trying out : one hour wargames

Started by petercooman, 22 March 2017, 11:33:04 PM

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petercooman

22 March 2017, 11:33:04 PM Last Edit: 22 March 2017, 11:40:29 PM by petercooman
So finally got round to playing one hour wargames by Neil Thomas. I wanted to wait untill i had some bridges made, because was going to try out the rules with my ACW armies. In the couple of games i have played with severed union, most of the time i played a scenario where i you had to control river crossings, therefor i wanted to start with scenario 3 in the OHW book. This scenario makes you fight for control over two bridges, giving me an instant comparison between my games with severed union and the OHW rules.

For the confederates i had: 4 infantry units, 1 cavalry uni and an artillery battery.
For the union: 4 infantryunits, 1 zouave unit (wich will be represented by standard troops) and an artillery battery.

Turn 1:

Both armies advanced, with the artillery batteries taking position and the rest going for the bridges


Turn 2

the rebels took position in the woods, while the union split up and went for both bridges


Turn 3

First shots were fired, and the zouaves went into hiding behind the other unit; i wanted to keep them alive in case i had a breakthrough (they have a faster movement so could go for the artillery)



Turn 4

Both armies close in for the exchange



Turn 5

the exchange makes some casualties



Turn 6

The opposing centre units both get knocked out


Turn 7

The confederate cavalry  and the opposing union unit get wiped out.



Turn 8

the remaining infantry on the rebel right flank take over here the cavalry failed



Turn 9

The unit that replaced the cavalry gets wiped out itself.


Turn 10

The zouaves make their way to the exposed battery (meanwhile the other side of the board remains the same, as both side are still holding out for a late game objective grab)



Turn 11

The zouaves get ready to fire upon the artillery



Turn 12

While the rebel battery turns face, the union side puts the objective grab in motion



Turn 13

One of the objective grabbing units is annihilated



Turn 14

Both sides close in, the zouves ignore the battery

ยต

Turn 15

Last turn; being overconfident the last few turns, i thought the union artillery would have destroyed the rebel battery, but have missed all their shots, enabling the rebel cannons to make way for the (now unprotected) bridge.



In the second half of the turn, the union tries to rout the unit on the bridge, but they jjust can't inflict enough wounds so they stay on the objective.





With neither side controling both bridges, the game resulted in a draw!

Really not a bad ruleset, but Not as good as his napoleonic  rules, so will have to see if the scenarios work for those rules!

Wouldn't want to play this everyday,, but now and then it could really offer a fun game in a limited time

d_Guy

Hi Peter,
Enjoyed the report on your first use OHW. I rather like it and have played several games in Pike and Shot and a couple Napoleonics with the Horse and Musket rules. I'm finding it useful for doing quick, secondary actions away from the more complex main battles I do with detailed rules. Also good for quick tests for Scenario development.

Incidently Norm Smith added two very simple rules to his OHW of ACW. The first is Command and Control, the second Morale. The latter really helps move units off their positions and increases casualties (if their morale fails).

Those rules are stuck at the end of this post on his blog if you want to look at them.

http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/black-powder-and-one-hour-wargames.html
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Norm

23 March 2017, 04:27:47 AM #2 Last Edit: 23 March 2017, 04:31:30 AM by Norm
Thanks  :)

I think it is adding the morale that can make all the difference. I was playing a game in which Zouaves (elites in this system) were in woods. Their hits being halved made it very tough to get them out without wrecking at least two units in the attempt, the morale rule gives a chance of such defenders being prised out as their casualties increase, rather than turning them into something of a pill box.

petercooman

I have read Norm's post before, and printed those add on rules. Just wanted to use the rules in their original format the first time.

Indeed, having no morale rules seems odd, especially when one unit took 12 hits in one round of shooting

Techno


Steve J

Nice report but I found his OHW rules too simple for my tastes. His 19thC and Nappies ones look much better but have yet to try them in anger.

Leman

I agree that the OHW rules produce a fun, fast game. They would make a good participation game at shows to get youngsters involved. The rules are also good for trying out scenarios. As yet I have not found a game lasting more than 40 minutes. The C19th rules, however do produce a good evening game, lasting between 1 1/2 to 3 hours, with the option to fight generated or historical  scenarios.
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petercooman

I really like his Napoleonic rules, and have adapted them for the acw myself.

I must admit that I bought OHW for the scenarios, the rules are a bonus for me. I think I wiil try them out on my sparta/athens paper armies though, just to see what they do with non-shooting armies.

Raider4

Nice looking game, good report.

How do you keep track of hits? I'm thinking of making up some small counters marked '1' through '14', although I'm not really a fan of counters (or anything else) following a unit around on the table-top.

Cheers, Martyn

petercooman

With the tiny dice behind the units  :)

Raider4

Quote from: petercooman on 24 March 2017, 05:16:46 PM
With the tiny dice behind the units  :)

Well, yes. Once you point them out, they're blindingly obvious . . .  ;)

Cheers, Martyn
--

paulr

Quote from: Raider4 on 24 March 2017, 04:49:44 PM
... although I'm not really a fan of counters (or anything else) following a unit around on the table-top.

Dice frames on the base solve that problem, http://www.minibits.net/DF5x-2s-p994/
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FierceKitty

I dislike the look of them, framed or otherwise. It's like hexes; however practical and well done, they detract from mimesis.
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