Wargame in a Wee Matchbox Challenge (Part 3) - The Finale

After I accepted the 'Wargame in a Wee Matchbox Challenge' and a WIP update, it's almost mid December already and about time to finally conclude my contribution to the 'Wargame in a Wee Matchbox Challenge' initiated by Alan at The Duchy of Tradgardland and Mark at Man of Tin blog. I'm curious how my proposal to this challenge will be regarded by the 'Umpires'.

In my previous blogpost on this matchbox challenge I decided to use paper miniatures from the Junior General Website as they are both free and ready painted and I could easily fit some of them in a Matchbox, and still have room for a 'Battle mat' and some terrain. Since my Little Wars inspired 'Napoleonic Cannon Game' didn't fit the Matchbox, I decided to follow my interests for Western movies, Old West gaming and my initial test with the Airfix 1:72 scale Cowboys and to go for an 'Old West' approach for this wargame (but with paper miniatures instead). Besides, I've been thinking for a while to make a very portable 'Old West' wargame which would be easy to bring along when visiting my oldest son where he studies (as he likes Westerns too). Coincidentally at this point I read that Mark at Man of Tin blog was working on some similar theme and solution (which also included using ChatGPT and suggesting miniatures from the Junior General as well). It looks like we had about the same take to this challenge now.

One of the challenges was to have space for several dice in the Matchbox alongside with everything else needed for this game. I found som smaller dice, actually beads, in a craft store and despite being light they rolled OK. 

Keeping it to an 'Old West' theme though, I decided to go fancy with the dice. Inspired by Mark's thoughts on the Howzat Dice (which was new to me) I decided to 3D-print a .45 Cal bullet dice. I'll use the mini dice for healht-stats instead.

I was looking around for some short, easy to play and free wargame rules for a few miniatures that could fit on or in a Wee Matchbox, but didn't actually find any short or easy enough. So I asked the ChatGPT to suggests some kind of Old West 'Mini Wargame' - rules for a 'balanced' game with uneven numbers on each side, for instance 1 vs 3. The rules needed to be short enough to easily fit inside or around a matchbox, and therefore pretty uncomplicated. The ChatGPT suggested these rules:

I'm not sure what the ChatGPT meant by the optional rules as they seems to lack context. Except for that, they looks very simple and playable but I needed to test-play them for some few games to see if they were playable, as that's not always the case when using AI-generated rules. ChatGPT claims that the game was balanced, but after about 14 games or so I think the Bounty Hunter will need another 'Hero point', so I increased his health to 4. I also skipped the incomplete optional rules and added another thing to the winning conditions, to better place a scenario for the game and the shootout (loosely based on a scene from the 'Fistfull of Dollars' though). So, this is my final version of the rules: 

I printed them on self-adhesive paper, and wrapped and sticked them around the Matchbox:

So now I'd got paper miniatures, a battle mat, some terrain, a building (the matchbox drawer), dice for both shooting and health stats, a 6"ruler and finally the rules... -Will it all fit my Wee Matchbox?

Luckily and coincidentally the .45 cal bullet dice, printed to the size of a real one, just fit in the widh of the matchbox. It was a thigh fit, but I managed to squeeze all the other objects in to the matchbox as well...

...And just barley I was able to close the matchbox.

Looks like it is possible to fit a Wargame in a Wee Matchbox after all:

My Wargame in a Wee Matchbox in Action (an AAR)

Even if I managed to squeeze all the elements of a wargame in to this matchbox, that's not the same as there is an actual playable wargame. So I'll add a short battle report to give you an idea. 
I put on some Dollar Triologi Themes for background ambiance. 

Scenario: It's loosely based on the scene from 'A Fistfull of Dollars' when 'Joe' frees 'Marisol'; 3 outlaws are holding a woman hostage in the house, and our 'Hero' is there to free her.

Forces: Are dictated by the rules; 3 outlaws with health of 2 and hits on 5+ vs The Man with No Name with a health of 4 and hits on a 4+.

The Game:

The Bounty Hunter approaches the house where he knows the outlaws and their hostage is:

His presence is noticed by the outlaws, and they decide that 2 of them are going outside to gun him down:

The Bounty Hunter notices activity by the house and runs for cover behind a cactus:

The 2 outlaws coming outside to fight the Bounty Hunter runs for cover; One of them behind some cattle they have stolen, and the other behind some barrels:

The Bounty Hunter opens fire on the outlaws, and the outlaws are returning the fire:

They are exchanging fire for some turns, and even got some hits on each other...

...until the Bounty Hunter manage to hit and kill the gunfighter seeking cover behind the cattle. 

Now the last one of them keeps shooting at the Bounty Hunter...

...Who return fire and manage to hit and kill the shooter behind the barrels. Now the way is open to the house, the hostage and the last outlaw.

The last outlaw now his on his own...

...and orders his hostage outside. His plan is to take the hostage and flee with their horses.

When coming out of the house and into the sight, the Bounty Hunters opens fire before the last outlaw manage to get to their horse...

...and get a precise and fatal hit on the last gunfighter (!). The showdown was a success for our hero as he managed to free the woman. Then they most likely rode into the sunset.

Time: 10 minutes

Turns: 12

Result: This was a victory for 'The Man with No Name'.

Table of Contents 

If anyone considers to have a go and make one on their own, you can save some time finding the bits and pieces on the links below: 

• Any Matchbox
• Old West Mini-Wargame: Showdown at High Noon rules (Should fit around the Matchbox if printed as is)
• .45 cal. Bullet dice (but any dice will do)
• Some kind of tokens for health stats
• Desert Battle-mats #1 and #2
• Gunslingers
• Cowboys
• Civilians
• Arabic House Accessories
• British Military Camp

Conclusion

The working cannon I 3D-printed, and did not use in the challenge due to it's size, has oddly enough the same caliber as my 'bullet dice'. -So I'll guess for other games than this challenge, I can use the cannon to fire roll the 'dice'.

