Don River Cossacks for Bolt Action

While painting my Cossack cavalry, I painted 30 on foot and thought "That's the start of my next project." Cavalry in WW II dismounted before/once shots were fired, so that's the basis of this version. Also, I've never seen a "foot Cossacks" Bolt Action army so I decided to fix that. Different is good!

These are mostly Copplestone Casting Miniatures superbly sculpted by Mark Copplestone. Mixed in are some Siberia Miniatures and Warlord Games Soviet plastics with headswaps.  

I really enjoyed this project greatly and will continue to add a few more units and bits of character to the lot. I'm planning to debut them at a local Bolt Action event next month. Cheers and I hope you're staying warm!  

Cossacks for Bolt Action

Bolt Action has been pushing for my #1 game spot based on a mix of our active community of great players and the many local events.  The Snafu-Bolt Action podcast team hosts an amazing 3 day event each November.  Day 1 was a themed 800 point Recon Rumble that required a transport seat for each infantry/foot sloggers OR a horse. I chose to paint 30 mounted and 30 dismounted Don River Cossacks. Figures are a mix of the superb Copplestone Castings "Back of Beyond" figures and 3D prints too. 

Cavalry in Bolt Action is suboptimal and tricky to run. They're big, hard to hide, they can only fire 6" when mounted and they can't go down to grab cover.  I only got 2 practice games in with them before the game day so my expectations were very low.  Imagine my surprise when I got Major Wins in games 1 and 2. For game 3 table assignments, the TO said I was on playing for a top finish on table 1, Pavlov's House. I briefly panicked, then bought and guzzled a tall Red Bull.  Game 3 was a nailbiter against a superb opponent. The early game was good to me but it started to slip away in the middle game and towards the end. As time expired, I just managed to rush my cavalry off the table to score my 3rd major victory!!! To make it even better, my Cossacks scored "Best Painted" in a large and lovely field of Bolt Action armies.  I was and still remain over the moon about it.  

Pavlov's House table with working streetlights!

My "I can't believe it" face looks surprisingly like El Duce.

I found a Russian company that sells Cossack heads so I put in an order to create an all Cossacks on foot Bolt Action force. I've got the Warlord Game plastic ready and waiting!  And for January, we're planning to start a Stalingrad campaign. My goal over winter break to find, build and paint a ruins table.  It is a great time to be gaming and I hope all is well in your corner of the gaming world! 

 

More Bolt Action

Early this year, I sold off a chunk of my Soviet Bolt Action army. I didn't play the game often and when I did, I didn't play it well. Then Jason Meyers (of the Der Feldmarschall blog) started running quarterly Bolt Action events. His superb events and the great players who turn up for them have lit a fire.  I recently finished a Trenchworx T-28, White Scout car, and a twin turreted T-26.  Every one was a superb model so bravo, Trenchworx! Bonus, I'm finally getting the hang of my Badger airbrush. I also painted up Warlord Games Scouts and Engineers because...why not?

My Soviets have been in heavy rotation since summer.  I've used them in What a Tanker, 2 Chain of Command campaigns and 3 Bolt Action tournaments.  In the tournaments, I landed Best Overall General, Best Painted, and Best Allied General. Enough bragging.  I'll finish with a few pictures from my Bolt Action games.

T-34s and a KV-2

After finishing the Chain of Command campaign "Storming the Citadel" (Kursk) my buddy asked if I was interested in the Part 2 campaign continuation. CoC is a great game and their campaigns make the game shine more brilliantly.  There was the time my Soviet flamethrower popped an ambush on a Tiger tank to break Grossdeutschland's platoon force morale and save the day. Or the prolonged duel between my dug in ZiS-3 and another Tiger tank. So many Tigers at Kursk and yes, some were burning.  So, of course, I said yes to part 2, "Citadel, the Breakthrough."

I ordered the Warlord Games T-34/76 platoon and hustled them through my painting queue along with a Warlord Games resin KV-2. At the finish line, not bad! I can't wait to run 4 T-34s in a 28mm game. I'm sure getting the right command dice will be a struggle but still...

