2/3 of the H&M OHW Rules...obviously not encumbered with details and differentiations...
What would the design teams of "Empire III" and "Advanced Squad Leader" say about this???
"One-Hour Wargames" rules are pretty sparse - which is why they are so short! Unfortunately, essential mechanics have been left for the players to decide. Some aspects must be defined or clarified, no matter what your gaming preferences are. In other words, there's no way of playing the game without these coming up and then having to be discussed. It's all well and good if you're hanging out with a friend - especially one who isn't a wargamer - but the tendency of people to argue to their own advantage, OR, the need to explain to a willing participant, means you may as well think about them now and make a decision.
These are modified from my post on the Ancient thru Horse and Musket rules HERE.
Without further ado, here you go:
Missing and Must Be Decided
General
- Premeasuring allowed?
- rounding fractions in favor of attacker, i.e. ANY fraction UP? so 2.25 Hits = 3 Hits?
- Unit Size dimensions are loosely given, typically 4-6" in the rules, with a few like guns being half that. It MATTERS for a number of mechanics AND how many units fit onto the table top in certain spaces, how wide the units are. Depth isn't very important. Most important, that both sides are using the same size bases for the same Units, so there isn't a dis/advantage.
Movement
- Crossing River at Ford / Bridge, i.e. rate, cost, bridge model
- Road Movement, i.e. how does a 1-base unit do it - sideways if a rectangle?
- Charging; How to Contact [corner-edge? edge-edge? full / partial alignment?]
- Measurement point for move distance to Contact?
- Cavalry retreat from Hand-to-Hand: 6" move any direction? or straight back?
Shooting
- measurement points to / from Units [center-closest? center-center? closest-closest?]
- measurement point for Unit occupying town?
- Firing Arc, i.e. how is a Unit "within" 45 degrees of the front facing? over half?
- How much of a Unit needs to be seen to be targeted?
- How large a gap does a shooter need to fire through? Between friendly units?
- Line of Sight, including through / within / across Area & Linear Terrain, and over units [especially important for artillery Units].
Terrain
- How many Units may occupy a town? If 2+, how do you work the 360 fire arc? Do units just maintain their "formation" in the town like they would in a woods?
- what's "in" woods / town terrain? [entire Unit or Unit Edge] [Partially or fully] within?
- How does a Unit "occupy" a hilltop? Same as "in woods / town" above? Are hills plateaus with a crest at the edge? Or do they have a military crest running along the long center line?
MY DECISIONS
I generally divide the periods into Ancient [Ancient thru Pike and Shot] and Moderns [Horse and Musket to WWII]. The general concept is that modern armies begin when training is widely introduced to make movement and shooting more predictable.
General
- Premeasuring is allowed;
- Any fraction is round UP. This "minimum" Hit of '1' gives a little satisfaction on a bad roll, and it also is justified by how intense and tiring combat is.
- Unit Sizes: For Ancients, I field units on a 2-1 front / Side base size ratio. My Medievals are all being rebased to 5" front and 2.5" deep. This is close to the WRG / DBx standard of 12cm front by 6cm deep. I then use the Base Width [BW] of 5" and Base Depth [BD] of 2.5" as measurement tools. For Moderns, I will be using multi-stand units about 4cm x 2cm in size, and they take up about 5-6" wide on the table.
- Line of Sight [LoS] I handled using the 2-1 base width-depth ratio. For a shot or charge, an attacker needs a BD of the target unit. So all of a flank and 1/2 the front of the base. The entire LoS needs to be within range, so again it would be the entire flank side of the base, or 1/2 of the front side of the base - the 1/2 front side doesn't need to be center to corner.
Movement
- Crossing River at Ford / Bridge, i.e. rate, cost, bridge model
I cross at normal move rates, but always make the river about an infantry move wide. So the most common units spend a turn crossing.
- Road Movement, i.e. how does the 1-base unit do it?
for Ancients, I let any contact with the road count, as they are mostly just a rough track or trail, anyway, and hasten movement not due to the quality of the road itself but due to the ease of staying on course. For Moderns, I have multiple base units so they just move along the narrow side of the base, each base upon the road.
- Charging; How to Contact [corner-edge? edge-edge? full / partial alignment?]
I use edge / edge and maximise contact, with the minimum being half the front, or a BD.
- Measurement point for move distance to Contact? I use charger's front center point to the farthest point of the LoS - a full BD of the base side being charged.
- Cavalry retreat from Hand-to-Hand, e.g. 6" move any direction or straight back?
As I use edge-edge contact, they bounce straight back, HOWEVER, this is a good example where I can see allowing the corner contact along the straight line, and then moving directly back along that same charge line, so no conforming to edge contact.
- turning and corner / edge interpenetrating friendly / enemy units.
I allow this as the Units themselves are an area that has soldiers in it, not that the entire base footprint is entirely packed with people. Also, it's a lot easier on players to move around, especially when they're learning the game.
Shooting
- measurement points to / from Units [center-closest? center-center? closest-closest?]
Front Center point to the entire LoS, which is BD long [half the front, all the side] must be within range.
- measurement point for Unit occupying town?
One Unit per town, so the center of each of the four sides of the square, as tho it was a unit.
- Firing Arc, i.e. how is a Unit "within" 45 degrees of the front facing?
