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….

Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame - Update

C.S.S. Manassas ‘cruising for a bruising’ as they say in certain parts

Three 1s - What could that possibly mean?

The text for the book is now being proofread so we are close to the point of publication! I am busy organising some pictures for the battle report - there are plenty from the night but for a variety of reasons many of them are not usable. No matter, they are helpful in a draft kind of way.

The pictures from above are from the battle on the night but I am not giving any clues as to what transpired….

All will be revealed in the book though.

Nearly there!

Boot Sales and Battle Reports

The story of the WW1 German commerce raider and minelayer the Moewe (Seagull). 

Laurel and I headed out this morning to our local boot sale and I managed to pick up a copy of the above for the princely sum of £1!

I have owned this in paperback but it disintegrated a few years ago. It is a magnificent read and if WW1 commerce raiding minelayers are your thing then is book is a treat. 

Relying largely on stealth for protection the Moewe could not outrun or outfight a warship she would be likely to encounter and so ploughed a lonely furrow across the sea, capturing and sinking stray merchantmen and laying mines were least expected.

Cracking subject for a mini campaign methinks!

In Other News….

The battle report for Developing The Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War has been drafted. I now need to add a selection of appropriate pictures to the text and then send it over to the editor-in-chief for his perusal.

It was great fun to write!

The Dinger of Hums

The grand finale has been fought and a victory secured. The game was enormous fun and oozed period ‘feel’ which is exactly what a good wargame should do!

As mentioned previously, the after action report will appear in Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War in due course, along with pictures of the resultant mayhem (of which there were plenty!).

As a teaser though, here are a couple of pictures of the carnage - the great ‘Dinger of Hums!’

The inexorable advance of the Union

“Around the rugged rock the ragged rascals ran…..!”

The naval equivalent of the M25 during the rush hour - come to think of it, this was probably worse….

That is all for now - a full report with pictures will appear in the book when published so best I get busy with the keyboard!

The Grand Finale

Tomorrow evening will see the battle that will form the grand finale to Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War being fought at the club. The scenario has been planned, the models and ship charts are ready, and I am really looking forward to seeing the action unfold!

The after action report will not be on the blog as it is reserved for the book but I will share some pictures of the protagonists by way of a taster.

The two sloops - the USS Brooklyn (forward) and the USS Richmond (aft) and the two ‘double-enders’ the USS Port Royal and the USS Octorara.

Two double-turreted monitors - the USS Winnebago (single white stripe) and the USS Chickasaw (two white stripes), the USS Keokuk and the single turreted USS Manhattan.

The ironclads CSS Manassas and the CSS Atlanta with the CSS Morgan and CSS Gaines

The looming bulk of Fort Gordon and the floating battery the CSS Memphis

The action will be fought over a 6ft by 4ft playing surface using my Hexon collection - the area is 21 by 12 hexes so there will be plenty of ‘sea room’ to fight over.

I am delighted to have finally gotten to this point and I am really looking forward to the game - and writing the after action report!

The Final, Final Piece….

CSS New Orleans - 20 guns and gun carriages painted in what is supposed to be Vallejo Light Sea Grey!

A Unions drone’s eye view

OK, I know, I know - I said that I would build one at some point BUT - that point arrived much sooner than expected!

I have spent some unexpected free time working on the sister ship to the CSS Memphis - the CSS New Orleans. It was a fiddly build for sure - mainly due to the close proximity of the guns to one another - but I am pleased to have tackled it as it will be useful for river actions.

The start of the process - the hull and the first of the gun carriages. The pencil lines help to position things - and by a happy coincidence these are usually more or less in the right place….

All the gun carriages in place, two sets of deck hatches and the central citadel. The CSS Memphis gives an idea of what the CSS New Orleans will look like.

The next step was to add the gunwales - this was a fiddly job for sure! The citadel was quite straightforward and used as the core an old, 1970s vintage wooden D6.

Prior to painting - the two rectangular blocks in the centre foreground are the deck houses that were placed either side of the citadel. The forest of cocktail sticks mounted on the Jenga block turned into  gun barrels - the black length you see to the right of the block is now the flagstaff. The bamboo barbecue skewer - at least the white end of it - is now the ‘funnel’. Note the two deck houses in the foreground - these will be added to the model once painted.

The start of the painting - the decks are in Vallejo Buff whilst the Jenga block mounted cocktail sticks in Vallejo Black will ultimately be turned into gun barrels. The black cocktail stick next to the block will be the flagstaff whilst the bamboo barbecue skewer has a black end that will ultimately be turned into the funnel.

