Hex Grid Failure

If you've read some previous posts, you'll remember that I was trying to make a hexagon gridded surface.  After several hours of researching fabrics and paints, and cutting and taping freezer paper, I finally got to the moment of truth.  As the title of this posts suggests, it was a failure. 
The spray primer absorbed into the duck cloth, so instead of nice clean lines, I got blobby messes.  The freezer paper started peeling up as soon as it got wet, which made the blobs worse. I let it dry and tried to play a game on it. 
Besides being ugly, gridding Galleys and Galleons didn't work well for me.  In order to get the longer ships I'd designed to fit in one hex, they had to be 3 inches between parallel sides.  Having such large hexes made it easy for collisions and boarding actions because both ships could occupy the same tile.  The 3" grids essentially shrunk the playable surface of the game.  Suddenly ships firing at 2x long range could reach half of the map.  Having the grids did make wind direction very easy.  There is no discrepancy about what setting the sails should be at, or if an enemy ship is in range. 
In order to get the playing surface to a manageable size, I'd have to shrink down the hexes to 2".  This would present two options; either reduce the size of the models, or have a single model occupy multiple hexes. I haven't had time to think out all the problems of having a unit occupy multiple hexes, but I do know that reducing the models by 50% will certainly reduce the likelihood that I ever paint them.
Spray painting on duck cloth might work for some, but I won't be trying it again.  I might try using my wife's Cricut to cut iron on vinyl.  The lines would be very clean, but it took 12 sheets of cutting to make the spray painting stencil, and that much vinyl would get expensive.  The goal was to make it functional without being real expensive. By the time I buy new cloth and 12 sheets of vinyl, it's approaching the cost of a vinyl gaming mat. 
Now accepting ideas for a 36x54 piece of navy blue duck cloth with gray blobs all over it.

First Fleet

The first fleet is finally printed and painted.  They are not much use in historical actions, on account of the comically larger than life cannons in the bow.  The fleet will likely fight sailed fleets with broadside guns.  They are designed for use with the Galleys and Galleons rules by Ganesha Games. It has been in a few games and performed well.

 The whole fleet assembled in echelon.

Boarding Galley: 48 pts Q3 C3 Galley, Swashbucklers, Drilled Soldiers, Yare

There is one boarding galley in the  fleet.  It is specialized towards closing with enemy ships and fighting boarding actions. On the first boarding action after grappling it starts with +6 before the die is rolled. 

 Cannon Galley: 48 pts Q3 C4 Galley, Master Gunner, Trained Gun Crew, Sluggish

 The fleet has two cannon galleys.  Although well suited for boarding actions, the cannon galley's primary purpose is to stay back and pound enemy ships into submission while the ramming and boarding galleys close for melee.

The Ramming Galley: 28 pts Q2 C1 Galley, Ramming, Reinforced Hull, Skilled Oarsmen, Derring-Do, Unarmed
Te ramming galley is the smallest ship in the fleet.  It is optimized for using itself as a weapon.  The bow cannons have been removed to increase the ship's top speed. The galley's ram is functional unlike the rams on the other ships in the fleet.

Some Games Played

While my college friend was in town for a business trip we played a few games of Galleys and Galleons.  We played a quick intro game one night with one ship per side, a galley and a pirate junk.  We missed some key rules, but he decided that it was worth playing again.  He sent me a 200 pt. fleet, which I designed and 3D printed.  His fleet featured several creatures, while mine was comprised entirely of galleys.  Over then next few days we played most of the scenarios.  There seemed to be a fair balance between designing a fleet, making decisions on the table, and lucky dice rolls.  I seemed to make a lot of bad dice rolls, with several of my galleys surrendering before inflicting much damage.  In the "Treasure Island" scenario none of my explorers found treasure, and two of the crews were "invited for dinner".  His explorers discovered two treasures.  They ended up being fun, but the coffee table we played on was a bit cramped.
The gridding project has also made progress.  The wife and I went to a fabric store and purchased a 3' length of duck cloth (heavy canvas).  She designed a hexagon grid stencil which was cut out on her Cricut.  The next step is to tape all the stencils together, lay them over the fabric, and spray paint the grid.  Hopefully, this will be accomplished soon. 
My galley fleet is in the process of being painted.  The hulls and superstructure are red, while the oars and rams are yellow.  Being styled after ancient galleys, they all have eyes which will be painted white with black pupil.  My friend's fleet is probably too eccentric to have much reuse value, but my wife has claimed the monster shark for her yet-to-be-designed fleet.  Her fleet will be pirate themed and feature mostly square rigged vessels. I'm also designing other fleets to play with which will likely include; a merchant fleet, a "Royal Navy" of large battleships, a "Swedish Archipelago" fleet of galleys, and hopefully a Viking themed dragon fleet.  None of these fleets will pay much attention to being properly historical.  The initial intent is to contrive a world in which they would all interact with each other. 
Now that I write this all down, it seems like I have a lot of plans.  Hopefully they all come to fruition. 

