AAR 1- British Paras vs Heer

After Action Report 1

Here are just a few pics from a Bolt Action game from this weekend. I had a bit of time spare & was looking forward to putting a few new pieces out on the table. As a result, I didn't take many pics during the game, but snapped a few when I remembered...

Since completing most of my British paras during Lockdown, I've had little chance to field them, so this was a treat. I also got to use my watertower, high walls, train tracks & a new terraced house row for the first time (blog entries for those soon...)

The British were attempting to push into the outskirts of town, but the Germans held good positions in the hotel and its surrounds. The paras had to resort to a dash up the left flank along the railway tracks. Here, some engineers in their Universal Carrier get the jump on a grenadier squad holding the junction.

Viewed from the British table edge, some of the paras support units go about their work. The 3" mortar was quite ineffective for the most part, but dropped a perfect smoke round right in front of the hotel on turn 3. It managed to stay for the remainder of the game & screened the advance on, & eventual storming, of the ground floor by a para section.

The sniper on the top of the watertower was more deadly, taking out a couple of squad leaders and an LMG team, earning his keep sufficiently.

In the background you can see my Tetrarch tank burning. I forgot that panzerfaust troops can split their fire from the rest of their unit, so got one right in the face whilst the engineers were facing off against the rest of squad. Damn...

Here we have an Aufklarungs/ Recon team debussing from their halftrack to deal with a para officer. Fire from several directions kept the pins high on this team, but they killed the officer's radio operator, only for the plucky first Lieutenant to fend them off from inside the orchard with some inspired shooting from his Sten gun.

(Apologies for the ad hoc smoke in the background. Never had one land before & had no templates to represent them when it did! Raided the bathroom cabinet & the misses' cotton wool products so warfare could continue...)

A shot here of the back of the terraces & the allotment behind. The chickens seem unconcerned by the sounds of battle over the way. Shows the reverse of the houses & my experimentation with brick paper quite nicely though.

Russians Pt.10- SU-76 & M3 White Scout Car

SU-76

I like this little SPG. In BA it's a cheap and cheerful option before you get caught up in the bigger SU tank hunters and mobile howitzers. I like the basic nature of this vehicle- it looks cramped and uncomfortable for 3 men to live and operate in, so no wonder its nickname was 'Suka' or 'bitch' among its crews!

I like that the Zis-3 armament allows this little vehicle to work in a couple of different ways- as an AT gun and as a howitzer- which makes it quite versatile. This caused me quite a headache when I first started playing BA. I was getting my head around a new rules system and was having confusion with howitzers being able to fire indirectly or under open sights, and then, on top of that, I could opt to use this weapon as a light AT gun as well!

I got over that hurdle, but I think it meant I under-utilised my SU-76 for a good while as I figured out what it was best suited for. It's not just a smaller, more brittle StuG. It's got a fair bit of utility, and I've noticed it can slip under an opponent's radar as they immediately focus all of their attention on the T-34s...

Just a few of Debris of War stowage pieces added here. There's enough detail on this Warlord resin kit already. A firm favourite of mine...

Lend-Lease M3 White Scout Car

I had never considered an armoured car or similar type of transport for my Soviets because I had a squad of scouts already and wasn't particularly interested in collecting or painting anything to fill that slot in my army. But after reading the Fortress Budapest Campaign book, I became interested in the Rota Razvedki Mounted Reconnaissance Squad option that was detailed there.

I'd always liked the Warlord Lend-Lease Universal Carrier with Russian crew models, but found I preferred the M3 White Scout Car instead! The transport capacity is larger, allowing for a bigger squad, and the Mounted Recon rules give the option of leaving members aboard to man all of the machine guns on the vehicle.

The finished model is pretty much as it comes, with the only addition being a Debris of War petrol can. I like the crew members, looking as though they're scanning the surrounding countryside for danger. Next task (of many), is build and paint the squad that will travel in the thing...

Russians Pt.9- T-34s (+Tank Riders)

T-34/85 No.1

This was the first BA vehicle I purchased and built. Without knowledge of the wider range of companies out there at that point, I went straight for a Warlord plastic vehicle. In a min/max moment, I also opted for the T-34/85, but I intend to get some T-34/76 turrets to swap out for playing mid-war games.

