Polemos and the One Hour Wargame combat system
Posted: September 17, 2015 Filed under: One Hour Wargames, Polemos, Wargame Design 10 Comments
These rules had no chance element in their combat resolution mechanism; casualties were inflicted automatically depending upon the type of units involved and the range at which the combat was taking place. I always thought that this must have made the resulting wargame rather sterile, and in the past I had given some thought to devising a replacement combat resolution mechanism.
Next to my computer was my copy of Neil Thomas’s ONE-HOUR WARGAMES rules book … and I was suddenly struck by the thought that the simple D6-based combat resolution mechanism in his rules could easily be be used with the POLEMOS rules.
This is not as daft as it sounds. In the POLEMOS rules the twelve units start with a strength of 10 figures … which is not that different from the basic 15 points allotted to six units in the OHW rules.
It is certainly something for me to think about over the next few weeks and months.
Today, I’ave mostly been … re-drafting my own World War II variant of Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargames rules
Posted: September 6, 2015 Filed under: Early 20th Century, One Hour Wargames, Wargame Design Leave a comment- Moving and Fighting: I have changed the rules so that units that move into a hex that is adjacent to a hex occupied by an enemy unit may fight the enemy unit that turn.
- Cavalry Weapon Range: This has been increased to 2 hexes so that Cavalry Units are not obliged to move into a hex that is adjacent to a hex occupied by an enemy unit in order to fight that unit.
- Casualty Results: These have been amended to make Artillery less devastating when firing at Infantry and Cavalry.
OHW World War II: Hexed version (Working Draft: 6th September 2015)
Unit Types
- Infantry: Represents an infantry unit of between 500 and 1,000 men.
- Cavalry: Represents a cavalry unit of between 350 and 700 men
- Anti-tank Guns: Represents an anti-tank gun battalion/regiment.
- Artillery: Represents an artillery battalion/regiment of artillery.
- Armoured Cars: Represents an armoured car/reconnaissance unit with between 50 and 75 vehicles.
- Tanks: Represents a tank unit with between 50 and 75 tanks.
Units are allotted a pre-battle strength. This is normally 15, but this may be increased or decreased depending upon the unit’s status (e.g. elite = 20; regular = 15; militia = 10) and/or equipment (e.g. light tanks = 12; medium tanks = 15; heavy tanks = 18).
Turn Sequence
- When a unit is activated it follows the following sequence:
- Movement;
- Observation;
- Combat (if it has not moved or if it has moved into a hex adjacent to an enemy unit);
- Unit elimination (any unit that has been eliminated is removed immediately).
- A unit may only be activated once per turn.
Movement
- Movement rates:
- Infantry: 1 hex
- Cavalry: 2 hexes
- Anti-tank Guns: 1 hex
- Artillery: 1 hex
- Armoured Cars: 2 hexes
- Tanks: 1 hex
- Changing direction: Units may change direction as many times as they wish during a move.
- Terrain effects:
- Woods: Only Infantry units may enter woods.
- Towns: Only Infantry units may end their move in a town.
- Marshes and Lakes: Marshes and Lakes are impassable to all units.
- Rivers: Rivers may only be crossed via bridges or fords.
- Roads: Units who make their entire move along a road increase their movement rate by 1 hex.
- Moving and Fighting: Units that have moved may not fight during the same turn unless they have moved into a hex that is adjacent to a hex occupied by an enemy unit. In this case the unit that has moved may fight the enemy unit in the adjacent hex.
- Unit Interpenetration: Units may move through friendly units without penalty.
Observation
- Observation Range is 3 hexes.
- With the exception of Artillery units, units may only fire at enemy units they can see.
- Artillery units may fire at enemy units that can be seen by a friendly unit or whose position has already been identified.
- Line-of-Sight: Line-of-sight is blocked by hills, towns, woods, and enemy units.
Combat
- Units have a 360° arc-of-fire.
- Weapon Ranges:
- Infantry: 2 hexes
- Cavalry: 2 hexes
- Anti-tank Guns: 2 hexes
- Artillery: 8 hexes
- Armoured Car Guns: 2 hexes
- Tank guns: 2 hexes
- Casualties: One D6 per unit fighting.
- Casualties (i.e. reductions in an enemy unit’s strength) are per the dice score as modified below:
- Infantry vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6-2
- Cavalry vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, Armoured Cars, & Tanks = D6-2
- Anti-tank Guns vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6-2; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6+2
- Artillery vs. Infantry & Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6-2
- Armoured Cars vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6+2
- Tanks vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6+2
- Cover: Units in cover or ‘hull down’ only suffer half casualties. (Fractions are rounded up.)
Unit Elimination
- Units are eliminated once their strength is reduced to 0.
Not a lot of changes but necessary ones … I think.
One Hour Wargames: Play-test of my own World War II version of the rules
Posted: September 5, 2015 Filed under: Battle Report, Early 20th Century, One Hour Wargames 8 CommentsScenario
Things were not going well for the Morschauserlanders. The loss of the small, fortified island off the coast of Morschauserland had been a massive blow to their national pride, and to make matters worse, a column of Eastland troops had crossed the border and were heading for the town of Essenburg. Essenburg was the location of one of Morschauserland’s largest armaments factories, and its loss would be a further major blow to the country.
