Get Rewarded For Having Fun

South African forces are best known for their contribution to the fighting in the North African theatre, where they proved to be tough and capable soldiers who made excellent use of motorised transport and coordination with supporting elements to overcome the foe. This is no different on the tabletop, where they benefit from some rather nice special rules – these ones, in fact!

We can see right off the bat that South African forces lean towards a highly mobile style of play, with Turn the Flank making Outflanking with armour and transported infantry a much more reliable prospect. Being able to put your units where you need them, when you need them, and not having to slog up the table under fire gives you some really interesting options for attacking from unexpected angles. Meanwhile, Close-In Air Support and Shells, Not Lives give a healthy buff to both flavours of Forward Observer team, meaning your off-table support is much more likely to land a devastating blow.

This meshes with Turn the Flank very nicely – to make use of both rules, you need two Forward Observers, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to include one in a Rifle Platoon, and the other in a Recce Platoon. That means you’ll have plenty of transports to exploit the Outflank bonus!

Continuing the vehicle theme, Up-Gunned Italian Campaign Vehicles gives you great access to pintle-mounted HMGs, ideal for laying down supporting fire, clearing out Veteran units, and threatening light vehicles. This also leads us nicely to a special rule that isn’t technically army-wide, but definitely belongs here. It’s also a nice little spoiler for some of the unique units!

Fire-Belt Action is really interesting little rule that rewards fielding plenty of the iconic South African armoured vehicle, and allows them to unlock their machine guns and put a serious volley downrange.

South Africa rounds out Armies of the British Commonwealth nicely, with its particular brand of motorised mayhem ideally suited to players wanting to field plenty of vehicles and off-board supporting fire. It’s a great excuse to get your armour out and on the tabletop (as if you needed any more encouragement!), and a fitting way to end the Army Lists section of the book. The fun doesn’t stop there, though – we’ve got a lot of unique units to go through ahead of launch!

This is the one you’ve been waiting for, Bolt Action fans. We’re taking a look at the Indian National Special Rules from Armies of the British Commonwealth, including – at last – the return of the infamous Gurkhas!

The Indian Army ended the Second World War as the largest volunteer force in history, with some 2.5 million men under arms. This expansion, from a starting strength of around 200,000 at the outbreak of war, coupled with the service of Indian troops on both sides of the world, means that the Indian National Special Rules have to cover a huge range of units, fighting in very different conditions. Let’s look at the rules that let it do just that!

Well, that’s something to work with! Superior Endurance sets the tone for an Indian force right off the bat – the ability to re-roll failed Morale Checks is great for keeping your infantry in the fight, making it more likely that your opponent will need to destroy units outright and thus commit more firepower to the task. When combined with Shared Knowledge, this makes your Inexperienced troops surprisingly durable, and more likely to up-rate, making an army composed of masses of infantry a viable (and scary) prospect.

Mountain Experts is a great rule, allowing you to give your infantry – that’s any of them! – the incredibly useful Fieldcraft. The ensures that ‘standard’ Indian forces will have excellent tactical mobility, something shared by those troops designated under…

That’s right – the Gurkhas are back! It’s just as well we’ve put a new plastic box of them on pre-order alongside Armies of the British Commonwealth, because we reckon people are going to want a lot of these scary blighters! They aren’t cheap, but they’re seriously nasty when the fighting gets up close and personal, with special rules to match. Ayo Gurkhali! now allows you to field entire armies of these legendary Nepalese troops, including some of their lesser-known specialist formations. Yep, Gurkha Paras really existed – and you can field them with this book!

With strong National Special Rules and an excellent selection of units from the Standard Commonwealth Units roster, Indian forces are shaping up to be mobile, versatile, and deadly – a potent combination on the Bolt Action battlefield.