Help needed to build my first Bolt Action Army

[Captain James Robert Matherson – 1st Coy – 1st Batt- 66th Armored Regiment-US 2nd Armored.]

Hi all,

I am wanting to build the US and German forces to fight mainly early D-Day through to the battle of the bulge. I normally am a Napoleonic wargamer but since I was a small child I have had a passion for all things WW2 and I have finally collected a few boxes from Warlord Games from their Bold Action range. These are the items I have purchased so far.
US Forces
US Airborne Platoon (Able)
US Airborne Platoon (Bravo)
US Airborne Platoon (Charlie)
M3A1 Half-Track
M3A1 Half-Track
M3A1 Half-Track
US Airborne Jeep (1944-45)
US Airborne Jeep (1944-45)
US Airborne Hand Carts
US Airborne Hand Carts
US Airborne Hand Carts
US Airborne – 75mm Howitzer & Crew
US Airborne – 75mm Howitzer & Crew
US Airborne – 75mm Howitzer & Crew
US Airbourne 57mm Anti-Tank Team
US Airbourne 57mm Anti-Tank Team
US Airborne HQ
US Airborne – Bazooka & 60mm light mortar team
US Airborne – Bazooka & 60mm light mortar team
US Infantry Platoon (Alpha)
US Infantry Platoon (Bravo)
US Infantry Platoon (Charlie)
US Infantry Platoon (Delta)
US Infantry Platoon (Echo)
US Infantry Platoon (Foxtrot)
US Army – Battalion Command Set
Jeep with 50cal Machine Gun
Jeep with 50cal Machine Gun
Jeep with 30cal Machine Gun
US Tank Platoon
M24 Chaffee Tank
M24 Chaffee Tank
M24 Chaffee Tank
M18 Hellcat Platoon
German forces
Late War Panzergrenadiers
Late War Panzergrenadiers
German Grenadier Platoon 1
German Grenadier Platoon 2
German Grenadier Platoon 3
German Grenadier Platoon 4
German Grenadier Platoon 5
Oak Leaf Spring Camo Waffen-SS Platoon 1
SD.KFZ 251/10 (PAK 36) Half-Track
German Army – Kubelwagen
German Army – Heer 75mm LEiG 18 Artillery
German Heer 105mm Gun & Crew
German Heer 105mm Gun & Crew
German Army – High Command
German Army – Heer Forward Observation Team (FOO)
German Heer 75mm Pak 40 AT Gun (Winter)
German Heer 75mm Pak 40 AT Gun (Winter)
German Heer 81mm Medium Mortar
German Heer 81mm Medium Mortar
Hanomags
Hanomags
Hanomags
Hanomags
Hanomags
Hanomags
German Army – Waffen-SS Sniper, Flamethrower and Panzerschreck Teams
Waffen-SS Forward Observer Team
Waffen-SS HQ
Blitzkrieg German Panzer Crew
Panzer IV
Panzer IV
Panzer III
Panzer III
Stug III
Stug III
Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer
Panther Ausf. A
Panther Ausf. A
Panther Ausf. A

Aircraft
Allied Air Power
Typhoon
Spitfire Mk.Vb
Spitfire Mk.Vb
US Thunderbolt
P-51 Mustang
Nazi Air Power
Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
JU87B-1
JU87B-2
JU87B-2

I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to putting my forces together, I was hoping to build these units “easy” Company 101st US Airborne, 2nd Armoured Division with 4th Division attached and 12th SS Panzer Division, it is very difficult to build these units according to their historical order of battles with the rules as all games are by a point system.
Any help creating these units within the confines of the Bolt action rules would be greatly appreciated.

P.S Those purchased items are what I have now I am expecting another 25+ boxes of Infantry, Tanks and Vehicles in the next 6 weeks from Warlord Games.

Attachments:

1. 

   My-Bolt-Action-Collection.jpg
   

[Fred Cartwright]

Wow! That is more than your first Army that’s at least 4 armies. US Airborne, US Infantry, Heer and Waffen SS. Basic building block of any army would be the infantry platoon. This would be 3 sections of 8-12 men. Full strength for Germans was 10 men, 12 for the US, although sections were invariably understrength. Each section would have a LMG and the rest with rifles, although the squad leader often had a SMG. Germans might have 2 or 3 men with Panzerfäusten in addition to their rifles. The platoon would have a small HQ section with the leader and a couple of runners. They may have a bazooka or Panzerschrek team as well. The platoon could be supported by heavier weapons such as tripod MMG’s or mortars. Heavier weapons like AT guns and howitzers might be present attached from regiment. If you are planning to play tournaments you have enough stuff to field big points armies, so likely you won’t be able to field all your stuff. If you are going to play historical battles with friends you have enough stuff to do some interesting battles such as Easy Company’s attack on Brecourt Manor during the Normandy landings. I don’t play tournaments so if you are interested in that think about joining the Facebook Bolt Action Group where you will get lots of help with tournament lists. Have fun.

[Darin]

And I thought I was bad…

[Captain James Robert Matherson – 1st Coy – 1st Batt- 66th Armored Regiment-US 2nd Armored.]

Thanks, guys for your replies, I guess coming from Napoleonic wargaming where I have 5000+ figures to Bolt Action I kind of dived in with the same mentality as I did when I got into Napoleonics.
From my research, I found that US Airbourne had three platoons to a company with an HQ and Mortar team of half a platoon strength. the typical German Company was around 9 platoons with an HQ and Mortar and other supporting units within the company.
So, I think I am getting close to having a full Easy company and a Full company from the 25th Panzergrenadier regiment of the 12th SS-Panzer division. At this stage, I am trying to organize my US Army into its appropriate Companies and Tank Brigades etc.

