My first Bolt Action game.

I know one isn't supposed to beat Buddhist monks, but this one was asking for it.

Lars Schieving invited me over for a game of Bolt Action, my first ever, a small scale infantry do.

The first pic shows the start of the game. I played the Americans, Lars the Germans. Behind the farm house bottom left you see my tactical reserve, which didn't see any action besides being used for target practice.

The second pic shows the height of the game, after I eradicated that pesky German section which had been sniping at my left flank. My tactical reserve now found themselves behind a clump of trees.

The final pic shows the end. Lars' SdKfz 251 had surprised my center, and decimated my reserve squad. Luckily, that also exposed the Hanomag's flank to my .30.
I love the smell of burning Hanomags in the morning.

With only three figures left, Lars Schieving decided to throw in the towel.

It was a small game, nice introduction to the system, with enough randomness to keep it interesting.

Thanks for the invitation, and yes, I'll gladly beat you again.

More early war 1/72 plastic Soviets

Good progress on my early war Soviets. Here you see the now completed bataillon command plus a few extras, the infantry company command and two infantry platoons, the third one still stuck in the painting queue somewhere.

FoW Soviet HMG company

Finished another FoW in 1/72 plastics unit - this time an Early War Soviet HMG company.

Front row: no less than 9 HMG bases - no such thing as too many Maxims.

Second row: supporting infantry.

Safely at the rear: the company command plus the kommissar to make sure everybody points the right way.

FoW in 1/72 Partisans

Last night, I finished basing my partisans unit for 1/72 FoW, consisting of 8 bases, 2 command bases and a kommissar base.

Also added are four demolition teams. The official FoW list didn't call for them, but I had the figures, and I figure that they could come in handy one day.

Since the group pic is a bit hazy, I added a second pic of a command group, the kommissar and one of the demolition teams.

One day I hope to add some pack animals.

Soviet WWII medics

Another project I've been working on for a few years now is Flames of War in 1/72 plastics.

Though I've bought stuff for other theaters and years, for now I've been concentrating on Early War, starting with German, Soviets and Polish armies for '39, and just for fun a Partisan platoon and some other optional troops.

Luckily, the availability of 1/72 plastics is nearly overwhelming, especially to somebody who grew up with the limited Airfix program as the only thing in the shops.

This is a small but very nice Soviet medics set by Zvezda I was given by a dear friend, a good illustration of the quality of plastics available now.

Only two and a half years later I discovered that Soviet nurses wore blue skirts, contrary to "regular" female troops. So, I corrected it.

DAS clay figures

I'm always looking for affordable figures to go with my long-suffering G-scale train projects, so you can imagine my happiness when son Richard found, about two decades ago, a few simple molds from DAS clay sets.

No matter if they represent skiers and football players, with a simple paint job they'll do as passengers etc.

One of the first molds, later I found a few more in a store with obvious low turnover and corresponding old stock:

And here are some results, as shown at a local model fair in 2005. As you can see, the figures are more or less posable as long as the the clay is still wet. The figures may be carved as desired when they are dry.

Not the best of models, but they will do as a crowd, or as passengers inside a carriage. And let's not forget the two main selling points: cheap and fun to make.