Learning Bolt Action

Hi my name is Mitch and I am a gamer.

Our podcasts seem to have one drug reference in each episode, so it’s a well-worn joke to many of us here at NDNG. We’re always jonesing for that next gaming fix.

We are always looking for that new game to pick up in which we invest time and money for the ultimate payoff which is to have Fun.

So. over the last few months, I took the excitement of my latest enabler, Jon Russell from and decided to give Bolt Action a try. Bolt Action is now in its second edition and has been around for a while now. Two editions and I hadn’t tried it yet? Why not?

Perhaps it was for the same reason many gamers don’t try new games? We tend to look for the bad in a game in order to give us an excuse to ignore it. But, the only time I heard anything bad about Bolt Action was one person say it wasn’t his cup of tea. This excuse gave me the ability to avoid the game, to not paint 28mm models, and not pick up another money and time suck.

BA 101: Beginning Bolt Action

By Troy A. Hill

Images from Warlord Games, or by the author

Well, I took the plunge recently into a new game system. Gamer-Crack got hold of me again.

I’ve been looking for a new WWII system for a while, and I was hesitant to go back to a 28mm system after abandoning Warhammer Fantasy (WHFB) during its dark-era.

But, I wanted to find a system that would come equipped with a fairly stable player base in my part of the world (Southern California). Outside of Flames of War (FOW), is the next most popular WWII miniatures game. And it has a tournament scene. Double Win for that.

Special Guests at my first Bolt Action Game

The first game I played, hosted by a few of our HMGS-PSW gents,  included a “objective” of Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz. Seems those two had gotten lost near the Eastern Front. The Soviets were tasked with capturing or killing them. The German players had to recover them. That led to many poor attempts at German accents for quotable Hogan’s Heroes lines – I know NOTHink! – being tossed about like a live hand-grenade.

Blood Red Skies: A Quick Review

Some of you may have heard our interviews with Jon Russel from . In our July 2017 interview he announced that a new air combat game would be hitting the market. That game, Blood Red Skies (BRS), has arrived.

I do recall asking him if Warlord would be able to put out an air combat game when the market has a lot titles to choose from, and no single game system as really been deemed as the benchmark. I have played Wings of Glory and Check Your Six in the past and I have a huge collection of bi-plane models.

I cannot say either game has really hooked me. Maybe it is the fact that I have been an “Airman” my entire adult life that leads me to be harder on air themed games. I believe that to be good, a game focused on air warfare either needs to be very detailed (which bogs it down) or super easy like an arcade game (rock, paper, scissors) and neither option is fun for me. At least not until BRS hit my gaming table.