Bulgarian “Starter Army” I

Units used

Sadly, as of writing, no Starter Army Box exists for Bulgaria. However, Great Escape Games has a fantastic lineup of metal options for infantry and support teams. Also, for saving a few dollars, the Bulgarian army in World War II received extensive material support from Germany and you can easily make use of the German Infantry (Winter) kits from Warlord Games. There is also a unique artillery piece where, as of right now, the only way to get one is via 3D printing.

Great Escape Games is what I used for my infantry. Also bought the Horse Limber from Rubicon. And a 3D-printed Skoda Artillery piece off of Etsy. Admittedly I also 3D printed my tanks to save a little money myself. Have to run around all over the place but this is what it cost for me to buy the models for this platoon. This “starter army” uses:

The No Sneaking List

Occupation Force Reinforced Platoon
Officer
2nd Lt (Rifle) – Reg – 50
x1 Buddy (Rifle) – 10		60pts
Infantry
Infantry Section – Reg – 10 men – 100
NCO SMG – 3		103pts
Infantry Section – Reg – 10 men – 100
NCO SMG – 3		103pts
MMG Team – Reg – 5050pts
Sniper Team – Reg – 5050pts
Anti-Tank Rifle Team – Reg – 3030pts
Artillery
Skoda 37mm/70mm Hybrid Gun – Reg – 60
Gun Shield
Hybrid Weapon		60pts
Tanks
Panzer IV Ausf G/H/J – Reg – 235
Armor 9
Turret-Mounted Heavy AT Gun w/ co-ax MMG
Forward-facing Hull MMG		235pts
Panzer IV Ausf G/H/J – Reg – 235
Axis Support
Armor 9
Turret-Mounted Heavy AT Gun w/ co-ax MMG
Forward-facing Hull MMG		235pts
Transports
Horse-Drawn Limber – Vet – 12
Literally Soft-skinned
Slow (when towing)		12pts
Total – 11 Order Dice998pts

Breakdown

  • Rifle – 42
  • LMG – 4
  • MMG – 1
  • Sniper – 1
  • Medium Mortar – 1
  • Light Howitzer – 1

(x) denotes a vehicle-mounted weapons.

Notes and Analysis

Stepping well outside of the Big Five, I wanted to take a swing at a “starter army” for Bulgaria. Expanding outside of Warlord Games, this list uses the characterful range from Great Escape Games.

You! Yes you, the reader on the internet who stumbled their way onto this page. I hear that you don’t like facing off against Snipers, Observers, Spotters, or any kind of sneak thieves who halfway through the fight magically appear in your blind spot. I hear you, and I too am a man of honor who wants a straight fight. If that sounds interesting than the Bulgarians are the army for you. Let us go to the Armies of Italy and the Axis and flip to page 62 for a close examination the Bolt Action anti-partisan specialists.

For Bulgaria, you only get two Army Special Rules. That being said, they are both strong and, if exploited, allow for either highly competitive play or total shenanigans. As you will find in my list below, I prefer to play the shenanigans, but I will describe some of the options that allow you to be very flexible and dangerous.

Axis Allies – A Bulgarian force may include one extra unit from either the German list in the Bolt Action Rulebook, or the Armies of Germany book, or the Italian Eastern Front Theater Selector from this book.

Herein is your flexibility because the only limitations on this is not Vets, and no Armor 10+ vehicles. You want a second Sniper Team? It’s yours. How about a second Heavy Howitzer, or Mortar, a Volksgrenadier squad, or my preference a second Tank. This rule lets you custom build your Platoons for whatever scenario you are playing and bring multiple support teams in a Generic Reinforced Platoon which normally you can only access in Theater Selectors.

Counter-Partisan Experts - When fighting against Bulgarians, Snipers, Observers, and Spotters cannot use their special deployment rules, and must instead be deployed like the rest of the force. In addition, enemies cannot Outflank the Bulgarians, but must always come in from their own table edge when arriving from Reserve.

This right here forces your opponent to play your game. The standard procedure of prepositioning Snipers, Observers, and Spotters in the best terrain with good sightlines belongs only to you as the Bulgarian player. Other nations with good Outflanking bonuses like Americans, IJA Scouts, or Commandos have to come from your front where all your guns are already lined up. Force the opponent to play your way. This is a great rule for experienced players against many of the shenanigans that other experienced players know how to exploit.

And now the bad part about this nation in Bolt Action. Your Infantry units are super basic – Inexperienced and Regular Infantry are 10 man squads where you can add one SMG, one Panzerfaust, and one LMG. Also, all your NCOs come with Pistols, not Rifle, so if you don’t want to bring a Pistol you have pay a 3pt tax for the SMG. Your only access to Veterans is your Cavalry which must be purchased with horses and are not allowed to charge into close combat (one of the biggest strengths of cav). Although they do get to ignore the -1 for entering from Reserve. Additionally, your only access to Flamethrowers is via the Axis Allies Army Special Rule.

There is also a unique artillery piece available to the Bulgarians, the Skoda 37mm/70mm Hybrid Gun. Simply put it’s a worse British 25pdr, but is a neat model regardless. at 60pt Regular you get the Hybrid Gun special rule. On an Advance Order you can swap barrels between the 37mm Light AT gun profile to the 70mm Light Howitzer profile, or vice versa. So same thing as British 25pdr, but worse. However, I like the option because it’s a way to have your list built but still have the ability to make changes based upon what your opponent has brought. Also, with the this model set you get both the Light AT gun and the Light Howitzer model with one purchase.

Regardless of the negatives, Bulgaria is very fun to play. Also, on the historical side, in Late War games you can also be considered an Allied power by plastering some Soviet red stars on the sides of your vehicles (they switched sides in Sept. 1944). With that, I wish you good luck Comrade, and may the dice gods be ever in your favor.

– Matt

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