Band of Brothers - The Bolt Action 2 boxed game

Well Bolt Action 2 arrived this morning.

And it’s packed. I got mine directly from Warlord so I could get a box of free plastic infantry (I went with Japanese, to start doing the Pacific theatre) so I’ve received it nice and early from the first print run.

So what’s in it? I know you’ve come mainly for the pictures, so I’m not going to tease you.

A very thick softback rulebook.

24 US paratroopers, which are new plastic models and one of the two paratrooper set Warlord are bringing out (the hope being that we'll see British Paratroopers in the next few months). 

I have done a photo of the whole sprue and close ups on the weapons and heads so you can see them. The weapons per 6 body sprue are - 1 .30 cal MMG, 1 Browning Automatic Rifle, 3 Thompson SMGs, 5 rifles (2 M1 Garands, 3 rifles), a 1911 pistol and a machete. There are 15 heads, 12 helmets, 1 soft cap, 2 bare heads. 

12 German Grenadiers - these are quite recent plastics though not new, and again have a good mix of weapons, with 2 LMGs, 3 assault rifles, 5 rifles, 3 SMGs and a panzerfaust per sprue between 6 bodies.  

1 German Sd.KFz 251/10 Aus D half track.

1 Ruined farmhouse

Pin markers, dice, order dice and the new templates.

A quick reference sheet.

A get started booklet.

I am not going to get into the minutiae of the rules changes in this article. The major complaints I heard about Bolt Action 1^st Edition were machine guns weren’t effective enough for the points, and assault (particularly cavalry) was too effective for units that rolled multiple dice (and particularly Tough Fighters).

I played someone who had gone through the German army book and picked what they felt were the most effective units they could fit into a 500 point force, vs my entirely in theme British Paratroopers. So I faced cavalry, a mixture of veteran infantry with assault rifles and regular support teams, generally all 6 man units. I did field 5 man paratrooper squads, splitting my units into rifles/LMG and SMG squads to leap frog them around the board. It worked very well. It also proved to me that snipers are absolutely worth taking.

I absolutely creamed them, because veteran assaults are lethal in BA, but it was a very different game to the first one I played where I took a Last Levy german force against Americans and got battered (though my Volksturm launched a surprise assault and wiped out a Ranger squad).

This has been addressed in the new edition. On first reading the book is well laid out, logical, has examples and diagrams and is colour throughout.

Looking at the US paratrooper sprue, which is the brand new sprue in the set, it is crisp, has a good weapon mix, and includes the parts to make a 30. Cal MMG team.

I picked up the bazooka and mortar set with the order, a command squad, and another grunt with a Thompson to attach to one of the command elements and bring the force closer to 500 points.

I’m impressed with the sculpts and sprue layout, and later I will assemble and post some.

The rulebook now includes the Japanese, allowing you to play the Pacific Theatre from the base set. It’s a nice addition. The changes to assault will hopefully make Japanese players less unpopular amongst other players, because I’ve seen a lot of armies built around militia squads with spears swarming across the table.

The army lists in the main rulebook are enough to play games, but there are specific army books and theatre books that provide significantly more detail and options.

I’ve previously discussed Konflikt 47. The rules changes in BA2 are easily integrated into it, and will only improve the game further. The army lists in BA seem completely compatible still with the Konflikt 47 stuff, meaning I can support my new small American Paratrooper force with a Coyote Light Walker, and wait for American Jump Infantry to be released.

If you are thinking about getting into Bolt Action, this is a very good set to get. Lots of people collect Germans, going ‘it means I’ll be able to play everybody’ and this is to some extent true.

However a lot of people get pleasure out of picking specific campaigns and either as clubs or small groups collecting forces around that.

Warlord have now released so many plastic sets that for the main players (US, UK and Commonwealth, German, Russian, Japanese) there are hard plastic boxes of figures at around £20 for 30 models, that give you the core of a 500 point force. A handful of metal blisters or a vehicle or two is enough to take you to 500 points and that’s a good level for a BA game. Certainly you can find a lot of 500 point battle reports online. 

A 500 point force will be about 25-35 infantry, a weapon team or two and a vehicle or transport or two. This also means it’s paintable in a realistic timescale, as there’s nothing worse than grey armies facing off against each other.

Would I recommend Bolt Action as a game? Yes. There are large numbers of armies and it gives you the opportunity to nicely theme your forces. You can pick battles and situations you find interesting, learn more about them (Osprey books are notoriously good for this) and paint up and model themed forces. I prefer collecting both sides (and with hard plastics at £20 for 30 troopers that’s not bank breaking, particularly compared to GW prices) and so I don't go for super tough tournament builds. 

However Bolt Action, unlike 40k, is a game balanced enough to play competitively in a tournament format, and balance only benefits casual play, scenario based games and campaigns. 

Bolt Action is not enormously complicated. The Get Started booklet does a good job of explaining how to play, and talks about the background of the forces given in the box and show you lots of painted models and how to play, including what happens when units take pins and fail command checks. 

It's a well thought out and put together set, and I'd recommend it for gamers and WWII enthusiasts looking to get into tabletop gaming.