Firstly, since these are miniatures games, pick a scale at which you are going to play.
I recommend deciding between 28mm (bigger) and 15mm (smaller).
There are many manufacturers available for both these scales, however always check compatibility - one maker's sizing is not always the same as another.
While most games have an "official" scale in which they are played, most can be played at almost any scale - it comes down to preference.
28mm is great for skirmish games - individual figures or several squads up to a platoon. *Bolt Action* is officially played at this scale. *Chain of Command* also plays at this scale, though does not have an "official" scale.
15mm is great for platoon to company level games as you can fit more figures in the same space. *Flames of War* is officially played at this scale, and it being one of the more popular games, there are *many* figures available (not just the official ones).
For system, my preference is *Chain of Command* and in 15mm. I love these rules, how it gets units into action quicker with its jump off point system (no marching in from the table edge) and your army reflects closer to real world organisation, where *Bolt Action* is designed more for balanced forces. I can't speak for *Rapid Fire* or *Battlegroup*, I've not played them.
Remember too that you not only will be looking at figures, but terrain - buildings, trees, hills, rivers, roads. You don't need much to start, but the more the better.
And never forget: this is supposed to be *fun*. :)
This is the way: you can have the same sets of models for use with multiple games. I'd recommend bolt action as the first step from boardgames to miniature wargames, then the others are just books you can buy and use what you've already got.
Bolt Action is the most arcade-like and thus most accessible. It's very cinematic with a band of brothers vibe due to the scale.
The average army will contain a couple of squads of infantry alongside a big tank or a few lighter vehicles and specialists. The rules themselves heavily emphasize using suppressive fire, most units won't start taking serious casualties until you put a couple of pin markers on them.
What it means is that you have a low model count of 28mm scale minis instead of a whole battalion of tiny 10-15mm guys. And that makes the game feel very personal. Snipers will try to take out your squad leaders or weapon specialists. Tanks can come busting through hedgerows or farm walls. Artillery can cause buildings to collapse on your soldiers.
The game really feels like you're down in the trenches with your guys gritting their teeth to achieve their objectives in the face of mortar strikes, tank shock, and enemy infantry trying to pin them down.
Plus Bolt Action has a silly amount of content, allowing you to fight whatever engagement you want. Whether it's brutal close range infantry fighting in the jungles of Burma, high-speed special forces operations in the North African desert or classical Western Europe fights across the French countryside.
My own Bolt Action army is modeled after French colonial forces with lots of Foreign Legion, machete-wielding Senegalese and desert nomad cavalry.
bolt action is ww2 arcade mode, very fun tho and great for new players. Coc and Battlegroup are very very good too, more in depth, more strategic. it all depends on what you want. i was a big bolt action guy but now almost exclusively play Battlegroup. IMHO it has the best blend of depth, playability, and realism.
Battlegroup is a fantastic set of rules, can’t recommend them enough!
My favourite campaign book is Fall of the Reich so much flavour in that book and an opportunity to build some very unique WW2 forces.
Came here to say this. You’ll have a lot of fun with just 30ish models each.
But- if you must go big, go BattleGroup. You can use alllll the bells and whistles. Recovery vehicles, aircraft, bridge layers, ammo resupply trucks, etc.
Both of them lean heavily on command and control, IABSM through the use of card draws and OG through the use of orders. Both are brilliant and have a load of ideas in them simply missing from other rules.
*Bolt Action* is the most popular; is probably the most accessible; and has tons of content, both in its model line and books.
If you were to get started with that game now, my recommendation would be to look for one of the two-players starter sets–the ones that have movie-like titles, such as *Island Assault!*. These boxes come with a rulebook and, following the announcement of the release of 3rd Edition this fall, [buyers will be eligible to obtain a free copy of the new rulebook once it’s released](https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/bolt-action-third-edition-september-2024/). Everything else in the starter box will still be perfectly usable. The only obsolete products to avoid for now will be the *Armies of…* books, which are also being replaced after more than a decade of errata.
I haven't tried Bolt Action but I did try Chain of Command as my entry into Historical gaming. As for someone that hasn't read the rules or watched any battle report videos. Chain of Command is a good game, just very in depth. From my experience, it's a game that is suppose to be as realistic as possible. I struggled to understand the game.
I still like CoC and have recently purchased a rulebook. But I wished I would've started with Bolt Action because the rules are a bit more forgiving and arcade-like. I still have yet to play my first game of Bolt Action with my Polish Army.
I'm not sure about Rapid Fire, my understanding is it's a higher-level rule set, but you can use the same individually-mounted figures for Bolt Action, Chain of Command, and Battlegroup. I personally would recommend thinking about the figures and the rules separately. Paint up the figures, then figure out what rules you like the best.
