We asked you what you wanted to know about Armies of Germany: Third Edition, and you told us! In the first two Intel Reports, we covered national special rules and took a look at some of the new units that have been added for the new edition. Today, we’re looking at a new way to select your forces that’s introduced with Armies of Germany – perfect for creating historically thematic collections and organising events alike!
Bolt Action: Third Edition’s platoon selector system already allows us to organise our collections into forces that suit our playstyles – we can make our armies as historical as we like, or mix and match as we prefer. However, with so many units available, it can sometimes get a bit confusing as to which period of the war a unit is suitable for…
No need to worry! With Armies of Germany: Third Edition, we’re rolling out a new system that classifies units as either Early, Mid, or Late – or all three! At a glance, you can tell where a unit fits historically, ensuring you never have to worry about whether your Volksgrenadiers belong with your Sturmhaubitze 42! (Spoiler alert: they do – the StuH is Mid and Late, and the Volksgrenadiers are Late.) As a baseline, we count 1939-41 as Early, 1942-43 as Mid, and 1944-45 as Late.
These guides are of course just that – guides! As an example, while we know that a single Panzer III Ausf. E was knocked out in Normandy in 1944, we only list it as Early and Mid. We use principle years of widespread service, and ignore individual outliers to generate these designations, although of course there will always be some weird and wonderful ‘edge’ cases! You can follow the guides as closely or as loosely as you prefer – remember, it’s your army, your way!
This information is presented in a couple of ways in Armies of Germany. Firstly, each unit’s rules profile includes an E/M/L notation so you can see at a glance where it fits historically when you’re writing your list. On pages 117-126, we’ve produced full lists for each period, breaking down exactly which units can be used in which period. You can expect to see this rolled out with each subsequent Armies of… book going forwards.
This new system serves two main purposes. Firstly, it’s a nice quality of life upgrade to make selecting an historical force as simple as possible, and secondly it’s the foundation of a great resource for event organisers. While it doesn’t change any of the game mechanics or rules, it’s something that makes turning a collection into an army and creating awesome events even easier – what’s not to love?
It’s also a great opportunity for us to show you one of the lists, and maybe give you a cheeky preview of some more of the units you can expect to find in Armies of Germany – we know how keen you are to check them out!
Spot anything you like? Make sure you’ve got your book pre-ordered so you can get fielding them as soon as possible!
