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Bolt Action 2.0 Locked & Loaded: Using The Books To Improve Your Game
September 29, 2016 by johnlyons
For this episode of Locked & Loaded we delved into the books available for Bolt Action 2.0 and see how they can increase your enjoyment of the game.
John sits down with Rich from Warlord Games to discover how they can give your games of Bolt Action more context and narrative as well as making your armies more effective.
Watch The Backstage Show To Discover What's Coming Up For Bolt Action
Do you have any of the books featured in the video and if so which is your favourite?
Let us know in the comments below…
I have several of the Army books that pre-date Bolt Action 2, are they still valid or do they need updating to use the mark 2 rules?
Sure I read that the only one that was going to be updated was the German one, and that was only because it was the 1st and was underpowered compared to the others.
Warlord Games went out of their way to not invalidate the Armies of ______ books. This restriction meant they couldn’t adjust points costs with 2nd edition which I think hamstrung them too much on fixing things. However, I think they did an excellent job despite that. I just think they should get away from the army book/codex/splat book format (which should have died in the 90’s). Bolt Action is simple enough that I think you could probably list every unit in WWII in a spreadsheet that would only be about 10 pages long. Maybe half that if you cut out the really uncommon stuff that never saw the battlefield. A Sherman 76mm, T-34/85mm and late war Panzer IV all basically share the same stats in Bolt Action and they are hardly alone.
I am just not a fan of the Armies of ________ books. What is done is done, but I don’t think they really needed to exist. Bolt Action’s game mechanics are simple enough that I believe the main rule book could have greatly expanded the types of units for most units cutting the historical blurb which a curious player could easily use the internet to learn about them. The theater selectors are still pretty generic but do help find which vehicles were avaible for the period/place of the war. In half a decades time or more, if there is a 3rd edition, I would like to see a main rule book that includes all of the more common units for at least the: Americans, British, Germans, Japanese, Soviets. Maybe put out a book for the minor nations covering everywhere else. The theater selectors (where they could be further refined) get moved to the campaign book along with the more obscure units that would be involved are placed. The campaign books probably shouldn’t be more than a battle or Operation so not get too watered down.
I have Battlefield Europe and Ostfront Theater Books. I was fairly unimpressed with Battlefield Europe as the American (group doesn’t have British) scenarios weren’t as good as I had hoped. None of the are bad, but I think most of them are just okay which given that this book covered the part of the war that when I think World War II was a bit of let down.
The Ostrfont book is a bit better. I don’t know if I will make much use of the Soviet vs. Japanese early war portion, and I am fairly certain I won’t make use of the Winter War part. However, the book later references where those scenarios could be re-purposed for other parts of the eastern front. Which I think is my favorite part of Ostfront. I like how the author suggests how to make use of the scenarios in the main rule book as well as ones from other parts of Ostfront to put together mini (or full fledged) campaigns of say Stalingrad, Kursk, or Operation Bagration. I would preferred Ostfront go in about how to use these scenarios though.
I think the theater books overall tried to cover too much territory in too few pages. Especially for a platoon scale infantry game that is Bolt Action. My hope is Warlord Games goes back and dials into more specific parts of World War II where it can make the best use of the reinforced platoon level gaming it does.
Nice review that lined it all up for me. Im going into BA now and will get the big new rulebook and then wait for the 2nd edition of Armies of Germany.
Agreed.
I’d rather they take a page from Too Fat Lardies Pint Sized Campaign books. Create a campaign within the confines of an actual batter. Tweek the army lists off the forces that actually fought in the battle the book is representing.
Love to see a Kelly’s Hero’s book now that the models have dropped from Heaven…..
I like the campaign book idea but what I’d like to see is some campaigns that would be side missions. If you get what I mean. Like rescue missions, recce missions, missions that would be 600 points or less. As a kid I watched shows like Rat Patrol and Combat where they were episodes of missions or objectives that just came up and had to be handled. A mission book of this type would be pretty interesting to me.