If

 If I'd have thought about wargaming battles in Middle Earth in 1970 they might have looked like this (April's been a slow month for my hobby efforts!)

Men of Dunland attack the Westfold of Rohan

Testing

 Having enjoyed a game of my (version 2) fantasy variant for One Hour Wargames on Friday, I gave it another go yesterday with the aim of testing out the Magic Use system. The version 1 rules had included magical creatures but no actual magic use so I have adopted the Magic from Swords, Sorcery & Spells (see Portable Wargame Compendium by Bob Cordery - here).

The game featured an attacking army of Wild Men with their Druid and a defending Dwarf army including their Wizard. The scenario was #3 from OHW, Control the River. The objective for both sides was to be in control of the two crossing points by Turn 15.

Both sides arrive 

Fighting on both bridges

The Dwarf Wizard lobs a fireball across the River

The Dwarves have cleared the West bridge but have left the East crossing poorly protected

The Dwarf attack seems to be gaining momentum in the West, while the East bridge is still held

Magic Users are vulnerable, especially to lucky throws from Infantry Units!

The Dwarves press home their advantage

While the Wild Men run out of options

The Dwarves control both bridges, the Wild Men are down to 1 hit point and call it a day

With the current ranges I allow for spells, it was difficult to manoeuvre  the Magic Users into a position where they could fire off spells without firing into melees (which I don't allow) in this game (though the same could be said for archers I guess). I think I'm going to extend the ranges and give them another go. Magic Users are suitably (in my opinion) vulnerable to attack by all units (they could choose to shield themselves though this costs them spells).

Happy Easter Everyone.

Revamp

John over at the 54mm or Fight! blog (see here) has recently been adding some interesting features to his Fantasy Variant of OHW (Neil Thomas's marvelous set of fast play rules). This got me thinking about giving my  gridded version a revamp and including the three hit variant (see here) for assessing casualties. This was given a little play through this afternoon. I have added a Magic section but didn't play that today as I wanted to get a feel for the combat first. 

Inevitable Generic Fantasy Map for no reason other than I like it

Orcs have appeared from the Mountains of Mourning and attacked the Elves.

The objective is to be in sole possession of the hill at the end of the battle

Orc and Elf Cavalry clash - 2 sixes equate to 2 hits on the Orc unit leaving 1 hit point before the unit is destroyed

Fierce fighting on the hill as both sides rapidly start taking hits

The Orc Hero/Leader is seriously damaged by this point

The Elves now control the hill - losses are great on both sides

Having lost the Troll, and with only 1 hit point left, the remaining Orcs leg it 

Well the combat rules worked ok. Just got to test the Magic rules now!

Free

 A free hobby find is always welcome, and this paper house is just that. It come courtesy of Erny's Place, and there are more posts with such buildings if one cares to look. Thanks Erny. I think he really caught the look of the 1980s Warhammer scenery.

A Free House (ie a Pub that's not linked to a single brewery)

I'm not very gifted when it comes to model making, but this one was nice and simple. I copied the image then printed it onto the thin card you can buy that will run through a laser printer. The card is quite flexible so I stiffened the walls by attaching some thicker card with a glue stick.

With hindsight (that really should be available on prescription) I should have left some card at the bottom of the walls to make tabs that could be stuck onto a card base - will definitely do that next time.

Three

 For the third post of the year I fought a Mini Campaign using 3x3 Fast Play Portable Wargame rules again. I was quite expecting it to go to three games, but as it seemed drawn at two I stopped there, leaving things open for a re-match.

The Map

The Empire, tired of raiding parties playing havoc with the economy, have sent a force across the wide river to give the local tribe a bloody nose. As this involves quite a lot of logistics, the barbarians have had time to get a force of their own together and marched to meet the enemy.

The First Battle

The two armies arriving

The Barbarians take the initiative 

Evenly balanced

The Empire begin to push back

but run out of resources and must fall back instead

The second battle

A reinforced Barbarian Army chases the Empire force to the nearest town where they also gain additional numbers.

