Two Matties put together. A review of Warlord Games Australian Matilda II (resin)

I've always liked the Matilda II from my days in World War II Online. Big green slow and armored. 

I put together the 2  Matilda II Australian Army resin kits I got from Warlord games. It was not a happy experience :(

 

The resin on the front does not go well with each other, there appears to be large gaps either side of the front part. 

I lost two different headlights :(

I put the commanders cupola lid on upside down. Twice. 

The sand shields inside the tracks are metal and all bent :(

Now putting it together IS easy, at least the 4 resin parts. The rest of the tank, no so much. It does not come with instructions and I could not find them - I had to ask on r/boltaction where they are. The one picture is not clear and includes items like mud guards I didn't get(!).

But there were quick to put together. However, they are nearly $20 more expensive than the plastic one on warlordgames.com. They do have a lot of nice detail on them, but I wish the little parts were also part of the resin kit.

I can use them through the entire war - The Russians even had 200 or so left by the time Berlin fell! 

I give it a 5/10. 

Left one will be the command tank. It does show how small these turrets were, no wonder they couldn't get a bigger gun in there.

Note the large gaps in the front

Assembled my first Bolt Action infantry, and undercoated

I got most of these infantry years ago but Bolt Action V3 has got me to put them together.

Most of the infantry is all from https://www.slave2gaming.com/ from their 28mm Australians at Bardia range. I seem to be missing one of the squad commanders with SMG but that's OK. I should buy 2 more Vickers MMG's and 2 Stokes mortars.

After playing around with my list for the 99th time I have all the infantry figures I need, and some left over. I still need to put together 2 Warlord Games resin Australia Matilda II's. The actual battle had English ones but close enough. 

The infantry and my soon to somewhat replaced paints

This is all because I had a great half uncle who was in the Australian 6th Division 2/2 Field Park company - the combat engineers. This is a...play to win list, so does not follow correct historical order of battle. But it does match the theme. I think in real life the engineers wouldn't have been in the Universal carriers of the Divisional cavalry but it's close enough for my fluff, or moved past the initial barbed wire, anti tank ditch and minefields. I'll need to read the company's battle history I downloaded from the AWM eventually to see what they actually did.

There's also some Warlord Games Snipers, Australian Radio/spotter crew, some objective carts, British officers, a wounded carrier (come to think of it, that would make a good medic!), and  a pinup called Jesse from a Kickstarter. 

I found they only had mold lines on the bases that took some filing off. Unfortunately nearly all of them have bayonets ready, and they BEND ALL THE TIME.  I expect they'll snap off before their first battle and look bad doing it with just the bayonet lug left.  I don't know how to fix that :( The paint on the undercoat's coming off of them already. 

I should have put some sappers equipment on some of them, but I have JUST enough to work as my rifles AND my engineers. I think I will get some more advancing infantry later and make them the more obvious engineers, 1 squad of whom will have satchel chargers (aka anti-tank grenades).

Pictures below the line:

Weapon and commander coding colours for Bolt Action infantry stands

I saw a Bolt Action tutorial series on YouTube (that I now cannot find because there are SO MANY now that I've watched) that had painted the edge of the infantry bases different colours for each type of solider- Squad leader, squad heavy weapon, basic grunt.

I think this is an amazing idea considering all the infantry is painted very much the same and deliberately so.

There does not seem to be any historical or current practice of a colour for each type of unit that I can find. I'm thinking of a different one for Platoon Commander, Squad commander, SMG, LMG, Light Mortar, Sniper, Anti-Tank weapon, because these are the hardest to tell apart. Larger weapons are are a lot easier to see and tell apart.

I don't think I'd want to paint the entire edge like the video did, but just a stripe or stripes of multiple colours on the back edge of the base plate as I'm the one who will care about it the most. The rest of the plate should match the terrain the army is based on (green for Europe, dark green for Pacific, pale yellow/brown for Africa, and white for the Eastern Front)

I know British Armour for example would have different colours for platoons or companies, but this is just for infantry.

Using video game rarity, which is the style these days for everything:

White: The most common rarity color

Grey: A low value color

Green: A middling value color

Blue: A middling value color

Purple: A high value color

Legendary rarity colors 

Orange: The highest value color

Colour Coding stripes on the back of each infantry's base:

Base Colour: Rifle

Grey: SMG

Grey and White: Assault Rifle

Grey and Blue: Automatic Rifle

Blue: LMG

Purple: Mortar 

Purple and White: Grenade Launcher

Light Green: Anti-Tank

Brown: Sniper

Red: Flamethrower

Orange: Artillery Spotter

Yellow: Air Spotter

Red and White: Medic

Black: Assistant

Weapon Colour and Black: Weapon team assistant

Bronze: Squad Commander 

Silver: Platoon Commander

Gold: Company Commander

Looks like I'll need to buy some Army Painter Speedpaint Metallic's now, along with purple, blue, light green, red and yellow.

