Bolt action world war ii wargames rules pdf download

American ground forces are advised to avoid entering sites of nuclear devastation for two days following detonation. Estimates of potential American casualties made by military commanders at the time and by historians since vary from hundreds of thousands to well over a million.

Estimates of Japanese casualties, including civilians, exceed ten million. Each opposing side will also require painted model troops, representing the soldiers, guns and tanks of your chosen armies.

Finally, you must find a playing surface to represent the battlefield — a table top of some kind is the preferred solution, but the floor will do and certainly has the advantage of size. Ideally, your battlefield will be fashioned to represent a suitable scene where the action is to take place. It might include model woodland, buildings, roads, hills and so on. It could be an industrial scene with shunting yards and factories. Or perhaps it is simply a wasteland of heath and marshes.

There are just a few more basic supplies you will need before you are ready to take your armies into action. All distances in this book are given in inches e. If you prefer to play using centimetres you are welcome to do so, counting each inch as either one or two centimetres as you please. The easiest way to measure distances during the game is without a doubt a retractable tape measure, but you can also use rulers of suitable length if you prefer.

Rolling an ordinary die gives you a random number between 1 and 6. Occasionally we will need to generate a different range of results, so you will see the following notation used throughout the rules.

This means roll an ordinary die and halve the result, rounding up, thus generating a score of 1, 2 or 3. This means to roll two dice and add their results together, for a total score of between 2 and Only rarely will you be asked to add more dice and add them together; for example, 3D6, 4D6 and so on.

This means to roll a die and add 1 to the result, generating a score between 2 and 7. This can be varied in many different ways by rolling different numbers of dice and then adding or subtracting different values. We will explain how these work in due course.

During play a die is placed next to an infantry, tank, artillery piece or other unit to show which order has been given. Flip the die so that the number showing uppermost corresponds to the order as follows. Down Ideally each player will have a set of distinctly coloured but otherwise identical dice to use for orders; for example, Germans blue and Russians green.

Each side starts the game with one order die for each unit, which is to say one die for each squad or team of infantry and one for each tank, armoured car or other vehicle. So, if an army has six infantry squads, a machine gun team, and three tanks then it has ten distinct units and the player starts the game with ten order dice.

Warlord Games have made sets of special order dice in distinct colours — these dice are clearly marked Fire, Advance, Run, Ambush, Rally and Down. To facilitate this you will need a bag, large mug, a dice bag, pot, or some similar opaque container large enough to hold all the dice.

In the rules we always refer to this as a dice bag, but it can be any suitable container so long as it allows you to draw the dice unseen. One player takes one blank chit for each unit in his army; the opposing player takes one chit for each of his units and marks his chits with a cross. The chits are then placed together in the dice bag and drawn at random to determine which side acts next.

When a unit acts any dice can then be used together with the chit to show which order has been given. Alternatively, players can make up their own card counters with the orders marked on them if they prefer. This reduces their ability to respond to orders effectively. Any kind of distinctive marker will do the job and some examples of the kind of thing we use are shown below.

The explosions are the official Bolt Action pin markers, while the helmet-and-rifle markers can also be acquired from Warlord Games, or recreated using spare parts from plastic infantry kits. Occasionally you will need markers for other purposes, for example to mark a target for aerial attack or artillery bombardment. Use any distinctive marker for this. We often use a coloured chit. This means to pick up the dice you just rolled if you are not happy with the result and roll them again.

Note that you can never re-roll a re-roll — you must accept the rerolled result. The distance between two models is always measured between the closest points of their bases. Ignore parts of a model that might stick out like gun barrels, bayonets, outstretched arms, radio aerials, etc. If the crew suffers casualties, simply place a die on the base and turn it to show how many models have been killed.

The distance between two different units is always measured between the bases of the closest models in the units.

Follow the same guideline given above for models without a base. A player must always declare his intention before measuring. Gun barrels are ignored.

Diagram 2: Measuring Unit-to-Unit When measuring the distance between two units, always measure the distance between the closest models in each unit. When doing this, you may ignore units of infantry and artillery, both friends and enemy, as in reality they would not block line of sight as they would spend most of their time lying flat on their bellies, unlike our brave models that represent them. If need be you can gently! Taken from Command Archibal2 Wavell Vehicles and terrain, on the other hand, you cannot ignore and they will literally block the line of sight of your models.