This was another fiddly part - painting the gun carriages. When I say fiddly it is probably relative as a better painter than I would have little difficulty this phase - it is all the ‘cutting in’ that is, for me, tedious!

The gunwales and viewing hatch on the top of the central citadel are now painted. The two deck houses have also had the first part of their paint job attended to. Next up will be the central citadel, the four deck hatches and the two deck houses will get their roofs painted. Once that is done I will varnish the entire model prior to adding the gun barrels, funnel and flagstaff.

Nearly there! The two deck houses are now in place, along with the funnel and flagstaff. I will varnish this and then add the gun barrels and the all important flag - that is first picture on this post.

Rebel defences - a coastal fort and a pair of floating batteries. I need to think about a river fort but this lot will do for now methinks!

The ‘hull’ for this model was fashioned from basswood as I did not have any MDF of a suitable size as it is larger than my MDF hull template supply measuring as it does some 11 cm by 3.5 cm. The central citadel on both models has an old D6 at the core - when I say old I mean 1960s vintage with the ‘dots’ barely visible - with wooden craft stick sides. The gunwales are made from 3mm square balsa wood strip, the gun carriages from 10mm by 5mm grey card, the deck hatches and observation port (on the top of the central citadel) from 5mm square pieces of card, the gun barrels and flagstaffs are from cocktail sticks and the ‘funnel’ is from a bamboo barbecue skewer. The two deck houses are from basswood strip.

Painting was straightforward but, as mentioned, fiddly due to the number of tight places that the brush had to go. The end result though, was definitely worth it. The Confederate part of the collection at last has some meaningful defences to use.

The Final, Final, Final Piece(s)…..

A chance remark by me to David Manley about how both of these two floating batteries seemed to resemble ironclads led me to think about the Union ‘Black Terror’ - a dummy ironclad built from timber used to scare off the Confederates attempting to salvage the grounded USS Indianola. Needless to say you can probably guess what is coming next….

I shall be building the USS Indianola and the ‘Black Terror’ - the former I had plans to tackle at some point to round out the Union river ironclads in my collection - at some point. Mr Manley sent me copies of the pictures he uses to advertise his STL files on Wargame Vault as part of the conversation so my fate was effectively sealed….

By way of a ‘one-two’ I also had the pleasure of finally speaking with that well known ‘purveyor of projects and painter of aircraft/ships/figures/vehicles (delete as appropriate!)’ the blogging legend that is Jim Jackaman. We spoke of matters many and varied and during the conversation the subject of Union ironclad the USS Choctaw came about.

Believe it or not but this rather handsome model was made from paper! The USS Choctaw - now that is an ironclad!

We both agreed that this is a fine looking vessel for sure but also that some of the curves would be tricky to accommodate. Needless to say after the conversation had finished - he really is a most delightful chap - I made the fatal mistake of looking into the USS Choctaw….you can probably guess the inevitable outcome of all this.

I cannot in all conscience blame either Mr Manley or Mr Jackaman for their subliminal encouragement - at least not at the moment anyway although when I get snarled up in a particularly tricky of the construction I may think otherwise! ;-)

Thanks chaps!

The Final Piece

CSS Memphis - a floating battery converted from a drydock. Based on the images I have seen of her  I am of the opinion that the Confedrates deliberately designed her to look like an ironclad!

An overhead view - as mentioned previously, the CSS New Orleans was very similar in layout except she was longer and was designed to mount two broadsides, each of ten guns (and yes, I shall be building one)!

Well that is it! I have at last completed the final model required for the grand finale battle that will appear in Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War.

Now that all is ready from the model perspective I can get down to the serious business of completing the map that will have the initial dispositions for both sides. 

The battle will be fought on May 21st all being well and the after action report will be available in Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War when published.

The final lap is in sight!

It is the Fort that counts….Part 4

Despite a bout of the dreaded ‘white varnish on a newly painted model’ syndrome, I have finished the large coastal fort for my American Civil War collection! It has been the most ambitious scratch build I have undertaken within the context of the project and I really enjoyed the process - even the angles.

The model is not based on anything in particular, it is more like a ‘Coastal Forts of America during the 19th century’ greatest hits kind of idea - so based upon and purely representational it is then! The pictures will do (most of) the talking.

The landward side of the fort with the Confederate flag - the seaward side features the early war naval ensign.

The view from the seaward side

Looking across one of the seaward angles….

….and from one of the landward.

The model used six and a quarter Jenga blocks, eight cocktail sticks and a copious amount of cardboard squares and rectangles. The angles were packed out with balsa wood wedges and then covered with filler. The battlements were fashioned from 5mm square wooden strips, cut to size. I used Vallejo Iraqi Sand for the walkways, Vallejo Sea Grey for the walls, Humbrol Matt 29 enamel for the doors and gates, a mixed Sea Grey and White (equal parts) for the gun carriages and Black for the gun barrels and flagstaffs.

