Oldhammer Redivivus

THOSE of you unfortunate enough to have been following this blog since its inception may remember that in my inaugural post in June 2012 I predictably declared that I would be making a record of my tabletop gaming ventures, which at the time consisted of an 'Oldhammer' project and the development of my dungeon crawl game 'Cavern Crawl'. Whilst the latter undertaking has progressed steadily over the preceding months, as has been chronicled here, the former soon fell by the wayside. I gave and have given no explanation for this cessation and shall endeavour to do so now. Put very succinctly: I simply cannot stand the WHFB rules!

Prior to acquiring copies of WHFB second and third editions in 2012 I have played fourth, fifth and sixth editions, ceasing my involvement with the system in the early part of the present century. I then went through a brief gaming hiatus and when I returned it was to indie games such as 'Song of Blades and Heroes' and, more latterly, Matakishi's 'Crom' and Bombshell Games''Mayhem'. The elegant simplicity of these systems allowed for a degree of intuitiveness that was entirely lacking from WHFB, with its buckets of dice and sclerotic IGYG mechanic. 

However, being a fan of the aesthetics of pre-'92 GW I found the growing Oldhammer phenomenon to be particularly appealing and I duly bought the aforementioned early editions I felt required to run 'authentic' games. As detailed on the earliest posts of this blog I also began collecting an Undead army to this end. With this small, but growing force I began playing some small rehearsal games using third edition rules and quickly arrived at the conclusion that, ethos and minor cosmetic changes aside, third edition differed very little from the later editions that I had played and come to disdain. I soon lost interest and abandoned the venture altogether. Now I fully appreciate that 'Oldhammer' is not a rigid concept and that it is as much about ethos as it is about the use of particular rules and even miniatures; it is a rejection of the soulless tournament-orientated direction that companies like GW have pushed their rules. Even so, most 'Oldhammer' bloggers do seem to predominantly use WHFB (especially third edition) so at the very least owning a copy does feel somewhat mandatory. Naturally if you are reading this and enjoy these rules then I say fair enough: my own prejudices are entirely my own! 

Despite this my love of vintage Citadel lead did not abate and recent posts on blogs such as Noble Pursuits, 6 Iron Spikes and the frankly sublime Realm of Citadel have stoked the embers of this affection into a blazing fire once again. I dug out some of the old lead I had tucked away and began scouring the back-alleys of Ebay for material inspiration. However, the issue of just what I would do with them if I started painting vintage miniatures again reared it's ugly head. After all I had committed myself to 15mm and 'Mayhem' for mass fantasy battles and for 'Cavern Crawl' I am using Red Box Games and compatible ranges. And besides I did not want to collect and paint hundreds of vintage miniatures. 

Skirmish gaming it must be then! I decided that Matakishi's Conan-inspired 'Crom' rules would be the perfect vehicle for this, allowing me to collect a small yet eclectic mixture of models. 'Crom', which is available freely HERE (although you are of course encouraged to buy the pdf version), divides models into Characters (single models) and Minions (single models, but more commonly small groups of 3-5 ala Mordheim) and abstracts virtually everything. Straight-up pitched battles are possible, although narrative-driven scenarios are much more fun. A typical force might comprise 2-3 Characters and 3-4 minion groups, although scenarios could easily pitch a handful of hero characters against multiple minion groups. The system is elastic enough to allow for all manner of modifications if players so desire. For those interested in using these rules for similar purposes, here are some of the changes I have implemented:

Activation

Rather than printing specific cards for each character and minion group I use a normal deck of playing cards, with each character/minion group relating to a specific card. Each force has a roster sheet with the usual statistics listed and whom is linked to which playing card. This also means that you can dispense with a 'dice mat' and that it is easier to keep track of who has what dice left in a turn. This doesn't effect play in any way, but is much easier to manage! Here is an example of the roster sheet I use:

Shooting

I have introduced maximum ranges to limited the fatal effect of ranged weapons: