Help needed to build my first Bolt Action Army

[wedgie2007Participant 84xp 0]

For now I think I have enough information to play Bolt Action with what I have, If I was to play the game by the letter of Bolt Action I wouldn’t be able to play the game I want but if I play the game based on the essence of Bolt Action I think I can play a larger game just fine, from what I have been instructed elsewhere.

I think the combat mechanics will work fine for my style of action although I will need a few more order dice.

[blackbrydParticipant 24xp 1]

Coming to this a year late, any chance of an update, Wedgie? How much of that horde have you got painted. Must admit I found the sheer amount of sprues on your list staggering but fair play dude, go big or go home lol. Loved the lists!

[wedgie2007Participant 84xp 3]

Hi Blackbryrd,

I haven’t really achieved much as I kind of shuffle between Napoleonics, 40k and then World War II, I do have some photos of my painted miniatures but no pictures of all the miniatures that I have assembled, I have a full Infantry Company for the 42nd US Armoured Division and a full company for the 2nd SS Panzer division of which I can not recall the battalion they are from.

My first attempt at pea-dot

My second attempt at pea-dot

Company HQ Halftrack for my US armoured Infantry Company

Panzergrenadier Company HQ Hanomag with Radio

2nd Panzer Division Panzergrenadier Company HQ (missing one Hanomag with Radio)

Company HQ of the 42nd Armoured Infantry 2nd US Armoured Division

My Waffen SS Mortar Platoon

Panzer IV company of the 2nd SS Panzer Division

Thank you for your interest in my progression of my World War II Armies.

[jemmyParticipant 2428xp 0]

I read your article today and that is a breathtaking task you set yourself.

As for buying more order dice, please consider assigning more than one unit to a single order die. f. i., three MMG teams are one order die, 3 Pz IV H are one order die etc. This will speed things up and it´s a relief for your expenses.

Have you bought the army books by now? That will make things much easier for you, as you can then match the battle orders you have with the “allowed” units in the army books as close as possible.

The officer on the Sd-Kfz 250 is really cool. I wish I could paint like this.

Good luck and stay safe and fit. (The whole community 🙂 .

 

[wedgie2007Participant 84xp 0]

Hi Jemmy,

I have the following books, Battleground Europe, Campaign D-Day: Overlord, Campaign Market Garden, Campaign Battle of the Bulge, Armies of the United States and Armies of Germany plus the 2nd addition rule book in Hardcover and paperback.

I still get people telling me that I can never play a bolt action game with what I have and I will be better off playing Battlegroup, that might be the case but I can play bolt action by utilizing the vast pool of miniatures I have to play smaller games.

[blackbrydParticipant 24xp 1]

A fellow das Reich player! Hurrah! Mate your massed ranks of panzer 4s just made me dribble a bit. Aweeeeesome! Loving the pea dot, I’ve been too scared to give it a go myself just yet. Been trying to get some hobby in during isolation but my wife and I just had our first child- she’s three weeks old (the baby.. not my wife…) So it’s a bit of a juggle. Great work though my man, doesn’t matter if each game of BA takes you a fortnight, it all looks utter class from top to bottom and I for one am very impressed.

 

[jemmyParticipant 2428xp 0]

Battlegroup or Bolt Action, you will of course not be able to play with ALL the stuff you got simultaneously. Smaller games, you said it. And may be some time in the future it´s summer and you can play on the lawn in the yard, using all of your models. Then may be you can use all of them 🙂 .

With your book purchases you´re perfectly fine for Bolt Action. As for Battlegroup, please ask @piers . His advice will be the best.

[piersParticipant 25489xp 0]

You can use as much as you want in any game… just generally takes longer to play.

And space… tanks need alot of room to move about!

[wedgie2007Participant 84xp 0]

Yeah, I am in the process of building a 12ftx8ft table, when I play a game that can’t fit all miniatures on the table I will write them into the scenarios as rolling reserves.
My wargaming background is Napoleonic and those armies are very large and I entered both Bolt Action and Warhammer 40K with the same mindset, unfortunately.

[angelicdespot 4689xp 0]

Ha ha, what an amazing project!

I think it’s already been suggested, but maybe not quite explicitly… You could group a lot of your minis together and then use the rules as they are. So, base your minis 5 to a multibase and then use a platoon consisint of several multibases but using the rules for a squad. It would be a way of managing larger numbers of miniatures with a bit more abstraction but using the same rules set.

Hope you’re enjoying the adventure anyway!

[Author]

Posts