Boltaction - Great war pt:4

 

 We cut the global points total in half when we got to game 4 and had only past the 1000point mark, so changed things up and cut the points in half.

 Following the successful defence of the newly acquired French frontline the German's now began the push for the second trench line.

 My initial plan was to use two 5 man Rifle squads to form a skirmish screen for the Grenadiers and assault columns of Trench raiders and Stormtroopers, the Grenadiers begin the softening up process before the artillery barrage arrives destroying (ideally) or pinning down the defenders before the Flamethrower team, Stormtroopers and Trench raiders close and destroy the defenders. Lets see if that happens!

The Preliminary barrage hammered the French defenders before their own artillery hit the concentrated German Assault which responded by going down! I pulled a 9 card, allowing me to bring an Airstrike this game.

End of Turn 1 the Germans pushed forward getting ready for the following turns trench clearing.

Turn 2 the German Bomber and French artillery barrage arrived, sending my assault troops to the deck this would keep me down for 2 turns.

The Landser began to skirmish with the Inexp. French infantry in the trench while the sniper tried to take out the MMG team.

The Rifle Grenadiers punted shots into the French LMG squad, whilst the Riflemen shot at the Sniper team before the LT. his men cowering in the mud assaulted the Sniper team.

Turn 3 the German artillery barrage arrived wiping out a French infantry squad and a MMG team.

Following this the German Flamethrower team surged forward whilst the Rifle grenades suppressed the French LMG squad, Turn 4 the Flamethrower team broke the French Veterans before they were quickly assaulted by the French LMG team, in turn they were assaulted by the rallied German veterans turn 5. The German Veterans cleared out the French and secured the Left flank.

Next the Inexperience French, after a few turns of skirmishing were assaulted by the German regulars and Wiped out losing 7 to 2. The Pesky Forward artillery observer was captured by the Germans leading to the centre objective being taken before the French LT. trying to preserve his honour lead a last desperate attack to drive off the Landser, losing terribly and being captured for his trouble.

The Game ended with Germany losing 165pts whilst the French lost a massive 975pts and the loss of another trench line.

Music we listened to during the game: https://youtu.be/pRflsqA2f4Q?si=L-PkRsLGBVnBLB9a

Boltaction - Great war pt:3

 

The French counter attack to retake their frontline trenches, the German frontline is made up of regular riflemen, a Veteran MMG and a Regular Sniper, Forward observer and Mortar team. The king Card allows the Germans to add 250 points to their total global reserves.

Then French deploy a heavy assault force of Veterans and a Heavy Trench Mortar supported by a free Forward observer and a Sniper.

Turn 1 the French Heavy Mortar fires at the right flank Soldaten missing, whilst the German Mortar fires, hitting and killing the Lt and Medic alongside 2 of the 3 Heavy mortar men.

The German Lt snaps the action, the MMG then pours its fire on the advancing French putting on 2 pins before...

The Sniper fires killing the Forward artillery observer hiding in the ruined house.

Turn 2 saw the French push forward trying to avoid the Artillery bombardment, with no indirect support it's up to the Vets the carry the assault.

The French sniper gets an angle on the Mortar team and removes it from play.

The the Artillery barrage arrives, wiping out a squad of veteran trench raiders and putting lots of pins on the other assaulting squads.

We introduced a new rule, allowing the attacker to break off the attack if they're completely in their table half and the defender has no units in their table half.

Germany holds its gains, loses only 50 points and causes 350 French losses.

Boltaction - Great war pt:2

 

 Germany counter attacks, playing the Gas team and Night attack card the Germans surge across no mans land to dislodge the off balance French after their failed assault.

Key scenario rules:

- Night fighting

- Siege artillery, French barrages cause a large blast on a 5+ rather than a 6+

Gas teams are a free and special unit that can only be brought on via a card, they have a 1 in 3 chance of dropping a Gas cloud on the enemy or a 1 in 6 chance of dropping it on their own troops, they get forward deployment like an observer.

One of the unique units for BA: Great war is the Trench raider squad, intended as a forward harassment and assault unit it has tough fighters, field craft and forward deployment. Throughout the game we discussed and argued the pros and cons and decided that the unit should instead get the ranger rule allowing them a 12inch head start as well as counted field craft for wire only and a 5-10 man squad size instead of 5 only. 

 

France started the battle with a volley into the dark, trying to hit the Trench raiders and Gas team, however they were unable to see them. 

The Trench raiders then counter attacked, passing through the wire and defeating a rifle squad in Melee, being unable to fire as they spent their action trying to shoot in the turn.

With the skirmishing over, the German gas shells landed and waves of German infantry poured forward to assault the trenchline as the Gas team tried and failed to pour their gas into the French trenchline.

French Riflemen moved forward on the German left to put shots into the Veteran squad but missing in the dark, the Veterans then moved foward in their activating and the following turn charged, wiping out the French Regulars.

I FORGOT to take more photos, the game ended turn 5 as the German Veterans and flamethrower overan the Trenchlines on the Left and Right flanks.

Germany lost 390pts whilst the French lost 720pts.

Boltaction - Great war pt:1

  Having fought out plenty of WWII I wanted to try out something different so I picked up some Wargames Atlantic WW1 Germans, which are nice cheap models. I 3d printed some weapons teams and modified the unit profiles from standard boltaction to reduce the number of LMG's and SMG's. I also adopted some national special rules for Germany (Improved artillery barrage) and France (Rerolling morale tests) from the soviets.

 The campaign works around a simple 10,000 point resource pool that drains from battlefield losses and losing key strategic points in the trench network, that being the Depots (Additional 1000pts) and the HQ (Additional 2000pts). Drawing from a deck of cards players got bonus' they can use in the battle to try and break the deadlock.

Ace	Forlorn hope	Don’t deduct losses from this battle
2	Shell Shortage	The other player suffers a -1 to their Dice roll to bring in artillery barrages and preliminary barrage
3	Siege artillery support	Units are hit by a large blast on a 5+ rather than a 6+ when an artillery barrage arrives
4	Defensive preparations	Get a free bunker
5	Night time wire teams	Remove or add d3 wire obstacles
6	Infiltration tactics	A single veteran infantry unit can outflank
7	Machinegun company	Add an additional free Machinegun team or LMG to a squad
8	Night attack	This game is fought using the Flare scenario
9	Air support	Get a free forward air observer
10	Artillery corps support	Get a Free artillery observer
Jack	Gas corps support	Get a free Gas canister team
Queen	Hugging the preliminary barrage	3 infantry or teams can deploy like snipers and observers
King	Reinforcements!	Gain 1000points to total manpower
Joker	Reallocated resources	Redraw

The campaign begins with a French attack, using a bonus card which meant they didn't take casualties this turn.

The French preliminary barrage didn't break down any of the wire obstacles, the infantry surged forward any way.

Using their new Gas weapons the French fired onto the German trenchlines and supressed the German infantry, eventually causing a failed morale test and a FUBAR driving a rifle squad from the field.

German reinforcements poured in to control the breach with the Lt. valiantly holding the line, the french tried to move their Flamethrower forward but a Rifle squad of ambush locked them down.

A MMG then poured its fire into the lone advancing French Rifle squad on the left flank wiping it out in 2 turns.

German Storm troopers plugged the gap stabilising the front as a huge melee developed on the extreme right flank.

The German Riflemen were spooked by the supporting Storm troopers and fubar'd again shooting the Storm troopers!

The German Flammenwerfer came on as the last unit on turn 6 and wiped out a French infantry squad.

The game ended turn 6, with the Germans winning 3:1 against the French. However due to the French card they didn't take losses, but the Germans lost 300 points from their Global total.