Saturday, 10 March 2018

Out From the Jungles: Operation Wolf


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
Regular Matilda II, Frog- 155


Jungle Division and Papuan Infantry Battalion


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

2 comments:

  1. Good first post and looking forward to hearing a new episode!

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