"One-Hour Wargames Review... with Epic" Topic

I recently picked up a copy of One-Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas. What drew me to the book originally was the 30 scenarios included. However, after reading through the rules sections, I was intrigued by their simplicity and decided to tweak the WW2 rules so I could use some of my Epic 40k models in a solo battle.

I really enjoyed the game and look forward to playing more games with these rules and trying out more of the scenarios.

Overall I think the game rules, while simple, do offer a fun experience that can be played from start to finish within an hour.

The scenarios are a great addition to any gamer's library (though depending on your existing library, you may already have them). I plan to use the scenarios as the basis for building scenarios for other games and will adjust them as necessary for different rule sets.

All in all, I am very pleased with the book and encourage you to check it out.

My full review can be found on my blog. link

For my first battle I played with Eldar vs Marines using the Disordered Defense scenario. I reduced the table to a 12" x 12" footprint and used 1 stand of epic models for each unit.

Both sides were quickly into the thick of battle and the game moved along nicely. I completed the game in about 45 minutes (taking pictures and referring to the rules periodically).

The Eldar held the crossroad, but took significant losses in the process.

Nice little game !

Nice review. Since there's a lot in that book that doesn't interest me, I recently tried everything I could think of to find those thirty scenarios online without buying the book. I only found a couple.

30 scenarios for a tenner (or thereabouts)? Sounds like good value to me even if you ignore the rest of the book. In fact the scenarios section takes up nearly half the book.

I agree with MajorB that this book is worth it even if you only want the scenarios. You might be surprised (as I was) that the rules interested me as well.

Looks like a blast.

What are all the dice for?

Each unit can take 15 wounds before they are eliminated. The orange dice were to track the wounds each unit had taken.

The green dice at the top of the picture were to count turns.

Ah okay, awesome.

So it seems you have relatively few units on the table but they are quite persistent then?

How many wounds do you typically take in a turn?

The most units you will have on the board is 6. In the scenario I played, the Eldar had 6 and the Marines had 4. However, the Eldar started with only 3 units on the board and the remaining 3 units showed up on turn 8.

In addition to that, the units you get are based on a random roll, so you don't always know what forces you will have. You will always get some infantry, but you might not always have tanks.

The attacking unit rolls a d6 and that is the number of wounds the defending units takes (with some limited modifiers). Infantry attacking a tank have a -2 modifier on the roll. But tanks get a +2 vs infantry and other tanks.

So how many wounds do you take in a turn… it depends on how many units are directing fire at you?

Ranges are limited to 4" in my scale and you can not move and fire.

I see, okay. So taking a unit out in a single turn would be quite hard to do.

Yes, but the game itself is pretty bloody, partly which it plays so fast. So few units means you need to concentrate on the requirements of the scenario as each unit matters a lot.

It really is a very clever system, much more depth than first appearances, and it is course always easy to make it more complicated. As noted above, worth buying for the scenarios alone.

Sounds very neat. I am pretty intrigued by the idea of "mini games" with only a couple of units.

I'll have to pick this one up soon.

And for those that are put off by only having 6 stands on a table, if you play on the standard 3x3 table (as the rules are written), each unit should have a frontage of 4-6". So you could use several bases to represent each unit.

I find the black powder rules quite good. The WWII rules have an issue as written. The side with 2 mortars will whip the side without.

Sean, thanks for sharing. Love reading good reviews. Also like the book.

What size does the units represent? Whatever you want them to, or is it geared at a specific size ?

36 scenarios. As well, there is a random army generator alone make the book worth it. The rules are simplistic. My son was not really keen on them and he is 8 years old. I think they would work well for the horse and musket eras. They were a little dull for Ancients and Medieval.

The WWII rules say each unit is a platoon, though it is rather abstract. Some prefer to say battalions.

In Horse and Musket, ACW, etc. nothing is stated but seems to be battalions. I like fielding 24 man infantry units that stay intact until they take 15 hits.

I use cardboard counters to denote hits and cotton smoke to show who fired.

well, pulled the trigger on them on amazon :)

Stuff like this always makes me kick myself because it's such an obvious, great idea…once someone has gone and done all the hard work :)

Weasel, I'd be interested to hear what you think once you get the book.

The games are so fast that we have sometimes played campaigns in an evening. Roll a die to see which of the first 6 scenarios you play. Then roll again and add 6 for the second scenario (7 – 12). Whoever won the last game gets to choose which side they play (red or blue).

Sean – I'll let people know. I always get super super self-conscious commenting on other people's games but I'm sure it'll be all good comments in any event.

Good or bad, I like to hear honest opinions.

Oh yeah, I just get worried because as a publisher myself, I don't want to look like I am slagging off a competitor or whatnot.

So I tend to keep my mouth shut unless its a game I like.

Though I genuinely like most games, so its not so bad.