Bolt Action reinforcements

I'm toying with the idea of starting a second Bolt Action force but before I start doing anything, I want to see what others are planning to do as I either want to do something that pairs up with my current army (e.g. Germans, Finns, etc.) or something that will pair with what someone else is doing (e.g. Japanese, Marines, DAK, etc.).

So, my question is, what are you thinking of working on (if anything)?

P.S. Wes, I appreciate that you're not thinking of anything else yet...
P.P.S. Matt, are you going to turn any of your Perry DAK into Late War Germans to work with your Volksturm, or are you making them all into Partisans? Just curious.

I'm thinking some kind of British veteran force

Such as?

Paras, Commandos, SAS, LRDG, Chindits, 8th Army...enquiring minds wish to know...

No idea! Won't have chance to read the book properly til i get home. Possibly paras or commandos

Will probably need some German Heer for the Volkssturm.

Otherwise I don't have any immediate plans. I've thought about doing French, or US Marines, or LRDG, or Poland. Or commandos. Or Finns. Or Soviets, although obviously you already have those.

Okay, so nobody's planning anything 'outlandish' (by that I mean outside of Europe), which they'd need an opponent for. That's useful to know. I'll think about matching up against my Soviets then.

What do you reckon I should do?

Fallschirmjaeger? Small and elite but covered in pesky camo.
Finns? Small and elite again, but only really historically match up against Soviets and VERY late war Germans.
Hungarians? Easier to paint but likely to play similar to the Russians.
Japanese? A bit of a curveball, infantry heavy, but fought the Russians in Manchuria.
Italians? Diddy tanks and dodgy hats.
Romanians? Kind of like the Hungarians, only work as allies as well.

I'm not doing SS.

Italians or Japanese would be my suggestion, just so you have an axis force. If you did Japanese I'd want to do marines, but doubt I'd do that for a while. Italians might be more use, and an army with chickens stuck to their heads would be amusing anyway...

So I reckon Italians are your best bet.

Was going to say do Italians!

Thanks for the suggestion and I've been looking into the Italians and it turns out that:
a) they were using obsolete AT guns and tanks
b) they didn't have enough of either
c) the Bersaglieri (the chicken hatted troops) are significantly more expensive in their Eastern Front garb than their desert gear
d) the Italians are the only nation with a army special rules that can actually work against them
e) pretty much only Warlord make non-desert Italians

So, can I persuade anybody to venture into the desert?

I dispute D, given the rules for almost every army in the French book.

Well that's reassuring...

I'm actually thinking of seeing if Emporium have any Artizan Fallschirmjaeger, so I can try out painting some before committing.

I decided against them due to the painting required! Going for some veteran heer instead. Or maybe some SS...

Is that just as a veteran unit to add to what you've got?

I'll admit that I'm wary of the camouflage but there's a splinter camo painting guide on the Lead Adventure Forum that gives me some hope, and if I can manage a decent job, as veterans, there won't be many of them.

Have you written off the Ilatians then?

Hard to pick a British vet force. Some of them are just infantry and shit loads of jeeps! Might end up as a standard force but with heavy vet support.

Don't fancy doing a desert force either really.

How about Paras? You could give them a tetrarch and a couple of universal carriers. Or Chindits with Matildas?

I've not written off the Italians, but they seem most interesting in the desert. I'm most drawn to the Fallschirmjager but the camo intimidates me. That's why I'm thinking of a small pack initially to see how it goes.

OK, so, at the moment it looks like a veteran commando force. Won't be for a bit though.

And have decided to do a veteran SS squad for my Germans, as this option means I can use it against everyone, as opposed to veteran her, which I can't...

If I was to start a new army I think I'd like a desert one, but I don't think I'd start another one for a while, too many other unfinished things lying around.

Seeing as I can't decide, I'll hold off as well and just add options to my Russians for now. I could go for a joint desert project at some point Matt, and I know you aren't fussed about the desert Pete, but what about LRDG and SAS Commandos?

We were talking about joint projects and this is one I'd consider: troops, terrain, boards etc.

Could be tempted if we all do it. Plus not alot of terrain needed for a desert board!

Sand, sandy rocks, sandstone buildings, sand dunes and some more sand...

I could go Italian in the desert - I've seen a cheap way of doing Italian colonial troops (although Perry DAK are tempting too). Matt was talking about French, which go both ways (oolala!), and Wes' yanks would work as they are.

In my busy time being ill yesterday I got reading about the Battle of Kufra. It involved Free French, Italians and a small force of British LRDG. Might make a good basis for a project.

Alternatively, for four way action, there's Operation Torch, the Allied Landings in North Africa, which involve the Americans, British, Free French, Vichy French and eventually the Italians and Afrika Korps.

I'd really like some LRDG as well, closest we're likely to get to Gorkamorka...

Seems the british veteran desert force i'd like to do actually involves more troops than my regular germans!

Might just do one off the generic list when i do it. Like the look of Perrys desert rats.

Perry's boxes are nice. The Afrikakorps I'm using as some of my partisans are Perry and you get loads of stuff on the sprues. I do find the faces aren't hugely detailed, which now I've moved over to the 3 colours highlighting business for faces rather than just an ink wash makes them harder to do.

Also, remember that the SAS are available in the additional units pdf.

Looking at Italians, I've seen a conversion of Perry ACW Zouaves as colonial troops. It's cheap but could be monotonous. However, depending on what we focus on I could be tempted to go for DAK as at Kasserine Pass they messed up the Americans who hadn't met Tigers before!

Perry have some Free French in the works btw.