‘Orrible Little Men
Rules available here:
PDF: wargamevault.com/product/529524/Orri…
Core Rules free PDF: wargamevault.com/m/product/529606
Physical Copy: ebay.us/m/id5SPA or ebay.us/m/geAphC
- A couple of shots from the setup for “Defence of the Town”, a scenario designed for ‘Orrible Little Men that is inspired by the First Battle of St Albans. This scenario, along with 10 others, is available here for 50p: www.wargamevault.com/en/product/5...
- The heavily armoured mounted men at arms head toward the flank as the archers make their way into the woods. (Showing restraint with your cavalry is vital in ‘Orrible Little Men, you don’t want these expensive units to be shot to pieces!) #nerdlings #orriblelittlemen #wargaming #warsoftheroses
- From a Wars of the Roses battle tonight. A small band of archers prepare to defend the village from the advancing enemy. #orriblelittlemen #nerdlings #wargaming #warsoftheroses
- ‘Orrible Little Goblins, the 2-page fantasy supplement for ‘Orrible Little Men is out now!! It costs 50p on wargame vault here: www.wargamevault.com/en/product/5...
- Incredibly grateful to Martin (7th Son) for reviewing my rules!! Having watched his videos for a very long time it’s genuinely mind-blowing that he made this video! 😅 #nerdlings #orriblelittlemen #wargame
- The Elven infantry look on hopelessly as the undead surge through the ruins before them. Photo taken from a 100 point battle (pretty big for ‘Orrible Little Men, the average game is about 60-80points). #nerdlings #orriblelittlemen #fantasy #wargame
- A wealth of targets for the ribauldequin (not that it’s hit any so far!)
- Heavy cavalry mopping up the defenceless flanks of the enemy
- Finally finished some painting! Victrix Hannibal’s veteran infantry #nerdlings #wargame #carthage #ancient
- I finally had some time to do some painting last night and thought I’d paint along to one of @biglee.bsky.social ‘s videos when suddenly I heard him mention my rules!! Thanks so much Lee for the kind and thoughtful review!
- How to play ‘Orrible Little Men: Part 7: Army Morale Each player’s starting army morale is calculated before the battle begins as follows: The points value of the battle (eg. 60 points) divided by 10 (eg. 60 points / 10 = 6). Then roll a D6, on a 4+ they add 1 to their starting army morale
- During the battle, army morale points are reduced or (rarely) increased, though never beyond their starting value. An example of this is that losing one of their units through them being wiped out or routed causes -2 to that player’s army morale. Scenarios also cause army morale points to be lost.
- Once one player’s army morale is reduced to 0, they have lost. This happens immediately. This means that there is never any question of who won the battle, and it means that playing the objectives is almost always the most important element of each battle.
- How to play ‘Orrible Little Men: Part 6: The Combat Phase Models that are in base contact with any number of enemy models make a single combat roll each. The Elven knights (heavy cavalry) require combat rolls of 4+, while the skeletons (light infantry) require combat rolls of 5+
- The skeletons fail all of their combat rolls, but the Elven knights succeed with three of their combat rolls. The skeletons fail with two of the three armour save rolls (one for each hit caused). Therefore two of their models that were in base contact with the enemy unit are removed as casualties.
- The skeletons are pushed back 2” and must take a morale test. They have a morale value of 5+. They roll a 3 and therefore two more of their models are removed from the battle (the difference between the required roll of 5 minus the roll of 3).
- In this example of a combat, a unit of Elven heavy infantry are defending an obstacle (the fence) from a unit of zombies. The Elven heavy infantry will gain a +1 modifier to their armour saves in this combat against the hits caused by the zombies.
- How to play ‘Orrible Little Men: Part 5: The Shoot Phase A unit of Elven archers (light infantry with bows) are shooting at a unit of zombies (horde infantry). All of their models are further than 12” from their target, but within their maximum range of 24”, so they require rolls of 6 to hit.
- They roll two 6s, causing two hits to their target. The zombies must then make armour save rolls. As they are horde infantry, they require rolls of 6. The zombies roll a 1 and a 5, failing both armour save rolls and suffering two casualties as a result.
- If the Elven archers had been within 12” of the zombies, the rolls to hit would have required results of 5+ rather than 6. If the zombies had been in cover, the armour save rolls would have had a +1 modifier, making their armour save rolls 2 and 6, which would have prevented one of the casualties.
