Bolt Action Four Star Open 2025

The Four Star Open is a three-game 1,250pt. Bolt Action Third Edition tournament. Forces are built using the Third Edition Platoon Structure with up to 4 Platoons and 16 Order Dice max. Axis v Allies pairings for Game 1 and Game 2 will be made whenever possible.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025 at The Chicago Dice Dojo at 5550 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640.

Registration is Full – Contact Shane to be added to the Waitlist

Registration – To register for the event, send payment to Shane. Tickets are $12 and will help cover drinks, snacks, and prize support. The event is capped at 18 players. Payments can be made to:

Waitlist – Email Shane at killerlitebb2016@gmail.com with “Four Star 2025” in the subject line if you would like to be added to the Waitlist.
Venmo – The event is at currently at capacity.
Refunds will be issued up until Nov. 1, 2025.

Army List Submission
Lists must be submitted as PDFs via email to killerlitebb2016@gmail.com by midnight on Oct. 26. Please use EasyArmy or if you must the Warlord Games Army List app. If your army is not yet available in those list builders let Shane know and use Excel to create a list.

A 5 point penalty will be imposed for each week or part thereof for late submissions.

Hobby First, Wins Second

The Four Star Open is meant to bring newcomers and veterans together for a “friendly” tournament. Leave any Win At All Costs attitudes at home! We look to keep our tournaments fun and whilst healthy competition is encouraged this is not a free license to “break the game.”

Army Building Requirements

You must use the same Army List for each game.
1250pts – 4 Platoons max – 16 Order Dice max.
- For Germany, forces must be built using Armies of Germany: Third Edition.
- For the United States, forces must be built using Armies of the United States: Third Edition.
- For Great Britain, forces must be built using Armies of Great Britain: Third Edition.
- For the Soviet Union, forces must be built using Armies of the Soviet Union: Third Edition.
- For Imperial Japan, forces must be built using the Bolt Action Third Edition Rulebook.
- For the 12 “Minor Powers”, forces must be built using the Further Axis & Allied Nations PDFs.
The latest FAQ & Errata will be used for the tournament.
The Chicago Dice Bolt Action: Third Edition Community FAQ & Errata will be used for the tournament.

Assault Platoons
Breaking from the standard requirement that a force must include a Rifle Platoon before any other Platoon can be added, in this event you may take a Recce Platoon or Engineer Platoon in its place. You may still include a Rifle Platoon if you have a Recce Platoon or Engineer Platoon however it is not required.

Example: A player has the following Platoons in their list. This is legal for Four Star since you are not required to take a Rifle Platoon. Instead you can take either a Recce Platoon, Engineer Platoon, or Rifle Platoon before adding additional Platoons to your force:

Recce Platoon +
Artillery Platoon +
Heavy Weapons Platoon +
Armored Platoon.

The Ban List – These rules and units are not allowed at the Four Star Open:

Units and Force Selectors from the Bolt Action Compendium are not allowed.
Any rules, books, updates, etc., published after Oct. 26, 2025, will not be allowed.

Model Requirements

All models used must:

Be WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
- In other words, proxy models are not allowed.
Minimum three colors
Based

Any models that do not meet these requirements will not be allowed on the table.

What to Bring

x4 copies of your army list (one for you and one for each of your opponents).
Dice, Order Dice, tape measure, pin markers, templates and dice bag.
Bolt Action Third Edition Rulebook, your Armies of book, and the latest FAQ & Errata.

Schedule

Saturday, Nov. 8:
9 – 9:25am – Check-in
9:25am – Briefing
9:30 – 11:45am – Game 1
11:45 – 12:45pm – Lunch Break
12:45 – 3pm – Game 2
3 – 3:15pm – Break
3:15 – 5:30pm – Game 3
5:30 – 6:15pm – Scoring and awards

Scoring

A maximum of 140 Tournament Points may be earned:

Battle (60 points max): 20 points for a Win, 10 points for a Draw, 5 points for a Loss, 0 points for a Withdrawal.
Appearance (15 points max): Scored against a list of criteria. Points are awarded through criteria including painting, basing, display board, weathering, and decals. Written background info explaining your army is also included in the Appearance score.
Sportsmanship (30 points max): Each player is atomically granted 10 points per game. Sportsmanship infractions will result in a reduction to the overall score.
Secondary Objectives (15 points max): See full description of Secondary Objectives below.
Theme (10 points max): Points awarded for building a list that follows a theme for a historical force/battle. Let Shane know what your force is based upon.
Iron Coffin (10 points): If your force that includes a single AFV (Armored Fighting Vehicle) with a cost of 300pts or more, you earn the 10 Iron Coffin TPs.

