Yet more Bolt Action

At the club there is currently double points for Bolt Action. And what do points mean? Prizes. Well, not exactly, but money off your purchases from Incom. So, why not play the game you enjoy.

The first game was against a new opponent, Alex. He was a very sporting opponent. He played the British and I took my Hungarians. Initially, I was to play Rob and his Soviets. However, I did not have time to change my army. We played double envelopment. I got to choose to be the defenders. I did this based on the fact that I had no transport. Alex had three universal carriers, more of that later.

Alex’s preliminary bombardment came in and was fairly effective. I took about three casualties and was pinned, but the small teams were fortunately largely unaffected. Alex advanced his troops up cautiously while I rallied most of my troops. On my left my German allies used the LMG to hit his 6pdr and cause a casualty. My mortar failed to hit. But the coup de grace was my bazooka that hit the first of his carriers. It brewed up nicely leaving one casualty and the troops having to disembark. 

Turn 2 saw the bazooka hit the next carrier. Meanwhile on my left flank, the 6pdr and the mortar were causing huge problems for my rocket launcher that was in all kinds of trouble. As was the LMG squad. In the centre I had advanced up a Hungarian squad into the woods. They were being hit by a huge amount of fire. They were racking up pins but were able to withstand the fire and were successfully stopping Alex from advancing.

Turn 3 saw the bombardment from the British come in. Unfortunately for Alex it hit some of his troops too. It failed to kill anything, added pins to my units but also to his, further adding to his delay. 

Turn 4 saw the last of the carriers being taken out by the bazooka. Definitely an iron cross for that man. He single handedly had stalled the British advance. The British success on the left saw the destruction of the Hungarian rocket launcher. In the centre and on the right the British advance had stalled, particularly as my mortar had  zeroed in on his large squad on the right flank.

Unfortunately for the British, turn 5 saw the arrival of the half track Flamethrower. Straightaway it destroyed two squads. Alex’s Boys anti tank rifle failed to hit. The mortar continued to pound the British forcing them down. By this time I had abandoned my left flank and Alex was too far way to capitalise on this. In the middle the Hungarians remained down and refused to die, despite the amount of fire coming their way. 

By turn 6, only the MMG remained on the half track but still despite only needing a 2 to hit Alex failed his dice roll. He was not best pleased. The game ended with a decisive victory to the Axis forces. None of Alex’s troops had even made it into the Axis deployment zone. He had lost 7 dice.

The hero of the hour.

My second game was against Steve. He had defend a corner of the board. My mission was to get as many of the troops off the board as possible or into his deployment zone. I had a numerical advantage. Whilst Steve was hidden and dug in and in hard cover, ie. impossible to hit. He had 2 6pdrs, and the rest were infantry. He had 2 Valentine tanks in reserve. I had 3 Panzer III’s, artillery, a mortar, 3 trucks, 3 squads of infantry and an anti tank rifle team. The game started with a preliminary bombardment, which unusually for me, came in. It caused a casualty on Steve’s officer team and some pins. Steve rolled badly on the left flank. His officer and 6pdr both failed their order test and went down.

Turn 2 saw the appearance of both Valentines. They proved very resilient. If fairly ineffective at destroying my tanks. On the left my infantry were able to advance up and be ready to engage his dug in infantry. His 6pdr once more failed his order test. On the right my advance stalled as both tanks were hit and were forced to go down. Meanwhile my mortar and artillery were zeroing in on his 6pdr. 

 

Turn 3 would need to see the German dice come out first. Indeed they did. They charged the British and after fierce hand to hand fighting took the position. The British bombardment came in and meant more pins for the tanks on the right. One failed his order test and reversed back. Meanwhile, the other was hit and accrued more pins. However, my mortar hit and destroyed the 6 pdr. The infantry came under artillery fire. A lucky hit forcing them down. 

Turn 4, the Valentine on the left took out the Panzer III. However, the infantry squad took out Steve’s 6pdr. In the centre the motorcycle teams decided to make a break for it and escape off the board only to be wiped out. However, both the artillery and the mortar were finding their targets. The Valentine on the right continued to try and take out the Panzer III. At one point one Panzer III had 8 pins but still would not be destroyed. It managed to rally and lose all its pins by turn 6.

Turn 5 the British officer was charged, he died but took both his opponents with him. The British in the middle were destroyed with accurate mortar fire. The British on the far right were forced to abandon their positions once the artillery started to fall and were then subsequently destroyed by the advancing tanks. The Valentine on the right was at last destroyed. The way was open for the Germans to advance. The game was effectively over and Steve graciously conceded the game. A fun game and my second win of the week. 

The other project I have been working on is my SPQR troops. I have currently 24 fanatics painted up, 12 slingers, and 8 warriors. I now have my leader and Druid done too. I need to work out points next and to allocate weapons, armour and abilities.

In glorious Wales this week so the hobby will be on the back foot. No game this week, but I will be working on my paper work for SPQR.