Simplicity In Hexes

Jay at 'Numbers, Wargaming and Arsing about' has been fiddling with Neil Thomas. Or, at least, his 'Simplicity in Practice' (SiP) rules. He's simplified them, tweaked them, and then squished them onto a six by six hex-grid in order to play 'One Hour Wargames' (OHW) scenarios with them.

That sounds fun, I hear you say. Well you can grab a bit of the action HERE - rules, scenarios and even a link to a mini-campaign.

I dragged out my Memoir '44 board this evening, as well as my paper Liberation figures, and gave them a try. I did Scenario 4, in which one side begins defending a hill, and both sides are looking to control it by the end of the battle. I used Bolivar's Republicans against the Royalists.

Bolivar's troops ended up defending - a unit of foot and some guns they'd rustled up from who knows where defended the hill. Marching to their aid were two more units of foot and a couple of groups of light infantry.

The attacking Royalists fielded fur units of foot, a unit of light infantry and and some cavalry.

The defenders in position.

The Royalists got stuck in right away with a cavalry charge on the guns which was repulsed. In the background you can see some playing cards; I used the optional rule for playing-card activation, rather than the straight Side A Moves, the Side B Moves sequence.

As the Royalists formed up to attack, the Republican reinforcements appeared. The stones behind the units mark hits; unit is removed when it has taken four.

A charge routed the Republican foot from the hill. I must confess that I found the rules for charges and moving adjacent to enemy units a little vague, and will almost certainly work out some clarifications of my own.

The Republicans were forming a decent line, with swarms of skirmishers on their left (including local indians), and their line in the centre. The guns held out on the hill for ages, repulsing a couple of attacks, but were eventually forced to pull back and were then finished off by the Royalist cavalry.

There was a lot of shooting, which saw both sides lose units. The Royalists managed to grab the hill, but their unit there was unsupported, and their other troops looking a little shaky. The Republicans had a couple of shaky units as well, but two fresh ones were still ready to enter the fray.

More firing saw the Royalists routed from the hill, and Republican skirmishers grab the feature. The Royalists were now down to a single unit of light infantry.

Needless to say it didn't last long. The Republicans won in 9 turns.

The game played out in under an hour (including setup), and the rules held up pretty well; certainly on a par with the original OHW rules. Jay has done a great job translating SiP to hexes; I look forward to seeing what he, and others, do with this conversion.