Recon Report: Bolt Action Third Edition Armies of Imperial Japan Unit Highlights

By Aaron Kamakawiwoole

Hey Reader!

Kreighton gave an excellent overview of the new Third Edition supplement for the Armies of Imperial Japan, and today we’re continuing in our review of the book by looking at some of the highlights for new units in the book.

Japan has a lot of interesting, thematic, and powerful options, so today we will highlight some of the unique choices that will make your army feel fresh and unique from the rest of your collection.

We’ll start with an officer choice: the SNLF Platoon Commander. These officers are -5pts in cost (so only 15-16pts Inexperienced, and 24-25pts Regular!), but they are limited in their ability to order men into action: they can only command Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) troops.

Now this sounds like a limitation, and to some extent it is, but seeing as SNLF got expanded to include a lot more infantry sections, team weapons, and artillery in this book, you can actually run a full SNLF force with no major issues, allowing you to save on your “officer tax” without any real downsides. So for those who want to play “Japanese Marines,” your ship has come in!

Next we have the Air Forward Observer: not something that you saw often in 2nd Edition Bolt Action, but I think this is a hidden gem for Japan. Since they did not have any ground attack aircraft, the entry loses access to those and thus reduces their cost by -33% (so only 50pts Regular and 60pts Veteran, which is AWESOME).

That being said, arguably the medium ground attack aircraft is the weakest of all the options on the air observer chart, so having a 50-50 chance of getting the best two options for aircraft is actually really good! And doing so on a budget is phenomenal.

Next we have a unit that I was curious about: the Paratroopers (which come in Imperial Japanese Army and SNLF variants): typically in Bolt Action paratroopers always come with the Stubborn special rule, which helps them avoid fleeing the battlefield. But since Japanese infantry already start with Fanatics (which is just Stubborn but better), I was curious what they would get instead.

This edition, they get two bonuses for the price of one: they not only ignore the penalty to arrive from outflank (so they can maneuver effectively around enemy positions if they sit out the first two turns of the game), but they also don’t lose their Fanatic special rule when down to 1 man. So your chances of getting to play with all of your toy soldiers, and getting them close to the enemy, is very high.

As we look at supporting fire team weapons, the Anti-Tank Rifle Team stands out. While the Japanese AT Rifle isn’t as mobile as other nations’ teams, this one gets twice as many shots, and can take additional crew to give the unit more staying power, making it a far better objective holding unit (which is nice to have!).

And finally, we have the SS-Ki Armored Work Vehicle: one of the most unique vehicles in all of Bolt Action, and by far the most unique for the Japanese. An engineering vehicle designed to clear minefields, bridge rivers, and dislodge enemies from prepared positions, the SS-Ki comes with 3 flamethrowers mounted on its hull (which is insane).

You can only use one each turn, but considering that one of the big question marks for engineers is how quickly they’ll run out of fuel, the fact that you could run out of fuel twice and still be shooting a flamethrower means you are actually pretty likely to get to use the flamethrower every turn of the game, which is truly unique in Bolt Action.

There’s more, so be sure to check out the book! This is a flavorful, thematic, and interesting army, capable of going toe-to-toe with other nations in an asymmetric way. I suspect that 2026 will be filled with a lot of BANZAI!!!

Aaron Kamakawiwoole

YT: @ZurnCentral (Bolt Action)