Operation Küss mein Arsch - game report

I've decided to post up the game report for Friday night's Bolt Action game here as - really - it finishes off my Operation KMA project nicely (and shows my models in use). In future my game reports will go on my Milgeek gaming blog though...

OK -this is a bit simplistic, but this is my brother and my very first attempt at a war game. Taking the advice of some of the Society of Gentlemen Wargamers forum members we agreed to make our Bolt Action skirmish an infantry only affair (with no indirect fire weapons and no armour)...

THE SET-UP - My brother made an excellent little 'Normandy' village for us to scrap over (we kept it tight as we were just concentrating on learning the rules)...

Our small forces - 2 rifle squads (1 NCO, 7 riflemen), a MMG team and a sniper team each - started at either side of the ville with the objective of capturing and holding the cross-roads at the center of the table. I know this isn't perhaps the most imaginative mission, but we tried not to be too clever.

THE OPENING MOVES: Saw some blatant 'Runs' to get to best position over-looking the main objective with both of us matching move for move fairly equally. My brother included lots of interesting cover so we could try out Bolt Action's 'Line of Sight' mechanics...

MY FIRST TACTICAL MISTAKE: In the rush to get into a position overlooking the middle ground I got rather too cocky and exposed my most useful unit! My MG42 MMG fire team found themselves caught out in the open by my brother's lead GI's. It was a disaster for me - a chancy move trying to steal the initiative. First blood to the Yanks!

BLOCKING FORCE: Losing my MMG left a big hole in my center where the Americans could potentially pour through. Luckily for me my Order Dice came out the bag next and so I was able to move one of my infantry squads up my left flank to try and block any enemy rush...

HALF TIME: Things are looking bad for my Germans. The Americans have already reached the crossroads and are pushing through aggressively to stop me getting anywhere near the objective. But my brother's attempt to steam-roll my Germans seems to have stalled mainly due to a fantastic bit of pinning fire from my sniper in the cemetery (to the south)! Still, at halftime the initiative seems to be firmly with the Americans.

TOO QUICK AND TOO FAR: The Americans seem to have overextended themselves. In moving up to silence my sniper team they have moved close to one of my infantry squads and as the Order Dice favour me for a change I spring an ambush!

THE TIDE TURNS: It's amazing how quickly things can change due to the Order Dice system that Bolt Action uses...I pulled a couple of turns in a row and that was enough for me to spring a flanking move on my right flank which knocks out the US sniper team and whittles away one of the American infantry squads, leaving it scuttling for cover...

CLOSE QUARTER FIGHTING: In an attempt to extricate his lead American infantry squad from my ambush the Yanks hastily move up their MMG, but with some lucky dice throws I dispatch this and then turn my attention back to the US infantry which are now counter-attacking my Germans from their rear. But my superior numbers tell in the end and I have wiped out two American squads in short order!

From having a numerical advantage of four American squads to three German I managed - by a lot of good luck - to turn that around to two German squads to one US squad! ...The poor Americans have little choice but to disengage - or be caught in a pincer movement - and retreat speedily to the hardcover of the cemetery!

It was just a matter of time now and slowly the Yanks succomed to my fire! The graveyard did indeed become the final resting place for my brother's Americans...

END GAME! 

Conclusion: The big surprise was that all this took FOUR HOURS! We were shocked - though a lot of this time was down to us flicking back and forth through the Bolt Action rule book! We cannot claim that we interpreted the rules correctly and there were some dodgy moves, but we did our best to be fair.

...But we made a lot of notes about things we didn't quite understand and we intend to clarify these issues over the coming weeks.

Cutting out the armour and the light mortar squads we were originally going to employ did make things a lot more straight forward, plus we decided to ignore the additional close quarters (Assault) rules and stick to simple movement and shooting rules.

All in all we had a brilliant time - it was terrific fun. Pulling out lucky dice throws was a continued source of hilarity...I still put down my turn of fortunes to one lucky sniper shot (and a roll of 6)!

It was really surprising to us how Bolt Action's Order Dice turn based system could change the whole flow of the game in the blink of an eye. My brother suffered because of the importance of Pinning, while he had numerical superiority for a large part of the game he failed to pin my units effectively. So, I guess, while I had fewer units they were more mobile and able in the end to perform a very effective pincer movement while his units were hampered by being pinned.

 ...A very satisfying nights gaming. War gaming is a very cruel pastime!

A very big thank you to my brother, Ian, for hosting our game and putting so much effort into building such an excellent first game table. Cheers bro!

Operation KMA - Part 7, the big day!

