British North African Motorpool – Part II
I got my kits via a dutch onlinestore, Tabletopper.nl, and shipping was quick and easy. Shipping rates are reasonable, and I got some other items along with the bedford trucks as well, an Austin Tilly and some stowage.
The British had a variety of trucks and tows in service during the war and especially in North Africa. With the Bedford QLT and QLD kits available as plastic kits, I could take care of that addition to my forces, as most of the vehicles are regular combat vehicles, as you can see from the first article, with the exception of some lighter vehicles / armoured cars.
In Bolt Action these are 3 ton trucks with the capacity of 12 men, and you can go for a QLT upgrade to boost that up to 29. To be honest a bit of overkill, but I went with the kit more for the aspect of variety as for the actual opportunity to carry all of my men in a single vehicle.
British North African Motorpool – Part I
Following on the late war Allied motorpool for the US Americans for the late autumn / winter of '44, are the British in North Africa, mid-war around 1942-43. With this set of miniatures, I want to be able to play the theatre selectors of the Desert Rats / 8th Army in 1942-43 and the Long Range Desert Group from 1940 to 1943.
The infantry is build upon the magnificient range by the Perrys, mostly plastic.
US Motorpool – Part II
I got around to build the transporters for my late war US Americans. The latest addition were these kits, build around the half tracks and a "heavier Jeep" if you want.
As Tabletopper.nl carries Empress Miniatures as well, I got myself some matching crew for the kits. I'm not a huge fan of the infantry by Rubicon, they are to slender for my taste and with the option to get some Paul Hicks sculpted minis, the choice for me was easy. Going with the Empress codes. As you can see, they fit very well with the plastic kits and are not just generic drivers, but wearing the matching winter gear.
US Motorpool – Part I
As mentioned in my reducing the stock and moving posts, I cut down on open projects. This affected among other projects Bolt Action. I merged some off the themed armies and sold the surplus, especially the vehicles.
I made a mindmap for the projects that will stay. And the Bolt Action armies, which will be set up in a way to be able to put to use in other systems as well, for example like Battlegroup, are:
Late War - Winter of 1944/45
- Germans (Ardennenoffensive / Wacht am Rhein, Unternehmen Greif)
- Combined Allied battle group of Americans (Battle of the Bulge, later Operation Lumberjack) and British (rougly Operation Queen, but British troops fighting their way from Belgium/Netherlands towards middle rhine)
Mid War - Desert and Jungle
- Deutsches Afrikakorps
- 8th Army
- Chindits
Bolt Action – Jagdtiger
After covering multiple King Tigers on here, in resin and plastic, it is time to go for the heaviest beasts of the Tiger-Class tanks, the German tank destroyer Sd.Kfz. 186 Jagdpanzer VI - also known as Jagdtiger.
This beast is available in 28mm by multiple companies as a resin kit, but now comes for the first time in plastic, by the joint production of Warlord Games and Italeri. The kit I got, was a pre-release provided by the Dutch wargaming shop Tabletopper.nl. As such it didn't come in a cardboard box, it was simply the sprues in a plastic bag. The final product of course comes with instructions, decals and so on.
The Jagdpanzer VI was another tank destroyer, based upon the chassis of a regular tank. The Germans did this multiple times, as we've seen with the Jagdpanther, the Sturmgeschütz III, Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer or Marder III (both based upon the Panzer 38(t)). But in this case, building upon the already pretty heavy Tiger II tank, the Jagdtiger became with around 70t the heaviest tank produced in series in history.
Bolt Action Campaign Mariana & Palau Islands
A bit of catching up to do. While Bolt Action returns to D-Day with the current and next campaign supplement, we have to catch up and revisit the pacific with Bolt Action Campaign Mariana & Palau Islands.
For those of you, not familiar with the pacific campaign, a brief intro on the campaign might come in handy. We have had releases covering the (South) East Asian conflict for Bolt Action with Empires in Flames and New Guinea. And with Mariana & Palau, the US Forces, especially the Marines are moved into focus, in their battles against the Japanese. At 160 pages it doesn't set a new record in thickness, but is still broad and covering a lot of ground for the campaign. Pricing stays with the usual price band of 20 GBP or 30 USD (about 25 EUR). And as often with the Bolt Action / Osprey books, we had an early cover (left) and a changed final cover of the supplement (right), replacing the US Marine with an IJA soldier.
Bolt Action – Battlefield Debris
Warlord Games prepared a bundle of scatter terrain called Battlefield Debris and in todays review we will take a closer look into the box.
Bolt Action – Carro Armato M13/40 and M14/41
After a bit of a pause, a new plastic vehicle kit for Bolt Action. Not bound to a certain campaign book this time, and from the cooperation of Italeri and Warlord Games an italian medium tank multi-kit, the Carro Armato / Semovente.
This is the first italian plastic tank kit for Bolt Action, so far they only had access to resin kits and among those primarely tankettes. With this kit, the player is able to field either a Carro Armato M13/40, M14/41 or Semovente da 75/18.
Bolt Action SdKfz 251/7 Ausf. D Pionierwagen
A bit of a sneaky release by Warlord Games, with the Campaign Stalingrad book a new plastic kit came along - the Sd.Kfz 251/7 Ausf. D Pionierwagen.
There was a Pionierwagen kit available before, based upon the plastic Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. C with a few resin parts added, to create the /7 variant. In this case we have the 251/1 Ausf. D as a base with an additional plastic frame, as we've seen in the kit of the Flammpanzerwagen, Stummel or mortar carrier.