Battle Record - Bolt Action 21/05/26

Afternoon and wearer back to our usual Thursday night at Otty's shed we to play Bolt Action with the SAS Rogue Heroes from WWII. This time it's just Ben, Otty and I.

Because Liam ended up in hospital. He's OK, but he's having some medical investigations at the moment and we're hoping for a swift recovery so he can be back gaming as soon as possible.

We played on, it's what he would have wanted! 😜

The illuminated fireballs are so much fun. Again, I can't remember much of what happened.

I think both recent games had me alternating between the most lucky dice rolls to the most unlucky.

Similar to MESBG though there was a lot of amazing hits, that I couldn't convert to causing wounds.

But, there were definitely some amazing cups of tea! Otty's brew skills hit the spot that's for sure.

Busy next week so no games for me. I'll see these guys in a fortnight.

Battle Record - Bolt Action 14/05/26

Afternoon and we are back to our usual Thursday night at Otty's shed we to play Bolt Action with the SAS Rogue Heroes from WWII. I haven't had time for blogging so this is weeks later and unsurprisingly I've no recollection of the game. But luckily that's why started these 'records', rather than reports. 

This is to acknowledge we played, had fun and enjoyed the company of good friends.

All on amazing tables, with fantastic armies built and painted by us.

We scratch that creative itch and then bring it to Otty's Hobby Shed to share it.

And just look how good it looks!

There is just something about these WWII figures and scenes that just look cinematic in a way 40k and Star Wars just can't

Even with the amazing dynamic action poses in 40k, these simple soldiers somehow look like something out of Band of Brothers [just in a different setting].

I love the game and love getting to hang out with these guys.

Battle Record - Bolt Action 10/05/26

Afternoon and as we missed our usual Thursday night at Otty's shed we rainchecked to play Bolt Action on the Sunday with the SAS Rogue Heroes from WWII. Now we started at 5pm, but I didn't take many pics so don't get your hopes up.

The game was a rollercoaster, with a sandstorm hitting as we started [in turn 3 of an ongoing game]. So many of the units were pinned due to the weather. Any shooting that happened struggled to hit with the reduced visibility and cover. My dice rolling was very poor, which got a turns full of abuse. Turn four and it swung the other way, with my dice on fire, culminating in Ben and Liam wanting to pack in and go home. Despite the paddy they played on and the Italians were poorly positioned with very few infantry left [needed to secure objectives]. My dice flipped again and the SAS swung a convincing victory.

Once again the lesson learned is the game is not over until it is over. There is no point claiming defeat from just a bad turn because the Italians in the last two turns were struggling to be in the right places to hold their objectives. Too many pin markers and failed order rolls preventing them from running around the board snapping them up in the final turns.

Having packed it up we started a new Star Wars Legion game on the 'Geonosis' board. Some mistakes were made on my board extensions. I never did a black wash on them before drybrushing so they're very different and will need fixing. But as we only put two units on the board before we had to call it a night I didn't take any pictures. We'll catch up next week.

Battle Record - Bolt Action 30/04/26

Afternoon and I'm finally back at Otty's shed after 3 weeks away, and we're playing Bolt Action. Liam and Otty have been building a new board, terrain and armies to play as the SAS Rogue Heroes from WWII. It's been an ongoing project in the background for months, maybe even a year. 

But they only just got round to setting it all up and giving it a go, and it looks great! A Realm of Battle board has been repainted as a desert setting and a bunch of 3D printed terrain pieces look so great.

Meanwhile, Ben has been working on expanding his terrain for Foy, where some of the battles in Band of Brothers took places. Liam printed some buildings that are actually based on real structures from that period.

Liam is running the SAS with the help of some armour.

While Otty has an eclectic Italian army.

A lot of vehicles got blown up so we got a little carried away with the explosions.

But as I've always maintained Bolt Action makes such cinematic photographs - they always look so good.

Tanks and vehicles are surprisingly vulnerable. When they go, they go. However I did notice that although it is relatively easy to hit you target, unless you're point blank, wounding them is often on 5's.

So, a good round of shooting results in one or 2 casualties if you're lucky. It doesn't always feel productive.

And close combat can be completely brutal with a 10 man squad of Italian infantry being wiped out by 5 SAS defending their building. 

The explosion markers are really good, some flicker and some have coloured LEDs and a remote control!

Even the toy palm trees, with no painting at all, look great on the board.

I pointed out this looks more like Fallout with its mushroom clouds than WWII!

The terrain looks so good. I wish I was able to do stuff like this. Although project has been underway for months I'm pretty certain these buildings and walls were just a couple weeks work.

We may have another week off next week as Otty is working. We'll see if we can postpone to the Sunday instead but I've really missed gaming

And these crazy guys.

Battle Record - Adeptus Titanicus 02/04/26

Afternoon and I'm back at Otty's shed and we're finishing our game of Adeptus Titanicus. Sadly Liam took poorly and ended up in A&E and an Easter stay on the ward - send best wishes. Good friends as we are we played on regardless! It's what he would have wanted.

I think I had quite the plan on how to fight back this turn but the Gatling Reaver was pulverised. It stumbled into the Warhound and then flew backwards - Engine KILL! 

I'm finding how far a titan can fall somewhat disproportionate based on it's 'scale', when these things can't move that distance normally. We decided to First Fire with the Warlord and destroy the building in front to get a clear shot of the advancing Titan.

We were down to just the Reaver, Warlord and Warhound. At this stage the nearest Warlord seemed the biggest threat so we focused on that.

With the Warhound trying to get into its table quarter. But it got shot with a Quake Cannon by the Warlord on the right, not only were its legs damaged but movement and turns were halved. I think the Reaver had similar too. But the Warlord got a good bead on the Chaos Warlord and although we couldn't aim with its Quake Cannon 

We got double 6's for damage on the Head - critical hits, enough to take it down.

The Concussive hits spinning it into the buildings - Engine KILL!

The Reaver took damage but Ben was unhappy because he'd targeted one area and if he'd chosen the legs it would have gone down. As the game had intensified we weren't overly keen on charity at this stage so we carried on, much to his annoyance. 

As the dust settled the other Warlord headed for our deployment zone, pushing reactors to move and turn and just getting it's toe in. We were going to lose our VPs now.

Another Engine KILL! on the Warhound, probably from the backfield camper. The Reaver was damaged, so couldn't contest that table quarter.

But our Warlord had turned and the Quake Cannon's Concussive shells just managed to spin it back out of our DZ. That one dice roll took the game out of Ben's reach. I'm not sure what the final score was but having extended the game for a turn it ended after this.

As we had time we se tup another smaller game. Similar lists but Ben getting to use his Orks. Terrain was less spread out, instead cutting down the fields of fire between units. We had to save our Titan crew up and right of the centre of the board.

Having got to the middle of the board Ben was able to surprise us with his Cerastus [equivalent] Knights charging the Reaver. But we got in with Questoris Knights first. We struggled a bit with the rules at this point, but the outcome was the Ork Knights took damage, but not enough.

In retaliation Ben went for the Reaver and with a new game we were a little more charitable suggesting which order his weapons should hit. The game can be so complex I didn't blame him for disagreeing with us but eventually he took the hint and Engine KILL!, spinning it around.

Where it smashed into the building and collapsed.

Wiping out half the Questoris in the process.

So, we're a bit scuppered at this stage, who knows how it will end...