Legends of the Old West

Ok, so it has been a long time coming but at our last meeting we played our first game of LOTOW using figures and terrain supplied by one of our members.  There were six of us playing so we started by creating two ad hoc posses of 9 figures and controlled 3 figures each.  As this was our first game we didn't want it  to become too cumbersome.  All we wanted to do was to try the rules out and see how the mechanisms worked. 

In order to simplify things we chose the same stats for each side so we didn't have too much to remember on our first attempt but that didn't detract from the game in any way.

So, one side was the upstanding citizens of our own town with no name and the other was a group of unwelcome  rowdy types meandering into town.  The game began with the rowdies entering town and the residents attempting to stop them by force, as was always going to be the case.  A few citizens were placed, including an undertaker, a few drunks who got in the way and some floozies lurking with intent.

A gunfight ensued with a number of the characters firing, and missing on several occasions.  Great fun was had and there was plenty of mirth and dubious comments about the 'Pluck Test' and the 'In the way chart' which did create a few situations.  Anyway some figures hid behind door posts and bits of fence as well as other citizens.

A good game using, what appears to be, a very well thought out set of rules with the result that we will be playing it again, hopefully fairly soon.  We like games to have a particular flavour and this one seemed to have it, with figures lurking in buildings and behind cover.

The game ended in a sort of stale mate but we decided that there would be a return match.  if you haven't yet tried this game give it a go as we are sure you will enjoy it as much as we did and despite the fact that this set is published by Warhammer Historical there is not a saving throw in sight nor do you need bucket loads of dice.

Club Christmas game 2011

It has come round far too quickly but I again volunteered to run the club Christmas game last night.

A couple of months ago whilst perusing the web i came across a set of rules for a canoe race game colonial-canoe-race and added a little extra by way of seasonal chocolate coins.

At the start each player took charge of a canoe and four coins which could be used, once per turn, at any point to add 1XD6 movement, which allowed them, most of the time, to cross the rapids safely.  However this was not always the case.

A fun couple of games were had during the evening, along with a couple of beers.  The rules worked nicely and were easily understood by all parties.  All the coins 'spent' on additional movement dice were then added to the pile of coins which would eventually go to the winner

I'll now post a couple of pictures of the games.

 The table at the start with the canoes lined up ready to go

 A game in progress

Black Powder for the English Civil War

The English Civil War

The major difference from standard Black Powder is that the three elements the pike and the two sleeves of shot are able to operate as individual units to achieve common goals, So the sleeves may elect individual targets, and the movement of all three is as required to achieve a new configuration. The individual elements also are treated separately for combat but as a unit for morale purposes.

Command dice

Exceed command on 2D6 and movement is restricted to 50% of standard move

A roll equal to or one below the command entitles the unit(s) to move 100% of standard move

A roll of 2 or more under the command entitles the unit to(s) to move 150% of standard move

Once within 12 “ of enemy all moves are subject to initiative no die rolls and all moves are 100% of standard

No interpenetration is allowed through a pike block, units will flow around a pike block. If that is impossible the unit will become disordered and will make its way to the rear of the pike block in a state of disarray, and will need to be rallied by a brigade commander

.

Orders may be given to brigades or individual units. Should a unit be asked to include any other movement than moving forward it must be given an individual order.

Units and Stamina	Tiny	Small	Standard
	Less than 10	11 to 20	21 to 40
Elite	3	4	5
Trained	2	3	4
Raw	1	2	3

COMMAND MODIFIERS
Per 8” distance from commander to unit	-1
Enemy unit within 8” of unit receiving order	-1
Column, limbered artillery	+1
Column, limbered artillery on road or track	+2

Movement	Elite	Trained	Raw
Pike block	8”	7”	6”
Skirmishers	10”	9”	8”
Cavalry : Galloper	15”	14”	12”
Cavarly: Trotter	13”	12”	11”
Commanders on foot	12”
Commanders mounted	18”
Medium guns
Light guns

SHOOTING
Ranges
Matchlock		12”
Light artillery		20”/10”/4”
Medium artillery		24”/12”/6””
Heavy Artillery		36”/18”/9”
Shooting to hit modifiers
Artillery shooting at column or square			+1
Close range (6”), closing fire, skirmishers			+1
Shooters Shaken or Disordered			-1
Target skirmishers, deployed artillery or Not Clear			-1
Artillery at over half range			-1
Cannon shooting overhead			-1
Artillery which have been laid and protected by gabions			-1
Tactical modifiers
Enfilading infantry	Shoot X2 dice
Enfilading artillery	Shoot X2 dice

