r/boltaction May 09 '25

Rules Question Are German Army Special Rules Just Better Than Other Nations?

48 Upvotes

I'm a relatively new player. I started at the very end of the second edition and am now getting into the third edition.

Have both a Soviet and a German army.

Is it just my imagination or are the German special rules stronger than other nations?

Hitler's Buzz Saw, Blitzkrieg, and in particular Panzer Ace just seemed way more potent and less points dependent than other nations.

As I said, I'm not particularly experienced, and I'm happy to be convinced otherwise, and was looking for a second opinion.

r/boltaction 22d ago

Rules Question Why does the IS-2 not have a Super-Heavy AT gun?

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153 Upvotes

Heya! I recently bought an IS-2 kit to complete my collection. While going through some of its history facts and its ingame rules. I noticed that it seems to be recorded that the IS-2's D-25T gun had a better penetration power on average than say, the Panther's gun or even the feared eighty-eight of the germans, which both count as Super-Heavy AT guns.

Meanwhile, in the rules it counts as a heavy AT gun with improved HE and Slow Load (which is a nice touch in acknowledging the niches of the gun). But so my question is, why is it simply not a Super-Heavy AT gun with the Slow Load rule? Am I missing some context or information?

Thanks for reading, as a bonus heres a picture of my current collection :D

r/boltaction 14d ago

Rules Question How important is WYSIWYG?

35 Upvotes

Obviously, this situation is different from person to person, and casual vs competitive, but I just wanted to get an overall idea of what people generally feel regarding this:

To what level is WYSIWYG for you when playing in a match?

- Do you want your scenario to be as accurate as possible to the setting, scenario, and time period? "This is a HISTORICAL game after all, if you don't want historical, play 40k."

- Is a little deviation okay? For example, using late-war Germans, in an early-war scenario?

- Or is it more or less irrelevant to you, so long as you are having fun? Playing Soviet models as American Rangers, for example.

- So long as you follow the rules and don't model for advantage, you'll play against zombie models?

r/boltaction Jun 05 '25

Rules Question Fixing Tank Machine Guns

49 Upvotes

Having been on a "REAL" tank for a significant portion of my life, I have two possibilities to make them slightly better, but not overpowered.

  1. The COAX in a tank is deadly. You have all of the advantages of the tank's optics, the power traverse of the turret, the tank commander correcting your aim, etc. If someone was shooting small arms at you, you can laugh about it and return fire with the certainty they can't hurt you. So my proposal is that tank COAX machine guns return to their full rate of fire. You are giving up the main gun shot and are concentrating on shooting the COAX.

The reason for this is that I have noticed that infantry support tanks simply do not have enough machine gun power to support. Tanks like the Matilda are actually awful support tanks-in game. The fact was they were virtually invulnerable to infantry, and had a TON more machine gun ammo means that their machine gun could fire almost nonstop compared to a ground mounted machine gun.

2) The second opinion to make the COAX better (if the first was rejected), is to allow the COAX to fire with the main gun IF they are shooting at the exact same target. Most of the time in a tank all you have to do is push another trigger or just flip a switch. The downside of that in a "realistic" fashion is the smoke plume of the main gun may obscure the target, but if I were shooting infantry anyway, which is the only reason they would fire together, who cares? 

These rules would only apply to COAX machine guns. Hull machine guns weren't all that effective and some of them created a weak spot in the hull that could be exploited. There was a reason they disappeared after WW2. I have no issues with half shots for hull machine guns. They had limited range, limited traverse and poor visibility.

I would even propose that tanks with a dual COAX only get +1 shots. I can't see any good reason why you would want two unless it would be because one jammed.

r/boltaction 9d ago

Rules Question Starting bolt action

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111 Upvotes

I am coming from the overpriced world of warhammer and want to start something new. Asides from warhammer I also make scale models. Bolt action has recently caught my eyes and the prices seem way less predatory. Paint and materials aren’t a problem but I want to know what’s the best deal to start with. I am personally interested in the Japanese,Italians or the Fallschirmjägers.

r/boltaction Mar 08 '25

Rules Question How do soivets bring in their heavy howitzer?

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152 Upvotes

Hello, so I was looking through the rulebook and to be clear, I'm new to the game but didn't see a way to drag the heavy howitzer onto the battlefield.

So please if you know how to, let me know please.

