Getting into Colonials with Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames

[MattofWar]

Hello everyone.  A short while ago I got a copy of Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames.  Then when I was leaving a job site I noticed a small locally owned toy store and inside they had Armies in Plastic 1/32 figures.  I ended up getting some British Infantry and some Gordon Relief Expedition Camel Corps artillery.  I paint miniatures that I use in some RPG sessions (Swords & Wizardry/OD&D), so I've already got the brushes and paints.

The rules in 1HW are very abstract and it looks like I could probably make the Machine Age approach work even though its meant for WW1.  It looks like if I want all the options for the 6 unit starter armies, I need 10 units.  4 infantry, 2 cavalry, 2 artillery, 2 machine guns.  The units need to have 4-6" frontage, so I think I'm going to go for 8 infantry (2 ranks of 4 across? or should I just go 6 across?) a gun and it's crew, 4 cavalry figures.

What do you think I should do with this?


The "screw-gun" can be taken off the camels and assembled.  I was thinking of using them as artillery as is and if the unit doesn't move in a turn the player can unlimber and build the gun.  In the rules you can't move and shoot in the same turn, so it would work on that level.  The wheels don't go on as neatly as I like so I'm probably going to involve some rare earth magnets.

The Armies in Plastic machine guns also look like they'll each make a perfect unit by themselves:


I used to play Warhammer in the 80s and 90s and I was thinking of going with a bright and happy style for these colonials.  I dug around and found my old citadel painting guide in a box in storage.  I didn't keep any miniatures, but I found the books I had in with my old AD&D stuff.  I'm going to base the figures individually for now (washers were recommended to me) as it's not too many to move around and I can always make trays.  I'm planning on playing through the scenarios with a friend and after that I might explore other rules options.

What do I do about an opposing force?  I suppose I could just go for a few sets of the Armies in Plastic Egyptian figures.  Though they don't seem to have Egyptian artillery crew, so I'll probably have to convert those.  Or maybe get some metal castings for that.

One Hour Wargames assumes a starting point of similarly armed and equipped belligerents, but I'm sure I could find a way to make dervishes or Zulus work, though I'm not super interested in the Zulu wars.  Maybe some of the warband infantry rules from the other eras will need to be used.

Thoughts?

[robh]

I think to start with 8 inf, 4 cav and 1 gun will be fine for units.

54mm Wargaming is quite common and there are a lot of ranges to choose from, metals as well as plastics, should not be too hard to find an opposing force. :

http://www.classictoysoldiers.com/cgi-bin/ctsc6/rtl/cat_dsply.cgi?cat_id=000053&Category=Manufacturers%2054mm

There are quite a few people posting on here with collections in that scale.

[Hupp n at em]

Welcome!  I think if memory serves, Armies in Plastic also do a Hadendowa and an Ansar box, possibly even some cavalry.  No artillery to my knowledge.

[Harry Faversham]

I like 'one hour wargames'. One thought I had was volley fire was +2 to British Infantry, best role from two dice for Indian/Gurkha troops. Then have the Fuzzies/Zulus meleeing with a +2 to even things up a bit, hand to hand being a fight to the death! Haven't tried it yet, but we'll have to see.

[MattofWar]

I like the sound of those modifications.  The system is fairly simple so little modifiers here or there are probably all that's needed to make things feel different.

The AiP Sudan kits are an option, there's a Hadendowa and an Ansar box with melee weapons and then a box of rifle armed troops.  There are also 1900 Arab infantry and cavalry sets that might be more appropriate opponents for French rather than British.  I'm sure I'll figure something out.  if I get the two Sudan boxes I'll have a few extra figures to use for converting crew for captured Krupp guns and the like.

I'm sure I'll figure it out.  Maybe I'll put off worrying about it until after my British are painted up.

[Harry Faversham]

Another little twirler enables good old Harry to give Ethne her white feather back. Have a suitably painted (12" move) Hero. He can join any British Regiment that's going under and subtract a D6 role from how many hits they've taken, staying with the unit, till it falls or triumphs. Each move the Regiment takes hits role for Harry separate... a six nobbles 'im!

[MattofWar]

I think I'm actually going to start with some sort of skirmish gaming.  Even at 8 infantry, 4 cav, 1 gun per unit, 20 units (10 for each side to have all the options for the table to generate your six units) is a lot to get done before any gaming happens (64 infantry, 16 cavalry, 4 guns and 8+ crew figures in 54mm).  I'm starting to read up on different options for rules, but I think I should be able to make something work with just a few figures aside and then working up from there.

[Harry Faversham]

You could do worse than fiddling around with 'Fistful of Lead' for skirmish gaming. Have a look at a few reviews of the rules, then if you're still interested pm me, and I'll dig you out a few pointers.

[Ben Waterhouse]

This looks interesting, I'm thinking of modifying Thomas' rules for the Mutiny.

[Emir of Askaristan]

Not tired them with colonials but use them extensively for my 18thC games as well as for Ancient, medieval and 19thC Europe. The basic mechanisms can't take quite a bit of tinkering and base sizes etc don't matter as long as you're consistent.  In the other books there are more troop types and a little more depth, with games lasting a couple of hours or so.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[MattofWar]

You could do worse than fiddling around with 'Fistful of Lead' for skirmish gaming. Have a look at a few reviews of the rules, then if you're still interested pm me, and I'll dig you out a few pointers.

Using Western rules for colonial skirmish is such a good idea.  I'll look into Fistful of Lead.

This looks interesting, I'm thinking of modifying Thomas' rules for the Mutiny.

What would you change?

I ended up starting to put together an opposing force (as I'm going to do skirmish games while I get things finished en route to full sized battles).  I got some Armies in Plastic Mahdist Riflemen and Mounted Dervishes.

[Ben Waterhouse]

Well, from my initial reading unlike a lot of British Colonial campaigns, the Sepoy mutineers kept a core of  battalions going in the European style along with more horde type units. Some of the higher command for the sepoys left a lot to be desired (along with one or two Company generals). Early days yet, need to get some tinkering done. I haven't decided which Thomas rules to use, probably the 19 th Century ones.