Longbows in One Hour Medieval Wargames

In the One Hour Wargames rules, there are four unit types including Knights, Men at Arms, Archers and Levy. The Archers are actually crossbow equipped, gaining a +2 for missile fire but a -2 modifier for hand to hand combat. I could use this profile for English longbows, which would be a simple way to incorporate them in the system, but it doesn't seem quite right to treat crossbows and longbows as exactly the same weapon type?

Instead, I'm thinking of using the same profile but giving the longbow units an additional casualty modifier against mounted opponents, representing the use of defensive stakes - this would half the number of hits inflicted by cavalry against the longbow unit. 

The other option is to extend the range of longbows to 18" but then remove the +2 modifier for missile fire, reflecting the lesser stopping power of longbows compared to crossbows and their greater effective range. I would also incorporate the casualty modifier for defensive stakes with this to create a bespoke option, the two things giving longbows a distinctive tactical profile.

Thoughts? 

Incidentally, I'm also thinking of ways to represent bills and bows as unit types for the Wars of the Roses period, but that's another story....

2mm One Hour Wargames Early Hundred Years War

Crecy, Poitiers...

Longbowmen 

Knights / Mounted Men at Arms

Welsh Spearmen or French Levy

Genoese Crossbowmen with Pavises

 Men at Arms

The usual Sunday morning diversions, this time playing around with some Antonine Miniatures 2mm blocks in an attempt to create units for the early Hundred Years War, mid to late Fourteenth Century or so. I've been thinking about this for quite a while and I think it would work well with the One Hour Wargames rules, with some tweaks to the unit profiles to incorporate longbows alongside the existing crossbow armed archers. 

So, here we have a selection of units including the aforementioned longbows, crossbows, men at arms, mounted men at arms / knights and a spearman unit in case the Welsh are involved. The bases are 120mm x 40mm x 3mm, which just happened to be in the spare bases box, for some long forgotten purpose that now eludes me. I'd be interested to know what you think about this idea, as it's not really realistic in historical terms but fits the rules quite well, give or take the tweaks I've mentioned.

Parabellum Miniatures Trebuchet

This rather impressive 28mm 3D printed trebuchet arrived in the post today from Parabellum Miniatures, a company that I haven't ordered from before but will be doing so again, based on the quality of their models. I've dry fitted it together to show what it looks like in comparison with a Perry Miniatures figure, and I think it looks very good indeed. You can also assemble it as a launching model, with parts supplied in he kit for the sling and trough, but I'm going to build mine loaded and ready to go. The range also includes bombards and siege equipment, which allows you to assemble a full on siege line, if you wanted to have that as a theme for your scenarios. Excellent!

Spandau and Lewis Going Solo

Way back in January last year I started a First World War air wargaming project, intending to use the Spandau and Lewis hexless rules from The Stronghold blog as a simple but elegant, solo friendly system. This then morphed into the Algernon Pulls It Off! project, leaving the initial idea aside without having had the opportunity to actually try out the rules. 

I'm now going to have another crack at the Spandau and Lewis project using my 1/600th scale models and some custom made bases, so that I can try out the system and get a few solo games under my belt, eventually aiming to put on a game at the club at some point later this year. 

I may also have a go at painting some 1/300th or even 1/144th 3D printed models for this project, as they are much more visually interesting for club participation game purposes, even though people were very complementary about my Tumbling Dice planes last week, which was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

https://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com/2025/01/spandau-lewis-v13.html?m=1

Mounted Longbowmen for Lion Rampant

I'm thinking about adding another unit to the plastic traffic jam of Lion Rampant figures that is currently sitting on my painting table. This would either be a second unit of twelve longbowmen or a unit of six mounted archers, rated as heavy cavalry in the rule book. I have a Perry Miniatures boxed set of mounted knights which includes two figures in gambeson per sprue, which will give me enough for a unit of six, especially if I use spare arms from the English and French infantry sets for added variety. I'll have a look at gluing something together at the weekend, while cracking on with painting the pedestrian equivalents.

One Hour Ancient and Medieval Skirmish Wargaming

I was having a chat about medieval wargaming projects at the club last night, primarily Lion Rampant and The Barons' War, when this set of simple, diceless skirmish rules popped up in the conversation. When I got back home for my curry and glass of plonk, I dug out my own copy and had another read through. As a fall back option for small skirmishes, patrols and raids in the Hundred Years War, or even in the Anglo Saxon era, these look really promising. I particularly like the diceless, card based activation and combat system, which is a bit different and offers a lot of player interaction. In the meantime, it's back to the work bench and on to the blocking in on the first unit of longbowmen!

Biggles and the Black Ravens Club Game

A good game of Algy at the club tonight which ended in an RAF victory, primarily due to a lack of coordination by the Jasta 18 players and some unlucky dice rolling. In the end, Ltn.Spindler went down in flames but bailed out successfully, while the RAF managed to get two aircraft off the table, with another two badly damaged and probably on the way to a forced landing behind enemy lines. One of the German pilots managed to fly off the table after failing two manoeuvre tests in a row, while another seemed to do most of the heavy lifting as Ltn.Kandt, despite ending up in a spin right at the end of the game. It's a good set of rules but definitely needs a redraft and some holes patched before it's ready for more club games!

Big Bombers in Algernon Pulls It Off!

Hans Müller tangles with an RAF HP 0/400

In the Algy rule book there is a rule that was carried over from Bag the Hun which prohibits bombers from anything more than Easy manoeuvres. This was obviously designed for large multiple engined aircraft like the Heinkel 111 or Vickers Wellington, rather than the two seater light bombers of the First World War, many of which were pretty nimble, especially later on.

I have decided that, in the interest of both realism and game play, this rule will only apply to aircraft of Size 5 or greater, so the big multi engine types like the Handley Page, Gotha and Zeppelin strategic bombers in the main, rather than lighter aircraft like the Airco DH4, Breguet XIV and so on. I think this makes a lot more sense and avoids any unnecessary special rules tweaks or restraints.

Never Mind the Billhooks Delux

Fairly early on, when planning the medieval projects for this year, I dismissed Never Mind the Billhooks as being way too much work, requiring upwards of about 100 figures for each army. I was reading the rules for painting advice today and thought it might actually be a long term goal to assemble an English army for the Hundred Years War, after building a core from my Lion Rampant / Ecorcheurs! retinue. It's something to aspire to at least but I doubt I'll get there until much later in the process, if at all?! 

Longbowmen Blocking In

The English Retinue Assembled 

The longbowmen unit ready for blocking in

I'm kicking off the Lion Rampant retinue painting this week with a unit of twelve veteran longbowmen. The blocking in will start with the aketons, either using Foundry Moss or Foundry Cadaverous green, in two or possibly three stages. It's all a bit suck it and see but I'm going to aim for a consistent and fairly limited range of colours in the palette, together with some light ink washes to add some depth.