Hot Takes and MG42s: Our First Experiences with Bolt Action Third Edition
By Michael Rafferty
Bolt Action Third Edition is coming out in a few weeks, and we were fortunate enough to get a pre-release copy. Now that we’ve played three games, we have some initial thoughts about the new version. I haven’t played version two in a couple years, since a Tank War Tournament in November 2022. I kept looking at lists, though I am not up on the meta. The rest of our group haven’t played in years if at all. This lets us approach version three as a fresh ruleset, with only a few inbuilt preconceptions.
The Germans needed to secure vital coffee and donut supplies
First, the turn mechanic hasn’t changed. We are all big fans of the random dice system. It flows and keeps the turns engaging. Both players are actively engaged and the game works.
We’ve also found some interesting strategies around army composition I will discuss later. Army building has changed, but overall, I think it’s a positive change. Instead of the old reinforced platoon org chart, your army is a mix of platoons. The base requirement is an infantry platoon with a commander and two infantry squads. Then you can add an anti-tank team, mortar, or transports. This is basically the old infantry formation.
From this base, you can add artillery platoons, armored platoons, heavy weapon platoons, recce platoons, or engineer platoons. These all require a commander, and 1-2 platoons as a base. Artillery platoons are how you bring howitzers and anti-tank guns.
Mortars, machine guns, and additional anti-tank teams are in the heavy weapons platoon. For our games, I made a German list with an infantry platoon with three 10-man squads and an armored platoon with two tanks. Phil created a British list with three nine-man squads, an M10, a Sherman, a 6pdr anti-tank gun, light mortar, PIAT, and a 25pdr. This gave him three total commanders versus my two. This would be important later.
Missions are generated by rolling on three charts. The first determines the mission objectives. We played a king of the hill scenario, a scenario where we had to capture an objective in the enemy deployment zone, and a mission where you had to exit the board on the enemy’s deployment zone. Deployment is the second chart, which is either board quarters or long table edges. Finally, deployment type is selected.
We got meeting engagement for two of the three missions, where the forces walk on the board edge. Prepared positions is class wargame deployment, where players draw a dice then deploy a unit. Fog of War is only selected on a six. This deployment type forces you to keep at least half your army in reserve. Deployment of the remaining units is done like in prepared positions. The interesting part is that reserves can come on from any point of any table edge, making for a chaotic game.
Our third game was exiting the enemy’s board edge as an objective, with long table edge as deployment zones with meeting engagement as deployment type. Phil’s British had an advantage in number of units, which during the game helped him immensely. Having the dice advantage gave him solid odds of drawing a dice first. He had a total of three commanders, his Sherman commander deployed near his M10, one of the infantry commanders near his artillery, and another with two of the infantry squads.
Having more units meant he had more dice, which made it likely that he would draw a dice first. Then he would activate one of the commanders, usually the Sherman one so his unified anti-tank could target mine. This worked incredibly well, and he was able to consistently destroy my Panther and Hetzer before they could really accomplish anything. His next activation was usually the commander near the howitzer and mortar, which were able to decimate my infantry.
We may have been using Marvel Crisis Protocol models as objectives
For list-building, we’ve determined that having more platoon commanders running around is a good advantage. This allowed Phil to activate more units per dice pull. We also found that veterancy can be a trap. I brought two veteran infantry squads and one inexperienced one, with all three being fully kitted out. I made the models WYSIWYG based on the metal Volksgrenadier and Gebirgsjager squads I had. This made my infantry expensive.
Meanwhile, Phil brought regular infantry squads with only an LMG. These cost savings allowed him to fit the third platoon in and the PIAT, giving him four more order dice. The veterancy was nice in assault, which is still brutal.
Overall, I think I would prefer additional units over a smaller number of veteran units. I made a new list with three regular infantry squads with two LMG each. The cost savings allowed me to bring an additional platoon with a Pak 40 and nebelwerfer. I think including a veteran assault unit could be good and my commanders are brought as veterans. It’s a minor increase for one to three guys to go to veteran and increase their survivability, it’s a bit much to increase the survivability of 20.
Veteran Gebirgsjagers getting wrecked by artillery
The game itself flows smoothly. The new cover mechanics took some getting used to, but by game two it was fine. Having the extra save makes cover important, especially since going down in soft cover gives a 3+ save. This really decreases the chance of losing a guy since they have to hit, wound, then I need to fail a cover save. Despite this, it was still a bloody game.
Defending fortified positions is an advantage in assault now. Defenders in a fortified position get to attack first, instead of going simultaneously. While this didn’t matter in our epic battle of a defending PIAT team vs a full-strength Gebirgsjager platoon, it could be decisive in closer contests.
Despite the dead Hetzer, the Gebirgsjagers reigned supreme next to the Doc Ock Coffee Shop
Overall, we’re excited to play more Bolt Action 3rd Edition. I’ve already started expanding my German army and Phil has picked up more British. Don is looking at Soviet units, though he’s upset he lost his free infantry unit. I’m excited to see what they do when they start releasing more national books and campaign books, hopefully adding more flavor to the individual nations.