A Sudden Change In Direction

This blog may be rapidly changing directions.  I was getting a little tired of trying invent rules that I could play solo or with a friend, especially when the wife isn't interested in military history.  The blog won't be going away, but it won't be predominately Napoleonic anymore.
While re-watching Pirates of the Caribbean, I asked my wife if she'd be interested in a game where she controlled a few pirate ships.  She seemed somewhat interested so I went looking for a simple naval ruleset.  I found Galleys and Galleons a few days later.  Since then, I have been designing my own ship models, in the same clean, simple, cartoonish style as my Napoleonic model ranges. 
I have played a few test games with a buddy and enjoyed them, but think I might adapt the rules to hex grids to make the game less tedious for my wife.  It should be relatively easy since the ranges are almost perfect multiples of the short range. 
My goals of a cheap and compact wargame remain unchanged, but the focus will likely shift from Napoleonic to Naval Piracy.  The level of concern for historical accuracy will also likely diminish.  Our fleets may be more galley heavy than historically accurate.  My proposed fleet even has a few bireme style ramming galleys without cannons. 
In conclusion, I still intend to post updates here, but the Napoleonic project has been pushed to the back-burner for the foreseeable future. 

Model Ranges

Here's an overview of most of the models I've designed for wargaming.  They are all 3D printable at 28mm scale (middle of head @ 27mm) or larger. I have not tried printing any smaller, but there's no reason to think that it wouldn't be possible with the right printer.  They could be used to replace blocks in Command and Colors type games, or ranked up and based for any number of games. 

18th Century
I'm still working on this range, but thought I'd share my progress.  I'm pretty happy with how the hair under the tricorn turned out.  Militia units will be based on the same models, but painted in muted/non-uniform color patterns.  Regular troops will have natural hair colors, while generals retain the powdered wig.  This range will likely expand to include grenadiers mitres and bearskins as well as cavalry units wearing Tarleton helmets.   

Colonial
This range was created out of a desire to actually play a game and not fiddle with rules.  They are intended for use with The Portable Wargame.  I have not yet finished a "native" army for them to fight.  The plan is for the native counter army to wear Ottoman style fezzes, with roughly half of the units wearing zouave style pants.

Napoleonic

This was the first range I designed, that I would call a success.  The Napoleonic range is built around the idea of having four unit types: Line and Light Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery.  All headgear is interchangeable with minimal effort.  Possible headgear includes: Crested Helmet, Landwehr cap, Shako, Shako with Pom (not pictured), and Bearskin (not pictured).  Most European nations could be modeled using these headgear types. 

Wargaming on the Beach

My wife and I own a teardrop camper.  It's not much more than a queen size bed, TV, air conditioner, and a few shelves inside.  Outside there's a galley with a small refrigerator, sink, and propane stove.  It's a mini camper, but so far it's been mega fun.  To see more about the camper and our trips, visit my wife's blog at .minicampermegafun.blogspot.com

Our Mini Camper and Chairs

Morning View:  Ocean Between Campers

We took advantage of the three day weekend, stretched it to a four day weekend, and went camping on the beach.  I thought it might be fun to try to get a short game in one morning.  I generally fish early morning, but I don't have saltwater gear yet so I brought my wargame.  It fit in a shoebox with room to spare.  If that's not the definition of portability, I don't know what is.  On Saturday morning, I set up a "mountain pass" type map and used what I could remember of a One Hour Wargames  scenario.  I clearly didn't have something set up right though.  Blue started with two units and Red started with all six.  Blue's reinforcements arrived at the end of the second turn, but because of where the objectives were placed, Blue still got to the pass before any Red units could get through.  Red did make an attempt to flank around, but was repelled.  After the failed flank attack, Red's fate was sealed.  I did try to play on Sunday, but it was too windy and the felt mat kept blowing around and throwing units to the sand.

