NP '42: Deciding on Tabeltop Rules

Over the weekend, I set up trying to settle on a set of rules for the North Pole games. There were quite a lot in contention, but the top contenders for this experiment were: One Brain-Cell Toy Soldiers (1BC) with card-based unit activation, G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. with half-sized units, and One Hour Skirmish Wargames(OHSW).

For the scenario, a German platoon of three 5-man sections, one HMG, one light mortar and a platoon leader is advancing to capture some buildings on the outskirts of Christmas Village. An under-strength platoon of British paras, consisting of two 5-man sections, an HMG, and a platoon leader, move into the area to hold off the German advance. The Germans win if they capture both buildings, otherwise it's a win for the British.

You can tell this is non-canonical as I didn't break out my dozens of Christmas trees for the woods.

The fact that the pictures below tell a cohesive story is completely by accident. They are from multiple games.

British occupy the ruined building on their left.

 

"Knock! Knock!"

British assault the house.

The German right advances under cover of light mortar fire. The mortar was more devastating in some games than others. This must be from the GASLIGHT game where the max range was 24". In OHSW it's infinite (and can't move), and in 1BC, off hand, I believe it's at least 36".

The HMG covers the building in case the British capture it, while the English and Germans exchange fire from the relative safety of the trees. Either 1BC or GASLIGHT, because tripod HMGs can't move in OHSW.

The Germans hold the farm house, and the defenders of the other building are defeated in close assault.

Things take a turn for the worse on the British right.

Game over. This is most likely from the OHSW game, as contact with a downed figure is immediate figure removal.

I'm not sure I'm any further along in deciding.

I *can* say that, while it's no secret I love OHSW,, 18 units (the Germans, each figure or weapon team is a unit) on one side really felt like it was straining the system. 

The action felt less chaotic whirlwind and more disjointed than usual. At best you can take action with 13 units, and more often than not less than that. If you want to move and shoot with each figure even drawing a King, you're looking at 6 figures taking action.  To make it work, I'd have to drop one of the 5-man sections or support weapons or some similar combination (never mind that I have tanks, half-tracks, PAK-38s etc. for the Germans to use at the North Pole).

Both GASLIGHT and OHSW handle characters and vehicles easily - so a coin flip there.

GASLIGHT requires some adjustments for the under-sized units: morale and Shoot values primarily. Morale is somewhat silly in GASLIGHT, which I love, but maybe not for WWII troops (definitely would use for woodland creatures, elves, etc.).

1BC wins for simplicity and adding card activation made it more like GASLIGHT. There's no vehicle rules so they require improvising - nothing I haven't done before, and I could probably bolt on either of the others in some way, but still, it's extra work.

I really like the Force Motivation and Force-level Morale check in OHSW as opposed to individual unit morale checks in GASLIGHT or 1BC. Although, this was the first time I ever came close to a side failing their morale check - the paras lost their PL (a Leader(3) in OHSW terms) and only had their section leaders (Leader(1)  in OHSW terms). They came within 1 point of failing their morale check.

So, each set has things that work, and things that work sort-of. And I like them all. 

Maybe I'll just choose whichever one I'm feeling on the day? Or maybe, more play tests are in order? Oh darn.

One Hour Wargames : Fantasy : Scenario 2

The other day, I decided it was time to get a suitably old school ground cloth form my fantasy figures. A few moments on the web, and a few days wait, and voila - a 36" square piece of felt in "sand".

Of course, I couldn't wait for the folds to work themselves out of the felt.  Instead, I shoved the clutter that had piled up on the folding table out of my way and set up a game. With 36" width, 9-12 element armies sounded reasonable. I used a deck of cards to determine army composition.

I randomly rolled Scenario 2 from One Hour Wargames - it's not one of my favorites, but I really just wanted to push figures around on the new felt.

The foliage has no effect other than aesthetic.

The lizard army, who I've renamed the Tolokok, had: 

• 4 units of Warband (they use the OHW Dark Age warband rules)
• 1 unit of Skirmishers (OHW Ancients skirmisher)
• 3 units of Archers (OHW Ancients archers)
• 1 Beast
• 1 Hero

The Tanitians fielded:

• 2 units of Heavy Infantry (OHW Ancients infantry)
• 4 units of Skirmishers (OHW Ancients skirmisher)
• 1 Beast
• 2 Heroes

Heroes and Beasts both get bonuses on their attacks and 1/2 damage received. So, it's not as unbalanced as this looks.

A hero and two Heavy Infantry units dominated the lizard beast and warbands 

Small but mighty. He would slay the beast.

