Compact Wargaming

 A Beary Simple Wargame made it out of the box today. My daughter set out the terrain while I cleaned up lunch and we played while the boys took their naps. I didn’t grab any other pics but the game featured both armies moving up to the center and slugging it out. Her artillery scored some good shots from range early. My general (grenadier caps) failed to rally the scared bears which made my counterattack much less effective. Eventually, her cavalry were able to team with the line infantry and break my lines from the flanks.  

The game was easy enough for a clever 6 year old to understand and make strategic decisions. She managed her turns independently, but we did discuss advantages of potential attacks before committing. She did the addition of advantages and subtraction of the dice. Well count it as education. 

Pink's cavalry bounds over the guns to steal them.

The board we played is for a different, mostly 3D printed, game called Tech?No! Bowl.  It's got all of the mechanics and miniatures of a wargame, but instead of a battlefield, it takes place on a a football (American) field.  The grids are 1" here instead of 2" so each terrain piece and bear should occupy 4 grid cells.  I tried to keep the right spacings to get a visual. 

This battle was fought the week before Christmas, but due to traveling and celebrating with family, the report is late.  Our story left off with the Red Army reeling after two close defeats at the hands of the Army of the Five Rivers.  The Red Army has retreated to the outskirts of the royal city and are making preparations for the inevitable invasion.
The Army of the Five Rivers' Light Column and an untested standard column would fight for the Rivermen.  One of the irregular units in the light column enters the battle weakened from previous actions.  Their general, having successfully masterminded two victories, has gained enough experience to shake his incompetencies in command.

The Kingdom of Five Rivers' Order of Battle

The Red Army was able to replenish all of their existing units with motivated patriots from the Royal City.  Their eliminated units were not able to be reinstated and the cavalry column would fight without one of its regular cavalry units.

The Red Kingdom's Order of Battle

The two forces met along a bend in the central river.  A significant hill and village fortified the inside of the bend, while a wealthy orchard stood out against the otherwise level field of the outside bend.

A field just outside the Red Kingdom's capital

The Red Army took up a position on the hill on the outside bend, while the Rivermen race to take cover in the orchard and use the river to anchor their flank.

Positions at the end of Turn 1

The Red Army took advantage of its superior mobility and attempted to encircle the Rivermen as they advance to take the orchard and the buildings.  The Red cavalry took fire from the irregulars in the orchard.

Positions at the end of Turn 2

Both sides bombard the other to no effect.  The Red Infantry was able to anchor its right flank on the bend in the river and exchanged volleys with the enemy infantry garrison in the farmhouse.  Both sustained significant damage, but the Rivermen Infantry's morale was bolstered by the sight of their general and they retained their composure.  The Highlander unit in the orchard continued to fire on the Red Cavalry, pushing them back.

Positions at the end of Turn 3

The Red Army's dragoons moved into the village inside the bend, leaving their horses to take up defensive positions in the buildings.  This put the dragoons in position to fire on the artillery across the river.  The regulars on the line of battle continued to exchange volleys.  The Red Army's regulars fled as their ranks splintered.  The militia next to the fleeing regulars panicked and lost their sense of order.  The Rivermen line suffered losses on their left flank as well.

Positions at the end of Turn 4

Seeing the Red dragoons in the village the Rivermen artillery unit redirected its fire and began bombarding the village, causing disorder in the ranks of the dragoons.  En masse, the Red Army panics.  Each of its units fail to inflict serious damage on the enemy.  The cavalry on the flank reposition themselves towards the hill as the Red General attempts to rebuild a line with the elevated artillery position in the center.  The artillery unit in the lowlands was forced to move away from fire and was forced into the ford.  They were able to limber their guns and bring them with them.

Positions at the end of Turn 5

The Red General became overwhelmed with his troops positions and hesitated.  Fortunately for him, the artillery colonel did not lose his nerve and was able to direct his battery to deliver a punishing blow to the main line of the Rivermen, causing the disordered regular unit to retreat.  The highlander unit in the orchard advance through the treeline to engage the Red army as it consolidated its position around the small hill.  The artillery unit forced into the ford was able to establish a hasty position, but the gunners were disordered.

