EDIT: Click here for the podcast

Last Weekend, Saturday 8th March 2025, Nathan- one of the local Bolt Action TOs- held an event at Ironhorse Hobbies, a fantastic hobby store here in Christchurch, NZ. I was lucky enough to actually be at home on this weekend and so was quick to sign up when Nathan put the word out. In addition, some of the players in our gaming 'silo' were also available to play and so It was that Craig, Simon and I turned up early morning on the Saturday ready for a days gaming and meet the other players for the event.

Nathan had set the points limit at 1250 Pts for this one day, three-game event. And apart from this the only restriction was that all armies were to be selected from the V3 Rulebook selectors and minor nations PDFs, and so as Germany was the only nation at the time with their own armies of book published this was a levelling exercise between nations.

Another admin point was that Nathan had asked if players could provide some tables and terrain where possible, and as an incentive one of the prizes offered on the day was for 'Best Table', and so we had a cracking variety of tables for the event:

This Table ( above )was provided by Sam, a player that hadn't played BA since the start of 2nd Ed. Not only was this a cracking table but he also had a nicely painted IJA army he was playing on the day. I liked the colours running through the terrain and mat- especially the fact the cobblestone roads weren't just a plain grey.

Clink on the link below to continue reading... lots of photos as well

 This one above was Nathan's. Apart from celebrating his birthday the week of the event he somehow found time to get this great table together! Nathan had a table full of lovely saturated, vibrant colours and the autumnal theme really set off the Micro Art Studios printed MDF Buildings, which occasionally can look a little bright against tables on which they are placed. I love Nathan's flocks of sheep also (must be a New Zealand thing!) and his stream was colourful without being too crazy.

This interesting and dramatic table (above) was created by Craig, and I thought it was a fantastic job of having an airfield table without it becoming an enormous, open, killing area as can often be the case. Unfortunately I got this best pic of the table during turn two of our game and so please look past the game going on and see the awesome job that Craig did of having emergency vehicles, debris and craters from the impact of the failed glider landing on the airfield providing cover to units crossing the runway. Topped off by nicely modelled MDF and 3D prints that were really well selected for consistency of theme. An original take on the theme providing great playability!

And then I brought along my snowy tundra FLGS-branded mat with a central rather lonely peasant farm building and animal pen, dense forest bases, of which four were also hills. Using the clumps of scrub and placement of the terrain allows movement but cuts down arcs of fire and length of fire lanes through providing cover. Very simple, but I've had great feedback on how it plays and it looks pretty.
As well as a nice variety of great tables, we were also blessed with a fantastic array of armies; IJA, Finns, Germans, Italians, US and British armies were played on the day which again made it exciting. I personally went for Waffen SS- purely because I was painting units to add to them and didn't want to get sidetracked from that goal, and CERTAINLY not because I have an unhealthy love for their ethos.

You can check out our latest (or soon-to be- uploaded!) podcast for further details of my army list, and also a full run down of the day, but I hope you enjoy these pics snapped between/during my games on the day;

Above are some pics of my SS vs Nathan's Italian army in our first game.
Below you can see Craigs 8th army vs Simons Finns in their first game;

Nathan's Italians faced Al's USMC in their game 2 (above)

Simons Finns in battle with Sam's IJA in round 2.
Sadly the below pic you've already seen is the only one I took of the game between Craig and I! This is during the 2nd turn as the cavalry try to weather the storm of fire after seizing the objective ( a downed pilot in this case nicely painted by Craig!)

Below you can see some of the participants at battle as Al watches on. You can see this is a great gaming space upstairs at the venue; Ironhorse Hobbies, Christchurch- highly recommended and they stock railway scenics, bolt action and other wargames products also!!

And below you can see a photo dump of Craig's 8th army vs Sam's IJA in the last round…an exciting and close game! Sam is a switched-on experienced player returning to the system who played really well throughout and Craig had to ensure he was disciplined and played the mission cleverly to gain the win.

I was very pleased to have managed to win the event, with Craig close behind in 2nd place, and Simon chasing at his heels in 3rd. But everyone was quite close in results, played three fantastic games with a great bunch of players.
I was also very pleased to have been judged Best Painted by the independent judge from the Ironhorse Hobbies staff, as this was what I was aiming for when I attended having invested considerable time into the force- very happy!

I was also VERY surprised to get Best Table based on the quality of table that was there- but very flattered and thankful. I made sure I didn't take a prize for that one as the others could take something extra and I felt they deserved that prize.

The prize support from Warlord and Ironhorse Hobbies was very generous- thank you!- and the service was great too, highly recommended to all of you locally/nationally ( YES they have a website!). Big thanks for their hosting, to all the great players and to Nathan for organising the event. To the players who couldn't make it- you were missed!

I look forward to the next one! (and I have some news on that front, shortly to be released to you…watch this space!)

Dan