"One Hour Wargames - ACW Melee" Topic

When I first got the Neil Thomas 'One Hour Wargames' book one of the first games I tried was a battle using the ACW rules. I didn't enjoy them.

Now having played some of the other rules, and modified them to my own taste, I decided to give the ACW set another outing, as part of my ongoing, but staled, attempt to play all of the scenarios in the book in order.

The result was an excellent little game which took just under an hour to set up and play. You can read about it on my blog.

link

Interesting scenario with a changing emphasis as reinforcements arrive.

In your rule changes, do artillery get 1 D6 -2 and therefore can only hit on a roll of a 6? (i.e. to get 4)

i like the idea of 2 x D6 for artillery at close range.

Can you explain the combat rules for me? When do you roll 1 2 or 3 dice? Is that determined by range or is it based on unit quality/firepower? How about the 1D6-2 1D6 or 1D6+2. In the original rules, the pluses and minuses determined quality of troops.

A unit which would roll '1D6-2' gets 1D6
A unit which would roll '1D6' gets 2D6
A unit which would roll '1D6+2' gets 3D6

All dice score a hit on a 4, 5 or 6. Units can take 5 hits.

Cover gives a save – roll a D6 for each hit and save on a 4, 5 or 6.

I find the original combat mechanism to be too predictable, mostly because you will generally always cause hits. This mechanism allows for the possibility of scoring no damage at all, although the average rate of attrition of units is about the same.

Hmm, may have to try your changes. I've been using OHW with no changes at all for a while. We'll see, my crew may object.

"Interesting scenario with a changing emphasis as reinforcements arrive."

What's interesting about this scenario is how the different OHW rules influence the relative importance of the woods and the hill. In the ACW set the hill offers little in the way of a defensive position, despite being the objective. The woods are a better option, but they also allow the attackers a covered approach to the objective. In melee-based sets the woods act to split the attackers frontal and flank attacks, and the hill becomes a defensive position which has to be cracked.

The balance of each scenario effectively varies depending on which rules you use :) Indeed playing one or two scenarios with each set would be an interesting exercise.

"i like the idea of 2 x D6 for artillery at close range."

Thanks. I felt it balance artillery a bit in the rules. Up close it's as good as infantry. At normalish ranges it's weaker but this is offset by it's greater range overall. The 'morale' effect of losing the 'Zouaves' is also a balancing mechanism.

Just got my copy of these in the mail…I'm going to give them a try this weekend…

Trying mine out tomorrow.