Cry Havoc Reboot

I was very surprised but excited to hear that a new edition of Cry Havoc, possibly my favourite hex and counter game, is being published soon by Footsore Miniatures as a Kickstarter. It's a simple repeat of the original but with updated graphics and maps that are green rather than bright yellow, so I don't really need to get a copy as I have the original. However, I will probably do so anyway, as I am a big fan of the game, as is my son (although he prefers Samurai Blades). It's launching in a few days, so keep an eye out!

Five Games That Made Me The Gamer I Am Today

This is a bit of a thing at the moment, so here's my five games worth, although I've squeezed in a couple more for the hell of it!

1. Tank Battles in Miniature

This was my first 'proper' wargame and I had it on permanent load from the local library until I had to give it back. I copied out all of the main rules and charts onto file cards and continued to play games even when the book had been given up, using Heroics and Ros 1/300th scale tanks. I mis-read the rules and thought you had to actually play a turn in 60 seconds, so I had a stopwatch and used it every time an individual tank had to acquire, aim and fire at a target, with the results worked out afterwards. Absolutely seat of your pants gaming and very realistic in an accidentally historical way. This book first got me into solo wargaming, so hats off to Mr Quarrie!

2. Imperial Commander

A school friend of mine bought a copy of Laserburn from the local games shop (remember those?) in Plymouth, so I decided to get my own copy, except they'd run out so I grabbed Imperial Commander instead. I couldn't afford many figures so ended up playing with a handful of 15mm Imperial Troops and Red Redemptionists a side, so this was my first skirmish level wargame in many respects. It was lots of fun at the time, although I'm not so sure how it would stack up now, having loads of tables and charts. The blurb on the front page still makes me chuckle.

3. Cry Havoc

I absolutely loved this game when I was a kid, having ordered a copy after seeing the advert on the back page of Wargames Illustrated just on the basis of the box art and the blurb. It's still my favourite 'beer and pretzels' board game by a country mile and I do play it sometimes using a second hand copy that I found on eBay. I also loved Samurai Blades but the other Cry Havoc extension games like Siege were a bit of a disappointment, mainly due to the change in art work and unrealistic maps. I went on to study medieval history and archaeology at university, so perhaps this game is why I have been a history teacher for the last thirty years?

4. AK47

When I got back into wargaming about twenty years ago, this was the set of rules that fired my interest and inspired my first painted wargames army. I still think this is one of the most enjoyable and imaginative sets of rules that I have played, perhaps because it allows you to use your imagination  and creativity when developing your forces and the narrative for your games. I love this aspect of gaming, which is diametrically opposed to the competition 'min-max' mentality of a lot of rules systems. It's also still great fun to play after many years and loads of games at the club.

5. Bag the Hun

If I look at my blog posts over the years, this is the set of rules that I've written about and played more than any other, which is interesting as it's not everyone's cup of tea and has, perhaps, fallen by the wayside compared to other TFL rules of late. It was the first game I had played in which a card based turn mechanism was used and which was also based on the idea of formations and historical tactics. It was the set of rules that shifted my interest away from land warfare and towards air and naval wargaming, which are now my main areas of interest. It also led to my first publications as a wargames scenario designer, albeit only in the TFL Specials, and gave me a taste for umpiring which I really enjoy.

Special Mentions

Contemptible Little Armies in the Back of Beyond

To finish off I wanted to include the Back of Beyond supplement for CLA, primarily as it was the set of rules for which I organised and umpired my first club campaign. It's another example of the 'What If?' style of wargaming that I really love and also the unorthodox or obscure historical setting that I prefer to the 'bog standard' wargaming themes. I really enjoyed playing this at the local club, with three full multiplayer campaigns organised and umpired over the years, although I always seemed to come last! It's probably one of the things that has most influenced my interest in campaigning and 'Imaginations' style, not too serious fun wargaming.

A Fistful of Lead: Reloaded

A few years ago I mentioned on the blog that I was a bit fed up with the Old West rules and wondered if there were alternatives worth looking at. Jaye Wiley read the post and then sent me a free digital copy of the Fistful of Lead:Reloaded rules that he had just published, which was very nice of him indeed. I immediately loved the system and the style of wargaming that it reflected, with the deck of cards turn system being a really elegant and effective feature. It's now my skirmish rules set of choice and one of my all time favourite 'fun' wargames to play, especially with the kids.

Viking Raiders

 

I was really pleased to win a virtually new copy of the Standard Games Viking Raiders board game, which was originally published way back in 1987 as a spin off from Cry Havoc.  Although I played Cry Havoc, Siege and Samurai Blades to death when I was at school, I never managed to get my hands on a copy of Viking Raiders or Outremer, so its great to have a second chance.

 

The excellent Cry Havoc fan site has all of these games and their components available as free downloads but I'd rather save on the printer ink and get an original copy of the map boards, rules and counters. I'm sure the boys will enjoy playing this classic beer and pretzels game as well, having really enjoyed the other Cry Havoc games in my dog-eared collection.

