u/PhyrexianQueen

Originally, tried to work this in with a different opponent, but because our timing couldn't work out, my other bestie jumped on it as I was telling him about a Grand Tactical game I had been trying to play. He was super enthused and when we saw that we both had the 4th open, we reached out to our FLGS to see if they were planning on being open and what time they would close. Satisfied we could do it, we set to planning.

So prior to army design we talked about wanting to play 2500pts, 8'x6' table, Grand Tactical, and Prepared Positions, because store was only open 10AM-4PM. We talked about ODs, and set no hard limit, but said aim for around 25. With that, we set our lists.

Opponents army: Vets. Vets everywhere. 2 Rifle platoons with Vets. Few regs in specialist slots. Pershing, E8, and a Stuart with Flamer. 25ODs - 1OD (We'll explain this, I promise)
My army: Armored Column with a Recce Platoon and a random M12. Unlike my opponent, I took all regs, one InEx Platoon Commander, and not one, but 2 Veteran Super Pershings. (T29 proxied as a Super) M15 and M16 provided air cover. Every Infantry member had a vehicle to transport them. Recce had 2 Beeps and a Jeep and the main Rifle had 2 M3 HTs. 21 ODs

I thought my opponent was going to bring extra vehicles. He loves his Pershing, so I wanted to punch heavy to survive potentially 2 Armor Platoons. (To the point the original iteration of my list included M36B1 and 2 Hellcats instead of the M12 and 2 Supers. But I hit 31 ODs and decided that was too degenerate.)

Setup, prepared positions, we rolled and got Battle Lines +6". Most of the objectives get centered in the town, one of the KPs is in the tree line. Deployment was fairly back and forth. He stacks the tree side. Pershing, E8, heavy infantry. Then strings along the battle lines and puts the Flamer on the opposite corner. He puts a Bazooka in a 3rd story overlooking the main road and the courtyard. I string out my armor between the tree line and up to the rubble in the "city". M3 HTs were in the center, Beeps and Jeep were in the city. You can kinda see hot this is laid out. Then, he puts out 2 FAirOs and a Sniper. I put out 1 FAirO, mine is hidden because the Sniper got placed after.

Turn 1: Mostly positioning. Because the "short edge" of the table is 6' on this map, we were forced to measure a lot of attempted shots. He creeped to the centerline of the map, and instead of going verticle, I went horizontal to get transports where they needed to go to start discharging troops. FAirO 1 calls strike on T29. FAirO 2 calls strike on M12. Pershing and Super Pershing exchange shots. He misses, I hit but fail to pen. Beeps get the Bazookas close enough to the Flamer Stuart, but could not clinch the deal even though hitting him. Longest term, because neither of us knew where the other was planning. Effectively, taking an hour. We got faster once we had our game plans. He claims three of the KPs, I claimed one.

Turn 2: FAirO 1 plane rolls a 2, doesn't come in. FAirO 2 comes in with a Vet. However, both M3 HTs, M15, and M16 have range. Throw 48 HMG dice, 2 Heavy Autocannon Dice. Plane is Nuked. Opponent now understands the no fly zone. I pop his Sniper, who is in the bell tower overlooking the courtyard in the center of the map, suppressing my FAirO. And his FAirO that called the strike on the M12. No second plane. Infantry and Bazookas exchanging fire in the city, and I lose a Bazooka Team. He makes a heavy, heavy infantry push into the center of the map in an attempt to claim the Top Secret Token. But I've got an Armored Infantry Machine Gun squad in a building overlooking the courtyard and the T29. I now take the most the buildings looking at that courtyard and start whittling down the one squad closest to being able to claim the center objective. The Vet saves doing a ton of heavy lifting, only the lack of cover helping me force him to pick up a model or two per shot, but that's the squad closest to getting Top Secret. 2 more move into the woods with a company commander and another takes a building opposite the courtyard from me. We are set to duke it out over top secret and hold until relieved, but I have a single advantage. The T29. So instead of flanking to the side to hunt his Pershing like he thinks, I push it to the wall and start supporting the middle directly. My FAirO calls a strike on the building on his side of the courtyard. We start exchanging rifle shots on the tree line. Once more, we exchange shots with Pershing and Super Pershing, but nothing. Pins all around. Sniper eats it.

Turn 3: His FAirO strike comes in.... but because of where he put the plane marker... I got to roll 62 dice. I have small hands. I could barely pick up all 62.... it happened, blew his plane away, and I called mine in. All but one M3HT holds their fire, and he has one pintle in range. He gets 2 hits. I get 0. My plane comes in and does tons of pins and plenty of wounds to the squad overlooking the courtyard in the building. His squad in the middle gets wiped and he pushes another squad forward. However, I am no killbot with a limit. I push the T29 mid center and start dumping fire into the courtyard. My IR sprints and claims the last unclaimed KP. The volume of fire from my side is starting to make some of his units falter. But the crack doesn't fully show yet on his side. He still has fighting units and he's starting to make the city defenses collapse. A Beep gets bopped. My squads holding firm in cover. I do not throw a second target for FAirO because no good one is in line of site. His doesn't call in because it went down from an M15 shot. His infantry in the trees are moving toward my DZE though.

Turn 4: Big cracks form. In an exchange of fire, two infantry teams get picked up on his side. T29 pushes further and the Super Pershing has cover behind a church. We are just exchanging shots. Models are getting picked up, but I'm still stationary compared to his moving, but with a number of squads under 35% manning at this point, he's not holding the center and I can push hard. His FAirO targets my M15. His units move to my DZE in the tree line. He puts my IR squad holding my KP down to 1 guy. Still alive after moral check.

Turn 5: Aircraft comes in, I throw 50 dice again, blow it out of the sky. I put the M16 on Ambush watching my DZE. He tried to gun down my one IR trooper on the KP in point blank, but didn't want to charge. But to get there, he moved, hits on 5s, wounds on 4s, but I make every cover save. The T29 moves forward, and nukes that squad in return. There are now none of his units able to contest Hold Until Relieved and he can't attempt to chase Top Secret. I lose a Bazooka and Beep, but we're still holding on. I call FAirO on the building in the courtyard, but don't realize that was a mistake until I realize I can move my main Rifle Platoon units into the center for Hold Until Relieved and Top Secret. I need to shoot down my own plane if he doesn't.

