"Bolt Action" Action

Saturday was game day and we had a great turn out. 6 players in all, including Ross of www.gameofmonth.blogspot.ca/ fame. I had put together 4 forces on 2 sides at 600 pts a list. This was a learning game as most of us had not played before. It was my figs and rules so I took the role of game master. The scenario was called envelopment and required the attacking Russians to occupy or escape through the German deployment zone. The Germans opted to defend the side of the table that had a good killing zone in front of it. Unfortunately for them, the Russians opted to avoid this area and squeeze the bulk of their army in a mad charge down their right flank. The Germans reacted to this but were limited because the Russians had kept a flank marching reserve which could have arrived on the other flank, but did not. The Russians overwhelmed the defenders on that corner of the battle field and marched off their army almost unscathed. The Germans were able to knock out a T34 in a long range duel as well as 3 smaller units (MMG, Anti Tank Rifle and Sniper). The Russian armored car got cocky and blew up on a bridge. The Germans lost a sniper and 1 infantry unit and an officer.

My role as umpire was greatly reduced after turn 2 as the players had gotten the hang of things and used the excellent 2 page QRS. I think this was a tough scenario for the defenders. I have read the the basic rulebook scenarios have been revamped and are much more balance and here is a link... https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9qPaKsZK_89TTlUUTRMeFNqN21ZSy1HVmhZLWlxSTBNR0NZ/view.

One of the modifications was not allowing the attacker to flank march would would have made a big difference for the defenders. The players appeared to enjoy the game and we had a nice lunch together. Welcome to a new member of the club Richard.

I reviewed the rules last night and found some errors I made. I think this is ok as both sides benefited or suffered from the errors.

View from the German lines

Table set up

Russian hordes advance on their right

Inexperienced T-34 heading for trouble

Germans hold the strategic bridge on their left

Soviet Sniper and AT rifle in cover