The only troops immediately available to defend Essenburg were:
- 1 x Regular Infantry Unit (full strength)
- 2 x Militia Infantry Units (starting strength of 10 points each)
- 1 x Militia Artillery Unit (starting strength of 10 points)
- 1 x Militia Anti-tank Gun Unit (starting strength of 10 points)
The Eastland column included:
- 2 x Cavalry Units
- 1 x Artillery Unit
- 2 x Tank Units
The Terrain
The Defenders
The local commander had ordered his Militia Infantry and Anti-tank Gun Units to take up positions that enabled them to spot and engage any Eastland troops that advanced up the road towards Essenburg. He kept his regular Infantry Unit in reserve in order to counter any breakthroughs and placed his Militia Artillery Unit where it could fire in support of his other troops.
Turn 1
The leading elements of the Eastland column advance up the road to Essenburg …
… and were immediately spotted and engaged by the foremost Morschauserland troops.
The Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit was in range of the leading Eastland Cavalry Unit, and opened fire upon it …
… inflicting terrible casualties on the already weakened Cavalry Unit.
Turn 2
The Eastlanders reacted swiftly to the threat to their advance. Their Cavalry Units moved to the right and away from the threat posed by the Morschauserland Militia Anti-tank Gun and Militia Artillery Units …
… whilst the leading Eastland Tank Unit swung to the left to advance and engage the foremost Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit in the nearby woods.
Unfortunately the Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit was well ensconced, and the Eastland Tank Unit was forced to fall back.
At the same time that this was happening, the remaining Eastland Units entered the field of battle.
Fighting between the Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit and the Eastland Tank Unit that had attacked it continued …
… and the leading Eastland Cavalry Unit was fired at by both the second Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit …
… and the Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit …
… with the result that the Cavalry Unit was destroyed.
Turn 3
Eager to exact some sort of revenge for their recent losses, the Eastland Artillery Unit fired at the Morschauserland Militia Anti-tank Gun Unit and inflicted serious casualties on it.
The two Eastland Tank Units opened fire on the foremost Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit …
… and despite the fact that it was undercover, the Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit’s strength was seriously depleted.
The Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit fought back against one of its attackers, but was unable to inflict any casualties upon the Eastland Tank Unit.
The Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit did manage to inflict a few casualties on the leading Eastland Tank Unit …
… but not enough to seriously impair its fighting ability.
Turn 4
The Eastlanders began by deploying one of their Tank Units to attack and wipe out the foremost Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit.
The Eastland Artillery Unit then destroyed the Morschauserland Militia Anti-tank Gun Unit …
… and the other Eastland Tank Unit left the road and moved left.
As they were out of weapon range, the remaining Eastland Cavalry Unit moved forward tentatively.
The remaining Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit responded to this by opening fire on the Eastland Cavalry Unit …
… but their fire only caused a few casualties.
The Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit also fired at the Eastland Cavalry Unit …
… but also only inflicted a minimal number of casualties.
Turn 5
The Eastlanders pulled back their Cavalry Unit to protect their line of retreat …
… whilst the rest of their force began to move towards their left, thus threatening the now-exposed Morschauserland right flank.
As they were now unable to see what the Eastlanders were doing, the Morschauserlanders stayed in their existing positions.
Turn 6
The Eastlanders continued their advance towards the unprotected Morschauserland right flank whilst the Morschauserland troops – who were expecting further attacks – maintained a high state of alert.
Turn 7
As the leading Eastland Tank Unit began to climb the hill on the Morschauserland right flank, they came into view of the Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit.
The Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit opened fire on the enemy Tank Unit, and managed to cause it minor casualties.
Turn 8
Now that the position of the Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit was observable, the Eastland Artillery Unit opened fire on it … with devastating results. The Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit was instantly reduced to less than 50% of its original strength!
The situation was made worse by the attack made on the Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit by the leading Eastland Tank Unit …
… which wiped out the Morschauserland Militia Artillery Unit!
The fight was not – however – a one-way affair, and the Morschauserland Regular Infantry Unit in the town engaged the leading Eastland Tank Unit and inflicted some damage on it.
Turn 9
The battle now turned into a slogging match, with the Eastlanders using their Artillery Unit and Tank Units to bombard the Morschauserland Regular Infantry Unit in Essenburg.
Morschauserland Regular Infantry Unit fought back as best it could, but found it impossible to inflict further casualties on the leading Eastland Tank Unit.
Turn 10
The fight for Essenburg continued unabated with the result that both sides suffered increasing numbers of casualties.
In response to the losses suffered by the Morschauserland Regular Infantry Unit, the Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit began to move from the wood it had occupied towards the centre of Essenburg.
Turn 11
The Eastland Cavalry Unit moved forward in the hope that this would deter the Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit from moving into Essenburg.
At the same time, the attack by the Eastland Tank and Artillery Units finally destroyed the Morschauserland Regular Infantry Unit …
… but did not prevent the Morschauserland Militia Infantry Unit from taking its place.
