Bolt Action Rules Review 4: Weapons

 

So, today I figure I would chat about weapons of Bolt Action. If you are a detailed person for history and differences in firearms you may want to consider finding another game. Bolt Action lumps weapons into generic groups like pistols, SMGs, Assault Rifles and such for Small Arms and for Heavy Weapons things like Bazooka, Light, Medium, Heavy and Super Heavy AT Guns…in other words they assign weapons to a class type of weapons to the chart so one type of weapon could cover several weapons.

Is this realistic? Well, maybe not 100%, a FG42 could shoot further than the STU44 but both hammer out an amazing rate of firepower and are classed in the game group. Was there a difference in the rate of fire for the real weapons? Yes, but not enough to merit a difference on the chart.

Most small arms dish out between 1-4 shots, the Germans can squeeze out a bonus shot from Light and Medium Machine Guns as a special perk. Most Heavy Weapons are single shots for the most part, but also are more likely to destroy a vehicle, add more pin tokens and have a variety of other special abilities in the game.

Some small arms can be used in close combat like pistols and SMGs making them very deadly up close but useless in ranged fights. Assault rifles ignore penalties of shooting on the move.

Flamethrowers are very nasty in the game as they ignore terrain when it comes to cover and inspires fear with pin markers. A flamethrower could even break a unit in the right conditions by the fear of being burned alive. It also can be used on vehicles in an attempt to burn the men out of it or cook them alive inside. In any case, the flamethrower when used has to roll and may well run out of fuel and be removed from the game. It is all down to the dice; personally I will try them out.

Overall I like the concept; it makes things simpler for the game to flow instead of spending time trying to work out guns 101 of World War 2. Less book time, more dice time on the table!