Thoughts on The Portable Ironclads Wargame

Then and now - a book of two halves. Could it have been written as one? It would have been more compact but probably less digestible!

The Portable Ironclads Wargame and the follow up Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War, have taken up the best part of five years from start to where we are now. During that time I have built (and rebuilt) some eighty-odd models, fought a significant number of battles (solo and face-to-face although for the latter I was mainly umpiring), and typed and re typed great swathes of text for the two books you see above as well as for the blog and The Gridded Naval Wargame Facebook group. All of this set against the backdrop of Laurel’s live-changing surgery and the seismic effect this has had on  us - physically and emotionally. It had been, to use just one of any number of emotive cliches, a roller-coaster of a ‘journey!’

I am of course, really delighted to have achieved all this - mainly because my attention span and follow through in terms of projects is notoriously ‘short-winded’. I have proven to myself that I can do it - which is a reward all of its own.

So what is next then?

Whilst I was away on holiday I was able to spend some time thinking about what comes next. As mentioned previously, I plan to pen a couple of campaign specific supplements with the fictional Anglo-Turkish War of 1880 being the first. This is some way off yet as I need to finish the ships first as well as organising the land components from the recently acquired Mike’s Models collection.In the meantime though, I have the capacity for a couple of smaller projects but, and it is a significant but, I am now deep in writing and research mode for my next book which has a year for the manuscript to be ready.

This will mean that projects will need to be modest in scope which points quite handily to Portable Wargame 3 x 3 or Dominion of style set ups. I suspect that I will be in good company pursuing such a modus operandi!

WW1 Aerial Card Game

Quick and easy to play and with an alternate (and to be fair, more ‘wargamery’) set of rules available on BoardGameGeek.

There are twenty aircraft types for each side - note the lovely artwork on the two examples above - and fifteen of the action cards (three of each of the five types depicted).

 Laurel and I braved the thirty degrees plus heat on Sunday to visit our usual boot sale. It was quite small in terms of the number of sellers and buyers, presumably the weather warning deterred many from attending. Despite the paucity of sellers I managed to pick up the small card game you see above for the princely sum of £1.

Dogfight was released in 2015 and was designed by Martin Wallace - a designer of many boardgames (I own his excellent version of Waterloo) and personally known to a number of readers of this blog (sadly I am not in that number!).

The game is a type of Trumps style game where the applicable aircraft rating - determined by any one of the five action cards you see above for - is compared to the opponents with the highest score being the winner. Simple but effective although as mentioned, there is a meatier set of rules available from BGG which would sit rather more comfortably with the WW1 aerial enthusiast.

The artwork on the aircraft cards is very nice and would be useful for painting colour schemes for the aerial model gamers amongst us.

All in all, a nice acquisition for a £1 and a game that can be easily played anywhere and with a very quick set up time.

Backfilling the Portable Wargame

At long last!

Despite being an avid fan of the Portable Wargame series I am embarrassed to say that I have somewhat remiss in engaging with the Compendiums. In short, up until around six months ago I did not own any of them! The first edition I received was kindly donated to me by my old friend Nick Huband and this was a hardback copy of the third compendium.

Fast forward to Father’s Day this year and courtesy of two Amazon gift cards from the offspring, I duly rectified this shortcoming and purchased the original compendium as well as the second.

There is plenty of reading material for me to get my teeth into but I figure that most readers will already know that! As a penance for this oversight I will have to pen a couple of articles for the fourth compendium….

Dead chuffed and getting even more inspired, especially by the 3 x 3 variants!

Armies in Africa

I am absolutely delighted to have landed a copy of this at long last - even with a sticker mark slap bang in the centre of the cover!

Just before we headed off to Andalusia I scored a major win on eBay. Unfortunately it was too close to our departure date (09/06) for me to see it before we travelled but it arrived safe and sound whilst we were away.

Colonial Armies - Africa 1850 to 1918 by Peter Abbott was published by Foundry Books in 2006. For a variety of reasons I missed out on getting a copy then and have been on the lookout, off and on, for one since then. I have seen several secondhand copies listed on odd occasions but the price - usually in three figures - was more than the Imperial coffers (not to mention domestic harmony) would stand. So scoring a copy of this for £22 was, as they say in certain quarters, a right result!

The book covers the armies and campaigns over the period mentioned and on a national basis. These are as follows: Congo Free State and Belgian Congo, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. This is supported by sections on the organisation, warfare, dress and weapons along with 229 figures, 58 illustrations and 2 maps.

For my fledgling 15mm Mikes’s Models Colonial set up - and with the seductive allure of Madasahatta as a gentle reminder - this book is an absolute goldmine of information and inspiration.

Dead chuffed for sure!

I have been to….Andalusia!

Laurel and I have just gotten back from a two week holiday in Andalusia, about an hour inland from Malaga. We stayed in the same place (even the same room!) as we did last year - a small hotel in the mountains overlooking the town of Alcaucin,  designed for people with mobility issues and owned and run for the last twenty two years by a charming English couple - Hannah and Adrian. 

The food was excellent, the company convivial (more of which later), the pool - most welcome in the thirty two degrees plus temperatures we were exposed to - wonderfully refreshing and then there was the Alhambra Palace….

We had planned to visit the Palace (around 90 minutes from where we were staying) as part of our stay and so duly booked it in some months beforehand. As the number of visitors is controlled you have to book in advance and are not able to just pitch up on the day. 

The palace itself has a fascinating history and is a delight to look at so I will let a few of the 200 plus pictures I took do the talking!

