Back for another Polar Vortex! A new team of TOs (Al, Ernie, and Tony) kept the escalation-style format in place as we all move into Third Edition. The format for the tournament was:
- Three Games
- Game 1 – 750pts, 10 Order Dice max
- Game 2 – 1000pts, 13 Order Dice max
- Game 3 – 1250pts, 16 Order Dice max
- Maximum of one Platoon of each type per army list
The threat of blizzard didn’t’ stop 14 players from braving the elements and setting up for a day of Bolt Action using this unique event format.
Our Forces
Andrew – Leaning all the way into the escalation style my force stayed almost exactly the same from game to game. Running US I had:
- Platoon Commander and buddy
- x4 12-man Full Strength Infantry Squads with a BAR each
- x2 Shermans
- MMG Jeep
In Game 1, this force was all Inexperienced. Every unit, every vehicle. For Game 2 I upgraded the entire force to Regular and dropped a couple of BARs. And then in Game 3 I upgraded the entire force to Vet, made the four Infantry Squads smaller and added a Stuart. I love the narrative of this army “gaining experience” from game to game. Players were free to completely swap units in and out from game to game, but I choose to roll my units over into the next. It was a fun experiment but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. I felt a bit stuck with my unit choices but it really was fun to run the “same list” from game to game.
Shane – This year I decided to mix up. I went for a variety of units with a Fallschirmjager core. The idea was to bring many different vehicles in my 1000 and 1250 point lists. My lists were vet infantry and transports with supporting tanks of varying experience. Since my lists contained different units I give brief over views of them in my recaps.
Game 1 – Breakthrough
Andrew – A Game 1 Grudge Match against Dave! We’ve met on the field of battle previously at Battle in Berlin and Four Star Open – Dave was looking to settle the score. Unlike those previous games, Dave brought a US force with a core of Rangers supported by two Light Howitzers, a Med. AT Gun, and a Forward Air Observer. Dave’s Rangers took full advantage of their special rule to put pressure onto my force. As the mission was Breakthrough, Dave was in an aggressive position right from the jump. I tried to counter but once that double-Air Strike hit my advance faltered. Those d3 Pins really hurt my all Inexp. GIs. Luckily my Shermans were able to end the game in a scoring position, but the margin was only 1 VP on the Primary Objective, so we added in Kills Points as the Secondary Objective (Dave had me five units killed to one) and that put Dave over the line to secure the victory.
Dave played this mission incredibly well. He locked out my lines of advance with Howitzers and the AT Gun and then stalled my entire force with the Airstrikes. Although neither Strafing Fighter delt any damage, the Pins were enough to stop my assault dead. Tops marks for a strong combined arms approach!
Result – Loss (8-5)
Shane – Game 1 I was paired against Jeff M. A great opponent who I was excited to play against. Jeff had a British force with 3 units of veteran commandos all armed with SMGs, 4 soft skin transports to get those troops moving, along with two armored vehicles and a Forward Artillery Observer. I had two heavy auto cannons, two 8 man FJ (Fallschirmjager) units with two lmgs, and one 5 man FJ unit all with ARs in a hanomag as my main units. Jeff was more poised for an opportunity to run off the board so I knew placing my auto cannons was going to be important to take out the transports and have a chance against his armor. Luck was not on my side and I placed my auto cannons before his transports were placed. No matter I trudged on. Jeff ended up placing the all of units on my right and mine were mostly on my left. This made it easy for me to get many of my units off the board on my left side of the table. In defense against Jeff’s troops I had both my dual LMG units and one heavy auto cannon. They put in work and almost prevented the Commandos from leaving the table. But with their commando training they broke through and Jeff managed to get 6 of his units of the board. I was able to get five of mine off the board. This secued Jeff’s victory. It was a real nail-bitter and a great match.
Result – Loss (6-5)
Game 2 – Shifting Frontlines
Andrew – It was urban showdown against Mae and her incredible Soviets that included almost the entire range of Bad Squiddo Games Women of the Soviet Union. The mission had five objectives across the centerline. At the end of each turn, if the objectives were not controlled by a player, they would drift d6″ in a random direction. To win, a player had to control more objectives than their opponent. Not wanting the objectives to drift away, both Mae and I wasted no time and rushed forward to capture and contest as quickly as possible. The game was brutal. At the end of Turn 6 I had only my two Shermans and one squad left standing. The Soviets tried valiantly to shut down the US Tanks but even with a Zis-3 and Panzerfausts in every squad, if wasn’t enough. It came down to a desperate assault on the final turn against a Sherman to break my control of an objective, but it wasn’t enough.
At the end of six full turns the US controlled three objectives to the two controlled by the Soviets. A fantastic game with neither player holding back. Well played by Mae who needed just one Zis-3 hit to Pen instead of Glance!
