Pre-order Warlord Games Pegasus Bridge Battle Set for Bolt Action

Continuing our theme on WWII and the Normandy Beach landings brings us to the new Pegasus Bridge Battle Set for Bolt Action from Warlord Games. The set contains everything you need to recreate the daring raid that paved the way for the Allied D-Day invasion.

In the opening minutes of the Normandy landings, the mission was to capture the Bénouville Bridge and the nearby Ranville Bridge in order to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the beaches, where Allied forces were storming ashore.

180 men, led by Major John Howard, landed close to their targets in gliders. Using the element of surprise, they were tasked with seizing and holding the bridges against the inevitable German counter attack. Bénouville Bridge was later renamed Pegasus Bridge, in reference to the shoulder emblem worn by the British Airborne forces.

Using the contents of the battle set, you can recreate the scene for this pivotal battle. The centerpiece is a laser-cut model of the bridge itself, accompanied by models of the Cafe Gondre, as well as a pill box, a gun pit and even two telegraph poles.

That's not all, a complete set listing includes:
    Laser-cut Bridge
    Laser-cut Cafe Gondres
    Resin Gun Pit
    Metal 5cm KwK 39 anti-tank gun and 3 crew
    Laser-cut Pillbox
    Metal German MG42 MMG team
    2 laser-cut telegraph poles (on the Cafe sheets)
    20 plastic German Infantry and plastic bases
    Major John Howard and plastic base (exclusive new model)
    10 man British Airborne squad and plastic bases
    2-man PIAT team and plastic bases
    Scenario booklet
    Decal sheets for the Paras and Heer

The Ham & Jam! Collector's Edition adds
    20 additional plastic German Infantry and plastic bases
    Marder III Ausf M
    Lord Lovat and Piper Millin metal miniatures
    20 plastic Commandos including weapon sprues
    6 resin sandbag emplacements (two make a single MG pit)
    4 Heer MG42 MMG teams
    6 dead livestock models
    Resin Sandbag emplacement for the top of the control tower
    10 laser-cut telegraph poles
    12 resin Dragon's teeth tank traps
    Pegasus Bridge Osprey book

The battle set will be released early to mid October and will run you 280 USD plus additional shipping costs. The Ham & Jam! Collector's Edition will run you 450 USD plus shipping.

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow

D-Day WWII Reenactment, food for Bolt Action?

A recent trip and visit to a D-Day Reenactment stoked the fire for some possible WWII Bolt Action inspiration! The weekend was a great annual event held in Conneaut Ohio, USA. There were over 900 reenactors, plus vehicles, encampments and aircraft.

Visiting the Allied, Axis and French Resistance camps was a real experience. The living history surrounded you wherever you turned.

If you'd like to see more, we've posted almost 200 additional images on our Flickr page

Here in the USA the allied camp was the largest. There were plenty of weapons and ordinance to be viewed.

There were British contingents...

as well as Polish,

and Canadian.

Even the French Resistance had a camp on the hill above the beaches.

The German camp was smaller but did not lack a wonderful display of equipment and vehicles.

The tents were done to a great display of accuracy and detail.

Weapons and personal gear were also plentiful.

The vehicles were a nice addition. Motorcycles, armoured cars, transports, and armor were all present.

Another sweet bonus was a B-25 and 4 P-51 Mustangs.

When the D-Day landing started the B-25 "Georgie's Girl" did several bombing runs The Mustangs also made several passes.

The flyovers continued as the landing craft and soldiers hit the beaches.

The advance was inexorable and the raucous caused by the shear volume of firearms caused many to cover their ears or retreat to a safer distance. Here a P-51 gives air support.

The advance picked up steam as allied armor also hit the beaches. A Sherman, halftrack and armoured transports all took part.

Now as we get the feeling of what a beach landing was like in Normandy, we can get into recreating it in a 28mm scale game of Bolt Action with their "Assault on Normandy" starter set.

For 92.00 USD you get the full-colour 216-page hardback Bolt Action rulebook, 40 multi-pose, hard plastic 28mm miniatures:

20 US Army infantry

20 German Heer infantry

1 hard plastic Ruined Farmhouseand 8 Bolt Action Orders Dice. A very nice set for the price and can be easily built upon with Warlord Games ever expanding selection of troops and vehicles.

Check their website Bolt Action section for the Assault on Normandy set and other deals!

