Hard Times

Well, times are hard but there is still always a need for new toys. The only legal solution is to do more work or sell some old toys. So what am I selling?

A couple of years ago I picked up a bargain at a 'Warboot' sale. 20 chariots and 134 infantry, all painted to a reasonable standard, for £60. A good mix of Hittites and Syrians/Canaanites. RRP on the chariots alone is £70! There was a few dozen unpainted figures thrown in for good measure too.

Adding them to my existing Hittites meant I could field way over the maxima in the FoG lists for several troop types. As a result a few figures have found themselves on the transfer list; the ebay listings finish on Sunday.

Hittite Kingdom Guards with axes

Neo-Hittite Guards / spearmen (two units of these)

A stray chariot marketed as 'a General' plus some Hittite / Anatolian spearmen

More Hittite / Anatolian spearmen...

Regardless of how much they make, the moneys is already spent in my mind. Roll on Sunday!

Preparing for Bolt Action... action

There's been no Fridays at the club due to first Christmas and New Year and then most recently snow. Last Friday we were supposed to be playing Bolt Action and preparing for the game reminded me how much I like it. With a 'snow day' today and a wave of enthusiasm I set about increasing my late war German forces...

All my WWII stuff is late war Western Front and all the figures are from the excellent Valiant 20mm range. The Germans currently consist of a three squad platoon with HQ, 2 MMG's, 1 80mm mortar with spotter, 2 PzShreck teams, 1 Pak 40, 1 Jagdpanther and 2 Stug III's. I intend to take them up to company strength plus supports and started the process today.

Using the 'Germans in Normandy' box I put together a second 3 squad platoon with it's HQ. These are mostly in Zeltbahn and will be mixed with the existing platoon for variety (though I might use them as SS in small games). The squads are all 10 man to keep my options open but by this period they should be reduced to just 9. I normally field them as 8 man veteran squads anyway...

I also started to work on a little support from the Heavy Weapons Coy., namely 2 12cm mortars. In Bolt Action each is a separate unit with 4 crew and an optional spotter upgrade so this is what I'm fielding. In larger games I'll field them as a single 2 tube section with one spotter and use the other as an NCO.

I've ordered a few resin vehicles from Britannia (first order of many if I like them...) and here's a summary of what I'm looking to achieve eventually...

• Coy HQ
• MMG Section ( 2 MMG's)
• 1st Armoured Platoon: HQ in Sdkfz 250, 3 squads in Sdkfz 251's
• 2nd and 3rd Platoons (same structure, no armour)

(From Weapons Coy)

• MMG section (2 MMG's)
• 80mm mortar section (2 mortars)
• 1/2 120mm mortar platoon (2 mortars) in Maultier

(Support)

• Pak 40 / Maultier
• 1 Jagdpanther
• 2 Stug III's
• 1 Sdkfz 222 AC
•  2 PzShreck teams
• 2 Sniper teams
• 1 Tank hunter team
• 3 Pz IVH's
• ???

We'll see.