Bolt Action for a new starter
Name: Ty
Length playing Wargames: On and off for 20 years, mostly as a hobbyist and painting minis.
Game systems: Being a painter predominantly I have played games occasionally but mostly Lord of The Rings and now Bolt Action.
Favourite part of the hobby: Directly, the Painting. But I love the social element of the hobby, talking about experiences and cinematic moments during games. Getting hints and tips from other painters and players is a great side of the social aspect too.
What was your initial draw to BA: As with a lot of people Film and TV especially Band of Brothers, Fury, Saving Private Ryan and a number of other films have had me interested in WW2. Being able to bring this in as part of the hobby so I can build, paint and play with my own WW2 figures was perfect.
Ty is one of our newest Bolt Action gamers in our local gaming club – Northants Wargamers. After a few sessions at the club playing other systems and eying up the Green, Brown and Grey uniformed armies on parade he came to speak to us about giving it a go. With our escalation league coming up this was a perfect time to jump in! Prior to playing his first round in our league Ty had played one small introductory game with borrowed armies and got right to work buying and building a starting force for his escalation force.
Ty began considering getting a Polish force, we are not talking Poles in Britain and later war but a smaller nations force and the defence of Poland etc… after talking to some of the local club Ty was guided that as a starter force it would great for theme but may not translate well to the table for ease of play. It was pointed out that a large number of the club have large selections of different armies choosing a starting army didn’t limit any of us but most of us started with one of the “Primary” armies to learn the game with. So Ty has gone for a German force to get started with. The Polish force is still very much on the book to be tried after the league.
Getting ready for the campaign:
All players began with a
-2nd Lieutenant
-2 Regular Infantry Units
-National Special unit (In the case of Ty’s Germans this is an MMG)
-Each player then rolled on a set of charts for 2 additional units.
Ty received an additional regular infantry unit and a sniper.
Each of these units can then be used to fill in the point value for the rounds game. Ty now had some time to buy and build his army ready for round 1…..Top Secret.
“As a relatively new player to bolt action (this was my second game) I thought it would be exciting to get involved in an escalation campaign ran by my local club, All was in motion, over the past couple weeks I had rolled on my charts to see what forces I would be able to bring in my first battle, purchased the relative forces and had assembled my army.
The scenario was set – Top Secret!!!!
Finally my own army could field a battle and get their first taste of victory. Let’s get into it!!!“
My Force – German
-1 1st Lieutenant with 1 Man (rifles only)
-1 Reg MMG Team
-1 Reg Sniper Team
-7 Man Reg Inf (Heer Infantry) – 1 NCO, 6 Men team (6 Rifles, 1 LMG)
-7 Man Reg Inf (Heer Infantry) – 1 NCO, 6 Men team (6 Rifles, 1 LMG)
-10 Man Reg Inf (Heer Infantry) – 1 NCO, 9 Men team (9 Rifles, 1 LMG)
-1Truck
My Opponent – British
-1 1st Lieutenant with 2 Men
-10 Man Reg Inf
– 1 NCO, 9 Men team (9 Rifles, 1 LMG)
-10 Man Reg Inf – 1 NCO, 9 Men team (9 Rifles, 1 LMG)
-10 Man Inexperienced – 1 NCO, 9 Men team (9 Rifles, 1 LMG)
-1 Bren Carrier
-1 Truck
Setup
We started with a simple setup of terrain a road going through the map from Left to right
A few buildings either side with some hedges and fences
Some forests on either side of the buildings.
The objective for Top Secret was placed in the middle on top of the Leagues secondary objective always being placed centrally.
“My plan was simple get the transport with 10 men inside to the objective, pull the objective and get off the edge. The 10 Man squad would hold the centre as a meat shield and would be supported with MMG fire, sniper fire and support from my other 2 squads until they could get the objective off the edge“
Turn 1
Turn 1 was basic, we each pulled out our order dice, rolled our order tests to see if we came onto the table and advanced towards our objective.
My opponents Inexperienced squad failed to come onto the board, as did my MMG team. Chalk this up as a victory for my opponent this round
It would appear my opponent had the same plan as me, our transports both were firmly placed in the centre of the table staring each other down
Turn 2
I was lucky enough to be able to pull out my order dice first, disembarked my men from my transport and shot at my opponent’s transport, barely even scratched it. However, it now had a pin against it with any luck his men will fail to disembark.
My MMG team finally came onto the board and aimed it’s sights at the centre of the board
Then my opponent opted to disembark his men from his transport, passed his order test and shot at my recently disembarked men at point blank range, thankfully my men showed great courage and resilience and only lost a man but did take a pin
For the rest of the turn we inched our units closer to the objective, with my opponents Bren carrier disembarking the officer and his men into the nearby woods.