If only a peripheral part of a model can be seen such as an arm or leg, backpack, or the barrel of a weapon, then we assume the enemy cannot be seen because there are just too many obstructions or distractions. The same is true for vehicles — if all that can be seen is a bit of wheel or track, a radio aerial, exhaust pipe, the barrel of a gun, or some other extraneous detail then we assume the trooper cannot see the vehicle amongst the din, smoke and dust of battle.

There are a few exceptions to these rules dense terrain, smoke screens, etc. Troops are not allowed to move beyond the edges of the table during play, except where this forms part of an outflanking move or objective as described in the game itself. Of course this is not strictly realistic, as no such restriction applies in the real world, but it is a necessary adaptation to playing games within a limited space.

The most common type of unit is an infantry section or squad. This is normally made up of around five to ten men representing soldiers from one of the warring nations.

Other units may have fewer models, such as a gun and crew, or a machine gun team. Some units comprise a single model, as in the case of a tank or armoured car. A unit of artillery consists of the gun model itself and a number of crew models to fire and manoeuvre the weapon. Most guns can be manhandled rather slowly, or towed by a tractor or similar vehicle.

VEHICLES This category includes all combat, transport and towing vehicles, from trucks, jeeps and armoured cars to self-propelled guns, tank destroyers and tanks. Vehicle units normally consist of a single vehicle model including driver and fighting crew where appropriate. This allows us to explain how the rules work without overcomplicating matters with the numerous special rules that apply to tanks, howitzers and suchlike. The rules for different types of artillery and vehicles are explained separately in their own sections.

Sometimes a support weapon or artillery piece can be mounted on a single larger base — this is fine, just imagine that each soldier crewing the weapon is mounted on a 25mm round base or oblong 25x50mm base if prone if the rules call for a situation where the position of each soldier matters.

If an individual should become separated from his unit, perhaps because other models have fallen casualty and have been removed, then this must be corrected as soon as possible — normally when the unit moves again and note that the unit must move in order to restore formation. The exception is that units Assaulting an enemy move into contact and fight close combat as explained later. Once again, an exception is made for units assaulting an enemy as explained later.

Once all the dice have been drawn, or once all the units capable of acting on orders have done so, the turn ends. At the end of each turn the dice are returned to the dice bag ready for the next turn, except for Ambush and Down orders which can alternatively be retained from turn to turn as explained below.

This is one die for every unit in their force, including for units that begin the game in reserve as described later. For example, if a force of 12 German blue units is facing a force of 16 American green units, then the bag starts off with 12 blue order dice and 16 green order dice. Should you be using some other tokens rather than order dice then you would have 12 blue tiddlywinks and 16 green tiddlywinks, or blue and green card chits, or whatever.

A battle normally lasts for a set number of turns as discussed later. In each turn the players follow the sequence as shown below. For the sake of explanation, from this point we shall assume that players are using order dice rather than chits or other tokens, but the process is basically the same whichever method is employed. Draw an order die from the dice bag and hand it to the appropriate player. The player chooses one of his units and gives it an order. Place the order die next to the unit to show that it has received an order.

Once a unit has been given an order it cannot be given another order that turn. If necessary, the player takes an order test to determine if the unit follows the order. Back to 1. Once all eligible units have received an order, the orders phase ends — move to the turn end phase. If a destroyed unit has already taken its action remove the order die placed next to it. Order dice lost as a result of units being destroyed are removed from play and placed aside where both players can see them.

When units are lost this therefore reduces the number of dice available for the following turn. Ultimately, of course, this is you, the player, deciding how you want your troops to act that turn. However, if troops are under fire, there is a possibility that the men will disappoint both you and their squad leader, and decide all they really want to do is to keep their heads down. Some large and bulky weapons can only be fired by units receiving this order, as they require the firer to be stationary.

See the rules for Shooting. See the rules for Movement and for Shooting. RUN The unit moves at double speed, but cannot fire any of its weapons. See the rules for Movement. Instead, the soldiers take up firing positions and wait for a target to present itself. Instead, the troops pause for breath, patch up the wounded, pass ammo around and regroup ready for the following turn. See Pinned, below. Instead, the troops hit the dirt and keep their heads down as far as possible, making maximum use of whatever cover is available.

However, units that find themselves under enemy fire are less reliable, and sometimes they will ignore their orders altogether. This is represented by the rules for pinning. Pinned troops are indicated by markers placed on the tabletop next to or behind the affected unit. Units that have taken a great deal of fire will gain more markers and will become increasingly reluctant to obey their orders. Units that are shot at by several enemies, or over a number of turns, can potentially rack up multiple pin markers: they become more firmly pinned down and the chances of them obeying their orders are reduced even further.

In the case of some particularly heavy weapons two or more pin markers can sometimes be scored against a target in one go. For example, if a heavy artillery barrage hits a unit it is likely to be more effectively pinned down than it would be by rifle fire. However, in general the fire of a single unit adds one pin marker to the target. Note that the number of hits caused is not important here: the only thing that matters is the fact that the target has been fired at and has been hit at least once.

It can sometimes happen that one of your own units will fire on another of your units accidentally. Hits from friendly fire also result in a unit taking pin markers as if the target had been an enemy. If you do not wish to clutter the gaming table with markers it is perfectly acceptable to note down where units have been pinned instead.

However, this does involve a certain amount of paperwork, so on the whole we would recommend that suitable and unobtrusive pin markers are used where possible. Regular infantry has a morale value of 9. If it has two pin markers on it, its morale value would therefore be reduced to 7. If it has five pin markers its morale value would be reduced to 4. The order die is placed next to the unit and the corresponding action is carried out without any need to take an order test.

If a unit has one or more pin markers it is considered to be pinned down and might not obey its order. After placing the order die next to the unit, the player must take an order test to see if the order is obeyed. A unit that passes an order test immediately discards one pin marker, and then executes the order it has been given. This represents the unit pulling itself together and recovering some of its discipline before obeying its instructions.

So, your 2D6 roll must score a combined total of 7 or less to pass the test. Any roll of between 2 and 7 will therefore succeed and any roll of between 8 and 12 will fail. A unit that fails its order test does not discard any pin markers and must then execute a down action rather than the order intended. However, if a double six is rolled then not only is the order failed but the unit must roll again on the FUBAR chart below and take the action indicated. This means that the unit has panicked, misunderstood its order, or that something has gone terribly wrong somewhere along the line.

This means that order test rolls of 2 will always succeed regardless of any modifiers that apply, and results of 11 or 12 will always fail. You can then add additional men to the squad, normally up to double the initial numbers, so ten or To represent the confidence of a fresh squad that has not taken casualties, infantry squads at full strength can re-roll failed order tests.

The moment the squad takes the first casualty, this bonus is lost. Note, however, that this rule only applies to infantry units of at least ten men — smaller squads lack the staying power of large groups of men. If you order a pinned unit Down, no order test is taken. The unit goes Down automatically. However, note that if you do this then the unit does not lose a pin marker, as it has not passed an order test. Roll a die and add 1 to the score to determine how many pin markers are removed.

If an order test roll comes up two sixes then not only is the order not given but the player must immediately roll on the chart below. Roll a die to find what action the unit takes. Place a Fire order by the unit. If no such target is available the unit does not fire and goes Down instead.

If no enemy are visible, or if the unit can no longer move for some reason, it goes Down instead. Some are highly trained, motivated, or experienced, whilst others are hurriedly conscripted and committed to the battlefield with little training or equipment.

As we have already discovered, this is a measure of how likely the unit is to follow orders under fire. Troops are divided into three different categories as follows: Quality Morale Examples Inexperienced 8 Conscript, poor or little training, no combat experience.

Regular 9 Normal training and some combat experience. Veteran 10 Special training paras, commandos, marines and extensive combat experience. In the case of an infantry squad this would typically be a sergeant, corporal, lance corporal or an equivalent rank.

These non-commissioned officers NCOs are an integral part of their unit and cannot be deliberately separated from it. The same is true for HQ units, consisting of a superior officer and a few men — if the officer is killed, the men will suffer the same permanent —1 penalty. A veteran unit with one pin marker has a morale value of 9, whilst the same unit with four markers has a value of 6, and so on.