Friday! At last. This should be very interesting.

I suppose - technically - my Kitnoob blog isn't quite the right place for my 'Operation KMA' Bolt Action reports (I'm thinking of using my Milgeek gaming blog instead), but there are aspects of war gaming that are very pertinent to modellers. Yesterday and this morning, for example, I have been thinking about scenery and modelling buildings.

Ian, my brother, is way ahead of me but - for the sake of expediency and limited finances - we've been looking at downloadable printed scenery. Luckily there are a lot of online resources for paper scenery - thanks mostly to the Railway modellers - and Ian has put together a nice mock village for us to fight over tonight...

Obviously, there are drawbacks to using paper buildings from a war gaming point of view. Figure models can't enter these buildings, so I have been thinking about making a little building that I can remove the roof of. Just as a test.

To be honest architectural models have always interested me and so it would be fun to see what materials work best to create realistic looking scale buildings.

Anyway, off to do some shopping as an army marches on it's stomach so I best get some munchies for tonight! :)

Operation KMA - Part 6...Finished (sort of)!

Typically, my last day at work before my holiday was a frantic one and I didn't' finish until late. So I didn't get everything I wanted to do completed and I don't want to pull a late night. This will have to do...

My fire teams didn't get painted, and neither did a couple of my infantry that I was still cleaning up (I'll maybe get these sprayed if I get up early tomorrow). But whether they are painted or not won't affect the game.

One thing I am rather pleased about tonight is my sniper. I found a figure - a Revell one - that I liked the look of and exchanged it's head with one from the PSC German infantry set. It wasn't a big job but I really like the resultant pose...

Of course I need to add a scope, but - again - I can do that when I have more time. I may also add some camo to the helmet.

But that's it - it's all I can do tonight and tomorrow I'll be off to Scotland...Let's see how my little fellows play Bolt Action! :)

Meanwhile: The enemy forces gather! Ian has his little American army in a similar state of readiness - neither of us had time to do a full paint job, but the opposing forces are suitable identifiable...

Ian's Yanks are a mix of Airfix and Revell soldiers and the tank is Armourfast. Looks like we are ready to start learning the Bolt Action rules. Roll on Friday night!

Operation KMA - Part 5

Tonight I only had time to put together some of the fire teams from the PSC Late War German Heavy Weapons set...

I am trying them out on paper bases so I can work out what size of plastic base I will make for them. 40mm disks seem to be the way to go (I wanted to use a standard size for all the fire teams). The one exception to this will be my sniper team - but base size is the least of my problems here.

There are no sniper figures in the Plastic Soldier Company German infantry sets. So I will have to make a sniper and his spotter - not good news at this stage (with just a day left to complete this project).

I've picked out some existing figures from my PSC and Revell sets that might be suitable as the basis for a quick conversion, but none of them are ideal...

I may just have to fudge this team - just for the demo game - and then find something more suitable later.

Anyway, on a more positive note, my brother has been very busy putting together our demo game battlefield. He's made some nice little features, lots of cover - which is very important in Bolt Action (I am told) because of the 'line of sight' system...

Tomorrow: Last day, I have to have everything finished and sprayed grey!

Operation KMA - Part 4

Sunday night and progress is predictably slow. I may just get all this done for the deadline on Tuesday night (we drive up to Scotland on Wednesday morning).

Tonight I got my infantry squads based and completed my command section and got those based too...

Inexplicably, neither the 1/72 Plastic Soldier Company or the Revell German infantry sets include an identifiable commanding officer figure! I suppose that as late war German infantry models you could argue that the officer's uniform might be less obviously different from the other ranks, whereas during the first half of the war the officers' uniform was markedly identifiable. But still, to not even include one figure wearing an officer's visor cap seems a bit strange - so I had to make my own!

Errata: I made a mistake, there IS an officer figure in Revell's late war German infantry set. The problem was that he was kneeling, which is why I discounted him as I felt the commander should be a standing figure. So there you go.

It's a simple and rather crude conversion, I simply took the very nice officer model that came with Zvezda's 1/72 German Regular Infantry set and cut it in half and mated it to the legs from one of PSC's late war German infantry. The Zvezda figure is a particularly dashing one, I think, and makes for a rather fetching command figure.

Finally, I quickly assembled my Armourfast Stug...

Now, tomorrow night I need to concentrate on making my fire teams - light mortar, medium machine gun and sniper team. I'll base the support weapons on 30mm circular bases, but the sniper team might be better on a rectangular base as they will be prone.

Tuesday night will be spraying night!

