A Game of Inches

The other night I decided to experiment with a half-sized play area for One Hour Wargames - just to add my voice to the chorus of those who are happy to celebrate that you don't need a lot of figures or space to play miniature wargames that aren't 1 figure = 1 man/lizard/orc/etc. And you can use 28mm+ sized figures to do it.

Some will no doubt guffaw at such a spectacle, but not all of us have room for large tables, permanent or otherwise, nor do we all have easy access to clubs or stores that provide tables and space to game.

I have used 3" wide bases many times, and that is half the max 6" width Neil Thomas recommends, but usually I play on 2/3 size surface with them, just to have some more room for maneuver or to play 8 v 8 instead of 6 v 6, or to better fit some of my terrain pieces, which were intended for the full-size 36" square.

Enough rambling!

Here is one of my favorite scenarios, set out on my kitchen island using an 18" square (my 36" surface folded into 4ths!)

The Black Orcs, which I treat as "shieldwall", are hard to see, but they are in the village. The savage orc "warband" covers the gap between the road and the mountains.

 

Bottleneck!

No room around this.

Next!

Turn 5 - Orc first wave of reinforcements arrive.

And quickly take over for the fallen warband.

And do a splendid job of it.

Turn 10 and the second reinforcement wave arrives. The lizards are cooked. I call the game after another turn or two.

The game, enjoyable as it was to look at, felt frustrating as play went on. 

The lizards could never get a second unit up between the orcs and the mountains and so one unit of orcs at held of a far larger force. When they finally fell, they were replaced by reinforcements and the pattern continued. 

Realistic, but not how this scenario usually plays out (often the attacker at least reaches the village even if they don't capture it).

Then it occurred to me: I never go this small an area because my terrain is not sized for it!

The mountains are 7" across - which means they truncate the center as do the 8" diameter woods. Neither piece should be over 6" if they are to occupy 1/9th of the table per the scenario setup.

So I moved them slightly apart (overhanging off my cloth just a bit) and the result was much more satisfactory - I could fit another base through the gap now. 

The game started out almost identically with the orc unit defending the road eliminating the lizard cavalry, but a second lizard unit was able to move up and attack the orc unit from the flank. This opened the way to the village (where the orc "shieldwall" was located).

I love the colorful look of the lizards.

This time, by the time the first wave of orc reinforcements arrived, the lizards had already begun their assault on the village.

The orc cavalry are dangerous but this time the lizards come out on top.

 

The skinks assaulting the village are driven off, but the orc cavalry repulsed.

A second attempt at the village is made!

And the second wave of orc reinforcements arrive. Note, I decided they couldn't flank the crocodile unit as they are nearly up against the "table" edge and no room for a unit to squeeze in.

The village falls!

The lizards capture the village but it's going to be a close run thing.

End of turn 14, this is how things stand,

The game should have ended on turn 15, but I played one more turn. The lizards were victorious - having captured the village and the remaining orc cavalry retired to regroup and try again another day.

This worked much better - more like how it usually plays out, with the attacker having an actual chance of winning. For future half-sized games I will remember to adjust the size of area terrain to fit the playing area! 

I have the space on this counter to go up to a full 36" square, but there's just something about this tiny setup that I find very appealing so I expect I'll do this more often. 

It also effectively doubles my troops without having to paint anything else. If I need two units of shieldwall for the orcs, I can put 5 per base instead of 6! These (and, the Boar Boyz), are old GW metal sculpts and are kind of pricey to buy enough to make a full unit - so the savings are not insubstantial.

End of June Cornucopia

I'm moving soon - Monday officially, although I'll have two apartments for July while I finish moving bits and pieces of things - and sorting through things to decide what to bin, what to donate, and what to pack this past week has taken up a lot of time. 

Still, I did manage to squeeze in hobby time last weekend to alleviate some of the stress of the whole thing.

First and foremost, I finished my Adepta Sororitas Hospitaller. 

That "rock" is the foam core from a piece of well, foam core. I peel off the paper on the front and back and just use the foam bit.

Hers was the first base I used flowers and various grass tufts on - pleased with the results, I finished the baes on the rest of my Sisters:

One squad has predominantly red flowers, one has predominantly black flowers. The red flowers are a better product frankly, but I like having the color distinction to prevent intermingling on the tabletop. 

