Need Help with Backpacks

 All,

I’m working on another 28mm project.  Once again I’m using Warlord US Marine figures, but I need more backpacks because each sprue only comes with one for every six figures.  I’m trying to get my hands on about forty more; I’ve searched the internet but haven’t found any, and I’m reaching out to Warlord to see if there is any opportunity (though I’m not hopeful.   Nothing against them, it’s just that the sprue is set up with one each and they’re not going to pull one off 40 different sprues just to help me out).

This one:

So, does any other company make them? Are there any that can be 3D printed? Does anyone have any spares lying around they’d be willing to part with?

To be clear, I’m looking for the full pack with bedroll/shelter half, like this:

Thanks in advance, any help is greatly appreciated!

I believe this shall be my salvation:

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations to cast my own. I spent a bunch of time watching YouTube videos on this stuff and it looks super easy.  I went with Alteco 2-part epo-putty on the recommendation of one of the YouTubers, will let you know how it goes.  If that doesn’t work I’m looking at using a 50% green stuff/50% milliput mixture, also recommended by some YouTubers.

And here’s a sneak peek for those wondering why I’d need more US Marine backpacks:

Thanks again, everyone!

V/R,

Jack

Bolt Action Test Game #2

All,

Greetings, hope all is well!  Just a quick update on what the boys and I have been getting up to.  We played a game, but I shouldn’t really call this a battle report; there’s not much much in the way of a narrative, or a real scenario, or a plan… hell, there’s not even many photos!  What we did have was lots of learning and lots of fun, which is a great thing to report, and should lead to some actual batreps.

Last time we played on a 3’ x 3’ table using a skirmish version of Warlord’s “Bolt Action” rules, whereas this time we used a modified (simplified, by me) version of Bolt Action version 3.  The simplified piece consists of a few things I changed to speed things up and/or season to my tastes, but the guts of the game are still there: random activation via dice draw, orders straight out of the book (well, mostly; we allow sustained fire MGs to engage multiple targets on Ambush), movement simplified a bit but largely in line with the book, anti-personnel fire pretty close to the book (I really don’t like the “roll for damage” step so I got rid of it and changed things to take troop quality into account in the “roll to hit,” added a “target obscured” DRM, and kept cover saves), I changed up anti-tank fire to simplify it (but actually made it almost impossible to kill tanks), and order and morale tests straight out of the book (except I messed them up with regards to casualties for the morale test, made them too easy to pass).  I don’t really pay any attention to force construction/structure/points rules, I give a numerical advantage to the attacker and go with what I believe is plausible (maybe leaning a little towards Hollywood in order to make sure it’s interesting for the boys, particularly in terms of AFVs).

The table, again somewhere in Normandy.  Let’s say it’s June 8, 1944, on the eastern edge of the Allied bridgehead.  Ground forces have linked up with British 6th Airborne Division, which is now attacking south against 21st Panzer Division.  North is left, buildings and stone walls are hard cover, fields and trees are soft cover, attacker comes from the left and mission is the village at the crossroads (center-right), a super simple “attack-defend” scenario.

You can see I’ve “opened” up the table a bit, hope it looks more like a conventional Bolt Action/Battlegroup/Chain of Command-type table this time.  Last time it really felt like I had too much terrain on the table, really more suited for skirmish gaming rather than reinforced-platoon level gaming (at least in my humble opinion).

Looking south from the British end of the table.

Looking north from the German end of the table.

The British assault force:

-a three-man command element 

-4 x eight-man rifle sections

-a two-man PIAT team

-a Vickers MG team (three men)

-a 3” mortar team (three men + two-man FO team)

-2 x Sherman and 1 x Firefly tanks

I made the Brits, played by my younger son (who played Germans in the last fight), keep two rifle sections and all three tanks off-table to begin the game, coming on when an appropriate dice was pulled and they past an availability check (4+ on Turn 1, 3+ on Turn 2, 2+ on all turns thereafter).  There were a lot more failures to come on than I predicted, which led to quite a bit of laughter (at least by me)!

