Little off topic but hoping someone knows whats going on with armoured platoons. The rules for an armoured platoon state you must take a vehicle that has the command vehicle special rule for the platoon commander. If your army has none of these available, you can pick some other vehicle from the list and give it the command vehicle special rule for 10 pts. The only problem with this is only the GERMANs and JAPANESE have units in their list with the command vehicle special rule. All the Allied nations have no vehicle with the command special rule. So- the axis players are forced to take one of these specific vehicles (for the Germans its all half tracks- for the Japanese a medium tank) before they can access other vehicles in the platoon, while the Americans, for example, could get a Pershing, give it the command unit special rule, then get another Pershing. Did they game designers intentionally screw the Axis armoured platoons this way?

I think they just quickly made some up to give those armies perks so they are playable. I hope and expect they personalize the armies later on. Probably WL is waiting for feedback how the greater nations are being played in the game.

Actually if it is only about kill points it would be possible to counter the MRL list with a very uncompetitive list: take 2 king tigers vet which cannot be damaged nor pinned by MRL and start the clean out. The mandatory rifle platoon just needs to hide in the meantime

Small good news coming out of these: Poland (my main faction) actually got better: we lost our 2 junk special rules (Fanatics on HQ, which never came up, and Communications Breakdown), gained Fieldcraft/Outflanking bonuses, infantry sections are now 6-man minimum instead of 10, and the TKS Tankette and Bofors AA gun got cheaper. Sure, cav went up +1pt/man due to cav in general going up to 3/man instead of 2/man, but honestly that's not horrible. So all in all, I think we're actually ahead of where we were.

My favorite bit is how they translated errors from the old books over, even though they were Errata'd - such as the R35 going back to having a hull MMG.

Throw smoke! Oh wait... This is bolt action.

unfortunatelly the first list is illegal, the point cost of the unit is 35 according to the errata

Interested to hear your thoughts on how to run Japanese in this edition. The changes to assaults, fanatic, banzai and the removal of their infiltrator special rule. That and waiting for 2026 to get some of the more interesting units back. I feel like the only options are: 1. Hope you can play early war only and make use of your veterans 2. Mortar spam, specifically with grenadiers. Light mortars being cheaper and maybe getting los from other spotters 3. The dreaded and not terribly fun kempetai and bamboo or militia spam. Maybe a couple units of militia are okay?

Bo I was Fielding 2 Bars in a couple of 8 Men US Marines.... 12 points for 4 shoots at 30 Inch range. While German and even Hungarian MMG where firing me up with 7 Shots. Für 3 Points more I could brought an LGM instead of BAR and had 6" more reach. BAR's no longer Worth beinging? Sad Thing is, when I build my Americans with the Perry Mini kitI gave em as many BAR's as I could.

2:22 Looks FUN! 2x Majors.... Snap 4! You can also Flatten Buildings and Line of Sight Blocking Terrain!

6:23 Will everything BETWEEN (IN THAT 18" LINE) of the Air Craft Marker and the Target Marker get Pins in 3rd Edition or Just 6" Around the First Marker and 6" Around the Target Marker?

10Howling Cows are Dead Turn 1.

From how I read the force selection, the Company Commander is its own selection off on its own. It looks like Platoon Commanders are the only valid option for your a platoon officer. This seems to be backed up by the list builder in the Warlord App.

I absolutely NEED to build that howling cow list and play it with my friends just to be funny

How do you get Panzershreks for 60pts?

So the Fanatsy list you play a scenario where they have to march onto the board it would be so funny. Deploy your troops over 6"s apart. Also flank half your army to avoid the MRLs

It's so funny how it's been over a decade and the three for one rule still confuses new players. Please warlord learn how to phrase it differently to be less confusing.

i'm honestly at a loss as to why warlord didn't add any way for the assaulting unit to go first. people say that its more realistic now which i don't agree with and is a bad argument for a game that is described as hollywood wwii, but even with that how is charging in with smgs on a bunch of people down in the open still simultaneous? the only reason i can see is warlord just did not want people assaulting, for whatever reason from historical accuracy (which i doubt because bolt action is definitely not a historically accurate game) to them just not liking assaults from a game design point of view (which makes the most sense to me with the changes to shooting.)

