Saving Lord Smythe - a Bolt Action v1 battle.

 

As said in the previous Battle Report we made a day of gaming when we visited Element Games last. One of the things on the agenda was that myself and Fraser wanted to try Bolt Action to see if we liked the system.

Cardboard Fortress was kind enough to bring his nicely painted forces for the British and German armies and ran us through a game of V.1 (because he accidentally picked the wrong book up before leaving the house!).

So we threw an equal platoon with supports on the table, grabbed the scenery to make a good 1940s French village and created a storyline for the game.

I present to you the cinematic masterpiece that is:

'SAVING LORD SMYTHE'*

"August 1944, the allied forces are ashore in Normandy and the counter attack to free occupied France is well underway. 

Lord Henry Percival Whittan-Smythe, Second Cousin (Twice Removed) to the King has gotten into a spot of bother whilst touring the regiments to provide a 'Stiff Upper Lip' morale boost.

Donning his finest First World War dress uniform, the former general has wandered into no-mans land and a passing German platoon has taken note, moving to capture Lord Smythe would be a major coup for the Axis powers.

Lieutenant Jones has been given command of a platoon of troops to effect a rescue operation of the wayward gentleman".

Lord Henry Percival Whittan-Smythe, second cousin (Twice Removed) to the King pictured** in Tropical uniform:

The force I used, once again I must say, fantastically painted by Cardboard Fortress, really looking well when massed together into a cohesive force.

Lieutenant Jones and two orderlies.

Three ten man rifle squads with a Bren in each.

A Vickers MMG team.

A Mortar Team.

A 25-Pounder Artillery team with Spotter.

A Churchill Tank, mk.VII I think (?).

An overview of the battlefield, lots of fenced fields and a few farm buildings.

Lord Smythe is holed up in the central building:

The 'Dastardly Huns depoly':

The 'Plucky Brits' counter deployment:

Sadly, the Germans got the first action dice out of the bag, and their Panzer knocked my Churchill out of the battle with the first shot fired***:

Moving forward the objective comes into sight.

"Ee's over there sir, but there's Huns trying to get 'Im" called out Private Pike.

"Snap too lads, the Kings Second Cousin (twice removed) can't be captured by the Germans" Jones commanded.

A few moves later and the rifle sections have moved forwards into the cover offered by the cornfield.

"Six feet of standing corn is bulletproof men, fear not the enemy machine guns".

And the rifle section on the right flank has pushed into the woods, ready to give Gerry a "bloody good hiding" with their Bayonets:

Sadly the legend of "Bulletproof Corn" died with half of the forward rifle section.

Lieutenant Jones moves in behind them to offer encouragement:

In the woods things are getting a little close:

"Into them, for King and Country" come the shouts as the British charge:

And beat the living hell out of the Germans,

"Up 'em, the Germans don't like it up 'em" cried Lance-Corporal Wilson. Sadly there were no survivors to be taken prisoner (it's never a war crime, the first time):

A rifle section makes it to the ruins where Lord Smythe, the Kings Second Cousin (Twice Removed) is blathering on about "Going over the Top Lads, Good Luck":

During this time, both the German and British Mortar teams and Artillery Guns had been firing. The Germans targeting the MMG in the farmhouse and the British performing counter-battery fire, clearing out the woods on the left flank:

With Jones getting his battered rifle section moving again, they begin to push up to Lord Smythe to securing him from the Huns:

The victorious bayonet armed rifle section, they blood up, rush down the hedgerow and begin to threaten the German MMG and Mortar team:

With that, the remaining Germans retreat, the lure of the Kings Second Cousin (Twice Removed) is not worth the rest of their lives.

Flanked by Lieutenant Jones and his remaining orderly and followed by the remaining British infantry, Lord Smythe marches with head held high, telling the chaps they did a fine job on the Somme, causing some side glances amongst the squaddies:

So Bolt Action, what did we think?

The activation sequence, pulling dice from a bag (much like Test of Honours token pull system) is very good as it means you never really know what is going to happen next.

Likewise the shooting system with adding modifiers to a 4+ based on range, movement, cover, etc.

I really like the ranging in rules for the artillery guns, that was very good. 

As well as the "National rules" with the Germans getting more shots from their machines guns and the British getting more rifle shots due to their volley fire training.

The more cinematic, rather then simulation, aspect of the game, some people complain that the game is too "gamey" and not historical enough.

It was good for a laugh.

Someone once described Bolt Action as "a WW2 movie game rather then a WW2 game" and this is an apt description I think.

Could I possibly see myself playing and collecting Bolt Action in the future?

Possibly, I know the sci-fi Konflikt '47 game is based off of the Bolt Action rules and I like the super-science Weird World War 2 setting, so maybe.

Maybe even a North Africa collection featuring the 8th Army and the Afrika Korps?

Until next time, have nice day...

*Probably not a cinematic masterpiece!

**I found this picture but no other information on Google, other then "Officer in 1940 Middle East uniform".

***Just after I had finished admiring the tank and saying how it was my second favourite WW2 British tank, behind the Cromwell!