Saturday, November 28, 2015

Bolt Action Modern Rules

Hello all - for my followers in the US - happy post-Thanksgiving!  I've certainly had my fill of Turkey at this point and will be spending some time on the exercise apparatus as a result.

I've enjoyed Force On Force (FOF) in the past and some parts of this modification are inspired by those supplements (even if you don't play the rules there are great scenarios in those books, worth buying just for that).  Bolt Action is "my speed" of rules given all the systems I play so modifying them for modern was the best approach to keep me from having to remember yet another set of rules.

Clearly credit goes to the folks at Warlord Games for creating Bolt Action to begin with ... and to the folks who have provided excellent source material and examples in Force On Force and it's supplements for how to approach modern warfare.

Hopefully, the minor changes made here:

  • Make BA work for both symmetrical and asymmetrical warfare.  My purpose being to use this for my Operation Iraqi Freedom games but also for when my friend Dan Kerrick gets his US and Russian stuff done for a hypothetical engagement between the two super powers in Europe.
  • Keep to the simple and straight forward approach in Bolt Action - not defining every single difference between the numerous amount of weapon types available to the modern solider.  For example, there are just two weapon types listed for all the various man-portable AT weapons.  RPGs and SMAW are one entry and the rest are Light AT Weapons (LAW and similar).

I should have my first battle report up using the modification sometime after next weekend as I'll be playing my first Operation Iraqi Freedom game next Sunday.

Ok, pictures below show a preview of the QRF.  You can download the QRF in PDF format here.

NOTE:  Version 3.1 rules and army lists are available HERE (rules) and HERE (army lists).

 They are meant to be printed on two double-sided sheets of 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper.  Please email feedback to sotek486@yahoo.com - looking forward to see if anyone finds them useful.






25 comments:

  1. Fantastic work....my Saturday night is now complete! I have been waiting for an official version but this looks just as good.

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  2. Not My choise of rules but an realy impressive work !

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  3. Well done Jay

    Hope the noise on the LAF blows over....

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    1. Thanks sir! I'm sure it will ... you try to be nice and there is always someone waiting to attempt to spoil the fun for others ;-)

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  4. Excellent work, I really enjoyed reading these. LAF is aflame Sir!

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    1. Thanks! LAF ... should hopefully blow over soon ;-)

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  5. Excellent work, I enjoyed reading this and look forward to playing it.

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  6. Just stumbled over this! Excellent work Jay. Will get it on the table sometime soon I hope.

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  7. After seeing your rules I like what I see. I have needed a reason to buy Empresses models Abrams tanks and modern military US soldiers. Will you upgrade this once 2nd Ed is released?

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    1. Hello! Excellent, I have a growing collection of Empress Miniatures stuff :-) Yes, I've been good about keeping the rules up to date. I've pre-ordered BA 2nd Ed. so I'm waiting for it to show up. That being said, early reports are that the changes will not really have much bearing on the modern rules now --- but I'll review and check to see what they've done and incorporate any of the changes as needed.

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    2. I too ordered 2nd Ed. and can't wait! Funny thing is I already bought German troops, US troops and 4 tanks already for WW2. Need to build the soldiers, but already built the tanks! Thank you so much keeping this up. Heck I'm so desperate for Modern I would have even used the outdated rules.

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    3. Lol, well excellent, I hope you enjoy the modern and WW2 rules :-)

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  8. Hey. Sent email or two! Love what you've done. Can we see stuff for Cold War 80s? T-72, BMD-1 and 2s? I've just started pondering how to apply what you've done to African Wars (SADF versus Cuba and Angola). Elands, Rooikats, Olifant MK 1as, Ratels and Buffels against T-34 85s, BTR 152s through BTR 70s, T-55s, a few export T-72s, etc....

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    1. Got your emails and back from the convention. Will take a look at what you sent.

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  9. Just curious but do you have a list that could represent the Israeli Defeence Force? Just curious

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    1. I don't ... but it wouldn't be hard to make one.

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  10. Hi Jay,

    Just stumbled across this, and I wanted to say: Thank you!

    I have been looking for an excuse to get into 28mm Modern, and I think this will do it.

    Quick question:
    Have you played around with creating point values for the various units/weapons/vehicles?


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  11. Hello Jay,

    Just wanted to say thank you! These rules are awesome for my modern 1/72 scale stuff. Just curious how you work the points values. Ive tried to match things but I feel with my US vs Russians it can get alittle bias as Im guessing point amounts.

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  12. Great job, mate!! But I can't found the units point values... Is this correct? How can we assing the unit points...??

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  13. Awesome I've drafted my own version of a modern tabletop maybe il share some day

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  14. Jay wonderful stuff, I gave your rules a run out last week in 6mm and they worked really well, thanks for posting. Did you have a view on T55 & T62's. Thinking as moving down a few years to late 70s - early 80's.
    Cheers
    Stu

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