15mm Bolt Action! Canadian Vrs SS!

But it's the Summer of Battlegroup!  True enough but after a crazy week there just wasn't enough time for setup  and creating a scenario, so Dave and I got together, threw some terrain down on the table and played an awesome, action-packed game of Bolt Action in 15mm!

my individually based SS troopers

 We started from each long edge of the table and just started advancing like a meeting engagement.  Dave had work Saturday so we couldn't play too long.  We had enough time for a little over 3 full turns.  Dave played the Canadians and I played the Germans.

Big cat on the prowl.  Turns out neither of our armored forces could hit the broadside of a barn this evening.

 The armor had the best mobility and range and they were the first ones to make contact!  A knife fight started on the road with Dave's tank destroyer team banging away at my Panzer IVs.  If you wondering, all of the troops were "regular" classed.  Nothing fancy here!

Panzer IVs trying to hit something...Note the pin marker on the left tank.

 Dave's Shermans started to get into the knife fight with the Tank Destroyers and still we couldn't hit anything!  Lots of "1"s thrown around.

The situation so far.  Not all of my infantry has even moved up yet.  Dave throws all of his infantry on his right.  Most of mine is on my right.  The village buildings will be key terrain, along with the woods on the left side of the picture.

 Dave's infantry start to get into the fight and move up to the woodline and a fierce firefight breaks out.

Meanwhile the SS swarm into a building.

Firefight with the Canadian infantry!  Dave brings up some more squads and these SS troopers would eventually break from Pin markers and casualties.

Wife snapped a couple pictures of the action!

 Dave moves up a 6 lb'r to the treeline and my SS infantry move up into the buildings on the edge of town.  Some sharp fire breaks out with the squads at the treeline and the 6 lb crew.

Infantry moving into the building!

 The SS infantry in the building draw the attention of the many, many sherman tanks down the road and they start pumping HE rounds into the house!

Shermans firing down the lane

 A Panther gets a mobility kill on a Sherman and a Panzer IV knocks out a tank destroyer.  Not bad for 3 turns of shooting!  Big trouble on the SS left flank though, as Dave, just like he did at Historicon, masses his infantry in the treeline.  My 8 man squads are no match for his 11 man squads and the numbers start to tell.

The woods are full of Canadian rifles.

6 lb'r with prime mover and crew

Infantry massing on my left!  Trouble!  Time to bring up the reserve squad.

Pin markers abound in this village!

MG42 team in the building

4 pin markers on this guy.  The rules say he's supposed to back up but the platoon leader is preventing their escape!

 Speaking of which how many pins do tanks get in Bolt Action??  Is it based on the size of the crew?  Is it 10?  The lead Panzer IV had 4 pins before I started to make an attempt to rally them.  (the platoon leader being in their way blocking retreat on the road was part of that effort - not a bad tactic at all).

Dave's senior officer - the Armored troop commander.

TD's shooting down the road.

SS troopers sneaking into the mud room of a farm house.

Sherman taking shots at the Panthers and Panzer IV's in the village

Canadian 6lb crew!  The red die is a casualty.

 The more we played, the more I felt this game would have been KILLER fun with Battlegroup.  Perhaps we'll try that next game.

Dave's infantry slowly gaining the upper hand at the treeline.  I love these Battlefront British troops!  They painted up so nicely.

This game featured my individually based Canadians against my individually based SS troopers and was a wild ride of reversals of fortune, bad dice rolling, and quite frankly was lots of fun.

Bolt Action always delivers a very fun-filled game that has an awesome "toy soldier" feel to it.  The armor system, which i originally felt was over complicated, is really growing on me, and same with HE fire.  Dave was surprised with how under-whelming his Sherman's HE fire was especially with my troopers in the building but that's the way it goes.  He MORE than made up for it with his light mortar, which scored a direct hit on the farmhouse killing some HJ troopers.

A "cracking" game for a Friday night.  While I'd rather be playing Battlegroup, it was nice to break out these guys on the table and have at it.  We stopped at the top of turn 4 with the armor just coming to grips and starting to score some casualties and the infantry fight really heating up on my left.

Time to put in the reserves!  ANGRIFF!!!!!!