The confident Barbarians attack

but are repulsed

and now the Empire is on the offensive

The Barbarians are driven off with few crossing the river at the end of the day

Sittangbad

 More from the Journal of General Sir Bartholomew Archibald Tiberius Henry Norman Wells. Today I'm looking at the defense of Sittangbad (from Charge! (1967) by Brig. Young & Lt. Col. Lawford, in case you didn't know!)

Slightly edited Map from Charge!

I laid an 8x12 grid over the original map of the battlefield and created a plan for a Portable Wargame version of the classic scenario. I also added names to two features that hadn't been named in the original.

The Plan

The Reality - buildings by Monopoly (trademark)

The pre-battle situation, as detailed by General B.A.T.H.N Wells, is summarized as follows:

After a failed incursion into Red territory, the remnants of Blue's Army are camped between Sittangbad and Eisenberg. General Wells has been sent with a small force to take command of Army Blue, and to hold Sittangbad, or at the very least defend the river crossing from an approaching Red Army, commanded by General Kernel. 

The opposing forces are as follows:

Army Blue 
2 Units of Cavalry @ 3SP (1 unit starts in Sittangbad)

1 Unit of Light Infantry @ 3SP

3 Units of Line Infantry @ 4SP (1 unit starts in Sittangbad)

1 Unit of Artillery @ 2SP (starts in Sittangbad)

General Wells @ 6SP (starts in Sittangbad)

Total 28SP (EP at 19SP)

Army Red

3 Units of Cavalry @ 3SP

1 Unit of Light Infantry @ 3SP

4 Units of Line Infantry @ 4SP

2 Units of Artillery @ 2SP

General Kernel @ 6SP 

Total 38SP (EP at 25SP)

The objective of both sides is control of the East end of the bridge by Turn 16.

The Affair at Sittangbad 

Blue's preliminary position

After a wet night in the field, General Kernel ordered Army Red to march towards Sittangbad at first light. Having spent a comfortable night in an hotel in the town, General Wells sent orders to his men to the West of Eisenberg to begin moving back towards the town, leaving a Regiment of Line Infantry to harry the approaching Red force from the village.

The position at daybreak

Red's Artillery began to bombard Eisenberg on arrival. The defenders themselves fired at the Red Cavalry who were swinging by to their North, under orders to ride around Sittangwald forest and out flank the retreating Blue troops. General Wells, wise to this had already sent some of his own cavalry to head them off.

Despite all of Red's troops now being on the battlefield, the early attack on Eisenberg was proving to be ineffective. General Kernel's cunning outflanking manoeuvre had also been countered and a cavalry melee had begun.

 As the morning ground on, the attack on Eisenberg Village finally began to wear down the defenders, however the Cavalry fight was going Blue's way despite Red's superior numbers.

To avoid the village, Red began moving forces up and over the steep sides of the Grimmberg.

Once past this obstacle they could begin the assault on Sittangbad. The Blue Regiment in Eisenberg stubbornly held on.

And continued to hold on, whilst General Kernel committed his artillery to pounding the village. 

 Finally Eisenberg fell to Red, however the defense of Sittangbad was proving to be even more staunch. Blue's Light Infantry in particular were firing steadily and accurately, inflicting heavy casualties.

The Assault on Sittangbad

By mid-afternoon, both sides were nearing Exhaustion Point and Red was still a long way from his objective.

 Finally Red managed to get some artillery up onto the Grimmberg where it could fire down onto the town, but too late...

Army Red's cavalry finally broke through on Blue's left flank, but EP had been reached. Blue's accurate firing from the town had cut down the attackers making further progress impossible.

By turn 16, Blue had suffered almost 30% casualties, whilst Red had 42% dead or wounded.

Another victory was chalked up by General Wells who had saved the honour of Army Blue.