Turn 6: My strike comes in, we both throw enough dice to bring down my plane. My 16 failed his hold fire check. He dealt enough alone to bring it down, I dealt enough alone to bring it down. It got annihilated. I lose a platoon commander and move all my units to the middle. Gunning down what I can and forcing one of his units to get picked up after gaining 10 pins. I am still not entirely sure who will win though, because as I make him pick up a unit, he runs off the board after the ambush catching the squad in the open only picks up 2 models. However none of his other squads can make it. We decide as the round ends, we will each throw 2 dice in the bag. One for each of tanks and see if they get more kills on a turn 7 and that's it, as we reached our own time limit to allow for match cleanup and to be out of the store on time.

Unofficial Turn 7: 4 Dice in the Bag.
My Dice: I go with T29 which is punched into the face of his Pershing. I hit. I pen with a Super Massive, and blow the Pershing.
His Dice: E8 rolls to the side of my Super Pershing, does the exact same thing and blows my Pershing sky high.

GGs.

Score was
Him:
-3 KPs - 9 VPs
-1 Breakthrough Leave - 3 VPs
-6 Units Defeated for 18 Total VPs

Me:
- 2 KPs - 6 VPs
- Hold Until Relieved - 5 VPs
- 11 Units Defeated for 22 Total VPs

I won, 22 to 18. It was super close and we talked about it after, he should have booked it earlier when he realized I was not throwing infantry to the tree line. I was trying to get to his base for Demolition, but just kept getting stalled by his vets. He had I think two more units at least that if they moved a turn earlier, could have made it to score breakthrough. Also, if he hadn't pushed into the center so early, I think it's a more stalemate game until my T29 gets involved in the center. Him hitting on at least 5s when pushing into the center even though I have a horse shoe of units... if he had the ability to move in< collect and run, sure. But the squad that eventually did claim Top Secret, never moved from that spot as they were gunned down. I didn't have to move from my fortifications once the transports dropped my units off in them.

However, Phy, why did you say he was down - 1 OD? Well dear Reader. On turn 1, after we drew his last order, we were extremely confused. We recounted his activations over, and over, and over, and over again. But we could not figure out why he had an "extra". We "searched" each building, in which when I say "search", I would point at a building and ask if he had anything in that one and he would say yay or nay as he picked it up. However, unlike all of his other units, the Bazooka Team he put in the building was on the 3rd floor of building. And we both forgot it. And looking back, if we had both remembered it existed, I think it would have been annoying to one of the M3 HTs and the M15 as they pushed the church on the main road to cut his infantry counter assault into the courtyard again.

We did not find it until we picked up the terrain. Which, do you know what made that even funnier? Prior to the game starting, we found another local's German Spotter inside on of the store's building terrain as well. We had a pretty good laugh about this.

All in all, a fun game. The only reason we went to 2500 points was because we knew we could take the tables and we wanted to have a wild time. I would love to try a GT at our regular 1250 point count. I highly recommend if you get a chance, try Grand Tactical.

Also, I'm absolutely in love with my T29. I need to finish it because I spent most the game staring at it. It's so gorgeous. Thanks for the read.

Tonight, I got to play in a campaign game against a relatively new comer to Bolt Action, but is a table top gamer. This was his third? official non demo game for Bolt Action, and the man understands how to play. However, as you will see, sometimes the dice ignore your plan. And, he's a Ace Combat Fan! So he's known as Aurelia and I run Osea.

Despite rolling on our special campaign objective/deployment list, we played a standard game of Key Positions, Quarters, and Prepared Positions. Simple game.

Opponent: US Marines. Rifle Teams with Artillery support. Set spotters around the table to cross battery when necessary to always find the target and then send the infantry to mop it up.

Myself: Armored Infantry Column. Half-track with a Light Howitzer. Half-track transport. M15 GMC Half-Track. Load the main rifle team into the M3, then send the two Beeps and their teams on outflanking, choosing the side of the enemy deployment zone.

Two Beeps, Two IR Teams and Two Bazooka Teams go outflanking.

5 Key Positions, 4 of which in the center of the table, leaning my edge. However I did put on on in the no-man's territory by the ruins, far from the battlefield. We're going to teach the new player, who has a couple wins under his belt, some new tech.

Prepared Positions was fairly simple, but while I hid from all his infantry and direct LOS from his arty, he dropped three spotters and a FAirO so that I was covered from all angles. I'm in danger.

Turn 1: This was not purely a positioning turn. No, not with all the spotters. With a Light Mortar, 2 Medium Howitzers, and a Light Howitzer... he rained down... misses. No damage, but it was clear what this game was going to be like. My M15 was able to pick up a spotter, he calls in the airstrike in on the M15, and then we positions more. The halftrack rushes out of the garage, emulating Kelly's Heroes, to drop troops to hold one of the two center objectives. Light Howitzer Half-Track (LHHT) rolls a 1 but the M3 picks up another Spotter with its HMG. Opponent claims two total KPs this turn.

Turn 2: Airstrike.... Empty Skies. I take the second KP in my zone and then start peppering shots at the FAirO as he's got a massive squad on Ambush protecting a line to the KP the FAirO is sitting on and he's holding quarters. He knows how Outflanking works, I explained it at the beginning of the game, but he has no idea where I am coming in, so he's trying to zone me out. LHHT Rolls a 2. M15 gets slapped with a hit from a Medium Howitzer, but only gets Crew Stunned on the chart. Does get hit with 4 total pins though. I am holding the center lane well, but have over extended, and think I know what I want to do, because my opponent doesn't seem to want to go in buildings, probably due to the number of windows and the number of minis in his squad. So I feel like I can abuse that if I can get there.

Turn 3: Airstrike.... but it's a rookie. I select the Platoon Commander in the building. Except, it didn't make it in. The M3 contributed no hits, even though it hit on 5s. But the M15 on 4 Pins... needed 6s, and rolled plenty, hitting on the Autocannon once for 5 total hits. Driving it away. However, I take a hard, hard medium howitzer shot on my main infantry team, but going down, I only lost 4 and they survived their morale check. LHHT rolls a 1. M15 fails their order roll, but he fails to hit it on a 2+. The M15 continues to live. And now we teach him about the Outflanking. Because I come on into neutral territory, next to his boarder, where his two Medium Howitzers are. Put rounds into each Medium Howitzer, Bazooka takes a shot, and the other Bazooka runs to my one off hidden report. He ambushes one of the IRs, is mostly out of range, and only some BARs took a shot. Killing my BAR. But now he sees two SMG teams running amok in his backlines and has no one nearby to respond. FAirO failed order test to throw out the next airstrike.