For Father's Day last Sunday, I received this little gem:

And it's literally little. It's Worthington's Battles of the American Revoltion : Oriskany & Freeman's Farm travel sized set. 

I've only played the Oriskany scenario so far - and it took five attempts before I got my first American win. The Americans have a restricted setup zone but the British and their Native American allies can set up anywhere on the board as long as they aren't adjacent to an American unit or inside the American setup zone.

The setup for my most recent game.

Victory is achieved by the first side to earn 6 Victory Points. VPs are earned by eliminating units and for the Americans by exiting a unit off the board via the road hex on the left edge.

End of Game, the Americans eliminated 6 British units

Each side has number of leadership points and only one can be spent per turn per side. The question of when and where to spend and on which bonus (Rally, +2 movement points to one unit, or +2 combat points to one unit) adds interest to the game.

The rules are pretty short and a far cry from something like ASLSK or Great War Commander or even Hold the Line (which I used to own). There are definitely questions that arise as a result. 

For example, can a retreating unit end up adjacent to an enemy unit that it was not in combat with previously? I originally thought no, but then I found this led to very short games - a unit taking a one step loss was then forced to take a second step loss by being adjacent to a new enemy and thus eliminated. So now I say yes. 

Another example, must a unit attack every unit it's in contact with? Some people BoardgameGeek say yes. I'm not sure about this - again it's a question of game length.

My only other, not gripe, but occasional annoyance, is that the counters fill the hexes and it's too easy to nudge adjacent units when trying to move a unit. I get that compromises must be made to be travel-size and it doesn't really bother me all that often.

Those issues aside, it's a fun, light game that is quick to setup and takes up just a small space.

I gave Scenario 2 from Great War Commander another try as well, this time intentionally placing the French at the start, rather than randomly determining how they'd deploy.

The French deployment - Leaders within command distance of other leaders allowing for many more units to be activated by a single order.

I won't do a turn by turn narrative - I need a better system for note taking for that. But, I will say, the French got off to a bad start, with friendly fire from the pregame barrage landing on one of their own.

The French received an Offensive card on the first turn and so I immediately put to use - trying to play them aggressively, in-line with the historical event.

The effect was ... not what I imagined.  Almost every French unit involved in the Offensive was broken by coordinated op-fire. 

Also visible in this picture, The French called in an artillery strike. And it nearly landed on their advancing units. smh.

Despite the rough start, the French reached the village and engaged the enemy at the point of the bayonet.

The game ended in Sudden Death with then time track reached 10. The French squeaked out a win by just two VP, but as the picture above shows, they were dominating the Germans. 

The Germans had taken shelter in buildings in the town center, but they were virtually surrounded with adjacent buildings in flames or occupied by the French.  A lone German unit, isolated at the edge of town, was essentially bypassed by the French.

Finally, I got out my lizards and orcs for some One Hour Wargames using the 'Dark Ages' rules.

The orcs had one shield-wall, one warband, three heavy cavalry (treat as knights from the Medieval rules), and a unit of goblin skrimishers. The lizards had one unit of archers (treat as Ancients archers), four warband, and one cavalry unit.

For scale, bases are 3" wide x 2" deep.

I played the scenario twice. Both times, the orcs dominated. The fact that they are predominantly cavalry means, in this scenario, their reinforcements can get where they are needed quickly. Their other benefit, the shield-wall depoloying on the hill gives them a unit with a lot of staying power (1/2 damage for shieldwall, 1/2 damage for being on a hill).

Unfortunately, it may be a bit before I can get in any wargaming again - everything is going to be boxed up later today. That said, next weekend is July 4th and I'll be running a game session of our ongoing Basic Fantasy RPG campaign or possibly a one-shot RPG related to the holiday.

First Game of the New Year

Friday night, with my vacation winding down and Monday looming in the distance, I figured I really ought to get a game in on this break.

One Hour Wargames "Dark Ages" and scenario 14: Static Defense won the toss, with the lizards winning the roll to be the attacker. 

The lizards had three units of warband, one unit of archers (based on Ancient archers), and two cavalry (Pteranodons) units. The orcs were on defense and put the shield wall (Black Orcs) in the village, supported by a warband of Savage Orcs. Savage Orcs also held the the hill. The three cavalry units (Boar Boyz, who get +2 in melee) would cover the ground in front of the hill.

