Random post. This will confuse and befuddle the general populace... :-)

Back to the 1950's, got this shipped in from the USA. We will se how it goes,the only thing that is guaranteed is that my family will laugh at me.

The joys of creating a new paint recipe :-/

I'm still reeling from the amazement of what you can generate with AI. I know not everyone is enamoured with AI and data centres in their backyard, but when it's used for a worthy purpose such as helping me with my painting, I think it's worth it. ;-)

I sent photo number one below, a quick snapshot from my phone, and asked if it was appropriate that this smock get painted in splinter cam. ChatGPT then offered to create a mock-up, which it returned as image number two below. The helmet seems to have turned into a soft hat somehow, but apart from that, I was utterly amazed. It waxed lyrical about reducing the complexity so that it would still be visible at 28mm, and then this is the final result.

Warlord Games, makes of one of our favourite games Bolt Action (now in version 3), have just posted a 'Where Do We Go From Here' post, you can read that in full here?
https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/bolt-action-where-do-we-go-from-here/

Here is a quick summary of what was said. Spoiler alert… Bolt Action... lots of love to come.

The article is essentially Warlord Games' roadmap for what comes after the current wave of Third Edition army books. The biggest takeaway is that they're shifting attention from the major powers to the smaller nations while continuing to expand the miniature range.

Key announcements

Armies of France is the next major book after the Commonwealth release.
It will receive its own dedicated army book rather than being bundled with other nations.
A new plastic infantry kit will accompany the release.

Armies of Europe follows France.

This book is intended to cover many of the European "minor powers", including:

• Belgium
• Poland
• Finland
• Hungary
• Partisans

It will also receive a brand-new plastic infantry kit.

Remaining PDF armies are not being abandoned.
Nations that don't make it into the Europe book will continue to receive expanded and updated free PDF army lists.
Warlord also hints that some countries with no current rules at all will finally receive official PDF lists.

Miniatures

Warlord says it is continuing to invest heavily in the model range:

• more plastic infantry
• new vehicles
• new support weapons
• replacement kits for older models
• additional brand-new kits

This fits with their previously announced move away from many older metal support weapons in favour of plastics. 

The "big secret"

The article teases a large new project that is expected to unfold over the next few years, but deliberately gives no details.

The community is already speculating about possibilities such as:

• Korea
• Vietnam
• Cold War-era conflicts
• a new game system
• an expanded campaign framework

These are purely fan theories—Warlord has not confirmed anything beyond saying it is a significant future project. (Reddit)

What this means for players
This is good news if you collect anything outside the "Big Five" nations.

For years, armies such as Poland, Finland, Hungary, Belgium and various Partisan forces have relied on older books or basic PDF lists. Warlord is signalling that these armies will receive:

• modern Third Edition rules,
• more complete army lists,
• and, importantly, new plastic model kits instead of relying mostly on metal or resin figures.

Takeaway
For gamers like us, who are interested in collecting a variety of historical forces rather than just one tournament army, this is probably the most encouraging roadmap Warlord has released in years. It suggests they're finally giving the smaller and more unusual WWII armies the same level of attention that Germany, Britain, the US, the USSR and Japan have already received, while continuing to modernise the entire miniature range.

Game on!

On Sunday 7th June '26 the Bolt Action Big Bash was held at the Burnham Community hall just out of Christchurch, here in NZ. ​What a great event held by Matt and Craig- thanks very much to them and all the other players for making it a great relaxing day with loads of fun! Listen to the podcast and look at the pics below as you go, hopefully it will make your listening/viewing experience even better.

Firstly, here were the tables for the event, supplied by Craig and Matt, and I helped by supplying a couple. there are plenty more pics, click 'read more' at the bottom  to see them!...

​Next, here are some pics from my Game 1 Vs. Flynn and his US Mechanised Infantry:

 Amazing, prolific, and FREE Konflikt '47 (oh sorry that's not right they are 'Dust Warfare 1947' 😊 ) 3D printable models.

https://cults3d.com/en/users/ANerdsNerd/3d-models

"...for 1/56 games like Bolt Action scale to 85.71%"

To break through the Axis Mareth Line, Montgomery executes a wide flanking manoeuvre through the Tebaga Gap. Using the 2nd New Zealand Div. as the nucleus, the New Zealand Corps is created temporarily by incorporating other formations, and is tasked with the vital breakthrough Monty needs into Tunisia.

