Feels like you missed out a ton of the French transports, like the only fully enclosed armoured transports and the cheapest MMG truck that remains a transport option. I laughed out loud at the idea that early war lists would struggle against late war lists.
I would say you are being overly harsh. Against late war armies, sure the early war French may struggle but that would be true of any early war faction. I think the French play quite well. The extra artillery is a great bonus since artillery is great in Bolt Action. The Panhard is a great Armoured car. The communication breakdown rule is negligible. The little Renault F17 tank is a great machine gun platform and much cheaper than a normal MMG and you get armour defence too. What is not to like?
Bolt Action’s French are effectively three different factions, each with their own special rules. Pre-Vichy/Vichy (Armies of France and the Allies with a few appearances in theater books), Free French Africa (Western Desert), and Free French post D-Day (Battle of the Bulge). Four if you count French Resistance (Armies of France and the Allies, US Sector).
i use inexperienced troops all the time and i win quite a bit, both in my French and Japanese armies. Never underestimate going down. You have to take a captain or major to make them work. I play in a very competitive meta where history is out the window. You can't under estimate the power of 44 shots defending a flank. With then major they are taking order tests on a 10 until they have 3 pins on them. Also the Communications Breakdown is a great rule. If you want to take the first dice on the first turn go head. Going later in the early turns is great. My list is: 999 points. 2nd Lt.-inexperienced Major-inexperienced 3x 11 man inexperienced infantry squads (all rifles) Free 11 man inexperienced infantry squad (Rifles) 11 man Vet Cav squad (all carbines) 10 man Vet Moroccan Goumiers (Rifles) 1 med mortar w/spotter Reg Heavy artillery w/spotter Free Med artillery w/spotter reg Laffly S20TL Six-wheeled Truck( 2x mmg mounts, Transports the Goumiers) Vet Laffly Heavy Tractor (heavy artillery tow) I play against mostly late war opponents and win a lot. While using inexperienced infantry it is important to stay in cover and remember that they are a late game unit to run up and grab objectives for the win, after the HE does its work. Both the cav and Goumiers are tough fighters and can easily kill tough squads. The cav has an 18" charge and can take a recce move when shot at. The Gourmiers once delivered are backed up by the 2x mmg's on the transport which makes them a very tough nut to crack. I also like to out flank them when possible. The Major is inexperienced but with the 12" command bubble if hes in LOS to anything you deserve to lose.
I feel like it would be fine if they just made it so you get a free unit of inexperienced infantry so long as you have 3 infantry squads, regardless of their experience level. It would make more sense too, since the rule implies that the reserves are quickly conscripted, not the entire army.
I personally am starting to collect french and I think their national characteristics could get changed up by making the two free units untied from previous purchases, so giving a free untrained troop and mortar, which gives you the spare points to maybe double down on some veteran squads
As far as the special rules go, the Artillery National Characteristic doesn't require you to already buy an artillery, it is free like the British artillery observer (I'll have to double check that later). The inexperienced infantry rule in my experience, simply cancels out the problems that already ruin inexperienced infantry, but is nice because it is a free order dice and 2 veteran squads can protect them, and also the VB launchers can make it as you effectively have 4 light mortar teams that also have bad firing rifles. The communication break down is actually a slight advantage although very situational as it will allow your opponent to watch your opponent placement first. Lastly as far as the vehicles go, they are very weird rule set by bolt action standards, but are perfectly fine for early war with vehicles as most other armies are in light tanks with light AT guns as well, and an army built proper can do well against a late war army in Bolt Action, but I would recommend early war games in general. Also the Western Dessert Free French are OP by their special rules and designed for selective scenarios. The Battle of France book adds a few extra infantry sections and vehicles that do allow for a slight variety increase. The Battle of the Bulge French are more bland in my opinion as they use extensively American weapons and Tanks and carry over the conscripted inexperienced squad rule to a degree (it is 10 man and green at least).
I couldn’t disagree more with your appraisal of France’s military in the build up to ww2. They had modern rifles and support weapons and at the time there tanks were on a par if not better than the German equivalent. The Germans struggled to penetrate the armour of a char b and the somua was for its time a very well designed tank. The French like the British were just utterly unprepared for modern warfare (blitzkrieg) and expected the Second World War to be fought with simalar tactics from ww1. It was Germanys combined arms approach that won the battle of France; there are numerous accounts of the french fighting just as hard as the Germans they just failed to evolve there tactics such as deploying there tanks en masse in the style of the panzer divisions.
