Few Tears Before the Mast….Part 1

A Confederate commerce raiding sloop. I have a pair of these but have on the modelling tray a further example to build which will be virtually the same as the above except having two funnels. This will be the C.S.S. Florida. The pictures show the completed masts and spars etc whilst part two of this post will show the actual construction.

A chance comment from the renowned gamer and all round gentleman, John Armatys, whilst I was busy liberating Arnhem at The Other Partizan has been directly responsible for this post! The subject is masts - or rather how I make them for my models. It is hugely relevant at present for me as I shall be undertaking the building of a veritable forest of the things for the ironclads required for the Anglo Turkish War of 1880. Whilst waiting for the industrial quantities of MDF to arrive from Warbases to build the new collection I realised that I still had another ACW sloop to build so I decided that sharing this element of the build would be useful for readers that may want to have a go themselves.

Building a Mast

Using this building technique is pretty straightforward but one does need to be both careful and methodical. The following are some further views of the above model showing the masts and spars to better effect.

The side profile. This shows the ‘stepping’ of the masts and their relative heights. For scale the hull is 5” long

The view looking head on. The spars are quite modest in terms of size but this gives you a good idea of how they should look when finished

The bowsprit.

The first thing I should point out is that during this period the subject of masts and spars could fill several books in their own right! The variety of sailing rigs and what was used and when is a hugely complex subject - certainly well beyond my powers of concentration! As my models are fairly loose in terms of scale and detail I have adopted the simple expedient of using what looks about right and leaving it there. The models are after all, purely representational or ‘Hollywood-esque’.

I am fairly comfortable with the overall look of the masts in my collection and to be honest, if it looks right then it generally is in my opinion - the purist would undoubtedly argue otherwise though!

The Build Itself

One of the most important things you can do when building the masts for a models ship is quite simply to make sure you have sufficient material to do so in the first place! In other words remember the seven ‘Ps’ - Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance! 

The tools and materials ready to use

Looking at the picture above you can see what tools I use and the building material itself. Starting from the left we have the old model making standby of super glue. I use this one because although it is not the cheapest it works really well and I have never had any problems with it when building masts. A surgical scalpel or modelling knife - ideally with a new blade - for cutting along with something to file the cut ends with. In this case I use a relatively fine grade Emery board. The pencil and ruler are of course for measuring the sections required.

The masts themselves are fashioned using bamboo barbecue skewers which are usually 3mm thick. Spars and flagstaffs are made from wooden cocktail sticks. In each case (particularly the latter for some reason) ensure that you are using the straightest lengths. It is worth pointing out that keeping any offcuts from the cocktail sticks is a good idea as these are useful for making cannon barrels - I use 10mm and 7mm lengths.

Everything thus far is probably within the modelling supplies of most gamers but there is one other essential ingredient - the fighting tops. The five that you see are of two sizes with the larger being used for the first step of the main and foremast whilst the smaller are for the second. These are 3mm thick MDF and were custom cut from Warbases to a design from me at the start of the ACW project. Again, the purist might take offence at the shape of these - rectangular versions would be easy enough to design and order if required - but it does not matter a jot. They look imposing and provide an extremely important part of the construction process - and this will feature in the second part of this post.

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!

More on the Mediterranean in WW2

The Mediterranean naval library. 

Following on from my previous post and in the interests of completeness I thought it would be useful to show the modest selection of books in my WW2 naval library for the Mediterranean. Aside from a copy of the 1922 to 1946 Conways Fighting Ships I also own the above.

More than enough to be going on with for my needs methinks….

WW2 in the Mediterranean - Afloat!

Oh dear - here we go again…..

The back of the box

In truth I did not see this coming and as an aside I reckon that avoiding eBay would be a good idea - at least for a while anyway!

It is probably not a surprise to learn that I have fought actions in the Mediterranean but not for some time and even then it was using the 1:1800th scale models produced for the Axis and Allies: War at Sea game. The esteemed Mr Fox still has the Italians I believe but my own collection has long since gone. 

