Monday 20 June 2011

Naval Rules, OK!

Whilst preparing for the next batch of models to paint for the ACW collection I have given further thought to the sets of rules I will be using. For use with my ACW set up I will using a reworked version of Dave Manley's Man O' War Ironclad variant which he has been kind enough to make available to my tender mercies (thanks once again Dave!). I have pretty much finished the rules aspect for these and merely(?) need to complete the associated ship cards. As my skills with Powerpoint are fairly basic I shall be producing these in Excel as I can cope with that better! For the scale of game I envisage playing these will be ideal for solo use and also a club night knockabout especially as most denizens of SEEMS are familiar with Man 'O War in its original form. As I write this it has suddenly dawned on me that I am actually quite close to being able to have my first battle with the ACW kit which is pretty exciting all said and done.

The Portable Naval Wargame is also near enough ready to playtest and I plan to do so over the coming weekend. the mechanics are very simple and I cannot help but think that had I just persevered with the previous attempt (which I hasten to add works perfectly well!) I would not need to be tackling a third set of rules for 1890 onwards! Much of the spadework has already been done and so all I am needing to do is largely just to tie the threads together. The playtest will see the Turks taking on the Russians (again!) and I will be fighting on an 8 x 8 Hexon playing surface. I will report on how this goes (with pictures) when it has happened and assuming all is well will make the rules available for anybody to have a crack with.

All in all then I am quite satisfied with the progress thus far and I am confident that the Autumn campaigning season will see lots of action of one naval sort or another.

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