12 New Recruits Report for Duty! Demo Day Recap

Six tables, twelve new players, a heroic Italian last stand, and plenty of pizza. Here’s how our first OC Bolt Action Demo Day went.

One of the biggest goals we’ve had since starting OC Bolt Action has been getting more people into the game. After all, the more people playing Bolt Action, the more opponents we have to play against!

Well, I’m happy to report that our latest attempt at recruiting new players was a success.

We recently hosted our first OC Bolt Action: Demo Day at Dicehammer in Laguna Niguel, where we welcomed 12 new players across six tables for an evening of World War II wargaming, learning the rules, rolling dice, and, of course, eating pizza. And if the number of people walking away with new armies was any indication, I think we might have created a few new Bolt Action addicts.

From Warhammer 40K to Bolt Action

This event really came together thanks to George, who took the initiative to reach out to Nick, the owner of Dicehammer.

For those unfamiliar, Dicehammer is one of the largest Warhammer 40,000 gaming clubs in Southern California, and it’s a community that George, Dom, and I have a lot of history with. We used to play plenty of Warhammer with the club, and George still does to this day.

George had the idea of introducing some of those players to Bolt Action, especially those who already enjoyed tabletop wargaming or had an interest in World War II history.

Nick was kind enough to give us the opportunity to host the event at Dicehammer, and from there, we got to work.

George, Dom, Tom, and I each brought our own terrain, gaming mats, and several 500-point armies so players could choose what they wanted to command. Between us, we had British, Soviet, German, American, and French (Thanks Dan!) forces ready to go.

We also encouraged anyone who already owned a Bolt Action army but hadn’t had much opportunity to play to bring theirs along.

The goal was simple: make it as easy as possible for someone to sit down, pick an army, and give Bolt Action a try.

Six Tables, Twelve Players, and Plenty of Order Dice

We ended up with a great mix of participants. About half of the players already owned Bolt Action armies but were still relatively new to the game. One player hadn’t even touched Bolt Action in over ten years! The other half were completely new, many coming from Warhammer 40K.

Thankfully, if you’ve played one tabletop wargame, a lot of the fundamentals are familiar. You’re rolling to hit, rolling to damage, and figuring out how to keep your soldiers alive.

It’s not exactly the same game, but you’re certainly not starting from scratch.

What makes Bolt Action interesting, though, is its order dice system and the decisions you have to make throughout each turn.

We decided the best way to teach everyone was to go over the fundamentals first, particularly the six different orders, and then let the games unfold naturally.

Our approach was essentially teach as you go.

Rather than standing over someone and explaining every possible rule interaction before the first dice was rolled, we wanted players to make their own decisions, develop their own strategies, and ask questions as situations came up.

Sometimes that meant discovering a clever tactic. Other times it meant learning why moving your infantry into the open in front of a machine gun probably wasn’t the greatest idea (Sorry Avery!).

But that’s part of the fun!

We were there to help with rules, explain interactions, and offer advice when needed, but we wanted everyone to experience the game for themselves. It was great seeing players who had only just learned the order dice system start thinking several moves ahead and developing their own plans.

A Heroic Italian Victory

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Bolt Action event without at least one ridiculous moment involving dice.

And we certainly had one.

During one of the games, British and Italian paratroopers found themselves converging on the same objective. What followed was an absolutely bloody assault that would decide the battle.

Wes, commanding the Italian paratroopers, rolled nine dice and somehow managed to score eight hits needing 5+.

Eight. Out of nine.

For anyone wondering how ridiculous that is, the odds of rolling at least eight successes on nine dice when you need a 5 or 6 are roughly 0.096%.

That’s about one in a thousand.

Daniel, commanding the British paratroopers, had twelve dice of his own but couldn’t overcome the heroic display from the Italians.

And frankly, who could blame him?

If my opponent rolled eight hits against me in that situation, I’d probably be praying for a miracle too.

The Italians secured the final objective and delivered an Axis victory on that table.

I’m not sure Wes will ever roll that well again, but I’m sure Daniel won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.

These are the moments that make tabletop wargaming so enjoyable. You can have the perfect strategy, carefully position your units, and do everything right, only for your opponent to pull off something absolutely ridiculous.

Sometimes the dice just have other plans.

Pizza, Prizes, and a Few New Armies

We also wanted to make sure everyone had a good time outside of the games themselves.

George generously supplied Domino’s pizza and drinks for the evening, because who doesn’t love a little pizza with their wargaming? And at the end of the night, we had prizes to give away.

George provided German Grenadier and American Infantry kits, but rather than giving away entire boxes, we decided to split them into individual sprues.

Our thinking was that someone who’s just getting into the hobby might be a little intimidated by the prospect of assembling and painting 40 soldiers.

But a squad of ten? That’s a much more manageable starting point.

We wanted to give people something they could take home, build, paint, and hopefully bring back to the table without feeling overwhelmed.

I also brought along a collection of 3D-printed vehicles to give away, along with some custom OC Bolt Action combat gauges I’d designed. Hopefully, a few of those prizes will make their way onto the battlefield in the coming weeks.

And speaking of getting started, Nick arranged for his vendor to have some Bolt Action starter sets available. To absolutely nobody’s surprise, three of our attendees enjoyed the game enough that they went straight ahead and bought British and German kits to begin building their armies.

Now that’s what I call a successful Demo Day.

More Than Just Teaching a Game

I won’t lie, hosting an event like this is tiring.

Between getting everything set up, answering questions, helping people learn the rules, keeping games moving, and making sure everyone was enjoying themselves, there wasn’t exactly much time to sit down and relax.

But I wouldn’t trade the experience for a lazy day playing one of my usual games.

Throughout the evening, I had several people tell me how much they enjoyed the event. Some even mentioned that they couldn’t remember the last time they’d had this much fun playing a tabletop wargame.

And hearing that genuinely made my night.

It’s the same feeling I had when Dom first introduced me to Bolt Action. That excitement of discovering a game that makes you want to start collecting an army, building terrain, and figuring out when you can play again. Seeing other people experience that is exactly why we’re putting so much effort into growing OC Bolt Action.

Not everyone who attended will necessarily become a regular player, and that’s perfectly fine. But if even one person walks away with a new appreciation for the hobby and decides to give it another shot, I consider that a success. And judging by the three people who immediately started buying armies, I think we did a little better than that!

Thank You to Everyone Who Made It Happen

I want to give a huge thank you to George, who really led the charge on making this event happen. Between coordinating with Nick, helping organize the games, supplying prizes, and keeping everyone fed, he put a tremendous amount of effort into making the evening possible.

Thank you to Nick and Dicehammer for welcoming us into their space and giving us the opportunity to introduce Bolt Action to their community.

And of course, thank you to Dom and Tom for helping bring the armies, terrain, and equipment and spending the evening teaching new players.

Most importantly, thank you to all twelve players who came out and gave the game a shot. Whether you were completely new, returning after a decade away, or just looking to get a few more games under your belt, we hope you enjoyed the experience as much as we did.

This is exactly the kind of thing we want to continue doing with OC Bolt Action.

More games, more events, more opportunities to meet new people, and hopefully a lot more friendships built across the tabletop.

If you enjoyed the Demo Day and want to keep playing, we’d love to see you join us for our regular Sunday games at Brookhurst Hobbies or we may even catch you guys at Dicehammer during their Wednesday game nights.

And if you missed this one, don’t worry. We’re hoping to do more events like this in the future. Until then, get those new armies built, get some paint on them, and come roll some dice with us.

See you on the battlefield!

– Nathan
OC Bolt Action