EDIT: Click here for the podcast

Last Weekend, Saturday 8th March 2025, Nathan- one of the local Bolt Action TOs- held an event at Ironhorse Hobbies, a fantastic hobby store here in Christchurch, NZ. I was lucky enough to actually be at home on this weekend and so was quick to sign up when Nathan put the word out. In addition, some of the players in our gaming 'silo' were also available to play and so It was that Craig, Simon and I turned up early morning on the Saturday ready for a days gaming and meet the other players for the event.

Nathan had set the points limit at 1250 Pts for this one day, three-game event. And apart from this the only restriction was that all armies were to be selected from the V3 Rulebook selectors and minor nations PDFs, and so as Germany was the only nation at the time with their own armies of book published this was a levelling exercise between nations.

Another admin point was that Nathan had asked if players could provide some tables and terrain where possible, and as an incentive one of the prizes offered on the day was for 'Best Table', and so we had a cracking variety of tables for the event:

This Table ( above )was provided by Sam, a player that hadn't played BA since the start of 2nd Ed. Not only was this a cracking table but he also had a nicely painted IJA army he was playing on the day. I liked the colours running through the terrain and mat- especially the fact the cobblestone roads weren't just a plain grey.

Clink on the link below to continue reading... lots of photos as well

Join Dan as he tells the story of the 'Watch on the Waimak' Bolt Action third edition event held in Christchurch New Zealand in March 2025 ( 'he' also says 'Doh!' as I realise I stated the panzerbuchse rule incorrectly- although I played it properly in the games- apologies! -Dan)

Sounds like it was a fun event full of of interesting Bolt Action twists and turns, great tables and many, many half-tracks, ...and yes Rex is jealous that he didn’t get to go.

Don't miss the, discussion about cavalry rules, will the real cavalry rules please step forward!

View the accompanying images here:
https://www.valhallagames.net/index.php/watch-on-the-waimak-event

See the detail about cavalry rules here:
https://www.valhallagames.net/index.php/bolt-action-cavalry-rules

Episode 32 wont be far behind. 

Listen in this episode in your podcast app or click here or on the image below to listen in the web player.

​Wednesday night gaming for the past few weeks has been SAGA, a great game I'm really enjoying it. Its new to me so thanks to Ian and Ian for the tutorials and Ian B for supplying all the lovely minis.

In this episode of the Valhalla Games podcast Dan and Rex talk about the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Sicily and Italy game day held in Sydney, 18 March 2023.

Will the allies get a foothold in the soft underbelly or will Italy kick them off, back into the Mediterranean? Perhaps more importantly will the Primosole bridge book scenarios and terrain stack up against the expectation of the veteran Bolt Action players of Western front gamers in Sydney Australia?

Subscribe in your podcast app by searching for Valhalla Games or play in the web player by clicking on the image below.​

Images and video of the day to follow at https://valhallagames.net/youtube shortly(ish).

A couple of images from a game of Bolt Action last night with Wargaming buddy Ian, thanks for a great game, a draw. I tried some brand new tactics which worked well, just need to rework the tactics that didn't work.

I had a great game of Bolt Action WWII goodness with wargame buddies Ian and Ian last week. The Soviets faced a worthy enemy Australians, hard combat and armed with Two 25 pounders. Little Kate did well and some very brave moves were made but I was beaten pretty well by Ian's Ozzies.

[Note if your viewing this on mobile its best viewed horizontal]

Boots on the ground 2020, other Random photos (yes bad ones!)

The first few are from the best painted army I saw on the day.

Boots on the ground 2020 event table setups click on the link below to go to the gallery page:

See other posts under this "tag" for more images.

 Welcome to Valhalla Games first "paint and learn" video. In this first episode Dan uses the fantastic 28mm Offensive Miniatures WWII British Airborne to explain how he paints a realistic depiction of the WWII era red devils uniform complete with the *REAL* colour for those maroon berets. As well as painting, Dan talks about the historical evolution of the uniform its self.

If you enjoyed this video please like and subscribe. Also consider supporting valhallagames via patreon at https://www.patreon.com/valhallagames

Check out offensive miniatures web site here https://www.offensiveminiatures.com/ for a fantastic range of miniatures including the NEW RELEASE British Paratroopers shown in this video.

Dan & Rex face off again in the continuing campaign based on the real WWII battles around Primosole Bridge, in Sicily 1943. "Scattered to the four winds" is the second scenario in the nine scenario campaign. Check out the other games in our channel playlist. This battle report uses the Bolt Action miniature war games rules and 28mm miniatures from various manufactures including Offensive Miniatures, Warlord Games, Artizan Designs and Perry Miniatures. If you enjoyed the video please subscribe for more and check out the podcast by searching for valhallagames (one word) in your podcast app. Thanks for watching! Please share , like and subscribe.

On the 75th anniversary of the D Day invasion, the CWC organised a full event for wargamers and public alike to attend. Dan attended to take part in Bolt Action and record for posterity.

With Militaria from the period and Huge games of Flames Of War and Bolt Action on display the club did itself proud in both commemorating and educating others around the event.

We have invested significant time on the video to show the efforts of the coordinators and the participants - thanks to all and we look forward to the next opportunity.

Join Dan on his first delve -long awaited!- into the Chain of Command ruleset from Too Fat Lardies...with expert tuition from none other than; Lardy Rich himself!!

Thanks to Richs most generous offer, Dan joined him at Lard island for a game, some beers and a lot of laughs and thoroughly enjoyed himself...for the first of our many future CoC games. Thanks for watching, please check out our other content and please like, subscribe and give us feedback regarding what you'd like to see in the future.

 Italian Coastal Div. vs. British Airborne in the battle for the " Johnny 1" feature, in order to capture and hold Primosole Bridge in Sicily, 1943. 

Thanks for watching! If you like it please remember to subscribe, like it and share it around to others. Dan & Rex.

Link

Rex's Fortress Budapest Day photos, yes I may have overdone it a bit with the photos perhaps quantity makes up for the quality, tricky in a dark room. A couple I "borrowed" from the bolt action Aust/NZ web page also where mine weren't great quality. 

Set 1 is my game 1, set 2 is my game 2 and the final set is general terrain and other peoples games.

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Set 1:  (my game 1)

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Set 2: (My game 2)

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Set 3: (General photos and terrain)

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Fortress Budapest Campaign day, was had, still need to process the photos but here are my soviets in full flight running across the cemetery.

Full sized image click here
 

Op Slapstick-Italy '43; The concluding second part of the mini campaign, German FJ vs British....

10 September, 1943. Operation "Slapstick".

• British Paratroopers from 156 Parachute Bn, having seized Key strategic points of entry into Mottola , now assault the German Fallschirmjager defenders in strength in what becomes a bloody battle for the town.
• Scenario; Meeting engagement. 1000pts per army.
• This mini campaign will utilise the rules for campaigns found in the Bolt Action; Battle of France sourcebook.

See here for battle 1: https://valhallagames.net/index.php/new-ba-batrep-on-our-youtube-op-slapstick-italy-43

Hi All! As promised and thanks to the technological wizardry of Rex (!), our new battle report is up on our Valhalla Games youtube channel.

This one is based around Op. Slapstick & the advance north from the landings at the  Taranto port by the Brit paratroopers of 156 Para Bn, 1st Airborne Div....and meeting their arch adversaries 1st Fallschirmjager.

Following are some images from our recent operation slapstick game. If you haven't already check the video here