Konflikt ‘47 from Warlord Games takes the World War 2 of our world and ramps up the weirdness quick. There isn’t any pretense about sticking to reality and mincing the kind of ‘what if?’ questions you might see on the History channel. Instead it throws everything at the wall and explains it away with Rifts. Mutant bat-soldiers running rampant on the battlefield? That’s Rift-tech. Jetpack troopers straight out of space-age comics wielding tommy-guns that shoot energy bolts? Oh yeah, you better believe that’s Rift-tech. Robotic soldiers going over-the-top? You get the idea.
You might ask – what even is a Rift, anyway? The short answer: a rip in space and time that acts as some kind of portal. The long answer? It depends on who you ask. Ultimately, they’re simply the reason the war has gotten so weird and way more hellish than it was originally. Each faction exploits the Rifts in their own ways, developing strange, new technologies to merge with their own to give everyone a delightful distinct, pulpy flavour – you have things that feel ripped straight out of something like Command & Conquer, bear-soldiers and tesla-coils, alongside things that fit the latest Wolfenstein games like undead platoons of dead soldiers and scuttling panzer-mechs.
This is the second edition of Konflikt ‘47 with new rules based on Bolt Action third edition, but adding its own unique twists to create a game that feels distinct while keeping a familiar core. This new edition also sees updated background and lore for the game, along with a new wave of plastic kits for the United States and Germany, with potentially more to come later. There’s a lot to love about this game, so let’s get into it.
The World of Konflikt ‘47
Most of the war, as we know it, progressed normally in Konflict ‘47. Its true divergence point comes at the start of 1944, as the USA’s atomic weapons testing opens a Rift inside Los Alamos.
Within a month, Dresden is eradicated in nuclear fire, and a Rift is opened within its centre. It becomes a city of distorted reality and horror. The Green Vault, an occult cabal that have been puppeteering and steering Germany from the shadows for centuries, unveil themselves and overthrow the Nazi regime in favour of their own, equally brutal and authoritarian, regime.
Germany, and the Axis Powers, are bolstered by the Green Vault’s sorcerous and esoteric understanding of the Rifts, leading them to become early exploiters of Rift-tech that enable them to hold out better against the advancing fronts of the Allies & the Soviet Bloc. Undead regiments of Totenkorps act as brutal shock-troopers against the Allied invaders at Normandy.
The US is driven into a religious frenzy as the President, deathly ill, emerges from the Rift revitalised and claims he has heard the Word of God, and begins to refer to the war as a crusade against fascism and godless Communism, shattering the alliance with the Soviet Bloc. The United States is gripped in religious fever as propaganda labels the US as the chosen country of God.
The war as we know it is over, and a new type of war has begun. As the year hits 1947, Europe’s battlefields are unrecognisable. Mutated horrors roam alongside diesel-belching panzermechs, skirmishing against lines of tireless robot-soldiers and giant mechanized walkers.
The Core Rules
Rules-wise, 90% of Konflikt ‘47 is basically the same as Bolt Action third edition (though the changes do make a huge difference to gameplay), so it’s worth starting off by going over those in case you’re not familiar with Bolt Action. The big two rules that set Bolt Action apart from other games are Order Dice and Pin Markers.
Order Dice are special d6s with each face having a different action that your units can perform. At the start of each round, each player puts one Order Die for each of their units into a shared bag. Dice are drawn from the bag one at a time, and whichever player the drawn die belongs to gets to assign it to one of their units that doesn’t have an Order Die and chooses which of the six actions that unit will take. The six actions are:
- Fire: The models in the unit remain stationary and fire their weapons.
- Advance: The unit can move and then fire its weapons with -1 to hit.
- Run: The unit can move at double speed and enter into a Close Assault with an enemy unit they come into contact with.
- Ambush: The unit prepares an ambush, and can interrupt another unit’s action to shoot at them (in Konflikt ‘47 you can charge a nearby unit out of ambush as well).
- Rally: The unit removes all its Pin Markers (we’ll get to those in a second).
- Down: The unit goes down and gets +2 to its cover saves. You can also issue a Down order in response to being shot at.