I now have a pair of floating batteries to build and that will be it for the time being - I have a game to plan for and guess what? The fort will certainly be featuring!

It is the Fort that counts….Part 3

The two internal buildings are still not fixed in place but that is where they will finish up. Everything you see that is currently white will be grey - including the gun carriages. Vallejo Iraqi Sand for the walkways and Humbrol Matt 29 enamel for the doors and hatches etc. Gun barrels and flagstaffs will be black.

I had a couple of hours spare today so I set to work with making a start on painting the fort. The colour scheme will be the same as used for the earlier, rectangular version which means grey for the stonework, sand coloured walkways and brown for doors and hatches. I plan to completely paint and varnish the fort before I add the gun barrels and flagstaffs - mainly for protection purposes as it will get a lot of handling whilst its ‘teeth’ are being put into place.

Once this is finished it is them on to the floating batteries.

It is the Fort that counts….Part 2

 The next fiddly phase has been completed and so the model has now been sealed prior to undercoating and painting. The final fiddly phase will of course, adding the ‘teeth’ - the gun barrels.

Students of military architecture should look away methinks….

The two interior buildings are not fixed in place yet. This stage was adding the gates, doors and shutters - all from laser cut grey card. As the interior is rather more expansive that on the earlier model I also had to do the same with the inside as you can see.

A clearer view of the interior and the two internal buildings. The larger of the two will be glued against the flat front wall on the inside. This will give a more secure join to the two blocks that are currently only glued at the ends.

The model has been sealed prior to undercoating and painting so my next step will be the former. I will also need to jig up the enquired number of cocktail sticks for the gun barrels and flagstaffs. I will also need to drill a few holes and also address the rather embarrassing lack of entrance points to the gun deck….

It is definitely getting there though and I am pretty pleased with the progress so far.

It is the Fort that counts….

 When I first started the project that eventually morphed into The Portable Ironclads Wargame I had always planned to build forts, shore and floating batteries. Aside from the two Jenga block blockhouse style buildings I had built sometime ago I had not, up until now, really made any further progress. Anyways, for reasons that will become obvious in due course, I needed to build something rather more ambitious than my earlier models.

This is still a work in progress but I am rather taken with how it is coming along. So without further ado, here is what will eventually be Fort Squaragon.

Made from two full sized ‘not Jenga blocks’, six three quarter length and a single quarter length (a full sized block is 63mm long, 12mm high and 21mm wide), 10mm by 5mm grey card pieces for the gun carriages and 3mm square wood strips for the battlements. I have yet to add the window shutters, doors and gates, gun barrels and flagstaffs although the latter two will be added last, after the painting.

An unusually tidy work station with the earlier fort alongside the newer and larger version.

To give an idea of the size of this the hexes you see above are four inches across the flat sides. The two interior buildings have yet to fixed in place but I plan to paint these first.

Alongside the fort I am also building a couple of floating batteries so Fort Squaragon (named after a local Native American chieftain) will be well protected from any Union naval activity. That and the torpedo barrage…

In Other News….

Laurel and I headed out to our local boot sale today and whilst for the most part it was fairly low key I was able to score the book you see below for the princely sum of £1.

A nice addition to the Battle of Britain part of my library which has also given me something of dilemma with a part of my collection!

All in all then, not a bad way to spend part of Sunday - and with a roast leg of lamb to look forward to for dinner!

Pictures Telling Stories

Just a brief post for today as a lot is going on. Just three pictures of some of the ACW naval collection, posed for the camera, but why?

A menacing looking Confederate squadron.

A rather more menacing looking Union squadron.

A rather less menacing Union Squadron

A tease? Maybe, but for now that is all there is….

Till the next time that is!

Not Quite The Battle of the River Plate - 1864 style

Yesterday evening at the club another Portable Ironclads Wargame was fought and as usual, I managed to fail once again in the picture and reporting stakes! The action was based upon the famous WW2 Battle of the River Plate but in this case the Graf Spee was represented by the ironclad CSS Stonewall under the command of Mr Huband. The Union squadron, commanded by Mr Fox, ably assisted by Messrs Kightly and Slater commanded the frigate the USS Wabash and the sloops the USS Watchusett and USS Kearsage. As befitted his seniority, Mr Fox flew his flag in the frigate.

