Williamsburg Muster Bolt Action Tournament – 15 February 2025

By Kreighton Long

Last weekend six players assembled to compete in a Bolt Action tournament run by Jacob Kovel at the Williamsburg Muster convention in Williamsburg, VA. Jacob, a veteran event organizer, kept the tournament running smoothly keeping all players on the proposed timeline.

Throughout the day there were a few instances of rules confusion among the players, of which I was guilty of, largely due to the recent transition from Second Edition to Third Edition. When a rules confusion occurred, Jacob was quick to swoop in and clarify the correct interpretation, which were well received by the various players.

Jacob’s quick and precise clarifications is a testament to his veteran status as this was his third Third Edition tournament that he has run since the new release. Competitors brought 1000 point lists and competed in three scenarios throughout the day. The first scenario was Seek and Destroy, the second was Key Positions, and the third was Hold Until Relieved.

The first place finisher was Brandon Jackson with his British list. Brandon put his Veteran paratroopers and mobile reserves to good use throughout the day, waiting for opportune times to strike and secure victories winning two and drawing one game.

Brandon’s Most Valuable Unit ended up being his two Commando units mounted in Universal Carriers. These units used a full compliment of SMGs to eliminate units, Veteran status to stay alive in firefights, and their mounts to get where they were needed most. Congrats Brandon!

*The survivors of one of Brandon’s paratrooper squads continue to apply pressure to one of my strongpoints in the second game of the day.*

Second place went to John Birdwell and his Japanese. John could not be reached for comment. Congrats John!

Ed Fegen earned third place with his British. Ed recently swapped from playing a US list to a British list and found success using four Humber Mk2s and a halftrack mounted an eight-man infantry squad and three-man Platoon Command team.

Ed’s post-tournament notes included references to units that he’s planning on changing or adding to improve the list. A nice nod to the fact that there is always room to fine-tune lists as players get more and more games under the belts. Congrats Ed!

*Ed’s armored column moves through a Russian village on it’s way to engage my Italians in the first game.*

*Great Britain dominated the Allied players while the Axis players accidentally pulled off equal representation for the major Axis powers.*

*Armored platoons were the most common optional platoons — once you subtracted the six mandatory infantry platoons from the totals.*

*The most common OD amount was 15 for this 1000 point tournament.*

*Only one player opted to not bring armored fighting vehicles and the most common types were the armored cars.*

*Everyone recognized that mobility was key to securing victories with the given scenarios.*

Two additional observations I made were the prevalence of autocannons and light mortars. Eight autocannons were present in four of the six lists with one list taking four and six light mortars were seen spread across four of the six lists. I anticipate seeing more autocannons and light mortars at future events.

Due to the short notice of Jacob being pulled in to run the tournament prize support and sponsorships were light but every player still left with a sprue for their efforts. You can find Jacob’s events at the Tabletop Gaming Center in Newington, CT and at Havoc in Marlborough, MA in April as well as an event at Huzzah in Portland, ME in May.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply