It's in the Bag!

For quite a while, I wanted to have a decent dice bag for our games of Bolt Action.  While there are plenty of options on the Warlord site, I was also hoping for something which could be utilized for other games or purposes.

This hand made custom leather bag from Armored Wolf did just the trick!

You can get an idea of the scale comparing it to the dice and surrounding figures.  Without a doubt, you can get plenty of order dice inside!

Since I tend to play larger games with a fair mount of order dice, having a bigger bag is handy.  Also very handy is the leather string which can close off the bag, just in case I don't have my usual dice carrying boxes.  I was able to fit 30+ order dice and 32 large regular dice into the bag with no problem at all!

The dice bags are a custom order, which means you can have just about any color combo you need.  Other elements can be added such as leather tooling for unit/army/national insignia, etc.  Here's the Etsy location where you can contact them:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArmouredWolf

Eventually I will have a bag made for my French forces, and probably another for my Winter Soviets.  As I mentioned before, this is the most generic bag that is available, at $55.

The dice in the image are from Dice of War, of course, who make dozens of amazing dice for anything you could possibly want!  I loved my Fallschirmjager sets that I used for Operation Sting last November.  You have seen me using them in my Battle reports all the time... here's an example from my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/njN4D64zH1k 

I will be bringing this along with me to Adepticon so that I can use it for my Song of Ice and Fire tournament action!  The leather is just soft enough to close easily, but stiff enough to hold its shape even with a bunch of dice inside.  The bottom is flat and fully stitched by hand.

This high quality bag is really amazing in person, and I have seen super customized designs that blow your mind.  You want some shell casings stitched in... some tooled insignia or even shoulder badges?  Let your imagination run wild.  I certainly plan on it!

Cutting off the Retreat!

Among the many pieces of recording that I am editing at the moment is the newest Bolt Action Battle Report... The Bridge to Nouvion!

This will feature several new elements, not the least of which are the new terrain features that you saw in a recent tutorial series here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/06/building-bridge-phase-1.html

I also tried out a few new vehicles that were painted, the SDK 232 armored car and the new plastic 38T kit from Warlord.  I painted that in a you tube live session here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Z-eAAb1lI

I sculpted a few rubber boats for the German forces to use in order to effect some river crossings.  You will be seeing these in future battle reports with much wider rivers. I wanted to give them a test first to see how I would have to arrange a rule set for them.

This battle had a lot of interwoven objectives on both sides, which is something I injected into the previous battle report, moving beyond just the basic scenarios.  The idea is to have mission goals for both sides that are so disparate that there is no way they can completely deny objectives to the other side.

In other words, you have to complete your own missions, as opposed to simply sitting back and preventing the other side from accomplishing theirs.

I was also trying to create a very chaotic battlefield in order to simulate the start of the Allied withdrawal from the northeast front.  The notion that the German forces are advancing from all sides, and about to cut off the retreat permanently before it can even get started!

The skies are not friendly over northern Europe either!  Who knows what kind of effect a strafing and bombing run might have on the Allied columns...

Results of this action will also be carried into the following report, and I am working very hard on that terrain.  You got a peek at some of it in the last battle report, Blood at Arras (already on YouTube here:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njN4D64zH1k

Blood At Arras

Here we go!  Battle report number three from the Early War series, this time covering the Battle of Arras.  You can see that one on my YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njN4D64zH1k 

It was a bit different from my first couple of reports, with changes in the terrain, and in the armies as well.  I really enjoyed being able to incorporate my scratch built objective markers as terrain pieces!

I also used those new terrain sets that I have shown in recent how to posts.  The roads worked perfectly, and I was even able to use the telephone poles from another step by step guide!

There will be an upcoming blog post with images of the completed 88mm flak gun.  As per the historical scenario, it played quite a role during the battle, especially with Rommel's nearby presence!

This was also the first battle report in which the British appeared.  Their rules are quite different from the French, so that was an interesting twist.  I think I will try to film one more report where they go up against the German forces alone.

Hans Deitrich led his squad in a desperate attempt to cut the communication lines to the French forces... would another hero be created in this battle?

As you can see, this board was much flatter and open than the previous Ardennes terrain set ups.  This was done to represent that flatter more open territory in northern France.

The Luftwaffe makes another appearance in this report, but very late in the game.  Would it turn the tide for good against the Allies?  Check out the latest report and find out!  

Stay tuned, because more is on the way!

Rolling On

As the British army moves closer to completion, it is just about ready for a few battle reports!

This is Roy's BEF, which has been made to accommodate a few different eras and theatres.

This first battle will see a portion of this group used for a what if scenario on the Battle of Arras. I am creating some special terrain for that right now, which I will show in some upcoming blog posts.

This is one of the first Bolt Action armies that I ever painted... and where I tested out oil paints for the first time.  Here's a post on the Matilda, which was part of a series:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/09/lets-see-what-happens-part-one.html

The Churchill and Bren Carriers were done after that, utilizing some of the techniques that you can see here in this live session from a while back:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10209553700813482/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

This 'what if' battle will see what might have happened if the French commander had not died in a car wreck, and a small batch of French reinforcements showed up to assist the British attack.  

While the Battle of France was pretty much a fait accompli by that time, this thwarted attack did cause enough consternation with the German high command to halt the advancing forces long enough to assist in the Dunkirk evacuations.