Turns 12 and 13
The bombardment of the town continued, and eventually the remaining defenders were eliminated.
Essenburg was in Eastland hands … but for how long?
This play-test was a most enjoyable battle to fight. It did throw up one or two things that need to be changed (e.g. Cavalry need to have their weapon range increased to 2 hexes), but I feel that they work pretty well and do not require many changes to reach the point where I will be happy to use them for the foreseeable future.
Today, I’ave mostly been … writing my own World War II variant of Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargames rules
Posted: September 4, 2015 Filed under: Early 20th Century, One Hour Wargames, Wargame Design 10 CommentsWhat I wanted was a set of rules that allowed me to field Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank guns, Artillery, Armoured Cars, and Tanks on my 2 foot x 3 foot hexed mini-campaign wargame board. I read through the chapters of Neil Thomas’s book that covered the American Civil War, the Machine Age, and the Second World War, and melded together elements of all three sets of rules to produce my own.
One thing that is significantly different in my rules is the reduction in movement and weapon ranges. Because the Hexon II hexes are 10cm/4 inches from face to face, I converted the original measurements using a ratio of 6 inches = 1 hex. Thus a tank that moves 12 inches in the original rules moves 2 hexes in my version, and artillery that has a maximum range of 48 inches in the original rules has an range of 8 hexes in my rules.
With a bit of luck, I hope to play-test this draft at some point over the weekend.
OHW World War II: Hexed version (Working Draft: 4th September 2015)
Unit Types
- Infantry: Represents an infantry unit of between 500 and 1,000 men.
- Cavalry: Represents a cavalry unit of between 350 and 700 men
- Anti-tank Guns: Represents an anti-tank gun battalion/regiment.
- Artillery: Represents an artillery battalion/regiment of artillery.
- Armoured Cars: Represents an armoured car/reconnaissance unit with between 50 and 75 vehicles.
- Tanks: Represents a tank unit with between 50 and 75 tanks.
Turn Sequence
- When a unit is activated it follows the following sequence:
- Movement;
- Observation;
- Combat (if it has not moved or if it has moved into a hex adjacent to an enemy unit);
- Unit elimination (any unit that has been eliminated is removed immediately).
- A unit may only be activated once per turn.
Movement
- Movement rates:
- Infantry: 1 hex
- Cavalry: 2 hexes
- Anti-tank Guns: 1 hex
- Artillery: 1 hex
- Armoured Cars: 2 hexes
- Tanks: 1 hex
- Changing direction: Units may change direction as many times as they wish during a move.
- Terrain effects:
- Woods: Only Infantry units may enter woods.
- Towns: Only Infantry units may end their move in a town.
- Marshes and Lakes: Marshes and Lakes are impassable to all units.
- Rivers: Rivers may only be crossed via bridges or fords.
- Roads: Units who make their entire move along a road increase their movement rate by 1 hex.
- Moving and Shooting: Units that have moved may not fire during the same turn.
- Moving and Assaulting: Units that have moved may assault an enemy unit that is an adjacent hex but if they do not immediately eliminate that enemy unit, the assaulting unit must immediately fall back 1 hex.
- Unit Interpenetration: Units may move through friendly units without penalty.
Observation
- Observation Range is 3 hexes.
- With the exception of Artillery units, units may only fire at enemy units they can see.
- Artillery units may fire at enemy units that can be seen by a friendly unit or whose position has already been identified.
- Line-of-Sight: Line-of-sight is blocked by hills, towns, woods, and enemy units.
Combat
- Units have a 360° arc-of-fire.
- Weapon Ranges:
- Infantry: 2 hexes
- Cavalry: 1 hex
- Anti-tank Guns: 2 hexes
- Artillery: 8 hexes
- Armoured Car Guns: 2 hexes
- Tank guns: 2 hexes
- Casualties: One D6 per unit firing.
- Casualties are per the dice score as modified below:
- Infantry vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6-2
- Cavalry vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, Armoured Cars, & Tanks = D6-2
- Anti-tank Guns vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6-2; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6+2
- Artillery vs. Infantry & Cavalry = D6+2; vs. Anti-tank Guns & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6-2
- Armoured Cars vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6+2
- Tanks vs. Infantry, Cavalry, Anti-tank Guns, & Artillery = D6; vs. Armoured Cars & Tanks = D6+2
- Cover: Units in cover or ‘hull down’ only suffer half casualties. (Fractions are rounded up.)
Unit Elimination
- Units are eliminated once they have suffered 15 casualties.
I would like to thank the brilliant writers of the BBC TV series THE FAST SHOW for inspiring the title of this blog entry.
One Hour Wargames: Pushing the envelope
Posted: August 28, 2015 Filed under: Battle Report, Early 20th Century, One Hour Wargames, Wargame Design 18 CommentsI wanted to see if I could set up a landing on a defended beach using naval gunfire support … so I did. The only significant additions that I made to the rules related to the use of a large warship (in this case a battleship) to provide gunfire support. The model in question occupies two hexes … so I treated it as two units that move together but that may – or may not – fire at the same target each turn. The battleship was given a starting strength of 30 points (i.e. 2 x 15) and each gun turret fired as if it were heavy artillery but is not allowed to fire at targets that are in hexes next to friendly units. For assessing damaged caused to the battleship, the ship is treated as if it were a tank.