Shooting requires you to roll a d6 for each shot fired, apply modifiers (most importantly a +2 point-blank bonus if within 6”), and each roll of 4+ scores a hit. Then you roll a d6 for each hit for damage, adding your weapon’s penetration value, and each result that beats the target’s Damage Value kills a model. At base damage values are 3+ for inexperienced units, 4+ for regular units, and 5+ for veteran units, with vehicles usually having 7+ or higher. Units in Konflikt ‘47 often end up with much higher damage values, though, and units like the Stahltruppen have 7+ damage values that make them extremely difficult to damage with traditional small arms fire.
If you score at least one hit on a unit without killing it they get a Pin Marker, and this is the added wrinkle that makes the system so interesting. Whenever you assign a unit an Order Die, if they have any Pin Markers then they have to make an Order Test. An Order Test is a 2d6 roll where you’re trying to get equal to or less than your unit’s Morale Value, with each Pin Marker on the unit giving a -1 penalty to its Morale. Standard Morale is 8 for inexperienced units, 9 for regular units, and 10 for veterans. If you pass the test, your unit can remove a pin marker and act as normal, but if you fail then the unit immediately goes Down instead. If you end up with enough Pin Markers to reduce a unit’s Morale to zero it is immediately destroyed.
These two rules in combination form the core of Bolt Action, and what makes it such a fun and innovative game. Konflikt ‘47 uses this reliable system as its base, but adds a couple of interesting elements on top.
New Konflikt ’47 Rules
In addition to new units and weapons, Konflikt ‘47 also features two major new rules elements that significantly change how the game is played: Rift Dice and Heroes.
Rift Dice represent the unpredictable elements of Rift-tech, and are assigned to units in a similar way to Order Dice based on the special weaponry or abilities that each unit has available. For example, US Firefly squads start with one Rift Die because of their jump packs, while the US Paragon squads also start with one Rift Die but can get a second if they take any Heavy Tesla Rifles. Armoured infantry and walkers don’t tend to start with any Rift Dice automatically, but can often take weapons that give them access to them.
Rift Dice are d6s like Order Dice, but with three faces showing Exhausted, two showing Active, and one showing Surging. Each unit with Rift Dice starts the game with them set as Active, and comes with a special ability that they can use while they have an Active Rift Die. If they use that ability (e.g. US Firefly squads can use theirs to move, shoot, and then move again), then the Rift Die becomes Exhausted and they suffer a penalty (e.g. Firefly squads lose the flight special rule). If a Rift Die is Surging, then it gets an extra buff, and when you spend it to use your ability it becomes Active instead of Exhausted. All Exhausted Rift Dice are re-rolled at the end of each round, and if they still come up Exhausted then they’re placed back in the dice bag with the Order Dice. If you draw one of your Rift Dice from the bag then you can roll it and assign it to one of your units that’s missing a Rift Die once you see what face it lands on. Similarly, if you assign an Order Die to a unit that doesn’t have all its Rift Dice then you pick one out of the dice bag, roll it, and assign it to that unit.
Heroes are a new type of unit representing the truly legendary characters of Konflikt ‘47, like Slammer Samuels or Commissar Gregor Drugov. Heroes get access to three new stats: Guts, Rift Mastery, and Luck. While most games won’t feature heroes, and some factions don’t even have any available to take yet, each faction does have the option to give some of these stat points to their company or platoon commanders and as a result they can have a big effect on the game.
Guts can be spent to modify any die roll made by or against the model by +1 or -1, or it can be spent when the model would be removed as a casualty to make a d6 roll adding your total Guts and letting you ignore the lethal damage on a 7+. The most powerful option, however, is to spend a point of Guts to put the Order Dice of a unit within 6” back in the dice bag, letting them take another turn later in the round. This is incredibly strong, and using this ability at the right point can completely turn the tide of a game.
Rift Mastery operates a little differently to guts, giving them an extra Rift Die for each point of Rift Mastery they have, and letting them spend one of those points during an action to give a unit within 6” one of their Rift Dice for the rest of the game. To top it off, they can also combine two of their Active Rift Dice into a single Surging Rift Die by spending a point of Rift Mastery, offering tremendous flexibility to armies with a lot of Rift Dice units.
Finally, Luck can be spent to re-roll any die (even allowing you to re-roll dice that have already been re-rolled), and when a model with any Luck dies it immediately loses a Luck and survives instead.
