Bolt Action v3

Chris' Soviets v. Jim's Germans
1250 pts, Key Positions scenario.
The Germans had the same army a slast week.  The Soviets force was modied to provide more infnatry with more firepower..

Pic from the Soviet side of the table.
The objectives are the two houses, the two bridges & the centre ends of the ridges on the centreline.
The Germans moved fast to sieze the ridge on the far flank. 
Niether side did much inthe centre apart from lonfg range shooting.
The main action was on the enar flank. Both sides advanced two infantry squads, the Soviets supported by an MMG & the Germanx by their MkIV.
The MkIV closed with Soviet infantry & was imobilised by a capture panzerfaust, but it's mg support helped the German infantry to assult & clear the wood on teh hill to sieze that objective.
The Germans had 4 of 6 objectives in hand & the Soviet's had lost too many men to counterattack.

We used v3 with a few house rules to fix the few issues things we don't like.  Our main change is that we don't use saving throws, but go with -1 to hit for cover, down & pinned & -1 to kill for hard cover.  It's so much quicker & easier & makes little diffference to the odds. 

American Civil War

ACW with our M2M House Rules & 28mm figs.
Both sides have 4 infantry brigades of 4 regs, a cavalry brigade of 4 regs & 4 batteries.
Union: Jim & Chris.  Confeds: Mike, SteveJ & Mark.

The Union are on the left.
The CSA are advancing on the whole front, wider than the Union line.

The Union have sent half their cavalry reserve to each flank to extend their line to match the CSA.

On the near flank the Union have repleled the CSA attack & have followed up their retreat.
In the centre, hot shoting by artillery & musket is driving the Union back.
On the far flank the Union is holding the line against the CSA attack. 

On the near flank the Union counterattack failed miserably due to poor shooting & the flank has collapsed
In the centre the Unionhave been pushed further back.
The Union left has held on, but isn't fit to mount a counterattack.
The Union concede the battle & order a retreat.

Bolr Action v.3 with some house rules

In many ways v3 is an improvement on v2, but in my opinion it has a few anoying flaws.  So we are trying out a few hoiuse rules to make v3 evewn better.

1. No saving throws for cover:  Instead: -1 to hit for cover & for down, & -1 to kill for hard cover.  The saving throw slows the game down with an extra step & the need for both players to make a test.  It is also frustrating to throw good dice & see your kills evaporate with the enemy's saves.  The difference in the odds is negligible in nearly all situations.

2. No need for more than 1 command team.  The proliferation of command teams slows the game for no gain in realism.

3. No Snap To rule.  It's Mickey Mouse with no basis in reality.

4. Stick wiythe v2 AFV damage table for minor damage.  The extra complication in the v3 table wastes time while adding nothing to the game.

5. Making 7 to hit 6 then 4+ & only 8+ to hit being 6 then 6.

Chris' Soviets v. Jim's Germans
1250 pts. Key positions scenario on big table with Fog of War deployment.

The Germans are on the near side.
The objectives are the bridge, the 2 houses & three ridge tops (2 at the far end & 1 on the right).

The Germans rushed forward in the centre & on the right to sieze 4 objectives.  The T34 took out teh MK IV but that was the Soviet's only siccess as the German veterans mowed down all attempts at counterattack.

The Soviets conceded after turn 5 with half their force destroyed & no way of getting the enemy off any of the 4 objectives they held.

The house rules worked well.  The game was so much easier & faster to play than with the straight v3 we tried last tuesday.

Bolt Action v.3

 After Chris returned froma trip to Canberra where he played a bit of BA v.3 we gave it another go.
2 games, both Envelopment scenarios.

SteveJ's Germans attacking Chris' Soviets:

Steve's Neblewerfers decimated the Soviets for a decisive win.

Mark's Germans v. Mike's US:

. They foiught each other to a draw with onlt 1 unit lost on both sides.

I had a full time job looking up the v3 rule book to resolve questions.  The consenus was that while there were some welcome chnages, there are also some serious flaws, including:
- The introduction of saving throws seriously slows down the game & is anoying (you throw good dice then get them negated).
- The new lists requiring more command teams does nothing to improve the game & encourages the use of the cheesy Snap To rule.
- The complication of the superficial damage rule is an unnessary complication.

 

Normandy 1944: Mech War

Brits: Chris
Germans: Mark
15mm figs. House Mech War rules.

Germans on the right.  We used the BA token draw to deploy platoon by platoon & that favoured the Germans who concentrated their armour witht he last deployments.

The Germans lined their armour up on the reverse slope of a ridge getting every tank into action whule the Brits were still concentrating their tanks.   A lucky first round of shooting put the Germans in a winning position & the Brits just couldn't pull it back.
There was also an infantry fight in the central wood that the Germans also got the better of.

The Germans pressed their advantage  advanice beyond the ridge to mop up.
A German victory.