Call to Arms Bolt Action Tournament – 12 October 2024

By Kreighton Long

On Saturday, 12 October 2024, Kalissa Skibicki organized a Bolt Action tournament at the Call to Arms convention in Williamsburg, Virginia. Sixteen players brought their armies and positive attitudes for one last Bolt Action Second Edition tournament. Due to the travel involved for me to get down to Williamsburg, this tournament feels like a Bolt Action geek reunion where I have the pleasure of catching up with like minded people on an annual basis. I caught up with familiar faces and made some new friends throughout the weekend. Overall, the tournament appeared to have been a success with plenty of laughs and jokes to compliment the friendly competition of the day.

Kalissa’s highlight from the tournament was the influx of new players. She commented that around six of the sixteen players had recently started playing Bolt Action and that this was their first tournament. Moving forward, Kalissa, as well as her players, will need to become familiar with the revised rules of Third Edition which will require a not-too-small investment in revamping the tournament packs for Kalissa’s future tournaments.

After three rounds of games including Double Envelopment, Demolition, and No Man’s Land, the players gathered around Kalissa to hear the final results of their efforts. Due to all sixteen players tying in the second round, the final push to secure a place on the podium came down to secondary points. In this tournament, the secondary points resulted from order dice claimed minus order dice lost. After all the scores were tabulated, the winners were announced with one order dice separating first place from second.

By one secondary objective point I managed to come out on top. My list’s flavor of forward deploying veterans paid off hugely by giving me key advantages in all three games where I could throw 29 Veteran infantry models into my opponent’s face in the early game. I focused my forward deployers in a narrow sector and used their seven order die and Veteran status to harass my opponents and to gang up on exposed units to force a gap for follow on units to exploit.

*My list included 29 forward deploying Veterans which gave me a huge advantage in the early game. Being able to take the fight to the enemy turn one set me up for success in my first and third games.*

My Most Valuable Units were easily my Scout Squads as they carried my force to victory twice and held the line in game two to force a tie that almost wasn’t. The highlight of my day was in the third round when two of my Scout Squads pushed my opponents center eliminating an Engineer Squad in the process. One of the two pushed ahead of the other and dug in within a copse of trees where they managed to draw fire and survive all the way until turn five or six providing a huge thorn in my opponents side for most of the game.

Second place was well earned by Mike Malake and his Germans. Mike’s MVP was his sniper team which managed to eliminate the crew of an artillery piece and drew a lot of fire and kept the enemy busy during the third game. His highlight of the tournament was the second game where he forced a draw that felt like a win.

*Mike’s forces hold the line in a cinematic second round of the tournament. Photo by Mike Malake.*

The game began with indirect fire from his opponent forcing him onto the defensive. His opponent surged forward with everything he had to destroy the objective and Mike pushed a unit into strong defensive position on one flank to force the enemy into the middle. Mike’s surviving units hit back and slowly thinned out the attackers numbers until his opponent ran out of time and firepower. The exhausting and cinematic game was the highlight for the day. Congrats to Mike!

Third went to Ed Fegan and his British. Ed could not be reached for comment. Congrats to Ed!

*A sampling of Randy’s award winning army. Photo by Randy McMillen.*

Randy McMillen took home the prize for Best Painted Army with his British. Randy admitted to being fairly new to tabletop wargaming but took to painting like a natural. Lots of practice, YouTube videos, and guidance from a Sean B. at his local gaming store (shoutout to Waterloo Games in Mechanicsville, VA). Randy shared credit for the win with Sean who painted two of his squads and helped guide Randy to victory. Congrats to Randy!

Brandon Jackson earned the title of Best Sport. I’ll let Brandon speak for himself regarding the honor. “In a tournament where victories are often measured by wins and losses, my record of 1-1-1 may not seem impressive at first glance. Yet, this award reminds us that wargaming is about more than just victory. It’s about camaraderie, sportsmanship and the thrill of strategy.

To my opponents, thank you for the challenging games and good-spirited banter. To the organizers, thank you for creating an unforgettable experience. And to this community, thank you for embracing the spirit of friendly competitions. Let’s continue to roll dice, move miniatures and forge memories together! Cheers!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The tournament featured an even split between Axis and Allied players.

Great Britain, Germany, and the USA dominated the armies in attendance. Minor powers were largely neglected with Italy being the only one present.

Most players settled for a Generic Reinforced Platoon while a few players took advantage of theater selectors.

At 1250 points, lists including 14 order die were the most common but were not the majority.

The most common armored fighting vehicle had an armor value of 9+. In order to succeed, lists needed some way to counter medium tanks.

Of the eleven lists made available, ten included transports.

With a heavy heart, and our eyes on the future, we bid farewell to Second Edition. Bring on Third!

You can find Kalissa’s tournaments in January at the Siege of Augusta in Augusta, GA; February at the Williamsburg Muster in Williamsburg, VA; May at the Richmond Open in Richmond, VA; and in October back in Williamsburg, VA for the Call to Arms convention.

Happy gaming!

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