Wednesday 25 May 2022

Readying for Action - Return to Hampton Roads


The three ‘not so amigos’ - from left to right the U.S.S. Monitor, U.S.S. Minnesota and the C.S.S. Virginia.

This evening will see the first play test of the Portable Ironclad Wargame via Zoom and with a live opponent. We shall be using version two of the rules and version three (actually two and a half at present) is currently underway. The work that my very own testing dynamic duo - agents X and Y - have put in has been first class and has really helped the project along. Without a doubt it would not be where it is now were it not for their valuable contributions!

To keep things simple, I have decided to rerun day two of the Battle of Hampton Roads featuring the U.S.S.Monitor, the (grounded) U.S.S. Minnesota and the C.S.S. Virginia. We will be fighting this using the 3 x 3 variant of the rules which, to be honest, is slightly misleading really. The rules are those of the ‘full’ set with the only tangible difference being that the maximum gun range is two squares. I have yet to formalise the rules for using the reserve areas - I had half an idea about how this would work - but these will come in time.

All being well I will have an after action report of sorts for tomorrow although if it all goes spectacularly wrong then it may be something rather different!

6 comments:

Steve J. said...

Good luck with the game and fingers crossed it all works out OK over Zoom!

David Crook said...

Hi Steve J,

Thank you old chap - me and technology? What could possibly go wrong…..

Fingers are definitely crossed!

All the best,

DC

Old Nick said...

An excellent series and great fun to read. I have been (quietly) enjoying your civil war series of ship building and rules writing. Your games are fun and enjoyable to read. I think you have really come up with something for those of us that would like to play with these ships but have been turned off by overly complex rules. Well done sir!

David Crook said...

Hello there Mark,

Thank you old chap - much appreciated! The whole project has given me an enormous amount of fun - from making the ships to writing the rules and the after action reports. There are heaps of rules for the period available both commercially and as freebies and all with varying degrees of complexity and points in their favour. I simply wanted to do my own thing and have been fortunate in the help I have received to bring the whole thing to life.

I am close now to drawing a line under it and so one last push will get me there! Then it will be time for some campaign based action but that is for another day.

All the best and thanks once again,

DC

Old Nick said...

When you finish the rules I would love to get a set!

David Crook said...

Hello there Mark,

The rules will be available and published at some point this year - more details in due course!

All the best,

DC