A Reflection
A short time after AdeptiCon, my daughter was preparing for a dance recital and disaster struck! No hairspray. But somehow Papa (me) had some in his workshop. I ran up to the workspace and, while sifting through the detritus left behind from preparing my first Bolt Action force – all those paint pots, half-empty sprues, flocking, books, and tools – I was struck with “how did I get here?” How am I the one who has hairspray in the house? (Well for a chipping technique I’d tried on a M3 Scout Car of course.)
Ultimately, how did I go from never having played a game of Bolt Action to playing in a tournament at AdeptiCon just in these past few months? All the list-crafting decisions, painting equipment and technique, strategy, army building, and even just plain learning the rules. I was inspired to reflect on that process. The answer was spread around me on the floor. After all, I had spent far more time and energy in that workshop than I did actually playing the game on the tabletop.
I was also inspired to share that reflection. I had taken a different tact with this game, socializing the steps with friends as I went along. Growing up, I was always someone to keep projects close to the chest, not be shown until finished and beyond reproach. This time I pushed through that fear of failure every update or advice-ask, even from good friends. Now I’m taking the jump to share how growing in this hobby has also been a path of personal growth.
It Begins
I was initially convinced to get into Bolt Action the old fashioned way, at a bar. Late one night at AdeptiCon 2025, I should have known better than to say something like, “I’ve always liked the idea of historical games, but have no idea where to start.” As it turns out, I was standing next to a member of Warlord Games’ staff, I soon got the full Bolt Action rundown. What really convinced me, though, was the chorus of fellow gamers around him extolling the virtues of BA: less sweaty, more fun, and cheaper than 40k. After much deliberation (read: drinks) I decided to visit the Warlord booth the next day. I walked out of there with a Gentleman’s War Starter Box.
I must admit, that box sat in the closet for a year. I had been delaying my start due to fears of “How am I supposed to build a force and relearn to paint if I don’t know the rules?” and jeers of “You’re too young to play historicals.” (Note, this happened at least a half-dozen times and I’m in my 40s.) I had friends posting their painting progress and I wanted to get back into the hobby. Upon reviewing the AdeptiCon 2026 event list, Bolt Action Combat Patrol seemed like a way to kill two birds with one stone. It turned out there was a boatload of other birds this stone was unprepared for. (Wait a minute, a display board?) I didn’t know anyone who played or even a store that carried the game (yet), but it was also only 500pts and limited models so it seemed beginner friendly.
The Turn
The event theme for Combat Patrol theme was “Beach”. This quickly narrowed my search as 8th Army landings in the Mediterranean are limited. I came across a small landing near Tobruk called Operation Agreement. It was an ill-fated raid that involved Scottish troops landing in Motor Torpedo Boats, decidedly not landing craft, plus a unit of Special Air Service (SAS) troops dropped off by the LRDG (the Mad Max of WW2) after crossing 1600 miles of desert. Oh man, this is the part of historical gaming I was looking forward to: digging into history for specifics. And there was a German-speaking Jewish Volunteer (SIG) Squad who pretended to be the captors of this SAS group in a Chewbacca-detention-level type ruse!? Amazing.
This at least gave me a starting point to build units to try to match the Scots with some accompanying SAS. Generally the Scots would provide ranged fire and soak up shots, while the SAS were meant to get in close with Tommy Guns, knives, and sharp jawlines. I was in luck since I had already started modeling using the Tam O’ Shanter hats included on the 8th Army sprue.
Now let’s discuss the importance a r/boltaction Reddit post showcasing their German Combat Patrol force. I was well on my way into building a historical force but this player was bringing:
- x2, five-man Light Machine Gun (LMG) squads
- A five-man squad with what looked like STG44 Assault Rifles
- An officer
- Two dangerous looking vehicles (a Sd.Kfz 222 and a Puma, I would later realize)
My force’s single AT Rifle was not going to cut it. I needed a way to get a second AT slot. After actually reading the event rules more fully, I had an aha! moment while digging into “what exactly is a Recce Platoon anyway?”. I could get that second AT unit, plus my SAS troops into a single Transport? Sounds perfect. I barely understand the Recce special rule, but this is what I needed.
Was it optimized? I had no idea. But it kept the historical flavor. A separate Scottish Rifle Platoon with a SAS Recce Platoon geared towards the raid story, which was way more satisfying. I was attempting to wrap my head around how list-building strategy affects gameplay strategy in the abstract, before an actual game was even played. In a world where every game has been dissected online before you have a chance to make your own strategy, it was a refreshing exercise.