The Lizards advance a token force on the right and send the mass of warriors for the hill.

Overhead view

Pteranodons charge the Savage Orc warband while a Gecko warband positioned itself to prevent the Black Orcs from flanking the Pteranodons.

On the left, Boar Orcs charged the lizard archers and delivered a thunderous charge and forced them to engage in melee.

Cavalry clash! (not pictured, the lizard attack on the village did not go well)

Red-Tailed Skinks made their way to to the hill to challenge the Savage Orcs holding it, eventually driving them off.

The celebration was short lived - the last unit of Boar Boyz charged the Skinks,(on their half of turn 15) broke their lines and left the orcs in possession of the hill and the village at the end of game.

Happy New Year to All! (a year-end / upcoming year post will no doubt follow)

November Review

This is kind of  a long one, so best to pour a cup of your favorite beverage, hot or cold.

November saw an explosion of gaming activity - but not a single drop of paint applied to anything.

Unfortunately, although I took photos, i didn't really document anything, so the photos below are of various games without much of a narrative. 

That said, I set out to try a variety of rules/options and I include my thoughts at the end of each section.

Fantasy

All of my fantasy games were of the same One Hour Wargames scenario, #4. 

 

One Hour Wargames 'Dark Ages' with 3" Squares inspired by Morschauser

 

I kept all of the ranges as written, despite units being half as wide as the maximum recommended width.

 

My rationale was that Morschauser's ranges are significantly greater and he suggests up to 3" squares.

 

Something is in focus in this picture, just not anything that makes it easy to look at.

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T

 

This required some adjustment, as G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. assumes 10-figure infantry and cavalry units. 

 

However, it's easy enough to allow for any number of figures in a unit, provided that number corresponds to either the number of sides of a die or half the number of sides of a die (assuming you have a set of polyhedral dice available, and I have more than my fair share. So, a d6 works for 3 figure units, and a d10 works for 5 figure units).

 

The markers indicate the unit lost a figure this round. In G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T., when a unit loses a figure, it must check morale the next time its card comes up.

These vintage metal Boar Boyz were an eBay score and painted by the previous owner. Most of the boars are missing their tails - someday I may get around to making them out of Green Stuff.

One Hour Wargames, 'Dark Ages' with Single Figures

 

This is basically the same as rules-as-written, without a base, as I did for my previous WWI post.

 

Sneaky goblins.

The hill is clearly the objective here.

I just love this scene. Pteranodons are straight up Dark Ages cavalry, whereas the Boar Boyz have +2.

One Hour Wargames, 'Dark Ages' with 6" x 3" bases

 

Standard OHW basing really. Actually, it's two 3"x3" bases side-by-side. Which, while I did not do it here, has the advantage of allowing a column for road travel. 

 

Orc Boar Boyz followed by their Beastfolk allies - since I don't have enough orcs to make six units.

What is not pictured above is Age of Fantasy, which I did play as well. 

I am more certain than ever that One Page Rules are fun for playing against others, but not so fun for solo games. For me, there are far too many special rules (nearly every unit has them) to remember for two sides.

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. worked surprisingly well in a game that featured melee over shooting. To balance smaller units vs larger, I gave the smaller units saves for all the members of the unit rather than just main characters. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it still gave a satisfying game.

That said, One Hour Wargames for the win. 

Whether 3" squares, 6" x 3", or individual figures (but no figure removal), the games were fun, and "felt right". I am not a huge fan of the "one unit remaining" end to games, so I will start adding in my preferred modifications: dicing for # of units to be activated per turn, morale tests, and leaders with rallying ability.

For Dark Ages OHW, the lizard units, other than the archers (which I treat as Ancients archers, as the Dark Ages rules do not account for archers) and the cavalry (dinosaurs and Pteranodons), are all warband (inspired by Neil Thomas's suggestion for a Viking army). 

The orcs are somewhat up in the air but I'm intent on building them to a cavalry dominant force (a la Neil Thomas's suggestion for a Frankish force, with a +2 bonus when attacking, and swapping cavalry with shield wall when generating a force), supplemented by shield wall (Black Orcs), warband (Savage Orcs), and skirmishers (Goblins). 

Science Fiction

 

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.

