A Naval Wargaming Odyssey

From the two titles at the top of the picture to the two at the bottom - my indebtedness to both Bob Cordery and David Manley is immense!

Work on what will be the final iteration of The Portable Ironclads Wargame is well underway. As a reminder this volume will contain the tidied up rules, greatly expanded ship specifications, an updated bibliography, three new battle report and a few surprises. In truth it is probably the book I wanted to write initially but we are where we are.

Whilst sorting through the bits and pieces needed for the new book I was reminded of just how I got to where I got to. I readily admit to ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ in that much of the Portable Ironclads Wargame had its origins in the works of both Messrs Cordery and Manley. All I did was take the best parts of each and shoehorn the result into something resembling a set of ironclad era rules. Are they perfect? Of course not - no set of rules is - but I cannot help but be proud of the effort!

There are things I would do differently if I was embarking on a similar exercise and indeed, the paused book for Pen and Sword represents an evolution of sorts of the Portable Ironclads Wargame. It is half the fun though, embarking on a journey and seeing where it takes you.

The Portable Ironclads Wargame: Definitive Edition polishes the rules and rounds out the period of 1860 to 1880 or so. As mentioned previously, the ACW will feature, the War of the Pacific and a personal indulgence in the shape of the Anglo Turkish War of 1883. I am really looking forward to completing this book and I hope that Portable Ironclad Wargamers will enjoy as much as I will.