Anyways, it is fascinating period to game with plenty of surface stuff to get one’s teeth into along with the ever present aerial threat - certainly the Axis powers made full use of land based air assets to plague the Royal Navy throughout.

The operational maps - note the use of offset squares. 

I have little enthusiasm for raining model fleets for the period and in truth the same would apply to the Pacific. In the latter case I have the oft-mentioned Flat Top and CV to cover the fighting and indeed, the late S.Craig Taylor Jr, designer of these two games, had planned to use the system for a similar game based on the Mediterranean. I have no idea how far along the design of this he had got and with his passing I suspect that will it see the light of day. I believe that the Flat Top system would work really well for the Mediterranean but we will never know unless someone picks up the idea and develops it.

I have no experience of the Avalanche Press Second World War at Sea system although it uses much in the way of game mechanics as the Great War at Sea. Did I need to acquire this? Well, I have a smattering of titles in the library covering the war at sea in the Mediterranean so it has always been lurking there or thereabouts so I guess the answer is a yes, albeit needing to be fitted into my expanding project list!

The attraction of this system for me is that one has both the strategic and the tactical elements to consider along with a selection of mission types to undertake as well as plentiful scenarios - both historical and ‘what if’.

There is a whole pile of additional material available in respect of supplements etc for the SWWAS system  but to be honest I do not feel the need to avail myself of any of this - the coverage contained within the game is more than sufficient for my needs.

Send no wargamer ever…… ;-)

Filling up the edges

By dint of several tactical disposals over recent weeks I have been able to address a few holes in the collection - some of which I have already detailed on the blog - and so am now at the stage whereby I can call a halt, at least until something else heaves over the horizon!

Aside from the assorted books acquired to support the ironclads - the latest of which feature later in this post - there has been one single large purchase.

Two boxes of Hexon blue goodness along with twenty single hexes - enough to cover 6ft by 4ft with 4” hexes. The colour is possibly a little dark for aerial games but that will not stop me using it!

I have (re)invested in some blue Hexon tiles for use with both naval and aerial games. 

There is, inevitably really, a bit of a back story to this in that I have owned a similar quantity of the blue tiles in the past but moved them on some years ago as I wanted to use a cloth instead. I have been on the lookout for a cloth for ages but have yet to find one that is suitable and so I finally decided to revisit Hexon. I prefer a plain blue rather than ‘seascaped’ as it suits my models better and of course, it means that I can avail myself of the Hexon terrain range for islands and shorelines etc.

I had a long chat with Mr Kallistra at The Other Partizan (which is where Mr Barnes spotted me!) and found out a lot of useful stuff about how to produce your own bespoke designs using the plain tiles.

Another couple of titles have found their way into my collection of naval books - one new and one secondhand, the latter I have Joppy of Steam, Steel and Torpedoes fame to thank for bringing it to my attentions - and of course there is the small matter of my Other Partizan loot.

A great doorstop of a tome and very ‘Brassey’s Naval Annual’ like. As soon as I knew of this books existence I simply had to get a copy!

Everything you wanted to know about RN Victorian cruisers but were afraid to ask - a great companion to the author’s title on battleships of the same era.

A surprisingly modest selection of loot from the Other Partizan. The two crusades titles will support a long distance project I have in mind, as will the Viking title. The MDF bases will naturally be used for ship building….

My Victorian naval project for DTPIW now has pretty much all the research material I am likely to need so I can park that for now. The plans are with Warbases for the ships and so work on the masts can commence in advance of the arrival of industrial quantities of MDF.

It is a great feeling knowing that for at least one project - DTPIW - I have everything that I need to complete it.

It is now at the serious part and I cannot wait to plunge into it!

Once again many thanks to Joppy and I promise I will get the errata tackled asap!

