Battle of Peirama

With this test battle, I experimented with a series of possible tweaks to MicroBattle.

Set-Up

I created random scenario, terrain, and force composition generators using a D6 roll for each.

The resulted in a force of infantry with cavalry support trying to escape from pursuing infantry.

Note - this scenario is inspired by Scenario # 13 from One Hour Wargames.

Terrain set-up is shown below. Note that I am using my mini, 5 x 7 square board.

Some Game Notes

These are some of the changes I made to MicroBattle for this experiment.

• While the board is gridded into 1 inch squares, all measurements are made in half squares. This effectively increases the size of the units and the board.
• Previous versions of MicroBattle allowed a unit to pivot freely within its square. With my movements modifications, a unit now effectively spans two spaces. Thus, I had to come up with some rules for turning. Essentially, I allowed a unit to use an activation to pivot 90 degrees.
• For activation, I rolled a D6 per unit, with the following results:
• 1 = no actions
• 2-3 = 1 action
• 4-5 = 2 actions
• 6 = 3 actions
• I did not use the S&S mechanic of giving the enemy actions for failed activations. Instead, I just rolled them as above.
• Both units rolled in melee, with any advantages or disadvantages applied as modifiers. High roll won the melee. The loser then rolled defense as per the current MicroBattle rules.
• A unit with damage (which I am calling Disorder), makes all Resolution Tests at a disadvantage.
• Light infantry damaged by heavy infantry in melee may attempt to retreat instead of suffering Disorder.
• A unit can use an activation to try to recovery from Disorder. It requires a successful Res Test.

The Backstory

A force of Gothic warriors (blue army) has raided a Roman settlement and is trying to escape with its booty. A lone unit of Roman archers blocks the path while more Roman infantry are in pursuit. 

The Goths need to get half their army to safety (off the far side of the board).

A couple of turns in. Most of the raiders have moved well onto the board. One heavy infantry unit dawdles and gets overtaken by the Romans. The Goth cavalry (right) make a break for it.

Note - The topmost warband rolled poor activations, allowing the Romans to catch up.

Roman heavy and light infantry swarm the dawdling warriors (top). The Roman archers are getting pushed off the hill.

Note - initially, I was using the standard MicroBattle melee rules, but I kept having stalemated fights. Inspired by Sellswords and Spellslingers, I tried the system outlined above. This created more interesting melees and sped up the game.

The Goths overrun the archers, drive back their pursuers, and then head for safety.

Note - It was during this fight that I instituted the rule allowing lights to try to retreat rather than suffer Disorder. It just seemed weird to me that lights would just stand and let themselves get pummeled. This has bothered me for some time but I never knew how to handle it. I came up with the rule on the spot and applied it. In this case, the lights got caught, but I can foresee times when the lights get away. Seems more plausible to me.

But the Roman light infantry catch up to the Goth warband, attack, and miraculously destroy it!

Note - This melee highlighted the benefit of the new rules. The Goth warband had a disadvantage in melee because it was disordered. It could have improved its odds by stopping to rally. I choose for the disordered warband to run for it instead, leaving it vulnerable. Still, the lights got lucky to win the melee.

I like how the new rules created a decision point. Do I use an action on movement or rallying? By moving, I left the unit disordered. However, if I stopped, the pursuing heavy infantry may have caught up. Decisions, decisions!

But the Goth lights barely manage to escape.

Technically, a narrow victory for the Goths, but the Romans are pleased to have destroyed both warbands of heavy infantry.

Thoughts on the Game

I was making adjustments on the fly, but I ended up with the rules changes described above. Overall, I think they worked well, and I will continue dabbling with them.

3mm Miniatures Comparison

As mentioned, I am moving toward genre-specific figures for my games.

The Byzantine Project

I ordered some O8 legionnaires from PicoArmor to build a Byzantine Army. I planed to use them to supplement some Magister Militum that I currently own.

Well, I got them. Here they are (left) next to some MM pikemen.

Very disappointing.

I took some measurements. O8 figures are approximately 3mm from top of the head to the base while MM figures are 3mm from the eyes to the base. Overall, the MM figures are closer to 5mm.

There is no way I can use these together, unless I create a hobbit army with the O8. After a bit of consideration, I decided to stick with MM for my Byzantines.

Operation Last Train

I also ordered some O8 3mm sci fi, also from Pico Armor. Again, my plan is to supplement some existing figures, specifically Germy's 2mm, available from Ground Zero Games.

Here are some heavy infantry (right) next to poorly painted Germy infantry. There is an O8 dropship in the background.

The Germy figures are a bit beefier, but they are actually about the same height as the O8. I think I can mix them.

And here are some O8 xenos next to the Germy infantry. Again, I think I can mix.

Now I have two projects underway.

S&S Experiments

Previously, I mentioned experimenting with some of the mechanics from Sellswords and Spellslingers. I wanted to give a quick update.

