Bolt Action!

Bolt Action 28mm WWII game

 I got a game of Bolt Action in today and had a blast! For those that don't know, Bolt Action is a 28mm miniatures wargame set in WWII, published by Warlord Games. The game was written by Games Workshop veterans Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley and their experience in writing game systems really shows.


The mechanics are simple and tightly written, but draw in a lot of strategic thinking. At the center of the game is a "blind initiative" system where colored dice is thrown into a cup, one for each unit in both armies. The players then blindly draw a die from the cup and the color indicates which side gets to use that die to issue an order. So it isn't a simple i-go-u-go system, with an entire army (like 40k) or unit by unit. It might seem kind of gimiky when reading, but after a few games it really shines as a way of creating that fog of war that so many games are missing.

This isn't a full review of the system, just a quick post saying that I had fun. A few highlight for me were 1) my sniper hardly killing anyone all game, but forcing my opponent to fail key orders tests because his units were constantly pinned, 2) blowing up the enemy CO with a panzerschreck (German anti-tank weapon). Also, my opponent beating me in hand-to-hand in a final "overtime" turn to finally kick me off the objective and win the game.

I will make sure to post pictures of my units and games for future posts. If you haven't done so yet, head over to Warlord Games and take a peek at their Bolt Action line, or any of their fantastic games!