The Tantians pushed their heavy infantry to take the hill while the skirmishers were left to hold the crossroads. Meanwhile the lizard skirmishers and remaining archers attacked the crossroads. When the battle ended, the Tanitians held the hill and the Tokolok held the crossroads. A tie.

Narrative History of Events Leading to the German Decision to Invade the North Pole

The events that led to the German invasion of the North Pole were more serendipitous than part of any grand scheme. In fact, in retrospect, it is almost as if the whole situation had been contrived solely to insure there would be a conflict at the Pole.

On Christmas Eve, 1941, a disgruntled member of the “Prep and Landing” team, lax in his duties, was captured (asleep no less) by the Gestapo in Hamburg, Germany.

Bitter at being passed over for promotion, he (let’s call him “Judas” for the sake of this history) readily offered up what details he had about the location of Santa’s Castle - a misnomer, as it includes not only the castle proper but surrounding industrial complex aka The Workshop, training fields for the reindeer, housing for elves, a vibrant arts district (elves need downtime like everyone else), etc.

The “North Pole”, as it is called, although it is not the geographic place of the same name, is a medium-sized island in the Arctic Circle, shrouded from view from the air by powerful magic, but, oddly, at the time, still accessible by sea (where it looked like a large chunk of ice). For the Nazis, this was music to their ears - surely, the jolly fat man would offer no resistance to the might of Germany..

Before Judas could disabuse them of that notion, and reveal the island’s defenses, he was “silenced” by European agents of C.L.A.S.S. (Cute Little Animals in Santa’s Service)  who infiltrated the Hamburg Gestapo headquarters early Christmas Day, 1941. Notice the absence of the term “rescued” in the preceding sentence. 

Artist rendition.

If you betray Santa, word travels fast. Plus, war is hell.

Although the Gestapo had yet to determine exactly what to do with the informant, the result would have been the same, so, they shrugged their collective shoulders, disposed of the body, reported the information, and went back to carrying out their evil deeds.

In their eagerness, the German command worked with the limited intelligence they had (a comment on the information Judas provided and their own character) to prepare a plan to land a kampfgruppe on the “North Pole”, assault Santa’s Castle and capture Santa. 

Surely, they reasoned, it would bring Europe and much of the world to its knees.

A Mish Mash of Updates

Of late, mostly I'm focused on building my guitar teaching side-gig and gaming and painting have taken a back seat, as a result. 

I've barely applied paint to a figure - I have three Necrons and two scarab bases about 80% finished, I just need to set aside the time. I have played a few quick games here and there mostly to try things out - a couple of games with my 54mm WWII British paras and Matchbox Germans, one with my brick WWII minifigures (a Disposable Heroes / Coffin for Seven Brothers-ish game), and a small (literally) sci-fi game using ten 15mm figures I brought with me on vacation last week.

"Research", such as it is, never stops, however.

Recently I read  She  and The Land that Time Forgot (actually, all three books in that series in a single bound volume), and I just finished At the Earth's Core (I've ordered books two and three in that series). 

Currently I'm reading Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, and a little more on topic, Henry Hyde's Wargaming Campaigns (which was on sale for $4.99 USD for the Kindle version a bit ago and I grabbed it.). 

The latter, combined with some recent downsizing of my collections, has inadvertently lead to the creation of a campaign idea: North Pole '42

Briefly, because I haven't fleshed it out more than this, the British fascist industrialist, Sir Topham Hat, has partnered with Hitler to find and capture Santa's workshop / castle. Through means I haven't decided yet (it doesn't really matter), they have identified the hidden island in the region of the North Pole that is home to Christmas magic.

Map created in Google Draw.

The map may be tweaked a bit but it's usable for my purposes as is. 

If I had to say, I'd say 5 miles per hex (hmm, that might be a bit much) but it's not really a map campaign as far as I have thought so far - more of a narrative campaign and I just wanted to make a map. The whole point is to use my Christmas figures year round, and to push me to ordering a block of clay so I can make some additional woodland creatures to fight Nazis.

Allied support, when it arrives, will be provided by British paratroops (Trixie the Elf has some friends in MI6) with Winter Warlock and King Moonracer allowing the British planes to fly over the island (for some reason, they can't prevent landings by sea - although I just had inspiration that maybe magic narwhals might have something to say about that).

I'm not sure when the whole thing will kick off - I'm simultaneously building up my fantasy world background and map so that I can generate backgrounds for those battles as well.

One Hour Wargames, Heroes, and Spell Casters

The game is afoot! Actually, it was two feet. I'm playing on a 24" square. I'll see myself out.

 

I have been considering how to handle Heroes and Spell Casters in my fantasy version of One Hour Wargames (my fantasy version just combines the units from Ancients, Dark Ages, and Medieval, and then adds heroes and casters). 