The thing is that they also deployed tanks on its own divisions at least in theory Of course you have this infantry tanks but you have the cavalry tanks (h35-39,somuaS35,amr tankettes) that where organiced basically as the german panzer divisions and proved more than a match at early battles against theyr counterparts in the benelux Also lets be real The uk was saved by its navy and sea but people tend to only blame the french
VUDB transport is the Best ransport in game No opned top a lmg wheeled manned with 5 vets with smgs 4 of those plus 2 howitzer inex mortar panhard tcc Tank hunter i get a scarry mobile mechanised army
I have to disagree. I really enjoy and do well with my French. Take the Battle of France selector, 4 inexperienced Squads (LMG+VB), 2 Regular Medium Howitzers with spotters, 2 laffy tractors, 1 Light Mortar, 1 Light Mortar on Motorcycle and 2 LMGs on Motorcycle. That's 6 lmgs, 6 "Light Mortar", 2 Medium Howitzer and 14 order dice for 656 points. That's more firepower and order dice than most full armies. Then you spend the rest of your points on the units you actually play the objectives and kill stuff with. I tend to take Veteran Cavalry and use them as super mobile Infantry, Char Bis stacks even more Howitzers. You can take Dragon Chasseurs with a Light Mortar, MMG and LMG in each squad on Motorcycle or load them into Twin MMG trucks. You basically stack so much firepowered and order dice that the enemy can kill everything while you make the descive moves with your good stuff. And it's lots of fun.
They should be another review for Free French (they have own rules for war in Africa and different for 44/45). For French 39/40 and Vichy too. It depend if you play Early War selectors, the French are not so bad. Selection of tanks is interesting for best MMG base (FT-17) to Somua S35 and B1. And most funny model in this bunch Char 2C, yes is huge, cost a lot, and it slow, but is interesting addition to every collection. Infantry have also nice choice of options. Senegalese Tirailleurs are solid assault force for of your platoon, Foreign Legion thanks to Stubborn will survive a lot of damage. Yet you still can play as horde of Inexperienced infantry (lack of green rule is drawback).
A comprehensive Western Desert Campaign Book Review is coming along with Batreps. May be some time but it’s the core focus of my Bolt Action collection.
They should put a Free French subfaction for the french faction...yeah some free french already in SAS and comandos you can buy american and put french heads and paint them but the free french have a lot of singular troops like the mountains divs that did so well in Monte Cassino, the 2eme DB armor div. and by 1944 an entire army that disembarked in the south (Operation Dragoon) with the yanks and all with their own flavor...The ''french faction'' is obviouslyon to fight in early war battles...putting them against late war germany is ridiculous.
I honestly feel like the French are unduly "dumped" on in regards to both the World Wars - they took the brunt of German aggression in both wars, and paid a HEAVY price. Also, not enough credit is given to the Soviets in World War II, but i am sure that is due to how the Cold War began right after. I do not agree with Communism, but the nation took a heavy toll in their part of the war.
Both France and Russia/the Soviet Union are what made Germany the loser in both wars, despite the fact that some will try to say it was Great Britain or the US (which no doubt did help speed the wars up). Although most historians will point out the fact that the Soviet Union suffered 20 million losses made Germany fight to the teeth to do so and thats how they eventually started losing steam. As far as Wargaming like this goes, Bolt Action makes France a fun niche army and the Soviet Union is accurately reflected in strength in numbers, all fitting the relative balance in the game, but they are still overlooked by a majority of players unfortunately.
@@musicalhistory4392 Respectfully I disagree. It was a combined effort but the United States entry into the war almost certainly won the war for the Allies, certainly from my reading. Because the territory, resources, and manpower the Soviets lost in the first two years of the war should have finished them off If it were not for the incredible material superiority of the Western allies. In the first months Artic convoys the Soviets received enough tanks to build the equivalent of 12 Panzer divisions, with ammunition, spares, along with millions of rounds of rifle ammunition, 100,000 submachineguns, millions of miles of barbed wire, a million hypodermic needles, and tens of thousands of radio kits. That was in the first four weeks! Half the tanks that stopped the Germans outside of Moscow were British. I'm not playing down the incredible sacrifice resilience of the Soviet people but without Western help they would surely have been defeated. Especially after the Ukrainian breadbasket was taken, the Soviet army was on the brink of starvation but American tinned goods saved them and eventually accounted for half all the rations in the Soviet army throughout the war. And this myth of the Soviet superiority in numbers, they only ever had twice the population of Germany, you factor in all of Germany's allies and the fact that the Soviets fed in forces piecemeal, the Soviets didn't really have a manpower advantage on the field. It was late 42 before the Soviets could meet the Germans at the point of contact with equal or superior numbers. Although I agree with you on the French in bolt action, they are an amazing Faction to play.