The Other Partizan

For the first time ever I made the 140 mile trip via the A127, M25, M11and the A1 to Newark for the Other Partizan. The five hour round trip for a little over two hours of gaming goodness was absolutely worth it! It was busy, crowded and hard on the feet but I was able to get everything done that I wanted to - apart from meeting a couple of people (sorry Mr Barnes!). 

The first port of call was to transact some business with Dave Lanchester which was, as ever, an ongoing pleasure (and I managed to reinvest some of the proceeds in some items that will feature in the next post) and one that I have no doubt will repeated!

The rest of this post will be largely a photo dump with some commentary - it has been rather a long day after all!

 

Look closely at the Sherman on the bridge at Arnhem - I managed to relieve 1st Airborne in 15 turns out of 20. This was a feat I also managed on my visit to COW a few years back. It is a tale I will tell my grandchildren - and mightily bored they’ll be….

John Armatys - overseer of Operation Market Garden, Wargames Development aficionado and all round good chap - who has persuaded me to pen a blog post about mast building!

Mr Flanagan - roller of legendary dice - thinking about his nest move against the esteemed Mr Evans (he moved at a critical moment and so you can only see part of his head!). I was very much taken by this game - properly researched history, attractive terrain and figures and an organiser passionate about the subject matter!

 

One half of Ken “Yarkshire Gamer” Reilly’s excellent Italian Wars bash.

The other half - Ken is sporting the blue tee shirt!

The whole thing - beautifully executed and with pike blocks that looked like they meant business

WW1 in East Africa in 28mm

The view from the landward side

The accompanying naval support

The view from the sea looking inland

More of the naval support including some old friends….

A-Fez of state….Just like that!

For a number of reasons my favourite game of the day - I will let the pictures do the talking

Native bearers

The view down the table

The all important back story and beautifully executed. I suspect that Eric would have been delighted to see this.

All of the pictures were taken on my phone so apologies for the quality but trust me, there are plenty of better quality ones around!

It was a very quick visit for me - around two hours - but I could have happily spent a full day and then some yanking time to take it all in. These games were the standouts for me but there was sufficient variety of games, large and small to cater for all tastes and all of a high quality.

My show haul was modest, three books and three bags of MDF bases but the shopping was never the main  reason for going. 

All that atmosphere - well done to all that made it such a special day.

Under Starter’s Orders

A real bargain of a new addition - £22 as opposed to £50 - and worth every penny! A more ‘modern’ read compared to Parkes but with a slightly better coverage of foreign competition in the battleship stakes.

Double sized pictures of actual plans and….

….this quite magnificent double sized double sized centrefold!

I finally competed the ten pages of ironclad designs for Warbases and these have been duly sent (and acknowledged) to Martin. I will be making a point of seeing him on Sunday at the Other Partizan show in Newark - a two and a half hour drive from me so I do not plan to make this a regular trip! I hope to catch up with as many people as I can whilst I am there as well as getting some pictures.

Whilst Martin at Warbases is working his magic I will be making a start on making masts as every ship in this project has at least two. Mast building is very satisfying and easy to do but one does need to take care when gluing. You cannot rush it.

Next steps

Another really useful supplement from the pen of Mr. David Manley

Aside from the masts I need to convert the specifications of my chosen ships into DTPIW terms. For the Turks this will be straightforward as many of the ships feature in David Manley’s Russo Turkish War supplement but the Royal Navy I will need to do from scratch.

I will get the modelling tray cleared for action so the San Pablo will need finishing, along with the Belgians for Lake Tanganyika.

I have all the flags I need and will check the paint situation prior to setting off on Sunday - I will need a lot of Vallejo Black for sure!

Let the games commence!

The Russo-Japanese War 1904/05

From the Avalanche Press ‘Great War at Sea’ stable - strategic and tactical coverage of the 1904/05 Russo-Japanese War. 

For no other reason than abject apathy, the naval side of the Russo-Japanese War 1904/05 has never really figured in my gaming plans - until now! Actually ‘now’ is a little optimistic as I have way too many other things to complete beforehand but it will certainly be added to the list. 

