Went Down to the Crossroads (Hammer of Democracy)

Although it might seem hard to believe given the number of WWII figure games I've posted over the years, but at times over the past year, I have felt like I'm on the verge of letting my entire 54mm WWII collection go. In fact, I had put it all in box and put it in the back of my closet.

However, during the recent Winter Offensive Sale on Wargame Vault, I decided to pick up a copy of Nordic Weasel's Hammer of Democracy. This is the WWII variant of the Hammer games that include Squad Hammer and Trench Hammer. In part, I just wanted to support Nordic Weasel, but also, given my enjoyment of Trench Hammer, I wondered if Hammer of Democracy (HoD from now on) could bring some life to my WWII collection.

HoD  like the other rules in the series are geared primarily toward fielding a platoon to a company, where each base or two, or a group of 5-6 figures is a squad. Vehicles represent one vehicle. All units have hit points and there is no figure or base removal until the entire squad is removed. Hit points represent morale as well as casualties. 

Combat is the same as far as the basic game goes - shooting combat occurs at three ranges: Long distance, Firefight, and Close Assault. The Close Assault reflects the method use in the Trench Hammer Expansion. Damage in ranged attacks is fixed, by default, and then modified by the roll of a d6(one up or one down or left alone) and by cover. Units are removed when they reach 0 remaining hit points and on average, infantry can take 7 hit points of damage. 

Units can recover lost hit points through various orders. 

Unlike Trench Hammer, HoD doesn't assume leaders on the table, nor does it put an emphasis on a leader being able to give orders to a nearby unit - this reflects, I believe, the difference between the nature of command-and-control in WWI and WWWI, where squads operated more on their own initiative. Leaders are one of several possible character types that are included in HoD, so they can be added, but they function in a different way - which I have not yet tested.

Speaking of, reading a set of rules is helpful to get a sense of the layout and mechanisms, but it's in playing that I learn the most, so I set out a scenario featuring two platoons, each with MG support, fighting over a small village/intersection, as suggested in the book, for a first game. Control of the objective would be determined by controlling the majority of buildings.

US 1st squad (followed by their MG) enters from the north east.

Two German squads enter from the south.

Germans get one of their squads into a building first.

US 1st squad enters a building opposite Germans and open fire. Return fire is devastating and then the Germans poured on more during their activation. 

US 2nd squad has captured the half-timbered building and 3rd squad moved up to replace 1st squad. However, the Germans decide to advance to capture the vacated building, too. 

3rd squad reaches the building first and throws the Germans back in close assault.

An out of sequence picture of the largely ineffectual MG team.

The Germans countercharge the 3rd squad and are thrown back again and then eliminated by fire from 2nd squad.

 

A shot of the largely ineffectual German MG team.

Firefights between the various squads (and the US MG which finally starts hitting) eliminates both of the remaining German squads.

With only the German MG team remaining, the US captured the objective at the cost of one squad.

The game played smoothly with minimal reference to the rules PDF. This owed much, I imagine, to my familiarity with Trench Hammer. The rules themselves are mostly clear, and when they weren't, a more careful reading tended to answer my question. 

The game had the feeling of Crossfire without having to cover the table in massive amounts of terrain or constantly evaluating defensive fire. This brings up one of my favorite parts of the Hammer system and that is the fact that a unit that is fired on or close assaulted will return fire automatically except at Long Range. The result is that I don't miss reaction fire and I don't find myself having to maintain an awareness of whether a moving unit could be fired on by the enemy or at what point in the move that would be best to do.

Speaking of Crossfire, I should note that HoD has a clock mechanism, like I've seen used in Crossfire. It has potential, but perhaps my playing area was too large (4' square) for the unadjusted measurements and the sides took two full turns of movement before any firing. When there is no firing, the clock advances 2d6 minutes for each of those turns and this case went from 36 minutes (randomly determined at the start of the game) down to 15 remaining when contact was made. Time actually ran out before either side had even lost a squad let alone captured the objective.

I should also note that I didn't use any the Support rules or anything outside of the basic rules, just to get a feel for things - which, again, was suggested by the rules.

My outlook on my WWII collection has changed as a result of this game. Another game of just infantry and then one involving armor are most certainly merited.

Oh, and for the curious:

The German figures are Airfix and Airfix copies, and reissued Matchbox.  The tripod MG team is Classic Toy Soliders.

The US figures are primarily W. Britain "Big Red 1" figures (including the MG) with Toy Soldiers of San Diego filling out the ranks.