I already have 2 battle reports up on the YouTube channel, but this episode will be for the Patrons (a link to the page later in this post).  If you want to see what the previous episodes were like, you can check that out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78AWDqiSgH4

This is just the beginning, as I have 16 different Bolt Action armies under way!  I will be covering every era and theatre of the conflict, even the Pacific.  I am beginning here in western Europe, moving to North Africa and the War in the East, up through Sicily, Italy, France, Germany, Hungary and so on.

There are partisan armies, Italians, multiple German, Soviet, US and British forces... even Hungarians and Polish. 

Many thanks to Dice of War, who make incredible dice that complete the setting for any game.  Why bother with all the fancy terrain, painted minis, and then use plain old dice!  Thanks also to the Table War folks who make the super durable and great looking battle mats!

If you can support the production of the battle reports and the how to videos, any amount would be appreciated on the Patreon Page.  Stay tuned for Arras, which is a special report made for the Patreon subscribers!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Video Battle Report #1

At long last, I was able to get the first battle report filmed, edited and posted to YouTube!

Overall it was about 18 hours of work, but hopefully that will be trimmed down somewhat now that I have been through the process of making opening and closing credits, overlay screens and more essential pieces.

The entire game was a learning process in what the limitations would be on time, equipment, and what could actually be shown.  My preference is to show as much of the game as possible, and that means order dice draws and dice rolls.

Seeing the action play out is much more fun than getting turn reviews.  On the other side of this, it means that I have to react as if I am playing two tournament games at once, which means that an order test or another detail may have been missed here and there.

I am also trying to do more than just 'standard' games, and my goal is to try and base a few "what if" scenarios based as closely on the historical situation as possible.  Hundreds of hours of research has gone into all this, which may be hard to comprehend... but I felt like it was worth it!

If I did miss something, I tried to put a correction or at least an alert on the screen in post production.  Since filming this first report, I have gotten some new equipment and some new filming regimens that should cut down on the overall time of the game without missing out on the tension of finding out who gets that next order dice, and trying to make those critical choices when you do get that all important first dice :-)

Here's a link, and there are many more to come!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf9pVSD3FIs&lc=z231hffoexaaxbv2gacdp43a05kxa3cu4u5zo0uz4kpw03c010c

Reporting From the Front

Over the last few months, I have been trying to prepare for my ultimate goal of filming battle reports for Bolt Action games.  This has meant a huge amount of work... starting with painting the armies!

I have enough of the early war French and Germans ready for some scenarios, with some variety in the army construction as well.

You have seen numerous how to articles on the terrain, the game mat, and even the painted backdrops.  There are dozens of articles alone showing how this Ardennes forest table was created.

Compiling dice, counters and other items also took a while.

There are even some units that I scratch built, such as this medium 105mm howitzer for the French.  I have learned a lot over this massive project, to be sure.

It is hard to believe how much my approach has changed since I first started.  Now I am using oil paints for most of the figures and vehicles, and these are also demonstrated in several Facebook live sessions.

Here's another scratch built vehicle, the SDK 222.  It is great to finally see it on the table in a game, and not just in my photo booth!

These are the kind of scenes that I had been hoping to see for so very long.  As I have been filming, I have tried to find the best way to balance out the action, the tactics, the mechanics, and the results.  It can be a lot harder than you think!

I have been modifying my approach with each turn in this first game, so if you notice a different approach or different angles, it is because I got a new tripod or made another realization on the fly...

For my very first battle report, there are already some very classic scenes, such as the PZ 3 driving right up to the pesky sniper team (which had been on ambush the entire time), and then destroying a more distant Panhard armored car that was seriously threatening the entire German left flank.

This is the kind of thing I had hoped to capture, which is why I will be using the longer format style.  In this way, you will get to see my reaction to such crazy rolls of the dice, and the suspense of the next order dice, etc.

This will mean a lot of extra work, and a lot more editing, but I think that it will be well worth that additional effort.  Filming those live rolls and draws can mean finding a place for the camera to rest as you use both hands for other things...

You also have to think very quickly on your feet, as you don't have much time to mull over and ponder every possible strategy or action.  In some ways, it  is a bit like a tournament environment.

This picture really shows what I had hoped to capture in video form.  Something that looks as realistic as possible, so that it almost feels like you were watching a movie as opposed to a green board with some dice flying across it.

I try to capture that feeling of reacting live to a situation, such as the very unexpected result of a few random machine gun bursts setting fire to the Opel Blitz transport full of troops!

The other element I will try to bring to each of my reports is how terrain can really affect a battle.  There were so many instances of units being within a foot of each other, but no clear sight lines... just like the Ardenne forest!  

I have been observing forests and hills for a very long time, so see how limited sight lines are, and what a nightmare it would be to move large forces through them.  These games will be very cat and mouse, and also very bloody.

I will try to vary the scenarios, forces, missions, and the terrain as much as possible form one report to the next.  Campaigns will be arranged, and I might try to do the 'flip the coin' style reports, in which the same game is played over again, with the two sides switching defender/attacker, and so on.

Re-learning the video editing software has taken a while, since the original machines where I did this work are now long gone.  I definitely need to update/replace several items of equipment to make this happen as frequently as I would like.  That is why a good portion of the videos will be part of the Patreon Page, so that I can try and get these new items.

It also takes a long time to create each report, with up to 13+ hours of filming and editing, followed by the rendering and upload times.

If you want to support this effort, and be sure to see all of the reports yet to come, here is a link to the Patreon Page.  I will also be offering more raffle figures of a Bolt Action nature too!

Cheers!

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel