Bolt Action Desert War Bootcamp

[bobcockayne 20723xp 2]

@liefer, a pleasure to meet you and Geoff

Got to do it again.

[bobcockayne 20723xp 5]

Again to all the team at OTT thanks, special thanks to Lance, Tom, Colin , Lloyd, beavering away at back.

Plus not forgetting for all the campers for making so much fun.

Special No-Prize award to Avernos, for the rules help/ lists he gave everyone!

Got home 11.15 last night , only delay both going and return was the train to Walsall last night, where they couldnt open the doors, and it left 20 mins late, was it an omen!

 

 

[damon 7525xp 3]

After a good nights sleep, unpacked the toys and reflecting on a great weekend.

A big thanks to the BoW/OTT crew for all the hard work put in to make it a great place to be.

Big up to all the gamer guys and gals who made it so much fun to be with.

Bring on the next one.

[svboelMember 6220xp 5]

Thanks for an awesome weekend guys. Its been awesome! Had so much fun! Even-through I was a bit clumsy with the my knife ;P (the finger survived) ! But it looks like all our figures survived the trip home 🙂

It was nice meeting you all, boot campers, warlord crew and the beasts of war crew. And is was nice getting a few pints with you all Saturday evening.

And a special thank to the giant of the boot camp 😀

Im definitely inspired to play some bolt action after this awesome weekend 🙂

 

[avernosKeymaster 33949xp 6]

For anyone new to BA who I forced to play with my German list I’ve started a project detailing the build and list design, it may be handy for those of you new to the system.

If you’ve come home and you’re wondering exactly what I’ve left you with you can check out the desert squirrel

Once I get the rest cleaned up and assembled it will become a painting log, and after that how to expand it into a 1500 point force.

I figured if you need any advice you can ask it in the comments as well.

[limburger 21741xp 2]

@avernos : that project log is great.

Is there any difference between the various squad types within an army (like the choice between Heer vs Pioneer vs Fallschirmjager for North Africa) ?
The options appear to be pretty similar, with the exception of a few toys and the experience level of the troops.

[avernosKeymaster 33949xp 2]

glad you asked, there are no differences between inexperienced Herr and inexperienced pioneers, or the regulars or vets for that matter.

The differences come from the equipment available. So Pioneers can have up to 7 SMGs in the squad, and support that with a flamethrower or a light machine gun. Other units can sometimes have access to abilities like Fanatics for the SS or tough fighters.

[limburger 21741xp 3]

I must say that the British troops with their extra dice per 3 troops were scary.

Hitlers’ Buzzsaw isn’t an answer to that amount of firepower with its +1 die.

otoh … as a few of my lucky machinegunners will tell you : small teams can be very hard to kill
So even though the 8th army could do a lot of damage initially they still had a few very tough fight.

I just wished my machinegunners had rolled a “don’t panic”, because it wasn’t exactly great for my light mortar LOL

[avernosKeymaster 33949xp 2]

I think the buzzsaw is excellent, don’t forget they have to close to use those rifles and every time you cause a wound their effectiveness is reduced by more than the death of one man as they lose a piece of that bonus shot.

It is a good rule though, but I’m happy with Gerry’s Jerrys 😀

[avernosKeymaster 33949xp 1]

for those of you at the bootcamp who may not know, Charlie has set up a closed facepage thing if people want to stay in touch post bootcamp, or if you have any queries it’s a fast way (ish) of getting an answer. As it’s a closed secret type group I won’t name it here, because I have no idea how these things work 🙂 but PM me and I’ll point you in the direction.

[oriskany 60771xp 7]

Here is is mid Wednesday afternoon and things are FINALLY starting to cool down.  You guys wouldn’t recognize the studio right now.  So apologies for not pinging this thread earlier  …

But thanks so much everyone for an amazing weekend.  @brucelea, @buggeroff, @bobcockayne, @intelligentmistertoad, @leifer1971, @jackie, @commodorerob, @avernos, @noyjatat, @svboel (I hope your finger feels better), @christianhou52hotmail-com @irishsteve, Martin with the Black Watch at Tobruk (I don’t know your screen name), @limburger, @damon, @soapdodger, @suetoniuspaullinus, @slugherder, @un4bmb3r, @laughingboy, @trewets, Helena … and I’m super sorry if I’m forgetting anyone’s screen name …

Amazing trip!  So good to meet you all!  I hope you enjoy the coverage and post your progressing Bolt Action armies on the the Projects!  Please stay in touch here on the site, either through the forums or through PMs if there’s anything this Historical Editor can do for you.

[bobcockayne 20723xp 0]

@oriskany quickie question , would 90th light have had Skdz 250’s and 251’s or where they purely truck born?

looked at a couple of orders of battle and doesnt show much on equipment , my gut says no as they were infantry regs, but the recon units may have used, them though have found ref mentioning using captured universal carriers.

[oriskany 60771xp 0]

You are not wrong, @bobcockayne – German units, including the 90th Light, would not have had really any halftracks.  These were in short supply for full-scale panzergrenadier divisions (there were none in Africa at the time) and instead being sent to the priority front:  Russia.

NOW, when you transition from El Alamein to Tunisia at the turn of 1942-43, that’s different.  The armies are practically rebuilt from scratch and you see new equipment and OOBs.  Not sure about that.

But the halftracks you’d see with 90th Light would be SdKfz 7s, unarmored halftracks, just for towing larger 10.5 cm howitzers, 88s, 15.0 cm howitzers, etc.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Sd.Kfz._7_Krauss-Maffei_pic1.JPG/300px-Sd.Kfz._7_Krauss-Maffei_pic1.JPG

[bobcockayne 20723xp 1]

@oriskany thanks!

[oriskany 60771xp 0]

Here’s the complete OOB – listed by number of platoons, at least for combat units, circa November 1941.

SdKfz-7

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