I picked up an unpunched copy of the above game (from the same source as the previously acquired Cruiser Warfare) courtesy of eBay for a reasonable price and with a definite plan in mind. I want to do something with pre-dreadnoughts at some point and as this was an actual war it made sense to look at it first. Naturally when I get to it I would look to build the ships myself - I will need to figure out how best to model the pronounced curve of the hull of some of the Russian Battleships (the same applies to the French!) - and having looked at several of the actual ships reckon that they should be quite straightforward to undertake.

It will certainly not be anytime soon though!

From the pen of the indefatigable David Manley - there are even ship counters included to try out the rules with!

Joking aside, I could certainly use the tactical system to organise a game or two should the urge arise (which it probably will at some point!) and I should mention that I have a copy of David Manleys excellent rules for the period. 

Covering the war as a whole - this is a good read and a handy primer for further research.

I have a single book in my collection covering the war as a whole and it features in the 1905 copy of Jane’s Fighting Ships. I will try to flesh the library out to cover the naval side in greater detail but for now I have all that I will need.

The Great War at Sea Series

The game featured above first appeared in 1999/2000 and indeed, I remember looking at this series at the time (as I recall I actually purchased a copy of the WW1 Mediterranean version) but I never really got ‘into it’. At the time I believe it was due to the tactical rules appearing to be a little on the ‘light’ side - I preferred rules that were ‘meatier’ - but of course, fast forward to today (24 years in fact) and the ‘lighter’ level of detail is now just right for me!

Making Plans

I am the first to admit that I am not really a draughtsman but Martin at Warbases has the uncanny ability to be able to translate my crude sketchings!

The above are the first seven sheets of designs for Warbases for the models I shall be building for the Anglo Turkish War of 1880. There will be a goodly selection of types for both sides and have certainly gone over the planned sixteen models!

As ever I am using my standard hull template - in various lengths as required - which is rather full at both the bow and stern and with dead straight sides. Bamboo skewers (3mm thick and ideal for masts) and wooden cocktail sticks (2mm thick and usable for spars, deck guns and flagstaffs) along with card squares and rectangles (5mm square or 5mm x 10mm and usable for gun ports and deck hatch covers) and lashings of superglue will be the order of the day for sure!

I am really looking forward to cracking on with this lot but first need to clear a small backlog of Lake Tanganyika and San Pablo stuff - more of which later.

Digging Deeper

Now that is a lot of book!

Prompted by the need to really crack on with the ironclad models for DTPIW I spent a lot of time over the weekend poring through the pages of the above two tomes - and a very enjoyable experience is was as well!

I think I have the order of battle for both the Turks and the Royal Navy pretty much dialled in although the inevitable ‘project creep’ has manifested itself.

No surprise there then!

The action I am planning will feature sixteen vessels and I am allowing for building around twenty or so. These will all be masted but I have the building technique for these worked out so they will not be a problem and in fact, I can start building them now. 

The plans for the bespoke pieces from Warbases are close to being completed and will be with Martin Murray later this week. Allowing for a four to six week turnaround I should be working in the models properly from mid November. Assembling the hulls etc is really quick and easy to do - it is the masts that take the time. The aim is to have all the models built and ready for action by the end of the year. In the meantime I shall be honing the text and getting a few more pictures organised - all being well Q1 next year will see it being published.

Fingers crossed!

WW1 Cruiser Warfare

Cruiser Warfare - the chances of me passing this by were slim to zero!

The back of the box. 

The early part of the Great War at sea saw the allies quickly attempting to contain the threat of German cruisers and auxiliaries interfering with troop convoys and merchantmen. It is a fascinating period to game - usually the model count is very modest - with the emphasis being quite asymmetrical. The Germans have to wreak havoc where they can and the allies have to stop them - ideally before they can get back to Germany. 

Over the years I have fought many ‘hunt the raider’ style actions and they are always a lot of fun.