Ghurkas and polish cavalry still the best in assaults. Get the opponent to go down

Could you please do a faction review of Japan and where they can excel in V3?

very interesting thank you for your thoughts

does the list change with 3ed book thanks

I feel like assaulting now is meant to be either used as a last ditch effort, when you must take that objective, or you're or going to lose the game and so your units run into certain death to save the mission, or when you are in a far more advantageous position than your opponent and can utilise fire support in the form of pins, probably from HE. Although the competitive community (seems?) to be finding the adjustment to the game being more shooty a little difficult, I think in the long run it will be seen as the right change for the game. For one because it makes it feel more thematically appropriate, and because it also differentiates itself from a lot of other wargames which mostly revolve around melee. I'm liking it so far, although I've only been able to play one game since receiving my copy of the new rulebook.

Today I got outflaked by HUNGARIAN CAVALERY (Vet)... It was nice that they cannot Charge you from outflank... 18" Charge Range is no Joke... But Close Combat is not as Daring as it used to be! Still, If you plan for it, it can be good....(used to be devastating). Than they Consolidated into Cover. Next Turn he Charged the Next Unit. (2 Officers who where Running to Mid Objective with a Bunch of Units!) And Consolidated back again into Cover.

I have been wondering if big expendable blobs is the way to win assaults. Then people are then forced to mop them up to protect MSUs. Just musing with no actual proof!

I think to make assaulting successful in v3 , you're going to need more synergy from other units.. possibly anything from medics to light mortars or even blocking los with vehicles.. maybe making good use of snap to.. i can't say what that synergy is right now but i do feel its going to take multiple units together to make it work competitively..

RIP Polish Cavalry

I was wondering if just the rims were made of wood or whether the whole thing was if not what was the material you painted on??

Yea I do Bo, I have a perspective to run by you. Let's take the word assault from v2 and think of it as the way that represented getting right up in the enemies grill, and let's face it, shooting them to death. Yes there were bayonets etc, but really it was all the weapons that gave you tough fighter by majority, so SMGs, pistols etc al. Melee in v2 was more of a different shooting mechanic, it used guns, it was conclusive, it wasn't really a fist fight. Now in V3 the same thing happens but in a different way and with an altered mechanic. Now an assault unit gets up in your grill and it has a +2 to hit, a +1 to wound, it negates the cover bonus from down, and it butchers the enemy in a very similar manner to v2. Nothing has really changed thematically, we just use a different mechanic (point blank shooting) to represent what was in the main just point blank shooting in V2 that was smushed into what we called melee. I like this better if I'm honest, it's more realistic to how rare actual unit to unit hand to hand fighting was in ww2, and it makes those units with assault weapons incredible as they're generally packing multiple shots per man, probably no negative for moving, which is how they got to within 6", they pile on the +2 for point blank and it's to me the new way of thinking about close combat. Plus of course that odd edge case where you might actually do an old fashioned melee assault when things get desperate. Different way of looking at it I think, but I'm just spit balling. Always appreciate the great content. I used to comment a lot but we mothballed BA when V3 was announced and just picked it back up. I took Mel (Terrain Tutor) to the Warlord Open day and BA launch party last weekend, it was outstanding as always, hope to see you there one year. I feel very positive about his game, my only concern might relate to the temptation to become quite static, and Terrain is the solution I guess.

Question: Given that BARs are now 6 points each and no longer benefit from Fire and Maneuver or contribute extra shots to Fire and Maneuver, do you think that they are worth it? How many should you take? Are they best used with Inexperienced, Regulars or Veterans? I think they are OK on Regulars, better on Veterans and not worth it on Inexperienced troops because of the cost. Upgrading a man with a BAR gets you one extra shot and 6” extra range, but you could also just buy another man. That extra man gets you an extra shot, an extra wound, an extra attack in close combat and might get you an additional free shot from Fire and Maneuver. The cost of the man being different for Inexperienced vs Regular vs Veteran is what makes the difference in my opinion. What do you think?