Iron Coffin Support

As many Axis forces do not have access to heavy armor, Italian, Bulgarian, Finnish, and Romanian forces may include a Tiger I in their Army List. Note the Tiger I can only be taken as Regular, includes Hitler’s Buzzsaw, and cannot be upgraded to a Command Vehicle.

Sportsmanship Scoring
Operating on the assumption that all players are good sports, opponents are automatically granted 10 points for Sportsmanship for each game. If it turns out that a player’s opponents are less than good sports, players need to report it to the TO, before the start of the next round, using the following categories and examples as a guideline. Keep in mind: Everyone gets a little salty now and then, forgets (or misplaces) their tape measure once in a while, temporarily forgets how a rule works, or changes their mind about a decision, etc.

Salty Attitude: Complain, a lot. Constantly ask to see your rules—even for basic things. Act put-out if you ask to see their rules. Do not communicate intentions or establish agreement with regard to movement, line of sight, etc. Are impatient, dismissive, curt, etc.; sore losers or ungracious winners.

Unprepared for Play: Show up very late. Haven’t read the tournament rules. Haven’t read the mission description. Don’t have the majority of the things needed to play the game (have to borrow a lot)

Incompetent Play: Unable to execute the core rules of the game without frequent referencing or coaching. Spend inordinate time looking things up (i.e. do not have materials prepared, marked, or printed for quick reference).

Questionable Play: Not quite cheating, but not aboveboard either. ‘Generous’ measurements or movement. Frequently take back movement or other decisions after they are in process. Not clearly distinguishing between similar units. Not keeping track of scoring. Abuse ‘playing by intent’ by failing to establish what their intent is, but taking advantage of what it ‘could have been’.

Sportsmanship Deductions: In all cases, the judge(s) will decide whether the described behaviors are Minor, Major, or Extreme instances.

Minor instances will be minus 1-4 points each.
Major instances will be minus 5-9 points each and a visit from the TO.
Extreme instances will be minus 10 points and a visit from the Head TO.

Secondary Objectives
For each game, you will pick one Secondary Objective before choosing table sides but after reviewing your opponent’s Army List. After you have chosen your Secondary Objective, write both your name and the game you are using that objective for. Place the card face down so that your Secondary Objective is secret from your opponent. Completing your Secondary Objective awards you 5 TP. After the game reveal your Secondary Objective card to your opponent. Have them mark on your score sheet and sign if it was completed or not. Whether you completed it or not, turn in the Secondary Objective you used to the TO with your score sheet.

Mission and Secondary Objectives

The Even Packet contains six possible missions. Three will be chosen for the event. The Even Packet also includes the six Secondary Objectives. Review the intel and plan accordingly.

Four Star Open 2025 Event Packet Download

Players and Forces

The event is capped at 18 players.

	Player	Nation	Order Dice	Iron Coffin
1	Lexx D	US Marines	16	No
2	JP	–	–	–
3	Maple G	Soviet Union	10	Yes (Double IS-2)
4	Veronica K	Germany	9	Yes (Panther)
5	Dave C	Great Britain	13	No
6	Dave F	Italy	10	Yes (Tiger I)
7	Jeff W	Great Britain	10	Yes (Churchill Croc)
8	Andrew V	Italy	14	Yes (Tiger I)
9	John V	Hungary	13	Yes (Tiger I)
10	Terry D	Finland	10	Yes (Tiger I)
11	Matt G	Italy	–	–
12	Jayden W	Germany	7	Yes (Tiger II)
13	Adam S	Great Britain	7	Yes (Churchill)
14	Kevin C	United States	11	No
15	Josh H	Canada	16	No
16	Jeff M	Great Britain	13	No
17	Kris K	Germany	11	No
18	Giuseppe I	United States	13	No
Ringer	Shane W	DE/USA	–	Yes
	Waitlist
19	Jacky L	–	–	–
20	–	–	–	–
21	–	–	–	–

Awards

The Coveted M1 Helmet
This event will decide whose name is forever added to the Dice Dojo M1 Helmet and is added to the existing roster of Honored Generals. At the conclusion of Game 3, the top ranked player will be determined and will have their name added to the helmet following the event.

Additional prizes will be awarded for:

Wooden Spoon – Player with the 3 losses who has the overall lowest score.
Best Overall – Player with the highest total points.
Best Allies – Player with highest Allies score, that is not Best Overall.
Best Axis – Player with highest Axis score, that is not Best Overall.
Best Painted – Player with highest Appearance score, that is not Player’s Choice.
Best Battlefield – The table with the most votes for best battlefield.

Community and Past Events

Join the Chicago Bolt Action Facebook Group, the Chicago Dice & Dice Dojo Historical Minis Discord for updates, hobby progress, list discussion, and questions.

Chicago Dice

Rolling in the Windy City since 2015