Turn 4: SMG IR Teams clear up both Medium Howitzers, Bazooka picks up the Arty Platoon Commander. He now has to split to chase down my objectives. His biggest squad starts moving to the objective in the corner away from the middle and he sends his large Platoon Commander squad and other Marine squad to pincer the armored column. The LHHT rolls a 2 and he charges it. Not enough on the second dice roll for destruction. Only rolled one hit, rolled a 2. My main squad is getting plinked by rifles, but we're holding the T-intersection. I rally with the M15.

Turn 5: Airstrike! Veteran!........ who runs into like... 15 hits. No airstrikes this game. I wipe the last Arty Team, opponents tries to charge the LHHT again, but this time rolled 4 hits... and.......... rolled a 1. LHHT moves away, and rolls a 1. He clears my bazooka holding the corner objective and takes it, my M15 backs up and blows away the Marine squad chasing my LHHT. My squad in the center keeps being plinked. And I load a Bazooka into a Beep and sprint the Beep to close to the center KP. Very few things in range to contest the middle now.

Turn 6: LHHT rolls a 5! Forces the closest enemy unit to reclaiming one of my objectives to go down or potentially be wiped. With no one else in range, we took a couple pot shots at each other to try and claim kill points for the campaign, but were mainly waiting to see if we went to turn 7. Opponent rolled... and nope. End of game.

So I won 3-2. Kills 5-3. It was a super close game. There were a few times that if my opponents dice didn't betray him, it would have been a brutal swing. There were multiple times his dice rolled just below the needed value. His rifles were consistently good, but his arty let him down. I think his inexperience with outflanking and then his response to chase them, instead of cutting the howitzer lose, take that largest squad and punch my midsection, he could have potentially gotten 2, at least 1 KP and taken the win. Having his largest center of firepower remove itself from the game by heading to a remote corner meant I could hold on for longer. Either way, it was an excellent game and I look forward to more with him.

Halo! It's been a couple months, first pic for attention, then some list builder pics. Time to give the people a periodic update! List Builder TTAMBA and the other variations of Bolt Action which can be found at https://phyrexianlabs.com/ba3d (Pic for attention: Nordennavic Engineer Teams spew flames on a German StuG)

A lot of things have changed, the WWII Bolt Action Ruleset is always the first to get the updates for how the list builder shows/interacts with units. A number of requests that were made here on Reddit, in the Discord, and local stores have been incorporated. This is ever evolving!

Games/Modes Supported in some way at the moment:

• Bolt Action v3
• Bolt Action v2 Korea
• Bolt Action Modern (Unofficial) utilizing v3 Rules Set

Bolt Action v3 Armies and Features

Official Nations:

• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Italian Co-Belligerent Army
• Italian National Republican Army
• Royal Italian Army (Regio Esercito)
• Japan
• Soviet Union
• United States Army

Unofficial Nations:

• Chinese Central Army (GKZ)
• Czechoslovak Repbulic (GKZ)
• Denmark (GKZ)
• Switzerland (GKZ)
• China (Communists, Nationalists, Warlords) (Zurn Central)
• Denmark (Regulars, Partisans) (Zurn Central)
• Slovakia (Zurn Central)
• Sweden (PhyrexianQueen and other community members)

Special Units:

• Sergeant Sawyer, Added (GB)
• Kelly's Hero's, Added (US) (v2 Rules)
• Campaign Book Soft Under Belly, Tough Gut, and Battle of the Bulge for US, Germany, Britain, and Italy. (v2 Rules)
• Warlord Games Experimental Aircraft Rules
• A smattering of Unofficial Units, mainly armor and aircraft

Bolt Action v2 Korean Armies and Features:

Official Nations:

• British Commonwealth
• Chinese People's Volunteer Army
• North Korean People's Army
• Republic of Korea
• United States of America

Bolt Action v3 Armies and Features (A ruleset PDF based on Jay's Wargaming Madness' original rules is being created and updated to v3 with point costs):

Nations with Base Armies:

• France
• Russia
• Sweden
• United States of America

Planned:

• Germany
• Britain
• Japan
• NATO/UN
• PMC
• China
• North Korea
• South Korea
• Sweden
• Ukraine
• Italy

You can find access to the Discord on the website or just submit ideas and recs on the contact page of the website. Once I get done with the list and army building for the main aspect of this project, Bolt Action v3 WWII, I'll really start to hammer down on trying to make it prettier and fix some of the functionality. The WWII aspect is the main thing I work on, but when I need a break transcribing the book, I usually just flip to wikipedia and other websites to stat out the Modern stuff to break it up.

Always welcome feedback and thanks for taking a look!

This, is where I pause for the night. Mainly to let the spruegoo harden and shrink so I can trim and fill tomorrow.. after work. Which is the other reason to pause.

I am very happy with the progress and can see the vision come to life. Is it a historical variant? Probably not. Most of it was from memory because I knew my modelling skill wasn't amazing and this would be the first time working with poly sheets like this. Overall, I'm pretty happy. Cut carboard sheets first, then one I got the general shapes set and decided, applied to the poly and cut, trimmed, and sanded.

It's got some extra stowage bits and bobs to be added, front armor cleaned up, compensator trimmed up, etc, etc... But so far? I'm so happy with it, and I can't wait to see it painted.

Then, the other fun one, my own little LRTRT or LRT2, the Long Range Tundra Recon Truck from Osea! This was fairly easy, obvi. The only thing is I had a hedge row cutter left over from one of the... Stewarts? I think? Maybe a Sherman? Flip it over, slap it on, and nice... The camo cover is not being placed yet, want to paint the interior of the truck and make some hooks to hold the camo down so it can be on or off. This was just placed for measurement and hook location.

All the models seen in the photos are Rubicon USA Models. Most of the bits and bobs and extras are from various spare kits I've clipped at the end of other builds, some backpacks from Warlord Games GI Sprues.

