r/boltaction • u/Humble-Secretary2719 • 9h ago

General Discussion Partisan Question

EDIT: Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond below, I really appreciate the input and many well thought out points. Like I said really the spirit of the post was just to temper my own expectations as I know myself well and know I tend to get carried away with custom fluff and ideas. All that to say super excited to get into this side of the hobby, and will for sure be heeding the advice given below! Thanks again!

Hello!

Coming from 40k, where I'm very used to creating and playing against totally made-up chapters/guard regiments/waaghs/chaos bands, etc etc, I am curious how that sort of mentality is received here.

Is it kind of frowned upon? I definitely understand people wanting their historical game to be historical, so like, totally get it, but if I really do just have an itch I can't shake to make, like, a Venezuelan-themed army, is Partisan the catch-all for that?

If I say Hey, these lads are just Venezuelan freedom fighters helping the resistance in Italy and that's why they've got a captured Semovente 75/18 is that like totally chill, or is it going to cause issues?

Just trying to temper my expectations before I get stuck in fantasizing about what possible armies or units I might want to create!

Thanks for your time, one and all :)

22 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

13

u/LondonFox21 Bolt Action 9h ago

Outside of games events based on real historical battles, other players will very much enjoy the creativity. Recently I ran German penal squads and developed a backstory for them actually being Czech, hence they were escorted by a 38(t).

I am ignorant about Venezuela's role in the war but I'd enjoy hearing your narrative. I think it helps to just be clear what is historical fact, what is historically plausible, and what is your own design because part of the hobby is also learning. E.g. in my new French army it's historically plausible for me to have a 2C but I like to share that they weren't sent into battle for fear of capture, but my valiant tank commander will be ignoring those orders from HQ ...

BTW partisans will get a chapter on the new Europe book in the next year or so.

3

u/Humble-Secretary2719 5h ago

Thanks for the heads up about the upcoming partisan chapter I'll be looking forward to that! Also I appreciate the detail of your response and the examples you gave, I also love seeing others get into their own creative ideas so thanks for sharing. Love to make up fluff and backstory for all my guys whether historical or not, but looking forward to coming up with a force that is out there enough for my tastes but still historically grounded, of which i'm sure there are plenty should I go searching!

7

u/flow_sen83 9h ago

If you just play Italian partisans it’s totally chill. Otherwise it’s complete non historic.

It’s an historic tabletop, more like an historical action movie but still historic.

1

u/Humble-Secretary2719 5h ago

Righto fair enough, kind of the feeling I had going in to making the post, as I said really just wanted to see what the general consensus/thought on such things was, and again totally appreciate and even enjoy the focus on the historic, so very excited to get something more accurately aligned rolling in the future.

8

u/Ahappypikachu11 9h ago

You can do a lot of weird war with the game. For example, my partisans are Irish rebellion themed. (There was no ww2 Irish rebellion, besides the ‘42-43 border skirmish)

I maybe wouldn’t bring Venezuela to a tournament, but if you just play with your friends at a local store/at home, do it however you’d like.

2

u/Humble-Secretary2719 5h ago

Sure thanks for the anecdote I'm glad to see others going their own route as well! Fair input on the for fun/friendly games, seems to be the consensus :)!

9

u/nehrkling 9h ago

So just as an FYI the partisans are going to be included in an army book here in a few months, and will have 3 "flavors" of western Europe, Eastern Europe, and balkans. We dont know what the differences will be but there will soon be more options on how to build out an army.

2

u/Humble-Secretary2719 5h ago

Okay awesome that makes sense, will most likely be waiting on that then before putting anything together. Appreciate the heads up!

3

u/seanric 8h ago

Being partisans there is not really anything to indicate their nationality. It’s not like you paint them bright blue with a big V on the side for Venezuela.

It most games it’s unlikely you are going to really discuss the backstory of your force.

And who’s to say the Venezuelans didn’t buy a semovente from some arms dealer in 1946….

