Showing posts with label BR: Bolt Action. Show all posts

January 23, 2017

2017 Bolt Action 'Great Britain vs Germany'

Yesterday was the first time I have played a game of Bolt Action in over 2 1/2 years and I must say it was really nice to be able to get the rust of the rifles and get some gun oil on them. Of course everyone wants to win when they play a game, but yesterday for me was more about remembering the rules of the game and trying out Version 2 of the new rule set.

Being it ws the first time with V2, I wanted to try out some of the new rules even if I really did not need to, like 'You Men, Snap to Action' and using the new template (though I had missed on my shot).

This was my first game of anykind I played since moving back to the Mid West and recently I came across a group on Facebook called 'Michiana Bolt Action'. About once a month they get together for a Bolt Action open play game day at a local store in Michigan City (about 50 miles for me, but it is all highway so it does not take that long, they are probably the closest and easiest to get for me). So yesterday was my first time meeting the group, and all I can say is that I am glad that I did. The group of gamers were excellent and everyone was there just to have fun. The funny thing also this past week that happened is that I was notified from a friend back in Chicago that one of the Chicago Bolt Action locals (that I knew from years ago) also recently moved to Michigan, John from Plastic Legions. So I also got in touch with him and it turns out we are only about 35 miles apart (again all highway), so I am looking forward to getting in future games with him in his Gaming Lair.

Onto the actual battle (which was not much of a battle for me). It seems that by moving to the Mid West, this past winter with all the snow and freezing temperatures, my dice must have also froze. I think I had every kind of bad roll imaginable.

Sunday 1/22/2017
Points: 750
Scenario: Meeting Engagement
Objective: Both sides must attempt to destroy the other whilst preserving their own forces.
Victory: Victory Points
Armies: Great Britain (Mark) vs Germany (Dean)

We elected not to roll for a scenario and just decided to play the above since again it was more of a refresher game for me.

I am not going to go into a turn by turn detail (honestly do not remember it all), but all I can say it was not good for the Germans. In Turn 2 my StuG III misses his Light Tank, only for him to return fire needing a 5 to hit, rolls a 5... needs a 5 for Superficial Damage, rolls a 6 for Full Damage... followed by another 6 for Knocked Out. My Infantry also saw a FUBAR. My Lt decided to chicken out and rolls a 12 for Morale and leaves the game. None of my Infantry could hit and when they did, they could only manage minimal damage. So It was not good for the Germans, losing 0-5. It felt like the date was May 7, 1945.

Germany surrenders at the end of Turn 7.

1 of 3 Tables

2 of 3 Tables

3 of 3 Tables

German StuG III Knocked Out

Even though I had lost, I do not care. I actually got to get out out of the house and meet a new group of friends and throw some dice.

Though I think next time, my dice need to spend some time in the oven before they hit the table.

Battle Report: 6/6/2014 Bolt Action on D-Day

Well we could not miss playing a game of Bolt Action on the 70th anniversary of D-Day. So after my son got home from work we headed out to our local game store for a late night game.

Since it was D-Day, I let my son play his US army while I commanded to the Germans. We tried to setup the table to represent the beach landing (minus the water) and elected to play the scenario "Envelopment" with the US being the attackers (without the ability to 'Outflank'). We both selected 'theater' lists with the Germans playing 'Normandy' instead of 'Atlantik Wall' (I do not have the appropriate models for that list).

With the layout of the table and the Germans being able to start 'Hidden', I knew it was going to be hard time for the Americans, but it was all for fun, and with the possibility of re-writing history.

Friday 6/6/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Envelopment
Objective: The attacker must try to move as many of his units as he can into the defender's set-up zone or off the opposing side's table edge.
Armies: United States 'Attackers' (Dragi) vs Germany 'Defenders' (Dean)

Table Setup

Germans Deployed

Turn 1:
During the first turn it was mainly just the US advancing onto the table. Not too many units had range to fire. The German sniper missed with his shot as well as the German MMG.

Turn 2:
The Germans kill 4 US Pioneers and they fail their Morale test.

Turn 3:
The US new 75mm Pack Howitzer takes out the German MMG team.

Turn 4:
The Germans concentrated fire on a US squad and eliminating them while also thinning down the US Rangers squad.

Turn 5:
The US Sherman fires at the German Stug III and misses. Germany fires back and knocks out the Sherman. Germany also then concentrated fire on the US Rangers and they fail Morale.

