Questions about Tanks

[Nigel Heather]

I’m looking to start Bolt Action with two small armies, each of which would have one tank.

This will be early war Eastern Front so I am thinking of two tanks of equal ability, I especially like the T-26B, the 38(T) and the Panzer II.

But having never played Bolt Action I have pretty fundamental questions.

(1) T-26B and 38(T), pretty well matched on paper except that the 38(T) has a higher damage value with 8 compared with 7 for the T-26B. What does this mean in reality, will the 38(T) dominate, winning significantly more of the tank-v-tank engagements or would it be quite even?

(2) how powerful are tanks on the table? At some point there would be one tank left standing – would it then be dominant on the table or are they vulnerable to infantry. What I mean is would a lone tank be able to drive around killing all in its path with little to fear from the infantry.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Tim Haslam]

Hi Nigel,

BA is a brilliant and great fun heroic game.
Nearly every single game I’ve played had always gone to the wire and been consistently exciting.
So your off to a good start.

If it were me, I’d choose an army with armour and maybe an army with artillery. As your starting point.
You will get more flavour and challenges that way.
Start with about 600pts, no less.

In answer to your question,
Both are evenly matched, but morale rating will make a massive difference, so why not try the Russian tank as inexperienced and the German one as veteran.
Secondly, you’ll quickly realise that the tanks strength lay in its anti infantry role, especially early war vehicles. Don’t waste its potential trying to combat an enemy tank, get stuck in on the infantry.
Beware high morale infantry armed with anti tank grenades.

Have fun.

[Nigel Heather]

Thanks for the info – forgot about experience.

This is what I have at the moment (off the top of my head)

Russians
Infantry – HQ plus platoon with 4 squads (including the free inexperienced rifle squad – also have enough figures to put together a SMG squad which I could swap with one of the rifle squads for a bit of variety).
Sniper
AT rifle
Small mortar
Medic
Forward Observer
Artillery – 45mm AT gun, anti tank dogs
Support – MMG and Medium Mortar
AFV – nothing yet, thinking of T-26B

German
Infantry – HQ plus platoon with three squads
Sniper
AT rifle
Small mortar
Medic
Forward Observer
Artillery – 3.7cm AT Gun, 75mm Infantry Gun
Support – MMG and Medium Mortar
AFV – nothing yet, thinking of Panzer 38(T)

Cheers,

Nigel

[Tim Haslam]

It’s all there Nigel!

Yes experience is the key,
Why not try you Russian force as a mix of regular and inexperienced, and the German as all Veterans.
(Don’t do the soviet force completely inexperienced, you’ll just die in droves)
Also with the points you save, try a soviet captain.
+3 morale and a radius of 12” is pretty good at keeping the horde moving.

It makes the game more interesting if you have different types of forces.
Agreed, don’t try everything out at once, keep it simple.

[Tim Haslam]

Also, play the scenarios, rather than straight forward beat up.
They again alter the game immensely.

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