Morschauser Shock Modifications for Fantasy Document

I played another game of modified Morschauser's Shock Period Rules last night - testing a few tweaks made since the last game. 

Human Heavy Infantry clashes with Marine Iguanas (Move 9", Front Melee 4, Rear Melee 2, SP 6, unarmored)

They worked well and gave an exciting game with unexpected highs and lows for both sides, and a lot of narrative flavor.

Here is a link to the document for those interested: Modifications for Morschasuer’s Shock Period Rules for Fantasy    

The modifications are intended to result in satisfying games of an hour or less, with 6 units per side, clearly in the One Hour Wargames way, and I have not tried them with more or fewer units.

Pteranodons were statted with the monster table - a mix of picking and rolling: Move 12", Melee Front 4, Rear 2, SP 8, 2d6 when attacking, and tagged with armored and flyer.

They require a copy of Morschauser's How to Play War Games in Miniature, original or the John Curry reprint as I have, to fill in the blanks.

It's inexpensive to get the e-book version and it is by far my favorite of the wargaming classics, only just behind Little Wars, and I highly recommend it.

Human hero captures the hill but the lizards would reclaim it. It would change hands several times.

I feel that 10 turns has worked well in my games with these rules using One Hour Wargames scenarios, however, if you want to play 15 turns per OHW, by all means.

This plucky unit of Geckos (bog standard Skirmishers in my modifications) held off the enemy General's unit repeatedly.

Going forward, I think, if the result is not obvious after turn 10, I may roll 1d6 and subtract 1 from the score. The result will be how many turns remain (so, on a 1, the game is over).

In the end, the humans claimed the hill, but the lizards were in clear control of the cross-roads. A tie!

The game pictured above was surprisingly well-balanced, probably by accident. 

What I find most surprising about Morschauser's approach, is that even without +/- to die rolls, only different unit stats, the different unit types feel different, and benefit from being used in ways that, to my mind, make sense. 

Now, admittedly, skirmishers holding the hill was not the best choice, but deployment was determined by die roll. 

That they held their own was a delightful surprise, and exactly what I want from the rules.

2025 Plans and Such

It's my favorite time of the year in the wargaming blog scene, where bloggers post their reflections on the past year and their goals and plans for the year.  I'm a little behind with my own post, but I was caught up in my renewed enthusiasm for Morschauser.

In 2024, I kept my plans to a minimum, with the big goal being to paint the 48 Games Workshop figures I gifted myself for Christmas 2023, which I did. Go me!

Plague Marines, painted in January 2024, are my 2nd favorite 40K unit, after my Sisters of Battle

I painted other stuff too (an additional 45 figures if my accounting is correct), but they weren't part of that goal.

For 2025, I put some extensive thought into some sort of overarching hobby goals (I enjoy the process of coming up with goals and action steps and all that jazz. Plus, I had some downtime while visiting my family). Tl;dr: 

• Arrange more social gaming
• Focus on making terrain and scenery
• Limit spending on figures to gift money only

Social Gaming

Although I am a solo wargamer to the core, I would like to try to make some local friends who share my interest in painting toy figures and rolling dice. To that end, I will attempt to get in some games with the Georgia One Page Rules group - primarily with my lizard army. 

And of course, I'm hoping to run some "family and friends" games. 

I enjoyed our Family Fall Festival Cthulhu Grey game so much (as did the players) that I want to run more Cthulhu Dark/Grey/Dark Green or maybe CoC (Call of Cthulhu, not Chain of Command) 7th Ed. I have a *significant* collection of 7th ed material (from Humble Bundle), that I can use with any of those rules. I will probably run a Fall of Delta Green scenario using Dark Green as it is much easier to teach for a one-shot.

Terrain and Scenery

I would like to play more 1/72 PTO this year than I have in a very long tie and for that I need palm trees and jungle. The trees will probably be paper, wire, and masking tape as it works very well. My grim dark sci-fi terrain is significantly lacking, so some low budget DIY barriers, ruins, etc. are called for.

Limit Figure Purchases

While I am limiting my figure purchases to gift money, I already have some planned. 

The first is a bag of Armies in Plastic Egyptian Lancers (for conversions to WWI Italian lancieri). 

Two of these were finished in 2024. The other two were done in 2022. 

Less certain, but certainly appealing, is a bag of LOD British regulars or light infantry for some skirmishes with my colonial militia.  It's a period that means a lot me personally, not because my family fought in it (they weren't even on this continent yet) but because I lived in Philly for thirteen years from my mid 20s to my late 30s (one year for each of the original colonies?) and the history surrounded me every day. 

So, I'd really like to do * something * figure-gaming related with it.  

