Editing Bolt Action (section)

==Skub==
But no wargame is perfect, so there is always something the game's community can bitch about. And for Bolt Action, there is a number of things that are either universally agreed to be awful or constantly be argued over:
* Previously mentioned Templates: Introduced in Second Edition, in replacement to different number of dice per strength of High Explosive weapons. As there is no spread for most template weapons (only being a thing for Smoke Shells), it's entirely up to the attacker as to where the template will be placed. The irony of the game getting templates when Warhammer 40k moving away from them is also palpable to many neckbeard who moved onto Bolt Action after leaving 40k.
* Flamethrowers: Bolt Action's Flamethrower are one of the few weapons aside from High Explosive weapons, which can place multiple pins on a unit (a 1+1d3 pins to be precise). However, Flamethrowers also follow this up with a Morale test, failing which, the unit is outright destroyed. This applies to any unit, Infantry or Vehicle. This means that your 300 point Veteran tank can be hit with a flamethrower, get 4 pins, and immediately run off the field even if it had not actually suffered any damage (as 4 pins bring even a Veteran unit to a 50% chance of failing Morale Test). Even with short range and a constant chance to run out of fuel, Flamethrowers can outright remove any specific unit from the field.
* Vehicles: Most players prefer to base their armies around infantry and supporting artillery, to have a more tactical feel that the otherwise "arcade" gameplay lacks. As such, anyone who brings in multiple vehicles, either due to using multiple Platoons or by using Armored Platoons, are looked down upon for going away from the game's "intended gameplay". Incidentally, Vehicle Flamethrower is also superior to Infantry-packed version, due to range from which unit deletion could be initiated.
** This is also made worse by rather poor scaling of vehicle in comparison of their point cost, armor/weapons, and actual capabilities on the table. Since the game is infantry-focused by design, it's far better to have Armored Cars and Up-Gunned Trucks than it is to have Heavy Tanks. Vehicles with multiple Machine Guns (such as historically useless multi-turreted tanks and AA-oriented Gun Trucks) are superior to most Medium and Heavy Tanks/Tank destroyers who find themselves stuck in constant shoot-out in another armored vehicle for most of the battle or ineffectually harass infantry squads that otherwise aren't likely to even damage them.
* Inexperienced Troop Spam: Especially noted with Japanese, whom can produce multiple Fanatic infantry squads armed with nothing more than bamboo sticks who ignore pins and are extremely difficult to defeat in close combat (close combat in this game entirely wipes out the loser, but Fanatics count losses as ties, so they merely repeat combat and grind down the enemy), and dominate the battlefield entirely with them. Other factions (Soviets and Germans especially) can field a lot of cheap, inexperienced Shirkers (troops who have to pass Morale Test to do anything or they will only go Down) who are difficult to shoot to death because of their numbers and being constantly down (thus, -2 to hit) and clog up any enemies trying to get close. Usually such troops are placed to cover more hard-hitting units (such as artillery or tanks) but entire lists of incredibly cheap units existing entirely to clog up the dice bag exist - and can be surprisingly effective, as your opponent can only deal with so many targets.