The Chicago Four Star Open is back for its second year! Hosted at the world-famous Chicagoland Games, Four Star is a three-game, escalation-style Bolt Action event. We started the day with Game 1 at 450pts, upped it to 800pts for Game 2, and closed out with 1,100pts for Game 3. With 18 players crammed into the basement and Old Style on hand, the Four Star Open had the makings for a perfect day of Bolt Action.

Our Forces

Andrew – In Game 1, I used the same Combat Patrol force that I brought to Battle in Berlin – British Commandos in the Burmese theater. In both Game 2 and Game 3 I used the full might of the Late War Royal Marine Commando Troop (Burma) Theater Selector from Campaign: D-Day: British & Canadian Sectors. I added an additional M3 Stuart to support the Stuart Recce, swapped out the Boys AT for a PIAT, added a second Light Mortar, a Light Howitzer, a Commando Engineer Section with a Flamethrower and a Commando Intelligence Section.

At 1,100pts I had 13 Order Dice (including three two-man weapons teams) and I was excited to leverage all the unique Army Special Rules for these Commandos. The entire force has Up and at em! and Tough as Boots! They also have Ready to take Charge (NCOs are replaced on a 3+) and Close Quarters Combat Troops allows the weapons teams to fire any small arms they carry. It was a full complement of Tough Fighting Veterans who were fully prepared to take the fight to the enemy.

Ben – As discussed in the intro, we were working with 450pts in a Combat Patrol for Game 1, and then Games 2 and 3 allowed Theater Selectors at 800pts and 1100pts respectively. I was running an expanded version of my Battle of the Bulge Americans from Operation Sting 2018 and Armored Apocalypse 2023, adding more infantry and a trio of halftracks to the collection.

My Combat Patrol list was intended to still be themed similarly to the following lists, with US infantry supported by light armored vehicles. I brought my Lt, two squads of infantry, and then an M16 MGMC halftrack and an M8 Greyhound.

At 800 and 1100 I brought an Armored Infantry Platoon from Campaign: D-Day: US Sector. This platoon requires your infantry squads to have transport via M3 halftracks, but also adds a few special rules to the units to make those halftracks worth taking. Notably, squads when disembarking can leave one to three men behind to man any purchased extra MGs on the halftracks, the halftracks can “downgrade” (this is definitely an upgrade IMO) their pintle HMGs to MMGs for -10pts each, freeing up more points for troops, and also these halftracks will not run away when empty and close to an enemy, making them a formidable way to challenge an objective. For Game 2 at 800pts I had 9 Order Dice. The list included an Lt, two squads with halftracks, two Bazooka Teams, and two Greyhound armored cars. Game 3 was 11 Order Dice, with an Lt, 3 squads with halftracks, 1 bazooka, 2 Greyhounds, and an M18 Hellcat. Overall I was hoping to saturate the board with light armor and cause havoc with high mobility, but I was definitely light on infantry.

Game 1 – Regroup!
450pts

Andrew – In Game 1 I played Ed S. and his Desert Rats (British 8th Army). This mission forced players to split their Platoon across two diagonal table corner and then attempt to link back up. It created a very interesting game with both our forces kinda sandwiched between each other. Ed held control of a building in the back corner and concentrated his platoon, forcing me to press the attack. My Stuart Recce had some major luck with Ed’s Boys AT missing five of six shots. That little AT Rifle could have been my doom. A great, very tense game through the first four Turns that swung my way only towards the end. The Commandos kept up the pressure and I was able to link up the majority of my Platoon around my Lt to score significant bonus points and the win. Ed was a fantastic opponent and I hope to play again!

John – For Game 1 I used my 450pt list from the Battle in Berlin and faced off against Hank’s band of veteran US Airborne. The mission for this game had our forces spread all across the board and a chaotic firefight raged from Turn 1 onward. It was a bloody conflict with lots of casualties on both sides but the mission gave an advantage to my superior numbers. In the end I had several units in scoring position while Hank’s scattered Airborne were unable to regain unit cohesion, giving me the win. This was a really fun game with a friendly opponent and it was a great way to start the day.

