 Infantry Squads

Optional:

0-3 Infantry Squads

0-1 Captain or Major

0-1 Medic

0-1 Forward Observer (Air or Artillery)

0-1 Machine Gun Team

0-1 Mortar Team

0-1 Sniper Team

0-1 Flamethrower Team

0-1 Anti-Tank Team

0-1 Field Artillery, Anti-Aircraft or Anti-Tank Gun

0-1 Armored Car

0-1 Tank, Tank Destroyer, Anti-Aircraft Vehicle or Self Propelled Artillery

0-1 Transport or tow (one per infantry or artillery unit)

Once you get into an army book things become less generic and more defined along with new units that could not make it into the core rules. What I also can say as I just got my German Army book is that there are optional formats to the above list to allow you to play historical based games with some level of accuracy (not perfect, but close). 

Bolt Action Rules Review 6: Artillery, Vehicles and Buildings

Artillery

Artillery is one of perhaps the best choices in the game, able to handle armor and infantry with a decent points cost. These weapons can fire direct or indirect as well as throw up smoke. 

Vehicles 

This subject could be long but I plan to keep it short, if you want further details grab a copy of the book.

First, transports are simply amazing in this game. Able to carry units and haul around artillery or other towed weapons is a huge plus. Plus more than one unit can mount up in a transport with no limitations. 

The vehicle rules overall are clean and fairly straight forward. Tanks and such can bring considerable power to the table but also can be a huge liability in points and to a lucky shot from a cunning player. The balance is there and a player to understand the pros and cons of vehicles will make the most out of it.

Buildings

Always a sore topic in wargaming but for Bolt Action fairly simple. You can blow up a building with shooting and also is a boon for the units inside. Again, the balance is there to keep the game fun and paced instead of dragging.

unser Führer geschickt mehr Männern (Our Leader has sent more men!)

Since I have been back home after visiting my mother in the hospital a few new reinforcements have arrived for my German Fallschirmjäger  and Wehrmacht armies to bolster my ranks.

My first package was a quick local trade I did here with another German player in Florida. He swapped me an FJ with an MP40 and a SS LMG team for a FJ radio operator and a pair of snipers I have leftover in my box. I figure it was a good idea to trade off my excess and get more of what I needed.

Second up was my box from Black Tree Design. Every so often they do a sweet sale of 50% off and how can you say no to those prices? The quality is decent and for the price you can’t really complain. This was my third order with them and I loaded up some Xmas goodies for one of my friends and a few odd items for myself including:

·        Wehrmacht Medic and a team with a stretcher

·        MG42 Fixed Team of Wehrmacht

·        2 LMG Teams with gunner/loaders Wehrmacht

·        Character pack with a sniper, a guy with a grenade set on his rifle and two other troops to round out the collection. Wehrmacht

·        Wehrmacht Flamethrowers (2)

If you never have checked out their website you should. Watch for a sale and loot away! When you sign up, you get a onetime 10% off bonus discount code also. So yes, your first order like mine could be 60% off! I will cast one word of warning is that their vehicles are solid metal, so they are heavy and a pain in the ass to put together. They do have a variety of vehicles that often nobody else makes, so if you are looking for something hard to find. They may have it.

Next up was a test order with Offensive Miniatures. Their range is small and just covers some Fallschirmjäger, Italians and US Paratroopers but wow they have quality written all over and the price is fair. So, I snapped up a blister pack of their Fallschirmjäger STU44 unit…just 4 models but one just called to me and I really wanted this guy for my officer. Check him out; I took this from Offensive Miniatures Website

Officer with STU44 reading a map. I thought he would be rather cool and imposing to lead my FJ army!

Here is another figure from the pack I love having a smoke.

Shot of the figure in the raw.

The package arrived quickly from England, the package the figures was in was excellent and the quality of the figures is amazing. I know I will be doing another order with them for a few extra must haves in my list! I can give my approval at this as a excellent company to deal with!

