Bolt Action v3: Second trial

 We set up two games on the big table with a divider down the middle.
Game 1:  Jim's Grenadiers v.  SteveD's Brits.

Game 2: Renfrey's Italians v. Chris' Soviets.

Both games were free for alls.  The Axis won both battles.

After two goes at V3, I have some  ore comments to make:

In the main the changes are good.  The less good bits IMO are:

Saving throws:  I dislike saving throws because it's frustrating to throw good dice to hit, good dice to kill, then the enemy throws good dice & suddenly you've got nothing.  It detracts from enjoyment of the game.  

Going Down:  In V1 Down gave you -1 to hit. V2 made it -2.  This was a bad change then as it made it too easy to get out of trouble.  The change to saving throws is similar in effect to going back to -1 for Down, so in this respect good.  

Snap To:  Snap To is gamey device that allows smart aleck manoeuvres that can turn a game.   It masquerades as skill, but mostly just magnifies the luck factor in who pulls the first dice out at the start  of a turn.  

Multiple platoon leaders:  These are mostly just a waste of time.  It increases the number of command dice to the extent that you often have nothing useful to do with them after the first few.   It also makes using the Mickey Mouse Snap To more necessary to speed up the game.

Halving MMG fire from vehicles:  The problem with vehicle MMG fire was vehicles with multiple MGs being too powerful.  This fixes that a bit, but knackers vehicles with just 1 hull & 1 coax. 

Panzerfausts: Cost has gone from 5 to 15 pts.  5 was too low, but 15 is too high.  Should be 10. 

No short range:  I'm not sure I like the sudden jump from 5+ to hit moving firing at 7" to 3+ at 6".  It also makes extra range if weapons less an advantage as on most tables fire is less than max anyway & you lose the possibility of gaining advantage by being in close range yourself while the enemy is still at long.

Wars of the Roses 6 players

 Each player had a small battle of mixed arms witht heir starting zone decided by lot.

Lancastrians:  Chris near LN corner.  Renfrey near RH corner. Mark middle RHS.
York: SteveJ far LH corner. SteveD middle LHS.  Mike far RH corner. 

Lancs:  Chris & Renfrey advanced towards SteveD while Mark fell back across the river.
York: SteveD formed a defensive line on & to the left of the wooded hill while SteveJ & Mike march down the table to support him. 

The Lancs are assaulting the wooded hill from 2 sides while pressuring the Yorks right flank & forming a defensive line behind the stream on their right.

The battle has turned sideways across the table resulting in a compressed front.
On the left SteveJ has reinforced SteveD & Chris' attack is petering out.
In the centre Renfrey & Mark broke the first line, but are now making very slow progress through the wood as SteveJ supports SteveD.

On the right, Mark has fallen back behind the stream & there is bit of a stalemate.

On the left both Chris & SteveD's infantry are almost destroyed.
Indecisive heavy fighting continues in the wood.
Mike has forced a crossing of the stream with his extra heavy cavalry, but the Lancs are counterattacking.

The brutal fight in the centre has resulted in mutual destruction.
Both sides are pretty much spent & the battle is declared a draw.

The Lancs seemed to have the upper hand at the start when they took the corner of the wood witht ehir first charge, but SteveJ arrived in time to stem the tide & neither side could find a breakthrough on the narrow front. 

BOLT ACTION v.3: First trial & review

Renfrey: 1200 pts Italians.
Chris: 1200 pts Soviet.
Scenario: Key Points.

The Italians are on the far side of the table.
The objectives are :  The crossroad, the 2 wooded hills on the centre line & 6" in from the where the 4 roads come onto the table.

The Italians were much more aggressive than the Soviets in attacking both hills.  In the centre they held back behind the house until late in the game, then grabbed that objective as well.  A decisive victory for the Italians.

My initial assessment of Bolt Action 3^rd Edition

The main changes I have noticed are:

Rally:
Take order test without counting pins, but on passing, remove all pins.
Before you got D6+1 pins removed, now you get them all.
If at the end of the turn you leave the unit’s Down counter with it, it loses all its pins & stays down.
Previously such a unit could lose only D3 pins staying down.