Ben – For Game 1 I was facing John M and his Americans, which was a mirror match preview as we were both using the same Theater Selector in Games 2 and 3. I brought along a Greyhound and a M16 MGMC, so I was somewhat light on infantry for a Combat Patrol. I was hoping my mobility with my two vehicles would give me a good chance at consolidating units together by the end of the game since we were playing a Regroup mission. I started strong with my Lt managing to immobilize John’s Jeep at range, but John was able to pull off a hot charge onto my Greyhound and knocked it out in close combat, then held on. He ended up taking a fairly close win as I wasn’t able to tighten up enough of my force.

Game 2 – Timely Objectives
800pts

Andrew – For Game 2 I squared up against John M and his legendary Late-War US Armored Rifle Company. This Theater Selector (Ben was also running it) allows for all kinds of awesome mechanized infantry goodness and John used it to full effect! The M3 Half-tracks are Transports but don’t “flee” when too close to the enemy and even have the option to leave troops aboard to man additional machine guns. John also had two Bazooka Teams and a nasty 105mm M4 Sherman with the Med. Howitzer. With three squads loaded up with LMGs and BARs I knew this would be a tough fight.

The game was back and forth. We both moved to contest all three objectives immediately but nether could create an opening to exploit. After Turn 4 only four units had been removed in total and there was a still a ton of game left. Unfortunately we ran up against time and neither John or I were able to break the stalemate. The only point scored was on Turn 3, John had control of the middle objective so when we ended at the beginning of Turn 5 the score was 1-0 but you needed a 3 VP margin to secure victory. A cagey match that would have been very interesting to play out through Turn 6. I’m honestly not sure if either of us would have been able to get the win!

John – For the second game I matched up against Brady’s beautiful BEF as we battled through the ruins of a rural European village. My army included two 8-man Rifle Sections, an Engineer Section with a Flamethrower and a Truck to transport them, a Medium Mortar, a Medium Howitzer, a Marmon Herrington Armored Car, and a Cromwell Tank. In this mission there were three objectives spread evenly across the center of the battlefield and we scored points at the end of each turn for each objective in our control. Brady concentrated his forces on the center and right objectives while I fought for the center and left.

The center objective quickly became the bitter focus of the battle as we each did everything we could to contest the objective and prevent the other from scoring. Fortunately my outflanking Truck carrying the Engineers was able to move in on the right-side objective and successfully contested it for the rest of the game. Meanwhile my forces on the left-side objective were largely unopposed, allowing them to rack up victory points throughout the game.

It was a close game and the advantage swung back-and-forth with each passing turn but ultimately I built up enough of a VP lead to secure a victory by the slimmest of margins. Brady was a great opponent with an excellent looking army and I hope to play him again soon.

Ben – Game 2 was against Alex and his Partisans, an army which always brings me joy. Alex was a really fun opponent to play against. For me this game ended up being a bit of a blunder that resulted in a loss. Always read and re-read your mission packet folks! Alex pushed his Partisans hard up my left flank and had that objective solidly in his control. He also put multiple Pins one of my halftracks in the mid preventing both it and the squad aboard from moving on the middle or left objectives. The right side went better, with me losing a Bazooka Team but the Greyhound pinned his Inexp. Stuka Zu Fuss (it wouldn’t activate again until Turn 6) and then killed the Partisan Autocannon Turn 2 and perching on the cleared right side objective. The middle was hotly contested, but at the end of the game we double checked scoring and realized I couldn’t hold the right with the Greyhound, so Alex took the win easily as I never actually scored any points (oops)!

Game 3 – Priority Targets
1,100pts

Andrew – The third and final game! In this 1,100pt battle I played against the 8th Indian Division Trio of Lexx, Bret and Connor. Their Tough Gut Indian Army had all the toys – double Stuart, double Gurkhas, double Light Artillery, there was a lot to be afraid of! Especially when Conner rolled absolute fire for his Forward Artillery Observer and blasted both my Intelligence Section and the Stuart Recce to smithereens at the top of Turn 2! At that point I had to play tight. Luckily there was an opening on the right flank where only a single Bren Carrier tried to hold off my Stuart. I knocked out the Bren, and rolled up the flank to support my troops in the middle. My left flank had completely collapsed but the center held.

Through Turn 4 the battle hung in the balance. It was only on Turn 5 when my PIAT snuck up on an over-extended Stuart did the game start to break my way. Connor did his best to hold the line but the Commandos collapsed in and caught his troops out in the middle. This game could have gone either way and it was only a couple lucky breaks that turned the tide. Impressive generalship by Conner kept his Platoon in the fight until the end. The final score was 11-5 to the Commandos.

