Armored Apocalypse: So You’ve Decided to Build a New Army in a Month

November 9, 2022 | Mike R | Bolt Action, Gaming, Warlord Games

By Mike Rafferty

I really like gaming. I mean I write for a gaming blog and I run historicals at AdeptiCon, which probably means I’m at least fond of gaming. As I walk around my house, I have gaming stuff just about everywhere. Some would say I have a problem and should cut down. I say that I should find an excuse to build a new army. Enter Andrew Verticchio.

For those who don’t know him, Andrew runs the Bolt Action events at Adepticon. 2022 was my first year working with him and he’s an all-around great guy. When I found out he was running a tournament near me, I knew I had to go. The only problem was that it was a Bolt Action Tank War tournament, and I didn’t really have a force. Sure, I had some random German tanks that I bought because they were fun to paint, but nothing cohesive. It’s important for me to support the people I work with in their tournaments, and it should be a lot of fun. Plus, it gives me an excuse to scratch that new army itch. There was only one answer, buy a new force based around one of my favorite tanks the Cromwell and paint it all by November.

I decided to go with a list for a full 7th Armoured Cromwell platoon with some recce and anti-tank support. My list is three veteran Cromwells, one veteran Firefly, a veteran PIAT team, a veteran QF 17 pdr, a veteran quad tractor, a veteran Daimler armoured car, and an inexperienced jeep all with the 7th Armoured Division trait. There is a tournament incentive to not bring infantry besides gun teams, so I didn’t bring any infantry. That also saves me from painting infantry. I m hoping it works out, but it should at least look good on the table.

Now comes the annoying part, putting everything together. I have a new fall tradition, watching NFL Redzone and building models. This has really increased my productivity and I’ve been building a lot of Horus Heresy stuff (while ignoring my AdeptiCon projects).

Now that almost everything is built, painting can begin. Luckily British armor is just green, which makes things pretty easy. Vallejo does a Russian Uniform/British Armor spray can which makes everything efficient. The Daimler armoured car and the truck have some black parts for camouflage, which I can do with an airbrush. I’m making an effort do these to a high level, so I’m making camo netting. I took cheesecloth and dipped it in a white glue/water mixture. The mixture should be mostly glued as if it is too watery it won’t dry right or take forever. This helps give the cheesecloth some rigidity for forming it into camo bundles. Then I used Tamiya 1mm modeling tape to form the hessian strips.

I’m still in the middle of painting and have to base and add decals, so it’ll be a busy week.

I should also learn how to play Bolt Action at some point, might help.