These new stats might seem like minor changes, but they offer some quite powerful abilities that can potentially swing a game if used right. They’re nearly always worth taking on your platoon or company commanders if possible, and can be a key element of your army’s gameplan.
Let’s take a quick look at the factions you’re able to play in Konflikt ’47.
The Axis
Germany, and the Axis powers as a whole, changed in the same instant that atomic fire obliterated Dresden. The Green Vault overthrew the old masters and took total control, domineering Germany in the same way. Every aspect of life in Germany is dominated by war, propaganda blares daily and every industry is geared towards contributing to the war-effort.
The Green Vault’s generals and politicians — those who who weren’t disposed of in the initial coup — vie for petty power and don’t even have a clue of the true objective of their dark masters.
The Axis were the first to truly embrace Rift-technology. Sciences guided by the occult hand of the Green vault churn out bio terror weapons like the reanimated Totenkorp, the bestial Schreckwulfen, and the ravenous Nachtjager while factories grind out Panzermechs armed with powerful Rift-tech like the Schwerefeld gravitational projector that can crush enemy platoons and armour with horrific ease. Armoured infantry like the Schwertruppen and Stahltruppen can provide a solid backbone to the force, while the Fallschirmjager Falcon squads can advance at terrifying speeds.
On the tabletop, the Axis Powers emphasise the exploitation of Rift-technology and their rules reflect that. No other nation has the versatility to field so many weird units that are often surprisingly difficult to kill. One army can be deploying armies of mutant terror weapons and legions of the shambling undead, and the next can be made up of scuttling heavy panzer-mechs and heavy armoured infantry.
The United States
Ever since Miracle Day, 22nd April 1944, when President Roosevelt returned from a visit to the Los Alamos Rift site fully healed, the United States has been gripped by religious fervour. With Roosevelt declaring a new crusade against blasphemous fascism and godless communism, America is now truly, “One nation under God”.
With easy access to a Rift site, though seemingly one not as powerful as the one in Dresden, the United States has been at the forefront of Rift-tech innovation on the allied side. Firefly Paratroopers soar through the skies under the power of their gravity-nullifying jump packs, while armoured infantry March along the ground, and the superhuman Paragon squads serve as propaganda icons. In addition to their high-powered Tesla weaponry, the United States also fields a number of two-legged walkers such as the iconic M8A1 Grizzly and the new M2A5 Linebacker Jump Walker.
On the tabletop, the United States is built around its access to a lot of heavy firepower, from the M1X1/2 Thompson SMGs on the Fireflies to the heavier Tesla weaponry, backed up by a steady stream of fire from conventional weapons. Their access to walkers is unparalleled, and the free point of Guts they get on each of their commanders gives a lot of tactical flexibility.
The British Commonwealth
Britain has been worn down over years of war, forced to rely on its Empire and the Commonwealth for support. With new acts of parliament placing the full resources of the Commonwealth under London’s direct control, Britain has the manpower and technology to continue the war for a long while yet.
Initially reliant on American Rift-tech advances for their new combat units, Britain has found its own technological niche despite dwindling American support. From the minds of Alan Turing and the boffins at Bletchley Park have come the new ‘artificial intelligences’, thinking machines capable of supplementing Britain’s diminishing manpower. These AIs are used in everything from production lines to reducing the necessary number of crew in vehicles, and are even being used as Automated Infantry, human-shaped robots wielding heavy weapons.
While the Automated Infantry have become the backbone of the Commonwealth’s armed forces, they’re not the only tool the British have access to. Galahad squads serve as a British take on the standard armoured infantry, specialist Grenadier squads are used to test the latest weaponry, and Cerberus squads use genetically augmented war dogs to act as deadly sentries. Turing’s AIs serve again as Automated Mobile Weapon Platforms and automated versions of the Universal Carrier, while Cromwell tanks armed with Tesla weapons fight alongside walkers based on American designs, along with British designs like the Merlin.
On the table, British armies aim to be stalwart and durable, especially when built around a core of Automated Infantry. Play as the British Commonwealth if you want an army that can keep fighting whatever happens, or if you just want to crush the enemy under the tireless boots of your robots and the treads of your tanks.
