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For my money, Bolt Action, and it’s split-off game Tank War, are everything that I want from a World War Two wargame. The battles aren’t big. This is still 28mm. But the gameplay is unique and, in my opinion, has one of the best wargame mechanics bar none. Getting started in Bolt Action is easy and quick, and best of all, it won’t break the bank.
Bolt Action is essentially a skirmish game, with about a platoon of soldiers on each side, perhaps with some heavy weapons like anti-tank guns or heavy mortars, and one or two vehicles. Because of the size and scope of the game, the individual sessions don’t take long, and it’s not impossible to get through two or three games in an evening at the game shop or club.
And although it’s not a Games Workshop game, it is, perhaps, the most well-supported 28mm wargames, with a huge number of models, dozens of vehicles, tons of sourcebooks, and plenty of material to get you deep into the game. And the scope of the game is immense. From being able to play with US Marines against the Japanese in the Battle of Iwo Jima to German Afrika Korps vs. the British 8th Army in North Africa to even fictional scenarios of imagined German landings on the shores of Britain, you can play virtually any game in any theater of war.
What Do You Need for Getting Started in Bolt Action?
Basic Supplies
Dice
You’re going to need a handful of dice to play the game–but there are more than one kind of dice.
For starters you’re going to need the basic D6 dice that are used in virtually all wargames, and you’ll probably want to have about 20 or so of these dice so that a full squad, complete with heavy weapons, can fire at once. There’s nothing special about the dice, and we recommend that you use a cheap set you can pick up on Amazon for pennies on the dollar. (Buy from Amazon)
But there are also Order Dice, which are integral to one of Bolt Action’s core, and most important, game mechanics. These dice are unique to Bolt Action, and we’ll talk about them in more detail, but these dice have a different order on each side: Fire, Advance, Run, Ambush, Down, and Rally. You will need as many order dice as you have units in your army (one order dice for each unit). (Buy from Amazon)
Likewise, you’re going to need a dice bag, or a wide-mouthed mug–something that you can put all the order dice into, mix them up, and then randomly draw them from. Any small bag will work for this, but here is one that I bought which I’ve found to be perfectly sized. (Buy from Amazon)
Pin Markers
There are a variety of things that you can use as Pin Markers. Some people have discs that turn to show you how many pins a certain unit has. I prefer the more visible pin markers that come with the Bolt Action starter sets: little red plastic explosions that give anyone on the table an immediate clear view of who has how many pins. They’re cheap, and they’re easy to use. (Buy from Amazon)
Blast Templates
If you buy a starter set then you’re going to get these with it, but in the case that you start the hobby without a starter set, you can pick up the blast templates cheap on Amazon. (Buy on Amazon.)
Tape Measure
As with most wargames, you’re going to need a tape measure. And, as I always say, a smaller tape measure is better than a big bulky one. a 6′ measure is more than you’ll ever need and won’t be unwieldly on the tabletop. (Buy from Amazon)
Books
With Bolt Action, the basic rules are not hard, and you’ll find that the rulebook is much thinner than with other wargames (looking at you, Warhammer). But there are additional books you will need to buy to get started in Bolt Action, such as the “Armies of…” books. These are books like Armies of Great Britain, Armies of the United States, and so on. These books contain all the stats for all of your units, so they are a must. And then, finally, there are optional campaign books that add new flavor to the game and give you special mission rules, such as the D-Day book, the Battle of the Bulge book, and the Stalingrad book. There are quite a few of these, and you can really go down the rabbit hole with them (in a good way). (Buy on Amazon)
Getting Started in Bolt Action: How Do You Play Bolt Action?
Preparing to Play
The first thing you’re going to need to begin playing is to have agreed with your opponent on which mission you’re going to play (or if you’re going to make up one of your own). You’ll need to set up the tabletop with the terrain that is essential to that mission, and this can either follow instructions in the rulebook, or players can take turns setting up the board. Terrain is an especially fun part of playing Bolt Action, so we’ll get into that in the next installment: Getting Started in Bolt Action: Hobbying.
You select your armies according to the agreed upon rules, which is almost always done by a points value. A standard game of Bolt Action is 1000 points, which works out to about a platoon, some special weapons teams, and a vehicle or two. There is a separate way to play Bolt Action that is mostly vehicles, called Bolt Action: Tank War, and we’ll cover that in an upcoming installment as well.
Once you have picked all of your units for the game, each unit gets an Order Die (one of the ones we mentioned earlier). So, if you have ten units, you get ten Order Dice, and if you have fourteen units you get fourteen Order Dice.
Starting the Game
Bolt Action follows an activation system that is completely based on the randomness of the Order Dice. All of your dice and your opponent’s dice are placed in the dice bag, and the bag is shaken up. Then someone–it doesn’t matter who–reaches into the bag and draws out a die. The dice are different colors for each player, and whoever’s die is pulled gets to make the first move.