My painting guide for Australian 6th Infantry Divison, early 1941

Google is fucking useless these days so I have not found anyone who used Speedpaints 2.0 for what I want them for. 

What I worked out from watching the Youtube video's below this one.

Paints are Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0/1.0 unless noted:

Undercoat:  Vallejo English Uniform primer

Zenithal Highlight: Vallejo Bone White primer

Battledress: Warrior skin

Great Coat: Satchel Brown

Leather Jerkin: Hardened leather

Skin: Tanned Skin

Slouch Hat: Camo Cloak

Blanket: Camo Cloak

Water bottle: Camo Cloak

Helmet: Pallid bone

Shirt/Shorts: Pallid bone

Ammo pouches and webbing: Pallid bone

Backpack: Pallid Bone

Puttees: Ruddy Fur

Gas mask bag: Howling Sand

Socks: Algae Green

Boots: Fire Drake

Rifle: Dark Wood 

Grenade/2" Mortar: Gunner Camo

Bayonet Handle and scabbard: Grim Black

Rifle/Bren/AT Rifle metal:  Grim Black

Bayonet: Broadsword Silver 

Gun Sling:  Pallid Bone 

Gun butt: Citadel Balthshar Gold (I don't have any brass)

Pants/Shirt Wash: Mid-Brown Quickshade

Great Coat Wash: Strong Quickshade

Skin Wash: Flesh Wash Quickshade

Blanket Wash: Military Shader Quickshade

Slouch Hat shade:  Military Shader Quickshade 

Base: Sand PVA glued and painted in Pallid Bone, with a Wash of 50% Light tone and 50% Quickshade Wash Mixing Medium, Dry Brush with Citadel Hexos Palesun

I got my Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0. Or at least, SOME of them

After much forethought and planning I decided I wanted to replace all my (so far unused!) Army Painter Speedpaints for Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0, which don't have the re-activation issues of the mark I's.

I spent a lot of time trying to find somewhere in Melbourne who sells them, without too much luck :(. Army Painter themselves does NOT list anyone in Melbourne who has them. This is fucking useless - I WANT TO GIVE THEM MONEY

I had searched the internet for sometime to try and find the colours other people use for 1941 Australians and came up with nothing because Google is fucking useless now.

But I found 2 Youtube videos - one of English uniforms 1937 pattern that I read the 6th Division was wearing, and another one of a Tobruk reinactor . 

I knew The House of War has them, so instead of waiting 2-3 WEEKS for delivery (that was the estimated time span!) I headed off in the rain to get some.

And found they only had HALF of the Speedpaint 2.0, and none of the mediam I would need if I want to use the Speedpaint Mk I's :( :( :(

I got what I could, but they didn't have the Army Painter spray cans.

I asked why and was told a strange story. Apparently, they blow up.

What I said? Blow up!? How?!?!

Apparently multiple customers were just standing there and suddenly the can would open and paint would explode everywhere. So they don't carry Army Painter spray cans anymore.

I carefully avoided the Citadel ones and looked at the Vallejo. And wouldn't you know it, they have English Uniform in a spray can! Exactly what I needed! This way I can spray paint the figures and just block in the rest and do Zenhital shading from above with a sand colour to do the helmet at the same time!

So that worked out for me.

I also got some beach sand as I'll need some kind of sand for the bases. They didn't have a darker sand but I can wash this afterwards to make it more orange red. I was disappointment they didn't have Sand from North Africa,, they seemed to have it for a dozen other planets. I actually have ACTUAL SAND from both Utah AND Omaha beaches! And I got some objective sized oil drums and THE BRIEFCASE I need to paint as red and blue. We must protect the briefcase of intelligence from the enemy spy you see.

I needed some glue too. I asked the person behind the counter which of the DOZEN Superglue's I need for metal, I think they picked one randomly. 

I asked when they might get more Speedpaints:

I can't tell you.

You can tell me, I'm a customer.

No I mean I don't know.

You don't know if you're getting more Speedpaints?

No I mean I don't know when they might arrive.

