Imaginations in 42mm (21) - Debriefing the rules

In February, just before we entered the lockdown, we attended Warcon in Gent and ran a 42mm imaginations game there.

We used some homemade "toy soldier" rules, but I noticed I never debriefed them on our blog.

Flags of the various regiments in my two toy soldier armies.

There were two key ideas in the rules:

1. The timetrack. I discussed this mechanic before, so will not explain the concept again.
2. Delayed damege resolution: since units were activated at various intervals governed by the time track, I used the mechanic that once a unit was hit by fire, it simply got a marker. A unit amassed markers, until it was activated. Only then would all the damage markers be resolved. I thought this was a good way of introducing fog of war, and giving neither side the certainty of the outcome of specific firing actions.

So how did the full rules work?

The first sheet (shown below) simply shows the various actions a unit can perform when it is activated. A move and Double move cost a different number of action points (as shown on the timetrack), as do a fire and concentrated fire action. The fire actions also show the damage points inflicted on the target unit.

The second part of the first page contains damage resolution. When a unit is activated, simply roll a D6 for each damage marker to "save", then roll another D6 for each remaining marker and read out the results. The coloured bars correspond to coloured status markers placed next to each unit.

The second page lists soms "fun effects": what happens when the Commander in Chief is being hit, and some random events when you roll low on the D12 to determine your activation points for the turn.

So how did the rules work?

The time track mechanic worked really well. It needs some more tuning, but nothing too drastic.

However, the "delayed damage resolution" was not really fun. I underestimated the joy you get when you fire at the enemy, and immediately see the anage done, instead of waiting till the opponent activates that unit again. It resulted in units in the front line collecting lots of damage markers. We would simply "fire some more", just to add some more damage, just "to be sure".

So I will probably rewrite the rules such that damage is resolved immediately, with the "saving roll" incorporated in the "to hit" roll of the attacker.

I was planning to run a more extensive version at CRISIS in Antwerp this fall, but since CRISIS has been cancelled, it will take some time ...

Imaginations in 20mm (20)

Today I ran a testgame using my 42mm imaginations armies, using our own house rules. The ruels obviously can still use some tweaking, but the timetrack system seemed to work well.

The most comments were about the balance between movement and firing, and that currently the rules don't seem to provide an incentive for troops to 'move forwards', although this was partly also due to the scenario and not having set a time limit for reaching the objectives.

Many of the passers-by were impressed by the figures, and some of the elders recognized some of the home-cast models (although I never homecasted anything myself ... but 2nd hand sites are very useful for picking up the efforts of others :-)).

Here are some images, I will keep a full debrief of the rules for a future post.

Setting up the game.

Blue army starts deploying.

... and the same for Green army.

Green is moving forwards.

Blue Generals in the front.

Overview of the table.

The first cavalry units are trying to find a ford.

Cavalry skirmishes on the Blue side of the river.

Heavy cavalry fighting. The wooden chips are damage and status markers.

Green is approaching the fords in full force.

... but they are taking fire.

Another view across the field of battle.

Blue in a strong defensive position.

Green deployed along the river.

Warcon 2020 images

Edit 10 Feb: some more pictures on https://miniwargamers.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-wargames-show-in-belgium.html .

I just returned from Warcon 2020 today. It's a nice little convention in the Belgian calendar, and there are lots of opportunities to talk to old and new gaming friends.

We ran our toy soldier game (more on that in a next post), which was quite a success in terms of playtesting.

I didn't buy too much stuff - for some reason there was nothing really that struck my fancy, although I have to say I didn't hit the Bring and Buy when it just opened, and only went to look when most of the stuff was already gone - or so it seemed. Someone told me later there was a Citadel Imperial Dragon for sale - don't know whether that's true, but anyway, one cannot buy everything ;-)

Here are some images of the games, in no particular order.

Imaginations in 42mm (19)

This weekend at Warcon we will run our 42mm Imaginations game. I finished 2 additional units for each side, one side getting 2 extra infantry regiments, the other army 1 infantry and 1 cavalry regiment. I still have an infantry and a cavalry unit on the painting table, but these will not be finished in time. I still need to finish two buildings.

So, what will the game look like? I am trying to aim for a more simple, stylized, toy-like look. That means a green (gridded) cloth for the terrain, some simple trees, and I decided to unearth my old Geohex hills (they haven't seen a gaming table for a long, long time ...).

The scenario is based on a traditional Charles Grant table top teaser. Both sides approach from oppositie banks towards a river, there are 6 possible fords (only 2 of which are fordable, unknown and selected at random), and the winner has to control both fords by the end of the wargaming day.The dynamic of the scenario is such that both sides probably want to find out the exact location of the fords first, and depending on their location, will develop a plan for crossing the river and try to secure a bridgehead. I have played this scenario in various settings before, and always gives some good games.

General overview of the table. Two buildings are still missing.

Another look.

New cavalry unit for Green. Figures are semiflat homecast Schneider figures (I didn't cast them, I acquired them like this :-)).

New infantry unit for Green. Figures are also from Schneider. The paper flag is handpainted, and fits in with the other infantry flags.

A new infantry unit for Blue. Figures are Schildkröt. The paper flag is handpainted. The Blue army is a more "modern" army, and hence the more modern flag design.

Another new infantry unit for Blue. Figures are again Schildkröt.

A look from the Blue side.

... and from the Green side.