Dusting off the BEF

Having somewhat come back to Bolt Action thanks to a recent tournament, I dug up my old British figures. The miniatures are mostly Warlord Games old metal BEF. Alongside them are a couple of squads and officers by Gorgon Studios, plus a few West Wind figures. The tanks, 25–pounder and trucks are by Warlord, the Dingo and Quad are Blitzkrieg/Perry models, and the 25mm AT guns are, well some other brands that I cant remember (their crew are by Warlord and West Wind). Some officers and NCO:s, gun crew etc, are conversions to provide variety.

Ive posted some pictures of these a very long time ago, but never on the whole lot together. So I thought Id bring the out for that reason if nothing else. I also wanted to have a look at what I have that can be used for a tournament army. Mind you, the idea is not to make a winning list, because I wouldnt hardly how to do that. I was more interested in putting together a fun list to include as many of my favourite models as possible. And in an early war army, the units are relatively cheap, so that I can include quite a lot. In the tournament earlier this year they used 500 and 1000 point lists, so that one plays some matches at 500 and some at 1000 pts, but so that the smaller force should be included in the larger.

Now, as can be seen, my British force is easily large enough for a 1000 pt game. I will be happy to use either all of the six 8-man squads or 4-5 squads of 10 men. I have the impression that few people bring large numbers of rifle squads to tournaments. It would therefore be interesting to try an army such as this. The support options are mostly cheap, so that one can afford a lot of infantry. And seeing as many tournament lists seem to include light tanks, AT rifles and light AT guns may not be a bad choice. On the other hand, if I happen to come across that one guy who actually did bring his Tiger I, I suppose I have to just take the hits and concentrate on grabbing objectives…

One of the differences from earlier editions of BA is that version 3 mostly builds armies using several smaller platoons than a single “reinforced platoon” in 1st and 2d eds. Luckily, I have painted a large number of officers with various assistants. These will be more than enough for 3, 4 or even 5 platoon HQ:s.

In terms of an army list, it is tempting to go for a pure infantry army, with the artillery pieces as support. However, the problem with that is that it will make for a very large number of order dice, especially at 1000 pts. I think the limit was set at 18 dice in the tournament this spring, and it would probably be close to that. But 18 order dice will make for a very slow game and I would hesitate to put my opponents through that. It seems a bit silly when there is a time limit to the game. For that reason, the Matilda ought to be a nice thing to include; it would also provide some AT capability.

The 25-pounder is a nice model, but I dont really like having that kind of artillery piece in a 28mm game, unless it is an objective or something. Also, the AT-shell, which is included in the BA rules, was not used until after the fall of France, which is what this army has been painted for. So, Ill go for the Hotchkiss 25mms instead. They are included under the same entry in the rules as the 2-pounder, which is a bit weird. The 2-pounder has its characteristic platform mounting, which even has a special rule and it therefore costs an extra 5 pts compared to a standard light AT gun. Also, the tow trucks for the 25mms are more expensive than the Morris Quad, which tows the 25-pounder. All of this means that including the two Hotchkiss guns (which are historically accurate) will cost me an extra 26 points! In fact, a 25-pounder with tow will cost only 2 pts more, even though it is an equally effective AT gun in game terms, while in additon delivering a much better HE round. It can be hoped that these oddities may be corrected in a FAQ sometime in the future. Until then, Ill just have to pay the extra points for historical accuracy!

Most of these figures were painted almost ten years ago. They have seen quite a bit of play and some of them are slightly chipped, pieces have broken off and been glued back in place etc. Still, I was pleased to see that the vast majority were in very good condition. There are one or two pieces that arent quite finished, such as the Dingo, which also lacks crew figures (I wonder were they might be…?). About half of the figures seem like they could use a better matt varnish. I seem to remember using a spray varnish on some of them, which probably was less effective than the brush-on variety. About half of the figures have been painted to a higher standard (with an additional final highlight), whilst the rest have a more basic paint-job.