How can you not know, didn't you order more?

Yes but it's up to the distributor when we get might them.

I would like to give these people money but they make it very hard to do so. I took the wrong day to  not try drinking.  Looks like I need to order online anyway. :(

I need to write down what I got and I want I still need.

And after all that, I got home and it's raining too much to do undercoating anyway.

Crate review system for wargames

 There is a very old review system that says the sooner you see a crate in a game, the worse it is.

Game developers have known the answer to the first question since the early 1980's: ammo and health can be hidden inside crates or sometimes barrels.  As often happens, the answer to the second question was hidden in plain sight within the answer to the first.   All games contain crates, therefore all games can be judged empirically on those crates.    

Once we came up with that insight, the actual formula for the world's first completely unbiased review methodology was a trivial matter of applying our many hours spent watching actors portray scientists on television to our hatred of crates.  Games can be rated and compared based on the shortest amount of time it takes a player to reach the first crate, which represents the point where the developers ran out of ideas.  This number is measured in seconds and is called "Start to Crate" or "StC".  The smaller the StC, the worse the game.

Crates!

These came from https://www.battlefieldaccessories.com.au/ where I bought some backgrounds...which I cannot find now :(

They were stupidly hard to put together. I went through 4(!) tubes of old and blocked up superglue bottles to do them. I tried wood glue but that was a complete failure.My fingers are covered in superglue.

One of them (the top one) is not square and I couldn't get the lid on correctly, but it does add some character.

I would rate these 3/10 of to put together and  8/10 for looks once done. 

Future plans for Bolt Action - The 2nd battle of El Alamein.

I haven't even started my first army but I know what I want to do for my 2nd. A mid-war Commonwealth army of the 2nd battle of El Alamein.

What draws me to it is I can use some of my 1st Bolt Action army, and it's a combined army of nearly every Commonwealth nation. Australia, New Zealand, Indian, Scottish, British, Polish, Free French, American Armour (including Sherman's(!), Crusaders, Grants and Matilda's) and others. I feel like I would need 1 platoon of each for a full multi-national army. Not very historical, but it would work as a theme.

This is the best TV documentary I've found of it - made 50 years afterwards and on location. Gives a great demonstration of the actual terrain of the battle. There is video of the actual buildings like Rommel's headquarters I can copy and build, the trees, ground and villages.

The pieces to camera of the soldiers is a bit naff but I hope/assume they are actual writings from the battle. It could have used some Axis accounts but it goes through a lot. 

 

I give it a 4 out of 5 starts.  5/5 for a TV doco, but You Tubers can do it better, but can't go on the actual location!

All my usable paints in one place

After much digging I'm put all my (non-citadel base/layer) paints into my newly built Warlord Games Large Paint Rack. They just fit.

I have not sorted the colours yet, but I have done them by type.

Top level: Uncommon Citadel drybrushing, Army Painter mediums and varnish, spare Army Painter  wash, citadel gold base and texture.

2nd level: Commn Citadel drybrushing

3rd level: Army Painter paints black, dark and brown, Army Painter Metallics

4th level: Army Painter paints other colours

5th level: Army Paint Speedpaints V1, spare Citadel Nuln Oil

6th level: Army Painter washes

Bottom level: Citadel washes, Paint Brush cleaner

Left side: Army Painter brushes at the front, old worn brushes behind, tweezers

Right side: Large brushes, modeling tools

I do want to swap the Army Painter paints and Speedpaints V1 with all Army Painter Speedpaints V2 - I am not a good or patient painter and I just want to my troops on the ground as soon as I can. I got the Army Painter Speedpaints V1 but never got around to using them before the V2 came out which apparently do not have the problems the V1 do. 

Most of the Army Painter paints came in the starter pack, the Warlord games paint set for Black Powder Civil War, and Warlord games fast deployment set. 

I put away my old Citadel Base and Layer paints. I always hated and was not good at using layers, and using a wash (and dry-brushing important figures) is more than enough for me, so I kept the dry brushing ones. I suspect they have all dried out though. Also I don't have gold metallic base in Army Painter so kept those ones too. The Citadel pots are very messy to use and dry out way too easily compared to the drop bottles too.

I liked using the Games Workshop ink washes, but they are probably too thin compared to the Army Painter washes. They are more colorful though, so kept them in the rack.

What sucks: I seem to have thrown out all my spray paint undercoats, so can't paint anything!  :(

Putting together the Warlord Games Large Paint Rack, a review. The instructions missed a bit!