Scenario
In retaliation for the recent border incursion, the Eastlanders decided to seize control of a small, fortified island off the coast of Morschauserland. To achieve this they sent a force of Marines – carried in a number of small steamers and barges and accompanied by the battleship Republicka – to the island.
The Eastland Battleship Republicka.
The Marine force comprised:
- 5 x Infantry Units
- 1 x Artillery Unit
The defenders occupied a number of concrete blockhouses and trenches, and comprised:
- 2 x Infantry Units
- 1 x Artillery Unit
The Terrain
The Defenders
Each of the blockhouses was occupied by a Morschauserland Infantry Unit whilst the Artillery Unit was sited within the trench system.
Turns 1 to 3
The first three turns of the battle saw the Republicka concentrating the fire of her main armament on the two blockhouses.
The two Morschauserland Infantry Units in the blockhouses suffered casualties, but were by no means suppressed.
The Morschauserland Artillery Unit returned fire, and inflicted minor damage on the Republicka.
Turn 4
Now that the defences had been softened up, the vessels carrying the Eastland Marines began to move towards the beach.
The Republicka now switched her fire onto the Morschauserland Artillery Unit, which suffered a few casualties.
Morschauserland Artillery Unit fired back at the Republicka, and caused her some more minor damage.
Turn 5
The vessels carrying the Eastland Marines began arriving at the landing beach …
… and the Republicka continued firing at the Morschauserland Artillery Unit.
For some reason the Morschauserland Artillery Unit fired at the Republicka again … but her shells just bounced off the battleship’s armour.
Turn 6
The first of the Eastland Marines stormed ashore …
… supported by fire from the Republicka.
The first Marines onto the beach immediately came under fire from the Morschauserland defenders, and the Eastland Marine Infantry Units began to suffer casualties.
Turn 7
Whilst the Eastland Marines that had already landed laid down covering fire, the remainder of the Marines landed.
The Republicka continued to fire at the Morschauserland Artillery Unit, which was close to being destroyed.
The Morschauserland defenders continued to engage the Eastland Marines, and all along the beach the number of Marine casualties began to rise.
Turn 8
Whilst the Eastland Marines engaged in numerous firefights along the edge of the beach (as a result of which, the Morschauser Infantry Units in right-hand blockhouse was destroyed) …
… the Republicka finally managed to destroy the Morschauserland Artillery Unit.
At this point the remaining Morschauserland troop surrendered … and the island was firmly in Eastland hands!
This battle was a great pleasure to fight, and the Eastlanders did not have as easy a time of it as I had expected. The battleship rules worked well, and show that the basic rules have an almost infinite capacity to be developed to meet specific needs.
One Hour Wargames … the re-fight
Posted: August 25, 2015 Filed under: Battle Report, Early 20th Century, One Hour Wargames, Wargame Design 4 CommentsLast Stand: Morschauserland vs. Eastland … the re-fight!As before, Eastland troops were trying to hold up an advance into Eastland by Morschauserland troops, who had crossed the border to try to regain control part of the disputed border area.
The Eastland commander had three units at his disposal:
- 1 x Infantry Unit
- 1 x Artillery Unit
- 1 x Tank Unit
The attacking Morschauserland force comprised:
- 4 x Infantry Units
- 1 x Motorized Infantry Unit
- 1 x Artillery Unit
The Terrain (as before)
The Initial Eastland Positions (as before)
Turn 1
The Morschauserland troops advanced onto the battlefield …
… and came under fire from the Eastland Infantry Unit in the town and the Eastland Artillery Unit on the hill. Both encounters inflicted losses on the Morschauserlanders.
Turn 2
The Morschauserland Artillery Unit fired at the Eastland Artillery Unit in the hope that it would inflict casualties on it (which it did) and to provide cover for the two Infantry Units that were crossing the river via the ford.
The Morschauserland Motorized Infantry Unit engaged the town’s defenders in a firefight, and both the sides suffered further casualties.
At the same time, the Eastland Artillery Unit engaged its opposite number with counter-battery fire … with some success.
Turn 3
The fighting in and around the town had developed into a hard slogging match, with both sides suffering casualties.
Elsewhere the artillery duel continued …
… and the sudden appearance of the Eastland Tank Unit was somewhat of a surprise to the advancing Morschauserland Infantry Units.
Turn 4
The battle of attrition taking place for possession of the town was almost at an end, with both sides almost at breaking point.
Whilst the two Artillery Units continued to slug it out, the leading Morschauserland Infantry Unit attacked (and was attacked by) the Eastland Tank Unit.
Turn 5
This turn saw a definite change in the fortunes of both sides. In and around the town, the Eastlanders had prevailed, and the Morschauserland Motorized Infantry Unit was finally destroyed.
