Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame - An(other) Update

Another day at the ACW Naval ‘office’ - with the Rebels having a thin time of it!

After a period of reflection and deliberation I have decided that the format of Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame is to be changed. Essentially, the Anglo-Turkish War is not going to be in the book but will instead feature as a standalone supplement at a later date.

The book will instead focus on the ACW element - much like the original title - with a historical refight included rather than the Anglo Turkish War of 1880. 

The reason for this change is that including a fictional war felt a little ‘out on a limb’ as far as the context of the book is concerned and would require a lot more work than I originally envisaged - the models are but a small part of the whole - or, if truth be told, have the time for.

On the plus side it does mean that DTPIW should be available on schedule as a result.

It’s not all bad news after all!

More on Red Alert

The (in)complete collection. All the models are there but some of the tokens are missing along with all but one of the terrain tiles. My other unpainted set is fully complete. The hexes are 4” across the flat sides.

The Confederation fleet - from the top we have 6 battleships, 12 cruisers, 12 destroyers, a flagship (with its 3 fighter CAP) and 12 fighters….

….the Commonwealth fleet has the same composition but the ships of each fleet are of a different design

Assorted game paraphernalia

The opposing fighters….

….flagships….

….destroyers….

….cruisers….

….and battleships.

I finally finished the repair work on the models from my painted edition of Red Alert and so wanted to show them, along with the rest of the collection, by way of a review. There is a lot of ‘kit’ in the base game as you can see. I shall be repainting these in due course, only because I want to ensure that the as yet unpainted base game models are in a similar colour scheme. I suspect that I will stick with the red and green colour scheme - only because the these colours are reflected in some of the other game components. 

I did a little digging on BoardGameGeek about the game and made some progress in finding out about the card imbalance in the base game. Essentially there are more right sector command cards than left. Originally this was thought to be a mistake but apparently it was done deliberately as a follow up expansion launching a new alien fleet that would include additional command cards that would address the left hand shortfall. Sadly this has not seen the light of day although it was demonstrated as one of the US gaming events some years ago. Whether or not this expansion will be picked up in due course remains to be seen - it also included a big battle two mat variant - but it would be a shame if it never surfaced.

So what does this all mean for me then? Well, in the short term I have the wherewithal to fight some decent sized space battles using a straightforward and familiar system - straight out of the box. Longer term this can be expanded to include the other set I have - which of course means the repaint will be needed - as well as the expansion sets available from PSC. I have a number of sets of grid and non grid based sets of space combat rules that could be readily used so there is plenty of mileage with the game for sure. 

For the time being I am content to use the painted set as is but I will look to redo it at some point but this will be to offload it. I will get the other set painted first though!

”Red Alert!” - Space Fleet Battles, Command and Colours Style

Been a while since I acquired this so, in a spare hour or so, I finally got around to the restoration job!

It has been a pretty productive day so far, with work on the ironclads and aerial bases (applying the protective sealer prior to undercoating and painting) moving along and also something else that has been lurking in the background of the man cave for sometime.

Red Alert is a Richard Borg designed Command and Colours game that was produced in conjunction with the Plastic Soldier Company. I recall seeing this being demonstrated by Dan Mersey at Salute some years ago - I have a picture on an earlier blog post - and remember thinking “This looks like a LOT of fun!”.

Anyways, fast forward to a couple of years ago I went all out for the base game and all the expansions as a long term project idea.  Fast forward again to last year and I spotted on Facebook that someone was selling a painted copy of the base game for a price that was difficult to resist and so I didn’t!

The painted version was not without a few issues. To begin with it is missing a few counters (nothing major, they are of the marker variety main that there are plenty of them) and the ‘terrain’ overlays - planets and similar. Also, around a third of the painted models were in various states of disassembly - mainly off their bases but more significantly, the supporting poles on a fair few have broken off with the central spigot still glued in the locating hole on the underside. Nothing that a couple of hours with a file and a small drill could not fix though - and that is what I did whilst the protective sealer on the ironclads and aerial bases was drying.

The game itself includes 92 plastic ships ranging from battleships down to fighters. These are moulded in green and red for either side - each side has a different design of starship - and have been painted in these colours. The paint job is not bad but is a little ragged around the edges and so in due course I will repaint them - along with the starships from my original set and the various expansions. I actually enjoy painting starships and remember having a lot of fun painting those for Battlefleet Gothic - the sadly defunct GW space battle game.

