What Is The ONE WAR System?For the last few months we've been playtesting some wargame ideas that we think are perfect for those people looking for fun, tactics unexpected events and some KABOOOOM! THACKA THACKA!
We're going to be posting Battle Reports to this page so you can follow the development. Nick Fallon's smokey battlefield photographs, the amazing ruins by Elias Pourikas and our forthcoming collection of 28mm WW2 heroes and creatures will hopefully encourage you to sign up to our Beta Test programme when it launches. ONE WAR is being developed for the Achtung! Cthulhu setting, however it can just as easily be played as straight World War Two battles with no 'Cthulhu' surprises. Miniatures photographed are copyright of their respective manufacturers and were purchased painted from Ebay. We will be highlighting all the amazing different makes of miniatures in future updates. A QUICK PRIMER To get you started in following the reports, units are detailed on simple cards, describing the training of the unit and any special attributes (such as Medic, Accurate, Light Armour etc). They can be bought with points or randomly picked (we've got a cute way of balancing games like this). Commanders have a Command Play, Hand and Draw value. Play is the number of Action cards they can play in a turn (activating one or more units), Hand is hand size of Action Cards and Draw is how many they can draw at the beginning of their turn. Some sub-commanders may add to Hand and Draw size whilst they are alive (meaning if they get captured or killed you lose that capability). Action Cards let you activate one or more infantry or vehicle units to move and or fire (sometimes further than the opponent is expecting), let you 'interrupt' your opponents action to move or fire, to move stealthily, call an airstrike or artillery strike, bring on reserves, reveal Fog of War counters and so on. They also carry the results of Morale tests and Fear tests. We'll describe them more in another post. Dice rolls are made with a D10 vs the units ONE statistic for their training. Attributes help reveal more about them in certain situations rather than adding more numbers. That should do for the moment, we'll go in to more detail soon! So enjoy the battle reports - they feature Charlie Company from the Forest of Fear Web Comic as well as many other characters you'll come across. We'll be featuring fantastic miniatures from different companies through the series of Battle Reports, and we're slowly creating a directory of in our forum here. Where possible we'll credit the miniatures shown, if you spot ones you know please let us know! Battle Report 1 - The Set UpCaptain Bloodash is leading a small force of US Infantry to meet some British army scouts in a nearby ruined church. They're carrying vital documents about a new German secret weapon which the Axis are determined to keep from them at all costs, unfortunately Oberstleutnant Vogt of the Black Sun has got to them first, touched by strange powers they have joined the ranks of his doomed zombie troopers who see all life as that which must be destroyed. As a result, both the Axis and the Allies will have to fight their way into the ruined church against these fearful enemies!
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Battle Report 1 - The ForcesFor this battle we created the following forces. Each physical squad would initially be represented by a Fog Of War token until they were in line of sight of an enemy or opened fire.
ALLIES US Command, Charlie Company - Captain Bloodash - Elite, Hero with Medic, Sarge, Radio Operator - Veterans 1st Squad - Corporal Vasquez 1 Section - 6 Elites 2nd Squad - Corporal Jones - In Reserve 2 Sections of 5 Regulars 3rd Squad - Corporal McArthur 2 Sections of 5 Regulars Includes 1 Bazooka per Section Artillery Strike AXIS Axis Command, 1st Grenadiers - Kapitan Koenig - Elite, Hero with Medic, Bazooka, Lieutenant - Veterans 1st Squad - Corporal Kohler 2 Sections of 5 Veterans - In Reserve 2nd Squad - Sergeant Yaeger 2 Sections of 5 Regulars 3rd Squad - Corporal Siegfried 3 MG Sections (each one base, 2 hits) - Veterans Armoured Car Battle Report 1 - The MapExcuse the terrible map, next time we'll photograph the whole battlefield. The Allies start bottom left and their Reserve entry point is the north end of the red road at the top. The Axis start top right where the red road and blue river meet. Their reserve entry point is the point where the red road leaves the map bottom right. There is a hill just in front of the Allied starting point with a small ruin on top, a little copse of woods at the t-junction of the road, an orchard along half of the north side of the board and an orchard in the elbow of the river and the road in the south.
A stone bridge crosses the river, and in the centre the crumbling ruins dominate the area. Already a strange mist has descended out of the nearby great forest... Battle Report 1 - Turn 1The first turn went quickly as we both played cards allowing two units to move. Note that Action cards allow a Fog Of War token to move as any unit described on the Action Cards.
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Battle Report 1 - Turn 2Koenig knew he needed to nail the Allied Reserve entry point (take it and score Victory Points AND deny the enemy their reserves) so he played a 'Move Vehicle 2, Fire 1' card to send the German Armoured Car racing down the road towards the Allies Reserve point (gaining +50% on the road too). Along the way the German armoured car passed the ruins, and as the mist cleared the commander could see strange figures stumbling through the ruins - ice cold gripped his heart as the black eyes of the undead soldiers swung towards them hungrily....the commander's HMG shots went wild and he wasted no time in ordering the driver to speed on!