This past weekend I put them to a (very limited) test.

My ideas for Heroes worked well - they aren't *too* powerful, but they can do a lot. I'm thinking perhaps they should all receive 1/2 Damage in addition to the re-roll, so they can go toe-to-toe with Ancient heavy infantry.

The spell casting concept worked but I'm not convinced casting should cost the caster their regular strength points. I like it in theory mind you but it may be better to use the One Page Rules Age of Fantasy : Skirmish idea of spell points, managed separately from the health of the caster. It would be something else to manage though - and as a solo gamer, I try to minimize that.

Heroes

All heroes may re-roll attack die, but must keep 2nd score (this is taken from the OHW FB group)

For each hero, prior to the start of the game:

• Choose one of:
• 1/2 Damage Received (armor, dodge, luck)
• +2 to Range Attack
• +2 to Melee Attack
• Quick(9" movement rate on foot)
  
• Choose one of (these have no cost to the Hero): 
• Inspiring (friendly unit in base contact prior to unit action recovers1d3 points) 
• Combat Leader (friendly unit in base contact may reroll attack die, but must keep 2nd score)
• Tactics Master (friendly unit in base contact at start of that unit's movement may move up to double their movement rate)
  

Spell Casters

• Casting takes a toll on the caster. Each time a spell is cast, the caster takes damage. The "Cost" in the list below is the damage the caster takes.
  
• A Caster reduced to 0 points by casting is exhausted and removed from the battle.
• Each time a caster casts a spell, they may choose one spell from the following ten spells.  
• Casters may cast any spell from the list below.
• Casters may only cast one spell per turn.
  
• Target units, be they friend or enemy or self, cannot be in melee when the spell is cast on them. 

Optional: Casters melee at -2. This is the way the Fantasy rules on the OHW FB group do it. I don't like this, because my casters are warrior-casters, but if your concept is more like a DnD Magic-Users, then by all means.

Attack

Give the options descriptive names that fit your concept of the caster. For example, a Fire Mage might have Fire Ball, Rain of Fire, and Storm of Fire.

• Long Range Attack, range 48", cost 1, causes d6-2 damage
  
• Standard Attack, range 12",  cost 2, causes d6 damage
  
• High Power Attack, range 12", cost 3, d6 + 2 damage
  

Defense

• Shield (Self), range 0", cost 1, lasts until next turn
  
• Shield (Unit), range 6", cost 2, lasts until next turn
  
• Breathing Room, range 12", cost 3, enemy unit pushed back 3"
  

Utility

Call them what you will but these are the effects:

• Haste (Self),  range 0", cost 1, move double-sped
• Lesser Healing, unit within 6" cost 2, unit restores1d3 strength points
• Haste (Unit),  unit within 6", cost 3,  unit advances one move, does not count as their action
• Greater Healing, unit within 6", cost 4, unit restores 1d3 + 2 strength points
  

Many more spells are possible of course - in fact while typing this up, I thought of several more that might be fun. It ultimately depends on how much time you want to spend reading spell lists!

One Hour Wargames : Fantasy

Continuing the thread of "rebasing IS my hobby", at some point, a few weeks ago, I decided to base my Tanitians, Dies-Nox, and Gokrug Confederacy as multi-figure bases except for heroes, spell-casters, and monstrous creatures.

Although I am using One Hour Wargames, I like to imagine it has a very Hordes of the Things-vibe (although I've never played it). Besides the size of my bases, the other notable aesthetic difference is that I left my "personality" figures on round bases. 

I may put them by themselves on a rectangle, maybe with some kind of scenery or vignette. 

Tanitia attempts to invade a remote region of Dies-Nox. The D-N general reacts aggressively - moving out to meet the invaders. Unfortunately, almost half of their force is archers.

For rules, I have been using Ancients (Tanitia, Gokrug skirishers), Dark Ages (Gokrug), and Medieval (Dies-Nox) from One Hour Wargames. Each army uses the rules that are appropriate to the era it is assigned. This makes for an interesting variety and a potential difference in tactics by nationality. 

For example, Tanitian heavy infantry receives +2 on attacks, and halves damage received, but those benefits are split in the Medieval era, so that Dies-Nox knights get +2 on their attack, while the men-at-arms 1/2 damage received. Dies-Nox archers range attack with +2, while Tanitian archers have no die-roll modifier.

Tanitia dominates and in the swirling melees, manages to flank and destroy multiple Dies-Nox units.