Down:
If a unit is Down or goes down in the open it counts as in cover so gets a 5+ save.  If in cover, it gets an additional +2 on its cover save (so if down in soft cover gets 4+ save).

Down isn’t the saviour it used to be for troops in then open when -2 to hit often made it 6 & 6.  So easier to finish units off now.

Shooting:
Base score to hit:                                                4+ (was 3+)
Modifers:        Fire on the move:                       -1 (as was)
                        Firer is pinned:                           -1 (was -1 per pin marker, so major change)                                           Firer is inexperienced:                -1 (as was)                        
                        Point Blank range (6”):                +2 (was +1 but base was then 3+ so no change).                                    Anti-tank guns at vehicles:         +1 on Fire or Ambush order.

There is no short range - it’s either PB or long.
There is no small target rule, so easier to finish off beaten up units.
There is no longer Exceptional Damage.

Cover saves:
Cover saves is a significant change that replaces some of the shooting modifiers. Splitting up the factors is intended to make it easier to easier to remember &/or apply them. The combination of cover saves & less to-hit factors makes for a better probability curve as factors accumulate (rather than a sudden drop-off from 6 to hit @18% to 7 to hit at 3%). 

Soft cover:      5+
Hard cover:     4+
Down:             5+ or +2 save modifier if also in cover (not less then 2+).
Pins:                Pins are added after hits but before cover saves.

We ditched saving throws in our rules because they are are so annoying,  It really detracts from the enjoyment of the game when you throw a good dice to hit, then a good dice to kill, then the enemy throws a good save & you drop back to nothing.  I think there are better ways of dealing with the problem than saving throws.

Indirect Fire:
Spotters can spot for any friends, not just their own unit, always count as Down unless they have another order counter. & cannot shoot or fight.
No cover saves for indirect fire.

MGs:

LMGs:             36” range 4 shots.
MMGs:            36” range 6 shots.                      (Was 5 shots)
HMGs:            48” range 6 shots, pen +1.          (Was 36”, 3 shots)
Vehicle mounted MGs halve the no. of dice rounding down unless pintel firing flak.
Makes MMGs & HMGs more effective than before unless mounted on vehicles

Close Combat:
Diced simultaneously in open ground, but defender goes first if in defended position.
The previous rule with simultaneous if defender in defender position, attacker first in the open was silly & needed changing.
Tough Fighter & Assault Weapon are now re-roll miss not re-roll hits.  Much better.

Vehicles:

Soft vehicles:                   If a 6 is scored vehicle for damage, destroyed with no further test.  
Cover saves:                    Vehicles get cover saves.
Vehicle mounted MGs:   Halve no. of shots rounding down (except pintle firing flak).
This sort of addresses the issue of vehicles with multiple MGs being too powerful, but not sure it’s the best way to do it.
Superficial damage:        More options provided:  Crew stunned, steering damage, turret jammed, Engine damage, Immobilised, on fire.  Unnecessary complication I think..
Penetration:                   +1 Pen for anti-tank ammo at point blank range.  New.

                                        -1 Pen for anti-tank ammo at over half max range.  No change.
Pins:                                Any hit by a heavy weapon (Pen of 1 or more), cause a pin on Inexperienced, Regular or open topped vehicles.  Veteran enclosed vehicles are only pinned if the weapon can actually damage it.  Makes Veteran status for vehicles more useful.
Empty transports:          If closer to enemy than friends at end of turn, soft transports are removed, while armoured transports stay if they pass a morale test.
Makes armoured transports more useful.
Maneouvre:                    All vehicles can make up to 2 turns totaling 180° in anormal move, or one turn up to 90° if running.  Previous rules for turning were way too restrictive.

National Characteristics:

These have been played down a bit.  No longer free units, just some special rules.
A step in the right direction but still Mickey Mouse for all forces of a nationality to have a particular trait

Points:

Many types have their points modified. 
There was certainly room for improvement in some cases.  Only time will tell if they have got the changes right.

