John over at the 54mm or Fight! blog (see here) has recently been adding some interesting features to his Fantasy Variant of OHW (Neil Thomas's marvelous set of fast play rules). This got me thinking about giving my gridded version a revamp and including the three hit variant (see here) for assessing casualties. This was given a little play through this afternoon. I have added a Magic section but didn't play that today as I wanted to get a feel for the combat first.
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| Inevitable Generic Fantasy Map for no reason other than I like it |
Orcs have appeared from the Mountains of Mourning and attacked the Elves. |
| The objective is to be in sole possession of the hill at the end of the battle |
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| Orc and Elf Cavalry clash - 2 sixes equate to 2 hits on the Orc unit leaving 1 hit point before the unit is destroyed |
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| Fierce fighting on the hill as both sides rapidly start taking hits |
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| The Orc Hero/Leader is seriously damaged by this point |
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| The Elves now control the hill - losses are great on both sides |
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| Having lost the Troll, and with only 1 hit point left, the remaining Orcs leg it |
Well the combat rules worked ok. Just got to test the Magic rules now!
Nice. Do you find any particular “troop type” more effective than others? If so, in what respect? And, if some troops are more effective than others, how can you redress the balance? Long & short = get more Orcs I reckon. An Orc General always needs more warriors… ⚔️⚔️
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Geoff
Thanks Geoff. Infantry are very strong, as are the Hero/Leader stands. Both roll 3 dice in attack so theoretically can wipe out a unit in a turn.
DeleteGood battle report! I'm interested in seeing how the magic system works. I'm currently experimenting with a very simple system using ordinary playing cards.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. At the moment it is very similar to the Magic system in Swords, Sorcery and Squares. I'd be interested in reading your experiments too though I'm not on FB!
DeleteOk, wizards move as cavalry and ignore terrain. In close combat they fight as heavy cavalry but only have one strength point. During the artillery phase if not in close combat they can choose to fire an arcane bolt, as artillery fire, or cast a spell. Spells are cast by playing a card, with the cards value or less needing to be rolled on 2d6 for success. Court cards count as 10 and aces 11. ( example if an 8 is played roll 8 or less for success). Once a spell is cast it remains in play until dispelled or it dissipates. A wizard can only have one spell in play at a time. Each turn roll 2d6 for a spell as if casting it, if successful it remains in play. A wizard may attempt to dispell a spell in play by playing a card and rolling to cast a dispell magic spell with it. If successful thectarget spell is dispelled. Wizards roll an average die (233445) for the number of spells they have prepared for the battle.
DeleteClubs: God, or Devils speed: the units movement is doubled.
Diamonds: Shield: all rolls to hit the unit, or in close combat are at -1.
Hearts: Fear, or Courage. The unit will immediately attempt to flee the field by the shortest rout possible, and will not voluntarily engage in close combat while doing so. If forced to fight they are at -1. Courage: the unit rallies and regains one strength point. If they have left the field or been eliminated they return in any baseline square not already occupied.
Spades: Entangled. The unit may not move and all die rolls are at -1. If shot at or attacked in close combat the enemy are at +1.
They seem to work well for me, I'm very interested in your thoughts about them.
Thanks for the very detailed answer Mark. That's a very interesting approach you have keeping spells in play - I like the idea of a Wizard working away to keep an enemy unit bogged down and less effective! It sounds like it would be a really good system.
DeleteI also like my Magic Users to be quite vulnerable though able to do a bit of ranged damage.
I look forward to seeing more of this…
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Thanks Tradgardmastare. It's very fast play, and casualty high of course as it's OHW so no morale rules. Fun for a quick game.
DeleteGood to see this in action, MJT. Do you find the ‘three hits’ system does what you want/fits the bill? It’s a big change from the 15 hit original, I must say. And was everything 3 hits to kill’? (a thought : An option might be an extra hit for a leader or hero-led unit to be removed?)
ReplyDeleteCheers Martin and thanks for pointing me in the 3 hits direction.
ReplyDeleteYes, I like it. I have so far stuck to 3 hits to destroy a unit though have toyed with the idea of making somethings tougher or possibly using different dice for some really powerful pieces. The Troll for example was treated as an infantry unit but a Giant might get to throw 1D8 + 2D6 giving more chance of a hit??
Thanks. I enjoyed the three hits variant. When I tried ‘an extra hit to kill’ it was just with the leaders’ units (no leaders in OHW, but I wanted to show them), which made it easier to track.
ReplyDeleteThe dice mod for eg a giant sounds interesting, and worth a try or two. Wonder if it skews with ‘non-standard’ targets/easier and harder to hit items?
Good to see another game on the MJT table 🙂👍🏼👍🏼. Happy Easter! 🐣
Lots of potential experiments with these rules! Always fun.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter