Bolt Action Test Game #4

[bigjackmac]

All,

My plan was to move on to another set of rules to test them out (more on that in a later post, of course), but with as much fun as Danny and I had with the Bolt Action game in the Philippines, and the fact Nik missed it, I decided to do another Bolt Action fight. In any case, I wanted to head to the Eastern Front, so here we are in July 1941, Operation Barbarossa still in its infancy.  Since Danny was here last game, I let him pick; he went with the attacker, in this case the Germans, while Nikki took Soviet defenders.


Overview, north is up.  We've got a river in the center running north-south; once again it is passable (bad going) for infantry but impassable for vehicles, which will have to use the bridge.  There are hills in the northwest (top left), southwest (bottom left), and northeast (top right), with a small village at right center bottom, with some sturdy (hard cover) wooden buildings, though the wooden walls around them are much flimsier (soft cover).  There are stands of trees that block LOS, and then individual/pairs of trees dotting the landscape that do not block LOS but obscure the target (making it harder to hit).  The Russkies also have an entrenchment in the north, on the east side of the river (top center right).

The left-hand third of the table was reserved for the Germans, and the Soviets were able to deploy anywhere else on the table (the right-hand two-thirds).  So if you look at the left side of the board, there's a little stone ruin at left top center and another at bottom center left; the dividing line ran from the left side of the top ruin to the right side of the bottom ruin.  I made the attacker (Germans) set up first, then allowed the defenders (Soviets) to set up. 

Each side could deploy or keep in reserve as many units at they wished; the Germans threw their entire force on the table (I told Danny I would have left the Stugs off the table until I saw where the Russian AT assets were), while the Soviets put everything on the table except one rifle squad in reserve (which Nik never did bring on the table, despite several reminders from me).


The German attackers:
-Command Team
-MG-34 team
-8.0cm mortar team
-5.0cm mortar team
-Flamethrower team
-Three 8-man rifle squads
-Two Stug IIIDs (short 75mm gun)


The Soviet defenders:
-Command Team
-2 x M1937 45mm ATGs
-2 50mm mortar teams
-2 PTRD 14.5mm ATRs
-2 Maxim .30-cal MG teams
-4 8-man rifle squads (each squad is assumed to have Molotov-cocktails to use if/when they close-assault German armor)

An observation/realization I came to playing wargames with 11 and 16-year old boys: I need to play more 'gamey' games.  I think there's still room for the traditional attack-defense games, but I need to keep the games with largely equal forces, largely equal troop quality, and some armor on both sides (or none, but who the heck is going to play a WWII game with kids with no armor!!!???), I need to block the center up more with terrain (to encourage maneuver), and mostly they need to be 'meeting engagements,' i.e., go out there and whack the other side, last man standing-type of fights.


Right out the gate we've got action: a Soviet rifle squad charges a German machine gun team, wiping them out!


The Germans recover and push for the village in earnest, a flamethrower team hosing down one strongpoint while a Stug advanced and begins blowing Russkies out of another with 75mm HE at point-blank range!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2025/08/bolt-action-test-game-4.html

Always a great time when I can get up in the toy room and spend some time with my boys.  I hope you liked it, and there's more fights to come, but the next one's not Bolt Action, got some other stuff going on.  A few games actually, we'll see what I get written up first.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report.
Maybe time for asymmetric scenarios, like 'you will loose, but how many men can you get off table'?

[fred.]

Another good looking game Jack

I agree with your observation of more central terrain and similar sides. It also might help to play the same forces a few times so the boys get familiar with the troops - which always helps the game flow better. 

I'd also avoid the central river - having one often really seems to slow games down

[Steve J]

Great looking game once again Jack ! I'd agree that at this stage, 'gamey' games are the way to go, with simple terrain that doesn't cause too many movement issues etc. Then as the kids get used to the rules, then you can introduce tactics along the way and more 'realistic' scenarios. But at their ages, we just used to bung all the toys on the table, roll some dice and have fun !

[bigjackmac]

Lemmey - Thanks man, and yeah, something to think about, but I dunno, they're getting pretty competitive/worked up, I think they both need a no-kidding shot at the outright win, at least for now

Fred - Thanks!  Yeah, great point, I've been infatuated with the river down the middle lately for some reason, it certainly stymies maneuver.

Steve - I appreciate it!  To be fair, the boys are pretty on top of the rules and the different troop-types, but I think this: "...bung all the toys on the table, roll some dice and have fun..." really needs to be my focus.

V/R,
Jack