STALINGRAD Bolt Action Mega Battle!
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About the Project
Inspired by the Ontabletop.com 'Spring Clean Challenge' I have dusted off my Soviet Army for Bolt Action, which is 'Stalingrad themed'. I have dug out half painted and many still boxed kits and blister packs to start/re-start and hopefully finish the ridiculous amount of Soviet's, German's and Scenery that has been stuck in gamers limbo for years. I particularly look forward to getting a German army up an running to challenge my Soviet's, and to base the elements on real units (such as the 100th Jager Division). I also need to get scenery to theme the board built and finished. No Stalingrad battle (let alone a MEGA BATTLE [which Stalingrad very much was!]) would look right without a mass of smashed grey buildings, and a ruined concrete and brick wasteland. It's ambitious, but I have a LOT of unpainted miniatures and scenery that is crying out to get done, and the end result will (God willing?) be achievable and great fun for my gaming group and I. Like many gamers we all have a favourite battle that we would like to have masses of models and scenery to play with our mates. In those terms. this is my Waterloo (in a gaming bucket list way, rather than my ultimate personal downfall!),
Related Game: Bolt Action
Related Company: Warlord Games
Related Genre: Historical
Related Contest: Spring Clean Hobby Challenge 2023
This Project is Active
Where to start?
In starting the ‘Spring Clean Challenge’ I have decided to start or re-start any mini or even large unfinished projects that I can use en masse for a GIANT Stalingrad Bolt Action Battle.
Part of the fun for me is the intellectual element, where I can learn more history, theme individual units from historical sources and generally get immersed into the culture, learning and entertainment surrounding the project.
The GREAT thing about Historical Wargaming is that there is a real wealth of high quality written and video content in support. I intend to consume as much as possible and hopefully develop a real , balance appreciation of the subject.
There are some great documentaries available as box sets or on Youtube and other streaming services such as thegreatcoursesplus (thanks @Lindybeige!).
I have found many useful articles and images online, in fact I have been somewhat flooded with information. TIK History has a great deal of well researched and in depth documentaries that must run into about a week of real time.
The Ontabletop has some noteworthy individuals who can help with direction to great source material. Thanks @oriskany for recommending Col. David. M. Glantz’s book ‘Stalingrad’. It’s definitely worth checking out OTT and tuning in for CoG Radio to get help.
There is a great scratch built Stalingrad themed project in Wargames Illustrated 387.
For music, I am currently listening to Prokofiev’s ‘Alexander Nevsky’ and ‘Lieutenant Kijé’ which are enormously atmospheric and would have been morale boosters at the time. Also you can see the influence upon James Horner, the soundtrack composer for ‘Enemy at the Gates’ in this body of work. It’s great to see what James Horner has done, and it works well.
I have been enjoying re watching the Stalingrad movies (two of which have the highly inventive and original title of ‘Stalingrad’!), my main purpose was to get inspiration for the wrecked built environment in planning how to paint and embellish my scenery, much of which is kit based. ‘Enemy at the Gates’ gets a bit of flack (or should I say Flak?) for it’s depiction of order 227 in perhaps it’s most memorable scene, but I have to say that it’s enormously entertaining (not least because I fancy Rachel Wiesz) and has some great combat scenes. In it’s defence, the visual realisation of the “Campaign” is suitably epic and there are a lot of good historical details.
Warlord have a fantastic and ever expanding range of miniatures to support their game, and I am happy to stay with them as “My Brand”. Like all great wargaming miniature manufacturers, some minor omissions are present within their range for his chosen period. I intend to fulfil notable gaps with conversions and new lines such as the NKVD as they het released. Warlord’s ‘Stalingrad’ game is great, packed with often widely varying scenarios and some great new units to add further variety, and enable me to represent notable formations, with special rules and stats to differentiate how they play on the table top. Unsurprisingly Warlord’s ‘Armies of Germany’ and ‘Armies of the Soviet Union’ are essential reading.
There is a LOT here to educate and inspire me on my journey.
