Orks vs Imperial Guard - A Portable Wargame

I fancied doing another Portable Wargame this afternoon, this being a weekend where I have committed myself to doing basically nothing that involves me going out. Another ECW game seemed on the cards until I found myself reading a few of my blog posts from last December where I'd tried out the WWII  rules using Epic 40K figures. I decided to have another go with those instead.

I set up a random terrain by lobbing hills and woods onto a chessboard, and then added two objectives (the rock outcrops).

Both forces consisted of eight units - the Orks had four infantry (one of which included the commander), two tanks and two light tanks.

The Imperial Guard had four infantry (also including their commander), three tanks and some artillery.

All units started off the board. The Imperial Guard were first inspected by the God-Emperor Miller

I used the card activation system from the Portable Wargame book, although used a single deck's worth. This effectively allows a side to activate about half of its units each time their card is drawn.

Opening moves consisted of cautious advances towards the objectives.

The fighting commenced.

I used the single hit rule as well, but with a modification. If a unit was hit you rolled a D6 as normal. However I used the 'save' method from last year where if a unit rolled equal to or less than its strength it could retreat, and was only destroyed if it rolled more than its strength. In addition I allowed a unit to move through a single friendly unit behind it when retreating, so retreats were not so deadly. This method of determining the effects of a hit allows me to factor in quality much as the original rules do, whilst also incorporating the strength and resilience of units too.

Ork infantry assaulted an Imperial-held objective. Infantry are fairly hard to kill, but aren't as effective against armour. In the book they can't kill it with shooting. I simply required them to take a -1 when shooting, since it's assumed they have stuff like rocket launchers mixed into the units.

The other objective was fought over by tanks and armoured vehicles.

The Ork commander took an objective and launched an attack from it. I fixed commanders into a single unit which counted as two for losses (so each side reached exhaustion at five losses), but they got the +1 bonus on shooting and close combat as well.

A massed Ork armoured assault failed to take the other objective.

The Imperials Guard ousted the Orks, but a counter-attack saw the Imperial Guard commander destroyed.

The Imperial Guard retaliated by sending in the tanks.

This was enough to break the Orks

The game rattled along OK, and I liked how it felt. I'd like to think about how to better reflect the interactions between vehicles and infantry though. And then add some chrome. Still, it was a fun way to spend a relaxed Saturday afternoon.