The entire LoS must be with the front 45 degree arc, so 1/2 the front, all of the side.
- How much of a Unit needs to be seen to be targeted?
A BD, or 1/2 the front, all of the side, needs to be in LoS.
- How large a gap does a shooter need to fire through? A BD.
- Line of Sight, including through / within / across Area & Linear Terrain, and over units [especially important for artillery Units].
I use a BD across a terrain edge or line that blocks LoS [e.g. woods, hill crest] or a BD within terrain [woods, town]. I don't allow shooting over friendly units, but if a Unit is a full level higher or more than an intervening enemy unit, I allow them to shoot if that unit is closer to them than the target unit.
- Can you shoot into a melee [Ancients, Dark Ages, Medieval, Pike & Shot rules]?
I say yes, as long as you have a Line of Sight. This is b/c I don't see melee as continuous, but a series of short, sharp attacks with times of breaks in between. This also allows bowmen and Skirmishers to support other units during the game better.
Terrain
- How many Units may occupy a town? If 2+, how to work the 360 fire arc?
One in Ancients - so the square town is like a unit. In Moders, I let them fight through towns like they are woods, in effect.
- what's "in" woods / town terrain? [entire Unit or Unit Edge] [Partially or fully] within?
I say entirely within area terrain to get a defensive bonus in melee. For shooting, if the LoS has the terrain between, then the unit gets the terrain bonus.
- How does a Unit "occupy" a hilltop? Same as "in woods / town" above?
I use a military crest, usually, so I define this by being "uphill" of the opponent in melee. If both are across the slope and appear "equally" situated from uphill to downhill no one gets a defensive bonus.
While there are many different rule sets out there that handle these mechanics and situations differently, I've tried to choose a series of intuitive, visually obvious means to solve most of the issues in the simplest way possible. Additional nuance is usually BOTH tedious and a-historical. An overall difference is best expressed with something simple, like Cavalry is faster than infantry, so it has a 12" move rather than the 6" infantry move.
Hope this list helps you to more easily prepare to play these rules and start considering your own way to handle the various situations that arise.
Great work, this is what is missing from the book. I do a lot of this any way but it is nice to see these conventions written down.
ReplyDeleteAs I play the game solo the lack of this in the book has not been a big deal for me but you make an excellent point about a more competitive situation between two players.
I like the rules as written and try not to tweak them too much but they do put some people off with their extreme brevity. Your work here should make the rules as written much more acceptable to many.
Regards,
Paul.
Thanks Paul. Even solo, I find it helpful to stand on the shoulders of those who came before, so I figure I may as well pass along what I had to do for my own solo efforts, anyway.
DeleteIt was annoying to me to have to keep stopping play and figure out rules, even if it was against myself. Besides, it's a great way to understand rules design better. Happy gaming!
This is a very interesting read. I need to get back into actually wargaming. Most of my activity lately has been taken up with terrain experiments that will represent desert features. With my level of obsessiveness this has gotten out of hand!
ReplyDeleteI have some desert terrain, including sand dunes, in many of my WWII scenarios. It's pretty easy to make, generally speaking.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great set of rules to play with - you only need ten units and can start with cardboard cutouts if necessary.
I spent a week looking at websites in order to steal ideas. I have now three projects, (A) Cork Bark rock outcropping/broken ground (B) modular hill with high density foam and (C) the Wadi. I need to post these on my blog. Maybe it will make me actually DO something instead of play ‘Last Day on Earth Survival’ on my iPad.
DeleteComputer games can suck the life out of real life. Sometimes, they are just too "good" like game-candy. And like candy, too much makes you sick. :)
DeleteI've been pretty committed to "real" gaming for a long time, especially miniatures and now some board games. I dig the real, and I like picking up heavy metal figs. Perhaps it's a "crafty" v. electronic experience. I like being hands-on, I just find it more exciting. Also, every time you play with your stuff, you can remember that "I made that!" and it is more personal.
For lovely cork bark terrain, go to Maiwand Day blog.
Did you ever finish those Dark Age rules? I followed you other blog as you progressed on that. Made me start painting again.
ReplyDeleteDoug
Hey Doug,
DeleteI have a 1-page rules summary / QRS that I've been using and running games with. It is focused on Feudal games.
I apologize if we were in tough via email and I was going to send you something. Shoot me a gmail message to mine, which is brasidas19004. Thanks for your interest!
Pre-measuring should ALWAYS be OK. I don't understand rules that forbid such. It assumes that all players are equally good at judging distances when they are not. So, those who are good at it get a significant advantage. And, frankly,
ReplyDelete"real" experienced troops/officers would have a decent idea of how far out their weapons reach.
Hey Pan, nice to have you drop by again.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way - and I have an eagle-eye that sometimes creeps out my opponents who are trying to figure out how I measured without them seeing.
:)
The one problem with it is that people can get cute with being 2mm out of range or something which bothers some people. Rules need to be crafted so that the players understand that the range bands are "probability zones" in the eyes of the officers who decide to Fire or Hold Fire. It has nothing to do with weapon capability, it has to do with ammunition supply and combat effects, which are in the judgement of the officers, ultimately [altho some Senior Sergeant has significant input and probably has the little tool to open the ammo boxes].
But overall, I say pre-measuring is more realistic, faster and fairer.