Well, Millennium 18 is over. I've been going to this convention for a long time and every year I, with my best gaming friend, Ed, put on a game in which we share common interest—typically Napoleonics. I also end up doing two more things either by design or accident. One is acquiring rules and miniatures for a new period (which end up on the ever growing pile of stuff I will get to some year) and playing in a game that I haven't played before.
This year, the new gaming experience was Bolt Action. Now, understand that I own the rules and all of the supplements. I've read the rules and watched tutorials on YouTube. But, I've never had the opportunity to actually play a game.
When I got to Millennium this year, I saw that the Warlord demo team was going to be present and staging hourly demo games. Awesome. This afforded me the opportunity to play in another demo/beta test hosted by Two Hour Wargames (Ed Teixeira) for a, hopefully soon to be published, space fighter combat game and get a demo game for Bolt Action in as well.
At this point, let me point out that having short demo games is ideal. Time spent playing games is a commodity that has to be carefully rationed at a convention. If you are promoting your game and/or miniatures then what sells me is a taste, not a seven course meal. If I can play a short scenario and get the flavor of the game, then I'll likely buy the rules and maybe some miniatures to go with it. When I get home I'll read them at my leisure. Of, course, this isn't the way everyone thinks; I can only speak for myself. Both Two Hour Wargames and the Warlord demo team seemed to understand this and their demos were short and to the point.
At any rate, this particular article is about the Bolt Action demo game I played.
When I first walked up I was greeted by a very enthusiastic and helpful Jon Russell who bade me to play. My first impression of the table that was set up was that it was small. Too small. I thought to myself that the demo was not going to be indicative of typical game play at all—it would be over too soon to get a feel for the mechanics. I was wrong.
The demo scenario had enough decision making and was laid out in such a way as to make applying typical WWII tactics possible. The Germans (me) were on one end of a street and the Americans were on the other. On one side were a row houses, on the other were two detached houses. Plenty of cover for the foot troops.
I had a PzKw IV, Sd.Kfz 250/1 halftrack (containing a machine gunner and an infantry squad), MMG team, and a fallschirmjager squad. The Americans had an equivalent force, I assumed. I knew they had a Sherman, but I wasn't sure about what other troops they had.
Keep in mind my objective in playing this demo was to understand the basic game mechanics and to see if playing "historically" would pay off. So off I went…
…to make a long story short, I positioned the Panzer IV at the end of the road to deny it an enemy infantry advance. At the same time (or as close as the dice draw would allow) I pressed on both flanks by installing the MMG in one of the detached houses covering the end of the street closed to the enemy. Then I used the halftrack to deposit the squad it contained in the wrecked row house closest to my end and used the halftrack and it's MMG to cover the alley. The other squad started on the other side of the street under the cover of the detached house.
So, in the end, my MMG team in the house paid dividends. The Americans also put an MMG team in neighboring detached house, but a shot with the tank and a good die roll dislodged them. At the same time, the squad in the row houses started making their way through the wreckage, house by house. When they got to the last one (closest to the American side) they found it occupied by American paratroopers. A close quarter fur ball ensued and my guys came out on top—barely. When that gave me all the hard cover on the table and the Americans were forces to withdraw.
I have to admit that watching the demo videos on YouTube and reading the rules had left me with a predisposition to liking these rules. Playing the demo and using standard infantry tactics paid off. Though it was certainly no sure thing. Had the fight in the row houses gone a little differently or had the American MMG team been able to hold their position (there was a substantial chance the tank round would simply pass through the house with no effect) the Americans could easily have taken the game.
I think that this short demo game was exactly what I needed to affirm that Bolt Action is a game that I will continue to play in the future. It means my gaming needs, i.e., it's easy to learn and not complicated, it rewarded application of WWII infantry tactics and didn't violate any "common sense" rules, and it was a lot of fun. Additionally, It can be played in a very small area. I can totally see a one hour length game being played out in a 4ft x 4ft.
And finally, I have to thank Jon Russell for his assistance and my opponent, Larry, who was a good sport and a gentleman gamer. There will be Bolt Action in my future!
Picassa Web album: link
photographs the same figure, with different cameras and equipment.
