On Sunday there was a small window of opportunity for a game, squeezed in between domestic duties and watching the Queen Stage of the Giro d'Italia. The RISK armies were employed to fight a battle based on Scenario 10 from Scenarios for All Ages; The Important Bridge. The single built up area is The Bridge Inn and its surrounding out-houses.
Armies Red and Blue both need to capture the bridge. The River is fordable at each end and by using the bridge. The rules were OHW Horse & Musket but with the 3 hit variant (HERE). The Armies were larger than a usual OHW game making the simpler to record variant very useful. The objective is total control of the bridge after 15 turns.
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| Initial positions of the opposing forces |
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| Action immediately begins North of the river |
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| Red fords the river to the East, Blue attempts to counter this |
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| Blue begins to dominate the centre |
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Late in the day, Red might just out flank Blue...
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| At turn 12 Army Red runs out of viable units and concedes |
Nice report, and a close call! Looks like the Red fording units had quite an effect, in forcing blue to react (I must’ve missed the ‘fordable away from the bridge’ note when I ran this one…😯). Good to see the Risk armies slogging it out.
ReplyDeleteIs the 3 Hits your ‘preferred option’ now?
Thanks Martin. It's a nice scenario, as would be expect from two such Heavyweights in the wargaming arena.
DeleteI think the 3 hits variant is very good and is definitely going to be used in future OHW games.
Hi Maudlin, looks like you're running a wargame school, with theorical exercises first :) Nice scene from which you can easily imagine actual situations, well done :)
ReplyDeleteMerci Philotep - S'il y avait Un Ecole de Jeu de Guerre, je serais un eleve et pas le Prof!
DeleteAn interesting scenario and close game. I do like the use of risk figures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter. The original scenario would I imagine feature a larger battlefield and included another built up area. This suited me as it meant the action started at once!
DeleteThe Stuart Asquith 'Red Book', along with CS Grant's Green and Black Books are very useful sources of scenarios and ideas for war games. The "important bridge" is one of my favourites...
ReplyDeleteFunny thing about the figures from games - Risk, Ikuza, Age of Imperialism - is that one feels disinclined to paint them. I wonder why that is? (I might ask this question again next time I 'do' a Sengoku article {pending}. I didn't want to paint up the Okuza/Shogun figures, but eventually dobbed some paint on the 'surplus to game design' ashigaru).
Cheers,
Ion
Agreed - both authors have produced some fine scenarios which I find a joy to read as well as play. In my teens I used to really enjoy Grant's Tabletop Teasers which were a great source of inspiration.
DeleteI did think about painting the Risk figures but I left them as i'm very slow at painting and I like the playing-piece look; halfway between a Board Game and a Tabletop Wargame.
Looks good, and an interesting battle report. About how long did it take you play the game? Following on from the Archdukes comments, I have painted a number of Risk piece armies, I find them fun and easy to paint and I think they look quite good when painted.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark - the actual playing time was probably only about 30 minutes! I spend more time finding things and shooing cats off the table than actually playing!
DeleteHaving seen other peoples, I agree that the Risk pieces can paint up well but I like them to look like Playing Pieces!
The Blue army did remarkably well. Do you think having their forces split 8/4 was more advantageous that the Red army 6/6 split? Your armies and tabletop battlefield look good - simple yet effective.
ReplyDeleteTBH I don’t really follow cycling, but have you read “Giromino! : Riding the Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy” by Tim Moore? He retraces the 1914 tour - riding an authentic 1914 bike (wooden wheels) and period clothing too. A rather funny travelogue. I recommend it, and it’s not just for those into cycling either.
Cheers,
Geoff
I roughly followed the force distribution as stated in the book, though I didn't differentiate between light and heavy cavalry as I was using OHW rules. I've only played this scenario once but I suspect that the layout of the terrain hindered Red. I'll need a few more attempts to get a better feel for it.
DeleteSounds like an interesting book, thanks!
Love the old school blue vs red wargame. The pieces and board look very effective. Well done. Quinn
ReplyDeleteThankyou! More like this will be along soon, all being well
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