Sunday 31 July 2016

Operation Sand Dune: Building the SAS

Here is the start of the series on my SAS force for Bolt Action, first hinted at on the Warlord Games website.

Following on from the webcast with Andy Singleton and Carl Titterington, I went to consult the British army book and the Duel in the Sun supplement. I opted to choose units from the Behind Enemy Lines theater selector, enabling me to field a lightly armed, but fast force capable of getting me into the action fast, and equally getting me out when the fight gets too hot!

One key rule that I like about this force, is that everything must have its own transport. With this in mind, my first point of call was the basics, infantry and Bedford trucks. I added stowage taken from the British Airborne Recce jeeps.



Taking the SAS unit from the Duel in the Sun book, I opted to go for two units of 8 men in each. Each man carries a rifle and a pistol, or can carry sub-machine guns. I decided to equip one squad with rifles and the other with SMG’s.



 What they lack in numbers, they more than make up for in extra firepower as each squad can be given two LMG’S or upgrade to Vickers LMG’s, giving them an extra dice when shooting.  Opting for the heavier weapon I used Warlord Games British Airborne Recce jeeps machine guns, and with a little trimming, they fit onto the Perry miniatures.

 The Airborne drivers, Chindit MMG team and Chindit anti-tank rifle have been given a simple head swap, and the uniform will simply be painted the same as the SAS. With the jeeps I left off the basket at the rear of the vehicles, with one having the front baggage replaced with the comms kit from one of the LRDG trucks



This will be my officers jeep, distinguished by the simple conversion, it also tells a story, perhaps the jeep has pulled up and they are using it as a surface to check their maps and coordinates. A simple yet effective conversion, it fit snugly into the space.



Next up we have the LRDG Chevrolet trucks, these will form my heavy hitters. One of them will be armed with as many machine guns as I can fit on, whilst the other has been fitted with something a bit …heavier!

The option to include a LRDG truck armed with a light anti-tank gun is an opportunity not to be missed! After a lot of thought I elected to go with the BEF 2pdr light anti-tank gun from Warlord Games.



 I chose this one simply for the part the gun sits on, as I thought with some tinkering here and there I can make the weapon fit onto the back of the truck. This required a bit of maneuvering, and the leg supports were cut down significantly so that the gun can fit.

I may go back and give the SAS jeeps heavier weaponry, and perhaps mount a auto-cannon onto the other truck, space permitting of course! A few more little conversions here and there and then this force will be ready for painting.