In October, I've got a Bolt Action 1,250 point event.  It's just the excuse I need to put my newly painted KV-2 out on the table!

Bolt Action & Chain of Command

Fellow blogger Jason Meyers aka Der Feldmarschal is running a sharp looking Bolt Action event this weekend.  This set a fire under me to finish my Rubicon T-34/76. I had trouble with my airbrush splattering on my last highlight.  To cover it up, I had to go over everything a 2nd time and wiped out my panel highlights.  Ah well.

I put my 1000 point Soviet force out on my battle board for pictures. Now I need to read the rules a time or two and I'll be set for the big game day.

In other East Front action, my friend Hugh and I fired up a Chain of Command Citadel campaign. We finished the 1st campaign representing Gross Deutschland's attack at Kursk with his German's nudging out a minor victory over my Soviets.  The scenarios featured the early German attempts at a breakout. The Germans fielded a Tiger tank in 3 of the games and it was a monster!  In one, I stopped it only by popping an ambush with a flamethrower at short range.  The Tiger panicked and withdrew.  In another, my ZiS-3 and the Tiger traded shot after shot. The Tiger wised up and moved out of sight behind a building.  My crew manhandled the gun forward until they could take a shot at the beast.  And brewed it up. Epic! I was too engrossed in our games to get many pics but here is the showdown between the ZiS-3 and the Tiger.

We're going to start Part 2 of the campaign. After fighting Round 1 with no tanks, I'll be painting 3 T-34s for a scenario where I can field up to 4 of them.  Should be great fun and I hope to report back "The Tigers are Burning!"

Campaigns are the best.  I love the color, narrative, and story they bring. TooFatLardies always does a great job with their supplements.  I had only one platoon to see me through my first 5 engagements. I had to play conservatively to keep my force intact and that after all is the whole point of a campaign.  Bonus, this gave me the impetus to paint up a platoon of Black Tree Design Soviets to replace my Warlord plastics.

Soviet Naval Infantry

Nothing lights a fire under my brushes like a tournament.  I'm in a Bolt Action event this weekend with a historically-themed list. My theme is the 83rd Naval Rifle Brigade in the Crimea, 1942. I’ve always been fascinated by the 350,000 Soviet sailors repurposed to fight on land. Naval Infantry were the best troops in the Crimea and their stubbornness earned them the nickname “Black Death.”

The 83rd  Naval participated in the Red Army’s first major amphibious landing.  With only two weeks planning, they were loaded onto a makeshift flotilla including fishing vessels to cross the Kerch Straights. Whaleboats dumped them on a frozen, remote beach with the goal of linking up with 4 other landings on the Kerch Peninsula.  As they waded ashore, some men drowned in the surf or fell to hypothermia. Despite the abysmal start, the 83rd spotted Germans gathering near the beachhead and launched a vicious spoiling attack. The amateur amphibious landings succeeded in deposited the 51^st Army on the Kerch Peninsula where they took up a defensive position.  This second front took some pressure off the besieged city of Sevastopol.  Due to bickering and a series of incompetent actions between Kozlov and the Front commissar, the 83^rd was nearly destroyed with the rest of the Soviet forces during Manstein’s Operation Bustard Hunt. Three armies, 21 divisions, 176,000 men, 347 tanks, and nearly 3,500 guns were lost to the German offensive. The remains of the 83^rd were evacuated.  The reconstituted 83^rd played a crucial role in the Caucasus by stopping the Germans at the Proletary Cement Factory in Novorossiysk, 8/9 September, 1942.  

Figures all Black Tree Design (helmets) and Warlord Games (Naval caps).  I also finished two units of Naval Tank Hunters and a Maxim MG unit  that I left them out of the photo.

Now that I can field 2 platoons of Naval Infantry plus supporting options, my ever-growing Soviet force will take a rest. Then its back to my Spanish for Saga!