Saturday 13 October 2012

A Naval Block Aid


Block mounted game counters - both fleets for the Avalon Hill game: Jutland

I have mentioned on a couple of occasions of my fondness for the old Avalon Hill game of Jutland - the table top game covering the Jutland operation in 1916. In my opinion it is one of the best naval games ever devised and I have played it many times in the past. It is designed with large actions in mind and has both a simple but effective strategic and tactical level set of rules.

Some time ago I purchased a disc containing scanned copies of all the Avalon Hill naval titles and the articles about the respective games published in the defunct Avalon Hill General - the company in-house magazine. Jutland of course featured and so in a moment of inspiration I printed off the counters sheets onto sticky labels, cut the lot out and have stuck them to 3/4 sized blocks! This mean that the game can live again as I already own the rules, ship charts, plot maps, measuring devices etc. The blocks are more durable than card counters and so I would have no problem using them at the club so I am thinking that perhaps a club night mini campaign may be on the cards. In the meantime though, I shall give the entire concept some additional thought as for my own purposes I have a number of ideas to pursue using this approach.

10 comments:

The Angry Lurker said...

Those are really, really cool!

Unknown said...

One of my favorite games however I lost it in a move!
Jeff

Anonymous said...

Once you go down the Pun road, it's very hard to get back on the straight and narrow.

David Crook said...

Hi Fran,

I am going to add some more detail to them just for chrome but as a cheap alternative they are hard to beat.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Jeff,

I have the entire game on a PDF of all the Avalon Hill naval titles so recreating the same should be possible. It is one of all time favourite games.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi SAROE,

I know but I just can't help myself!

All the best,

DC

Steven Page said...

Those look great, and have got to be easier to handle than flat counters. I too love "Jutland".

David, I'd like to invite you to take a look at my new blog, "old Admirals".
Here is a link.Any feedback would be welcome.
-Steve

http://oldadmirals.blogspot.com/

David Crook said...

Hi Steve,

Many thanks sir! I am hoping that the block approach will make the game more playable on a multi player club night as they are far easier to handle.

I am now following your blog and I am sure that Bob will do so as well - especially when he sees the most recent battle report!

All the best,

DC

Unknown said...

Where did you get the wooden blocks from? I have this game as well on pdf and was thinking of just mounting the counters on card but those blocks look great!

David Crook said...

Hi 'Unknown',

The blocks I used are from a game called Tumbling Towers which is a copy of Jenga. The blocks have been sawn in half and the end result is just about the same size as a Jutland counter.

All the best,

DC