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow

In Her Majesty's Name: Orville and Wilburton Wright and the Wright Pirates Stat Sheet

Alrighty then, time for more of In Her Majesty's Name goodness! Here we have some background information and the stats for Orville Wright, Wilburton Wright and the Wright Pirates.

This adventuring company resides in the good old US and have as their leaders the Wright Brothers. The Wright brothers as everybody knows were pioneers in ornithopter technology and have other nifty inventions at their disposal. The wealthy industrialist S. Pierpont Langley became interested in these two brothers early on and helped fund their inventive minds. His financing enabled the Wrights first steam ornithopter to be produced in the US. The Wright brothers and their crew having fully tested their fine craft, completed several missions in quick succession. This gained them instant notoriety in the international community and placed them on the crosshairs of others.

Mr Langley is keen to keep on top of the latest tech and also recoup on his investments. Thus the Wright Brothers have completed several missions for "paying customers". This has lead to them being called mercenaries and pirates. The name took root and the boys, especially the fearless Wilburton, liked it so much they became the Wright Pirates.

Working through S. Pierpont and his extensive contacts in the US State and War Department they receive many lucrative contracts from the US Government and in turn provide their services to help get things done in a way as to not implicate the US in any possible diplomatic issues.

The mind behind the Wright brothers is the eldest, Orville. He did most of the design work on the ornithopter and other techs, like the Grappling Gun and the Sub-Thermopulsion Gun, produced by Wright Brothers Inc. He is more reserved than his younger brother and prefers to get in and get out with the least disturbance. He has become very stealthy and would rather work things out with his sword than a firearm.

Orville Wright
Pluck 3+, FV +4, SV +3, Cost: 52
Talents: Engineer, Duelist (sword), Stealthy, Leadership +2
Equipment: Magneto Static Coat, Sword, Pistol

Wilburton is the exuberant and fearless younger brother who test piloted every iteration of the ornithopter. His mouth usually gets him into a jam but the Sub-Thermopulsion Gun he wields usually gets him out of it. His boisterous attitude resounds with the crew and they have come to respect and admire his leadership.

The Sub-Thermopulsion Gun is also known as a freeze ray. It fires an icy blast at a single target and has a range of 12 inches, an attack bonus of +2 and a Pluck penalty of -3. All armor is useless against this weapon except for Magneto Static items which disrupt the Thermopulsion. Each of the three Magneto Static defensive items receive a +1 bonus. If target has a knocked down result, they instead are partially frozen to that spot, all other rules for being knocked down apply. A medic has two turns to chip out and revive a frozen character instead of 1. It requires two hands to use. It costs 9 points.

Wilburton Wright
Pluck 3+, FV +2, SV +4, Cost: 58
Talents: Erudite Wit, Fearless, Leadership +3
Equipment: Faraday Coat, Sub-Thermopulsion Gun

Their Command Sergeant is a man trained in the US Army and was one of the first members of the new US Air Defense Corp. He distinguished himself in the battle of port Norfolk in 1862 where he attacked and destroyed two of the South's Peruvian Sea Dreadnoughts. S. Pierpont pulled some strings and had him honorably discharged so he could be brought over to the Wright Pirates for his military expertise. His weapon of choice is the new sub-machine gun.

Command Sergeant Edgerton

Pluck 4+, FV +3, SV +3, Cost: 42
Talents: Tough, Marksman
Equipment: Brigandine, Sub-Machine Gun, Combat Knife

The Sub-Machine Gun is a lightweight machine gun that fires pistol bullets. It has a range of 18”, an attack bonus of +3 and a Pluck penalty of -1. It can be used to attack groups and for “walking fire” in the same way as a Machine Gun. It requires two hands to use. It costs 11 points.

The remainder of the crew have been nicknamed the Wright Pirates by friend and foe alike. They are versed in military tactics by Sergeant Edgerton and in flight by Wilburton.

Wright Pirate

Pluck 5+, FV +2, SV +2, Cost: 19
Equipment: Brigandine, Military Rifle, Combat Knife

Options
Any Wright Pirate can upgrade his combat knife to a sword (+1 point)
Any Wright Pirate can have a Pistol (+3 points)
One Wright Pirate can be given Medic (+5 points)
One Wright Pirate can be given Strongman and upgrade to Machine gun (+11 points)
One in every three Wright Pirates can upgrade rifle to a sub-machine gun (+2 Points)
One Wright Pirate can be given a Grappling gun (+8 points)
If Pirates are on-board their airship, up to six Grappling guns may be used.

