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| The tome on trial |
Second point - What are you looking for in a set of rules? For me they need to be able to be used solo; to allow me to concentrate on the game and not the rules mechanisms; and to be relatively quick so that they can be played out between my children's bedtimes and my own. They should ideally be able to be turned into a narrative campaign. I also like rules that I can play on a small space in the lounge during winter - I have a 3'x 3' card table that I can set up, as opposed to the 8'x 4'which is in the garage. One Hour Wargames ticks all of the above boxes.
Third point - the scenarios. If you have the Grant books then you do indeed have a fantastic reservoir of ideas for scenarios (and I would add the Tabletop Teasers that ran through the Battlegames magazine to the other books named by Paul). But they still take some adaptation to whatever period you are playing. The scenarios in One Hour Wargames are designed to work with the rules and army sizes that are given, and they really do work. Even unbalanced scenarios have well thought out objectives and turn limits. Either Mr Thomas is very good at fluking it, or he put quite a bit of time into designing the rules and scenarios to work together.
My tinkering with the Great Northern Wars variant is based on bits of the horse and musket and the pike and shot rules together with some of my own little quirks (I like base removal to show the deterioration of unit effectiveness for instance). There has been ample room to introduce these things and not totally unbalance the system, nor over-complicate it - I print the rules out on a double sided sheet of A4 in a booklet format. Originally I had planned to fight a GNW campaign using an adaptation of Neil's Napoleonic Wargaming rules. I now wouldn't go back.
So in terms of this being a review, I guess I'd give One Hour Wargames 5 stars out of 5, because it works for the sort of games I want to play. Just like DBA is not for everyone, OHW will not be a perfect fit for all wargamers (what rules are?), but I must emphasise that they are not just for beginners. For myself, I feel like I may have found my holy grail.
Nate
Yes, your thoughts on Paul's review pretty much coincide with mine. Many of the scenarios are based on Grant ones, and i do have both of the scenario books he mentions. But the scenarios in those books do need to be adapted to the period and rules you want to use. That's no bad thing, but the OHW scenarios offer interesting challenges and teasers with far less initial preparation. And that's with the rules in the book, variants thereof, or even totally different rules. I can't imagine playing a Charles Grant scenario on a board on my lap whilst camping - I have played OHW scenarios like that, even running a campaign in an afternoon.
ReplyDelete"But the scenarios in those books do need to be adapted to the period and rules you want to use. " - l absolutely agree that you need to do this with any scenario to make the most of it.
DeleteMy point was that if you have the 2 Grant books then you have much of this content already, and you may want to save your cash.
And if you can get a campaign done in a day using any set of rules, then my hat's off to you!
Well my comment about the design of the scenarios working so well alongside the rules has been scuppered upon the realisation that I've been playing too few turns in my games and still coming to a conclusion. Agreed that there isn't a lot new in the scenarios, but as you said, if you don't have the Grant books they are quite convenient to have in one place.
DeleteSome of the scenarios do tend to end before the 15 turns are up through one side or other being wiped out. But I have found that most others go the distance, even if it's only a couple of units fighting it out at the end.
DeleteI'll just have to fight more games - darn it!
DeleteAn interesting contrary view, and very helpful. Clearly the only answer is to buy a copy of my own and see how they tickle my fancy.
ReplyDeleteMy own copy is on Kindle and was relatively cheap to buy, so quite a good way to get a book if you aren't too sure that you are going to like it.
DeleteSounds an interesting book and not just for solo gamers.
ReplyDeleteI think it is worth having on the shelf. Even if you have your favourite rules already sorted, there might be something in there worth looking at.
DeleteHi Nate - nice post, and I am glad you brought up some different perspectives. Its a big hobby with many different preferences and priorities. If you have found that most elusive of warmer objectives, your Holy Grail ruleset, then I am delighted for you and I'm sure that Neil Thomas would be chuffed to hear it. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteBTW I don't like massively complex rules with oodles of charts and every conceivable period aspect reflected either. Simple is great, and the level of abstraction and simplification one prefers is entirely a matter of taste.
DeleteIts also refreshing and enjoyable that a civilised airing of opinions can occur like this in the blogosphere - if it had been TMP the flames would have erupted into a fully fledged bushfire by now :-)
Hi Paul - I couldn't agree more, and was conscious of such flame wars as I wrote the review. I certainly wanted to just give my own review without putting down what you wrote and I hope that I've done that. I'm glad you saw this, as I do follow your blog and enjoy what you post, and it was you who inspired me to do a review, so thank you.
DeleteWell you achieved that in spades and I'm glad I inspired you to grab the keyboard and type something yourself - it made me realise other aspects of the book's appeal. Cheers! :-)
DeleteNice one! I will have to get a copy. cheers MrF
ReplyDeleteGiven your love of DBA and HoTT I would think this will be right up your alley Mr F!
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