Upcoming Event: Operation Wolf
The Baconburgers will be playing this
weekend at Operation Wolf, a 900 point Bolt Action event run by Old Man
Morin from the Cast Dice Podcast. The event is running at Good Games Melbourne
and has 26 players registered, with an emphasis on a beginner-friendly
environment.
Over the last six months, I've been
painting up an Australian army based on the New Guinea theatre. I've finally
gotten the army to a level where they can come out to an event, which is very
exciting. Having Op Wolf at 900 points had also made this a bit easier for me
as it means I don't have to paint an extra unit or two!
I fell in love with this army after Warlord
published the New Guinea campaign book last year, along with a beautiful new
range of Australian models, all in metal. The campaign book came out after much
anticipation as there was a lot of people working on it to make it the best it
can be, including Brian & Patch from the Australian Bolt Action community.
I'm glad the writers and play-testers took their time with the book, because it
is a pleasure to read and use as a resource to base armies off.
I decided to theme my army around the
Jungle Divisions that Australia had developed in 1943 and were active until the
end of the war in 1945. These new divisions amalgamated forces from both the
militias used to defend the Kokoda Track in 1942, and the veterans from the
North African campaign who had returned to defend Australia from a possible
Japanese invasion.
These Jungle Divisions had reduced
manpower, fewer heavy weapons and limited armoured support. However, they were
able to use specialised doctrines that suited the mountainous jungle terrain of
New Guinea to bog down, outmanoeuvre and drive back the more numerous Japanese
invaders.
Australian Independent Commando Section |
Australian Jungle Division: 1943-1945
Total- 900 points
Order Dice- 11
2nd Lt, Regular, extra man- 60
Regular Jungle Division, 8 men, 4 SMG- 92
Regular Jungle Division, 8 men, 4 SMG- 92
Regular Jungle Division, 7 men, 3 SMG, LMG,
- 99
Regular Papuan Section, 7 Men, SMG- 87
Veteran Commando Section, 8 men, 4 SMGs-
120
Regular Sniper- 50
Regular Light Howitzer, ‘Short’- 45
Regular Medium Mortar- 50
Regular Medium Machine Gun- 50
Tactics: Or lack thereof
Being true to the actual Australian forces
in New Guinea, my army is strong up close but weak at range. It has a lot of
submachine guns, small arms fire and the Frog's flamethrower that can do some
damage at close range. However, my long range support is really only the light
howitzer and the medium mortar, both being respectful but not powerful enough to
force the enemy to come to me on my terms.
This means I will need to be aggressive
with my infantry and move them up the field quickly to take key positions. The
army is all regular, except for one unit of veteran Commandos, which could be
an issue if the jungle division squads get exposed to any reasonable amounts of
firepower. Hopefully having the unit of Papuans advance deploy to support my
sniper will allow my other units to come up the rear with a bit of cover.
I'm a bit concerned about my Frog, which
has a short range with the flamethrower and has the 'slow' special rule,
limiting it to 6" advances and 12" run moves. It's armour of 9+ can
help it get to where it needs to be, but i don't particularly want to be
getting shot from enemy AT without being able to return fire. I had been
debating with myself if I should take the Matilda II CS (Close Support) variant
which wields a light howitzer and would have been good to give me some more
ranged options, but I opted for the Frog to give my infantry closer support.
Depending on the mission, I may decide to outflank with it to make sure it gets
to where it needs to be.
Matilda II tanks provided close support to Australian infantry |
Speaking of armour, my anti-tank
capabilities are severely lacking. I'm not expecting to run into anything too
heavy due to the 900 point limit, however I will have to rely on my mortar and
howitzer ranging in to drop pins on my opponent's tanks if they bring them.
Hopefully there aren't too many armour 9+ or better tanks!
Overall, I think my list is well balanced
in that it has plenty of tools, but they need to be used well to secure
objectives and make sure that my infantry doesn't get shredded on the way up
the board. I've only played one game with the army, so I'm excited to get them
on the table in a proper event and see what they're capable of!
Medium Machine Gun Team and the legendary Corporal Leslie 'Bull' Allen |
Thanks for reading.
I will aspire to get photos of the event
and do some proper battle reports of my games, so stay tuned!
-Lachie
Good first post and looking forward to hearing a new episode!
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Thanks for the tip, will do!
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