"How long do Bolt Action games take" Topic

Thinking of putting a Seelowe game on for my game group. Looking at something a little more tongue-in-cheek and skirmishy than we normally do, things like Dad's Army, fifth column nuns, mosley boys etc.

What I don't know is how quickly Bolt Action games run, so how big to pitch the number/size of units to keep six players engaged for a couple of evenings.

Are there any guides or rule of thumb estimates that I can use?

We ran a game over two evenings which had about 17 units on either side(not counting 3 officers per side) with squads of about mostly 10 figures with a couple a bit larger, say 15 each. About 9 infantry squads and supporting weapons per side plus transports, a few tanks etc. It ran very well both evenings and we could have stretched it to a third night if pushed I suppose.

That sounds about the right size. May I ask about the terminology – what do you mean by ‘unit'. Is that a section/squad (approx 10 men each). Does it also include single vehicles, or support weapon bases – so is a MMG with its crew counted as a unit? Are we talking 170 figures per side?

Rough outline say 12 units a side. Most are 10 man infantry. A MMG is a unit but not a LMG, individual vehicles are units. There might be 50 infantry per side on the table. That is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour game. Your plan might work best as a series of linked and parallel games.

With six players over two nights I would give each player 1500 points worth and let them figure out what they want. In one on one games of 1500 points it takes us about two hours. The difference is you have new people and more of them. It is better to take your time to teach and enjoy the game so this point range should make for an enjoyable time.

Once you get the rules down pat, 1.5hrs to 2hrs 1000pt game.

In my experience they run about 2 hours.

A multi-player game of BA takes longer than a 1000-1500 pts tournament 1v1.

I have run games of about 3000 pts per side for 6-8 players. I would not have players use the lists and pick units in a multiplayer game (unless they all have the rules and play regularly). For a club style game predetermining TO&E and the scenario is better IMO. We ran a Pegasus Bridge scenario and an Iwo Jima beach assault scenario with multiple platoons on a side. Each player gets 1-2 squads and a support weapon or vehicle. One player is the commander and allocates dice when they come up. That's the way my club does it anyway.

These games last about 4 hours.

Until one side has shot all its bolts.

1,500 pts per player will keep everyone occupied.

In our game a Unit = 1 squad of 10 including LMG. Unit = 1 tank or other vehicle, or 1 MMG or Mortar and their crews. It looked fairly even on a points basis allowing for some fortifications. We don't work everything out down to the last point, just within 5 or so is good enough. So long as the final points tally is roughly what we were aiming for.