No game BatRep/AAR, we had some new players show up for some demo games tonight, so we have two more folks for the dice bag! So I figured I'd share the update for the Osean Army Armor Units.

I'd say for the most part, I've made a lot of progress so far. Only of a few of them are "complete". But there are like, only two more tanks to build, and a few more aircraft to add to the collection. But this, is the vehicle shelf, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Osean armor.

Overall, it's a mix of official Warlord models, Rubicon USA, and 3D Prints. Most of the 3D Prints coming from Wargame 3D. P-47 I'm like 80% sure is a Hasegawa 1/72 scale.

Most decals are from District Miniatures with a mix random decals from all the model kits I've collected over the years.

Last time, I cried on the way home from the match. I was invested in my army with a lot of experience and with a literal legend squad on the field, being unable to deal the final blow... it stung, and it stung bad. The last time I played my US [Osean 11th Army] against this opponent, who is also playing US [Wombatia], it was a similar experience except I actually lost my Legend Squad in a wild play. The campaign really does bring out some of the most competitive and well played games I've played in any system.

So what do we have this week? Well, if you read the last one, you know I learned my lesson and took the upgrade to boost my army size from 750 to 875. Wombatia is one of Osea's most reviled enemies which means there is a lot riding on these games. This, was no different.

After the last campaign game, a lot..... a lot of my experienced units were left dead on the table. I could not bring a ton of regular, let alone vet squads which meant I needed to be very strategic. Especially since my opponent is known for one thing. Big Tank. While we're in Middle War area, my opponent has a Prototype Pershing which made me prototype a Jackson B1. However, these titans did not clash. It was the smallest of heroes that fell the Pershing. But that's for turn three.

Mission: Domination - In short, have more units in a quadrant than your opponent to control that quadrant. 1 VP for each Quadrant, if you control 3 or more, you get an extra 2 VP.
Deployment Zone: Quarters
Deployment Type: Prepared Positions

Opponents List: Overall theme, support the big tank. Slot Infantry Teams in to screen infantry threats and pop armor and transports with the Pershing. Couple Rifle Teams, an HMG and a MMG team, Pershing and Stuart. 11 ODs
My List: Overwhelm the zone. Send transports, specifically 2 Beeps. Each with a Platoon Commander, I&R with 3 SMGs and a BAR, and Armored Infantry Bazooka Team. One had a Medic. These were to hunt the Pershing. I had a three other rifle teams, an Ambulance, 2 MMGs, and a M36B1 Jackson that found it's way on the battlefield via a special rule, Surprise Reinforcements. Due to the mixing of battle lines and multiple units assaulting targets, there is cross. The rest of the rules are unimportant, but the one important thing is the Jackson has it's own unique dice. It activates as normal, but can only activate when the, in this case, green dice is pulled instead of my blue. I'm at 18 ODs.

Deployment: I put 10 ODs in reserve, him 0. I put the Beeps and the Ambulance in Reserves. Then, as we deploy... the Jackson is my second activation... the Pershing is definitely not on the table yet... so I hide the Jackson in the corner. I need to pick the fight. Everything else makes sense, MGs pick fire lanes and setup and infantry plan their assault paths from the jump this looks rough, hopefully my activation advantage saves me.

Turn 1: I go down with as much as I can off the board, hoping to force his maneuvering but he's no dummy. He starts placing key units in Ambush, like the Pershing. He firmly holds the center of the table and begins moving his infantry to flank, but there is an opening, narrow opening, but an opening non-the-less where I see my transports can move on the table and he can't ambush them because his infantry are blocking the shot and I can make it to an LOS blocker. I see the plan. End of the turn, he retains the ambushes because stuff is about to go down. His FArtyO failed to call in a bombard because he failed his order test with an 11 because the Jackson popped a shot from los cover from the Pershing.

Turn 2: The Jackson goes early. That was not desired, but when the green OD is pulled, it's what you go with. So it fires at the FArtyO again, collapses the building and kills the FArtyO. Transports start moving on the table, one to the Pershing's right flank, the other going to take the long way and try to deal with the Stuart first. If we can distract, we can push up for Bazookas. And the US Rifle Squad and IR gave their lives while the Bazooka team began moving into a spot where they can't be shot and will get an attempt on turn 3. My halftrack with a Armored Infantry MG Team is stuck with the Jackson because the Pershing is on Ambush and I want to cross the road. But we're patient. Points are only scored at the end. We got this. Some MG shots were exchanged on the middle of the table, mostly pins all around. But the fuse was lit and turn three is about kick the ant hill. Opponent keeps the Ambush on the Pershing.

Turn 3: It's me. OD advantage pays off. Bazooka pops around the corner, the Pershing could pop the Ambush. I ask. He says no. Dice roll to hit: 5. Got it. Definitely in the side arc. 3s are superficial...... 5. Roll on the damage chart..... 5. Pershing is gone. So focused on the Jackson and the M3 Half-track, they failed to see the Bazooka team sneaking up on them. The men hugged for a brief moment, because they knew they saved many lives, but they were not making it back to their lines... and sure enough, opponent charged them and slaughtered them in CQC. That advance is crumbling, but with the Pershing dead and no longer covering the middle, we can have the dual LMG team in the half-track take up a position opposite center to cover the center and my left flank for the infantry push. But with the biggest threat gone, I'm free to maneuver the table where I see fit. My opponent deals me pins, I do fail to activate some units but for the most part, I'm coming out of my cage and I'm doing just fine because we gotta get down because I want it all. I want the table. He's not going down without a fight. He still has fighting squads and the Stuart has started plinking the side of the Jackson, this could be bad.

Turn 4: Stuart goes first, pops a shot at the Jackson, still just pins. Jackson takes a shot back at the Stuart and I like to think it's a through-and-through shot as I hit him but roll a 1 on the damage. Whiff... Infantry and MGs, models are being picked up, but we're still relatively even when it comes to where we are at scoring. It's still anyone's game, especially as he has evened out the activations and I no longer have the advantage.

