[Fred Cartwright]

Anyscale Models are about to release the M2A1. It was one of the recent set of allied models from a recent Kickstarter. Might be worth contacting them to see what it goes on general sale.

[Fred Cartwright]

Are you referring to the M2 8” howitzer on M1 carriage? If so a bit of overkill for Bolt Action. It had a range of over 10 miles!

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Fred Cartwright.

[Fred Cartwright]

Have checked with some knowledgable people and the 41st Armoured Infantry regiment was not a coloured unit. The only coloured infantry regiments were in the 92nd and 93rd Infantry divisions. The other coloured units were all seperate battalions of tanks, tank destroyers, field artillery, anti aircraft etc.

[Fred Cartwright]

The Panzergrenadiers in the BoB box are in late war uniforms with ankle boots instead of jackboots and differences in the length and cut of the tunics. They also have late war weapons like G43 semi auto rifles and Stg44 Assault rifles that are not available to an early war army. The Blitzkrieg box are for 39-42.

[Fred Cartwright]

Yes fine to run with 2-3 squads per platoon. The Airborne were at their lowest point on D-day. As I mentioned before Lt Winters only had 29 men in Easy Company to assault Brecourt Manor on D-Day. That is about as many as an average platoon. As stragglers appeared over the next few days the units filled out a bit more, but were never at full strength.
Are you sure the 41st Armoured Infantry were a coloured unit? I know the original regiment was when raised during the civil war, but that unit had no relationship to the new 41st Infantry which was raised in 1917 and was the direct predecessor to the 41st Armoured Infantry.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Fred Cartwright.

[Fred Cartwright]

Ah I see what you mean by attached. Yes units from different divisions would be assigned to work together for a specific operation, particularly infantry with US armoured divisions. One of the criticisms of the US Armoured division structure was it was light on infantry. The standard division had 3 battalions each of tanks, infantry and artillery. As casualties were heaviest in the infantry often a division had to be withdrawn and rebuilt with the tanks and artillery still fully capable. The 2nd was a heavy armoured division and had 12 companies of medium tanks and 6 of light tanks to a light divisions 9 and 3 respectively, so was even “shorter” of infantry.
When understrength units tended to run with fewer men per squad before amalgamating squads.

[Fred Cartwright]

I think things are a bit confused there. From what I have read 2nd Armoured and 4th Infantry were in the 1st Armoured Corps in 1941 when 4th was a motorised division so had intergral transport for the infantry, probably standard trucks. 4th was reorganised as a standard infantry division in 1943 and wasn’t part of 2nd Armoured. The infantry component of 2nd Armoured was the 41st Armoured Infantry regiment. They had M3 half tracks for the infantry to ride in.
US Armoured doctrine was to use the Armoured divisions as a deep strike and pursuit force after the enemy line had been ruptured. They were combined arms units usually divided into combat commands each of a tank battalion an infantry battalion and an armoured artillery battalion. Whether the tanks supported the infantry or the infantry the tanks would depend on the mission.
Your Easy Company platoon is ok, but is full strength. In Normandy none of the Airborne divisions were at full strength due to scattering of the drop and losses sustained in the landing and subsequently. Also they had no 2.5 ton trucks. When the division needed to be moved some distance trucks were provided from the US transport pool, otherwise they walked.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Fred Cartwright.

[Fred Cartwright]

The basic list is fine. A couple of observations. You have platoon HQ and 4 squads, but only 3 half tracks, which means 2 squads have to walk or hitch a ride on the tanks. Also if 4th is an infantry division it wouldn’t have armoured half tracks. Only the armoured infantry battalions in US armoured divisions had those and units like the Cavalry recon. US like all countries leg infantry walked or were trucked to where they needed to be, afterwards the trucks went off to do something else. The US and the British were fortunate to have sufficient trucks to be able to do that when they wanted, which gave them an edge in strategic mobility, unlike the Germans who used trains for such moves.

[Fred Cartwright]

I assemble them first, then paint. Having got used to painting metal figures that are single piece castings I never saw the need to do otherwise. For vehicles I will assemble most of it, but often leave things like tracks loose, so they are easier to paint. Also I paint crew separately then glue them in when th vehicle is complete.

[Fred Cartwright]

I base my infantry singly and crew served weapons on a single base with the crew. I don’t base vehicles.
Here is my US Armoured infantry company.
Company HQ
Jeep
M3 half track
Officer
NCO with SMG
Bazooka team
3 riflemen

AT platoon
Jeep
Officer
NCO with SMG
1 rifleman
2 M3 half tracks
2 57mm AT guns and crews

3 platoons each with
Officer
2 NCO’s with SMG
BAR team
4 riflemen
M3 half Track

2 squads with
NCO with SMG
BAR team
7 riflemen
M3 half Track

1 squad with
NCO
60mm Mortar team
50 cal HMG
M3 half Track.

There should be a half track each for 60mm Mortar and 50 cal, and I will probably do that when I get around to painting some more.

[Fred Cartwright]

Sorry for the delay. Been a bit busy. Here is my German Panzergrenadier list.
Company HQ
Company commander
Medic
2 runners
Kubelwagen and driver
Kettenkrad
SdKfz 251/3
SdKfz 251/17

Heavy platoon
2 SdKfz 251/2
2 SdKfz 251/9
2 8cm mortars and crews

3 Infantry platoons each with
Platoon commander
Panzerschreck team
2 runners
Radio team
SdKfz 251/10 or 17

3 Infantry squads
2 LMG Teams
4 riflemen
NCO with SMG

I will post up some more later.

[Fred Cartwright]

I play Bolt Action and Iron Cross for bigger games. I don’t play tournaments. For a Bolt Action game of 2-2.5 hours I would play a platoon with support weapons and tank or assault gun support against a couple of squads with MMG and AT gun support. For longer games would play an infantry company with tank platoon in support and some heavy weapons like a Stummel against a dug in infantry platoon with AT guns and mortars in support and maybe a tank or assault gun. I will put some detailed organisations on later.

[Fred Cartwright]

In terms of playing in tournaments they are correct. You would not be able to use all your models as they are limited in points to 1,000 or 1,500 points. If you are playing scenarios then use as much as you want. People have played large Arnhem games with Bolt Action. This was a big, all day, multiplayer game. If you have the space to set up your game and leave it out no reason why you couldn’t take your time playing a big game solo.

[Fred Cartwright]

Have you read the Bolt Action rules yet? The activation is based on pulling dice from a bag. Each side puts one dice in the bag for each infantry squad, heavy weapon, tank etc. Different colours for each side. Dice are pulled one at a time from the bag and the player whose colour the dice is gets to activate one unit. This continues until all the dice have been pulled. You don’t need the dice of course you could use a deck of cards with red for one side, black the other. This means that one player could get a run of units activated before his opponent gets to do anything. The challenge is to make the most of such opportunities, because you know the other player will get a run of dice too before the bag is empty.

[Fred Cartwright]

Like any rules you can modify them to suit yourself. Just be careful that it doesn’t unbalance play, but with things like the dice pulls as long as it applies to both sides you should be ok. The rules are flexible and will handle small high quality forces against larger low quality ones.

[Author]

Posts