Monday 1 January 2024

Bolt Action Terrain Layout Generator

 

Bolt Action Terrain Layout Generator



Introduction


Unlike some other wargames, Bolt action doesn’t have any rules for setting up terrain for a game. This can

lead to either players putting symmetrical scenery on both sides of the table. So neither player is deemed to

have an unfair advantage or the other extreme where one side has too much cover and terrain and winning

the game just comes down to which player rolls high to pick the best side. Personally I sometimes find

that I have the same ideas when placing the terrain so I feel that most of my tables appears the same. In war,

leaders didn’t usually get a chance to pick their terrain, they had their orders to defend or take an objective

and so use the local terrain as best they could to complete the mission. Therefore I have written a terrain

layout generator that can be tweaked to be as balanced or unbalanced as you wish. 


Due to the Second World War being fought all over the world (the clue is in the name). The terrain can be

different depending on the region from Deserts of North Africa, Jungles of Burma to the Snow covered

mountains of Norway. For this article I will be preparing to play in a typical western European region

although the same principle can be used to prepare a table for any region. 


The Set up Stage


Split the table into 24 12” squares, this can be easily done by placing markers such as washers, bases or

even figures, place them 12” apart to make the inner corners of the squares.


Red dots are where the markers are placed


The Road layout


With our chosen region being Western Europe there is a good chance of there being a road on the table. If

you are preparing a region that has a lesser chance of a road for example, a jungle or desert table,

roll 1D6,

1-3 no road

4-6 a road.


Otherwise roll 1D6 and place the road from the result on your table. The roads are designed so that they

can't be driven straight across in one turn. Roll 1D6 and place the roads down first according to the resulting

map below, make sure they go through the correct squares on the table. On the rare occasion you want or the

scenario requires a river (see section at the end of the article) place the river before laying the road. 




Generating the terrain


For each side of the table you need a deck of 12 normal playing cards, 3 terrain cards(red number cards),

3 building (red picture cards)and 6 open ground (black spades or clubs ) cards. This combination is for a

normal generic table. if you want a more dense terrain then add more terrain cards equally to each side or

more buildings and ruins if you want a built up city board etc. Shuffle the deck and place the cards face

down left to right in the two rows of squares in the first player's half. Then turn each card over:


Black card:  It is open ground and no terrain is placed


Red number card: Terrain card roll 1D6

1-3 Field, roll 1D6 again, 1-3 field rough  4-5 field with crops/fence  6 field/crops with wall.

4-5 Wood roll 1D6 again, 1 orchard with fence 2 orchard with wall 3-6 dense wood. 

6 Hill , roll 1D6 again, 1-4 open gentle Hill  5-6 rough ground, steep hill. 


Red picture card; Building card roll 1D6

1-2 Ruin.

3-5 House, roll 1D6 again,  1-4 :Single house, 5-6  2 Storey house.

6    Large building.


Building’s garden/yards

When placing a building or ruin roll to see if the building has a garden. Roll 1D6 if they have a boundary

outside even it is a ruin

1-2 no garden, 3-4 fenced garden  5-6 walled garden.

Now roll 1D6 to see which side of the house the garden is on

1-2 front of the house 3 right hand side 4 left hand side 5-6 rear of the house. 


Size of the terrain

Terrain should be at least roughly 9-10” square


Alignment of the terrain

If the terrain piece is in the same square as a road then it is placed adjacent to the road on the side that

has the most space in the square. If it is a building ,the face with the front door will always be the side of

the building facing the road.


Orientation of the terrain

When placing the actual terrain in their appropriate sectors that has no roads throw 1D6 

Choose one side of the piece of terrain e.g front of a house, next throw 1D6 

1 two o’clock 2 four o’clock 3 six o’clock(south) 4 eight o’clock 5 ten o’clock 6 12 o'clock (north)




Place the terrain with the side you have chosen in the square facing the direction that was the result

on the die. Some terrain may not fit all in their allocated square e.g a large building with a fenced garden.

Do not worry as long as there is room in the adjacent square.  Another simple solution is to just roll a Bolt

Action Order dice and face the chosen side in the direction of the arrow on the dice.


Fences and walls

Now roll for each road in a square for a linear obstacle (fence etc) to be placed along each side of the road.

If the side of the road already has a piece of terrain on it do not roll for the obstacle

Roll 1D6

1-3 No linear obstacle

4-5 Fence (soft cover)

6    Wall (hard cover)

   

When all the cards have been turned over and the terrain placed, reshuffle the deck and place each card

from left to right on the other side of the table. Repeat the turning over and placing the terrain as above.


A table ready for Bolt Action generated from the procedure explained above.


Rivers and waterways

I have not included rivers in the generator rules, however if the scenario or mission requires a river

Roll 1D6 for each the result decides which side the river enters and exits the table, Place the river on the

table before placing roads and terrain etc. 



Rivers can be crossed by bridges by all types of units  

Rivers can be shallow or deep, roll 1D6 1-4 shallow river, 5-6 deep river. 

A shallow river can be crossed by infantry and cavalry units anywhere on the board as if it was rough

terrain. Vehicles can only cross if there is a bridge or ford(counts as rough for wheel and infantry, counts

as open for tracked vehicles.