The Empire of Japan
Like Germany, the Imperial Japanese Army’s inevitable defeat has been indefinitely put on hold as Rift-technology shared by their Axis ally has enabled them to turn the tide of the war and dominate Asia. The Empire of Japan has kept its homeland secure amidst a multi-front war, but resistance to their rule is mounting. Chinese Communists, routed early in the war, have become emboldened by Soviet support, while the Soviets themselves push in to seize territory on their far-eastern doorstep. The British Commonwealth have driven a wedge deep into Burma, seeking to protect its colonial holdings.
Imperial Japan offers an interesting selection of Rift units – they have borrowed technology from the Axis, showcased in the form of panzer-mechs and the shambling undead Shibito regiments, but have also created their own, unique form of Rift-tech. Ghost Squads temporarily phase out of reality, enabling them to vanish and pass through solid objects entirely, and phase back in on command to storm enemy positions from unexpected and impossible angles of attack. These specialised forms of Rift-tech are jealously guarded by the Empire, and the alliance with Germany is getting increasingly strained as they refuse to commit further resource to their supposed ally.
On the tabletop, Japan is a mid to close ranged fighting force which wants to support its unique infantry with light and medium armour. Easy access to the fanatics ability gives Japanese infantry a strong boost in close combat against conventional infantry. With their unique technology to phase off the battlefield and reappear where they’re least expected, Japan has the easiest time creating opportunities to commit to sudden and brutal assault actions with their Ghost Squadrons.
The Soviet Bloc
Ever since President Roosevelt declared his new crusade against godless communism, the Soviet Bloc have stood alone. Without dedicated allies or direct access to a Rift, the Soviets have had to rely on material and information obtained by their vast intelligence network alongside an endless stream of test subjects funneled through their new ‘science cities’. The result is some of the best genetically modified troops available, backed up by tough, if somewhat clunky, armour and demoralising sonic weaponry.
Leading the charge for the Soviet Bloc are the Siberian Terror Troops, the Moroz Gul. Capable of surviving unarmoured in the extreme cold, they can also generate an icy mist that makes them extremely dangerous at close quarters. The Ursus Infantry on the other hand are the Soviet answer to the Axis Schreckwulfen, fearsome warriors augmented with the strength and animalistic fury of the bear. The Guards’ armoured infantry and the genetically augmented Daughters of the Motherland fill out their specialist infantry options, while the Cossack and the Mastodon serve as their iconic light and heavy walkers respectively.
The Soviet Bloc on the table has a strong focus on Morale, either disrupting their enemies morale with a chance of inflicting pin markers every turn thanks to their sonic weaponry, or bolstering their own by using commissars to reroll failed order tests at the cost of a casualty. Play the Soviet Bloc if you want a stalwart army with a surprising number of tricks up their sleeve, or if you just want to crush the armies of capitalism with an unstoppable wave of bear-men.
Italy and the Minor Nations
In Konflikt ‘47 most of the minor nations have been swept up into the bigger factions, so it makes sense they don’t have their own rules. Want to play Australians? Just use them as British Commonwealth. Romanians? The Axis. Free French? Use them as US or British depending on who’s equipment they’re using. The one problem with this do-it-yourself approach is Italy.
In the previous edition of Konflikt ‘47 Italy was its own faction, playable on either the Allied or Axis side with different special units for each. They had unique Paracadutisti units based on both US Firefly and German Falcon Paratroopers, as well as Bersaglieri and Centurion armoured infantry based on British and German designs respectively. In the second edition of Konflikt ‘47, Italy doesn’t get its own army list, instead its unique units are split amongst the factions their equipment is based on. This works fine when playing Axis-affiliated Italians, as all their unit options are now part of the Axis list, and the customisability of the Basic Infantry squad in each faction’s army list makes it easy to run an Italian infantry squad in any faction. The problem comes on the allied side, where the Firefly Paracadutisti and Bersaglieri units are in different army lists making it impossible to run a comprehensive allied Italian army without house-ruling the missing units over to the other list. In casual games, most people probably wouldn’t have a problem with that, but it does make playing Italians in a tournament setting more challenging.