@@dannyhalas9408 don't forget even the soviet made stuff was often made with Western resources, for example something like 75% of soviet ammunition in ww2 was made from lend lease materials. The ussr had effectively no trucks and trains that were not lend lease too. and thus without lendlesse they alot fewer tanks and planes (no lendlease and the need to compensate for truck production) and practically no ammunition. They would have lost fairly easily to the germans on their own.
Hunter Crossett If you’re playing a full early war scenerio with the Invasion of France book and opposing forces appropriate to the time period you absolutely wont have garbage games. It’s only bad if you’re playing random matchups against later war lists
There is no option for late war French? The French campaigned in Italy (my enduring memory being the Moroccan troops in the church late in the movie “TwoWomen”) and also in France after Normandy
Feels like you missed out a ton of the French transports, like the only fully enclosed armoured transports and the cheapest MMG truck that remains a transport option.
I laughed out loud at the idea that early war lists would struggle against late war lists.
I would say you are being overly harsh. Against late war armies, sure the early war French may struggle but that would be true of any early war faction. I think the French play quite well. The extra artillery is a great bonus since artillery is great in Bolt Action. The Panhard is a great Armoured car. The communication breakdown rule is negligible. The little Renault F17 tank is a great machine gun platform and much cheaper than a normal MMG and you get armour defence too. What is not to like?
I don't like that they're French.
Bolt Action’s French are effectively three different factions, each with their own special rules. Pre-Vichy/Vichy (Armies of France and the Allies with a few appearances in theater books), Free French Africa (Western Desert), and Free French post D-Day (Battle of the Bulge). Four if you count French Resistance (Armies of France and the Allies, US Sector).
The Panhard armored car is arguably the best armored car in the game.
Any German Armored car within 233 and 234 would like to talk to you.
i use inexperienced troops all the time and i win quite a bit, both in my French and Japanese armies. Never underestimate going down. You have to take a captain or major to make them work. I play in a very competitive meta where history is out the window. You can't under estimate the power of 44 shots defending a flank. With then major they are taking order tests on a 10 until they have 3 pins on them. Also the Communications Breakdown is a great rule. If you want to take the first dice on the first turn go head. Going later in the early turns is great.
My list is:
999 points.
2nd Lt.-inexperienced
Major-inexperienced
3x 11 man inexperienced infantry squads (all rifles)
Free 11 man inexperienced infantry squad (Rifles)
11 man Vet Cav squad (all carbines)
10 man Vet Moroccan Goumiers (Rifles)
1 med mortar w/spotter
Reg Heavy artillery w/spotter
Free Med artillery w/spotter
reg Laffly S20TL Six-wheeled Truck( 2x mmg mounts, Transports the Goumiers)
Vet Laffly Heavy Tractor (heavy artillery tow)
I play against mostly late war opponents and win a lot. While using inexperienced infantry it is important to stay in cover and remember that they are a late game unit to run up and grab objectives for the win, after the HE does its work. Both the cav and Goumiers are tough fighters and can easily kill tough squads. The cav has an 18" charge and can take a recce move when shot at. The Gourmiers once delivered are backed up by the 2x mmg's on the transport which makes them a very tough nut to crack. I also like to out flank them when possible. The Major is inexperienced but with the 12" command bubble if hes in LOS to anything you deserve to lose.
Could you post your points, becuse I'm trying to follow this list, but its not coming out to 999pts.
Char b1 bis chuckles while burning all of this video
They really are amazing.
I feel like it would be fine if they just made it so you get a free unit of inexperienced infantry so long as you have 3 infantry squads, regardless of their experience level.
It would make more sense too, since the rule implies that the reserves are quickly conscripted, not the entire army.