Despite “opening” up the table, I was still worried that it was too much forces for too little table, was worried it was going to look like a Napoleonic attack going in with troops shoulder to shoulder, so I only used 8-man squads/sections (also because I wanted to see what 8-man companies in Rapid Fire Reloaded would look like). 

In the event, I was quite happy with the troop density, I thought it looked ‘right’ and never had the feeling that stuff was crowded or too close together.  

You won’t see it because I was clever enough to not take any photos of it, but at one point we had opposing AFVs about six inches from each other.  This is not because of the rules or the size of the troops/table, it’s because I screwed up on the anti-tank shooting stats and made tanks nearly impervious to fire, so the boys were having to push their vehicles to point-blank range in order to have a chance to penetrate.  I realized my mistake after the initial exchange between a Sherman, a Firefly, and one of the Stugs where several hits were scored but none were knocked out, and then when a Panzerfaust got a top-down hit on the Firefly and still didn’t knock it out!!!  I told the boys we could fix it and move forward, but that all three tanks in the fight should be knocked out, or we could just leave them still in the game and keep playing the way we were and fix it for the next game.  They couldn’t stop arguing about how THEIR tank wouldn’t have been knocked out in the initial exchange so I just left them on the table with the current (screwed up) rules and will fix it next time.

The German defenders, played by my older son:

-a three-man command element 

-3 x eight-man rifle squads (each has 2 x panzerfausts)

-a two-man panzerschreck team 

-a three-man sMG-42 team 

-a Pak-40 ATG with three-man crew 

-2 x Stug-IIIH 

The Germans were required to keep one rifle squad and the two Stugs off-table to begin the game.

The British starting positions: there are two rifle sections (bottom left and center right too, just visible between the two buildings) a PIAT team (behind trees at top right), the command element and mortar team in the courtyard, and the Vickers MG team and FO in the two-story building.

Pretty standard setup by the youngster, except for throwing the PIAT team out all by their lonesome on the right flank.  It would pay dividends, however!

The German setup.  The older boy has a rifle squad in the street, between the buildings (bottom left), intent on dashing into the left hand building as soon as he can.  The panzerschreck team is centrally located behind the wall behind them, with the MG-42 team at the wall above them.  The command element is at bottom right, while the other rifle squad is in the trees at top right, across the road, while the ATG is in the clump of trees just below them, right where the road bends.

I think the ATG placement was probably in the only spot it really could be with a long field of fire, but I’m not really sure about the rest of his deployment.  The rifle squads aren’t really in position to support each other, the MG has a very limited field of fire, the command element isn’t really in a position to support anyone, and the front rifle squad is about to charge into a position (albeit in hard cover) where he’ll be taking on all the Brits by himself, and while the panzerschreck team is centrally located, he should probably have realized his ATG would lock down that side of the table so the Brits would push their tanks up the other, more congested, side, perfect for panzerschrecks and panzerfausts.

We discussed his setup; he didn’t appreciate how much trouble those stone walls were going to cause him (in terms of trying to reinforce or withdraw), and he overestimated how much line of sight would be blocked (a difference between one man moving between trees and an 8-man squad moving through some trees).  A problem most folks have (I think) is understanding that you don’t have to have troops everywhere, you own the ground you occupy PLUS that which you can occupy by fire (so he didn’t have to have troops on the right side, he just needed troops that could interdict enemy movement by fire).  We also talked about the ‘reverse-slope’ defense concept, I.e., he didn’t need to get someone into that front building where he was exposed to the enemy’s long lines of sight and overwhelming firepower, he could have sat back and made them come to him, channelizing themselves and presenting piecemeal.

End of the first turn: the Brits got two tanks on (Firefly at center, Sherman below and to the left) while the Germans got one Stug on (far right bottom). The Sherman and Stug have clanged rounds off each other, and the PIAT team is dashing ahead (straight down from the Firefly).  The older boy pushed a squad into the front building, but then he realized it would put him LOS of the entire 6th Airborne Division he decided to hold them back in the shadows, out of LOS, while the panzerschreck team hopped the wall behind them.

