After Action Report - November 2025 Boot Camp

In November we had another Boot Camp, but this time had a couple of themed boards for our recruits to experience a different game than just an encounter or two normal competition armies.

We had 8 recruits join us for the day starting at 10am and finishing at 4pm. A great day for gaming and learning new things. Night fighting is tricky!

Pegasus Bridge

The first game was a game in three parts. 

Part One had the British Airborne land in gliders at night and overwhelm the shirkers waking up to guard the bridge. The defenders aim was not so much to win, but to whittle down the attackers. Veterans vs Shirkers is not much of a challenge.

Part two was for the airborne to capture the rest of the bridge, with potential daylight after turn two. Also unbalanced in favour of the airborne.

Last part we had LOTS of German reinforcements. A regular army with a Marder III and on turn three we had veteran Panzer Grenadiers with Panzer IV from the other side of the river.

Ready to face the Western defenders.

It was interesting seeing the difference Bolt Action v3 made. When we ran the game using v1 (!!) over 11 years ago, the shirkers made a lot more impact. In this game they were rolled over as if they were hardly present.

Here is the original review.

Overall, despite the imbalance, just the concept of an unbalanced game was a fun experience, especially on such a nice board.

St Mere Eglise

Ready for action

Keeping with the theme of dawn on D-Day, we had US Paratroopers drop into the city of Mere Eglise. Using the time honoured tradition of squares of paper for each figure, dropped from a ruler 36" above the table, it was great seeing the fluttering paratroopers drop into the town. A couple landed in the burning buildings so they were counted as casualties. 

Very conveniently, a LMG and rifleman both landed in the church tower. Cool! After the chaos of the paratroopers trying to rally and stray paratroopers fighting the patrolling German squad, the Germans had to wake and get their act together. 

LMG landed first - where's my loader? Ah, There he is!

A lovely stage of confusion with night fighting and then reinforcements began arriving from another 600 pt army of US Airborne and Germans.

The end result was a draw - which was fitting considering the fighting chaos.

Our recruits were very surprised when we had some goodies to share provided by our very generous sponsors.

A sprue for every player was provided by Warlord Games and War & Peace Games.

A number of lucky door prizes of troop and support boxes as well as some crafting gear was provided by Wargames Atlantic and War & Peace Games. The lads were very excited to have a day of gaming and more troops to build later!

The 5 year old brother of some of the recruits came along and watched. He had brought some of his savings to buy "some Bolt Action" like his brothers. We had picked up a variety of well priced gear at the well run MOAB Bring and Buy in October. He had a huge grin as he tightly held his new King Tiger. What a way to start Bolt Action!

Some of our recruits have attended most of our events this year as well as a competition or two. They are sharing their Bolt Action rulebook and it is VERY well read, spine broken but taped up. It is good to see them enjoying wargaming together.

Arnhem - Bolt Action Boot Camp Chaos!

6 Pounder ready to defend the bridge

Here we go again

I have been reading the book "Arnhem" by Major-General R E Urquhart CB DSO (played by Sean Connery in the film "A Bridge Too Far") and realised this would make a great Boot Camp game. So it is!

Everyone charging across that bridge

As you can see from the pictures of the board below, this is a city table with the bridge flanked by the hotel and other buildings at one end.
There are 3 German and 3 British Paratrooper forces in the game.
As with any good demo game we need to have a visually attractive board with challenging mixes of forces and a balanced game. It is always so easy to visualise how a game can go but as with everything Bolt Action you have to actually play the game to see the results.

View from the Bridge

View from the town

Our first play test today had the three German forces all coming in from the bridge and approaches. Although the game worked, it was too much concentration in one spot and much of the fluid nature of a Bolt Action game was lost.
So the reworked version we played in the afternoon had the main and one of the secondary German forces attack from the bridge and approaches, with the primary British force defending the Bridge and La Haye Saint building complex, the other German force occupying the terrace houses at the end of the board, one of the British forces occupying the terrace houses along the side and the last British force coming in from the police station side of the board.
Better.
We had a very close game, ending in a draw, but there were still a few stalemates which had to be overcome.
We have now replaced the two Hanomags with a Panzer III N (Light Howitzer - short 75mm) so that the bridge assault force can sort out the paratroopers in the Stone Hotel. Also, the British can't start as "Hidden" as everyone knew they were there.  Lastly, the reinforcing British must come from the side middle road, encouraged to reinforce the main British defenders who are being attacked by two forces.
Thanks to all our play testers today. It was a very enjoyable game - challenging for everyone as fighting began in earnest on turn one and didn't stop until the end, with the dice being pulled from three dice bags and people being fired upon from all directions!