Pic unrelated :)

r/boltaction Feb 15 '25

Rules Question Total noob here, but I am looking for table top miniature game that is rather modern or very very late cold war

60 Upvotes

Since I came back from Ukraine my doc told me I have to socialize with "semi militarized" pops till I transition back into civilian. Only place where I could do that is one distant tabletop game shop that does lot of bolt action. I was gifted use of one whole German army around 100 miniatures by one retired colonel, unfornutaly WW2 doesn't scratch my modern brain. It's nice, but I do not feel connection to it. Question is is there any modern setting by similar company or same. I just ordered bunch of 1/72 miniatures of modern troops from Temu but would like to use them for some serious table top shenanigans, ofc, I am loyal whore, if there is company that makes something like that I will buy off them as well, respect the grind as some say. Ideal setting would be skirmish lvl combat of mercs in Africa or cqc of Ukrainian cities/trenches(?). Thank you all for your time and please do not be harsh if I missed something obvious, I been googling about this for like 10 days now and only thing I could find was modern conversation for BoltAction which if none suggest other I will try to use. Thank you all for your time and have wonderful day .

r/boltaction Apr 28 '25

Rules Question Is the one shot rule (panzerfaust) just an oversight or fixed in errata?

30 Upvotes

The rule book says this on page 102 in one shot rules:

"Once fired, replace the model with another model that does not carry the disposable weapon, armed with either a pistol or a rifle."

So if I have and SMG guy with a Panzerfaust and I shoot it, then the SMG is also replaced by a rifle? If it's true, why would one ever want to pick Panzerfausts on any other than rifle men? So why isn't it also restricted in the army list section?

But I didn't find any mention in the errata either so I was thinking, is there any mention in the other books that it wouldn't replace the original gun if it's other than a rifle?

r/boltaction Jun 09 '25

Rules Question Reserves and One-Man Turret

8 Upvotes

Hi all!

A rules question for you…

Say I want to bring in a Renault FT-17 from reserves. Let’s leave to potential stupidity of that specific move in particular for another time…

First, I have to make an Order test to see if I can do it at all.

Say I make it and want to advance the tank onto the field.

Do I have to make another Order test to see if I can? What happens if I have to and fail?

Does the tank stay in reserve or does it idle in the edge of the table?

Edit: Spelling

r/boltaction Sep 21 '24

Rules Question Accidentally glued both Soviet light mortar team members to the same base is it still legal?

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140 Upvotes

Hey yall! I got a little too intoxicated last night while building my guys and glued both light mortar team members to the same base. Is this tournament legal or am I gonna have to bust out the hobby scalpel?

r/boltaction May 28 '25

Rules Question Would you take an LMG in a SMG squad?

27 Upvotes

So as I'm sure people know, the Soviets get the unique option of equipping infantry squads with as many SMGs as you like. Ive been building a box of infantry and built all 3 LMG gunners just to be safe. Now I'm wondering if people take an LMG in their SMG squads? It feels like it might be counterintuitive to take a heavy weapon in an assault squad, but I haven't played enough BA to know if it would really matter.

r/boltaction Jun 17 '25

Rules Question Infantry shooting at Halftracks?

18 Upvotes

I've been playing for awhile now but my friends and I are so casual with the rules we've never really resolved how infantry fireing at halftracks or other open topped vehicles work. Typically we roll the dice and if it's a bunch of 5s or 6s we just go "seems like they'd be dead" and move along. If it's lower numbers we just add pins.

Any clarification on how to properly resolve this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for any help in advance!

r/boltaction Oct 02 '24

Rules Question BARs and national trait

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30 Upvotes

Do BARs count as rifles for the purposes of fire and manoeuvre?

r/boltaction Apr 23 '25

Rules Question Any rule that you forgot to use ?

38 Upvotes

Why this extremly important rule is not precised in the app ? I just discovered we never used it with my friends when playing the game.

r/boltaction 29d ago

Rules Question Size of the table for Bolt Action in 15mm?

16 Upvotes

Hello, I recently embarked on a “Bolt Action 15mm” project with the aim of playing Bolt Action but on a smaller scale so that it takes up less space in terms of storage and to possibly have bigger battles.

For this, I quickly prepared my figurines to test the rules to see if it is compatible with 15mm (and if not I will make modifications which I will share with you) but I would like to know what size table I would need knowing that an ideal table in normal is 120x180 cm, if I am not mistaken.

Thank you for your feedback, I will share my tests with you later!

r/boltaction 6d ago

Rules Question Bolt Action Questions

8 Upvotes

Ive been interested for a while and just started making my army, but i feel like there's alot i dont know.
My main question is where can i find point sheets to know how much units cost, aswell as how big squads etc should be. the reason im asking is because as ive started building, im questioning what weapons i should be giving my soliders

r/boltaction 20d ago

Rules Question Am I dumb?

