Sword and Sandals (One-Hour Skirmish Wargames)

Sword and Sandals is a variant for One-Hour Skirmish Wargames, published by the author John Lambshead. (You can download this for free in the Files section of the Facebook group One Hour Skirmish Wargames fan page. Basically it extends OHSW backwards in time, allowing you to play pre-gunpowder eras, adding additional rules for melee weapons and armor.

My gaming buddy Justo wanted to play OHSW virtually, so first I had to figure out how to do that. Normally when I do virtual games I play on a square grid and we call out grid references, like the childhood game Battleship. "I move my Infantry from A4 to B4 and then fire on your Skirmishers at C4." Believe it or not, I did not want to use a grid this time, but a good, old-fashioned ruler. (I know, I know, very strange of me. I will pay for it in back pain tonight, I am sure.)

Secondly, I wanted to get good shots of the game in progress because I was going to be pointing my phone camera to the board using Discord, so Justo could see the game. I decided to try using an overhead shot so that action farther away from the camera would not be distorted and I would not have to move the camera around. (Let me know if you think this works compared to my earlier efforts.) Whenever I did overhead shots before, I would basically stand up on a chair and shoot downwards. It was very hard to tell when I had the camera centered and aimed properly. This time I decided to use a microphone boom to hold the camera directly over the table. We will see how it works, but here is what the setup looks like.

For the figures I wanted to use my large 42mm wooden figures as I thought they would be more visible for the game, plus I have not used them in a while. My choices were Napoleonics or Dark Ages, so I chose the latter.

For the terrain I was considering using my wooden terrain and a grass colored felt cloth, but decided to go with some printed cardboard terrain hexes that I purchased on Kickstarter some time ago. Ironically I see these still on sale in a local hobby shop, but the company that manufactures them is out of business. I think given the overhead view, using flat terrain will be sufficient. Besides, the hexes are very colorful. The figures are just a little large for 42mm.

This is a bit of experiment as I am not really sure if the action will be easily seen. (You can always click on an image to look at the larger version, of course.) Here is how a game in progress might look from overhead.

Whereas this would be the shot I would normally take.

As I say, feedback is always nice.

The Forces

Viking Raiders

Motivation 2 (2 points)

Name	Weapon	R	H	S	M	A	D	Points	Number	Special
Warlord	Axe	2"	1	4	5"	1	3	13	1	Leader 2, Tough 2, Bruiser 2 Inspiring
Hearthguard	Axe	2"	1	4	5"	1	3	5 (20)	4	Bruiser 1
Berserker	H Spear	1"	2	3	6"	2	2	6	1	Bruiser 1 Tough 1
Bondi	H Spear	1"	2	3	6"	2	2	4 (8)	2

Total: 49 points, 8 figures, and 8 pieces of loot.

Saxon Defenders

Motivation 1 (1 point)

Name	Weapon	R	H	S	M	A	D	Points	Number	Special
Warlord	Sword	1"	3	2	5"	1	3	14	1	Leader 1, Tough 2, Bruiser 2
	H Javelin	12"	2	3
Huscarl	Axe	2"	1	4	5"	1	3	5	1	Bruiser 1
Fyrd	H Spear	1"	2	3	6"	2	2	4 (16)	4
Fyrd	Knife	½"	3	1	8"	2	1	3 (12)	5
	Self Bow	24"	1	1

Total: 51 points, 11 figures, and no pieces of loot.

The Scenario

The Viking Raiders are fresh from raiding the local church and laden down with loot (not being able to find beasts of burden). They are heading back to their longship unaware that the local fyrd is waiting for them at Stony Creek.

Objective

For the Viking Raiders, exit the board using the road to the northeast with the majority of their loot. If the Saxon force fails morale any loot they have picked up will not drop; it will be carried off with the retreating Saxons.

For the Saxon Defenders, recover the majority of the loot from the Viking Raiders. If the Viking force fails morale any loot they still carry is dropped. (Yes, I know it is not fair.)

I leave it to the players to determine how extensive the victory is by comparing loot possession.

Special Rules

Loot

In the beginning, each Viking figure carries one Loot counter. A figure can only carry two Loot counters, at most. For each Loot counter carried, a Move action costs +1 Action Point (AP). A figure not in hand-to-hand combat range of an enemy figure can drop or pickup one Loot counter for 1 AP.

Example: The Vikings have 9 AP. Viking A has one Loot counter. He drops the Loot (1 AP), and moves away (1 AP). Viking B has one Loot counter. He moves to the dropped Loot (1 AP), picks it up (1 AP), and moves (5 AP, 3 for second Move action plus two for carrying two Loot counters).

The Vikings must keep at least one figure within one Move action of any dropped Loot counters on the south side of Stony Creek. (A figure can guard more than one dropped Loot counter with one Move.) There is no requirement to guard Loot counters dropped north of Stony Creek.

