Tabletop WW2 game fans have long looked to Warlord Games’ Bolt Action to fight out Second World War battles in miniature wargame form. Now the core Bolt Action system (which features combined forces of infantry and vehicles) is getting a sibling game focused on “fast-paced, close-quarter, tank-on-tank firefights”, says Warlord.
Titled Achtung, Panzer!, Warlord started teasing the game via YouTube over the weekend, but it confirmed on Tuesday via its email newsletter that the new title was “a 28mm scale game, meaning you can make use of our extensive range of WW2 armoured vehicles and your existing Bolt Action collections”.
According to these early promotional posts and videos, Achtung, Panzer! will be going up for pre-order from Warlord starting on Tuesday, February 16 – and the February 3 YouTube video below makes clear we can expect the game to launch some time in April.
Warlord also promises more “intelligence reports… over the coming days and weeks” that’ll presumably share more details about the game’s rules, game design, materials, and product line. Wargamer will be keeping an eye out for the details as they come out.
The firm will be hoping to do for Bolt Action – one of our absolute favorite miniature wargames, by the way – what Gale Force Nine’s slow-burning but ultimately pretty successful World of Tanks miniatures game has done for its 15mm scale WW2 game Flames of War: sell more of its excellent tank models by giving them their own standalone game.
The Achtung, Panzer reveals are among the biggest news from Warlord since Airfix owner Hornby bought a 25% share in the company in July 2023.
Like most of the world’s pre-eminent miniatures games companies, Warlord is based in Nottingham, in the North of England – just around the corner from Warhammer 40k manufacturer Games Workshop. Unlike GW, though, Warlord specializes in historical miniatures, with Bolt Action and the Napoleonic game Black Powder its two biggest sellers.
For more Bolt Action goodies, check out our reviews of the Pegasus Bridge box set and the Bolt Action Pacific starter set. If you’re more into Warlord’s naval games, check out our Victory at Sea review instead – and if you love war board games as much as khaki-clad minis and model trees, check out our favorite WW2 board games.
Alternatively, for digital gamers, our all-time list of the best WW2 games on PC might be a better bet.