by Peter, Parker Hobbies
Saturday May the 3rd saw the V3 Bolt Action tournament ‘Trouble in Glenview’ take place in Hamilton New Zealand.
In collaboration with the Immortals Wargaming Club, this was Parker Hobbies' second bolt action tournament, and by all accounts it appears to have been a success. Hosted at the Immortal’s new home in the Glenview club, we were spoilt for comfort throughout the day and played with beautiful terrain bought along by a number of the players.
With plenty of beautiful tables on display made the games
much more immersive
Unfortunately due to an oversight when selecting the date, a lot of Kiwis who said they would have attended, weren’t able to because another epic Bolt Action tournament, Valleycon, had taken place the weekend prior in Wellington. In saying that, we were thrilled to have 12 players take part, with a perfect split of Axis and Allied armies represented. We had 2 players travel down from Pukekohe (not Auckland), and 2 across from Rotorua, which goes to show the interest is there for Bolt Action organised play in the region.
James Carver's Winter German army won the best paint award, selected by popular vote - surely he gets cool points for running a Jagdpanther too?
The V3 rules for the tournament were heavily ‘comped’, which is basically means to say they were customised from those in the rulebook. While V3 is in its early stages, we are seeing a lot of armour and forward observer spam in the competitive scene, and as the organiser my goal was to keep the game infantry focused with balanced lists – a decision made with our relatively new local player base in mind, many of whom would just be showing up with the units from their freshly painted starter boxes. I also wanted to ensure we only played missions where players feel as though they have a shot at victory, regardless of their lists – so they were all objective based, and rewarded tactical maneuvering of infantry.
Just blokes playing wargames
Bo Mortensen, David Hesselfeldt, as well as other players from the European Bolt Action scene recently came out with their ‘Commanders Compendium’, which offers players a plethora of optional rules and missions to tailor games to their liking. Having had the pleasure of playtesting this locally, I was confident that while the additional rules changes might cause some extra stress for new players – they would deliver enjoyable games. We played with the following amendments:
1. Limited support!
There are limited amounts of artillery and air-support. You can bring a maximum of 1 observer.
2. Enhanced Assaults
Assaulters strike first against defenders that are down and in the open. If a unit would normally get defended obstacle, but are down, the fight is simultaneous.
3. Holding Objectives
To capture an objective, the unit must be within 3” of the centre of the objective. Vehicles can only contest objectives, not capture. Spotters and empty transports cannot capture or contest.
4. Boots in the mud!
Armoured platoons only have 2 slots for vehicles.
While I am sure there will be purists reading this who feel we are better to let the meta develop as it will, and play with the rules straight from the book – it will be clear how these additional rules helped to meet the brief set out earlier on.
We also bought back the ‘Tank Commander’ award, where players were to track the total ‘killing blows’ of their assigned tank commander throughout the day. In support of this all heavy and super heavy tanks received a 20% points cost discount, to incentivise players to bring out the bigger tanks we all love, but rarely see on the Bolt Action tables. The scene was set, and those taking part played ball, we had two American M26 Pershing tanks, four German Tiger 1 tanks, and a Jagdpanther – as well as other cool medium tanks like the French Char B1. Dan G’s Tiger ended up taking home the Tank Commander award, scoring 7 finishing blows throughout the day – a tightly contested win!
As could be predicted by the missions, mechanised infantry was the winner on the day, with three of the four most successful armies running multiple 7+ or greater transports, and the other running multiple cavalry units.
Peter Parker (left) awarding Logan Wallace (right) his first place trophy
There was one 800 point game, followed by two 1000 point games. Nation-wise, there were 6 German, 1 French, 1 British, 1 Soviet, and 3 USA armies – but ultimately it was only Logan’s Winter Soviets army that was able to win all three games, winning him the tournament. His list was the only one to run two armoured platoons, packing in three T60 light tanks which he loaded up with veteran tank riders in body armour with SMGs, coupled with a flanking cavalry units – it was a finely tuned list and well piloted. Dan M's mounted Axis Cossack army came second, followed closely by two German mechanised infantry lists in 3rd and 4th place.
Logan's Winter Soviet army took the win, looks pretty good too!
As usual, Warlord Games came through with Bolt Action miniatures for prize support – which we are incredibly grateful for. Parker Hobbies topped this up with a Scale75 diorama set, Scale75 military paints, and a Kimera Kolors paint set.
Prizes from Warlord Games and Parker Hobbies, and some sweet sweet trophies made by Peter, STL files from RKX Miniatures
In summary – I am pleased with how the event went. While I would love the benefits which come with a 2-day event, I think the reality is that it is too draining, and too much of a commitment for the majority of our players, so we will continue to host 1-day events for now. I am pleased with how the Commander’s Compendium rules played out, we even saw melee charges against downed units – something we rarely see in V3 of late. Word has spread about the event and it has caused a buzz, I have had a few die-hard Warhammer 40k players getting in touch about trying out the game which is exciting. With more and more interesting events popping up around the country, and attendance increasing, I feel confident about the future of Bolt Action in New Zealand.