November 23rd Bolt Action Tournament

Chris and I loaded up to head down to play some Bolt Action at the Darkside in Sarasota. Alas, Lee could not play but did make it down to buy a few goodies at the store, hang out and did eat some breakfast with us before we played. Good Amish food is always a good start!

I brought a mixed bag list that had mixed results....fancy that!

2nd Lt with 1 man with Assault Rifles (Reg)
2 Volks Grenadier Squads of 7 with 2 rifles and 5 assault rifles. (Inexp)
1 Pioneer Squad with flamethower, 5 men (Vet)
1 Grenadier Squad x7 w/ SMG NCO, squad rifles and 2 panzerfausts (Reg)
1 Truck (Reg)
1 Sdkfz 7 Halftrack (to tow the heavy howitzer or transport as needed) (Reg)
1 Heavy Howitzer (Reg)
1 Med Mortar (Inexp)
1 Sniper (Reg)
1 Puma (Reg)
1 251/6 (Inexp)
1 Air Observer with 1 man (Rifles) (Regular)

Well, on with the tourney...

4 Warlord Sarges in one spot!

My first round opponent, forgot the gents name but is a local to Darkside and a Japanese player. 

We got the mission Top Secret and we got to play on the nice bombed out hamlet that turned out rather nicely. The Japanese list had no vehicles except for a truck and a few squads all veteran which made for a tough as nails but small list.

The game opened up with a cat and mouse game but then the game slanted quickly in my favor as I was able to take out the Japanese with some focused fire. The game did get tough when the truck took a hit and blew up with the squad with the objective. I had to wait for another two turns to win near the end with the the forward observers grabbing the objective and running it to the snipers to get it off the table. The Volks Grenaider didn't impress me much as I rolled a 1 for one squad and they took a ton of pins and was useless for most of the rest of the game.

The table....turnedout pretty cool...

And another shot!

Volks Genadier deploy behind a hedge to avoid being shot at.

Sniper takes up position in a burned out ruin.

Mortar team sets up near the road behind a hedge and near a house.

Long shot with Grenadiers on both sides of the officer with the Puma flanking the side.

251/16 roars down the road....

They need a bumper sticker <Burn it all down!>

Volks Grenadier run down a walled area with some drain water in it.

My round three table, the desert airfield that I will play on in the last round.

Mike chats with John while his German opponent plots.

Shot of the German vs American game.

John and Tom....Sarges at large! 

Toms....heavy howitzer for his Japanese. Yes, it was a captured gun from the Soviets.

Tom and I setup our armies we had Demolition as the mission.

The Japanese bunker up in a building opposite of mine.

Tom plots and hopes the dice are kind to him again.

The table....both armies are in a standoff. I did manage to crush a few of his units but Tom buttons down like fleas on a dog and waits for me.

Pioneers get the breaking the line award! They burned down a squad before they met their end.

In the end neither of us could touch the other players objective and it was a clear draw.

I go into the third round with 4 people in the lead for possible 1st. I get John and his  Alessio style American list....

John

Snipers setup in a trench...

Observers hide among some crates.

John proud of his airstrikes. You may notice while he celebrates I was giving him the #1 salute! (all in good fun of course) Let's not bring up those two other airstrikes that both was 1's and I bombed the hell out of two of his infantry units and also nailed his howitzer with  my airstrike. Wow, two observers is VERY brutal. Yea, Alessio packed on the cheese for this list! Double everything!

In the end I lost to John, dice was kinder to him in the end. It would have been a draw if a strange rule was allowed and a howitzer apparently can fire indirect OUTSIDE OF ITS FORWARD ARC! REALLY? I was not aware in WW2 we had guided shells in the war! 

In the end it was three good games with a 1-1-1 record with an untested list for the most part. Never played it before. Chris and I tied for 3rd place and we split the prize. Pretty cool in the end...

Kudos to Tom and  John making it down. Mike did a great job at Darkside. 

December may be an off month to relax and enjoy the holidays with January opening up a new year of Bolt Action gaming! We hope to plan a Wounded Warrior tournament in March perhaps as a nice fundraiser.