A game of Bolt Action at the club…

I had a “teaching” game of Bolt Action at the club Monday night with a good friend, I just did a couple of simple lists that were pointed up at around the 980 points each, this was only his second game of Bolt Action and the first game was using first edition, so this was all a bit new to him.

The Germans ( played by my friend ) were –

A 2^nd Leutnant ( with a couple hit point soakers! )
Air Force Forward Observer
Panzerschreck team
Medium Machinegun Team
Heer Veteran Grenadier squads of 10 men x 2
Including a couple of SMG’s a light machinegun and a couple of panzerfausts
Heer Infantry squad of 10 men
Including NCO with SMG and a light machinegun
Light Artillery ( light howitzer )
Panzer III Ausf H or J ( was a Panzer IV pretending to be a Panzer III )

The British ( played by me ) were –

A 2^nd Lieutenant ( with a couple hit point soakers as well )
A Medic
Free Artillery Forward Observer
PIAT team
Medium Machinegun Team
Medium Mortar and a spotter
Commando squads of 10 men x 2
Including three SMG’s a light machinegun
Regular Infantry squad of 10 men
Including NCO with SMG and a light machine
QF 6-PDR ( medium anti-tank )
Sherman V ( 75mm )

I set up a table with a good amount of cover on it, so as not to give massive open areas, this would give lots of places for troops to hide and take cover, I set up the church in the centre to give a nice central building to fight around.

Turn one saw the normal running up or into cover and getting set up for turn two shooting! I moved my Commandos forward on both flanks, one up and over the hill on the right and one across the ploughed field on the left, and then pushed everything else forward in the centre directly towards the church, with the Sherman pushing towards the road on the right side of the church.

One of the German Grenadier squads moved up onto the hill on their left flank supported by their Infantry gun and the Panzerschreck team, on their right flank the Heer Grenadiers moved closer to the hill on that flank with the MMG team and Panzer III in support, in their centre the Heer Infantry squad moved into the graveyard with the Leutnant in support.

Turn two was a funny one for the British ( at the Germans expense! ) between my forward observer and my artillery battery there was a slight miscalculation and so the barrage did not come down where I had wanted it, although it only move a short distance and still fell onto the Regular Heer on top of the hill, also hitting the German Air Force Observer.

The German AFO then decided that he would call down some death from the skies, but was so spooked by the British artily barrage landing all around him that he mistakenly thought that the squad next to him was an enemy squad and so shot one of the riflemen ( so first blood of the game was from friendly fire!! )

I really did not laugh….

The Panzerschreck team decided that the Sherman was to good a target to not shoot at, and actually managed to put a pin on it, which was enough for me to fail their order test and sit there and do nothing for the turn.

My Commandos on the hill took a pounding from the German Infantry gun and my other unit of Commandos ran forward to take cover at the hedge.

My mortar started to range in on the Heer on the hill , my spotter probably couldn’t actually see them because of the smoke and dust thrown up from the barrage that had just landed on them, but he probably guessed there was something there as the artillery was firing there.

My regular infantry squad just ran towards the road and the church on the other side, with the Medic and the Lieutenant and MMG team not far behind.

 

Turn three, the Heer on the hill tried to rally but failed so all went down, the infantry gun gave the Commandos opposite a pounding again and put another pin on the unit, the Panzersreck missed this time, and the Sherman fired at the Grenadiers hiding in the cemetery and only managed a pin! My regular infantry squad in the centre started taking hits and were struggling, the medic was obviously not into his work this evening so never did anything all game other give me one extra dice… my MMG could not see any targets so just moved forward in support of the infantry squad next to them.

The German AFO still could not manage to get through to his base, so again there were no German aircraft in the shies above.

Turn four and my Sherman was finally taken out by the Panzerschreck team, my mortar finally managed to land on the Germans on the hill, needing 3’s to kill…. I rolled my dice… I then picked them up again and checked if there were any numbers above 2 on them…

The Panzer and the Heer Grenadiers took out most of the regular infantry squad in the centre as they were crossing the road towards the church, the German MMG team got a lucky shot and took out the loader for the PIAT team as they moved up to the wall in front of the church.

My QF 6-PDR turned to fire at the Heer squad on the hill, but obviously couldn’t see them either because of all the dust and smoke!

It was not going well for me at all, my dice rolling was keeping to its usual standard… completely rubbish!!

Turn five saw the PIAT miss the Panzer from close range, what was left of the regular infantry squad ( 2 men ) get jumped on by the Grenadiers in the graveyard, Close Combat did not go well for them at all, then the Panzer got rid of the threat from the PIAT by mowing him down with MMG fire from very close range, at that point my Lieutenant decided that it was time to head off for a cup of tea and biscuits!!!

Well it was a fun game even though the British had lost five dice to the German zero, and I think my friend did enjoy it, and he seemed to pick up the rules fairly quickly, so it looks like I might be able to get my revenge sometime in the future.

( sorry for the slightly “iffy” photos of the game, my phone for some reason was playing up a bit and was having trouble focusing for most of the shots, I really must invest in a decent camera after Salute )