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This is intended to be a short blog on 500/1000 points of Bolt Action - US Airborne. I've found a local store that plays it, and am gearing up for my first game and hopefully some matches on a regular basis.

First up is my P-47D Razorback "Button Eater". I've given it some post D-Day stripes as they apparently washed off or painted over the stripes on the top of the wings after the invasion was over. No specific unit chosen for it.







I will likely not be using the experimental plane rules with it, just the Forward Air Observer. Still, I couldn't pass up the chance. I wanted to do a P-38 Lightning, but the model dimensions were to large for my case, hence choosing the P-47 instead of the P-51, as it was a more 'dedicated' ground attack plane at that point (may still go back and paint up a silver D-Day Lightning at some point).

Next up are some matchbox jeeps I've converted up a little to make some Airborne Jeeps for a 1000 point list. I have some drivers and .50 cals on the way, but for now these are done and painted up. If you want to see how they were done, try this rather brilliant conversion blog: http://olidious.blogspot.com/2013/10/matchbox-jeep-conversion-for-bolt.html







I may add more stowage at a latter date, but for now I'm quite happy with them and how easily they painted up with some snorkels.

Followed up with my Captain America led boys in green. I choose the od green over the beige/khaki/off green as it covered everything D-Day forward. I couldn't resist some conversion work to add in a movie cap. I knew I wanted a Cap as my Lt., but most of my regular Cap models were to big. So it was pretty easy to mod a plastic Bolt Action American GI into the movie Cap uniform (or close to it). Which is good, as it was a nice alteration on his classic costume.









So, that's most of two rifle platoons, my Lt, and a Medium MG squad done. To hit 500 points I need to finish off a NCO for squad 2, a mortar team, a pak Howitzer, and my FAO. To hit 1000 I'm planning on a 3rd Rifle Squad, bulking each squad from 7+NCO to 8+NCO (for 27 bodies), 2 fifty cal jeeps, another 2 MG Squads, a Bazooka Team, and moving the mortar up to a medium mortar.

Not the hardest hitting ever, but tough, dependable troops, some fast moving units in the jeeps, good fire support, and some artillery to drop fire in.

My current WIP:



A Bazooka team in the top left, then clock wise, Medium MG squad behind an old fence, FAO (Forward Air Observer), Rifleman conversion, a NCO, Mortar team with a quick and dirty scratch built mortar, and a pack howitzer.

I will probably need to pick up another FAO and a gun crew/mortar team so that I can build up a medium mortar and a light mortar (the Airborne can have a 2 man light mortar, but require 3 men for the medium mortar I would take in a 1000 point list). He's really more of a gun/mortar spotter, and I'd like to convert up or buy someone with a radio or map for calling in coordinates.

Always good to see some historical games getting some p&m love. Will follow this one for sure

A second MMG squad, deployed behind an old and broken fence. The fence itself was some cut up and carved old sprue with some plasticard cut up and detailed with an x-acto blade. I have to say, placing the MG through the fence was a total bug bear with the model of the gunner attached to the base. Even without the fence it was a pain to get the tripod to stay down correctly while I built the rest of the base around it.

Great model, but a bug bear to get setup quite right. Very happy with the result however. I think I managed to capture the feel of an old, weather beaten fence with some growth taking over.









Next up will likely be either my howitzer or a second NCO.

I REALLY like that fence work. Great job!

So my update isn't the NCO or the Howitzer. Instead my Jeep crews came in and I could not resist moving them to the head of the line. Overall I'm quite please with how the Jeep's turned out. A nice, cheap solution compared to buying the Bolt Action ones with associated crew included. Instead I got two jeeps, plus crew from less than the price of one all things told.

The only converting necessary was chopping off the driver's feet on both and then a little putty to reinforce the base of the HMG.



The sarge needs a shave:



But the private is ready for action



Yee-haw!



Go Tactical! (family phrase for going 'off road')





My wife has mentioned, at least twice now, that I need to do a Red Skull led German army to combat my Airborne boys. I've chosen to build up some Gebirgsjager using Perry's Afrika Korps as my base models. They come with a lot of field caps, and the boots are mostly correct. I'll be adding in a Sd.Kfz 234 Puma and a Panzer IV to support them. At any rate, here is my mostly complete Red Skull. It's hard to see in the photos, but I've got a small, pink, Alpine flower made with some pink flocking and a trimmed grass tuft on the one side. I need to go back over the holster again, and edge the base. Then I will run some gloss over his boots and gloves, possibly the jacket too (the black areas anyways). Happy with the flowers though.



