Battle of Apostrophe Hill

After their rather sharp disagreement at the Emperor's Ball, it is no surprise that the Marquis des Aix-En-Pains and the Duke of Bad Schmaltzberg found themselves embroiled in war!

Game Note: This is the first game of my replay of the War of the Emperor's Balls campaign, and the associated Simplicity in Hexes rules which can be found at the Numbers, Wargames and Arsing About blog. Many thanks to Kaptain Kobold of The Stronghold Rebuilt for posting about it; that is how I found the rules/campaign. Now back to the story!

The Duke stole a march on his rival and advances into the Marquis' territory. His vanguard runs into a force defending a hill.

Game Note: The first battle uses scenario 4 from One Hour Wargames, in which the entire Blue army enters on turn 1. For this play-through I added an activation mechanic; roll 2D6 and use the higher roll to indicate the number of units that can act in the turn. The mechanic is borrowed from Squad Hammer.

Accurate fire by the artillery on the hill drives off some cavalry. However, the Duke's full army advances onto the battlefield.

Infantry and cavalry try to assault the artillery on the hill. The cannon fire is just to much to bear.

Reinforcements from the Marquis arrive. The Marquis' horse routs the Ducal cavalry.

Repeated assaults on the hill left the Duke's second cavalry in tatters and an infantry unit in full flight.

The remaining Ducal cavalry also flees as firefights break out across the field.

Another Ducal infantry routs.

The remaining infantry persevere.

Game Note: I also added an army morale mechanic, a la the Portable Wargame. Once an army passed 50% casualties it had to roll morale or would be forced to call off attacks. The Duke's army passed its morale test.

But the volume of fire against them is too great.

And they are cut down.

The Marquis des Aix-En-Pains has inflicted some pain upon his rival. He is confident that the Duke will retreat, and he will be ready to pounce!

Game Notes
When I read Kaptain Kobold's test game of Simplicity in Hexes I was intrigued. I had perused Neil Thomas's Simplicity in Practice rules (the basis for SiH) before but ironically found them unnecessarily convoluted. If they could be simplified, however, they could very well meet my needs. I took a peek (they're free after all) and liked what I saw. I decided to give them a test run.

For my first test, I played them as written, aside from adding activation and army morale mechanics (as described above). Also, obviously, I used a square instead of hex grid.

Overall, they are a well done set of rules. Movement is pretty standard although the movement rate is shorter than my typical rules (1 space for infantry). However, the rate works well on the small grid (I used 8 x 10 but standard SiH uses a 6 x 6 grid). Firing is straightforward - for each unit firing roll a D6 with a target number based on the unit firing. Success = 1 hit. Modifiers are kept to a minimum. So far so good in my eyes.

At first glance, I was a bit concerned about melee (or charge combat as labeled in SiH). It uses an opposed die roll mechanic, with the combat result dependent on the difference between rolls. I'm usually not a fan of having to calculate differences; I prefer to look at the die roll and immediately know if I hit or not. Nevertheless, I decided to give the charge combat rules a try. I must admit that they worked better than I expected. The math was not too onerous (at least I did not have to divide!). Furthermore, I found a few advantages to this system:

• Because of the different mechanic, melee felt different than fire. I think that's appropriate.
• The defender has a chance to damage the attacker. Again, it felt right.
• I forgot to apply the roll of 6 = 2 hits rule in fire combat. As a result, melee tended to be a bit more decisive than fire combat. Ironically, that also seemed appropriate.
• Interestingly, melee is automatic if a unit enters a space adjacent to an enemy. This simple rule solves a problem with which I have struggled lo these many years. Are adjacent enemies engaged in a firefight or crossing bayonets? Well, Jay Ward (author of SiH) has come to my rescue!
• Although it never came up, the retreat rules also simply yet effectively account for troops in defensive positions. If defeated in melee, defenders typically retreat. If it is a minor defeat, however, troops in defensive positions may stay put. A serious defeat will see them bail out regardless of their position. Again, it is simple yet makes sense.

I am a big proponent of miniature rules having to feel right. I must say that SiH gets it right for melee, as well as for the rest. There was not one area of the rules that I had a major disagreement with. There are some areas I still need to explore (I did not use a leader and I'm not sold on the SiH approach yet). At the core, however, I enthusiastically say that these rules work really well! You will definitely see more SiH on my table!

