Beyond Steamer Wars

HMS Fifi (top) and Mimi and Toutou. I have around half a dozen other models to build for this collection, including the Belgians. That will be it then until after the ironclads and DTPIW is finished and then it wil be on with the expanded version of Steamer Wars: Hexed

As written, Steamer Wars was designed for use with gunboats and similar. They work extremely well for this and indeed, there is more than sufficient historical material to play any amount of interesting actions - as evidenced by the supplements that David Manley has published. The system is detailed enough to add that skirmish level feel but still manages to maintain a fast play kind of vibe. In short, they suit me down to the ground - which is probably why I persuaded Mr Manley to let me produce the hexed version! 

My planned WW1 project will be taking the system to the next level in that ships of up to dreadnought size will feature although these will be very much in the minority. The ‘meat and potatoes’ of the project will of course be the cruisers - purpose built and auxiliaries.

I am happy to use my hexed version of Steamer Wars for this but it will need to be expanded to include larger and more varied ships and weapon types, varying degrees of armour protection and generally higher speeds. I have a few ideas about all of these areas and so my thinking is currently moving along these lines.

1. Guns larger than 4”. I will be looking at weapons of up to 12” calibre although for the most part it will be around less than that. I will also need to think about torpedoes although rules for these are covered in River Wars and War on the Great Rivers.

2. Armour - protection in general. Steamer Wars has provision for Light Armour whilst War on the Great Rivers features rules for Very Heavy Armour. I am thinking of adding in Medium and Heavy Armour and changing the original Light Armour classification to Protected. This will give me five relative classes of protection - Protected (used in Steamer Wars), Light, Medium, Heavy and Very Heavy. Protected will represent things like improvised protection or gun shields etc. I shall have a play around with this and see how it can be extended across the range of ships being represented. I am happy to leave the damage etc as is - armour effects can be factored in as required. Following on from The Portable Ironclads Wargame my feeling is to assign a notional armour class to the ship in question depending on their historical specifications. It is an effective system and removes the need for detailed armour location rules etc.

3. Speeds. This is quite straightforward and for me is dictated by my available playing area of 6ft by 4ft. In the hexed version of Steamer Wars a hex equals around 4 knots. This is fine for ships with a top speed of around 16 knots (i.e. 4 hexes) but for the faster warships I will need to use a different nominal scale. My thinking at present is that a hex equals seven or eight knots meaning that a 24 knot cruiser will move 3 hexes. Still very much in the planning stages though.

We are where we are….

The expanded version of Steamer Wars: Hexed will happen but not until DTPIW is finished so will not be until at least the middle of next year. But happen it will, for sure!