War on All Fronts Tournament

 

Last Sunday I set off to my first proper bolt action tournament. Held at Warlords and Wizards in the little town of Netherton ( the anchor for the titanic was made there I believe) West Midlands. The shop is a great shop with super friendly staff, who are super helpful and always up for a gaming natter. I had planned my list a lot more than I normally do. The only stipulation was mid war. So I found a Tunisia theater selector that would do.

My force was regular Brits, 

1st Lt

Free arty observer

3 x 8 man squads with one smg and one lmg

Veteran sniper team

Medium mortar with a spotter. 

5 man SAS squad

Bren carrier

Daimler armoured car

Sherman tank. 

Rapid fire special Rule 

The armoured car was purely in there as I had it for Christmas. I felt this was a decent list my tank was my main anti tank asset. And my sas would be riding in my Bren waiting to strike and take objectives. 

Arrived and there were around  20 of us. Lots of very nice models and tables on show. We we re assigned our first. At h and I got Dave! My good friend who I dragged into Bolt Action. So Germans vs British! This match was on a jungle board and scenario was no man's land so kill everything. The match was wierd in that no one scored any points till last turn. Lots of pins and a few kits bit no units taken put until last turn. Dave took the win 4-2.

Game 2 was on a winter table and Germans again!  This time is was take and hold. 3 Objectives were placed no units on the board. We all put our units on the board and here is where my inexperience showed. My opponent had a truck filled with troops who came on and ran virtually into my half of the vaord where as I had been very Conservative. The Germans held one objective in cover and would prove hard to shift.  The truck contained a flamethrower who jumped out and hit one squad who broke and ran  barely taking any casualties (I hate flame throwers but now want one for my army lol). This happened again on turn 2 to another squad leaving me seriously lacking infantry and having no clue what to do. I took and objective with my SAS and had to charge one decimated German squad to clear it of enemy. My last squad managed to hold when attacked by a second flamethrower!! The flame thrower team was killed and I managed to pin the other flamethrower squad so they were not that effective. In the last turn I managed to  contest one objective. So with one objective each and one contested that game was a draw!

What I learnt.... Be aggresive!!! You don't have to just come into your own half push forward.

Last game was Double Envelopment on a jungle type board but more ruins than trees. I was facing British Airborne, I had the advantage with 3 vehicles to 1 for my opponent. The most VPs were for getting models off the board so plan was to push my vehicles forward as hard as possible. I pushed my armoured car forward and after a brief scare from a tetriachs shot the armoured car drove off the board bagging me some points. My tank and Bren carrier went for it but a PIAT shot stunned the tank making it miss a turn. My Bren carrier had to drop off the SAS to stop an enemy squad from getting off the board. So I got one unit off and 2 unit kills which gave  me the win.

Dave won 2 matches and lost one Matt won 2 and lost one also I believe. 

Was a great day everyone was super friendly and all the games were played in a great spirit. Would love to do it again!