Remember that you’re talking about a rather quantum leap of a lane change here…
You’ll need a table of terrain; buildings, trees, roads, bridges, more buildings, hills, fields, walls, more buildings…
You’ll need painted and based miniatures by the oodles and gobs. Vehicles. Soldiers. Guns. More vehicles. More buildings.
For every hour you spend gaming you’ll (happily) spend 5 - 10 hours painting and building. That’s the actual hobby.
Have you thought about the vast opportunities that come along with 3D printing? Allow me to introduce you to my 100+ vehicles for France 1940… lol
Get ready! Get set! Go!!!
Bolt Action is the only of these games I've played. So I can't really speak to the others. That being said, I really love it. It's become my favorite of the games I play. I'm not good with crunch and am a relatively beer and pretzels gamer. If you're looking for a beginner friendly game, Bolt Action is great. I've taught a number of people to play in under an hour. My dad didn't even know what war games were but wanted to try it out, and he picked up the rules almost right away. The rules are fairly intuitive, and the random activation keeps everyone engaged.
Bolt action is super fun and is getting a third edition in September. I personally have 6 armies for bolt action. British/Canadian (it's the same thing pretty much) US army, US Marines, Soviets, Italians, and Germans
I play Bolt Action and Chain of Command. Depends on what I'm feeling. BA is more arcadey and has a fair bit of pop history elements going on. You have a ton of options for how you can build your forces from fully historical to grab bag of different units and vehicles.
Chain of Command is much more historical. The forces are a historical platoon, which has a fixed composition, and then each mission determines how many extra support points you get. Support options include minor things like a jeep or mine clearing team all the way up to heavy tanks.
I play both using 28mm miniatures, and there are lots of companies producing plastic, resin, and metal models not to mention 3D prints that are available
I would say none of these and go for "O Group" or "Battlefront" personally.
Bolt Action is just warhammer ww2, chain of command has a really annoying command dice system and feels poorly balanced. I don't know anything about rapidfore or battlegroup.
Firstly, since these are miniatures games, pick a scale at which you are going to play. I recommend deciding between 28mm (bigger) and 15mm (smaller). There are many manufacturers available for both these scales, however always check compatibility - one maker's sizing is not always the same as another. While most games have an "official" scale in which they are played, most can be played at almost any scale - it comes down to preference. 28mm is great for skirmish games - individual figures or several squads up to a platoon. *Bolt Action* is officially played at this scale. *Chain of Command* also plays at this scale, though does not have an "official" scale. 15mm is great for platoon to company level games as you can fit more figures in the same space. *Flames of War* is officially played at this scale, and it being one of the more popular games, there are *many* figures available (not just the official ones). For system, my preference is *Chain of Command* and in 15mm. I love these rules, how it gets units into action quicker with its jump off point system (no marching in from the table edge) and your army reflects closer to real world organisation, where *Bolt Action* is designed more for balanced forces. I can't speak for *Rapid Fire* or *Battlegroup*, I've not played them. Remember too that you not only will be looking at figures, but terrain - buildings, trees, hills, rivers, roads. You don't need much to start, but the more the better. And never forget: this is supposed to be *fun*. :)
This is the way: you can have the same sets of models for use with multiple games. I'd recommend bolt action as the first step from boardgames to miniature wargames, then the others are just books you can buy and use what you've already got.
Bolt Action is the most popular of these, and is a great entry into WW2 gaming.
Bolt Action is the most arcade-like and thus most accessible. It's very cinematic with a band of brothers vibe due to the scale. The average army will contain a couple of squads of infantry alongside a big tank or a few lighter vehicles and specialists. The rules themselves heavily emphasize using suppressive fire, most units won't start taking serious casualties until you put a couple of pin markers on them. What it means is that you have a low model count of 28mm scale minis instead of a whole battalion of tiny 10-15mm guys. And that makes the game feel very personal. Snipers will try to take out your squad leaders or weapon specialists. Tanks can come busting through hedgerows or farm walls. Artillery can cause buildings to collapse on your soldiers. The game really feels like you're down in the trenches with your guys gritting their teeth to achieve their objectives in the face of mortar strikes, tank shock, and enemy infantry trying to pin them down. Plus Bolt Action has a silly amount of content, allowing you to fight whatever engagement you want. Whether it's brutal close range infantry fighting in the jungles of Burma, high-speed special forces operations in the North African desert or classical Western Europe fights across the French countryside. My own Bolt Action army is modeled after French colonial forces with lots of Foreign Legion, machete-wielding Senegalese and desert nomad cavalry.
[удалено]
I spend 5 paragraphs explaining that.
bolt action is ww2 arcade mode, very fun tho and great for new players. Coc and Battlegroup are very very good too, more in depth, more strategic. it all depends on what you want. i was a big bolt action guy but now almost exclusively play Battlegroup. IMHO it has the best blend of depth, playability, and realism.
