Getting into Bolt Action, Third edition
By Morten
For a couple of years now, I have been eyeing Bolt Action from the sidelines, never really taking the steps to get into the game. I already play Team Yankee, Star Wars Legion and have had a few games of Star Wars Shatterpoint, so I was a bit on the fence about getting into yet another game system.
Then came the news, that Bolt Action was getting a Third Edition in September and I couldn’t help myself, as this seemed like the perfect time to start.
Now, I don’t really know anything about how Bolt Action Second Edition plays or how army building works. I have watched a single game some years ago and all I know about Third Edition, is what Warlord has spoiled in their Intelligence Reports. So far, I like what I’m seeing.
You can check out the Intelligence Reports here:
https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/category/world-war-two/bolt-action/
To get started, I of course needed some models. For that I took a trip to my nearest stockiest about 40-min drive from where I live and came home with a bunch of plastic, resin and metal models that should give me a pretty good starting point, but as everybody knows, this is going to expand in time. (Honestly, I have already stopped myself several times now, from buying a bunch more models)
The models from Warlord Games are great, but they do have a few issues, so let’s talk about those first.
The plastic infantry have flash and mold lines everywhere! The cleaning process of removing these, do become quite tedious and time consuming. (Editor’s note: The Blitzkrieg and German Grenadiers box sets have been around for many years, so the mold are well used).
The resin tanks suffer from some serious warping. Most of this is fairly easy to fix with hot water, but not all and that do leave some rather large gaps, that need filling out.
Also the resin is soaked in mold release and require a very thorough scrubbing and rinsing. I had washed mine in soapy water with a toothbrush two times and rinsed them with clean water afterwards, but apparently that’s was not enough. When you think your model is clean, give it another go, just to be sure.
Some metal parts a very fragile. Especially around barrels, so do take care when cleaning these. Some parts are also a bit misaligned and badly bent and will need to be straightened out. Some extra care not to break the parts, needs to be taken here.
Once all this is said and done, I really do like the models. Especially the modularity of the infantry kits, as they have a lot of kit-bashing potential.
There are 6 bodies on each sprue, but you hardly notice this with all the different arm options for them.
The infantry don’t come with assembly instructions, just a sheet of paper explaining what each part is used for and honestly, this works really well.
Here I have laid out the parts used on two identical bodies, for different poses.
And here is an example of some kit-bashing.
The main parts are from the blitzkrieg sprues. Ammo belt in the MG is the same part that hangs around the neck of the helper, but cut in two and glued to the MG. One side has its casings removed so only the ammo belt is left to show it coming out empty on the other side.
The helper got some rolled up sleeves and a spare barrel canister, from the Grenadiers box.
On to some tanks.
In the starter army box, I got a Resin Panzer IV tank. This kit is quite old as is no longer available to buy separately, as it has been replaced by a plastic kit and I understand why. It’s clear that the mold this was cast from have served its use, but it does have a few things I like better than the plastic models and that is the details around the road wheels. You can clearly see they are supposed to look like separate pieces, unlike the plastic kits wich look like upscaled FOW/TY models as their road wheels are just a single tube, sticking out from the tank.
That being said, the plastic kit is far superior to the old resin kit when it comes to assembly, extra detailing and weapon options.
The vehicles for Bolt Action is made by Italeri and do come with nice clear instructions on how to build the various versions, unlike Warlords own resin kit that just shows a diagram of the parts.
I will likely get a Plastic Panzer IV to replace the resin version sometime.
The support weapons available are made completely of metal, both crew and gun, so not a lot of options for customization unless you are really handy with greenstuff.
A few parts, especially the helmets of the crew, seems a bit misshapen and these are some prime candidates to do a head swap on if that bothers you. So far I haven’t decided myself, but I might cut off the metal heads and find some plastic ones before I start painting.
The guns don’t have any good instructions, just a diagram as with the resin tank, but for the most parts, they don’t really need anymore.
I did however have some trouble figuring in out where to put some of the smaller parts, like handles and sights, but a quick image search helped me out. (Editor’s Note: To help with assembly, I often find that I can locate a “walk-around” series of photos online, usually from someone who has visited a piece displayed in a public venue or museum.)
All in all, I do really like the models for Bolt Action and I can’t wait to learn more about the game when Third edition launches. I have quite deliberately tried not to learn anything about second edition, as I don’t want to get any rules confused with each other and get a completely fresh experience.
On another note, I love how affordable the models are compared to, say 40K. Here you get a box of 30 infantry that is very modular, for a fraction more than 10 static models where all parts are keyed.
Same with the tanks. Most are about half the price of other brands.
Below is everything I bought the get started, including some terrain, dice, markers and more. All totaled to roughly 400€ give and take.
Lastly, a little sneak peek on the terrain. I might get into some more details on this, some other time.
For now, I need to start painting what I have so I can get ready when the rules releases in September.
