keskiviikko 23. marraskuuta 2016

Bolt Action - Desert raiders

Back to desert with some heavily armed trucks! My club mate had some nice Italian trucks painted and asked me for a game of Bolt in the Desert. I naturally agreed since this was an opportunity for me to field LRDG team I haven't had chance to play yet. So we agreed a game and went back to Beda Fomm, since it is very mobile scenario and all Italian troops are in the trucks. So I gathered blocking force from my 8th army footsloggers and flanking force from LRDG veterans. Italians had four trucks full of infantry, a command team and a tank.

The fight started by Italians driving through the pass into he open where they were immediately fired by British blocking force behind the roadblock. First truck was set in flames and troops bailed out. More trucks speeded along the road and Italian traffic jam was gradually forming. This was the moment when LRDG flanking force hit and heavily armed jeeps and a Chevrolet truck knocked out another Italian truck. Just after that veteran infantry speeded in dismounted and eliminated Italian squads one by one by firing and in close combat. This was retaliated by Italian tank which rumbled in and gunned down helpless SAS troopers. One jeep with heavy machine gun was trying to pin the ending in flames itself. Fast strike and bold assault just in the middle of Italian convoy caused such confusion that rest of the fight was fought on the mouth of the pass. There British fire power was decisive and almost all Italian infantry lost. Only lonely tank was left but it withdraw or surrendered in the end.

The scene, empty desert road through the pass.
AT rifle waiting in ambush.
Desert rats arranging roadblock ambush. 
First Italian truck speed in.
The more followed by the officer.
After first truck got hit Italian troops dismount and prepare to fight.
On truck out and Italian HQ is checking the plans.
LRDG strikes - Tally Ho!
Veteran desert raiders join the fight with murderous effect.
Heavily armed jeeps flanking Italians. 
Italian troops pushing forward by the burning trucks.
More Desert Rats join the fight,
Remaining desert raiders push forward selling their lives dearly.
One jeep knocked out.
In the end only Italian tank was remaining on the road.
Strong British blocking force is holding it's ground.
The day went for the British. The heroes of the fight were SAS troops that took out two full infantry squads boldly attacking straight into the enemy. They were gunned down but they really swung the fight and stole initiative from the Italians. And off course those scary LRDG vehicles bristling with machine guns pouring insane amounts of fire. On Italian side the tank was the man of the match.

Nice game in good company, good stuff!

maanantai 7. marraskuuta 2016

Bolt Action - Across the River

Once again Bolt Action on the club, second game with new Ed.2 rules and this time I wasn't playing, but game mastering this one. Few friends asked if they could test new Ed.2 rules so I devised a game for them. Both players were familiar with BA game, so there was no need run basics  and we concentrated on new features of Ed.2.

This game was first run for our new river board we made for display purposes, when we were presenting our Club in an event near Helsinki. The board has river running through it, so it's more or less bit tricky board to play. But it's a beauty and we like to play narrative and thematic scenarios, not focusing on strict balance of the game. So. I based the game on "take the bridge" scenario, which I slightly modified. Now, instead of taking a just a bridge, the attacker had task to secure two river crossings, a bridge and a ford.

The fight was located somewhere in France in late summer -44 where US troops were doing strong push towards Paris. A battle group of Rangers and Paratroopers were tasked to take and secure two river crossings for the armored units. Germans were defending, but they were badly stretched and there wasn't strong troops to guard the riverbanks in all crossings. So the was only unit of infantry, MMG and PAK40 guarding two crossings.

At the start US elite troops made strong push towards both crossing at the same time. US troopers advanced swiftly to river and later they were backed by Sherman. Germans put up good fight but their fire wasn't enough to stop US veterans determined attack. Soon US troops started going across on two spots and after that they quickly eliminated German resistance. Not even the second wave of Germans wasn't able to change the push. So in the end US force took both crossing points and almost wiped Germans out totally.

The game went for US too easily, but as I said, the main focus of that scenario wasn't to find balance, but have thematic fight. But next time I'll give Germans armored support, a tank or SP sun and maybe some more infantry. Also the rules of wading in the river need some adjustments.

Here's some eye candy of our new table and the fight along the river.
One objective, a ford to be taken. 
Second objective was this nice bridge. 
Sherman rumbles in.
Rangers start advancing.
US airborne on left flank.
Rangers rush for the bridge.
Rangers advance cautiously to river.
Across the river, troops! 
This ruin was fire base for MG42, paratroopers took it.
Rangers doing risky business attacking another ruin full of Germans.
Last fire fight, after this Germans withdrew.
Quite nice game, bit unbalanced and next time we do this I'll do some alterations for the scenario. When wading, troops get only +1 cover and they can't use their weapons at all. Would like to test this again....