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.
A Confederate Napoleon is aimed at Cemetery Ridge – Hill’s corp, Anderson’s Division, Lane’s Battalion, Patterson’s Battery.
By Troy Hill
I admit it. I hated studying the American Civil War (ACW) ever since Junior High School. But, the title says I made a visit recently to Gettysburg. Since I’m about to turn 61, you might be wondering why I had this change of heart?
First, why did I not care for the war? The best I can say is that reading The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, in the 8th grade. I’d had a good dose of ACW studies in the 7th grade as well at Brookdale Junior High, as my social studies class covered it in depth for about three months. Then the 8th and 11th grades went even farther.
And Stephen Crane’s book kept coming back to haunt my dreams, so I tuned out the lessons. Study enough to pass the tests, then forget about it. I just wasn’t interested. But, after having spent most of two decades studying and gaming World War 2, I was ready for something fresh. Napoleonics! Yeah….? Well, no. I wasn’t into figuring out the uniform facing colors for each unit. Best to not upset the gaming grognards with the incorrect facings or pom colours. But I still wanted another period to get into that was older than WW2. The Great War was too tied into WW2. Though different, it was too much the same.
What about ACW? Union blue vs Confederate gray, butternut, brown, and whatever else Johnny Reb was wearing… Yep. That’s more manageable on the painting front. And a lot of the battlefields are only a one-to-two day drive away from Indiana. No hopping on a jet plane to Europe or Africa to go see what happened. So, ACW was my next historical gaming stop. As long as I didn’t have to read Stephen Crane again.
Where does the pilgrimage to Gettysburg fit into all of this? And, most importantly, how did I as a wargamer, get my non-wargaming wife to agree to one of the most required pilgrimages in all of ACW-dom?
Today we have Mike Love from Bad Goblin Games and we talk about their great game Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse, a unique game that covers a future where mutants and the remnants of humanity fight it out.
Last autumn I wrapped up my capstone Bolt Action tournament of the year and began dreaming of my next army project. This transition coincided with the release of Bolt Action Third Edition, and I drafted my new army knowing that my experiences with the new edition would likely evolve how I built and played my list. You can find the first two articles in this series where I share my original ideas and how I painted my work.
We had a 2-day Bolt Action tournament recently (May 24-25, 2025) as part of the Canadian Tabletop
Championship (CTC) here in Ottawa ON. We had enough players for Warlord Games to let us declare
it Canadian Nationals. 1250 points, 18 Order Dice (OD) cap, no more than two of any unit bar regular
Rifles, HQ , Transports and Tows.
Since my last event in April <link to article> I’ve tinkered with some
lists, settling on the following (regulars unless noted):
On 24 May, 25 players assembled at Bazooka Games Westminster for a 1000 point Bolt Action tournament. The tournament was organized and executed by Mike Kehs who had to move the tournament to a new location due to unforeseen circumstances. The new location featured a separate room with sufficient space for all the players and tables and was mostly-set aside for the event.
A few tables of various other games occupied the tables in the back. A variety of quick dining options in the area appeared to appease the players as everyone came back after lunch refueled and ready to roll more die and move toy soldiers around well dressed tables.
Mike’s tournaments continue to draw larger crowds each time. Being a TO has made Mike more familiar with the rules as he is often responding to calls of “TO!” from across the room to clarify or settle rules disputes. There were a lot of repeat players which is a reflection of the well-earned expected quality of Mike’s tournaments.
As competitive as his events are, veteran players are welcoming to new players and Mike often sees veteran players taking the opportunity to mentor new players. In addition to all these highlights, Mike loves to see the reactions of players when crazy stuff happens on the table such as a FUBAR at the worst possible time or a lucky 6 from a mortar that takes out a key unit.
Our friends at Battlefront sent us one of the Limited Editions from the new Pacific range — and it’s packed with Japanese troops! What do you think, shall we do a nice unboxing together?
I recently had the pleasure of attending a 1000 point Bolt Action tournament at Your Hobby Place in Fredericksburg, VA. The tournament was hosted by Josiah Nehrke and we began the day with six players. The participants played through three rounds: Key Positions, Seek and Destroy, and Breakthrough. The lower than expected turnout was likely due to the tournament falling on Mothers Day weekend and that the previous weekend was another local tournament at the Richmond Open. The event progressed smoothly with all parties respecting the prescribed schedule and the whole event had a friendly atmosphere with players joking and helping each other with rules throughout the day.
Josiah’s highlight of the tournament was the high standard for how the players’ armies were painted. He considers it rare to have such effort and care put into every players’ armies at events and the paint jobs, paired with the tables, made the event a special one. Special shout out to Wayne W. for his excellent terrain. Wayne provided nearly 100% of everything on the tables and multiple players took the time to praise the tables we had the opportunity to play on.
Brandon’s Centaur has a most unfortunate first round.
After finishing the day with two wins and a loss, I took home first place. My Italians pleasantly surprised me with how well they played following a disappointing few months before replacing three L6/40s with two M15/41s. The M15/41s worked well as they put out up to four pins per turn, if they divided their fire and had targets to engage, and even succeeded in knocking out three vehicles during the day. Fingers crossed that I can replicate this success at my next tournament at the end of May. The highlight of the tournament for me was having the opportunity to see so many well-painted armies on great looking tables. I’m a sucker for the aesthetics of this hobby and when players put effort and pride into armies that go on tables similarly decorated, I can’t help but have a great day.
