Bolt Action: Popping the Cork with Early War French

Introduction

When our Bolt Action Tsar asked me to write this article, my immediate reaction was to say yes. I love the French Army for Bolt Action. They have some real cons when it comes to being an army, which I’ll touch on in the below, but I think they’re a fun faction with some unique aspects that play to their historical strengths. Plus, their model range is absolutely outstanding. A small caveat here – I strictly play early war French, specifically the Battle of France in 1940. 

Why Play Early War France? 

France gets an unfair reputational beating when it comes to the Second World War. Often the butt of jokes about surrendering without a fight and cowardice uttered by fools who don’t know enough about the Second World war, the Early War French in Bolt Action are a dogged force with some excellent tricks up their sleeve. 

The French national rules are a mix of one negative rule and two boost rules. Communication Breakdown reflects the historical reality of France being “caught unprepared by the blitzkrieg” and as such punishes French players by making them test their luck if they manage to pull the first order die out of the bag at the beginning of the game. If you do, your opponent gets to decide if it’s put back and another die is drawn. As far as punitive rules go, it’s not the worst from Bolt Action. It only effects the first draw of the game, and so could be worse. Personally, I would pick another rule that’s another benefit rather than a detriment to players (especially when combined with one-man turret & slow for French tanks, which is discussed below), but it is what it is.

The second rule is Forward Artillery Doctrine, and it absolutely rules. Like Communication Breakdown, this rule reflects the historical reality of the ungodly amount of artillery France had at her disposal at the outbreak of the war. French armies get one free Inexperienced or Regular artillery unit, excluding heavy artillery. This is in addition to the normal amount of artillery you can normally take. You can take an anti-tank gun if you’d prefer, but if you do then I’m of the opinion you’re not playing to the espirit de corps of Early War French.

The last rule is Hurriedly Conscripted Reserves, again reflecting the historical reality of conscripts being thrown in front of the advancing Germans that circumvented the Maginot Line. If you include 3 or more Inexperienced Infantry Sections then you 1 free one, identical to the cheapest unit purchased. I’ve used this rule a couple of times and with the rule Green, it can be pretty effective.

The Model Range – What Units Are Available and Are They Good?

The French now have models in plastic, and they’re pretty good. When I bought my French army they were entirely metal. Pound for pound, it’s the heaviest army I own. The Warlord plastic kit allows the models to be built as regular French Army Sections, Fortress Troops, Chasseurs à Pied, Engineers or Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian Colonial Troops (of which The French used extensively, despite their claims otherwise) and the Wargames Atlantic 1916-1940 kit is also very flexible. While I can say the models look great, I actually haven’t bought any or modeled them, so my recommendation on them is purely aesthetic. My army consists of a mix of the metal French Infantry Sections and Senegalese Tirailleurs. I don’t have much to say here in way of tactics, because in Bolt Action, infantry are infantry. However, all of the above units have the option of taking VB Launchers. VB Launchers were  It allows the man firing it to either fire his rifle or the VB Launcher and has a range of 6″ – 18″. It’s 20 points, so it’s not a free upgrade but I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gotten lucky and rolled a six with them. To me, they’re an auto-include on all French infantry units.

The French can also take cavalry units armed with cavalry carbines which count as pistols while mounted and rifles while dismounted, and the sculpts are great. Lastly for infantry and for the more morbid among you, they even have some French Army Casualties. For HQ units, the French have some wonderfully modeled characters. Support weapons are in great supply too, with a mix of anti-tank rifles, snipers and light mortars, medium machine gun teams kitted out with the Hotchkiss MMG, and medium mortars.

When it comes to some of the heavier weapons, this is one of the areas in which the Early War French are truly shine model wise. There are really only four options: The 25mm Light Anti-Tank Gun, The 47mm Medium Anti-Tank Gun, The 75mm Light Artillery and the 105mm Medium Artillery. While the French army can take a heavy howitzer as well, there’s no model for it as far as I’m aware (if there is one, please drop a link in the comments below so I can add it to my army). All of the models are great looking but can be bears to put together, from my personal experience. The upshot of that is that they offer some really great modelling opportunities.

