Bolt Action French for the Desert

By Andy Allcock

Greetings! Let me introduce myself. I’m Andy, I’ve been wargaming since I was a young teenager. I started with Warhammer 40k (2ed) and moved shortly afterward into historical and fantasy gaming.  A buddy and I wrote our own ruleset years ago, and I’ve been known to know where and how to find rules in other games.

For 2022 I’ve decided to start yet another Bolt Action army.  I’ve already got early Germans, late war winter Germans, British Commandos, British 8^th Army, USMC (which I play as 1^st cav), Africa Italians, and regular Italians. With such a widespread of armies, I decided it was time to dive into the French.

Now personally I love the Desert. I’ve been deployed to Iraq a few times and something about knowing the misery my little plastic (or metal) men would be suffering appeals to me. I know the hardships of fighting in the sand, under a brutal sun only to freeze at night under the moon. With that in mind, I’ve decided to do yet another desert army. In addition to knowing their misery, the desert armies and games are personally some of the most fun I’ve had in Bolt Action.

It’s a time period where both sides were practically evenly matched, and the unit and vehicle selections reflect that. While it’s always possible to cheese the game, I’ve found that most of us that choose to engage under the sun, prefer to keep it fun and fluffy for lack of a better term. (I didn’t say Historical, because at the end of the day Bolt Action is not a game of historical recreation. It’s a tabletop game set in a rough time period.)

So now that I’ve established I want to do French and the Desert that leaves two options.

• Option 1) Vichy French as found in the Armies of France book.
• Option 2) Free French as found in the Western Desert book.

I decided to go with the Free French Force out of the western desert book. With that decision made, it’s on to list building.

We have an upcoming campaign later this year that will be an escalation league.  With that in mind, I’m planning out my full 1250 list.  Like all good generals, I started by looking at my options and force organization. The Free French generic list has an additional armored car slot, but no tank slot.  This means I need to find my anti-tank punch outside of a tank slot.

Luckily the Free French have a few armored car options to fill that void. I’ve decided to fill it with the Light anti-tank Portee. Since the list allows me to take two, ill take two.   Personally, I like redundancy in my lists.  I never rely on one unit to do the job, when two or more units can guarantee the job is done.

Next, I moved on to the free artillery slot the French get. For this, I’ve decided to fill it with the 25-pounder with the added bonus of AT rounds.  Again, since two are better than one, I went ahead and added another one to the list. This gives me an amazing four options for anti-tank.  Something I never have in other lists.

Now onto the bread and butter of any Bolt Action army. The Infantry. I wanted something different. Something that would stand out on the table as well as represent a force often overlooked in the history books. For that, I fell upon the French Senegalese. Their distinctive headwear and fantastic history will be a conversation starter. These brave men fought for France for a promise of equality, only to have it rejected after the war. While they fought in Europe and Africa, by the end of the war they were shipped home prior to the Victory parades and their hard-fought victories, whitewashed to appease French colonial dreams of reclaiming everything lost during the war.

In the game, the Senegalese are regular troops with the tough fighter rule. Since I want them to be the focal point of my Army I’ve decided to bring three units, ten strong. Since I wanted to include the racial undertones of the period as well as show cooperation within the ranks, I’ve decided to also bring two squads of French Foreign Legion at eight strong. These units are Veterans and stubborn. This gives me five squads of tough sons of bitches to press home the objective and hopefully win the day for the allied cause.

To finish up the list I’ve included a French lieutenant, a forward observer, and enough transports and tows to ensure no man need walk in my army!

Reg Second Lieutenant with additional man                               60 points
Reg Senegalese section 10 men 1LMG                                       127
Reg Senegalese section 10 men 1LMG                                       127
Reg Senegalese section 10 men 1LMG                                       127
Vet Foreign Legion section 8 man 2 SMG, 1 LMG                        135
Vet Foreign Legion section 8 man 2 SMG, 1 LMG                        135
Reg Forward Observer                                                               100
Reg Derviche Light Anti-Tank Portee                                          65
Reg Derviche Light Anti-Tank Portee                                          65
Reg Free French Howitzer with AT shell                                      55
Reg (Free) Free French Howitzer with AT shell                            0
Reg Quad Tractor                                                                      15
Reg Quad Tractor                                                                      15
Reg 30 CWT Truck with MMG                                                    50
Reg 30 CWT Truck with MMG                                                    50
Reg 30 CWT Truck with MMG                                                    50
Reg 30 CWT Truck                                                                     35
Reg 30 CWT Truck                                                                     35
Total:                                                                                       1246
Order Dice:                                                                               18