Frontline Report: Bolt Action Campaign Rules

We are hugely excited to announce that the new Battle of France campaign book includes some fantastic new rules for running a narrative campaign, tracking the heroic deeds of your soldiers across multiple battles.

We’ve designed these campaign rules to add an extra dimension to your games of Bolt Action. They’re designed to be used individually or as a whole package. We’d encourage you to pick and choose your favourite mechanics to create a system that’s tailored to you and the kind of games you like to play.

Company Commander

If you and a group of like-minded players are looking for something to weave individual scenarios together into a single narrative, the company commander rules are a great place to start.

Each player builds their army using an expanded company-level force selector, incorporating multiple platoons and a much greater variety of optional units.

Warlorder Tom has been playing around with a 2,000 point German reconnaissance company for early war battles across France and the Low Countries.

Tom: I’ve done a little bit of research to give my fictional force a place in the wider campaign for the battle of France.

Since I was dying to use the brand new Spahtruppen, I’ve decided to recreate a motorised reconnaissance company from the 31st Infantry Division, along with some other assets from their parent division.

Compulsory Units

Company HQ

1st Platoon

2nd Platoon

Additional Units

Total Company points cost: 1,985 pts

Campaign games use forces selected from the company roster. After each battle, units that participated in the battle will gain experience and casualties will have to be replenished. As units are ground down by attrition, they may lose their veterancy, and the make-up of the company will change over time.

On Campaign

The big highlight of the new rules is the addition of experience points and skills. These rules allow units to grow and develop in their own way. As you watch these units gain experience over the course of a campaign, you’ll find yourself with a cast of characters worthy of any big-budget war movie.

Tom’s been playing a few games with people around the office and has provided us with his notes on the post-game phase.

Tom: The first game I played was a patrol mission. As per the campaign rules, players could select up to 500pts of their company to take into battle. I took all of first platoon, the kraftradschutzen squad, and the veteran infantry squad. 

I ended up playing the Manhunt scenario against Andy’s BEF. We managed to capture his 2nd Lieutenant, but at considerable cost. 

The first step of the post-game phase is to check whether any units have gained enough experience to upgrade. As they survived the battle, caused casualties on one unit, and destroyed another in close assault, the regular infantry squad gained enough experience to become veteran!

Any infantry casualties are automatically replenished on a 5+. None of my units escaped the battle unscathed, but I managed to recover the two casualties in the Spahtruppen squad. I had 3 casualties in the regular infantry squad, 6 casualties in the veteran infantry squad, 1 of the lieutenant’s attendants and 2 motorcycles. 

As we won the battle, the company got 250 logistics points to spend, with any excess being added to the company’s logistics pool. To replenish a unit, you must deduct the points cost from your logistics pool. If you can’t afford it, you can’t replace the casualties. 

The cost of my replacements is 168 points, leaving 82 for future requests. WIth the points spent, I have to roll a dice for each man to see if the request for a replacement is honoured. I’ll need a 6 for each infantryman, and a 5+ for the motorcycles.

High command has authorized the replacement of two members of the regular infantry squad, two members of the veteran squad and 1 of my motorcycles. The attrition is pretty punishing, but managing manpower and resources is something I now have to consider when I assemble my force for the next battle. 

An additional consideration is the experience level of the replacements. 50% of the time, your replacements will be an experience level lower than their parent unit. If the number of lower rated replacements outnumber their more experienced counterparts, their overall level will drop. 

We’ll be seeing more of Tom’s early war exploits soon!

Join the Battle!

Want to check out the campaign rules for yourself? Pre-order the new Battle of France campaign book today! In your local store 10th November.

Pre-order Now!

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