"Tell me about Bolt Action" Topic

I am a 15mm Flames of War gamer. So you can already guess that I not a tight knuckled rivet counter.
So, since I already have the right paints I might want to go to 28mm skirmish games.
Btw I don't do tournaments any more.

So I have a few questions.
How many figures average per side for a 3-4 hour game ?
Who makes decent cheap figures?
How many tanks per side?
How does it play ?
Can "impossible" things happen with a good die roll ?

Is this the game to play things like storming the bridge at Remagen?

And anything else you feel I should know.

Can't you use your 15mm figures?

This will tell you everything you need to know.

link

For the record, starter armies are about 30-40 figures, a vehicle and a gun.

Well, I met a fellow who made the jump from Warhammer to Bolt Action. I asked him how that happened, as I don't see it often. He said his store was selling it and 'Bolt Action is just Warhammer 3.0 in a new package.' His words.

I thought FoW was "just 40K" too…

Winston is teetering on the edge…
Push him over.

Winston and I are jonesing for a convention.
Fall In is coming up.

Who makes plastic (Oh! The horror!) Yanks and Huns?

As for using my 15mm figures, they are mounted on bases, with 4 figures per. I am afraid they will not work.

Speak for yourself OFM.
Harrumph.

You can easily play with 20-30 figures and 2 or 3 vehicles.

Not for rivet counters: all heavy tans are pretty much the same, all heavies are the same etc.

To me it is very, very vanilla. I would try before you buy (the book is $35 USD and you're familiar with the codex industry already). You could easily use a 15mm FoW stand as a single figure.

Then if you like it I'd stick with 15mm (you already have the tanks and terrain). plus the ranges will look better anyway.

I have figures in both 15 and 28mm. Both are mounted individually as I have never played FoW. I think BA plays well in either scale. But I prefer 15mm for larger actions. Also when using multiple vehicles.
It's not really all that satisfying a game for the more serious minded WW2 gamer, in my opinion. But it does play fairly quickly. I do most of my gaming at a game store these days so that influences my behavior.
I do like that it can be very infantry oriented. Nice change for an old Tread Head.

Well if you want plastic Yanks and Huns Wargames Factory has decent enough stuff cheap. I especially like their Russians but you didn't ask about that.

Kindle copy of the rules from Amazon.uk for 1 Pound 89

don't know how long that price will last though…

link

John the OFM:
Who makes plastic (Oh! The horror!) Yanks and Huns?

Conveniently, Warlord sells a Bolt Action starter pack. It come with the rules, 20 plastic Americans, 20 plastic Germans, a farmhouse to fight over, and enough order dice to get you started.

Had a few goes at BA at demo games – for infantry-only skirmishes, it's a fun, fast-play, 'action movie' type ruleset with solid game mechanics, lightweight on the details.

There's a deal-breaker for me when it comes to infantry-vs-tanks and tanks-vs-infantry, however.

T-vs.-I: Tank roars towards infantry. Infantry are simply assumed to have got out of the way.
No roll to see if they do: auto-success is assumed.
Also: this auto-succeeding evasion is a free action.
The evading infantry still get their full, normal action this round.

I-vs.-T: Tank roars by at full speed.
Infantry can just walk up to it and close-assault the thing. Success: dead tank. Fail: no consequences for assaulting infantry. They dust themselves off and get ready to rugby-tackle the next approaching tank.

I have only played the basic rules, though – for all I know there's a supplement which 'fixes' that.

Norman D Landings, the demo games you took part in apparently had the rules modified a bit, not to say plain wrong.
Correct rules are in the book, no supplement required.

T-vs.-I: Tank races forwar, infantry may fire if tank started more than 6" away. If not stopped, tank moves forward til it touches infantry. Infantry test moral: If failed, unit is removed from play. If passed, unit stays, soldiers move aside, and if the tank still has movement left, may assault into further units.

I-vs.-T: If tank is on run action, it's too fast to be assaulted by infantry. Infantry not equipped with AT weapons may only assault tanks after passing a moral check with a -3 modifier.
Tank may reaction fire.Infantry reaching the tank may assault, need 6 to hit if tank on advance order, otherwise 4 plus. Work out damage etc…

MUCH better…

Sounds like I must have played simplified rules for demo games, as you say.
Kind of a shame that it's left me with such a poor impression of BA.

Thanks for that – always happy to be enlightened!

I mainly use individually based 15mm figures for Bolt Action but I do play the odd game in 28mm as well. I prefer to play scenario based games rather than equal point based games myself, I recently played an advance to Dunkirk game that had the Germans with twice as many vehicles and infantry than the British which lasted between three and four hours.

I have played a few games of BA and while it was enjoyable, especially the dice order mechanic, a few aspects left me wanting more, close assault for example.

I then tried Chain of Command and found it knocked spots off BA, check out reviews for both rule sets before you buy.

+1 to what Londonplod said. Chain of Command for platoon plus supports; I ain't been shot mum for company sized actions.
I have played both and what really appeals is the mechanic showing more realistic firing ranges in these rules. I read somewhere on this forum that firing ranges in BA did not allow (or ranked the range to extreme) when firing along the length of the Pegasus Bridge model, hardly realistic.
Also with the activation mechanic for CoC and IABSM you really get a sense of the uncertainty of units not necessarily being able to co-ordinate in the heat of battle. They give a real sense of the confusion inherent in a developing battlefield with limited comms and restricted field of view.
I recently played an Omaha beach landing action with 15mm figures using the IABSM rules and it really was nail biting stuff. Losses were high but the American troops finally managed the breakout. Thinking about it there were around three companies on the table at any one time and the rules can handle that level of action (and the troops were all based on FOW bases too)

I play bolt action with 15mm figs on FOW bases, plus a few singles painted up. E.g., a Bolt Action squad may have 10 infantry. I will take two FOW bases with 4 infantry each, and two singles, and I am ready to go. With about 10 single figures I can make change as I suffer casualties etc.

Find out what is being played where you live ans sit in on a game. No point in listening to the advice of strangers if no one around you wants to play that particular game.