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Good evening ladies and lads. I am just getting into Bolt Action and am so far enjoying the ease of understaninding when reading the rule book. I am stumped on the orders dice though. I understand that the dice are placed into a container so that the draw is random and unseen. Now, do we draw all the dice and then play out the orders in a his turn my turn, or do you draw an order dice for a random unit and perform the order right away. It is very vague, though that is the only thing so far that seems fuzzy.

I will also use this to layout my army list to gather advice from the veteran BA players. Thanks in advance.

Mat

Pull a die. Whoever that die belongs to (you have green; I have blue, for example) gets to activate a unit.
Once that unit is activated, pull another die.
Whoever that die belongs to (you have green; I have blue, for example) gets to activate a unit.
Repeat until all units have been activated. Turn is complete.

Prep for next turn.
Replace dice for all existing units (that haven't been killed) with exceptions made for things like keeping a unit on Ambush or Down (die stays with those units).
Pull a die and start the new turn.

Ok, now do I have to issue the order that is pulled out on the dice when I draw it? Or is the dice draw only to see who goes, then you pick the order you want that unit to conduct?

Mat

Let's say your color die came out.
You then pick a unit you've not activated and try to activate it.

If it's got zero pin markers on it, the unit does 1 of the 6 orders (your choice) automatically.

If the unit's got 1 or more pin markers, you have do a morale check. Declare the order you want them to do.
Roll 2d6 and add +1 for each pin marker to that roll.
If you roll equal or lower than the morale for that unit (vets=10; regulars=9; greens=8) then it does the order.
If it fails, the unit counts as activated but does nothing.

You can also have pinned units go DOWN and it wil slowly reduce it's pin counters each turn (the sergeant is calming everyone; tending to wounded; etc.).

The die only tells you whose side gets to go and may be used to conveniently mark a unit's active order. You, the player, gets to decide what order you want them to try to pull off.

Pinning and all that I understand, the dice cup and drawing the dice had me a bit confused. Thanks to you both.

This is going to be a pretty fun game. For those that have gotten some games in, is there anything that I am missing or using that is not required in this list:

Canadian North Nova Scotia Highlanders (British army, main rule book. Rated regualr for all troops At exactly 1000pts.)

HQ units
1st Lt w/ 2 x rifleman - 95pts

Medic w/ 2 x ordlies - 56pts

Infantry Sections
1 Section - 143pts
- 1 x NCO and 9 x riflemen
- 1 x SMG to NCO
- 1 x LMG team
- AT grenades for section

2 Section - 143pts
- 1 x NCO and 9 x riflemen
- 1 x SMG to NCO
- 1 x LMG team
- AT grenades for section

3 Section - 143pts
- 1 x NCO and 9 x riflemen
- 1 x SMG to NCO
- 1 x LMG team
- AT grenades for section

Weapons teams
MG Team - 50pts
PIAT Team - 40pts
Medium mortar team - 60pts
- Spotter

Field Artillery
QF 6pdr gun - 75pts

Tank
Sherman V - 195pts

Thoughts? Anything that I should drop?

Mat

I'd love to play Bolt Action, but too many games, too little time :(

Starting to sluff off some of the games that I've not played in awhile, or never made it past model buying. Bolt Action and FoW have me hooked, with Warhammer 40,000 keeping me amused with the new and simplistic rules (Which is a good thing.).

On your list, note that tanks can be pretty powerful (thankfully, they're limited in list building). I don't even want to think about artillery pieces on the board; the forward observers and air controller guys are already devastating if they get good rolls.

The most fun games we've had, YMMV, have been primarily infantry fights to take terrain or accomplish another mission from the scenarios. The RESERVES rule is really very cool and much more fun (read up on it) than reserves in other games I've played. Hidden units also help shake things up.

I'd recommend playing infantry games with a 2-3 squads and maybe a HMG or LMG squad to start with.

I've an oppoenent with an equal amount of points plus a Panzer IV H.

My HMG and mortar teams arrived today from Warlord. Awesome looking!

Mat

Sherman VC put together. I must ask, as I've no bases shown up with any of the models, can one use whatever bases he wishes?

I've a boat load of GW round plastic bases at my disposal. Will these work. I've read no where what the standard is.

Mat

 combat engineer wrote:
Sherman VC put together. I must ask, as I've no bases shown up with any of the models, can one use whatever bases he wishes?

I've a boat load of GW round plastic bases at my disposal. Will these work. I've read no where what the standard is.

Mat

For the infantry it looks like they use Renedra's 25mm bases, so while the GW ones will be a bit higher they would have the same imprint.

 combat engineer wrote:
I've no bases shown up with any of the models, can one use whatever bases he wishes?

I've a boat load of GW round plastic bases at my disposal. Will these work. I've read no where what the standard is.

Yes. There is no standard as you can play BA at different scales. You'll even see differences within rulebook photos.

For 28mm...most folks seem to be using 25mm round bases for infantry (GW bases), 40-60mm bases for weapons teams (with 40mm one of crew is based separately for casualty removal...you cn even base all crew and gun separately if you want), and 60mm+ for artillery pieces. Occationally you'll see rectangle bases for arty too...think GW WFB giant bases. Rarely I have seen 30mm round lipped (warmachine bases) as some prefer that look too.

Thanks fellas. Wanted to make sure before I started glueing and basing.

Mat

For basing in the UK a lot of my group use two pence coins with a bit of greenstuff for hiding coin face. Using the coins has the advantage that they are strong, thin and cheaper than most bases by a long way. (oh and if you find a local arcade you can often find change machines that'll dole out 50 for a quid.

We've pennies here, but they'd be a tad to small.

Mat

 The Strange Dude wrote:
For basing in the UK a lot of my group use two pence coins with a bit of greenstuff for hiding coin face. Using the coins has the advantage that they are strong, thin and cheaper than most bases by a long way. (oh and if you find a local arcade you can often find change machines that'll dole out 50 for a quid.

I've seen your two pence coins, they are giant.

Yeah, it's been a while since I handled Britsh coins/ money. They are a tad bigger than a penny.

28mm GW bases are in abundance. I even picked up some 60mm bases from a friend to use for my medium mortar amd HMG teams. HMG is assembled, with work on the mortar scheduled for this weekend as well as the infantry stands.