Neil Thomas One Hour Wargames - Solo and Cards?

[FifteensAway]

For those who play the rules, how do you track the 15 hits it takes to remove a unit?

I'm thinking 4 markers at one color and then a "5" spot and a "10" spot of different colors - no need for third because once hitting 15, unit is gone as I read it.

Thanks!

[Khusru2]

I just kept a tally on paper. And I used 1 base for a unit. It isn't hard due to low unit count.

[Moriarty]

I’ve seen mdf bases with dice in partitions to show hits.

[Roo]

Used the online variants that require only six hits then use dice or casualty swivel markers.  Doesn’t affect the playability of the games

[ced1106]

Rando ideas:

* d20 : Tend to roll too easily, so the number changes. ):
* 2d8 : Not a common die people own.
* 3d6 : White die to track damage up to 6. Black die to track damage up to 12. Red die to track up to 18.
* Knitting needle counters: Big, but different colors.

[Dubar]

I've used a penny, nickel, dime method before. There's also 16-sided dice on Amazon.

My current set of homemade rules I use small 6-sided red dice.  So far never had more than 6 wounds at 1 time and once wounded, the figure goes down until healed.

In my rules I roll to see if a shot or shots is a "Success" (1 red marker for every success, I use 10mm blank colored cubes, from Amazon, like dice but no numbers), once the turn ends I then roll to see if any actually hit:

For each SUCCESS received Roll 1D6:
1, 2      = Flesh wound, just a scratch (nothing to worry about)
3, 4, 5   = Wounded, cannot move or shoot (or be shot at but may be captured if enemy comes in base-to-base contact).  Replace RED marker(s) with RED 6-sided die
                    next to model indicating number of wounds
6      = KIA (remove from battlefield)

I was using flat tiddlywinks but found them hard to lift off the battlefield without knocking things around, the small cubes are much easier.

[Diablo Jon]

I use OHW for my Napoleonic games every unit I paint gets a casualty base with space to hold three small dice that I use to keep track of hits.

[Harry Faversham]

We use 'The Dice of Death!'...

1 to 5 on a white dice

6 to 10 on a red dice

11 to 15 on the black dice of death!

Here they are in action...



 

[FifteensAway]

I like the dice of death - fewer pieces and simple.  And that fits with the whole concept of the rules.

Curious to know more about the online variants - not just the six hits but whatever else might be there.

While the simplicity of the rules is great there are some options left out - as mentionmed by the author himself (and some options included, again by the author).  Like to explore that more.  Are these 'official' options or player created options?  I imagine both.

And thanks for all the responses - so far.

There are certain periods where I think rules this simple will be a great option - periods for which I already have figures (and maybe one to add???).

[Diablo Jon]

If you are on Facebook there is a Neil Thomas rules group, that's reasonably active, and sees people sharing house rules and amendments for all his rules including OHW.

I like OHW because the simplicity makes solo gaming easy and allows me to add a few simple house rules without destroying the basic rules.

[Harry Faversham]

The chance cards work really well for Billy-no-Mates gaming.
 

[FifteensAway]

Sometime today I should get the solo version.  While lots of opponents about, sometimes an hour or two of solo fun is in order - so hope they work good.

Might adjust the Dice of Death to: Green, Yellow, Red (like USA traffic lights, green is good to go, yellow is be prepared to stop, and red means stop; or okay, cautious, trouble brewing).

"Billy-no-Mates"?  I do hope no opponents doesn't mean no friends!!! 

Edit: Received the solo book - not really rules apparently - that I thought was by Neil Thomas, turns out not so and at first glance seems rather turgid prose though that might be because I was expecting something else.  I will give them a second look and try to be fair but, frankly, I'm betting I seek to return them.  So, back to the drawing board, most likely, on the solo front.  And, yes, I know there is a blurb in the Thomas book vis-a-vis solo gaming; I was hoping for something more.

[FifteensAway]

Gave that solo book a bit more of peruse, not quite as turgid writing as at first glance but definitely not of much use to me.  Oh, well; moving on.

[FifteensAway]

Please to hear more about the mentioned cards (link, please!?) and how people use OHW to play solo.  Oh, and adaptations for the Sudan in 19th century, too?

Thanks!

[Diablo Jon]

It should be clear that OHW doesn't have an automated opponent like, for example, TMWWBKs Mr Babbage solo rules so you still have to move and control both sides in accordance with their mission objectives, luckily that is were OHW excels with 30 pre-made scenarios to pick from. To give things some unpredictability I added a house rule for command and control based on the old DBA game which incorporates OHW suggested random event cards. Here is an AAR of a Napoleonic battle I played using OHW and my house rule (which I've included in the AAR)

https://jonsotherwargamesblog.wordpress.com/2023/07/31/first-battle-of-zwiesel-1809-aar/

Here is a blog post on the random event cards I made for my Napoleonic games. I think the beauty of the random event cards is you can tailor them to your chosen period based on things that happened in history. I'm planning a new project for next year based on the WW2 East Africa Campaign using OHW and will create a whole new set of Random event cards that fit that theatre.

https://jonsotherwargamesblog.wordpress.com/2023/07/21/chance-and-movement-cards/