Rally Round the Flag: Bolt Action

This past weekend I attended Adepticon for the second time and played in the Bolt Action Doubles and U.S. Nationals tournaments.

Last year I debated on which army to take and finally went with IJA since that is what I was playing in doubles the day before and wanted to keep it easy.

Doubles DAK

This year doubles was a club challenge with a North Africa theme and Brian and I decided to Play DAK. Our list was not super competitive, but very much historically themed and fun. I already had much of the DAK I needed and Brian agreed to paint the remaining units, so this left me open to do something different for Nationals.

After much consideration I decided on my early war French army. This was the army I debated taking last year before I decided on IJA. I had most of the models I needed already painted, and just need to go through and spruce it up with a few new painting techniques I had learned since I had completed them. I also added to existing basing which was very basic when I first built the army. I tend to use basing to easily distinguish similar units, I also made sure the basing for my mounted and dismounted Cavalry figures was the same. Finally, I added a few more cavalry figures as who knew twelve I had would not be enough.

Early French for Nationals

While I themed my French list for Early War final defense of France I felt it was balanced enough to be competitive in an open tournament where I could be facing any army including late war forces.

My force revolved around the last final days before France fell to the German Blitzkrieg in June 1940. The colonial troops were being recalled along with the Corps de Cavalerie was redeployed after the failed invasion of Belgium in May 1940.

As a result it included a few colorful units such as French Foreign Legion, Senegalese, two squads of Cavalry and even the Super Heavy Tank Char 2C. Historically, the Char2C never saw combat as they were loaded on rail cars and in the rear when they were destroyed (likely by their own crews to prevent capture).

Mighty Char 2C

Senegalese

French Foreign Legion

As I did not have to build a new army I decided to give into the Meta and build a display board to stage my troops on and for judging theme and painting. Since my theme was final defense of France my board focused on a section of trench line that was occupied with troops coming up from the rear and advancing forward.

French Cavalry

Based on my experience last year I knew that table space would be limited, so I found a cart on casters ($30 at Michaels) that my army and display board could fit on and easily be moved from table to table between games. Fortunately the tournaments were in a different location this year with even larger aisles than I expected so this worked perfect and even allowed me to leave the display board set up.

Cart was very handy

In addition, I volunteered to provide two tables for the Bolt Action events. I had built the jungle airfield last year to match the basing for my IJA. I only needed to add a tower(had borrowed one last year) and spruce up some of the terrain. I decided to build a new North Africa themed table to go along with the club challenge for doubles.

Jungle Airfield table

North Africa Railroad station table

Bolt Action Doubles

The doubles tournament was three games on Friday. Unfortunately, Brian had to back out last minute due to an injury. I was able to find a replacement who was recommended by one of the Chicago members. He was a newer player named Mike, and when I spoke to him it turns out he is also an officer in the WI Army National Guard.

DAK on the Move

Mike and I represented team Rommel well with a minor loss, a minor win in the North Africa challenge. Unfortunately in our third game, which was open to all, we drew the worst type of opponent, an all Soviet armor list, which our force was ill prepared to handle. The game was a bit lackluster for both sides, but everyone was great sports about it. Our opponents knew we were unlikely to win, and we had to play very defensive which did not lead to many opportunities for either side. We played to the best of our ability and only lost two units while we claimed one kill. Because the scenario awarded a major victory if you doubled your opponent’s score we lost.

DAK vs. Brits

Amazing Camel Cavalry

While our overall placing was not at the top we had a great time and had some really good games. Our army was recognized for 2nd place "players choice" award based on theme and painting. I wish Brian was there to receive the accolades as he did most of the work especially with the display board.

Battle French Foreign Legion

Bolt Action Nationals

Saturday and Sunday was Bolt Action Nationals. This year it was 5 games spread over two days(3 Saturday and 2 Sunday) instead of a single day like last year. This year Nationals was run by Warlord Games which was also a change. They also used an app called "Best Coast Pairings" to determine scores, Swiss pairings, and placement which was new and kind of cool. Unfortunately the scoring system and what went into the score was a bit of a mystery for many of us and probably could have been better explained up front. In the end the app provided your overall Swiss pairing score along with your strength of schedule based on who you played. There was no need to check with the T.O. to find you next table and opponent as you could see it on your phone once it was updated and available which was nice. There was no soft score included for theme, painting, or sportsmanship as that was done all separately and not part of the overall score.

French List

Since I was playing French I decided to renew the tradition of presenting my opponents a white flag before each game and offering them the opportunity to surrender with honor before we even began. The flags were theirs to keep as a memento of our game, but they had to wave it at the end if I won. This provided for a few good laughs and some great sports waving their flags when we were done.

