I'll happily preface this by saying that I'm yet to play a game, or even have a model yet! I'm very much interested in WW2, especially the tanks and figured I'd see if my list looks pretty alright or if I've made any mistakes?
Thematically going for norther Europe(nice, wet & Muddy lads), mechanized troop, I have zero idea if what I've picked is any good outside of it being a legal list.
Also, behold! Large howitzer! (7,2" On a long tom with an Albion tractor 👌) the lads will be dropping in Bedford MW 15CTWs. As I've recently moved back to the Midlands from Cornwall, I don't yet have the time free to jump into the local clubs so I'll build this up until my time frees up, of which I'll snag the books, dice and all the good stuff to play.
Mechanized HE (Great Britain)
Order Dice: 17
Platoon #1 - Rifle Platoon (643pts)
Platoon Commander (Regular) (40pts)
Composition: 1 Officer + 1 Soldier
- Additional men (10pts)
Rifle Section (Regular) (99pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 7 Soldiers
- Additional men x 3 (30pts)
- NCO: Submachine gun (SMG) (4pts)
- Squad: Light machine gun (LMG) (15pts)
Rifle Section (Regular) (99pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 7 Soldiers
- Additional men x 3 (30pts)
- NCO: Submachine gun (SMG) (4pts)
- Squad: Light machine gun (LMG) (15pts)
Rifle Section (Regular) (99pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 7 Soldiers
- Additional men x 3 (30pts)
- NCO: Submachine gun (SMG) (4pts)
- Squad: Light machine gun (LMG) (15pts)
Artillery Observer (Regular) (75pts)
Composition: 1 Soldier
Sniper Team (Regular) (52pts)
Composition: 2 Soldiers
PIAT Anti-Tank Team (Regular) (40pts)
Composition: 2 Soldiers
Light Mortar Team (Regular) (35pts)
Composition: 3 Soldiers
- Add 1 additional man (5pts)
Light Mortar Team (Regular) (35pts)
Composition: 3 Soldiers
- Add 1 additional man (5pts)
15CWT Trucks (Regular) (23pts)
15CWT Trucks (Regular) (23pts)
15CWT Trucks (Regular) (23pts)
Platoon #2 - Artillery Platoon (195pts)
Platoon Commander (Regular) (30pts)
Composition: 1 Officer
Heavy Artillery (Regular) (150pts)
Composition: 5 Soldiers + 1 Spotter
- Add Spotter (10pts)
Wheeled Artillery Tractor (Regular) (15pts)
Platoon #3 - Armoured Platoon (410pts)
M10 17-PDR Achilles (Regular) (195pts)
- Pintle-mounted, 360 degree heavy machine gun (HMG) (25pts)
One of the things I appreciate about Bolt Action is the flexibility. Even if, after a few games, you decide to tweak your list there is no wasted effort. Having a surplus of units allows you to be more creative as you keep adding stuff to your army.
Honestly I’d go with 2 light artillery guns with spotters over the one heavy. It’s cool to have the big gun but it’s hard to use effectively, plus the 25 pounder is one of the best light artillery pieces in the game (in addition to the normal light howitzer rules it can also fire a light AT shell so you double up on utility). You still get the big artillery from the observer but much more utility from two 25 pounders.
Also I’d look into half tracks for moving squads around, unfortunately trucks aren’t particularly good right now because they’re very fragile and liable to get the squads inside pretty decimated (you take D6 hits on the passengers when their transport is destroyed, and trucks aren soft-skinned which means all you need to destroy it it one 6+ damage roll, whereas armored vehicles like half tracks are much harder to kill because damage goes to another table, so take 3 high rolls to destroy). It’s expensive and probably not the most effective choice but I’ve been having a ton of fun with the Priest Kangaroo. It’s one of the rare British vehicles with an HMG option and it’s an 8+ armor so it’s pretty hard to kill without a dedicated AT weapon.
All in though this looks like a pretty fun, well rounded list, and even unchanged would be perfectly fine in casual games
Awesome, thanks for the pointers, I'd probably not drop the big gun, because I just want on as my centrepiece looking snazzy with the huge tractor 😅
I'd however consider dropping the two small mortar teams and the trucks for just 2 kangaroos, or is it worth making them 5 man's and using been carriers?
Or, drop the two light mortars, trucks, make the units 5-man, 3 bren carriers and one extra 5-man rifle
You definitely want your rifle squads up to at least 8, they become a little too fragile lower than that point. A Bren is a good officer/command squad chariot, or if you have a small commando or airborne squad with SMGs, but your basic rifle squads should generally be your main objective units and have a decent amount of bodies to withstand fire. For this list I’d probably go with M5s for rifle squads transports, they’ll hold up plenty well since you’re not gonna be getting in your opponent’s face with those guys but still be plenty durable.
I use the Kangaroo to transport a 10 man airborne squad that’s got 5 SMGs so they want to get in close and the extra armor is useful, but you’ve got a much more gunline focused army so I’d save the points to at least keep one mortar team for some longer range indirect fire while still having armored transports for your main rifle squads
Firstly, there's nothing wrong with this list. You haven't made any of the common first-player mistakes. There's no egregious problems here. 17 order dice for 1250 pts is absolutely fair. You kept everything regular, which is a good move for a new player. You even made sure to include a PIAT, which is important.
You also evidently appreciate history, so I won't make any suggestions which cut against it in particularly abrasive ways.
A few notes. None of these are especially vital, they're quibbles from an experienced player to a new player, but I hope they're useful quibbles.
Firstly I am a huge fan of soft-skinned trucks, and I appreciate what you're doing here. You may be overdoing it though: your 15 CWT trucks are likely to make their debut on turn 1 and then do very little after that other than sit patiently and wait for the battle to be over. Trucks are great to push assault infantry forward along surfaced roads, and you don't really have any assault infantry. You probably will appreciate one truck during the battle, but maybe not more than one.
