Having played warlords of Erehwon an awful lot, I’d always fancied trying the game that set down the majority of the principles in its game design. Then, when @chitzkoi and another friend of mine both said they fancied getting into some WW2 gaming, I thought, yeah why not???
So I’ve begun collecting a German Wehrmacht force. Roughly aiming at early to mid war but this will be a “Hollywood historical “ army more than an attempt to perfectly copy any particular force from history.
I’ve got my first tester game against some British marines this week so I shall endeavour to report back with some pics of this too.
At the moment it’s all infantry but I have some heavy armour in the post!
So far I have a mortar team, an anti tank gun team, a small command squad lead by an oberleutnant, a forward observer/ spotter with radio and three heer squads (all rifles, but with machine gun teams and NCOs with smgs)
A brutal test game between the German Wehrmacht and British Royal Marines last night. House to house fighting and lots of close combat. Victory for my Germans in the end. Was an interesting match up. His force was much smaller and elite with many more special rules and weaponry but my numbers won it out for me in the end.
New - higher ranking - commander with a decidedly Bond villain demeanour. Bought from a pulp range as opposed to historical but I think it gives him that comic book baddie look which adds a bit of character to the army!
Also grabbed a gestapo officer with SMG. Gestapo were a secret police force as opposed to an army but I figured he could be used in some scenarios or as a character attached to my commander leading the army to a specific location that’s been investigated or something. Good for games V french resistance for example.
I found a miniature of a slightly portly heer soldier with a moustache. I thought the miniature was charming. The man does not look combat ready and like he’d be much happier sat in a pub somewhere. Had to get him.
Very very swingy game last night. First with tanks. British commandos versus German heer again.
Both managed to punch through each others lines on opposite flanks meaning that the battle kinda rotated and we ended up on each others side of the board. Some heavy artillery strikes nearly ruined the German chances but some brave (psychotic) mortar crews laying down their lives in close combat slowed the British advance long enough for a lunatic soldier to stick a hand grenade in the exhaust of the British centaur tank. German victory.
Another German and British battle kicking off. This time in a frozen mining town. The Heer managed to secure the bridges across a river and send the Tommies packing.
I believe this is called a winning streak
My regular opponent is painting up some Americans now and is gleefully reminding me of what happens, historically, when they join the war!
Bolt Action is a great game…not surprising considering the game designers!
Before retirement and moving overseas, I was really getting into Bolt Action, playing WW2 Italians. Seeing this blog brought back memories…now I’m gonna have to dig through hobby boxes to see if I brought them with me or not.
Have you considered throwing a few Bolt Action Konflikt '47 miniatures in? Just to add some creative different combinations of aesthetics…
Yeah the konflict thing does open up options. I’d say I’m more interested in Hollywood historical than say weird war stuff. Like the mechs and tanks
With plasma guns etc isn’t really where I’m interested.
That being said I can absolutely get behind some kind of pulpy occulty scenarios. Zombies, werewolves, magic artefacts. Indiana Jones meets castle wolfebstein sorta stuff
But this would be special one off scenarios, not something I’m really building towards
Oh yes, I totally agree with you that mecha tanks and plasma guns etc aren’t really for Bolt Action (leave that stuff for 40k), I definitely kept to the historical context of Bolt Action.
But I was always a bit intrigued by some of the possibilities of doing some sort of pulp fiction/comic book stuff with the Konflict '47, very much like you said about some sort of WW2 related occult scenarios (the Hellboy storylines for example).
Growing up as a little kid, I had a love of all things history and especially WW2 history, and I had zero interest in anything fantasy related.
That all changed when I was in 3rd grade and came across “Weird War Tales” comic books, that intertwined military stories with the occult, ghosts, curses etc. Those comic books sparked a lifetime interest in fantasy (which led to Warhammer Fantasy many years later).
Very pulpy stories and tons of fantasy crossovers.
I’m enjoying this blog, and I’ll continue to follow your adventures in Bolt Action…and hoping to see some sort of Hellboy/Indiana Jones/Demon scenario on a deserted island in the North Sea.