Turn 5: The tale of Bazookas. The second Bazooka blows the Stuart turret sky high and the HMG team covering from the rear fails its to return the favor to the bazooka team. I start a concerted effort to push to the middle of the table because a unit in multiple quadrants counts for all quadrants its in and I need to push him out as he's realized that he can't hold my quadrants any more, so he needs to deny the win and go to draw. He starts pulling back and when I see my opening, I load the remaining Beep with a Platoon Commander, Medic, and IR Team and as they hop in, I sing a little Kesha and yeet the truck forward. Rushing to be close enough to the HMG I can discharge my squads, gun them down, but be LOS to other enemy units. I need to go first.

Turn 6: Opponent pulls, my dice, we snap and get the platoon commander and IR out of the Beep and murder the HMG. Medic sits in the Beep. His squad controlling the center is being bombarded. My Jackson positions itself for a turn 7 push to cap the center. There is a chance I can steal one of his two quadrants, and I'm positioned for run orders to make that happen. But he's got two squads in the center and this is going to be rough. He keeps removing one model, one model, one model from the IR Squad before the medic can get out of the truck. But.... do we get turn 7? YES! WE DO! I HAVE A CHANCE TO STEAL!

Turn 7: He's down to about 4 men from his 12 men squad in the center, it goes down after being targeted by the bazooka team and the half-track MMG. 3+ saved better than 5+. And to be fair, I never removed another model from a shot after this. Except there are some miracles about to happen on all sides. Jackson pulls in to the center. I attempted to pop a platoon commander and shoot the hull MMG into a squad in front of the Jackson. Miss on the main, pins from the MMG. LMG squad puts pins on the squad in front of the Jackson. It has 6 pins on it, 5 men alive. He wants to charge the Jackson. He rolls his order test. 1.......... and 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! INSANE COURAGE! He charges the Jackson.... 1... 1.... 4.... 5.... 6.... but.... the Jackson Advanced this turn. He only gets one hit. The Jackson survives. But, behind the Jackson, another battle is playing out. He's got that 4 man team left of the 12 man squad. they're regulars on 8.... pins. The only unit I have left to shoot at them.... a platoon commander, with a blocked shot, and pins. He makes his order test. He moves. Hits on 6........ throw the dice........ 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The final pin needed to remove that squad hits! Unit wiped! But my opponent wants revenge. There is an IR squad he can see, and the transport with a medic next to the transport now. The transport? Pops. A MMG takes aim.... 2 hits.... 1 wound...... no cover... he's dead, right!? RIGHT!? Once again, Like a Prayer by Madonna flows from my lips as I through the dice across the table to land next to my opponent.....

I&R SQUAD IS ALIVE! I&R SQUAD IS ALIVE! THE MEDIC SAVES HIM! HE'S SAVED!

And that's the game. Opponent and I shake hands, count the units in quadrants and we're at 2v2. A draw. But, the tie break going to ODs defeated..... and I lose 6 to 8. It was a fantastic game. My opponent once again played his heart out and clawed back a final tie break victory, even if a number of the miracles he needed found their way to my side of the table instead of his. I'm happy with the number of units I was able to recover and bring back experienced into my ranks. Replace those brave men that were lost...

And then I get the DM. "I need to know the name of the Medic, and the Name of the I&R Squad." The medic was easy. He already had a name from another game because he's a boss. Sgt Hank "Halo" Lynn. I thought about the I&R Squad for a minute, and realized they were small, packed a punch, and were waiting for the hand off from the QB to run it down and score... which they did. So, who's one of my favorite running backs? Anthony Thomas out of Michigan, obvi.... so I text him the names Sgt Hank "Halo" Lynn and S/Sgt Anthony "Running Back" Thomas. All I got back was "5 on Running Back. 5 on Halo". As he put a bounty on both of them. Once again, my units appear on the bounty board, and we'll see who claims that prize in the future.

This was a campaign game against one of my best friends and the game was both the best setup for me and the worst setup for me. I believed I was taking the high road in showing that my opponents were "cowards" for rushing to increase their army cap from 750 to 875 and 1000points. Often saying I can win games 250 points down, but in a system with persistent units that gain experience for each battle they survive, I may have won this game but the Osean 11th Army lost damn everything to do it. The only way I saw the win being worth it was if I defeated his main squad, a Commando Team that started out as Regular Infantry, have now survived 12 battles and been upgraded many times. Not only was a defeat of this unit worth a lot of base campaign currency... there was a bounty placed on it's head 15 weeks ago, and added to by other players. If I could defeat that unit, it didn't matter if I won or lost, anything else that happened in the game would be worth it. The price paid, would be worth it.

Spoiler warning, the price..... was too high.

I brought a lot of my campaign upgrades to modify what I could, but I could not modify the deployment type. We played Dual Objectives because of one of my special rules:

Opponent: Play Recon in Force - Select units can take a down order within range of enemy units to collect VPs.

Myself: Play Ultimate Enemy - Select a High Value Target, Opponent selects 2 of their units as Support Targets. Mission to defeat those three units. HVT - Enemy Arty Observer; Supports - Squad Harper (The Commando Super Squad) and the 17pdr Gun.

Deployment Zone: Bridge Head, Opponent Chose Blue. (See pictures)

Deployment Type: Fog of War

Opponents List: Overall theme, support the Commando Squad against whatever pulls up on the other side. Rifle Teams and field guns hold the line, the Commandos jump in a truck and go where they're needed. 13 ODs

My List: Overall theme, tight, compact. Similar to my opponent's list, except instead of field guns, I brought a Wolverine and an M15. 12 ODs

Opponents Reserves: Commando in Truck, Rifle Teams and Platoon Commanders. Only the guns were placed on the table with okay firing lanes. Enough to be dangerous if not careful.

My Reserves: Platoon Commander, Armored Inf Bazooka, 2 I&R Squads with BARs all in a Half-Track with the Wolverine.

Turn 1: Some positioning and posturing, I throw down an Airstrike on the 17pdr. (Didn't have the points to play the experimental rules again, not against this opponent.) The only shots fired were from a 25pdr at the M15 which missed and the M15 against another 25pdr. At least I scored pins.

