AAR: Bolt Action - Canadians' First Outing

 I met Wayne on Sunday afternoon for an intro game of Bolt Action with my recently completed Canadian infantry. He used a Fallschirmjager platoon, better quality troops for sure, but not as many of them. 

We very simply used the terrain as printed on the game mat he had set up. We played in "late summer" so the fields were dense and provided cover. We each placed an objective for the other guy to capture. Wayne of course buried his deep in a field on his side of the table. I placed the German objective on the crossroad since it was an obvious location of interest and value. 

Most of my force was deployed in the woods in the center with one squad and the Bren carrier off to the right flank.

The first shooting of the game... my mortar team's spotter calls one in on the Puma right next to an FJ squad.

Miraculously, it's on target. Even more miraculously, the Puma catches fire and the crew bail out and run! The Puma was out on shot #1 and all of a sudden this was an entirely different situation. The Fallschirmjager squad also took a hit and received some pin markers. Wow.

I worked the Bren carrier and rightmost squad forward. The mortar kept a steady stream of bombs falling on the German infantry while the UC's machineguns kept constant fire at the hard-pressed paratroopers.

Over on the left, Wayne left me an opportunity to move out of the woods which I did. Again, some miraculous dice and miserable German rolls saw that FJ squad run for it! The halftrack was to be another story. I had a PIAT nearby and was trying to get that set up for an easy kill.

The infantry on the right assault Wayne's command section, easily winning that combat.

But back on the left I messed up and announced an Advance order when I should have said Run. That poor squad was shot to bits by the FJs which had rallied and the 251's machinegun. My lousy PIAT was still struggling to get a rocket on target.

But on the right, things were still rosy - my infantry section wiped out the remaining Fallschirmjagers in a brutal assault, capturing the objective in the process. 

While those assaults were going on, I relocated the spotter to a new vantage point. The mortar's incredible steak of murder and despair continued, smashing rounds down on the German infantry on the left and even briefly rattling the halftrack which suffered no permanent damage. 

But it wasn't enough and the last of Left Section was cut down. 

We called the game there. A solid Canadian victory, 5-1. The mortar's ruthless hot streak made 100% of the difference. Killing the pricey armored car right out of the gates was huge. All of a sudden, my Bren Carrier was the nastiest thing on the table with two LMGs, whereas I'd started the game assuming it would be running for its life for as long as it lasted! My dice were well-behaved when necessary, whereas Wayne's betrayed him at a few key moments. I also had a 2:1 order dice advantage for much of the game which allowed me to what I wanted, whenever I wanted. 

It's tough to learn lessons from a very successful game, but I made a couple mistakes that I'll not make again. For starters, I placed an immobile MMG in a position in which it couldn't fire at any enemy all game. Also also mishandled the section on the left and was punished for that error. All in all though, Wayne was a gracious host and opponent and I'm sure he'll run me ragged next time we face off! 

Be well and good gaming!

More Battletech Commissions

 When Wayne handed me the box with the Leopard dropship a couple months ago, there were more 3D printed Battletech buildings in it from the batch I painted last year. They were pretty easy to get done, with the hangar / wall / landing pad piece certainly the most time consuming. 

I'm sure we'll be seeing them featured in a game soon enough.

The Bottom of the Box

 And here they are, the last of the British/Canadian infantry starter box. I'm still surprised that I was able to get it all completed to a very nice standard in short order. The box arrived on May 3rd and I put the final touches on these on June 3rd. 

The .30 cal

3 inch mortar

And of course the 6 pounder.

Bolt Action - AFVs

 I finished up the Bren Carrier from the box and a 3d printed Sherman I picked up from Mike for $20. The Churchill that came with the set will probably sit for a while since it's not really a Canadian thing. I'm sure the markings on the Sherman are wildly incorrect given the decals I had available, but I like how the vehicles turned out.

Given how long the carrier took to assemble, I couldn't be happier about my decision to buy the two-piece Sherman for such a nice price.

Hole In Head - Status Report

I've really been enjoying the process with the Bolt Action minis. Nothing like a bog box of interesting miniatures to keep me happy! It's all more or less complete except for decals and weathering on the vehicles and some additional ground cover / foliage on the weapons teams' bases. I took some pictures of the infantry last evening. WITNESS ME!*

First Section

Second Section

Third Section

And oddballs including an extra sergeant with a Sten, a Forward Observer, PIAT guy, extra rifleman / helper, Lieutenant and light mortar guy.

I've got an intro game set up with Wayne next weekend. Obviously, I'm quite looking forward to that. I'll get pics of the 6 pdr, HMG and Mortar along with the UC and Sherman as soon as they're wrapped up.

* We saw Furiosa last weekend. Hells yes. So much fun and a worthy successor to Fury Road.

Memorial Day Weekend Activities

 It's been an awesome long Memorial Day weekend and I took an extra day off because of the late night last night. More on that in a moment.

    On Sunday I met Mike and Mark for an afternoon of gaming. I took my Renaissance Spanish and Venetians for a big Lion Rampant game (45 points per side). Each side was split into two commands and each command's initiative order was determined every turn. We played the Sausages with Mustard scenario, with the Venetians defending. Mike and Mark shared leadership duties on the Spanish side while I wrangled the Italians.

An early opening shot. You can see the four buildings in the center which the Spanish were trying to burn down. I deployed a unit of pikemen in the middle as my single forward "speedbump" unit.

The first engagement took place in the hill with the tower. Our heavy cavalry squared off with Mark successfully counter-charging me.

I got the better of the engagement and the Spanish horsemen fell back...

A wide view of the center. I was having a far better time activating units than M&M.

On the right, my crossbowmen had peppered the Spanish light cav who were facing a block of pikemen.

The center had turned into a mess. I had pikemen and greatswords in disarray. The greatswords learned firsthand how nasty arquebusiers are!

In one of my favorite moments of the afternoon was when Mike's initiative rolls had him active twice, back-to-back... fourth in one turn and first in the next. He used the opportunity to charge his heavy cav into my light cavalry. I passed the evade test and fell back into the woods. The Spanish cavalry still completed their charge but in the trees, everyone was hitting on 5+ and only had 2 armor! The equalizer paid off as the Spanish cavalry took it on the chin. 

We played a bit more but at the end of the day, the Spanish torches couldn't get the job done and no buildings burned! In all fairness, my dice were hot and both Mike and Mark rolled hot garbage most of the day. You probably don't need me to tell you how frustrating the Rampant games can be when your activations are failing early and often.

Mark and I then played an introductory game of Quar - Clash of Rhyfles. Interesting item of note... Mark has been bumping his gums for YEARS about his collection of Quar and trying to sell us on the game. He's never once offered to put it on the table and show it off. Mike picks up the new models from Wargames Atlantic and has it on the table in a fortnight. Classic.

We each had 10 troops with a mix of weapons, mostly rifles but also some SAWs and SMGs. The clear glass bauble in the picture above is our objective location we fought over.

My blues turned things into a tragedy for the greens. I was able to get a few very useful fire lanes set up, picking off enemy troops left and right.

I did lose a couple in the process, but in the end was able to take the objective, occupy the enemy backfield and overall, take the win!

Last evening, my wife and I did something quite unusual for us... we went to a WWE RAW pro wrestling event at the new area in Savannah. I got a couple of freebie tickets from work and, well... it was a heck of a lot of fun. 

and of course a cage match!

Even if you aren't a fan, it's truly quite a production spectacle and those athletes are amazing to watch. Awesome stuff.