A deep river can only be crossed by all types of units by a bridge. 

For playability there should be at least three bridges(fords) across the river even if the board has no roads.

If the board has roads, anywhere that the road crosses a river if it is a shallow river throw 1D6 1-3 it is a

ford 4-6 it is a bridge. If it is a deep river then place a bridge. If there is still less than 3 crossings then

roll 1D6 and count the result in squares from left to right, place the extra crossing on the river in that

square. Repeat until there are at least three crossing points, If the square already has a bridge in it roll again.



A river crossing board


Conclusion


As I have already explained before, this is just a generic example for you to add your own ideas. For

instance if you are generating a Normandy region you may want to add bocage to the fields and the linear

obstacles on the side of the roads. therefore the Fences and walls parameters would be something like:

Roll 1D6

1-2 Fence (soft cover)

3-5 Bocage (Hard cover, blocks line of sight unless unit is touching)

6    Wall (hard cover) 


If you only have a certain amount of terrain then just give them a specific playing card as reference

e.g Queen of diamonds = church, five of hearts = walled field etc. Just make sure the two decks of cards

for each side of the table have the same amount of hard and soft cover areas in them. 


Once all the terrain has been set, each player rolls a dice to who has the choice of which side they want

to deploy on.





Wednesday 14 July 2021

Waterloo

                            Waterloo Refight


Just putting on some of the big games on my blog from the last few years. This was from 2015 when we played our 200th Anniversary game at my house. It was a great turn out with 5 players on the French side and 4 players on the Allied side. We played free deployment and with both sides not knowing if Blucher or Grouchy (or even both) would arrive on the flank. 


I set the table up in a L shape, all the troops are off the table at the start.


The Allied Players, left to right; Carlos, Jose Angel, Toni and myself.


The French Players, left to right; Miguel, Francois, Vicente, Salva and Javi.


The game wouldn't have been possible without other players bringing some of their collections as well. Javi very kindly supplying some of the British. 



Whilst the French players were upstairs discussing their tactics and sorting out commands, The Allied Players were deploying their troops. Any troops behind the ridge were replaced with playing cards (including blank cards) so there was an element of doubt for the French where the Allied units were placed.


Most of the Allied troops are not deployed because they are behind the ridge.


I was in command of the British flank, Units on the ridge and defending Hougoumont were placed on the table.


The French players after making their careful plans of attack begin to place their troops.



View from the Allied side as the large French columns are placed on the table. 


With the help of Javi, I explained the special rules for the game.


One of the special rules was for the arrival of Grouchy or the Prussians. I had written a number of messages about the sighting of troops (or lack of signs) on the French right flank. We used real time as a trigger to a dice roll to see if either side received any messages.

So between 9.00 to 1.00pm 1-4 no message
                                              5-6  one message

2.00 to 3.00pm 1-3 no message
                           4-5  one message
                              6 two message

4.00 to 8.00pm  1-2 no message
                           3-4 one message
                             5-6 two messages

The messages have a brief description such as "Light cavalry are sighted on the flank" these are weighted with +5, +10, +15 or -5, -10 and -15 points. After 5pm and every hour after the points are added up and when they reach a certain amount then the French or Prussians are placed on the field. This gives each side a level of knowledge or uncertainty when the troops are going to arrive.


 
Wellington takes up his position on the ridge.





Napoleon with his Imperial Guard


The French Centre begins their advance.


Panoramic view from the French side.


Toni was in command of the Allied left Flank and did a very good of delaying the French advance.


This time, Napoleon wasn't messing about and had sent his Imperial Guard in the first attack, advancing onto to La Hay Sainte.


The Highlander Regiment from the British Reserve Corp managed to hold onto the village of Smohain until the very last turn.


A view from the Allied controlled village of Papelotte.


The French emerge from the woods to finally attack Hougoumont.


The French Cavalry begin their attack between La haye and Hougoumont. 


Close up of the French attack.


Hougoumont under increasing pressure from the French VI Corp



Hougoumont was on the ropes, and to its flanks the French cavalry had reached the ridge so therefore the Allied troops behind the ridge were deployed.


Break time for a BBQ and the swimming pool to cool off.



The French infantry reach the ridge but are counterattacked by the Allied cavalry.



The French Cavalry supported by their horse artillery begin to charge the Allied infantry squares behind the ridge.


The Imperial Guard finally take La Haye Sainte.




                                     The pressure on the Allied centre is growing.


The Prussians finally arrive, more or less the same time and place historically.
                  

Unit of Cuirassiers destroys three infantry units including a battalion of riflesthat had not form in square in time.
 


More Prussian arrive but move slowly through the woods allowing the French to hurry reinforcements to block the advance.


The game finished with the French taking all of the ridge apart from one Dutch battalion that was under my command. Due to the victory conditions technically this meant the Allies had held the day although if we had chance to play another turn then it would have been surely a French victory.

It was a great game played on a very sunny and hot day. We had used Lasalle rules for the game due to all of us knowing the rules although it had been a few months since we had played them. It was one of the largest games we have put on with over 3828 infantry, 624 cavalry and 65 Artillery.