I’m on winter break from school and now that the holidays are done I was able to stir up some Bolt Action back at Misty this past Thursday. I had a 1000 point game with my US Army against Justin playing his US Paratrooper force in Maximum Attrition.
Forces
My US Army Generic Platoon:
Veteran 2nd Lieutenant SMG, 1 Extra Man Rifle
Regular FAO w/1 Extra Man
2x 6 Man Ranger Squad – NCO w/SMG, 1xBAR, 1xSMG, Rifles
2x 8 Man Regular Late War Infantry – NCO w/SMG, 1x BAR, Rifles
6 Man Veteran Infantry – NCO w/SMG, 1x BAR, 1xSMG, Rifles
Vet Sniper Team
Reg MMG Team
Reg Flame Thrower Team
Reg Bazooka Team
Reg Medium Mortar
Reg Medium Howitzer w/Gun Shield and Spotter
Reg Dodge 3/4 Ton Truck
Justin’s Paras were roughly from memory:
Reg 2nd Lieutenant w/ 1 Man
5x Vet Paras w/LMG, few SMGs and rifles
Reg MMG Team
Vet Sniper Team
Reg Flame Thrower Team
Reg M3 Half-Track w/ HMG and 3x MMGs
Reg Chaffee w/Recce and pintle HMG
The board was set up with some ruined buildings and walls in the center with hills, woods and water features all around. The game started off with both our snipers as well as my FAO and spotter setting up hidden. Our snipers were near the center but separated by a building and my FAO and spotter in woods to my left. My rangers came on before first turn running towards the cover in the center. My game plan was to get a jump on the cover in the center, thanks to my rangers, and keep the paras back until I could bring all my force to bear.
First turn saw my rangers move up to the cover in the center and one squad dodged a sniper shot on the way. Toward the center my mortar came on and my MMG ran on to a hill while my howitzer came towed in my back right corner. Justin had 3 para squads come in the center with an MMG running into the woods nearby. His chaffee came on opposite my howitzer and put fire into it with 1 HE hit doing a single wound. That was all of the first wave on the board. My sniper missed a shot at a squad of paras in the center but my FAO had his back and called for a strike.
Start of turn two and in comes a plane! Initially no pins affect the target but the units near by take some. The result is only strafing fire but that’s enough to do damage to infantry, especially when I rolled 16 hits. The NCO was left standing though! With only one pin, he passed his moral for his squad members being wiped out and later moved towards the back of the board to save his dice. The first dice pull saw my howitzer shoot a direct shot at the chaffee. Justin chose not to recce either, maybe because it couldn’t reach cover or didn’t want to expose side armor. The shot hit home, only doing superficial damage but immobilizing the tank! Great news for me. The chaffee soon retaliated though and this time wiped out the howitzer crew.
During the rest of turn two fire was exchanged throughout the board. The rangers slightly to my left, while under fire, added to the pins from the air strike to help hold a unit of paras while my mortar began ranging in. My other rangers foolishly abandoned their cover to press the sniper out of his hiding spot. Then Justin’s half-track comes on unloading 2 machine guns taking down a couple rangers. The paras inside jump out to finish them off to score a second dice. My reg infantry move on the board to support the center and my truck runs to not give up its dice. Justin’s remaining reserve paras come on my left side so my reserve vets do the same. I called the next air strike in on the half-track while the flame thrower and lieutenant were still aboard. My lieutenant waits to see where he needs to come in and my bazooka and flame thrower decide they should as well. (End of turn two pictured above)
Turn three began with a rookie pilot showing up! Justin targets my MMG team looking for pin coverage. A few pins are dolled around and the rookie heavy bomber handily destroys the MMG. Ouch! Now I’m 3 dice down! Next, my mortar misses again but the paras next to the hill remained pinned down. My regs in the middle moved over the wall for cover from the half track. They along with the sniper put fire into paras on the far hill eliminating them. I finally score a dice! My regs to the right moved up to the wall cover while dodging sniper damage and putting fire into the paras that took out the rangers. The paras on the left were pinned down by the fire from my vets. The half-track moves across the center putting fire into my rangers and the flame thrower makes a run at the rangers but is out of range. His lieutenant also gets out to try and motivate the pinned down paras. My flame thrower came on as well as my bazooka who was just short on range to the half-track.
The first dice pull was tense to see if the flame thrower in no mans land would get to shoot first or likely get gunned down. I believe I got the dice but my rangers failed their order check! The flame thrower then promptly took its shot but thanks to .net rules it missed! I again try the mortar on the still pinned down paras by the hill. Another miss! Come on mortar! Mean while my regs became pinned down from sniper fire and the paras advancing on them. My sniper misses a clear shot at his lieutenant and my bazooka does the same with the half-track. On the left, my vet infantry, FAO with rifle and my lieutenants buddy give pins and damage to para unit forcing them to stay down. My regs in the middle make a move to eliminate the flame thrower but don’t even hit! Lastly the half track moves in close trying to give the flame thrower another chance. Due to a mistake, I realized after the game, the half-track still fired all of its guns but bad dice meant no effect.
Then before the start of turn four we realized that Justin didn’t roll to see if the flame thrower ran out of fuel. Justin’s dice keep up their streak and he rolls a 1! Bye bye flame thrower and now the half track is too close to enemy and is lost as well. Score 2 dice for me and we are at a tie game. It is now looking pretty good for me, besides the right being a little dicey yet, because most of Justin’s units are pinned. My mortar crew still having trouble ranging in misses the pinned squad of paras again! The interesting bit on the right has my regs remain pinned down as the sniper takes out their NCO. Justin’s paras sweep around the wall favoring point blank shots over close combat. Thanks to Justin’s dice, not much damage is done though. My flame thrower moves to counter but is just barely too far away. On the left I am piling on pins from everything at the paras but not getting a ton of damage. Even without their NCO, they are holding fast since I’m not forcing the checks. My rangers remain pinned behind the wall. The regs show them how its done hopping the wall and eliminating the last paras the mortar couldn’t hit.
On to turn five. Time to close this thing out. My flame thrower gets the first move and shoots point blank at the paras on the right. Miss!!! Thanks .net format! Alright, next dice I get another chance. My regulars shake off their four pins even without NCO and charge the paras within 6″ not giving them a change to react. A brutal three round combat ensues but my regs pull through with only two men remaining. The chaffee, still in it, takes out the flame thrower but misses the remaining two regs. My sniper and bazooka run for some late game positioning. To the left, I press hard to finish of the stragglers. My regs move out of cover to take out the MMG. It takes my vet infantry, FOA, and Lieutenant to finally pin out, not even destroy, the last remnant of the para unit. My rangers finally get some courage since the enemy is all but gone and take some shots to no effect at Justin’s stalwart lieutenant. In a move for redemption my mortar takes a shot at the lone para NCO in the back lines. HIT! The last para is toast.
To wrap it up both our snipers missed each other. My bazooka moved just in range for a side armor shot on the chaffee. Hit! I rolled the immobilized result again and the armor was knocked out. Justin’s lieutenant was easily gunned down. We rolled and could of played one more turn which would probably clear the board of his sniper.
It was a fun game and the first I played against another US player. I think my strategy of getting the cover first while he was in the open worked perfect. Also, getting lucky immobilizing the chaffee out of harms way, eliminated a probably big annoying asset of Justin’s. If you noticed in the pics, I am very close to finishing my goal of finishing paint on my US. I’m looking forward to more games and hopefully being able to do more during this coming semester.
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