Bolt Action at Bryns

Game at Bryns (my first visit to his 'Shed of War') on Thursday evening and a WW2 1940 French vs German game using Bolt Action 2.

Bryn had set up the attractive terrain and Shane brought his excellent 28mm kit with the Char B and the PzIV looking very 'sexy'.
German attack vs French defence (but no hidden units bar a French sniper team) to keep things simple as all new to rules.

Bryn and Shane took the Nazis and Simon and I the French.

I had tried version 1 solo eons ago and thought bit meh but found this outing produced a surprisingly enjoyable game despite a couple of jarring abstractions.

Not a fan of the Artillery model with the all or nothing hit or miss (no deviations) and burst circles but it sort of works in game context.
Infantry model ok (buckets of dice shooting) but lacking variety ie no setting up your MGs to suppress whilst rest of section moves in as whole sections operate as one entity at all times.
Close Assault a real dice fest with defenders firing then attackers rolling 1 dice per man the defenders if they survive (simultaneous in certain circumstances) with loser completely and utterly destroyed (no push backs or retreats or similar), certainly decisive !
Did not happen in this game but previously I thought it was just too easy to Close Assault and sort of a no-brainer if you outnumber enemy and so way too many such assaults can occur.
But again works in context of fast playing KISS style WW2 lite system.
The Pinning/Damage system works fine and the best aspect of game for me is the Orders dice as you simply have one dice per unit placed in bag with enemy dice, you pull these out randomly and then activate a unit to complete 1 of 6 orders, simple and fun with some nice decisions to make.

Overall an enjoyable game (think player attitudes helped) with low rules overhead giving a fluid fast paced game, very suitable for an evenings time slot.
Certainly more 'game' than simulation compared to say Chain of Command but if one plays historically (ie minimize the Warhammerish gimmicks of system/army lists) it is a decent light set preferable to both Flames Of War and Battlegroup for me.

Maybe its just an age thing that I am increasingly attracted to fast playing sets despite their abstractions ? although I do think rules such as Bolt Action could become stale quickly as not enough depth and some abstractions that may grate, but with my variety of games, periods, and rule sets this may be unlikely to happen :-)





French section in orchard supported by Panhard

French in house with visible blokes actually inside on ground floor with other on 1st floor but this was apparently incorrect as a whole section cannot split so must be all on 1 floor or other, bit odd but again just fits in with how rules for shooting/command/actions works

Char B in all its glory (did very little bar intimidate in game) with section in support as Simon sets up a 25mm ATG

Two sections of Boche advancing. Version 2 has enhanced rules for Officers (the chaps to rear at house) allowing them to activate nearby units in addition to themselves (they simply remove additional dice from bag) up to a limit dependent on Rank.

More Boche advance under Bryns command with very annoying spotter in upper floor of damaged house.

My sections taking some Pins

Order dice (commercial versions) in evidence

Panhard ko'd by Sdkfz 222. No defined ground scale in BA but it sort of feels like 1" = 10yds or so, meaning all combat is pretty close

Boche lining wall (hard cover)

Char B pokes its head out

French firmly stuck in that orchard

Shanes PzIV arrives

Damnable German 105mm (yes on table)

Simon sent to sleep by Bryns attack