By Benny Christiansen

When you get your hands on not one, but two new books; and you have a chance to get a game squeezed in during the weekend, you have to make a priority list. What is the first thing you want to look at and test!?

For me, and my friends, it was the infantry. I am a big fan of infantry, and I love the way it can move and no longer just lie down and take punishment. They are, to me, a real asset now.

The German DAK book had left the Germans with a somewhat less than optimal infantry. I don’t play the Germans, but if the lists are less than optimal, fewer people will play them in tournaments, nor even in pick up games. So the new German book, Iron Cross, has been expected with great anticipation by players who field German Infantry. I find that the book has provided these players with a good source for good infantry choices.

For those who have read my previous on my  (BA) journey, I have just completed my first few BA games in a tourney at the NOVA open. This article will focus on my overall experience in learning Bolt Action and my impressions of the game in general.

With typical beginner luck, I lost my first game 0-4, tied the next game 4-4 and got wiped out in my last game. After a long day of thinking on my feet, playing an unfamiliar ruleset, I walked away from my last game tired. But I loved every minute of play.

Bolt Action has been out since the early Twenty-teens (German 1st Edition Book published in 2012). I have no clue as to how I missed it for so long.

The game uses dice to activate your units. Each unit provides one order die. Each player throws a set of uniquely colored order dice into a bag. One per unit in your force. A die is blindly drawn, and the player to whom the die belongs gets to activate a unit. This mechanic is at the heart of the game, and the random simulation of the “vagaries of the battlefield” effect it provides is one reason, I believe, why the game is so good.

Huge episode live from the NOVA Open… We talk to Jon Russell right after my first event. Jon gives us a bunch of spoilers on what is coming out over the next few months for Warlord Games such as the naval game Cruel Seas.

Jon and I talk about a new game he showed me called “”. We are then joined by Steve Smith and we talk about Bolt Action Korea, you will not get better details on this new release anywhere else! During the second act we are joined by Ed Nelson and talk all about Beyond the Gates of Antares.

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author and Chris Fretts

                                    Honest Ahmed (foreground) “Ah yes, come here GI Joe, have best price on allied 6pdr, trade-in on 37mm AT guns, very good, you get Masters shirt fast!”

Hey guys, This will mostly be a big picture dump from Canadian Nationals, and perhaps I will leave the analysis for others.  Firstly, shots of armies before they got deployed, then gaming pics, with Day 1 and Final standing snapshots by Chris Fretts.

By Benny Christiansen

The Italian book introduced a new kind of formation for me. The Bergsalieri Weapons Company was a formation, that I found very interesting.

At first glance, I could not see myself fielding a whole formation, but having read a few pages, the potentially fun and efficient lists became apparent to me. I’m not the best of the best, but I win more games than I lose, and so these suggestions would be for players who are mediocre or similar

In general, I am a big fan of Italian infantry formations. I find it easy to keep them alive. They are hit on 4+ and capable of a 30 cm cross-country dash. Combined with the Follow Me, they are up and in the face of an enemy, within a turn. In missions where there is more than 40 cm between the lines, I recommend using the L6/40 or AB41 platoons to make sure the distance is only 40 cm.

I hope many of you checked out my first article about learning how to play . It covered the initial steps I took to collect, paint, and read the rules which culminated in signing up for a major Bolt Action event. This article will detail the list I plan to use for the event and will cover about how list making plays a part in Bolt Action and other games we play.

Make a List and Check it Twice
It has always been my opinion that list building is the game behind the game. It keeps us thinking about the game when we are not painting or actually playing it. The vendors probably see list building as the unseen hand that forces us to purchase more models and to keep the buzz going 24/7.

Why does list building take up so much of our time? I think the answer is simple, it is an extension of the game we can “play” at any time. It also represents the analytical side of the game where we try to find the perfect combination. I am guilty of spending a lot of time list building, I really enjoy it and I am attracted to games that have list building in it.

While this may not be popular with some, I think other than assuring you have a rules legal list there is no “Perfect” list or any list that will assure you success. A lot of factors in games are not covered by lists,   terrain, your opponent’s forces, and missions. Nor can you predict how your dice rolls will come out. On top of this, during a game, we run into so many possible unique situations and we analyze these quickly in order to make decisions on what moves to make, as this is happening your list makes little difference, however knowing what the units can do makes a lot of difference.

Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) unveiled at GenCon 2018 one of the most anticipated and requested starships for Star Wars Armada: The Executor-Class Super Star Destroyer. That’s right, the infamous command ship of Darth Vader. FFG proudly showed off their largest produced “mini” measuring in at 24″ long, and mounted on two large-ship stands! The expansion is packed with special upgrades including two new admirals, Admiral Piett and even Emperor Palpatine himself!

by Tom Burgess

Our local Flames of War gaming group got in a second City Fight game. Last time we fought out “The Square” mission from So this time we turned out attention to Iron Cross with “The Boulevard” mission. “Battle Buddy” Ed would be playing his Soviets while Charles “6by9” would be rolling out the Germans. The point level was 55 points.

We played the game at Hard Knox Games when we could make great use of the in-store terrain collection. We used a 28mm city game mat as the base, which we thought looked much better than the plain black base we used last time. We the two halves of Miniature Building Authority (MBA) “Factory Building” to make the two main objective buildings.  To further subdivide these two buildings into four “rooms” we simply added some Battlefront Desert Walls.  We added some other MBA building halves to add to the boards generic “rubble” look. We also added some building around the perimeter edge of the board which were “off table” but helped with the visual back-drops.

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.

No Dice No Glory is proud to bring you the “Battle for the +5 Points”, a Charity Midwar Flames of War Tournament that will benefit the families of those who’ve fallen during their military service.

When: October 20th. 10 AM Registration. 10:30 Dice Roll.

Where: Your Hobby Place

4264 Plank Road

Fredericksburg, VA 22407

Cost: $10 Dollars, with all of going to TAPS.

Signup: Email