What a winning combination of useful titles with which to base a project around! Methinks these will be rather well-thumbed by the time the models are ready!
For a variety of reasons, my planned book for Pen and Sword is now in a bit of a temporary holding pattern so I have taken the opportunity to look at something else. The Portable Ironclads Wargame: Definitive Edition, is going to be the title that completes the trilogy started with the Portable Ironclads Wargame. Essentially it will compromise the best bits from the two existing volumes with a chunk of new stuff. There will be an updated bibliography, the final version of the rules (no real changes here, just a tidy up), additional ship specifications and not one but three battle reports.
The ACW will feature, along with the War in the Pacific and for the alternative history entry, the Anglo Turkish War of 1883. All the models used will be my own scratch builds and I am toying with the idea of including some building instructions - a ‘how to’ if you like - for making one’s own models.
Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of material than can be used straight off the bat from the two previous volumes but it is worth emphasising that this final version will contain sufficient new material to make it a worthwhile acquisition, this is especially important if you already have the two previous volumes!
The box of Royal Navy and Ottoman Turkish ironclads already under construction
In the short term my main focus will be shipbuilding - at this stage the two dozen or so RN and Turkish Ironclads - and so I will need to scope out the ships for the War in the Pacific. Luckily I have a couple of very handy references for this and guess what? I already have the ensigns!
10 comments:
I'm looking forward to the final volume.
Hi Mark,
I am also looking forward to it - mainly because it will be able to show the rules being used outside of the ACW. The Anglo Turkish clash will be a fairly substantial action - the closest contemporary equivalent would have been something like Lissa - whilst the War in the Pacific will be a straight refight of one of the action involving the Huascar.
There will be an ACW fight but as yet I have not decided on the make up of the forces.
Another thing. Am looking forward to is writing the back story of the Anglo Turkish War which will also be included.
All the best and many thanks for your continued support!
DC
I’m looking forward to this David…
I am quite interested in the Pacific War…Or Saltpeter War… Or was it the Bat S**t War 🤔😁.
All the best. Aly
Another Iron Clad era book? How sad. Good thing I have a perfect spot on my shelf for one.
Hi Aly,
I think you are right on all three counts! More MDF naval goodness to follow….
All the best,
DC
Hello there WEK 3,
Yup! Another Ironclad book - just as well you have a space on the shelf and I will be delighted to fill it!
All the best,
DC
Really looking forward to the book. I appreciate that an Anglo-Ottoman conflict can't be set much later than you suggest, as in the wake of the Russo0Turkish war of 1877-78 [a] the Ottomans seriously ran out of money to buy, build or modernise ships, [b] their existing ships (and guns, and eventually also armour) were increasingly overtaken by international developments the Ottomans couldn't afford to keep pace with, and [c] the Sultan's suspicion that his Naval officers were the sort of dangerously liberal-minded folk who might threaten his regime, to that the fleet was increasingly restricted to anchorages in the Constantinople area. So the Ottoman Navy became increasingly incapable of projecting power any distance. The extreme example was the ironclad Abdul Kadir, laid down in 1892 , which rotted on the slip for years and was eventually dismantled in c1914, having never even been launched. The impression was that money intended for construction and maintenance went into some of the admirals' pockets.
Only by the 1900s did serious steps begin to be taken, to modernise a few ships (Mesudiye [torpedoed by HMS B11, Dec.1914] and Asar-i Tevfik [wrecked 1913] and Feth-i Bülend [sunk 1912]), commission some new small cruisers (Hamidiye, Mecidiye) and torpedo gunboats (Peleng-i Derya 1889-96; Peyk-i Şevket, Berk-i Satvet in 1907-08) from foreign yards, and then in 1910 to buy two old pre-dreadnoughts and 4 new destroyers from Germany. By this time, Ottoman shipyards were unable to build modern warships of any size, and even the ability to undertake serious repair work was very limited. So from the 1890s onwards, in a war the Ottoman Navy would have been hard-pressed to undertake more than straightforward repairs, and in peacetime it depended on work by foreign yards.
From the 1880s, the Ottomans were increasingly outmatched by the Russian Black Sea Fleet (despite the serious design flaws in the early Russian Black Sea pre-dreadnoughts), and, from the time the Greeks acquired the modern armoured cruiser Georgios Averof, also by the Greek Navy.
Hello there Toby E,
Many thanks for your useful comment and also for the vote of confidence for the new book!
In my mind’s eye I had a sort of mini campaign in part inspired by the Anglo Egyptian War of 1882. I have yet to flesh out the details - that will be for another day - so for now it is just the shipbuilding.
My fondness for the Turkish navy goes back to the South East Asia 1914 naval campaign organised by the late Eric Knowles. My command was the Turkish fleet and I took this responsibility very seriously! It is thanks to Eric that I have had a long term interest in matters Ottoman related!
I am looking forward to getting these built and in action and will be sure to post regular updates as to progress.
All the best,
DC
Hmmm... the Anglo Turkish War of 1883 calls to me!
G’Day Paul,
As it did me old chap, as it did me!
24 models currently under construction and I will be using several feet of bamboo skewer for the masts - there are rather a lot of them, including a pair of RN ships that sport 5 each!
All the best,
DC
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