Rise Up

Members of the resistance faced many dangers: discovery, betrayal, and the direct danger of violence while carrying out their duty. Many resistance fighters were not even armed. For most it was a significant risk to just obtain weapons and ammunition, even before other acts of resistance could be contemplated.

As the Allied army approached Paris in August 1944 the population of Paris, led by the French Forces of the Interior, rose up in rebellion. One of them was Georges Loiseleur, an ex-soldier and active member of the army of the interior. Like many, he went out onto the streets to find a weapon.

A German truck was attacked with a grenade as it drove along Quai des Grands-Augustins, which runs along the left bank of the Seine. Scrambling through the wreckage to salvage a weapon, not all the Germans were dead. Instead of finding a rifle to join the liberation, George was shot dead by a German armed with a pistol.

Georges Loiseleur died August 1944, age 28, and is commemorated by a small plaque near the spot where it happened.

To capture some of this in Bolt Action I propose being able to add unarmed fighters to late war partisan squads. The unarmed fighters have the special rule Rise Up! that provides a chance to obtain a rifle during the game. This rule reflects the risks taken by people like George during those frantic days of liberation in the final months of the war.

Special Rule: Rise Up!
A regular Partisan Squad (Late War) or an inexperienced Partisan Squad can add 0 to 3 unarmed fighters for +5 points (inexperienced) or +8 points (regular) per unarmed fighter. The quality of the unarmed fighters must be the same as the rest of the squad.

If an enemy infantry or artillery unit takes at least one casualty within 12” of a unit with an unarmed fighter, roll a d6 for each unarmed model up to the number of casualties:

4-6: weapon acquired. Replace the unarmed model with a model armed with a rifle.
2-3: no weapon found. The unarmed fighter may try again if the opportunity arises.
 1: tragedy strikes. The unarmed model is killed or wounded attempting to find a weapon and is removed from play (this doesn’t cause a pin).

While unarmed, models cannot shoot or attack in close combat, but can be removed as casualties.

The sort of early war actions of obtaining war material is a story outside the scope of Bolt Action.

These unarmed fighters cost on point more than unarmed fighters in Soviet penal squads. This reflects the chance that some will survive long enough to obtain a weapon.

Garibaldi Brigade

As winter set in on the chaos of Northern Italy in the later part of 1944 Partisan morale collapsed. Many partisans returned home or took advantage of fascist amnesties to lay down arms.

However, a dedicated core held on and continued to fight to throw out the nazi occupiers and smash the fascist rump-state.

My list is inspired by one such group, the 28^th Garibaldi brigade, who in December 1944 joined with the singular Popski’s Private Army to liberate Ravenna.

Most accounts focus on Popski’s British Special Forces troop, but the brave members of the Garibaldi brigade were essential as both a blocking force and as part of the assault.

The army has 13 order dice (units):

Like nearly all wargames, Bolt Action requires a force leader. While Partisans don’t have a structured officer corps (despite the many self-appointed titles and ranks!), I have selected the equivalent of a second lieutenant with regular morale to lead my Partisans. He is accompanied by additional one man, and both are armed with SMG.

Yes, the remaining photos are all ones I have posted already!

I also have a liaison officer. While some liaison officers wore civilian clothes, most wore uniforms, especially out of the towns. My OSS officer wears a US uniform. Once per game he can attempt to call in air support.

The core of the army are four squads of rifle armed Partisans (of either 9 or 10 fighters). Two of the squads have squad LMG to provide a little extra reach and fire power. One is also armed with Molotov cocktails, which will give some defense against tanks.

Partisans can take a squad of veteran Guerrilla Fighters. I’m taking a squad of 6, armed with SMG.

There are 3 teams with support weapons: an MMG, sniper, and PIAT. Of these the sniper is probably the most useful, but don’t underestimate the other two teams.

Actually, the PIAT team is inexperienced. They will supply an order die for the bag and otherwise likely spend most games hiding.

The last two units, a light howitzer and a captured tank, are both somewhat of a stretch historically. In games terms both will be useful. Both will play the important role of being able to throw out pins on enemy units. Both will also most likely die horribly. This is sad for the crews involved but will at least mean my core units are not being shot at.

To represent the lack of support and training, both the tank and artillery are rated as inexperienced. In addition, the Renault R35 has the captured rule, which means it is also unreliable.

Easter Front is a 1005 point Bolt Action tournament being run over two days as part of Conquest 2022 in Melbourne.

Partisans in Bolt Action

Bolt Action sometimes get described as Hollywood WW2, capturing dramatic moments of heroism and action that on closer inspection defy physics, history, and occasionally logic. But as a game it delivers with popcorn-munching glory.