Last is my Warlord Games order, I picked up a few choice items from them to round out my FJ as well:

·        2 FJ Officers with MP40s (this was before I found the one above)

·        4 FG42 gunners to round out my assault rifle selection

·        A Puma Scout Car

·        Armies of Germany book

·        FJ Medic

·        Flamethrower/Sniper Pack

·        FJ with MG42 support LMG

This was just another attempt to round out the collection along with getting the new book to be able to build a proper German list! Warlord for the most part met my expectations for my order. They have to notch customer service that helped refund my shipping botch (got charged for shipping and it should have been free). Not sure if it was thier comptuer or human error, in either case they took care of me in quick order. My only complaint was that my Pumpa arrived in bubble wrap and not in a box. I expected a company like Warlord to at least put my vehicle in a box. Sure the loose figures I expected to get perhaps in a bag or blister pack together (and I did). I can say that they are worthwhile to order from as well if there is something you need. What is nice about their stocklist is simply the broad selection.

I have managed to base some of my figures and need to order another set of bases to finish off the lot. I suspect I will be grabbing a few more choice items over the next few weeks including some artillery and vehicles as well as perhaps a few other odd and end troopers to bulk up my lists.



Back in action!

Well, just like the post states. Good to be back. After some time off, it is time to get back to posting.  My mother is doing better and much hell for myself. She went through the tumor removal in her brain (about the size of a small grapefruit) and seems to be recovering well. I want to thank all those that kept good thoughts for my mother and best wishes to her (and me). The road to recovery is going to be slow, there are motor skills and memory issues that will have to be overcome and she is still in the hospital with no doubt a transition into a rehabilitation facility where they will work on trying to help her be able to finally go home. She isn’t going to like it and to be frank, who the hell likes to be in a hospital? It’s cold, annoying and you are not around the things you love and are not comfortable, oh and the food sucks. If they made the stay great at a hospital nobody would want to leave!

I think most of this situation is hitting me more and more now that I am back home and having time to recover and think about it instead of living in it. To be honest I have no Christmas spirit hardly and just thankful that my mother is alive. I find it depressing tomorrow is her 70th birthday and suck in a hospital with Xmas and New Years more than likely at the hospital or rehab. I call it a mixed blessing if anything.

Still, one has to put a foot forward and continue onwards! There is little choice for someone like me.

Stay tuned as I work to crank out new materials:

1) Bolt Action review finale.

2) German Nations Book for Bolt Action Review

3) Introduction to a few new faces on my painting table for my Germans.

4) I hope soon some WIP shots of my Super Hero/Villain figures. I have been working hard to prep them for the painting table.

5) Start up my Old West for the New Year contest where I will be giving away some goodies to just say thanks and to kick off the fun of the New Year!

Delays to things...

I hope to perhaps post some more reviews of Bolt Action review material at a later time and the contest I had hoped to host is on hold until family matters have been resolved.

My mother is in the hospital, she just had a tumor removed from her brain about the size of 1/3 of the cavity. I have been here at the hospital to help keep an eye on things and help out the family. Things have been crazy, but things seem to be going well.,

Hanomag arrives

I got my Hanomag 251/1 the other day and got it together. Overall, is a nice resin kit and of course just right after I buy the damm thing they release the plastic kit to replace it and looks 10x better! Oh well!

Overall, it went together well, the worst part was the LMG on the back with the brace, oh I can see that being something that can snap off very easy.

I am going to glue the gunner in after I paint the tank and the gunner seperate to make my job easier. I also have some bits I plan to add to it to add to the looks.

Front

Back

Side finished.

Right side finished.

Front

Rear

Bolt Action Review Part 5: Close Combat, HQs and Special Rules

Close Quarters

This is the term for hand to hand combat in Bolt Action. Here is how Close Quarters works:

Declare Target

Target Reacts

Measure Distance and Move

Fight First Round of Combat. Attackers First, Defenders next.

At this point either one unit surrenders/is destroyed or you have a draw.

In the event of a draw continue fighting.