Note that there is no penalty to carrying Loot counters to hand-to-hand combat or shooting, only increasing the AP cost to each Move action.

Stony Creek

There are three ways to cross Stony Creek: via the ford on the left; via the foot bridge in the center; and anywhere else in the water.

Figures crossing via the foot bridge have no penalty to movement. The bridge is only one figure wide, however.

Figures crossing via the ford have a minor movement penalty. Draw a card: if it is red, the penalty is 2" off of your figure's movement allowance; if it is black, there is no penalty. You will have to pay this penalty for each Move action in which you enter or are within the ford.

Figures crossing through the water have a major movement penalty. Draw a card: if it is red, the penalty is 4" off of your figure's movement allowance; if it is black, the penalty is 2" off of your figure's movement allowance. You will have to pay this penalty for each Move action in which you enter or are within the water.

Test Game

Gaming buddy Justo and I decided to try gaming this virtually, over Discord (as discussed above). I don't really have good shots of the game as I was using an overhead camera. Besides, I write terribly unentertaining battle reports. Instead, I want to discuss issues that came up in the game, which highlights some of the (very dramatic) differences between One-Hour Skirmish Wargames (OHSW) and Sword and Sandals (SaS).

Card Draw Rate

One thing that is immediately obvious is that SaS draws cards at a much faster rate. In OSHW a typical hand-to-hand combat has the attacker drawing two cards and the defender drawing one, so three cards for a single combat (spread across the two decks). In addition, that combat will be decisive; either the attacker or the defender will become a casualty.

Because the mechanics of SaS are draw to hit then draw to wound, and the card draw is based on the weapon and armor, true melee figures will pull multiple cards for each draw. Let's take two spear-armed figures with no metal armor and a shield fighting one another. The attacker pulls two cards to hit (for the spear) and the defender pulls two cards to avoid the hit (for their armor). If the attacker succeeds they then draw three cards to wound (for the spear's strength) and the defender draws two (for their armor's protectiveness). That results in up to 9 cards drawn, rather than 3. If the figures have Bruiser, as the Elite warriors will, add another card for each figure and each level of the Bruiser skill.

What is the net result of that? Actions do not resolve as the Joker appears much more frequently. Further, any scenarios with turn limits will have to be adjusted as you will burn through the decks faster, hitting the Jokers faster, and thus ending the turns with fewer actions resolved per turn. There were many a turn in which one side would draw a high number of AP, only to have a Joker come up after two or three actions, killing both player's turns. There were even turns in which the first action hit a Joker on resolving the wound of the first attack, effectively meaning no action whatsoever was completed that turn.

Indecisive Hand-to-Hand Combat

The kicker is that only if the attacker's best card for wounding beats the defender's by 7 is the defender killed. So hand-to-hand combat is very indecisive, comparatively, and requires many more attacks in order to get a decisive result. (If the attacker wins by 1 to 3 the defender is pushed back and the attacker can follow up. If the attacker wins by 4 to 6 the defender is pushed back and knocked off of his feet, making him very vulnerable.)

This may not be a bad thing, in terms of realism. Hand-to-hand combat becomes and attritional grind, looking for the opportunities where opponents are outnumbered, where there are breaks in the line, and where opponents have fallen and are vulnerable. The net result, however, is that a game that was once one hour long could now be very much longer.

I do like the effect on the melee with pushing and shoving around, but that can be achieved by driving your opponent back (always) on a hit, and when I try this again I will likely adjust the numbers to beat by 1, 2, or 3 to knock down, and beat by 4 or more to take out of action.

Final Analysis

I like SaS and would play it again, but I would definitely end up using fewer figures and trying the changes above or using the armor rules that I am trying, which is that light armor adds one card to the defender's draw while heavy armor adds two, using normal OHSW hand-to-hand combat rules. I can see that adding attack modifiers for heavy weapons is also a good idea, so a heavy weapon would add one or two cards for the attacker. I get the author's desire to rate weapons for both agility and damage, as he did with armor, but the numbers generally come out the same.

Also, the author did not define whether abilities like Bruiser apply to the hit draw, the wound draw, or both. Using my method, with only one draw, there is no question as to how it is applied.

I definitely liked the movement in the melee. My experience with hand-to-hand combat is martial arts and fighting with pugil sticks while in the US Marine Corps and I know that hand-to-hand combat is anything but standing there taking swings at one another. So any rules that reflect that movement is right in my book. OHSW does not need that distinction because there are no draws; either the attacker or the defender goes down. So if I were to continue with the hit then wound method in SaS, the charm of these rules would be this fluid combat.

If I continued with less decisive combat, however, I would definitely want to add a rule for fatigue, which I think is an important element in hand-to-hand combat.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game with SaS.