By Kreighton Long
On 21 February, thirteen players gathered at the Williamsburg Muster in Williamsburg, VA to compete in another one of Kalissa Skibicki’s Bolt Action tournaments. Most of the participants were returning players with friendly catch-ups throughout the weekend. A few new faces joined the usual gang over three rounds on gorgeous tables prepared by David Skibicki.
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.
Let’s see a game in action with the Germans attacking a French in No Retreat. We choose 100 points, for our forces.
The French have a Chasseur Company with:
The Germans have a light tank company with:
No Retreat was the mission, with French selecting defend and Germans selecting attack as their stances. French choose to be on the side of the table closest to the camera in this picture.
View from the other direction, note catzilla on the loose. His cuteness was fully effective.
Deployment has the front placing their 4 minefields to close off the left and center as best they can, presenting the Germans with cross checks to get to the nearer objective. The far objective is close to the woods, it’s an S35 Somua on a big base (which was the Charles Degaull special hero from way back when.)
One French infantry platoon is deployed to the left flank all around the objective. The 25mm anti-tank platoon is in front of the church, the 47 mm anti-tank platoon is next to the graveyard, the right flank has another French infantry platoon. The French 105s are on the left flank close to the objective, and the 81mm mortars are roughly in the center around the objective. The 25mm AA platoon is on the hill. The Panhards and S35s are in reserve and the Laffly platoon is in ambush.
The Germans set up their 88 on the hill and they choose the French left flank as the side to press:
The Germans press up the side and the French on turn 2 spring their ambush of Laffly tank hunters. Two French infantry teams and sent out to assault and make contact with a bailed out Panzer I. A Panzer II comes in for the counterattack and after a bit of back and forth the Panzer II fails to counterattack which converts a couple of bails to kills.
With so many bails due to higher firepowers, an ambush and assault combo can be especially effective, but is not easy to pull off.
Another vantage point of the German attack. The 88 up on the far hill in the upper left was shooting down into the town trying to pick off the French anti-tank guns. The French 25mm and 47mm anti-tank guns would often bail out German armor who would then get back in.
The Panzerjager Is crept down the road and the other light panzer platoon came around the other side of the house. Lots of targets for the French guns, but likewise hit on 3 French were having to roll well for saves AND take advantage of the higher German firepowers to hold on just a bit longer.
As expected the Laffly trucks were machine gunned to death. They did try and shoot and scoot but failed. The German point of the spear was annoyed but not out of action yet.
The French guns continued to hold, which allowed the French reinforcements time to arrive. The Panhards first and then the Somuas, the timing was about the same turn that the 25mm French anti-tank guns finally start to crumble.
The light tank company is getting ready to dash across for a daring assault against the 25mm anti-tank gun, with the French formation HQ in the church to assist in the assault. Note just out of frame on the right are where the 47mm anti-tank guns used to be leaving just the 25mm AA guns off on the hill and the Panhards coming up to reinforce.
Another picture before the assault, note that the 81mm mortar teams are in the graveyard. They had moved up to bombard the 88 and were able to eliminate it.
Here you can see just before the assault, which was successful, however what would follow was the breaking of the German formation. The French AA guns, the 5 Panhards, 4 Somuas and some of the 105s doing direct fire would bail out / eliminate enough tanks that all that needed to happen was the French HQ to come out and auto win an assault against the German HQ. Even then the poor German offensive was not likely to be within 8″ of an objective by turn 6 to keep the game going. The French were able to delay the Germans enough such that either way it was going to be a French victory this time.
Given firepower values are generally higher in early war, assaults are even more important to eliminate units either on the attack or the defense. Artillery direct fire guns with a firepower of 3+ are especially valuable.
German 88s with their range and 3+ firepower can be super effective but they are not cheap.
A front armor of 3 as found on the Panzer IIIes, and the Panzer IIs is pretty effective. The French AT9 anti-tank assets are good and post game I would recommend the 75mm French artillery guns over the 105s simply to have their dual role as anti-tank guns and as artillery.
The Laffly tank hunters are laughable. They are glass cannons in the extreme, you’ll get one round of fire and they will get machine gunned to death.
German tankers need artillery to back them up. Infantry that isn’t backed up with anti-tank guns however can be easily assaulted by tanks. Just remember not to rolls 1’s when the infantry hit you and keep the HQ around to give yourself re-rolls to help with counter attacking.
While this game didn’t include German air assets the Stukas are something to consider for an AT3, 2+ Firepower artillery template.