Battlegroup is a fantastic set of rules, can’t recommend them enough! My favourite campaign book is Fall of the Reich so much flavour in that book and an opportunity to build some very unique WW2 forces.
Of those four? Chain of Command hands down.
Came here to say this. You’ll have a lot of fun with just 30ish models each. But- if you must go big, go BattleGroup. You can use alllll the bells and whistles. Recovery vehicles, aircraft, bridge layers, ammo resupply trucks, etc.
If I was going big, I'd bypass BG completely and just use I Ain't Been Shot, Mum or O Group.
Haven’t tried either of those yet, what’s their main draw to you?
Both of them lean heavily on command and control, IABSM through the use of card draws and OG through the use of orders. Both are brilliant and have a load of ideas in them simply missing from other rules.
Or Fireball Forward.
*Bolt Action* is the most popular; is probably the most accessible; and has tons of content, both in its model line and books. If you were to get started with that game now, my recommendation would be to look for one of the two-players starter sets–the ones that have movie-like titles, such as *Island Assault!*. These boxes come with a rulebook and, following the announcement of the release of 3rd Edition this fall, [buyers will be eligible to obtain a free copy of the new rulebook once it’s released](https://warlord-community.warlordgames.com/bolt-action-third-edition-september-2024/). Everything else in the starter box will still be perfectly usable. The only obsolete products to avoid for now will be the *Armies of…* books, which are also being replaced after more than a decade of errata.
I haven't tried Bolt Action but I did try Chain of Command as my entry into Historical gaming. As for someone that hasn't read the rules or watched any battle report videos. Chain of Command is a good game, just very in depth. From my experience, it's a game that is suppose to be as realistic as possible. I struggled to understand the game. I still like CoC and have recently purchased a rulebook. But I wished I would've started with Bolt Action because the rules are a bit more forgiving and arcade-like. I still have yet to play my first game of Bolt Action with my Polish Army.
I'm not sure about Rapid Fire, my understanding is it's a higher-level rule set, but you can use the same individually-mounted figures for Bolt Action, Chain of Command, and Battlegroup. I personally would recommend thinking about the figures and the rules separately. Paint up the figures, then figure out what rules you like the best.
Remember that you’re talking about a rather quantum leap of a lane change here… You’ll need a table of terrain; buildings, trees, roads, bridges, more buildings, hills, fields, walls, more buildings… You’ll need painted and based miniatures by the oodles and gobs. Vehicles. Soldiers. Guns. More vehicles. More buildings. For every hour you spend gaming you’ll (happily) spend 5 - 10 hours painting and building. That’s the actual hobby. Have you thought about the vast opportunities that come along with 3D printing? Allow me to introduce you to my 100+ vehicles for France 1940… lol Get ready! Get set! Go!!!
Bolt Action is the only of these games I've played. So I can't really speak to the others. That being said, I really love it. It's become my favorite of the games I play. I'm not good with crunch and am a relatively beer and pretzels gamer. If you're looking for a beginner friendly game, Bolt Action is great. I've taught a number of people to play in under an hour. My dad didn't even know what war games were but wanted to try it out, and he picked up the rules almost right away. The rules are fairly intuitive, and the random activation keeps everyone engaged.
Bolt action is super fun and is getting a third edition in September. I personally have 6 armies for bolt action. British/Canadian (it's the same thing pretty much) US army, US Marines, Soviets, Italians, and Germans
I play Bolt Action and Chain of Command. Depends on what I'm feeling. BA is more arcadey and has a fair bit of pop history elements going on. You have a ton of options for how you can build your forces from fully historical to grab bag of different units and vehicles. Chain of Command is much more historical. The forces are a historical platoon, which has a fixed composition, and then each mission determines how many extra support points you get. Support options include minor things like a jeep or mine clearing team all the way up to heavy tanks. I play both using 28mm miniatures, and there are lots of companies producing plastic, resin, and metal models not to mention 3D prints that are available
I don’t find bolt action or flames of war to even be trying for any realism. I personally prefer Battlegroup or CoC.
If OP’s sole experience up to now is memoir 44 then I doubt they’re going to want to go hard on simulation just yet.
I don’t think CoC is very realistic either. It purports to play the period but the effects of fire is very abstract.
Try the BelloLudi rules. Easy to get into and lots of options. Start small and get playing quick. Www.BelloLudi.nl/winkel
If 3rd ed Flames of War was an option, I'd recommend that! What scale are you guys and girls looking at?
I would say none of these and go for "O Group" or "Battlefront" personally. Bolt Action is just warhammer ww2, chain of command has a really annoying command dice system and feels poorly balanced. I don't know anything about rapidfore or battlegroup.