Wargaming for the Small, 1: Old Soldiers arrow-men

How to use wargaming to teach maths to the young'uns!

My two oldest sons, Benjamin 6 and Alex 4 (almost every wargamer has a son called Alexander), are fairly fascinated by my wargames figures and by the games they see played at home or Down at the Club. This is only natural.

And of course they are mad keen to have some of their own and play wargames of their own. So to amuse them I based up some old Airfix Robin Hood and Ancient Briton HO scale archers on big multi-figure bases, gave them a D6 each and taught them a very simple set of rules so they could amuse themselves fighting on the spare bed while I paint. We decided to call these rules Old Soldiers.

Each player has one stand of archers (or "arrow-men" as they are apparently called). Throw a D6 to see how many base depths your stand can move. If at the end of the move you are in range (the distance from the tip of your thumb to that of your outstretched pinky) of an enemy you both shoot by throwing a D6. If the loser's score is less than the winner's but more than half, the loser goes back one base. If the score is half or less, curtains!

After a while I felt a bit guilty about fobbing them off with the manky old (like, 30+ year old) Airfix, so I did a quick paint job on some GW Brettonian longbowmen I had lying around.

These were single-based, so I modified the rules. Throw a D6 to determine how many men you can move. Movement was initially set at one handstretch as above, then modified to the short edge of a piece of A4. When you have moved all the men you can, check to see who is in range. Add up the number of men shooting and add the throw of  a D6. If the loser's score is less than the winner's but more than half, one of the loser's men (the closest to the shooters) runs away one move-distance. If the score is half or less, curtains for the nearest man!

When you have lost half your men, you have lost the game.

It was instructive to see how many times a small party of men was sent to their deaths because a player was unwilling to wait for the rest of the force to catch up, and to watch the slowly dawning realisation. It was also interesting to see how quickly Benjamin can now calculate halves and doubles....

More on NICon 2012

Aaargh I am a stupid fat hobbit.

The closest thing to a website for the event is the City Guard Blog.

the registrar's email  is: nicon2012(at)hotmail.com.

Email them to register soonish, i.e. now!

Finally, the Royalists take the field

Well a mere 18 months after landing the first box of Warlord plastic ECW figures, the Royalists (Cornish, 1643) took the field for a demo game at Battlecry. Here they are defending Truro against a mercenary army from Hessen-Kassel, landed by the Navy to aid the Rascally Rebels.

From viewer left to right: Sir Ralph Hopton leads the Horse of the Right, supported by the detached pikes of Col. Tillier's Regt (the musketeers are lying in ambush in Truro town) and dragoons; in the centre King Charles I with Sir Beville Grenvile's Foote, massed light guns, Sir Wm Godolphin's and Sir Nicholas Slannings; Prince Maurice urges forward the Horse of the Left whilts supporting dragoones rush to seize a small wood.

After a long and bitter struggle, sadly the King's Men failed to hold the field.

Rules were DBR 2.0, Normal scale, 450AP. The guns, gun crews and some armoured pike are Warlord metals, the generals and Grenville and Godolphin at the head of their Regiments (where historically they perished) are Old Glory metals. The rest are Warlord plastics.

Four more elements of matchlock musketeers (75% finished) and four of Firelocks to go before I can field the army from 1644- the ratio of pike to musket drops from 1-1 to 1-3 or even 1-6.

4 more elements of Horse (75% finished) and it will be ready to field as FoGR Later Royalist at 800pts.

NICon 2012 news

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Note the venue is limited to 150, and they have 50 registrations so far. So I recommend emailing the nicon2012 email address and registering/getting the bank details soonish.

Very IMPORTANT NOTE: the con is on the 3rd and 4th, i.e. Sunday and Monday instead of the traditional Saturday and Sunday.

ALMOST AS IMPORTANT NOTE: I don't know what arrangements have been made for any official dinner, I suspect none. So I am thinking a dinner in a nearby hostelry? Dominion Road is well supplied with a wide selection of ethnic eateries, gastropubs, just-pubs, cafes, greasy-spoons, tea-houses and caravanserai. Who up for it if I organise for the Sunday night?

Full rules of engagement for DBR at NICon 2012

Rightyo here is the full beast. Late lists will be published for peer-review, and subject to mocking....

Nicon 2012 DBR Competition Details

Summary

1.     DBR 2.0, normal scale

2.     450AP, book 1,2 or 3 open competition;

3.     Table size TBC, but likely 8x5 or 8x6 depending on availability;

4.     Two lists may be submitted. Which list you use is chosen after it is determined who is the defender.

5.     Lists are to be submitted to John Way (johneway@hotmail.com) after 15 May and before midnight on 22 May. I will deposit mine with one of the non-DBR players before the 15th for the avoidance of unpleasantness.

6.     Two four hour rounds each day- 09:00 to 13:00 and 13:30 to 17:30.

7.     Scoring is 10-0 plus 100 if you break your opponent’s army without your own being broken. This is to discourage draws;

8.     The draw for all four rounds will be made on 30 May. This is to ensure the maximum number of games are played between players from different towns. Aside from the regional split the draw will be random, probably by someone not playing;

9.     Deployment by alternating commands, see below

10.                         Alternative interpretations for Shot, see below

Detail:

Deployment

As per the DBR 2.0 but with the following changes.
Deployment is in the following order:
(1) First the defender and then the invader place all fortifications and Baggage not embarked on naval elements or in a BUA;
(2) Both sides record the relative positions of their commands from left-to-right and from front-to-rear and the exact position and direction faced of troops in ambush;
(3) Each side alternately deploys one command, starting with the defender. Each side must first deploy its command with the greatest number of ME, including Baggage. Its remaining commands can be deployed in any order. Deployment includes all land & naval elements and fixed obstacles except any in ambush;
(4) The defender places the concealed command (if any), less any ambushers it includes.

Shot (I) and (F)

Shot(I) described as armed with Arquebus or Caliver may be upgraded to Arquebus (O) for 5AP. These have all the characteristics of Sh(I) except that they are graded (O) for combat outcomes. If any such are upgraded, all of that description (eg all Italian Arquebus or all Militia) must be upgraded. You must tell your opponent if you have done this.

Shot(I) described as armed with Musket may be upgraded to Musket (I) for 5AP. These have all the characteristics of Sh(O) except that they are graded (I) for combat outcomes. If any such are upgraded, all of that description must be upgraded. You must tell your opponent if you have done this.

Shot (F) fight in the same number of ranks as other Shot.

“Kiwi” Army Points to be used, which are

	(S)	(O)	(I)	(F)	(X)
Lancers	12	10	7	10
Pistols	12	10	8	10
Sipahis	10	7	5	7
Light Horse	7	4	4	4
Camelry	9	6		7
Dragoons	8	7	6
Pikes	5	4	3	4
Shot	8	6	4	5
Musket			5
Arquebus		5
Blades	5	4	3	6
Bows	7	5	3
Skirmishers	4	3	2		4
Warband	5	4	3
Hordes	2	1		1
Artillery	15	10	6	10	10
Pontooneers		5
Warwagons		10	3
Elephants	24	20	16
Baggage		5	5
Ships	6	5	3	4	4
Galleys	5	4	2	3
Boats	3	2	1	2	3

Notes

Deduct 1 AP for troops that are restricted to defending BUA.

No adjustment for Artillery if without draught teams.