Month 2: Blue on Blue

So the clanking of treads and rattle of machine guns have gone quiet and the dust has settled on month two of the Bolt Action escalation league.

Scores on the wars are..

	US Airborne	184th Italian	Gebirgsjager	H.G. Division	US 3rd Infantry
Win	3	2	1	1	0
Loss	0	1	2	2	2
Draw	0	0	0	0	0
Played	3	3	3	3	2
Points	9	6	3	3	0

3pts for a win 1pt for a draw

This month saw the jeepborne airborne and the Italians go head to head for top dog. The HG Division even managed to snag a win dragging the Gebirgsjager down to their level.

Campaign

This puts the Allies further ahead. As the second game was blue on blue only the US/Italian game counted.

Axis 2 

Allies 4

Hobby

Everyone completed their allotted painting tasks, although for some it was touch and go (thankfully for me the check in was delayed a week). The US 3rd did not see the field due to a bout of illness striking their HQ.

Player	1000 Pts Painted	Games Played	Blog Post
Jon	2	2	2
David	2	2	2
Ed	Bye	2	2
Tom	2	2	2
Darren	2	1	2

Month 3

So final month is upon us already and we all have our final 500 points to add,  remember:

• You can field a single platoon for every 1000 points so you can field a second platoon now.
• Each platoon must include a platoon HQ and 2 Rifle Squads.
• If you include more than one platoon then you must include a company HQ.
• Lists are chosen from the basic BA selector with FOW lists for Italy used to dictate equipment and general organization.
• Units can be chosen from the above based on a time frame of Sep 43 (mid war) to Jun 44 (late war)
• You must keep the original list fielded last month.
• No vehicle over DEF 8, Forward Air Observers or Forward Artillery Observers in the first 500 points.

US 3rd Infantry Division Month 2

OK so month one was a bust with two losses, what can we do in month two...

What caused the biggest problems in month 1? The enemy scoring cheap kills using snipers to one shot my MMG teams, and the difficulty of rooting out infantry in buildings.

Clearly I'm going to need something to neutralize enemy snipers.

US 3rd Infantry Division Painting Guide

US Infantry

All paints from the Vallejo Model Color range. Started from a black Army Painter spray undercoat

Bases
Foundation 826 German Cam. Medium
Dry Brush 876 Brown Sand
Dry Brush 819 Iraqi Sand

Boots and Rifle Straps 984 Flat Brown
Puttees and Jacket 988 Khaki
Trousers 873 US Field Drab
Skin 815 Basic Skin Tone
Helmet 887 Brown Violet
Rifle 875 Beige Brown

Everything was washed with 203 Umber Wash which is really nice and then the webbing was highlighted with 886 Green Grey.

Initially fiddly to paint, as usual the wash bought everything together nicely.

Month 1 500pts completed!

U.S. 3rd Infantry Division

So for my Allied part of the escalation league I will be collecting a US list. Looking through the Flames of War Road to Rome book to get ideas I have chosen to go with the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division.

They fought in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Germany and Austria, so they are good to go for just about any other theater.

They have a long and illustrious history in both world wars and count the highly decorated Audie Murphy in their ranks.

You can read all about them here
3rd Infantry Division (United States) on Wikipedia

Badge "We Shall Remain"

Shoulder Patch

The First 500

Pretty straight forward has 2nd Lt and 2 infantry squads. Packs 3 Medium Machine Guns to lay down supporting fire and a Bazooka to deal with any light armor that shows up (I'm looking at you Von Cleweswitz).

Built sing Bolt Action Easy Army

Purchases this Month

One Flames of War US Rifle Company Box for £30 with 156 models is going to give me all the infantry I need for the entire project! Comes with 6 M1919 which will cover my MMG choices and more Bazookas than I'll ever need.