by Peter, Parker Hobbies
On Saturday 18th April 2026, ‘Trouble in Hamilton’, a V3 Bolt Action tournament took place at the Glenview Club in Hamilton, New Zealand. The event was held in collaboration between the online hobby supply store, Parker Hobbies, and the Hamilton Immortals Miniature Wargaming Club – the longest standing tabletop gaming club in Hamilton.
This 1000 point, one day event, used missions from the ‘Commander’s Compendium’, a supplementary document created by Bo Mortensen and David Hesselfeldt with the help of others from the European Bolt Action scene. Each of the missions (Tic Tac Toe, Heartbreak Ridge, and Key Positions), were objective based which meant players had an incentive to bring mobile lists that were rich with infantry – making for dynamic games with a lot of movement. There was an additional rule that meant infantry could only capture an objective with boots on the ground, not from within a transport, which meant having multiple infantry squads was even more important than usual.
Logan Wallace takes out first place with his Soviets!
In the end we had 10 players in attendance, the majority were Hamilton locals, with one visitor from Auckland – and we had a huge range of experience, from players just learning the rules of the game – through to those playing a game weekly since V3 dropped. There were 4 German lists, 2 Soviet lists, 2 USA lists, 2 British lists, a Japanese, and a Hungarian list. In the end it was Logan Wallace’s Soviet list that took out the top spot, a 14 order dice that utilised two 7 man veteran Cossacks squads, two 7 man tank veteran tank rider squads loaded out with SMGs, packed into a half track and White scout car – supported by a compliment of heavy AA artillery guns and a medium AT gun.
In keeping with previous editions of the event, the ‘Tank Ace’ award was brought back, which didn’t effect game scoring, but was awarded to the player whose elected vehicle scored the most finishing blows throughout the day. This was taken out by Thomas, who was piloting my US Sherman 76mm tank with its heavy AT gun. This was a much needed win for the Allies, following the Axis winning this award in 2024 and 2025 with their German Tiger tanks.
James Carver's beautifully painted army wins the best painted award!
There were some beautifully painted armies on parade, but ultimately it was James Carver’s German army, loaded up with Sturmpioniere, Hannomags, and big tanks that won the award.
Overall, everyone seemed happy with how the day went. I would like to give a huge shout out to Warlord Games for sending us prize support to compliment that from Parker Hobbies, and to the Hamilton Immortals for supplying us with food/drink vouchers which were redeemed throughout the day. Finally, thank you to all the players that joined in, and those that let us use their beautiful tables of terrain for the day!
We hope to see you at the next one!