Warwell's Wargames

Over this past week I made a number of enhancements to my MicroBattle game set-up.

Storage
First, I switched storage boxes. I had my 3mm figures split across multiple pencil boxes. I moved my generic shock, horse & musket, and sci-fi minis into this 9 x 11 inch box (I evicted my skirmish miniatures from it).

The nice thing about this box is that it fits an 8 x 10 inch battle board without having to fold it. No more creases.

Here is the interior of the box filled with terrain (cork hills, pot scrubber woods, little wooden buildings), markers, and woods.

The box also fits my miniatures. I have 2 generic armies (blue vs. red) in the plastic boxes.

Each army includes massed infantry and cavalry suitable for ancient to horse & musket periods, horse & musket artillery that could work for modern, skirmishers usable for any period, plus some tanks.

I also have some extra armies in bags (an evil black army, some knights in shiny armor, and some sci-fi robots).

With these armies, I have a lot of choice regarding which era to play.

Terrain
It's hard to see above but I have upgraded my terrain. Below is an example laid out for battle.

For reference, the figures are 3mm Magister Militum.

The battlefield is cork board with a grid of 8 by 10 1-inch squares. Hills are made of cork and woods are made of pot scrubbers. The village (top) is one I made years ago out of cardboard and wooden buttons. Fortuitously, I decided to hold onto it (and other scratch made buildings).

Rules
I further refined my MicroBattle rules changes that I mentioned last time. The base concept is that the score to succeed a test (whether attacking, defending, morale, etc.) depends on whether the tester is advantaged, neutral, or disadvantaged.



Major Disadvantage         6+
Disadvantage                    5+
Neutral                             4+
Advantage                        3+
Major Advantage             2+

Major Disadvantage / Advantage occurs when there are multiple disadvantages or advantages. Also note that disadvantages and advantages cancel each other out.

I have a list of situations that cause advantage or disadvantage, but you don't really need to check them. Any experienced gamer should have no trouble just eyeballing the situation and then ruling on the status. It is quick and intuitive, enabling a speedy game.

Note that combat involves 3 tests:

1. Does the attacker hit the target?
2. Can the target negate a hit (via armor, superior morale, etc.)?
3. Is the target forced to retreat?

This is not as onerous as it sounds. Tests 2 and 3 are only needed if the attacker succeeds (hits) in Test 1. Then Tests 2 and 3 can be rolled simultaneously (I suggest using different colored dice).

The Test
Once I put everything together, I played a test game. Stay tuned for a battle report in a few days or so.

After my successful experiment with Age of Heroes, I began to ponder using the rules for fantasy skirmishes. At the same time, Kaptain Kobold's recent gladiator reports (here's the latest) got me interested in gladiator games. How about using Age of Heroes for team battles in an arena?

I experimented with a virtual board.

Teams consisted of a hero, 2 warriors, and an archer. The archer had limited ammo. I randomly placed 4 obstacles that could be used as cover.

The games were a lot of fun. In fact, I've played nearly 20 games on my virtual board.

Of course, I ultimately want to convert to miniatures on an actual board. I went a bit crazy and ordered enough 10mm figures for a dozen teams! Well now I had a dilemma, how to store all these new figures?

Work came to my rescue. Earlier in the year I celebrated my 15th anniversary at my company. They gave me a nice trophy (which is sitting on my desk at work). It came in a nice box.

The box top made a perfect play space. I cut out an 8 x 8 grid from a Pathfinder flip mat and then made obstacles from the leftover bit.

I created two teams from my existing fantasy miniatures (still waiting on my order):

• A knight hero, dwarf warrior, an archer, and sorceress, vs.
• An orc warlord, 2 warriors, and an archer

Here is the final position.

 The knight (with 2 wounds) and dwarf are still alive along with an orc warrior. The adventurers scored 3 kills on 5 wounds while the orcs scored 2/4. Victory for the adventurers!

I did not use upgrades for my virtual battles but did so for the miniature session. The dwarf was tough (+1 Health) and the sorceress had a Piercing Shot (no armor roll). Too bad she never hit anything before being cut down by an orc warrior.

My fantasy project is coming along well - I now have 2 units of Evil cavalry and an Evil leader painted. I just need to finish the Anarendor cavalry and leader; then I will be able to field 2 armies. Each army consists of 4 levy/horde, 2 cavalry, 2 infantry, and 2 shooters, which allows me to field any random unit selection using the One Hour Wargame rules. I have ideas for additional armies, but I'm putting those on hold for now.

But, as is typical, I find myself getting distracted with other projects. It started when I was cleaning my garage so I could get my patio furniture stored before Hurricane Matthew passed by. My miniatures were scattered in various sized boxes around the garage. I decided to organize them, so after the storm I picked up a set of plastic drawers from Wal Mart.


I also picked up some smaller boxes and moved my miniatures into them.


As I was doing this, I noticed that I never finished my spaceship project. I'd like to add another cruiser and a couple more destroyers per fleet. I also need a red battleship and carrier.

Sci-fi forces Ground troops in top row Shops in bottom row (+ a carrier on top of a battleship in the middle)

Then I started thinking of getting my scratch-built, sci-fi ground forces back into action.

Which led me to using my nook to shop for sci-fi rules. I came across, and ultimately purchased, Horizon Wars.


I read some reviews and even checked out this video playthrough. Some of the mechanics are not to my liking, but I am interested in the army set-up - a low number of small-scale figures featuring infantry, tanks, and big, stompy robots. I ended up buying the rules for the army lists / army creation rules. I'm now tempted to order some of the Oddzial Osmy 3mm troops.

To come full circle, I had planned to play a small game this morning using my newly painted Evil cavalry. One of my cats had other ideas. He decided he wanted to nap right next to me. If I got up to prepare a game, it would disturb him. Like many cat guardians, I chose not to move.

Ollie napping (The picture is from another day. I didn't dare get up today)

Having the day off and inspired by the receipt of my latest Baccus figures, I decided to run another Redgravian Raiders scenario. I realized, however, that I have no buildings for 6mm.* How can I raid a village if I have no buildings for a village?

* Actually, I don't have any buildings anymore. Overly enthused by my 6mm miniatures, I started to divest myself of my 10mm stuff and prematurely gave away my Village in a Bag to Goodwill.

So I decided to put together some buildings. During my latest visit to Hobby Lobby, I picked up some balsa wood and other wood bits and pieces which I now put it to good use. Here is a sample:

New buildings pressed into action. The glue is still drying on the hut.

Inspired by Bob Cordery, I decided to make thin buildings, such as the one on the right, that would not take up much space in a square. I also picked up some wood buttons to make huts (left). In the spirit of Village in a Bag (and sheer laziness) I only painted the roofs while adding doors and windows with marker. For stability and a little height, I mounted the buildings on wood stands. I still need to paint the base edges.


I'm taking a new approach with my 6mm figures. I picked up a couple of these divided craft organizer boxes at Hobby Lobby. I want to keep everything I need for a game (except for the board) in one box. I currently have my medieval figures, trees, building, and casualty markers in this box. My current hills won't fit so I just made some new, slightly narrower, ones that will.

Anyway, I took my new toys (not the hills - I made them after the battle) and played out a raid. The battle report follows.