Sunday, 23 November 2025

One (or Two) Hour Wargame


I have begun making a few bases of paper soldiers for the Wars of the Roses, the paper soldiers continue to be a relaxing project, with all that is happening in the background which has continued to hit hobby time, they're providing short bursts with nice pay offs in terms of finishing bases. As I jump between projects and work on half baked rules and I'm looking at Wars of the Roses rules, in which even I'm working on two branches of rules based on some army lists, one unit based and one Ward or Battle based. Both in infancy and will no doubt join the litany of part baked and abandoned rules, but its a creative endeavor in its own sake, is what I tell myself in excusing the lack of completion of these rules.

Recently a comment was left by Olivero with regards to a set based on One Hour Wargames for Punic Wars that I tested a while back asking if I had a chance to look at them and post up. The spirit of simplicity in Neil Thomas' wargames books provide such great inspiration to me, I heard there is another book in the making that has a more grand tactical or strategic take which i hope is the case, his rules also inspire many other gamers. John's Wargames Page and Playing Around with OHW Rules provide great food for thought with 3 hit variants that provide a bit more chaos when units will break but with a similar probability to the original rules. This suits my tastes more and provide the basis of the rules below. The I added in the needless complication which you can quite easily remove if needs be, it was more of an experiment to include a bit of command friction, and now I'd probably change it to a more Rampant series style activation system to give that friction but without command roll rules and command point currency. One thing I tried to complicate things more was introducing flight and pursuit. Usually in a game a enemy unit breaks and the surviving unit can now turn an enemy unit's flank, but I wanted to incentivize pursuing an enemy unit to cut them down causing real loss to an army.

As ever my preference for grids is present, this I always find speeds things up, offsetting the added complexity with more simplistic grid movement. I'm pleased that gridded wargames are becoming more prevalent, more mainstream these days. 

The rules are in need of tightening up and clarifying but it will give you a gist of what I was aiming for. There are example units and suggestions for Rome and Carthage. Because of the loose nature of the rules if you trial them and find an odd situation or one not covered just do what you think is logical bearing in mind units are imagined to be legion sized contingents. With the added complexities they're probably more two hour wargames!



O/THW ANCIENTS


Sequence of Play


  • Move own fleeing units and resolve own pursuits. 


  • The active player can activate a unit or group (individual units may only take part in a move as a group once per phase) to move or activate units to combat.


Roll 1 d6 before an action is taken. On a roll of a 1 that ends the phase after the action has been taken. However unused general’s activations can be used up before the following player’s phase.


Movement Activation


Units within orthogonal spaces can conduct a single group move per phase. All units in the group must move in the same direction and same speed.


Units may move or turn orthogonally up to their listed movement rating each costing 1 move. Thus a heavy infantry unit of 1 move can either turn or move forwards. 


Some units can turn for free so only count the move into orthogonal squares towards their limit.


Interpenetration, only skirmishers can move through other units and other units may only pass through skirmishers. 


Units that have not moved yet in a phase may conduct a charge move that is followed by combat. Activate as normal and if the move would reach into the enemy occupied square follow the combat activation sequence.


Units that have moved may conduct a further move but may not combat. Activate as normal and if a leadership test is passed the unit may move again if it fails the phase ends for that player.


In terrain such as a river ford or wooded areas, all units must move as individuals and count as having a  movement of 1 per activation. Skirmishers and units with “Loose Order” trait ignore this restriction.


Combat Activation


Combat activations are always done on an individual unit basis. If the unit starts adjacent to the enemy this phase it may combat. 


Combat is conducted orthogonally by both units, a unit may only attack in the direction it is facing. 


Consult the unit roster to determine the attack roll.


If a unit is attacking from the rear that unit hits on 3+. 


All units fighting into and out of forest terrain fight at Attack =1. Troops with “Loose Order” trait fight as Attack =2.  


If fighting a unit crossing a ford or downhill +1 Attack dice.


Retreat; if a combat is lost (taking the most hits in a round of combat) a leadership test is conducted upto 3 times unless it passes. First failure the unit falls back 1 square, second failure face away from enemy, third failure move forward 1 square, that is away from the enemy. Some troops may have to test less (see unit stats).


If the unit is pushed back off the board it is eliminated.


A victorious unit can follow up and occupy the square by passing a leadership test. Impetuous unit traits MUST follow up. 


Elephants that lose a round of combat may rampage. “Rampage” rolling 1 die on a roll of 1 they move and/or attack left, 2 right, 3 rear. On a 4+ they do not rampage.


Rampaging elephants can be attacked by allied troops and they can be “attacked by themselves” Mahouts putting down elephants, the rampage continues until the unit is eliminated while rampaging roll 1 dice 1=left 2=right 3=rear 4+=forwards


If a combat would result in both units fleeing whoever won that combat remains with 1 Strength point remaining. If a draw then both remain reduced to 1 Strength point. 


Flight and Pursuit


When a unit reaches 0 Strength points it breaks and flees. It turns towards its base edge and moves its full allowance. If it breaks in its own phase, move straight away otherwise wait for the beginning of its own next phase.


The victorious unit will now be in pursuit and chase that unit during their own phase until it successfully passes a Leadership Test removing the pursuit status at that point it can halt and be activated normally on its next phase. If the pursuers' target flees the edge of the table, the pursuers wait on the table edge until pursuit status is removed.


