Luftwaffe Colonel and Seargent

When I found this pack of personality figures at Stoessi's Miniatures I new I had to have them. Growing up obsessed with watching Hogan's Heroes as a kid made Shultz and Klink part of my start in wanting to learn about WWII history.

I haven't done as good of a job painting these as the fantastic sample figures shown on the Stoessi's Miniatures website, but I think I've done a respectable job with them. I put some extra time into the faces and highlighting the uniforms. With them a miscellaneous figure from I believe early Warlord (pre Bolt-Action) that I just wanted to get out of the dead lead pile.

Schultz is seen in the TV series with Heer emblems on his helmet and collar tags. I've painted him with green Luftwaffe field division collar tags to match my previously posted figures.

Next up on the painting table are a pair of Hetzer tanks for vehicles. For figures on the table are the last of the Luftwaffe field division troops I will be painting. This last batch will be armed with the deadly Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle. I hadn't intended to have a lot of STG44-armed figures, but when I got to the bottom of my lead pile, somehow I had more of them than I thought. Not a problem for Iron Cross, and for Bolt Action, they're a useful asset when desired. Between the Hetzers and the infantry, I'm unsure which will get finished first.

28mm Luftwaffe Field Division Squads

This is two squads/boxes of Warlord's Luftwaffe Field Division figures that I've just completed painting. I've gone with Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform (#816) for the uniforms. The lighting wasn't great for photography, so the uniforms look very grey, you can trust me they're just the right shade of blue. Vallejo #816 is perfect in my opinion. For the splinter cammo on the smocks and tent halves I've gone with multiple sharp angle shapes and omitted the rain drops. In 28mm I wasn't confident I could make them look correct.

I've based these up singly similar to all my other WWII skirmish figures with the exception of the LMG. Since he was prone, and Bolt Action likes to know which figure the loader is, I decided to mount the loader on the SMG stand. For Iron Cross it doesn't matter, so this basing works for both of my favorite skirmish rule sets.

These 20 figures put my painted figure total back over my purchased painted figure total for the year. Next up on the blog, something special. Check back tomorrow!

Northern Conspiracy June 2018 Game Night

Last Friday was June game night for the Northern Conspiracy. There were three great games being run. First up was Ed M's late 30 Year's War skirmish game that I posted about earlier in a play test game report.

I only snapped a quick few photos of this game but from the after action Ed gave me over pancakes at the IHOP after the game night, it was a rip-roaring gunfight. Early looting turned to mayhem and killing with loot taking a back stage to combat towards the end.

More details for this game can be read at fellow conspirator Mark's blog, My Brave Fusiliers. 

Next up was Charlie bringing out an old favorite, 15mm Volley & Bayonet Napoleonics. A decade ago V&B was the majority of what we were playing for black powder period games. It's still a great option. Hopefully Charlie bringing the old favorite out will re-ignite interest in this rule set.

I played in Mark D's modern Bolt Action game. The scenario was a battle in the Falklands War.  I was part of the beleaguered Falkland defenders. My command was mostly the defensive weapon teams. Ralph and Michael on my team took the more mobile forces to defend the town from British attack. 

During the mid game Don launched a wire-guided missile at one of my bunkers. I took a chance and held tight hoping to weather the blast. The bunker held. That MG put some effective fire on Don's infantry, but my forward infantry marksman didn't fare so well, biting it from direct tank main rounds fired by Don. Late in the game Michael and Ralph teamed up to take out one of Rob's attacking squads while my MG took out Rob's MG. Kevin made some attacks against the town, doing some initial damage to Ralph's troops, but in the end Ralph was able to hold.

This was a fun game and Bolt Action seems to work well with the modern modifications Mark is using.

NROW Play Test Game at Charlie's

Last Friday a group of us gathered at Charlie's gaming loft to play another game of Napoleon's Rules of War. Charlie has been considering some revisions in the rules which we've been play testing. The changes hope to streamline the system a bit while retaining the historical accuracy.

The battle was Austrian versus French. Sides were chosen randomly. I ended up being the French left flank - a defensive command anchored on a farm with infantry and artillery. Opposite me, Earl with all three combined arms available. More on that later.

The aggressive Austrians: Earl, Byron, Mike and Ralph.

The French: Mark, Bob, Rob and me (the empty chair).

Our plan was to defend on our left flank and left middle with my larger but poorer quality command, while Mark's cavalry and high-morale command was used as a central reserve. On the right center and right we would attack. These photos show part of Charlie's impressive figure collection facing us...the white menace indeed.

The Austrians were having none of our French shenanigans. Earl pressed my command hard, pressed a wood I had defended with his Tyrolean Jagers and later repulsed my charge with a staunch defense by the same Jagers. Later he would obliterate that command threatening it with cavalry then destroying it in square with his horse guns. Well played.

In the center Mark and I ganged up on Byron's grand battery of 12-pound guns taking out a section early in the battle. Byron exacted revenge later on destroying Mark's heavy battery. At the end of the battle Earl's Jagers got too close to my batteries and were destroyed by the withering fire of the guns canister rounds.

While Earl, Byron, Mark and I were fighting a gentlemanly fight on the left, on the right it was pure bedlam. Rob's various attacks were repulsed by Ralph's Austrians while simultaneously Mike's attacks were repulsed by Bob's defense and counter-attacks. The telling blows were Mark's reserves finishing off a couple of Mike's well worn units. When we called time both armies were well mauled with the Austrians suffering only slightly more casualties than the French. A fun night with many good fights and great data for Charlie to work with.