Bolt action armoured medley

I have been assembling two Bolt Action forces now for a few months, both US and German, and have greatly enjoyed assembling and painting their plastic vehicle kits. 

This first one is the German StuH 42, assault howitzer. A birthday present from my family 😀. 

Fitted with a casement mounted medium howitzer, it can really hurt enemy infantry. 

But it's not terribly good against enemy armour as the HE round doesn't have the greatest penetration, but can at least pin down the armour.

Next up is the Hetzer. A tank hunter fitted with a heavy AT gun. 

It does however have weak side armour so you really need to watch it's flanks.

It also has remotely operated MG with 360• field of fire. 

Next up is the Hanomag. I've done this one before but this time have toned down the decals with a brown wash as Millsy suggested.

An armoured personnel carrier, good for getting your troops into the table with a degree of protection from small arms fire. 

Capable of carrying 12 men and fitted with an MG for supporting fire. But you need some in it as passengers to fire. 

Next up is Panzer IV H. Again shown before, and again decals toned down. 

Fitted with a heavy antitank gun and two machine guns, it can hurt enemy armour, and infantry. 

Schurzen side armour gives some protection against bazookas to its flanks. 

The Puma is up next. An armoured reconnaissance vehicle, fitted with a medium AT Gun and MG. 

Equipped with dual steering positions it can reverse as quickly as it advances making it get out of trouble fast.

But that big gun tempts you to be bold with it so you have to remember it's not armoured like a tank! 

All the German armoured arrayed below.

Next up, the yanks...

First up the M10 tank destroyer. Fitted with a heavy AT gun, it can deal to enemy panzers very well. 

It also has a pintel mounted HMG, so can hurt infantry too. 

But it is lghtly armoured for a tank and is open topped so small arms fire can pin it.

Next one of my faves, the M3 half track. 

Bristling with MGs it can spit out fire from its passengers.

An armoured personnel carrier capable of carrying 12 guys. 

I can't help thinking of Kelly's Heroes when I see it. 😀

An HMG covers the front fire arc.

Next, the classic M4 Sherman tank. 

A medium AT gun with a nifty HE rule, and two MGs and an HMG. It can really bring the hurt to enemy infantry.

But it's prone to catching fire if hit... Leading to the nickname ' Ronson' after the lighter... It always lights first time...

For some yank armoured recce  we have the M8 armoured car.

A fast wheeled reconnaissance vehicle fitted with a light AT gun, MG and pintel HMG ... They stick 50cals on everything!

And finally all the tank armour arrayed.

I have been steadily working on the infantry side of these forces and will detail these in future posts. 

In the meantime, I'm really enjoying the game.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Bolt Action - Panzer IV H, and Hanomag Sd Kfz 251/1 D

Now that my folks visit has come to an end, and they have continued their holiday trip on to Australia, before heading back to ol' Blighty, ... and that things have calmed down a bit at work after Audit issues were attended to... I have found a little time to pick up the paint brushes again... though saying that, there was much intervening time, assembling new plastic kits - WWII stuff for Bolt Action. It's now all assembled and I have steadily started painting my way through it... which allowed me to get another entry in for the painting challenge... as submitted below...

"Well the plan to paint loads of LOTR figures has become slightly derailed with the arrival at Chez Bowman of the Bolt Action starter set, and a pair of tanks; a Panzer IV H, and a M4 Sherman.

So far I have them all assembled and have been trying out the rules with my son Chris.  It certainly seems a lot of fun, and its 28mm WWII after all - so what's not to like?! ;-) And Chris is really enjoying it too, and doesn't need much coaxing away from his 'devices' to play a game with his ol' man...

Thus far I have painted up the Panzer and Hanomag Armoured carrier for the Germans...

I am going with my soft tri-colour camo pattern as I have done before with my FoW stuff, but I have this time tried to accentuate some of the details and tried to include some weathering of the paintwork along the raised edges of the vehicles.

I thought about buying chipping fluid and weathering pigments, but in the end I just wanted to get them done and played with, so just did everything by hand with regular acrylics.

First time I have painted such vehicles at this scale, other than 40K stuff many many years ago...

A selection of pictures for your enjoyment... I hope you like them...

The 15mm scale bocage hedges I made for FoW, works nicely for regular to large hedges for 28mm...

... complete with sheep, and cows - out of picture!

Nice number plates decals as part of the set... front and rear...

For those not in the know; the German tank numbering system went; company, platoon, tank... so this wee beastie is the 3rd tank of first platoon, of 4th Company...

Divisional markings for Panzer Lehr...

The Lehr Division was one of the better fighting formations the Wehrmacht had, typically with a high level of material and resources for a non-SS formation... Formed in '43 from elite troops who had seen action on many fronts, they subsequently saw action in the west, facing the western allies...

To speed up painting - I'll have to admit, I didn't do the eyes... my own eyes are getting a bit tired now, so this might be a stretch to far... I haven't varnished the vehicles so I might got back and do them later - but probably wont!  ;-p

Right off to paint 12 German Grenadiers..."

And a nice response from Millsy; one of Curt's Co-Admins for us southern hemisphere guys...

"Wow Scott, that's quite a wonderful result considering they're your first 28mm vehicles in a long time AND that they have a most convincing tri-colour camo scheme to boot! Having painted this scheme myself a few times I can attest to just how hard it is to execute so kudos for doing such a wonderful job. Please so varnish them though, I'd hate to see that effort ruined by handling...
30 points seems a mean return for the effort so I'm throwing in another 5 for the camo. Good too see you back on the tools mate! Cheers, Millsy."

Must admit I am rather excited by this whole Bolt Action thing - like I said, it's 28mm and WWII - whats not to like? I've always preferred painting 28mm to 15mm anyway... and sadly the way things have gone with Flames of War after the company's 'global re-shuffle' and the largely pathetic effect this has had and continues to have for the supply chain... many players seem to be looking to take their WWII interest elsewhere - and Bolt Action seems to be grabbing a lot of players interest and attention...

I attended ValleyCon a couple of weekends ago and found several of FoW players were choosing not to partake in the FoW Tournie there (Early war setting may also have had something to do with that), but were actually playing Bolt Action... I also dropped down to our local wargames club; KWC, discussed the game there with the guys, found some were already interested and/or already had armies, ...and there already seems quite a groundswell of interest after that first chat, with half a dozen or so players looking to play and/or buy armies - or indeed have already started purchasing troops...

Since this post I have got the German troops about half done and started blocking in some colours on the yanks. Having not painted yanks before I had to order in some colours for them...

So this year looks like it will see a lot of Bolt Action, and I foresee my German and American forces from the starter set I got, steadily increasing... terrain building options offer lots of opportunities too!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad