Once again it’s time for a reflection on a year of hobby.
Overview
I started the year with a deadline looming. A Team Yankee campaign was getting started. I had just acquired enough models to fill out an army and only had about five weeks to get it table ready. I also had Dropzone Commander and Arena Rex backburnered.
I’ve often felt a little light in anti-tank. While the M8 doesn’t exactly pack a huge punch, it can chew through transports easily enough. Plus, an extra machinegun or two is always helpful.
I figured I’d give myself a little breathing room by painting up both variants in the box, but didn’t bother magnetizing. Gravity will have to do the work. The MG comes with a ball joint mount, which is a pain. So I lopped it off and sunk in a bit of paperclip wire. With a magnet on the other side, it holds on well enough.
The whitewash weathering on this vehicle came out much more subtle than on the M10 tank destroyer and M3 halftrack. At first, I was disappointed. But on the plus side, it’s a little more dual use if I go ahead with another allied Bolt Action army down the line.
Happy Tanksgiving everybody. To celebrate, we’ll finish up my initial Bolt Action army with the vehicles.
Usually I try to apply some new techniques when starting a new army/game. For Bolt Action I’ve been pretty mild in that department. For the vehicles I decided to push things a bit. I used a salt weathering technique for the whitewash.
I picked up some Dust Tactics decal sheets off the clearance shelf a year or so ago for literally a quarter. Finally, I’ve got some models in the right scale. The octopus and “DEMON” labels on the M10 come from these sheets.
In game, the half-track is a maddening vehicle. I’ve tried to use it as rapid response, but after leaving it in reserve, it never comes out. Many of our campaign games have used the Chaos in the Reserves rule, which not only nullifies the normal American advantage for vehicles in reserve, it adds an extra negative modifier. Arrgh.
Now that HQ and infantry are accounted for, it’s time to bring in some support teams to do some damage.
I’ve had mixed results with the mortar. Some games it can’t hit anything. Other games it snipes out a key unit first turn and is awesome. The campaign has mostly put the Americans on the defensive, with the Germans attacking. I suppose once that swaps, the mortar’s ability to force a unit to move prove useful.
My first game I found I was quite lacking in anti-tank. A bazooka team helps to solve that.
The MMG seems to get a bad rap, but while in ambush it can really put pressure on the enemy. When the fog is clear enough to see anything, anyways.
Finally, the sniper team. Fog has been tough on snipers, but removing key models makes it all worthwhile.