Attached is the order of battles I am currently using to nut out the composition of my forces in Normandy.

Attachments:

1. 101st-Airborne-Normandy.docx
2. 12th-SS-Panzer-Division-Normandy.docx
3. 4th-Division-2nd-Armored.docx
4. 2nd-Armored-Division-Normandy.docx

[Fred Cartwright]

No problem about having lots of stuff, most of us have loads more than we need. It does give you lots of flexibility in what forces you field, go infantry only or load your list with support weapons. You can also play Tank War with the number of tanks you have. If you have the space and enough gaming buddies a big multiplayer historical battle would be great fun.

[Captain James Robert Matherson – 1st Coy – 1st Batt- 66th Armored Regiment-US 2nd Armored.]

Yeah I have a truckload of US and German units which I still need to work out how I am going to use them for the battles orders I have, I am not really interested in running a points match I think I will just write up a scenario that will allow for a balance in forces (although no world war 2 battle was ever balanced)
Also, I have no one to play with so all of my games will be solo.

[invisible officer]

I guess ” the typical German Company was around 9 platoons with an HQ and Mortar and other supporting units within the company.” is a typo for 9 squads / gruppen. That was the typical early war infantry Company. No heavy arms at that time.

Panzergrenadierkompanien of 1941 had three normal Züge / platoons of armored infantry and a heavy Zug with MG and mortars. The Zugtrupp ha a 3,7 cm on the Zugführer SPW.

Later in war all infantry unit types got more firepower to compensate the losses in men.

[Captain James Robert Matherson – 1st Coy – 1st Batt- 66th Armored Regiment-US 2nd Armored.]

This is my kind of late war idea (taken from the warlords Waffen-SS Platoon Pack)
Command Squad:
1x Officer, 1x NCO with MP40 SMG, 1x 2-man radio team with rifles, 1x Medic, 1x rifleman
Squad/Section:
2×9-man squad: 2x NCOs with MP40 SMGs, 1x 2-man MG42 LMG team, 5x riflemen
Mortar Squad:
1x 81mm mortar with 3 crew
2x men with StG44 assault rifles

For my US Airborne
Platoon Command: 1x Officer with Carbine 1x Assault Platoon commander with carbine 1x platoon sergeant with SMG 2x radio with rifle 2x Runners
2xSection:
1x sergeant with rifle 1x corporal with SMG 1x LMG 1x Assistant LMG 1x Ammo Bearer with rifle 7x men with rifles.
Mortar Squad:
1x sergeant with SMG 1x mortar gunner with rifle 1x assistant mortar gunner with pistol 3x men with rifles.

I have no worked out what structure I am going to do for the platoons from the 4th division and the 25th division or the armor brigades for the 2nd US Armor and the 12th SS Panzer.

[Fred Cartwright]

That is a start. A platoon would have 3 squads normally, plus the HQ. The mortar would be at Company level, although direct fire weapons could be attached down to platoon level. Here is an organisation for a Waffen SS Panzergrenadier Company.
http://www.wwiidaybyday.com/kstn/kstn1114cgpfg1jul44.htm
Tank platoons for both US and Germans have 5 tanks and 3 or 4 platoons per company, plus a couple of tanks in the company HQ. That is the full strength, units were often under strength and you could get away with 3 tanks per platoon.

[Captain James Robert Matherson – 1st Coy – 1st Batt- 66th Armored Regiment-US 2nd Armored.]

@Fred Cartwright

Thank you for your replay, from what you have suggested it would appear that I have enough to form a both a US and German Tank company and with the suggestion for infantry platoons I could have enough for a battalion for both the US and Germans.
So long as I have enough to make Easy company then I would be happy.

Thanks for the link as it helps a lot, be nice if they had a similar one for the allies.

Edit – I have been told by others that I have too many units for bolt action even though I have a 12ftx8ft wargaming table the most I can field with the bolt action rules is a platoon each side due to points limiting the size of the game and that I would be better off using Battlegroup rule set.
What are your thoughts on this?

[Fred Cartwright]

This site is quite good for all nations, but the information is presented in standard military symbols. Clicking on the symbols takes you down to the next level of organistation until you get to the platoon level.
http://www.niehorster.org/000_admin/000oob.htm
If you don’t understand the symbols there is a guide on the site.
http://niehorster.org/000_admin/009_symbols.html
From what you have said you should have more than enough for Easy Company. Bear in mind too it was often under strength. Lt. Winters had just 29 men when Easy Company attacked the battery at Brecourt Manor on D-day. The allied airborne drop was scattered and it took several days to assemble all the survivors.

[Captain James Robert Matherson – 1st Coy – 1st Batt- 66th Armored Regiment-US 2nd Armored.]

@Fred Cartwright

Thank you once again

Do you think Bolt action is ok for large games or should i look at Battlegroup?

[Fred Cartwright]

Bolt Action will handle big games and the dice pull mechanism is useful for solo play, but it depends what you prefer. Both have advantages and disadvantages. If you are playing solo then you could, for example, use a single dice pull to activate a platoon instead of a squad to speed up play with a lot of units on the table.

[Captain James Robert Matherson – 1st Coy – 1st Batt- 66th Armored Regiment-US 2nd Armored.]

Thanks Fred,

That dice mechanic sounds like a good idea, are the Bolt Action Rules very flexible?

[Fred Cartwright]

Like any rules you can modify them to suit yourself. Just be careful that it doesn’t unbalance play, but with things like the dice pulls as long as it applies to both sides you should be ok. The rules are flexible and will handle small high quality forces against larger low quality ones.

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