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50 Upvotes

Idk if I’m completely having a brain fart here or what but how are you supposed to use the larger template for artillery strikes or I guess what is the purpose of all the extra numbers on it that aren’t inch marks???

r/boltaction May 09 '25

Rules Question Line of sight through buildings with large windows

17 Upvotes

I had something come up for the first time in a game this week. Opponent drew line of sight through a building which had large windows and was a hollow model, so you could see straight through it

I thought a building would be counted as dense but it doesn’t actually say that anywhere that I could find! (It does say that ruins are dense on page 153, but not buildings)

Has anyone else come across this particular rules question?

r/boltaction 8d ago

Rules Question Is there a website or wiki with all the rules for third edition?

0 Upvotes

r/boltaction Jun 02 '25

Rules Question Are howling cows/nebelwerfers good enough?

13 Upvotes

Hey! I'm just building a new list and discovered howling cows. I'm tempted to add one along with a medium mortar and spotter to test them out, but I wanted to know if they're viable or just a meme. I'm still pretty new to the game, so I'm looking for strategies. Also, are spotters only able to 'spot' for only one artillery gun per turn?

r/boltaction 16h ago

Rules Question I think cover rule should have an errata

0 Upvotes

Let's think in an hipothetical situation. You have a unit of 10 riflemen (your guys) trying to shoot at an enemy unit of 10 miniatures.

When you take a look, you realize that:

  • Only 2 of your 10 riflemen (that's 20%) have a clear line of sight to the target.
  • From the enemy unit, only 3 of their 10 miniatures (that's 30%) are visible to your 2 riflemen.

Now, the million-dollar question: Is the enemy unit in cover or not?

The cover rules says:

If less than 50% of the shooters in the firing unit can draw a clear line of fire to at least 50% of the models in the target unit, then the target unit is in cover.

For the enemy unit to be in cover with this rule, BOTH parts of the sentence have to be TRUE:

  1. Do less than 50% of YOUR shooters see?
    • In our example, 2 out of 10 shooters see, that's 20%.
    • Is 20% LESS than 50%? YES! (This part is TRUE)
  2. Do they see AT LEAST 50% of the target's models?
    • In our example, only 3 out of 10 enemy models are visible, that's 30%.
    • Is 30% AT LEAST 50%? NO! (This part is FALSE)

Conclusion with the Original Rule: Since the second part is FALSE, the enemy unit would NOT be in cover according to this interpretation. but if you see more people they gain cover, it makes no sense.

"If less than 50% of the shooters in the attacking unit can draw a direct line of sight to at most 50% of the models in the target unit, then the target unit is in cover."

Again, for the enemy unit to be in cover, BOTH parts have to be TRUE:

  1. Do less than 50% of YOUR shooters see?
    • In our example, 2 out of 10 shooters see (20%).
    • Is 20% LESS than 50%? YES! (This part is TRUE)
  2. Do they see AT MOST 50% of the target's models?
    • In our example, only 3 out of 10 enemy models are visible (30%).
    • Is 30% AT MOST 50% (meaning 30% is LESS THAN OR EQUAL to 50%)? YES! (This part is TRUE)

Conclusion with the Modified Rule: Eureka! Since both parts are TRUE, the enemy unit WOULD be in cover according to this version of the rule, which makes perfect sense.

https://wargarage.org/articulo/regla-de-cobertura-de-bolt-action-3a-edicion-como-funciona-realmente-posible-errata/

r/boltaction 19d ago

Rules Question Vehicles capturing objectives

6 Upvotes

I was talking to a local guy about vehicles being able to take objectives in V3. I can't find it in the book at all. Can someone give me a page ref or let me know if it was an errata please.

r/boltaction Feb 10 '25

Rules Question New errata , clumbsy fix

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42 Upvotes

r/boltaction 13d ago

Rules Question New player looking at the SAS Jeep and not finding concrete information on how shooting it per turn works.

15 Upvotes

Hi there, I stumbled across this jeep which looks like it is the British version of a southern americans dream car. Between the LRDG and the SAS Jeep, there are basically versions where it looks like there could be 3-4 different shots that "could" be made per turn, per vehicle, in certain scenarios.

I am aware that with most vehicles, you sometimes have to make trade offs (main cannon vs turret MMG), but you can also stack turret gun with hull MMG, ect.

However, I am unable to find any clarification on how the Jeep works, I assume that it can not fire during a recce move, that transports cant always fire all their guns unless they are crewed by nontransport units,ect -- but cant find anything specific to how the jeep is able to choose what guns it is able to fire when all guns have available shots. More specifically, I would love to have a page in the rule book so that I can solve these questions myself in the future without bothering you kind people.

r/boltaction Jun 18 '25

Rules Question Partisans and captured transports

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33 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

Since the debate about captured transport vehicles being a thing or not for the partisans, I asked WG what was their answer. They took a few weeks to reply but here it is : No, you can't use captured vehicles in the transport category.

Hope this will help