Tourney Friday: Great Lakes Region Bolt Action

Guest post by Jackson “CrackerJax” Horigan

This is part of a new feature where NDNG features upcoming historical wargaming tournaments, gamedays, and conventions for the games we cover.

Hello Players! My name is Jackson Horigan here to bring you the Bolt Action Winter 2023-4 event lineup hitting the Great Lakes region. You may know me better by my moniker “CrackerJax” on Facebook and Discord, but names aside, I have a list of excellent events coming up this winter both as a TO and an attendee that I’d love to share with you.

As some of you may know, I tend to travel a bunch around the Midwest for work and leisure, and more often than not will drive for many hours to sniff out a great Bolt Action scene. This past weekend I had the privilege to attend Troy Hill’s “It’s A StuG Life” tournament in Fort Wayne, Indiana only to find myself in Pittsburgh, PA this weekend for Charles Sherrange’s “Tanksgiving” tournament! It’s been a wild November for Bolt Action, and I am quite excited for the coming months as we approach the holidays and the bitterly cold Great Lakes winter. Grab your mess kit and some Lucky Strikes and let’s see what’s heating up across the Midwest…

December 30, 2023 – Operation: Snowball Charity Games Day at the Fabricator’s Forge

*Image 1: David (Soviets) and Matt (Italians) playing Bolt Action’s “Top Secret” mission*

Venue: Fabricator’s Forge – Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
Date: December 30, 2023
Details: 800 points Generic Platoons, 10 order dice limit, no free units
List Submission Date: December 16, 2023
TO: Jackson Horigan (crackerjax514@gmail.com)
This event is the first Bolt Action tournament being held at the Forge. I have been a longtime player at the club and the owner, Dom, runs an excellent shop ensuring players have excellent experiences with top-notch terrain, diverse product, and a wide variety of drinks and snacks available for purchase.

This event is more of a “Games Day” with all of the entry proceeds going to support Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 402 here in Coraopolis. In the spirit of the holidays, many players, including myself, wanted to put something together to support veterans and have a chance to give back to our local communities. The spirit of the event encourages players to take what they enjoy to play without the goal of not going “seal clubbing”.

I plan on fielding a Tiger 1 in my list and I look forward to seeing players come out for a fun day of gaming. Warlord Games has graciously provided prize support for the Forge’s inaugural Bolt Action event. Many thanks to Billy and the Warlord team.

Forces of Freedom – A Bolt Action Weekend in Southgate, Michigan

Image 2: Bolt Action Demo Day at Golden Rhino Games in Ypsilanti, MI

Venue: Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2983 in Southgate, Michigan
Date: January 13 and 14, 2024 (Martin Luther King Weekend)
Details: 2 days, 2 tournaments – Saturday’s Operation: Grizzly and Sunday’s Warbirds!
List Submission/Pre-Register Date: December 23, 2023
TO: Jackson Horigan (crackerjax514@gmail.com) and Jeffrey Wiertalla (DetroitWGTournaments@gmail.com)

This weekend event is the brainchild of myself and Jeff Wiertalla and boy do we have a great weekend of games planned. The VFW hall will have food available for purchase with a lunch voucher for both days included in your ticket. Prize support from various different companies already totals over $1400 in value.

Saturday’s Grizzly tournament, hosted by Jackson, will comprise of 1,000 point forces of your chosen theater selector. 3 games against different opponents with chances to win a variety of awards from best-painted army, to best battlefield, and the coveted Best Overall Combatant.

Sunday’s Warbirds tournament, hosted by Jeff, is geared to the newer players getting into the game. 750 points and no painting requirement encourage anyone with even the basic infantry box and a tank to come out and try their hand at an excellent game. There will also be a painting competition where players can submit a vehicle or squad to be judged for awards. Experienced players are welcome to sign up, and will be paired with a newer player to teach them the ropes on how to play! 3 games will be played and a new warbird will emerge victorious.

Throughout the weekend, there will be different players offering demos to veterans who want to see what all the commotion is about. We will have Bolt Action, Victory At Sea, and Blood Red Skies among others available for demo, so no matter what branch you served in, we have a game for you! Come on out and meet the players.

Combat Patrol Tournament at Golden Rhino Games

Image 3: Chris (Germans) and Andrew (Italians) battle at GRG’s “Siege Of Tobruk” tournament

Venue: Golden Rhino Games – Ypsilanti, Michigan
Date: February 3, 2024
Details: 450-point Combat Patrol event! (See Adepticon Combat Patrol Rules)
List Submission/Pre-Register Date: January 20, 2024
TO: Jackson Horigan (crackerjax514@gmail.com)

Combat Patrol has to be one of the premier events of Adepticon. Andrew and the whole Chicago Dice team continue to impress every year with this event, so the tournament at GRG is meant to be a Primer for Adepticon coming up in March.

The thing that stands out to me in Combat Patrol is that the game takes on a whole new level of appreciation. 450 points is not enough to pack all of the toys and redundancy that you see in a standard game… and that’s the point! All sorts of small teams, armored cars, and unique units come out to play in this style of event and it makes for some cinematic moments and a very quick day! Often enough, we can fit 4-5 games of Combat Patrol in a day where it can sometimes be a struggle to have 3 full games of standard Bolt Action before time is called.

Come on out, bring a box of infantry, and let’s have an exciting series!

Polar Vortex Escalation Tournament at Polar Vortex 2024

Image 4: John (British) faces off against Josh (US) at Battle for Berlin in New Berlin, WI

Venue: Sheraton Lisle Naperville Hotel – Naperville, Illinois
Date: February 17, 2024
Details: Escalation-style Bolt Action Tournament. 3 games with increasing points value each game!
List Submission/Pre-Register Date: January 26, 2024
TO: Andrew Verticchio (ChicagoDiceTeam@gmail.com)

Polar Vortex Bolt Action Escalation is a three-game tournament. Games will increase in point level each round starting with Game 1 at 450pts, Game 2 at 750pts and Game 3 at 1,100pts. The action will build from a small-scale clash of patrols to an all-out battle!

The unofficial theme for the event is General Winter! Grab your Woodland Scenes snow flock and put the polar back in Polar Vortex! We’ve got multiple players already committed to bringing Battle of the Budge and Eastern-Front-themed forces for the event hope to see more! The theme is not required, only encouraged.

Please visit the Polar Vortex website and Facebook page for information on the convention. A Polar Vortex Badge ($25-$45) plus a Bolt Action Tournament Event Ticket ($15) are required.

Do you have a historical wargaming tournament that needs a shout-out? Email troyphoto7@gamil.com at least 5 weeks before the event. Our editor will get in touch with you about what info we need to promo your event on Tourney-Friday.