This has been a fun and really interesting challenge, and I've had a good time while working on it alongside my other projects (some of them was postponed to 2025). Thank you for the initiative to this challenge Alan and Mark! 

I think it was really interesting to see that several other wargamers accepted and joined this challenge as well, and I'm looking forward to see their contributions. 

It looks like I finally got around to make that 'Old West Mini Game' I've been thinking to make for a while, to bring along next time I visit my oldest son in Ålesund.

I guess these rules can be used for other very basic and easy to play wargames with only ranged combat as well. If you like them, feel free to use them for your own games or tweak them to suit your game.

Perhaps another challenge in 2025?

A December Workbench Update - Preparing for winter and Christmas + A Wargame in a Matchbox test-play

Despite that I've postponed  some modelling project to attend to the 'Wargame in a Wee Matchbox Challenge', there are still some few other projects I needed to complete this month. This months Workbench update is characterized by that winter is here, and we're soon up for Christmas. 

The first project out this month started as a couple of photos on a 'WWII German Railway Facebook Group' I follow, featuring snowplows on German Heeresfeldbahn Narrow gauge locomotives of the same type as I've converted.last year (HF130c):

These photos made me want to add something similar on my own locomotive for our Garden Railway running sessions this winter, so I set off to resize and 3D-print some suitable files I found on Thingiverse:

I wanted to see if I could find any more information and photos of these snowplows in a German Heeresfeldbahns book I have, but there I also found drawings of other wagons and snowplows used by the German Heeresfeldbahn during WWII:

A couple of these wagons resembled one that I got in a lot with some other LGB-wagons I bought a long time ago:

Fitted with one of the snowplows I've made for the locomotive, it was loosely starting to look like one of the Herresfeldbahn snowplows in the book:

And it looked even better when painted:

This wagon is pretty light so to be able to move some snow, some weights were added and 'camouflaged':

In the same box l found another small stake-wagon from the same lot, which I haven't used in any of my military trains yet. I didn't buy the lot for any of these wagons, as there were other more interesting items in the lot. Therefore It's just been laying around for a while:

I think it looked almost OK for my use, just a little 'too clean'. I did not do a very elaborate weathering job on this one, just a simple black and brown wash:

I added some passengers and a braizer to keep them warm I made last winter:

One of the LGB wagons I bought at Faszination Modellbau has already made it to the workbench:

I added the (military) sleigh I made last year as a load, as it looks more appropriate on this car than the previous one:

I've wanted some kind of storage looking like wagon-loads to keep, for instance, my Piko remote controller for my locomotive when not in use or when it's parked in the fiddleyard. These crates has removable lids, so I 3D-printed 3 of them:

Last December I made a small H0e/009/H0n30 'Pizza-layout' in just 6 evenings as a Christmas decoration. Since I didn't spend much time creating it, I didn't feel it was quite finished. Even of it's very small size I think it needed more Spruces, so I tried to see how it would look like if I 3D-printed some actually made as wargaming terrain and cover it with snow. OK I think, so now I've doubled the number of trees at the layout (and you can't even notice).

This is not a 'military layout', nor is there any 'military trains' on it. But among all the (new) trees there are some military presence:

I also made and added another snowman (from one of my favorite Christmas shorts) for the layout this year:

He is made to 1:87th scale with a height of 19mm. Who claims small scale miniatures can't be made with fillametn/FDM printers??

I've also got a lighted Christmastree for the layout this year:

Not all the workbench- and modelling projects this month are of the too serious kind...

Finally completing all these 'projects' took a load off my workbench. It's still not a completely clean desk, but it's a start

And another important thing on my workbench this month is this little box (and what to fill it with or not). I've joined the 'Wargame in a Matchbox Challenge', and will cover this project in it's own blogger-posts except for this little 'Wargame in a Matchbox WIP'.

Inspired by the recent Man of TIN blog and Duchy of Tradgardland posts on Little Wars, I was kind of inspired to give my 'cannon approach' one more try with wargaming by firing objects on the opponents. The last one didn't fit so this time I reduced the size and 3D-printed another 'cannon' (merely just a barrel) so it would fit a matchbox along some troops and cannonballs:

The reduced size made the 'cannon' fragile and it malfunctioned, and completely broke down after a few shots. This was obviously not the way to go.

I'm OK that this approach didn't work nevertheless as I've already decided and working on (and are heavy into) another take on this challenge. It need to be completed and test-played before I can present anything, but I guess a (final) update shortly will follow.

I'm not sure how many who are into this challenge now, but it's very interesting and motivating to follow the 'Wargame in a Wee Matchbox Challenge' on other blogs. So far I'm familiar with these:

• The Duchy of Tradgardland
• Man of TIN blog
• Grid based wargaming
• Wargame Hermit: Solo Wargaming
• Deathzap

Those not already there, are now added to the links to other blogs in the menu bar to the right. If you know about anymore bloggers participating in the Challenge, please post a link to them in the comment-section.

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Many of this months workbench-projects has already had it's first outings as I initially wrote in this post; it's winter and soon Christmas and our Model Railway Club was invited to join a 'Christmas market' a local museum.Thais was also a perfect time for this 'mini exhibit' as the International Model Railway Day was at the 2nd December.

My Pizza layout

Another H0e layout by another member of our Model Railway Club

A H0 standard gauge Norwegian layout by another member in our MRC

The Garden Railway temporary train display

Nearly all this wagons or loads has been covered in this month's workbench update