Interesting musings, Bo. Maybe tables need more terrain, and assaults should happen at the end of a turn with a possible second assault or early move away from danger at the top of the next round? Alternatively, firing SMGs at point blank might be mathematically a more survivable option than assaulting, depending on the cover you might be able to maintain. Then consider going down at the top of the subsequent round if the SMG unit is going to get lit up.

My gut feeling is there may be something to pin swamping your opponent to set up assaults. The British with multiple artillery observers and or MSU shooting could make it so those counter units can't effectively respond.

Question, if a infantry unit is not listed on the v3 pdf that was released, is it not playable anymore? Ie the Italian Arditi

Honestly, it feels like a more historical reality.

Interesting,just come back to this post to check any comments as I had made a couple, never seen 50 comments on one of Bo’s vids before,the poor quality ‘get you by lists ‘ that have to cover a 3/4yr gap have annoyed a lot of players invested in the minor powers + China + Australia.

I'm not feeling third edition at all. Still prefer 2nd.

I think we will see the shift from assault as the opening way to destroy units, to the 'clean up' of stragglers.

Could I get a video on playing a horde army? More so with like, which units are fine to simply 'throw' at my opponent

If I Go down with a tank.... And it would leave the Tableedge...but there is an Officer right behind the tank, what happens? Does the tank run over the officer? Or does the Tank hold?

Hey! I mainly play US. Currently in V3, Rangers are by far the best American infantry because they are not costed correctly. They are 14 points cheaper than they should be. For 2 more points than a minimum squad of marines with 3 BARs, you can get 7 man rangers with 1 BAR which is more survivable, has rangers lead the way, and only 1 less shot. Marines seem to be most valuable when you take them at 9 men so you can take 3 BARs, and still get full benefit of fire and maneuver. Otherwise though I think default US infantry will be either rangers or simply 7-8 man regular infantry with 1-2 BARs.

Hi Bo, can you make a video explaining the purpose of each platoon in a rock paper scissors fashion, if there is any? I cannot figure out the purpose of a recce platoon.

“Get you by”? This doesn’t get anyone by… none of these are worth playing. I was in the process of starting Italian and Hungarian Case Blue armies. Not anymore. I guess Warlord didn’t want my money

Feeble attempt at national special rules. England gets a list of rules to pick from while other countries have 💩. The English army fought no better than the Italians for the first three years of the war and England should have the same crap rules as the Italians.

The reason why these rules are not spectacular is because they are free. When they have to try and sell them to you they will have a lot more thought put into them.

I think you are missing the fact that for some nations, Hungary for example, there are plenty of infantry options, but they are all folded in to one choice with upgrades so they are not too basic. But that being said, it is poor. What happened to my partizan pistoleros?😢

That Partisan rule which prevents Forward Deployment is pretty decent, I think. Especially with the change to Forward Deployment (now Infiltrators), with the only stipulation being “12in from any enemy unit already deployed.” That means if you lean into an Infiltrating heavy force, you can start with some hefty board control AND in Ambush.

So, was Warlord Games being pressured into producing something to cover the minor nations and this is their way of punishing the customers? Or was it because it was a rush job assigned to someone who wasn't familiar with the game? It matters not to me, I'm new here - just commenting because I can.

I'm happy enough about the Italians but yeah it's rough getting by with these lists for maybe a year or two.

I was a little disappointed on some, but they Are all at least positive rules, and this is just the "get by" document. This will be adjusted for sure. So I will have hope until then. Thank you Bo for your thoughts

Really hoping they make lists fun and good when the armies of books come out. I’m also hoping some of the minor nations get their own books in v3 (Italy, Finland and Partisans would be my choice).