Thus inexperienced troops are routed once they have 8 pin markers, regular units 9, and veteran units Ten is the best value possible and 2 is the worst. There are, however, two notable exceptions. If the player decides to retain the Ambush order, the order die is left where it is and the unit starts the next turn already in ambush and ready to shoot at a target that presents itself.

This allows a unit to stay in ambush from turn to turn, watching and waiting for the enemy to make a move. Alternatively, at this point a unit in Ambush can attempt to fire — roll a D6. On a 3 or less, the unit does nothing and the Ambush dice is put into the bag — the unit has simply lost its concentration.

A pinned unit that does this also loses D3 pin markers immediately instead of returning its order die to the dice bag. There will be times when rapid movement is called for, either to take a position ahead of the enemy or to mount an assault in the face of enemy fire. Other situations will call for a cautious advance with the benefit of covering fire from stationary units nearby. A running infantry unit can move as described above but at double its basic move rate, i.

Note that we permit our infantry to change direction any number of times during their move, allowing them to move round corners, around rubble, around other models, and so forth. Just move the models through their friends.

We assume that individuals get out of the way to allow their friends to pass. Vehicles must negotiate their way around friends whether they are infantry, artillery or other vehicles. TERRAIN At the beginning of the game, before choosing sides and deploying any troops, it is necessary for the players to rate the various terrain features on the battlefield as described below.

It is likely that most of the battlefield will be clear or open ground, where troops and vehicles can move without impediment. Other parts of the battlefield, such as woods, ruins, waterways — and perhaps quarries, escarpments, sand dunes or marshes — can be harder to move over or through. Remember, it is up to the players to decide how to rate the various features used to create the battle scene. There is no need to be rigid or even consistent about such things.

For example, a light scattering of woodland might be counted as either open ground or as rough ground — both are perfectly plausible. This means all units must go round these features: no units can move onto or through them.

The most obvious examples would be a steep gorge, a soaring rocky crag, a large body of deep water, or a very high and substantial wall. Different kinds of troops are affected in different ways, as shown on the table overleaf. Infantry are only allowed to move through rough ground by means of an advance, for example: they cannot move through at a Run. The sort of features that would typically be rated as rough ground include dense woodland or undergrowth; loose ground such as deep mud, sand or scree; and areas of ruinous buildings or rubble.

Obstacles are useful to the opposing armies because they make troops difficult to see and often provide cover. Infantry are only allowed to cross an obstacle whilst advancing and not whilst running. Other kinds of units are affected differently as noted on the table below. Units that move on to the battlefield must be given an Advance or Run order to do so, but note that they are not allowed to make an assault upon enemy units in the same turn. We will explain how assaults work later on see here.

Moving Off: Units cannot voluntarily move off the area designated as the battlefield except in circumstances where the rules specifically indicate otherwise. Buildings can include domestic houses, industrial buildings, and military installations such as bunkers or pillboxes.

We normally allow infantry to enter and fight from or within buildings, but some players are happy to treat buildings as impassable in order to simplify matters. This is up to players to decide for themselves. ROADS If you are fighting around a village, in the outskirts of a town, or even around a farm or factory, it is likely there will be roads or lanes to facilitate transport within and through the area.

Although these roads make no difference to infantry, they enable vehicles to move more quickly as noted on the table below. Road OK OK x2 x2 OK — The unit can move through the terrain without hindrance — this is the default or normal rate for all kinds of troops over open ground. No Run — The unit cannot cross or move within this kind of terrain if undertaking a Run action, but can cross or move over with an Advance action.

No — The unit cannot enter or move within this kind of terrain at all. In this case it cannot move once deployed. This represents situations where guns are 'dug in' to positions prior to the battle as discussed later in the section on Artillery. See the rules for buildings. This enables vehicles to move rapidly along roads where the opportunity permits.

Deploying and manoeuvring skilfully will enable your infantry to bring their weapons to bear most effectively against their enemy. Units that have been given a Fire or Advance order can shoot, whilst units that have been given an Ambush order can shoot when they spring their ambush — in which case their order is flipped to Fire. Other units can sometimes shoot in special circumstances as described throughout the rules: for example, reaction fire during an assault.

