20 January 2026

Clever Hans - Part 12 (An Army Re-Org for 3rd Edition Bolt Action)

During the holidays I was able to meet up with a Bolt Action gaming pal, Stephen, gift him my NIB WW2 French minis (Cos I will never have time to work on a 5th army) as I knew he needed an Early War army option and it turned out he'd just gained a new Char-B tank kit - so job done. In turn, he handed over a few sprues of Warlord Games Winter Germans that I have decided to fill out my Bolt Action German force so that they'll be usable for 3rd edition events and tournaments. 

For those uninitiated or ignorant to the changes in this current edition, the accepted "standard points value for a game of Bolt Action is now 1250. My previous German collection could meet that, but would not be very much fun or all that competitive to play, so changes had to be made. Below is a Draxian Paint Chart like the one I have maintained for my WW2 Greeks (See previous posts on that project). 


To that end, I've added and put primer to the Sd.kfz 10/4's (Etsy 3D prints) and glued some of the new Winter plastic Germans together to represent the Rifle Officer's 4x Adjutants. 

3x Platoons - Mandatory Rifle platoon: Officer with 4x Adjutants armed with SMG's, 2x Squads of Veteran Heer Grenadiers, 1x Squad of Volks Grenadiers and a small 7-man Squad of Waffen SS with their Sd.kfz 251/1 Half-Track transport; Artillery Platoon of lone Officer and a pair of Flak 88's; Armoured Platoon containing a pair of Sd.kfz 10/4's sporting 2cm Light Autocannons each. I call this force my late war Holding Kompany and it's supposed to represent the type of ad-hoc Kampfgruppe the Germans might have thrown together on the Eastern Front to try to push back the Soviets during the Winter of 1944.

These four will represent the adjutants for the Officer's squad. Gritty looking blokes with SMG's and no helmets like the standard Grenadiers.


Lots of random gear added to their rear sides so they'll stand out more-so from the Grenadier squad that'll be made from the same set. 
This pair were the last two body-sculpts from the sprue (6-to-a-sprue). The fellow on the left will be an extra crewman for one of the Flak 88 guns and the yelling chap on the right will end up as a spare adjutant should I need one for bigger points games.
Again, with more gear on his rear, including some mittens! 

Per usual, these will see basing and paint as time allows, but I'm glad to have had a little time this weekend to get any hobby done at all, so score!

Be well and safe out there,


- Dai

16 comments:

  1. Very good to see you back at it, Dai! When will we see a game with these troops?

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    1. Thanks Jon. It'll be a bit yet before I'm able to get these guys on the table. Am hoping perhaps end of next month when my wife returns from her trip to Nashville?

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  2. Cool
    Looking even before painting.

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    1. Thank you sir - was hoping for that effect. It's a really great kit, and that's saying something for me who is not a huge fan of plastics.

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  3. Ooh I do like those German infantry sculpts. Been a long time since I’ve painted pea camo. I can hear the fluttering of butterfly wings. Must try to stay strong. lol.

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    1. Thanks JBM! I find painting Peadot is fun in tiny batches. Couldn't imagine tackling a whole army's worth of troops in it though...

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  4. Nice bit of assembly, I think I've got two ten man painted platoons plus command , a Tiger and a Panther, gifted by a fellow blogger who couldn't face ebay again, I've got a load of other sprues ,a box of Perry africa Korps ,a stug 3 and a pak40 plus a random box of wargames factory figures, I should really do a set up like yours to motivate me to complete ( or at least make a usable force) but I'm stuck in Napoleonics and heading down a 16th century rabbit hole, glad to see you're at least building stuff!
    Best Iain

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    1. Goodness mate, that sounds like you have your hands full and what a nice happenstance to gain all those minis! (Ebay really is a headache to sell on these days, so I understand your friend's reluctance to even try.)

      Hoping to get more done before month's end, wish me luck!

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  5. A good swap by the sound of things Dai! I think it's likely I will soon invest in a box of winter Germans myself, for solo action against my Soviet hordes!

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    1. Cheers Keith. Looking forward to your Winter Krauts.

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  6. Disappointed. You mention Hans. But no mention of his brothers daughter...

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    1. Hans' niece...? I'm not getting that reference sir?

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  7. A solid swap, Dai, and those new Germans you've assembled look suitably grim and ready for the cold weather. Looking forward to seeing them painted up.

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    1. Cheers Simon! So far, no opp's to paint a darn thing. :(

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  8. Great progress Dai, and the swap sounds like it worked out perfectly for both of you.

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    1. Thanks Dave - yep, he seemed really happy and I got to drastically lessen my WW2 hobby backlog!

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