The person with the first die selects a unit–any of their units–and gives it an Order.
Orders
The six possible Orders are:
- Fire: This is where the unit does nothing else but stand and fire all their weapons.
- Advance: This unit can make a partial move and then fire.
- Run: This unit makes a full run move and may not do anything else (other than charge into combat).
- Ambush: This unit waits to fire until a later time.
- Rally: This unit tries to get rid of some of the Pin Markers that have been placed on it. (We’ll explain what Pin Markers do in a moment).
- Down: This unit doesn’t move or fire, but drops to the ground and gets defensive bonuses as it’s harder to hit them.
Orders Going Back and Forth
As the Order Dice are drawn from the bag, whoever’s die is drawn selects a unit and gives it one of those six orders. They set the Order Die next to the unit to indicate that it has taken its turn. The dice continue to be drawn from the bag one at a time, and the game progresses until all of the dice are gone and all units have been given an Order. When the bag is empty of all dice, all are gathered up from the table, and placed back into the bag. This is the end of the turn and a new turn will begin.
Note: If any unit is destroyed, then its Order Die is removed from play. If the destroyed unit has already been given an Order, then its Order Die is removed from the table. If it has not yet been given an Order, then an Order Die is taken out of the bag so that there will be no extra dice at the end of the turn.
Also Note: The only time an Order Die is not placed back into the dice bag is if the unit had been put on Ambush and chooses to remain on Ambush.
Movement
Each unit has a movement characteristic. For almost all infantry, it is 6″ for an Advance and 12″ for a Run. Models must remain in unit coherency, not separated by more than 1″. Infantry can make as many turns as they’d like, moving in and out of obstacles at will.
Vehicles will have different rules for moving, including how far they can go (some vehicles are substantially faster than others) and there are extra rules for moving faster on roads. There are also some vehicles that can make additional rules, such as scout vehicles, or Recce vehicles, and their rules are explained in the rule book.
Terrain will affect movement. Prior to the start of the game, both players will know what all of the terrain on the table represents. This is either indicated by the mission rules or by agreement from the players. Some terrain is Impassible. Some is Rough Ground that will require slower moving. And some Obstacles prevent the movement of different types of units (barbed wire may impede infantry but not bother tanks, but concrete barriers will block tanks but not infantry.)
Buildings, bunkers, pillboxes and the like will have rules for how you can enter and exit them.
Shooting
Shooting follows the following procedure:
Declare targets: The shooting unit says who they’re firing at. In most cases, a unit must all shoot at the same unit with all their weapons rather than splitting fire. One exception for this is vehicles–a tank may fire its main gun at one target while the machine gun may fire somewhere else).
Target reacts: The target gets to decide what they’re going to do, which is chiefly whether they choose to go Down. They can only go Down if they haven’t already taken an Order. If they go Down, a die is pulled from the dice bag and set next to them showing they’re Down.
Measure range and fire: The firing unit measures (there is no pre-measuring) and all models in that unit that are in range can fire their weapons. Note that some weapons in a unit may have different ranges (submachine guns, shotguns, rifles, flamethrowers, light machine guns, etc, all have different ranges, and only those in range may make an action).
Roll to hit: This is a mechanic I like quite a bit about Bolt Action. The attacking unit doesn’t have a “to hit” characteristic that changes from unit to unit. All shots (with a few exceptions, like mortars) hit on a 3+. Then modifiers are applied. Some of these modifiers are: if the firing unit has Pin Markers on them, if they’re firing at long range, or if the enemy unit is Down. As an example: if a unit that had the Fire Order shot at an enemy on the other side of a hedge and were at long range, then they’d get a -1 for soft cover and -1 for long range, meaning they would be hitting on a 5+. All shots that meet the right number count as hits.
Note: any unit that is hit automatically takes a Pin Marker, whether they proceed to take any other casualties.
Roll to damage: This is another mechanic I like. The ability of the hit to wound a model is based not on the shooter’s skill, but on the target’s skill. Inexperienced infantry are wounded on 3+, Regular on a 4+, and Veterans on 5+. This essentially means that the better experienced the target model is, the better they are at avoiding injury.
Note: heavy weapons will modify the roll to damage.
Also note: vehicles require higher rolls to damage them (soft-skinned vehicles require a 6+, light tanks require 8+, and super-heavy tanks require an 11+.) This means that to damage anything above a 6+ you need a heavy weapon.
Once the damage is known, the target removes casualties. The player who loses casualties gets to choose which models in the unit are removed from play–with one exception. If a 6 is rolled to damage, the firing player rolls another dice, and if they get another 6 then that means they get to choose the target model removed. This represents sharpshooting taking out an officer, heavy weapon, or similar.