Although the ongoing artillery duel ended with the destruction of the Morschauserland Artillery Unit, the Eastland Artillery Unit barely followed suit.
One of the Morschauserland Infantry Units that had been on the road supporting the now destroyed Morschauserland Motorized Infantry Unit began to make its way towards the ford …
… at the same time as one of the two leading Morschauserland Infantry Units gave covering fire to enable the other Morschauserland Infantry Unit to advance towards the Eastland Tank Unit.
Turn 6
Whilst a new Morschauser Infantry Unit resumed the assault on the town, another of the Morschauser Infantry Units continued to move towards the ford.
One of the leading Morschauser Infantry Units engaged the already weakened Eastland Artillery Unit …
… and wiped it out.
At the same time the fighting between the fourth Morschauser Infantry Unit and the Eastland Tank Unit continued, with both sides suffering casualties.
Turn 7
The Eastland Infantry Unit in the town came under attack from the bridge side of the town …
… at the same time as one of the Morschauser Infantry Units in the centre of the battlefield moved into position on the other side of the town.
The fighting between the Morschauser Infantry Unit and the Eastland Infantry Unit continued with both sides again suffering casualties.
Turn 8
The Eastland Infantry Unit was attacked from two directions … and was finally wiped out!
The ongoing battle between the Morschauserland Infantry Unit and the Eastland Tank Unit continued …
… and only ended when the Morschauserland Infantry Unit was destroyed.
Turn 9
With only a single, weakened enemy unit to oppose them, the Morschauserlanders advanced into the disputed territory. Leaving a single Infantry Unit to hold the town and ensure the bridge’s security, the Morschauserland Infantry Unit that had just assisted in the destruction of the town’s Eastland defenders moved towards the hill. At the same time the fighting between the other Morschauserland Infantry Unit and the Eastland Tank Unit finally came to an end … with the destruction of the Tank Unit.
The Morschauserlanders had achieved a complete victory over the Eastland Units that had opposed them …
… but the price had been steep.
This was a very enjoyable solo wargame, and it gave me considerable pleasure to re-fight this action.
I felt that the rules worked much better without the changes I had previously made, and I will give serious thought before making any further changes. The battle was a dingdong affair, and the Eastland troops in the town did magnificently. Had the Eastlanders had just one more Infantry Unit, there is a distinct possibility that they would have stopped the Morschauserlanders in their tracks.
One Hour Wargames
Posted: August 20, 2015 Filed under: Battle Report, Early 20th Century, One Hour Wargames, Wargame Design 20 CommentsI used my mini-campaign board and Hexon II hexed terrain, some of my Megablitz Soviet and German troops, and Scenario 30: ‘Last Stand’ from the book. The only changes I made to the rules were to use a card-driven unit activation system (as experience has shown me that this makes for a more interesting situation when fighting a solo wargame) and to allow units that have moved to fire during the same turn. (This was done to see if this speeded up the pace of the game.)
Last Stand: Morschauserland vs. EastlandEastland troops were trying to hold up an advance into Eastland by Morschauserland troops, who had crossed the border to try to regain control part of the disputed border area.
The Eastland commander had three units at his disposal:
- 1 x Infantry Unit
- 1 x Artillery Unit
- 1 x Tank Unit
The attacking Morschauserland force comprised:
- 4 x Infantry Units
- 1 x Motorized Infantry Unit
- 1 x Artillery Unit
The Terrain
The Initial Eastland Positions
Turn 1
The Morschauserland Motorized Infantry Unit advanced on the small town that was astride the road leading away from the bridge across the river. It came under fire from the Morschauser Infantry unit in the town, and dismounted before crossing the bridge and returned fire.
The Morschauserland Artillery Unit fired in support of the Motorized Infantry Unit, and were then fired upon by the Eastland Artillery Unit on the hill.
The remained of the Morschauserland force advanced towards the ford across the river.
Turn 2
The Morschauserland Motorised Infantry Unit (supported by fire from Morschauserland Artillery Unit and one of the Infantry Units) assaulted the Eastland-held town, but were unable to dislodge the Eastland Infantry Unit holding it.
The Eastland Artillery Unit continued to fire at the Morschauserland Artillery Unit, and the Morschauserland Infantry Units began to cross the river via the ford.
Turn 3
The fighting for possession of the town continued, and casualties began to mount on both sides.
At the same time, the Eastlander Tank Unit finally advanced to stem the forward movement of the Morschauserland Infantry Units that had cross the river via the ford.
Turn 4
Eventually firepower and numbers told, and the Morschauserlanders finally destroyed the towns Eastland defenders … but at a price! (The Morschauserland Artillery Unit had been destroyed by its Eastland counterpart.)
On the other flank, the Eastland Tank Unit inflicted substantial casualties on the leading Morschauserland Infantry Unit, although not without suffering casualties of their own.
Turn 5
Whilst the Morschauserland Motorized Infantry Unit waited for its transport to catch up with it, the supporting Morschauserland Infantry Unit passed through it and advanced up the road.
On the other flank of the battlefield the fighting between the Eastland Tank Unit (supported by artillery fire from the Artillery Unit) wiped out one of the Morschauserland Infantry Units.
