Adepticon 2019 has come and gone. Let’s look back at the insanity that was Bolt Action Doubles!

We tried something new this year for Doubles. We worked with the TOs to create an event within the event – The North Africa Club Challenge. This resulted in 14 of the 30 teams bringing Bolt Action armies inspired by the North African theater of war. We also secured eight North African tables to stage some truly awesome match ups.

Our army was modeled after the American 1st Armored Division that took part in Operation Torch and the Battle of Kasserine Pass. Kasserine was one of the first engagements between the fresh US Army and the battle-hardened German Afrika Korps. To represent historical flavor, our army was 100% Inexperienced infantry and tanks. What we lacked in experience, we made up for in numbers with 52 infantry, a jeep, and six tanks. You can take closer look in the Showcase post.

Game 1 – Point Defense

Andrew’s highlight – Well, that was unexpected! Ben and I were fully prepared to go 0-3 with this 100% Inexp. army. But, with Ben’s tanks just coming in hot out the gate we were able to secure a Major Victory against Paul and Jeff’s gorgeous DAK. Highlight for me was winning an assault against seven SMG Vet. Fallschirmjäger with a squad of ten Inexp. GIs. That was something else.

Ben’s highlight – As Andrew mentioned, we were prepared to get stomped throughout this event and have a blast the entire time. Going into Game One, we had all the infantry on one side and tank platoons on the other. I pushed up pretty fast and was able to take out a few enemy armored vehicles, but not without casualties as poor Mae was deleted by pins coming from AT guns and a heavy howitzer! My highlights definitely revolved around surrounding a Panzer III and being unable to kill it with multiple Shermans at near point-blank ranges.

Game 2 – Kitty Hawk Down

Andrew’s highlight – This was a tough match-up for us. We knew that Tiger Fear would cause us issues and oh boy, were we right. Dave and Tyler’s DAK contained just a single Vet. Panzer IV but that’s all that was needed to force our army to stall out and it cost us the game. That being said, a squad of mine took eight HE 1″ templates to the face leaving the NCO all alone but he still passed his Morale test on a 4!

Ben’s highlight – Unfortunately with the very wide open table and the Tiger Fear, we were gonna be taking checks all game. A few clutch fails on tanks prevented us from doing much to push on the objective when it came in right on top of enemy units. Mae did some solid shooting this game and took out the Flak truck and a pair of Panzer I’s, but a failed Tiger Fear check by Diablo prevented him from rushing onto the objective and forcing a minor loss instead of a major.

Game 3 – Scalps

Andrew’s highlight – This was a wild game against our longtime Adepticon buddies Mike and Chris that proved the power of the Down Order. As with all kill point missions you need to destroy the enemy as quickly as possible. Turns out, going Down against our Inexp. force will instantly force us to hit on 6s (regardless of other modifiers). Needless to say, our tanks just couldn’t deal enough damage to earn those kill points. Highlight for me was our opponent Mike’s squad of Goumier absorbed easily 40 small arms and MMG shots but just. refused. to. die.

Ben’s highlight – Once again we loaded up one side of the map with tanks and the other with infantry, but as Andrew said, it was hard to land those hits! I got hyper aggressive on the right and managed to take out the only real AT threat on that side, allowing me to get in the face of some infantry units (pictured above), some of whom died, some of whom… didn’t. Unfortunately my aggression may have thrown the game for us and taken it from a draw to a loss, when I overextended my Stuart – Big Weldon – and lost it to the enemy Stuart while trying to eliminate an artillery unit.

Final Thoughts

Andrew – Bolt Action Doubles continues to be my Adepticon highlight. Year after year this event never fails to deliver. The missions, the hobby, the community are all at peak awesome during this event. Ben and I set our goal this year for Best Painted or Player’s Choice and we took home the hardware for Player’s Choice. This might be the Adepticon medal I am most proud of. Thank you to Paul and Jeremy for running another incredible event and thank you to all the players that make it worth attending.

Ben – As always, this was a very fun and well run event. Jeremy worked with us to facilitate the North Africa challenge, and it was amazing that so many teams were willing to buy in. Since Andrew was able to use the end of Doubles to announce that 2020 will be have a similar club challenge theme of 1940, I’m hopeful that even more teams will jump in on it next year! Once again an awesome event with some great games. Already planning and looking forward to next year.