If that were not enough, Mr. Ward also provides a short and simple campaign. It is only 3 games long, which should be perfect for an evening of battle (My first test game lasted 39 minutes). It utilizes the scenarios from One Hour Wargames. I have been a big fan of OHW scenarios for years. They are interesting tactical situations but are short games that require only 6 units per side. They are perfect for this Lazy Gamer!

Overall, I must say kudos to Mr. Ward - Simplicity in Hexes is a real winner!

The Purge Returns

Recently I have been cleaning out the garage, which got me started on organizing my wargaming collection.

The first thing I did was to clean up my painting area. I had a little fold-up table in the garage which served as a painting table. However, it tended to impede movement around the garage. I decided to put it away. I took the jumble of supplies that was sitting on the table and boxed them. The most crucial elements are in a single box, which I intend to use as a portable painting area.

I also tried minimize the amount of stuff I had lying around in odd places. Instead, I gathered everything of current use into boxes. Each box has basic components for game-play, including miniatures/tokens, markers, dice, and (mostly) erasable battle-mats. I now have the following boxes:

• The Air & Space box - 1930s era aircraft minis (like this)  plus a few sci-fi pulp rockets
• The Sea box - age of sail ship tokens, and some WW2 coastal forces.
• The Land box - block armies for ancients to horse & musket battles, 2mm sci-fi, and some post-apocalyptic cars.
• The RPG box - 10mm fantasy figures for dungeon crawls

Last year, I began a process of gleaning out some miniatures that I did not expect to use anymore. I now have more in the pile (I added my 2mm forces - they just don't show up well on blog photos). I am ready to part with them and will be posting them in the near future (free + shipping).

You may have noticed that I now only have blocks for ancients to horse & musket eras. This does not mean that I am eschewing miniatures entirely for those periods. I am thinking of a new 3mm generic army project. More on that later.

Lazy Gamer Block Armies

It's been a while since my last installment of the Lazy Gamer's Guide. I had been discussing the principle of "going small" by using smaller miniatures and the options available for miniature gamers. Then I suggested another alternative - block armies. Let's discuss this topic today.

"Play a game with blocks?!" some may say in horror. Let me explain why it is a perfectly valid option for Lazy Gamers. A while back there was a post on The Miniatures Page (TMP) about the use of unpainted miniatures. I ruminated about the debate in a blog post, concluding that most miniature gamers on TMP appear to be high on the modeling aspect of the hobby whereas I was principally a gamer.

How I rate on the Gamer / Modeler axes

I suspect that most Lazy Gamers are like me; they just want to game and are not as interested in the "spectacle." (If the "spectacle" is important to you, you may as well just click away now ;) ). Well I found that block armies allow the lazy gamer to get to the game quickly with minimal preparations.

What do I mean by block armies? Instead of using miniatures for the units in my armies, I use painted wooden blocks. My blocks are small - 20 x 10 mm, 20 x 5 mm, or 10 x 10 mm pieces of 3mm thick wood that I got from Litko. You could, of course, make your own using bits of wood. I tried and found it difficult getting precise cuts. Litko does it for me efficiently and for a reasonable price. I just slap some paint on them and am ready to roll.

Infantry are the larger blocks, painted a solid color. I have recently added little bits of wood to act as flags. Light infantry are narrower blocks. Artillery are the smaller square blocks, with a cannon painted on them. Generals are square blocks with a flag painted on them (I'm using simple crosses for my Francesian armies)

Line Infantry, Artillery, Light Infantry, General

I am still trying to work out how to display cavalry in an aesthetically pleasing way. I was inspired by the blocks in the second picture of this post from Wargaming Odyssey. I used 2 smaller blocks on top instead of 1 (to signify heavy cavalry; I intended to use 1 block for lights). The top blocks obscure the bottom too much so I experimented with painting instead, However, I could not do a straight line. I am still experimenting with cavalry.

Two attempts at cavalry.

Anyway, in my eyes, one of the keys to making block armies work is the terrain. I personally think blocks look a little odd when used on terrain designed for figures. However, the original Kriegsspiel featured block armies maneuvering on a map, a look that I rather like.

A Kriegspiel game (from Wikipedia)

I have taken inspiration from Kriegsspiel and use a 2 dimensional map for my block army games. I picked up a Pathfinder flip mat and some dry-erase markers. I now draw out the scenario's terrain.