Index:

The new book has an index as all commercial rules sets should.

Army Lists:
The process of making army lists has been changed.  A force will now normally be a company of two or more platoons.  The platoons can be Rifle, Reece, Heavy Weapons, Engineer, Artillery or Armoured.

Army Builder does most of the work when designing a force, so the changes are easily adapted.  The system produces a plethora of command units & makes use of the Mickey Mouse Snap-To rule necessary to speed things up.

Summary:

Warlords have resisted the temptation to bugger up the game by changing it too much.  Most of the changes are sensible tweaks to address the silly things in v.2.  I don't like saving throws & I don’t like the multiplication of command units leading to lots of small units, but most of the changes seem to be to the good.   

Napoleonic: French v. Austrians again

Same armies as last week but with some different players & a village to fight over.
Austrians: Renfrey (left flank) & Jim.
French: SteveJ (right flank) & Chris.

View from behind the Austrian right.

Both sides attacked on their right flank & advanced into the village as fast as they could.  French lancers have charged straight down the road though the village preventing the Austrian getting to the RH house before their own legere, but the Austrians got to the LH house first.

On the far flank the Austrian Uhlans were beaten by French hussars with infantry support.
In the centre, the French Uhlans rode down the grenadiers, but the supporting line infantry managed to stop their follow up charge.  Both sides are trying to blow the enemy out of the house they occupy with musket & cannon fire.
Right of centre madded Austrian columns have slammed into the French line.
On the right flank, the outnumbered French cavalry have been quickly broken.

On the left of the village the French are pushing the Austrians back & they have driven the Austrians out of the LH house, but the Austrian infantry are still holding off the French cavalry.
Right of centre the infantry fight is still indecisive. 
On the right flank, bad command dice has delayed the Austrian exploitation of the cavalry's quick win.

Both sides' left flanks are collapsing.

On the left Renfrey is pulling back.
In the centre, the French cavalry has finally broken the Austrian foot, but but is shaken itself, so has pulled back in the face of the French artillery.
The legere in ther RH house has been blown away by artillery fire. 
On the right the Austrian are mopping up the squares at the end of the French line.

Both sides have had their left flanks pretty much destroyed, but in both cases exploitation of success is thwarted by the enemy artillery.  The charge of the Austrian dragoon against the artillery on the hill was stopped by fire  & the Austrian infantry on the right of the village likely to meet the same fate if they advance.

The Austrian yegers have taken the RH house after the artillery cleared it out, so both sides have half the village.  There is only one difference in the number of unshaken & unbroken units on each side, so it was declared a draw,

Napoleonic: French v. Austrians

French: 2 Corps: Mike & Renfrey
Austrian: 2 Corps: Mark & Chris

The four corps deployment zones were decided by random card draw.
Mark's 1st Austrian far LH corner.
Chris's 2nd Austrian mid RHS.
Mike's 1st French Far RH corner.
Renfrey's 2nd French: Near LH corner.

Mark has sent his cavalry down the table to try & pin down Renfrey while he advanced most of this corps towards Mike.
Mike has sent his cavalry down the centre to attack Chris while his inftry dvised half to make defense against Matl & half to attack Chris.
Chris has formed a defensive line facing both ways.
Renfry has immedialtey attcked Chris with his cavalry supported b y hakf his foot while the rest is distacted by Marked's cavalry

The bolf French cavaly cahrges didn't all succeed, but they had infantry support to plug their loss while the Austrian losses made holes in theri line the French were able to exploit.

Chris's corps is in big trouble as Mark.  Mark's grenadiers arrived in time to make a rear attack on one French cavalry unit, but the rest were being held off by half of Mike's infantry while the other half attacked Chris's flank.

Chris tried a counterattack on his left, but the French turned to face it & held it off,In the cntre, Chir's infnatry are being sweezed between the twi French corps & is melting away.

Chris corps is disintergating & Mark calls sauve qui peut,

The random deployment of multiple corps/divisions usually produces interesting scenarios & this no exception.

