Bolt Action

by Dennis ‘MATT VARNISH’ Campbell

The second Canadian Tabletop Championships (CTC) was held over the Mother’s Day Weekend here in Ottawa, ON, Canada, after a 4-year hiatus thanks to Covid 19.  I attended the first CTC in 2019 where I was the ringer for Flames of War on Day One and wound up winning the Team Yankee event with my Syrians on Day Two.  I would have participated in the two-day Bolt Action event this year were it not on Mother’s Day and my wife’s birthday weekend, but I am assured next year will be earlier in the month, the first weekend of May.

By Kreighton Long

The Italian Army, or Regio Esercito, was the first military in the world to mass-produce camouflage equipment for their soldiers. The M1929 telo mimetico was utilized by Italian soldiers and paratroopers as well as by Italy’s German ally during the course of World War Two.

For my Italian paratrooper army project I knew I needed to commit hard to the camouflage pattern and after a few trial runs incorporating feedback I reached a scheme that was close to accurate while still being doable.

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.

By Kreighton Long

When it came time to purchase my Italians I decided to go with Warlord Games. Their plastics have been excellent over the last several years and I figured why not give these a go. I can honestly say I wasn’t disappointed. The kits are easy to assemble with enough variety to have minimal duplications in your platoon. The sculpts are clean with good lines and deep contours that make highlighting that much easier when painting. I picked up one box of plastic infantry and the support teams box to get the meatball rolling. When I get to it I’ll add some vehicles and heavier support to really flush out my Italians into a force ready to take to the table. But first, we need to put paint to plastic.

By Kreighton Long

Last Saturday, 8 October, I had the opportunity to attend the Call to Arms convention in Williamsburg, VA and compete in the Bolt Action tournament. The tournament was organized by seven-year TO veteran Kalissa Skibicki. Twenty competitors checked in Saturday morning for a day of competitive gaming. The tournament progressed smoothly and after three different scenarios with three different opponents, the tournament came to a successful conclusion.

By Kreighton Long

With my Bolt Action Romanian army built and bloodied on the table, it’s time, once again, to look forward to a new project. Scrolling through my mental list of armies I aspire to paint and field I felt temporarily at a loss. While discussing my dilemma with a friend over a mid-war game of Bolt Action, he suggested I try something in the early-war period, so as to pair against his own early-war armies.

The suggestion was well received and we spent a good portion of the remainder of the game discussing my options. A combination of desiring to get the most mileage out of my next project and to build a less common army brought me to the stoop of the Italian Army.

The recent releases of Warlord’s Bolt Action: Campaign Italy: Soft Underbelly and plastic Italian Army opened the door and ushered me inside. As all my terrain is themed around European battlefields I decided to focus my research on the Italian participation in European campaigns and battles. Some quick online research into the campaigns fought by the Italian Army in Europe gave me some quality gaming options to consider including campaigns in Southern France, Greece, and Russia.

By Troy Hill

What do we eat on the Russian Front during Operation Bagration?

Baggy Rations, of course.

At least, that’s what gamers snack on while playing a historical-themed event this past weekend. Anything to support the FLGS, right? Whatever snacks the store had disappeared as our local Bolt Action players munched their way through three rounds of operational madness.

By Troy Hill

Prolific wargaming and historical author Mark Barber recently sat down via email with me to discuss the ins and outs of writing books for the gaming community. If you’re not sure who Mark is, here’s the blurb from his Amazon Author page:

Mark Barber writes in the military history and wargaming genres. He has written several military aviation titles for Osprey Publishing and spent several years working with Gaijin Entertainment’s record-breaking ‘War Thunder’ software package, acting as a historical consultant, in-game content writer, and article writer. He has also written several titles for Warlord Games’ Bolt Action tabletop game and has written fiction for the Kings of War and Gates of Antares franchises.

Mark has written several of the popular campaign books for Bolt Action, including several of the D-Day series.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

So you know what I really needed?  Another game system to get into. Because apparently Italians, Germans, and British in Flames of War, Syrians and US National Guard in Team Yankee, French in Black Powder Napoleonics in 28mm, Prussians in 18mm, Romans in 28mm for Ancients, and 18mm Persians just wasn’t enough. 

I’ve been feeling some peer pressure from the likes of Scott Roach and the gang to get into Bolt Action in 28mm, and I took the plunge recently, with Blitzkrieg Germans.   

Why Blitzkrieg germans?  Rob Kelly has purchased some bicycle troops to defend the Danish frontier for a few hours before capitulating in 1940 so I figured I’d paint something, not from North Africa. This left the grey germans. And we can recreate this scene from the movie April 9th: 

I just need some sidecars!

By Andy Allcock

Greetings! Let me introduce myself. I’m Andy, I’ve been wargaming since I was a young teenager. I started with Warhammer 40k (2ed) and moved shortly afterward into historical and fantasy gaming.  A buddy and I wrote our own ruleset years ago, and I’ve been known to know where and how to find rules in other games.

For 2022 I’ve decided to start yet another Bolt Action army.  I’ve already got early Germans, late war winter Germans, British Commandos, British 8^th Army, USMC (which I play as 1^st cav), Africa Italians, and regular Italians. With such a widespread of armies, I decided it was time to dive into the French.