"Has anyone tried using Bolt Action with 15mm? " Topic

Has anyone tried using Beyond the Gates of Antares with 15mm? I think you could replicate a lot of the forces in 15mm. Can you use vehicles or large walkers with BtGoA? How adaptable is it? Would you be able to create your own vehicle stats and troops types? Any advice or info you guys can give me?

Has anyone tried using Bolt Action with 15mm? How does it deal with vehicles? I am after a 15mm WW2 skirmish game using individual figures. Would Bolt Action fit the bill? What would be the max number of tanks and would it handle them well?

TMP is so bug ridden these days :-(

Yes BA works in 15mm – better than in 28mm IMO.

Max number of tanks is very subjective, generally I limit it to one or two vehicles in a support role, but I guess others would use more.

The other main option for WW2 games at this level is Chain of Command, which whilst also written with 28mm in mind, works better in 15mm.

In both cases it's really an infantry platoon plus a few support elements – although CoC has a Big CoC free supplement that allows multiple platoons. Including pure armour platoons.

In both cases the table scale is close to 15mm figure scale, so playing the games in 15mm has a much better feel than in 28mm.

Yep I have 2 reinforced platoons for BA 15mm and CoC. I've played many times. Works well with no adjustment for measuring or distances. DO NOT switch to centimeters, it will screw up movement entirely.

My forces are featured on my blog.
Germans
link
Americans
link

Yes, as said above it looks and feels much better (IMHO) in 15mm than 28

Ditto the others, plays just fine by keeping measurement in inches.

I also play the game with 6mm figs – for THAT I switch to CM.

Bolt Action is a fun breezy game that plays much better in 15 than 28mm.

It treats tanks as "generic" so your armor is either light, medium, or heavy, that kind of thing. So if you want to see a lot of difference between this tank and that, Bolt Action is probably not for you.

The random unit activations also makes certain real world tactics impossible, so there is a bit of "gameyness" to the system. Still, it is fun and you can teach a noob to play in 15 minutes.

If you want more "meat" in your game that distinguishes tanks with more finesse, Mein Panzer is very good, but the data for WW2 is sold separately. However, one book gets you ALL the data at once. With Bolt Action you have to buy a lot of "army books" that get quite expensive.

Battlegroup Kursk is also fun but again expensive as you have to buy a $50 USD book for each theater (in essence you;re buying a lot of fluffy eye candy and the army lists). Beautiful books, but expensive. It uses a command point system. You roll for points and spend them to activate units.

Nuts! is one of my favorite skirmish level games but you should really not have more than 1 or 2 vehicles or the game will really, really slow down. The reaction system is brilliant though.

Wow, bugging your own postings. That is a new "twist".

To be a contrarian, nope, shouldn't do that, the rules are written for 28mm and should be used as such.

Young, irreverent whippersnappers always wanting to push the envelope and try out new ideas!

Can't leave well enough alone.

When will the madness end?

;-)

Before Beyond the Gates of Antares was released we used Bolt Action for Sci-Fi games in 15mm .

Someone had done a variant which worked well

Haven't tried, but am planning to use it with SF 15's. It looks like a simple, clean system, and just SEEMS suited for a smaller scale to me.

I was considering looking to BGoA, but already have BA, so will at least start with it.

15mm is Gods Own Scale, so every game will work better in 15mm :-)

Antares works great with 15mm. We made no changes to the ranges or rules. Just played straight out of the box, but proxied 15mm figures for Concord and Algoryn.

@Extra Crispy

No theatre books required for Bolt Action. Everything needed is in the main rule book along with Easy Army being free if you want those builds.

Thanks guys some great info there.

> No theatre books required for Bolt Action. Everything needed is in the main rule book along with Easy Army being free if you want those builds.

And the tank stats are a cinch if you have any other source of data to go from – along with the examples in the main book.

Yes, Bolt Action works quite well in 15mm scale. With 15mm you can purchase far more figures, vehicles, buildings and terrain for the same price as 28mm. Also, the movement and firing ranges seem more realistic in 15mm. My entire collection (circa 1944 German, U.S. and Soviet) is in this scale.

Dare I suggest 1/72 scale…

*gasp!*

Have played a few BA games in the standard 28' and enjoy it. Have 'yet' to play w/ the Revised version, but is sounds pretty good.
I have said, at 28mm BA is a "great skirmish" game, for a cpl of squads or even a platoon, IHHO, other thank half-tracks, or armored cars, its just 'not for armor'. Personally TANKs that big just look so out of place on the table, "Great but silly".

Its my plan & a WIP to build 2-15mm PSC tank companys; US Sherman and a Ger. Panzer IV late war company. For those not familar, thats 15 vehicles each.
Based on all Ive seen/read, BA

Have played a few BA games in the standard 28' and enjoy it. Have 'yet' to play the Revised version, but it sounds pretty good.
I have said, at 28mm BA is a "great skirmish" game, a cpl of squads or even a platoon, IMHO, other than half-tracks or armored cars, its just 'not for armor'.
Personally Tanks that BIG just look out of place on the table.

Its my plan & a WIP to build 2-15mm PSC tank companys; A US Sherman and a Ger. Panzer IV late war company. For those unfamilar, 15 vehicles each.
Based on all Ive seen/read, it seems BA, especially armor battles, 'was written for 15mm".

Stealth1000
TMP is so bug ridden these days

Have to agree, I only made 'one' post and it did NOT allow it to be edited or the 2nd to be deleted.

If I played Bolt Action, it would be in 1/72 because those are the individually-mounted figures and vehicles I have. Played in a demo game yesterday for the first time, and it's intriguing to say the least.

I do, the scale fits better.

We've used it for 20mm as well as 28mm and it's been fine. We also use our 'field-stripped' version with 54mm.

Wow, bugging your own postings. That is a new "twist".

Well, Tango01 has seen it a couple of times, but I thought that was rather to be expected… *lol*

By the way, I'm glad the Bug struck in this way this time; similar questions on two games I've not played.

Would like more speculation on Antares, but I seem to recall it has much in commom with BA.

Wait, there's an end to madness? No one told me!

Doug