Bolt Action - Maximum Attrition

Yesterday evening Rich and I had a game of Bolt Action.

We had arranged that we would use forces based in North West Europe 1944 to 800pt lists and would let each other know if using anything over armour 7+

Eager to blood my new Tommies I picked the following list:

• 1st Lieutenant & Sergeant
• Forward Artillery Observer & assistant
• Two sections 10 men including a Sten & Bren
• One veteran section 10 men including a Sten & Bren
• PIAT team
• 2" Mortar team
• Vickers MMG team
• Carrier with extra pintle LMG
• M3 half-track with extra pintle LMG

The additional troops needed were utilised from my Burma 14th Army force and I've tried not to include them in the photos, the M3 half-track is still being painted but was at a usable state.

Rich fielded the following German list:

• 1st Lieutenant & two assistants
• Medic & assistant
• Three sections 10 men including two SMG & MG42
• Sniper team
• 8cm Mortar team
• 75mm Infantry Gun team
• Kubelwagen with pintle MMG
• Sdkfz251/1

We set out the table as shown, a bombed out village ran along a cross roads, one side was heavily wooded and the other a mixture of standing crops and ploughed fields.

Rolling for a mission it came up Maximum Attrition.

Things started well for the Germans, on his first attempt Rich hit the M3 with his Mortar rolling a 6 to hit and then a 6 to penetrate! The infantry section bailed out and rolling for casualties he only got a single hit, but 'double-sixed' that roll to take out the corporal.

Things were not going well for the British, the light mortar team targeted the sniper for five consecutive turns, and still failed to hit on a 2+ roll, for the sniper to then take notice of them and kill them outright.

Infantry bail out of the destroyed half-track

The PIAT team went on a wide flanking manouver and had a shot at the German half-track only to find out just how difficult it is to hit with a shaped charge weapon at long range against a target in cover when you are moving! The PIAT team was soon dealt with.

PIAT team attempt a flanking manoeuvre 

Fritz did not have it all their own way though, a well placed bombardment put a lot of pins on his right flank and the British exploited that, the SdKfz251/1 failed a roll to activate and one British section house-hopped up the table and launched an assault, polishing off the German HQ and then consolidating next to the half-track destroying it. They subsequently performed the same manoeuvre on the German medics and took out the Kubelwagen in the same way.

Tommies advance up the road

On my right flank, the Veteran section supported by the carrier polished off one German infantry section and then mopped up the sniper. After several effective turns against the Germans the Vickers succumbed to mortar fire on the last turn just before the 8cm mortar itself succumbed!

By the end of the game, all I had remaining were the remnants of my three infantry sections, my Bren carrier and my HQ, but the Germans had lost everything apart from their Infantry Gun and about half a section of infantry. Touch and go, but a good victory for the British.