Bolt Action US Kelly's Heroes

September 1944, and our titular heroes are what's left of a reconnaissance platoon of the 35th Infantry Division, recruited mainly from Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Most of the men first saw combat when the division landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day, and have subsequently been blooded in the fighting in Saint Lo and the Cotentin Peninsula before crossing the River Moselle in September.
Private Kelly, a soldier with a past, captures a German Colonel whom he subsequently interrogates. Discovering the whereabouts of $16,000,000 worth of stolen gold under German guard in a bank behind enemy lines, he quickly sets about assembling a team to sneak through the lines and carry out "the perfect crime..."
At the far left is Master Sergeant Jake "Big Joe" Diamond as played by Telly Savalas in the film. In Bolt Action he counts as a major, despite his actual rank. West Point can't teach no leadership. Only the school of hard knocks in the lower ranks can teach real leadership. Being a Hollywood NCO he rolls 3 dice to attack with his SMG instead of the normal 2. All rolls to hit succeed on a 2+ no matter what modifiers are in play.
Next to him is Private Kelly as played by Clint Eastwood in the film. He is an ex-1st Lieutenant who still retains his rank bonuses in game. Kelly's team (he may be accompanied by one or two Hollywood attendants, one of whom may be "Big Joe" to make use of his higher leadership). Any Hollywood unit within 6" of Kelly automatically passes order checks and morale checks.
Second from the right is Staff Sergeant Crapgame who was played by Don Rickles in the film. Up to two squads in any force containing Crapgame may have any model exchange a rifle for an SMG and include an LMG. Also, MMG and Bazooka teams may be doubled. Even if it does not call for it, any force containing Crapgame receives a pre-game bombardment. However, this comes from an off-table character called Mulligan, so is less reliable than a normal pre-game bombardment.
At the far right is Private Babra as played by Gene Collins in the film. Loyal tag-along Babra might be one of the reasons why "Big Joe" survives any firefight completely unscathed. Possibly. As long as a unit contains both "Big Joe" and Babra, a single successful attack (one dice) against the unit can be converted into a failure.
The three figures to the right above and below form part of Sergeant Oddball's Sherman tank crew. At the far left is Oddball, memorably played by Donald Sutherland in the film. He has the Nexus of Positive Energy special rule, which is too long to repeat here. It's not superior training, equipment or tactics which wins a fight, it's a positive outlook on life - and that's how Oddball took down two Tigers with a Sherman. Positive waves can swing the outcome of any battle, but beware - it only takes one miserable cynic with their negative waves to ruin everything and next thing you know, entire bridges are being blown up.
Next up is Private First Class Moriarty, a mechanical genius, played by Gavin MacLeod in the film. He has the Nexus of Negative Energy and Mechanical Genius special rules. Without Moriarty, no Oddball Sherman may take any optional upgrades except the Pintle-Mounted MMG.
Finally, is Turk, a taciturn gunner who shares the turret with Oddball.
At the far right is the Bavarian, the commander of the only surviving Tiger 1 tank which he inconveniently parks outside the entrance of the bank holding all the gold bullion, forcing Kelly, "Big Joe" and Oddball to make a deal with him to split the gold in half. I didn't know whether to include him in this review but seeing as he is part of the boxed set it made sense to do so.
Even now, I still love Kelly's Heroes which was released in 1970. I was lucky enough to pick up this set for only £7.00 instead of £20.00 from a local seller on eBay. An absolute bargain!