Avalanche Press have produced a number of operational/tactical boardgames covering the Great War at Sea (the series name) as well as WW2 and use for the tactical side a set of rules that would be easily transferable to the tabletop - as long as you used a hexagonal grid that is! 

Aside from the North Sea and the Mediterranean games they also produced the game you see above. This is global in scale as at the start of the war the Germans have cruisers dotted around the place, all keen to return to the Fatherland whilst the Allies are less enthusiastic about that particular course of action! There is in truth only one scenario at the operational level - the German player must get back to the North Sea whilst the Allies must prevent them - but there are a number of tactical games covering Coronel and the Falklands.

I have been after a copy of this for a while but the second hand prices were too rich for me. A chance trawl through eBay came up with a UK based seller of an unpunched version at a reasonable price and so I happily pulled the trigger!

The Allies - The Royal Navy and representatives from the Commonwealth nations (Australia, New Zealand and Canada), France, Japan and Russia, massively outnumber the Germans (and Austrians) but the sea is a big place and so bringing them into action is a Herculean task in itself. 

This type of game is right up my street and I am looking forward to giving it a whirl and naturally, I already have some plans afoot…..

A Gunboat Distraction

Where I am at so far. The ‘sandwich filling’ is a piece of 1mm thick card - the hull is not glued yet and is posed solely for the picture - which will painted prior to assembly for the black line around the hull you see below. The end result will bear a passing resemblance to the model in the picture but as usual there will be shortcuts taken and detail fudged!

A rather lovely model of the USS San Pablo

I know, I know - I should be building ironclads, models for Lake Tanganyika, designing models for the ‘Afrabia’ or writing Developing The Portable Ironclads Wargame! So what am I doing then?

Well it is still something Steamer Wars related - but it is something of a minor diversion all the same.

I offer no apologies, I am as weak as the next wargamer!

It was only a couple of years ago that I first watched the film The Sand Pebbles starring Steve McQueen, Richard Crenna and Richard Attenborough. The film tells the story of the fictional US gunboat - the San Pablo - serving in China in the early 1920s. She is there to protect US interests in the area set against a backdrop of increasing anti-foreign sentiment. 

I decided to build a model of the San Pablo and obviously I will need to build some opposition in the shape of some armed Sampans and Junks. Thinking about it, China gunboats could make for a cracking mini campaign or Steamer Wars supplement - all the Great Powers had a presence of sorts following the Boxer Uprising and the revolution of 1911 that ultimately led to civil war.

The model I am building is 4” long with a beam of 1 1/4”. The hull consists of two pieces of 3mm thick MDF and the 1mm card ‘filling’ making it 7mm from the main deck to the waterline. I will not be adding the awnings and the ventilators amidships will be missing. As you can see from the picture above I have fashioned what will be the main deck superstructure so next will be the upper deckhouses etc. I will be painting as much as possible prior to assembly so this build will have incorporated several lessons learned from the Lake Tanganyika collection.

I also need to think about the aforementioned sampans and junks, not to mention a rope barrier…. ;-)

Another Birthday

I tend to be a little behind the curve in respect of Osprey titles but the arrival of the above could not be more timely! Very helpful having the pertinent information readily to hand rather than trawling through several other volumes. There are a few others in this series that will be added…. 

Yesterday, the 28th of September, was my 64th birthday or as I described it ad nauseam, my ‘Beatles Birthday’. I was spoilt rotten by the family - my son kicked off the day with his delicious scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast and the family takeaway dinner - and our tradition is whoever has the birthday chooses the takeaway and so for a change from our usual Indian or Turkish we enjoyed a quite scrumptious Chinese. I was fortunate to receive a wonderful selection of presents. The Memsahib has paid for a massage for me along with a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin, some aftershave and a pair of slippers. My son got me a sleeve for my new laptop and the four Osprey titles you see in the picture - very useful indeed and certainly timely! From my daughter a new pair of Bluetooth headphones and some nibbles - I am a sucker for Fruit Pastilles and chocolate covered Brazil nuts!

