Bolt Action: Operation Sealion Minis

[Arlequín]

The Renault FT was still used in WWII, even the Germans used captured ones.

You have to be careful not to get TOO historical here, I think that Warlord have bought, literally, into VBCW and attempted to put their own spin on it.

France kept their vehicles on the strength and in service, even commencing an upgrade in 1931. Britain did not and we were talking about the British tanks after all.

I've no issue with not being historical, otherwise I'd be taking issue with the whole concept of an Operation Sea Lion. I'm also not adverse to alternate history, I'm just not a fantasy gamer.

[levied troop]

I cheerfully used one of the local council presentation tanks in a Sealion game based on the Lardies 'Pevensey' scenario.

It was painted rather rusty, had no armaments and was used as walking pace hard cover by the LDV.  With a 1 in 6 chance of engine seizure 

[Elk101]

By way of an example, Egbert the WWI tank at Hartlepool (it was West Hartlepool that was given the tank) was scrapped in 1937, having sat outside rusting for 18 years.

[Kommando_J]

One could give the fluff argument of the tank being a foreign purchase/donation by a wealthy local...or use the tank rules and make up your own diy tank made by the locals.

Really, its warlord trying to offload those ww1 tanks they bought then subsequently didn't get much use out of when bolt action ww1 folded.

My force will be led by a bunch of wealthy(and therefore 'eccentric') local aristocrats/businessmen.

[Rich H]

After Sealion  - Gigant was a let down IMHO.

Sealion had a lot of content, some of it a bit misguided but generally on theme, Gigant hardly any - the majority being 'silly' units like football/cricket/rugby teams and just 2 units for the Axis and a couple of vehicles. 

I want to build a Navy Shore patrol with HMS Excellent (A MkVI Heavy Tank) so I'll do that. 
Seems very odd to have the MkVI for the IRA but NOT for the RN who actually bloody used one!! 

[manchesterreg]

Have to agree, i see little point in Gigant, their was a lot more they could have added to Sealion,such as a Tubby Tankbuster or armoured dodges, but no we have Rugby teams.

[Kommando_J]

Yes, to be fair though both supplements felt a bit half-bothered, the free mini was an exclusive from the cancelled warlord games day a few years ago, and gigant isn't worth what they are charging(I got it at a discount for buying sealion though).

While the patrol lists where an interesting concept id have much preferred them being written as a 'normal' army instead a bunch of one unit niche armies like the archery club or the watermen, the ldv list should have allowed to mix all the units, id have loved to do a rag tag force.

[Arlequín]

Excellent was a Mk IV surely? I don't think any Mk VIs were ever built, even a prototype. I do know Excellent was restored using parts from another that stood on Southsea Common. Again the 'myth' is that it served with the Home Guard, but it was in fact part of HMS Excellent's complement (Whale Island) as RichH plans to use it.
 

Really, its warlord trying to offload those ww1 tanks they bought then subsequently didn't get much use out of when bolt action ww1 folded.

I'm pretty sure you're right, I'm surprised they haven't shoe-horned the A7V in somewhere too.

But hey, if folk want to use them, organised IRA units, or even fifth column cycling Bavarian oompah bands, that's entirely up to them. Amongst my own interests a very different WWII starting in 1938 is prominent and I contributed to both the VBCW Books and The Abyssinia Crisis What-Ifs, so I'm hardly going to throw any stones from my glass house. I do prefer to stick to what was really around though rather than fantasise.

The Sea Lion - Dunkirk Summer we are experiencing has produced a number of figures and models that I can actually make use of, so I'm not complaining about that either.

[Kommando_J]

I'm also loving the minis that have been released but they could have really given VBCW the shot in the arm it needed.

[Truscott Trotter]

Rugby teams srsly?
OMG how do they stack up against the Women's Auxiliary Archery and rollerskating unit?
 

[Rich H]

Excellent was a Mk IV surely? I don't think any Mk VIs were ever built, even a prototype. I do know Excellent was restored using parts from another that stood on Southsea Common. Again the 'myth' is that it served with the Home Guard, but it was in fact part of HMS Excellent's complement (Whale Island) as RichH plans to use it.

I got my Is and Vs mixed up

some of us wrote some RN short party rules a while back for BA. 

http://www.warlordgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=27408&hilit=regulators

We had:
Royal Navy Rifle Section
Royal Navy Logistician Section
Royal Navy Pilot (Bloody hero)
Royal Navy Regulator
Royal Navy Master at Arms

Special rules:
All RN units have 'Spinning a dit' special rules - if a non RN unit is activated before an RN unit no further RN units can be activated that turn until only RN units remain unactivated as the units pulls up a bollard, sets the lantern swinging and settles into tales of their time aboard HMS Exadge and a game of Uckers.

Rum Bum and Baccy. A non-objective building on the table is nominated by the RN player as a pub. All RN units assaulting units in this building count as fanatics. Once an RN unit is in the pub it will not leave and counts as fanatics and tough fighters while inside. If the pub is destroyed by enemy action all RN units count as fanatics for the rest of the game.

[Kommando_J]

I feel the same about the casting stones remark...my dream has always been to do a VBCW force led by the Historic Reenactment Society (local toffs/businessmen convinced they are reincarnations of ancestors/famous people) so I could have a mix of all my fave historical units.


...But at the same time all this club and rollerskate nonsense seems a bit much...for instance the new defenders of the realm pack has a nice smg armed fellow...with rollerblades...grown men do not wear rollerblades and furthermore their is no rules options for a mini to have both a smg and rollerblades.,,or two versions of the agent carter mini...should have been separate, I have no interest as I dont watch agents of shield.

I loved the enemy agents pack, very characterful, did not like the Brandenburger restrictions, some rifles would be useful.

[Ewan]

The roller skating figure is probably based on this character

[Truscott Trotter]

I gather the idea was to shoot the Hun while he could not see you through tears of laughter?
 

[carlos marighela]

If you've seen women's roller derby players in action you'd realise that the howls of laughter would soon turn to naked fear. I do see a major flaw in this mode of battlefield conveyance though and it's the same one the Daleks faced. Actually it's compounded by any area of grass or cobblestones.

I have no problem with folk creating their own fun. Who doesn't like a good troop of nuns in combat boots hiding MP-40s under their habits? When the silliness becomes some sort of codified list then I think it loses its charm. It's a bit like explaining a joke.