It’s cold outside, and that means it’s the perfect time to get cosy at home with a brand-new hobby project. Why not draw some inspiration from the chilly climes, and start a winter-themed Bolt Action force? I’m a huge fan of winter armies personally, and I think everyone should have at least one in their collection – let me tell you why!
First off, a winter force really stands out on the tabletop – you get instant contrast between the light snow on the bases and the darker uniform, which draws the eye to your models right away – perfect for painting competitions and ensuring you never leave a model behind on the table alike! On the subject of painting, most of our winter armies feature soldiers sensibly bundled up in greatcoats, which are one of the easiest, quickest, and most satisfying uniforms to get looking really good. Snow bases, too, couldn’t be easier – a layer of your preferred mud recipe (check out mine here!) and your choice of snow flock and you’re sorted!
Winter armies have great versatility, being suitable for the vast majority of engagements in the Second World War (okay, maybe not the Pacific island-hopping campaigns!), meaning you can get stuck in to some great themed games from across the entire conflict. This also means you get to utilise some of the weird and wonderful units from the campaign and theatre books covering these frigid fights, opening up brand new avenues for customising your force and providing fantastic new painting and modelling opportunities. For the competitively-minded amongst you, winter armies have access to plenty of powerful and deadly units – just flick through the recent Case Blue campaign supplement to see the kind of goodness you can bring to play in the snow!
No matter what army you play, you can get some winter action going (yes, even Japanese players have the Aleutian what-ifs and Khalkin Gol!) – now’s the perfect time to start one, before it gets too warm and we all start thinking about sunny beaches again. Check out some of the best ways to get started below!
German & Hungarian
US & British
Soviet
6 comments
Winter US plastic kit when? Only thing holding me back from a US winter force.
🤔👍🤔👍🤔👍Jep ,Indeed , When ?????
Second this, I want to build an 84th Infantry Division force in honor of my great uncle.
I wish I knew about these before I bought my collection… I always wanted to, and in fact am, doing winter forces. But found these too late, and now the money is gone 🙁
These do all look nice – I’m working, myself, on some winter-themed Hungarians, that will be tailored for both Case Blue and Budapest campaigns.
However, there’s a small issue I wanted to point out – the battle of Khalkin Gol happened in the middle of summer, and the main meteorological issue both forces encountered was the blistering heat !
You’re absolutely right – the point I wanted to make was that Japanese forces had campaigned outside of the Pacific, and completely forgot to double-check the dates on that particular iteration of Russo-Japanese animosity!