I like this kit. I added a Warlord tank commander and a few pieces of Debris of War stowage to make the tank look more interesting and less bare, but wanted to keep it relatively uncluttered so that tank rider figures could be placed on the hull more easily.

T-34/85 No.2

As I wanted to grow my Soviet force to play larger games, I became aware of other companies that offered WW2 vehicles in different ways. I'd never contemplated 3D printing up to then, but came across Paint & Glue Miniatures and my eyes were opened to new possibilities. Here was a way to flesh out the number of vehicles in my force in a much cheaper way than if I relied on plastic or resin kits.

I wasn't disappointed. The model is light, robust, well detailed and serves it's purpose perfectly. The material it was printed in was bright blue, which was quite startling, but it painted up just fine. Since then, I have returned to Paint & Glue several times for vehicles for my German and British Airborne forces and have not been disappointed.

I chose to keep this tank free from stowage and additions because I had seen plenty of photographic evidence showing Soviet tanks appearing that way. Maybe the lightning speed that some armies raced through Eastern Europe and into Germany meant they didn't have much time to stop? Maybe Soviet propoganda shots avoided the more scruffily laden tanks? You see tons of pictures of Shermans with sandbags, packs and GIs hanging off of them... Either way, It meant I got to paint up this guy pretty quickly and get it onto the table. I like the wood saw strapped to the side and the mismatched fuel tanks.

Tank Riders

Another auto-include for my Soviets were these guys. I have one of my two Tank Rider/ SMG squads built and painted, but just needed the figures to represent them riding into battle. I bought two packs, knowing I'd get some multiples, and split them into two teams for each of my T-34s. I've only painted one group up so far, but the second bunch will get painted when the second SMG squad is finished, someday... 

                            

After the Bad Squiddo Soviet Women Kickstarter was completed, I now had another gal to add to this little group. I painted up the bearded LMG trooper beside her too, to make six tank riders in total, so I can have three on each tank when I finally paint up my second Tank Rider squad.

Russians Pt.8- Scouts & Snipers

Scouts

One of my favourite squads in all of the Soviet army book, I knew instantly that I wanted to include them in my army. In fact, I have two squads assembled, but only one painted at the moment. My Razvedchiki are a mixture of metal Warlord and Black Tree Designs sculpts. I like all of the sculpts in the Warlord pack, but some are a bit specialised- cutting wire or laying a grenade in tank tracks. I'm not a fan of the lying down figures so much, so was happy to stumble on the Black Tree options. This allowed me to fill out a full squad with SMG troops and create a deadly little unit. I like to place them using Hidden set-up rather than outflanking, and when combined with Tank Hunter and sniper teams (and maybe a FOO), I can often claim quite a few areas of terrain around my opponent and deny them positions for their own Hidden set-up units.

The amoeba suits were a nice change from painting a lot of infantry uniforms. I chose a mixture of green and brown versions for the team, and added a helmeted head to one soldier to break up the side-cap domination.

Sniper Team

The sniper comes with the Warlord Scout pack, but cannot be fielded with them, so automatically, he became my sharpshooter. I had absolutely no complaints because this is an excellent model. I love the details on the ghillie suit.

Up until I discovered the Black Tree scouts, I wasn't sure who I would include as the sniper's '+1'. I wanted an amoeba suit wearer because why would a uniformed infantryman be accompanying a fully-camouflaged sniper?! I also wanted a kneeling figure to complement my marksman's pose. Black Tree provided! I think this must be an NCO, as he is sporting binoculars, and he fits perfectly. The other scout with binoculars from the pack is standing so will be the NCO of scout team 2- when they finally return from working behind enemy lines...

Russians Pt.7- Anti-Tank Teams

Anti-Tank Teams

I love that Soviet platoons can take 0-3 teams here instead of the regular one. After reading a couple of different books about the Battle of Kursk/ Prokhorovka, I knew that I wanted to include Tank Hunter teams in my force. I could have taken them in all three slots, but wanted a bit of variation, and was intrigued by one of the other entries in this section (see below).