US Sherman knocked out.

US Rangers fail Morale.

Turn 6:
German squads concentrate fire again on US squads and finishes off another one.

Turn 7:
Remaining US squads miss their shots while the Germans bunker down.

Germany: 10
United States: 2

Battle Report: 5/11/2014 Bolt Action 'Soviet Union vs Germany' (1000 Points "Maximum Attrition")

With yesterday being 'Mother's Day', my oldest son and I headed out to our local game store (Empire Games) while the wife was with the youngest two, afterwards we were all going to meet for a late lunch. Usually my son and I play in the garage, but since we are still lacking in some terrain we decided to play at Empire Games.

Sunday 5/10/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Maximum Attrition
Objective: Destroy the enemy.
Armies: Soviet Union (Dean) vs Germany (Dragi)

Lately I have been really loving the 'flamethrower' on the tanks, so of course I had to run the OT-34/85 again. I ran a more balanced list this time around from the last time I tried this tank, dropping the ISU-122 and Veterans for more regular Infantry.

Officer:
1 Jr LT w/SMG
1 Infantry w/SMG

Infantry Squads:

Guards Squad 1
1 NCO w/Rifle
1 LMG
1 LMG Loader
3 Infantry w/SMG
4 Infantry w/Rifle

Guards Squad 2
1 NCO w/Rifle
1 LMG
1 LMG Loader
3 Infantry w/SMG
4 Infantry w/Rifle

Guards Squad 3
1 NCO w/Rifle
3 Infantry w/SMG
5 Infantry w/Rifle

Guards Squad 4
1 NCO w/Rifle
3 Infantry w/SMG
5 Infantry w/Rifle

Free Rifle Squad
1 NCO w/ Rifle
11 Infantry w/Rifle

1 Medium Mortar (Inexperienced)
1 Flamethrower Team

Artillery:
1 ZiS-3 Divisional Gun

Tanks:
1 OT-34/85 Flamethrower Tank

The German list my son was playing was also a very 'balanced' Late War list. 2 Veteran Squads of 10 men with 5 assault rifle each, 2 Regular Squads with 2 assault rifles, Flamethrower Team, StugIII, MMG, 2nd LT and Soldier with assault rifles.

Since we were playing at the store, I really loaded up the table with terrain to make it feel more real.

Middle of Turn 2

OT-34/85 knocks out the German StugIII and flames a Veteran Sqaud.

Soviet Medium Mortar hits the German MMG and takes them out.

Soviet Free Rifles could not do any damage from an 'outflank', but the OT-34/85
comes in and flames the German Veterans.

Soviet Guards Squad finishing the last unit of a German Heer Grenadier Squad.

Lone German soldier, the 2nd Lt, failing his morale check.

This was a blowout for the Soviet Union. 8-0 'Maximum Attrition' seems to really be my game. The MVP of the game was the Soviet OT-34/85 which by itself took out 4 German units.

Battle Report: 4/27/2014 Bolt Action 'United States vs Germany'

It has been 2 weeks since my son and I each played a game of Bolt Action. Been busy playing X-Wing for awhile. But yesterday it was time to bring the armies back out. My son decided he wanted to play with his US army, so I was then going to be playing the Germans. I have yet to play with the German Sd.Kfz 251/1 Half-track, so I decided to put together a list to include this vehicle. We randomly rolled a mission from the rule book and got 'Top Secret', that should be ideal with the Half-track.

Sunday 4/27/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Top Secret
Objective: Seize the objective and carry it off your table edge..
Armies: Germany (Dean) vs United States (Dragi)

I am still lacking 'terrain' for our table, so majority of the woods were just represented by 'area terrain'. My plan is by the end of summer to have a wide selection of terrain, from building to roads to woods.

End of Turn 01.

End of Turn 02.

End of Turn 03.

End of Turn 04.

End of Turn 05.

End of Turn 06.

End of Turn 07.

Well the dice were not with the Germans today. The game started out as planned with the German Half-track advancing up the road and a Veteran squad disembarking towards the objective. Once they arrived at the objective, the Germans could not hold it nor pass it along as the Americans had 4 squads approaching and reigning down on fire eliminating the German Veteran squad. The German Stug IIIC could not hit anything and was eventually blown away from the American Sherman. By the time the Americans were able to capture the objective, there was not enough time left for them carry it off the board with the dense woods in their deployment zone. The Americans then decided to just decimate the Germans killing them all. Technically the game was a 'Draw' per the rulebook, even though the Americans slaughtered the Germans. Usually if this game was played in a Tournament Environment, the Americans would have received +1 points for controlling the objective at the end of the game.