Here are the forces:

British - All veteran Paratroopers:

Main Bridge Defenders: 
750 points 9 dice
2nd Lieutenant with 1 assistant - 78 pts
5 x Paratroops squads (NCO SMG, 3 Rifle, 2 SMG) Stubborn - 93 pts each
PIAT Team - 52 pts
Sniper Team - 65 pts
QF 6 Pounder AT gun - 90 pts

2 x Supporting Forces:
600 points 7 dice
2nd Lieutenant with 1 assistant - 78 pts

4 x Paratroop squads (NCO Rifle, 5 Rifle, LMG) Stubborn - 103 pts each

MMG Team - 65 pts

PIAT Team - 52 pts

German

Bridge Assault

752 pts - 7 dice

2nd Lieutenant with 1 assistant - 60 pts

Veteran SS (NCO Assault, LMG, 4 Rifles) - 106 pts

Veteran SS (NCO Assault, 2 LMG, 3 rifles) - 111 pts

3 x Heer Grenadiers (NCO Assault, LMG, 7 rifles) - 100 pts each

Panzer III N (Light Howitzer) - 175 pts

2 x German Support

600 pts - 8 dice

1st Lieutenant with 1 assistant - 85 pts

3 x Heer Grenadier (NCO Assault, LMG, 7 rifles) - 100 pts

1 x Heer Grenadier (NCO Assault, LMG, 6 rifles) - 90 pts

2 x MMG Teams - 50 pts each

Medic - 30 pts

Once we get the play testing sorted we will be providing a detailed scenario.

Attack over the Dniester - Playtest

We have been quiet recently but this time has not been wasted. Our next board is ready for play testing.
This is a board for 4 players, Russian verses Germans. The board represents a section of the Kamenets-Podolsky port area on the Dniester river during Winter. A Russian force is attacking across the frozen river while another is attacking from the other side of the city. The Germans are in the middle trying to stop the Russians linking up. (Here is the page with historical background)
There is an interesting mix of buildings, open areas, lanes of fire and cover, heights and depths.

 Volga Russians (8 dice):

HQ: Junior Lieutenant 2 men (Regular) 60 Pts
Siberian Veterans, 10 rifles, tough fighters 145 pts
2 x Siberian Regulars, 9 rifles, LMG, tough fighters 135 Pts
Medic, 2 men, Veteran 43 pts
Free rifle squad, 6 rifles, Green Inexperienced, all with AT Grenades 0 pts
Medium Machine Gun team, Regular 55 pts
AT Rifle team, Regular 30 pts
Total: 603 pts

Volga Germans (7 dice):

HQ: First Lieutenant 2 men, Regular 85 pts
3 x Heer Grenadiers, 3 Assault rifles, 2 rifles 65 pts
2 x Heer Grenadiers, 3 Assault rifles, 3 rifles 75 pts
Pz III N, Light Howitzer, Regular 175 pts
Total: 605 pts

City Russians (6 dice):

HQ: 2nd Lieutenant, 2 men, Regular 60 pts
2 x LMG Squad, 8 rifles, LMG, SMG, Regular 123 pts
SMG Squad, 6 SMG, Inexperienced 60 pts
Free rifle squad, 6 rifles, Green Inexperienced 0 pts
T34/85 medium tank, Regular 235 pts
Total: 601 pts

City Germans (6 dice)

HQ: 2nd Lieutenant, 2 men, Regular 60 pts
3 x Volks Grenadier, 5 Assault rifle, 3 rifle, 1 Panzerfaust, Inexperienced 94 pts
Light Howitzer, Regular 50 pts
Hetzer, Medium Tank Destroyer 210 pts
Total: 602 pts

The objectives are the warehouse, town hall (Stone Hotel) and train side factory. Additional objective for the Russian forces to meet up (and Germans to stop them of course).
Standard 6 turns with an optional turn 7.
The Germans can set up on the port wall and central buildings areas. German Infantry are all placed on board - treated as "hidden". German tanks not placed on board before the game can move in from the roads on either side of the board. The light howitzer can be placed inside a building but cannot be moved more than 6 inches from initial placement.

