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I have some Bolt Action sets being sent my way finally. I went with Soviet starter set and the Japanese starter set with the hopes getting historical games a bit more popular at the club.

I have yet to play it, but from what I have seen it looks good.

How is the balance between these starter sets? In reality, soviet forces would walk over the IJA and was wondering how the game handles such a match up?

Also any tips before I start playing?

The different armies are fairly well balanced because everything is "generic-ified" There are some differences in units and options available but most regular units will be similar across the five main armies. The special rules can also effect how you play but don't really break the balance much. Playing smart as well luck through order dice and dice rolls have far more effect on the outcome than differences between armies.

Sweet as, just wanted to check so I can make sure the intro game leaves a good impression.

Get ready to have some fun ! Love this game

Cheers dude, the rules look perfect for getting some of the more stubborn 40k players playing. From the looks of it.

Hopefully they arrive soon.

Its very much the "game of the film" more than history, and there are a few niggles where the game doesn't match how reality works - however approach it as a game of a hollywood film and these don't matter.

Have Japan here, the old 1,000 point starter (metal) though it arrived partly metal partly plastic over a few months...

Very easy for a 40k mindset to get into - be aware that the same 40k WAAC mindset will break BA when they discover vehicle flame throwers - avoid them and its not too bad as the larger toys are so over pointed as to be a pain.

Starters are ok against each other but both Soviet and IJA have a few special rules that need a bit of thought.

IJA are not in the main rulebook, the rules for Soviets are but they change significantly in how you will want to assemble the models so make sure you have both books to hand.

Would suggest neither is a good starting force as the both play differently to the 'normal' Germans/British/Americans all of which seem ok against each other.

Will be fun though, decent models, very decent price, and not too hard to use 1:48 scale plastic kits with it anyway, 40k hills etc work nicely, can get away with 40k buildings but the 4Ground 28mm ones are very nice.

We use forests and jungles etc etc for 40k, so shouldnt look too bad with WW2. I also am very used to playing Japanese in wargaming as they are always my go to choice, but against soviets they usually are at a disadvantage which is why I asked.

Nobody here is WAAC so should be fine on that front too.

Im fine with it all, I just have to make sure its all set to get others playing with a tutorial game. Whats up with some of the Russian rules that I should be aware of?

The reason I chose the armies I did was so it can be somewhat themed as an actual historical match-up rather easily as I like the Japanese uniforms in Manchuria. Which is the eventual goal for this force.

 Swastakowey wrote:
We use forests and jungles etc etc for 40k, so shouldnt look too bad with WW2. I also am very used to playing Japanese in wargaming as they are always my go to choice, but against soviets they usually are at a disadvantage which is why I asked.

The Japanese should really only be disadvantaged against the Soviets when armor comes into play. As the basic Bolt Action rules are an infantry-centric game, this shouldn't be an issue.

The new tank-focused Bolt Action book is possibly another story entirely, of course...

Awesome.

I heard its generalized so my "tanks" may very well be the same league.

So a T-34 against a Chi-Ha "medium" tank isnt a one sided battle. Which is ok for game purposes.

I also purchased the bolt action collection deal. I noticed Italy and France have "and others" or something next to their title. What does this mean?

It means that the books in question contain lists for more than one nation.

I own the Axis Minors book. As I'm familiar with Romania, I found a number of issues with it (which I mentioned in a post on Warlord's Forum). That book also contains lists for Italy, Finland, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Similarly, the book that contains France also has lists for some of the other Allied nations.

At this point, pretty much the only noteworthy nation that doesn't have a book is China, and iirc they just released a PDF with the lists for that.

Ok cool, thanks for that. I thought so but didnt really think about it till just then. So the british minor nations (NZ, AUS, India etc) are all available too?

If so ill have to make an NZ army with our national tank.

Tanks are generalized but the Type 97 Chi-Ha stands very little chance against a T-34/85 (its is impossible to take it out from the front, and you'd need to be close and lucky to do it from the side or rear)
The T-34/85 would have a far easier time taking out the Chi-Ha. The two tanks are very different in points value 135 vs 235 for regular quality.

The British minor nations would likely use the Britain book. I know that's the case for Australia, I think the others would be the same.

That makes me feel better. In flames of war for example I have cme across very few tanks I can penetrate at all using my japs. I was excited when, for the first time I could hurt enemy tanks with my own in that game.

I take it my infantry are superior though?

Infantry is pretty much the same across armies, Japan does have a special rule where they auto-pass assault orders which can be pretty powerful. The Soviets are pretty much standard except they get to re-roll morale checks where the unit would be destroyed if failed.

Japan deals with tanks in different ways than most armies since they lack the more powerful anti-tank guns. The suicide anti-tank squads have a good chance of taking out a tank if they can get to them.

Also, Bolt Action is very infantry focused. Tanks equipped for anti-tank roles can often fail to do enough damage to account for how many points they cost unless they have multiple armored opponents.

Sweet as. Well they sound like run of the mil Japanese then.

I actually liked how it was infantry focused as thats where my interests are. I just wanted to be sure that the russian tank wouldnt dominate the game too much.

Thanks for the help.

I've definitely had games where enemy tanks had little in the way of hard targets, so they did their best with heavy explosive and mounted machine guns, but I largely ignored it. Some tanks are really good at anti-infantry, but sometimes they fall a bit flat when the enemy doesn't have hard targets to shoot at. Bolt Action is definitely about a platoon of infantry with some help and support, so it's ideal for Japanese forces.

That said, the Sherman models with two machine guns can be very, very nasty and can't really be ignored.

I'm kicking myself for selling a Churchill Crocodile I got as a gift. But seeing as that beast is a whopping 500+ pts IIRC..