Battle Report: 4/13/2014 Bolt Action 'Soviet Union vs Germany and United States vs Germany'

After our game of X-Wing yesterday morning, it was time to throw down some Bolt Action. After reading a battle report from AdeptiCon on the Bolt Action tournament and seeing a min/max Soviet Union army with two tanks, I thought to myself 'I'd like to see if I have the models for a cheese list'. I did not have the exact models that player played, but I came close with a list. I wanted to give it a try and see how it would do. The Soviets have two Late-War theater lists that allow two tanks, so a second 'Reinforced Platoon' is not needed.

Officer:
1 Jr LT w/SMG
1 Infantry w/SMG

Infantry Squads:
Vet Squad 1
1 NCO w/Rifle
1 Infantry w/Rifle, Panzerfaust
3 Infantry w/SMG

Vet Squad 2
1 NCO w/Rifle
1 Infantry w/Rifle, Panzerfaust
3 Infantry w/SMG

Vet Squad 3
1 NCO w/Rifle
1 Infantry w/Rifle
3 Infantry w/SMG

Free Rifle Squad
1 NCO w/ Rifle
11 Infantry w/Rifle

1 Medium Mortar (Inexperienced)

Artillery:
1 ZiS-3 Divisional Gun

Tanks:
1 ISU-122
1 OT-34/85 Flamethrower Tank

Sunday 4/13/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Maximum Attrition
Objective: Destroy the enemy.
Armies: Soviet Union (Dean) vs Germany (Dragi)

Turn 1:
During the first turn, we saw all three tanks in the game fail to hit. Infantry from both armies were advancing onto the battlefield.

Table setup.

Tanks fail to hit.

Turn 2:
OT-34/85 misses point blank on the StuG III but flames a Germany Veteran squad with 3 kills and 4 pin markers. The Vet squad fails the morale test and is removed.
The ISU-122 also missed the StuG III.
StuG III hits OT-34/85 and knocks out.
Soviet ZiS-3 shoots German Veteran, kills 3, and they pass their test .
German Sniper takes another shot this turn and misses again.

OT-34/85 misses point blank on StuG III.

After Turn 2.

Turn 3:

ISU122 knocks out StuG III.

German Sniper finall hits, fails to wound.

Soviet Mortar zeroed in on Sniper causing 5 hits 3 wounds and removing the Sniper.

German Veterans kill 2 Soviet Veterans.

German Flamethrower Team no shot that they can see.

ISU-122 destroys German StuG III.

Turn 4:

German Flamethrower Team kills only 1 Soviet Veteran but causes 2 pins, Soviet fail Morale even with the ability to re-roll.

Soviet ZiS-3 failed fire order.

Soviet and German Infantry shooting back and forth.

Soviet Free Rifle squad outflanks on my right.

Soviet Mortar hits German Veteran squad, 6 hits, 4 wounds (2 alive and pass morale).

Soviet Free Rifle squad outflanking.

Turn 5:

German Flamethrower kills a Soviet Veteran and they pass their morale.

Soviets ambush German Veterans, kill 1.

Soviet Veterans assault German Flamethrower Team, 7 attacks only kill 1 but enough to win combat.

ISU-122 howitzer and kills all 5 German Veterans.

Turn 6:

German Officer assaults, fail to wound, Soviets attack back and kill both men.

Soviets assault Germans, combat tied, round 2 of combat, Soviets win.

ZiS-3 finally passes order and fires at lone German Veteran and kills.

Game Ended on a roll of 3.

There were only 2 lone Germans left on the battlefield.

Soviets: 8

Germans: 2

After the battle.

This Soviet list was made for this scenario, even though we did randomly roll for the scenario. Would I play this list in a 'tournament', not sure, I know there could be a little more 'cheese' added to it. I usually like to play well balance lists. It is tough to say what really is 'cheese' when technically this list was made from a "theater list". Yes it was fun playing with 3 big guns, most likely in friendly games I will stick to the 1 tank.... but I can see both of them coming out together in some big games.

