Bolt Action Scenario

It has been ages since we played a game of Bolt Action.

Mr Steinberg and I recently played a scenario as a training mission, this was because we have British forces “wargaming” an assault mission against defending US forces. Paintball no doubt.

This mission was played using night rules, so there was reduced visibility and some confusion to deal with. This made for a interesting twist to a normal game.

I must remember next time to split my larger squads into two fire teams, this should make moving and firing a bit more effective.

Bolt Action is a good game, we should try to play it more!

0200 First Game

A couple of weeks ago, I had my first go of 0200, the sneak around in the dark WWII skirmish game. Mr Steinberg had the models required for both sides and a simple (?) mission for the British Commandoes to undertake. Basically, creep up to a bridge, plant a charge, and run away before it blows up.

The turn sequence is quite good, you never quite know if a standard soldier or officer will be activated and there is a chance that not all models will get activated in any given turn.

As long as the Commandoes can sneak around without making too much noise, the Germans will stick to their patrol routes.

In this particular game, the British officer did all the hard work himself. He was able to sneak up to the bridge and plant the charge without being spotted.

However, then his luck ran out and the charge had a much shorter fuse than he expected and it exploded early while he was still next to it. Somehow, he survived…

The rest of the Commandoes could easily get off the table, but I wanted to go through the shooting and melee rules so they hung around for a bit of a fight.

The custom dice take a liitle to get your head around, but after another game or two, it should be easier.

German Checkpoint

I think my checkpoint sentry box might need a few more lines.

…and the barrier is a bit boring as well.

Painted Hangar

The base colours are on the large hangar.

It still needs more work, I think I am going to try the sponge technique on the roof and walls to make it look well used.

It is plenty big enough for all of the aircraft I have, including one that has yet to be built.

Whats On The Table?

Some time ago, I posted about a rather large aircraft hangar I had made, and after a few tweaks to the design, I have painted it.

To start with, it was just a case of painting the roof structure using a black tester emulsion pot.

…and then drybrushing it boltgun and silver.

I painted the inside of the roof tiles grey…

…and stuck them painted side down…

When they were all attached…

…I glued on paper strips about 8mm wide over the joins.
When they dry, I will paint the roof.

MDF Check Point

To go with my current WWII MDF projects, I am making a checkpoint with sentry boxes and a barrier.

Just need to tweak the roof a bit and these wil be done.

MDF Aircraft Hangar

We play a number of WWII games, either historical like Bolt Action, or with a more weird war focus, such as Dust and Konflikt ’47. I have had sketches of some airfield building ideas for ages to design and build in MDF.

I decided to start with a large building and make a huge aircraft hangar.

There is plenty of room inside for any of the aircraft I have and high enough for the Mechs in Dust and Konflikt.

Blitzkrieg Commander Assault

In this recent game of Blitzkrieg Commander, the US forces assaulted a German position.

Having played out a capture the objective game before, I once again had to go for several half tracks filled with infantry.

The Germans were quite well dug-in, making hits a bit tricky, but I did try some off table artillery support for the first time.

The Germans were quite well dug-in, making hits a bit tricky.

Just getting hits on enemy units in the hope they become suppressed can be a better option than trying to destroy a target, so splitting fire is a worthwhile tactic.

It can all come down to a mad dash for the objective with the infantry leaping out of their transports and heroically trying to get to the spot without taking too many hits.

We have been using Blitzkrieg Commander second edition, so far only playing with Italian/Tunisian army lists. In the new year, we will have to try out some European army lists and my late war Germans can finally get painted.

It is great to get my 15mm models out again!

Blitzkrieg Commander

I never really got on with the Flames Of War rules, I don’t know why, they just never grabbed me. Ages ago, I picked up the Blitzkrieg Commander 2009 second edition rulebook with a view to giving it a go and getting my fully painted 15mm American army on the table again.

It has taken a very long time, but finally we have played a few games and I have to say it is a good game.

I don’t have a huge force, but there are plenty of Shermans and some supporting M10 and Priests.
Supporting infantry get to ride around in M3 Halftracks.

Mr Steinbergs Germans had plenty of quality tanks and supporting infantry as well.

Rivers can be a bit of a bottleneck, you typically end up with a traffic jam.

Massing firepower against targets is essential to have a chance of destroying them, but getting a unit supressed is also very useful.


Getting a Bazooka and some M10 Tankhunters behind a heavy tank is a huge advantage as it increases the numbe rof attack dice and redices the save!

The German mortars are a bit handy, all mortars have long range so as long as a spotter can get Line Of Sight, they can drop their munitions just about anywhere.

We are not so keen on the random adjustment of force sizes, giving one player a potentially huge advantage, but even pointed games has so far been fun.

Bolt Action

Bolt Action is another game that had not been played since before the Pandemic so we deployed 100 points of US versus Germans to give it a go again.

As a “house rule”, we have halved the points for transports, M3’s and 251’s, as we were finding we would never use them at about 100 points each normally.


The Germans had an HMG set up covering one street with a Puma and Marder coverign another. The US tried to move flamers up towards both positions.

A US infantry unit in the middle took fire from both sides and spent much of the game unable to activate.

Meanwhile the Germans jumped out of their transport and flamed a US M3.

The Americans did actually have a Sherman but somehow a photo did not get taken. It got taken out by the Puma soon after rumbling on.

Friendly fire helped out the Americans as the Puma fired on, and destroyed the Marder.

Mr Steinbergs Germans are really well painted, and they also pack plenty of firepower with multiple machine guns in a unit.

A jeep with an HMG gives great supporting fire with mobility, but you still need to get the target in view, something I failed to do most of the game.

Flamers are also effective against light vehicles, I think two flamers will be a regular inclusion in the future and I suspect Mr Steinberg will be doing the same.

The US Officer was this bloke who looks a bit like Clint. He did not do much during the game…

It has been a long time since we played Bolt Action. The game was fun, we did not have to go back to rule books too much. Not a lot beats a game on great terrain with two fuly painted up forces!

I think the main challenge is the ease with which units get pinned and then are unable to activate. I will have to revisit my army list and try in include more Officers to help with Morale.