I had actually been writing a report where I detailed all my tweaks and experiments, but I ended up deleting it. Overall, I just did not like where they were heading, and I find myself returning to square one.

Activation

A few years ago I was using the Song of Blades & Heroes activation system but dropped it because it seemed to drag out the turn. Currently, I roll a single D6 per unit, which means I can determine my entire force's activations in a single roll of 6 dice. It moves much quicker. The S&S activation is similar to SoB&H and I encountered similar problems. 

I recently had an epiphany. I translated the S&S activation odds to a single die. Assuming activation on a 4+ on a D6, I get:

• Roll of 1 = 0 activations for the player / 3 for the enemy
• 2-3 = 1 player activation / 2 for the enemy
• 4-5 = 2 player activations / 1 for the enemy
• 6 = 3 player activations / 0 for the enemy

This roughly works out the same as 3D6 per unit.

Note that the odds for S&S are better than 50/50 in favor of the players, but I think my table is fine. I can give bonuses to the roll for units with some kind of advantage.

Melee Combat

I'm still experimenting with a hit-or-be-hit melee system. Operation Last Train uses a similar system and it seems to work well for that game - you get the bug or it'll get you.

However, I'm not sure if I buy it for man vs. man combat, for 2 reasons:

• It seems plausible for both combatants to make ineffective attacks. For example, the attacker thrusts, the defender parries and ripostes, but the attacker parries the counter.
• And I have seen plenty of simultaneous hits in my fencing and LARP experience.

I guess hit-or-be-hit makes more sense at a larger scale where a turn could represent an extended period of time. But for skirmishes it seems too final. Nevertheless, I think I'll give it a try.

I recently played a battle using these tweaks. Stay tuned for a full report.

The 3mm Byzantine Project

For 2022, I decided to do a Byzantine project in 3mm. I created a new label, 3mm Byzantine Project, to record my progress.

Here are my thoughts so far:

Focus

First I needed to decide what era of the Empire's 1,000 history I should do. There were two main contenders:

• Basil II (976 - 1025) vs. Bulgars or Arabs
• Sassanid wars of the 6th to 7th centuries

Basil had Varangians but the Sassanids had elephants. Elephants win.

Army Organization

I'll use my MicroBattle rules with One Hour Wargame scenarios. I'll pattern the army organizations on the lists from Neil Thomas's Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

For reference, here are the maximum units per troop type according to AMW.

• Byzantines – 6 heavy cavalry, 3 heavy infantry, 2 light infantry, 2 barbarian cavalry
• Persians – 4 cataphracts, 3 light cavalry, 4 levies, 4 archers, 2 elephants

Because OHW armies are 6 units and AMW armies are 8, I may reduce the above numbers accordingly.

Miniatures

I'm going to order figures from Magister Militum. I need to work out what packs to order.

I ordered two Osprey books to get a better idea how the armies (especially the Sassanids) look.

Terrain

Here are my ideas:

• Brown felt for the battle mat
• Cork hills
• Pot scrubber woods - although I don't know if I need many
• Rough ground? Fields? Probably use construction paper
• Buldings - I have my eye on these Roman buildings from PicoArmor.

A Quick Look at Swta's War Game Rules

Over at The Wargames Website, Swta (aka Stephen Wicker) posted a link to rules that he is selling. I decided to check them out and post my impressions.

Notes:

• the author has replied to this post. See the comments for his clarifications.
• As of 2/17/22, the author removed his comments but has provided a link to his blog.

First Impressions

• On his YouTube page, Swta offers several sets, but I understand that they are all the same and all cover the period 300 - 1850 AD. This seems a bit misleading so beware.
• The rules come in a 9 page PDF. Six pages are informational tables that aren't needed to play the game. The tables seem like unnecessary padding.
• I found that the paragraph format made finding specific rules difficult. The rules need more bullet points, tables, etc. to streamline reference.

Set Up

Here is the process to get ready for the game.

• Set up a board gridded into a minimum of 32 squares (4 x 8) with additional areas on the flanks and rear.
• As desired, place terrain, which is simply classified as impassable or fortified, which provides bonuses to defenders.
• Place armies of 16 - 24 units in each rear area. Units are designated as veteran or trained. Note - raw and militia are optional.

My board. Hills represent the flank area.
The squares in between are the actual battlefield 

Ordering Units

Now let's jump into gameplay. First, you must order your units.

• On your turn, you select a unit to order, then roll a modified D6 to see if it performs as commanded. Generally, you need a 4 or more to succeed. If you fail, your turn ends. 
• I'm not fond of activation systems where failure is so common and most units don't get a chance to do anything, so I modified the order rules after just a few turns.
• If you do succeed, there are 11 different commands you can issue, although they are all some variation of move or attack.

Movement

• Units may only move to an adjacent space, with diagonals counting as adjacent. Essentially, all units have a movement rate of 1, regardless of troop type.
• Units may move into or from the flank area. This seems to represent flank marches, but it seems too easy to pull off and bypass the enemy line. It also generated some questions. For example, can opposing units both occupy a flank area or do they fight?