The scenario was a simple one in that the Stonewall had to exit the opposite board edge whilst the Union had to stop her. The action was brief, mainly due to the fact that the Stonewall ‘went for it’ in a big way before finally being stopped in a rather freakish way. As ever, the pictures tell some of the story.

Starting positions. The CSS Stonewall on the left with the USS Wabash bottom right and the USS Watchusett and USS Kearsage top right.

USS Kearsage in the foreground with the USS Watchusett following

CSS Stonewall. I have two of these and they are among the first models I built for this project. They are scheduled to be rebuilt to my current standard and I will make sure that the turret is replaced by a gun house!

CSS Stonewall bearing down on the Union Frigate - who will blink first?

Meanwhile the two sloops (no sign of Julie Waters for readers of a certain vintage!) manoeuvre for position against the oncoming rebel ship. 

It was the USS Wabash and so the CSS Stonewall duly rammed her.

The damage inflicted on the USS Wabash from the ram attack was heavy but not fatal and so both ships pivoted away. Unfortunately for the CSS Stonewall, this left her facing a full broadside at point blank range! Luckily for the rebel ship the gunnery from the Union frigate, no doubt suffering from the after effects of the recent ram attack, was abysmal - the armour of the CSS Stonewall proved to be a tough nut to crack.

Unfortunately this was the last picture I took but the action ended shortly after as the CSS Stonewall succumbed to damage whilst ramming the USS Watchusett. In the rules a ship that damages another from a ram attack has the chance of being ‘attacked’ themselves - the rule represents damage sustained whilst attempting to back away from the target ship. In this case the counter attack was supremely effective - two 6s and a 5 being rolled for 5 points of damage! The CSS Stonewall had already taken damage from gunfire earlier in the action and so the resultant ram attack was enough to sink her. The next move she would have exited the playing area and secured the victory!

The River Plate scenario always plays well in my experience and this was no exception. The firing rules once again demonstrated to my satisfaction the value of armour and just how vulnerable unarmoured ships are. The CSS Stonewall was fortunate to avoid serious damage when at point blank range under the guns of a full broadside from the USS Wabash - the damage rolls were at a net -1 - but her luck turned in spectacular fashion with the final ram attack. The result raised eyebrows and so I have been giving this some additional thought.

At the battle of Hampton Roads the CSS Virginia was nearly lost when she rammed the USS Cumberland. Her ram was stuck fast in the Union ship and was being pulled under when her ram broke off. This was what I had in mind when I allowed for rammed ship, assuming it had suffered damage, to effectively counterattack the ramming ship. I am satisfied with the thought process behind the rule but am mindful that the execution may be seen to be over the top. I have a couple of ideas to try to mitigate this so will see  how they play out before adjusting the rule. Adjusting is the right word for this as a wholesale change of the process is not needed - of that I am certain.

Once again, I would like to extend my thanks to Messrs Huband, Fox, Kightly and Slater for their enthusiastic participation as well as providing me with much to think about. In a good way, naturally!

Endgame in Sight!

Two of the final pieces required for the battle report to be found in Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War. No prizes for guessing what the Jenga blocks are for. A bonus point if anyone can tell me what needs to be done to the Confederate ironclad - super detailing it or replacing it with a commercially available model as an answer will earn you instant disqualification!

Thanks to a mahoosive amount of work by the Editor-in-Chief, Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War, is now really close to being ready for publication! I have some pictures to organise and the battle contained therein needs to be fought and written up but once that has done it is off for proofreading. There will then be some tidying up to take care of and then bingo! “Thar she blows!” 

As mentioned previously, this has taken me a lot longer than I originally envisaged to produce and if I am completely honest, it will be with some degree of relief that it gets ‘out there’, so to speak.

For the battle that will feature in the book I have to slightly modify one of the Confederate ships being used and I will also have to complete an item of terrain that will feature. I should also mention that any resemblance to the battle and anything remotely historical will be purely coincidental….

In the words of ‘Ol Blue Eyes….”and now, the end is near….” 

Squared Away

As part of the preparation for DTPIW I spent some time reworking some of the firing arc pictures as I was not really happy with the original versions. They now look like this:

For use with the ‘two square per model’ variant when operating orthagonally.

The same for diagonals

The ‘single square’ variant when operating orthagonally

And the same diagonally.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that for the single square option the forward and aft wide arcs (FW and AW) appear to be only covering the area off the bow and stern respectively. This is deliberate but such guns will still be available to use on a broadside if required. There is a rule that covers this and also clarifies the concept of partial grid areas.

I will need to slightly amend the appropriate text to better explain my thinking around this.

In other news, plans are afoot for another action to be fought at the club - this time on the high seas - and every ship present will have a full sailing rig!