"Newbie diving into Bolt Action" Topic

Hi guys, I decided to jump into Bolt Action. I will start with 2 armies. I got the USA army starter set and I am also getting the Band of Brothers starter set. Where I am not so sure is to go the Grenadier starter box way or the Waffen SS starter way.

What do you guys suggest or recommend that I get first to get balanced forces to face against each other, also is there a meaningful playing style difference between them? Big points difference?

Thanks for your advice.

Cheers

If you want real force organisations, have a look at the Chain of Command army lists. You can use them for BA.

Go Grenadiers. You can have them at different rating of costs (inexperienced, experienced, veteran), whereas ss are rated veterans, you will be able to field less units.

Fielding less units has an impact on the number of dice you can draw. Less dice = less ability to activate one of your units. On the other hand, the more units you have, the more fragile they are. So globally speaking, it is a balancing act.

Grenadiers will allow you more flexibility than ss troops.

Hello again, thanks for your advice so far. Yes, I think I will go the Grenadier way because it is more dynamic(I will have to wait a little longer for that cool Tiger tank that comes in the Waffen SS box starter box, sniff!).

Ok, the US starter Army arrived in the mail today, OMG there are just so many options. Are there any guides or videos on how to make the best of it? what pieces go with each diferent kind of soldier? In the images I found online they all seem to repeat NCO, BAR gunner and rifles, do I have to follow an standard pattern for each platoon or is there room for vaiety? . The belts and ammunition pouches and who should wear what its kind of tricky for me. I dont want to make mistakes before gluing. Thanks again.

You can use US vs US Airborne in Dr. Strangelove scenarios.

There should be a sheet that shows what the parts on the sprues are some parts go with certain poses,(Prone, advancing,walking etc.). General rule of thumb, US Squad is 10-12 Infantry, One NCO with Thompson submachine gun, One man with BAR, rest are riflemen with Garands. On the sprue is ammunition pouches for the BAR and Thompson the rest you can mix and match. Prefit before gluing to make sure.

The waffen SS box has infantry in camo smocks. Does this limit them to ss, or can heer and Luftwaffe field divisions have infantry in camo smocks? Is there anything on the SS figures that limit their use?

Most German land forces used some camo smocks late in the war either as issue or else 'obtained'. As an example of 'obtained' I have seen a Panzer officer wearing a Luftwaffe leather pilot's jacket.

As a rule of thumb SS camo was more detailed and contained a lot of browns and yellows and even brick red. Very small dots and small areas of colour. This was often printed on the uniform rather than on the smocks.

Again as a rule of thumb non-SS camo was larger/faded patterns of green and earth type colours and this tended to be on the smocks, not on the uniform. Underneath would be field grey/green or even brown trousers.

Run: WW2 German camouflage smocks as a Google search and see what you get shown. You can further refine the search for SS or Wehrmacht.

The US Marines briefly wore camo in Normandy in 1944 but soon stopped after too many got shot by the US army. The army was confused by seeing a camouflage material on US troops.

Barry

Very interestic info and facts, thanks

As far as "people obtaining" cameo smocks. The Hitler Youth(12SS) at Normandy wore cameo smocks made out of material obtained from the Italian Army.