One-Hour Skirmish Wargames by John Lambshead
Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Yorkshire-Philadelphia, 2018.
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/One-hour-Skirmish-Wargames-Paperback/p/15346
12.99 pounds (about $15). Pages: 101/Illustrations: 30/ISBN: 9781526700049
Review By Jim Rohrer
This book (Lambshead, 2018) is a follow-up to Neil Thomas’ One-Hour Wargames (Thomas,
2014), fondly known as OHG by many. The rules were simple, the battlefield was small, and the
game could be played quickly. Lambshead put it aptly when he wrote that OHW “very much
captured the mood of our times.” [Note: I have a kindle copy of the book I am reviewing, and
page numbers are not shown.]
At the outset, Lambshead defines a skirmish as “a brief,
unplanned encounter between small units of troops,
ships or aircraft – especially by advanced or outlying
detachments of larger forces.” Furthermore, a skirmish
wargame usually uses one model as one soldier or
vehicle rather than a multi-solder unit. Contrast this
with the Thomas system, in which a unit can represent
as few or as many soldiers as the player desires, with the
understanding that the unit can withstand exactly 15 hits
(Thomas, 2014; p.233 in the kindle edition).
This seems to be to be the essence of the difference between OHW and OHSW. By treating one
figure as one person, personal qualities become more relevant. Lambshead accordingly builds
unique traits into the game system. The net result is reminiscent of roleplaying games (RPGs).
In fact, I suspect that people who began gaming with RPGs might find OHSW to be a useful
transition to more traditional wargaming. Featherstone (in Curry’s edited book on solo
wargaming) opined that one figure usually might represent ten soldiers in a typical wargame
(1973).
Lambshead wanted his game to move at the pace of a Hollywood movie. That requires
elimination of complicated rules and look-up tables. Believing that random elements should
loom large in a skirmish game, he concluded that the six points on a standard dice cube were not
sufficient. Using multiple dice results in a normal distribution of outcomes and thus
predictability increases and randomness declines. He finally settled on using a standard deck of
playing cards rather than dice. His system for doing this was new to me and seems workable for
anyone who is familiar with suits and face cards.
The rules chapters are organized in similar fashion to OHW with appropriate modifications for
skirmish situations and the use of playing cards. No event cards are used. Special capabilities of
individual models include traits such as the following: dead shot, bruiser, inspiring, lucky, fast,
tough, scout. Motivation and leadership are taken into account. The reader can see why I said
earlier that this has the flavor of an RPG.
The book includes a number of skirmish scenarios, one for each era (musket, rifle, wars within
peace, WWII, the Cold War, and pulp action – which includes scifi). Most of these are based on
historical situations. The book concludes with points system and additional rules.
Overall, I felt the book was worth the purchase price, even though I am not currently persuaded
to use the rules system. Getting my head around the Thomas idea of “one unit=15 hits” was not
easy for me when I first began reading rule sets. However, having made the transition, I am not
interested in going back. On the other hand, the scenarios offered in OHSW are interesting and I
found them to be informative about the relevant historical situations. My own scenarios will no
doubt be subconsciously influence by what I read in this book.
References
Curry, J. (editor). (1973). Donald Featherstone's Solo Wargaming. London: Kayle and Ward.
Lambshead, J. (2018). One-Hour Skirmish Wargames. Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Ltd.
Thomas, N. (2014). One Hour Wargames. Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books Ltd.
