More Bolt Action

Gaming day again today and the run on Bolt Action continues!

Rob was back in action this week, so he got to face Phil's USMC. Their game was underway when I arrived. I'm not sure on the end result, but I'm sure Rob will post up some commentary on his blog (Painted Addiction) later. I took a few photos though... but only a couple of decent ones.

Once they wrapped up, Mark and I played a game as I was keen to face a more historical foe. I'd also changed my army list around a bit based on what I had been reading on the Warlord forums. I decided to run with this:

Reg. 2nd Lt. + assistant (modeled with smg)

3 Reg. squads of 8 (NCO with smg, 1 lmg, 6 rifles)

1 Vet. squad of 7 (NCO with smg, 3 smg, 3 rifle, 4 panzerfaust)

Reg. Light howitzer

Reg. Medium mortar with spotter

Reg. Sniper team

Reg. StuH42

Reg. Puma

The Vet's and  Puma would be my tank hunters. I'd have 3 units capable of dealing out some decent HE whilst my Reg. squads advanced or held any objectives.

Mark fielded his British infantry list (all Regular):

2nd Lt. + assistant

4 Squads of 10 (2 smg, 1 lmg, 7 rifles)

1 Medium MG

1 Light mortar

Staghound

Cromwell
Forward artillery observer

He choose "Rapid Fire" as his special rule for this game.

The mission we rolled up was "Demolition".... so we both immediately deployed our bases in the top floor of a building in our deployment zone.... perhaps not the best idea in hindsight from a game perspective...

We used the same table Rob & Phil played on with no changes and it was a little open. You can see the British Staghound conducting a recce mission before being officially deployed (it was the objective used in the earlier game).

I would deploy on the table edge on the left hand side with the chateau. Both us deployed our vehicles. Mark chose to deploy 2 additional infantry squads, whilst I deployed my mortar, sniper team and 1 infantry squad to support the vehicles.

And then we started... with the Puma getting the drop on the Cromwell...

But it only gets a pin.... stops from doing anything for a turn though as it fails its order check.

The Staghound pops around to try taking a shot at the Puma, but the Puma commander sees him coming and utilises the duel steering to race the Puma well away from the Staghound and towards the main German force.

Reserves start arriving for both sides and the British MMG takes up position in one of the buildings only to be obliterated by the StuH42. The Cromwell decides to try and take revenge popping out to have a go...

The shot goes wide. The German advance continues.

The Staghound positions itself to deal with the German supporting units, but only manages to put a pin on the mortar. In return the advancing Vet's fire a couple of panzerfausts at long range, but they're wasted shots (I figured they probably wouldn't last long right in front of the Staghound...).

Then, disaster for the British... the Puma pops out and takes a shot at the Cromwell. A very lucky shot indeed which does just enough to knock out the Cromwell.

Things are looking okay for the German side. Infantry units are advancing. The Vet's fire the remaining 2 panzerfaust at the Staghound, but only pin it.... this may not be so good....

Unfortunately my infantry aren't as lucky with the British infantry and Staghound decimating a number of units. Still... in most cases they stick around.

By this point Mark is convinced that the game will be a draw and it seems pointless going on. But I refuse! There is a chance. I could make it.... an outside chance, but a chance to still win the game. It will need to go an extra turn....

The British infantry line themselves up and I decide to try a tank assault. One British unit breaks, but the other remains. I then finally manage to get one of my units into the building holding the British base (it's on the second floor).... the Staghound drives up to the window and lets rip with MG fire pinning my unit. 

So.... I'd need to:

• Roll a 4+ to have the game go for 1 more turn
• Get the first order die to activate the Puma
• Knock out the Staghound with the Puma
• Successfully pass a morale check to order my unit in the building to run upstairs.

I roll a 4, get the first order die and the Puma fires at the Staghound....

I get the next order die and roll the morale check for my unit in the building who have 1 pin marker...

I'd rolled a 9 for the morale check to place an order on them which meant they'd go down (I needed an 8 or less with the pin marker on them). 

Game over.

A draw.

Mark was right.

So then we packed up and starting thinking about what to play to round out the day.

Then I realised that I was an idiot.

The unit in the building was the Vet. unit.

A 9 would be a pass. They would have been able to run upstairs!

So, technically it was a victory. Technically... :) Will teach me to pay better attention to my units next time!

As for the rest of the afternoon... we had a quick look at the Hail Ceasar rules since both Mark & Rob have gone a little crazy on ordering 28mm Greeks & Romans. Something I'll be avoiding, but we figure our existing FoG armies will work okay with the rules. So, Mark and Rob tried out a quick combat using the Hail Ceasar rules. I just took a couple of photos... :)

Finally, welcome to a new follower - Scott Bowman from Scott's War-gaming. Check out Scott's blog. It's a great place for anything LoTR gaming related.