What the hell?!?

Ammo explosion?

So, I was loading up my Bolt Action Americans that I simply cannot get interested in, to deliver to a buddy of mine who is aware of my apathetic view of the game and out of the blue offered to buy them last week. When, I opened my miniature display case, picked up my Chaffee and...the tracks were sitting in a puddle of goo. 

Can't blame the Germans when the tank has yet to see battle...

After posting pics on my FLGS' discord along with the requisite WTF?!? It seems that the uncured resin in the cavities inside the turret released gases and not only leaked resin goo down thru the hull, but also popped apart the turret's top. 

This much lubrication is not required...

Needless to say, after a future sojourn out in the sun to cure the innards, this tank will likely serve as terrain only. I bought this in September of 2022, painted it in November 2024, and last touched it in January of this year, meaning this happened sometime since then. 

Oh and by the way Neverness, if the urge ever strikes me to take up Bolt Action again, there's always my beloved Quar...

Looking forward to New Years going out with a...bazooka?

 o/

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas holiday (or at least those of you who celebrate it). We don't get Frankie back from his Dad until Saturday which is when we will be celebrating our Christmas. As such, yesterday and the day before were just odd, mid week days off for me. Nevertheless, I am sure that Neverness, as well as all of the other US Postal, Amazon, FEDEX, UPS & retail workers are thrilled to know that the hell of the holiday season has largely subsided for another year and will substantially be winding down in the next week or so.   

All that's left at this point is New Year's Eve which for us means that after drinking a bottle of my wife's favorite Veuve Clicquot champagne we'll be making 12:30-1am-ish, breakfast sandwiches while we're heavily buzzed. Frankie has never experienced this before so that ought to be a hoot. 

Finally! That Bazooka team that you came here looking for...

On the gaming front...

Originally, I would have already played a game of Bolt Action 3.0 by this point, but scheduling conflicts, and then the holidays, has meant that my first game of 3.0 won't happen till sometime in January. My opponent's army is fully painted, whereas mine will be only at least a third painted. But it is (slowly) getting there...

That's it, we're outta here!

2024 has been a roller coaster for us but we're hoping for a better 2025. Hopefully it will be for all of you as well!

Bolt Action US Winter infantry squad

 o/

. 

Last week when at the FLGS, I picked up the new plastic US winter infantry platoon boxed set for Bolt Action. I put them together, primed them OD green, and was promptly told by Frankie that I could've gotten a bag of green army guys at the Dollar General for a lot less. 

It was kinda hard to argue that point. 

The squad's BAR gunner and a Grunt. I brushed the tops of the tufts with PVA glue (as well as the base) before dipping the mini in the snow flock. I then added a bit of green flock to break up the solid white of the rest of the bases.

Four rifle grunts, from various sides to show all of their kit. 

The NCO with a Thompson SMG, and a grunt taking a sip from his canteen.

 Now that I have a platoon of 30 guys, I figured I'd start out by painting the biggest squad which you can see above. With eight models painted, I'm almost a third of the way thru the platoon already! I wanted it to look at the though snowflakes were sticking to their woolen coats, and so I dry-brushed these with white which came out pretty good I think. 

The painted portion of my force thus far. 

All told, my army actually clocks in at 850 points. One of the guys on the FLGS's discord said to give him a month or so to work on his Germans and then maybe we can start stumbling thru some games. So with luck there might be a battle report on here before the year is out.

Winter is coming...

 o/

Stay frosty...

Well, not here in South Carolina. Despite being November now, the air condition is still running and I haven't stopped wearing shorts every day. So winter is coming somewhere else. But hey, why not make a winter themed army? Our son Frankie has already noted the irony of moving south and painting a wintery themed tank.

Take note of the pinup art on the turret side, its pretty much indecipherable on the finished tank.

I just bought another one of these from the same seller to ensure the same print quality and scale. 

I bought this on a whim way back when I was still working on my former Sikh army. It has survived the purging of that force when it failed to generate any momentum in the game locally. Long before I had even started the Sikhs, Bolt Action had died a quiet death in our end of east Tennessee. However, after buying the rulebook here recently, there seems to be some local interest in starting up some Bolt Action.

Pinup? What Pinup?

The problem with 3D prints is I'm now going to have buy some white star decals.

($6 on eBay, done!)

The FLGS' owner was told by the rep for Warlord games that his store is the only game shop within hundreds of miles stocking their minis. So uh yeah, we're an isolated bunch. How gamer like. I posted the finished pics in the local discord and immediately received several compliments as well as my buddy Nick 2.0 mulling starting an army now. This evening when I go to play some Battletech, I'm planning on picking up a platoon of the new plastic winter American infantry. Those along with the 2 Chaffees will give me a 750 point force to get started with.