My Italian infantry advance under the cover of an M15 and a light mortar.
The second place finisher was Tom Slook, who also finished with two wins and a loss. Tom’s highlight from the tournament was his Hellcat advancing out of cover, hitting and knocking out his opponents Centaur with the first order die of the first turn of the first game. That gave Tom a notable morale boost early which carried him through the remainder of the tournament. His most valuable unit was the M5 Stuart with hedgerow cutters. The 5+ upgrade allowed the Stuart to open holes in the bocage in his second game which gave him a distinct advantage over his opponent. Tom also took home the award for Best Sportsman. Congrats Tom!
Tom’s Hellcat, laying in wait on Ambush, moments before knocking out an Italian M15. Photo by Tom Slook.
Tom’s Stuart, upgraded with hedgerow cutters, hunts down my Italians on the bocage table.
Joe Dent took home third place with a record of 1-1-1. Joe’s highlights from the tournament featured the paint jobs of the armies present. The tables themselves were also a treat for the players. The tables were well designed and decorated and each presented a unique challenge for players. Joe remarked how when seeing the tables he didn’t think, “oh god I hope I’m not on that one.” Joe’s most valuable units were his Regular German Grenadiers and his Veteran Panzer IV G with Panzer Ace. Joe brought five identical Grenadier squads and used the one LMG per squad to reach out and put pins on units to force his opponents to take Order Checks. Working together, the squads stacked pins on units even pinning out an enemy squad in the third round. Joe’s Panzer Ace Panzer IV was a real menace. As a Veteran tank, it ignored pins that could not penetrate it’s armor which kept it active throughout the game and it’s murderous Pen 6+1+D6 make quick work of any target it landed it hit on. It knocked out enemy armor in and survived all three rounds. After eliminating the enemy’s armor, the Panzer IV became a mobile machine gun bunker reliably putting pins on two enemy units per round of firing. Congrats Joe!
The Best Painted Army award went to my North African Italians. Josiah emphasized how the judge had to make several laps around the armies during the lunch break due to the caliber of submissions. This was my first foray into desert themed armies and I ended up enjoying the change of color schemes. The tan and ochre colors help my units stand out compared to the more common European themed armies which I believe will help them stand out during future painting competitions.
My North Africa Italians. The desert scheme certainly helped them stand out compared to the European themed armies.Of the five lists shared, there was a near even split between Axis and Allies with the Allies taking a slight advantage.
Of the five lists shared, there was an even distributions of different factions. This created a pleasantly diverse crowd at the event.
The most common order die amount at 1000 points was 13.
All five companies featured an armored platoon and almost all of them saw their infantry supported by a heavy weapons platoon.
Every list shared featured an armored platoon with the most common armor value 8+. Armies without anti-tank capabilities would have struggled.
Of the five lists shared, there was only one vehicle that was not an armored fighting vehicle. That one was a soft skin gun platform. No transports were present which made the last mission, Breakthrough, more difficult as infantry had to slog their way across the table on foot.
Your Hobby Place, Fredericksburg, is planning on hosting another tournament in July. Keep an eye out for advertising for that tournament. Josiah is taking a break and will not run that tournament but plans on being back in his TO chair in November.
Thank you to the sponsors — Warlord Games and Your Hobby Place. Warlord Games provided a prize support package and Your Hobby Place the entry costs into store credit for the first and second place finishers.
Our local gaming group has recently gotten into Bolt Action, right as the new edition of the game premiered. We were slow to dive into the action under 2nd Edition, but Version 3 of Bolt Action has gotten our group to play more, and we’re starting to work the kinks out.
I have a British Cromwell Armoured Squadron that I built for Tank War back in second edition and I’m currently working on Germans. Basically all the Germans, though I’m paining the new winter stuff. I really like the contrast between white bases and darker uniforms.
Phil has gotten into Bolt Action with both feet, building a British Motor Platoon, a Soviet IS-2 army, and a Polish army for early war. Hazel has built some Germans. Don is our least excited player in the Bolt Action realm, but, despite his complaints, he is building a Fallschirmjager army based on Crete to go along with his Marines and Japanese. Overall, our group is taking to Bolt Action.
With the Armies of the United States book coming out, we wanted to get a game in. In addition to everything else, I’ve looked at getting some winter Americans. I could use these for both WWII and Korea, so they’re going to be multi-purpose. If we end up going hard into Korea, I’ll do some Chinese just so I can do a bunch of cavalry. Regardless, I’m interested in the new Americans so I was excited when NDNG got an early copy of the book so I could check it out.
I’ve been diving into Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings lately, trying to split my time working on two different armies. The designers at Para Bellum Games came up with what was missing from the W’adhrun. A flying dinosaur.
I recently split a two-player starter box with another player who wanted the Yoroni half of the set, so I got my very own Quatl! I’ll cover how I assembled it, and some of the decisions I had to make along the way.
Today we have Mike Love from 
