On Monday  we got together to play out first games, now that we have some play experience what do we think?

The Table

We wanted to play a first game of K47 together so to speak.   The initial plan was for one couple to play whilst the other watched and offered “helpful” advice followed by the second couple playing whilst the first couple watched and offered “helpful” advice.

Our plans were forced to change so we decided to play two games at the same time which meant we were playing across Simon’s dinner table.   Luckily it’s about 6′ by 3′ so we ended up with two 3 x3 playing surfaces.  This will have some affect on our experience playing the game.

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James – Germans

I was really looking forward to this game; bank holiday Monday toy soliders is always fun! 

I played Simon and his soviets we decided to just play the basic intro scenario of just kill each other as although we  have both played bolt action and Gates of Antares this is still a new game of sorts. 

I decided to use the list I posted here (if written it so I was sure going to use it!). 

When Si told me he was going to use his KV-1 with the new turret I was a bit taken aback about it, my list is really limited in how I can kill it but si really wanted to use it and it was the first game so i thought ‘oh well’ and ran with it.

Turns out this was a silly idea it totally dominated the game and I couldn’t scratch it, that being said the game was still a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the new rules; the reactions add a new dimension to bolt action. The heavy infantry were a lot tougher than i thought they were going to be, the 6 to wound made them that much more tougher than the rest of the vets, next time I get to play im going to add the new MG equipped troops. 

Speaking of LMG they are still not worth the upgrade cost at the moment, which along with officers not doing a lot and the down order being reduced in usefulness because of the way rally now works are the bits that need a look at but with the rumored changes to BA 2 hopefully these will be fixed.

Overall I really loved how it played and I can’t wait to play more, if you like BA then this is a more complete version of the game even if you dont take the weird war elements.

Shipman – USA

Wow, that was fun! Me and Stefan played a 500 point game. My list was:

2nd Lt and 2 riflemen (regular)

10 veteran riflemen + NCO, 2 BAR’S and anti tank grenades

5 man heavy armoured squad with anti tank grenades

Regular hmg

Regular Coyote

Now, any experinced player will spot the error like a shot, and they’d be right: very little anti tank.

This point was unsubtley hammered home when Stef put his lend/lease Grizzly on the table. Just rude considering that we’d provided it in the first place!

We had a cracking game of maximum attrition that could have gone either way, my Coyote had an attack of panic and my heavies weathered a massive storm of fire and artillery shells.

Stef’s free atillery observer was lethal on a small table, with pins being given out like sweets and 17 hits (of a maximum 18) on my heavy squad! We finished at a draw, but Stefan would have cleaned up with one more turn.

My thoughts on the game; Wow that was fun! Great system, very few conflicts and minimal rulebook flicking so very positive.

Just as the US air observer is in bolt action, the free artillery observer in k47 is horrible at small points values!

Also you need to account for all options at all point levels. As such, its about time I started building the M8 Grizzly “The Painted Lady” for my 750 list.

Simon – Soviets (tl/dr: the KV1-ZP was brutal)

In the run up to this game I decided that I wanted to run something rift-tech powered, as otherwise, I’d be running a Bolt Action army in K47.   I’ve got Zvuchovy Projektor turret and I wanted to see how it ran in game. I was going to put it on a T34 hull but considering just how many Panzerfaust’s James likes to run, I decided that it might be a better idea to pop it on something with a bit more armour.

This left me looking at the following.  2nd LT with SMG, Free rifle squad with anti-tank grenades, 2 regular guards squads with 3 SMGs, 1LMG (one with a Panzerfaust), 2 regular anti-tank rifle teams and a KV1-ZP.

The KV1-ZP was overkill, James had nothing that could get close enough to it to do anything to it as I got lucky with it and used my first full turn with it to hit and pin / stun both the Spinne and a unit of Panzer Grenadiers.   

Every turn it then managed to stack pins on units and keep them static.   James helped in this regard by failing some order tests but still, the KV1 completely dominated the battlefield.  I wouldn’t take it again in a sub 1000pt game , and I only took it because I really REALLY wanted to see what the Projektor did and whether it would work.

 

Beyond that I got to try out some of the reactions rules which worked very well, especially when the grenadiers and guards had a shoot out in the centre!    It was also really interesting watching my opponent realise that fire orders would result in me having a chance to shoot back in reaction and switching to advance orders to take away that chance!

Stefan – GB and Commonwealth

I enjoyed the game very much and loved to shoot Paul and being shot back. The artillery observer and Grizzly were the best, the observer called in an excellent artillery strike which I thought would do really well but in reality it was mostly pins which delayed Paul but didn’t really stop him.   

The Grizzly managed to keep the Medium Machine Gun quiet for most of the game, killing it on the final turn.   I really enjoyed learning about the observers attacks and I was happy with what I got.

I lost an entire squad by advancing them into the middle of the table whilst trying to take out the heavy infantry, I should have kept them in cover or a building and shot from there!

All in all it was a great game and lots of fun for my first game. Stef, over and out.