John – My army for Game 3 expanded on my 800 point list from Game 2, upgrading the Cromwell to a Sherman 76, adding a five-man SAS squad in a Bren Carrier, dropping the Marmon Herrington and replacing it with 3 Motorcycles and sidecars, and adding a Sniper Team. For the final game of the day I was up against Jeff’s Late-War Americans which included five big squads of double-BAR infantry, a Light Howitzer, Medium Mortar, Bazooka Team, a Greyhound Armored Car and a Hellcat.

In this mission we scored points for eliminating enemy units and bonus points if the unit was a “Priority Target”. The priority targets were randomly chosen before Turns 1, 3, and 5. The priority targets for the first four turns were infantry teams, which gave both of us plenty of opportunities to score those bonus VPs.

My overly-aggressive gameplay put me behind early as Jeff was able to destroy several of my units in the early turns. At one point my Engineers successfully torched a squad of GIs, only to be assaulted and destroyed by another squad the very next turn. It took a while to whittle down Jeff’s big squads, but I was able to battle back as the game went on. My Mortar had rotten luck all game, needing a full five turns before finally scoring a hit on Jeff’s Howitzer. But I was saved when Jeff’s Greyhound missed its shots against my Artillery Tractor, preventing him from scoring the necessary VP to secure a victory. Jeff is a strong opponent and consistently capitalized on my tactical mistakes. I was happy to escape with a hard-fought draw and look forward to a rematch.

Ben – Game 3 was priority targets vs Jacky’s Hungarians. We were on a table that had a long L-shaped hedgerow across the board that per table rules completely blocked LoS. Our first priority target was infantry/teams, and on Turn 1 I managed to take out my opponents Mortar Team with MMG fire from the Greyhound “Sweetie Pie”. Because this got me 2 early VPs and we had a massive LoS blocker in the middle, I turtled up in the middle and right side and Jacky had to come to me through the brush. He attempted to take out my other Greyhound, but it was sitting on a straight road and hadn’t activated so it did a full 48” recce across the board to rejoin the rest of my force. The halftracks and infantry stuck around the middle, utilizing a lot of Ambush orders to prepare for the Hungarian advance, and my Greyhounds and Hellcat played the recce dance around his tank destroyer until “Cougar” finally got the rear shot to kill it. We traded a few units once he got into range but I maintained a points lead and got the win.

Final Thoughts

Andrew – What a fantastic day of Bolt Action! There was a lot of buzz after last years’ Four Star Open and I wasn’t going to miss it in 2023. By all accounts it was a perfect event. Shane did a great job with the missions and kept the event running smoothly. The prize support was fantastic (everyone walked away with something), the venue was great (thank you Lexx!) and we even managed to raise some money for a good cause (thank you Zack!). I ended the day 2-0-1 and I’m thrilled with that! I even managed to take Best Painted! I was told it was the new vehicles that put me over the top. The Bolt Action community here in Chicago is the best there is – and this event was a perfect example of why.

John – This was my first event at the Chicagoland Games: Dice Dojo and I will gladly be back again for any future events. The Four Star Open was a big success with a full roster of great players, tons of prize support, and plenty of beautifully painted armies and tables. The final results couldn’t have been closer with five players (!) all finishing with identical records and tie-breaker points being used to determine the final standings. A huge shoutout to Shane for running a great event, to Zack for organizing a highly successful charity raffle that raised hundreds of dollars for Invictus Games, and to Lexx and the rest of the Dice Dojo team for hosting us. Rumors are swirling that there will be a Tank Wars event at The Dojo next year and I can’t wait!

Ben – I was very happy to be participating in an event at The Dojo. I love the classic “buddies basement” feel that the gaming area provides. Also, props to Zack for running a charity raffle for Invictus Games. Shane ran a really solid event, escalation is always a good time and the missions were fun and unique. The Armored Infantry Platoon definitely struggles in the lower points since you have to make sure every Rifle Squad has transport available, so Game 2 was tough since I only had two infantry squads. In a revised version I think the lower point game I’d take smaller squads so I can double up each halftrack and increase my Order Dice count and staying power overall. Despite the 1-2 record, I had a great time with some awesome opponents and am looking forward to the rumored Tank War event early next year!