The Winner regroups

What is a kicker is that pin markers are removed when you are assaulted as you are clearly fighting for your life there is no option to hide or run.

Close combat is deadly, quick and brutal. Be warned.

Headquarters

Here are the rundown of perks from various units:

Officers: Officers based upon rank can add a morale bonus of +1 to +4. Starting officers in your army only give a +1 or +2, you have to purchase an extra officer to get +3 or +4.

Medics: Can save a model in a unit that is killed by small arms within range on a roll of a 6. Plus the guy is cheap and gives you an extra order dice for the lowest price.

Forward Artillery Observer: Able to call down an artillery strike or smoke once per game. Shots could be delayed, off target (your opponent can relocate the marker) or land with nasty results.

Forward Air Observer: Again, able to summon one air strike per game. What you get is pure random results again. You have to roll when he appears, then again you could get a guy that shoots the wrong target or swoops down bombing the crap out of the target. What is nasty here is units around the target can get pin markers due to the terror of air power despite the fact only one unit is singled out in shooting unlike Artillery that can strike an area.

Flak: Is the ability to shoot at these airplanes, then again you have to roll as your own side could shoot down your own plane. Not likely, but could happen and it did.

Unit Special Rules:

Tough: Extra attack

Fanatics: Harder to kill in close combat.

Shirkers: cheaper to buy but more likely to be pinned and run

Green: Brave but raw troops, they could jump in experience when they take losses or serious penalties to nothing happens if they get shot at.

Tank Hunters: Beware tanks! More likely to kill a tank.

Snipers: Able to single out a target and more accurate at range.

Calvary: Faster foot infantry, has some other advantages. Very rare in WW2.

Motorbikes: Like infantry again, fast to move around and reacts slightly different to s hooting.

Another Liebster! Sweet!

A few days ago I was told I was tapped for another award and I just want to say thanks to Tenz at http://basementmotive.blogspot.ca/ check out his site!

For those that don’t know how a Liebster works!

The rules are very easy:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog linking it to the blogger who has given it you.

2. Pass the award to your top 5 favorite blogs with less than 200 followers by leaving a comment on one of there posts to notify them that they have won the award and listing them on your own blog.

3. Sit back and bask in the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you have made someone's day!

4. There is no obligation to pass this onto someone else but its nice if you take the time to do so.



The rules are very easy:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog linking it to the blogger who has given it you.

2. Pass the award to your top 5 favorite blogs with less than 200 followers by leaving a comment on one of there posts to notify them that they have won the award and listing them on your own blog.

3. Sit back and bask in the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you have made someone's day!

4. There is no obligation to pass this onto someone else but its nice if you take the time to do so.

And here are the Lucky 5!

28mm Brain: A fantastic site full of all kinds of great articles including scenery and how-to’s, well worth a gander!

http://a28mmbrain.blogspot.com/

Sweet Mercy Minis: This site always has great historical reference points and articles as well as friendly pointers to related miniatures in the articles.

http://cowboyminiatures.blogspot.com/

Pirates of the Caro bean Sea: A roving band of pirate gamers that are the scourge of several conventions. This blog is simply a beast with all the cool scenery, scenario work for events along with the painting.

http://carobbeansea.blogspot.com/

The Red Nekkz Mek Shop: A little known local guy about 2 hours away from me and I swear this guy could make something from nothing! Great painting and a great conversion guy, check out his green stuff work!

http://rednekkzmekshop.blogspot.com/

Lost in Carcosa: Let’s talk about painting, this guy tends to paint mostly 1920’s Horror (think Lovecraft style) and wow does he do it well! The detail is breathtaking and his photos are very sharp and crisp giving you lots of detail to appreciate!

http://losingsanity-einarolafson.blogspot.com/

Bolt Action News: Plastic German 251 Halftracks and French Rules

First off, Warlord just announced that the German 251/1 Halftrack is soon to be out in a single plastic kit for only $24 US and 14 (British Pounds) making it one of the least expensive 251 kits and is all plastic to boot!

