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.