22 March 2017

Bolt Action Wargame in 1/72 Scale

A few evenings back we had a game (and a few beers) at our mate Alex's place.

Carlos put the scenario together and acted as umpire. The rules used were Bolt Action by Warlord Games.

A WW2 skirmish encounter in a small village between British 8th Army squads versus Afrika Korps supported by a squad of Italian infantry.

A nice touch was in the middle of the game when a group of armed, and very angry, male inhabitants of the village entered into play, shooting at both the British and the Germans.

The objective was to capture and bring out alive a double-agent being held in a heavily fortified old colonial fort in the centre of the village.

The game was nicely balanced, we played it out twice - the Germans took the objective in the first game and the British the second time around.

Some pictures below from various turns during both the games

Brits enter the village



The 8th Army figures are mostly Airfix with a few Revell and Esci 8th Army mixed in.



Germans deploy, coming out to meet the desert rats







DAK are mostly Airfix with a few Revell, Esci and Matchbox figures.



Colonial fort in the centre of the village. Italeri North African House. Lovely sturdy and detailed kit, paints up really well.







Pegasus models "German Truck". One of Carlos' models, the passengers are seated Revell artillerymen with headswaps.



A large Italian squad takes up a defensive position on one of the roofs in the village. HäT and Esci/Italeri figures. The mortar team are from various sets with new heads.



In the midst of the battle, armed villagers attack both allied and axis forces.





The guy with the revolver is the Lawrence of Arabia figure from the Esci Muslim Warriors set. The rest of the figures are Airfix Arabs-Bedouins





Meanwhile the battle raged on
















21 comments:

  1. Wonderful report John, these pistures are spectacular...beautiful terrain and figures!

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  2. Good to see proper figures on the table. Thanks.

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    1. Hi Douglas. I have to admit that 1/72 figures are my all-time favourites.

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    1. Cheers Monty, thanks for passing by

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  4. This was a very enjoyable post. I especially enjoyed seeing the Eyeties and old Airfix Arabs. I have about 15 for the WW1 Arab Revolt! Great job.

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    1. Thanks Bruce. Hope to see some pictures of those Arabs on your site soon.

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  5. hi John, Great to see the pics from your game, looks like great fun, although I feel sorry for the villagers! Like Bruce I have mine painted up for use in Palestine both with and against the Turks. i particularly like the explosions on your trucks and the Italian mortar team. excellent stuff.

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    1. Hi Dean, thanks for the comments, and yes it was a fun game. Would love to see those painted Arabs of yours.

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  6. hi
    dak einfach klasse

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  7. Excellent, inspirational post - with great pics.. Good to see the old Airfix Arabs having an outing (I still have some of my 1960s ones tucked away somewhere.. Hmmm....).

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    1. Thanks Ian, very glad you liked it. Yes those old Airfix Arabs need to get out onto the table every now and again :-)

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  8. Now I just have to get those Airfix Arabs! What was I thinking of before, I should have seen the WWII Western Desert potential!

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  9. Hi i know this is 3 years later but wonder what changes to scale or rules are needed to use 20mm figures for Bolt action rather than 28mm . As a matter of interest where are the houses from or are they home crafted . Great to see this

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    1. Still here 3 years later, thanks for commenting. No changes are needed, we use the measurements as per the rules, it actually "feels" better scale and distancewise in 20mm. The arab dwellings are all scatch built, foamboard with glue and sand rendering on the walls.

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  10. Sorry, except for one large central building, that's an Italeri kit, superb model.

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  11. Thanks . I decided to paint up some 20mm myself in this year of lockdowns . I don't know why I went 20mm rather than 28mm it just seemed the right scale for a household table .
    Didn't you have problems with paint chipping on those Airfix figures

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    1. 20mm is the way to go 😊. No problems with paont chipping. All the figures have a flexible painted undercoat first. You can use white glue, gloss enamels or specialist flexible spray paint for plastics.

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  12. Nice stuff John, I was thinking about changing the measurements to centimetres but inches is simpler anyways,thanks.

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