I tried to go down this road once before - albeit for bigger battles - but, this time, the project is much smaller and far less overwhelming. A dozen figures on both sides and a gun or two for an objectiveis more than enough for what I have in mind (for now!).

The Other Stuff

Of course, there will be painting - but it's not a goal in itself this year. While I have no doubt that I'll paint the figures I got for Christmas (the lizards at least), it's not something I feel an urge to make a goal. It'll happen organically.

I have a lot of ideas about what I'd like to play this year, but the list below constitutes a wish list more than a to-do list.

• WWII PTO - 1/72 Guadalcanal or Tarawa (I have scenario books for both) or maybe a fictional island landing using my own grid-based rules that are a mix of Crossfire, The Portable Wargame, and Advanced Squad Leader: Starter Kit #1. 
• WWI Caporetto - I'm going to rebase the figures again (yes again) to single figure bases and then use sabots with One Hour Wargames 'Machine Age' rules with my modifications. Because I change my mind about basing way too often.
  
• Grim SciFi - I'm less enthused about Grim Dark Future Firefight lately, so, probably with One Hour Skirmish Wargames, Skirmish Kids, Space Weirdos, or maybe Fistful of Lead Core Rules. I want more immersion and narrative, almost RPG, than I get from GD:FF.
  
• Perilous Tales in the American Colonies, 1750s-1780s - just what it says on the tin. Colonist fashion didn't change much if at all during this period.
• AWI Very Small Skirmishes - Skirmish Kids, OHSW or Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket, 2nd edition. Might as well make use of my colonial militia figures!
• Italy's Lame Attempt to Invade France in 1940 - Brick figures! Probably Bolt Action 2nd Edition or 1BC Toy Soldiers. Or maybe Crossfire if I feel cheeky. 
• Weird World War I - using a modified Perilous Tales most likely. 1/35 (yes, back to 1/35)
• Venus! - My beloved lizards and the AVEF will return. Possibly for "big battles" using One Hour Wargames, or one of the Colonial Portable Wargame variants, possibly small skirmishes using One Hour Skirmish Wargames or Skirmish Kids, or something else.
  
• Lemuria - 54mm fantasy ancients/medieval using my modified Morschauser Shock rules, or possibly my One Hour Wargames "Ancients/Dark Ages/Medieval' combo rules. I really want to do a 6-sided campaign (it's a point-to-point campaign structure from an issue of Lone Warrior) but I may just play games and have a loose narrative to tie them together, as I kind of prefer that generally.
• Age of Fantasy - This is what I will probably play with the Georgia OPR group.
• WWII Small Skirmish - 54mm British vs Germans, Europe. Germans vs Soviets, Eastern Front. OHSW or 1BC Toy Soldiers or 5 Men in Normandy.

Looking at that list makes my head hurt and think I should let go of more collections!

Finally, I picked up this for inspiration to read this year:

Battle of the Alps: 1940: Italian Invasion of France

This book has been on my wish list a long time and I finally found a low-priced used option. 

I'm only a chapter or so in and my initial impression is that it's not the best edited book ever - it could use some tightening up, and some punctuation edits, but that's a nitpick. 

The fact that the citations so far have all been secondary (or even tertiary?) sources is a bit disappointing, but there aren't many other books in English dedicated to the subject (any in fact that I could find in the past. Only as I was writing this did I learn there is a new title, The Italian Army in the Battle of the Alps 1940, coming out in February, 2025),

Morschauser Fantasy Shock

Much of my holiday down time was spent planning/goal setting for the new year - most of it not hobby related. However, on the hobby front I become consumed with the thought of how to make my 54mm fantasy type armies work for me *without* having to buy anything and keeping any painting to an absolute minimum.

What I wanted was something that isn't 1:1 skirmish. I really like my combination of One Hour Wargames periods to make a fantasy set, but of course, I can't just let sleeping dogs lie. 

Many hours of playing around in Google Draw with various basing and organization ideas led to using 6" x 3" sabots, which is suitable for One Hour Wargames. But instead, for reasons that escape me now, I decided to modify Morschauser's Shock era rules to suit my needs.

Something always draws me back to Morschauser. 

The first game went pretty well, but I took no pictures and tweaks were required. For one, I didn't use sabots, but just kind of eyeballed unit frontage.

For the second game, which I played last night, I roughly cut out some 6" x 3" cardboard sabots to get a better idea of unit frontage and added necessary rule tweaks. This time I took pictures!

A Tanitian hero (and her entourage) battles Qamar heavy infantry.

 

Qamar heavy cavalry ride down a unit of Tanitian skirmishers.

The hill would change possession four times. The Tanitian heavy infantry and hero held out for a good while though.

Turn 10. I originally set out 10 turns as the limit - since these aren't OHW rules and I didn't know how long it would go. When turn 10 ended, it didn't seem fair to call it a Tanitian victory given they were being enveloped.