Building a Konflikt ‘47 Army
Konflikt ‘47 may be heavily based on the Bolt Action rules, but this edition they’ve really decided to focus on the idea that war has been fundamentally changed by the creation of the rifts and this is emphasized by the updates to army building this edition. Last edition might have been about late war Bolt Action armies supported by new Rift-Tech units and weapons, but this edition is all about Rift-Tech units backed up by whatever Bolt Action models you want to bring. This is shown most clearly through the Assault Platoon in the new army building rules.
Konflikt ‘47 uses the same platoon-based army building as Bolt Action third edition, with each army being based around one compulsory platoon and any number of additional platoons which each have different restrictions on what kinds of units you can and can’t take. For Konflikt ‘47, the core platoon that every army must take is the Assault Platoon. This platoon forces you to take a platoon commander and two specialist or advanced infantry units, and once you’ve chosen those you can take up to two specialist, advanced, or basic infantry units, up to one of each of the common support/weapons teams, and up to one transport per infantry unit. If you want vehicles, walkers, or heavy artillery you’ll need to take one of the specialist platoons that give you access to those.
This means that you can’t just take a Bolt Action army and port it over to Konflikt ‘47 unchanged (not that that would be a good idea even if you could), instead you’ll have to figure out which of the new units you want to build around and then fill out any gaps with standard infantry or weapons teams. This emphasis on Konflikt ‘47’s own units is made even more clear when you look at the faction army lists, with each faction having only a single basic infantry option which is designed to represent any of the normal ww2 infantry units by providing plenty of equipment and special rules options for you to choose from.
If you do want to heavily focus on Bolt Action units though, you do have plenty of options. Beyond just basic infantry, most of the weapons teams and support units like the medic or forward observers just have standard WW2 equipment, and any of the WW2 vehicles with upgraded turrets (like the M4A9(T) Sherman Medium Tank) have options for building them with their standard WW2 loadout. In addition, each army list also tells you that you can use late war units from the faction’s respective Bolt Action Armies book as long as your opponent agrees, but those units will lose access to any of their army special rules (both those from Bolt Action and from Konflikt ‘47).
When upgrading a Bolt Action army for Konflikt ‘47, you’ll first want to add in at least two squads of specialist or advanced infantry as the new backbone of your force. You’ll want to choose units that will specifically counteract your weaknesses, by either being very durable or having high penetration weapons. Fortunately the new Firefly and Stahltruppen plastic kits are both good options to fill these roles if you’re playing the United States or Axis. For other factions I’d suggest looking at their respective armoured infantry, or just grabbing whichever units seem coolest to you. From there I’d recommend adding at least one of your faction’s walkers as they often have the high penetration firepower you’ll need to deal with enemy walkers, and then make sure you have a couple of other vehicles as support. Ideally you’d want these vehicles to have some of the new Rift weapons, but the right Bolt Action tanks should have enough firepower to manage.
If you’re playing the US or Axis, just picking up a copy of the starter set or one of the starter armies will let you easily convert a Bolt Action force over with very little work. It’s also worth noting that the standard size for a Konflikt ‘47 game is around 1500 points compared to 1000-1250 for Bolt Action. This might seem like the armies will end up being a fair bit larger, but the general need for the pricier Rift units means that you’ll usually end up running a similar number of models in total.
Final Thoughts
Konflikt ‘47 is an enjoyable Weird War 2 miniatures game that takes the Bolt Action formula and adds some fun twists to it, while staying true enough to the formula that it’s easy for Bolt Action veterans to pick up. It has a bunch of interesting background and worldbuilding (I particularly love the effort that often goes into describing the manufacturing and design history of particular weapons or vehicles), and offers a wide open sandbox that lets you build a variety of armies.
If you’ve always been someone on the fence of wanting to dive into WW2 historical for one reason or another, I think Konflikt ’47 is the perfect place to dive in. While the weird-war units are super fun and inspiring to paint up, you’ll also get a chance to fall in love with some actual historical units that you’ll inevitably want to field alongside your weird ones! Broadening your horizons is rarely a bad thing, even if you consider yourself someone who might not ever take that full leap into full-blown historical gaming.
With the new edition introducing updated rules alongside new plastic kits for the US and Germany, there’s never been a better time to pick up a starter set or a rulebook and get playing.
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