The Happy Phalanx

I have never been a overly competitive person when it comes to life. I have, for the most part, been content to muddle my way through life enjoying games and rec-level sports for the comradery, friendship , and fun of it. Thus I was a bit surprised on September 13th of this year to find myself playing in a tournament for the popular Second World War themed miniature game Bolt Action. Organized by one of my gaming friends, he invited me to try my my luck in it. Despite never playing in a tournament before, I though I may as well give it a go and see what happened…

Part One: Wait, I actually need to finish painting some of my minis for this thing?

Having decided to participate, the first thing I had to do was build my army for the tournament. Having decided to participate roughly two weeks before the big day, I quickly had to figure out what I would need. Since I was playing Canadian Paratroopers, I had the advantage of not needing as many minis as most of the other options. This is because all my troops had to be taken at the veteran level. This meant that, although my troops were harder to kill, that each one was generally more expensive. Consequently, I ended up with an “army” roughly 70% the size of everyone else I faced.

I did however have to frantically paint up a tank (a British Cromwell tank, which my research revealed were used by the British Paratroopers), as well as a jeep and some mortar sections to provide some fire support for my tiny lads. Although I had already purchased a tank, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to order a jeep to support my force. I quickly became sure and ordered one after my wife told me to “order the damn jeep”, probably so I would stop explaining the pros and cons of having one for the tournament! After several late nights, I had everything ready to go, or so I thought…

The night before the tournament, while doing a final count and packing my army away, I suddenly realized I was short one mini! This lead to a frantic, late night painting session to make sure I did not show up one person short for the tournament! Luckily, thanks to my painting diary which includes detailed notes on how I painted the rest of my paratroopers, I was able to make quick progress with him. With the finishing touches added the next morning, I was ready ready to head off to the tournament!

Preparing for Battle!

Once I got to my FLGS (Friendly Local Games Store), I helped my friend set up the tables for the battle by putting out terrain on the tables we would be battling over. Each table would have a specific theme: one was a city fight with many ruined buildings, the second was in a railyard with a train blocking the centre of the table, and the third was a forest setting in which we would fight for control of two of the bridges.

With the tables ready and the generals assembled, the rules for the tournament were laid out and the first matches set. Each player would play three games against three different opponents, rotating around the tables. Furthermore, at the start of the second and third rounds, we would be able add reinforcements to our army! Victory Points would be scored for eliminating enemy forces and scoring objectives. At the end of the day, whoever had the most points would be the winner! With the orders given, we then went to our assigned tables and the battles began…

Round One: A River Runs Through It

My first round saw me taking one a veteran of the Bolt Action Tournament Scene, who was a great sport and took the time to offer me advice. This was quite welcome, as before this tournament I could count the number of Bolt Action games I’ve played on one hand! Although my sniper team managed to eliminate his platoon commander in the first turn of battle, that only slowed his advance. His experience and masterful control of his infantry squads left the ultimate outcome of the game in little doubt. At the end of the last round, he controlled both objectives, and had wiped out two of my units, earning six Victory Points. His win did not come without a cost however, as I was able to take out two of his units in return, thus picking up two victory points myself.

Round Two: A River Still Runs Through It

The second round found me on the same map, the rotation taking me from one side of it to the other. My opponent in this round was another friend from my regular gaming group, a gentleman who has been wargaming almost as long as I have been alive! In addition to his experience, his army enjoyed a definite numerical superiority over mine. Luckily, my paratroopers were tougher to kill, and had the advantage of the addition of a bren gun carrier, a light armoured vehicle as well as my two medium mortar teams, which could be devastating against bunched up infantry. I also was able to add a PIAT team, an anti-tank weapon that British and Canadian forces used in the Second World War. It was not much help against infantry, but was excellent against vehicles.

The first two rounds did not go well for my paras (paras is commonly used as a short-form for paratroopers), suffering heavy casualties in the first few rounds as I rushed one of the objectives, inflicting few in return. Luckily for me, my paras, being veteran troops, kept passing their morale checks and bravely held their ground rather than fleeing. Unfortunately for my erstwhile foe, at a critical point, his troops nerve broke, causing two of his infantry squads to break and flee from the battle. Going into the last round, my opponent’s troops held one of the bridges with his command group and an infantry squad. This meant at the start of my last turn he was winning the game on Victory points by a score of 4-2. It looked like last minutes heroics were called for!