Turn 6
The Morschauserland Infantry Unit on the road continued its cautious advance, and the Motorized Infantry Unit was reunited with its transport. The Eastland Tank Unit withdrew slightly as its strength was becoming seriously eroded and the Morschauserland Infantry Units used this opportunity to swing towards the road.
Turn 7
It was becoming clear that the Eastlanders were not going to be able to stem the Morschauserland advance … but they tried to inflict as much damage on the invaders as was possible.
Although the Morschauserland Infantry Unit on the road managed to get away and continue its advance into Eastland, the Eastland Artillery Unit destroyed the Morschauserland Motorized Infantry Unit and the Eastland Tank Unit eliminated one of the remaining Morschauserland Infantry Units.
The Morschauserlanders had achieved their aim of continuing their advance, but at the cost of severe losses. The Eastlanders might not have stopped the advance completely … but they had given it a bloody nose and left the invaders seriously weakened.
In my opinion these are an excellent set of rules. I fought the whole battle in about an hour … and I spent more time taking photographs and writing up the battle report than I did actually moving the troops and throwing the dice. I will certainly be using them again, although I do have a few developments/changes of my own that I want to try out. I will also revert to the ‘move or fire’ rule as written, as allowing units that have moved to fire during the same turn speeded things up a bit too much.
Note: I kept a note of each unit’s strength by using small magnetic numbers that I originally made for my Megablitz battles. I started off using a 1 and a 5 to make up 15 (each unit’s starting strength), but as units began to suffer casualties, I had to total the numbers on each base as I didn’t have any number 6s, 7s, 8s or 9s. I intend to rectify this situation as soon as I can.
One Hour Wargames
Posted: August 8, 2015 Filed under: Book Review, One Hour Wargames, Wargame Design 20 Comments
… and at the time I wrote:
The rules in the … book are simple – possibly too simple for some wargamers’ tastes – but I think that they should prove fun to use, especially if they cover a period that one does not usually wargame. The scenarios appear to be very useful, and I have already spotted a couple that I might well try out in the not too distant future.
Since then I have used some of the scenarios to fight a three-part Operation Barbarossa mini-campaign …
… but I have not as yet used the rules.
I suspect that this situation is about to change.
The reasons are quite simple:
- I read the rules very thoroughly whilst I was on our recent cruise … and liked what I read.
- I have had conversations and emails with people who have used them and who say that they are excellent … and who cannot understand why I have not tried them yet.
- I have read several blogs that extol their virtues.
- I have joined the relevant Yahoo Group and discovered some very simple variants that I want to try for myself. (I am particularly interested in the ONE HOUR HEX WW2 RULES written by Martin Rapier and the 1 HOUR WW1 NAVAL WARFARE rules written by John Armatys and Martin Rapier.)
Hopefully I will be able to try our Martin’s World War II rules sometime soon, especially as it seems an age since I last fought a wargame.
Barbarossa Mini-campaign: Battle No.3: Triple line
Posted: February 20, 2015 Filed under: Battle Report, Early 20th Century, Memoir '44, Mini-campaign, One Hour Wargames 6 CommentsThis was the third battle of my Barbarossa Mini-campaign.
Triple LineThis battle used Scenario 26 from Neil Thomas’s ONE-HOUR WARGAMES. The Germans had six units and the Russians had four units.
The Germans had:
- Three Infantry Units (= 12 Strength Points)
- One Machine Gun Unit (= 4 Strength Points)
- One Artillery Unit (= 2 Strength Points)
- One Tank Unit (= 3 Strength Points)
Note: The German will become exhausted when they have lost 11 Strength Points.
The Russians had:
- Two Infantry Units (= 8 Strength Points)
- One Machine Gun Unit (= 4 Strength Points)
- One Artillery Unit (= 2 Strength Points)
Note: The Russians will become exhausted when they have lost 7 Strength Points but as they are defending and will obey Stalin’s ‘Not one step back!‘ order, this will not seriously effect them.
The terrain looked like this:
Note: In the original scenario the defenders do not have any fieldworks, trenches etc. For this battle I decided that the second line of defenders would have had time to dig in, and I have therefore allowed them a line of trenches.
The battle began when the leading German units entered the battlefield.
The Russians were already in their defences … waiting.
They did not have to wait long. The German Tank Unit moved forward and engaged the Russian Infantry Unit that was guarding the bridge, forcing it to retire.
The Germans then moved their Artillery Unit onto the battlefield.
Having clearer away the bridge’s defenders, the German Tank Unit advanced across it and fired for a second time at the same Russian Infantry Unit, inflicting 25% casualties upon it and forcing it to fall back yet again.
The right-hand German Infantry Unit moved towards the bridge to support the advancing Tank Unit …
… as did the German Machine Gun Unit.
The Russian Artillery Unit opened fire on the German Tank Unit … and hit it.
Whilst this was happening the foremost Russian Infantry Unit advanced into the woods near the river as this enable them to threaten any German units moving forward over the bridge.