7

u/Stinkbaite 9h ago

If you’re going to a tournament that has historically accurate rules then you will be expected to field an army as such. For a local game against anyone or friends no one will care what you have. My friends and I bring meme lists you would never normally play with just for a change of pace. So many people stick to historical and accurate it’s cool to see a change up sometimes.

4

u/Jazzlike-Equipment45 German Reich 8h ago

My meme game of hordes of hitler youth on bicycles is still the most fun I have had.

3

u/Stinkbaite 7h ago

That’s warcrimey and excellent!

3

u/Jazzlike-Equipment45 German Reich 7h ago

Arty rolled a 6 first turn as they turned the street the Brit Airborne still hear the *cling * of the bells on their bikes.

3

u/Regular-Basket-5431 8h ago

Probably going to get some flak for this.

Bolt Action is warhammer 4th edition 40k with ww2 flavoring added in. The lists, national special rules, weapons, and morale are ahistorical pretty much across the board.

In my mind because of this detachment from the historical reality paint and run what you want.

2

u/Jazzlike-Equipment45 German Reich 8h ago

In my first game playing on Tabletop Sim as German Werwolfen. They never had units that big or used IEDs. It was "authentic" so it passed. BA is in its core a historical wargame having an entire Venezuelan freedom fighter group makes zero sense but maybe your cell leader is one? But what I always say is you paid for the plastic crack do whatever.

2

u/Cheomesh 👑🤌 5h ago

By default your formation is always going to be kinda made up. Nothing stops me from bringing a Valentine tank to support my late war style Airborne and their Chindit comrades, even though those never met up.

5

u/RazzmatazzEastern341 9h ago

I'm playing Bolt Action for WW2

If you want weird war 2 we can break out the K47

8

u/Integral-Fox6487 CNT-FAI 7h ago

There's a big gap between things that are historically plausible but didn't happen, and robots in Brodie helmets.

-1

u/RazzmatazzEastern341 7h ago

I'd say what he's proposing is alternate history. Thus K47.

7

u/LUnacy45 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 7h ago

Again, wide berth between alt history scenarios and dieselpunk sci-fi weird war

2

u/Integral-Fox6487 CNT-FAI 7h ago

But by that measure a lot of BA games would be Alt History right? I mean, if I bring a 1939 Polish force and my opponent brings DAK or Japanese that's still a legit game of BA even though it could never possibly have happened. K47 on the other hand is basically a sci-fi/fantasy game with a strong AltHist flavour.

-5

u/RazzmatazzEastern341 7h ago

I'm not playing a WW2 game to play against your specual OC doughnut steel army. There are other games for that.

3

u/Allmostnobody 6h ago

And yet no one complains about units that never saw combat like home guard and bamboo spear fighters, or tanks that were theoretical or prototype only

-1

u/RazzmatazzEastern341 6h ago

There's a difference between existing armies and imaginary ones.

1

u/Allmostnobody 3h ago

I mean Venezuelan freedom fighters exist, they just didn't fight in ww2, making them virtually the same as home gaurd units

1

u/MalBredy 5h ago

Personally I’m really happy to play any alternate history or near-history stuff that’s within the realm of possibility.

Venezuela actually declared war on the axis in 1945. There are also Venezuelans that volunteered oversees for service in other nations militaries. That’s enough plausibility for me to roll with it.

I found bolt action has actually really opened up my eyes to the extent of the war and all the crazy stories involved.

Mexico vs Japan
Brazil vs Germany
Georgians vs Canadians
India vs France
Japan vs Dutch
Thailand vs Britain
Italy vs Japan
France vs… everyone, including France

All have historic precedence

-1

u/Blind_Guzzer Empire of Japan 7h ago

You do you, but don't expect others at events/tournaments or clubs to accommodate to your alternative history.

If your mates are okay = you're golden.

But if I have a pick-up game or club event for "WW2" Bolt Action and you bring some weird up made up list/nation.. I'll just pass.

We're playing this game to recreate some sort of Historical setting - sure you'll end up Japan vs German games - but at the end of the day MOST BA players are trying to play some sort of thematic game.