- How to play ‘Orrible Little Men: Part 4: The Charge Phase In this example, a unit of Elven knights (heavy cavalry) are attempting to charge a unit of skeleton warriors. As they are a cavalry unit, the knights charge 2D6”. They roll 11 on the 2D6, and therefore charge up to 11” into the enemy.
- All units make a number of impact strike rolls when they charge (unless otherwise stated in their weapon rules or army archetype rule). The elven knights make 2 impact strike rolls, using their Combat Roll characteristic of 4+. They cause a single hit, which the skeleton fails to save.
- One of the skeletons in base contact with the charging unit is removed as a casualty and, as the charging model is now not in base contact with any enemy models, it moves into the space left by the casualty. This casualty caused by the impact strikes counts toward winning the combat later that turn
- How to play ‘Orrible Little Men: Part 3: The Move Phase Infantry units, such as this unit of Elven archers (light infantry armed with bows) may move up to 6”.
- In this example, the unit of Elven warriors (heavy infantry) are running, at which point they add D6” to their movement distance. A 3 is rolled, so they may move 9” in total.
- In this example, a unit of skeleton warriors (light infantry) are crossing an obstacle that they are adjacent to at the start of their movement. To do this, they subtract 2” from their maximum movement distance of 6”, allowing them to move 4” after crossing the obstacle.
- How to play ‘Orrible Little Men: Part 1: What you need to play You will need: - a tape measure in inches - some regular 6-sided dice - an army (the Elven army shown here is an average 60 point army) - a table and some model terrain
- You will also need a method of tracking army morale (such as the dials shown in this photo)
- Part 2: starting army morale & initiative Starting army morale is calculated by dividing the army points value by 10, so a regular 60-point army would have a starting army morale of 6. Both players then roll a D6, on a result of 4+ their army morale value is increased by 1.
- In order to determine initiative, both players roll a D6 at the start of each turn. The player that rolls higher than the other gets to decide if they wish to take the initiative for the turn or give it to their opponent. If the rolls are equal then a random event occurs!
- 'Orrible Ancient Men, a two-page supplement for the 'Orrible Little Men rules manual (not just the core rules) that provides 8 new army archetypes and 5 new unit types, is out now! Available here: www.wargamevault.com/product/5374... #orriblelittlemen #skirmish #wargaming #nerdlings #ancient
- How to play ‘Orrible Little Men Coming soon! (it just might feature these nefarious fellows) #nerdlings #orriblelittlemen #wargaming #wargame #skirmish
- The core rules (first 15 pages) of ‘Orrible Little Men are available for free! Get your copy here: www.wargamevault.com/m/product/52...
- 'Orrible Little Men & 'Orrible Medieval Men physical copies available on ebay!! ebay.us/m/zLwaGQ #nerdlings #wargame #wargaming #skirmish #orriblelittlemen #rulebook
- My fictional Wars of the Roses campaign Part 5: Ambush at Martlesbrook Richard Firth and his brother Edward, having triumphantly crushed the Evans family’s forces in two battles, enter the village of Martlesbrook with their prisoner Anthony Evans, only to be ambushed by Henry Evans’ forces.
- Edward Firth bravely charges the Evans men at arms along with only his two attendants for support. His aggressive charge slays many, putting them to a rout. Meanwhile, Henry Evans and his billmen crush the morale of Firth’s men at arms, sending them fleeing from the battle.
- Evans crushes the Firth billmen, while his own billmen hold off the Firth mounted men at arms. Through the midst of the battle walks Edward Firth. The cry of “A Firth! A Firth!” can be heard over the melee. Calling upon Evans’ honour, Edward Firth challenges him to single combat. Evans accepts.
-
View full thread
- To commemorate the Battle of Bosworth Field, ‘Orrible Little Men, (the multi-period large skirmish wargame that I have been using for my ongoing campaign) is on sale for just £2 Available here www.wargamevault.com/m/product/52...
- My fictional Wars of the Roses Campaign Part 4: The Attack on Old Ned's Farm Richard Firth, along with his brother Edward, attacked a farm known for harbouring Evans supporters. Henry Evans was waiting there for them with his own host. Evans was defeated and fled to Oakhurst Hall.
- These are the army morale values at the start of the battle. I kept track of these values throughout the game using these dials from @warbases.bsky.social The dials come as blank mdf, allowing you to model whatever you want on top of them in order to get them to blend with the tabletop