Positions at the end of Turn 6

Their seemed to be a lull in the battle as only the artillery played a decisive role as the infantry on both sides rested.  The Riverman battery forced the dragoons in the village to retreat as their reinvigorated cavalry charged the highlander unit in the orchard, but were slowed by the dense plantings.  The highlander unit held the orchard with minimal losses.

Positions at the end of Turn 7

The otherwise uninvolved Noble Cavalry of the Rivers seeing that the battle may end without their involvement charged forward to engage the Red Cavalry, but they were forced back under targeted fire from the orchard.  The Red Army's general began attempting to rally his flagging troops instead of ordering further attacks.

Positions at the end of Turn 8

The General of the Five Rivers ordered his line infantry forward to attack the exposed Red Cavalry.  After the Noble Cavalry of the Five Rivers and the exhausted highlander unit in the orchard failed to route the Red Cavalry, the line infantry was ordered to turn to face the cavalry.  They delivered a fatal volley causing the Red Cavalry to flee the field.  The regulars of the Red Army fire and advance between the river and the hills.

Positions at the end of Turn 9

The Noble Cavalry and Rivermen Infantry continued their advance to assault the hill.  The Red Line pivoted to meet the threat. The artillery on the hill and the regulars missed their target.  The Rivermen pushed forward towards the hill, ready to end the battle with a decisive bayonet charge.

Positions during Turn 10

The Noble Cavalry in an act of self aggrandizement charged the militia band to the right of the hill, routing the untrained and terrified troops.  The regulars assaulted uphill towards the Red battery, forcing them to withdraw to the far side of the hill.  From their new position, they would have a good shot at any enemy that attempted to use the ford.  This position allowed the regulars and general to flee across the river under a hail of gunfire to mount a last stand inside the bend rallying the dragoons.

Positions at the end of Turn 10

The battle ended as the battery outside of the bend was overran.  The Red Army surrendered with all of its remaining units disordered.  In their last stand, they were able to cause disorder in one of the regular infantry units. 

Positions at the end of Turn 11

The Red King's army has been defeated in the field.  After the conclusion of the battle, negotiators met on the River King's palatial barge to work out a peace treaty.  The Red Kingdom will surrender its northern territorial holdings to the Kingdom of the Five Rivers.  Furthermore, the Red King was forced to admit to plotting the murder of the The King of the Five Rivers and creating the succession crisis that caused the war.

After successfully halting the Red Army's advance, The King of the Five Rivers ordered his army to press into the Red Kingdom.  The fleeing red army was caught mustering just outside of a hillside town near a strategic ridge.  Since the last battle, the Red Army was able to replace a unit of dragoons lost in the previous battle.  Their army remained somewhat bruised.  Two regiments of regular foot were unable to replenish their losses and the third regular regiment was dissolved after immense losses.  The Army of the Five Rivers did not suffer near as significant casualties, but one cavalry regiment and one regiment of foot continued the campaign significantly under manned.

Town in Red Kingdom, just south of the foothills

The Red Army's recruitment efforts were in vain as their newly reformed dragoon unit's column would not be participating in this battle.  The Army of the Five Rivers fielded the same columns from the previous battle, hoping to repeat their success.

As the Red King's Army crossed the border, The new King of the Five Rivers mobilized his forces and sent them south to meet the invaders.  The two armies met outside of a small farm near the border.  The Army of the Five Rivers was determined to defend the farm and repel the attack.

Before the armies arrived

 As the armies meet, they deploy into battle lines.  The cautious Red Army's general locates himself with his battery, while his daring opponent occupies the farmhouse to assure the citizens that all well be ok. In the opening moves, The Five Rivers' artillery opens fire on the Red Army's right flank, causing disorder in the regular infantry's ranks and causing a retreat onto higher ground.  The Five Rivers' impetuous cavalry attempted to finishes off the disordered infantry but was disordered and subsequently retreated away from the the Red lines under withering fire. Depleted of momentum and suffering heavy casualties, they would run from the battlefield.

