Recently I got another game of Bolt Action in at one of my favourite Friendly Local Gaming Stores. This place is always happening and check out the table that we were able to set up using Terrain owned by the Store, my buddy Dave and Must Contain Minis. This table is absolutely gorgeous!
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| Check out this Bolt Action table at Forbes Hobbies in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Between the store, a friend named Dave and Must Contain Minis, we were able to set up a gorgeous table!!! |
Being that an odd number of players showed up, we decided upon a three player game. Must Contain Minis would play the British with Dave and Aaron running the Germans. Points would be set at 1000 points and the German players could split that value however they wished and run as either a single platoon or as two. They opted for two. Below is what the British brought to the table.
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| The British brought one First Lieutenant with two assistants (all with SMGs), two 10 man squads with one SMG and one LMG each, one 5 man squad with 3 SMGs and Anti-tank Grenades, a medic and assistant, a Sherman, a Six Pounder Gun Team, a Unversal Carrier (as a troop transporter), and a Forward Observer with two assistants (all armed with rifles). All of the units in this army except the Forward Observer are rated as Veteran. |
The Germans brought the following two platoons.
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| Aaron brought a Lieutenant, two 6 man squads (each with an LMG and one with an SMG), and a StuG. |
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| Dave brought a Lieutenant, an 8 man squad, a 9 man squad (both squads with Panzerfausts in them), and two SdKfz 251s. |
For the Mission, we rolled Hold Until Revealed with the British Attacking. The Objective was placed on the hill in middle of the table and the Germans elected to have their two smaller platoons on the table defending that objective.
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| Under the mat is a hill, which makes the Terrain pop out a bit. At the top of the hill is where the objective was placed. |
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| Above is the deployment of the forces at the top of the game. On the top left, there is a field of cows. Those cows are neutral in this game. The Germans have two small forces on the opposite side of the hill (centre right) near the objective. The British place their Forward Observer, Two ten man squads, Medic, and Lieutenant on the table to start. The Germans are going to be facing a lot of opposition right off the top. |
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| Having some fun with the table. My Brits deployed in the forest. |
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| Here I am keeping the Medic nearby the squad expected to take the heaviest casualties. |
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| A models eye view of the hill that the objective is on. The strategy for these guys is simple. Fix bayonets and charge. With the up and at them rule, there is nothing that will stop them from getting to that objective. |
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| The Germans move one of the two guarding squads from behind the hill towards the house where my Forward Observer is hiding. |
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| The Core British Attack Group rushes forward with the Medic and Lieutenant in tow for help. They will be on the objective in no time!!! |
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| From under the trees, the second group of British move to flank the Germans hiding behind the hill. |
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| A wider shot. Notice the StuG has come on the board and now has a good firing arc on anything coming down that road. |
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| A look at how the placement of the StuG changes things for the Brits. |
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| All of a sudden, the flanking Brits are Flanked themselves by a German Half-track. |
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| See that coin by the StuG? The Brits call in an artillery strike there in hopes to encourage the StuG to move. They then bring on the Sherman and aim at the full SdKfz 251. A juicy target, but the tank misses. |
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| The StuG does not move. Instead, it places a well aimed shot through the Sherman. To be honest, it wasn’t the smartest move on the British side and hoping that the impending artillery would save the Sherman did not pan out. The first kill of the game belongs to the Germans. |
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| Infantry piles out of the German Transport and peppers the British with fire. The British Advance and show the Germans how to aim. |
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| On the other side of the table the British Universal Carrier enters the battle. |
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| A long shot of the action on the table. In the front of the shot, the 5 man British team jumps out of the Universal Carrier and rushes to the unoccupied building. Meanwhile, the Forward Observer preps to jump into the Universal Carrier. On the far left, another loaded German SdKfz 251 enters the battle. Across from that, the British bring on a 6-pounder gun. |
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| The Artillery Strike added pins to one infantry team and the StuG, but otherwise had no effect. |
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| The Brits Assault and win against the Germans near the Half-Track on the right of the table. |
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| Because they are now the closest models to the transport, the transport buggers off and is no longer part of the game. |
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| In retaliation, the Germans bring the StuG up to bear against the British assault force. One more Brit dies to Machine Gun Fire. |
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| Meanwhile, the core assault force rushes towards the objective. |
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| Another look at the British rushing forward! Based on their tenacity, I am thinking these are Canadian Troops. 🙂 |
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| The British Win!!!! Or so I thought. The Brits managed to get to the objective with no Germans within contention range. The thing is, in this mission, having the objective does not matter until either the final turn or the game’s time-limit is reached. |
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| Over to the left side of the table, the Germans bring up a Half-Track full of infantry to the building. Knowing our time-limit was close, the British jump out of the house and Assault the Half-Track. |
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| The men on-board jump out and meet the British in intense combat. |
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| The Brits lose, but take a significant number of Germans with them. |
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| The Germans then Assault the British Carrier. The Forward Observer and his last assistant jump out to meet the attackers. |
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| The Germans roll horrible and cause zero casualties. In retrospect, this die roll should have caused one casualty because the Forward Observer is just a trained unit (not Veteran like the rest of the force). This was an error that all three of us missed. |
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| The British roll excellent and take out the entire assaulting German squad. Had we have caught the four as causing a casualty, the results would have been different. That said, we roared around the table at the heroic deeds of the brave Forward Observer and his Assistant. |
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| Now the German Transport is in clear view and would likely be captured on the next turn. |
It is not looking good for the Germans at this point. Below is how the rest of the Platoons ended this final turn. Although a mistake was made with the Assault Dice, it was not a game changing mistake. This was the final turn of the game. The Germans would not have been able to move back on the objective in time for the end of the battle.
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| The British Main Assault Force secure the objective. The Commander and Medic follow behind them to provide support. The StuG on the top right is facing right to fire upon the fleeing British troops on the right (their left) flank. |
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| A final look at the gaming table at the end of the game. |
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| The British are Victorious!!! |
What a fantastic game!!! Bolt Action is fun on its own, but playing on a stunning table makes the experience even better! For those wondering, the mat is by Cigar Battle Box, the trees were home-made by Dave with a 3D printer and some foliage materials, the cows are also 3D printed and the houses are made by PlastCraft Games. To make the seamless hill where the objective is, we placed a hill under the mat. Special thanks goes out on my side to Cigar Box Battle for supplying Must Contain Minis with this beautiful gaming mat and to Forbes Hobbies for providing us with the gaming space with permission to take photos in their store. Forbes also supplied the PlastCraft Games houses and some other terrain pieces.
I hope everyone enjoyed this Battle Report. There certainly is a lot of eye candy here! 🙂
Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!
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