They have it up on pre-order on their site and I no longer see the resin one online! Arg! I just bought a resin one and the plastic one has so much more detail!

http://www.warlordgames.com/29591/pre-order-single-plastic-half-track/?utm_source=Warlord%20Games%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=f5f05aced2-Warlord_Games_Newsletter_30_November_2012&utm_medium=email

In other news, Warlord Games has released a get-you-by French list (the first of many) so people can start playing other minor armies in the game while we all wait for the minor nations book to be released.

http://www.warlordgames.com/29261/bolt-action-french-army-list/

Bolt Action Rules Review 4: Weapons

 

So, today I figure I would chat about weapons of Bolt Action. If you are a detailed person for history and differences in firearms you may want to consider finding another game. Bolt Action lumps weapons into generic groups like pistols, SMGs, Assault Rifles and such for Small Arms and for Heavy Weapons things like Bazooka, Light, Medium, Heavy and Super Heavy AT Guns…in other words they assign weapons to a class type of weapons to the chart so one type of weapon could cover several weapons.

Is this realistic? Well, maybe not 100%, a FG42 could shoot further than the STU44 but both hammer out an amazing rate of firepower and are classed in the game group. Was there a difference in the rate of fire for the real weapons? Yes, but not enough to merit a difference on the chart.

Most small arms dish out between 1-4 shots, the Germans can squeeze out a bonus shot from Light and Medium Machine Guns as a special perk. Most Heavy Weapons are single shots for the most part, but also are more likely to destroy a vehicle, add more pin tokens and have a variety of other special abilities in the game.

Some small arms can be used in close combat like pistols and SMGs making them very deadly up close but useless in ranged fights. Assault rifles ignore penalties of shooting on the move.

Flamethrowers are very nasty in the game as they ignore terrain when it comes to cover and inspires fear with pin markers. A flamethrower could even break a unit in the right conditions by the fear of being burned alive. It also can be used on vehicles in an attempt to burn the men out of it or cook them alive inside. In any case, the flamethrower when used has to roll and may well run out of fuel and be removed from the game. It is all down to the dice; personally I will try them out.

Overall I like the concept; it makes things simpler for the game to flow instead of spending time trying to work out guns 101 of World War 2. Less book time, more dice time on the table! 

The Hobby Lobby Challenge

Well, I went to Hobby Lobby tonight just to get out of the house and use that lovely 40% coupon I found online. Now that I know I can print them, fear me Hobby Lobby! Just kidding!

My first item was one of the Easy Models 1:72 German Planes to go with my German Army as an airplane marker. Figure Warlord is selling them for $16, Hobby Lobby down the road has them for $14.99 and wit a 40% off coupon puts it close to $10 with tax and lets me pick up a few other goodies.

Plane with figure to scale.

This is the Fw190A-8 for the Focke-Wulf Fw190 was a single-seat, single-engine fighter of the Luftwaffe, and one of the best fighters of its generation. Over 20,000 were built including 6,000 fighter-bomber models. Production started in 1941 to the end of the war and was always being updated. This model version was the last of the planes built in 1944 that resulted in 1334 A-8 series planes built.

Closer shot of detail.

Front shot.

I liked this one out of my three choices they had at the store, perhaps the only downfall. One was a DAK fighter with Africa colors (tanish), the other was a green first generation German  jet fighter, while cool, was very late into the war. The Focke-Wulf was the winner here simply by appearance and the history to it.

Up next I found this lovely house in the wood/cardboard craft area. At a glance it is almost perfect.  The door is a bit large, but nothing that can't be trimmed up with some decoration, add window trim and a door with some inside floor plans and wow! Instant house! Sure a bit of work but for $3.99 what can you complain about? Even if I spent a total of $10 on this project and time it would be way cheaper than anything else that could be done. What is the bonus is the framework has been done, just add detail.

Front

Side

Back

Top comes off.

Figures at the door, I had to use a base to make it level with the cut.

Back shot, looks a bit large, but not bad.

Soldier and Granny looking out the window. Perfect height.

