I went to Finn-Con yesterday, a small local convention in the library of Miami-Dade College. I spent most of it manning a table for the public library outreach, but got to take my lunch hour with a demo of Bolt Action. Second edition I think. (There was no point taking actual lunch, since the lines were half an hour long.) I've been meaning to try it as a test for Very British Civil War, so it was nice to see these books:
No historical scenario here either, just a handful of units on the board to demonstrate mechanics and a decidedly un-WWII table:
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Not a bad trench table, with corrugated cardboard for the metal
sides and matchsticks for the flooring. |
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| No idea what sort of armored car this is. |
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| Finnish ski troops. |
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| Assorted troops of many lands. |
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| Australians. |
We played across a third of it, and I came in during the first turn of a demo against Gabriel, who was playing British. I got Germans. Both sides had three infantry squads, a transport (SdKfz251 v. Bren carrier), a tank (StuG v. Cromwell), an officer base, and a special weapon (Germans: heavy mortar, British: sniper team).
The report will be a bit incoherent and misremembered, as I lost what few notes I had partway through writing this. Fun game, anyway.
While I've bought the small 3rd Ed. "beginner" set as a test for VBCW, I haven't yet absorbed the rules; in particular, the "pinning" rule stymied me. When a unit takes a casualty, it also takes a pin test, which if failed must be passed when the unit attempts to activate. Activation checks must also be taken if an officer isn't close by. They are roll-low on 2d6.
What I do like about the system is that it isn't entirely IGoUGo. Activation dice are drawn and the side that comes up gets to activate a unit. There also aren't saving throws, and an infantry unit that loses CC is wiped. (The rules may have been simplified a bit, though; for example the squads were only armed with rifles - no smgs or light machine guns.)
So, Turn 1: "The British are coming, the British are coming!"
Yeah, the Brits climb out of their trenches and head for the German lines. What is this, the Somme?
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| Well, no. A bit more like Cambrai. |
One squad just walked across the top, another overloaded itself into the Bren carrier and drove. A perfect target for my StuG! ... which had already activated that turn. An 8cm mortar round into the open-topped vehicle? ... eh, needed a 6 to hit and missed. They could hit on a 5+ next turn if they chose the same target and it hadn't moved. Well... The British sniper team took out my command element, while my rifles and 251 MG concentrated on the dismounted squad, killing about half of them but failing to pin or break them.
In
Turn 2, the Brits got closer - but not close enough for my back line, as rifle fire has a range of only 12". So I had to scramble my third squad forward. The StuG readied to take a point-blank shot at the loaded carrier - but had been pinned last turn and failed to activate - the lost command element would have provided a bonus to the roll. My rifles continued throwing fire into the leftward British infantry, driving them down to two men - who still didn't break.
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| The rightward Brits about to assault - their third squad can be seen coming behind. |
In
Turn 3, the Brits got into the trenches. I failed my rolls to fire into them as they closed, and lost the first combat. (Like 40K, dead casualties don't get to fight, and the attacker goes first, so...) My second squad assaulted back... and still lost the combat. My third finally cleared the trench, thus preventing the Brits from winning the scenario at this point.
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| During combat. |
At some point during this kerfuffle, the StuG and Cromwell exchanged fire. I missed (damn dice!) and Gabriel hit, eliminating the StuG. My leftward rifles took on the leftward British infantry and eliminated them. And that was the game, from my POV at least, as I had to get back to work and presumably the GM took over again for the Germans. At that point, they had an intact Hanomag, mortar team, and a battered infantry squad, while the Brits had their Bren carrier, Cromwell, and an intact infantry squad and sniper team. I think I'd hurt his command squad at some point but not killed it.
While I'm certainly misremembering some of this, my impressions of the game as a whole are favorable. If Gabriel turns up in the comments I'd welcome his recollections. It was an enjoyable outing. The GM was one of the
Bolt Action club that plays at a local store on Monday evenings, so I may see him again too one of these days. Thanks for reading.
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Lastly, here's what little progress I've made so far
on my 30 BEF troops... |