Tank Hunters

Team one includes figures from the original Warlord metal Red Army box. The guy with a grenade was a no-brainer, and the SMG firer had the right armament, so good. The NCO and Panzerfaust firer are recent additions from Bad Squiddo's Soviet Women Kickstarter. When I saw these figures, I immediately knew I wanted to back the project and include them in my army, which meant I could swap out some other SMG armed guys to create my mounted recon squad. 

As veterans, Tank Hunters are a little harder to hit; a team of four has a bit more longevity, and their Hidden set-up and 'Tough Tank Hunter' rules mean they can be a nasty surprise for an opponent. So why wouldn't I want more than one team?!

                          

Team two's NCO is the third figure from the Warlord Maxim MMG pack who I'd swapped out previously. The trooper with the cape is one of the options available in the Tank Riders pack- but as he is standing, and looks like he is creeping up on a target, I thought he fit in better here. The grenade thrower is another of the Bad Squiddo ladies who slotted into the team just perfectly!

The Panzerfaust firer in this squad moved over from the first team once the new female soldier joined their ranks. This allowed me to remove a really poorly moulded version of this figure and replace it with the marginally better cast that you see here.

Dog Mine Team

This is a quirky and unusual option, which illustrates the desperate lengths the Soviets were prepared to go to to deal with Axis armour during Barbarossa. The NCO and the dog come from the old Anti-Tank pack, and I originally supplemented the team with a couple of other SMG armed troopers and kept count of the dogs 'fired' in the manner you can see in the picture. With the release of the latest Soviet Anti-Tank Teams box, a couple of new handler sculpts were introduced, so I had to have them.

As a dog lover, I don't dwell too much on the grim realities or the finer details of this particular teams modus operandi, but I only field them if my opponent has no issue with facing them. (In fact, I have had one opponent who has asked me explicitly not to field them, so I agreed out of respect of their wishes...)

I like how the NCO is tapping his leg trying to coax his dog to follow him. He looks exasperated. I think the canny dog has got a healthy dose of self-preservation running through him, so I don't mind when they run away in the midst of a battle and achieve very little.

Russians Pt.6- Weapon Teams

Medium Machine Gun 1

This Maxim machine gun was an early addition to this army. I had bought some Warlord Tank Riders to put on the back of my first T-34 and saw that the figure lying down with a cigarette in his mouth would make for a good team leader here. I swapped out the team's original third man- kneeling and pointing- to be used elsewhere.

The gunner is unusual, I think- I've only ever seen a version without glasses online, but I'm probably just not looking hard enough. I base teams individually to aid casualty removal and to better place them amongst scenery.

Medium Machine Gun 2

I didn't intend to get another MMG team, but this model came in the Siberian Veteran box, so why not?! I like the variation this team offers, as MMGs tend to be 'firing' rather than the 'redeploying'- unless you're playing Americans and have multiple teams, I suppose.

I like how the two soldiers during the hard graft look like they want to murder the team leader, who is a Winter Infantry shoe in. Note, the yellow dot on the front of the gunner's base is for determining LoS and firing archs, as there is no barrel to measure from.

Medium Mortar Team + Spotter

Another early purchase to bolster the initial Reinforced Platoon choices. As mentioned previously, I promoted the team leader with SMG and medals to Lieutenant, so needed a suitable replacement for the mortar team. The guy holding the rifle is from the original metal Red Army infantry box from Warlord, and fits well enough, I think. The spotter is the third figure from the Soviet FOO pack alongside the officer and the signals girl with flags. 

Russians Pt.5- Tank Riders

Tank Rider Squad

These are the guys that I picture when I imagine Soviets during WW2. When I found that you could field then in BA, I was very happy. In smaller games, I use them as an SMG squad instead, and I have come to value the barrage of fire that they can unleash at close quarters and in melee. My plan is to have two squads eventually. I built the squad initially from Warlord Soviet Infantry, but then returned to them with Winter Infantry in greatcoats for some variation. As a result, I have the good part of a second squad painted with the figures I moved out to allow the greatcoats, so will finish them off one day...

Another addition was a couple of female SMG troopers from Bad Squiddo. Once their latest Kickstarter completes, I'll have a few more ladies to add to this force... The soldier striking with the butt of his PPSh has metal arms from the Siberian Veterans box. As always, the NCO has a red base rim for identification.