Bolt Action - Free French army list PDF

By Bryan

A few weeks back Warlord Games published our new unofficial army list PDF for Bolt Action, covering the 1st Free French Brigade during the siege of Bir Hakeim, Libya 1942. This formation was made up of tough Foreign Legionnaires, hard fighting Tirailleurs and brave Marines from across the colonies, and it carried the hopes of France to redeem her honour after the catastrophic defeat of 1940. This army list covers the 1st Free French Brigade during the Bir Hakeim siege of June 1942, but can cover the infantry element of the unit up until the end Tunisia campaign 1943.

Lou Passejaïre and myself  have put this together for you. Lou, our communities resident Frenchmen and expert on all things Gallic, has had access to many historical documents not easily accessed by non-French speakers.

We are both avid enthusiasts of the desert campaigns and have enjoyed the recent release of Duel in the Sun, from Warlord Games. In this campaign book the Free French are covered, but only for the very early 1940 raids of Leclerc's column on Italian border forts such as Kufra. 

What was missing from this book is the later formation, the 1st Free French Brigade, and it's epic struggle during the siege of Bir Hakeim. So we have put our efforts together to provide a list to cover the Free French as equipped by the British in North Africa.

You can read an epic firsthand account of the siege here: http://www.1dfl.fr/en-route-avec-la-dfl/bir-hakeim-in-english/

 

Inside this PDF you will find some units may be familiar with, such as the Foreign Legion, but they will have more equipment options. There are also many new units and especially vehicles that the Free French improvised with a mix of French and British equipment. Truly unique stuff.

This PDF is a free download, and offers a basic history of the unit and the siege, an army list with selector and some historical and miniature photographs for inspiration.

You will however require a copy of both Armies of France and the Allies, as well as Armies of Great Britain to get the rules for some of the units that are the same as these books.

This list is perfect to accompany the recent release by Perry Miniatures of their WW2 French range. Especially vehicles like the Dodge Tanke armoured truck, which until now had no rules in Bolt Action.

Although this PDF list is unofficial, we hope event organisers, and the community at large, allow their players to use this list. It's a really characterful and unique force, which we feel adds something to the mix of armies out there for people to collect and play.

The PDF is available here. As always, head over to the forum and leave some feedback, and better yet, if you are yourself collecting a Free French platoon, post up some pics of it!