New to WWII Gaming. Bolt action or other games?

Knife in the Dark · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:33 am

Hi everyone.

Thanks to a lovely Winter War kickstarter I am now in the slow process of getting new Russian troops and while they are beautiful models I'm not sure what system to play on, as I've only been a Lord of the Rings player in my ten year tenner.

I had heard that bolt action is a good system but I'm not sure if it's the only good system out there. I was hopping some of you all could point me in the right direction with this.

Also if I do get started with bolt action, should I just start with the main rule book? Or is there more to it then that?

Thanks everybody!

Bilbo · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:37 am

Hi Phil,

I have started Flames of War and played my first game with the boys (most of which you have met before) last night! We played Vietnam which was great, however we are also collecting WWII as well. I know its a different scale but we really enjoyed the game last night, and there will be more to come!

Knife in the Dark · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:43 am

Bilbo wrote:

Hi Phil,

I have started Flames of War and played my first game with the boys (most of which you have met before) last night! We played Vietnam which was great, however we are also collecting WWII as well. I know its a different scale but we really enjoyed the game last night, and there will be more to come!

I think you have my confused for someone else mate, as my name is not Phil, and from what I was doing last night I'm really sure you didn't meet me haha.

Flames of War, interesting I will look into this too.

Dagorlad · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:25 am

I was also in on that Kickstarter

Bolt Action is as good a ruleset as you'll find out there. But I find it has it's limitations from a tactical point of view - it doesn't reward accurate infantry tactics terribly well. But, and this is important, it's fun to play.

There are other top notch games for 28mm WWII - "Nuts!" and "Chain of Command" are both exceptional games.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 11:15 am

One enormous benefit to playing historical games is that regardless of the rules, the minis are all the same for any given scale (1:100/15mm or 1:56/28mm) - though there may be some differences in how infantry units are based. The Boss (:P) mentioned a couple of other 28mm rules above. If you decide to try 15mm, Flames of War is the best known, but you also have Command Decision and the Kampfgruppe series to name but 2 alternatives. Check out some of the historical gaming websites - there are literally hundreds of rule sets, loads of painting and historical references and many reviews of products - I like Model Dads reviews - mostly 15mm but they are expanding.

Harfoot · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:31 pm

The "Winter War" Kick Starter is brilliant, just received my first batch of Finnish Troops and a friend the Russians, looking forward to future releases. Great value for money.

Fully recommend Bolt Action, you can get the rule book on Amazon fit around £15 last time I looked and it has everything you need to play. The army books go into more detail, more vehicles, specialist troops, etc. But you don't need them to start. Again on Amazon for around half the price.

Look on YouTube for official rule videos.

Knife in the Dark · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:33 pm

I see I appreciate the great advice I will be looking to try and see what I can find on the all of these game systems out there.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:19 pm

Bolt Action's Assault on Normandy has the rulebook, dice, a terrain piece and 20 each of US and German infantry. It was the bulk of what Beasts of War used for their demo game - have a look at these (over 2 hours of video!)
http://www.beastsofwar.com/warlord-game ... me-part-1/
http://www.beastsofwar.com/warlord-game ... me-part-2/
They also have lots of Flames of War battles, started using the Open Fire set which also has 2 small armies, dice, rulebooks and so on.

Knife in the Dark · **Posted:** Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:46 am

Thanks Dorthonion I saw those in suggested videos when I was searching through bolt action videos and while I didn't have the time to watch it all then I might find some time to look through it a little later.

I did however pick up the rulebook for bolt action for halfprice on ebay, because well it was halfprice and if I didn't like the rules $15 or so doesn't seem like a to bad of an investment although from watching the battle reports I think I will like it.

I do plan to look into Flames of War, the more systems I like the better! WWII was my favorite time in history so I'm really just interested in the models right now, it will take a lot for it to make it favorite system over The Hobbit since it is what I've been gaming with for the last decade of my life or so, and the Lord of the Rings is some of my favorite books to read and watch on film.

Again I appreciate all the help and advice guys, thank you!

JamesR · **Posted:** Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:51 am

I'm also fairly new to Bolt Action but the rules are good. I like how they work pinning makers etc.

Bilbo · **Posted:** Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:09 pm

I do plan to look into Flames of War, the more systems I like the better! WWII was my favorite time in history so I'm really just interested in the models right now, it will take a lot for it to make it favorite system over The Hobbit since it is what I've been gaming with for the last decade of my life or so, and the Lord of the Rings is some of my favorite books to read and watch on film.

Again I appreciate all the help and advice guys, thank you![/quote]

I have had a similar experience with the Strategy Battle Game taking up a lot of my time, which I have enjoyed and its a great game. It would however appear to be in complete decline with no new blood getting involved due to lack of support in W.D. and the sheer cost of miniatures. On the positive side the community does seem to be getting organised, this site being the primary motivator, with leagues and matches being born as a result.

The I have started collecting "Flames of War" WWII and Vietnam, and played my first game on Friday. I like the way the company operates with reasonable prices and not finding that your miniatures are suddenly obsolete, or required miniatures have gone 00P without warning!

The game was great fun and made a fresh change to the SBG, (which I would encourage you to continue to enjoy), and would recommend highly as a well designed fun game. I have found that friends of mine who would not wish to play the SBG are more than happy to play "Flames of War", and its much easier getting new players on board.

I have actually found the attention to detail within the game of enormous interest as it is there to represent actual historical events and people, and I feel that a vast knowledge of the works of Tolkien is fine as an academic exercise, but a better understanding of real history is somehow more worth while and useful.

New to WWII Gaming. Bolt action or other games?

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