[Stuart Harrison]

See p151, Vehicles, Vehicle Special Rules, Turret Rear-Mounted Machine Gun.  The rear mounted mg can only fire into the opposite arc that the main/co-ax fires into.  This is the general rule, there are a few vehicles that combine turret rear mounted mgs and one man turret rules, in those cases it’s either the front weapon or the rear weapon (eg: Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go).

[Stuart Harrison]

In the other cases, it’s described as a turret mounted HMG with coaxial MMG or turret mounted light automatic cannon with coaxial MMG – they would have to errata out the coaxial bit for it to apply as coaxial weapons don’t get to fire with the main weapon, it’s either/or.  If they changed that for the British, they’d need to change it for every other nation too.

It’s more likely they’ll errata the errata to avoid that can of worms.

[Stuart Harrison]

1. Yes, unless inexperienced.  The ability to use a spotter is tied to being a regular or veteran indirect fire weapon.  A multiple launcher uses indirect fire, it just doesn’t benefit from ranging in.

2. No.  Indirect fire weapons can’t be fired by units that were in Ambush that turn – p100, Wepaons, Weapon Special Rules, Indirect Fire, 8th paragraph.

[Stuart Harrison]

You appear to be making a common mistake about Bolt Action’s interpretation of direct vs indirect fire.

Common perception – direct fire = with LOS, indirect = via spotter/other crew members.  Bolt Action apparent interpretation – direct fire = through a scope/sight laid on the target, indirect = range and bearing used to land a round on a plotted target.

A 2″ mortar doesn’t hit a target by laying a sight on it.  The firer lines it up on a target, then inclines it based on the range, plotting how to land the round where he wants it.  This fits Bolt Action’s interpretation of indirect fire, not direct fire.

The second part of you ‘fix’ makes smoke a virtually guaranteed hit due to the size of the smoke template.  Assuming no movement or other modifiers, you either score a 4,5, or 6 landing it exactly where you wanted, or the movement is too small to prevent the smoke still achieving your objective for it. (an LOS blocker 3″ closer or further from you is still blocking LOS as you intended).

I agree that smoke needs to be fixed, but I feel any random distance needs to start at the template diameter plus a random factor – eg: smoke template size plus D6, or some multiple of what you missed by on your to hit roll as examples.

[Stuart Harrison]

They don’t have special rules in V3, just field them as regular or veteran British sections.

[Stuart Harrison]

“Choose which model becomes the loader – you can pick any model in the squad, and you must mark this model clearly, so that both you and your opponent can easily recognise it.”

Your loader is a once off choice – you can’t change it during the game or replace it if you remove him as a casualty.

[Stuart Harrison]

From the FAQ:

“Page 147 “The special abilities of officers and other HQ units
mounted on transports work as normal, as long as they are being
transported in soft-skinned or open-topped armoured transports.” Does
this mean that an observer in an open-topped or soft-skinned transport
can call air strikes and artillery barrages?

No, they cannot do that because you would need to
issue a Fire order to the observer, and you cannot do that
on transported models. That sentence allows the use of
passive abilities, which do not require specific orders, like
a medic’s area of effect, or the ability of an observer to spot
for indirect-firing units.”

[Stuart Harrison]

In the MRB list, the veteran premium is only applied to the base anti tank rifle team cost with the panzershrek as a fixed price upgrade.  In AoG, the veteran premium is applied to the regular panzershrek team as a whole.  It’s a function of the unit pricing system throughout Bolt Action.  Opinion – all options should have pricing by experience level, not just the option to add additional men.

[Stuart Harrison]

Nothing stops you taking a spotter with an inexperienced unit, that doesn’t change the fact that only regular and veteran units can use them for line of sight.

[Stuart Harrison]

20th June 2025

Bolt Action: Third Edition Errata & FAQ

[Stuart Harrison]

The token is a model or marker and is placed 18″ from the target in any direction (it even makes reference to using a single agreed point on the model/marker for measurement at the end of the paragraph your quote is taken from).

[Stuart Harrison]

Multiple HE hits only yield a single set of pins, see p100, Weapons, HE (High Explosive), Multiple HE Hits, second para.  The pins from HE (or other multiple pin weapons) replace the standard single pin for scoring hits on a target unit, they’re not in addition.

“I then fire the hmgs at the same target, hit and roll to wound” shows a misunderstanding of the sequence of events.  Each step of the shooting sequence of events is completed for the unit before moving on to the next step.

You’re not resolving each weapon in sequence then moving on to the next – you’re declaring targets for the whole unit (even if you’re splitting fire across multiple targets), rolling to hit for the weapons firing, rolling to damage for all hits, rolling saves for all eligible targets, removing all casualties, taking a morale check if required.

[Stuart Harrison]

Most likely they will re-appear in the Commonwealth book, when it comes out…

“For the first time, Italy and France will have their own standalone books, bringing them firmly to the table as ‘major’ Bolt Action factions, and the Commonwealth will join the stable, not as an appendix to the Armies of Great Britain, but as its own unique book covering half a dozen different nations!”

The Bolt Action Roadmap: Into 2026

[Stuart Harrison]

Steering compromised or engine damaged would both be a second immobilised result, so destroyed (no pivots to reduce and no speed to reduce – the interaction between these rules and the immobilised rule should be tightened up).  Turret jam would depend on whether the vehicle currently has a valid working turret to absorb the result.

The second question is another where the wording should be tightened up (should probably read ‘infiltrators’ rather than ‘snipers, observers and spotters’).  As it is, it can be argued that other infiltrators aren’t affected.  In previous editions, the deployment rules were under ‘Setting up Observers and Snipers’ – if you prevented observers and snipers forward deploying, you would also automatically prevent units that deploy like them from forward deploying.

[Stuart Harrison]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburgers

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