Meanwhile, disparate elements of various German formations are providing mutual support while recovering from their retreat to Tunisia. While awaiting arrival of transport North to rendezvous with the main Ramcke Brigade force, the Fallschirmjäger receive intelligence they are directly in the path of the enemy advance and prepare to stubbornly defend their positions...

 Hi All, I'm very pleased to announce that registration for the Bolt Action event; 'Operation Spring Awakening 2026', Sept. 26-27 in Christchurch (NZ) is now open, and the PDF of the event pack can be found below!

In the coming weeks we will pin this event pack on the site, but in the meantime, enjoy reading and reach out if you need more info.Last year was a huge success and showed a big event can be fun, friendly and a great challenge to play in! Tickets are limited to 23 Axis and 23 Allied players, so get in quick!

​Get in touch and secure your tickets by contacting me on the email address in the pack- please dont just reply on here, use email to ensure your registration happens swiftly. 

Thanks everyone- i look forward to seeing you there!!!

If your following the Konflikt '47 Soviet models story, apparently Warlord Games are having a production issue and their starter pack has been delayed and delayed. Talk about life imitating art, apparently the Soviets don't have their own rift yet. (...or something like that, when I actually read the rulebook lore I will know I guess)

Here is the obligatory 'booty on the font seat of my car' image (By booty I mean plunder taken in war or by pirates, just so you know).

The War and Peace Games (Australia) new web site is live, now with Shopify integration for ease of ordering, payments and tracking. Its live from about 2.30pm today. and yes I have ordered already .;-).

These guys are generous and long time sponsors of Australian and NZ Bolt Action events.

https://warandpeacegames.com.au/

Hi All, Dan here. So to support our podcast Ep. 34 ( see the last post for details and link to listen to the episode), here are a bunch of pics from the event, starting off with the a look at the tables for the event: 

Join Dan and Rex as we discuss Dan's participation in the Bolt Action wargame event, 'The Battle of Hastings'. The Battle of Hastings was held in Hastings, New Zealand in 2026 over the Waitangi long weekend.

Firstly, Dan and Rex do a quick hobby catch-up on what they've been up to. After that we hear a blow-by-blow account of Dan's escapades with the Germans against the rest of Western Europe in this early to mid-war bolt-action tournament.

As always refer to https://valhallagames.net for supporting material and general hobby content. Plus https://valhallagames.net/youtube for our YouTube channel.

We love to hear back from audience participants. Send any feedback Via https://valhallagames.net/contact, or email us at mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Positive or negative, keep it coming. We love a passionate wargammer!

Subscribe for this podcast by searching for Valhalla Games in the podcast app of your choice. ...Or you can listen in the YouTube version >>> HERE<<<

As always, thanks for listening, game on… 

Join Dan as he shares his progress amassing a horde of 28mm WW2 Soviets in summer dress, focusing mostly on Mid- war but with some early and late options to sprinkle in , dependent on the period of the game. The opening footage "The Battle of Stalingrad Experience" is from the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, in Blenheim, New Zealand. It is part of the "Dangerous Skies" WW2 aircraft exhibition which is HIGHLY recommended, along with their even bigger WW1 aircraft exhibition!! Thanks for watching! 

​Last week I had the pleasure of playing my first Bolt Action game for a few months, and it was against Craigs lovely Italian Partisans army. As I played and enjoyed looking at our forces on the table, I realised that the last games I played were during Operation Spring Awakening ( plenty of hobby, but no games since due to... 'Life')!

And this got me to realising that I had more photos i could share of his army, which won the Best Themed Army prize for the event. So here I thought I'd share them for your viewing pleasure. Check out even more photos by clicking below!

• The Eagle-eyed amongst you will have, I'm sure, noticed the release in the last fortnight of some ruined buildings by Warlord Games ( made by Skytrex, who are owned by WG of course). Since there hasn't been much fanfare surrounding the release, I thought I would share some information and additional pics, as I was lucky enough the have my hands on them at Skytrex's stand at 'The Other Partizan' show in October in the UK.

​ Firstly, unlike many MDF buildings -especially ruined ones- there are multiple layers of MDF creating very effective exposed/damaged appearances. This also has the benefit of having thickness to the walls for a more realistic appearance. You can pick this up in the photos below:

​ In addition, there is really good detailing in the models, as you can see in the stairwells, balconies and bannisters etc. in the photos. In fact so much so that Warlord felt they may be a little 'over engineered' and therefore allocated them the be a Skytrex product ( according to the gentleman manning the trade stand)- despite the fact that I have yet to find them on the Skytrex website yet they are on the WG site for sure. 