The Russians come on from their respective short ends of the board (the 4' sides). The barbed wire and dock edges are linear obstacles, which means infantry have to stop at the edge and can then move through on the following turn. Steps on the dock edge are no obstacle to movement.
The German fixed gun emplacement may be used if the Germans place a squad there. It is a Heavy automatic cannon and requires a 3 man crew. The remaining squad members can fire normally. If the Germans decide not to man the gun, the Russians cannot use it.

We will have our first play test this Saturday, 9 January at the Company of Dice meeting at South Coogee Bowling Club, Sydney.

As always, everyone is welcome. We provide everything, figures, board, rules, equipment and training too! Come on down.

UPDATE: Results of our first public play test.

Attack on Lorient Submarine Dock France 1942

U-505: Winner of the most heavily damaged
U-boat to successfully return to port

We have updated our planned submarine dockyards demo game based on great feedback and suggestions from the very supportive Bolt Action community. Our initial gut feel was that this option was feasible and we liked the idea of a massive boat being fought over, but I hadn't done any historical research to justify the scenario.  As it was were were out by 2 years. And the story is much more interesting too!

Attack on Lorient Submarine Dock 1942

The German U boat U-505 was Commissioned 26 August 1941 and went on active duty 1 February 1942, based at Lorient, France.

In Lorient, the submarine pens were commenced on 2 February 1941 and completed in January 1943. 15,000 mostly slave labourers and German overseers began three separate pen enclosures 2,000 feet in length 425 feet wide and 63 feet high, topped further by a seven section, 25-foot thick reinforced concrete roof using concrete exceeding 3.4 million cubic feet.
Until these monstrous pens were completed, the U-boas were repaired using the better repair facilities compared to Norwegian ports.
On 10 November 1942, U 505 had nearly fallen victim to the U boat hunting skills of RAAF pilot Flight Sergeant Ronald Sillcock. He had perfected the technique of locating a U-boat by radar and then turning his radar off and patrolling out of sight in the clouds. Once he had a good visual identification he would cut his engines and dive out of the sun for a surprise precision attack. Two U-boats had been seriously damaged by this method in recent weeks.
Unfortunately for Sillcock and his crew the attack on this occasion had been too precise. As his depth charges hit U-505 and exploded, he was directly overhead. His Lockheed Hudson was wrecked and the entire crew killed.
On U-505 the Engineering Petty Officer led a determined attempt to save the submarine by plugging the hole in the hull and the boat was able to limp back to France, earning the distinction of being the ‘most heavily damaged U-boat to successfully return to port’.
Now is the chance for a targeted attack by a team of Commandoes guided by a team of local partisans to capture the enigma machine in the sub and finish the job that Flight Sergeant Ronald Sillcock gave his life for.

References:
http://uboat.net/boats/u505.htm
http://historyarticles.com/gray-wolves-den/
http://ww2today.com/25th-october-1940-u-boats-now-operate-from-france
http://ww2today.com/10th-november-1942-u-505-survives-devastating-attack

Cancon 2015 - The Extended Ste Mere Eglise battle

You know you want to play!

Cancon 2015 is almost here.  On the Australia Day weekend from 25 to 27 January in Canberra the biggest games convention will be held and the Demo Gamers will be running the Bolt Action Boot Camp.
We will be right next to the Combat Company's trade area in the main hall with lots of other public participation games and other tournaments.
We have been play testing our St Mere Eglise game and have extended it so we can have 6 players by having reinforcements for both the US paratroopers and the Germans.  To add a lot of spice, the Germans will be coming on with a Panzer IV H and the paratroopers will have 2 bazooka teams.
You can download a detailed Scenario guide here with all the special rules for the US paratroop drop directly onto the town, night fighting and reinforcements.  It should be very enjoyable.
Do you want to join in?  Just rock up to Cancon and play.  Everything is provided and entry for spectators and public participation games is free.

The Battle for Sainte Mere Eglise

Click for more detail

UPDATE 2025:

Here is the game updated and extended for Version 3

UPDATE 2014: happening on Saturday 13 December at  The Combat Company.

We are preparing for our next Bolt Action Boot Camp at the warehouse of The Combat Company on 15 November.
This time we plan on having a scenario game, based on the battle over Sainte Mere Eglise in Northern France during the opening hours of D-Day when about 30 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division mistakenly dropped directly on the town rather than 10 km outside of town.
We have modified it a bit to make it more game worthy but it should be fun.

Here is the Scenario we developed (v1).  Please have a read and let us know what we can do to improve it during our play testing before the Boot Camp.