Battle Report: From Ashes to Victory

BATTLE REPORT CARD

Date: December 7, 2025

Game: Bolt Action

Size: 2500pt Doubles

Mission: Take & Hold

 
🟥Red Player: Alex & Edgar

🟥Faction: German Waffen & German Grenadiers

🟥List: Panther + Stormtroopers

🆚

🟦Blue Player: Jim & James

🟦Faction: US Army & British 8th Army

🟦List: Mechanized Infantry

Prologue

"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a day that will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
~Frankiln D. Roosevelt

A Warlord event was hosted at a local game store to commemorate the 84th year since the events of Pearl Harbor. The event run by local organizers touted demos of some of Warlord Games' products including Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies, and Konflikt '47. While I remain hesitant that the best way to commemorate the events 84 years ago is to play toy soldiers, I wanted to partake in what looked like a fun local event and get some dice rolling.

The Event Organizer asked for people to consider lists themed around 1944, and specifically looking at the Normandy or Ardennes offensives. With the knowledge that most players bring Allies, I decided to bring the Axis Ardennes themed troops that I had. In addition, it gave me a good excuse to finally build and paint the Panther that I received from Christmas last year. In addition to the Panther, I took some of the bedframe antenna bits from the Sd. Kfz. 222 armored car project and kit bash a Sd. Kfz. 251/3 command half-track. The kit bash turned out a bit wonky due to my inability to get the antenna level, but it was good enough.

My 1250 point list included two rifle platoons (one regular, one veteran), and an armored platoon with the Panther. Originally at 13 orders dice, I needed to cut the medic out of the list because I apparently don't own 13 orders dice of the same color!

Arriving at the event, there were a bunch of awesome tables set up and ready to roll. The gentleman demoing Konflikt '47 had an awesome weird war army set up on a small demo board. Two other massive narrative game boards were setup. The first was a narrative Escape from Minsk board filled with dense urban terrain. The second was a Battle of Peleliu beach board.

Swag bags were handed out and players got to choose a bag from a nation that they wanted. While I could have picked from United States, Germany, or even Britain, I picked France. The bag came with a sprue of infantry, a special character, some bonus special teams, and a tape measure. It gave me something different that I wasn't committed to building or painting in a way and a fluffy way to do some French partisans or anything like it.

I wasn't looking to partake in any of these demos or narrative games, so I found a guy looking for a simple Bolt Action board and teamed up with him to find a table to play. We were then paired up with two others players and the game was made into a doubles match. Not exactly what I was hoping for because I thought the game would take much longer (it did), but I submitted to the fun that this was a social event where we wanted to share our enjoyment of the game.

Round 1

The mission we decided to play was a simple 5 objective mission. 5 Objectives were placed across the middle of the table. All players spent Round 1 moving units onto the table in a First Wave. I did my best to try to hide from some of the Allied air and artillery observers shacked up in the middle of the table, both of which targeted a bait half track in the center of the table. 

Score: 🟥0 - 🟦0

 

Round 2

Round 2 starts with the air and artillery barrages coming down and putting a lot of pins on the Hannomag and Panther, which will spend the turn Rallying to remove the pins. I try to bide my time on my front while my Teammate gets his Panther immobilized by a British Sherman. My Stormtroopers disembark from the transport and start a flanking maneuver hoping to either come up on the side of a Stuart tank with a panzerfaust, or to draw it out and away from keeping overwatch on the left hand objective. 

Score: 🟥2 - 🟦2

 

Round 3

I begin my push up the middle of the table on Round 3. The British player has committed to the right flank, while the US player has committed to our left. The center is currently lightly defended and is well shielded from the left flank. I easily overrun the light British defenses in the middle, preparing to swing back left. My veteran rifle squad trying to reach the left objective are pinned down by a hail of US MSU fire, but do a good decent job staying up. The stormtroopers run into a small road block of 5 US soldiers, only doing 1 damage after 24 shots against a target in the open! This was bad news because it meant my flanking maneuver was now stalled out, not allowing the stormtroopers to move as fast the next turn. In addition, my Panzerschreck has failed to connect on its two shots at the Stuart. 

Score: 🟥2 - 🟦3

 

Round 4

ACHTUNG!!! The air observer calls in a strafing run on my regular squad holding the center point and they are completely obliterated. Not good for me! Next, the US Sherman makes it trek over the hill to eliminate my other squad. I try to pull my Panther out to counter attack, but my lone platoon commander is blocking my only shot on the Sherman. Finally, to cap of the mess that happened in the center, the Hannomag fails its orders check to move and pin down more US troops. On the left flank, we finally clear up the infantry squad blocking my path and move to start to counter the Stuart or move on the point. My veteran rifle squad is hit by a mortar blast which blows them to pieces. The Panzerschrek fails to connect with the Stuart again, leaving that side of the board pretty well open. We need a couple good moves in order to counter on the final turn. In the middle, my teammate has moved a small squad to pick the middle objective, but won't live to see through the end of the turn. 

 

Score: 🟥3 - 🟦2

  

Round 5

Round 5 comes down to the Germans being able to activate early, and be able to put pins down on the US unit which can possibly retake the middle objective. Two pins from my teammate are dealt, but I can't add to it as the Hannomag fails to activate for the second time in a row (rolling at 11 or 10 each time). US unit gets to activate and manages to make it's orders check with 3 pins on it to run and recapture the middle objective. Now it comes down to whether we get the next activation to see if we can capture the left objective. We don't, so the US officers run to contest that point. It's up to now my Panzerschreck team to see if they can run and assault these officers to flip the point. With 2 hits to my 1 hit, the Officer squad stays up. That's game!

Score: 🟥2 - 🟦3