Time for a review of the troops, captain.
Love the flags, but what are those pallets their standing on?
It's time for neglected Spear to the Strife to get some attention!
This page has been quiet since the last Chainmail game over winter. But with my friend and I getting prepared to play some 1 edition Basic / Expert level Dungeons & Dragons [with my original 1981 books] I had to get working on a battle system for it also - it will be part of the RPG campaign... the culmination of any great fantasy book is a big battle between Good and Evil. Lookin' at you, J.R.R....
And with that, I also got the urge to go back to the fantastic plastic old-school look of mono-pose figures. This is a retro nostalgic thing, and I don't blame those who like more "realistic" figures at all. They just lack 'charm' IMHO. Anyway, the Old School Miniatures Fb page pointed me to the Hasbro / GW "Battle Masters" game, and I'm working on getting a complete copy of it - seems useful to throw casual beer'n pretzel games. Meanwhile, I also picked up some reasonably priced plastics. These were being sold as "spare parts" and were complete and in good shape, two sets of the figures, about 225 figs, cost me $110 total. And they came with their own trays and flags, as shown below. Two orc and a goblin unit to left, Chaos archers [!] Beastmen and champions to right.
I did a quick play-thru with the rules I'd scribbled up so far, a unit-based extrapolation of the BasEx D&D RPG combat rules. It went pretty well, but of course revealed lots of holes to fill in, mostly with adapting to the 'fighting figures individually' aspect. But below, One-Hour Wargames Scenario #25 "Infiltration" proves itself exciting with medieval rules. Turn 3, the Men-at-Arms enter to block the valley between the hill and woods, while the Chaos Champions and Beastmen attempt to break out, supported by the archers.
Above, the orcs and goblins provide a distraction for more valuable troops to escape! The Goblins have already been routed, while the orcs are fighting the Empire archers and maneuvering to support the breakout.
The works of chaos are assisted by another Chaos demon, of the red-haired variety. The crazed expression hints at the dangers for mortals to engage Chaos on any terms, and we can only hope that the little minx learns this important fact!
And yes, like most children, my daughter can roll critical hits and such just about every roll...brutal!
Anyway, Turn 6, the knights and crossbows enter, and begin working to seize the hills and collapse the chaos flank. This proves more problematic than originally supposed, partially due to poor planning on my part [daughter demanded a game and I wasn't quite ready].
Still, this was not a fair fight - the original scenario calls for the breakout force to have a 4-6 disadvantage, and Chaos fought Empire 1:1, or 6-6. Clearly, they should have been required to get 3 Units off the board for a win - clearly a re-match is needed!
This game was a bit of a mess, with my daughter rolling crazy well [of course] and a mish-mash of planning and ideas on my part. I will have to sit down and re-write the rules more thoroughly and with more development that is in accord with D&D BasEx! But it was a good start.
The Battle Masters figs and trays work just fine, and are suitable to be painted up by One-Hour Wargames fans everywhere, and I highly recommend getting a set of them - for $50 and 110 figs, you can't go wrong. The trays and flags are a bonus.
Re-match coming soon!
Looks like a great game! I struggle to escape in that scenario, so good to see someone get away for a change 🙂
ReplyDeleteI think it has to do with the selection of reinforcements, mostly. You start with a 4:1, which becomes a 4:2 if you destroy the first Unit. You sacrifice two units to hold up the Turn 6 reinforcements while 2 escape up the road. Easier said than done, I suppose...
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