A very useful title - especially the overview of the technological evolution that culminated in the Battle of Lissa. This is one of a number of references I shall be using.
One of my jobs over the weekend - which turned out to be a rather busy one - was to punch out the counters from my newly acquired copies of Ironclads and the Ironclads expansion set. The former was completely unpunched and the ship data cards needed separating. The latter was partially punched and so I spent an hour or so armed with a scalpel and cutting mat along with a stack of grip top polythene bags. Both boxes have now been properly sorted out and are ready to play - the only thing missing was a pair of D6 - one red and one white.
As the Expansion set includes European vessels of the period this was going to be my first port of call in terms of the ships involved in the scenario for Lissa.
I plan to include a battle report based on the famous sea fight of 1866 but on a slightly reduced basis. The action will feature the leading formations of both the Austrian and Italian fleets as these were the only ones engaged. It will also reduce the number of model required although this still stands at twenty four all told. Inevitably this will impose a minor delay in the publication of the revised edition of the Portable ironclads Wargame but I reckon it will be worth the wait.
This will be the largest action fought using the Portable Ironclads Wargame and is rather different from usual coastal or inland waterway type of action and I am really looking forward to it!
For of all though, it is the model making and so having learned an awful lot during the ACW build I am confident that I have the basic construction technique ‘dialled in’. I even have the flags in readiness!
10 comments:
If memory serves that's the battle that sort of sends the wrong messages as the gunnery is so poor the only effective34 attacks are by ramming.
Hello there Trebian,
You are quite correct - a combination of poorly trained gunners and variable artillery meant that ramming gained a significance well beyond its fifteen minutes of fame!
This will be a lot of fun to do though!
All the best,
DC
Hi David. If you want to get on with a game before your models are ready, the junior general site has some nice 2D models of the ships involved. I used them for the Postcard from Lissa rules.
Cheers
Simon
Hi Simon,
That is a good idea for sure - many thanks old chap!
All the best,
DC
I am looking forward to your battle report. The Battle of Lissa has aways intrigued me since reading about it 20 years ago. I even bought some metal casting and fought a Lissa like battle using Bob Cordreys rules. I also have the same book, but still haven't read it. Perhaps I should give it a read now.
I look on your project and new
Book with great interest. A naval battle between two fleets would be amazing feat using model warships. What size table would you be using? Quinn
Hello there jhnptrqn,
Great to hear from you old chap! The book is excellent, especially the technology overview leading up to the battle. Bob’s rules are excellent for this and I hope that mine will be as good!
All the best,
DC
Hello there Glory to Ruritania,
The book will be a while away just yet - mainly due to factoring Lissa in as I need to build the ships first! I reckon I will be able to run this on a 6ft by 4ft table which in itself is another issue as I need to organise an appropriately gridded cloth.
All the best,
DC
Hmmmm…
My butterfly says that is a book I really neeeeed 😁🦋🦋🦋
All the best. Aly
Hi there Aly,
It is a great read and as mentioned the whole technological evolution leading to the battle is nicely covered.
It is also a hardback which is a bonus.
Regards to the butterfly - I suspect it has been working as hard as mine has!
All the best,
DC
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