As part of this visit I had made a point of reading up on the Reconquista and the fall of Granada beforehand and also, unsurprisingly, made a point of looking at the naval side. Granada was blockaded by the Castilian fleet for the most part which restricted the arrival of any reinforcements from North Africa. A few blockade runners managed to sneak through so there is some gaming potential there - stopping blockade runners being a popular naval pastime, probably since the time of the ancient Greeks!

From the land perspective raids and sieges loom large and so I am looking at some suitable figures for something Portable/Dominion/DBA ish.

Trafalgar with Cheese and Cider….

One of the guests at the hotel gave a very engaging talk on the Battle of Trafalgar one evening. Dave used pieces of cheese to represent key elements of the opposing fleets - Brie for the French, Manchego for the Spanish and Cheddar for the English although the two main attacking lines of the Royal Navy were represented by tins of Cider! Once the talk had concluded the assembled company then joined in a rousing rendition of  ‘The Wellerman’ in a variety of keys, some of which were even right ones….

Trafalgar as you have never seen it before! The large lump of Manchego (in the uppermost red ramekin) is of course the Santisima Trinidad….

Dave and I also decided to have a ‘loud shirt Friday’ in which I have to say that the honours went to him for the rather fetching number you see below - the dark blue background of my own attire was eclipsed by the pink hue his own shirt enjoyed….

The two Daves doing Dave stuff….

The only souvenir I acquired whilst on holiday - aside from the pictures and wonderful memories - was a small beer glass. The glass itself was produced to go with a local beer called, you’ve guessed it, Alhambra.

An Alhambra glass, embossed with typical Moorish patterns and with the name near the top. It really is quite lovely and no, it was not obtained by any knavery on my part - I asked the waiter at the restaurant we had lunch at for one and was prepared to pay for it but he insisted I took it free of charge. Ideal for the ‘little green bottle of joy’ that the beer comes in.

We are already looking at returning next year for some new adventures.

DTPIW: The American Civil War - Available Now!

 

The front and back cover

At long last (and about eighteen months later than I expected), Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War is available to purchase from both Amazon and Wargames Vault! 

Editions and ISBNs:

Amazon Hardback: ISBN 979-8-2872-9597-4 (£25.00)

Amazon Paperback: ISBN 979-8-2872-9581-3 (£12.50)

PDF (from wargame Vault): (£7.50) OR as a bundle with The Portable Ironclads Wargame (£12.50)

Ownership of a copy of the preceding Portable Ironclads Wargame is required to be able to fully utilise the material contained in the new title.

I am really pleased to finally have this available as I believe that it will give naval gamers of the period from 1861 to 1880 the necessary tools to be able to fight a variety of actions with levels of detail and systemic flexibility to suit - in true ‘Portable Wargaming’ style!

As is customary, there is small army of willing (or unwilling!) contributors to the ‘journey’ that it would be remiss of me not to mention. So to the following I extend my grateful thanks and appreciation.

Bob Cordery and David Manley, along with Neil Fox, Nick Huband, David Kightly, Stephen Slater and Arthur Harmon - they each know the ‘reason why’ I am thankful to them. An honourable mention is also extended to Alan Saunders and Simon Wilson for their input to the original volume that ended up being used in this one. Ion Dowman and Jim Jackaman have also provided some significant points of input - whether they realised it or not, as has John Wallis.

What’s next?

Well, I have in mind a couple of scenario/mini campaign supplements to expand the conflicts covered within the period - the fictional Anglo -Turkish War of 1880 being one - but for now I want to step back from the ironclads, once the few remaining models are completed, and try some other things before starting on the next big adventure, more of which in a later post….

The Ironclad ‘To Do’ list

I have a few ACW models that are in varying stages of completion so it would be good to get them off the modelling desk. The ships for the Anglo-Turkish War are already under construction but I want to get the armies ready first as this conflict will feature as a Portable Colonial and Ironclads title.

As always, lots to think about….

More on Mike’s Models Colonials

The great figure rebase for the recently acquired Mike’s Models 15mm Colonial collection has resumed once again. I had a little break from it, occasioned by last minute tinkering to DTPIW and sorting out various pieces of technology prior to our holiday but am now back in the saddle so to speak.

I had originally intended using bases with a 30mm frontage but after a rethink will instead use what seems to be a standard 40mm frontage instead. The green base you see is courtesy of Essex Miniatures and I have a large supply of these in all the sizes I will need - 40mm x 20mm, 40mm x 30mm and 40mm square.

I picked up some Irregular Miniatures Zulus and Egyptians as well as some Naismith Colonials with the plan to flesh out some of the units. To be honest either are not a great fit but are usable if you are not too fussy. It is not the size so much, it is more the style. I had resigned myself to using these when a chance comment on the Fans of Mike’s Models facebook group put me in touch with a chap that was disposing of a large number of unpainted Zulu War Mike’s Models. Several messages later, a deal was negotiated and so I am now the proud owner of the following:

Zulus….

….thousands….

….of….

….em!

Not exactly thousands but there is a great selection of types.

Really pleased with this set although I am thinking that some Oxen would work better with the wagon.

These are the unpainted versions of the rank and file figures I have painted. I reckon that troops that wore uniforms of a similar cut from other nationalities might be a useful field to look at for other forces.

I am delighted with these as it means that I will not only be able to field some meaningful opposition to the painted British I already have in the shade of the Zulus, but I will also be able to round out some of the line infantry as well as the artillery park. The wagon is a nice bonus, as are the mounted Boers/Irregular Frontier Horse types. 

My plan of action would be to tackle the required rebasing and touching up required on the British troops first - thankfully the latter is minimal and fortunately I have enough Humbrol enamels to match the colour palette used - and the tackle some Zulus. This means that the figure below will have some company!

“Zulus, thousands one of em!”