Vampifans Views 121 - Monthly Musings 91

This has been a big month for me, which I'll tell you about shortly. To the left is an unusual portrait of Vampirella by Jim Silke. It is unusual due to the fact that Vampi is wearing normal casual clothing over her iconic costume. Sometimes in the comic books, Vampirella has to appear incognito. More often than not she just wears a trench coat over her costume. I must admit that I do like this costume.

Currently on my painting table are the Galactic Corps Cops and Security Guards from my Core Space set, plus a bunch of WW2 Bolt Action German and American infantry, which brings me round to my newest project - WW2 gaming.

Ever since last November I have had a hankering for getting back into WW2 wargaming. When I first started wargaming way back in the 1970's I started out by playing WW2 games with my big collection of figures and vehicles from 20mm scale Airfix, Matchbox and Japanese companies like Fujimi and Hasegawa. I nearly always played the Germans and my brother played the Allies. We mainly concentrated on the D-Day Landings and the breakout from France. That period still remains my favourite.

So what happened in November? That was when I backed the Reichbusters Kickstarter boardgame with miniatures by Mythic Games. Delivery is expected this November. The miniatures are just gorgeous and from the play-through videos I've seen on YouTube, it looks like a whole load of fun as a small unit of four assorted elite larger than life Allies infiltrate a German mansion and secret base to cause all sorts of havoc. Interestingly enough, the mansion is named Wewelsberg Castle, where the SWD operate from in Secrets of the Third Reich. Coincidence? I don't think so! As more and more stretch goals were released, the more I realised I very much wanted to get back into WW2 and WWW2 gaming. I already had the SOTR rules and a fully painted German infantry army so that should have been my obvious choice. But the fact that West Wind has ignored this game for many years made me question whether it was a viable long-term option. So I spent a while looking for other options but in truth, it wasn't a hard decision.

Bolt Action for its WW2 rules and the Konflict 47 Weird World War 2 rules (both produced by Warlord Games with similar rules) provided me with all I was looking for. That, plus the fact that both games are incredibly well supported as well as being a popular choice amongst many gamers made them "must have" purchases. My first purchases were the Bolt Action hardback book and three army book supplements for the American, British and German armies.

I also bought the Band of Brothers starter boxed set, which was described on the On Table Top
website as the standard by which all starter sets should be judged. You can see all that this set contains in the photo to the left. The forces are 24 American Airborne infantry verses 12 German Panzer Grenadiers and a Hanomag SdKfz. 251/10 with PAK 36 Anti-tank gun. It also contains a ruined farmhouse, Pin markers, HE Template and order counters, 5 order dice for each army, 12 regular d6 dice, an A5 soft-backed version of the basic rules and a handy quick reference sheet. I bought my starter set from Amazon UK for £55, a considerable saving over the £70 price on the Warlord Games website. I've actually found it pays to check out other sources such as eBay, Wayland Games or Element Games to find cheaper priced Warlord Games products. However, not all Bolt Action products can be found cheaper on other sites but it still pays to shop around.

Seeing as most of my games will take place in the late war period in Europe (1944-45) I plan on collecting the following forces. For the Americans, the Airborne troops and the regular infantry troops; for the British I'll be collecting the regular infantry troops, the Airborne troops and possibly some Commandos; for the Germans I plan on fielding Panzer Grenadier troops and Waffen SS troops. That's a lot of figures I need, but this will be a long term project and I'll be adding to my forces slowly. I'm mainly interested in small force (platoon level) infantry battles with a limited amount of vehicles (no more than one tank, self-propelled gun, tank destroyer or armoured car per platoon) which is exactly what the Bolt Action rules cater for. Once I master the Bolt Action rules I'll move onto the Konflict 47 rules for my Weird World War 2 fix. Again, that will be a long term project.

I've already painted an American Airborne HQ section and a German Panzer Grenadier HQ section. Currently on my painting table are a 10 man veteran Panzer Grenadier squad plus the American Kelly's Heroes squad. I had planned on getting the Kelly's Heroes set (called the Oddball's Heroes by Warlord Games) but they were low down on my wish list. However, someone on eBay was selling them for £7.00 and I won the auction. Considering the RRP for them was £20.00 this was a fantastic bargain. Now I'm going to have to get Oddball's Sherman tank. Both the Oddball's Heroes and the elite Panzer Grenadier squad plus the American and German HQ squads are made of metal. The figures in the Band of Brothers plus the Hanomag and ruined farmhouse are made of plastic. However, they do mix together very well.
This is a project that excites me greatly, not least because of the memories it evokes from the 1970's. Of course I am a much better painter and modeller now than I was back then. I'm looking forward to playing my first few games as I slowly build up my forces. Figure reviews and batreps will follow soon.