Saturday, 13 October 2012

A Naval Block Aid


Block mounted game counters - both fleets for the Avalon Hill game: Jutland

I have mentioned on a couple of occasions of my fondness for the old Avalon Hill game of Jutland - the table top game covering the Jutland operation in 1916. In my opinion it is one of the best naval games ever devised and I have played it many times in the past. It is designed with large actions in mind and has both a simple but effective strategic and tactical level set of rules.

Some time ago I purchased a disc containing scanned copies of all the Avalon Hill naval titles and the articles about the respective games published in the defunct Avalon Hill General - the company in-house magazine. Jutland of course featured and so in a moment of inspiration I printed off the counters sheets onto sticky labels, cut the lot out and have stuck them to 3/4 sized blocks! This mean that the game can live again as I already own the rules, ship charts, plot maps, measuring devices etc. The blocks are more durable than card counters and so I would have no problem using them at the club so I am thinking that perhaps a club night mini campaign may be on the cards. In the meantime though, I shall give the entire concept some additional thought as for my own purposes I have a number of ideas to pursue using this approach.
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10 comments:

  1. The Angry Lurker13 October 2012 at 18:54

    Those are really, really cool!

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  2. Unknown13 October 2012 at 22:49

    One of my favorite games however I lost it in a move!
    Jeff

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  3. Anonymous14 October 2012 at 06:35

    Once you go down the Pun road, it's very hard to get back on the straight and narrow.

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  4. David Crook14 October 2012 at 16:48

    Hi Fran,

    I am going to add some more detail to them just for chrome but as a cheap alternative they are hard to beat.

    All the best,

    DC

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  5. David Crook14 October 2012 at 16:50

    Hi Jeff,

    I have the entire game on a PDF of all the Avalon Hill naval titles so recreating the same should be possible. It is one of all time favourite games.

    All the best,

    DC

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  6. David Crook14 October 2012 at 16:51

    Hi SAROE,

    I know but I just can't help myself!

    All the best,

    DC

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  7. Steven Page17 October 2012 at 22:47

    Those look great, and have got to be easier to handle than flat counters. I too love "Jutland".

    David, I'd like to invite you to take a look at my new blog, "old Admirals".
    Here is a link.Any feedback would be welcome.
    -Steve

    http://oldadmirals.blogspot.com/

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  8. David Crook18 October 2012 at 07:38

    Hi Steve,

    Many thanks sir! I am hoping that the block approach will make the game more playable on a multi player club night as they are far easier to handle.

    I am now following your blog and I am sure that Bob will do so as well - especially when he sees the most recent battle report!

    All the best,

    DC

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  9. Unknown6 April 2016 at 19:32

    Where did you get the wooden blocks from? I have this game as well on pdf and was thinking of just mounting the counters on card but those blocks look great!

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  10. David Crook8 April 2016 at 19:41

    Hi 'Unknown',

    The blocks I used are from a game called Tumbling Towers which is a copy of Jenga. The blocks have been sawn in half and the end result is just about the same size as a Jutland counter.

    All the best,

    DC

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