Result – Win (3-2)
Shane – For this game I also had an urban show down. I played against Tyler T, one of my great friends. He was playing Soviets and had a Zis3, Su76i with AP shells, and a T34/85 along with a scout squad and other supporting infantry. I had my same two 8 man FJ units and my FJs with ARs in a hanomag. My big kicker in this list was my Vet Panther tank. It took up nearly half my 1000 point force. I knew I was in trouble against so much AT. The five objectives were placed strung out across the middle of the table. Each was in no mans land providing no cover. We each played very cagey not moving in till turn 4. I placed my Panther in the middle of my deployment zone to give it the maximum lanes of fire. Luckily it was in hard cover because each of Tyler’s AT assets had LOS on my Panther. Amazingly with each hit I was able to make my hard cover save. I thought it was impervious, no way it would die to an enemy shell. And it didn’t! Instead it failed an order test and backed up off the table edge sealing its fate. I needed to roll a 10. I rolled an 11. This put a major dent in my fire output but I fought on. Tyler had secured 3 of the five objectives turn 4 and I knew I had to make a move. I found him off the left flank and tried to contest the middle. In the end Tyler controlled 2 objectives I controlled 1 and I managed to contest the two other objectives. This was also a nail-bitter of a match. Time was called before I could move a final group of FJs to contest one of Tylers objectives that would have resulted in a tie game.
Result – Loss (2 – 1)
Game 3 – Demolition / Land Grab
Andrew – For the final game I faced Joshua’s battle-hardened USMC. We both a primary and secondary objective – a player would win the game immediately if they destroyed the enemy base. But barring that, the player with the most units in the enemy Deployment Zone would win. We deployed in opposed table quarters with a handful of units left in Reserve. I once again felt the wrath of the double-Air strike but, unlike Game 1, this time my entire force was Veteran so the Pins dished out failed to halt my advance across the table.
It was a tough slog for my GIs as they tried to cross the no-man’s land into Joshua’s table quarter defended by the pre-FAQ M15 (24 HMG shots!), two Light Howitzers and a whole bunch of fearsome USMC with two Hellcats and a LVT Alligator waiting in Reserve. At the end of a full seven turns neither of us can even remotely close to destroying the enemy base. When dust settled, I had one lone unit within the enemy Deployment Zone, scoring 1 VP and secured the win.
Result – Win (1-0)
Shane – For the final game I played Dave, Andrew’s first round opponent. Another friend of mine. In my list I had two howling cows (multi launchers), a StuH, Flame Hetzer, Marder, and Stummel with troop transport capcity. My infantry units were the same as my prior lists. My table corner was crowed with buildings. Dave was wise to choice the other table corner as his deployment zone or else my howling cows would have had even more of a field day. Dave’s list had no armor instead it had 3 bazooka teams, two HMG teams, 3 light howitzers and 4 veteran infantry squads. His list was tough as nails. I knew I had to take out those bazookas as soon as possible. Dave got the jump since he had rangers and they were leading the way making their way into ruins and my left flank. I knew I had to get them out of there as soon as possible so I rolled up my Flame Hetzer and it eliminated the unit. Then Dave’s bazookas came in and ended the Hetzer’s glory. Dave’s bazookas also had a contest with my StuH but with my infantry running behind it my StuH managed to live through the battle. By turn 5 Dave’s force was dwindled but I was not able to make it far across the table due to his HMGs and quad HMG. My howling cows ended up hitting 4 units. My multi launchers never perform this well! I thought I can make this one last push to get into his deployment zone to score the secondary objective and pull out a win. But as time was called and we pulled out our tape measures to see which units were in range I found that mine were just short. Dave skillfully managed to have a single officer get into my deployment zone securing him a victory. A well fought match and another very close game.
Result – Loss (1 – 0)
Final Thoughts
Andrew – Another great Polar Vortex! In previous years I was the TO for the event and it was such a blast to get to play. I ended the day 2-1 (no complaints there) and more importantly each game was just about as close and could be. Running US was fun, but the army list needs some work (Support Weapons and Artillery).
All the gratitude to our TOs; Al, Ernie and Tony. They knocked it out of the park. They stepped up and volunteered to run PV after I stepped back for running events and they nailed it. The missions were well written and exciting to play. The tables were gorgeous (thank you everyone that provided a table) and the prize support was wild – every player walked out with both a kit (Warlord or Rubicon) and a 3D printed vehicle or artillery from Prince of Prints. I’ve been having so much fun with Third Edition and this event was a fantastic start of the year. Next up – AdeptiCon!
Shane – Polar Vortex is one of my favorite Bolt Action events and Al, Erine and Tony managed to take the reins and retain the PV spirit! I had a blast. I came looking for fun and good games, and that I had. I ended up 0 – 3 but my goal this year was not to try to win the event or even go 1-1-1. My goal was to win best painted. I achieved my primary objective and ended up winning best painted. I also walked away the most decorated player in the event with two medals. One for best painted and one for Wooden Spoon (coming in last)!
I enjoyed the lists I took. It was the first time I brought a Panther tank to an event. Even though its a point sink I loved to see it on the table. My other lists as well played as I expected. They put up a good fight. I was never close to getting tabled or in a match that the victory was known before the last turn. These to me are the best games you can play. I can’t wait for Polar Vortex 2026.
As Andrew mentioned as well we were blessed with great tables at this event. All of them were painted and you could tell time had been put into them. Also the Prize support was out of this world.
Chicago Dice 