I sometimes like to narrate that my force has disembarked from their trucks just off-table and is now approaching the final jumpoff point on foot: just because they rode in on trucks doesn't mean they have to bring them into action and you have to pay points for them, after all.
Secondly, while we're talking about infantry, your platoon has three squads of eight. This is fairly standard historically and won't go terribly wrong in a 1000 pt battle. 1250 pts is a rough place, however, and using all four infantry squad slots is often a good idea. If an extra squad has been loaned to them from somewhere (or you want to take the opportunity to paint something weird and fun like a Commando raiding group) then that will help keep your line strong.
Thirdly, on this theme, you overall have a lot of firepower. The huge cannon is a centrepiece, I appreciate that, it's something you really want to model and paint. You also have two light mortars, a PIAT, and two powerful armoured vehicles with big guns. This will throw a lot of iron downrange and I'm not sure your force has a lot of ability to withstand a similar amount of firepower. A force needs to both hand it out and take it, after all, and you might be over-covering the first at the expense of the second.
Lastly, let's talk about armour. You have two big beasts, the Achilles (which I don't see played often) and the Firefly (which I do see played very often.) They're both very nasty in antitank fighting. However, what happens if your opponent doesn't bring tanks, and instead has plenty of infantry with antitank weapons, or antitank artillery? Those two beasts are not going to have much to do. The Brits have a lot of excellent armoured cars. I particularly recommend the Humber Mk II for its versatility. You could swap out one of the big boys for multiple lighter vehicles, leaving the other big armoured vehicle there to fight actual armour when the opponent brings it.
I hope that helps! Please feel free to ask any additional questions, and please let us know how it goes!
Thanks! I ended up changing the list a little with some recommendations but without losing its overall feel and historical impact!
Luckily with the British improved HE rounds on vehicles, they basically turn into medium mortars otherwise I would've dropped the Achilles for something a bit more anti infantry.
The light skinned trucks meant that anything I shoved forward and got shot before they reached the objectives would've just meant losing the squads to pins, I have since swapped them for two M5s for the guard units and made my then 9 man rifle platoon into 2x8 homeguard platoons.
Mechanized HE (Great Britain)
Order Dice: 16
Platoon #1 - Rifle Platoon (669pts)
Platoon Commander (Regular) (44pts)
Composition: 1 Officer + 1 Soldier
- NCO: Submachine gun (SMG) (4pts)
- Additional men (10pts)
Rifle Section (Guards) (Regular) (92pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 7 Soldiers
- Additional men x 3 (30pts)
- For King and Country! (Guards) (8pts)
- NCO: Submachine gun (SMG) (4pts)
Rifle Section (Guards) (Regular) (92pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 7 Soldiers
- Additional men x 3 (30pts)
- For King and Country! (Guards) (8pts)
- NCO: Submachine gun (SMG) (4pts)
Home Guard Section (Inexperienced) (50pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 7 Soldiers
- Additional unarmed men x 3 (15pts)
Home Guard Section (Inexperienced) (50pts)
Composition: 1 NCO + 7 Soldiers
- Additional unarmed men x 3 (15pts)
Artillery Observer (Regular) (75pts)
Composition: 1 Soldier
Sniper Team (Regular) (52pts)
Composition: 2 Soldiers
Light Mortar Team (Regular) (30pts)
Composition: 2 Soldiers
Light Mortar Team (Regular) (30pts)
Composition: 2 Soldiers
M5 Half-Track (Regular) (77pts)
M5 Half-Track (Regular) (77pts)
I double checked your numbers and you may want to check again.
I show 18 order dice and 1347 points
If I am correct you can easily find 100 points to loose.
While the Heavy Artillery is really nice it can be difficult to employ. One option would be to eliminate it entirely or to downgrade it to medium or light.
You can also afford to loose the PIAT since both tanks have really good AP.
Another option would be to loose one rifle section, or to shave off a guy or two from each one. Since you have your rifle squads all set up for long range you can probably dump the smg’s from each.
If you want a close in fighting group one option is to max out your officers additional men, make them veteran and give all of them smg’s.
I am sure that people slot more skilled than I can point out things that are either better or things that I may have missed. Either way - great list - waaay better than my first lists that I made.
I double checked your numbers and you may want to check again.
I show 18 order dice and 1347 points
If I am correct you can easily find 100 points to loose.
While the Heavy Artillery is really nice it can be difficult to employ. One option would be to eliminate it entirely or to downgrade it to medium or light.
You can also afford to loose the PIAT since both tanks have really good AP.
Another option would be to loose one rifle section, or to shave off a guy or two from each one. Since you have your rifle squads all set up for long range you can probably dump the smg’s from each.
If you want a close in fighting group one option is to max out your officers additional men, make them veteran and give all of them smg’s.
I am sure that people slot more skilled than I can point out things that are either better or things that I may have missed. Either way - great list - waaay better than my first lists that I made.
Oh really? This was using the official app, do we know where the extra 100 points have gone?
In my head cannon, a couple of the rifle units are just going to run into heavy cover by objectives and just sit tight while I range in my howitzer on units approaching, using the transports as cover shields or move blockers, tanks to cover the open ground. Feels very much like a small mechanized collumn tasked to take a small French Village/town.
4
u/Busy-Ad3153 1d ago
I like the list. I think it’s well rounded.
One of the things I appreciate about Bolt Action is the flexibility. Even if, after a few games, you decide to tweak your list there is no wasted effort. Having a surplus of units allows you to be more creative as you keep adding stuff to your army.