Firefight!

Unofficial Bolt Action

Skirmish Rules

1
 FIREFIGHT!
“These skirmish rules allow you to play Units & Order Dice:
a different game of Bolt Action, one that uses a
more limited area and fewer models. Each model For the purpose of this skirmish version, each man
acts individually (i.e. it is a unit, as opposed to from a squad acts as a ‘unit’ and moves individually.
being part of a unit) and the scope is limited to These units do not have to stay in formation. When
infantry and soft-skin vehicles. Except for that, you prepare to play, your force gets one order die for
these rules can be treated as a light version of the each model it comprises of.
full Bolt Action rules.”
Grouping for Orders:
Force Selection: An NCO or Officer can command more than just
Players create a force using the generic reinforced themselves.
platoon selector on page 124 of the Bolt Action core
rulebook or one of the many theatre selectors printed If you choose to activate an Officer then before you
in our fantastic supplements. choose an action you have the opportunity to
activate all the individuals within 12” with one
We suggest keeping this force very small – around command (pull the correct amount of order dice out
200 points or so should be a good starting point. the bag) they must all then be given the same order
as the officer in question and act simultaneously with
The only exceptions to the normal force selection the chosen action.
rules are that your force must consist of an officer, a
single section, and no more than one specialist team. An NCO can issue orders in the same way but has a
It cannot include: command range of 6”
»» Captains or higher ranks
»» Artillery (i.e. field artillery, anti-tank guns and Army Special Rules:
anti-aircraft guns)
»» Armoured vehicles (i.e. any vehicle with an For reasons of balance and fairness, the only safe
armour value of 7+ or better) way to deal with these is to say that in games of
Firefight, no army special rules apply, unless the
players agree otherwise.
“Andrew is creating a US Ranger force for a
skirmish. We assume that at such small scale, the differences
between armies become much less relevant, as these
He begins by choosing a veteran first lieutenant rules often reflect the effects of training and
for 90 points. He then fulfils his mandatory choice organisation at a much higher organisational level.
with a veteran Ranger squad, costing 70 points.
Engaging Small Targets:
This leaves him with 40 points to spend.
As every man is obviously a small target, there is a
He considers taking a veteran .30 cal machine gun
-1 penalty to all shooting attacks.
team, but then decides to drop this in favour of a
regular bazooka team.
The only exception if the designated target is a
FIREFIGHT!

vehicle.
As this pushes the total 20points over, he elects to
reduce the officer to a veteran 2nd Lt and with the
remaining 5 points adding a BAR to the
Ranger squad.

A total of 200 points, for an eight-man strong

force.”
British Commandos stand by for action!

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Teams: Break Point:
If a weapon has the Team Weapon special rule, this When your force has lost half or more of the models/
rule is ignored and replaced by the following: dice it started the game with, it has reached its
breaking point.
One model is always operating the weapon, while
the other crewmen are armed with rifles or pistols. Whenever your force suffers a casualty from then
on (including the casualty that caused your force to
When the weapon is fired, if there is a crewman reach the breaking point), you must take a Break test.
model within 1” of the firing model (or the weapon
itself, for the sake of aesthetics) who has not yet This is the same as a Morale check and is always
received an order this turn, you can declare that the taken by the force’s Officer. If the officer is not on the
crewman is acting as the assistant gunner or loader. table, then one of the NCOs will do so. If there are no
NCOs on the table, then the friendly model with the
When the weapon is fired, place the appropriate highest Morale currently on the table will take the
order die next to the model firing it, and an identi- test, but with an additional –1 Morale modifier.
cal order die next to the crewman that is helping to
fire it. This die is taken from the dice bag, and the This Break Point rule replaces the negative modifier
crewman’s action is therefore spent for the turn. If for Morale checks for losing Squad Leaders explained
no crewman helps with the firing, then the weapon on page 23 of the Bolt Action rules, which does not
suffers a –1 to hit. apply at all in games of this type.

In addition, if the model carrying the team weapon is If your force passes the Break test, the game contin-
killed, any crewman of that team within 1” can pick ues as normal. If you fail a Break test, then your force
up the weapon as they would be equally familiar with surrenders, disperses or retreats – you immediately
it (simply swap the models and remove the crewman lose the game.
model instead). If the model carrying the weapon is
killed by Exceptional Damage, however, the other Scenarios:
crewmen cannot pick up the weapon and so would
When playing a Firefight! scenario, you could play
continue to fight as a rifleman.
any of the scenarios in the Bolt Action rulebook.

HE: However, the type of scenario that best suits these

small scale skirmish actions is Scenario 2:
HE weapons normally inflict a variable number of
Maximum Attrition. Play a few games using this
hits. Instead, in Skirmish they inflict a single hit
scenario to get to grips with the ins and outs of the
against the model that they are targeted at, and a
new rules.
single hit against all models (friends and foes!),
within a certain range of the original target. This
We’ll be releasing plenty of scenarios over the
range varies with the size of the explosion, using the
course of our gargantuan D-Day 75th Anniversary
templates.
Campaign. These scenarios are designed to be
tightly focussed and challenging - and will provide
a nice interlude between standard games of Bolt
Pinning & Morale: Action.

If a unit is under fire and a hit is achieved, put a pin

marker next to the actual man who is the target. If “Enterprises must be prepared, with
he survives then when he is next activated, he has to specially-trained troops of the hunter class, who
take a leadership check at -1 to be issued the order, can develop a reign of terror down these coasts,
otherwise he must remain down – If the affected first of all on the “butcher and bolt” policy...” -
individual is within 6” of an NCO or 12” of an officer Winston Churchill
then use their leadership, if higher.