MORALE
Save modifiers
Infantry in column unless hit by artillery	+1
Target within woods, hedgerows or similar (light cover)	+1
Target within buildings/fortifications (heavy cover)	+2
Hit by artillery fire at long range	-1
Hit by artillery at medium or close range	-2
Target in melee with mounted includes pikes	+1

MELEE
Combat to hit modifiers
Charging	+1
Won last round of combat	+1
Pike advantage (First round of melee)	+1
Shaken or disordered	-1
Skirmishers	-1
Engaged to flank or rear	-1
Combat result modifiers
Threat to exposed flank	-1
Threat to exposed rear	-2
Pike block vs. cavalry	+3
Occupying buildings	+2

Period Rules

Heavy guns are laid and may not be moved once the combat commences

Pike block are always in column, they may not move 90 degrees to left or right, but may wheel at a cost of 50% of movement

All other troops are always in line

Infantry must form hedgehog if cavalry within 8”

If disordered infantry must roll 1D6 to see if they form hedgehog or are hit before they can form hedgehog on die rol of 1,2 or 3 Hedgehog formed, on 4 or more the cavalry succeed

Move Modifiers

Woods Skirmishers only and at 50% of normal rate

Rough Ground Skirmishers 100%, all others at 50%

Crossing and obstacle 50% penalty

Entering a building 50% penalty

UNIT STATS

Unit	Melee	Shooting	Morale	Special
Pike	6	0	4+	Hedgehog First Fire
Musket	2	3	4+
Horse	5	1	4+	Royalist Horse : Rash
Dragoon	2	3	4+	Marauders
Artillery	1	3-2-1	3+

Rash	If the unit wins a melee only a throw of 5 or 6 on a D6 will prevent them from automatically going on a sweeping advance
Hedgehog	Cannot be attacked by horse if in good order to front
Elite	At start of command if disordered roll D6 and remove if 4+
Lance	On Charge -1 morale against cavalry and -2 against infantry
Reliable	+1 Command
Brave	Shaken units rally on 4+ if more than 12 “ from enemy
Steady	Pass first break test automatically
Determined charge	Must charge where able to do so
Marauders	Ignore distance modifier for command
First Fire	+1 first volley

Black Powder for The Italian Wars

Again, using Black Powder as a base, one of our members has comeup with the following amendments to allow Black Powder to be used for the Italian Wars, with big units.

What we must realise is that these are still in the process of being tested and thus are not final versions but please feel free to give them a go.

The Great Italian Wars

Command dice

Exceed command on 2D6 and movement is restricted to 50% of standard move

A roll equal to or one below the command entitles the unit(s) to move 100% of standard move

A roll of 2 or more under the command entitles the unit to(s) to move 150% of standard move

Once within 12 “ of enemy all moves are subject to initiative no die rolls and all moves are 100% of standard

No interpenetration is allowed through a pike block, units will flow around a pike block. If that is impossible the unit will become disordered and will make its way to the rear of the pike block in a state of disarray, and will need to be rallied by a brigade commander

.

Orders may be given to brigades or individual units. Should a unit be asked to include any other movement than moving forward it must be given an individual order.

Units and Stamina	Tiny	Small	Standard	Large	Extra Large
	Less than 10	11 to 20	21 to 40	41 to 60	60+
Elite	3	4	5	6	7
Trained	2	3	4	5	6
Militia	1	2	3	4	5

COMMAND MODIFIERS
Per 8” distance from commander to unit	-1
Enemy unit within 8” of unit receiving order	-1
Column, limbered artillery	+1
Column, limbered artillery on road or track	+2

Movement	Elite	Trained	Militia
Pike block	8”	7”	6”
Skirmishers	10”	9”	8”
Gendarmes	15”	14”
Light Cavalry	18”	17”	16”
Commanders on foot	12”
Commanders mounted	18”