The German Tank Unit moved across the front of the Russian trenches and engaged the right-hand Russian Infantry Unit. Despite being in trenches, the Russian Infantry Unit lost 25% of its initial strength.
The leading German Infantry Unit advanced across the bridge, but was unable to fire at any of the Russian defenders.
The Russian Machine Gun Unit fired at the leading German Infantry Unit and hit it.
The German Infantry Unit was then fired upon by the Russian Infantry Unit that was in the woods, and although no casualties were inflicted, the German Infantry Unit was forced to retreat onto the bridge.
The Russian Artillery Unit fired for a second time at the German Tank Unit … and destroyed it!
Despite the loss of the Tank Unit, the Germans pushed forward in the hope of achieving a quick and decisive victory.
First the German Infantry Unit on the bridge moved forward and into the woods on its right.
Secondly the German Machine Gun Unit moved forward on to the bridge, …
… and the remaining German Infantry Unit entered the battlefield.
The Russians failed to respond to this movement, and the German continued to press forward.
Fighting broke out in the woods near the bridge, and resulted in further losses for the Russian Infantry Unit therein.
The German Machine Gun Unit advanced and opened fire on its opposite number in the Russian trenches … and inflicted casualties on them.
One of the other German Infantry Units reached the bridge and began to cross it …
… followed by the German Artillery Unit.
The fighting in the woods continued, although this resulted in losses for the Germans rather than the Russians.
These losses were offset when the Russian Machine Gun Unit lost further casualties at the hands of its German counterpart.
The combat in the woods was finally resolved when the Russian Infantry Unit was forced to retire, but the cost was heavy and the German Infantry Unit was destroyed.
The retreating Russian Infantry Unit was engaged by the German Machine Gun Unit, and forced to fall back even further.
Unfortunately for the Germans, the fact that the German Machine Gun Unit had not moved resulted in a traffic jam by the bridge, with units lining up to cross.
In order to clear the way for other units to cross the bridge, the German Machine Gun Unit moved to its left and fired at the Russian Infantry Unit that was in the trenches. This resulted in further losses for the Russian Infantry Unit.
The leading German Infantry Unit moved across the bridge and engaged the Russian Machine Gun Unit … but with no effect.
The situation then suddenly swung in favour of the Russians. The Russian Artillery Unit fired at the leading German Infantry Unit and inflicted 50% losses upon it.
The German Infantry Unit was then fired at by the Russian Machine Gun Unit … and wiped out!
At this point the Germans had almost become exhausted, and it was obvious that they would be unable to prise the Russians out of their defences without further reinforcements. The German Machine Gun Unit therefore withdrew to the other side of the bridge, where the Germans began to form a defence line.
This was the final battle of my mini-campaign. The Germans had won the first two battles, but the final one was drawn, leaving the Russians bruised but unbeaten and the Germans seriously in need of further troops. As happened in the real Operation Barbarossa, the Germans had pushed just a little too far and the Russians were able to dig in and hold out.
I rather enjoyed the whole process of the mini-campaign. It gave the flavour of a much large campaign without becoming too tedious. The outcome of the battles was reasonably realistic and all the battles were fun to fight. Although I fought them as solo wargames, my playing card-driven unit activation system ensured that I could not favour either side and the combat system (which is almost entirely drawn from Richard Borg‘s MEMOIR ’44) produced reasonably balanced results that were also unpredictable.
I will certainly use this mini-campaign structure again, and I thoroughly recommend it to other wargamers who fight solo wargames or who do not have easy access to a wargames club where they can take part in a campaign.
Barbarossa Mini-campaign: Battle No.2: Late arrivals
Posted: February 17, 2015 Filed under: Battle Report, Early 20th Century, Memoir '44, Mini-campaign, One Hour Wargames 10 CommentsThis was the second battle of my Barbarossa Mini-campaign.
Late ArrivalsThis battle used Scenario 10 from Neil Thomas’s ONE-HOUR WARGAMES. Both sides had six units available to take part in the battle.
The Germans had:
- Three Infantry Units (= 12 Strength Points)
- One Machine Gun Unit (= 4 Strength Points)
- Two Tank Units (= 6 Strength Points)
Note: The German will become exhausted when they have lost 11 Strength Points.
The Russians had:
- Four Infantry Units (one of which was Militia) (= 15 Strength Points)
- One Anti-tank Gun Unit (= 2 Strength Points)
- One Tank Unit (= 3 Strength Points)
Note: The Russians will become exhausted when they have lost 10 Strength Points.
The terrain looked like this:
The leading German troops had outstripped their supporting units and had halted in order for them to catch up. The Russians were already rushing reinforcements forward to stem the German advance, and a clash was inevitable. It was know that the German support units were moving up the road that ran through the built-up area in the corner of the wargaming board nearest the camera, and that the Russian troops would be arriving via the same road but from the opposite corner. The hill was deemed to be unclimbable and was regarded as impassable terrain.
The battle began when the first Russian units (led by their Tank Unit) entered the battlefield. The Russian Tank Unit immediately engaged the German Tank Unit …
… and missed!