Its focus is actions involving what the writers call reinforced platoons, which seems to be as good a name as any. Most armies are built around 4 to 6 infantry squads plus supporting elements from light-mortars and machineguns all the way up to tanks, off-board artillery, and air support. This is an elastic form, set in the moment when the big bombardment is over. Manoeuvre of battalions and companies is on a scale abstracted from the immediate game, and – most importantly- contact is made with the enemy. The game simulates those frantic minutes, up to a couple of hours tops, where troops must close and destroy or displace their opponents to achieve their part in the wider battle.

Being a game, a key design decision is to match balanced forces in the contest. Both sides have (more or less) equal chance of winning. This is not an absolute restriction, but most games will meet this broad outline.

The big 4: Germans, Soviets, British, and US, have all the toys they need to get the job done against most opponents. The largest of the less common army lists: French, Italians, Hungarians (especially with the additional units available in the Budapest campaign book) and even Finnish can build solid, balanced lists without too much extra effort. I’m not sure where Japanese sit, as a part of a big 5, or with the Italians, but they can also meet most table-top challenges.

Then come the minor powers. Not only can suitable miniatures be harder to find, building a good list can be harder too. Greece, Holland, Norway, Belgium. Bulgaria. Not impossible, just harder. All these lists face a central dilemma of fewer choices around armoured vehicles. In fact, pretty much all vehicles. Artillery and some of the other specialist slots can also be limited. These more limited choices are compounded by national rules that are mostly a bit underwhelming compared to the larger powers. Not fatal by any means. Just a larger challenge.

And then there are the Partisans.

You can have a looted tank, inexperienced, of course. Not much artillery. The national rules can be fun- booby traps and a movement bonus. Better than the Italians, anyway.

Partisan actions were desperate, brave and fierce. Fighting with limited resources, with little help or hope of relief or reinforcement, is its own special brand of courage.

They are also mostly a long way from the reinforced platoon level of all the other armies in the game. The Partisan army list in the French and Allies book acknowledges this dilemma. The official list focusses on late war Soviets and Yugoslav forces. The early war selector would require being matched to a suitable early war opponent- the Security Force from the German selectors or Bulgaria. This is not so different to many of the selectors that focus on particular periods or battles. The Warsaw Uprising also fits, being a prolonged city-fight.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying I like Partisans, but to bring them to life on a Bolt Action table they need a bit more than just the ordinary matched play.

Machine guns are scary

Or, at least they should be. Alas! In Bolt Action, medium machine guns are somewhat underwhelming. They can be nasty, but it also feels like they can be neutralised far too easily. Snipers often seem to be a better choice, and moreover also seem to be an effective tactic against MMG teams. I’m not really sure what can be done about this. Perhaps nothing has to be. There are certainly a lot of opinions about.

Members of the People’s Volunteer Army lay down support with a Chinese built Maxim

The basic economics make sense. For 50 points you get a regular MMG team that has 5 shots (6 for the Germans) and a max range of 36″. A regular infantry squad with rifles has 5 shots with a range of 24″, but has two more bodies and can move and shoot. If you can manoeuvre an infantry squad to within assault range, they will probably win. Getting to a place to charge an effectively dug-in machine gun team, that is dangerous work. This describes pretty much every squad level engagement since machines guns were widely adopted in the early 20th century. Yet, this is not part of the Bolt Action vibe, and the game is a little less than it could be because of it.

Fallschirmjäger crew an MG42 on a fixed mount

In the recent campaign book, Italy- Soft Underbelly, there are scenarios where the defender gets multiple MMG. So the designers at least have faith, and it does reflect history, which is at least part of the point. Perhaps this is all that is needed. Allow 0-2 MMG in a standard list, use terrain, hidden set-up and ambush. Job done!

An MMG holds up the Soviet advance into Stalingrad

One of the most successful tweaks has been the introduction in Konflikt ’47 of the ability to perform suppression fire. Trading accuracy for weight of fire allows additional pins. A neat mechanism and one that would port into Bolt Action well and present players with additional tactical decisions.

Built by the Italian military, the machine gun pits formed a key part of the strong defenses of Tobruk

Extra shots, cheaper points. Some wonky equivalent of tiger fear. Solutions that likely come with a bunch of unintended consequences. I keep coming back to some form of extra pins as an attractive way to increase the power of MMG.

A light mortar gets d2 pins, so additional pins is a simple extension that is probably not overpowered. I wonder if making MMG d2 and light mortars 1 pin + 1 additional pin on a 5+ might give the right feel? Or vice versa. Simply doing extra pins also avoids a new mechanism to remember, which has a merit of its own.

