Thursday 25 January 2024

Thoughts on the Revised and Expanded Edition


With apologies for the poor picture quality, the newly commissioned C.S.S. Tennessee steams gallantly towards the Union blockading ships.

As mentioned in my recent post I am planning to fight a small test action this weekend, pitting the newly commissioned C.S.S. Tennessee trying her luck against a Union sloop and a monitor. In many ways this will be similar to Hampton Roads with the exception that the old navy sloop will not be aground! I also mentioned that there are a couple of optional rules I am trying out that, assuming they are successful, will appear in the Portable Ironclads Wargame Revised and Expanded edition later in the year.

The two rules cover the turn sequence and firing and  remember, these are optional.

Alternate Movement.

In the original version of the rules players rolled for initiative with the winner having the choice of moving first or second with all their ships. As an option I am allowing players to alternate movement based on the initiative roll. My rationale for this is that I believe it will better reflect the organised chaos of most ACW naval actions as ships jockey for position whilst being mindful of the opposition. If using this method then some means of marking a ship that has moved is required and for this I shall be using sort lengths of white pipe cleaner folded into a ‘V’ shape and placed on the ship’s bow. This represents a bow wave and so as each ships moves it will become clear who has and it is an easy way to keep track. When all the ships are thus adorned the turn is over and these markers are then removed during the first phase of the next game turn.

Move and Fire, Fire and Move.

This option changes the sequence of play in that the firing phase is dispensed with as it now fits in with movement. The plan is for ships to be able to fire at the start of their move or at the end. Ships that opt to do the latter should have a marker representing gun smoke placed by them which then stays in place until the end of the ships next move (these are not removed at the start of the next turn. In effect a ship that fires at the end of a turn will not be able to fire again until the end of the next turn, assuming it wants to. If it does not then the smoke marker is removed and the ship is then free to fire either at the start or the end of the following move.

Both of these rules will force extra decision making on the respective commanders as timing suddenly becomes critical. In truth I was a little wary of these ideas as I figured that it may slow things down a little but but careful ‘marker management’ all will be later and besides, seeing bow waves and gun smoke adds to the visual appeal which is no bad thing.


8 comments:

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

David,

Looking good!

All the best,

Bob

Archduke Piccolo said...

Looking forward to seeing how your rules revisions work out, David.
Meanwhile, I'm starting to look anew at my own naval programme. I seem to recall writing up something about it about a year ago, but have done diddly squat since (a couple of those tiny little big-gun coastal gunboats Bob posted about), though I still have the sketches. Someone posted some VERY interesting pre-dreadnought models, they look scratch built, on a facebook Naval Wargames group. It looks as though Izumrud-Zeleniya will be getting a very fine ironclad battleship, "Elizaveta II".
Cheers,
Ion

Peter said...

Neat idea using the pipe cleaners to show movement.

Mark Cordone said...

I like both of the proposed changes. I'm looking forward to the battle report.

David Crook said...

Hello there Bob,

Thank you kindly! I feel quite excited about trying out these options and getting the ships on the table - especially the C.S.S. Tennessee!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi there Ion (aka Archduke Piccolo),

Making model ships is always a good thing in my book! I am hopeful the optional rules being trialled will provide an interesting alternative to the main rules but time and testing will tell!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Peter,

Very much a spur of the moment improvisation some time ago to use pipe cleaners - assuming it works I may look at something more permanent.

We shall see!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Mark,

At this stage these are more like alternatives rather than changes but who knows?

The battle will take place this weekend with the AAR posted soon after.

All the best,

DC