Below are the game tables that Rex played on at MOAB Sydney 2026 games 1-5, podcast has been recorded and will be available soon.

I've just started watching World War II with Tom Hanks and about 2 seconds into the show I see this amazing image! I double-checked it because I thought it might be just blended images from somewhere else. But apparently according to ChatGPT (below), this really was a thing in Poland. Looks like about 120m offshore, engaging land targets with 11-inch shells, I guess you'd call that direct fire HE, not sure what size template to use though!

ChatGPT:

Yes — that footage is almost certainly genuine footage of the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein firing on Westerplatte at Danzig (Gdańsk) on 1 September 1939. So the documentary's Poland context is historically sound.

The ship in your screenshot matches the Schleswig-Holstein, an elderly Deutschland-class pre-dreadnought battleship dating from before the First World War. By 1939 it was primarily being used as a training ship, but still carried its heavy armament. The German Federal Archives specifically catalogue photographs of Schleswig-Holstein firing on Westerplatte in September 1939. (Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv)

The circumstances are particularly interesting. On 25 August 1939, Schleswig-Holstein sailed into the harbour of the Free City of Danzig, supposedly on a ceremonial visit. In reality, it was loaded with ammunition and had about 225 naval assault troops secretly aboard. It was positioned in the harbour channel opposite the Polish installation at Westerplatte. (Przystanek Historia)

Then, at about 4:47–4:48 am on 1 September, it opened fire on the Polish Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte. The German Federal Archives gives approximately 4:47; the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk gives 4:48. (Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv)

So what you're looking at really is basically:

A battleship sitting inside a harbour firing naval artillery almost point-blank at a land position.

And we're talking substantial guns. Schleswig-Holstein's main battery consisted of four 28 cm (11-inch) guns, plus its secondary artillery. German naval records for the opening fighting record the ship firing 28 cm, 15 cm and 8.8 cm ammunition against the Westerplatte positions. (Uboat Data)

There's a geographical wrinkle worth mentioning. Westerplatte was Polish, but it wasn't simply an ordinary part of Poland. It was a Polish military enclave inside the Free City of Danzig, which was under League of Nations arrangements. Modern Gdańsk is of course in Poland.

And this is why that sequence is right at the beginning of the Tom Hanks documentary. The History Channel describes Episode 1 specifically as beginning with Germany's September 1939 invasion of Poland, and the shelling of Westerplatte is traditionally regarded as the symbolic opening of World War II in Europe. (HISTORY)

One small historical qualification: you'll often hear that Schleswig-Holstein fired "the first shots of World War II." That's the traditional account, but historians debate the exact timing of several German attacks that morning, including Luftwaffe operations. So "among the first shots, and the conventional opening of the war" is the safest description.

Incidentally, the view in your screenshot makes perfect sense. Those railway tracks, warehouses and quay immediately beside the ship aren't some unrelated harbour footage — Schleswig-Holstein really was firing from inside the Danzig harbour complex, not sitting offshore miles away.

If you'd like, I can also find you a 1939 map/aerial photograph showing exactly where the Schleswig-Holstein was sitting, where the camera in your shot probably was, and where Westerplatte was across the harbour channel. It's quite striking how close the ship actually was.

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!

Newsflash:

Operation Spring Awakening Bolt Action wargame event being held on Sept 27th & 28th 2025 (near Christchurch, New Zealand) is now extended to 46 players maximum due to popular demand.

Please find below the link to the event pack for Operation Spring Awakening 2025 (Click on the pic - its a link!).

My lofty goals for the event are; Bring together all the many groups of Bolt Action players we have down south as well as all over the country, hold NZs largest known BA event to date and making this an annual event that is a feature of the Australian/ New Zealand Bolt Action calendar. 

In so doing, I hope to grow our community, bring it closer together and showcase the talented players we have.

Operation Spring Awakening 2025
Bolt Action wargame event
Sept 27th & 28th 2025
Burnham Community Centre, Burnham.
(Christchurch, NZ)

EDIT: Click here for the podcast

Last Weekend, Saturday 8th March 2025, Nathan- one of the local Bolt Action TOs- held an event at Ironhorse Hobbies, a fantastic hobby store here in Christchurch, NZ. I was lucky enough to actually be at home on this weekend and so was quick to sign up when Nathan put the word out. In addition, some of the players in our gaming 'silo' were also available to play and so It was that Craig, Simon and I turned up early morning on the Saturday ready for a days gaming and meet the other players for the event.

Nathan had set the points limit at 1250 Pts for this one day, three-game event. And apart from this the only restriction was that all armies were to be selected from the V3 Rulebook selectors and minor nations PDFs, and so as Germany was the only nation at the time with their own armies of book published this was a levelling exercise between nations.

Another admin point was that Nathan had asked if players could provide some tables and terrain where possible, and as an incentive one of the prizes offered on the day was for 'Best Table', and so we had a cracking variety of tables for the event:

This Table ( above )was provided by Sam, a player that hadn't played BA since the start of 2nd Ed. Not only was this a cracking table but he also had a nicely painted IJA army he was playing on the day. I liked the colours running through the terrain and mat- especially the fact the cobblestone roads weren't just a plain grey.

Clink on the link below to continue reading... lots of photos as well

Join Dan as he tells the story of the 'Watch on the Waimak' Bolt Action third edition event held in Christchurch New Zealand in March 2025 ( 'he' also says 'Doh!' as I realise I stated the panzerbuchse rule incorrectly- although I played it properly in the games- apologies! -Dan)

Sounds like it was a fun event full of of interesting Bolt Action twists and turns, great tables and many, many half-tracks, ...and yes Rex is jealous that he didn’t get to go.

