Your first month of Bolt Action
Most people get overwhelmed before their first game. Here's what actually happens in your first month, from opening the box to rolling dice across a painted table.
By Colin B. · Published June 5, 2026
Bolt Action has a reputation for being intimidating. The reputation is partly earned: before you play your first game, you’ll assemble 50+ miniature soldiers, prime and paint them, build terrain, and read a 300-page rulebook. That’s a real commitment. Most people who stick with it say it’s the most rewarding hobby they’ve ever picked up. Most people who quit say they underestimated how much work the first month actually is.
This is what that first month actually looks like, week by week, with the things that matter and the things you’ll be tempted to worry about but shouldn’t.
Week 1: Open the box and don’t panic
Your starter army arrives in a box full of grey plastic sprues. There are a lot of pieces. This is normal.
The first thing to do is not assemble everything at once. Pick one infantry squad (usually 10 figures) and build just that. Learning how the kit goes together on 10 models is far better than committing to 50 before you understand how the arms attach, where the seams are, and what angle the heads should face.
You’ll need a few tools before you start: plastic clippers (often called sprue cutters), a craft knife or scalpel, and plastic model glue (not super glue for plastic kits). These are sold as a set at most hobby stores for under $20. Don’t skip the clippers — pulling pieces off the sprue by hand leaves ugly stress marks.
Assembly basics that will save you frustration:
- Clip close but not flush. Leave a tiny stub, then cut that off separately. One confident cut close to the part is better than one rough cut that nicks the model.
- Dry-fit before gluing. Assemble the whole figure without glue first to understand how it goes together, then glue from the feet up.
- Remove mold lines. Run your craft knife lightly along the seam where the mold halves met. This takes five extra seconds per piece and makes the finished model look dramatically cleaner.
By the end of week one, you want one assembled squad sitting on your desk, primed and ready to paint.
Week 2: Paint your first squad
Here is the truth about painting miniatures that nobody tells beginners: your first figures will look rough, and that is completely fine. Every experienced miniature painter has a shameful first squad somewhere in a box. The goal of week two is not to paint a beautiful squad. The goal is to finish a squad.
A basic infantry figure for Bolt Action takes four steps:
- Base coat the uniform. One flat color covering the cloth. For US Army, that’s Olive Drab. For Wehrmacht, Field Grey. Apply it thinly — two thin coats beats one thick one.
- Base coat the equipment. Helmet, webbing, pack, and rifle stock in their relevant colors. This is 5-6 decisions per figure and each one is just: pick a color, paint it.
- Apply a wash. Brush a thin dark wash (Army Painter Strong Tone works well) over the whole figure. It flows into the crevices and immediately makes everything look more detailed. Let it dry completely before the next step.
- Drybrush highlights. Load a stiff old brush with paint and wipe most of it off on paper towel. Drag it lightly across raised surfaces — cloth folds, helmet ridges, boot toes. This catches edges and gives the figure a sense of light.
That’s it. Eyes and insignia come later, after you’ve painted 50 figures and want to add refinement. For week two, four steps and done.
Week 3: Learn the rules while you paint
The Bolt Action rulebook is 300 pages. You do not need to read all of it before your first game. The core rules that govern 80% of a beginner game cover about 60 pages:
Chapter 1-3: How orders work, the order dice system, and how units activate. This is the heart of the game and is genuinely different from most wargames. Read this carefully.
Chapter 4: Infantry rules. Shooting, moving, close combat, morale. Read this.
Chapter 5-6: Artillery and vehicles. Skim this. Don’t try to run mortars or tanks in your first game — the rules are fine once you understand infantry, but adding vehicle rules to an already-learning experience slows things down too much.
The order dice system is what makes Bolt Action distinctive. Each unit has one die in a bag. Players alternate drawing dice — when your die comes out, you choose and order and activate that unit. When the opponent’s die comes out, they do the same. Because you don’t know the order units will activate in, positioning and reaction orders (which let you fire in response to enemy movement) become critical decisions. It’s quick to learn in play and nearly impossible to fully grasp from text alone.
The fastest way to learn the rules is to play a demo game. Most Local Game Stores have regular Bolt Action nights where experienced players teach newcomers. Go even if you’re still mid-painting. Most clubs actively want to grow the game.
Week 4: Your first game
Your army doesn’t have to be fully painted to play your first game. If you’ve finished two or three squads and a basic vehicle, you have enough to play a 1,000-point learning game. Explain to your opponent (or your LGS host) that you’re learning, and they will walk you through the turns.
What to expect:
The first turn will be slow. You’ll look up every rule. This is normal. By turn three, you’ll stop looking things up for infantry actions.
You will make illegal moves. The kitchen line equivalent in Bolt Action is forgetting that units that take a Casualty order (they’ve been pinned enough) can only remove a pin marker and do nothing else. It’ll happen. Note it and move on.
You will be surprised by the order dice. The bag randomizes activation and it feels chaotic the first time. By game two, you’ll start planning for it.
After your first game, you’ll have a list of questions. Write them down, search r/boltaction, or bring them to your next LGS visit. The Bolt Action community is genuinely good at teaching new players.
What month two looks like
By the end of your first month, you have a painted (or at least primed) force, you’ve played one or two games, and you understand how the order dice and infantry rules work. That’s the hard part done.
Month two is when the hobby opens up. You start thinking about terrain, about adding specialists (a sniper team, a mortar section, a tank), about the list-building decisions that distinguish good players from great ones.
A few things that will accelerate your second month:
- Find a regular opponent. Two players at roughly the same level playing once a week improve faster than anyone playing occasional pickup games.
- Paint your second squad better than your first. You’ll see the difference. Each squad takes less time and looks more refined. This is the satisfying part of the miniature painting learning curve.
- Read the scenario section of the rulebook. Bolt Action’s scenarios (Hold Until Relieved, Top Secret, Point Defence) change how the game plays dramatically. Scenario variety is what keeps the game interesting past the first ten games.
Ready to buy your first army and get started? See our Bolt Action gear guide for exactly what to buy, in what order, and what to skip.