 Another thing i like is that there are plenty of internal corners and detailing, which is quite lacking in most MDF buildings for WW2 at the moment on the market, companies having invested most of the detail into the exterior. I thing the internal stairway above is actually my favorite in the range thus far!

  I took some photos of the unpainted products on the Skytrex stand in order to let you see further detail in the manufacture:

​something else i liked was their production and use in the pics above and below of ladders and improvised wooden walkways between adjoining ruins, which gives the buildings an improved sense of realism

​Above is the website pic of the contents of this particular pack within the range. 

What's my feeling about them? Well, I can't claim they are the cheapest option on the market, as the price tag is fairly hefty- however, the strength and durability of the product combined with the solid look that they have all from the multiple layers of MDF do deliver something that many MDF Ruins don't have.

Add into the mix the extensive 'internal' ruin pieces which are quite overlooked in the market in favour of external detailing, and these are a real option for those willing to invest the extra cash and time to paint their pieces. Verdict? Worth seriously considering for a detailed table or centrepiece. 

As an aside; Skytrex and Warlord are getting longevity out of the old infantry box sets weapon sprues. They have bagged sprues up with shipping crate resin pieces and MDF bases in order to create nation- specific themed objectives- again worth a look if you've used your old sprues up or have moved into a new army and never had these old sprues:

​So, thanks for stopping by, I hope these give you additional information  you are looking for on these products.

Regards, 

Dan

So, as the year has passed, I have turned out a whole bunch of terrain for Operation Spring Awakening- the Bolt Action event I hosted at the end of September- and so I took a break and painted some WW2 Soviet infantry while travelling for work, as obviously they were much easier to transport. But while finishing up the infantry (or; as far as I could without my painting light to see the detail of belt buckles and a couple of other details!) I was thinking about the huge quantity of miniatures required to be a big game venue- just how many would be enough?!?

In fact, that had me thinking about what the starting point of the process was-or should be- in order to avoid wasted effort and ensure my efforts were optimised. So far I have been working on the following principles;

• 1.Maximise efficiency and avoid 'dilution theory' (Thank you to the Meeples team for this gem of terminology, and Rex for recommending it to me!) by concentrating effort into certain periods of collecting and painting only, being;
• a.World War 2;
• i.Normandy and Market Garden operations.
• ii.Eastern Front.
• iii.Mediterranean-Sicily & Italy.
• b.ACW (further details to be decided in the future); and
• c.Napoleonic- Peninsular Campaign.

Thus far I have been concentrating on WW2, and intend to do so until I have reached the quantities I need to play both sides in at least one of the three theatres listed, then I might choose to move on to one of the other periods.

• 2.Collecting only in 28mm.
• This will allow terrain to be useful across these periods where possible, i.e; pantile buildings and scenery being used across Napoleonic and Mediterranean WW2, certain log buildings etc suitable for ACW in addition to Eastern Front WW2 etc etc.
• Despite higher cost of 28mm models, this can be defrayed by this versatility, as well as providing a more easily observed big game situation for players and umpires. In addition, 15-20 mm offer no substantial saving in time through the painting process in my humble opinion.
• 3.Avoid distracting periods, and 'dabble' in other theatres of war only in small projects as a pallet cleanser, or to prepare limited terrain to add table variety for my wargames events, such as the Pacific/Far East theatres of WW2 etc.
• 4.Utilise second-hand armies and 3D printing where possible to reduce costs and safe time and effort.
• a.Repainting- where required to fit with the collection's scheme and standard;
• b.Rebasing only- where paint standards are good and match the existing collections;
• c.Respecting the time sink required of friends and family into 3D printing- taking care that I don't place excessive demands on them and being aware that I may need to source 3D prints off others at higher commercial prices, yet still saving on cost over retail kits and figures. This allows said friends and family to do their own hobby.
• 5.Plan to build forces that allow 5-6 commands per 'side' of the battles, allowing a total of 10-12 players taking part.
• 6.Collect to a plan where possible.

So its this last point that I wanted to tackle with this post. Collecting to a plan is important because the focus allows conservation of both my efforts (and the efforts of others- for instance, getting Rex to print me off four Jawa sand crawlers and then I'm not painting forces for the game isn't the way to win friends and influence people through respecting their time!) and my cash- after all, it would be nice to retire someday so I can play some games with what I'm creating.

