Grab your tuxedos, put on your best dresses, and join Phil Brewer as he rolls out the red carpet to tell us all about his latest Hollywood-inspired Bolt Action event, held a few weeks ago!
It’s often said that Bolt Action is more Hollywood than historical reenactment, capable of producing cinematic moments on the tabletop which grizzled players recall with glee for years to come. With the Oscars being held the following day, what better excuse than to run a Hollywood-themed Bolt Action event – Lights, Cameras, Bolt Action!
Twenty players stepped onto the red carpet, playing three games with custom missions all based upon a popular WWII film. First up was Dunkirk, an adaptation of the popular Breakthrough mission, followed by Hacksaw Ridge, featuring a spin on Key Positions, before finishing with Fury – think Seek & Destroy, but with more prominent tanks!
To do these movies justice, players were going to need a Medic and at least one DV9+ tank in their lists, but they otherwise had free reign to choose a film and theme of their choice, building a list of up to 1,000 points and in line with the Third Edition force selection criteria.
With so much to draw inspiration from, the players did not disappoint! A good number focused on the ever-popular Band of Brothers series, Tim G was greedy and included representations from Kelly’s Heroes, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers all in one list, whilst Dan M and Sally H played on how we often see the wrong tank included in movies, apparently representing something it blatantly isn’t! One of the more unusual choices was based on Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, with James S fielding an array of Italian motorcycles, whilst a particular favourite of mine was Mike S’s WW1 German list, inspired by All Quiet on the Western Front, using early war unit profiles closely aligned with their WW1 counterparts!
With so many great lists to choose from picking a winner was difficult, and it came down to three: Charley M’s Band of Brothers list, in which he was able to name each model as featured in the Replacements episode; Martin B’s SAS Rogue Heroes, which including an inexperienced Valentine tank that been commandeered by Stirling, Mayne, et al, and Bryn C’s Soviet Battle of the Dnieper River list, from the Russian-language movie Breakthrough.
Of course, no Oscars event would be complete without awards: the printer was fired up, mini Oscars and a rather large raspberry were duly printed and out came the gold spray paint! With a spin on the usual prizes seen at Bolt Action events, the following were awarded:
Best Picture (for Best Themed list): Bryn C
Best Director (for Most Sporting): Sally H
Best Visual Effects (for Best Painted): Rich C
Best Actor (for 1st Place): Rich C
Best Supporting Actor (for 2nd Place): James S
Golden Raspberry (for Wooden Spoon): Jack S
Regular readers of the Warlord Community pages will know that I’m a big fan of running events with a theme (see the recent article Dreaming About Theming for more details), and once again I encourage TOs and players alike to get imaginative with your event requirements and list submissions – with a bit of planning and creativity, there are so many opportunities to play those rarely seen units, undertake inspiring modelling projects and put a spin on the tried-and-tested missions we often see.
Now, just like Oddball, I’m off to eat some cheese and catch some rays, man!
Want to field your own force inspired by your favourite World War II movies? Do it with Bolt Action!
