For this one - the attendees were invited to bring their own figures if possible - I dug out my dusty American Infantry from my earlier experience with the old BGWW2 game system.
On arrival, it was truly fun to see old friends and meet some new ones! I was hoping to buy a new Bolt Action 2nd Edition rulebook...or maybe the starter set...but the store was out of product! Boo!
For gaming, I was assigned to the newbie / training table. I was teamed with Tina, and we were to be a combined force of American paratroopers (82nd Airborne and 4th Infantry Division), and out fictional mission was to cut across the highway N13 - the main road that cuts from Carentan to Cherbourg. We'd be fighting against a mixed german infantry force in the heavily hedged "Boucage".
The terrain was a great mix of farm fields and roads - a small village setting with intact and bombed out or burned houses. If you think of the table as long N-S, the terrain was split by the roadway running N-S. Several smaller farm roads also cut the table E-W. Tiina would attack through the center, and I'd be her right flank.
Our opponents were Ryan (an experienced player) and another new player (like me). Tina was familiar with the game but had played just once before. Heck, I knew of the game, but had only just watched a Beast of War game on you-Tube that morning on how to play!
The "American" attacking force consisted of two platoons that were fairly identical - My platoon was led by a 1st LT, and had attached to it a 60mm mortar team with spotter, 2 30-cal MMG teams, a sniper team, and a 10-man infantry squad with BAR, and a 10-man paratrooper squad with all rifles. The other platoon run by Tina was similar with two regular infantry squads and no paratroopers.
Our opponents each were similar for this training game - 2 LTs for HQs, two regular infantry squads, each with a LMG, two falschirmjaeger squads with LMGs and submachine guns, 2 mortar teams, 2 MMG teams, and a crewed light artillery gun (somehow emplaced in the second floor of a building).
To save time we all deployed simultaneously, but the battle diverged essentially into two conflicts which saved time! The game would essentially be played on kill points (destroyed units).
Here are some pictures and comments from the event:
Deployment - Paratroopers are hugging a hedgerow - The officer and runner are up at the building. In the distance is our target.
The other squad and support. Bob is the BAR gunner. Lost his helmet someplace I guess. Probably days before on the beach.
Tina's troops are looking more professional. No milling around.
Paratroopers are advancing (running) turn 1 to get to the next hedge, adjacent to the N13 roadway. German defenders are scurrying around in the distance.
Gunners re-positioning to place fire on the distant building - Only the gunner is peaking...there is a cannon out there that just missed the mortar team!
Paratrooper spotter is looking for the enemy. He ultimately starts placing mortar rounds across the road to help the paratroopers advance. It is good shots either hit or miss!
Tina's regular infantry squad from the 4th ID are getting tangled up with some German infantry! It does not end well for the Americans...
Priming up to dash across the road.
Made it! But look! German office just up the hedge line!
The source of a lot of trouble...how on earth did it get there? Blown up to the second floor when the building was destroyed? Or disassembled, moved up, and reassembled? No matter! These guys are bad shots!
Final photo...The runner is dead. The LT is all alone. How did that happen? Well...the artillery piece somehow shot downward into the paratroopers, causing some pins...in unpinning, they rolled boxcars on the dice. That meant the rolled on the FUBAR table...and the result was a friendly fire incident. Don't tell the investigators...it was not a paratrooper - infantry dust up...
Overall - VICTORY for the American Side! I think the score was about 8-4 at the end in terms of killed units. I think I only earned 2 of the 8 points...Tina got the rest! If I recall right, I lost a MMG team...and a few casualties from the squads. I'd taken down a german FJ squad and officer, but pretty much collapsed the german flank. If we'd gone another turn, I'd have hopefully taken out the artillery piece in assault!
Once I get the rule book I'll need to go through and see if there was anything else to learn. At the end I was dropping mortar rounds on a building, which was complicated. Also shooting at units in buildings was a little iffy. I think we were also a little lax on line of sight issues. That said, the rules are really easy and everything is all about the modifiers and having great models!
So now, I'll wait for the next available game for bolt action - probably June. I did win a door prize for the event - which I used to procure the Bolt Action Book on American Units. It is nice to have - with points and such for list building. But I still need the rule book! Our table host - Larry - had some really nice summary sheets that had all of the key rule elements. More importantly, he pointed out a website from which anyone can do list building. I might need to pre-construct a 750 point and a 1000 point list of my own for next time! Not to mention American unit players seem to be rarer! Maybe I'll do some paint repair and basing improvements before next time...dust off that Sherman...
All for now,
MING
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