ECW: Scots v. New Model Army

Each side had two divisions & two Generals.
Scots: Steve & Mark.
English: Mike & Chris.

The English are on the near side.

The English advance their cavalry on both wings.

There are indecisive cavalry melees on both flanks as the foot advance in the centre.

Both sides have wins & losses all along the front.

The combats along the line have almost all been hard fought leaving the winners shaken & unable to exploit their win.  Neither side has lost half strength, but the Scots have only 2 units fit to fight (that is unshaken & not broken while the English have 6 still fit to fight, so the English have won.

ECW: Scots v. New Model Army

 A small one on one battle to welcome Chris back from OS & bring him up to speed on the new simultaneous movement sequence developed while he was away.
Scots (Chris): 4 P&S, 4 Highlander, 2 Musketeer, 4 Medium cavalry, 2 guns.  All regular except wild highlanders.
English (Jim): 3 P&S, 2 Musketeer, 3 Heavy Cavalry, 3 Medium Cavalry, all veterans with very good command.

The Scots are on the far side.

The English immediately advance all along the front.

On the left the English cavalry ride down one musketeer unit & the gunners, but one musketeer unit holds on.  
In the centre the English foot charge home without stopping the fire.
On the far flank the English musketeers defend the farm against the highlanders.

The Scots musketeers on the hill have beaten off one cavalry unit, but have been charged by a second.  The two victorious English Heavy Cavalry units have charged on taking out the first line of Scots cavalry & engaging the second line.  
In the centre the English have won on the RH end, are losing the LH end & the centre is still in the balance.
On the far flank, the English musketeers have beaten off the first highlander attack, but a second one is coming.

The English cavalry are moping up on the left. 
The English have lost the LH end of the infantry fight, but have won the centre & right.
The English musketeers are holding off the second wave of highlanders on the right.

The last Scots P&S in the centre has been broken by the combined fire of the two victorious English P&S units.  The last of the highlanders have been repulsed.   The last of the Scots cavalry is facing 2:1 odds & about to break.  It's game over for the Scots.
 

ECW: Scots v. English

Scots (Mike): 4 P&S, 3 Highlander, 2 shot, 8 med cav, 3 guns.
English (Jim): 4 P&S, 3 shot, 4 heavy cav, 4 med cav, 2 guns.

The Scots are on the far side.  The English have put all their cavalry on their right flank.  The Scots have put most of their cavalry on their right flank.  

The Scots advance their right.
The English prepare a defence with their left anchored on the village while they send half their cavalry their left flank.

The Scots cavalry have deployed to face the English flank, but the English have had time to prepare a strong defence.
The Scots are attacking the angle in the English line. while their artillery bombards the English centre.

The English cavalry have counterattacked the Scot's right, but the corner of the English line is in trouble.
The English have pulled their centre back out of artillery range after receiving serious casualties.

The English cavalry counterattack is driving the Scots cavalry back, but they have had to pull back their centre after the corner unit broke.
The Scots have begun to advance in the centre, 

The English cavalry on their right have advanced to stop the Scots infantry advance on the centre.

The English cavalry on their right have charged between the pike & shot blocks to take out the Scot's artillery.  On the far flank the Scots cavalry is down to it's last line.  In the centre the English have fallen back,  but the Scots don't have enough troops left there to follow up while their left is tied up by the English cavalry. 

On the far flank, the surviving Scots have fallen back behind the hedgerow..
In the centre, two English cavalry units have crossed behind the Scots rear, but have been met by the Scots cavalry reserve. 
On the near flank, the Scots foot have resumed their advance now only two English cavalry are ,left to face them.  The English cavalry are falling back out of musket range.

At our 10pm curfew, nightfall ends the battle.
The English have pulled their left back behind the hedgerow.
On the far flank, the hedgerow bought the Scots right some time for the their cavalry reserve to save the day by stopping the English rear manoeuvre.   

Applying our new Army Status test, we found that the the Scots had 12 unit points left capable of fighting & the English had 11.  Only one difference, so the battle was declared a draw.  A fitting result for a good attack plan met with a sound active defence.