Late Game:  Blue Presses the Attack

Things Learned:

I think I made a workable solution to "combined attacks".  In the current rules after being attacked by a singe unit, the attacked unit would roll to resolve any hits.  This could result in that unit retreating, which would put them out of range for melee combat that could have otherwise happened.  To solve this all units who can attack the defending units roll, and hits are tallied.  Then the defending unit rolls one dice for each unit that tallied a hit.  The defender could then take one dice as their result.  This has a tendency to give the defenders a much higher chance of rolling "retreat with -1 hit", but also results in much bloodier combat as it is possible to attack with multiple units.

I need to design a general unit.  I haven't decided if the general would increase dice rolls by one for attackers, or remove hits, or both.  

I need to work some way of locking units into melee if the defending unit does not retreat.  I tried a quick "fighting retreat" scenario, but it was very easy for the retreating army, as they could always move towards their objective, even if they were engaged in melee the prior turn.  

Painting Progress

Although I have an extremely simple painting style, it takes me a while to actually get things painted.  I don't see how people paint hundreds of these.  I've got the coats, pants, muskets, and packs painted.  Now I have just the faces, headgear, musket barrels, cannons, limbers, and horses remaining.  Hopefully I can get finished up soon.  I'm getting anxious.  Then my next project will be the terrain which I'm still modeling in SketchUp.  I've got some evergreen trees that clump together, some basic European houses, a church, and a set of "fortress" walls.  The fortress walls are designed to look somewhat like a star fort, but square to fit the grid-based nature of the game.  More printing, more painting....
The colors chosen for the armies were chosen to look vaguely historic, but not necessarily historically accurate.  I guess that makes the armies imagi-nation forces.  A backstory might give players more connection with their forces and make the game more interesting.  I'm not going to go full bore on the backstories and histories for the nations that would field the forces, but I might write a 1-2 pager for each.
If When I get the units and terrain painted, I plan to run a few test games and then jump into a small campaign.  Bob Cordery writes about smaller campaigns in his Developing the Portable Wargame book.  His method seems to give a good feel of campaign progression without causing a whole lot of extra management.  I might pick random scenarios from One Hour Wargames  to determine the battle.  The winner from the previous battle could pick their initial position for the next battle.  This way the same battle wouldn't be fought over and over again if neither side has a clear advantage.  I'd like to eventually work up to what they do on napoleonicwargaming.blogspot.com, but that would violate my cheap, compact, and fast limitations. 


If you've played some of the scenarios from One Hour Wargames which are your favorite?  are there any that would make a good campaign if linked together? 

More Models Coming Soon!

I think I successfully got a believable enough tricorne model designed.  Now to print and paint.  If it looks like it will be a success I'll put it out on thingiverse.  I know more people do imagi-nations with tricorne wearing troops than shakos.  Maybe someone will find a non-descript model useful for their imagi-nation army, since it isn't supposed to be just like an existing nation's uniforms.  Most people are probably good enough at painting to add extra details like cuffs and facings.  I'd really like to see what a better painter could do with these.  I think I'll stick with the shakos for my army though. 
I got to the tricorne by trying to make a believable bicorne.  The bicorne has eluded me for some time now.  I really could use a General to lead the Napoleonic armies, but have yet to develop a bicorne model that doesn't look exceedingly stupid.  Maybe some day...





Opinions/thoughts/feedback on the tricorne model is greatly appreciated.



