WWI Hobby Updates as Opposed to Updates on the Actual Event Which Ended a Long Time Ago

In between near constant D&D with my son (or that's what it seems like - we play a lot now. We just played four days in a row thanks to the Labor Day holiday weekend), I have been assembling and painting my WWI Germans to pit against my French. 

They are ICM WWI German Assault Troops in 1/35. As with Legos, I've discovered I enjoy putting figures together. Not painting them so much,but assembling them is relaxing.

To accompany the additional troops, I thought it was a good time to paint up another monster. I grabbed one from my plastic and lead pile (this one is metal!)

I have no idea who makes this figure - it was given to me six or seven years ago.

It has a very Ray Harryhausen look to it. I've painted it to the Games Workshop table-top ready standard. That is, base coats, wash, second base coat. I didn't do any highlighting on it. 

 

I have a second similar one on the paint table that is even more Hasrryhausen-esque.

 

I'm fairly certain this, and it's unpainted fellow, is intended for 28mm/Heroic 28mm use, but it works great with 1/35. Incidentally, this seems to be true of a lot of monster figures - they work as human-sized or slightly larger than human-sized in 1/35. They tend to be a little short compared to 1/32 to be intimidating unless there is a horde of them  (like my 28mm lizards).

In addition to painting, I've been playing lots of test games - having returned my WWI figures back to single-figure basing but still trying to reduce the playing surface - 24" square or 24" x 36"-ish playing areas. The rationale for the small area is that WWI units are more compact than WWII generally. A company in WWI has roughly the frontage of a platoon in WWII. I'm also not super interested in maneuver on the table - I can handle that off table on a map (any excuse to make a map is a good excuse)

For rules, I've been trying:

• Bayonets & Spades, a fan-made variant for Bolt Action 2nd edition, which you need as well to make use of the variant.
• Contemptible Little Armies 3rd edition (CLA going forward), 
• H.M.G. (by Agema). 

The scenario I have been playing is pretty small for any of those sets - a single unit of Austrian infantry and an MG hold a trench against an Italian assault of three units. Simple as it is, I enjoy it every time.

A turn or two into a Bolt Action WWI game. Both sides have suffered some losses. This is the first time I have added craters to no-man's land. They provide "soft" cover.

The unit sizes vary based on the rules. 

 

The Austrians use 10-figures in Bolt Action as the minimum for a section and nine figures for H.M.G. as a company. I use 10 for CLA  but it's not prescribed by the rules nor do the rules prescribe what the units represent - based on my research, 10-12 figures is pretty typical to represent everything from a section on up, with company and battalion being prevalent.

 

The Italians use 8 figures in Bold Action and H.M.G., for a section and company respectively, The minimum Italian section in Bolt Action is 5 figures for all but Arditi, who require 3 figures -I chose 8 because it looked better to my eyes and matches H.M.G. Speaking of, in H.M.G., 8 figures is a Bersaglieri company, a regular infantry company has 15 figures. Again I chose10 in CLA - for the same reason as I chose 10 for the Austrians.

Caught up in the action up close! Bolt Action again.

Similar moment from a CLA game.

CLA again, just because I love the coronet! (It looks to me like it has valves, making it not a bugle)

There are good things about each set of rules.

Worse, I enjoyed all of them! What a terrible poblem to have. 

I guess I'll just have to play more games.