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Hobby Champions – Jim

Butler’s Afrika Korps Army
by Marcus Vine · January 7, 2025 ·  5 minute read

Head of Direct Sales Jim keeps the hobby train rolling with a new Afrika
Korps Army!

MV – Warlord HQ has been a hive of Bolt Action activity in the last few months, and
everyone seems to have a project on the go – with so many models on our desks, it’s a
wonder we manage to get anything else done! Jim (Head of Direct Sales) has many
projects on the go at once, whipping up this fantastic Afrika Korps force in the dusk of
2024 . Spill the beans, Jim!
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 JB – I painted my first Bolt Action army in late 2023, a small British and Indian 8th Army
force, inspired by my grandfather’s exploits in North Africa. Having assembled mostly
fantasy and sci-fi armies for the last 30 years, two things really struck me. Firstly, the
range of options on the Bolt Action infantry kits is just astonishing, and they’re so
characterful and evocative. I know some people prefer single piece models to get
armies built quickly, but I found the process of choosing weapons and equipment,
posing the models and creating variety in each unit utterly compelling; every model tells
a story. It really helped that sense of connection with the models and what they
represent – by the end I was feeling the sun on my neck and batting away imaginary
flies!

Secondly, I quickly realised that the level of detail is perfect for my painting approach –
basecoat and wash then a quick highlight with the basecoat colour. It’s a great way to
get decent sized armies ready that look great on the tabletop, and you can always
spend a bit more time on key characters. I found Army Painter washes like Soft Tone
very helpful for bringing out the detail quickly – you can paint it over several different
basecoats and it lets the colour shine through while pulling everything together. With an
8th Army force completed, the obvious next step was some Afrika Korps, especially as
my son expressed an interest in playing some games when he was back from uni!

I’d intended to do another Operation Crusader themed army, until I realised that my son,
in his eagerness, had assembled a Panzer IV as a long-barrelled variant, so that meant
it would need be a later campaign force. This also meant that I could try out some
simple camouflage schemes, so I wasn’t unhappy! My approach to armies is usually to
start painting a few models I want to have a go at, then develop an army list as I go. I
put the tank to one side and started on a Rifle Platoon, since that would form the core
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 of the force.

Afrika Korps Rifle Platoon

The Afrika Korps infantry platoon box is jam-packed with weapons, equipment and
other cool components. In particular it includes plenty of things like binoculars and
maps to model Platoon Commanders and spotters, and has two support weapons –
light 5cm mortars and anti-tank rifles. I made up two light mortar teams, as the AT rifles
became rare towards the end of the North African battles – once your enemy is coming
at you in Lees, Grants, and Shermans, they aren’t much use! I settled on two mortars
supporting three 8-man squads, each with an MG 34 LMG team and an NCO with a
submachine gun, led by a Platoon Commander.
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 Afrika Korps Light Mortar Team

I painted the tunics green, the helmets with Army Painter Boney Spikes and the trousers
a 50:50 mix of the two, followed by a Soft Tone wash over the lot. This gave a nice
contrast, though in retrospect I wish I’d added more variation, to represent the different
rates of fading – when you wash your clothes in petroleum then leave them in the
desert sun all day, they quickly change colour! The red and white decals on the helmets
give a nice counterpoint to the muted tones, they are definitely worth a bit of patience
to get them in place. The bases are simply Rocky Sand with a tuft on each – I wanted to
represent the hilly Tunisian terrain where the Axis fought their last stand in North Africa,
rather than the desert seas that were the stage for Rommel’s great victories of the
previous two years.
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 Afrika Korps Squad

I didn’t really set out to do an all-plastic army, but after adding a Panzer III and a 250/9
with a light autocannon to my Panzer IV Ausf. G I realised I had a pretty balanced force
and hadn’t strayed away from plastic at all! A bit light on indirect fire HE perhaps, but
with plenty of those German light machine guns to keep the enemy pinned!

Afrika Korps Armoured Platoon

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 This was also the first time that I tried out the Army Painter Speedpaints, and I used
Sand Golem on my halftrack. I was pretty pleased with the results – all my armoured
vehicles are simply a coat of Sand Golem over a light grey undercoat, then a drybrush
of a light buff colour – Boney Spikes in this case. The Panzer IV has some simple green
camo as well, I used two thin coats so that the highlighting still shows through. Because
the vehicles have so much detail, the Speedpaint does a great job of highlighting that
detail without pooling. Again, the primary colours of the decals contrast nicely with the
muted tones.

Afrika Korps Panzer III

A happy co-incidence is that the Panzer IV Ausf. G will be able to have the Panzer Ace
special rule if I take it as Veteran (when Armies of Germany comes out!), so that
sounded like a no-brainer – everything else is Regular. The infantry platoon and
armoured platoon got me to just under 1,000 points, then I struck lucky – I managed to
get hold of some of the new German Veterans, so went to work combining them with
the Afrika Korps heads to make and Engineer Platoon of Sturmpioniere.
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 Afrika Korps Engineering Platoon

I decided to use the sun helmets to make them distinct from the regular infantry,
painting them a slightly different shade and adding a little variation in the colour of the
trousers to show that these are grizzled veterans who have been fighting a desperate
defence against the overwhelming Allied forces. I just had enough models to make an
Engineer Platoon Commander and two 5-man squads, one with long-range support
weapons (including the cool GrB-39 grenade launcher that only Sturmpioniere have
access to) and one to escort the flamethrower teams than Engineer platoons allow you
to include.

Jim’s finished (at least for now…) Afrika Korps force

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 Jim’s finished (at least for now…) Afrika Korps force

I’m really happy with how the army turned out, and at some point I’m planning to go
back and add an Artillery Platoon – no DAK army is complete without an 88 or two!

MV – We can’t wait to see where Jim goes next – at this rate we’ll have to release some
new Armies of… books just to keep up with him; luckily the schedule is pretty packed on
that front! If he’s inspired you to start an Afrika Korps force of your own, now’s the
perfect time to begin!

DOMINATE THE DESERT!

Tags: Army Focus Collecting Painting

Marcus Vine
Marcus enjoys playing Bolt Action, buying models he swears he'll paint one day,
and hitting people with swords at the weekend. His proudest hobby moment was
when Rick Priestley told him he was rubbish at rolling dice.

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