But, as I mentioned, I had been posting painting updates and asking questions about terrain techniques as I went along. But maybe I could use their help with this part as well: we could game this out! My build deadline was shifted from AdeptiCon, to our annual GENCANT gathering of friends the month before. (We no longer go to Gen Con, we rent a cabin in the winter and play games all weekend instead).
GENCANT
No one in the room had played a minute of Bolt Action. It felt like that scene from Apollo 13 where they dump a bunch of random stuff on a table:
“We need to figure out how to defeat this…
indicates the German force copied from the Reddit post
..with nothing but that.”
gestures towards a mess of British models from my Gentleman’s War Box set.
I built the Redditor’s Force as Afrika Korps using the other half of the Gentleman’s War’s box and some proxies. Plus a hardware store trip to make a lock-together war-gaming table able to fit into small cars. I didn’t even know how much terrain was normal to put out but we gave it a go. Since there were five of us, we did 2v2 with each player taking a single Platoon while I taught the game. It ended up being a fantastic way to muddle through the rules as questions arose.
Conclusion: they liked the game (and have since ordered Starter Sets)! The consensus was it felt refreshingly tactical compared to a lot of the fantasy/sci-fi wargames they play. It also wasn’t overly tedious, a reputation some historical games can carry. It’s more like a table-top Company of Heroes.
As for my own Combat Patrol list, we decided to drop the Light Mortar to upgrade both ATRs to PIATs. Basically give up 48” range to a measly 12” for a big bump in Armor Pen. If I was going to need to get to point-blank for the increased to-hit chance anyway, I might as well make it count. Also, if there is no enemy armor is around, the PIATs Shaped Charge is extremely effective against units in buildings.
The Final AdeptiCon 2026 Combat Patrol List:
Modeled two SAS wearing Afrika Korps uniforms as the “captors” of the ruse but brought spare SMG troopers if that was frowned upon.
| Rifle Platoon | |
| Platoon Commander – Regular – 30 Pistol – (-1) | 29pts |
| Rifle Section – Regular – 7 men – 70 LMG – 15 Guards – 7 | 92pts |
| Rifle Section – Regular – 7 men – 70 LMG – 15 Guards – 7 | 92pts |
| PIAT – Regular – 40 | 40pts |
| Recce Platoon | |
| Platoon Commander – Regular – 30 Pistol – (-1) | 29pts |
| SAS Infantry Section – Veteran – 5 men – 85 x5 SMGs – 15 Who Dares Wins! Tough Fighters Behind Enemy Lines | 100pts |
| PIAT – Regular – 40 | 40pts |
| M3 White Scout Car Transport – Regular – 68 Armor 7 Forward-facing pintle HMG Open-topped Recce – 10 | 78pts |
| Total – 8 Order Dice | 500pts |
The Test
Oddly, the thing I was most nervous about wasn’t the rules. It was the players. I’d been to reenactments and even done my share of Early Modern reenactment. I could imagine encountering those guys at AdeptiCon, you know what kind I mean. So, I was inspired, very last minute, to make some quick conversions for the German 88 crew. Some “Beach Day” Afrika Korps. They were fun while also functioning as an indicator. If they were seen as “garish and unhistorical” at Combat Patrol, I was in the wrong place.
The rest of the display itself, which I quickly realized was a hobby all on its own, became a lesson in just going for it. The first draft is the final draft. The process involved borrowing a foam cutter, learning to pour epoxy, building then wrecking an old Vesper MTB model to be half-sunk in the water. The oil-spill came from three drops of ink in a retained bit of the epoxy mix. When the epoxy was partially set I poured that on top and it pooled just like an oil spill. My daughter loved gluing the foam together and built her own mountain as well. The ruins were an ordered 3D print. I hit those with the airbrush and dry-brushed some sections.
AdeptiCon 2026
I have a somewhat jargon-heavy rundown of how the games went below, but overall the vibes were great, the competitors patient with my rules questions, the TOs awesome, and everyone was welcoming. It had two real low points where I was 100% convinced I was in the wrong place but I pulled myself back up. I had some good plays, which always helps, but mostly it was the players that were awesome.
Game 1 – Get off the #%&@ing Beach!
Despite acting as the rule-lawyer at GENCANT, I still hadn’t played! This would have to be the get-out-the-jitters game. My opponent was great but what a cluster. We deployed too many units at the beginning of the game and we even had to figure out how to fairly remove one. Huge ups to my opponent, he was relentless but kind and patient. I barely eeked out a draw because the scenario encouraged turtling.
