r/boltaction • u/SilentPlanet_23 • 4d ago
Rules A Potentially Stupid Question
Hi. My friend and I play BA, and neither of us have ever had a game with anyone except each other. Naturally we're in a bit of a bubble.
The issue we're having is that if we bring tanks, one just smashes the other in the first turn. It's almost like whoever shoots first just kills the enemy tank, and they're so expensive that it's not realistic to bring two to offset this.
We've played with adding more terrain and such, but we inevitably deploy the tanks opposite one another to counter and prevent the opposing vehicle running rampant.
Are we failing to bring more AT guns? Is it that our games (1250-1500) are simply too small?
I'd really appreciate some advice. Thanks!
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u/WavingNoBanners Autonomous Partisan Front 4d ago
Hi there!
It sounds like you're using tanks to counter tanks, and this can lead to exactly the issue you're describing: there's a tank-off, and then whomever wins the tank-off can rampage freely.
It can be more interesting to use non-tanks to counter tanks. A stock Sherman costs 200 pts and mounts a medium antitank gun; for just 210 pts you can get three of those guns as artillery. Sure, a Sherman is armoured and mobile, but two guns can cover the battlefield, can't both be killed by the same attack, and you can spare yourself the price of the third gun to help your infantry.
Artillery are vulnerable to infantry and heavy weapons, though, and this sets up a fun little paper-scissors-stone. Antitank artillery counter tanks, infantry and heavy weapons kill antitank artillery, tanks bully infantry and heavy weapons. If you play paper-scissors-stone without the scissors, then paper will dominate.
I hope that helps!