I've had myself a few games of Bolt Action and managed to play them on my 4x3 foot table. I have thoroughly enjoyed the games, the drawing of dice is ideal for solo play.
This game scenario was called Demolition from the Bolt Action v.1 rules and is a "capture the flag" game where each side has to take and hold the others command post to win...
The German HQ, the unit is in ambush stance.
The US command post is in a ruined church, in the tower is a spotter.
For a mortar team.
A US jeep armed with a MMG charges up the road to attack the German HQ.
But the HQ unit has SMGs and a panzerfaust which make short work of the jeep.
Germans take cover.
The left flank US squad is under heavy fire.
And gets more and more pinned down.
The second jeep with a HMG flanks a German squad.
But also ends up wrecked by enemy fire.
Then the German motorbikes fly down the road for the American HQ.
This squad is pinned down.
The Germans get off their bikes, take the HQ but are killed by the US command unit. So near but yet so far!.
The US mortar takes out the Spandau defending the German HQ leaving it unoccupied.
A US squad takes out the German HQ unit.
Regroup forward.
And on the next turn take the objective.
Then they lay down some devastating fire on a German squad to win the scenario.
Here are a couple of shots of tanks that weren't in this game, I love tanks...
A Corgi Panther repainted.
A Tamiya M10 with some Warlord plastics as crew.
A good game, I may upgrade to version 2. I must play it more often.
After a good month playing many games of One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas I got back into Commands and Colors.
I played some Ancients and Memoir '44 and then made up a Franco-Prussian War modification for Commands and Colors Napoleonics.
Here are some shots of a made up scenario...
The 6mm soldiers are from Irregular Miniatures and Heroics and Ros. Painted badly by me circa 1987.
French on the left versus Prussians on the right.
View from the French lines.
The French take the high ground on their left.
Prussians take a village. A lot of manoeuvering went on as both sides try to get local superiority.
Then the French launch a series of attacks.
With some success!.
The Prussians respond!.
On the other flank too.
Many French are driven back.
And on the French left they advance onto the ridge.
The French play their Bombard card, causing a Prussian retreat.
And throw the Prussians back from the ridge.
The Prussians launch a cavalry charge to destroy the weakened French units.
Charge!. My cavalry units are only two blocks strong as that is all that I own. I have no light infantry either. I may have to invest in some.
This French unit is destroyed.
The other one hangs on, just.
The Prussian Heavy Cavalry sweep on and destroy another weakened French unit (Von Bredow?).
The French General survives and takes shelter with his Cuirassiers.
The French then shoot the Prussian Cuirassiers to bits.
The Prussians push on against the weak French right.
And push the French from the short ridge with heavy casualties.
The Prussians then destroy the French infantry and the Chasseurs to win the game.
The French left wing had hung on.
But the right and centre were gone.
A great game with plenty of exciting action.
The modifications I made to the rules were few.
French infantry were given a 3 hex range, while the Prussian infantry only had a 2 hex range but were given an extra die in melee.
The French artillery was kept the same as the Napoleonic rules but the Prussian guns had ranges values of 332211 as in Memoir '44.
I could have fiddled about with other modifications but these worked fine for me, the simpler the better.
Today I played a scenario from One Hour Wargames using Keith Flints SYW rules Honours of War published by Osprey.
The Eisenburgers in white had to hold both the village and the hill while the Altsteiners in blue would win by capturing either.
Both sides had seven battalions of foot, two squadrons of horse and four light guns the Altsteiners also had a unit of Jager.
Fighting for the village.
Von Essling has prepared a trap for the Altsteiners attempting to outflank the village.
While the hill is well defended.
Von Bruckenheim pushes his men towards the hill.
The Hecksheim regiment advance two battalions into the trap!.
These two opposing units have five hits and are done for.
The bluecoats win the cavalry battle.
But the hill cannot be taken.
All the Altstein line infantry stream from the field.
The village has held too.
A good game. I like these rules, I left out the rules for commanders being hit and I rated all the commanders as dependable in order to keep things simple.
A good set of rules though, I recommend them to anyone interested in mid 18th Century wargames.