If a unit's line of retreat is blocked by an enemy and the fleeing unit can not continue to flee, or it’s caught by an enemy unit the unit is slaughtered and a following point is removed from army morale.



Generals


NAME/ATTACK/RALLY/ARMY MORALE


Hannibal/0/2/2 “Battlefield Manager” +1 to “Fate Roll”

Alexander/2/1/2 “Fortune Favours the Bold” ignore 1st failure of “Risk to General” on attacking


The unit the general is with is exempt from making the phase end test, including if it is part of a group move.

A general can reroll failed Leadership checks but also must test “Risk to General”.


Add attack dice according to abilities during a combat activation, they must also test “Risk to General”. 


Rally units, a general can remove hits inflicted during a combat activation depending on the general's abilities. On a roll of 5 or 6, cancel a hit. Test “Risk to General” on a single die.


Risk to General, on a roll of a 1 a following roll is made to determine the fate of the general, the “Fate Roll”. 1-2 removed from battle 3-4 miss their next turn, 5-6 near miss no effect.  


If a general is lost minus 1 point from army morale. A general can be lost via fate roll or if their unit flees.


Unit Types


Units can be classified by the following; 


NAME/MOVES/ATTACKS/DEFENCE/STRENGTH/LEADERSHIP/SPECIALS


Movement rate is given in squares or turns a unit can move orthogonally.


Attack dice show how many d6s can be rolled in a combat. 


Defence shows the dice score that will inflict a hit while being attacked. 


Strength shows how many hits a unit receives before being shattered.


Leadership shows the modifier to morale/discipline rolls.


Specials are for rules that allow for different troop interactions that the normal stats don’t cover.


Victory


An army morale is a quarter of non skirmish troops rounded up +4, e.g. 16 non skirmishers 4+4 = Army Morale of 8.


When a non-skirmish unit is reduced to flees due to combat Army Morale drops by 1.


When a fleeing unit is intercepted and destroyed, Army Morale drops by 1.


When a general is killed or swept away by a fleeing unit, Army Morale drops by 1.


When Army Morale drops to 6 and below consult unit roster when Leadership rating matches the Army Morale reduce their strength by 1. Henceforth everytime the morale drops further another strength point is removed. Thus a unit with exceptional leadership of 3 won’t lose Strength points via Army Morale until Army Morale drops to 3.  


Table of Generic Troop Type Examples


NAME

M

A

D

S

L

SPECIAL RULES

Skirmishers

2

1

5

2

6

Hit Elephants 5+, Vs Skirmishers A= 3,  interpenetration

Heavy Infantry

1

3

6

4

4


Infantry

1

2

6

4

5


Light Infantry

2

2

5

3

5

Loose Order

Warband

2

3

5

4

5

Impetuous, Loose Order 

Levies

1

1

5

4

6


Cavalry

3

2

5

3

5

Facing change for free

Lancers

3

3

5

3

5

Facing change for free

Cataphracts

3

2

6

3

4


Light Cavalry

4

1

5

3

5

Facing change for free

Elephants

2

3

6

4

5

Hit all troops on 5,  D=5 vs Skirmishers, Rampage 

Chariots

3

2

5

3

5


Scythed Chariots

3

3

4

2

5




Traits


Infantry units: 

“Archers” A=3 vs Skirmishers & Light Cavalry, reroll 1 failed attack roll 

“Hoplites” when fighting other units with Hoplite trait A=3 D=5

“Throwing Spears” while at full strength add 1 attack die

“Phalanx” while at full strength 1 hit can be negated by passing a leadership test.  Attacks on flanks hit on a 5+

“Loose Order” Ignore terrain penalties for combat and movement

“Elephant Drill” Elephants that attack this unit require 6 to hit


Elephants: 

“African” or “Indian” Indians hit Africans on 5s






Republican Roman Unit Examples 


NAME

M

A

D

S

L

SPECIAL RULES

Velites

2

1

5

2

6

Hit Elephants 5+, Vs Skirmishers A= 3,  interpenetration

Legion

1

3

6

4

4

Throwing Spears

Raw Legion

1

2

6

4

5

Throwing Spears

Italian Allies

2

2

5

3

5

Loose Order

Warband

2

3

5

4

5

Impetuous, Loose Order 

Levy Legion

1

1

5

4

6

Throwing Spears

Equites

3

2

5

3

5

Facing change for free

Allied Cavalry

3

2

5

3

4

Facing change for free

Light Cavalry

4

1

5

3

5

Facing change for free

African Elephants

2

3

6

4

5

Hit all troops on 5,  D=5 vs Skirmishers, Rampage 


Carthaginian Unit Examples


NAME

M

A

D

S

L

SPECIAL RULES

Skirmishers

2

1

5

2

6

Hit Elephants 5+, Vs Skirmishers A= 3,  interpenetration

Veteran Infantry

1

3

6

4

3

Facing change for free

African Infantry

1

2

6

4

5


Iberian Infantry

2

2

5

3

5

Throwing spears, Loose Order

Warband

2

3

5

4

5

Impetuous, Loose Order 

Levies

1

1

5

4

6


Heavy Cavalry

3

3

5

3

5

Facing change for free

Light Cavalry

4

1

5

3

5

Facing change for free

Elephants

2

3

6

4

5

Hit all troops on 5,  D=5 vs Skirmishers, Rampage 

Chariots

3

2

5

3

5


Scythed Chariots

3

3

4

2

5



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