Bolt Action Boot Camp July 2025 - After Action Report

It is great running our new format Boot camps - practical skills in the morning and a game with great models and scenery in the afternoon.

"Have you seen my pegs?"

The day began with some scenery building. We made simple hedges from scourers, Sandbags from modelling clay, and using cardboard and printed stone and brick paper we made a new monument (more details later) and more.

During construction, my wife popped in and asked "Have you seen the pegs ..." and then stopped as she saw they were all being used to hold the folded scourers together. Being an experienced gaming adjacent wife, she understood immediately their critical function and took the two she needed that hadn't been borrowed.

"Have fun," she said, glad that we had left a few of the pegs free. 

After a lovely lunch at the Wingello Village Store, the games began. Nothing teaches you how to play a game better than actually playing the game and encountering different situations. With the Demo Gamer Sergeants nearby, any rules questions could be sorted out together.

We don't just give the answer, we work through the rules with the players so everyone knows how it works when they experience that situation again.

Our current demo board Outer Cherbourg had more play-testing. The best way to see if a board is repayable is if players want to play it again. And again.

Some of the lads were staying overnight and had a game with two sides of 3 x 650 point armies each on the same table. Now that was a busy game! The game was played with 3 dice bags, one for each pair of players. But you could still fire at any of the opposing forces which made the game very intense.

The lad that went a bit far forward realised he was being hit from all sides. It was a great experience to be part of six enthusiastic players all doing their best to capture the objectives with two others supporting and against three opponents.

Once more we are very happy with the day. More enthusiastic gamers enjoying the excitement of great wargames.

Participants chose between a figure sprue from War & Peace Games or their created scenery. We also had some gift vouchers left over from the tournament to share from Eureka Miniatures and a couple of dice sets. Everyone had great value from their entry fee!