Painting Models

My models are very simply painted.  They do not have faces, shadows, shading, buttons, buckles, shoes/boots, straps, or anything else that would be expected on modern plastic or metal miniatures.  What they do have is a coat, pants, musket, pack, headgear, and a spherical head.  That's it. The simple paint scheme is due to two primary factors. 
1: Materials
In an effort to remain budget friendly, I did not buy expensive brushes that would get torn up in painting the relatively rough PLA plastic my units are printed in.  I already had access to my wife's collection of cheap acrylic paints, so I just used those.  In reality the materials probably only have a minimal effect on the finished product.  The biggest reason for my results is my lack of skill
2: Skill
This is the biggest driver of my simple painting schemes.  I have little (no) painting skills.  I read "Grid Based Wargaming" and wish I had half of the skill required to paint 28mm miniatures in his "simple" and "fast" fashion.  He was very generous in explaining how he gets the results he does, but I think skill and experience is the missing link for me. 
My 3D design skill also influenced my simple paint scheme.  It would look odd to me to have detailed paint on simple models.  This simple modeling carries over to the terrain that I'm designing and will be similarly simply painted.


Here are some partially painted models.  For reference, the "equator" of the head is 27mm for the artillery unit.  As you can see there are some serious scaling issues going on here. 

 

Issuing Orders

I don't currently have unit formations written into my game rules.  It seems that almost every Napoleonic themed game has some level of unit formation.  Are there any sources which describe what level of detailed commands were issued at what level? 


In my v1.0 rules, players command roughly division sized forces.  From the reading I've done, it seemed that battalions were the basic operating units.  It would then seem (from my experience) that for the most part, the battalion commander would receive orders such as go there, assault that, or hold this.  He would then reissue the command with additional detail such as formation, speed of movement, and/or precise route and timing.  Is this understanding historically accurate?  I know there's no such thing as absolutes, and every military regulation has a waiver or exception, but in general, what orders did the division commander issue?  Which issues were issued at lower levels? 


In the wargames where players can/do control division or larger size forces, are players playing the role of multiple people?  Do they know/understand that?  How does it affect play?  Please feel free to respond to any/all questions in the comments. 

Wargaming on a budget

As I get started in wargaming, I'm trying to keep my cost down.  I'd love to have hundreds of very high detail metal miniatures and piles of terrain, but those are out of the picture for now.  In this post I will attempt to show that with a little hard work (and some tempering of expectations) wargaming can be done on a modest budget.

Please pardon the unfinished painting of the units, bad lighting and bad photography.  This image is intended to show a somewhat encompassing image of the text in this post.



Terrain:  Currently my terrain is felt. It was bought at the chain craft store.  A 3'x3' piece of green costs somewhere around $5 USD.  I bought some 9"x12" pieces in other colors to cut up to represent hills, forests, roads, water, and built-up areas.  Each piece cost about $1 if I remember correctly.

Board:  $0.  I put the felt directly on the kitchen table.

Miniatures:  Ok so here's where I cheat a little.  I own a 3D printer.  I had it before I started putting this wargaming idea together.  I designed and printed my own range of vaguely Napoleonic miniatures. (Link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2521148) Each stand cost me less than $0.25 USD in plastic.  I count my printer as a hobby, so I don't include my time as an expense.  Each vaguely divisional force is made up of six units, so a playable force costs $3 before painting.
My wife is a pretty crafty lady so we already had a small collection of cheap acrylic paint laying around.  I used that.  If I had to buy it all I think it might cost between $5 and $10 depending on how many colors you use.

Dice: Purchased from amazon $5.

Grand Total:  Less than $30.  Not too shabby.

I promise pictures are coming to the blog shortly.  I just need to find some time to actually take them.

How I explain wargaming

I got hooked by wargaming after being frustrated with some of the classic war-themed strategy games, so I decided to make my own.  Telling someone that you're making your own game generally gets some strange looks and raises some questions.  I generally start by explaining what I don't like about the classic games, and then try to describe my game in terms they might understand.

I liked the idea of RISK, but it always turns into a massive army marching across whole continents in a single turn.  Turning in cards at the right time seemed to be more important than almost anything else. STRATEGO is fun, but the underpowered units never win.  I don't really like that level of determined outcomes.  I played my dad's boyhood copy of BATTLE CRY!, and somewhat enjoyed it, but I didn't like how one army could occupy so much space on a map.  One single army could easily span several hundred miles and then instantly form battle lines and fight as a cohesive force.