An example of a 2D battlefield

I think this approach gives a Kriegsspiel feel to my games (even if the map is not as detailed as a Kriegsspiel map). The other benefit is that it is incredibly easy to do; I do not have to spend any time building and painting terrain to play a game. It's the ultimate lazy gamer's battlefield!

Thus, I highly recommend block armies for the lazy gamer. The armies are very simple to prepare (especially if you order pre-cut blocks) and the map is a snap. It'll have you actually playing games in no time.

NEXT
Another aspect of going small is to reduce your battlefield.

Fall of Fort Henrik

Battle 2 of the Sikamuki Campaign

As the survivors of the Griswold Massacre trickled in, Captain Hareld Havinger prepared to defend his hastily erected base, which he designated as Fort Henrik (after the Bluderian king). A company of infantry and a battery of guns manned the walls. Two more infantry companies, a squadron of cavalry, and some skirmishers operated outside the cramped confines of the fort.

Soon, the tribesmen emerged from the woods.

The Bluderian rifles and an infantry company advanced on the hill, hoping to use its defensive benefits to blunt the assault.

But they were quickly overwhelmed by the Sikamukan natives.

The cavalry squadron struck a band of natives.

It too was overrun. Then the fort's guns wiped out a native band.

The Sikamukans rushed the fort. The guns obliterated more natives.

Two warbands concentrated on the infantry company outside the walls of the fort.

Soon it was gone.

The guns were silenced by the deadly native archers and the warbands swarmed over the walls.

Havinger managed to escape to a waiting longboat, which whisked him back to his ships.

Having suffered two devastating defeats, Havinger realized he could not sail home without redeeming himself. If he returned without anything to show, he would be forced to resign, or worse. No, he had to accomplish something.

Realizing the effectiveness of his guns, Havinger plotted to lure the natives into a rash attack on multiple emplaced batteries. First, he would need a better defensive position. He sailed off, looking for a new place to establish a fort.

Notes

• This was the second battle of the Sikamuki campaign, where the Bluderians are attempting to conquer a new world empire. The natives are having none of it.
• The natives are leading 2-0. One more defeat will force Havinger to sail back to Bluderia in disgrace.
• By the way, Sikamuki is a play on Miccosukee, a tribe of Native Americans in South Florida (they branched off from the Seminoles).
• One of the main reasons I played this game was to try out my new terrain cards. In the past, I used dice to determine terrain randomly. It was a bit time-consuming so I ginned up a randomizer in Excel. However, that meant that I needed a computer to set up a game. I decided to take a new approach. I made up some cards to represent terrain features. I then dealt out 8 cards and then drew out the terrain accordingly.

Above you see cards for woods, clear, hills, and a river (which I turned into a bay). There are also fields, buildings, and rough ground. In all, I have 24 cards so there should be enough variability. It will be easy to modify the card mix to account for different geographies. For example, if the game is set in an area of hills, I can remove some of the clear cards. I thought the experiment worked quite well.

The Empty Tomb

 

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

Mark 16: 1-7

The tomb is empty because He has risen!
Happy Easter!

The Lazy Gamer and Miniature "Scales"

Last time I talked about the advantage of choosing smaller scale miniatures. Today, I want to elaborate upon the different scales used in miniature gaming and the pros and cons of each.

Let me begin with a note about the term “scale.” Technically, “scale” refers to a ratio between a model and the actual object it is modelling. Thus, if I have a 1/72 scale miniature of a 6’ (72”) man, then the miniature would be 1” tall. While scale is used for some miniatures (e.g. I have mentioned 1/72 multiple times in the Guide), more often miniatures are identified by a nominal size, such as 2mm, 6mm, 10mm. Even though these are technically not scales, the term scale is often used – e.g. 2mm scale. In today’s discussion, I will use the common (albeit technically incorrect) term of scale.

Note that in the miniatures world, the definition of scale is rather lax. Some manufacturers measure it from the top of the head to ground while others go from eyes to ground. Thus, there can be some variation between miniature lines of the same nominal scale. If you buy from different manufacturers, you may have to buy samples to see if they match up.

2mm
First up is my current preferred scale. 2mm figures are available from Irregular Miniatures and are cast in blocks of around 20 infantry, 6-8 cavalry, or a gun and crew. If you do 3D printing, Forward March Studios offers printable files.