MMG were used in all theatres and climates

I would restrict MMG buffs to infantry teams and pintel mounts. Most gun ports on vehicles have such restricted views that the big sweeping shots, and even prepared fire lanes are rarely an option. And they will still throw out 5 shots in most situations, which is still dangerous. Adding a small benefit to infantry-crewed MMG will help tip the balance back the other way a little. I include pintel mounted MMG since most vehicles will become open-topped as the brave soul operates the gun. Maybe too complicated already. This does illustrate the point that trying to fix one thing might (will!) cause a new problem.

The role of many riflemen is often restricted to carrying extra ammunition for the squad MG

Here is another thought. Only provide additional pins to MMG that are deployed at the start of the game. A special rule like “fixed lanes, or prepared positions” where because crews have had time to prepare fire lanes and ensure enough ammunition, they get the additional effect of extra pins. Once you move (other than rotate as part of an advance order), you loose extra benefits. Depending on the mission this will tend to benefit the defender, which is perhaps as it should be.

Many MMG designs, like this water cooled Vickers, were largely unchanged from the first world war.

Lots of ideas on MMG here. What do you think?

Do MMG need a tweak or are they fine as they are?

Hezters gonna Hetz

I spoke too soon that my Budapest Defenders were ready to go. And also that I hadn’t bought anything for the army, that all the models I used had come from my lead and plastic backlog. Well, there were just too many sales on recently, and I ordered a set of three Hetzers from Warlord Games.

The Budapest campaign book has an armoured list with a core of three assault guns, which comes with some fun special rules, or one will fit nicely into to my existing pocket defenders list. The Wirblewind will remain an option, so it is good to have choices.

Hetzers are great support choice in BA. The weak sides rule does make them more vulnerable but also cheaper, and it pretty easy to negate with some decent deployment.

The Hungarian late war paint scheme is pretty easy. Dunkelgelb and some weathering and they’re ready for the front. The Warlord models are OK, although the wheel sections do feel unnecessarily fiddly. The kit is very flexible, coming with the options to make anti-tank, flame or flak versions all in the same kit, and decals for either German or Hungarian forces. Nice.

That means my little Hungarian project is out to around 1,800 points, which is actually quite a large force. It may not be complete yet …

Nearly table ready

My Chinese for Bolt Action Korea are edging closer to being ready. Some highlights and basing to go. I have also started on some support options, an MMG and a medium mortar.

Looking at these photos, the putties need to be a different shade to the pants,  and I need to perform some touch-ups here and there (particularly the boots). I finally had a look at what squads I can assemble. Together with the self-propelled gun, and assuming they are regular, I have around 750 points across around 13-14 order dice.

Officer+man
Commissar/Political Officer
Medic
3 or 4 squads of rifle men (2 with LMG), depending on the squad size
Grenadiers
Guerrillas
MMG
Medium Mortar
Light anti-tank gun (or maybe medium, I need to check)
SU-76

plus the free 12 man conscript squad.

A lot of bodies, I suspect I need to increase the squad sizes and add 2 or 3 more large squads to bring the points up to 1,000. Lucky they’re pretty straight forward to paint.

The grenadier squad is funky, armed only with grenades (same as pistols in game effect), they can forward deploy. Alone they will get massacred which is why I took a squad of guerrillas too, who can also forward deploy.

I think it will be hard to win with this army. It will need to be played aggressively, getting stuck in early but keeping enough punch in reserve to followup. I fear not many will get to see their loved ones again north of the Yalu river, so it’s starting to look a bit historical.

D.

SU-76 ready to roll

I decided to take a wee detour on completing my Chinese for Bolt Action Korea and (mostly) finish an SU-76. It is a resin model from Warlord.

I may do some more weathering, but but it is close enough to finished to put it on the table. The model when to together OK after a false start where I forgot to wash the resin first! There was very little clean up required, and the parts fitted with very little fiddling, although I did choose to pin the barrel.

There appears to be some debate about just what self-propelled guns the Chinese volunteer force had, given the confusion of the time this is not surprising. The little bit of reading I’ve done mentions SU-76 in battles the British Commonwealth Brigade had with Chinese in both early (Kapyong and elsewhere) and later, at Maryang San. This is good enough for me to field one. There is an added bonus in that I had one in the cupboard waiting for a project!

There is quite a lot of material about, once you start to dig, and I’m very much enjoying learning more about this period.

Now back to the infantry.

D.

A Wee Update

Beyond reading your lovely blogs, I have managed a little hobby recently.

I’ve made a little progress on some world war two vehicles – not enough to bother with photos just yet. But I have finished a walker for my US Konflikt ’47, a Coyote light walker.