Many younger people have played the TOTAL WAR series of PC games.  If you have, then you know that you fight battles on the tactical level, but move your forces at the strategic level.  My game, and most wargames, focus somewhere nearer the tactical battles from TOTAL WAR.  My specific game is grid-based, so I don't worry with fiddly spacing and unit depth.  I don't have unit formations in my game.  I let the lower level commanders make those decisions.  In my game the players move large units across the battlefield, capturing objectives and completing scenarios.  Most historical battles focused on holding key terrain features and locations, not just lining up and destroying the enemy army as in TOTAL WAR.

Rules v1.0

At the end of this post is v1.0 of the rules I intend to use. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts/feedback. The Portable Wargame by Bob Cordery was essential inspiration for the development of these rules.

Game Setup
Players roll for first placement of units. Unless scenario or terrain precludes, units will be placed in the back two rows, and not in an exterior column.

Turn Progression
Determine Initiative, Move, Ranged Attack, Close Combat, Remove units

Initiative
At the beginning of the game, players roll to determine who has the first move, unless a scenario dictates otherwise. Generally the attacker will have the first move.
At the beginning of a game-turn both players roll a D6, the player with the highest roll plays their player-turn first. The number rolled represents the number of units that the player may move on his/her turn. After both players have played their player-turns another game-turn begins by rolling to determine which player begins their player-turn first.

Movement Rules
1. All movement occurs through the side of tiles, not the corners.
2. Units may only move only once per turn.
3. Units that will fire this turn reduce movement by 1 tile.
4. Units may change direction any number of times during a movement, but must end their turn facing only 1 side of a tile.
5. Units may not start or end a turn in the same tile as another unit. (Exception: Commanders may share a tile with any unit, attaching themselves to that unit)
6. If in the course of movement a unit moves into a tile adjacent to an enemy-occupied table, it must turn stop and turn to face the enemy. If the tile is adjacent to two enemy occupied tiles, the moving player will choose which enemy to face. Close Combat will then ensue.

Infantry Ranged Attack
1. Units may only fire once per turn
2. Units may only fire at units that are in range.
3. Firing unit must have line of sight to target unit.
4. May fire 1 tile into woods or built-up areas.
5. May fire out of woods or built-up areas, provided firing unit is on the edge of the woods or built-up area.

Process:
1. Identify firing and target units.
2. Confirm ranged attack is valid.
3. Firing unit rolls two D6.
4. Using Unit Data, determine number of hits.
5. Defender rolls one D6 to determine impact.

Modifiers
+1: Commander Attached/Adjacent,
-1: Target in cover

Artillery Ranged Attack
1. Units may only fire once per turn.
2. Units who have moved may not fire.
3. Units may only fire at units that are in range.
4. Firing unit must have line of sight to target unit.
5. May fire 1 tile into woods or built-up areas.
6. May not fire out of woods or built-up areas.

Process:
1. Identify firing and target units.
2. Confirm ranged attack is valid.
3. Firing unit rolls two D6.
4. Using Unit Data, determine number of hits.
5. Defender rolls one D6 to determine impact


Modifiers
+1: Commander Attached/Adjacent, Fired into same tile last turn
-1: Target in cover

Close Combat
1. A unit moving into a tile adjacent to an enemy unit must immediately stop, face the enemy unit, and engage in close combat.
2. A rear or flank attack is made directly to the side or rear of an enemy unit.
3. A unit who starts a turn having been engaged in close combat in the opponents turn, may withdraw from close combat, but in choosing so may not attack the unit with which it was in close combat with during the last turn. 

Process:
1. Identify attacking and defending units.
2. Confirm attack is valid.
3. Attacking unit rolls two D6.
4. Using Unit Data, determine number of hits.
5. Defender rolls one D6 to determine impact.

Modifiers
+1: Adjacent/Attached Commander, Flank/Rear Attack, Attacking Downhill
-1: Attacking uphill, attacking into forest/built-up area


Resolving Hits
After the attacking player determines how many hits the target sustained in the attack, the defending player rolls 1 D6 to determine the impact of the attack. Elite units with competent officers were more likely to remove themselves from battle, whereas inexperienced officers often misread the situation, resulting in higher casualties.

Unless otherwise specified, all units have a starting strength of six. The unit’s remaining strength is indicated by a D6 kept near the unit. 

