Hordes of the Things - A Quickie

I play Hordes of the Things. I will go into this in a post later.

If you are part of the 21st Century and on The Facebook and have played Hordes of the Things or are interested go and like it! Go on!

Also check out The Stronghold Rebuilt written by the Godfather of HOTT himself, Kaptain Kobold.

Pop That Chap Someone!

Late War British Officers

The Brits are going to war!

At least some of them are. I've recently finished a painting commission to paint some Late War British WW2 figures. They are all from Crusader Miniatures and were really nice to paint. All the castings and details were crisp and the Vallejo paint went on a treat.

They were actually a commission for my father who has, like many at The October Wargames club, become interested in a set of wargames rules called Operation Squad by Massimo Torriani and Valentino Del Castello. As you can tell from their names these are Italian chaps and they have put together are really nice, simple set of World War Two rules for games at a squad level.

Rather than an I-Go-You-Go system it uses a reaction based system and the turn sequence goes as follows:

1) Inititive. Each player rolls two six sided and adds the Tactical Value of their highest figure. The Tactical Value is the general ability level of the figure. Average troops have a Tactical Value of 3 while as more elite troops such as commandos and paratroopers have a Tactical Value of 4. The winner can choose to move first or second. The person who goes first has the initiative (Player A).
2) Action Sequence:

Late War British Riflemen

• Player A selects one of his men and declares his intentions - Move and Fire, Fire, Reload, Move Carefully, Run are just some of the actions a figure can perform. If moving you declare where the figure is moving to.

• Player B can now react. He declares the intentions for one of his men in a similar way.

Once each player as declared intentions for three figures, the players roll 2D6 and add the Tactical Value for each figure acting. Actions are then performed from the highest to the lowest.
The sequence then begins again starting with Player B declaring the action for one of his figures.

This is them repeated until all figures have acted, at which point a new turn begins.

The sequence is a bit more in depth than this but hopefully this conveys the gist of it.

German Grenadier with MG42 LMG

Combat is simple. When declaring a Fire or Move and Fire action you pick a target, then measure the range. The shooting players rolls 3D6 adding any dice for range modifiers (for a Lee Enfield rifle at upto 40 cm add 1D6, for an MP40 at up to 20cm add 2D6). The shooter also adds the figures Tactical Value. The defender rolls a number of D6 depending on the situation. For example if the target figure is in woods he rolls 2D6 as a cover bonus, if the target figure also ran in its previous action add another D6.

The dice are then rolled. The defenders total is subtracted from the attackers total. If the result is 11-13 the target is pinned, 14-15 the target is wounded and 16 or more KIA.

And that is the basics of the system.

The basic rulebook has three lists each for the American, British, Germans and Russians and all are based around a single squad with options. On average you will play with about 10 figures in a game. There are also six scenarios from a recon mission to capturing documents from an abandoned vehicle in the middle of the table.

There are also two expansion books - Vehicles (which adds vehicles and new lists) and Reinforcements (which adds some more vehicles, lists and scenarios). I've not played with any of the material out of these books so I can't comment on how they play.

Terrain

I have a love/ hate thing with terrain.

A wargames table with excellent terrain is a truly inspiring sight. It inspires me to go home and make terrain.

Unfortunately I hate making it. It's not as much fun as painting figures.

Or so I thought.

Earlier this year 4Ground started releasing terrain pieces to trade and my FLGS was selling it. I bought a house, then some walls, then some more walls. A third pack of walls followed. That was all in one hour.

Roman Limes Watch Tower

4Ground produce really nice laser cut MDF buildings and terrain pieces for lazy buggers like me who can't be bothered to make it. They come in sheets which you just pop out and slot or glue together. You can leave them bear wood or paint them and they take paint really well.

My favourite piece is the Roman Limes Watch Tower. It works with my Early Imperial Roman army for DBA or Hordes of the Things. It also fits in with Warmachine and Hordes terrain. £20.00 well spent.

Wall Sections

The walls are just brilliant. With three packs I need never buy any more. They come in different lengths and the gaps in the bases allow the end of one wall to be butted against another section at right angles.

I also have six of their Timber Framed Cottages. They are nicely generic and have so far featured in Warmachine games and also on the battlefields of Northern France in 1944.

When I was putting the wooden pallisade together the other week I didn't realise how quick and easy it would be. Work is in process to build some hedges using the balsa wood, milliput and cocktail sticks in a similar way.

So, in summary, terrain needn't be a chore. Unless of course I want to do a Stalingrad themed table. One step at a time I think...