Monday, March 03, 2014

Nick in Launceston -- Bolt Action

We tried our first action using Bolt Action. As it was our first game, we got a LOT wrong. But the game was fast and fun.

One thing we did differently was to use our 15mm Flames of War figures. If a FOW base had 5 riflemen on it, it was 5 riflemen. I had painted up some singles so that if one trooper was killed, I could break the base down to 4 singles. In the end, I found a dozen singles was more than enough!. We kept the movement rates and ranges as per the rules. I actually prefer this -- it looked far more natural! There was some trouble tracking the NCO figure, but nothing beyond my aged comprehension! Spotting different weapons wasn't that hard -- the German MG's were easy to spot, and the SMGs were relatively easy to spot.

The scenario was 'Top Secret' -- both forces are running for an objective of 'Top Secret' papers in the middle of the battlefield. Rob played US paratroops:

US Infantry

Compulsory Veteran Lieutenant - First Lieutenant (90 pts)
- Extra Men - 2x Additional men (26 pts)

Compulsory Ranger, Airborne, or Veteran Infantry Squad - NCO, 7 men (104 pts)
- SMG - 2x Arm man with SMG (6 pts)
- Anti-tank grenade - 8x Arm man with anti-tank grenade (16 pts)

Compulsory Ranger, Airborne, or Veteran Infantry Squad - NCO, 7 men (104 pts)
- SMG - 2x Arm man with SMG (6 pts)
- Anti-tank grenade - 8x Arm man with anti-tank grenade (16 pts)

Ranger, Airborne, or Veteran Infantry Squad - NCO, 7 men (104 pts)
- SMG - 2x Arm man with SMG (6 pts)
- Anti-tank grenade - 8x Arm man with anti-tank grenade (16 pts)

Ranger, Airborne, or Veteran Infantry Squad - NCO, 7 men (104 pts)
- SMG - 2x Arm man with SMG (6 pts)
- Anti-tank grenade - 8x Arm man with anti-tank grenade (16 pts)

Veteran Forward Observer - Air Forward Observer (90 pts)
- Extra Men - Additional man (13 pts)

.30 cal Machine Gun Team - Veteran Machine Gun Team (65 pts)

.30 cal Machine Gun Team - Veteran Machine Gun Team (65 pts)

Bazooka Team - Veteran Bazooka Team (78 pts)

75mm Howitzer - Veteran 75mm Howitzer (60 pts)


991 Points, 10 Platoons




I played German regular troops.  The idea being this was somewhere in Normandy somewhere soon after D-Day.

German Infantry

Compulsory Regular Lieutenant - Second Lieutenant (50 pts)
- Extra Men - 2x Additional Soldier (20 pts)

Compulsory Wermacht Infantry Squad - NCO, 9 men (100 pts)
- Light Machine Gun - 2x Arm man with Light Machine Gun (another man becomes a loader) (40 pts)

Compulsory Wermacht Infantry Squad - NCO, 9 men (100 pts)
- Light Machine Gun - 2x Arm man with Light Machine Gun (another man becomes a loader) (40 pts)

Regular Forward Observer - Artillery Forward Observer (100 pts)
- Extra Men - Additional man (10 pts)

Machine Gun Team - Regular Machine Gun Team (50 pts)

Medium Mortar Team - Regular Medium Mortar Team (50 pts)

Panzershreck Anti-tank Team - Regular Panzershreck Anti-tank Team (80 pts)

Anti-tank Gun Team - Regular 75mm PaK 40 (110 pts)

Tank - Regular StuG III/IV with MMG (245 pts)


995 Points, 9 Platoons



The battle started badly for me -- it seemed none of my troops wanted to enter the table!!!!!  I only got one infantry squad, my officer, and a panzerschreck.



Next turn was more productive.  I got my remaining troops, including the StuG IIIG, that moved to cover the objective.



The US Paratroops moved into position behind the houses in the village.  In the far corner you can see the 'Beanie of Doom' that I used as a dice bag.  I need to buy a real dice bag!!!!.



 

The US bazooka man ran up to a gap between the buildings and took a pot shot at my StuG III G .  It had been performing wonderfully, machine gunning a squad of paratroops into almost nothing.  It now performed wonderfully as a fireworks display!




The next few turns were not happy for the Germans, and I forgot to take pictures.  But the two German infantry squads were destroyed by air power.  Just about everything else was pinned.  And there were a few FUBAR orders that resulted in Germans retreating unexpectedly!  By turn 6 all the Germans had left was the PaK 40 AT gun and a mortar -- not enough to do anything.

So, what are my thoughts?  Well -- it was a GREAT game.  I still think FOW is more 'crunchy', but I can see us doing this more often.  And it was surprisingly easy to adapt a 15mm FOW army to Bolt Action - a dozen singles should suffice!  And I can use ALL of my existing terrain!!!

1 comment:

Phil said...

Nice report, sound like a good game!