SHOOTING
Ranges
X-bow				8”
Arquebus				8”
Light artillery				24”/12”/6””
Heavy Artillery				36”/18”/9”
Shooting to hit modifiers
Artillery shooting at column or square					+1
Close range (4”), closing fire, skirmishers					+1
Shooters Shaken or Disordered					-1
Target skirmishers, deployed artillery or Not Clear					-1
Artillery at over half range					-1
Cannon shooting overhead					-1
Size modifiers
Extra Large Unit	+2 dice shooting		+3 combat
Large Unit	+1 dice shooting		+2 combat
Small Unit	-1 dice shooting		-2 combat
Tiny Unit	1 dice only shooting		1 dice only combat
Tactical modifiers
Enfilading infantry		Shoot X2 dice
Enfilading artillery		Shoot X2 dice

MORALE
Save modifiers
Infantry in column unless hit by artillery	+1
Target within woods, hedgerows or similar (light cover)	+1
Target within buildings/fortifications (heavy cover)	+2
Hit by artillery fire at long range	-1
Hit by artillery at medium or close range	-2
Target in melee with mounted includes pikes	+1

MELEE
Combat to hit modifiers
Charging	+1
Won last round of combat	+1
Pike advantage (First round of melee)	+1
Shaken or disordered	-1
Skirmishers	-1
Engaged to flank or rear	-1
Combat result modifiers
Threat to exposed flank	-1
Threat to exposed rear	-2
Pike block vs. cavalry	+3
Occupying buildings	+2

Period Rules

All guns are laid and may not be moved once the combat commences

Pike block are always in column, they may not move 90 degrees to left or right, but may wheel at a cost of 50% of movement

All other troops are always in line

Swiss have no Brigade commander each pike block, and its skirmishers is autonomous

Move Modifiers

Woods Skirmishers only and at 50% of normal rate

Rough Ground Skirmishers 100%, all others at 50%

Crossing and obstacle 50% penalty

Entering a building 50% penalty

UNIT STATS

Unit	Type		Melee	Shooting	Morale	Special
French Gendarmes	Elite	Lance	7	0	3+	Rash Pike advantage Elite Lance Brave Determined charge
French Archers	Trained	Lance	6	0	4+	Lance
French X-bow	Trained	X-bow	2	3	4+
French Pike	Militia	Pike	6	0	5+	Pike advantage Lance
Venetian Gendarmes	Trained	Lance	6	0	4+	Lance
Venetian Arquebus	Militia	Arquebus	1	2	5+
Venetian Pike	Militia	Pike	6	0	5+	Lance
Swiss pike	Elite	Pike	7	0	3+	Rash Hatred Elite Lance Brave Determined Charge
Swiss Arquebus	Trained	Arquebus	2	3	4+
Black Band Arquebus	Elite	Arquebus	2	3	3+	Elite Brave
Mtd Black Band Arquebus	Trained	Arquebus	1	2	4+
Spanish Genetes	Trained	Javelin	3	0	4+	Marauders
Stradiots	Trained	Javelin	3	0	4+	Marauders
Milanese Gendarmes	Trained	Lance	6	0	4+	Lance
Milanese X-bow	Militia	X-bow	1	2	5+
Spanish Arquebus	Elite	Arquebus	2	3	3+	Elite Reliable Brave Steady
Spanish Pike	Elite	Pike	7	0	3+	Pike advantage Elite Lance Reliable Brave Steady
Landsknecht Arquebus	Trained	Arquebus	1	3	4+
Landsknecht Pike	Trained	Pike	6	0	4+	Hatred Pike advantage Lance
Spanish Gendarmes	Trained	Lance	6	0	4+	Lance
Imperial Gendarmes	Trained	Lance	6	0	4+	Lance

Rash	If the unit wins a melee only a throw of 5 or 6 on a D6 will prevent them from automatically going on a sweeping advance
Hatred	When engagement between Swiss and Landsknecht neither side will give way therefore no side will break from a melee until it has lost 3 consecutive rounds
Pike advantage	Cannot be attacked by horse if in good order to front
Elite	At start of command if disordered roll D6 and remove if 4+
Lance	On Charge -1 morale against cavalry and -2 against infantry
Reliable	+1 Command
Brave	Shaken units rally on 4+ if more than 12 “ from enemy
Steady	Pass first break test automatically
Determined charge	Must charge where able to do so
Marauders	Ignore distance modifier for command

Biocca specifics

The earthworks represent a major obstacle and the attacking troops when they reach the sunken road and the earthworks must roll a D10 to see if they can succeed in crossing both obstacles.