The final round began with my command group, all three of them charging the enemy troops on the left side of the bridge. Despite losing a man in their mad charge, the platoon lieutenant and his trusty sergeant successfully wiped out the enemy squad, despite being outnumbered. They did not press their attack into the full squad on the other side of the bridge, feeling that four or five to one odds might be a bit much, even for them! That bridge was one of the objectives, and since we each had a unit on it it was considered contested, which meant neither of us could claim the two victory points for it.

One the other side of the table however, there was still an unclaimed objective. Since my opponent’s infantry squad on that side had finally broken under my relentless mortar barrage, it was wide open for the claiming. Unfortunately, the infantry squad I had planned to take the bridge with had been wiped out when it was caught in the open. Then I realized that I still had a chance! Remember the PIAT team with their anti-tank weapon and nothing to shoot with it? As luck would have it, er, I mean my careful planning and foresight (you believe me, right?) had left in just close enough to the objective to sprint over there and claim the objective! With that objective, I was able the snatch a last minute victory, winning by a score of 5 – 2.

Round Three: Third Times the Charm!

This was it, the third battle! for this one I found myself playing an opponent that I had not met before. Like me, this was his first tournament and much to my surprise, we had roughly the same amount of infantry. One the downside, he did have a nasty artillery piece that could wipe out one of my entire squads if it was able to hit them. He also had a couple of medium machine guns that could likewise devastate my poo paras with a good dice roll. Luckily, I was finally able to use both my tank and new jeep in addition to the bren carrier from the last game. Once our forces were deployed, we began our final match of the tournament!

My plan got off to a good start, with my Cromwell tank scoring a hit on the opposing artillery, not destroying it, but limiting its effectiveness for the remainder of the game. my tank also proved its worth, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy infantry with its machine gun. I was also able to rush my trusty PIAT team into an empty boxcar, this table was set up as a railway station, but I forgot to get a picture of it, hoping to actually be able to shoot an enemy tank! I was feeling quite optimistic after my turn, but then he got to fight back.

Remember that poor jeep that I mentioned? It was on the wrong end of a lot of incoming fire and kind of exploded. Fortunately for me, that was the worse thing that happened. His artillery missed my tank, and when his Matilda tank fired at me, the shell just bounced of my armour.

The second round of battle began with my Bren gun carrier and Cromwell were able to rout one of my foes infantry squads and they fled off the table, and my mortar wiped out its opposite number on the side of the table as well. my tank decided to switch targets, only to miss the Matilda. His turn began with him inflicting a few losses on a number of my squads, but nothing too serious. Then the funniest thing of the day happened…

My PIAT team, hiding in the boxcar, was selected as a target by one of infantry squads. As the group of six men, some of them with sub-machine guns came charging towards my two brave troops, I joked about them looking for a roll of duct tape so they could stick a bayonet on the end of their PIAT. The way the game works is I would be rolling two dice for the combat, and he was rolling five or six dice. The odds were definitely against me, but when the dust had settled, I had won! Neither of us could believe that my two guys had wiped out six of his, yet it had happened. We both laughed for almost a minute at the absurdity of it all!

The rest of the game could not match that one moment, so to make along story short, after that we continued to exchange casualties until; the game was called due to time. At that point, I had control of one of the objectives, and had destroyed four of his units, losing three of my squads in return. In short, victory was mine by a score of 6 – 3!

The Aftermath

With the ending of the final round, the points were tallied and winners were declared. I ended up tied for third, a result which frankly surprised me given my lack of experience. It also reminded me what I love about the hobby, the people you meet. The organizer had spectacular scenery which he happily shared with us all to create three very dynamic boards to battle over. Everyone had there painted armies ready to go and they all looked fantastic deployed on the tabletop. Most importantly, everyone was just a good good guy. There were no arguments that I heard, no one was bitter when the game or dice rolls didn’t go their way, and everyone was willing to help out any other player with advice, even their opponent in mid-game! When all was said and done, the day was a lot of fun, with a lot of laughing, good sportsmanship and a love of miniature gaming.