I also found on clearance some camouflage grey spray paint that Model Master makes, I wish there was more but oh well. This should work for now to help primer the few vehicles I have. I may have to go back and loot the other colors as $2 and some change isn't a bad price!

Bolt Action Rules Review Part 3: Pinning and Shooting

 

Pin Markers are a key element to the game because as units get shot at and if injured can gain Pin Markers that are kept next to the unit in the game.

Pin Markers do the following:

Pin Markers can restrict a unit from being able to follow orders given as each Pin Marker reduces their Morale value. For each marker you get a -1 to your Morale. Thus you could end up with a unit worried about ducking bullets more than shooting back.

Pinning also affects shooting as well, thus making it harder to hit your target if bullets are hitting all around you.

A successful RALLY Order will reduce d6 Pin Markers from your unit. Granted they can do nothing else. A sly opponent could build up a series of pin markers on targets making them useless for a few turns in the game.

There is a rule also for FUBAR! When you roll box cars (two sixes) for your attempt to give an order to a unit with Pin Markers with results from shooting a friendly unit to running away in fear.

Also, if a unit has the same amount of markers as their original morale value (not modified) they are removed from play. Thus inexperienced troops will be more prone to fleeing a battle than a Veteran unit.

Shooting

Just to let everyone know, there is no pre-measuring allowed for Bolt Action, you declare and if you are out of range, you are out of luck. Choose wisely your shots!

Shooting works like this:

1. Declare Target
2. Target reacts (can opt to go DOWN, if they do they are harder to hit)
3. Measure
4. Roll to Hit (based on range, pin markers, cover and unit skill)
5. Roll to Damage (based on unit type, veterans are tougher than inexperienced units.
6. Target Takes Casualties (owner removes, unless you roll a 6 and another 6, then you pick)
7. Target Checks Morale (If they fail, they are removed from the game). In any case you will get at least 1 Pin Marker and perhaps more depending on weapons.

 

By now you should see that Pin Markers are BAD and a huge element to the strategy of the game.

Bolt Action Review 2: Order Dice

Order Dice are a key feature to Bolt Action and I feel worthy of a single post dedicated to this aspect of the rules.

Unlike other games where you roll and then you play the game “I go/You go” or roll each turn to see who takes the lead taking all their actions at once, while some games have other random mechanics on who goes first but Bolt Action has a great mechanic called Order Dice.

Simply put, you get one die per unit. So, if you have 10 American units vs. 8 German Units, there would be 18 dice in play roughly. 10 indicate the American Units and 8 for the Germans. You draw each dice from a bag/cup/box to determine who gets to select a unit to activate and give orders to. This creates a situation where it could be anyone’s game as to who would go next on the next dice draw.

As units are removed from play you also must remove one die from the dice pool to show the loss of that unit and having less tactical input.

There are several options for Order Dice and Tokens:

Warlord makes their own dice specific to the game but are very costly as you will more than likely need two packs if you go beyond 10 dice for your army. Thus costing you between $20-25 bucks for two sets of dice depending on the discount you can get from some sites.

Bolt Action Order Dice (more colors are on the way)

You could just simply use two sets of dice of different colors that are the same size. They have to of course be the same size otherwise it would be easy to know which dice is yours and ruins the random element of the game. By placing the die face up on the # that associates to your order you wish to give your unit in the game.

Examples of same sized dice you could use.

1          Fire (no move, shoot only with fewer penalties)

2          Advance (move and fire, has penalties for moving while shooting)

3          Run (no shooting, double move)

4          Ambush (Hold your action, saving it for later use)

5          Rally (no move or shoot, you remove pin markers)

6          Down (no move or shoot, you are hugging dirt to avoid injury)

If you opt to use your own dice there is several ways to mark units orders or in game markers like Pinning using poker chips for example or ordering your own custom markers from companies like Litko for example.

There is also this great site; they made paper markers for use with Bolt Action. Print them out and make your own tokens if you are the do-it-yourselfer type.

http://thehobbystudios.com/index.php?p=11_2