I decided to play on. This is around turn 13 I think? You can imagine how it ends. It did go to turn 15 before Tanitia was driven entirely from the field. Along with another Qamar unit.

I used Morschaser's roster system (instead of tracking with little dice trailing my units like I usually do I made a unit roster sheet. I don't know why it only occurred to me to try this last night and not in the dozens of OHW games I've played), but increased strength points to 6 for basic units.

Rather than rolling 1 die per strength point, I went The Portable Wargame way and rolled 1d6 for the unit regardless (I've done this before when I've modified Morschauser's Modern rules).

I added unit types: mixed skirmishers, heroes, generals,and monsters. 

I added spellcasting as a "tag" to apply to any particular unit that has the ability (my mods push the rules to be very much narrative oriented without concern for any sort of balance - after all, I'm the only one playing, so I am not too upset when I lose, because I also win as long as I have fun and the story is good).

I also modified the melee rules so they are not "to the death" but involve push back results - inspired again by The Portable Wargame and Hordes of the Things (which I have kind of sort of skimmed).

It all worked well and I enjoyed the game quite a bit - like OHW I can play without constant reference to the rules and focus on decision making, but I found there was a good deal more excitement in combat. Not only how much damage will be done but if any at all.

Tweaks were still required though, and I've already updated my modifications with some notes about changes I decided to add during play. I'm looking forward to playing again soon.

Hopefully, these rules will be the basis for a six-sided campaign later in the year (once I knock out three more armies - two of them will be very easy to do though, more on that when I finally get around to posting my plans for the year).

Last Post of 2024!

A bit late, but here is a single picture from the Christmas Day game.

The above was taken near the end of the game. The tension had been ratcheting up gradually until finally it all hit the fan - the bogeyman, wraiths, wolves, AND wendigo all out on the table. 

The wraiths were super annoying (in my play tests and in the real thing). I just borrowed an existing monster from the rulebook - a spirit, I think. When killed they respawn 8" away. There is no way to actually kill them.

The party lucked out during the final rounds - I rolled poorly when checking against the threat level and the villains only recovered hit points once. By concentrating their attacks, the party was able to kill the wendigo. With the evil destroyed, the wolves were released from their trance, the wraiths were dispelled, and the bogeyman, who had profited from his lurking around the wendigo lair, took off deeper into the woods.

Huzzah!

While the players enjoyed the setup, figures, and terrain, (and 2/3 liked the game system) to my surprise, what really tickled them was the cotton "smoke" for the fired muskets. As a staple of Horse & Musket wargame pictures I have seen over my nearly 20 years of miniature gaming, I thought nothing of it, but for them it was revolutionary (no pun intended, given the game's period). 

I was reminded that it's easy to take for granted those things that we do or see every day and how much impact the littlest thing can have on someone who hasn't encountered it before. It also reminded me of something I read in a book long ago, about how, when you invite people to dinner at your house, you should make them what you would normally make, don't aim for fancy or different or to impress, because what is a typical meal for you will still be a treat for your guests.

In any case, I am quite satisfied with how it looked and played, and I look forward to playing it as a solo venture since Perilous Tales supports solo play out of the box and utilizing the "campaign" rules which allow for character advancement. But that's for 2025 - the Christmas game was the last game of 2024. 

Of course, I'm knee deep in my reviewing 2024 and goal setting for 2025 (for everything, not just hobby), so more on that will probably be my next post.

Until then, Happy New Year!

Play Test Pics and Merry Christmas!

Got in my last play test on Christmas Eve afternoon, so despite starting what seems like forever ago, it came down to the last moment!

The game covers two 24" x 24" tables. The first is all woods, but the second is a bit more varied and features a cave at the villainous end (as it's referred to in the rules).

The rock is not real. It's aluminum foil with thin layer of clay.

The orange glow is courtesy of an LED tea light candle. The cave is a tissue box glued behind layered cardboard and foam core. It's filled with cotton batting to diffuse the light.

Below is the Big Bad, a wendigo. 

If you were expecting a deer skull and antlers, that's not the traditional Algonquin myth, but the popular fiction version that took shape over the 20th century.

Something like this perhaps? I decided to make this just because. It's a little too tall and was described by a friend as a "glorious demonic angel", which I think suits it. It's a wire armature, clay and tissue soaked in 50/50 water and Mod Podge.

I'll paint this like the other monsters, but with the bone stuff as uh bones. But not until after Christmas sometime.

Speaking of, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Santa brings you whatever is on your list (if you celebrate or a nice day-off if not, and if you're working, well, i hope it's a quiet day at the very least)

Holiday Game Preparations Continue

Somehow, despite starting earlier than in years past, it is still coming down to the wire to get everything ready for the Christmas game.