I personally am starting to collect french and I think their national characteristics could get changed up by making the two free units untied from previous purchases, so giving a free untrained troop and mortar, which gives you the spare points to maybe double down on some veteran squads
As far as the special rules go, the Artillery National Characteristic doesn't require you to already buy an artillery, it is free like the British artillery observer (I'll have to double check that later). The inexperienced infantry rule in my experience, simply cancels out the problems that already ruin inexperienced infantry, but is nice because it is a free order dice and 2 veteran squads can protect them, and also the VB launchers can make it as you effectively have 4 light mortar teams that also have bad firing rifles. The communication break down is actually a slight advantage although very situational as it will allow your opponent to watch your opponent placement first.
Lastly as far as the vehicles go, they are very weird rule set by bolt action standards, but are perfectly fine for early war with vehicles as most other armies are in light tanks with light AT guns as well, and an army built proper can do well against a late war army in Bolt Action, but I would recommend early war games in general.
Also the Western Dessert Free French are OP by their special rules and designed for selective scenarios. The Battle of France book adds a few extra infantry sections and vehicles that do allow for a slight variety increase. The Battle of the Bulge French are more bland in my opinion as they use extensively American weapons and Tanks and carry over the conscripted inexperienced squad rule to a degree (it is 10 man and green at least).
I couldn’t disagree more with your appraisal of France’s military in the build up to ww2. They had modern rifles and support weapons and at the time there tanks were on a par if not better than the German equivalent. The Germans struggled to penetrate the armour of a char b and the somua was for its time a very well designed tank.
The French like the British were just utterly unprepared for modern warfare (blitzkrieg) and expected the Second World War to be fought with simalar tactics from ww1.
It was Germanys combined arms approach that won the battle of France; there are numerous accounts of the french fighting just as hard as the Germans they just failed to evolve there tactics such as deploying there tanks en masse in the style of the panzer divisions.
The thing is that they also deployed tanks on its own divisions at least in theory
Of course you have this infantry tanks but you have the cavalry tanks (h35-39,somuaS35,amr tankettes) that where organiced basically as the german panzer divisions and proved more than a match at early battles against theyr counterparts in the benelux
Also lets be real
The uk was saved by its navy and sea but people tend to only blame the french
Great video. 👍
When are you doing more of these?
VUDB transport is the Best ransport in game No opned top a lmg wheeled manned with 5 vets with smgs 4 of those plus 2 howitzer inex mortar panhard tcc Tank hunter i get a scarry mobile mechanised army
You should do the chinese army next, their a major allie.
I'd love to see him bashing the chinese rules 😃
I have to disagree. I really enjoy and do well with my French. Take the Battle of France selector, 4 inexperienced Squads (LMG+VB), 2 Regular Medium Howitzers with spotters, 2 laffy tractors, 1 Light Mortar, 1 Light Mortar on Motorcycle and 2 LMGs on Motorcycle.
That's 6 lmgs, 6 "Light Mortar", 2 Medium Howitzer and 14 order dice for 656 points. That's more firepower and order dice than most full armies. Then you spend the rest of your points on the units you actually play the objectives and kill stuff with. I tend to take Veteran Cavalry and use them as super mobile Infantry, Char Bis stacks even more Howitzers. You can take Dragon Chasseurs with a Light Mortar, MMG and LMG in each squad on Motorcycle or load them into Twin MMG trucks.
You basically stack so much firepowered and order dice that the enemy can kill everything while you make the descive moves with your good stuff. And it's lots of fun.
They should be another review for Free French (they have own rules for war in Africa and different for 44/45). For French 39/40 and Vichy too. It depend if you play Early War selectors, the French are not so bad. Selection of tanks is interesting for best MMG base (FT-17) to Somua S35 and B1. And most funny model in this bunch Char 2C, yes is huge, cost a lot, and it slow, but is interesting addition to every collection. Infantry have also nice choice of options. Senegalese Tirailleurs are solid assault force for of your platoon, Foreign Legion thanks to Stubborn will survive a lot of damage. Yet you still can play as horde of Inexperienced infantry (lack of green rule is drawback).
A comprehensive Western Desert Campaign Book Review is coming along with Batreps. May be some time but it’s the core focus of my Bolt Action collection.
Question: Does your comments apply to French Army AND French Resistance?
