Action along the Winnebago River

The Prologue….And it came to pass….

Yesterday evening saw the Portable Ironclads Wargame getting a run out at the club. The main purpose of the action was to try out the square grid but more importantly, to prepare Messrs Fox and Huband for more challenging games ahead. 

The scenario was deliberately simple and with but two ships a side. For the Union, under the command of  Mr Huband, the river monitor USS Ozark and the double ended gunboat the USS Agawam whilst that ‘Will ‘O the Wisp of the bounding main’, Mr Fox took command of the ironclad the CSS Missouri and the CSS Gaines. The action was short and sharp as the pictures will show.

Opening moves - the Union opted to head in two directions whilst the Confederates maintained a line ahead with the CSS Gaines leading the CSS Missouri

The two Rebel ships caught between the USS Ozark (bottom left) and the USS Agawam (top centre). The CSS Gaines was able to deliver a hefty blow against the Union river monitor.

Retribution was swift though, as the CSS Gaines was subjected to a withering fire from the Union ship

In fairly short order, the gallant Confederate ship was subjected to a withering fire, battering her into a sinking wreck

With the Rebel fleet down to the ironclad the CSS Missouri - now with the two Union vessels across her line of retreat - the action came to an end. 

The game was brief but enjoyable although a couple of areas of confusion arose. To begin with the use of squares and positioning of ships within got a little scrambled. When moving orthogonally a ship sits squarely across the two squares - on the centreline if you prefer. When operating diagonally a ship would sit on the central spot formed by the two squares touching at a single corner.  In the heat of the action this got a little muddled but to be honest it made little difference to the overall outcome. 

Squares and dots aside the general consensus was that the rules would benefit immeasurably from a quick reference sheet. Guilty as charged with that omission - it is something that I always intended doing but never quite got around to doing so. I have started work on one and it will be uploaded on the Gridded Naval Wargame facebook group file section.

All in all though, I was pleased at how it went and it was a good work out to exorcise any gremlins before we move up to more challenging and complex actions.

Once again my sincere thanks to Messrs Fox and Huband for their time and carefully considered input.

Cheers chaps!