"Supplement Books" Topic

Hi,

New to tabletop wargaming, well not started yet other than collecting a few rule sets.

I want simething smaller and simpler to begin with so I saw the new Bolt Action Second Edition release and bought that.

I will most likely play 15mm rather than 28mm in the interest of size, price and being able to move onto different rule sets.

Most interested in 'Early War' – a quick skim through the rules shows that it has lots of information for specific theatres (but not early war). I also appreciate that the way it handles units and vehicles is by breaking them down into types rather than specify each vechicle individually, BUT …….

It would be nice to see some information on Early War units.

I have seen there is a supplement called Germany Strikes, but can't find much information about what is actually in it.

So my question at last – is this supplement what I need – does it list/describe units for the nations involved at that theatre or is it just scenarios. If it is scenarios, where would I find unit information – would that be the Army books. If I take the British forces as an example, the main rule book describes some of the units of the 1944 Normandy Campaign, like the Cromwell and Sherman Firefly but where would I find information about Vickers IV and Maltida I?

Cheers,

Nigel

I've been looking at bolt action too and just ordered the rule book 2nd Edition.
If I understand correctly you'll need the Army Books for each nation. Each Army book has all the vehicles from the start of WW2 to its end.
Note that the Army of Germany 2nd edition just came out today so make sure you are getting the 2nd ed. for that book.
The Kindle versions on Amazon are about $10 USD each which is a good price over the regular paperback edition.
(If I am incorrect about what the army books cover, I'd appreciate someone correcting this before I order my Army Books).

Thanks for the heads up about the new release army books. The 2nd Edition rule book says that it is compatible with the army and campaign books so I had assumed that they weren't changing.

But now I will keep a careful eye out. Sort of puts me off buying v1 booms at the moment in case the v2 release should appear shortly afterwards.

No kindle versions available in the UK through Amazon – think Warlord Games controls the distribution so you have to buy through them. They sell for £11.98 GBP (about $15 USD). Strangely they don't have the V2 release yet even though the physical copy is available to buy on Amazon UK.

Cheers,

Nigel

All you need is the main book. The "armies of" books are not required.

The OP indicated that early war wasn't addressed in the 2nd Ed. Rulebook. Are you saying, PrivateSnafu that the early war tanks are all addressed (for UK, Germany and France) in the rulebook?

Bob,

My Bad. If you want EW specifically you'll need a supplement. I'm not sure which one. You can, however just get the points and stats from BoltAction.Easyarmy.com.

boltaction.easyarmy.com

I'd recommend poking around there before buying any supplements. There is an amazing amount of info there for free.

To play BA in its basic form only the rule book is required.
If you want certain theaters for instance early war you will want a theater book in this Germany strikes. It adds additional rules for that time frame and environment and conditions. It also adds new units for that theater that might only be theater specific. You will also want the armies books for the units involved so if you intend playing Germany the Germany Army book will be advantages as it just gives more units. It will only be the Armies of Germany that will be a version 2 as it was the first book to be release and was not as complete as the other and therefore it was revamped. So get the MRB ver 2 and Germany Strikes and then the Armies involved in early wars Army books and you should be very well equipped..

Hope it helps
GReg

if you want to play early war, you need the army books ( you'll find quite all the rules vehicles etc ) .
and Germany Strikes … if you have money, time etc …

You can play Bolt Action with just the main book. It has the more common units for German, Britain, United States and Soviet Union (Japan too if you get 2nd edition).

Honestly, you can get by without the Armies of Germany, British, etc. with Easy Army as Private Snafu linked above. That will work well enough if you are already know basically what early war units you want to use. You just pick a Theater Selector and spend your points.

However, if you aren't adverse to spending a little extra money, the Armies of ______ books are more convenient to see what is a available in a theater selector and read a quick blurb on any given unit. Just understand that the Theater Selectors aren't a 100% accurate for everything that was, or wasn't, available, but they do make for a good quick guide.

As for theater books, I don't have German Strikes!, but I do have Battleground Europe and Osfront. I wasn't impressed with Battleground Europe as the scenarios weren't as inspiring or numerous as I would like especially since I only planned on using it with American vs. Germany so the British vs. Germany weren't as useful. Osfront on the other hand, I liked much better as I felt the scenarios were better thought out giving suggestions where to use some of the Japan vs. Soviets and Finnish vs. Soviets as Germany vs. Soviets. Additionally, the supplement made suggestions on how to use the scenarios from the main book for the eastern front.

So I guess what I am saying is you will have to look into Germany Strikes! yourself to determine if it is worth it. Basically, if you don't want to spend the money, you are probably going to have to spend a little extra time doing your own research. If you do pick up these books, it should save you a little time, but they don't have anything in them you can't find elsewhere.

thanks for the additional information guys. I wasn't sure the supplemental theater books were really worth getting based on the little review info I could find. It looked like the Army books would be beneficial as they would have the vehicles of that specific army for the entire war.
Thanks for that Easy Army Builder link. I'll look into that as well.