After lunch we decided to play another game. Now I was going to be playing Germans, and my son was going to be playing with his US army. We once again randomly rolled for a scenario, and rolled "Hold Until Relieved". We have yet to play this scenario before, so I was not sure exactly how to play it. I did make a few adjustments to the German list and added in some more Assault Rifles. I was going to be playing the Attackers and my son was the Defenders.

Sunday 4/13/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Hold Until Relieved
Objective: Control the objective at the end of the game.
Armies: Attackers Germany (Dean) vs Defenders United States (Dragi)

I did not take turn by turn notes for this game as I wanted to speed it up a bit, but did take a few pictures.

Table after Deployment.

Germans approaching the Objective marker.

Seeing how I never played this scenario before, I was unsure exactly on how I should deploy the Germans. I think I made some big mistake deploying them. Turn 1 I had already lost 2 squads to the Americans so it was not looking good. Plus the dice were not good for the Germans.... I would either hit and then fail to wound, or failed to hit..... In the end the Germans were just about wiped off the board with only 1 squad left in the game and the Americans were holding the objective.

One thing about this game that I am taking from it is; we learned more about the assault rules, especially when directly behind an obstacle and assaulting over it (obstacles are not 'rough terrain') so if you are directly behind an obstacle, you can assault over that obstacle the full 12 inches.

So at the end of the day, the country of Germany had lost both battles in this War.

Battle Report: 3/22/2014 Bolt Action 'Soviet Union vs Germany'

Yesterday (Saturday 3/22/14) the German army decided to do a surprise attack against the Soviet Union. Can the 'Red Army' hold off the powerful German army? Continue reading to find out.

Saturday 3/22/2014
Points: 1000
Scenario: Envelopment
Objective: The attacker must try and move as many of his units as he can into the defender's set-up zone or off the opposing side's table edge.
Armies: Defenders Soviet Union (Dean) vs Attackers Germany (Dragi)

Turn 1:
With 'Preparatory Bombardment' hitting the Soviet units, the Soviets spent most of the turn 'rallying' their units and removing pin markers. Some of the Germans started to advance onto the table.

Turn 2:
The Soviet Sniper Team decided to take aim on the German Oberleutnant and took the kill shot to the head (that was about all the Soviet Sniper could kill in this battle). The German and Soviet tanks were firing back and forth and neither of them could do any damage.

Turn 3:
The German Stug III tank 'fubars' and had to 'run' away from the Soviets. The Soviet T34 tried to fire at the Stug and still could not do any damage.

Turn 4:
Germans outflanked with a Flamethrower Team to my right, but a Soviet SMG Squad sitting in 'ambush' were able to open fire on the Germans, killing both of the Germans. The Soviet Free Rifle Squad outflanked on my left, right behind a German Infantry Squad. The inexperienced soldiers were only able to kill one German.

Turn 5:
The Soviet T34, a Guards Squad and Free Rifle Squad managed to wipe out the German Infantry that was on my left. In the middle of the table a Guards Squad assaulted one German Officer Soldier and easily won the battle and consolidated back into cover. The Soviet Ampulet 'ambushes' on a German Infantry Squad and managed to kill three Germans. For the Germans, their Sniper Team was able to kill the Soviet Sniper and the Soviet failed their tests and were removed from the battle.

Turn 6:
The Soviet Ampulet fires on the same German squad as in Turn 5 and manages to finish off that squad. The Germans were able to get two Veteran Squads off the table edge from 'outflank' maneuvers, Soviets in 'ambush' could not stop them. The German Stug III also was able to get a side shot on the Soviet T34 causing massive damage. With the T34 being stunned and on fire, it fails it's tests and was knocked out. The Soviets tried a Panzerfaust shot at the Stug III and failed to do any damage.

Turn 7:
The Soviets passed their morale test and assaulted the side of the German Stug III and only scored a 7 for damage (needing at least an 8). The Soviets then concentrated their fire on the remaining two German units left on the table (Sniper Team and Veteran Squad). None of the Soviet shots were able to do any damage.

The Attackers score 1 victory point for every enemy unit destroyed. They also score 2 victory points for each of their own units inside the Defenders set-up area, and 3 victory points for units that have moved off the enemies table edge. The Defenders score 2 victory points for every enemy unit destroyed. If one side scores at least 2 more victory points than the other, then that side has won a clear victory, otherwise teh result is deemed too close to call and honors are shared - a draw.

Germany: 9
Soviet Union: 8
Draw