Unfortunately, I found out after the fact that my phone did not capture all the pictures I took, so I was not able to catch get all the action this year to include a picture of all my opponents waving the flag in surrender.

Flags for my opponents

Game 1

Oddly enough my first game was against, Robert who is also from Janesville, and was playing Americans. We both thought it was funny that we drove all the way to Chicago to play each other, but in all fairness the last time we faced off in Bolt Action was first edition.

The scenario was point defense and I chose to be the attacker. Afterwards people told me I was crazy to take attacker when I had the choice. Apparently most choose to defend in this scenario. Maybe it is just my playstyle and army, but I felt I was better suited to attack and that is what the French did.

Taking the American Flank

In the end it worked out for me as I was able to secure two of the three objectives despite Roberts’s best efforts to stop me. My two cavalry squads along with Senegalese outflanked and were able to overrun the left side while my armor feinted to the right pulling his Sherman away. I was able to then rush the center with the cavalry coming over to support and hold through turn 7 for the win.

Holding the center

Game 2

Game two found me facing Sean playing IJA. The scenario was called box of grid squares which was basically a take on sectors less the kill points. I have played IJA a lot in the past, so I knew their strengths and Sean's list had me worried. He won the die roll and was able to pick sides. He threw me for a loop when I picked the open sectors which meant we had to deploy in the open and our indirect fire weapons would remain in the open while the other units moved into the neutral sectors with all the cover.

Sean's IJA

Sean won the battle of the Artillery and mortar duel scoring early hits and destroying both my medium and light artillery. Needless to say I was more than concerned at this point. He had started with a five order dice advantage and would score points for every unit in the neutral sectors as well as those that reached my deployment sector.

Deployed in the open

This is where the wheels fell off for Sean. Apparently his troops in reserve where enjoying the sake and soju a bit too much. Throughout all of turn 2 and almost of turn 3 he failed to bring a unit out of reserve. If I recall it was end of turn 3 and 8 or 9 order checks before his first reserve unit came on the board. When they did finally start coming on my units already had time to move into position and were able to destroy several units piecemeal before they could effectively respond.
This misfortune certainly turned the tide and helped decide the game in my favor.

In the end the French scored a major victory as my units were able to pour into his sector on the final moves. The French even out Banzai charged the IJA as they won multiple hand to hand combats including the destruction of his HO-RO that only fired once as it was a late arrival.

Sean , a great sport I the face of adversity

Sean was a great player. He remained a tremendously good sport throughout as we both began to laugh out of disbelief as he failed reserve check after reserve check. He graciously hoisted the white flag when it was all over.

Game 3

The third and last game of the day was against Michael who was playing a Soviet Army. We played on the NA table I had brought. The scenario was Meeting Engagement, where we were both trying to simply kill each other’s units and win by two. He had more units than I, which included several small teams (including dog mines) so I was hopeful I could get a few of these.

Michael's Soviet Horde

During this game I learned a valuable lesson and made a critical error I will not repeat. I had never opposed a mutli-launcher and the Soviets were packing a Katyusha rocket launcher. As a result, I made an error on my deployment. I deployed multiple units behind a high wall out of line of sight. The problem was there was a small building in the compound which he could see with the Katyusha. The lesson I learned was a multi-launcher can target a building even if it is empty which creates a six inch bubble allowing them to roll against every unit in the bubble. Michael was good a rolling the needed sixes and before I could run my units away two of them were gone putting me behind early.

Nice German Display board

Michael was also a very smart player. Having the lead he began to withdraw units he could and not commit unless he absolutely required. I was able to kill four units while he managed to get two more of mine. I could have scored more, but even though I was hitting I was not getting the damage rolls needed leaving him with several small single man teams. I scored my last two kills when my medium arty ranged in on a single man team with an officer nearby getting both of them under the template. The last two turns the Char 2C was in a Mexican standoff with a dog mine team that was just out of sight. I placed the tank in ambush both turns, but both times I failed to activate the ambush at the end of the turn so I could not fire on other units in range.

Finns I believe

As a result, the stalemate remained until the bitter end resulting in a draw. I think both of us were pleased with the final result bringing the first day to a close with both of us having two wins and a draw and well positioned going into the last two games the next day.

Game 4

Sunday began with the French facing off against a late war German all veteran army. At this point I am not going to provide a recount the full game due to an unfortunate issue that occurred.

Aussies

My opponent, who had not lost yet, had developed a "win at all cost" mentality which apparently clouded his judgement. It is unfortunate that tournaments breed this kind of behavior in some people. Throughout our game there were some questionable actions by my opponent and finally I had to start checking him on measurements when he had blatantly moved units further than allowed to gain advantage.

