One Hour Wargame - Gridded Board - Iron Age Variant (after Neil Thomas)

UNIT TYPES

The game features the following unit types, Warband, Archers, Horsemen, and Chariots.

SEQUENCE OF PLAY

Roll D6 to determine which side goes first.
1.       Movement
2.       Firing
3.       Hand-to-hand combat
4.       Eliminate Units
5.       Morale check

1. MOVEMENT

Allowances: Movement in grid squares is as follows

Unit	Normal	On road	In wood	uphill
Warband	2	3	-	1
Archers	3	4	3	2
Horsemen	4	6	-	3
Chariot	4	6	-	-

 
Direction/turning: All units may turn once (90^o to face) at either the start or finish of movement. Warbands and Archers are restricted to moving through the sides of grid squares; Horsemen and Chariots may move diagonally to left or right of face and still make a single 90^o turn at the start or finish of move.

Terrain: See above for how terrain affects movement.

Woods – only archers may enter
Villages – no restrictions
Marshland/Lakes – impassable
Rivers – require bridge/ford to cross

Moving and Shooting: Units may either move or shoot in a given turn.

Interpenetration: Only Archers may move through other friendly units.

Charge move: All units may elect to charge an enemy that is in range. Warbands and Archers may not turn prior to charging; Horsemen and chariots may charge diagonally (45^o to face). Combat is resolved during Hand-to-hand phase below.

2. FIRING

Only Archers fire, as follows.

Field of fire: A single target may be fired on up to 45^o to front face.

Range: 4 grid squares.

Assess casualties: Archer unit rolls 1D6 to determine the number of hits the target acquires, with the following adjustments

Cover: Units in woods or villages suffer 50% of hits (rounded up in favour of shooter).

Warbands: Warbands suffer 50% of casualties as they are deemed to have armour/shields (rounded up in favour of shooter).

3. HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT

One sided combat: Units only inflict hits during their turn.

Assess Casualties:

Unit	Value	Charging turn
Warband	1D6 + 2	1D6 + 4
Archers	1D6 - 1	1D6 + 1
Horsemen	1D6	1D6 + 4
Chariots	1D6	2D6

 
Modifications:

Terrain: Units in woods, village, uphill of attacker or holding a bridge suffer 50% casualties (rounded up in favour of the attacker).

Warbands: Warbands suffer 50% of casualties as they are deemed to have armour/shields (rounded up in favour of attacker).

Flank or Rear: Units attacking to flank or rear double the number of casualties rolled.

Movement in combat: During their turn, units may move to face an enemy attacking to flank/rear only if they are not being simultaneously attacked to front.

4. ELIMINATING UNITS

Units are eliminated once they have accrued 15 hits.

5. MORALE

Units at 50% strength or less roll 1D6 each turn and act as follows:

5 or 6 – continue as ordered
3 or 4 – Retreat: turn 180^o, move one full turn (if movement takes the unit off the board it may not return)
1 or 2 – Rout: turn to rear, move full moves until off the board, do not take further morale checks.