After Action Report - 2025 ANZAC Day Bolt Action Boot Camp

 

Wow! What a day.

16 players, most of which had never even played a historical wargame, took part in the 2025 ANZAC Day Bolt Action Boot Camp.

The aim of the day was to give all those attending a good taste of what wargaming is all about. We arrived the night before and cleared the area and set up our  Four Demo tables. Each table would host two teams of two players, each with a 600 point army, using a dice bag for each opposing pair. There were three objectives on each board and all forces came in from the player's edge of the board. No deployment, quarters, infiltration or other cool game concepts. Just a simple advance on and capture the objectives with an infantry unit of at least 3 figures within 3 inches.

As our recruits turned up, they were all initially concerned they wouldn't know what to do, unsure of what this was all about and so on. But once we show them the boards, they got an inkling of what the aim of the day was. Using our periscopes they could see the board from a figure's point of view.

The first mission was to build their own 6 man squad from their choice of sprue. Warlord Games and War & Peace Games sponsored us with some boxes of miniatures and we provided some more for own supplies to provide a wider variety. 

Their $20 entry fee covered the cost of the sprue, while we covered the cost of glue, snippers and knives, the boards and armies and even provided the lunch! 

The sergeants were able to explain what each of the bits and pieces were, the best way to build the figures, how much glue to use and more. It's always tricky building your first few models, but once you have the initial guiding principles, you can forge on ahead. As each of our recruits did!

Then we had a well deserved lunch. 19 young boys and men certainly polished off the sandwiches very quickly!

Fed and ready to go, it was time to choose armies. We showed them the Easy Army lists and then explained how to work out which model represented which figures and how to arrange their forces of 5 to 8 units.

We explained the basics of how the dice pulling worked and what the game involved. As expected, everyone half listened so we were on hand to explain it all properly as they began playing.

Every recruit was provided with the excellent Quick Reference Sheet created by "The Bearded Swede". As it's almost impossible to find again based on the Facebook post, I have shared the Bolt Action V3 Quick Reference here. If the Bearded Swede sees this, let us know where he has stored it so I can properly link and attribute it!

 

It was very challenging for the three DemoGamer Sergeants to assist with all the tables and players. We were unable to get any photos so these are almost all from the sister of some of the players. We are very grateful she shared the photos!

Questions were simple, such as explaining that once an order dice has been allocated to a unit, it can't move until the next turn. A turn is over when every unit has received an order. This seems easy for all you experienced players, but for a new player this is revolutionary! It certainly was for me when I first played version 1 over ten years ago,

The father of some of the lads joined in too. He used the French army which included the Char 2C, a monster of a tank. This sounds like overkill, but the offset of a large tank is less infantry, and the tank could not hold an objective. So it was all a matter of keeping out of his way and trying to stay near the objectives

The boards were interesting, complying with our theory of board design. Plenty of open and closed terrain, allowing for all types of forces to have a go. Overall, we are very happy with the day.

It was very rewarding to see that light of excitement in the player's eyes, as they relived the highs and lows of battle, contemplated what they coulda/woulda/shoulda done, lamenting the unjust tribulations of the dice gods and generally reminiscing of the day's adventure.

Thank you to Inn Games for providing a generous deal for all the players wanting to start their Bolt Action adventure with Starter Armies.We expect to see many of the players attend their first tournament at the Kings Birthday Border Clash in Albury in June.