The idea for this game came about because of the impending regular Christmas fixture with my brother, a twice-yearly opponent. I wanted one-off fun game rather than a big set-to and got it into my head that it had to be a snowy one. One dominant factor in the planning stage was that I did not want to spend any money at all on more figures or scenery. I was determined to make better use of the piles of stuff spilling out of the spare room. I decided to utilise a redundant sheet of 2 x 4 plywood as the board, which dictated the size of the game and having half a tin of textured paint already to hand, was set up for the scenery. With a small board like this, I was tempted to use 6mm figures in 24 element DBA armies, but felt that the character of 25mm skirmish would be more attractive and looked for ideas in that scale. In playtesting the resultant games, it occurred to me that the basic idea was easily adapted to most scales or rules and made quite an enjoyable Solo game. The game itself actually has two parts both of which use the same board, as illustrated, and follow on from each other. Part One "They're MY presents" In the first game the objective is a sledge loaded with brightly wrapped presents abandoned on the road in the centre of the board. (Substitute pay. food arms etc.) Both forces approach from opposite directions along the road. The lead elements being on their own side of the frozen streams. The idea is quite simply to get to the sledge and escort it to safety at your own entry point. Although as I said we playtested a variety of scales, we used 25mm Fantasy figures in about four units each. (Approximately 600 points in Warhammer terms). Whichever setting is chosen the following points remained constant: i Troops crossing the fords do so as if crossing difficult terrain (half speed) and are limited to one element or two figures width. ii Players may choose to cross the stream elsewhere in order to get on the table quicker. But treat this as very difficult terrain (quarter speed). In addition roll D6 for each element or figure attempting to cross this way. A roll of 1 indicates thin ice and the piece is lost! Any cavalry attempting to do the same apply -1 to the die, the sledge or wagons or artillery -2... is it worth it? iii Any units or groups of elements moving entirely off-road may encounter deep snow. Again, a D6 roll is made at the start of the movement. A 1 in this indicates that the unit moves in difficult terrain for that turn. The sledge is stuck and cannot move at all this turn. iv The sledge is 'activated' by contact by a unit not in combat. From then on it moves D6 inches each turn in the controlling player's choice of direction unless halted by deep snow or the opponent touching and gaining control. It does not need to be physically escorted, it being assumed that the forces have brought along muscle power to do the shoving. Once the sledge exits the board at the players entry point the game is won. Part Two "Never mind, we' head them off at…" In this game the winner of the first has the task of tying to escort his newly acquired booty to safety across the other side of the table. The opponent has taken a shortcut and is racing to intercept him. Both sides use forces available, not carrying over any casualties. The loser of Part One can choose any one unit and place it at the centre of the board or the road as a small blocking force. The sledge-shoving player starts the game exactly as in Part One, on his side or one of the streams. His objective is the opposite exit point. The blocking player now rolls a D6 for each of his remaining units to determine on what turn they arrive. At the appropriate time, when the first unit is due, another D6 is rolled to indicate which long side of the table all the remaining units arrive at. The rules regarding movement remain the same as the first game and the objective is quite clear. That's it then. I have yet to try out the game on my brother, so may yet discover horrible flaw, but it has already generated a few interesting Solo exercises with variations in troop types and balance of forces involved. I hope it does the same for you. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #125 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com