Bolt Action Tabletop Wargame
I've played tabletop wargames for decades. One of my current favorites is Bolt Action, which combines a fast-paced, easy to learn system with historic battles from World War II. What I love best about the system is its activation system - players take turns drawing dice from a bag, and whoever's color die is drawn gets to activate a unit. It keeps the game fast and fluid; you literally never know what is going to happen next!
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I've been doing some design work for the game - check out my two-part campaign in Wargames Illustrated. That scenario imagines that the British invaded Iceland in 1940 (which actually did happen) and that the Germans actually mounted Operation Ikarus and counterattacked (which didn't happen).
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Click on the magazines to see a preview of Issue 433 (part 1 of my Iceland campaign) and Issue 434 (part 2 of my Iceland campaign).
In 2023, I ran a Bolt Action campaign based on the Campaign Sea Lion and Campaign Gigant books. The Germans launched their invasion of England at the Trumpeter Tabletop Games Society's annual Salute convention, then steamrollered their way across Britain and eventually conquered London.
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I turned the campaign into a series of fictional newspaper reports. You can read them by clicking on the newspaper image below.
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Onward to the next campaign!
Here I'm painting Soviet figures from Bad Squiddo (which specializes in female miniatures) for Campaign Stalingrad. I'm fielding a platoon from the 1st Separate Women’s Volunteer Rifle Brigade, members of which fought in WW2.
In the June 2024 issue of Wargames Illustrated, I take a deep dive into the Mosin-Nagant, the rifle my grandfather carried into battle during the Finnish Civil War of 1918. Click here for a preview of that article.
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In 2024, I ran a Bolt Action Stalingrad campaign. It was a tough slog, with the Germans conquering seven out of eight districts (and nearly winning the battle) but a decisive final game turned the tide, allowing the Soviets to rack up the 70+ points they needed to launch Operation Uranus.
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I turned the campaign into a series of fictional newspaper reports. You can read them by clicking on the newspaper image at left.
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