Turn 2: Stuff goes wild. His artillery strike before the turn only hands out pins. My airstrike gets blown off the table as it comes in, but barely. He only got two hits, but the D3 generated 5 hits and the P-47 crashed into the sand dunes. M15 moves to try and clear the 25pdr and force it to rotate to shot, but don't clear the 45°. M15 whiffs its shot. 25pdr doesn't. I opt to snap to the platoon commander in the half-track and pull onto the table behind his gun teams and once again, I forget what my squads are and snap the Bazooka instead of the second I&R squad. Half-Track makes it's reserve roll and moves on the table, discharges units. Opponent is nervous because they realize my plan is to try and equal the point differential by defeating ODs quick. But the first strike didn't get any ODs. He's pulling the OD this turn and pulls me multiple times again. Second I&R gets out, claims bodies, but no ODS. Wolverine moves on, claims bodies, but no ODs. When opponent moves on the table, first of his stuff is just moved on to positioning, making sure he covers units with pins with his Platoon Commanders. His other rifle teams drop into my back lines to fight my main infantry teams with Medic and Company Commander. Squad Harper? Their truck failed their order roll. Not coming on this turn. The path for me to claim everything I want in a victory is extremely narrow, yet clear. I can see what I need to do, but I need a little bit of luck.

Turn 3: His ODs on the table start to waver. The quad polsten goes down. The 25pdrs and 17pdr are losing crew, and then his truck runs onto the table. He's got the OD advantage in the bag. There is a high priority he's next and Squad Harper jumps from the truck... except... it's my OD. The Wolverine turns, claps the truck, forces the Commandos to take 2 wounds, 1 pin, but more importantly, a DOWN order as the truck fails its cover saves and explodes. The path to victory widens and I believe I'm about trade a corner of the map and all my units for Harper. There is hope. My 6 man rifle team moves to wipe his FArtyO which was the HVT, they get the hits and he failed his infiltrator bonus cover save on three wounds. I am up with VPs. My FAirO goes down, no second air strike.

Turn 4: It's here. Important dice pull. I need to put as many wounds into that commando squad as possible. And the pull is....... his. He snaps to on the side where we are in the biggest furball. His platoon commander charges an IR squad, loses in a shocking turn. But now he doesn't have a platoon commander and there are tons of pins on his units. 1 Rifle squad is 1 inch short of the charge on the half-track and squad harper wipes one of the I&R Squads. Wolverine, Half-track, and remaining I&R put shots into Harper. Reduce him 2 to men. He succeeds the one morale check he did have to take. Other side of the table, opponent dumps rounds into my Armored Inf MG Squad, but Sgt. Hank 'Halo' Lynn prevents 3 of the wounds. (I was singing Like A Prayer as I rolled Dice. I maintain that's why I was rolling hot on the Medic) I'm holding on, the path is a little wider and we're almost through to the other side. It's so close.

Turn 5: 17pdr fails to get an order off. Wolverine only plinks off 1 model of Squad Harper, he runs to hide behind my Half-Track corpse. I&R steps into point blank, shoots, he blocks all to cover. Other side of the table is starting fail. Medic can't keep holding the squads together and the Company Commander is doing his best to keep them firing, but it's rough.

Turn 6: His OD is pulled. 17pdr finally, finally succeeds it's order test and turns to put a round at point blank in the ass of the Wolverine and demolishes it. I&R Squad charges the lone model in the Harper squad... 1... 1.... 2. Opponent, 5. It's over. It's done. The path was actually off a cliff. The only units to threaten and kill the enemy squad are face first in the sand. Harper's reputation proven once again, well earned. My units go down on the other side to try and defend from shots as best we can but the range shots and charge finally brought down the squads. Running would not have broken line of sight or range, better to increase the cover I already had to try and retain the squads. The Company Commander and the Medic retreated from the battle field as we failed our test to get a turn 7, otherwise it would have been a tabling.

Final Score: Me (3 VPs, 10 ODs lost) to Oppo (0 VPs, 8 ODs Lost).

So I won, but the amount of Combat Survivors I lost and the fact that Harper lived with 1..... model. His special model to represent the Harper of Squad Harper. The price was too high.

I always love playing this opponent. Anytime he and I play in any game, it is a very, very close, very fun, very social game. This game was no different. Overall, I felt in command and forcing my opponent to be on his backfoot most the game, but he never lost his composure. He moved to accomplish his goals while holding of mine. The only thing that frustrated him was me popping his units that could score the VPs for his mission. Other than that, he knew his secondary was deny the death of Squad Harper, and aside from the blunder of putting the truck of commandos far enough forward that the Wolverine could shoot without moving around the I&R Teams. He was able to recover though and make my victory as brutal and expensive as possible.

I bought my first point extension, allowing me to take 875 points in a list. I did not get enough points to unlock the next one, but I'm working on it and I eagerly look forward to the rematch.

Campaign Rules if you're Curious: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kh7lZC0aFHhiCauTCZvvnmXuc4jPF9p1v0X6StK5F04/edit?usp=sharing

Since me and my opponent had the day off today, we were able to get a game in as he tends to be unavailable on the days I'm available and vice versa. Our FLGS is running in the background a year long campaign, so I asked if he wanted a Standard Game or a Campaign game (Bonus/Extra Rules and Options). He opted for a campaign, so here we are. Including the Warlord Experimental Plane Rules.

We played:
Ultimate Enemy - Roll Off, Highest roll picks an enemy unit to be HVT. Opponent picks 2 more units to be support units. Opponent then picks an enemy unit to be HVT and then you pick 2 more units to be support units. 3 VPs for defeating HVT. 2 VPs for defeating a Support Unit.
My HVT: FAirO
My Supports: P-47 and Half-Track.
Oppo HVT: Platoon Commander #1
Oppo Supports: Stuart #2 and US Paratrooper #4

Outflanked - Opponent won the roll off. Chose to have the L shape deployment and the opposite corner. See the pictures.

Meeting Engagement - As normal.

US Airborne (Oppo) List:
All Regs, 2 Rifle Platoon Commanders, 4 Rifle Teams, 2 with 7 Soldiers. 2 Stuarts. 1 Half-track with all the pintles.

