1200 Point Bolt Action Battle Report – British Army vs Fallschirmjager

This week, I got a game of Bolt Action in at my favourite local gaming store (Forbes Hobbies). My opponent for the week was Roy. There are a few things about Roy that I would like to share now. First off, he is a fun and friendly guy that happens to be amazing painter. Second, this was Roy’s First Game of Bolt Action. And Third, Roy is a bit of a power gamer and he gets a lot of enjoyment about planning out the best possible lists that he can make.

Before I made my list, Roy disclosed to me that he was bringing a platoon full of Fallschirmjager without a single vehicle. He also warned me that his units all completely kitted out with Automatic Rifles and the maximum allowable number of Panzerfaust. I figured that I would like to have some fun with this game and see how well a strongly mechanized Platoon would do against Roy’s all infantry Army. We decided on play 1200 points.

A Sample of Roy’s Painting. Amazing work!!!

Roy’s army consisted of three large units of Fallschrimjager fully loaded with Assault Rifles and Panzerfaust, a Panzerschreck team, a Large Anti-Tank Gun, Medium Mortars, a Sniper and a Couple of Command units. All of his soldiers were rated as Veterans. I brought to the table two 10 man squads of Regular Infantry with one Bren and one SMG each and a regular Forward Observer. The rest of my force was rated as Veteran and included three Universal Carriers for the purpose of transportation, an Otter, a Sherman V, two 5 Man units with 3 SMGs each, a Flame Thrower Team, a Medic with his helper and a Commander with his aid.

My 1200 Point British Army. Lots of armour and mobility here.

For the Mission, we rolled Demolition. The goal in Demolition is to have a unit touching the enemy’s base marker at the end of any given turn. The table was set as below. Both Roy and I placed the objectives in diagonally opposite corners of the table. That is my objective on the bottom left and he is placing his over on the top right.

Roy setting his side of the Table.

Roy choose to use my Sig Marine Statue as his “Base” marker. Finally!!! My GW model makes it to the table for the first time ever!

Above is the initial deployment for the British. The group on the far right is considered hidden and in a forest. The group in the middle planned to make a dash into the closest house and the Universal Carrier was transporting one of the 5 man Veteran squads. I used a Joan of Arc Statue as my “Base.”

Roy’s models look so fantastic that I got totally distracted taking close shots of his figures. I do apologize that I don’t have much to show his tactical movements. That said, just look at the beauty of his models. Roy placed this unit by some shrubs close to his objective.

This group was place along some hedges closer to the British objective.

This Anti-tank gun is a PaK40 but was a proxy for a PaK43 and was placed by the German objective

A German sniper made a nest in top floor of this house behind that window.

The British placed a Forward Observer in this house with a good view to the German’s PaK43.

After round 1, the table looks as follows… The British bring in the Otter and fire upon the German infantry moving for the cover of the forest. The British Forward Observer calls in a barrage marked by a coin (right by the PaK 43). Both the PaK 43 and German Infantry fire on the Forward Observer. The German Mortar team attempts to range in on the Otter and fails.

To the right… The British moved a Universal Carrier full speed up towards the enemy on the right, fired the carrier on the left’s LMGs on a commander in the Graveyard,  ran one ten man blob into the house in the middle and left the group on the right hidden. The Germans bring in one Infantry blob and a commander in the graveyard and sneak a line of men up the hedges in the middle of the table.

A close up of the German Squad moving through the Graveyard.

A close shot of the infantry moving towards the forest. Boy, do they ever look great!

The British Universal Carrier rolls up and unloads the Flame Thrower team to take out the closest large infantry squad. They get two pins on the unit and no damage. The unit stays in the fight. In behind, more Germans run up the Right fence line.

A close up of some of the Germans running along the fence line.

This Panzerschreck team posed a threat but were ultimately ineffective.

A little late to the battle, the Sherman tank Arrives. It fires 8 shots of Machine gun fire into the sniper’s window achieving nothing but a single pin marker.

The tank is now intended as the last line of defense for the British base.

The German Commander obliterates the British Flame Thrower team with a hail of Assault Rifle fire. The pinned Fallschrimjager squad manage to carry one and fire four panzerfausts into the Universal Carrier, destroying the vehicle and killing its’ occupants (medic and helper).

The Mortar team ranges in on the Otter and destroys the unit. The Fallschrimjager squad in the woods push forward. I was actually going for cheeky win here with the Otter planning to rush 24″ next turn to the objective. The PaK wouldn’t have been able to turn and fire and if I got the last dice of the round, I wouldn’t have had to worry about the 4 Panzerfausts in the woods. The mortar round made sure that this sly win would never happen.

The British squad in the middle are holding their own, but starting to dwindle to overwhelming opposition.

The Fallschrimjager push forward on the right flank towards the base.

At this point, I was happy to concede victory to Roy. Having destroyed my Otter, I had no push left that could get to his objective fast enough to win the game. At this time, it was a question of whether I could withhold the overwhelming opposition and drag this game out into a draw. I had lost 4 units to Roy’s loss of none and the units that he had left were in good shape while mine were weakening.

Over at the other table, a couple of the guys were playing Tank Wars. Hanging out with friends and playing Bolt Action was a fantastic way to spend an evening.

Over at another table a game of Tank Wars raged forward. 🙂

I hope that everyone enjoyed this Battle Report. Until next time, happy gaming!