It was a lovely day and I was definitely both moved and humbled by all the good wishes from friends and family.

Meanwhile, back at the modelling table….

Developing The Portable Ironclads Wargame

The latest addition to the library and a fairly significant clue as to where my current focus is for the period!

As it has been quite a while since this title was first mooted I figured that it would be a good time to outline what it will consist of - and what it will not! This has been prompted by a couple of things. Firstly, I have chopped and changed my mind about certain elements over time which has proven to be rather confusing - especially when I was revisiting the draft text! Secondly, I have recently exchanged emails with Simon Wilson, one of my blog readers and a play-tester extraordinaire for the original Portable Ironclads Wargame, in which questions were raised about the new book.

Taking these two points together I decided that the time was nigh to describe what ‘Developing’ will look like and hopefully allay any concerns about ‘new versions’ and suchlike. 

What is in it

DTPIW is first and foremost a collection of optional rules for use with the original version. Players can use some, all or none of these as they are suggestions only - just to mix things up a little and to tailor their gaming experience to what works best for them. In keeping within the spirit of the Portable Wargame the core rules are designed to be a toolkit that can be tinkered with to suit a player’s own ideas for the rules governing naval battles during the period. If something does not feel right then it can be changed or discarded as required.

There will be included a full square grid based adaptation - this will include firing arcs and adjustments to the rules where needed. Originally I wanted to use a square grid but I really struggled to get it to work but after experimentation etc I reckon I have nailed it down at last.

There will be a full errata to the original version. I am working on a PDF that is concerned solely with the rules - to be honest this is more of clarification of certain points than a wholesale change - which should be available shortly, free of charge. There are a few errors in the supporting text but nothing major and so tidying these up makes sense.

At the time of writing there is only one change to the rules that is recommended - that of firing arcs which has featured in my two recent blog posts. I have added to the armour and gunnery factor tables so that the rules can use broadside battery ships of the line - two and three deckers still in service. 

The ACW ship specification list will appear in an expanded form featuring more ships. There will also be some more model pictures as I have added to the ACW collection since publication (although I still have some to build!).

There will be an action fought on a square grid and for this I have chosen to go down the fictional route rather than looking at a historical campaign. I will be featuring a battle taken from the war of 1880 between Great Britain and Turkey and so am currently designing and building the models for this.

What is not in it

This is not a second edition, it is merely the first edition tidied up and with a suite of optional rules to try. 

There is no expanded historical background nor details of technical evolution. Lissa or the War of the Pacific will not be appearing as they have been extensively covered elsewhere - I wanted something a little different - which is why I opted for a fictional campaign. 

Final Thoughts

At the risk of repeating myself, most of what will be featuring in DTPIW is what could have been in the original Portable Ironclads Wargame but time and circumstances were not on my side in 2022. I hope that this volume will help to round out the rules for the period 1860 to around 1880 and to demonstrate that they are usable beyond the American Civil War - fascinating though it is!

My thanks to Simon Wilson for helping to prompt this post!

Firing Arcs - Revised Edition and the Rule of One Hex

A busy day for the CSS Tennessee (in the centre). Her opposition consists of the USS Kearsage (on the left side of the Confederate ship), the USS Keokuk (top right) and the USS Sassacus (bottom right.

Following on from my last post I wanted to explain further how this works in practice and so have set up the hypothetical engagement you see in the picture above. The following text is not how it will appear in the final PDF but I hope it serves to make things clearer.

The Port and Starboard firing arc of the CSS Tennessee is the area marked by the coffee stirrers designated P and S. Now the eagle eyed among you will have no doubt noticed that alternate hexes are in fact cut in half by the aforementioned coffee stirrers. What does this mean?

Allow me to explain.

In these rules warship models for the most part occupy two hexes. In order for them to be fired upon at full effect then both hexes occupied by the target ship MUST be within the firing ships firing arc. Note that a ship that occupies one full hex and one hex that is cut in half - essentially a partial hex - within a given arc may also be fired upon at full effect. If a ship occupies only one hex within a firing ship’s firing arc then the fire is at half effect, rounded down. This is the Rule of One Hex.

