Welcome to Round Table Games' Operation Critical Hit Page!

​

This summer, join in the global action as part of Operation Critical Hit, a five-week worldwide campaign for Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies, and Victory at Sea. Gaming stores and clubs from all around the world will be taking part, meaning that your everyday gaming impacts the overall results!

The easiest way to get involved is to Contact us at Round Table Games. Choose whether you’ll be fighting for the Axis or Allies, and sign on the dotted line, soldier! 

But what is Operation Critical Hit? It’s a global campaign where the results of your games of Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies, and Victory at Sea influence the ebb and flow of battle in four theatres of operations – North-West Europe, the Pacific, the Mediterranean, and Eastern Europe. Each week you’ll battle for control of different areas of each hex-based map, with your victories and defeats helping build up the overall picture. The Operation Critical Hit website will track all of these, and show you the situation, so you can decide where best to commit your forces – will you be the hero of the hour in a desperate situation, or take advantage of an enemy on the back foot to keep pressing? It’s all in your hands!

While the overall prize for victory will be the satisfaction of a job well done (and the all-important bragging rights over your gaming buddies!)

​

Week One

Listen in, soldiers – it’s time for your weekly briefing. Remember, there are four theatres (North-West Europe, the Mediterranean, the Eastern Front, and the Pacific) to fight for dominance over, across three game systems, and each week you’ll play a different mission across them – there’ll be no shortage of tabletop carnage! This week’s orders are in!

Bolt Action: The war on land begins with an absolute classic – Meeting Engagement. This can be found on page 135 of your Bolt Action rulebook, and sees both armies entering the table with one objective – smash the opposition! It’s a nice simple way to get the ball rolling, and see who can gain the upper hand on the ground early on.

Blood Red Skies: The air war starts with a Fighter Sweep, from page 51 of Air Strike! Again, we’re keeping things simple… to begin with! Control of the skies will be vital throughout the campaign, so getting an early lead here is crucial as the opposing air forces try to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy.

Victory at Sea: With Victory at Sea’s slightly different mission system, the first week’s naval action will be played using the Attrition vs Destroy! conditions from the War at Sea scenario generator on pages 54-55 of the main rulebook as fleets clash on the high seas. Historically, Allied dominance of the oceans played a massive part in their ultimate victory, and the winner of Operation Critical Hit will need to achieve the same – it all starts here!

Weekly Victory Bonus

As the campaign is just beginning, no victory bonuses will be in effect – because nobody’s won anything yet! However, the prize for overall victory (across all three systems and all four maps!) at the end of this week is a serious bonus for next week’s Blood Red Skies games.

The side that accrues overall victory in Week One will be able to make use of the Restricted Airfields theatre card in Week Two games of Blood Red Skies – this is in addition to the normally allowed allocation of theatre cards – a powerful bonus indeed!

 

Week Two Scenarios

Don’t forget, Allied Blood Red Skies players can make use of the Restricted Airfields card as a bonus for the Allied Victory in Week One.

Bolt Action: We’re heading into Week Two with a mission requiring plenty of tactical forethought – Sectors! A classic mission, found on page 148 of your Bolt Action rulebook, Sectors is a game of manoeuvre and positioning, and a great test of skill for any general!

Blood Red Skies: This week’s engagement is Frontlines, from page 68 of Air Strike!. As troops battle on the ground below, courageous aviators clash in the skies, braving flak and enemy aircraft alike. Week One Victory Bonus: Remember, as the winners of Week One, Allied Blood Red Skies players may this week add the Restricted Airfields card to their hand in addition to any cards otherwise permitted – make use of it, as this advantage is for Week Two only!

Victory at Sea: The parameters for victory in Week Two of the naval war will be Attrition vs. Fighting Retreat from the War at Sea generator on pages 54-55 of the Victory at Sea rulebook. Can the Axis keep up their momentum, or will the Allies be able to claw back the initiative at sea?

USMC Medic

Weekly Victory Bonus

As mentioned above, this week all Allied Blood Red Skies players can make use of the Restricted Airfields card. The side that wins Week Two will receive a bonus for all their Bolt Action games the following week – a free Veteran Medic, armed with a pistol! This is above and beyond any other Medics taken, and does not count towards points or Order Dice limits.

Let’s take a look at which hexes are active during week two of the campaign:

Eastern Front

1941

22 June - Operation Barbarossa: Germany vs Soviet Union

5 December - Russia's Winter Counter-Offensive; Germany vs Soviet Union

1942

end of March Russia's Winter Counter-Offensive; Germany vs Soviet Union

8 May - Case Blue: Germay vs Soviet Union

18 November - Operatin Uranus: Soviet Union vs Germany, Romania, Hungary & Italy (Axis Army Group B)

1943

19 February - The Donets Campaign; Germany vs Soviet Union

5 July - Operation Citadel; Germany vs Soviet Union

​

Europe

1939

1 September - The Polish Campaign: Germany vs Poland

17 September Soviet Union vs Poland

30 November - The Winter War: Soviet Union vs Finland

1940

9 April - The Norwegian Campaign: Germany (incl paratroopers) vs Denmark & Norway; Germany vs British; Germany (3rd Mountain Division) vs Norwegian, French & Polish

10 May - The Battle of France' Germany vs British & France

1941

6 April - Invasion of Yugoslavia: German, Italian & Hungarian vs Yugoslavia

1942

28 March - Raid on St. Nazaire: British vs Germany

19 August - The Dieppe Raid; Allies (mostly Candaians) vs Gemany

1943

26 August - The Dnieper - Carpathian Offensive; Germany vs Soviet Union

1944

6 June - Normany Landings; Germany vs Allies

22 June - Operation Bagration; Germany vs Soviet Union

25 July - The Breakout from Normany - Operation Cobra; Allies vs Germany

1945

13 January - Vistual - Oder Offensive; Germany vs Soviet Union

16 April - The Battle of Berlin; Germany vs Soviet Union

​

Mediterranean

 

Pacific

​