The German Armoured Car passed its Fear test (they rolled their stat and succeeded - if they had failed they would have drawn an Action Card and read the Fear result) but the panic in the driver's driving probably accounted for them missing the HMG shots at the zombie troopers in the ruins. |
Battle Report 1 - Turn 3Under cover of the rolling mist covering the battlefield, the German commander moved up one of his Decoy Tokens (possibly a unit, possibly not!) to a spot behind a stone wall by the river, covering the ruins, choosing to reveal his unit to fire on the...things...in the ruins he forgot that an HMG unit can't move AND fire. Darn!
Meanwhile the Allies moved out a couple of Decoy Tokens - one was the bazooka armed 3rd Squad heading for the road t-shirt junction suspecting the Germans were going to try to capture their reserve point. Meanwhile the crack 1st Squad of Charlie company led by Corporal Vasquez moved fast for the bridge, realising they could flank the HMG unit by the river and threaten the Germans reserve point Battle Report 1 - Turn 5We realised we were only playing one Action Card a side and in fact should have been playing 2. The Allies won initiative to decide who would start playing 2 Action cards a turn so this is when things went up a notch!
The German HMG's swung around, only 1 could fire whilst the other two moved. 3 hits forced a Morale Test on the Allies 1st Squad on the bridge to see if they were pinned but these guys were hard, and luckily there were no kills. Meanwhile 3rd Squad with the bazooka's played a Move Infantry 2 which let them rush ahead in to the copse of woods by the road's t-junction, the GI's nervously gripping their weapons as the bulk of the German armoured car seemed oblivious to their actions. Turn 6 Continued.
On the Allies turn they pulled out a 'Play Reserves!' Action card and deployed 2nd Squad right in front of the German Armoured car. I then went to fire the Bazooka's of 3rd Squad at the Germans Car again but he played an 'Interupt! Rapid Retreat' allowing him a fast 2 move retreat away from the sudden appearance of the Allies and he drove heading in to the nearby orchard to meet up with a German Decoy Token that was heading that way. Somewhat foolishly I decided no guts, no glory so 2nd Squad (remember without Bazooka's) charged headlong after the armoured car in to the woods for an Assault (each Section has basic 1 Anti-Tank attack even without Bazooka's - they would have been nice though!). The bonus to this assault is that the defender get's no save so it was REALLY worthwhile. The Defensive Fire of the Armoured car dropped one US soldier, and of course the infantry assault proved no good against the good ol' German steel! Hmm maybe not such a good idea after all - this Assault would continue next turn (if either of us activated the units involved). Battle Report 1 - Turn 7 Coming SoonTurn 7 was heating up, the Germans moved their armoured car out of the assault and let rip with the HMG at 2nd Squad but to no effect, meanwhile that pesky Decoy Token in the woods moved up and revealed a German Grenadier squad who charged in to assault - losing 3 of their number to defensive fire but killing 7 of the US squad. I was horrified - the flank was about to collapse!
Grit and determination - 2nd Squad are full of it and the survivors pass their morale test for losing 25% of their number in one turn, being under 50% AND to to continue the assault. They managed to take down another German Grenadier. Meanwhile 3rd Squad on the road fire one section at the Germans in the woods killing another 3 for a total of 7 losses on the German side, forcing a couple of morale checks on their squad. Meanwhile 3rd Squads other section on the road are confronted with a pair of Nazi zombies stumbling through a wall of mist rolling out of the ruins... The zombie trooper's Fearful attribute forces a morale check as they close with the US infantry but luckily they pass...one is downed by defensive fire and the other goes in to assault but thankfully fails. |
Battle Report 1 - Turn 4The German's played another Vehicle move card in the hope of cutting off the Allies reserves, the armoured car moved again, this time the car's commander shook of the thought of what he'd seen and swung the turret round to blast away at the unearthly figures in the ruins, still to no effect - what manner of creatures are these!
Moving next, the Allies played a move Infantry card and revealed 1st Squad as they stormed up on to the stone bridge to fire down on the German HMG's, scoring one hit on a HMG section (but not destroying it yet as they take 2 hits). Battle Report 1 - Turn 6This is where things started to get really interesting. The German armoured car sped up to the t-shirt junction with a Move Vehicle 2, turned right to head off the Allied Reserves when the Allies played an 'Interupt Fire!' - letting 3rd Squad fire their bazooka's at the car, one hit but CLANG, no good! The Germans then moved their whole HMG team in to position to fire on 1st Squad on the bridge - I had a bad feeling about this!
