It's All Greek to Me! (Part 1 - Force composition)

Found this cool art online to be good reference for Greek uniforms. No idea who the artist is though.

For my 400th post I thought I'd preview my main project (That admittedly should have begun earlier this year, but life happened.) that I plan to work on. In February the local Bolt Action Facebook group plans to hold a small tourney and I am hoping to be able to attend, and when I do, I want to be able to bring a new army to play with!

And so "Greeks?" you might ask. Why yes, WW2 1940-41 Greeks are going to be my next Bolt Action project and here are the main reasons:

1. Firstly, I wanted to have and be able to play an army that represented a minor nation and something that is rarely seen on the tabletops (Mainly due to their army lists and national rules being considered pretty awful). I also wanted a force from the Early years of WW2. (My Soviets represent 1944-45 and my Canadians Mid War 1942 so a 1940-1941 era force seemed appropriate.)

2. My grandmother was Greek and suffered the brutal Nazi occupation of her home country during the war. By researching and collecting together this force I felt I was connecting to her memory and my own of the stories she would tell me of her experiences during those years. At least in a small way. 

3. My Bolt Action gaming pal, Densmol, decided he too wanted to stray from his primary faction (Germans) and so chose Italians(!). So what better adversary than a bunch of Retsina and Ouzo drinking, heavily moustachio'd mountain fighters to face them!? *Who also historically kicked them back into Albania! (To date, Densmol has yet to confirm which part of the war he's going to paint his Italians up for though.) 

4. As mentioned in my brief year review post for 2022, I had found on Facebook a digital sculptor who's sculpts were simply sublime. Studio Historia actually work out of Greece and their main creators are passionate about their source material, so I felt that their 3D printed sculpts would be some of the best out there and, once they arrived, I was not disappointed. Add in some lovely metal Great Escape Games "Evzones" (Tough Greek mountain troops) and some 3rd party 3D printed vehicles I found on Etsy and I had an army for a relatively affordable financial investment.

The make up of the basic 1000 point force is as follows (All are rated as "Regulars", for those who know Bolt Action.):

KEY: Red = Unassembled, Orange = Assembled and Primed, Yellow = Painting in Progress & Green = Completed.

This is the Draxian organizational painting chart/excel sheet I'll be using and updating as this project progresses until it's all "fully painted green" in the many posts to come. 

Here are pics of the unpainted mini's glued to their bases, ready for primer so you can get an idea of just how nice these 3d printed minis are. I've become more and more impressed with the quality of 3D printed miniatures in resin as the tech just gets better and better and can see me purchasing more in the future:

2nd Lieutenant #1 & Adjutant (An Adjutant sounding a bugle!? Sign me up!)

Regular Infantry Squad #1 (11-man squad with Rifles, 1x LMG & 1x VB Launcher. The resin fellow front-right will get a flagpole in his left hand.)

 

Regular Infantry Squad #2 (11-man squad with Rifles, 1x LMG & 1x VB Launcher)

Medium Mortar Team (There is another crew member, but I left him out as Bolt Action only calls for 3 crew to a mortar. With Spotter - Not pictured)

Sniper Team (What it says on the tin.)

Anti-Tank Rifle Team (Although the Greeks had a few Boys AT rifles supplied by the Brits, they were few and far between and I don't think they even had much ammo for them, so the Greek troops procured Italian Solothern AT Rifles when they were able to liberate them. The base was a freebie I got from an Etsy 3D print order. I've also since added basing texture to match the rest of the force. )

Medium Howitzer (An old Schneider 85mm artillery piece from the Interwar period. There are far too many crew on this gun per the Bolt Action rules, but the whole scene just looked too darn cool to leave out anyone. Also with Spotter - not pictured)

L3/35 Tankette (Captured from the Italians. This little terror takes up the Armoured Car slot in the list.) 

Renault FT-17 Tank (Still researching IF the Greeks actually had these. So far, online evidence says "no", but the Bolt Action list includes the option so until that changes I'll keep this ugly little thing in. Absolutely lovely 3D print found on Etsy. ) 

2nd Lieutenant #2 & Adjutant (Who is actually an Orthodox Priest - flippin love this sculpt! Both Great Escape Games minis.)

Oof! That’s an awful mold line on the officer’s helmet! 

Evzones Mountain Brigade Squad #1 (5x Rifles and all Tough Fighters. Metal minis by Great Escape Games)

Evzones Mountain Brigade Squad #2 (5x Rifles and all Tough Fighters. Also Metal minis by Great Escape Games)

Mk 1 Bren Carrier #1 (Another 3D printed model found on Etsy. Had to add crew made from spare Soviet bits ((Soviet helmets are close enough to Greek I feel.)) and a pintle-mounted Bren Gun made up from a paper clip and loose Bren gun produced by The Assault Group in the UK.)

Mk 1 Bren Carrier #2 (As above but this one I think is actually a Mk 2? I don't care though, it'll do as far as I'm concerned.)

*The Bren Carriers have actually had painting started so I need to change the painting chart to reflect this, but I’ll do that next post.

Playing-wise, this force should be pretty balanced. The small Evzones squads, mounted in their Bren Carriers will be reactionary options to come in on outflank and a hammer to slam down if they can get in the charge. Two full sized infantry squads can be used for objective holding but also large enough to endure a little punishment if they have to hoof it across the battlefield or open fire on a target. Everything else is pretty much in support of these four infantry squads. This army isn't going to win many games, especially against armies that have tough armour, but Bolt Action is an infantry game and if I can defeat my opponent's infantry, then I should have free reign to take objectives. At least that's the theory.

So there you go, my main project for the remainder of 2023 and beginning of 2024. Hope I can get all this completed by the beginning of February! *gulp* 

- Dai