Armies of Germany 3E: Storming your gaming table Q1 2025

By Troy A. Hill

WARLORD GAMES AND OSPREY GAMES ANNOUNCE ARMIES OF GERMANY FOR BOLT ACTION: THIRD EDITION

Warlord Games just announced that the first of the new Armies of … books for the impending new edition of their flagship WW2 skirmish miniatures game, Bolt Action is going to be released in the first quarter of next year:

Coming Q1 2025! Warlord Games and Osprey Games are excited to announce Armies of Germany, the first book in the upcoming series of Armies of… rules supplements for Bolt Action: Third Edition! – Warlord Games Press Release

I wrote previously that Bolt Action: Third Edition was announced for a September 2024 release date. The core rulebook, according to Warlord Games, is expected to have gaming stats for the four major nations in WW2 (Germany, USA, Great Britain, and the Soviets). Just like they did with Bolt Action: Second Edition, the forces in the core rulebook will probably be only the major theatres. Expansion of those basic force lists should be fleshed out in the new Armies of… books.

Releasing in Q1 2025, Armies of Germany will provide extensive rules and unit profiles allowing players to field the might of the German military on the tabletop in games of Bolt Action: Third Edition, from the armoured fist of the Panzer divisions to the die-hard Fallschirmjäger paratroopers, and many more besides! Packed with full-colour illustrations, beautifully painted miniatures, essential relevant historical background, alongside the game rules, Armies of Germany is a must-have addition to any Bolt Action bookshelf! – Warlord Games Press Release

Warlord’s official statement shows they’re planning to continue their popular range of full color books, full of unit stats and (probably) theatre selectors. I haven’t seen the new book design, yet, to know how the third edition will be structured. However, I can’t imagine game designer Alessio Cavatore moving away from the system that works so well for narrative gaming.

But what about my army book? I understand. Germany is one of four major nations (Why do the various nations of the British Commonwealth always pop their head up when I say “four major nations”?). Rest assured that Warlord says they plan to release a new Armies of… book each quarter in 2025. As they stated in their previous release, PDFs of other nations will be available until suitable books are released for such nations.

Yes, these new Armies of… books replace any force statistics and pricing in previous campaign books. This is the way of new editions of core gaming rules. The designers of new system try to rebalance the costs and force construction of the various theatre selectors with the new system. Running second edition forces in third edition rules is likely to break the lists in good or bad ways.

Armies of Germany will be the first Armies of… supplements released for Bolt Action: Third Edition, with subsequent national supplements planned on a quarterly release schedule, each accompanied by a wave of fantastic new miniatures for the attendant nations. Armies of Germany will be available to order from Warlord Games, Osprey Games, and all good wargames stockists Q1 2025! Want to be among the first to receive detailed information on Bolt Action: Third Edition? – Warlord Games Press Release

In case you missed the parts in the closing paragraph of the press release, new Armies of books will be released each quarter in 2025, accompanied by new miniatures. Let me repeat “a wave of fantastic new miniatures…” We’re not sure what those new miniatures will be. If I had to hazard a guess, some of those miniatures would be re-done sprues of their core troops (I’m looking at you, Soviets with TWO separate arms and a separate weapon we need four hands to glue to the torso). We’ll probably also see units and weapons not previously included. But these are only my guesses based on Warlord’s past releases.

Let’s talk about the giant Maus in the room: Tournaments

Yep. Those are going to be rocky for a while, once the new edition hits. Gamers who play in the tournament scene for other games can attest that the meta of tourney scenes shifts wildly with each new book release until the major factions all have their day in the spotlight. I don’t envy Tournament Organizers for the next two years. As for myself, I’m not a strong meta gamer (I don’t meta at all), so I’ll sit on the sidelines and let others deal with trying to keep the meta-players under control with their Maori-Gurkhas running under South African rules, riding their Maus into combat. (Go on, admit it, that does sound like an interesting list to some gamers).

Warlord is encouraging players to sign up on their community page, and join the discussion in their community at:

https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/

~Troy A. Hill is a long-time gamer, and editor of No Dice No Glory. When he’s not dodging typos and ducking under dangling participles from our other writers, he enjoys the hobby side of painting models. He even occasionally plays a game. His two favorites are Bolt Action (of course) and Mantic Games Kings of War. In addition, Troy is the author of 26 novels in the Fantasy, or Magical Cozy Mystery generes under two pen names.