Bolt Action Demo Battle Reports

Hello all,

I played a couple of 500 point games last night to demo and recruit new players.

The lists were

Game 1

Americans

75   7 Man Regular Section +BAR
78   7 Man Regular Section +BAR + SMG
78   7 Man Regular Section +BAR + SMG
100 Forward Artillery Observer 1 Man
138 Captain Veteran + 1 Man
30   Medic
499 Total

Germans

108 6 Man Veteran Section + 6 A/Rs
78   6 Man Veteran Section
162 Veteran M5A1 Stuart (Captured) + Pintle HMG
151 Veteran Captain + 2 Men
499 Total

The match went well.

We played annihilation.

In the First round the Americans called in their Artillery Strike.  They Managed to pin everything in the center of the board, unfortunately a shell did not hit my tank directly.  With No other A/T on the board, the Americans fate was sealed.  It was a good walk through the mechanics of the game to an inevitable end.

At the end of the game I explained to my opponent that had he selected an Air observer instead of an Artillery observer, as an American it would have been more bang for his buck.  Additionally I displayed the necessity of taking some A/T of any sort even at the 500 point level, because light tanks are still extremely tough for infantry to deal with alone.

We played with a couple of areas of craters being hard cover, the entire wooded section of the board was soft cover, and the fields were soft cover, the fences were obstacles, but offered no additional protection.

By sticking to the roads I was amazed at how quickly my tank roared into action, but the limit to one 90 degree turn was complex to work with.  I can definitely see using the turret a lot in this game system.

Game 2

Americans

70   7 Man Regular Section
70   7 Man Regular Section
70   7 Man Regular Section
100  Veteran Forward Air Observer + 1 Man
138  Captain Veteran + 1 Man
448  Total

Germans

104 7 Man Veteran Section 
104 8 Man Veteran Section
104 8 Man Veteran Section
151 Veteran Captain + 2 Men
450 Total

This was a better match-up

We played annihilation again (I find it is best to work through the mechanics, plus players are more willing to stop once they have a feel for the game instead of trying to "win" a given scenario.)

In the First round the Americans called in their first Air Strike.  They Managed to pin everything on my  side of the board, unfortunately all they did was pin, it was not a very effective Air Strike.  The majority of turns 2-4 were running and advancing toward each other.  I do not think a 4x6 table is silly to play on at 500 points, but I think the only thing you lose by playing on a 4x4 is the time it takes to get into contact.  

The Americans called in their second airstrike in turn 3, and it finally arrived in turn 5.  Turn 4 the skies were empty.  So my opponent rolled a 6 for the air to come in turn 5.  He then rolled....a 1!  It was a rookie pilot, come to save the Germans Day!  On top of that, he rolled another 6 bringing in a full Ground Attack Aircraft.  I moved the target marker on top of a section that was right next to his CO and FAO.  His 7 man section was completely annihilated and his FAO and CO each had 4 pins on them from the airstrike.  This sealed the fate for the Americans and shortly thereafter we ended the game.

It was a good walk through the mechanics of the game to an absolutely unexpected end!

At the end of the game I explained to my opponent why I had selected an Air observer instead of an Artillery observer for his force, and pointed out the American special rules.  Additionally I had the joy of showing the jovial difference between this game and FoW with the rookie pilot coming in and destroying the heart of his force!

As with the first game we played with a couple of areas of craters being hard cover, the entire wooded section of the board was soft cover, and the fields were soft cover, the fences were obstacles, but offered no additional protection.

This was a great game and I really got a kick out of seeing one of the "funny" mechanics kick off in the encounter.

Till next time 

-PPS