Some thought into planning has brought up many points already. Firstly; knowing how many models I need will depend on choosing rule sets, the battles I have chosen to play within the theatres and how many players I am planning to involve in each experience.

Concentrating on WW2 to begin with, I have been thinking about playing big battles by scaling Bolt Action upward by using the ratios adopted by Rapid Fire; 1:15 infantry and 1:5 vehicles. As a rough idea this would have a section/squad size element representing a Company for instance. Or, perhaps Crossfire which has even further model abstraction. I feel like further consideration will be required but I'm also happy that crossfire element bases can be made up by individual models being placed into sabot bases, so multiple rulesets can be played with the same models so this means that further playtesting and decision-making regarding rulesets can be made later.

Regardless of the final direction this takes, I have acquired older campaign books produced for Rapid Fire, which have fantastic orders of battle for the historic forces taking part. Even if I was to play with the exact numbers later in certain areas, they provide me with an EXCELLENT starting point to build forces in ratio for these campaigns/theatres.

I have started with the old Market Garden campaign book, and created my own document which allows me to hit my collecting, modelling and painting goals and know what is outstanding and therefore to concentrate my efforts in bringing them to the tabletop.I have attached examples of my spreadsheet work below so you can see what I'm talking about. 

​Identifying numbers of models has also been very useful in getting my collection insured. In the event of something particularly nasty happening, I truly can concentrate on the more important things in life knowing my insurance company has got all the details they need! It also allows me to search for the absolute unicorn that is a well-made, well-painted Sdkfz 11 at a bargain price, or source some more of those die-cast Pz IV models that I have found previously!!

This also allows me to keep an eye out for astounding deals on 'doer-uppers' like the soviet infantry army I found a couple of years ago which comprised of a load of the now out-of-production 28mm PSC Soviet infantry sprinkled with many Black Tree Designs models. Looking for a pallet cleanser between terrain projects, I saw this as an opportunity to knock some of these out, and although they actually turned out to be substantial repaints- plus a lot of work re basing- only $80 NZD was a bargain for 130 of these guys!

​Although the figures are a little bit 'green plastic army man'- and details are quite 'soft', both issues from having been scaled up from 15 or 20 mm to 28's. I'm not sure if they were originally 15mm, or if they were both scaled up and down later from 20mm…either way, those sculpts have been working their butts off for PSC! It must be said that once painted they actually hold up under scrutiny -mostly. Where there are very 'flat' poses for the moulds this is of course accentuated in 28mm, so that's where the 'Toy Story'- squad- look comes in just occasionally, But I found that with appropriate highlighting the eye is drawn away from these shortcomings mostly.I have attached a photo of the work I did on them while travelling to the US, obviously basing and repairs to some weapons are to come as a batch.

​ As chance would have it, I actually got a packet of the Soviet Heavy weapons PSC 28mm from War & peace games years ago, and this has inspired me to get them together too, and I'm pretty sure the soviet light AT guns I have acquired a few years ago in a bulk soviet army buy were their final set of the three as this had two guns with crew and many variant models of the guns that could be built.

So where does all this planning leave me? In a good place with progress and knowing what my goals are- even down to knowing what type of paint scheme vehicles have and uniform patterns that were available and in use which allows me to focus searches for reference material etc. unfortunately the actual painting doesn't get done any quicker around these time savers mentioned, but this is also helped by knowing what Im looking for if second hand models or print files become available allowing savings. 

Thats it for this instalment of my crazy brains workings...im off to paint the rest of these PSC Soviets and get ready for the arrival of the new Warlord Games Soviet infantry, which are a quite brilliant set and Im looking forward to getting them done! 

Dan 

Panzergrenadier troops ready for action at Dans even in less than a week! Better photos at some point...

Click on the image for the web player

In this episode, Rex probes Dan for intelligence on his forthcoming Bolt Action event on September 27 & 28 in Christchurch, New Zealand; Operation Spring Awakening.

Dan expands on the event pack and scenarios that will be played and spills the beans on some of the details of the huge prize support he has received from his amazing event sponsors thus far!

Want to hear how the format works, what the scenarios are that will be played or how to register to walk away with a prize that's worth more than your entry fee?!?! Then join Dan and I for this primer on the event and then join us in September! 

Click on the image for the web player or find in your favourite podcast app.

The event pack can be found here:
https://digitalwelcomemat.com/valhallagames_net/files/SpringAwakening2025BoltActionEventPack.pdf