The final models in the range are the vehicles and tanks. I won’t list everything as there are far too many, but I’ll come right out and say it – early war tanks are far cooler than late war tanks. You can keep your Panthers and Tigers and Easy Eight Sherman’s. I’ll take my little Renault Ft-17s and R-40s all day long. Early war tanks, especially the French tanks, offer such an interesting glimpse into the interwar period in which these things were developed in theoretical arenas as opposed to refinement on the battlefield. My personal favorite tanks to take in my French army are the Renault R39, the Renault R40 and the Somua S35. It’s important to point out here that if you take tanks as an Early War French player, it can be a frustrating experience for two main reasons. First, all three of the Renault tanks suffer from both Slow and One-Man Turret. Slow reduces their ability to move – 6″ advance and a 12″ run. One-Man Turret can be very frustrating as you must make an order test for the unit when advancing even if the unit has no pins. The real downside there is the increased chance to roll a FUBAR result. The R35 can be especially irksome as it also has a low-velocity light anti-tank gun, reducing it’s penetration value to +3 instead of +4. Lastly, I’d be remiss to not mention one of the mainstays of the early war French tanks, the Char b1. I don’t actually have a Char B1 & Char B1 Bis just yet for my French army, but they are very good, especially for early war games. 9+ armor and equipped with a light anti-tank gun, a hull mounted MMG AND a hull mounted light howitzer. These things are absolute monsters on the table, even though they also suffer from One-man Turret and Slow.

Example Lists & Tactics

Field Artillery Doctrine

For this list, it very much leans into the ability of the early war French to drop a ton of templates on everything. 3 Regular French Infantry Sections with VB Launchers will let you take and hold positions while dropping additional HE rounds onto enemy units while your artillery and mortar can either do counter battery operations or delete units in buildings. This list doesn’t have a lot of anti-tank; only the AMC Schneider is packing some and it’s the low-velocity anti-tank gun so only has a +3 penetration value. BUT, don’t forget that you don’t necessarily need to destroy enemy vehicles – you can pin them out. Indirect fire causes a lot of pins on vehicles. You can also always fire artillery directly. In general, I always choose to take my indirect fire as inexperienced since I always fire them indirect and you need a 6 to hit anyway. Lastly to note here – this list includes the free medium artillery that the French get, but the spotter is not free. You have to pay an additional 10 points for him, but he’s worth it. Stick to cover, drop templates on your enemies, have a great time.

Hurriedly Conscripted Reserves

This list leans into the French ability to get a free inexperienced squad if you take 3 or more inexperienced squads along with it. With six infantry units in this list, you’re going  to have no problems taking objectives. What I would do for this list is run the officer close to the inexperienced squad and absolutely keep them behind cover. Use your mortar and medium artillery to provide support fire for them, along with the VB launchers in the inexperienced squads. Mount the Senegalese Tirailleurs into the Lorraine 38 carrier and run the cavalry to flank and take further objectives, especially if you can clear one late game with artillery and run those guys out. The AMC Schneider makes a return here as well (I love the Recce rule, which allows it to make a move if it’s shot at in the opponents turn and hasn’t already been given an order). I decided to feature an anti-tank gun in this list to really help lock down roads. In my experience, people tend to flat out ignore light anti-tank to their own demise. The +4 penetration to hit works surprisingly well.

Conclusion

“But Dan!” you say. “What if I want to play middle to late war French?” To that I say, I focus exclusively on The Battle of France, but if you want to play late war French then you can access their model range right here. With early war French you get the benefit of holding the line, of la gloire, of doing better than history and – of course – all that lovely artillery! If you try out these lists, let us know how they go and look forward to more Bolt Action content soon.

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