US Recce (Me) List:
P-47 w/ 2 Bombs 8 HMGs
Reg PC 3 Rifles/Dudes
Reg FAO Rifle
InEx Green Armored Inf MG Squad 5 Rifles, 2 LMGs
InEx Green Armored Bazooka Team
InEx Half-Tack
Reg I&R 3 Rifles, BAR w/ AT Grenades
Reg I&R 3 Rifles, BAR w/ AT Grenades
Medic
Surprise Reinforcements: InEx Greyhound w/ Pintle HMG

Aside from the weird setup, the only other things I feel I have to explain off rip, Greyhound and no Armored Platoon? Surprise Reinforcement has it basically acting as a unit outside my Force's Direct control. It has it's own OD (Green) and doesn't benefit from my command bubbles or Snap-Tos. Forward Air Observer and a Plane? To allow the US the ability to keep their Air Superiority rule, we allow you to take an FAO and that allows you to bring the plane on whenever you want, instead of the first order dice of yours that is pulled. No Airstrikes.

First Turn:
He pulled many dice of his first and then I was able to stall to force him to deploy most of his force before I walked on the board. Simple positioning turn and I made a mistake. I forgot, didn't ask, and sent my Half-Track with the AIMG Team and the AIBT and Platoon Commander to the wrong side. The tanks were already on the table, but I thought the HVT was a different model, even though he marked it for me. I'm just dumb. Didn't know it until turn 2.

Second Turn:
Once more, he pulled more of his dice before mine, activating like 5 units before me and the second Stuart fired off a round that hit the building and the FAirO failed the cover save. With a 1. 3 VPs to my opponent. Next dice pulled is mine, and the P-47 comes it because it was the next available dice and I lost airspace controller. It made a lot of noise, and the Stuarts made their cover saves. Armored Infantry, except the Zooka, drop out the half-track and unload into the wrong Platoon Commander who makes his cover saves. It was revealed then that I was shooting the wrong one and the platoon commander I wanted was over with the tanks, moving up the board. I laugh... I made a mistake. Oh well.

Third Turn:
One more.... it's him first. (We alternate who pulls the dice from the bag each turn... just my luck is all.) He pushes the Stuarts up to cover fire lanes and then, plane runs off the board, I load up my Armored Infantry back into the bus and pull a u-ee. Fairly easy choice because he was doing fall back shooting with his paras. So after my I&Rs did shooting and my Platoon Commander, he was fair enough away from the LMG squad that I didn't feel bad about losing a shooting turn. However, now the Greyhound gets pulled and whips around the corner to take a shot... and.... whif. It's now in front of one of the Stuarts....

Fourth Turn:
Except I get to go first. And not just do I get to go first, we pull the Greyhound's specific dice! SHOOT on 3s! (Didn't point blank because the HMG was shooting at the paras and would have lost LOS to a target.) Whif. But, did wang some shoulders on the Paras... Stuart shoots.... whif. We flip each other the bird. Half-track moves up, Bazooka team gets out and is in side shot of the Command Stuart.... TURRET TOSS! Hit on 6, pen roll of a 5 + 5 on Stuart side, Massive Damage, roll a 5 and a 6 on the damage chart. Plane comes in, final bomb toss.... blanks the rolls. Paras keep falling back, exchanging shots, but the Osean Recce Battalion are pushing forward, though mainly just suppressing fire.

Fifth Turn:
Greyhound from the bag. He's got 4 pins on him after being shot at last time.... Order Test! Fails. STUART FROM THE BAG! Whifs the damage roll again. The Paras on my opponent's side of the table are starting to die, as there are no more places for them to fall back to without being in the open and the Recce Force is starting to pick up soldiers one by one. I'm still down right now, 3 VPs to 0.

Sixth Turn:
Plane comes on, sprints cross table, deletes opponents HVT. 24 HMG dice on 6s. Opponent goes down in Heavy Cover. Roll 7 hits. 4 convert to wounds. Opponent needs 2+........... rolls 3 ones. Platoon Commander dies, 3 VPs to me. We are tied. Opponent pulls Stuart....... and pops the Greyhound. Finally. Fire is exchanged but the enemy half-track is now pushing to pick up units to conserve them for the campaign. We roll for turn 7.... and success, going into 7.

Seventh Turn:
Opponent picks up partial units in the half track, but wasn't sure how long the half-track could stay in fire range as the Bazooka was still active and moving towards it, giving up on the Stuart #2. Sensing danger, the half-track pulled back, stranding a para squad in the tree line. I Snap-To with the Platoon Commander, I&R Squad, and AIMG. After the shooting I get the squad down to two models after the attack for a morale check, and they run. We call it there as there are no belligerents within 36in of each other and no way to take shots. Tie game, 3 VPs on 3 VPs.

It was a lot of fun. Both of us still kept some of our experienced units, made some new ones, and had a fantastic game all around. There were a lot of high moments, and even the valleys in the peak were filled with laughter. I always enjoy getting a game with my bro. It was pretty close and never felt out of hand, even after losing my HVT in round 2 and forgetting the mark on his HVT.

I have thoughts on the airplane rules. I'm unsure with the experimental rules. It seems too powerful and too hard to remove. But I need a couple more games with it. It could have just been the game. I don't hate them. I loved seeing the P-47 on the table, it was gorgeous. Just... the rules.... provoke thought. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read!

Tonight I got the pleasure of welcoming back a player who's had their army in storage for a while and hasn't played since v2. Unfortunately, when they reached out, I was at work and was planning a campaign or game with a regular, so I only had my Swedes on me but they were a wonderful sport and let me put them on the table. Quick, simple table and we went about a game with what he's got. He opted for 800 pts so I slapped a list together and we put dice in the bag.

As a simple starter and refresher to try and not throw a million things at him immediately, we played

Seek and Destroy

Long Edges

Meeting Engagement

General List Ideology for Japan (Simplified List Building):
Three max strength Regular Infantry Squads with weapon upgrades with a sniper, platoon commander and Chi-Ha. 6 OD.

General List Ideology for Swedes:
Regular Infantry Teams, 1 Vet team with SMGs in a recce platoon. 1 Bazooka. 2 transports and 2 light autocannon cars. 10 OD

Pregame, opponent opted for no reserves and no infiltrating the Sniper Team.

Round 1, my opponent basically got to activate their entire list which opted for positioning and I ended up placing my Bazooka In the wrong transport as the Chi-ha ended up on the other side.

