Thoughts on Wind and Water

As well as being a magazine cover this image was also used on the box lid of the Battleline version of Wooden Ships and Iron Men. 

I have been feeling fairly lethargic over the last couple of weeks and despite having a gazillion things to do I have really struggled to get motivated. I suppose this is off the back of my prolonged chesty/throaty thing and is sure to pass soon. It usually does!

Anyway, whilst in this meandering state, I decided to browse through the recently rediscovered CD of the Avalon Hill/Victory Games Naval Games and, for no particular reason, settled on the folder of articles about Wooden Ships and Iron Men. 

I was certainly glad I did!

The Avalon Hill board game Wooden Ships and Iron Men is a simplified version of the original Ship ‘O’ the Line miniatures rules (one of my favourite rule sets for the period) and uses hexes rather than squares. The original miniatures rules were some eight years in the making and started life as a very detailed set of ship to ship rules, not the fleet level version of later.

Contained within the folder of articles there is a whole lot great material ranging from scenarios, mini campaigns, tactical discussions, additional and alternative rules and much more besides. The Russo-Swedish War and the Russo-Turkish War both feature with plenty of varied actions to be fought. There is also some really interesting background to the game design and its evolution from a miniatures set to the award winning Avalon Hill board game version penned by the designer himself, S Craig Taylor Jr.

Pirates feature, along with a series of scenarios based on the actions featured in the Richard Bolitho stories  written by Alexander Kent, the pen name of Douglas Reeman.

All in all then, there is plenty to get one’s teeth into for the period - which leads me quite nicely into the next bit!

Age of Sail thoughts

I own Wooden Ships and Iron Men (the Avalon Hill version), Flying Colours, Seas of Glory (more of a strategic game based on the 1805 campaign ending at Trafalgar) and also Micro-Fleet Napoleonic Naval so am well served in respect of board game options. Would I use models? The short answer is yes, I would and indeed, having built ships with a full sailing rail for the ACW project I am sure I could make a good fist of it. The only downside is time and in all seriousness I could not see myself undertaking what would be a significant building program anytime before 2027. The board game options will have to suffice, at least for the foreseeable anyway.

Of course there is always the range of 1:4800th scale models available from Tumbling Dice….

I think I need a lie down…. ;-)