Partisans (Post Game Thoughts)

Hey there Bolt Action fans!  For those of you following at home I have been actively exploring the new Partisans list from the Armies of France and their Allies.  I began to unpack this and strategize in the most recent LRDG podcast with Dave of War and Warlord Tobu (Episode 5 for those at home… which you can now find in the ITunes store).  My Partisans are based in the late war period and are modeled on Polish forces in the Warsaw Uprising.   Now BA theory hammer is one thing but getting boots on the table is quite another animal and when playing games really clarifies unit roles, practical implications of rules and allows us to try out those hair brained ideas that always bounce around our heads.  This in mind, I took on the formidable might of DaveOWar’s brand new German troops in a 1000 point battle with the my Partisan forces and learned a hell of a lot. 

Part 2 of the Partisans!

As discussed a few posts back, I bought a lovely partisan army from a very talented gentleman over at WWPD.  Now the question... What to do with it?

Viva La France! (A Guest Post)

Today we have a guest post from my ol' buddy Patch

Having just put the finishing touches in my USMC force I was looking for a new project to get stuck into when talk of the French and Allies book came about on the Australian Facebook page. Predictably much of the talk was involving white flags and moral tests each round to determine if the entire army throws weapons down and surrenders. Beings a bit of a sucker for the underdog I took it upon myself to be a French champion and challenged all the negativity with accounts of bravery on behalf of French forces during the Battle of France.
This research led me down the path of some of the heroic actions of the French Foreign Legion forces and the steadfast fighting retreats they made in order to stall the German advances. Whilst doing so some units were entirely wiped out with others accruing losses of 2/3 of their men in order to save their adopted countrymen from the seemingly unstoppable German Blitzkrieg. I had just found my new army!
Referencing the French PDF I noted that the Foreign Legion had the special rule of stubborn, what a perfect counter to all the French bandwagon bashes if my Veteran French units were almost never likely to fail those moral tests and run away on loss of half the amount of troops! I decided on having a core unit of two squads of Foreign Legion troops and started to form an army around them, basic context is that during the chaos and retreat many units were mashed together so it would not have been uncommon for inexperienced, regular and veteran troops to be sharing a defensive position or attempting a counter attack.
My army was starting to form and along with the two squads of Veteran Foreign Legionnaires (Artizan) I would base the reinforced platoon from an inexperienced Militia unit of a 2nd LT and four squads of inexperienced troops (Warlord). Support would be in the form of a Regular Army Sniper team and AT team, an inexperienced medium howitzer gun team and mortar team as well as a Regular tank in the shape of the mighty Char 2C. The Char 2C is somewhat of a stretch as they never saw combat but it is just such an amazing throw back to WW1 that I had to fit it into my list.
Now the fun part of painting the toy soldiers, the Foreign Legion squads naturally were the priority and after some referencing with the assistance of the Facebook group I was able to go off a picture of the Legion during the Battle of France. The colour may best be described as dark khaki tending towards brown and this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out the new  Plastic Soldier British Khaki with a pretty good result and close enough match for me (the neckbeards may have other opinions!). 

I still have the bulk of the army to paint and if the boys here at LRDG are willing I may be able to put some more WIP shots up as I complete the various units. (YES, WE ARE!!!)

Cheers,
Patch

Thanks mate!
Brad

One Man's Dusty Box in the Back of a Closet IS Another Man's Treasure (Warsaw Uprising Army)

So, I am a wargaming forum addict.  I regularly check multiple forums for various game systems (mostly Bolt Action these days) and I have found that if you tune in regularly to over time and if you have a high patience for trolling (on some forums more than others)... you can get a good deal.

That opportunity arose for me two weeks ago when this beauty popped up for sale: