Bolt Action - Roo's first try out of the rules

So Roo was keen to play more miniature games, as well as more hex and counter games, in fact, just keen to play MORE games and that's fine by me.

Bolt Action, as most of you probably know, is a set of rules for recreating WW2 battles. Written by Alessio Cavatore who has many rule sets and board games to his credit and published by Warlord Games and Osprey Publishing, it is now in it's second edition, which was released in 2016. The rules have also spawned a number of army list books and campaign supplements -

Currently it is the WW2 rule set of choice for the THAGGers (although some of us in the past have played Rapid Fire when we were still going up to the Kirriemuir Wargames Club) and, if you read the previous blog post we have played What A Tanker, but that is just for playing with tanks. We also started playing BA in 20mm but, as is usually the case, Kev persuaded us to all paint up 28mm forces in order to take part in a tournament that was being run by the Dunfermline Wargames and Roleplaying Fellowship (or D.W.A.R.F for short) back in November 2016, and so we have stuck with that scale since. 

The rules are based on a unit order system involving pulling dice out of a bag and the player whose dice has been selected then allocating one of 6 different orders (advance, move, fire, ambush, rally and Down) to a unit of their choice. Combat is based on a d6 with various modifiers being applied and, if a hit is scored, the quality of troop will determine what score on a d6 is required to score a casualty (veterans take a casualty on a "5" or "6" - inexperienced units take a casualty on a "3", "4", "5" or "6". Units that have taken fire suffer pins and each pin that a unit has will deduct 1 from any morale roll that the unit has to make, with again the quality of troop type determining how likely the unit will pass on a 2d6 roll (veteran units require a "10" or under, inexperienced units need an "8" or under). It's a "bucket of dice" type of game and there is nothing wrong with that in my opinion. Combat can be fast and brutal if you are rolling well and you can have the frustration of not being able to do anything whilst your opponent's order dice all get pulled out of the bag before yours. 

BA, being a points system type of game, does lend itself to a tournament style type of game, where non-historical match ups can be played out on the table - there is nothing new in that. Tournament Gamers are well used to facing all sorts of non-traditional opponents from the early days of WRG rules when the Early Libyan Army could face off against a 100 Years War English Army and certainly in the aforementioned tournament in Dunfermline, my Late War British Army fought a Japanese Force, a Russian force and a Russian Black Sea Naval Marine force. My preference, however, is to try and play games with historical opponents and so it was for my first couple of games with Roo we stuck to that approach with our first game being a clash somewhere in Normandy between the British and Germans.

Also, being a point based system, there can be a tendency for players to try and pick the "killer" list with units being selected, not so much because they fought together in a typical force of the time, but because it will generate the maximum number of order dice and firepower. My force picks are very much determined by what available figures I have, and, where I think there is a reasonable explanation for a unit being in the list so, for example, my Late War British List includes a couple of British Paratroop sections with my justification being that in Normandy there where occasions that the Paras fought together with the normal infantry units.

So the table was set for our first game (actually it was the same table that we used for our What A Tanker game - we hadn't bothered re-setting it). A quick roll on the scenario selector table confirmed we were going to play the "Key Positions" scenario - each player would place a number of objective points on the table and the player holding the most number of objectives at the end of the game would be declared the winner. The resulting rolls determined that there would be 6 objective points and once placed we rolled off to see which table edge we would each start on.

We each could decide to keep up to half of our units in reserve. I, however, decided to bring all my units on to the table, Roo elected to keep his MMG team, mortar team, half track and a squad of infantry in reserve.

British Paras taking fire from the dreaded Panzer IV-F2

One of the rules that caused a lot of debate and discussion when the 2nd Edition was released is the "Tiger Fear" rule. If a German Tank with this special rule is on the battlefield then any time an enemy unit wishes to take an order that is not a fire order directed at that particular tank then they have to take a morale test to carry out that order and suffer a -1 penalty in addition to any other modifiers that unit currently has. The Panzer IV-F2 benefits from such a rule and as soon as it appeared on the table it became priority target No.1 for the Brits. My Cromwell tank rushed on to the battlefield -

Fired and missed!

Positions at the end of Turn 1

The Brits have claimed 1 objective, another is located in the wooden building.

Only infantry units can claim objectives so the Cromwell can't claim that objective on the road

However, a stroke of good luck for the British when the Panzer, having taken 1 pin, tested to see if it would carry out it's next order -

FUBAR!!!

Fortunately for Roo, the Panzer did not shoot up it's nearest friendly unit, but instead went in to reverse. However, it was still on the battlefield and still able to cause Tiger Fear with the result that a unit of Paras and an Infantry Section both failed their morale check (along with the Second Lieutenant) -

However, the Cromwell tank commander was not going to be denied his kill and with the Panzer in his sights he opened fire -

No more Tiger Fear!!

On the right flank, one British Infantry section moved in to the wooden building and claimed the objective there, while the other units advanced across the road -

The British Forward Artillery Observer picks his spot for the artillery barrage, meanwhile a German Infantry Section has entered the building and claimed the objective there.

The German Mortar Team moves in to the vine groves to claim the objective there.

Whilst on the German Right flank, the MMG team ignores the distressing sight of the wrecked Panzer to take up position and rain a hail of bullets on any Brits trying to claim that objective.

The German Mortar Team having being disabled by accurate British Sniper fire is quickly replaced by the half track and accompanying Infantry Section

The Infantry manage to debus from the half track just in time as a well aimed shot from the British 6lb anti tank gun resulted in this -

However, the German Infantry extract their revenge on the British Infantry sheltering (unsuccessfully) behind the wall.

A sight to cause fear in any foe - advancing British Paratroopers

In the meantime, the Cromwell, instead of opening fire on the MMG team decides to try and overrun them -

The MMG team evade the overrun and the Cromwell is left staring at the burning wreck of the Panzer IV. The MMG team continue to score casualties on the Paratroopers advancing a cross the field -

Keeping their heads down to avoid the German MMG fire

The British now hold 4 of the objectives as the battle enters it's end game

The Germans in the building continue to hold the objective despite the continual fire of the British Vickers team and some HE from the 6lb gun

Paras getting ready to assault one of the German held objectives

Although the game went in to a 7th turn the Germans were unable to capture a 3rd objective so the Brits held on to win the game 4 objectives to 2.

So Roo proclaimed that despite losing, he enjoyed the game and the rules. He had already started to build figures for a Finnish Army (which is all very well but I don't have any Soviets!) so will be hoping at some point to bring them to the table

So next up will a battle report on an 8th Army v D.A.K match up but that'll have to wait for another day as it's late here and I'm zzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

Pegasus Bridge

Ok, it's been a while.......

It was a standing joke in our house for many years that all I wanted from Santa at Christmas was the Pegasus Bridge Battle Set from Warlord Games.

Every year it would go on the list and every year - nothing, rien, nada, nichts, niente - you get the idea.

Then in 2017 for my birthday, which incidentally is just a few weeks before Xmas, I got this -

Oh how we chuckled!

But I was resigned to the fact that was about as close as I was going to get to the fabled set. So you could have knocked me down with the proverbial feather when 11 days later under Xmas Tree was -

I was gobsmacked (and if truth be told there was a wee tear in my eye - but don't tell Mrs kingsleypark that!!).

Apparently she had got so fed up of me going on about it that she caved in and bought it for me (see  psychological warfare does work - wear down your opponent with repeated propaganda).

Wow, now I could recreate that famous battle as depicted in the classic film, "The Longest Day" with Richard Todd repeating to himself "Hold until relieved!".

So, of course, I got the box cracked open eager to start. Heck, there were a lot of bits in this box (bloody heavy it was too). The enthusiasm started to wane somewhat.

I got the bunker built -

And had a bash at the Cafe Gondree

But the bridge was looking a beast and I kept putting it off and off. Soon Christmas 2018 was coming round a sense of guilt got hold and I decided to take the plunge and go for it and surprisingly it wasn't too long before this -

became this -

Sorry to all of you who were expecting a "How to build a Pegasus Bridge" blogpost. My fingers were too covered in pva glue to risk sticking the keys of my laptop down.....

Then the ever useful coffee stirrers (courtesy of far too many coffee shops to give credit too) were used to create planking for the bridge -

Several layers of paint and dry brushing later and viola - she was done!

One thing that became apparent once she was built (is it PC to call a bridge "she"?) is the size of the bloody thing - it's over 2 foot long so storage is an issue. The model does break down into smaller parts but to be honest that's a pfaff so space was cleared from the top of my bookcases and there it was to sit.

But no! All that blood, toil, sweat and tears (to misquote Churchill) putting the damned thing together wasn't just going to result in PB sitting gathering dust on top of the bookcases. And so it was that a few weeks ago trying to get the THAGG (that's the "The Honourable Arbroath Gamers Guild") guys organised for our weekly game that it turned out that only myself, Stevo  and Neil, were going to be available. None of us had played Bolt Action for a while (at least a year anyway) but this was the moment that PB would hit the tabletop and so it was we gathered in the cabin to refight the daring attempt of Major Howard and his gallant chappies to capture the bridge over the Orne.

Ok the scenario played was from the Booklet that came with the Pegasus Bridge Battle Set. As such, the units involved were smaller than your normal Bolt Action forces, but given it had been a while since any of us had played BA it was probably not a bad thing.

The German Garrison are troops from the 716th Infantry Division. These were poor quality troops, relegated to performing guard duties in what was thought to be a “safe area”. As such they are classed as inexperienced and also start the game with a pin marker on each unit. Not much of a handicap you would think but actually given the poor morale rolling of the German player (Stevo), it proved to be a major issue in getting units activated.

The Brits were members of the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Battalion led by Major Howard (giving the Brit forces a massive +4 on any morale rolls within command radius). The Brits are also classed as experienced and tough fighters which is a major plus in any close combat rolls.

A couple of problems were encountered on setting up -

Firstly, the scenario shows the table layout in classic Bolt Action 6 x 4 style. However, the model Pegasus Bridge is over 2ft long. I could have just set up the end section of the bridge but having taking this long to get the damned thing built it had to be on the table in all it’s glory so I went for a narrower width and deeper table as shown in the photograph. This would mean that combat would be joined a lot sooner, again no bad thing given the scenario would only last 6 (maybe 7) turns.

The second problem came when deploying the Brits from the Glider. “Where’s the Glider?” asks Neil.

”Use your F**&**g imagination!!” says I. As it had taken over a year to get the bridge built and painted so I wasn't going to start worrying about such niceties as representing a glider landing without a glider.....

So Neil picks a spot for the “Glider” to land and Stevo had a roll to adjust it’s position then the first turn started with the Brits rolling to see how many squads would get out of the Glider - only 2 squads (Major Howard was still supping on his tea inside - actually that’s not fair - if you see the glider landing in the The Longest Day you would realise that supping tea was definitely not an option!).

The Germans, however, were slow to react and only the AT Gun in the emplacement was able to get off a wild inaccurate shot.

The turns that followed saw the brave Brits trying to close in on the Bridge whilst the sleepy headed Germans finally started to rouse themselves and react to the danger -

Although the Brits did reach the Bridge and a firefight ensued which saw the scenario go in to a 7th turn, there were too many Germans left on the bridge so they were declared the winners.

Given it had been ages since we had played, I think we were able to pick up the basics pretty quickly and after a few searches of the rule book on a couple of points I think we are able to keep the game moving.

So keen to do some more Bolt Action. Kev is planning his Japanese and Ruaridh has started putting together his Finns and I have a pile of early war French to tackle so plenty of options available to us.

And oh Neil.........

(Thanks to Neil for providing most of the battle pictures in this thread. Must remember to get in the habit of taking more in our games if I'm going to get back in to this blogging lark!!!)