Big Bases « Steven's Balagan

Category: Big Bases

Base Width measurements in One Hour Wargames WW2

Martin Rapier - One Hour WW2 (6 hit)

Following on from my Review of Martin Rapier’s One Hour WW2 (6 hit), I thought I’d take another look at using my Big Bases with One Hour Wargames (OHW). Specifically using Base Width as the measurement rather than inches.

OHW Distances and 8cm wide bases

I’m a fan of Big Bases, but as I mentioned in Using my Big Bases with Neil Thomas’s One-Hour Wargames, I don’t have a 3’x3′ table and I don’t have big 4-6″ wide bases. I do have a 2’x2′ table and I use 8cm wide bases. Reducing the table from the suggested 3′ x

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Review of Martin Rapier’s One Hour WW2 (6 hit)

I wasn’t too impressed when we tried WW2 using One Hour Wargames. But Martin Rapier has an interesting variant – One Hour WW2 (6 hit) – that looks worth a shot.

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Small Herbsthausen – A Tillys Very Bad Day Battle Report

Tilly-30 Herbsthausen Table

In our first game since Covid-19 lockdown, Jamie and I played my Small Herbsthausen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenario. In Tilly’s Very Bad Day terms this is a small game on a small table with small armies (in numbers of units). The Bavarians (Jamie) heavily outnumber the French (Steven) so I was going to find this a struggle.

Summary: A quick game resulting in an rather spectacular draw. That is pretty much the best result the French could expect from the scenario.

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Horse and Musket Crossfire – Crossfire for the Horse and Musket Era

I wrote this about five years ago because a couple of my projects, i.e. Albuera in the Peninsular and Sipe Sipe in South America, had stalled because I didn’t like any of the available horse and musket rules. Inspired by Roland’s WW1 experiment I wondered if I could make a horse and musket variant for Crossfire. These rules have now remained raw and unplayed for some time. I stopped work on them because I decided I had bent the rules so far that it is no longer Crossfire. But rather than having it lurk on my hard drive any longer,

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Small Lutzen – A Tillys Very Bad Day Battle Report 1

Tilly-926 Swedish Sandwich gets chewed up

Jamie and Chris play tested the pre-publication version my Small Lutzen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenario. This is a small game on a small table with small armies (in numbers of units), and only normal Pike+Shot not Large Pike+Shot.

Summary: Scenario needed tweaking before publication. Swedes couldn’t win.

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Big Lutzen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 2

Tilly-679 Massed Swedes

Adam and Jamie played my big Lutzen scenario for Tilly’s Very Bad Day.

Summary: Good game. A better game than last time. Jamie (Imperialists) beat Adam (Swedes) on Game Turn 6.

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Big Lutzen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1

Tilly-574 Crossing the road under fire is not easy

Chris and Adam played a very raw version of my big Lutzen scenario for Tilly’s Very Bad Day.

Summary: Good game. Some debate about how to simulate the road and ditches. Adam (Imperialists) beat Chris (Swedes) on Game Turn 6. The scenario evolved after the game.

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Metal Measuring Sticks for Big Bases and Small

Sticks-02 40mm sticks used for Triumph during Punic Wars

I’ve been playing DBA for years, and all measurement is in multiples of 1 inch. However, many games are moving to base width as a measurement, which for most people are the 40mm wide DBx bases. But I’ve moved to Big Bases including for Big Base DBA. That means I need 2 inch measurements and 80mm measurements. Here is how I solved this problem.

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Spanish beat Swedes – 2 player game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

Tilly-474 See-saw infantry battle - Left

Jamie and I played a Spanish versus Swedes match up of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. In a very exciting game my Spanish eventually prevailed. We introduced a house rule to make chequerboard more effective and both focused on this aspect of the game with some interesting conclusions.

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Big Base Triumph in the Punic Wars

Triumph-19 Libyans face the Roman battleline

Despite the fact I play DBA a lot, I’m always on the look out for a better game system for the Ancients period, including the Punic Wars. So when the guys said they’d be willing to try out Triumph I leapt at the chance.

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Download Tilly’s Very Bad Day – Fast Play Rules for the 30 Years War

I’ve been on the hunt for a set of wargaming rules for the Thirty Years War for a couple of decades. The hunt has taken so long that I’ve ended up writing my own. I’ve called the rules “Tilly’s Very Bad Day” in memory of the Battle of Rain (15 April 1632) where Field Marshal Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, got hit by a Swedish cannonball. He, of course, subsequently died. I’d like to thank Brett Simpson for the inspiration to undertake the project and for play testing from the first draft.

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Making a ditch and bank for the Italian Wars

Ditch and Bank 43 Swiss attacking Spanish camp

The Spanish surprised their French and Swiss opponents in the Italian Wars by putting arquebusiers behind a ditch and bank. So I thought I should make one. Or, more accurately, make some modular sections of ditch and bank so I can make any shape of fortifications. The modular features are using my Big Bases for use with Big Base DBA and DBA-RRR.

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Welsh versus Picts 2 – An Arthurian HOTT Battle Report

Arthurian HOTT 799 The Morrigan appears in front of the Pictish host

Chris Harrod and I had another game of Arthurian HOTT. This featured Chris’s Chris’s Picts on sabots to provide Big Bases. I fielded my Welsh (Cymry) with Arthurian and Reconquista Christian Elements for Big Base HOTT. I went for my traditional historical Welsh option where the religion is implicit. Chris put a Goddess on table (the Morrigan).

Summary: The Morrigan was scary and my Welsh had to dance around a bit, but it turned out god was on our side and Arthur’s host took the day.

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Steven’s New Kingdom Egyptian Army for Big Base DBA

New Kingdom Egyptian 72 Camp with Sherden Guard

I’ve had my New Kingdom Egyptian army for four years now. Wow. I thought it was time to feature in. It is for Big Base DBA. I’ve taken both options from DBA I/22 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543BC-1069BC.

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Welsh versus Saxons – An Arthurian HOTT Battle Report

Arthurian HOTT 671 Welsh mounted go in again

Jamie fancied a bit of Dark Age gaming. So I dragged out my Welsh (Cymry) for Britannia 600 AD and more Fall of Rome figures to make a Saxon army for Jamie.

Hordes of the Things (HOTT) is fast becoming my go to rules for the Dark Ages so this was going to be a bit of Big Base HOTT. Or, more precisely, Arthurian HOTT.

Summary: Grindy dark age affair with lots of flavour. Bad going made the battle bitsy. Arthur took the day.

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