Taking each target ship individually I will explain the arcs and effect on firing.

USS Kearsage - she is in the Port, Forward Wide and Aft Wide firing arcs - and heartily wishing she was elsewhere! For the Port arc she has her stern hex fully within the arc whilst her bow occupies a partial hex - this counts as being fully within the arc. For the Forward Wide arc only her stern is within the arc so any fire received will be at half effect. For the Aft Wide arc her stern occupies a partial hex and her bow is fully within the arc so she can be fired upon at full effect.

The upshot of all of this is the USS Kearsage can be engaged by the CSS Tennessee using her Port and Aft Wide guns each at full effect and from the Forward Wide arc at half effect.

USS Keokuk - she is fully within the Forward Wide arc but only her stern hex is occupying a (partial) hex within the Starboard arc. The USS Keokuk can therefore be engaged via the Forward Wide arc at full effect but only at half effect via the Starboard arc.

USS Sassacus - she is fully within the Aft Wide arc but only occupies a single hex within the starboard arc. Similarly to the USS Keokuk she can be engaged fully via the Aft Wide artillery of the CSS Tennessee but only at half effect from the Starboard guns.

In addition to the above it should be noted that all firing is adjudicated on an individual firing arc basis, even against a single target and a ship may only fire once per firing arc.

In summary

If a target ship only occupies a single full or partial hex within a given firing arc then it can only be fired upon at half effect, rounded down. 

A firing ship can fire once from each arc that it has artillery for and a target to potentially hit.

I hope this has made things a little clearer and please by all means offer any comments or observations - anything to make sure the end result is clear, fair and not misleading.

Firing Arcs - Revised Edition

Firing Arcs version 2. F - Forward, FW - Forward Wide, P - Port, S - Starboard, A - Aft and AW - Aft Wide. F and A are the single row of hexes directly off the bow and stern respectively, P and S are the rows of hexes that lie between the upper and lower horizontal coffee stirrers whilst FW and AW are everything above or below the coffee stirrers placed amidships on the model. The coffee stirrers are a scratch builders friend and can be found in many places, the letters came from the Works whilst the ship is the CSS Tennessee

Converting the Fire Arcs that David Manley used in his Dahlgren and Colombiad rules to be usable on a hexagonal grid presented a few challenges but I managed to make a reasonable approximation of them for use in The Portable Ironclads Wargame. Unfortunately, I seemed to have been beset by a bout of ‘Barkerese’ when it came to describing them, along with references to bisected and straddled hexes! It was a part of the rules that needed to be tidied up and so I have done so.

The picture above will feature in DTPIW, along with some clarification of firing in general - I should emphasise that there are no major changes, just a few little tidy ups!

Hedwig Von Wissmann - Version 2

Hedwig Von Wissmann - note the extensive awnings present

My original model for Hedwig Von Wissmann was lacking a certain something. In common with many ships when operating in tropical climates, Hedwig Von Wissmann was often photographed with awnings in place as protection from the sun.

Hedwig Von Wissmann - version 1 (bottom left)

My first attempt at building her dispensed with the awnings - these would probably be taken down when clearing for action - and I was not entirely satisfied with the height of her bridge superstructure.

The days wore on and so the satisfaction level diminished even further so inevitably, steps had to be taken - the result of which you can see below.

Version 2. I opted to leave the bridge awning in place and by placing a 1cm square piece of 3mm MDF painted black on the half inch square lower bridge. The awning itself - the ‘roof’ - is a half inch square of card.

The side profile. The smaller recessed black piece gives the perception of depth and raises the height of the structure to something more suitable.

I realise this is a but a small piece of work but the end result is something I am far happier with and it certainly looks better. It is also another modelling technique that could be readily used on similar vessels and so has been saved in the brain cell.