The Sherman (top left) and Stug (bottom right) continue trading ineffective shots as the German reserve squad comes on and dashes up behind the rear building (center) and the MG team hops a wall and moves up to the next wall (at the intersection).  Meanwhile, the panzerschreck team (center top left, just visible on the other side of the wall next to the far building), prepares to dash through the gap between the building and chicken coop, looking to smoke the Firefly…

But as the German panzerschreck team dashes forward (between buildings at top left) they are spotted by the Vickers MG team (in building at bottom center right), which promptly opens up and mows them down!

The German rifle squad in the near building (top center) moves up to the windows on the second floor and fire both panzerfausts at the Firefly lurking below (center top).  The panzerfausts score one hit on the Firefly’s top armor and… fails to penetrate because I’m a dummy and misunderstood the AT firing process…

End of Turn 2: the Brits have been punishing the German rifle squad in the near building (center) and MG-42 team (at crossroads), while the Sherman and Firefly have settled into a comfortable rhythm of exchanging ineffectual fire with the Stug.  The remaining Sherman and Stug have failed their second consecutive reserve availability roll, much to my amusement.

End of Turn 3: the last Sherman has come on (far left bottom), adding to the ineffectual anti-tank fire, while the other Stug, needing anything but a ‘1,’ fails to come on again. The German rifle squad in the near building has been knocked out, their command element has fallen back, and the Brits finally get their riflemen moving in the center and on their left (top left).

The Brits continue pushing forward, putting pressure on the Germans.  Frustrated at his inability to knock out the Stug (off camera up the road to top right), the youngster leaves a Sherman and the Firefly to continue trading shots with the Stug while the other Sherman dashes forward (just above trees at far right) to pour cannon and machine gun fire into the German units in the rear building (top right).  

The other Stug fails its fourth reserve availability roll, rolling a ‘1’ for the second consecutive turn.

The youngster pushes the PIAT team up to the orchard (far left), trying to get a point-blank shot on the Stug (far right).  The older boy pushes a squad across the road to counter the PIAT team (center bottom), as the British mortar pounds the MG-42 team and Pak-40 ATG (center right, between wall and field).

The youngster is getting bold, pushing a section forward to lay into the German command element (casualties on the German side were much lower than should have been because we forgot the ‘point-blank range’ dice roll modifier).

The German rifle squad at the orchard (top right) moves up to eliminate the PIAT team (at the bottom right corner of the orchard, above the tractor), but they only manage to kill the assistant gunner and put a pin on him!  A Sherman moves over (bottom left) and returns fire, taking out a few exposed riflemen.

The German Stug (top right) moves up the road, looking to get a point-blank shot on the nearest Sherman (center left bottom, just above the trees, between the buildings)…

Which allows the surviving PIAT gunner to slam a HEAT round into the Stug’s side armor, knocking it out!

The second Stug had finally entered the fight on the German right, where it promptly shot up some British para riflemen, but the Brits finished off the German MG team and ATG crew right before this, so when the first Stug brewed up it broke the German morale, ending the game.

So, despite my colossally stupid mistake on the AT procedure, we had a ton of fun, lots of laughs, plenty of drama, plenty of whining about bad dice rolling, and we figured a whole bunch of stuff out in terms of tactics, gameplay, and rounding the rules into form for us.  Specifically:

1) Fix the AT procedure so the shooter rolls a D6 (adding gun pen) but the target does not (roll D6 and add armor, just use armor).

2) Infantry targets will not count as obscured when AFV main guns, field guns, or infantry AT weapons target them in hard cover (building, wall, bunker, etc…).

3) Order/Morale tests will be at -3 for units that have suffered 50% casualties.

4) Add a third body to Bazooka/PIAT/Panzerschreck and Flamethrower teams to add resilience under fire.

5) Tree lines do not block LOS but obscure target (-1 DRM to Hit), copses/stands/clumps of trees block LOS, use base under to define border.