 

Arguably, this is what G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. is intended for, although not the grim dark future. To keep tanks from dominating the battlefield - because I gave them MMGs and artillery options, in order to shoot at infantry units, they would have to make an acquisition roll first (an idea I borrowed from Disposable Heroes/Coffin for Seven Brothers) - which was just a roll vs their Shoot score. It worked as hoped.

 

Sisters advance, tasked with breaking through the Plague Marine position.

Plasma weapons function as anti-tank weapons. Too bad he missed and was then gunned down by the tank's MG shortly after.

A nice top-down pic of the winter-scheme Pz IV by Solido.

The Sisters would eventually drive off the Plague Marines and break through with minimal losses.

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. Again

 

The above game was actually the 2nd game with G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. For the third game, I made some additional tweaks (explained below).

 

The Plague Marines had the Churchill tank. It was knocked out of the fight about mid-way through the game by a Sister with a Melta.

Sisters capture the objective.

If you're unfamiliar, G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. can handle what amounts to a platoon with an independent leader figure and some kind of support (vehicle/mech/etc.) and avoid dragging down the game. Battles by G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. can go larger - in large part (or entirely?)  due to rolling one morale result for an entire unit rather than for each figure in the unit - I have Battles as part of the G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. Compendium, but I hate dealing with that massive PDF.

I tweaked some things each game and by game 3, I had something that I think works really well. My goal is to have 5-figure units for all foot. Neither side in this game can field more than one such unit at this time, so, 3-figure units for the Plague Marines and 4-figure units for the Sisters. Guess I better get painting!

Weapons were as much as possible mapped to existing G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. weapons.

To mimic the differences in armor - which, to me, is a big part of the grim dark setting that needs to be addressed - all figures have an Armor Save, based on their One Page Rules Defense score and any additional special abilities in OPR that impact that roll.

It's very similar to how G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.  handles vehicle armor. The difference is that I ignored the Save Roll Modifier for weapons when attacking infantry except for Plasma and Melta guns.

Speaking of, Flamers and Melta guns are brutal in G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. All area-effect weapons are, but I like it so I'm keeping it.

Main Characters also have the standard G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. save if they fail their Armor Save. 

I know I've converted One Hour Skirmish Wargames to work for me for the grim dark future setting, but that tops out around 13-15 models per side. I do at some point hope to field my complete Space Marine and Tyranid forces on the table (when painted) and that will be much larger than OHSW can handle and just about perfect for G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.

Purchases

With Christmas coming, and being responsible for my own gifts, I ordered a job-lot of ten mostly vintage Boar Boyz. Most are missing shields, so I ordered some shields too. The Boar Boyz have arrived but as thy are a Christmas present, I have to refrain from starting on them until then.

 

Although I am not gifting myself any wargames books per se, I ordered two old Adepta Sororitas titles, Faith & Fire and Hammer & Anvil.

 

I'm tempted to buy one of the omnibuses but we'll see.  

RPGs

The party played through "Goblin Gully", a one-page dungeon, with nary a scratch - which makes sense as its really intended to be a challenge for 1st and maybe 2nd level characters, not 2nd and 3rd level characters. However, as part of it, they found a map that ties to another adventure location and to my surprise, that's where they want to go next.

I say to my surprise, because it's a mini-campaign - if the regular episodic adventures are like TV episodes, then this is the made-for-TV movie special.

It's also going to require some prep on my part before they can dive into it. One player expressed a desire for more role-play opportunities (it's mostly a hack and slash campaign so far). So I'm adding in lots of layers upon layers, like an ogre (Shrek joke for you fans out there). 

I started in on it at the end of the month and made some decent progress on setting up some NPC personalities and relationships. (Not going overboard since you never know what players will latch onto or ignore)

December Preview 

I'm not running a Christmas game this year, although I am helping out the GM. Possibly making scenery and painting figures as needed.

 

Mostly, I intend to play more fantasy games with OHW and some more G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. in the grim dark future with different forces to make sure my adjustments work across factions. And Blitz Bowl. I haven't gotten in a single game yet.

 

Oddly, I have been feeling like painting lately, so that may be a thing. Who knows? 

 

And of course, I will be filling out the material needed for the first session of the next RPG adventure as described above. It's time for practical things like the first level of the map, stats, etc.

See you next month! (or sooner. I think I'm tired of these monthly wrap ups and may go back to posting on a whim)