...I hope! :)

Meanwhile, in Scotland, my brother is experimenting with his homemade scenery. He's also made a very nice looking printed paper church...

Looking good! Can't wait to see the completed battlefield that he's been putting together.

Operation KMA - Part 3

I've got my first two Bolt Action German squads assembled...

10 men in each veteran grenadier squad; 1 NCO, 6 riflemen, 1 Panzerfaust and a LMG and loader. According to Boltaction.easyarmy.com this has a point value as follows:

• 1 NCO and 6 infantrymen = 104 points
• NCO has SMG instead of a rifle = 3 points
• 1 man with a light machine gun and another man becomes the loader = 20 points
• 1 men with a Panzerfaust in addition to other weapons for +5pts each = 5 points

TOTAL: 132 points per squad

The PSC German infantry are a frustrating half-way house between set posed figures and multipose figures. There are some variation options by way of a selection of spare heads, but you have to cut off the existing heads and drill out a suitable neck-hole to site the replacement head. But more about this when I do my review of the PSC sets.

Generally I am quite pleased with my squads, there are a few particularly nice action poses. Though I added a couple of figures from the Heavy Weapons set (with Panzerfausts) and even one converted figure from the Revell German Infantry set (with one of the replacement PSC heads).

I added a converted Revell LMG gunner to my second squad for variety.

My Revell conversion was done because I wasn't happy with PSC's representation of the squad LMG (which I used in the first squad). The gunner is holding the MG42 sloped over his shoulder and strolling along, the loader is likewise pretty relaxed looking. I would have preferred a more dynamic set of poses for my squads LMG.

Factoid: It should be remembered that - unlike other armies of the period which had two different guns for the roles of light and medium MG - the Germans were the first army to adopt what came to be known as a 'GPMG' (General Purpose Machine Gun). A GPMG could fill both light and medium roles depending on whether a bi-pod or sustained fire tripod was used.

So there we go, I have to start basing these tomorrow and then I will treat them to a quick coat of mid-grey primer. Then I will have to turn my attention to the other infantry teams that will make up my modest German force; the HQ team, MMG team, mortar team and maybe a sniper team (just so I have some flexibility when choosing my final force for the forthcoming demo game).

Tomorrow will also see me start my Armourfast Stug IIIF. Though this should be pretty straight forward, in fact if I go down the route of just using a mid-grey primer for my force I could have the tank destroyer finished in a day I reckon.

Update - Note on your first 'army' composition: (After a dizzying evening of reading about force composition on the web.) At this point I have to say that there are a lot of resources and article on the web which try and help you create your first Bolt Action army list. I have found that there is a lot of ideas about what can make up a 'good' first 500(+) pointer force, with different people offering different approaches and a lot of counter-discussion. I've come to the opinion that the whole process is a 'suck it and see' learning experience and the best lessons you learn about what's good and bad combinations will be learnt in your first practice games (rather than basing your force on someone-elses 'prefabricated' force).

So if you are an experienced Bolt Action player who is reading my inept efforts I realise I will be committing some glaring errors - in both how I interpret the rules and with my force tactics - but I hope to improve as I go along. To help me I have decided to look up my local wargame club and seek out other Bolt Action players who have similar and better experience so I can gleen greater proficiency.

Link: Scarborough Wargame Club web site

Operation KMA - Part 2

Blimey! No sooner had I started this project than I had to make changes to my plan. I was expecting to utilise the nice Revell 1/72 German Infantry (Ardennes, set 02502) set I had knocking about for my German Bolt Action 'markers', but fate pooped on me from a-high yet again...

These are the guys I wanted to compliment the Revell set I already have,
but - sadly - I couldn't find them in my local shops (and I refuse to pay
the express delivery fees that online stores charge).

One box, it turned out, wasn't quite enough to make the 500 point force I wanted (I'm sure figure manufacturers do this deliberately) so I needed a second box to ensure I had all the infantry I needed. Problem was I couldn't find any more Revell German sets in my local stores. But, as it happens, I also had a box of PSC Late War German Infantry Heavy Weapons - again bought to use for my Finnish army - and I did find the companion infantry set to go with this, so I bought it (oh my poor bank account, the wife's gonna go ape)!

The 'bad guys'! Boooo, hiss!

I'll do a full review of these two sets in an accompanying post, but for now I'll concentrate on what this means for my Bolt Action demo game project...

The down side of using the PSC Germans is two-fold; they are multi-part and they are - typically of PSC - on the larger end of the 1/72 figure scale. Multi-part figures would usually be a good thing, but on my tight schedule the extra work required to put these figures together is perhaps time I can't really afford (wish I could have found more Revell Germans)!