My old 2mm Irregular horse & musket armies on action

I also have some sci-fi miniatures from Germy, although they seem more like 3mm to my eye.

My Germy 2mm sci-fi forces in action

There are a number of benefits to this size:

• They are quick to paint if you just go for main colors
• They create a mass army look. Instead of a few figures on a base you have a whole block of troops. En masse they look like an actual army (check out this TMP post for an example)
• They are inexpensive
• They take up very little room for storage
• You can buy individual blocks  so you can order the exact number you need

There are some drawbacks, however:

• They can be fiddly to paint if you want more detail on your miniatures
• Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish troop types
• They can be hard to see in photographs (somewhat important to me)

3mm
A step up in size, 3mm miniatures are available from Magister Militum or Osmial 8 (I ordered from PicoArmor although Magister Militum now carries the line).

A 3mm bathtub Waterloo

Note that 3mm figures are 50% bigger than 2mm, so it is not possible to mix them together.

A comparison of 2mm vs 3mm

Benefits:

• Like 2mm, they can be quick to paint
• They can also create a mass army look
• Still affordable
• Easy to store
• Easier to distinguish troop types than 2mm

Drawbacks:

• More detail so there is the temptation to paint more
• The blocks are single ranked but bases look better with 2 ranks. This means more painting
• Magister Militum’s figures come in large packs. You may have to buy more than you need
• I had trouble fitting them into the slim Tuff boxes I bought for storage.

I prefer the MM over the PicoArmor. The individual soldiers are closer together, which makes it easier to speed paint.

5-6mm
There are a variety of manufacturers of 5 to 6mm miniatures. I have had experience with Heroics & Ros and Baccus.

Baccus 6mm ancients in action.

I haven’t done a side by side comparison, but my impression is that Baccus is somewhat larger than Heroics & Ros, to the extent that they are not usable together. Please correct me if I am wrong

Benefits:

• Individual soldiers are more distinguishable than 2mm/3mm

Drawbacks:

• Even more detail to paint
• Fewer men in the same space; less of a massed army look than small scales
• Requires more storage space

10mm
My experience with 10mm is limited, although I have a few figures (from Pendraken and Irregular) for dungeon crawls.

A dungeon crawl fight

Another option for horse & musket armies is to get replacement armies for the Risk board game. Check e-bay or Amazon for deals (search for Risk replacement pieces).

Risk figures in action

Benefits:

• Better for skirmish gaming than smaller scales
• Most distinguishable individuals
• Risk figures are easy and cheap to obtain
• If using Risk figures, they are already in different colors (if you don’t mind colorful horses)

Drawbacks:

• Battles look more like a skirmish than a massed battle (assuming a unit still occupies the same amount of space)
• Most detail to paint
• Most storage space required

I recently went big into 2mm, driven mostly by storage concerns. I was using slim Tiger brand Tuff Boxes, with the armies in small tins. My 3mm troops were too tall for the tins and the Tuff Boxes were too narrow for the Altoid tins that contained my 3mm.

If I had to start from scratch and choose one scale, I would go with 3mm and get deeper boxes for storage. The 3mm still have a massed army look and are quick and easy to build up, but I find that the troop types are easier to distinguish from a distance. If I wanted to do skirmishes with individually mounted soldiers I would go with 10mm instead. However, most of my gaming is with larger sized forces.

NEXT
Another option for the lazy gamer – block armies!

Enchanted Preparations

The next installment of the Lazy Gamer's Guide, indeed any wargaming stuff in general, has been on hiatus because I've gone all out on the LARP I am creating.

Recently, I finally finished the first draft rule book. I like how it turned out; there will be tweaks of course, but for now it seems like it will work.

I have also been making preparations for the first adventure. First, I need some games for the tavern. I'm going to move the board and pieces into a wooden box.

I also made a tablut board. There are some cards for those who don't care for board games.

Some stuff for the adventurers. Spell balls.

The wooden egg will represent a hearthstone. I made potion "bottles" out of wooden people (cheaper than using real bottles and less chance of breakage). All stored in some nice bags from Michael's. The number puzzle will be used to represent lock-picking. Finally, all these items rest on a yellow cloak that I will wear while game-mastering.

An urn, which will hold some treasure.

My simple, impressionistic representation of a basilisk.

Looking forward to the first event at the end of the month!