Larger Battles

[vsfguthroth]

Has anyone put out any ideas for using IHMN for larger battles ? Perhaps moving by squad or hero instead of 1 fig at a time ?

[Silbuster]

For larger or multiplayer games, each player throws a D10 when it's their turn to move or shoot or fight and this, divided by two and rounded up, is the number of figures they can move or the number of shooting or combat attacks they make before it's the next player's turn.

[Conquistador]

For larger or multiplayer games, each player throws a D10 when it's their turn to move or shoot or fight and this, divided by two and rounded up, is the number of figures they can move or the number of shooting or combat attacks they make before it's the next player's turn.

Do unused characters lose their actions or do you repeat this process until all figures have been activated/passed?

[archdukek]

We regularly play games with 6 players and generally allow players to move 2 figures on each activation to speed up the game. However, for our next campaign I am thinking of linking the number of figures activated to Leadership value. So Leader 1 types can activate 3 figures. Leader 2 activate 4, etc. Worked fine in out test game.

You could do something like this to play with teams within squads.

John

[Silbuster]

Do unused characters lose their actions or do you repeat this process until all figures have been activated/passed?

A player gets to move or fight or shoot with more figures at a time but play alternates between the players as per normal until all figures have had their go.

[Craig]

Of course one has considered expanding the scope of the game in the past, it is a project currently sitting in the 'MaybeShed' called IHMN Battalions.
This would have players controlling 5-10 companies, instead of 5-15 figures. The plans are laid but we had no idea how much people would want it...?

Just as a taster here is a draft introduction I wrote for it:

"Her Majesty expects that we bend all our power to the prevention of a general state of war in Europe, and her loyal government concurs. Thus, my Lords, I bring before you a Bill granting the Prime Minister and the Cabinet extraordinary powers for the duration of this great emergency.
"The very fact that this House was not three days ago bombarded and its great tower brought low by agents of foreign powers should leave us in no doubt that such powers are warranted. My Lords, as good Christian men, and stewards of the greatest empire the world has ever known, we hold a responsibility to stand up for peace, justice and, our friends in Europe. I move this Bill."

Lord Ragstone, Minister of War, 1897.

From 1895 until the end of the century despite the sterling and unflinching efforts of so many brave men and women, despite the sacrifice of thousands and despite the best-laid plans of politicians and monarchs, Europe continued its inexorable descent into the horror of total war.
Where once a government would deploy a single agent, soon they had to deploy a company of men. And where a single company could not prevail they had to deploy two companies, then three and eventually a battalion. These desperate conflicts could no longer be prosecuted covertly and far for the public's eye.
The first major action that hit the headlines was the assault by the Society of Thule's Totenkopf Battalion on Le Gare du Nord in Paris on May 1st 1896. Captain Napier and his dozen comrades did their very best to minimize French casualties, but when facing an enemy that uses poison gas so indiscriminately there is little that can be done. Tens of deaths and hundreds of casualties, most of them civilians, almost brought France and Germany to war. Only personal interventions by the Austrian Emperor and our own dear Queen prevented it.
In Easter 1897 came the Battle for London. As desperate a few days as Britain had ever experienced. Later that same year the Italian Civil War broke out and it quickly became a proxy conflict for several of the great powers.
This game allows new players and veterans of In Her Majesty's Name to fight battles between whole battalions of figures. Whereas in IHMN you would deploy maybe a dozen figures on the field representing a single company, in IHB you can deploy a dozen entire companies.
As you might expect these rules are different from IHMN. Although they share the same background and much of the same technology, the ways in which both are used changes with the increase in scale.

When looking at the sort of battalions we could define here is a draft list we created:

10.0 Battalions
10.1 Figure and Unit costing system
10.2 Battalion Orders of Battle [include costings]
10.2.1 British Rifle Company [inc. Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Sappers & Mechanical Walkers, Armoured Vehicles]
10.2.2 Metropolitan Police Public Order Brigade [inc. Armoured Riot Police, Mounted Police, Armoured vehicles]
10.2.3 Brick Lane Commune [inc. Anarchist cadres, Docker's Militia & Mechanical Walkers, Incendiaries]
10.2.4 Royal Naval Brigade [inc. Sailors, Royal Marines, Artificers, Rocketeers, Artillery]
10.2.5 Boxer Uprising [Boxers, Dragon Warriors, Tong, Mechanical Walkers, Sorcery]
10.2.6 The Horde of Amun-Ra [inc. Akhenaten, Mummies, Cultists, Anubis Warriors?]
10.2.7 US Marine Corps Company [inc. Marines, Rough Riders, Rocketeers, Mechanical Walkers]
10.2.8 Battalion de Legion Entrangere [inc. Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Sappers & Mechanical Walkers, Mutant Legionnaires]   
10.2.9 Imperial Austrian Army Company [inc. Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Tyrolean Jägers, Armoured Vehicles]
10.2.10 Society of Thule Storm Battalion [inc. Mechanical Walkers, Jägers, Tod-truppen, Totenkopf and Wulfen]
10.2.11 Papal Battalion [inc. Swiss Guard Infantry, Neapolitan Cavalry, Spanish Artillery, Priests, Armoured Vehicles]
10.2.12 Italian Volunteer Brigades [inc. Republican Infantry, Civilian Militias, Mechanical Walkers, Foreign volunteers]

So what do you think? Is this a future project you might support?

[vsfguthroth]

Generally, I'd support anything that allows me to use figures for more than one game/system. I already have too many -

Colonial British Infantry (20+)
RN Landing Party (15)
Gas mask militia (15)
Red Cult (15)
German Colonial Infantry (20+)

for IHMN so another game using a similar system that allowed larger games would be welcome by me. 

[Tehet]

With the nature of the game and assuming we are not looking at Napoleonic size battles, I would look at Vietnam style games for inspiration... One that my club ran around ten years ago used around 40-50 figures per side and the way we got around the numbers was to create a number of special stands with depressions for a set number of figures... Each stand had a set of values, assault, defence etcetera.

Stand of 4 Bases; Militia, Mobs, Civilians
Stand of 3 bases; Grunts, Basic Troops, Heavy Support with Loaders
Stand of 2 bases; Elites, Veterans, Basic Command (Sergeant and Comms), Light Support with Loader 
Single Bases; Heroes, Officers, Specialists (NVA Bombers, Grenade Launchers etc)

So for example a standard US squad would consist of 2 x 3 base stand, 2 x 2 base stands (Command and LMG team)

I'm fairly certain this could be translated into IHMN stats, possibly based on Pluck or Points Value.

Just a thought!

[Craig]

I was also of a mind that this sort of game may well benefit from having smaller scale figures?

[Conquistador]

Well, that (15mm, 6mm, 3mm,) works for my figures.