Recon Report – Bolt Action: Campaign: D-Day: British and Canadian Sectors
By Kreighton Long
As the pandemic continues to dominate our news feeds and our minds I’ve been trying to focus on the future and how exciting it will be to attend club days and tournaments.
Warlord Games is doing its part to ramp up my excitement with the planned publication of their second D-Day Campaign Book with nearly two hundred pages focusing on the Anglo-Canadian Sectors from Gold, Sword, and Juno Beaches to the capture of Caen and the German defeat at the Falaise Pocket.
As you can expect from Warlord, this book contains new historical scenarios, units, and theater selectors.
Look for Bolt Action: Campaign: D-Day: British and Canadian Sectors to be released this coming Autumn. With the disruptions from the pandemic, Warlord has not put an official release date on it yet but indicate they hope to have it out potentially in October.
True to the historical context, seven of the 13 scenarios feature the Allies playing the role of the attacker while the Germans defend their French conquests.
Three scenarios play out German counter-attacks while the last three are meeting engagements with both sides mixing it up on the table. The eleventh scenario is especially intriguing with Canadians mounted in armored transports rushing across the rough ground into the teeth of prepared German defenses.
You can almost hear Wagner playing in the background.
Seeing as my motor pool is low on Allied armored transports (for now), I will likely attempt to flip it and play it out with German mounted panzergrenadiers charging forward into fire at a club event in the future.
To fill the ranks of the platoons fighting for control of France in June 1944, Warlord has introduced a healthy variety of units and theater selectors for club and competitive play. With this book focusing on the Anglo-Canadian Sectors, it should come as no surprise that obvious effort went into creating options for the Allies. British and Commonwealth players can now build forces utilizing eight new unique theater selectors.
Players wanting to theme their force on the British and Inter-Allied Commandos as well as the Canadian contributions to liberating Europe can find specific units to build a competitive platoon of either utilizing 5 theater selectors for each. Don’t worry German players, you got some love too. Axis players can peruse new units and theater selectors for the 12th SS Hitlerjugend, Luftwaffe Field Divisions, Static Divisions, and Panzer-Lehr Division. These additions add new flavors for German players wanting to build a force for the Normandy campaign.
[A new option players on both sides can look forward to adding to their lists are Armored Observation Post Vehicles. These new units are exactly what their name eludes to. Carrying an Artillery Forward Observer Team, these armored vehicles provide additional mobility and protection for your valuable Forward Artillery Observers. Both Allied and German players can each choose from among 4 vehicles.
Once the pandemic lightens and tournaments resume in your area, expect to see some new units and platoon builds from this book at your local gaming store. The Canadians may be the newest Allied threat for players to deal with. Canadian armies lose the ability to chose their national characteristic from the Armies of Great Britain book and instead get two new Army Special Rules.
The first is Dogged, which allows regular and veteran Canadian infantry squads to become Stubborn and inexperienced ones to become Green for 1 point per model. The second rule, Hate the SS, gives Canadian troops the Fanatic special rule when in close quarters with SS units– scary stuff! For the Axis, the 12th SS Hitlerjugend comes offering youthful zealotry.
In addition to the special rules in the Armies of Germany book, 12th SS platoons have the Angriff! and Suicidal Fanaticism rules. Angriff! forces units to make a Run order towards the nearest visible enemy instead of going down after failing an order check. Suicidal Fanaticism gives units with this rule the Fanatics special rule but rolls to damage these units need one less than normal, making them more vulnerable. Look for both these builds to be incorporated into competitive play.
As for the more club-friendly set-ups, the Luftwaffe Field Division soars from the pages. Building this type of army would set one apart from the standard German army on the table. The most obvious way would be the different Luftwaffe uniforms over the Heer uniforms. Additionally, the Luftwaffe Field Division may field the new Luftwaffe Reconnaissance Squad. This squad may pre-deploy before either side begins its standard deployment.
Though inexperienced, this squad may be upgraded to a maximum of ten men and can pose as a real threat to attacking players who must deal with a large, albeit squishy, a mob of infantry pre-deployed to provide maximum migraine. For those looking for unique modeling opportunities, the Luftwaffe Field Division provides opportunities for the force to receive 100 points of defenses for free as well as the option to include a Turmstellung. The Turmstellung is a captured French Renault FT17 machine gun turret on top of a concrete bunker. While not as awe-inspiring as a true German tank, this turreted bunker can give many an attacker pause and provides a unique modeling opportunity for crafty kit-bashers.
After flipping through the book I consider this a strong addition to the Bolt Action series. While not every scenario is overly unique, there are opportunities for fun looking club games. The inclusion of relevant maps always scores points in my book as they help the reader keep track of operations as the scenarios tell the story of the Anglo-Canadian operations in Normandy. The new units and theater selectors are a welcome addition to the existing abundance of options already found in the Bolt Action community. As primarily a German player, I’m intrigued by the options and modeling opportunities found in the Luftwaffe Field Division, though my Late-War Heer Grenadiers will most likely remain my competitive army of choice.