The Germans responded by moving their Machine Gun Unit out onto their right-hand flank whilst their Tank Unit fired at the Russian Tank Unit and forced it to withdraw.
Further Russian units arrived on the battlefield …
… and this enabled the Russians to move forward.
The Russian Tank Unit’s fire forced the German Tank Unit to withdraw down the road towards the built-up area …
… whilst the Russian Anti-tank Unit was able to open fire on the German Machine Gun Unit and inflict 50% casualties on it.
At this point the first of the German support troops arrived, and this enabled the Germans to begin counter-attacking.
The German Tank Unit fired at the Russian Tank Unit and reduced its effectiveness by 33% …
… and the German Machine Gun Unit was able to return fire upon the Russian Anti-tank Gun Unit and kill half of its gunners.
The duel between the two Tank Units continued …
… but no further damage was caused.
A Russian Infantry Unit had moved forward and engaged the German Machine Gun Unit, but it was equally unsuccessful.
Events then began to favour the Germans when their Tank Unit was able to hit the Russian Tank Unit twice … knocking it out.
The German Machine Gun Unit switched target and fired at the Russian Infantry Unit, but was unable to hit it.
The German Tank Unit now moved forward and forced the foremost Russian Infantry Unit to fall back.
This success was followed up by the two German Infantry Units, which advanced on either flank of the Tank Unit.
The Russians responded by moving their Anti-tank Gun Unit into the woods (thus giving it some protection) and forming a road block with their Infantry Units.
The left-hand German Infantry Unit fired at the Russian Infantry Unit in the centre of the roadblock, inflicting 50% casualties upon it.
The German Machine Gun Unit also engaged this Russian Infantry Unit, and reduced to 25% of its original strength.
The German Tank Unit chose to fire at another of the Russian Infantry Units … with devastating effect.
At this point the Russians had reached their Exhaustion Level (they had lost 10 Strength Points) but were still in a position to defend … which they chose to do.
(Once a side reaches its Exhaustion Level it cannot take any offensive actions such as advance, but may either retreat or fight on in the hope that they will exhaust their opponent. In this case Stalin’s ‘Not one step back!‘ order seems to have been obeyed.)
The Russians quickly proved that they were unwilling to give up their positions. The Anti-tank Unit fired at and hit the German Tank Unit …
… and the Russian Militia Infantry Unit moved forward to support the Russian front-line.
At the same time the right-hand Russian Infantry Unit engaged the nearby German Infantry Unit and caused it to suffer 25% casualties.
The Germans reacted by moving their right-hand Infantry Unit forward, …
… bringing further troops onto the battlefield, …
… and wiping out the Infantry Unit in the centre of the Russian front-line.
In the hope that they could stem the German advance, the Russian Anti-tank Unit fired at the leading German Tank Unit and forced it to fall back.
The left-hand Russian Infantry Unit engaged the German Machine Gun Unit at long range, but their fire was ineffective.
The German response was vigorous and effective. The leading German Tank Unit moved forward and engaged the Russian Anti-tank Gun Unit … and destroyed it!
The second German Tank Unit also advanced and engaged the right-hand Russian Infantry Unit. The latter was already reduced to 25% of it original strength, and this attack wiped it out.
The left-hand German Infantry Unit also moved forward and fired at the Russian Militia Infantry Unit, but the range was long and the German Unit’s fire was ineffective.
The left-hand German Infantry Unit moved forward again, and this time its fire reduced the strength of the Russian Militia Infantry Unit by 33%.
The undamaged German Tank Unit advance and engaged the remaining Russian Infantry Unit, which it forced to retreat.
Both the Russian Infantry Units then fired at the nearest German Infantry Unit. The Russian Militia Infantry Unit’s fire had no effect …
… but the Russian Infantry Unit’s fire did inflict a 25% loss upon the German Infantry Unit.
It was now only a matter of time before the Germans prevailed … and when the end did come, it came very swiftly.
The right-hand German Tank Unit moved forward and fired at the remaining Russian Infantry Unit, inflicting 25% casualties on it
The left-hand German Tank Unit followed suit, and forced the Russian Infantry Unit to retreat.
Soon afterwards the leading German Infantry Unit engaged the Russian Militia Infantry … and wiped it out!
The sole remaining Russian Infantry Unit was destroyed moments later when the left-hand German Tank Unit advanced yet again and fired at the Russian Unit.
The Germans had won the battle … but at a cost. Its units were spread out all over the battlefield, and if the Russians were able to mount a counter-attack, the Germans could easily be pushed back. The Russians had also suffered casualties that might be difficult to replace if the campaign was to be a prolonged one.
At the end of the fighting the battlefield looked like this:
This battle was set up on Sunday night and fought in several short sessions on Monday and Tuesday. One of the joys of using the card-driven unit activation system is that it is possible to leave a battle in situ and return to it without having to worry as to which side had the initiative or whose turn it was to move their units next.
It was a real ‘ding-dong’ battle, and although the Russians ultimately lost, they had held up the German advance and inflicted a significant number of casualties.
WARGAMING MISCELLANY 