For the single-figures, I bolted on the "personality" rules from a set of Fantasy modifications from an OHW Facebook group. I'm not sold on those- they feel a bit too generic and not at all like I imagine things. For example - spell-casters have but one spell (fireball). I enjoy having a variety of spells to choose from: utilitarian, defensive, and offensive - as the situation merits. 

Similarly, I think, if I keep heroes independent of infantry/cavalry units, then I think they too should have special abilities. Although a lone hero (or hero and their retinue) attacking an entire infantry unit is pretty special in its own right.

So, I have some rule modifications to try. At least until I rebase again.

Novokh Dynasty Necrons

 The first batch of Necrons is done! The color scheme is Novokh Dynasty - whatever that means. To me it means I can use the same reds as my Blood Ravens and get more use out of those expensive paints.

I had trouble getting an in-focus picture where the scarabs were equally in view. I blame the fact that I really need to get new glasses. I can't remember how long it's been.

Speaking of focus, I've been more focused on my guitar teaching in an effort to ramp up operations so to speak, so painting, and gaming generally, has moved into a more casual, less obsessed?, mode. It has had the odd effect of making painting a relaxing activity rather than something I'm doing solely to get a game on the table.

Between playing games while not taking pictures and painting to relax, it all feels very "retro"!

 

I Feel Like I've Been Here Before

I was planning to work on Necrons this weekend - and I did, a little. But ...

For my birthday this year, I received a sprue each of Wargames Atlantic's WWI French and Germans, so that I could move my Weird World War I project down in scale. 

I know I know. 

In part, this was motivated by the fact that I keep breaking the bayonets on the 1/35 figures, as well as the fact that making the terrain I want for the game will just be too large to store in our apartment. More importantly, of late I have found I really enjoy painting the smaller (for me) figures, for reasons I don't quite understand.

This looks familiar.

 

The figures go together easily enough, although I had trouble pairing arms. There aren't many arms with empty hands that aren't made for cradling a rifle stock, which made picking the unarmed hands for the center and left figure more annoying than it needed to be, and I think they look a little awkward.

It still beats assembling the Necrons! 

Painting was simple - blocked in the colors and then a wash of Agrax Earth Shade. They look pretty grim dark past? I don't know - but I think it works. 

I still have 4 more French and 6 Germans (I'm not sure why the Germans have one less figure per sprue).

The walls of the trench are made with Dollar Tree knock-off Jenga bricks. Three bricks are glued long edge to long edge, then covered in strips of cereal box. Then two sets of three are glued end-to-end to make a single 3.75" wall piece. A cut down bamboo skewer acts as a post and hides the the seam down the middle. I think the next batch, I'll make the full wall piece, then cover in the strips - less cutting overall that way.

The walls were also given a touch of extra height from a Dollar Tree craft stick.

The craft sticks have a slight warp but they work well enough.

 The skewer ends just before the craft stick, so i can slide the floor under the posts, making it look integrated-ish (if you look at the picture below you can see what I mean)

This approach is far more portable and configurable - like dungeon walls for an RPG (which is kind of how I imagine this WWWI project) - than my 1/35 attempt.

Top-down illustrating what it will look like with walls on each side

My plan is to coat the non-trench side with wall filler to make raw stone tunnels.

I was aware of the tunnels used by troops on the Southern Front (through rock and glacier - like when the Austrian stormtroops burst from tunnels in the ice to surprise Italian troops and also to blow the tops off mountains) and I was aware about mining on the Western Front, thanks to two of my favorite WWI movies, Beneath Hill 60 and The War Below.

I had been thinking my Weird World War I conceit would be squads moving through strangely abandoned trenches and, possibly into those same tunnels (where else would Eldritch horrors and demons enter from?).

Hence the desire to look stone-like on one side.

While doing some research - loosely speaking - I came across an offhand mention of the underground fighting during WWI. 

Fighting IN the tunnels? That would further justify my choice (I don't need it - it's pretty much WWI fantasy but it means they can serve double-duty).

To fill in the gaping holes in my knowledge, I picked up Beneath the Killing Fields: Exploring the Subterranean Landscapes of the Western Front.

I'm not finished reading it, but it is an absolutely fascinating and eye-opening read about the extent to which the Great War took place underground, be it shelter, moving men to the front, or mining operations. 

The author goes through great lengths to discuss the sensory reconfiguration required for those working in the tunnels, and, in a bit of poetic flourish, he more than once emphasizes the inversion of life and death, where the dead lay in the open air of the battlefield, and the living are underground. 

He also describes it as Hell moving from the depths of the earth to above ground, while men hide beneath the surface. If that isn't an entire Weird World War I setting in a single sentence, I don't know what is.

Now, I picked this book up for a song. It's a hardcover book and was only $3.84 usd,(regular price is around $30 usd) which may be coloring my enthusiasm a little, but I highly recommend it, especially if you can find a used copy.

