Update to the last Hyboria Post

 As a little update to my last post regarding Campaigns in Hyboria (or similar), below are some images of my recent tinkerings with siege rules. As a starting point I've used Dominion of the Spear (DotS) but will adapt the conclusions for the Portable War Game. My interest in sieges is due to working on an "Ancients" Campaign setting (ImagiNations) which is home to fortified cities - while sides will be encouraged (by the risk of plague, famine etc) not to hide behind fortifications, the need may arise for some simple rules to game attacks on a city or fort.

Siege Engines

Attacking the Walls or Defenders with Engines in my first adaptation for DotS. I later decided I wanted to show which units were actually manning the battlements

The assumption is that the Siege Engines are far enough back to be replaced by Infantry once the walls are breached.

Battering Rams

Attacking a Gate with a ram operated by Infantry

By this stage I had decided that the only Defenders that could engage with the sieging army would be Archers (or other Infantry missile types) who would be positioned on the battlements.

Likewise only Archers could be attacking the defending units until a breach is made.

Non missile infantry could possibly defend a gateway that is equipped with meurtriere (murder holes).

Once the gate is breached the Infantry discard the ram and are fighting like normal.

This is very much a work in progress, so any ideas for Sieges in DotS or PW will be warmly received!

A Hyborian Sandpatch

 I've been keen to try out some additional rules for Dominion of the Spear that were posted by Mark Cordone on, I believe, The PW Facebook Page (I don't have a link for this but a kind reader may be able to provide one!) I played a couple of games this morning using scenic variations. The "sandpatch" for the games was on the PC, though could easily have been on paper. They worked well and at some stage will be tried out with actual figures...

The setting for these games is Hyboria, an old favourite of many gamers, and was inspired by recent communications with Martin S. and  posts on mutazoid's blog, both of whom have been running campaigns using Hordes of the Things rules.

The Kingdom of Ophir has launched a three-pronged attack on its Southern neighbour, Koth.

The first battle was fought on the edge of the Khorshemish Forest - this was a standard DotS game to remind me of the rules. Units for both sides were based on descriptions in Appendix 1 of Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age. Unit initial positions were randomly generated.

Koth (in white) was represented by a unit of Royal Horse Guard (Elite Armoured), a unit of Chariot Archers (Armoured), a unit of Spear armed Infantry (Armoured) and a unit of Archers. Ophir (red) had a unit of Royal Guard (Elite Armoured), a unit of mounted knights (Armoured), a unit of Spear armed Infantry (Armoured) and a unit of Archers. Slight variations of these units appear in the other two battles also.

Opening positions 

Mid battle

Ophir victorious

The second battle saw action across a fordable river. No penalties for missiles but a -1 penalty for hand to hand fighting in the river. 

Battle begins

In the balance

Ophir victorious once more

The third battle featured a partly defensive arrangement for the Koth army. Mounted troops were deployed outside of the defended village. The infantry were given a defensive bonus.

 

Initial positions

A third victory for Ophir

Despite the defences, a conclusive victory for the forces of Ophir over those of Koth. The rules and additions have again proven themselves as a useful way of deciding battles when a speedy resolution is called for. 

Jeux sans Minis?

 Here at Maudlin Towers January is always a bit of a miserable month, not least because it contains the anniversary of the birth of this blog's author. It's a time of reflection and one of the points being reflected upon is the dreaded D word - downsizing. The probability of moving in retirement (and not taking it all with us!) leads me to ponder the drastic reduction of the toybox (the horror, the horror). Just how small a "footprint" could a viable collection of toy soldiers be? 

Small figure size obviously helps, and replacing figures with 2D counters is another option (Jonathan Freitag's recent post on Boardgames shows that many Wargamers' are regularly playing 2D wargames), but even Boardgames take up space. Would it be possible to play satisfying games and run Campaigns without the need for the material props? For me, the important part here is "satisfying", because I think most wargamers would agree that the visual aspect of wargames is one of the key factors in the pleasure, however much they might enjoy the strategy, historical accuracy etc etc.

Playing wargames using digital tools is one obvious solution, and I have done this in the past to try out rules before moving them to the table.

Playtesting the "Matchbox" game Civil War!

 But could games played inside a computer replace the pleasure of getting figures out on the table? I suspect not, however I do already use a PC for recording games, map-making (largely) and other visual aids to Campaign play. The battles currently fought on the tabletop are part of a larger story after all. The "story-telling" aspect of wargaming has always been important to me, which is why I enjoy Campaigns so much I think; would games played without minis still make a good story?

To find out I've tried some, using very simple rules that didn't require any record keeping to keep them quick. A PC of course is 100% suited to record keeping...

Firstly, here's a simple Horse & Musket type game (figures have been snipped out of the Junior General site and the games played in Excel. 

Due to the simplicity of the rules, and some extraordinary random number generation it was all over rather quickly!

The next games were an attempt at running a mini-campaign without miniatures. Set in Hyboria (where else?), the backstory was as follows; 

Merchants traversing the Road of Kings through Zamora have come under increasing attacks from bands of brigands. Suspecting that this is orchestrated by the Governor of the Zamoran City of Shadizar (a City whose moniker is “the Wicked”), Corinthia has dispatched an army to ensure that the attacks cease and the road is safe for commerce. If possible the Corinthians would like to replace the Governor with a more pliable candidate and tear down the accursed Temple of the Spider God. 

The Zamorans react by sending their own force to push the Corinthians back over the border. 

Mechanics 

Three games will be played along the Road of Kings. If the Corinthians win two they will have reached the gates of Shadizar and achieved their goal.

Game 1

The Corinthian advance guard overwhelmed the Zamorian attacker in the first battle

Game 2

In the second battle, Zamorians attempted to block the road where it passed between two hills in an arid valley - they succeeded in slowing the advancing Corinthians.

Game 3

The Corinthians, forced to take a slower route cross-country, meet a final attempt to stop their advance on Shadizar

The Corinthian Army successfully arrives at Shadizar to find the Governor has fled (with most of the treasury) and establishes a puppet regime to keep commerce rolling.

As stated before, these games were played with simple rules to keep them quick. With more time investment some engaging games could be played using the Portable Wargame and variations thereof, inside a virtual world.

I currently don't think that, for me, virtual wargames could replace games with miniatures, however they can work in telling a story and are an option when the latter is not available. As long as the imagination is working, the only weak spot is the hardwear.