Getting in the (Bolt) Action Part 2

I finished up these Americans last fall, took the pictures a couple months ago, and am finally getting around to posting them.  They are the opposing force to the my Fallschirmjager.

I've played around a half dozen or so games of Bolt Action now with them and it's proving fun.  I haven't figured out how to win the Germans yet.  The Americans always seem to pin the Germans into oblivion.  I am definitely in the club that machine guns are poorly rated in the game.  Machine guns are not significantly better than more riflemen.

I'll keep playing Bolt Action but am looking forward to using the forces with Battlegroup Overlord, Chain of Command, and Flying Lead.

Here they are.  I'm not bothering with the Bolt Action points as I see their future in other games as well.  Presented here in TO&E format.

Platoon Command

1st Squad 1st Platoon

Thompson equipped NCO and BAR gunner included, typical of all 3 squads.

2nd Squad 1st Platoon

One order die for Bolt Action, its a bit of a weakness for the game.

3rd Squad 1st Platoon

Chain of Command and Battlegroup split these guys into 2 elements effectively.  They manage it differently in the rules but get a result where you can achieve fire and maneuver more elegantly than another action die.

Rounding out the platoon assets are the sniper team and bazooka team.

The extra man on the sniper team cannot take a rifle in Bolt Action so I just pay for an SMG as the closest option.

Showing the removable 2nd man of the team.

A number of Company assets have been assigned to this platoon by the company commander.

Company Command Team.  A captain and his carbine equipped staff.  I'll be turning him into a Battalion commander later as a CO should have a carbine.

Those assets include a .30 caliber machine gun from the weapons platoon.

My best processed picture in this batch.  Still struggling a lot with lighting and exposure.

Show with removable man.  If the loader eats it i'll need to mark it with a die or token.

and a 60mm mortar team.

Sorry for the focus, too lazy to retake.

Casualty markers as typical.

Considering the high priority of any action this force is assigned to they are also hosting an observer team from Division.  I can use this model for an artillery observer or air support liaison officer in Bolt Action.

Fire for Effect!

Here it is all together.

I really need to get a different background to take the photos with.  All green makes for a lot of issues with processing the RAW photos.

After playing a number of games I am wondering if 15mm might be a little too "fiddley".  It hasn't stopped me from preparing another platoon and support for both forces to paint.  If I wasn't so committed terrain wise to 15mm I would seriously consider 20mm.

Here is the whole batch in it's storage box with a couple tanks to go with them.

Woodland Warrior Villagers

I've been working on some non World War II stuff lately.  It's been fun and refreshing.  I picked up some wonderful 20mm fantasy figures from Splintered Light Miniatures and painted up some for a game I'm brewing up for my kids.

These are the Villager Personalities from the 20mm Woodland Warrior collection.  If you are familiar The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame then you will immediately see the striking similarity of the figures to the story.  The were sculpted by Bob Olley who seems to be a legend in miniature making.

Our story, like The Wind in the Willows, begins with a humble mole awakening from hibernation.

Moley, as he comes to be called, befriends a Water Rat.

Moley and Ratty go on to journey with the hospitable Mr. Toad.

Finally Moley's curiosity leads them to the Distinguished Badger.

The four animals go on in story to great fame and become known as Faithful Friends.

The Villagers Personalities pack has a couple bonus figures as well.  A Gentleman Rabbit,

and his Muskrat Lady Housekeeper.

In their entirety, Splintered Light Miniature's, Bob Olley sculpted, 20 mm Woodland Warriors Villagers Personalities, painted by yours truly.

Thanks for looking.  Any comments are welcome.  Next up is some WWII.

GOAL! or not

Well it's been a long time since an update and albeit my followers are few I thought I better update you on things.  The months have flown by and here we are into the 4th month of the year.  The time for hobbyists and bloggers to recap progress in the past year and set forth new projects and goals for the new year has come and gone.

I'm going to take this post to make a personal repudiation of that process.

First off, in spite of serious intentions, I failed to make my goal of providing two quality posts per month on the blog.  I made barely half the goal at 11.  It's actually an irony because I think that I had the content to publish worthwhile posts but there was a number of excuses reasons that it didn't happen.

Without boring you too much I have a 2 and 6 year old and I am the primary caregiver.  Probably enough said there as family always comes before hobbies.  I'm also very busy with real estate activities.

I also struggled with photography, in particular lighting.  This put the stops on reporting a couple of different painting projects.  I wasn't really happy with what I did publish though it was passable.

Lastly having hobby goals is not fun for me.  I don't like the pressure of them on something that is supposed to be purely for pleasure and relaxation.  It's probably one of the reasons I don't play in many tournaments.  I create a list that seems competitive, don't have all the models, assess the probably of being able to paint them before the tournament date, and usually decide to pass.

So in light of all my issues I think the most sensible goal for me with a hobby is to have none.

I'm rather excited with the prospect.  I can meander as I please and take whatever time I want to start or finish projects.  Now I think it's important to state that I do have projects that I am working on and there are goals to finish them but they have no imposed deadlines.  The only goal is to finish them at some point.

To that effect what you may expect to see from this blog is a commitment to continue providing quality posts.  They may be at a similar rate, slower, or faster.  They may be evenly spaced through out the year or come in lumpy.  The non hobby life will dictate what time I can dedicate to reporting my hobby projects.  Be assured there will continue to be posting as I do have a great sense of accomplishment when I finish things and I do like to get feedback and show things off a bit.

I've got some fantasy stuff I'm going to share next followed by some more 15mm WWII stuff for skirmish games as well as painting and terrain work.

That's all for now.  Thanks for following along!