I haven’t looked at the unit profile yet, I picked it up because I liked the look of the model. This is typical of how I design a force: pick the models I like; pick a model because it matches a theme; receive a model randomly as a prize or gift; and in last place is choosing something for its profile.

D.

Little Mehmet

Mehmetçik- Little Mehmet was an affectionate nickname Turkish people used to refer to their soldiers during the first world war. Analogous to Digger for the Australian or New Zealand soldiers at the time. When the Soviet forces massed on the Georgian border in 1947 (at least, according to Clockwork Goblin in the world of Konflikt 47), Turkish citizens once again looked to Mehmetçik to defend their homeland.

Konflikt 47 and its close cousin Bolt Action is at heart a game of infantry combat. So representing Turkish soldiers will be key to making my home brew K-47 Turkish force a success.

My view is that elite units will have been trained and armed by German liaison units. Modelling wise, using Germans as the base will be the easiest way to reflect this, which is lucky because I have a K-47 starter box in the cupboard, so I think it is time to bust it out.

An obvious thing to do would be to add fezzes. While this might be fun, I also think it could be quite anachronistic as fezzes became to be seen as a symbol of the Ottoman empire and in 1925 were even banned! However, the ban was for the iconic red hat, which the military never really wore. Fezzes were worn, but they tended to be khaki or black. They also came in a startling array of shapes, although this might be because of the ad hoc nature of the Republican army in the early 1920s.

Anyway, all of this gives me a lot of room for artistic license for my fictional  Turkish army, which is good because I friend gave me bag full of Handschar heads (from the Warlord SS plastic set) that I will be able to use. I think officers and maybe NCO can have the more formal fezzes.

I also have some metal world war one Turks about somewhere. I think these older uniforms will be able to be put to use as second line, garrison troops.

Turkey was involved in the lend lease program. I see no reason in K-47 to overlook this, as both sides courted Turkey,. No British or US tanks were purchased under the scheme (there will be more on Turkish armour in a future post), but they did receive among other items British style helmets. A mix of tommy-dishes might be another way to distinguish the regular and in-experienced troops.

My last thought is that cavalry should be included somehow, and I reckon this box of Perry American civil war cavalry might be just the thing (along with some Warlord second world war bits yet to be determined).

 

So, just a lot of ideas today. But I wanted to share some of my thinking.

D.

The cruel weird war in Anatolia

While I have been working on a small US force for Konflikt 47 (and Bolt Action), I have simultaneously thinking about how to represent Turkey within the game. In the 1947 history created by Clockwork Goblin, Turkey joins the Axis powers and is subsequently invaded by the Soviet Union. German troops are deployed to eastern Turkey, but there is not much information about this front and nothing has been published on how to field a Turkish force.

Here is the beginning of my home-brew list:

Turkey was not a willing entrant into the Second World War. When the threat from the Soviet Union and parsimony of the western Allies finally pushed the government of Inonu into declaring for the Axis, the Turkish military was far from prepared.

While the cadre of the army was built around a professional officer class, including some with experience from the first world war and war of liberation, much of their equipment was hopelessly out of date and inadequate. Training was also often outdated, a situation that is being rectified by the presence of German observers and training units. Consequently, the quality of Turkish forces varies widely, from unmotivated garrison troops to elite Republican Guard battalions.

Germany is only selectively willing to provide rift technology to their new ally. However, the threat posed by the Soviet Union from Georgia has seen Germany send an expeditionary force, Operation Red Hat (Unternehmen roter Hut), into eastern Anatolia to bolster the Turkish land forces. This force is currently small and so far, has been used as a mobile reserve, leaving Turkish units to defend the front line.

There are several useful pieces to build a plausible Turkish Army. The Bulgarian and Romanian army lists in Armies of Italy and Axis have lists are a good inspiration, with local troops and older hardware supplemented by German weapons and vehicles. Both nations also have cavalry. All of this feels like a Turkish army would be similar.

From the Konflikt 47 supplements, Resurgence and the new Defiance, there are Finland, and two Italian lists. More inspiration. Each shows different ways to create interesting armies from belligerent nations without direct access to rift-tech.

I have also done a little reading about the Turkish military, particularly the post-Ottoman Turkish army after the first world war. There is not much about in English, so it didn’t take very long. The achievements of the new Turkish Republic in 1919-1922 are impressive. This conflict is of particular interest as it took place in Turkey (similar to the Konflikt 47 invasion story), and covers the period of the demise of the Ottoman empire and the beginnings of the modern Turkish Republic.

There is a lot to come on Turkey in K47: list creation, list building, and perhaps the most fun of all, modelling. I figure my blog is a good as place as any to record some this.

I’d better get to work.