Position at the end of Turn 4

As the battle progressed, the lines solidified and as infantry exchanged volleys.  The Red Dragoons remounted their horses and attempted to flank the enemy's infantry, but are thwarted by the stalwart northern line infantry.  The northern general vacated the farmstead, choosing to reinforce his irregulars on the front lines.  He orders the artillery on his left flank onto the hills to gain an advantage over his enemy between the hills, but things aren't looking too good for the Red Army either, as both of their right flank regular regiments have fled and militia has been called up to secure the flank.

Positions at the end of Turn 6.

Red's Dragoons continued to harass and disorder their enemy's right flank, causing panic and disorder, but taking some losses themselves.  The Army of the Five River's left flank continues to take losses from close range artillery fire.  Although more of the Red Army's units have fled, they appear to be in a much better position.  The Army of the Five Rivers' lines are broken, their weak in melee irregular troops are exposed, and their cavalry have fled, leaving them exposed to artillery barrage.

Positions at the end of Turn 7

The Rivermen's general expertly commanded his right flank infantry and routed the enemy dragoons. After losing the dragoons, The Red general ordered the militia to advance and destroy the Rivermen's battery on the hill.  They came under fire from both the militia on the hill and the Rivermen line infantry which had been fought back into cover of the farmstead.

Positions at the end of Turn 9

Things are looking very grim for the Rivermen at the conclusion of Turn 9.  Their lines have almost collapsed backwards on themselves and the Red battery remains intact.  The Red general, eager to exploit the broken lines sends a unit of regular infantry around the hill on his left flank in an attempt to replicate the success of the now routed dragoons.

Positions at the end of Turn 12 Final

The infantry attack around the hill was not meant to be.  The Army of the Five Rivers' general anticipated it and positioned a unit of irregulars on the hill where they would be less vulnerable to a bayonet charge.  They and their other infantry counterparts were able to route the would be flanking force.  At this point the Red Army lost its will to continue the fight.  Their general ordered a general retreat.

I played a game with the new v1.5 rules. I used Scenario Six from One Hour Wargames as a basis.  I quickly converted the map to hexagons and gave each side eight instead of six units.  My wife played the red army, springing a trap on my unsuspecting blue column. 
The game went fairly quickly with the red army rolling abysmally for activations.  The blue column was able to start turning the tide by using cavalry to charge the force blocking the road from their flank.  With nowhere to retreat, the blocking force surrendered and was eliminated.  This compounded the activation problem because the commander was attached to one of the blocking units, which meant that two iniative points were required to activate most of the red force.  Blue took advantage of their iniative point advantage and moved their disordered cavalry off the field, completing the mission objectives.  The game ended with blue successfully escaping with all eight units and destroying four of red's units in the process.


We only had time to play one game, but I wonder if I would have been able to stop blue's advance if I were the red player.  Sorry no pictures from this one.  It took us about two hours to play with frequent breaks to check the rules and there was the constant distraction of the dog who thought we should be playing with her. 


Overall, the game worked pretty well. Artillery felt pretty under powered and cavalry felt overpowered.  I'm probably going to have to reduce the melee starting value for cavalry and mounted dragoons by 1.  I don't know how I'm going to make the artillery more powerful.  My first thought would be to set their base ranged stat at 0 and have a -1 modifier for long shots, but that is statistically identical to having the base stat at -1 and a +1 modifier for close shots.  It might make players feel like the artillery is stronger and use it more.  Another option would be for the artillery to fire using only 1 activation point, even if they are far from the commander or getting a bonus for firing on the same tile as on the previous turn.  This would have the unfortunate consequence of forcing the players to remember where they fired last turn, or cluttering the already often tightly packed tiles with a marker of some sort.   I know historically artillery wasn't really that effective, but I think the four batteries on the field scored a combined total of one effective volley. 
If you have some spare time and wouldn't mind reading or playtesting my rules, I'd greatly appreciate it. 

I played my first full game this Saturday.  It went very smoothly overall.  I want to play a few games solo to work out the kinks before playing with another person. 



I grabbed my copy of One Hour Wargames and found the first scenario that I could field with my current 3D printed terrain.  Scenario 3 was chosen.  Only the map (converted to hex grid), reinforcement, and victory conditions from One Hour Wargames were used.  To determine which units would participate in the battle, the eight units "painted" for each army were lined up and each unit rolled 1D6.  The two units with the lowest score would not arrive in time for the battle.  If three units rolled the same lowest value, those three units would re-roll until two units were identified. 



