Recon Report: Bolt Action Third Edition Armies of the British Commonwealth
By Kreighton Long
G’day mates! Late last week my copy of Armies of the British Commonwealth arrived in the mail. After hearing and reading great things from those that were fortunate enough to get an advanced copy I was excited to dig in myself. Let’s see what’s in it.
First off, this book is dense. It provides more options for more armies than any of the previous Third Edition books. Inside its pages are rules and units for six different factions: Australia, Canada, East Africa Command, India, New Zealand, and South Africa. Each faction has their own unique rules and units. While each faction has the quantity and quality of Army Special Rules to make them a tempting choice for players to build an army of I will restrain myself to touching on just one of the rules for each faction below. A tough task!
The Australians are listed first, and have some fun Army Special Rules. The one that I find the most interesting is Ambush Drills. This special rule allows infantry units that are Ambushed to go Down while being ambushed to give them greater survivability. As far as I know, this is a first in Bolt Action and I think it’s a great way to make Australians unique on the tabletop.
Next are the Canadians. The rules that stands out for them is Flame Warfare which allows Canadian Rifle Platoons the option to add one flamethrower to a Rifle Section. This is a big deal as players typically need to invest in an Engineer Platoon to gain access to a flamethrower but now Canadian players can do so with the standard Rifle Platoon.
The East Africa Command special rule has earned a lot of buzz online with their Local Area Control Army Special Rule which allows them to Outflank and enter the table from their opponents table edge. This rule was historically the domain of a special Finnish squad which helped make that faction popular at competitive events. I suspect we’ll see East Africa Command armies taking advantage of this rule at future events.
The Indian faction stands out with their inclusion of Gurkhas by way of their Ayo Gurkhali! Army Special Rule. Veteran Bolt Action players will remember the headache of combating Gurkhas at competitive events in Second Edition and now with this latest release they are back. I for one do not look forward to seeing my army be on the receiving and of Gurkha Kukris.
New Zealand takes the field with Aggressive Patrolling. This rule allows New Zealand players may deploy all of their Infiltrators before their opponents during the Infiltrator stage of the game. In addition, infantry sections of no more than five men pay be upgraded with Infiltrator special rule for one point per model. Players who use this well will be able to dictate the flow of a battle before the first Order Die is pulled.
The South Africans benefit from Turn the Flank which allows outflanking vehicles to receive a plus one modifier to the Order test to outflank rather than a minus one. Combine this rule with the affordable Armored Cars that South Africa has access to and an army can be a real menace on the table.
In addition to those six armies, the authors included a section for Standard Commonwealth Units to allow players who do not yet own the Armies of Great Britain book to pull from. Very handy and saved ample space in the six nations sections.
The book is gorgeous, almost a given with the Bolt Action books, and includes dozens of color illustrations from various Osprey Publishing books as well as color photographs of miniatures in action. A total of 31 illustrations and 23 photographs provide abundant inspiration and visual references for painters. I for one always have my rule books in easy reach which painting my own miniatures and appreciate the inclusion of so many references.
In general this book is a resounding success. It efficiently introduces and provides flavorful rules for six new armies and does so without sacrificing pages for color photos and illustrations to inspire and be referenced. Aaron Kamakawiwoole will walk us through some of the more exciting units in two future articles. Stay tuned for more.
Happy gaming!