So sorry, not much there in terms of a normal battle report, I’ll look to get back to that as we get the rules ironed out.  Now I need a good mini-campaign to run; still not sure what they’re called or how exactly to describe it, but you start at a central geographical location and move back and forth in a linear method based on who won and lost the previous battle.  KISS Rommel did it like this:

Start at Tobruk, move left or right based on winner of previous battle report.

Track: Tunisia - El Agheila - Benghazi - Gazala - Tobruk - Mersa Metra - El Alamein - Alexandria - Cairo

I’d like to work mini-campaigns that have maybe five locations, and are much more tactical than that, I.e., you could probably do a five-step mini-campaign just for Gazala, Tobruk, or El Alamein, right? Or Stonne, or Dunkirk, Sicily (either the British track or American track), Salerno, Anzio, Caen, St Lo, various Market Garden locations, the Bulge, probably a million of them on the East Front, right?  Anyone have any ideas?

Anyway, thanks for taking a look, I appreciate it.

V/R,

Jack 

Bolt Action Firefight Game 1

All,

I can't even remember the last time I was able to say this, but... dice have been rolled, and a winner has been declared!  I set up the table Friday night; a 28mm table, for the first time ever and, quite frankly, I was a bit daunted.  Everything is pretty damned big.  I found myself thinking about unit density and frontages and how the heck do you do this without looking like a parade ground, and just kept adding more and more terrain to it, then thinking I want to add more but I need to buy/make more but maybe it's too much...  Lots of fretting how to go about doing this.  Rather than looking through rules and getting everything ready, I found myself sitting on the internet, looking at other people's Bolt Action tables, trying to make out if I was doing this right.  Not sure what all my trepidation was about, can't really explain it, just had a horrible feeling that everything was not right.  Even had a moment of panic, thinking "I'll just sell all this crap off, go back to 10mm" (which I'm still not convinced isn't the best idea, but anyways).

Saturday some unforeseen stuff popped up with the kids, so not really much time to ponder and fix the issue, or even to get ready for Sunday afternoon, which was the planned D-Day for finally getting a game in.  Sunday afternoon rolled around and I still hadn't gotten anything ready, was still sitting on the internet looking at Bolt Action, Battlegroup, and Chain of Command tables and scenarios, trying to figure out how to do this.  My intent was to umpire a game between my two sons (ages 15 and 10) using Bolt Action, at either platoon-reinforced level (as per usual with Bolt Action) or at company level (slightly modified).  I just wasn't feeling it, until I came across a skirmish version, called "Bolt Action Firefight!", which apparently started as a fan-driven thing but has now been embraced by Warlord Games, where they host the rules and various supplements on their website.

It was perfect; quick and easy, breezy, no headaches, no more overthinking, just throw a couple of squads on the table and let the boys go at it.  And it worked, a tremendous amount of fun was had by all, they quickly got the hang of it (well, not quickly, but they are knuckleheads, like their father), with an excess of trash talking.  We shall definitely do it again, but don't worry, it's not the destination, just a step on the path of getting up to platoon- or company level.

So, in honor of the 81st anniversary of D-Day, 6 June 1944, we played out a game set in Normandy, seeing my older boy running a squad of British Airborne troops running into a squad of German Landser run by my younger son.

I had set up the full 6' x 4' table on Friday but now, just running a squad vs squad action, I cut it down to a little corner of the table; too small, as it turned out.  What you're looking at is about 3' x 3', but in the event, the left-hand side of little swamp/pond at right top turned out to be the right boundary, so the actual fighting space was only about 32" x 22".  

The opposing forces, Germans at top and British on the bottom, with some casualty figures laid out on the right.  The squads are laid out to be about as even as they possibly could.  

The Germans have a squad leader with MP-40, an MG-42, two men with Stg-44s, one man with a G43, and five men with Mausers.  I gave the bolt action rifles one firing dice each, the G43 two, the Stg-44 and MP-40 three, and the MG-42 five.