As befits a Command and Colours game the action takes place on a 13 x 11 hexed star field cloth which will obviously be used for other space type games. The game uses command cards (60 of them) and combat cards (50 of these) and all the usual starship type ‘chrome’ features - cloaking devices, asteroid fields and the ubiquitous “Red Alert” of the title. In the game a “Red Alert” is a combat dice roll result, similar to a ‘Flag’ and represents the usual starship-in-combat-dramas - collateral damage, shields down, warp core breach, engineering issues (all usually accompanied by dramatic music and film quotes!). The usual Combat and Colours use of symbols on a cube for combat is also present. A nice idea is the use of Star Tokens. These can be used or retained for special situations as well as being the cost to use certain tactic cards - they are described as being the fuel for special actions so need to be used to best effect.

The two forces in the game are described as the Confederation and the Commonwealth - there is no detailed background history per se, just a summary of how the two forces came into being and featuring some of their ‘historical’ engagements as scenarios.

So far I have fixed the red fleet - by far the worst affected of the two - meaning that the greens are next. The game, missing parts notwithstanding (all the models are present though), will then be ready to roll. Again, this will be handy to have available straight out of the box.

Next though, will be the undercoating required on the ironclads and aerial bases.

Reaching for the Sky

Thirty flying bases - one being used - and a couple of counters. 

I spent some time today entrenched in the man cave and actually doing something constructive which, given my recent prolonged bout of lethargy, was most welcome!

The task for today was not the one I should have been tackling but hey ho, progress is progress in whatever direction you take it, so instead of the ironclads I settled on making bases for my ‘using-board-game-counters-instead-of- models’ aerial project. It felt marvellous doing something constructive and with not one, but two added bonuses.

The first task was to assemble thirty bases comprising a 1” 3mm thick MDF square with a 3mm hole in the centre, a 2” length of 3mm thick bamboo skewer and a 7mm square dice frame. Easy enough although I needed to run a rat tailed file through the base hole to widen it ever so slightly. This was easy enough to do although it did take longer than I expected. It was at this stage that ‘miracle number 1’ (if you know you know!) occurred.

Extra bits and pieces that will go into the scratch building coffers. The small centre pieces are ideal for gun mounts whilst the ‘sprue’ can be used for gunwales etc - all really handy so nothing is wasted!

A number of the 1” bases still had the central piece in place - these are hugely useful for scratch building so I made sure I very carefully pressed these out and bagged them up. The dice frames needed cutting out and guess what? The ‘sprue’ they are attached to is also really handing for scratch building and given that I had over ordered these, it means that I have a good supply of 2mm high by 1mm thick ‘edging’ - very useful for ship gunwales etc.

The original point of this exercise was to mount the counters from Dawn Patrol (although lovely looking are printed on very thin card) on 3mm thick 1” MDF bases that could in turn be placed on a flying base to add a little visual appeal to a 2D game. Me being me meant that I was never going be satisfied with using this for a single system and so various others have now been added to the mix - including WW2.

Axis and Allies: Angels 20 is a lot of fun to play and uses 15mm aircraft mounted on a ball and socket joint to indicate left and right banking and nose up/down for climbing or diving. I was mulling over how best to represent this in my ‘brave-new-cardboard counter-and-MDF-world’ when I realised that simplicity  is the key. Take a look at the pictures below.

Climbing - heading into the bright blue yonder

Diving - heading into a green field beyond

As the MDF mounted counters are not fixed in place - thereby saving on the number of flying bases needed - they can be rotated as required so this is ‘banking left’….

….and this is ‘banking right’. (Apologies for using a WW1 counter for a WW2 rule set - it was all i had to hand!).

I had not thought about the very simple solution to the banking issue but it certainly works well enough and so as a result I now have a further game system I can add to my aerial arsenal.

Feeling pretty darned chuffed with the project and how it has pushed me on into different directions but, the looming spectre of the ironclads is never far behind….

I need to get back to what I need to get back to!

At Last the Circle is Now Complete

Hardback, dust jacket in fairly good condition, binding as sound as the day it was printed, no inscriptions and now - MINE! (it was also relatively inexpensive!)

I was absolutely thrilled and delighted to finally secure the hardback version you see above - it is a book that has inspired and sustained my enjoyment of the hobby since I first clapped eyes on it in Sheerness library around 1971. I could not begin to quantify the lasting impact this book has had on me but suffice it to say that ‘immense’ may partially cover it!

