Bolt Action Battle Report - Home Guard vs Heer

What if an enterprising and patriotic Home Guard unit decided to take matters into their own hands and join in on the invasion of Europe? Well that’s what Andy and I based our most recent game of Bolt Action on. In fairness I played this game for the laugh. The club is running a small 500pts escalation campaign that I opted not to join in on having decided to focus on LoTR SBG with t’other Andy however I needed a break so volunteered to be the 6th man to allow Andy to play this week.

Me - Home Guard 500 pts

2nd Lieutenant & NCO (inexperienced)

Free Forward Observer & adjutant (regular)

7 x Home Guard (NCO with SMG, 5 rifles and LMG)

7 x Home Guard (NCO with SMG, 5 rifles and LMG)

7 x Home Guard (NCO with SMG, 5 rifles and LMG)

7 x Home Guard (NCO with SMG, 6 rifles and Lipton Teas Van!)

Sherman III (inexperienced and nicked from the repair depot!)

Andy - Heer 500 pts

Leutnant (regular)

10 Heer (NCO and 9 rifles)

10 Heer (NCO and 9 rifles)

10 Heer (NCO and 9 rifles)

Medium Mortar with Spotter

Sdkfz 222 Armoured Car

We rolled up the mission and got Top Secret, the only mission in the rulebook that sucks! The objective is placed in the centre of the board and the winner is the one that manages to get it off their board edge. Unfortunately due to the wording of the mission you can “daisy chain” the objective from unit to unit, the result being that by turn three you can have it off the board.

So it was a headlong rush to capture the objective, which was a box containing a Field Marshall Rommels prize begonia seeds and collection of English sewing thimbles that had been left behind in the retreat through France. Unfortunately Andy won the roll to choose board edges and picked the very convenient straight road leading to the churchyard containing said seeds. I’d have my work cut out trying to stop him as I was left with the board covered in my nice new walls that completely blocked line of sight. No units were deployed at the start of the game, each side needing to roll to bring them as per the reserves rule.

Turn 1

Andy advances as fast as possible with everything up the road. We ruled that the woodland on his side of the board was true line of sight and not area terrain, this meaning that his armoured car could drive through it. I on the other hand shepherded my Home Guard tourists through the walled compounds on my side of the board, also failing to bring on my Tank or lorried unit.

No casualties, no firing, just a little strategic shuffling

The board with my new walls and church yard. Lots of
blocked lines of sight

"Come on chaps. I think Jerry is down here!"

Turn 2

Andy pops his armoured car on ambush and takes a few pot shots at my units that he could see. As the Home Guard have the Green rule on the first pins I take I have to roll a d6. On a 1 they take an additional d6 pins and immediately go down, on a 2 3 or 4 they’re fine and carry on as normal and on a 5 or 6 they become regular. As they’re so cheap its worth I shot! Luckily I managed not to get pinned to bits with one unit but another took a hopeful dash through the doorway of the walled compound and got pinned to hell and immediately hit the dirt behind the church wall.

Bloody German AFV's

Turn 3

I’ve managed to get my tank on which manages to get some pins on Andy’s unit that has now captured Rommels Horticulture. Hopefully that should slow down the dastardly hun for a turn or two. Meanwhile I dash my other unit into the house opposite the church, if the germans will only stay in the graveyard I can poor fire on them from my now secure position.

 

"Oi tank bloke, shoot them over there"

Turn 4

I’ve managed to sneakily push my Forward Observer up the other side of the church and he now radio’s in the coordinates of the road that the Hun came in on. Hopefully that should deter Andy making his exit that way. They then receive some rifle fire but being the only regular unit in my platoon I’m not too worried (they’ve been in Normandy a while and were hastily assigned to my irregulars in the hope of reining then in!). I manage to bring on my trucked unit who drive as fast as they can to try and outflank.

Unfortunately Andy shrugged off his pins on the unit carrying the objective and proceeded to daisy chain the darn thing down the road. 1 more turn and its all over.

Turn 5

Andy gets first dice and starts to order his unit off the board with the Field Marshalls valuables when I cry “WAIT” (thirty plus wargaming heads turn to look at me with disapproval. It was like farting in a library!), I haven’t rolled to see if my artillery strike arrives. Dice are rolled, collective breaths are held and ……..BOOM the fabled British artillery range in  and decimate the unit carrying the objective.

“Woohoo” says I.

“Bollocks” Andy replies.

We then proceed with the turn, I advance the Sherman up the road as a convenient road block, after dashing my trucked unit up the road last turn they jump out and advance through the woods, taking down the German officer that survived the artillery barrage.

Staring down the barrel of a gun. The Sherman
lines up on the unfortunate German soldier
in the road!

Unfortunately it was all in vain as in turn 6 Andy manages to get his unit off the board and thus wins the praise and approval of his peers.

Grrrr

Summary:

A nice relaxing game against regular opponent Andy where I managed to try out an almost completely inexperienced force. In Bolt Action in experienced troops are at a disadvantage over regular or veteran troops as they suffer an automatic -1 when rolling to hit. Factor that in with a reduced morale value and they can be very fragile. By using Home Guard with their “Green” rule I am able to mitigate this (if I’m lucky) as I may end up with them becoming regulars once they suffer their first pin.

An interesting suggestion that we’re going to try out is including two coloured dice to the dice bag. Once both of these have been drawn the turn ends, thus simulating a further aspect of command and control. By not knowing when the turn ends you can’t count on every unit being able to activate, similar I believe to the mechanic in Chain of Command. We’ll see how it goes.