First up, here are the finished captives and the last of the colonist militia types for this game (you can see their in-progress pictures on an earlier post)

The prisoners came out quite a bit better than I anticipated. The scout guy was harder to paint than the others since his pose blocked easy access to his clothing.

 Once those were finished, I started in on the monsters.

I had thought about building armatures entirely from wire, but then I thought, "Why not shortcut the process and start from a figure?"

 I have a pile of 54mm-ish blue Marx-style knights and this seemed like a good a use as any for them.

For the first creature I was going to make, i lopped of the arms and legs. Then I thought,"Why waste the legs?" Two monsters for the price of one!

It's just a flesh wound.

Here is the second one, with wire looped to form a claw and a start like hand, slathered in air-dry clay:

He's kind of cute. And kind of grotesque. Exactly the kind of thing that I find most disturbing.

Here both are, awaiting priming:

In their natural air-dried state.

Using more knights from the same pile, I lopped off bits - faces, arms, a head, and covered in strips of Mod-Podge soaked tissue to look like rags (you can see them to the left below)

Black, followed by a white dry brush (and for the clay guys, I added some glowing dots and some frosty blue dry brushing on the the hands) and voila:

Are the dots eyes? The actual monster? A lure? A magic missile weapon?

Here's a close-up of the headless guy to show off his head:

You can tell he has a helmet on, but my players won't notice.

Yesterday, a bag of 100 2" tall skeleton warriors arrived:

Bag O' Bones

And I promptly set about hacking a bunch of them to pieces. These will be used to make some scatter terrain for the final game board:

It's like watching a Law & Order episode.

100 is far more than I need for this project, and I will have enough left over to fill out a 750 point Age of Fantasy Vampiric Undead army (they have skeletons, zombies, and werewolves in addition to vampires). 

I might even replace the clay monsters in this scenario with some skeletons strategically covered with rags(tissue to hide the "ancient armor" bits). Since I think the bogey men (or whatever they are) kind of deserve their own scenario.

Still lots to do. So many more hack apart

I really want to make a cave lair to put at the Big Bad's board edge, but we'll see what happens. The Big Bad itself is far more important to the game than the cave.

Code Word: Santa's Got a Brand New Bag

Like a lot of wargamers, I purchase my own Christmas presents. I know I know, you can hear the piteous violins softly in the background.

But we do what we must and bear the terrible burden.

Now, I could wait until after Christmas to share my modest haul, but I am too excited by the last item pictured to wait.

So without further ado, here is what Santa will be putting under the tree this year.

First up is Space Marine Adventures: Labyrinth of the Necrons. 

After going most of my wargaming life without making any Games Workshop purchases, I've made one each Christmas for the last few years (I blame my son). The tradition will continue this year with another of their self-contained box games.

I really enjoy Fireteam, Space Marine: The Boardgame, and Blitz Bowl, and Alex (UpTheBlue) did a play through of this awhile back and it stuck with me. So, when it was on sale for Black Friday, I took advantage. 

 At the very least, at less than $20 USD for five GW miniatures it was a no-brainer.

Will I paint the figures? I might. I might not. If I paint them, I'll probably paint them all as Blood Ravens, despite the heresy of it all.

Next up is a bundle of new recruits for my lizard folk army. My goal is to field a 2000+ point 28mm force for Age of Fantasy that I can bring to the local One Page Rules gaming group meetups. This lot, plus several sprues of Wargames Atlantic lizard folk I still haven't touched, and a second Dark Heaven command set, also taking space in the Pile of Shame, will get me there.

The one in the baggie is possibly my favorite - it's an old Grenadier model:

He's a bit vertically challenged but I'll just build up his base so his head is about even with everyone else.

Though it's jumping the gun a bit, I have already decided his paint scheme will be based on the yellow-headed gecko (not to be confused with the yellow-headed day gecko)

I had considered picking up the Grenadier lizard-man champion with lance, which was one of the first miniatures I ever had (in a Grenadier box set, when I was a kid, around 12 years old- when I had started playing AD&D - from Kay-Bee Toys, a gift from my Grandma). But seeing it now - it isn't nearly as grand as I recall it. I suppose that's true of many of the things of childhood. 

That said, even as I type this I still want one, so maybe for my birthday!

For now, all of the above is hidden away - although I hope I can remember where I stashed them when the day comes. I'm quite good at forgetting where I put things.

Santa himself will probably gift me some cash this year, and so a book or two is probably in the cards as it wouldn't be Christmas without some new reading material, but I don't want to presume anything and spend money I haven't got.

Rest assured, I have quite a long list of potential titles! 

(the post title is from the movie, Elf, spoken by my favorite character - the toy department manager)