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I didn't see any other subforums for this, so I'm hoping this is the right place for it.

Basically, looking to get in to Bolt Action, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice about it? If I play, I wanna do Airborne, so are they an awful army, cause (I don't believe, and they rightfully shouldn't) have any access to armour.

Any advice, help, or reviews of the system you guys can give me?

Bolt Action goes under Historical gaming....

I can see how that makes sense now. Hmmmmm

click the triangle of friendship and ask for it to be moved. (yellow triangle on the right side of your post).

There are a few other posts asking the same question here in the Historical section, and I'd recommend checking them out for a few different opinions. Personally, I really like Bolt Action- it's a very fun game, though it has it's fair share of 'first edition roughness'. However, for the most part, it's fast, fun, and intuitive, and boasts a simple but tactically complex activation system- rather than "IgoUgo" you pick dice out of a cup, the color of which determines who gets to activate a unit. Certain reactions to enemy actions can effective end a units turn before it ever goes (going Down when artillery is incoming, making an escape move in a fast Recon vehicle, etc) so you've always got to decide who goes first due the situation at hand. Pinning is fairly important, and often times buttoning/suppressing a unit is easier than killing it outright. I'd strongly recommend it if you're looking for a casual, historical-ish, reinforced platoon level wargame.

Airborne (I'm assuming US Airborne here) can be a fun army- as Veterans, they're hard to kill, especially once they've dug in in cover. The US enjoys the games best air support, and you can give yourself some fire support with light mortars and 75mm pack howitzers. Bazookas aren't the most accurate AT weapon in the game, but they do a lot of damage when they hit, and if you give some of your squads AT grenades, you'll have more AT options. The only place where I really see Airborne struggling is in rooting enemy troops out of buildings, especially troops that are Fanatics or Tough Fighters or the like- the Airborne just doesn't have the volume of fire to gun them down from outside, and doesn't have any special close combat rule (or enough SMGs) to really storm the building and live to tell the tale. A flamethrower team could help, but they're pretty easy to shoot off the table, especially if they don't have an armored transport to keep them safe. Although the Airborne didn't have any armor of their own, once they were on the ground they'd be able to expect support from US Armored companies- or in the case of Market Garden, British Armor. So, adding some armor to your list wouldn't be a problem- an M10 or M18 Tank Destroyer could really help shore up the lists otherwise meager anti-tank capabilities, whereas a M8 Greyhound, M3 Stuart or a M4 Sherman would make for a more well-rounded choice.

Yeah, I looked at those threads after posting this one. Thank you very much.

This looks like so much fun...FoW is great but the scale didn't appeal to me. I like zoomed in engagements, and it seems to be picking up steam in my area (SoCal USA). Plus, there's a Charles H. Upham model, so SOLD!

Having played my first game last night I hope no one minds me throwing my thoughts down. Especially those who are thinking about getting into the system.

Firstly as Stormfather said there are indeed a few 1st edition rough patches but nothing that can't be figured out with your opponent. The basics of the game are very easy to pick up and I have to say I love the random order dice mechanic, definitely keeps things interesting.

For early games I'd say 500pts is probably about right, it enough to get all the basics plus a few toys without being a full size game with loads to keep track of. My 500pt army for my first game was very simple a Lieutenant with an extra man, a couple of squads with a few upgrades, an MMG, a light artillery piece and an armoured car. Not a very powerful army but it covered pretty much every basic unit type in the game and really helped me to learn the rules. I do intend to get the army up to 1000pts fairly soon but I'd like to get some more games under my belt before I do.

One final piece of advice, you need a lot of terrain, the game I played was on a fairly open board and it was absolutely brutal. My poor Germans were completely obliterated bar my plucky little armoured car.

I am wanting to get into this when i get some funds. What is the normal points range like in 40k 2000 points for example? Also, can you field armored force or you just have to use infantry?

Normally, infantry forms the core of your force, with Armor being support. However, there's a free pdf on Warlord's site with expansion rules that allows for armored games, where vehicles form your force's core and infantry become the optional extras.

Normal points range seems to be 1000 to 1500 points. An example of what 1000 points can buy you, from two lists I'm currently painting up to generate some interest in my gaming club:

American Airborne (Veterans)
Lieutenant, NCO, Medic, Air Observer
Airborne squad, 12 men, rifle/smg mix, LMG
Airborne squad, 12 men, rifle/smg mix, LMG
Airborne squad, 12 men, rifle/smg mix, LMG
Bazooka team
Light Mortar team
Pack Howitzer team

German Infantry (Regulars)
Lieutenant and NCO
Infantry Squad, 10 men, rifles, LMG
Infantry Squad, 10 men, rifles, LMG
Infantry Squad, 10 men, rifles, LMG
MG42 team
MG42 team
Pioneer Squad, Flamethrower, AT Grenades, rifle/smg mix
Flak 38
StuG III
150mm Nebelwerfer

 Spacewolfoddballz wrote:
I am wanting to get into this when i get some funds. What is the normal points range like in 40k 2000 points for example? Also, can you field armored force or you just have to use infantry?

Normal game size is 1000pts which can get you a surprisingly large army, just take a look at the 1000pt army bundles on the warlord website. There are armoured platoon rules (see here), essentially what you get is one squadron of tanks plus infantry support elements which have to be transported.

Thanks guys! Yeah I love the idea of BA as well being done by Andy Chambers and their sort of open feel to the whole thing... reminds me of GW years ago... might be just me but its refreshing and really has me interested in historical ww2.... and prices are not too bad and you can sub simular scale models or even play whole game in different scale from what i read like 1/72 if you really wanted too... again refreshing and makes me feel young again lol. Cant wait til i get some funds!

I will check out that PDF on armoured company! It is also good to know 1000-1500 points the current play range . Thanks again!