Bolt Action Germans

My Bolt Action German infantry company is nearing completion. I did it as an ordinary 1944 Wermacht infantry outfit that has seen a lot of action. It is rated average since heavy losses have been made up with new recruits who are a little too old or young.

German infantry company

The company is composed of 3 platoons of 7 to 9 men plus a Lieutenant, medic and sniper team. The company commander has at his disposal for the mission an artillery spotter team, flamethrower team, Panzerschreck team and a Marder self propelled gun. To complete the German side I plan to acquire a couple of mortars and maybe a light artillery piece.

The Americans are also coming along toward reinforced company strength, but need one more infantry platoon. Of course, I picked up another Sherman tank after watching Fury at the movies last week.

                                         German infantry squad

 

France 1944

We are on a Bolt Action kick right now. Mike has painted up a scruffy veteran German battlegroup composed (so far) of paratrooper and Waffen SS infantry elements and a Stug III. I deploy American regular infantry supported by a Sherman and a halftrack. Mike has made some really nice bocage sections to dress up the table. I won todays game so, of course, it must go on the blog.

Captain Von Mike oversees the advance of his Germans

The American right was anchored on a 2 story farmhouse, the center was dominated by bocage and the left by a grove of trees occupied by German infantry.

Here we see the American infantry advancing in the center. At the top of the picture a halftrack burns, having been knocked out by the enemy Stug in the first turn of the game (*$#@!). Most, but not all of the passengers got out safely.

 

The fighting among the hedgerows was savage. The Americans got the upper hand due to enfilading the German positions on the left with the Sherman and on the right with small arms and sniper fire coming from the farmhouse. The Stug (upper right) was moving to counter the Sherman when an airstrike called in from the upper floor of the farmhouse by a forward observer team destroyed it.

The German infantry fought stubbornly, but with their Stug gone and fire pouring into their position from front and flank and their commander not being able to roll any decent dice, they finally had to give way.  

 

Bolt Action, Italy, summer of 1944

U.S. supply dump. MG team moving to set up in sandbag emplacement upper left

 

I played a game of Bolt Action with Mike Covell today. I like the game but haven't gotten around to playing it in about a year, so we lost some time relearning it as we went. Still enjoyed it though. Each side had 6 infantry squads supported by assorted heavy weapons. The Germans had one PZKW IV tank and the Americans had a Sherman with a 75mm gun plus an M3 halftrack.

German infantry advance on one objective, the American supply dump
There were three objectives, a ruined village held by the Germans on their left, a supply dump held by the Americans on their left and a bridge across a stream held by noone in the center.

U.S. tank & infantry move to capture the village

Both sides held reserves off table and fed them in as the situation dictated. The German tank supported by well positioned infantry quickly moved to control the bridge in the center. The Americans were unable to get any of their 3 bazooka teams in a position to strike at the tank without being shot down. The Germans also made a play for the supply dump on the American left, but were pinned down by a .30 cal machine gun ensconsed in a sandbag emplacement backed up by an infantry squad and a sniper team. Meanwhile, the Americans committed most of their reserves on the German held village. Sadly, at this point we ran out of time and had to cut the game short. A good time, but too much time lost relearning the rules. I have another Bolt Action game scheduled with Pete this weekend. We should be able to move it along quicker now that we are brushed up on the rules.

Amusing conversions

Just after Thanksgiving Wargames Factory held a Black Friday sale, so I had to get stuff that I didn't need. Shut up, you do it too. I did some conversions with the new toys. The first one is Middle Eastern insurgents made from U.S. WWII bodies, ancient Persian heads and weapons from the Survivors box. I made 22 of them, which should be enough for a skirmish game.

The second one was some survivors riding in the back of pickup trucks, for my zombie game. They were made from U.S. WWII bodies, weapons and heads from the survivor box. The trucks were purchased at my local CVS drug store.