Cor blimey!

Well, 16-2! I think they call that a colossal masacre.

Or as Kieron calls it, Sunday night!

Couldn't quite keep the clean sheet though, could you?

I didn't want him to cry!

Don't worry. You did.

Next time I've got a plan. My guys are going to move and shoot and other stuff like that.

To be fair, you were trying to do that...

Ordered myself some extra orders dice. And some more panzerfausts. And a light mortar. And a set of observers.

Might as well while paying postage!

Picked up the West Wind US Platoon that Kieron mentioned. Lot of guys in the pack though, so it might take me a while to paint.

Also, thanks for the dice Kieron!

How many were in the pack? There's a good chance you won't need any more regular infantry.

41. Not sure what army that will make yet, but I can at least get 'em painted. Probably need something like a machine gun crew and a tank.

My 1000 points has 4 squads with a total of about 28 men, so theres easily enough in that box!

Blimey! Looks like you'll easily get command, at least three squads (depending on size), a medic, a sniper team and a forward air observer out of that.

You'll need more dice...

I'd go for 4 squads of 8 men each, medic (from a runner), sniper team, two officers each with an assistant, and an air observer with an assistant. Mind you, that still leaves the 4 models you've already painted, so you could add an extra man to each squad.

That would be 9 units, and I'd be surprised if it didn't take you at least very close to 1000 points.

Officer & 1 Man (x2) - 120 points
Medic - 30 points
Forward Air Observer - 75 points
8 man Infantry Squad (x4) - 320 points
Sniper Team - 50 points

That's 595 without any Veterans or weapon upgrades (are there any BARs or SMGs?), so that could easily go up. Add in a Tank of some description or a couple of smaller things and you're all in for 1000 points. Bargain!

I've just checked and you've got 3 BAR men so that's another 15 points.

The important question though, is have you painted any yet?!

I'm a bit confused, do I just paint them all the same as the others I painted and then form the squads later?

Do I need to buy a sniper team and forward air observer separately? There's no guys with sniper rifles or binoculars in the pack.

However you want to do it. Personally, i'd paint them all the same as you've done the first guy, thats why its called uniform!

Plus, Kierons advice is always the cheapest way to make an army, he's just telling you how you could do it all from that 1 box. If you want to buy a sniper, buy one!

Have a play with this:

http://boltaction.easyarmy.com/index.aspx

Your basic army will consist of 1 2nd Leiutenent, and 2 infantry squads that are your "re-inforced platoon". This is the minimum you have to have.

This will explain to you what each squad is armed with and what options you can give to a squad.

To start with just go with the standard American list which is listed under the period "Generic".

I have plastic rifles with scopes and spare hands. Depending on poses, you could either remove the hand and weapon of one of your riflemen (whichever one seems most appropriate) and replace with the bits I've got. Alternatively, you could simply remove the scope from a plastic rifle and glue it to the barrel of one of your rifles.

Because you're using metal miniatures, you don't get much choice about weapons, so your best bet it's just to paint and sort later. The plastics that we've all been using can be assembled with different combinations of weapons so you need to make decisions before you start.

Again, I have plastic binoculars I'm not using that you can add to models to be spotters or observers. The bottom line is, as long as they're distinguishable from the regulars, any models are suitable. I'd suggest using one of the poses you only have one of for the observer.

And yes, I am the King of Cheap.

Oh cool, thanks, I think I'm getting the hang of this, I've been looking at the army builder site. I'll see what I can come up with.

You see the problem with all this is, I now want to do a Japanese army...!

Also, feel free to ignore me. The bit of this hobby I enjoy the most (mainly because I suck at playing) is getting as much value out of stuff as I can.

Oh, you will want to buy a bazooka team because...well...who doesn't want a bazooka?

Just looking at some of the battle reports on boltaction.net, and i know we moan about the lack of terrain but the majority of the games on there have about as much on the table as we use at the moment!

If you look at how much terrain gets used in playtesting flames of war armies, it makes it seem like we are the kings of terrain!

More is always better, I guess some people just don't have much to use...

My problem is not how much we have, but more that I'm using it badly. I constantly forget that you can see through woods and in every game there's been at least one of my units shot up because of this mistake.