IHMN First Impressions and house rules

[Polkovnik]

We have now played two games of IHMN and here are my impressions. The rules are generally well written, with just a few areas that are not clearly spelled out. I'm sure most people on here are familar with the mechanics so I won't go into details here.
I really like the theme, and I’ve started building some companies and have got lots of ideas for scenarios to run with my gaming group.
However, whilst I like the theme I am a bit underwhelmed by the rules. I find them a bit bland, and the games have been overlong for what they are, and a bit tedious at times. I don't think a skirmish game with a handful of figures per side should take two to three hours, as ours have done. With this sort of game it should be possible to play through a scenario twice in an evening. The mechanics are pretty straightforward so I don’t think the duration is caused by lack of familiarity with the rules – rather it is caused by some of the mechanics of the game.
IMO The main factors which slow the game down are :
1)   The clunky activation system where you activate each figure one at a time for movement, then for shooting, then for combat. I don’t mind alternate activation (although it can break down when the two sides have significantly different numbers of figures), but here you do alternate activation three separate times each turn.
2)   The combat modifiers for shooting by and at moving figures mean you have to track which figures have moved and how far (less than 3”, more than 3”, or running).
3)   The saving throw makes it very difficult to kill low (low is good) pluck characters. My Gypsy Mystic (an unarmed old lady) can be hit by a rifle bullet, or be attacked by an expert sword fighter, and there is still less than a one in three chance of killing her.

There are also a few other things that don’t feel right, such as armour working against firearms (the reason armour went out of use was because of the introduction of firearms, but in this game armour works against all regular weapons except flamethrowers) and the ease of breaking off from close combat (and the fact that there is no penalty for failing to do so).

I've come up with some suggestions for house rules that address some of these issues. I think that they will significantly speed up the game, as well as making it more tactically interesting, whilst keeping all the core combat mechanics and theme in place. I'd be interested in any feedback on them, and if you try any of them out in a game, let us know how it goes.

IHMN House Rules

Turn Sequence
The moving and shooting phases are combined, so as each figure is activated it carries out its movement and / or shooting. There are no negative modifiers for shooting at a moving target. Figures that move and shoot may do so in any order but receive the appropriate negative modifier to shooting.
Melee combat is simultaneous, using opposed dice rolls. Each combat is resolved in turn. In each combat, each figure rolls and adds the normal modifiers. The highest wins the combat. If the winning modified roll is greater than or equal to the opponents armour, it hits and the opponent makes its normal save vs pluck. When one figure is fighting more than one enemy, it uses a single dice roll against all enemies (with any weapon value added), but may split up its FV against the opposing figures normally. If it doesn’t use any FV against an opposing figure then it cannot inflict a hit on this figure, even if it wins the opposed roll.

Autokill
A shooting hit roll that exceeds the target number by five or more automatically kills the target – they do not get the normal pluck saving roll.
In melee, if the opposed roll wins by five or more and equals or exceeds the opposing figures armour, then it kills with no saving roll.

Breaking Off
A figure that attempts to break away from an engaged enemy but fails fights at -2 in melee.

Unequal sized companies
Where the opposing companies differ in size by more than one figure, the larger side activates two figures each time instead of one, until the number of figures left to be activated is equal. So if A has 7 figures and B has 10 figures, and A wins intiative it would be A B B A B B A B B A B A B A B A B.

Knock Downs
When a figure passes (i.e. equals or exceeds) a pluck saving throw, it is knocked down. 
If a Knocked Down figures successfully passes its pluck roll to stand up in the movement phase, it may do nothing.

[Craig]

Hi there Polkovnik,

We're always happy to see players exercising their creativity to make the game work for them and their friends.

I will though give you an insight to our thinking on a few of the issues you have raised.

1. Activation
With practice and bold play this doesn't really slow the game down. I regularly play 250 point games that take 45 minutes or less to complete. In my experience the only time it takes longer is when you're not playing a scenario and are going for complete annihilation of the enemy, or when teaching a new player in their first game.
The alternating activation leads to a highly tactical encounter, where the wise placement of a single figure can turn the game.

2. Shooting modifiers for moving. Charles is a top-ranked shooter and I have military experience. The modifiers are based upon what we have experienced. They reward good tactical play. As for tracking figures I must admit I don't seem to have a problem remembering how half a dozen figures moved on a minute or so before, but other players use counters to get over this.

3. The Pluck Roll.  Yes there are characters with good pluck rolls, and they can be hard to kill. However, the weapons list is full of weapons that impose pluck penalties which soon whittle away at these characters' apparent invulnerability. Again good tactical play and knowing your enemy can overcome this.

4. Armour. This is Victorian Science Fiction, so the addition of armours made from 'advanced' materials is available. Some players who don't like this have interpreted it as a dodge or defence factor.  The actual reduction of the use of armour was as much to do with the economics of scale as it was its capability. After all the 18th century Brown Bess Musket was actually inferior to a 14th century Longbow or Crossbow in rate of fire, penetration and rate of fire, yet many troops still wore armour. It was just a lot easier to train people in the use of a musket and prohibitively expensive to armour the mass formations of the later period. Elite arms such as Cavalry and the Officer class continued to wear armour right up to WWI.

I hope that this helps you understand where we were coming from.

As for being bland that is a little deliberate. We did not want to tie people to a setting like many authors and figure manufacturers do. We wanted to give you a set of rules based on the KISS principle that you could then adapt and use as you wished. This you seem to be definitely embracing - so well done 

I shall look forward to seeing how your house rules work out.