 A Grappling Gun is a non offensive weapon lightweight gun that fires a grappling hook to its target and then once secured will retract and "pull" the user to the target. It is intended to quickly get the user to tops of buildings or onto enemy airships. It takes the character one turn to fire and travel to the desired location. Nothing else can be done that turn. It has a range of 24”. It requires two hands to use. It costs 8 points.

We hope to hear comments from anyone who plays these guys!

Have a Great Battle,
The Old Crow

New Release: Warhammer Lizardmen Bastiladon

This just in, The latest addition to the Lizardmen in the Warhammer world, the Bastilidon!

The Bastiladon is the most heavily armored beast in Lustria,  a veritable walking fortress that carries the most treasured weapons of the Lizardmen to war.

The Bastiladon can be assembled in 2 variations. The first carries the Ark of Sotek upon its back and is crewed by 4 Skinks armed with javelins.

A large horned helm is unique to this version of the Bastiladon, along with special spiked armor on its carapace.

You also get plenty of snakes to decorate the base of the miniature.

The second variation carries the Solar Engine and includes a distinctive glyph plate mounted on its head.

Armoured sections cover its tail and front legs. 3 Skinks armed with javelins ride atop the beast, one of them is unique to the Solar Engine and acts as the gunner.

The keen eyed will notice that the firing mechanism of the Solar Engine has enough space for a four-fingered creature to fire it, yet the Skinks themselves only have 3 fingers.

This multi-part plastic kit contains 83 components with which to make either a Lizardmen Bastiladon with Solar Engine,

or Lizardmen Bastiladon with Ark of Sotek.

As always, this kit comes unpainted and requires assembly

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow

In Her Majesty's Name: How to Paint Orville and Wilburton Wright for the Wright Pirates

Here they are, the illustrious leaders of the Wright Pirates, Orville and Wilburton Wright. These guys are ready to square off against The Bucharest Brigade, Society of Thule or the Black Dragon Tong inthe sweet steampunk game, In Her Majesty's Name. These daring adventurers hail from the US and are quite a formidable pair.

Enough of that, we started with base figures from Artizan Designs and did a few minor modifications. 

Orville had a hole drilled into his hand and a sword was inserted. This should help him out in those close quarters fights.

Wilburton was a bit tougher. We added a small spring to the barrel of his weapon and a piece of wire to feed the gun from his power pack.

The power pack, attached to his belt, was a small component from a circuit board.

Now onto painting Orville. Base coats of brown were painted on the coat, pants and shirt.

A wash of black was painted into any cracks, folds or crevices to accentuate shadows.

Dry-brush the original color over the areas where the wash was applied...

then dry-brush on your mid-tones and highlights. Here the pants received a Khaki mid-tone over the base coat and a highlight of Linen.

In mid process Orville is shaping up. The collar received a Mink Tan and will get a coat of Linen and final dry-brush of White. His scarf will remain black so simple highlights will work.

We used Brass on his goggles and Bronze on buttons and buckles. Sword blade was painted with Gunmetal, Sterling Silver and a highlight of Aluminium. For the hilt we used Antique Gold. The goggle lenses were painted with Midnight Blue and reflections of Winter Blue.

Now Orvilles younger brother, the daring and boisterous Wilburton. Once again we placed all the base coats on all the major areas. Burnt Umber jacket, Nutmeg pants, Chocolate Brown scarf and gun stock and a Tan for the flesh tones.

Being the brother full of bravado, we decided a red scarf would set him apart from the rest of the pirates. We added a coat of Heritage Brick, then Tomato Red and lastly Napthol Crimson.

A simple dry-brush off Linen adds highlights to his scarf, pants and coat.

His hair was based with Nutmeg and you can see the gun mid process.

Wilburton's hair was given a dry-brush of Orange, the cable Midnight Blue, fur collar finished like Orvilles and washes applied to the gun. the gun barrel was given a coat of black, dry-brush of Medium Gray, Linen and lastly White.

Here's another angle to see the hair and other details.

Now the finished product. Orville is now clearly sporting a pencil thin handlebar mustache and 5 o-clock shadow. Wilburton is eagerly motioning his men forward while his gun is smoking from the last freeze blast.

Extra black washes and highlights were applied to bring out the details.

Orville striking a nice pose.

...and to close things out, here they are leading a contingent of Wright Pirates across the airship yards. Now to get you their stat sheets!

Have a great Battle,

The Old Crow