Many years ago I got the Warlord Large Paint Rack. Now I need somewhere to keep all my paints and brushes instead of an old GW citadel project box. The GW one seems to no longer exist, or at least the horrible no good bad GW web site (which is impossible to navigate) seems to no longer list it. It IS handy as it's portable but won't fit all the army painter paints I have currently.

I just needed wood glue and some tissues to remove excess glue.

One piece broke off that didn't matter, and I broke one of the side brush stations but it's connected in many places so should be OK. I broke it when I was test fitting a piece and stopped trying to fit things. Uh oh.

The big mistake I made was the instructions say the BOTTOM level is blank, but does not say the TOP one is blank too. So I glued the wrong one right at the top. It shouldn't matter much though, but it was annoying to find that out at the end.

Review: 

The instructions weren't clear at the start and I put one part in the wrong place. Beyond that it's ok. I just hope it's strong enough for all my Army Painter paints.

 

Apart from breaking 2 pieces and the one unclear instruction, it was fun to put together and a lot easier than trying to get plastic (or oh god metal) figures together. I would like to get some MDF North Africa campaign buildings and do them too. 

8/10.

Tipped sideways. The bottom most layer is the wrong one and should have been the 2nd blank one.

The very top one should have been swapped with the 2nd top one. The top one has two notches for the base plate with holes in it, but I missed that in the diagram :(

A Bolt Action army list for Conquest 2025

So Cancon is going on in January and I won't be able to get there, little lone have a Bolt Action army ready.

New goal is to have one ready for Conquest 2025.

In a tournament, history needs take a bit of a back seat. I've been watching a lot of battle reports on YouTube, but one of the best is here from Lessons from the front. 

Watching his video's I've concluded you need two units of anything to shoot anything. One unit can pin something, but you need two to actually stop it. Granted, outnumbering your enemy is always a good thing to do, and one to avoid happening to you.

I've got two Matilda II's to work as a pair. With only light AT guns they can't stop mid or late war tanks but they can pin them.  If I had a 1250 point army I would make them both veteran  to ignore light penetration attacks. Enemies shooting at them need to be aware there are two of them and will be much more weary of them, more than they probably should be. Their slow speed means they MUST work with the infantry, which I consider a plus. You can't tear off and advance without your infantry cover if you can't move faster than them!

The Rifle Platoon is only 2 squads of 8, and lack a 3rd reserve platoon. I would get another one if I could, but it's a base line of infantry with the light mortar and medic supporting them. I regret not being able to get stretcher bearers but the medic is always going to be a low priority target. I need to keep him more than 4 inches away from the rest of the platoon but within 6 to have a 1-in-6 chance of saving someone. The mortar should be targeting enemy prepared positions like AT guns or MMG's on the line of advance, or popping smoke where the Bren Gun Carriers will be coming in from reserve on.

The sniper team should always be deployed in front of the Rifle Platoon - he is their scout and will allow them to move up into cover or objectives.  I may swap it for a company commander, I need some practice games first to see if putting the Coy Co with the carriers and getting 4 units to move and attack is better.

Sadly it makes more sense for the Engineers to be in the Bren Gun Carriers as they are the best assault troops I can get early war anyway. With them with usually go the Anti-Tank Rifle team with their platoon commander. They will come in with their 3 carriers from reserve

If I had another 150 points for 1250, I would get a Company commander, a 3rd rifle platoon of 5 men to be in reserve and come on where needed, both Matty's becoming veteran and make the engineer commander inexperienced. The Coy Co would go with the engineer platoon.

Each platoon should have 2 units shooting at one target ideally. Hopefully having 2 units doing one thing at a time will help the command and control. Rifle Platoon advances, Tank Platoon supports then, Engineer platoon flanks the enemy and assaults enemy strong points at point blank range. 

Problems I can see - I am low on infantry with only 4 squads (2 of which are small) and not many weapons teams either. I must use my armour as direct infantry support to allow them to survive long enough to take objectives and then hold them. The carrier platoon needs to move fast and provide support for the infantry but also avoid attacking tanks head on at all costs.My army is fairly mobile (if slow with the tanks) and needs to use that to it's advantage to get flank and close range shots on enemy armour. The engineer's will often need to debus at point blank range of the enemy position to get enough fire on the enemy too. 

I need to get some practice solo games to see how it goes.