On a roll of a D10 on a roll of 1 or 2 the assailants will have breached the obstacle and will be at the top of the earthworks

If not they are to remain at the base of the sunken road

Whilst at the base of the earthworks the artillery may fire at them at point blank range as the earthworks were configured to allow the sunken road to be enfiladed

Black Powder for Glorious Revolution

As a club we are quite taken with the Black Powder rules published by Warlord Games and have been tinkering with them for Pike and Shot. Below are the stats we use for the Glorious Revolution, or Nine Years War period, specifically for the wars in Ireland

BASIC RESTRICTIONS

No double or triple movement within 12” (engagement range) of formed infantry

All units get first fire advantage, Platoon firers get the chance to re roll one failed firing die per turn

For a failed command roll raw units may not move at all, , any other units will move 2” for a failed command roll

No voluntary interpenetration is allowed, troops may only flow round friends if there is a gap at least a base width. Any other interpenetration will cause disorder to both units.

Orders may be given to brigades or individual units. Should a unit be asked to include any other movement than moving forward it must be given an individual order.

Any order requiring a unit to wheel, retrograde or incline must be separate, thus a unit with three orders may move forward for one, wheel for one then move forward once more. Thus each manoeuvre will require a separate order.

SIZE OF UNITS
Type of troops	Standard size	Large	Small	Tiny
Infantry	18 (three bases)	24+	12-18	5-6
Cavalry	6 (two bases)	9+	3
Artillery	1 gun and crew

COMMAND MODIFIERS
Per 8” distance from commander to unit	-1
Enemy unit within 8” of unit receiving order	-1
Column, limbered artillery	+1
Column, limbered artillery on road or track	+2

MOVEMENT
	Command roll -3 or more	Command roll = or -2	Command roll = or -1	Charge
Infantry, limbered artillery, wagons	12”	8”	4”	6”
Cavalry,	22”	16”	10”	18”
Manhandled light artillery	6”	4”	2”	-
Commmanders on foot	12”	-	-	-
Commanders mounted	18”	-	-	-

SHOOTING
Ranges
Pistols and thrown weapons					4”
Bow and arrow					8”
Muskets					8”
Light artillery					24”/12”/6””
Artillery					32”/16”/8”
Shooting to hit modifiers
Artillery shooting at column or square						+1
Close range (4”), closing fire, skirmishers						+1
Shooters Shaken or Disordered						-1
Target skirmishers, deployed artillery or Not Clear						-1
Artillery at over half range						-1
Cannon shooting overhead						-1
Size modifiers
Large Unit	+1 dice shooting			+2 combat
Small Unit	-1 dice shooting			-2 combat
Tiny Unit	1 dice only shooting			1 dice only combat
All musket unit	+1 dice shooting
Platoon Firers	May re roll one failed firing die per turn
Formation modifiers
Column		May not shoot		Fight 1 dice
Square		Shoot 1 dice		Fight 2 dice per face
Tactical modifiers
Enfilading infantry			Shoot X2 dice
Enfilading artillery			Shoot X2 dice

MORALE
Save modifiers
Infantry in column unless hit by artillery	+1
Target within woods, hedgerows or similar (light cover)	+1
Target within buildings/fortifications (heavy cover)	+2
Hit by artillery fire at long range	-1
Hit by artillery at medium or close range	-2
Target in melee with mounted includes pikes	+1

MELEE
Combat to hit modifiers
Charging	+1
Won last round of combat	+1
Pikes in unit (first round only)	+1
Shaken or disordered	-1
Skirmishers	-1
Engaged to flank or rear	-1
Combat result modifiers
Support to rear (friendly unit charging with chargers and within 6” of enemy contacted)	+1
Square vs cavalry	+3
Per flank support (charging with chargers and threatening enemy in combat, within 6”)	+1
Occupying buildings (size)	1-3