The game opened with a small contingent of the Red army occupying a strategic hill.  The Blue army marches towards the hill from the west, with orders to force Red off the hill and occupy the strategic terrain. 



The remainder of the Red army races in to defend the hill, but is plagued by confusion among the junior officers (represented by terrible activation rolls).  The first third of the game features some strategic maneuvering and artillery fire, but little significant combat occurred.  Battle lines developed alongside the hill and the clearing between the hill and the forest.  The clearing became significant to keep enemy cavalry from flanking the main lines and attacking the forces assaulting the hill from behind.  The forest served more as a maneuvering block than anything else.



Below are some more pictures.  I got a little caught up in playing the game and forgot to take pictures.  The game ended with the Red army surrendering after losing four of its six original units.  I need to take better notes while playing the game if I'm going to do this more often.  Pictures will be uploaded and added to this post shortly.

Ideas for further improvement:
Artillery should have +1 bonus if on a hill and firing into non-hill.
Follow up attacks for melee occupying vacated tile?
Retreat should be limited to cells non-adjacent to enemy units. 

I've been editing/tweaking the rules for a while and playtesting as I go.  I printed the models I've designed for Horse and Musket games at 18mm scale.  They were a challenge for my printer.  Their small size tricked the printer into thinking it could go a lot faster than it should.  I manually reduced speed to less than half of my normal printing speed for larger items. 
LINK https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2956951. 
I painted some of them with spray primer craft store acrylic paints.  I'm still working on the paint scheme.  I need a way to differentiate the dismounted dragoons, irregulars, and militias from the regulars.  My ruleset does not currently have elite or inferior units, so don't have to worry about making each unit unique.  Perhaps in the future national identities and imagi-nations may develop, but for now they're going to be army red and army blue. 
My lovely wife designed a template for making hexagons with 2" between parallel sides which she cut out of printer paper on her Cricut.  I used the template on a piece of packing paper to make a field 9 rows of 8 or 9 columns of hexes.  This size results in a compact playing  surface of18"x16".  It certainly isn't pretty but it works.  I think I have a piece of 1/8 hardboard laying around somewhere that might work if painted.
I conducted a solo play test to surrender this morning.  Occasionally referencing the rules, it took me just under 45 minutes from deployment to surrender.  The surrendering player did not make an effort to salvage forces by continuing play and retreating units off of the board, choosing to surrender once defeat was inevitable.
Lessons Learned:
Distinguishing unit types from a distance is critical. Irregulars and Dragoons look similar. 
Keeping units near the center of the hex makes determining facing easier.
Keeping track of initiative points is critical.  Solved by keeping dice off board with each pip representing an iniative point. 
Keeping your general alive and relevant is very helpful.  The combat bonuses are important, but the inability to rally can end the game quickly. 
I like that each unit completes its activation before activating another.  This prevents the problem of handling combined attacks.  The only real downside is that a unit could make multiple moves worth of retreated distance. 
Things I Might Change:
Currently two units of regular infantry can form a regiment and execute identical orders as one unit.  This can make their firepower overwhelming.  It makes them seem a little overpowered.
All units get a +1 bonus when attacking militia and a +2 when melee attacking artillery. 
Currently irregulars can engage in melee.  Based on the exact period in history irregulars could represent light infantry which would engage in melee or skirmishers who would not.
Currently artillery can reposition during the battle.  For most of the 18th Century, artillery was largely immobile once the firing began. 


I've done enough tweaks to the rules that I should re-upload them soon.  I'd like to upload them as a PDF.  What is the best way to do this? 

My wife and I own a teardrop camper.  It's not much more than a queen size bed, TV, air conditioner, and a few shelves inside.  Outside there's a galley with a small refrigerator, sink, and propane stove.  It's a mini camper, but so far it's been mega fun.  To see more about the camper and our trips, visit my wife's blog at .minicampermegafun.blogspot.com

Our Mini Camper and Chairs

Morning View:  Ocean Between Campers

Late Game:  Blue Presses the Attack

Things Learned: