Thoughts after completing my first Bolt Action game

 Battle report will come later I hope. Lot to think about. In random order:

 

The Red Spy is in the base! Protect the intelligence! 

We need to protect the briefcase!

The mission was The Red Spy Is In The Base: PROTECT THE BRIEFCASE.  I have been dreaming of that mission for weeks. It was the perfect mission I wanted to play.

FO's are as good as everyone says there were. I got lucky with one direct hit and lots of pins on 2-3 units at a time. I should get a recce platoon and stick one in a Bren Gun Carrier keep him from getting sniped.

I think his mate saw me. Ping! Yes, yes he did.

I need to shoot my Sniper immediately. I didn't, got counted sniped and should have targeted his sniper that was hunting mine. My Sniper was a waste, though it did keep his sniper busy for 2 turns.

His mediam mortar didn't do much until I left a squad under it's target icon and it wiped out the squad in 2 turns.  Always move units targeted by mortars!

He set up his MMG to cover the objective in a classic setup to cover the objective down the road in ambush, and I fell for it. An excellent use for it, and out of range of my light mortar. 

I should have run my platoon commander in front of it to get it to shoot first, THEN run the rest of the squad over!

Inexperienced platoon commanders can work fine, particularity if they just have a pistol and no other men with them.

Veteran Matilda II's aren't worth it unless your opponent is playing early war too. 

8 men are the minimum to assault and hold an objective, but you really want 10. 

A 8-10 man assault squad backed up by 5 man LMG squad works well.

My regular troops kept failing order tests and his kept passing.  I need some veteran engineers or recce infantry as assault troops. 10 man squads are also useful because you WILL take pins before you take casualties.

When an enemy tank with a heavy anti tank gun is to your front, activate your armour first!

FO's don't need to wait till the end of the turn, they can mark their target one enemy units at the target location have completed their orders!  

I got lucky with my 2nd FO artillery strike, it deviated onto another one of his units, though just missed hitting his Stug IV. 

Smoke rounds for artillery or my mortar should have been dropped on the objective once I knew I was going to get to it first.

When you get the briefcase, you STOP.  Remember that next time.

 I don't think you can daisy chain the brief case to run away, so any unit going for it must RUN every turn. You don't have time to advance or fire!

Veteran troops in cover are very survivable.  

Having a tank, small LMG cover squad and larger assault squad works. 

Pinned units can unpin themselves very easily. I dropped artillery on a Stug IV and it just shrugged off 3 pins next turn.

Template weapons are what you use to attack enemy infantry in cover.

If taking two tanks, always use the tanks together. Don't drive off in another direction, particularly with slow tanks!

I could have put my tanks in hull down and got cover from that and still covered the objective. 

I need to get 2 man, 4 and 5 man movement templates, 1 inch apart to maintain coherency and 1 inch boundary.

I need to mark my unit types (I ran out of time yesterday). 

Getting 2-3 assistants as meat shields for the FO is worth it. Arm them with rifles or SMG's as a small squad to use as a reinforcement later in the battle, and being able to act a s spotter for light mortars. 

The AT rifle didn't hit an enemy tank (though it took a shot it missed the flank of the Stug IV) but it killed 2-3 infantry so that was ok.

Snap too is a very good command to get things done, but you WILL lose the initiative of choosing what to do after your opponent will, so it looks pretty balanced. There's a reason not to do it every turn or use a Company Commander to move 4 units at once. You don't need to do it.

I kept failing my order dice rolls and had 2 morale roles and Lt was close enough to do and good enough to do. Coy Co's are not required in all army lists. 

I had an order dice advantage, but using a snap too would remove it. I need more order dice.

The Medic made his points back, but would not have if he'd had an assistant.  

Bolt Action is REALLY good at not stopping or slowing the game down. I kept doing an order, and stopping to sit down to wait for when it's my turn but you don't do that.  Conversely there's suspense of not knowing if it's your turn next and happiness when you get multiple orders in a row and despair when your opponent does.

There is not going to be a Conquest Bolt Action tournament :(. No one's put their hand up to do it, and they don't have the room left now for the tables :(.

I need to keep track of turns with a big dice in the corner.

I think I maintained sight on the objective better, but at the end, a lone Sargent, a Lt and the medic were the only ones near the briefcase, with the Sargent going hell for leather why a squad of Finns with MP39's and a 75mm Stug chased after him, while the AT rifle, light mortar and 4 men from another tried squad tried to hold them off. The FO and one assistant were stuck on the other side of the battlefield.  Very comic book like I must say. It ended in a draw, but I needed 2 turns to escape because the unit with the briefcase got stuck going DOWN after a failed order roll. Another reason to get some veterans.

I still need one day to get a Bolt Action army printed out as the Team from Team Fortress. I would have so many lines to use!