Miscellaneous Mid-Week Meanderings

Life has taken a turn for the busy - between the day job, side hustle, and the band, and oh yeah, dad-life, just not a lot of time to hobby. Writing for the blog has taken the back seat to everything else.

I've played a couple of One Hour Wargames "Machine Age" (with my mods) games.  Last night I played the "Shambolic Command" scenario and discovered my variable movement rules need some adjustment for cavalry falling back after a charge. 

I am also inclined to give assault troops and any unit in cover, some kind of bonus when checking morale. It just feels like sometimes the morale failures really up (literally - lots of little dice on the table!) 

One of these days I'm going to label the bases and use an old school roster sheet to track damage.

On the painting front, I've made some progress on the Necrons. I'm painting them in the Novokh dynasty color-scheme (per my son's request). I have no preference and the fact that it uses the same reds that I used for the Blood Ravens is a plus.

The scarabs, foreground, are my favorite.

I was skeptical of the value of the "Necron Compound" dry-brush paint, but I like the end result: a very metal looking skeletal frame.

These are still a WiP bunch - this is just one or two coats of Army Painter Dragon Red. It's somewhat translucent and, over the Lead Belcher/Nuln Oil wash, it has created some highlighting effects already. 

I'll be doing a proper highlight after the next coat and some Caribou Crimson wash - I hope to have this batch done by the end of the week. However, I expect the weapons will be a bit of a challenge to get the look I am aiming for, so we'll see!

Blood Raven Intercessors Done!

Coming from the polar opposite end of the frustration axis of the Necrons, at least in terms of construction, the Blood Raven Assault Intercessors are finished!

Below one of the grunts shows off the Chapter Symbol:

The Blood Raven heraldry is not available from Games Workshop, but there are plenty of enterprising people no Etsy who are more than happy to fulfill your need for decals.

I really like the poses on these figures and am too tempted to pick up some sprues or even a complete box to extend the force. BUT the goal was a single squad - with additional support from some Ultramarine Infernus my son received afew months ago for his birthday (and which, apparently, I'm now going to end up painting as his interest isn't even quite enough to be called minimal) - and so I'll stick with that. 

For now!

Necron Nightmare

 How it started:

Necron pieces - removed from sprue by previous owner. Do not do this!

How it's going:

I do like the assembled figures though.

If I ever meet the individual who thought cutting the bits off the sprue all at once was a good idea, I'm going to give them a right proper thrashing. It's no wonder they gave up and sold the game (Fire Team) to Noble Knight.

It should have been maybe a 20 minute job to assemble them. Instead, it took hours of my Saturday, with breaks to maintain sanity.

These figures are push-fit and each one is designed to go together in a particular way. However, once free of the sprue, there's no way to tell which piece is which part number. Even better there were EXTRA bits to throw me off!

Trial and error - aided by a magnifier and looking for key details between the piece in hand and the assembly instructions ("Oh this arm has a little thingy that sticks out" or "Oh this blade has a thick bar compared to the others" or "The head in the picture has a line above the right eye and this tiny little bit of plastic does not") saved the day.

Unfortunately, in the process of trying different arms on different torsos, I ended up breaking a few of the arms (they are rather thin near the shoulder joint and near the wrist) - so I'm down three Necrons as a result. Also the heads are tiny and apparently designed to bounce a great distance upon contact with a remotely hard surface. I spent quite a bit of time on hands and knees combing the floor for the little buggers - I did manage to retrieve them all, although there were far more heads than torsos.

I will try to repair the broken arms with Super Glue,but the contact points are quite small - and even then, I don't know which body they go with, so there's only a 1 in 3 chance I get it right on the first try. And if I get it wrong, with repeated handling there's a good chance I'll break the arm again.

Replacements have already been purchased on eBay!

Plague Marines Finished!

Well, "finished" as in the seven I have.

I admit, if I were going to play Grimdark Future (as opposed to Firefight) or play 40K (not happening), I'd build up a full Death Guard force. The aesthetic is great, and best of all, they are easy to paint. 

As it is, I feel like this group could use a few more heavy weapons. Maybe support from a unit of Plaguewalkers ...

But I'll stop here for now!

The fellow in the front row, far right, was the final figure to be painted.

I used Tesseract Glow on the bases (the green bits). I was hoping for something like toxic waste  seeping up through, or spilled on, the ground. 

Not quite the end result I imagined but it's good enough to call done.

Also finished, but not pictured, was Reaper Bones orc that I started late 2023.

