Bolt Action

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• Announcements·25 Aug 2026Official

  Bolt Action - Dev Diary #7: Teaching the AI to Play Fair

  Wargamers! While we love head-to-head multiplayer, we know that for a huge portion of our community, single-player is where you’ll spend most of your time. Whether you’re short on time for an online match, testing out experimental armies or using solo play to learn the ropes of Bolt Action - a great AI opponent is vital.We wanted an opponent that plays like a real human wargamer—one that reads the battlefield, weighs risk versus reward, and abides by the exact same D6 rules, line-of-sight checks, and morale limits that you do. Today, we’re giving you a peek behind the systems to show you exactly how our AI works under the hood. The AI on the Battlefield So, what can you actually expect when you go up against the AI?It won’t simply follow a fixed script. It will read the battlefield, weigh its options and adapt: taking cover when survival matters, pushing for objectives when the time is right, protecting valuable units, and using each unit’s strengths to its advantage.Behind these decisions is a system that evaluates the value of every possible action, combined with specialised behaviours for different unit types.In this diary, we’ll take you from the big picture to the details: how the AI makes decisions, how different units behave, and how difficulty levels shape the challenge.Let’s take a look under the hood.The Math of War: How the AI Decides Every potential action is evaluated on a points system and the action with the best score is executed.Action Point Value = Points Won + Points DefendedE.g., Consider an AI 10-man Regular Squad (100 points) evaluating two choices against an enemy 10-man Regular Squad caught in the open:Option A - FIRE: 10 rifle shots against regular infantry (4+) yield 5 expected kills, earning 50 Points Won, but 0 points are defended standing in the open. Total Score: 50 Points.Option B - ADVANCE: Taking a move penalty (needing 5+) yields 3.33 kills (33.3 Points Won). However, stepping behind a wall grants a hard cover save, dropping return-...
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• Announcements·23 Jul 2026Official

  Bolt Action - First Look at In-Development Gameplay Footage

  Commanders!Yesterday, during our Slitherine Next event, we unveiled new gameplay footage captured from an in-development build of Bolt Action, giving players their first look at several of the game's core systems in action.Many of these mechanics have been covered in our dev diaries, but this is the first time we've showcased them through actual gameplay. While the game is still in development, we wanted to give you an early look at what the team has been working on and share our progress with the community. The visual elements are still a work in progress, so you may notice a few placeholder assets and known bugs throughout the footage. Right now, our focus is on refining the game's core systems and ensuring the gameplay feels solid, while visual effects and overall polish continue to evolve. We're grateful to everyone who joined us for the livestream, and we hope you enjoyed this first sneak peek at Bolt Action. Your feedback is invaluable and will help us continue improving the game as development progresses. If you missed the livestream, you can catch up by watching the full livestream using the link below. Stay tuned for more insights coming soon, join the community on Discord and don’t forget to wishlist the game
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• Announcements·15 Jul 2026Official

  Bolt Action will be featured at Slitherine Next - Save The Date

  Mark your calendars and get ready, Slitherine Next is back on July 22, 2026 at 6 pm CEST on our official channels.Expect updates from your favourite games and franchises such as Bolt Action, Distant Worlds 2, Nightmare Frontier, Radio Commander and many more. Our first showcase of the year will bring you exclusive announcements, updates, and reveals of upcoming titles. During the event, we'll also offer an exclusive sneak peek at some of the gameplay features we're developing for Bolt Action, including exclusive in-development gameplay footage.We're thrilled to announce a special host for this year's event: 2DKiri. A great friend who will guide us through the entire show.It's your chance to dive into the future of strategy gaming and discover what's coming next.Tune in on July 22nd to not miss any updates. YouTube: Twitch:
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• Announcements·25 Jun 2026Official

  Bolt Action - Dev Diary #6: World War Mode - Our Sandbox Campaign

  Wargamers! For our last few diaries, we’ve focused heavily on the core gameplay. Today, we pull back the curtain on our completely original, dynamic campaign mode.Instead of a "one-and-done" scripted, cinematic story (which was tempting!), we’re building a highly replayable, strategic sandbox inspired by best-in-class, procedurally generated campaigns. Here, preserving your troops and choosing your next operation strategically matters just as much as your tactical execution.Building the TheaterEvery campaign run starts by picking your Faction and Difficulty. Our engine takes those choices and dynamically generates a theater of war made of connected regions across late-war Western Europe. Higher difficulty increases the total number of battles you must fight, the size of the enemy armies you'll face, and reduces the quantity of player rewards.Your battles will take you from a starting region (e.g., Normandy) to your ultimate campaign goal (e.g., The Siegfried Line). Adjacent regions offer different missions, leaving the tactical path entirely up to you. Each mission will offer a unique reward, drawn from a specific pool:Points: Increase your maximum army size.Supply: Allows you to actually recruit units.Unlocks: Let you unlock advanced units.Every mission increases the stakes, making all remaining defending armies stronger. Will you rush straight to the final objective to face a weaker enemy, or play it slowly to smash through the lines with an overwhelming force of your own? Managing your CompanyYour army carries its scars from battle to battle. You will spend your Supply to recruit regular units and organize them into platoons following our implementation of the Bolt Action 3rd edition rules. However, managing a persistent company introduces a completely different layer of strategy:Customizable Deployments: You can bring a different army into every single mission. Because all your platoons form out of your central reserves, you can dynamically shuffle your active p...
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• Announcements·29 May 2026Official

  Bolt Action - Dev Diary #5: Building an Army

  Wargamers! Your tactical options on the battlefield are limited by a strict Army Point Budget. The platoon you choose, every squad you recruit, and every individual weapon upgrade you assign has a specific point cost. Managing this budget is crucial because it doesn't just dictate your raw firepower—it establishes your squads' veterancy mix, their resilience under heavy suppression, and how many Order Dice you contribute to the virtual bag. Choose your FactionYour army composition is shaped by your faction's innate National Characteristics. Since each faction features multiple distinct traits, a strong list doesn't try to force every rule into one army—it leans into a specific strategic focus.For example, if you build a US list heavily around Fire and Maneuver to maximize infantry fire efficiency, you will likely skip heavy, static artillery entirely. Instead, you spend your points maximizing mobile rifle squads to fully exploit that aggressive tactical style.Choose your PlatoonsIn Third Edition, armies are built around specialized platoon templates instead of a generic unit pool. Your platoon type dictates which units you can select, each favors a different strategy. Scaling from standard front-line setups to specialized support detachments:Rifle Platoons: The standard backbone of almost every list. They provide maximum infantry capacity, making them essential for capturing objectives and holding lines.Armoured Platoons: Built for breakthroughs and heavy firepower, trading away infantry slots to unlock multiple tanks and anti-tank combat vehicles.Recce Platoons: Focused on speed and disruption. They maximize light, mobile armored cars to outflank the enemy and target weak points.Heavy Weapons Platoons: Specialized infantry fire-support detachments that bring concentrated heavy machine guns and anti-tank teams to lock down lanes.Artillery Platoons: Fixed firing batteries that trade battlefield mobility for devastating indirect fire howitzers and anti-aircraft guns.E...
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