This is only covering France in the Armies of France and the Allies book
i could write those "starter manuals" and do a better job of historical accuracy... and i'm not an expert
They should put a Free French subfaction for the french faction...yeah some free french already in SAS and comandos you can buy american and put french heads and paint them but the free french have a lot of singular troops like the mountains divs that did so well in Monte Cassino, the 2eme DB armor div. and by 1944 an entire army that disembarked in the south (Operation Dragoon) with the yanks and all with their own flavor...The ''french faction'' is obviouslyon to fight in early war battles...putting them against late war germany is ridiculous.
Nice review, not really agree, but nevertheless good job.
I honestly feel like the French are unduly "dumped" on in regards to both the World Wars - they took the brunt of German aggression in both wars, and paid a HEAVY price. Also, not enough credit is given to the Soviets in World War II, but i am sure that is due to how the Cold War began right after. I do not agree with Communism, but the nation took a heavy toll in their part of the war.
Both France and Russia/the Soviet Union are what made Germany the loser in both wars, despite the fact that some will try to say it was Great Britain or the US (which no doubt did help speed the wars up). Although most historians will point out the fact that the Soviet Union suffered 20 million losses made Germany fight to the teeth to do so and thats how they eventually started losing steam. As far as Wargaming like this goes, Bolt Action makes France a fun niche army and the Soviet Union is accurately reflected in strength in numbers, all fitting the relative balance in the game, but they are still overlooked by a majority of players unfortunately.
@@musicalhistory4392 Respectfully I disagree. It was a combined effort but the United States entry into the war almost certainly won the war for the Allies, certainly from my reading. Because the territory, resources, and manpower the Soviets lost in the first two years of the war should have finished them off If it were not for the incredible material superiority of the Western allies.
In the first months Artic convoys the Soviets received enough tanks to build the equivalent of 12 Panzer divisions, with ammunition, spares, along with millions of rounds of rifle ammunition, 100,000 submachineguns, millions of miles of barbed wire, a million hypodermic needles, and tens of thousands of radio kits. That was in the first four weeks! Half the tanks that stopped the Germans outside of Moscow were British. I'm not playing down the incredible sacrifice resilience of the Soviet people but without Western help they would surely have been defeated.
Especially after the Ukrainian breadbasket was taken, the Soviet army was on the brink of starvation but American tinned goods saved them and eventually accounted for half all the rations in the Soviet army throughout the war.
And this myth of the Soviet superiority in numbers, they only ever had twice the population of Germany, you factor in all of Germany's allies and the fact that the Soviets fed in forces piecemeal, the Soviets didn't really have a manpower advantage on the field. It was late 42 before the Soviets could meet the Germans at the point of contact with equal or superior numbers.
Although I agree with you on the French in bolt action, they are an amazing Faction to play.
@@dannyhalas9408 don't forget even the soviet made stuff was often made with Western resources, for example something like 75% of soviet ammunition in ww2 was made from lend lease materials. The ussr had effectively no trucks and trains that were not lend lease too. and thus without lendlesse they alot fewer tanks and planes (no lendlease and the need to compensate for truck production) and practically no ammunition. They would have lost fairly easily to the germans on their own.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 Very interesting point well made.
Go for Poland and Greece pls, they are only two factions missing.
Maybe Hungary next? They have the most Figures from the minor nations and very nice Tanks in the new Budapest Supplement.
Sikk187 At the moment these videos aren’t covering the Campaign books so it would have to be Hungary based on the Armies of... books only.
@@HollywoodWargaming okay, they are Trash then xD. All of there new strong toys are in the Budapest book.
Would you pick poland over france? I want early war conflicts but don't want a garbage game
Hunter Crossett If you’re playing a full early war scenerio with the Invasion of France book and opposing forces appropriate to the time period you absolutely wont have garbage games. It’s only bad if you’re playing random matchups against later war lists
There is no option for late war French?
The French campaigned in Italy (my enduring memory being the Moroccan troops in the church late in the movie “TwoWomen”) and also in France after Normandy
They were for all intents and purposes Americans by that point. American weapons and American training...
Oui Moroccans... who... along with U.S. Army soldiers mass raped and even murdered Italian women. Bet your schooling did not reveal those facts.
Do Poland. Please
Yes please, make Poland vid, this and Greece are probably only one missing nations.
Finnish next please
lord Vampire I’ve done the Finns, check previous posts (Ski Mask background)
@@HollywoodWargaming ok sorry I didn't look, great video.