Early war is very fun, you’ll experience bail out results more often with armor. Infantry / Gun teams will be harder to kill with the less effective weapons so when you roll 5’s and 6’s it is all the more sweet to enjoy the moment of success.
By Aaron Kamakawiwoole
Hey Reader!
I had a chance to sit down with Jesse Marcelo (the 2025 Bolt Action Maryland State Runner-Up) to discuss the unique army he took to the event.
Sporting a Polish Partisans list (with Partisans being one of the armies in the new edition that people seem to be most displeased with since they lost so many of the tricks and unique elements that made them interesting), Jesse finished the day 3-0, with his final win being against me (the previous Maryland State Champion from last year).
The list performed really well, even though it defined conventions, so I sat down with Jesse to chat about what went into his choice of army. Take it away, Jesse!
By Aaron Kamakawiwoole
Hey Reader!
I had a chance to sit down with Joe Lint (the 2025 Bolt Action Maryland State Champion) to discuss the unique army he took. Having chatted with Joe in advance of the tournament on lists, Joe mentioned that he wanted to challenge himself and run with no tanks, which is a big loss for the US since they have a really good suite of tanks and tank destroyers.
So he went full swing into the 2nd Ranger Battalion for D-Day, complete with a display board with grappling hooks for ascending the cliffs, landing craft to showcase the men (they were not part of the army), and a painted fighter for his Air Observer to call in:
Seeing this army in-person was a real treat: it looks even better in-person, as the battle patches on their arms pop more, and the highlighting job in particular was very, very good.
But the list also performed well, so to guide that discussion, I had a few questions for him. Take it away, Joe!
By Kreighton Long
Two weekends ago I had the opportunity to compete in a Bolt Action tournament organized by Jesse Marcelo at Your Hobby Place in Alexandria, VA. This was Jesse’s third time as Tournament Organizer since hosting his first tournament last year in an effort to help grow the community. Each player was permitted a 1100 point list not to exceed 20 order die.
The mood of the event was friendly and light-hearted. All three of my opponents were a pleasure to play against with no absence of good humor and laughter while we worked through the three, two hour rounds. What I overheard throughout the day was that most of the players were congenial and friendly — minus one exception that the TO dealt with quickly and quietly. Overall, it was an excellent atmosphere for both green and veteran players alike.
By Paolo Paglianti
Even though I’ve been playing wargames since way back in 1992 and have travelled across half of Europe, I had never had the chance to visit Romania. When my friend Quentin Taylor — a Canadian but Romanian by adoption — told us he would be organizing the Nationals near Sibiu, we booked our flights almost immediately!
Moreover, the Romanian Nationals are part of the European Series, a circuit of National tournaments which this year — in its second edition — includes Belgium, Germany, the UK, Poland, and also Italy, where I will be organizing the event on March 14–15, 2025. Together with Rob and the others, we wanted to create a network that would encourage players to take part in tournaments across the Old Continent.
By Kreighton Long
On 11 October, sixteen players gathered at the Call to Arms Convention in Williamsburg, VA for a 1250 point Bolt Action tournament hosted by Kalissa Skibicki. This is Kalissa’s fifth time running the Bolt Action tournament for Southeastern Tabletop Gaming Organization (SETGO)’s autumn convention.
This continuity has allowed relationships to grow between the repeat attendees even if it is limited to a once-a -year interaction over a tournament involving toy soldiers and measuring tape. The camaraderie is ever-present throughout the weekend especially as players arrive to the event and are heartily greeted by their soon-to-be competitors.
By Paolo Paglianti
As every year, the ETC – European Team Championship for Flames of War takes place towards the end of July. It’s probably the most important tournament of the year for fans of the game, and the whole FOW community, including US and New Zealand.
I was lucky enough to take part in 2022 as a “mercenary” for Team Iceland in Belgium, then returned in 2023 and 2024 with Team Italy, again in Belgium and then in Poland. This year, the ETC was held in Austria, in the town of Loben, and Team Italy was back on the field! Let’s see how it went!
By Paolo Paglianti
When I found out I’d be attending Historicon 2025 for work again this year (as I am Head of Comms at the videogame company Slitherine), I went straight to check the list of wargaming tournaments. To my surprise, there were no Flames of War or DBMM events—the two games I play the most, WWII and ancients/medievals respectively.
However, I was happy to discover tournaments for both Art de la Guerre (which I’ll write about in another article) and Bolt Action. Since I had a British army sitting in my garage waiting to be painted, it seemed like the perfect chance to finally learn the game and get some 28mm figures painted—usually, I paint in 15mm.
