Having been recently introduced to Bolt Action which for all its faults is still a great game(with the emphasis firmly on game), especially for club nights, I took the plunge and bought myself a small(ish) British Airborne force and late war German force, and having painted these troops in both 20mm and 6mm previously I knew I could get through them fairly quickly.
I ended up with roughly 90 mini's and a few jeeps for the British, bought from three different company's, first up was:
Battlefront
Having never purchased Battlefront stuff before but knowing they are the big boys of 15mm WW2, I thought I couldn't go wrong starting with them, plus they have probably the largest range of stuff available, I was wrong!
I have been very disappointed with the infantry that I have painted up so far, the minis needed quite a bit of tidying up, two fell apart whilst cleaning them! Many had lost so much detail that It was hard to tell what bit of webbing was what for e.g, it seemed to me like the molds that this particular batch were cast from were old/worn, despite this(and that the poses are quite dull) they look Ok now that they're painted. I'll put this down to simple bad luck in receiving an old batch (I didn't buy from BF direct).
I was also given a few plastic infantry and they are really nicely sculpted/cast and also slightly slimmer/better proportioned. finally I also obtained some plastic German vehicles and must say that for plastic kits(which I'm not a fan of) they were a pleasure to put together. In future I would probably stick to BF's plastic's range rather than their metal stuff.
Next up was:
Forged in Battle
From which I bought British Airborne platoon, and was very pleased! good value for money, nicely sculpted/posed and proportioned minis with little cleaning up required, and though they are slightly slimmer than the BF metal stuff they still work together quite well.
Finally and as I needed just a few specialist types to round out my armies, I went to:
Peter Pig
Primarily as I could buy small packs rather than full platoons which neither of the two aforementioned company's offer.
In hindsight I wish I had gone here first, as in my opinion these are the best of the 3, great value, really nice and varied poses, a wide selection, and most importantly very nicely sculpted and cast(no cleaning required whatsoever). They also fit with both other companies(size-wise) being more in line with FB. In fact they were so good that I ordered more even though I didn't really need them, thus ending up with around 90 minis rather than the 30-40 I had intended.
Onto the minis than, I have labelled then going from left to right as either, BF(Battlefront), FB(Forged in Battle) or PP(Peter Pig) for those who like to see comparison pictures.
1st Platoon Command(BF, PP, PP)
PIAT Team 1 ( both PP)
F/O (BF)
Medic(FB)
Light Mortar Team (FB)
Sniper Team(FB)
MMG1 (PP)
Med. Mortar Team 1 (all PP)
6 pounder (all PP)
Jeep for towing the gun (PP)
Recon Jeeps(PP)
Some objective "counters" (BF)
1st Platoon, 1st Section, (back row all FB, front row all PP apart from loader - FB)
Onto the 2nd Platoon, which I based more rurally than the 1st to help differentiate then slightly.
2nd Platoon Command (FB, PP)
PIAT team No.2 (PP)
2nd MMG team (PP)
2nd Medium Mortar team (PP)
2nd Platoon, 1st Section ( all FB apart from the 3 prone men at the front which are PP)
2nd Section(all FB)
3rd Section(all FB)
and finally a few more objective counters(BF)
Well that's them done, adds up to just over 2000pts for Bolt Action, though I can also use the for Rules of Engagement, which works well with 15mm minis with no adjustments, and Chain of Command, both games are probably better simulations than Bolt Action but time constraints mean Bolt Action is likely to see more table time.
I am now starting on a similar sized force of late war Germans, and the inevitable additional scenery I will require!
To finish, here are a few pictures of the 3 Germans I have had a test run at so far(all from BF)
