Huffalumps, Oliphaunts or Snuffleupagae?

ELEPHANTS. The bane of rule designers, they are usually too powerful...

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/M%C3%BBmakil 

or too weak...


https://thedrugofthenation.com/2011/11/25/show-of-the-day-sesame-street-snuffleupagus-edition/

...and hard to get "just right".

http://www.historynet.com/carthaginian-war-elephant.htm

I've returned from my 1:1 Army adventure, and despite being pretty wiped out, wanted to finish this post from a several months ago. Apologies to followers for my absence, but "Duty Calls"! Hoping to post a batrep soon, preferably with an unusual scenario that I've never tried before, and some more modeling, painting and basing.

As one must expect with wargame rules, it is hard to get the right balance of history, playability, and "feel", and the more unusual the unit / weapon / personality the more difficult it gets. This problem is worsened due to the lack / unreliability of sources, and the general failure of most rule designers - the vast majority - to work out their mechanics well.

Some of the worst but most common are Chariots, Camels and Elephants [setting aside flaming pigs as something best left as a unique scenario rule]. One of the benefits of a simpler set of rules like One-Hour Wargames is that there are fewer mechanics to hash up, but it also requires a bunch of playtesting to get the right balance, and said balance may even have to change a bit depending on history. Remember that we are trying to keep as close to the 4/6-Unit / 30-scenario paradigm as possible, as that's the heart of the game.

Overall, I lean into the "less is more" when it comes to special rules and exceptions, so here's my take on some of the more common "unusual" Unit types from the Ancient World:

Chariots
Aside from being more sensitive to certain types of terrain, chariots are nothing more than platform cavalry. They can be classed as Cavalry for OHW if armed with javelin, spear or lance. If relying on bows, they are best expressed as mounted Skirmishers [shoot, move as Cavalry =12", can't enter rough terrain, etc].
EDIT: note that wheeled vehicles are more vulnerable to terrain than "legged" animals like horses, so it "may" be interesting to have a piece of terrain that is prohibited to the chariots but not to foot or horse units - LMK if you try this out.

Camels
Popular wisdom says that horses don't like the smell of them, and perhaps the size is an issue, also. If one buys into this, then one can halve Hits inflicted upon them by any horse-mounted cavalry Unit [said mechanic coming from the Pike and Shot rules]. You can instead drop them one melee level, from +2 [Knights] to 0, and from 0 [Cavalry] to -2. Some say that Camels are slower than horses - they are also more durable and mobile in soft sand, so personally I'd have them move the same as cavalry, but if they must be slower you can give them a 9 or 10" move.
Edit: same thought as above...maybe have a piece of "soft sand" terrain that camels can get thru but other units move thru at half speed?

Elephants

I’m not a snuffleupagus expert, but my understanding of them is that historically:

- act as a barrier to cavalry

- vulnerable to missiles

- can’t be screened [way too tall]

- can be an effective fighting platform, but generally speaking more of a support animal.

If these are true, then

- can’t be charged by Cavalry,

- normal Hits from archery

- If with lots of escorting skirmishers, then the unit becomes, in essence, a light infantry Unit that can’t be charged by cavalry. 
NOTE: due to their large size [and therefore easy to hit with missile weapons] armored elephants wouldn't count as armored from shooting. I'd upgrade them from "light" status of D6-2 to D6 instead as I see the armor as more of a melee benefit.

I don’t see anything else they need to be effective, frankly. Cavalry are the natural menace to light troops, so if they can’t be charged by cavalry that should be enough. So I’d use them in OHW terms as Skirmishers, d6-2 shooting / melee. If they were armored, had fighting platform, and were well – supported by integral infantry, let them fight as d6. Note that this would make them pretty tough for Cavalry to face - the horse can't charge them, but they are "blocked" and have to take shooting Hits. This would be pretty useful without overdoing it, I think.

When destroyed in melee [read NT’s melee rule concept again] everything directly behind 6” takes 2d6 Hits, or 12” takes d6 Hits [depending on your take of elephant rampage] as they rampage out of the fight. One could also dice for a direction, with 1-4 being directly forward / back / left / right and 5-6 is just destroyed, no rampage at all. 

With 6 Units, you shouldn’t have more than 1 elephant, unless it is a very rare list like Indian or Burmese. Be wary of making them into the Tiger Tank of the Ancient world! Elephants may be even smarter than horses, and horses won’t charge into formed, steady infantry – they look like a wall. One can assume that elephants have had some battle training, but it may not be effective if their driver is killed.

OK, so there's a few thoughts on some of these unusual troop types. I believe that even with just the special rules available in the OHW rules, there's enough to handle most situations. Trying to work with the Rules as Written but crossing over the occasional rule or unit type is well within the spirit of the rules, I think.

Happy to hear what people have to say about these special units - just post a comment. I have to say, that I'd really like to try out some of these units now - they'd be very interesting!