Round 2, some probing shots fired from each side, no real damage done. Few pins here and there but really, it was maneuvering for fire orders the next turn. I attempted to get a frontal shot with the autocannon, but was not at point blank, so I couldn't even pin the Chi-Ha. So I scuffed it's paint. However one of the Japanese squads crushed my tough fighter platoon holding the building in the center. It was a bloody fight though. I took 5 of his, but he dealt 7... so.... my 6 were wiped. He took the building.

Round 3, bad things happened. It was a pure who got to go first, and his dice came out of the bag before mine and the Veteran squad ate a lot of hits, reduced to 2 minis, they were not long in the world. I charged his squad in the center building and wiped his squad in a final hit but then my armor started failing their shots bad. Bazooka team sprinting across map because the Chi-ha didn't want to hunt infantry, but little autocannon cars.

Round 4, I point blank the Chi-ha in the sides. Nothing but pins. But the tank did fail to activate on pins. I was merely pinning the two remaining Japanese infantry. Not pushing wounds through, even with the autocannons.

Round 5, the Chi-Ha pops a Lynx. Vet Platoon Commander and Terrangbil m/42 KP get wiped by a knee mortar. Last Lynx is trying to do what it can but... it's only dishing pins.

Round 6, opponents sniper, who has been popping pins on the Lynx... DV7+... manages to roll 6... and 6... to superficial it..... and..... 6! It's on fire! AND IT FAILS THE MORALE TEST! THE LYNX BURNS TO THE GROUND! Single shot to the engine block.

Round 7, opponent moves the Chi-Ha to get a shot on the last transport truck, and it wasn't the main cannon that popped it. But one of the hull MMG shots... Another single shot to the engine block....

My opponent said he had a wonderful time, felt like there were not as many differences that it put him off. It was super easy to get back into and will be joining our FLGS Game Nights!

No historical context or inspiration. Since it's for a fictional army, meet the Armored Divisions from the Kingdom of Nordennavic's Fensalir Battlegroup! Camo portions done, now to start detailing and decals. But no more primed tanks on the battlefield. *However... after how the Pvkv m/43s rolled on Tuesday... maybe I just go back to playing them primed...*

Pretty excited, I love the color combo. Next to the camo infantry, I think it looks so good. Can't wait to finish these. Between this and skin tones on infantry, and then the bases for the infantry.... full Swedish army is almost complete!

Had a fantastic game last night with a relative new comer to our store play group, I offered up a standard or campaign game and my opponent opted for standard game and requested 1250pt.

Drew up my list, set the table, and rolled dice for pregame setup.

Demolition

Quarters

Meeting Engagement

General List Ideology for Germans:

General Mechanized Recce Force. Hanomags, couple of light support vehicles, but a few Vet Waffen units and couple regulars to fill out the list all being lead by a Company Commander. 15 Order Dice

General List Ideology for Swedes:

Inexperienced Home Guard Army with Heavy Armor Support and an Vet Engineering Team. 14 Order Dice

Pregame, my opponent opted for no reserves, and I threw my Eng PC and main Eng Team into Outflanking.

Round 1, my opponent had a small group go first but after about three activations, it was a large stretch of my Order dice. Unfortunately, being a lot of Inexperienced Infantry, I opted to take fortified defensible positions because aside from my two Outflanking units, he was way more mobile than I was. My opponent opted to try and punched me in the face quick by bringing those hanomags up in front of my face at the end of turn 1 since I was out of activations.

Round 2, haymakers swinging like crazy. He snap-toed with the company commander and pushed the last of the hanomag into the line and discharged infantry. However, dice were not wholly on his side, as point blank Panzerfausts whiffed on my Sav m/43 (Med Howitzer Assault Gun) but did wipe a Flamethrower Team but the second Flamethrower Team whiffed their shot on the Hanomag with the Company Commander in it. We each picked up a couple models, both lost two squads at this point. Very scary, but holding.

Round 3, Inexperienced Swedes start to faulter. The artillery barrage miscalculates so bad it flies off the table. The Veteran Germans start taking down the 4 Inex Rifle Teams holding the HQ one by one. However, it's not without severe return fire. The Sav m/43 keeps racking up bodies but the L-62s (Heavy Autocannon AA vehicles) kept whiffing shots and the Pvkv m/43 (Tank Destroyer) was a very pretty brick. The wild exchange of fire did cause us to fail order tests, but prepped us for the crazy turn that was about to follow.

Round 4, three Inex rifle teams dead, the Germans in firm control of Swedish HQ and planting demolitions... and I have to pull my Engineer Platoon commander from outflank to support. Three dudes, three SMGs, they run on the table and wipe the German Team holding the Swedish HQ. Seeing this, the German Veteran Waffen Company Commander (4 duders) sprints from their hidey hole to hit the Swedish Inex Platoon Commander (4 duders) in Close Combat. Swedes roll 5, 5, 6, 3. Germans roll.... 4, 1, 1, 2. Reroll. 4, 1,2,2. This was the straw that broke the Germans. Seeing their Commander go down, another Waffen squad runs to the HQ to finish planting. However, on the otherside of the table, a Swedish Ranger Engineering Team moved on to the table, charging the building where a lone MMG was holding the HQ, and demolished him. End of Round. Roll for Demolition....... both roll 3s. On to Round 5!

Round 5, all Swedish Infantry in the HQ are picked off. No one survived, but a Waffen Squad with three units left are trying to avoid being found by the armor moving to stop them, being the last men alive and in range of the HQ. However, the L-62 was able to pull it together and wipe that team, leaving only their Ranger team on the other side of the table able to score. Few vehicle exchange blows, nothing of consequence. But end of round........ the Swedes detonate and the German HQ collapses. victory Swedes!

This game was fantastic and a nail biter up until the end. I thank my opponent profusely because he had played a way I've never experienced before and it was a learning experience. A lot of the locals slow move units forward and the fever pitch of battle doesn't start until turn 3 and later. To be in the thick, dealing with close combat on turn 2 was wild. My opponent said he saw that the roads on the table gave him amazing mobility and tried it out. If his dice were more consistent on the damage dealing side of the attack sequence, instead of only picking up 1 or 2 models, I think he would have been on the HQ by the end of Round 3. He had at least 2 units that I can recall out of cover. Could have been wiped, but the dice were with me. All an all, a wonderful night that kept me on the edge of my seat, and we got to talk to a potential new player who stopped by the BA tables and was asking a bunch of questions!