The last two of the five Blood Raven intercessors are on the paint table - the red base coat and highlight is done. My goal is to start assembling the Necrons this weekend.

One Hour Wargames : More Machine Age Changes

Most of the changes from this post  and this post on this subject still apply in one form or another, but there are new additions that have lead me to a game I find even more enjoyable.

An Unfortunate Oversight - elongated to 2' x 4'. Units are on 3" wide bases. Each infantry base is a company. 1" = 50 yards approximately.

Activation:

• Each leader figure on a side rolls xd6 to see how many units in their command may be activated that turn
• A poor leader rolls 2d6 and takes the lower
• An average leader rolls 1d6
• An above average leader rolls 2d6 and keeps the higher
• Leaders activate for free.
• Assault units activate for free.
• Units already engaged in close combat from a previous turn activate for free.

 

A sturmpatrol assaults the Italian unit holding the town.

Assault Units:

• Always count as in cover (take 1/2 damage)
• +2 in close combat
• May attempt to self-rally to remove morale result failures.  Counts as activation.
  

Infantry Close Combat:

• Requires a Guts Check prior to rolling to move. If succeeds may roll movement. If fails, unit may not advance and counts as having activated.
• Otherwise, use the modifications from the linked posts above.
  

Movement:

• Infantry, Leaders on foot, MG/Heavy Infantry - 1d6"/2d6"
• Assault units 1d6"+2" / 2d6" 
  
• Field Guns  1d3"/1d6"
• Cavalry  1d6" + 3"/ 2d6"+ 6"

The first number is for rough ground (almost everything), the second is for roads, flat solid ground etc.

Leaders :

On their activation, a leader figure may move and one of the following:

• Before or after moving, choose a unit within 6" recover 1d3 points
• Before or after moving, attempt to rally a unit with a morale failure marker
• Instead of moving, call in off table artillery on a target within 12"
  

Rallying:

Leader rolls 2d6 and if less than the damage taken by the unit, remove one morale failure. Poor leaders -1 to the roll, Avg leader +/- 0, Above Average +1 to the roll.

Meanwhile on the Austrian right, the battalion there effects a river crossing. It is slow and some of the units were more hampered than others.

 

Hit Point / Strength Point / Cohesion Points Recovery

• A unit that does not move, shoot, or engage in close combat may automatically regain 1 point.
• A unit that withdraws (increases the distance between it and the nearest enemy) automatically regains 2 points.

Shoot out across the river in support of the sturmpatrol assault.

Morale Results Test:

Every time a unit takes damage, they take a Morale Results Test.

Roll 2d6, if less than damage taken, fails

1st fail - no penalty, just a marker
2nd fail - May not advance towards enemy, attacks are 1/2 damage
3rd fail - routed

 

Guts Check:

Performed as Morale Results Test with no Morale Results Test failure rules applied. Taken before charging, going over the top, etc.

 

The situation at the end of turn 15. I decided the Italians could not withstand much more, but the Austrians had suffered on their left (the battalion that tried to take the village suffered high numbers of casualties). I ruled it a minor victory for the Austrians.

Recently, having read this post over on Blood and Spectacles  about wargame design, and then reading back through various linked post, I realized that what I enjoyed most in Contemptible Little Armies and in Trench Hammer was the way leader figures mattered.

I determined I wanted to focus my WWI rules around Morale primarily, and its relation to the other Ms (Movement, Melee, Morale, Missiles).

Neil Thomas explicitly notes that hit points for a unit represent morale, as well as casualties, so their recovery had to play some role in this. I wanted to find a way to reflect the leader's impact in some way ( a la Contemptible Little Armies), but also allow units some opportunity to manage their own morale (a la Trench Hammer). 

I settled on splitting the loss of morale from the effects of that loss. The former could be managed by the company commander on down. The latter would require a combination of both the company leadership and assistance from the battalion HQ to keep the unit on the battlefield. 

Does this reflect anything in real life? No idea.

The game pictured played out 15 turns in an hour with over half of the units remaining on the table, as is proper I think. Rather than finishing the game with one or two units total left on the table, they were able to stave off morale loss in different ways.

The leaders had a lot to do putting out fires and I enjoyed the decisions between rolling to remove a morale failure or removing hits on a unit. Logically there are times where one always makes more sense than the other, but there were often times where it felt like a gamble and I struggled to make the "right" decision.

Other changes I added this time around were simply to increase friction in a way that I find leads to an enjoyable narrative and solo gaming experience - activation pips, test to charge, the variable movement rate, that kind of thing.

