Bolt Action Campaign Stalingrad
The last Bolt Action supplement I've reviewed here was Korea and that was a spin-off, which covered for the first time a conflict outside of world war 2. So considering world war 2 books for Bolt Action, the latest one before that was Operation Overlord released in summer 2019, one more reason to see how Warlord Games covers one of the biggest battles of the second World War - Stalingrad.
So far, the only campaign book covering Stalingrad, yet in a brief way, as Ostfront from the first edition of Bolt Action. Campaign Road to Berlin covers the epoch two years after the Battle of Stalingrad. But this battle and the fighting around it, had such an impact on the war in the east that they absolutely deserve a supplement of its own and Warlord Games spreads that on a very solid 176 pages. This is upper region for the length of Bolt Action supplement, and it stays with the regular price band of 20 GBP or 30 USD. And as often with the Bolt Action / Osprey books, we had an early cover (right) and a changed final cover of the supplement (left), moving from a Soviet soldier in winter gear to a sailor.
Weekend Update CW 24/2020 – Mordheim, Paints and Blood Bowl
I am honest, I was a bit nervous about the arrival of this one, Luthor / Luther Wulfenbaum, as international shipping is still stressed at the moment, but the italian post office delivered and quite quick.
Bolt Action German Grenadiers
Among the plastic kits for Bolt Action, the German army has the most kits to choose from. Maybe that is to reconcile for the very first plastic kit of the German Infantry (we have come a long way since that), or just because they are the bad guys and due to that higher in demand. Following up on the Blitzkrieg Infantry (sorry, that article is only available in German, as it was published prior to this blog being bilingual in 2014/15) that covered the early war troops, this German Grenadier kit covered the late war.
More were about to follow, mostly mid to late war, like the Waffen-SS Grenadiers, Afrika Korps Grenadiers and Winter Gear German Infantry in means of regular infantry.
Bolt Action Centurion Mk III Heavy Tank
This is a review, that I was really looking for, as that tank is simply a must have for myself - the british Centurion tank! Warlord Games added the main battle tank to their range as part of the Korean supplement.
The Centurion was a successor of the cruiser tank line, with prominent ancestors like the Cromwell or Comet. These were proper tanks, but were no match to the heavy guns, the Germans could put into battle. So one of the requirements for a new, heavy cruiser tank, was that it had to withstand a hit from the feared 8,8 cm gun. They didn't solve that by giving it thicker armour, quite contrary, with 76mm the first prototypes of the Centurion Mk I had much thinner plates than a Churchill (101mm) or later Mk VII and VIII (152mm), but it was highly sloped, creating an effective thickness far above. Something the Russians brought into WW2 with the T-34 and was later picked up by others, like the German Panther tank.
Bolt Action – Korea
For the first time ever, Bolt Action steps outside of World War 2. We had a brief "what-if" scenario with Operation Sea Lion and Campaign Gigant, but that was as far as we went from the '33 to '45 conflict. But that was changed in the second half of 2019 with the release of the supplement Bolt Action: Korea.
Rubicon 2cm Flak Vierling 38
To create the Sd.Kfz. 7/1 variant, the Selbstfahrlafette 2-cm-Flakvierling 38 auf Fahrgestell Zugkraftwagen 8 t (self-propelled anti-aircraft half-track), I'd need flakvierling kit by Rubicon.
These kits are already planned in a way to be combined, so it can be build either as a weapon team of itself or optional mounted on the flatbed of the Sd.Kfz. 7.
The kit comes with a crew, of which I am not really fond, so these will be replaced with the proper crew from the Perry Miniatures as range, as this vehicle and AA-gun will be deployed with my Afrikakorps.
SdKfz 6/3 Diana for the Afrikakorps – but how?
As if the decision about the Sd.Kfz. 7 wasn't hard enough, a few weeks ago I found this one, the Sd.Kfz. 6/3 Diana. It is based upon the Sd.Kfz. 6, which is basically a lighter predecessor of the Sd.Kfz. 7 "only" being able to tow 5t instead of 8t. It was fitted with captured Soviet 76-mm divisional guns model 1936 (F-22) and an armoured superstructure was build around it.
The Sd.Kfz. 6 is not available in 28mm, the Diana can only be bought as model kits or 15mm, but it was in service in the Afrikakorps. So it would fit in the project and would be another great field conversion and outstanding rarety. Yet, how to approach this project?
SdKfz 7 for the Afrikakorps – but which variant?
Didn't we need a tow for the 8,8 cm FlaK? Here it is! The mighty Sd.Kfz. 7, or Sonder-Kraftfahrzeug 7 − Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t (German for medium towing motor vehicle 8t) as the full name of this interesting vehicle was. So far, there are a couple of resin kits on the market, and then Rubicon came along with a plastic kit.
The Rubicon kit comes with a few variants incl., it can be build open or closed, so covers a tarpaulin for the back seats, or can be build with a flat bed to cover the Sd.Kfz. 7/1 and 7/2 variants, sporting different FlaK guns on the back.
8,8 cm FlaK 37 for the Afrikakorps
I already have an 8,8 FlaK, the kit by Warlord Games / Italeri, and the Blitzkrieg one, but as I wanted a mounted one, that could be towed, I looked into the Rubicon kit as well (and because my Afrikakorps almost exclusively uses Rubicon kits for vehicles).
Skype Sessions, Nuremberg and the weekend
The intention to meet up (virtually) for a painting session did work quite well this week, with 6 participants in total.
As we're not living close to each other, but spread all over the country, a virtual meet up is a welcome solution. Even if we were closer, due to many of being dads, we're more flexible this way to take a break or so. We did use Skype, but other options would be Discord or Facetime (if you're a pure apple crowd).
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