I placed my sniper on “ambush”
The Inexperienced squad failed to come on again.
Turn 3
The turns known to us now as the bloodbath, my opponent was lucky enough to pull most of his order dice first and opted to open fire on the men I had on the objective killed another man. The Bren carrier pulled forward and opened fire killing a further 5 men and reducing the squad to half. Thankfully they passed their order test.
I finally managed to pull an order dice and decided to “snap to action” with my office, what was left of the central squad and the 7 man squad to his right all opening fire on his central squad killing 3 men
Meanwhile my opponents 10 man squad behind the left side building entered the building and opened fire on my MMG, which was forced to go “down”
My sniper returned fire in a poor attempt at killing his LMG, but failed
Things were starting to look dire
My Opponents inexperienced squad failed yet again to enter the battle
Turn 4
My opponent yet again managed to pull his order dice first opting to “assault” my central squad wiping them out completely and consolidating onto the objective. In retaliation I yet again opted to snap to action, reversing my transport back to give my MMG clear line of sight and chose to open fire on his central men with my office and 7 man squad and with a cruel sense of justice wiped them out.
The Bren carrier pulled forward and opened fire on my 7 man squad killing 2 men
The squad in the building advanced out the building and hid behind the forest, shooting at my other 7 Man squad, killing 3
In retaliation I pivoted my MMG and opened fire, but as the opponent was in hard cover caused no casualties.
My sniper attempted shoot at the squad also but failed.
The inexperienced Squad finally entered the fray and advanced toward the objective
Turn 5
At this point panic had set in, it was clear there was not much hope for my team. I stood firm with all my teams and fired at my opponent anyway I could. My transport moved back onto the objective. The team behind the left hand building fired at the squad behind them killing 2 and forcing them to make an order test which they failed.
The Bren carrier continued to open fire on my right hand squad killing another 3 men, bring them down to a 2 man squad, they did however stand firm and passed their order test.
They then opened fire on the only thing that was within range and destroyed my opponents transport
My opponent moved his inexperience squad closer to the objective
Turn 6
In a last ditch effort to hold something, I used my transport to block the Bren carrier and the inexperienced squad and advanced my 2 man squad and Officer onto the objective
In response my opponent opened fire with his officer at my own and killed 1 man reducing them to half and subsequently they failed their order test and ran, giving my opponents officer his only kill of the day
The enemy unit behind the forest opened fire on my last remaining squad and wiped them out
My MMG and sniper continued to do nothing against the unit behind the forest and in a twist of fate my opponents Bren carrier and inexperienced squad who had to move round my transport failed to do anything against the remaining 2 man squad sitting on the objective.
With any luck the game ends here and I would at least hold an objective.
I roll and have a look of dismay as the game continues into Turn 7……
Turn 7
Not much to say on this turn, my opponent systematically pulled his order dice, with my having very few left.
The Bren Carrier opened fire on my transport removing it from play.
The unit behind the forest destroyed my MMG team
And the inexperienced squad made short work of the remaining 2-man squad
Leaving me with my lone sniper, thankfully at this point the game ended
Results
Thankfully as my opponent did not take the objective off the field it left the game a draw. However him holding both the secondary objective and taking the tertiary objective having removed more of my order dice from the bag means it was technically a draw but a resounding 3-1 point win for my opponent.
With the game complete we flicked to the Escalation Rules Document and looked up what we had to roll for.
My Force – German
-1 1st Lieutenant with 1 Man (rifles only) – stayed the same
-1 MMG Team – Regular experience – Promoted to Veteran
-1 Sniper Team – Regular experience – Promoted to Veteran
-7 Man Regular Inf – 1 NCO, 6 Men team (6 Rifles, 1 LMG) – Promoted to Veteran
-7 Man Regular Inf – 1 NCO, 6 Men team (6 Rifles, 1 LMG)– stayed the same
-10 Man Regular Inf – 1 NCO, 9 Men team (9 Rifles, 1 LMG)– stayed the same
-1 Transport – stayed the same
It would appear such a landslide victory made my men more battle hardened and ready for the next fight, we then rolled on the reinforcement chart.
I opted for an Armoured Vehicle and got a 7+ Armour SPG at Veteran Experience, I then opted for some Artillery and got a light mortar team for my troubles
Overview
In hindsight there are many things I wish I had done the MMG team and sniper team could have been placed in a better position with better line of sight of the enemy, maybe I should have advanced my units onto the objective rather than staying put and firing, but in all honesty the dice gods just appeared to be with my opponent that day. With my new battle hardened line, I’m looking forward to my next test…
Northants Wargamers 