Don't miss the, discussion about cavalry rules, will the real cavalry rules please step forward!

View the accompanying images here:
https://www.valhallagames.net/index.php/watch-on-the-waimak-event

See the detail about cavalry rules here:
https://www.valhallagames.net/index.php/bolt-action-cavalry-rules

Episode 32 wont be far behind. 

Listen in this episode in your podcast app or click here or on the image below to listen in the web player.

It's Official! Bolt Action: Third Edition Lands September 2024:

https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/bolt-action-third-edition-september-2024/

"The Eagle has landed" one of my all time favourite war movies (and books) is 100% true after all... After so much wanting this to be a 'based on fact' story for so long I'm pleased to announce that on the strength of this book cover I consider this irrefutable proof that it is in fact a true story and Jack Higgins had inside information all along.

... at least I'm 40% sure.

WWII Soviet paint recipe updated and uploaded, I'm reluctant to call it 'finished' (because its not) but if you find it useful your welcome to it. I'm moving onto early war Germans (on a time limit!) so this is 'complete' for a while.

New format, if you love it or hate it let me know here

Get it here: https://www.valhallagames.net/index.php/downloads/download/6-paint-guides/25-paint-guide-soviets-winter-quilted-and-greatcoat-types

Subscribe in your podcast app by searching for Valhalla Games or play in the web player by clicking on the image below​.

Soviet reinforcements have arrived... just in time as they need to fight at the MOAB Bolt Action event 0830 tomorrow. Although its only 7 guys its nice to have painted something from beginning to end and have them complete not just "90% done and I will sort the rest out later". My painting skill is improving again, another couple of squads and I will be back up to the standard I was at a 2 years ago. Interesting how with no painting getting done I had a noticeable drop in skill!

I have revamped my Soviet paint guide as well, more detail better layout. I will upload it to the files/download section when I have time.

Edit: there is the same thing with moving pictures... https://youtu.be/H9WDeZfXO0k?si=VoGt3usmqL1zc2u8

Dan and I just finished recording a podcast with Steffan of Flank March Miniatures about his currently running 3D printable 28mm WW2 Soviet Naval Infantry Kickstarter.

We had a great time and learned a lot of interesting things about the Soviet Naval Brigade, also known as the Black Death, plus an interesting (unique?) extra at higher pledge levels.

Not only great looking printable miniatures but a huge quantity all sorts of different options.

Podcast to follow ASAP but in the meantime have a look at this Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flankmarch/black-death

Also, (rather cool) share this post:
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid05jbJnUvgB8GmcDG8YAG3x1npcyr6k678iTSPK1EDoftZZZ8nyXqY7RavS2hhA9fAl&id=100089882083627
… on Facebook, and if it gets enough shares some extra stretch goals get added.

If you have an interest in historical/actual 20th and 21st century Army organization; Squad, platoon, Company etc. This is an outstanding video explaining how it all works including using Easy Company from Band of Brothers as an example.

Thanks DigitalBattlefieldTours on YouTube for putting together such a fantastic resource.

In this episode of the Valhalla Games podcast Dan and Rex talk about the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Sicily and Italy game day held in Sydney, 18 March 2023.

Will the allies get a foothold in the soft underbelly or will Italy kick them off, back into the Mediterranean? Perhaps more importantly will the Primosole bridge book scenarios and terrain stack up against the expectation of the veteran Bolt Action players of Western front gamers in Sydney Australia?

Subscribe in your podcast app by searching for Valhalla Games or play in the web player by clicking on the image below.​

Images and video of the day to follow at https://valhallagames.net/youtube shortly(ish).

New year, new Bolt Action army for Rex. A quick look at my new (slightly used) army that I got in the post a couple of days ago.

What are your new years wargame army aspirations? Let us know in the comments.  

Coming soon 3D printed terrain, just wanting to get my own images of my own printed and painted terrain and I will be listing these on https://valhallagames.net/store/ We have the seller rights to this building (all versions) and will be offering it for shipping to Australia and Zealand only (well... you welcome to buy from else-ware by the shipping may be prohibitively expensive). In fact we have seller rights to lots and lots of different buildings but this is a standout.

I already have stock printed so its immediate shipping for whatever is listed.

Don't worry were not 'going all commercial' just a sideline to offset costs. If your interested drop me a message here: https://www.valhallagames.net/contact

A couple of images from a game of Bolt Action last night with Wargaming buddy Ian, thanks for a great game, a draw. I tried some brand new tactics which worked well, just need to rework the tactics that didn't work.

In this bumper episode, we are joined by Jon Russell of Warlord Games fame. In addition to his dedicated work for Warlord, Jon is a multifaceted wargamer and also veteran of many years service.

In this episode we spend time learning about Jon's wargaming pedigree, before learning more about his role at Warlord, the writing of 'Bolt Action: Korea', and Jon shares with us what he can about what Bolt Action V3 might look like, and the 'Raiders Attack!' Supplement that still has much life left in it.

All this plus Warlord event support, balance in tournaments and other definitely non-controversial(!), highly entertaining and informative topics. Sit back and enjoy a chat with Jon, and us, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Subscribe to Valhalla games in your favourite podcast app or listen in the web player here [link].

Thanks again to Jon for giving us his time and thoroughly entertaining us!