The first lesson I learned was that even though the Recce Platoon requires that all Infantry and HQ have a seat in a Transport, that does not mean they all have to actually start the game aboard the Transport! Knowing that would have saved me some headache.
The low moment was not pushing on my understanding of the Recce rules. I attempted to use my Recce Escape reaction (it boils down to being a “dodge” move) and everything I tried was questioned. Second v Third Edition Recce rules were questioned, books were brought out, passable and impassible terrain was questioned. I realized a different passable route to avoid the shot, but instead I just wiped my hands and took the hit. Looking back, I had the rule correct, I just didn’t know how to walk the line of standing up for my understanding of the rule and not being that same type of guy I didn’t want to play against.
The M3 Transport was then exposed to fire even longer, and developed into where in the last part of the game my opponent poured non-penetrating shots into the it to score Pins on it and the three (!) units inside, locking them all down. I was stuck ordering a Rally again and again before they were pinned out. It was the right strategy for him so I couldn’t fault him for it and he really couldn’t kill them for the VP so it led to a draw.
It was exactly what I needed to take any pressure off winning for the rest of the day and could just take it in. We grabbed some drinks together after.
Game 2 – Push up and Take that Beach Objective!
1 VP per turn holding center objective, 1 VP for a Close Quarters win, and 3VP for an enemy Officer kill.
Again, a really fun opponent. They were very patient with rules and we smoothly talked through terrain and our army lists. It was a fun match. I played against a partisan army: double-Med Mortars and a Medium Machine Gun (MMG), plus some assault troops. He played great, getting his troops onto the center objective early and “gambling” the Mortar shots. One of the 6s-to-hit on Turn 1 did so and then on Turn 2 another 6-to-hit connected with the same unit after it had moved. Devastating!
This time I got to actually use the Transport Snap to + SAS assault squad combo to drop off my close range troops right in the enemy’s face! I chose to use this move to nuke the enemy Officer. Felt like those 3VP was a juicy target. It also relieved some pressure on the center as some of the enemy assault squads had to respond to the SAS now on their flank.
Then I made another rule flop. I pulled two separate units away from the scoring center, completely over-extending them in the process, to win some easy assaults. It figured it was worth it as I’d score 1VP for an assault victory each. Buuuut I did not realize the Spotters for the Mortars, although placed separately from each Mortar, are not actually scoring units. I had thought things were tied in the end 5 to 5, but instead was deflated learning I lost 3 to 5.
Game 3 – Secure Inland Objectives!
Finally hit my stride and tempo this game. Three objectives across the center-line to take and hold. I weakly threatened the right, contested center, and assaulted hard on the left. My opponent had his Medium Mortar and Light Mortar back right, MMG moving up that same right, and troops spread to push. My M3 Scout Car Transport + SAS troop Snap To combo hit perfectly and wiped the left flank. We each wheeled towards the center and then some crazy shit went down.
My opponent must have felt like a professional poker player with an amateur at the table. Dangerous in the unpredictability. My troops were just short of the center objective and he pushed one of his units inside the center point building. I did an assault on that building with a 7-man Rifle Section, normally ill-advised because the building dwellers have a distinct Defensive Position advantage. However, he rolled poorly on his first to-hits and then the British extra attacks from Fix Bayonets did their work! Very lucky to clear them out and turn the tide of the whole game. The next turn the SAS returning from the left flank, brought his next unit contesting the center low. I assaulted them from out of the building to finish them off.
My opponent then again entered the central building, now that my surrounding troops were so much weaker. But there lay the PIAT with its 2” HE template when shooting against buildings. Having done nothing all game, the PIAT was now just sitting point-blank. With a (love to see it) 2+ to hit. The effect was dramatic and both deleted the enemy target and secured the win.
Afterward
I really enjoyed the whole journey. I am struck by just how many “birds” I hunted down. Sometimes it felt like real work: each step met with an exhausted sigh. “Guess I need to sift through 20 YouTube videos now” as I tried to to figure out how to, say, magnetize the unit bases or whatever it was.
But more often I would just just wing it and, to be honest, it was way more satisfying. I easily could have drowned in all the resources on the meta out there. But I built an army that was the best I could make now and that was pretty cool.
Added to that, my worries about meeting historical “Well Actually”s turned instead to finding some wonderful weirdos to push around toy soldiers with. I’m excited to build out a bigger army and get playing again. I’ve since connected with the Chicago gaming community, both their painting competitions and discourse have really helped fuel my on-going engagement with the hobby.
It turns out writing is just like painting miniature wargaming units. You try to keep making smaller and smaller mistakes until you have to just call it done.
More AdeptiCon 2026 coverage:
Chicago Dice 