Very inspiring - even the second time around!
Since my last post I have been quite busy with a number of pressing domestic issues, not least of which has been trying to get a new job. I have however, been able to spend a little time dipping into the above book and I am so pleased I persevered with getting a copy.
I have been spending a lot of time reading and rereading the section on WW1 era battles, culminating in the fictional Battle of the Texel, 1916, and have decided that the rules themselves could easily be tweaked into a hex based set if required and would be equally valid for WW2 surface battles - in fact the author suggests doing just that.
This has, as ever, given me a minor dilemma in that I had already earmarked the rules I wanted to use for my 1/4800th WW2 collection (Across Four Oceans - a set derived from Axis and Allies: War at Sea). The simplicity and flavour of Paul Hague's rules make for a compelling argument with the added incentives in that the system is both tried and tested (I fought countless actions with these rules back in the 80s) and also plays as sweetly as you like.
I need to read this book in further detail but I am thinking that I could do a lot worse than just adopting the rules wholesale, converting them into hexes and be done with it.
I suppose really that the old adage of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' applies very nicely here so I shall have a pleasant time avoiding doing either!
4 comments:
I have this book too David and have re-read it more times than I know over the years. The thing that I always loved most in it was the potential for the campaign rules
Hi Paul,
Oh yes, oh yes old chap! Campaigns ideas are for me the life blood of naval gaming!
All the best,
DC
PS I have a few in mind as you would have probably guessed!
It's a super book. I really enjoyed reading it back in the day - that and Paul Dunn's "Sea Battles in Miniature". I remember getting both of them out from the local library time and again! You could tell, reading the books, that they were the product of many hours of gaming, and they still very much stand the test of time today. Great post, David
Hi Sydney,
Many thanks sir! I must admit that the old style of wargames book - with rules and much more beside - seems to strike a chord with me far more than some of the pure wargames rules books of today. The authors ideas and how he translated them (often on a homegrown basis) on the table top is not only useful in its own right but also as the source of huge amounts of inspiration.
I have the Dunn title as well - the John Curry reprint, not the original - together with Featherstone's Naval Wargames and Carter's Naval Wargames of WW1 and 2 and these are much loved and read titles in the man cave library.
All the best,
DC
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