Hail Hydra!

Ha those flowers are great, nice little detail! Did you buy pink flock just for this purpose?

 Two Spartan wrote:
Ha those flowers are great, nice little detail! Did you buy pink flock just for this purpose?

Actually I bought two different sizes of flock for some cherry trees. The flock I used here was to small for my purposes as far as trees went (wasn't sure what size would work best as I had to order the flock online), so I've been keeping it around to try something like this out.

This is a great PM, I have been looking for others' involved in Bolt Action. I ordered my starter set and I am eagerly awaiting it.

As noted, my wife convinced me to build some op force Germans under the Red Skull. As part of the 1000 points I will be building I decided to build up a Puma and Panzer IV as support elements. I have to say, I am spectacularly unimpressed with Warlord's tanks. The resin is not the most amazingly detailed, has flash in awkward places, some bubbles, and overall reinforces my opinion that resin is overrated. The main kicker though is that the metal bits in their tank kits are extremely hard and brittle. Even the light press of using an exacto blade to remove mold lines and flash can cause it to break. I had to rebuild the barrel for the Puma, and grinding down the mold lines was a right pain on the Panzer's barrel. The lights on the Puma in the below image were thus a pain to assemble. Heavy flash on the top of the light was almost impossible to grind down correctly (one of the lights sheared it's post off during this process). Also, the panzer's tracks didn't sit against the hull correctly. Had I installed them as designed, the tracks would have bent inwards heavily at the bottom. As a result I now have large gaps to putty in that aren't seen in the photo (but at least the tracks are straighter).



This seems to be a bit par for the course for Warlord though. Their minis, while very well done, often seem to be broken. I've had two M1 Carbines arrive broken in two different sets, and four M1 Garands across other sets.



So here I am rebuilding yet another garand. So, if you are looking at airborne I can say the following about various companies:

Bolt Action - Good details, mediocre faces, lots of flash and tendency to have broken weapons
Victory Force - Good details, models are a bit big, occasionally misaligned casts
Black Tree - Inconsistent sculpt quality, but reasonable flash/mold lines
Battle Honors - small in comparison to anyone else, mediocre details

I think I might recommend trying Offensive's Airborne. I certainly recommend buying a non Warlord tank kit. The two I've had are highly lackluster from a quality perspective.

You ever look into tamiya or Wargames Factory figures? I have heard mixed things about them.

I looked at the WGF stuff, and I wouldn't mind seeing how they compare to the Perry figures I am using for my Germans. I have their Viking and Saxon stuff and it is alright. What I've seen in looking at the Germans is a much higher quality sculpt than the shallow detail Viking/saxon kits.

I have not tried Tamiya, but I think they might scale okay with Perry's Afrika Korps. Sadly they don't make a 1/48 scale American Paratrooper to try out or I would get a box to see how they compare.

The Perry figures are very good, like always. Being plastic they avoid some of the flash problems the Perry's have with their metal models (which are beautiful sculpts, frankly some of the best on the market, but often have a lot of flash/mold line stuff on them).

Honestly, if Perry made American Paratroopers, I wouldn't buy any others save to fill in holes in the sculpts.

http://forum.wwpd.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5670

^Check out that link for a side by side.

The Tamiya Us troops look the best in my opinion, just limited poses. Their tanks are great though!

I need to look into Perry miniatures as they seem to be very popular.

I've finished my Puma. I used a more traditional German scheme and replaced the dunkelgelb with gray to achieve a more mountain camo look. It is also my first experiment with making mud and daubing it on. Learned some valuable lessons, namely that I should not use Woodland Scenic's Realistic Water (as multiple tutorials suggested), but rather their Water Effects. The Water flattens out a little to much, while the effects would retain its shape more. Still pretty happy with it for a first go round.

Marvel fans will recognize the number, given that the Gebirgsjager is the Red Skull. I am going to mount it on a base, but as noted the Puma is done.



Close up of some of the chipping and weathering:



Front:

Not the best photos, but my first Gebirgsjagers. These are a deployed LMG for the first squad. I've elected to go with the green/gray scheme for the soldiers.