These points of friction make a more dynamic and interesting game in my opinion,while still maintaining the underlying beauty of the One Hour Wargames Machine Age rules.

p.s yes, I re-based AGAIN. I decided I like the multi-figure bases best for the majority of my WWI gaming. I easily see them as companies, and have followed Hordes in the Trenches basing suggestions for number of figures per base (doubled in width due to figure size). If I decide to do individually based figures, I'll do it in 28mm or maybe 1/72.

In the Emperor's Name, Let None Survive

From 1917, we jump ahead 39,000 years ...

While I had wanted to paint the Space Marines in the blue of the Ultramarines (the different "chapters" have different names and color schemes), my son really wanted Blood Ravens. And, in the ongoing quest to entice him into playing games with me, Blood Ravens it is!

Blood Raven Intercessors. Chapter symbol decals have been ordered but are shipping from overseas. 

They won't win any awards, but they are easily good enough for the tabletop. They also continue my exploration of this method of painting - base, wash, base again, highlight - which is light years away from my usual, Deetail-inspired toy soldier painting. I really enjoy the results - although sometimes, mid-way through, after the wash is applied, I wonder how I will ever salvage the figures.

Also, this red was a bear to paint. 

Last weekend, I made a trek to the game store for paints, but they were out of Mephiston Red which I had wanted to use (based on a video I saw). Some quick searching on the web and I found that Army Painter Dragon Red was supposed to be a close match. They had it in stock, so I bought it.

It might be a good match, I don't know. I just know it took what seemed like 100s of coats to get an even finish.

Perhaps it was the white primer? I could have bought Mephiston Red primer but it's spray, and it's been so cold, that wouldn't be an option anyway.

Also, last weekend, I finished the second group of three Plague Marines:

These were painted with the drybrush-wash method.

After my lizard folk in various sizes, these are my favorite figures by far. I love their aesthetic, even if half of the time, I'm not even sure what different bits are supposed to be.

Obviously, basing still has to be completed. for both Blood Ravens and Plague Marines. Although I think I have a plan now, I have one more Plague Marine and two more Intercessors to paint before I will tackle that project. 

Country Road

Inspired by a rewatch of Many Wars Ago combined with a couple of situations I came upon while scrolling through Infantry in Battle, I put together a little scenario for the Southern Front.

An Italian column is in retreat when a scout comes under fire and orders a halt. In Many Wars Ago (Based on  Emilio Lussu's A Soldier on the Southern Front), the commanding officer become incensed that the column has halted and orders the scout shot. Hilarity ensues.

In the movie and the book , an already dead soldier is used to convince the commander that the execution was carried out.

 In my scenario, the lead, well you can call it a platoon of four sections and a platoon leader, takes cover in the treeline and the platoon leader organizes an effort to eliminate the gun so the column can pass. The Austro-Hungarian force has improvised some defensive cover on a hilltop. It consists of a machine gun team and a security detail of 8 men (all of my "sections" are 8 figures), and low ranking leader type to oversee the whole thing.

The PL starts in the road. He is very brave or very stupid.

A group of soldiers on the Italian right draws a portion of the Austrian rifle fire.

A section is sent forward on the Italian left and struggles to reach the hill.

In the middle things are going terribly as MG and rifle fire take their toll.

The Italian assault reaches the objective. Bayonets clash!

Alas this did not go well for the Italians. As a result they failed two morale checks and can't advance towards the enemy - except for the one stuck in close combat. The PL takes off at a run to rally them but he is nowhere close.

The PL sends the adjacent section to storm the hill and to relieve the stalled effort.

They reach the top and finish the job. The MG team is struck down and the game is over. Italian victory!

 

Rules were Contemptible Little Armies(CLA), played at the author's stated scale of 1 figure = 1 man (although he's clear that it's whatever you want it to be). The pathetic rifle ranges were adjusted to cover the entire table (I may use Bolt Action's shorter, more cinematic ranges next time). 

Shooting in CLA is figure to figure - which allows the Austrians to split their rifle fire between Italian units. Most rules I have are unit to unit shooting, which would severely hamper the Austrians. That said, in CLA, in practice, I tend to do either figure to unit, or small subset of unit to unit. It works for me.

I think going forward I will implement GASLIGHT's method of distributing hits on a target unit - that way, your group of figures may score three hits on the target unit, but all three end up on the same individual.

The game went 10 turns overall, which surprised me, as I had thought 6 would be sufficient. However, the Italians, due to poor movement dice, took forever to get to the hill let alone engage in close combat. 

There needs to be a win condition for the Austrian force, too - perhaps casualties inflicted or "hold out for X and then retreat", otherwise there is no natural stopping point other than a fight to the last man for one or the other side. I'll be setting it up for another go soon.

First Figures of 2024 (sort of)

I started in on my goal of painting everything I got for Christmas with the Plague Marines.