This makes me lean more towards Tim Gow's idea of just having the opposing forces a single flat identifying colour:

 Germans - Field Grey   versus   Americans - Olive Drab  

...Just while I am learning the game. I could spray the assembled Germans a base coat of Field Grey and then paint them properly later when I have more time of course.

Left: Warlord does a German Field Grey acrylic spray (I'm sure Humbrol does a similar product). A quick once over with this and my German army could be ready in double-quick time!

Anyway, my brother is steaming ahead with his side of the project. He has assembled practically all of his American force (if anything he has - he tells me - too many Shermans) and is thinking about how he will be painting them. He is retired so has more time for the niceties than I do...

The 'good guys'! Hooray!

He's composed his force from a mish-mash of several different US Army figure types, but I guess it doesn't matter for friendly demo games. We can agree between us that they represent a 'US Army' force. Ironically, I sent him many of these Airfix figures as I thought I would never use them, don't I look stupid now! :)

Indeed, I've only just realised - somewhat be-latently - that even if I do intend to eventually just field a Finnish force (my main interest) I will need an opposing force just so I can practise the rules (and learn what my opposition can do). So this idea of making a simplified force, in just base colours, may turn out to be a useful expedient.

Right now, we are thinking of quick and easy ways to create scenery for our test playing board. Lots of creative thinking related to trees made out of sponges and houses made out of cardboard boxes....It's all turning into a episode of Blue Peter! :)

John Noakes made a castle with Fairy bottles on Blue Peter
(BBC) in the 1960s. Picture source: Daily Mail

Next up: Assembling and basing my infantry.

Operation Küss mein Arsch

...Achtung! Action stations!

So far, I have been taking my time - to say the least - but now I am going to try a drastic change of pace. My brother wants us to try out a practice game of Bolt Action...NEXT WEEK!

I'm visiting him in Scotland next Wednesday so I have 'til then to put together a basic 500 point Bolt Action 'army' to match one he is building. This sounds incredibly daunting, but 500 points isn't actually that much - though on my modelling track record it will be a big challenge!

I have drawn the short straw - as my brother has the home advantage - and I will have to command a German force against his American units. Having done a bit of research I know that that could mean my assembling a force similar to the following:

Description		Value
Leutnant & Two extra Riflemen		70
Wermacht Squad (10) NCO MP40, Light Machine Gun team		123
Wermacht Squad (10) NCO MP40, Light Machine Gun team		123
Hanomag		84
81mm Medium Mortar Team		50
MG42 Medium Machine Gun Team		50
Total		500

I will likely tweak this set-up as we want to include some armour, which will take us over the 500 point goal, but as long as we are roughly balanced in the forces we field that should be OK. So, for example, I have been watching the Bolt Action demo game which was put together by 'Beasts of War'...

...Possible? Well, that's the challenge!

Realistically to do this it will mean I have to compromise big time. No pernickity obsessing about miniscule detail, no relentless trawling through WW2 history forums and no fancy nancy paint jobs!

In fact, there is a case for not painting our armies realistically at all. I could paint all my German units flat Field Grey and Ian (my brother) could paint all of his US units Olive Drab. All the niceties could come later when we've learned to play the game properly.

In this I am greatly influenced by Mr. Tim Gow. I've been following his Cold War Playtest posts on his Megabliz and More blog. He has condensed the opposing forces in his game down to generic 'Greenie' and 'Browny' armies.

So...Here's the good news!
Luckily for me, I am not exactly starting from scratch. In my eclectic and slightly erratic collecting of models and figures suitable for my Finnish army I have actually acquired several German army items as I thought they might be of some use (or be suitable for conversion).

Quite by chance, I happen to have a couple of boxes of 1/72 German infantry
in my stash, including this set of Revell late war Germans. Maybe not quite
right for Normandy in mid-1944. But...Meh!
Link: Plastic Soldier Review

I already have a Armourfast Stug III set, so there's my armour element. And I have a couple of boxes of German infantry which I had thought I could disguise as Finns but then changed my mind and cast aside...Basically, I already have all the models I need - albeit models and figures of questionable historical accuracy given our imagined period of interest and theatre of operations (Normandy, 1944).

My Armourfast Stug is their earlier IIIF model, while their new IIIG would
have been better I did manage to find a suitable colour scheme for a Stug
used by the Germans in France in 1944.

Still...As Mr. Gow would say 'accuracy, smackuracy'...Or something similar...Maybe! :)

I have just under a week. Naturally, all other projects will be suspended for that time...

Game on!