My struggle with Bolt action v3

I’m a big fan of Bolt Action. I loved second edition and was so excited when third was announced. Now that we’ve played a handful of games, I can definitely find things I like, but I’m a bit disappointed. Let me explain.

In Bolt Action second addition the game felt very deadly. You would roll to hit with some modifiers and then roll to damage. Any damage sustained was models removed from the table. If the squad was inexperienced, you damaged on a 3+, regular a 4+ and veteran a 5+. When fired upon, the squad could “Go Down,” making them harder to hit, but all of that has changed with the introduction of cover saves.

First, you’re adding a complete new roll to the game. Hit, cause damage, and now cover saves in third edition. In our games, we find that units are almost always in cover. A soft cover save is a 5+ and a hard cover save is a 4+. In addition, if you elect to react and “Go Down,” as previously discussed, it adds +2 to your cover save now, or if you’re in the open gives you a 5+.

So that’s the changes and now why am I struggling? It feels like squads are very sticky. If a squad gets into hard cover we’re finding it near impossible to remove them. A tank firing HE shells at a veteran squad can hit, cause damage with a PEN value but then have their shots halved and deal with a 2+ save in the unit went down. It takes the entire game or focus firing to attempt to remove that one unit. In addition, it takes more time.

Another thing I want to touch on is assaults. In the previous version, if you charge the assaulting force would fight first which would normally put the defender at a disadvantage. In this edition, both sides fight at the same time which I really like. If the charging unit causes 4 casualties the defending unit still gets to swing with those 4 before removing them. That’s a great change, but what’s the benefit to assaulting? Technically, a squad of 4 men could eliminate a squad of 10 with the right roll.

In addition, if you assault a defended position, such as a wall or building, the defender swings first inflicting their damage before you can attack. In the previous edition, this is what would trigger both sides fighting at the same time.

As we continue to play and feel our way through the new edition, I find myself missing things from the old one. The cover saves are really taking some of the fun out of it for me.

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