They came assembled and primed and I had all the colors I needed already, so they were the obvious place to start.

I used the dry brush + Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade final wash method that I used with my Nurgle Rotters and that I learned from Commander Cheapskate on YouTube.

The majority of the paints used here were craft brands. 

The bright green is provided by my new favorite paint color, Lime Sherbet (from Apple Barrel) which I used for the Rotters previously. It was dry brushed over a Russian Uniform Green base (Vallejo) which more or less disappeared between the dry brushing and the wash, but it's there. 

That's as much a note for my future self as anything - I have four more to paint.

I tried a rust effect - orange paint over gun metal on the chain mail, vents on the legs, and other bits - visible on the leftmost figure. I like how it looks.

I'm pretty happy with the overall result. I think they qualify as "Battle Ready" (that's like a GW term or something). They obviously need their bases finished but I haven't decided how I'm going to do the bases for this project.

I can't decide if I want each team's basing to be unique, or if they will all be uniform - like I do for my other collections, other than Blitz Bowl.

I need to think on that, so the paint queue will keep moving on.

New Year, Who Dis?

 Happy New Year!

As this is my favorite time of year for reading everyone's posts reviewing the previous year and making plans for the coming year (realistic or not), it would be poor form if I did not offer up my own similar post.

2023 A Quick Overview of Gaming Stuff

Somehow, I managed to paint most everything I said I wanted to, and plenty of extra (oddly, I didn't do any of the Southern Front things I thought I would, but I did paint additional infantry). I'm most happy about finishing three Blitz Bowl teams and bringing my Tanitians and Lizards up in strength.

I played quite a few games, many of which were not documented - I rediscovered the joys of playing without feeling the need to record the proceedings. One Hour Wargames, rules-as-written (Ancients) as well as modified (Machine Age), saw the bulk of the action. 

I would have never expected that a year ago.

Not OHW but my own grid-based amalgamation of Crossfire, Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit and The Portable Wargame. It was immensely satisfying to get my PTO figures re-based and back on the table.

 There were a lot of rules tried, however. And that leads nicely into:

2023 Top 3 Posts 

I don't normally look at my posts to see which ones have the most views - that's not why I write. But I was curious, after seeing what some others have posted, to see if there was anything to learn from the exercise.

So, what were they?

1. WWI Rules Review Sort Of 
2. The Next Day Somewhere in Europe (One Hour Skirmish Wargames)
   
3. Contemptible Little Armies and the Late Arrivals

I'm not at all surprised by the top spot - it's a review, sort of, and so it potentially has value to a wider audience than my usual ramblings. Indeed, it was shared on The Miniatures Page which led to most of the views.

Setup for The Next Day Somewhere in Europe

 The other two however, I can't explain. Perhaps it's that the post tile for each mentions a specific rule system? If you're actively trying to increase the views per post, that may be something to keep in mind.

2024 Plans

And now the part where unbridled enthusiasm seizes its opportunity.

Well maybe a little bridled.

As I've mentioned previously on this blog, 2024 will be the year of Grimdark.

For Christmas, as shown in that linked post, I gifted myself 48 Games Workshop figures representing four factions : Space Marines, Death Guard/Plague Marines, Tyranids, and Necrons. This is my primary goal/plan for 2024: paint all of them.

Space Marine Intercessors from the Fireteam game assembled. They'll be painted up as Blood Ravens, at my son's request.

It's more than feasible at just 4 figures per month but I do hope that I can paint them a little faster than that.

My second goal/plan is NO NEW FIGURES that aren't purchased with gift money (I mean, I can't help that people give me money because they don't know what to get me).

Lot's of us will make a similar vow for the coming year. Fortunately, in my case,  I did this for pretty much the last six or seven moths of 2023, so I've had some practice exercising restraint in this matter. It turns out it is surprisingly easy - or it was, once I realized I didn't need to buy figures every time an idea popped into my head.

This ties in somewhat with my efforts to reduce the size of my overall collection - painted and unpainted. Mostly though, I am trying to avoid accumulating for "someday" because 1)there isn't much space for that kind of thing in my apartment and 2)I'll probably have to move it at some point in the next few years and the less I have to pack the better.

I have all sorts of ideas about games I think would be fun to play, but at the same time, I hesitate to suggest that there's any kind of commitment in mind when I think of them. Instead, as I play games, I will make an effort to track them - even when not taking photos for the blog - so that I can see which collections are getting used and to what extent. 

That said, a mini-campaign or two are high on my list of possible undertakings.

***

I hope 2024 brings you whatever you want out of your gaming hobby and that your dice always roll high (except when you want them to roll low)!