Running my First Bolt Action Demo Event

By Kreighton Long

This past December I was introduced by a friend to a new hobby store in Culpeper, Virginia — Brickhammer. I quickly made a trip to the store and met the owner, Kevin, and offered my services as someone who knows a bit about Bolt Action. He eagerly accepted my offer and we scheduled a demo game at the store in January. This was my first demo game and I challenged myself to do quality work for a group of potential new players.

I provided to my players a cheat sheet provided by Warlord Games found here. I also provided hard copy army lists to familiarize players with different kinds of units and the capabilities of the units. To make things even easier for them, I highlighted the units assigned to each player to expedite them looking for stats during the game.

My aim in writing the lists for each side was to keep it simple while simultaneously incorporating different support weapons. I designed the game for a maximum of eight players — four to a side. Each player was assigned two units — one infantry squad and one support team. This came to a total of four infantry squads, which I kept identical within the faction to simplify learning, and four support teams.

I selected a variety of support teams to expose new players to a few of the many units available in the game. The support teams used were the platoon command, medium machine gun, medium mortar, and sniper teams. I used Easy Army to create and print the lists. Each list came out to approximately 600 points.

The US list. After printing the lists, I highlighted pairs of units so each player could quickly find what they needed during the game. I also included the special rules on the hard copies for players to reference throughout.

The German list. See previous picture for additional information.

In preparing for the event I created a checklist for myself. As follows:

Order die (two different sets with enough to represent each unit)
D6s (at least twelve per faction)
Measuring tape (at least one per faction)
Army lists (at least one per player and highlighted accordingly and one of each for the Game Master)
Bolt Action cheat sheets (at least one per player)
Pin markers (as needed)
Terrain
Models for both sides
Flash cards (at least one per unit)
Army trays (at least one per faction)
Hard copy rule book (for Game Master)
Prize support

For the scenario I chose to go with Key Positions, Long Edges, and Meeting Engagement. For the number of objectives in Key Positions I used a number of objectives that was one less than the number of players per side. I placed these objectives evenly across the center line of the table for the sake of balance. I chose one minus the number of players per side in an attempt to force players to communicate and use some strategy in where they concentrated their units to secure the win. For the sake of simplicity I did not allow players to outflank but did give them the option to leave unit(s) in reserve.

I started the event with introductions and gave a brief overview of the game and a few of the core mechanics. I covered the activation system, orders units may receive, how to decode the unit descriptions, how units interact with the terrain, and the army special rules for each faction. Players with experience with table top games had higher quality questions before starting and I was grateful to have a handful of those around the table to help translate the game to new players.

The game went as smoothly as it could given the number of new players. I had to jump in and and correct a few actions by the players on the table, especially early on, but was relieved that most everyone grasped the core concepts by the second turn of the game. The speed of play resulted in us only finishing four turns in just under two hours of game time which I felt was appropriate for the experience levels of the players.

Some unfortunate die rolls, following inexperienced unit placements, led to the Germans losing two units during the second turn and from there they were on their back feet. The Americans pressed their advantage and quickly grabbed two of the three objectives. With the Germans unable to drive the Americans back the game ended in a clean victory for the Americans.

German infantry advance while a mortar attempts to zero a target.

One of my personal goals was to send every player home with a prize. Three manufacturers were contacted seeking support: Warlord Games, Rubicon USA, and Wargames Atlantic. In preparing for this particular event, the store owner reached out to Warlord Games on my behalf while I contacted Rubicon USA and Wargames Atlantic.

While Rubicon apologized for not being in a position to support an event as small as mine, Wargames Atlantic sent three boxes of miniatures. Warlord Games also opted to not provide support. It’s free to ask though. I supplemented the provided prize support by digging through my box of shame and found loose Bolt Action sprues to ensure I had at least one freebie for each player.

I made it a point to show preferential treatment to the new players regarding prize support. I separated the new players from the veteran players and raffled off prizes to the new players first. I went about this by placing a numbered chit in the die bag for each new player and having the players choose randomly from the bag to set the draft order. Veteran players repeated the process taking their pick of what was left.

Two American rifle squads converge on the center objective.

The most common issues I ran into during the demo event was a tendency for players to forget how to move through terrain and the rules regarding pre-measuring. Players took some time to learn what was considered rough ground (in this case the forests and hedgerows) and how to correctly Advance through them. For the players who kept trying to pre-measure distances to help determine what to do a few gentle reminders about waiting to declare your orders before moving was sufficient.

I felt that the preparations I made before hosting the event alleviated many headaches that could have come about during the event. Printing off army lists and cheat sheets allowed players to start to coach themselves and by the end of the second turn I was able to start to step back and let the players play. The two lists were well-balanced and provided a variety of options to start to introduce different tactics and options to the players.

When hosting another demo event I should intentionally divide any players with Bolt Action experience evenly between the two teams. It worked out by accident this time with one player who had played a game or two on either side. Having someone with even one game of experience helped to take the pressure off me in coaching their teams.

Prize support provided by Wargames Atlantic and my box of shame.

Providing prize support was a success. Everyone had the opportunity to take something home with the newest players taking a box of miniatures and the more veteran players taking from a collection of sprues. I was delighted to have a conversation with one new player who won a box of Wargames Atlantic Panzer Lehr Division after the event about what they could buy in the store to create an army similar to what he used during the event. I spotted other players perusing the Bolt Action section and purchasing plastic glue to start assembling their new miniatures but the conversation with a new convert about how best to get started was easily the high point of the event for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to schedule a follow-up game with him in the coming months to continue his education.

In closing I want to extend another thank you to Wargames Atlantic for donating prize support and to Brickhammer Hobbies and the owner, Kevin, who gave me table space and a slot on their calendar to run the event in addition to a special discount for attendees purchasing Bolt Action related merchandise.

Happy gaming!