UNIT STATS

Unit	Type		Melee	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Foot Guards	Elite	Rank firers	7	3	3+	4	Crack Reliable Steady
Veteran British Infantry	Elite	Platoon firers	6	3	4+	3	Reliable Steady
British Infantry	Line	Platoon firers	6	3	4+	3	Reliable Steady
Dutch Guards	Guards	Platoon firers	7	3	3+	4	Crack Reliable Steady Elite
Dutch, Danish Infantry	Line	Platoon firers	6	3	4+	3	Reliable Steady
French infantry	Line	Rank firers	6	3	4+	3	Reliable Steady
Old Irish Infantry	Line	Rank firers	6	3	4+	3	Reliable Steady
Newly raised Irish infantry	Raw	Rank firers	5	2	5+	2	Unreliable Freshly Raised
Williamite Cavalry	Line		7	1	4+	3	Reliable Steady Stubborn
Jacobite, French cavalry	Line		7	1	4+	3	Reliable Steady Superbly drilled

First Fire	+1 dice on first shot of battle
Crack	Re-roll one failed morale save if you have no casualties already
Reliable	+1 command
Steady	Passes first break test of the battle
Elite	Overcome disorder at start of command on roll of 4+
Tough fighters	Re-roll one missed combat attack
Unreliable	No move on equal command roll
Stubborn	Re-roll one failed morale save
Superbly drilled	Free move if command failed
Marauders	Ignore distance modifiers for command
Freshly raised	First shot or melee, roll 1XD6 1 Terror-all shots and melee dice require 6 to hit 2-3 Panic- all shots and melee dice require 6 to hit 4-5 Sterling Job-no adverse effects 6 Huzzah-1 extra dice for shooting or melee this turn

Examples for the Jacobite wars in ireland:

Elite British units would include Senior infantry regiments such as Kirke’s Lambs, Dumbartons (Royal Scots), Footguards and Cavalry Lifeguard.

Guard status would be reserved for the Dutch Gard de Voet and Danish garden til Fods.

The majority of Jacobite regiments in Ireland would be Raw with some of the more senior regiments, such as The Grand Priors Regiment would be Line. Thus for each three raw units one may be line or better.

Black Powder

Long time no posts, but here is an update.

Recently we have been playing the Black powder rules, published by Warlord Games, for our Napoleonic and ACW games.  We have also been looking at using the mechanisms for ECW and Glorious Revolution periods, both Pike and Shot but both different in their own ways.

We have played a couple of ECW games so far with some modifications to the rules and hoping to give the Glorious Revolution a bash using still further modifications.

The rules themselves are robust enough to withstand quite a lot of tinkering and for the Glorious Revolution the alternative unit stats come in useful, such as Untried, Untested and Newly Raised for the Raw units.

With luck we will soon be able to post the modifications here for both periods

A few pictures of the game at Colours 2010

Some of the members put on an ACW game at Colours 2010 using the Black Powder rules, what follow are a few pictures from that game.

The teddy bear fur really looks the business in these shots

teddy Bear fur gaming mat, A series of photos showing the preparation and procedure for a faux fur gaming cloth.

A series of photos and instruction on preparing teddy bear fur to make a gaming mat by David Norris (no teddy bears were harmed during the course of these pictures)

I started by trimming the fur to a more manageable length. I found that for a length this long (it turns out to be 5.5 metres long; something went wrong with the conversion from imperial to metric!) two sessions of about an hour each was sufficient.

Once trimmed you start building up the colour. The important thing is to not be too dark or too thick with the pain;t you want to stain the fur green and not clog it up.

I used about three shades of green building it up in layers.

Once done the fur is quite damp so its best to do it it on a sunny day when you can use the heat of the sun to dry it. I just lay it on the lawn. On a sunny day it dries in about an hour.

Then touch up with some more layers to make it look natural. Trim any remaining tufts and leave to dry again.

In all for a mat of that size it was about 5 hours on and off to complete it.

Because I base my troops on quite large bases I have left the grass quite long and the figures still stand on it. Smaller bases you probably want to trim it lower to ensure they are stable..

Colours 2009-a few shots of the club ECW game

Valhalla, Farnborough, June 21st 2009

Yesterday the Thames Valley Wargamers put on a display game using beneath the Lilly Banners. The game was set during William of Orange's war against King James in Ireland.

The game involved William's forces attampting to break through the Jacobite defences but fortune seemed to be with the jacobites on the day as the first roll to determine the commander quality left William's force with a Plodder as a commander and the Jacobites with a Good commander.

This seemed to set the tone of the battle as, eventually, the jacobites managed to stop William's force achieving their goal.

What follows is a series of photos taken through the game.