Brian K. Germans

Late on turn four though things turned especially ugly. At this point, I clearly had the lead as my panhard had moved into his deployment zone positioning me for a win. I thought there was nothing he could do about it due to recce ability. This is when he announced/reminded me he had panzerfausts in his squads. I was a bit surprised as I did not recall them and even questioned it as they were not modeled that way which they should have been per the tournament rules. As a results he was able to knock out my panhard and even my Char 2C the following turn which then allowed him to advance units into my deployment zone and claim a minor victory.

Char 2C in Action

While I was a good sport about the whole thing and tried to remain positive thoughout, it just did not feel right. Come to find out later I was reviewing lists, and I discovered my opponent did not even have the panzefausts he claimed in his army. In fact, he only had one in his entire list (he claimed to have 6 and fired 4) and it was no where near any of my units. In hind sight, I should have asked to see his list when I noticed the panzerfausts were not modeled WYSIWYG. In my defense, it was early and I never expected that someone would be capable of doing this in a game of Toy Soldiers.

Nasty Mult-Launcher

There was no way he would have destroyed my panhard which was already in a position to win and had recce. It is likely he would not have successfully ran any units into my deployment zone with the Char 2C remaining. I found out later, that had I won Michael and I would have been tied and I would have went to top table due to the higher strength of schedule. Instead my opponent claimed a victory and moved on to the top table instead.

Robert's American

At this point I have confronted him and he has admitted to what he did. He has also agreed to contact the tournament organizer and forfeit his placing. Unfortunately we will never know what might of happened if it been a clean game throughout. We cannot change the past, and he is the one that has to live with it on his conscience. At a minimum I will claim my French never lost a game. ;)

Germans

Game 5

As a result, I moved on to face John who was also from my hometown, but I had never played before. John was playing a British force and the scenario was double envelopment. John was also a great player and a super good sport. After just completing what felt like a very stressful game, John was a breath of fresh air, and we had a relaxing fun game.

Big Guns out

His heavy hitters were a Churchill and a Bofors along with a bunch of full up infantry squads using the rapid fire special rule. My list was pretty well positioned for this matchup with the Panhard and the Cavalry that could move fast and get across and off the board quickly to score points and my infantry, Char2C, and Arty to stop his units.

John being a great sport

That is pretty much what happened. I was able to knock out the bofors and then slowly whittle down and destroy his infantry while my Panhard and one Cav unit made it off his edge before the game ended.

Rankings

In the end, I officially finished in fourth place out of forty one players with a record of 3-1*-1 (asterisk now by the loss). ;) Despite what happened I am still very happy with this result. It would have been nice to play for first, but I still had a great time and that is what it is really all about.

I also had the highest strength of schedule of any player including the top three which is a badge of honor for my French. I was not sure what would happen bringing early war French list to an open tournament. In the end it turned out that not only were they themed, they were pretty darn competitive in open play.

More DAK

The prize support provided by Warlord and other generous donors was amazing. I think everyone walked away with something. The one thing that I questioned was that top prize was a fairly large cash prize. While I certainly appreciate the gesture, I question if this might contribute to the "win at all cost" mentality I had the misfortune to experience.

For me, it is about playing some great games and the sense of accomplishment of doing well against a quality opponent. Trophies and medals along with recognition and some freebies are great, but if you over incentivize winning I think it may contribute to the problem. I know this happens in some other competitive game systems that I have avoided for this reason. It is my hope that the Bolt Action community can police itself and prevent this from happening.

Chinese victors

I would especially like to thank all tournament organizers. Jeremy and Paul did a great job with Bolt Action Doubles on Friday. We really liked the North Africa challenge and look forward to the 1940 theme for next year. Jay and his crew from Warlord Games also did and awesome job with Nationals. They were very responsive and in the end I do like the tournament app. Having run events in the past I know what it is like herding cats. Everything was well organized and on time.

It was truly great getting to see old friends who are usually names on Facebook as well as making new friends who are passionate fellow hobbyists. It is always great to meet new people who share a common love for history and gaming. I was even able to meet and say hello to a couple of the cast members of the SNAFU podcast who's show I have been enjoying while I do my hobby.

Of course the vendor hall is always a highlight of Adepticon. I practiced some self restraint, but did pick up a couple Type 89 IJA Tanks(1 each for Brian and I) from Trenchworx as well as pick a 2nd gaming box from MiniDuels like I bought last year so I can keep the current one dedicated to Bolt Action.

MiniDuels box with slide out drawers

In three days I was able to get in a total of eight Bolt Action games which is more than I have played all of last year since Adepticon 2018. This last year I hardly played any Bolt Action until the month prior due to being distracted by other game systems.

My hope now, is that I can coordinate a few more local games. There were at least six of us from the local area who attended.

Already looking forward to Adepticon 2020. I think the French will get another go at it at least for doubles since the theme is 1940.