Definitions
Line-of-sight (LOS): Ranged units need to be able to see their targets. LOS should be measured from the center of one tile to the center of another. Certain types of terrain obstruct LOS

Terrain
Hill: Reduces movement by 1 tile, Units on edge of hill area facing enemy may be seen, but hill blocks LOS behind.
Rough/Field: Provides cover to light infantry. Reduces cavalry movement by 1. 
Forest: Only Infantry may enter forest. Provides cover. Reduces movement to 1 tile. Blocks LOS behind, but units on edge of forest facing enemy can be seen. Infantry may fire out of forest if on edge of forest, but ranged attacks into forest must only be done in adjacent tiles. 
Built-Up-Area: Only Infantry may attack from a built-up-area. Built-Up-Area provides 360 degree range of fire. Provides Cover. Blocks LOS behind. 
River: Impassable except at bridges or fords.
Swamps: Impassable
Mountain: Impassable, Blocks LOS

Unit Types
Line Infantry: The standard infantry unit of the day. Soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder armed with muskets and bayonets. Line infantry soldiers are well drilled but many do not receive the training required to be proficient marksmen. 
Light Infantry: Most national armies organized their best shooting soldiers into light infantry units. They fight in loose formation or skirmish formation, enabling them to find more cover from the terrain and move rapidly across the field. Their loose formation does reduce their melee combat ability.
Cavalry: Armed with sabers or lances, cavalry are very fast and can be devastating to enemy formations. Keeping enemy cavalry out of the army’s flank can be difficult, but is essential to effective maneuver. 
Artillery: As cannons became more mobile and accurate, they earned a permanent position in armies. Capable of devastating attacks at very long ranges, eliminating enemy artillery should be a priority of any commander.

Unit Data

Units Designed Thus Far

Units/miniatures are the heart of any wargame.  Most are highly detailed and somewhat realistic looking, although most are drastically non-proportional.  It is difficult to sculpt the human body in such a way as to make a sturdy enough to cast at the 15-28 mm scale.  I designed the models at the following link to serve as the units in my game.  They are intentionally void of complex detail. The metal and plastic miniatures can be beautiful, but I don't want to spend the time to become proficient at painting.  The models I designed can be painted very simply, which is good enough for me.  I figured that if I'm going to have a grid-based game where units can only move in set distances and only make precisely 90 degree turns, the simple uniforms and spherical heads are an acceptable abstraction. 

Link to models I designed: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2521148

The v1.0 rules include provisions for line infantry, light infantry, artillery, and cavalry.  I have considered adding more unit types, but those four make a decent start. I considered buying used and pre-painted models, but after realizing I could 3D print my models for very little money, I refined the models and started printing.  Some of the models experienced some quality issues, and I might reprint some in the future.

Each based unit would vaguely represent a regiment.  Four infantry (one being light infantry), one artillery, and one cavalry bases will make a division with attached cavalry regiment.  This will serve as the basic forces with which the game will be fought.  The army composition can be easily tailored to support history or customized to the player's preferences. 


EDIT:  If you're interested in having any of the models but don't have access to a 3D printer, let me know in the comments.  I'm sure we can work something out.  I considered putting them on shapeways.com, but thought their pricing was too high. 

Intro

The purpose of this blog is to collect and document process of developing a roughly Napoleonic, grid-based, war game which can be played in a short period of time with minimal investment. 
I know that sounds like a pie-in-the-sky wish list, but I think I'm on the path towards achieving it.


Roughly Napoleonic:
Although I am interested in military history, several of the people I would play with are not.  I want the game to feel Napoleonic for solo games, but not require an extensive knowledge of history when I play with others. 
Grid Based: 
I am a simple man with simple tastes.  I want to spend time enjoying the game not measuring the distance between things.  Being grid based also probably quickens play. 
Quick Play Time:
I don't have time/space right now for an elaborate table full of high-detail terrain.  Ideally, games could be set-up, played, and taken down in under 2 hours. 
Minimal Investment:
Being new to wargaming, I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on something that I don't get to enjoy frequently.


I want to preemptively thank all those whose ideas have inspired me up to this point.  I will try to cite sources of ideas as I go.