Combat

• Units can shoot or attack (melee), but combat resolution seems the same. Roll a modified D6. The result indicates if the attacker or defender retreats, or nothing happens. 
• Like movement, there is no differentiation based on troop type. Medieval knights will melee as well as archers.
• The rules are unclear on what happens if a shooter gets an attacker retreats result. I assume nothing happens but this is not stated.
• To destroy a unit, you must force it to retreat from its rear area. It seems like this will be hard to do because you'll need to get one of your units adjacent to the enemy's rear. You can bombard the rear with artillery, but what about armies without artillery, like my medieval forces?

Victory

There is only one victory condition - destroy all your enemy's units. 

OK, I got this wrong. You just need to get all your enemy's units to retreat to the rear area or destroy them.

No army morale or scenarios with different objectives.

Final Thought

• One poster on TWW called the rules a "toolbox" and I have to echo this sentiment. There are some interesting ideas such as flank and rear areas and supported units (which I did not discuss). Nevertheless, I feel there are too many gaps, such as troop type differentiation. Note - I'm specifically referring to differentiation between infantry and cavalry.

Twelve Games Finale

 Here are my remaining games for the 2021 Twelve Games of Christmas challenge.

Game 8 (Fri. 12/24) - I played a quick MicroBattle game using amendments based on Sellswords & Spellslingers. I used my blocks rather than minis for this game.

Game 9 (Sun. 12/26) - Some more MicroBattle. Sorry, no pics. I actually played 3 short games, but I'm just counting it as one. The most interesting was my replay of Operation Last Train using 3mm figures. Instead of tracking individual figures, I treated each stand as a squad and tracked that. It has me hankering for some more small-scale sci-fi fun.

Game 10 (Tues. 12/28) - No game on Monday. Instead, we watched a movie along with commentary from an online friend of my wife. If you like movies, you may enjoy his commentary. Check out his YouTube page at Stone Gasman.

On Tuesday, we played a couple of card games, but I'm only counting them as one game.

• We started with Holiday Fluxx. My wife, being a hoarder, likes to store up cards. So she was very happy when she played the Draw 3 card. Then I countered with Play 4. Well, this annoyed her. She eventually won by stealing my Christmas wreath. Then she said she did not want to play a rematch because she hates playing Fluxx with me.
• So we moved on to Love Letter. This was a riveting battle as the princess's favor kept switching back and forth. Eventually, we wound up tied 6-6. The next round would decide the game. On one turn, I had the Prince and Bishop. I took a chance by playing the Bishop, which meant that I compared my remaining card to my wife's. Highest card wins. It turns out she had a lowly Guard. Victory was mine!

By the way, our cat Thomasina loves Love Letter. Our nickname for her is "Princess," so whenever we mention the princess in the game she thinks we're talking about her.

Game 11 (Thurs. 12/30) - Another twofer that I'm counting as one. We started with Codenames: Duet. 

Essentially, it is a cooperative guessing word game with a loose spy theme. One player gives a clue and the other tries to guess words that match, leading to allied operatives. If you guess wrong, the assassin gets you.

I blew it in the very first round, getting iced by the assassin. We tried again. The assassin did not get us, but we ran out of time.

We then played more Love Letter. My wife cleaned my clock this time.

Game 12 (Sat. 1/1) - And we close off the challenge with Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries.

Here is the final board. I was white.

You may be able to trace a white route from Copenhagen (just off the bottom of the picture) to Murmansk (all the way at the top). This route gave me 24 bonus points. Things were nip-and-tuck the whole way, and I almost did not finish a 10-point route. As it turns out, I managed a 17 point victory!

And that's it. The Twelve Games of Christmas challenge complete!

What's in Store for 2022?

Happy New Year! 

Once again, I'll see if I can predict what will happen with my gaming in the upcoming year. It seems unlikely I'll get it right considering that I jotted down some predictions a couple of weeks ago and they are already obsolete. So I bring some new, most likely wrong, predictions for this year.

• Return to 3mm - over the past couple of years I have been collecting 10mm miniatures for skirmish gaming. I painted a few, but most are just sitting around. The biggest hurdle is actually lack of terrain. I am just not motivated to put together enough for 10mm games. This has me looking back at 3mm. I tried a skirmish game (Operation Last Train) with a 3mm stand standing in for a 10mm figure. It seemed to work fine. I'm leaning toward that squad-based approach now.
• Genre-specific miniatures - my initial MicroBattle project featured generic 3mm miniatures that could stand in for multiple eras. However, I am now leaning toward some projects with figures painted for a specific genre. I plan on putting together a Byzantine army and an opponent (to be determined) and some sci-fi troops for Operation Last Train.
• The Purge - every now and then I do a purge of items I purchased for projects that eventually got abandoned. I sense that another purge is near. I mentioned my 10mm figures, and I have other miscellaneous stuff lying around that I don't plan to use.