If the target loses half or more of its models it must make a Morale Check. If they fail the Morale Check, the entire unit runs from the board.
Close Quarters Attacks
If a player wishes to charge an enemy unit in close combat, they make a Run Order and declare their assault.
Declare Target: the charger declares a target.
Measure Distance: the charger measures to see if they’re in range.
Target Reacts: If the assault is successful (if they’re within range) and the target has not yet taken an Order this turn, they can fire at the oncoming attackers, pulling an Order Die from the dice bag and marking it as Fire. Shooting is resolved before the assaulting unit moves.
Note: if the assaulting unit is within 6″ of the target, the charge is considered a Surprise Charge and the target doesn’t have time to react with a Fire Order.
Move Assaulting Models: If the assault is successful, all models from the charger are put into contact with the target.
Note: there are modifiers that relate to charging through terrain, over walls, etc.
First Round of Close Combat: The attackers get the first roll to damage. They get one attack per man (there are some exceptions for close combat weapons like shotguns). There is no To Hit roll, only a To Damage roll.
Defenders Take Casualties: The defender removes their casualties.
Defenders Fight Back: All of the remaining defenders roll to Damage. There is no To Hit roll.
Attackers Take Casualties: The attackers remove all casualties
Loser is Destroyed: This is where close combat differs from shooting attacks. Whichever side has taken more casualties in close combat (not including the Target Reacting Fire Order) has lost and the entire remaining unit is removed from play.
Resolve Draws: If both sides have tied on casualties, they attack again as before, until there is victor.
Rules For Vehicles
Vehicles are given Order Dice the same as any other unit, but because of their weapons and armor, combat is a little different for them.
Movement:
Advance is a cautious speed, and most tracked vehicles will move 9″ on an Advance. They are allowed one 90 degree turn during this move. Wheeled vehicles move 12″ and are allowed two 90 degree moves. Run represents moving at full speed. Running tracked vehicles can’t fire and can move between 9″ and 18″, but they can’t make any turns. Wheeled vehicles can move between 12″ and 24″ and can make one 90 degree turn. There are different rules for halftracked vehicles, as well as things like motorcycles.
Shooting:
Vehicles have shooting arcs split into four: front, each side, and back. Some vehicles have hull-mounted main guns which can only fire in the front arc. Other turreted vehicles can fire in any arc. Co-axial weapons usually have the same front arc of fire, but pintle-mounted weapons can fire in all arcs. (However, if a vehicle is using a pintle-mounted weapon, they are opening themselves up to small-arms fire.)
Shooting At Vehicles: Target Reaction: If a vehicle is being shot at, it cannot choose to go Down, however some vehicles (Recce vehicles like motorcycles) can make a move to escape.
Roll to Hit: Rolling to hit for vehicles works the same way it does as with infantry–starting on a base of 3+. There are specific rules for determining how much of a vehicle has to be in cover to qualify for cover modifiers.
Roll to Damage: Rolling for damage is the same as we said before (soft-skinned tanks need 6+, light tanks 8+, etc). There are modifiers for what part of the vehicle you’re shooting, however: vehicles are easier to damage in the rear and sides.
When a vehicle rolls to damage a unit or another vehicle, its heavy weapon gives it a modifier to damage. For example, a light anti-tank gun gives a +4 modifier, and a heavy anti-tank gun gives a +6 modifier. You can see why it is generally vehicles which attack other vehicles (although your army can have anti-tank guns, bazookas, panzerfausts, etc, which give non-vehicles tank-killing power).
When a vehicle is damaged, you roll a die to determine the effects of the damage. The roll can range from Crew Stunned, which adds Pin Markers to the vehicle, up to On Fire, which adds Pin Markers and forces Morale Checks until the fire is put out, and finally Knocked Out, where the vehicle is completely out of the game.
End of the Turn
That’s the end of the turn. Collect all of the Order Dice from all surviving units on both sides of the table and return them to the dice bag.
The game continues like this until the objectives of the mission have been achieved, or until the preset turn limit has been reached.
Other Special Units and Rules
There is a wide variety of special units that behave in different ways. Headquarters units (mainly officers) move independently of infantry units, but if they are within a certain range can give boosts to Morale–the higher the rank, the better the bonus. They can also sometimes make special orders, so if you place an Order Dice on an officer, that officer might command two or more friendly units to all act together at the same time.
Another special unit is the Medic, who moves independently as well. If a model within 6″ of the medic is a casualty of small arms fire, the medic can make rolls to save the lives of the models.
Forward Artillery Observers move independently and their job is to call in artillery strikes (or aerial bombardment) on the radio. The artillery or air attacks will come randomly on subsequent turns.
There are also a smattering of different quirky units, such as “Green” units who are raw troops, or Fanatics who are unwilling to surrender, or Shirkers who are conscripted criminals or reluctant fighters who suffer more than average Morale penalties.