Bolt Action Firefight is set up as a man-to man skirmish game, where each man (as opposed to each squad/weapon crew) has an orders dice in the bag, which you draw out and activate a man from the side represented by the pulled dice.  It's also got a cool mechanic for automatic weapons that allows you to use full firing dice on your first target, then shift to additional targets and keep rolling, losing a firing dice for each additional target.

First look at my German casualty figures.

The British have a section leader with Sten Gun, a trooper with Bren Gun, three more troopers with Sten Guns, and five troopers with Lee-Enfields.  I gave the bolt action rifles 1 firing dice each, the Sten Guns three dice, and the Bren gun four.

First look at my British Airborne casualty figures, so you finally get to see what my Red Devils would have looked like if I painted them with Contrast paints.  I think they look pretty cool.

Initial set up, with Brits at bottom right and Germans at top center/left.

Opposite view, Germans at bottom center/right, Brits at top left.

Too small a table, with too much open ground (between the buildings, no covered route to get at the enemy) to facilitate any real maneuver by the boys.  My fault...

And please forgive me, this isn't a real battle report; this was a learning game to get the boys into it and start figuring things out, so I didn't take hardly any photos, and there's not really a narrative.

At the end of the first turn, you can see each side has a man down, the Germans have a few pin markers (left center).  And you can see how this is shaping up, both sides scrambling to the wall and shooting it out.  The older boy, running the British, tried to maneuver a team of three guys (far right, in one of the fields) but, as you'll see, it didn't really amount to much.

Turn 2 saw the Germans unleash a helluva fusillade on the Brits, dropping the Bren gunner and his assistant, but a rifleman dashed forward, scooped up the gun, and returned fire...

Returning the favor on the German MG-42 team!

The end of Turn 2; bodies are stacking up at the wall.  The younger boy, running the Germans, makes no attempt at maneuver, it's just get to the wall pour fire into the enemy.  The older boy, running the Brits, is trying; he's got a submachine gunner up to the upper building and his Section Leader into a building (right center), and his three-man team is still pushing to the left flank (just off camera to far right).

I've done a good job; both boys are laser focused on keeping their machine gun in action.  I joked that they're not familiar with the tenets of Maneuver Warfare: we don't reinforce failure ;)

The Germans have the British main position in a crossfire and are just mowing the Red Devils down, but the Brits just keeping passing their Morale Tests.

As a matter of fact, only one Morale or Orders Test was failed the whole game.

When one of the British submachine gunners (bottom center, with Section Leader in building, above him) hopped the wall and opened fire on the German MG position...

The ensuing casualties forced the Germans to take a Morale Test, which they promptly failed!

I must admit, the youngster was feeling a bit hard done by after knocking so many Brits out of the fight and still losing the game 'on a technicality,' as he keeps putting it, and it's not helped by the older boy continuing to talk trash to him, but ultimately they both had a great time and want to do it again.

Some thoughts:

-Need a little bit bigger table with more cover to facilitate more maneuver

-I figured out that I screwed up the Orders Tests and Morale Tests, making them too easy to pass, so I'll fix that.

-I was thinking that the game was pretty bloody, that it was probably too easy to take out guys in hard cover, but now I'm not so sure.  We're talking about twenty guys blazing away at each other with modern, high-velocity weapons at point-blank range.  People are going to go down.

-The game took almost two hours!  I had planned on playing a series of three fights, but we only played one because (I moped around until late, not getting things ready, and) it took so long.  Some of it was due to it being our first game, where even I didn't fully understand the rules, and some of it was the boys overthinking things, measuring things five different ways, etc...  I love the fact they were examining things in depth, so I don't want to push them too much, but I was pushing the idea that this is a fast-paced firefight, so we've got to keep things moving.  I'm honestly wondering if I need a punch-clock, and if you don't get your move in on time you forfeit that activation.  It could be fun ;)

Lots of fun, and we can't wait to get back to it.  Now that baseball season is over, we might even get in a weeknight game.

V/R,
Jack