 

Total Points: 1099

Order Dice: 16

Platoon #1

*Version 3 - British - Armoured Platoon 1100 Conquest 2025 engineers assaulting Bardia

Command Vehicle

Matilda & Valentine Infantry Tank (Version 3 Rulebook page 241) 155Regular Qty Vehicle   Weapons Type Range Trans Shots DV Pen Special 1 Infantry Tank Mk II Matilda Mk II Tracked - 9+ Slow     Turret-mounted light anti-tank gun 48" 1 +4 HE (1")     Co-axial MMG 36" 6 n/a

Cmd Vehicle Options

Command Vehicle rule (v3) (Version 3 Rulebook page 188) 10 Command Vehicle special rule

Vehicle

Matilda & Valentine Infantry Tank (Version 3 Rulebook page 241) 155Regular Qty Vehicle   Weapons Type Range Trans Shots DV Pen Special 1 Infantry Tank Mk II Matilda Mk II Tracked - 9+ Slow     Turret-mounted light anti-tank gun 48" 1 +4 HE (1")     Co-axial MMG 36" 6 n/a

Platoon #2

*Version 3 - British - Rifle Platoon 1100 Cancon enginners 2 matties

Platoon Commander

Platoon Commander (Version 3 Rulebook page 234) 40Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 Platoon Commander 1 Infantry (equipped as modeled) - -  with Pistol 6" 1 n/a    with Rifle 24" 1 n/a  with Submachine gun 12" 2 n/a Assault

Infantry

Infantry Section (Version 3 Rulebook page 235) 95Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 NCO with Rifle 24" 1 n/a 6 Infantry with Rifle 24" 1 n/a 1 Infantry with Light Machine gun (requires loader) 36" 4 n/a

Infantry Section (Version 3 Rulebook page 235) 95Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 NCO with Rifle 24" 1 n/a 6 Infantry with Rifle 24" 1 n/a 1 Infantry with Light Machine gun (requires loader) 36" 4 n/a

Medic

Medic (Version 3 Rulebook page 234) 23Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 Medic Medics  with Pistol 6" 1 n/a

Forward Observer

Forward Observer (Artillery) (Version 3 Rulebook page 234) 86Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 Forward Observer (Artillery) Infiltrator 1 Infantry (equipped as modeled) - -  with Rifle 24" 1 n/a  with Pistol 6" 1 n/a    with Submachine gun 12" 2 n/a Assault

Sniper

Sniper Team (Version 3 Rulebook page 238) 52Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 Sniper Team 36" 1 n/a Team (2 men), Sniper, Infiltrator, (Sniper has a rifle and a pistol, spotter has a pistol)

Anti-tank

Anti-Tank Team (Version 3 Rulebook page 237) 25Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 Anti-tank rifle team 48" 1 +2 Team (2 men)

Light mortar

Light Mortar Team (Version 3 Rulebook page 238) 30Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 Light Mortar team 12-36" 1 HE Team (2 men), Indirect fire, HE (1")

Platoon #3

*Version 3 - British - Engineer Platoon

Platoon Commander

Platoon Commander (Version 3 Rulebook page 234) 40Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 1 Platoon Commander 1 Infantry (equipped as modeled) - -  with Pistol 6" 1 n/a    with Rifle 24" 1 n/a  with Submachine gun 12" 2 n/a Assault

Engineers

Infantry Section (Engineers) (Version 3 Rulebook page 235) 59Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 4 Infantry with Rifle 24" 1 n/a 1 NCO with Submachine gun 12" 2 n/a Assault Engineers Engineers

Infantry Section (Engineers) (Version 3 Rulebook page 235) 59Regular Qty Weapons Range Shots Pen Special 4 Infantry with Rifle 24" 1 n/a 1 NCO with Submachine gun 12" 2 n/a Assault Engineers Engineers

Transports

Bren Carrier (Version 3 Rulebook page 248) 75Regular Qty Vehicle   Weapons Type Range Trans Shots DV Pen Special 1 Bren Carrier (Boys AT) Tracked 5 7+ Open-topped, Turn on the spot Tow: Light or medium anti-tank gun     Forward-facing Boys anti-tank rifle 48" 1 +2 Front arc     Pintle-mounted LMG 36" 4 n/a Flak, 360 degree arc

Bren Carrier (Version 3 Rulebook page 248) 50Regular Qty Vehicle   Weapons Type Range Trans Shots DV Pen Special 1 Bren Carrier Tracked 5 7+ Open-topped, Turn on the spot Tow: Light or medium anti-tank gun     Forward-facing LMG 36" 4 n/a Front arc