 

http://www.cryhavocfan.org/eng/suite/vikingrd/vkgame.htm

 

Guiscard

I was reading the latest edition of Vae Victis this morning with my coffee when I found a review of this new board game based on the Cry Havoc system. It looks really good, with counters and maps very much in the Cry Havoc style. There's an extension on the way based on the Norman Conquest, so it looks like this old classic has been given a new lease of life. It's a bit pricey at 64 Euros, so I won't be rushing off for a copy any time soon but it's very tempting nonetheless:

http://www.cryhavocfan.org/eng/extensio/guiscard/guiscard.htm

Cry Havoc - The Battle of Little Wooton

I gave into the middle sprog today and set up a game of Cry Havoc, which he absolutely loves having been introduced to the joys of 1980's skirmish boardgaming on a rainy weekend a couple of years ago. It's been ages since I dug out my tatty dog-eared copy, so I was also quite keen to relive my mis-spent youth with a decent game from the Additional Scenarios Booklet.

We decided to have a go at The Battle of Little Wooton, with the sprog taking the role of Sir Thomas and myself as Sir James. The scenario required us to recruit the local peasants to join one side or other in a local feud, with the winner decided by the size of his resulting levy. In the end I got well and truly duffed up by the son and heir, with only one of my retainers escaping from the village and my knight bludgeoned to a pulp by a horde of angry yokels.

I'd forgotten how enjoyable this game is and how much fun can be had with a handful of cardboard counters, a D10 and some imagination. The sprog really enjoyed it, especially as he won hands down, so it's a definately worth tracking down a copy on ebay if you're trying to get your kids into wargaming and away from the clutches of GW.

It's also free to download from the Cry Havoc Fan site: http://www.cryhavocfan.org/indexeng.htm

Good fun!

Cry Havoc

It was chucking down this morning as you'd expect for a bank holiday Monday in May, so the kids we're a bit restless. To keep the middle one happy, I dragged out my tattered copy of Cry Havoc and set up the first scenario for a re-match, having played it a couple of times with him before. This involves a street fight between two rival gangs of peasants in the village on the map below:

The game ended up as a draw, although there were a few moments when it was definately going my way, as he doesn't like to lose and hasn't yet grasped the concept of defeat. He's only six, so I let him turn some of his dead into wounded and some wounded results into stuns or retreats. At the end of the game, he had three men left standing and I had four but two of mine we're wounded, so an even result.

Anyway, it was good fun and we both enjoyed the game. I reckon it would make an excellent participation game with 1/32nd  plastic figures and hex based terrain, perhaps using the Kallistra system. The supplementary scenario booklet has some modifications to turn the counter based rules into figure based rules, so it would be easy to work something out.

If you want to have a go at the game yourself, all the maps, rules and counters can be downloaded for free at the following site:

http://cryhavocfan.org/eng/suite/cryhavoc/chgame.htm

There's also a computerised version of the game that you can download of you don't want to print everything out and cut out all the counters.

Solo Wargaming Day

Despite my best intentions, this didn't really happen today as I was tied up with the usual New Years Day activities. I was hoping to try out Bag the Doodlebug this evening but the Ministry of the Interior invited the neighbours round for drinks and nibbles, so my solo wargaming masterplan was scuppered.

However, I did get a game of Cry Havoc in with the sprog this afternoon. I set up a simple escort  / kidnap scenario with my lot doing the escorting of the lady and the sprog's lot aiming to do the abducting. In the end, I fought my way into a corner and, despite a bit of dodgy dice throwing, the offspring won hands down.

Never mind, I'll get him the next time!

Night of the Ninjas

After much protestation by the sprog, I gave in and set up a couple of games of Samurai Blades for him after school today. The first game used the Night of the Ninjas scenario from the scenario book. I played the ninjas but was beaten by the defending samurai bodyguards, although I did allow a few dodgy dice rolls to go the way of the opposition.

Next, we played an ambush game using the Sohei warrior monk counters against one of the generic sets of ronin and ashigaru. As you can see, my warrior monks had to escape through the forest whilst being attacked from all sides by the bandits. It was a made up scenario but, on balance, I reckon it was a bit of a draw, with two dead monks and six escapees, for one wounded bandit.

I was outnumbered two to one though!

I'm going to print off the Cry Havoc rules and scenario booklet tomorrow, as my original set seem to have gone missing. I still have all the counters and the maps though, so I can easily set up a few medieval skirmish games for the kids using what I've got in the box. As it's something they seem to be enjoying and better than the DS or TV, I think it's a good way to get them won over to the attractions of wargaming!

Samurai Blades

My five year old was pestering me to play a game this afternoon so I disappeared up the loft and found my old copies of Samurai Blades and Cry Havoc, which I'd stored away for a rainy day. He decided that Samurai and Ninjas sounded the more exciting of the two options and, as a result, we played out Scenario 1: Ambush from the scenario booklet. He won too!

I have to say it was great fun and the game has lost none of it's appeal in the twenty five years or so since I last tried it out. I used to play both Cry Havoc and Samurai Blades a lot when I was at school and, while they're very simple systems, they are very enjoyable. If you see a copy of Cry Havoc on Ebay then I'd thoroughly recommend that you put in a bid, although you can now download and print out all the maps, rules and counters for free!

This is the place to download the whole series of Cry Havoc games:

http://www.cryhavocfan.org/indexeng.htm

Good fun!