I have a softback version of the book but as it is a facsimile edition the pictures are a little on the dark side - which is not helpful when looking at black and white images. I had coveted a hardback edition for many, many years but the only time I ever saw any copies invariably they were too expensive for my budget. Three figure price tags for this are not uncommon.

Now here is the thing. The likelihood of me painting or even owning similarly organised armies is absolutely zero - lottery win notwithstanding - and I have nothing but admiration for those that do. I have fought both the actions featured in the book - Blasthof Bridge and Sittangbad - using 18th century collections and indeed, even using early WW1 figures for the latter but now would be more likely to do so using the Portable Wargame and my block armies. 

Using the block armies would be viable but, as the good Brigadier and Lieutenant Colonel sternly pointed out:

“You will not, we suppose, be so lost to all feeling, as to represent your units and formations by counters, blocks of wood or cards.” (Page 114)

Block armies and Charge! - I hope in the wargames Valhalla that these two worthies are no doubt residing that they do not look too disapprovingly at the heresy I shall be undertaking!

As a wise man once said: “Back of the net!”

More On Aerial Bases

Dawn Patrol and a copy of the Avalon Hill General featuring Mustangs - also the flying base that will revolutionise my aerial gaming!

I have had a good long look at the various aerial board games and rules that I own and I reckon I am on to something with my basing idea. As it stands the base I put together would be suitable for use with Dawn Patrol and also Mustangs although with a caveat. Mustangs counters are double sided so I would not look to be gluing them to MDF anytime soon. I could get some high quality copies taken and use them instead - certainly this is an option I am thinking about and it would be cheaper than buying two sets of everything -  or, and this is something else I am thinking about, I could have the top base (the sky end if you like) fitted with a rim so that the counter could be dropped in and taken out as required. The counters for Mustangs are of a standard thickness so the sky end base would need to be 2mm thick rather than the 3mm used for the much thinner Dawn Patrol counters.

I plan to add a 7mm dice frame to the ground bases as this will enable me to record height when playing either Mustangs or Axis and Allies: Angels 20. Crucially it also brings into the mix Bag the Hun and Algernon Pulls It Off - both from the Two Fat Lardies stable. All of these use altitude levels of 1 to 6.

The following record aircraft height in feet which is plotted from move to move - the Air Force family including Wings, Spitfire, Aces High including the Blue Max and Dawn Patrol. Using six levels makes life far easier although at the expense of some detail.

So what does all this mean then?

Well, the biggest advantage is that I can use some very nice full colour counters for my aerial games that will at least look like they are flying if nothing else. It will save me a lot of time painting models and the practical advantages of storage etc are obvious. The downside is that I am limited as to what I can use although I note that Topside Miniatures in the US produce a range of WW2 aircraft counters that include bombers - neither Dawn Patrol or Mustangs do (with the exception of some two seater WW1 types for the former). I am sure the internet will provide some additional inspiration.

In the meantime then, all I need to do is to get some bases assembled and painted and I can then take to the air for some aerial action.

It’s all about that base, ‘bout that base…..

The components - two 1” 3mm think MDF squares and a 2” length of bamboo skewer

The side view - bear in the mind that the counter is not fixed in place as yet as this is just a proof of concept exercise

Another view

Following on from the Dawn Patrol acquisition and the perplexing problem of the very thin aircraft counters, I spent some time messing about with my MDF ‘mountain’ (I like to be different - most gamers have lead or plastic mountains….) and came up with the following. It was very simple to do - I simply took two 1” square bases and drilled a hole in both, into which a 2” piece of bamboo skewer was placed. 

The counters will be glued to the top of the base but these will not be permanently fixed to the flight stand as I will only need a couple of dozen or so of them. All the counters will be mounted though.

I will paint the edge of the counter and its base, along with the skewer in a sky blue whilst the ground base can be painted green and textured.

Somewhere over the Western Front….

Now I know this is not a model but using such a base certainly adds to the visual appeal - one could really go to town with varying heights etc but for me this is just fine. I could also do something similar for Mustangs although these is a minor problem in that the counters are double sided. In that case perhaps fixing a ‘lip’ around the top base into which the counter is placed may be a viable option. 

In either case an order to Warbases will be needed!