Turn 6 Continued.
Lastly, the US 3rd Squad sitting by the t-junction, who'd just seen their Armoured Car prey head for the woods, decided to follow up and support their fellow soldiers, lending a hand with a couple of bazooka shots at the Armoured Car (though in cover, being in the woods) whilst the rest of the squad looked around the corner of the ruins to see the fearsome sight of the zombie troopers inside! A few shots downed one of the evil troopers but off course half of them stumbled in my direction! |
Turn 8 Continued.
3rd Squad also defeated their zombie trooper, so the whole squad moves with their capture German officer towards the ruins... Meanwhile I pull in my other reserve, the Commander (who is a great Artizan figure) along with his medic, a sarge and a radioman who can call in their artillery. I'd stupidly held them back being faced with difficult choices over which units to activate, the artillery fire they can call in is great BUT it's at the price of not activating another unit. The command unit moved fast up to the north west corner of the ruins with a Move 2, Fire 1, using the Fire action of the radioman to call in the artillery on the rest of the zombie troopers who were clustered at the other end firing on the German HMG position. The Commander, the Sarge and the Medic let rip. The artillery, is spot on and kills two of the zombies but the insanely cackling commander of the zombie troopers returns fire and drops the sarge who foolishly wasn't in cover. Battle Report 1 - Turn 10Picture it, 1st Squad, Charlie Company racing down the muddy road when their Sarge literally grabs the lead man and tosses him to the head, and the others duly follow, when the sarge tosses a guy in the hedge you know you better follow right...
The sarge points at his eyes, and over in to the nearby woods.... Battle Report 1 - Turn 11The Germans knew their time was running out, the veteran paras raced to rescue their commander, appearing through the mist on the edge of the river. 3rd Squad, Charlie Co we're dug in, bazooka's ready for the sound of the armoured car getting closer...
Turn 11 Continued.
A second Interrupt Move got 1st Squad, Charlie Co in to the ruins, forcing a morale check on the German Command unit (through overwhelming force) who were very relieved to be captured as a well placed hail of bullets took out the evil commander of the zombie troopers... "D'ya find the body...?" "No sarge! "What?!" The elite German Para's were forced to concede defeat as they watched their commander surrender, but were already planning a rescue for their commanding officers! We totted up the victory points and the US won. We'll discuss those next as you can spend them to increase the abilities of your units and your command if you're playing a campaign. |
Battle Report 1 - Turn 8The German armoured car finished off 2nd Squad and the Grenadiers charge in to assault again with 3rd Squad holding the road, seeing half of the US infantry are engaged in an assault with the zombie troopers. Cut down by some lucky defensive fire only two make it, the commander and a trooper so when the US counter assault, the German officer elected to surrender since there's a chance he'll escape before the next battle or the Germans can play a rescue mission.
Officers are worth looking after, they can increase their abilities between successful missions giving you access to wider options both in units and abilities. Battle Report 1 - Turn 9The Germans we're getting desperate, their reserves still hadn't arrived and the Americans were on the verge of taking the ruins. The German player smashes his armoured car through the orchard, heading for a confrontation to buy them some time, meanwhile the German Commander shows himself and races for the south end of the ruins with covering fire from the HMG section.
He has to reveal as the ominous form of the zombie trooper commander rears out of the mist in the church ruins! The US get lucky with several move actions allowing 3rd Squad to push in to the north eastern end of the ruins, 1st Squad, led by Corporal Vasquez storms down the road to capture the German reserve point meanwhile the Commander calls in another artillery strike killing the final zombie trooper, just leaving the mad commander... Turn 10 Continued.
A small flare of orange, and outlined a pair of German para's lighting up just inside the woods! "What the hell....!" The Sarge whispers, "Double time, to the ruins, we gotta get there before they do!" So just as the German's played their reserves (I don't think he was really that grateful at this stage!) the US played an Interupt - Rapid Retreat - allowing Charlie Co's 1st Squad a double move before the Germans could act. The German para's moved up in to the forest meanwhile the German Commander fatefully failed a morale check vs the Fearful Aspect of the zombie trooper commander and his command unit were literally cowering on the ground as the terrifying figure advanced on them... Lastly the US 3rd Squad advanced further in to the ruins alongside their Commander in the hope of meeting up with 1st Squad to hold the ruins against the elite German Para's and Armoured Car. Turn 11 Continued.
The German armoured car burst out of the orchard letting rip at the defending US 3rd Squad...but 3rd Squad played an Interupt Fire and took out the vehicle with a well placed bazooka shot End GameHope you enjoyed the first battle report, there's plenty more to come and we'll try to relate more of the rules as we go. Please let us know any comments or questions in the forum and sign up if you'd like to hear about our releases and next reports!
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