Normally, a target is always a single enemy unit. When a unit shoots, it fires all of its weapons at one target: for example, a tank, a squad of infantry, or an anti-tank gun and its crew.

When a unit opens fire only those models that can draw a clear line of fire to their target actually shoot. Note that we do make an exception for models equipped with one-shot weapons, who are allowed to select a different target to the rest of their unit: see the section on one-shot weapons.

Example: An infantry unit can see two enemy units — a machine gun team and an infantry squad further away. As the machine gun is already suppressed with two pin markers, the player decides to ignore it and declares that his unit is firing against the enemy infantry. Infantry models are always allowed to see and shoot through other models in their own unit as if they were not there.

Sometimes you will find it convenient to momentarily lay down a model or place it aside whilst checking line of fire, and this is perfectly fine. Note that this applies vertically as well, as shown in Diagram 4B.

The same exception also applies when shooting mortars and howitzers over the heads of friendly units using indirect fire, as explained later. These weapons fire with a high trajectory, lobbing shells high into the air so they fall onto the enemy from above. When mortar and artillery crews shoot indirect fire they can therefore shoot at any enemy they can see without intervening friends blocking their fire.

Infantry models are always allowed to see and shoot through enemy infantry and artillery models as if they were not there. Note however that if you shoot through an enemy unit, this will provide cover to their comrades behind, as explained later in the section about cover. Model C and the other models in their unit cannot fire as friends are in the way!

The other models in their unit cannot fire as friends are in the way. As it can be difficult measure this vertically, you might have to roll a die for models you are not sure about. If he decides to do so, pick an order die of the appropriate colour from the dice bag and place it next to the unit, showing it has gone Down.

This will make the unit more difficult to hit, reducing the consequences of being shot at, but on the other hand it means the target expends its action for the turn. The player decides against ordering his men to get down, judging that the shooters are out of range. Each weapon has a number of shots. This is the number of dice rolled on behalf of the model firing the weapon.

For example, a rifle has just 1 shot, whilst a medium machine gun has 4 shots representing its rapid rate of fire. Every model that can draw a line of fire to at least one enemy model in the target unit shoots at the nominated target. Afrika Korps panzers move past a vigilant anti-tank gun team Measure the distance between each firing model and the closest visible enemy model in the target unit. If within range, roll a D6 for each shot the weapon has, as shown on the weapons chart.

If the target is out of range then the shots automatically miss and there is no need to roll. Click Download or Read Online button to get bolt action world war ii wargames rules second edition in pdf book now.

This site is like a library, Use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. With more than 23, copies sold of the first edition, this second edition of the best-selling Bolt Action World War II wargaming ruleset from Osprey and Warlord Games presents streamlined and refined rules, incorporating all the FAQs and errata compiled over four years of intensive gameplay. Recreate such great engagements as the battle of Kursk with the scenarios, army options and special rules found in this book.

Bolt Action: Korea contains all the rules, Theatre Lists, scenarios, and new and exciting units, never seen in Bolt Action before, to wargame this turbulent period of world history. Skip to content. Konflikt Despite repeated pleas and demands from their allies, both the United States and Germany were reluctant to share the messages coming through the rifts. Stalin then declared the United States an enemy in May the Soviet Union would end the war on its own.

It is against this backdrop that players find themselves. Using the incredibly popular Bolt Action rules, this rulebook offers everything required to build a force that incorporates the incredible weapons and technologies made possible by the rift signals, and to engage in tabletop battles for supremacy and survival.

Fully compatible with existing Bolt Action material, Konflikt '47 takes the war to a completely new level. The Ardennes, This new Campaign Book for Bolt Action allows players to take command of both armies in this desperate battle, fighting it as they believe it should have been fought. New, linked scenarios, rules, troop types and Theatre Selectors provide plenty of options for novice and veteran players alike.

This supplement for Bolt Action focuses on Operation Husky, the airborne and naval invasion of Sicily, the hard-fought battles in the villages and rugged mountain passes of that island, and the advance up the Italian Peninsula towards Rome.

With a host of scenarios, new units, special rules, and Theatre Selectors this book contains everything players need to refight these important battles in defence of the Regno d'Italia or to strike at the underbelly of Axis-controlled Europe.

After the historic D-Day landings comes the fight to liberate France and the rest of Occupied Europe.