A Chinese Takeaway

A most timely and useful addition to the library

My old friend, the redoubtable Mr Fox, is an exceedingly fine fellow! At the flea market held at the recent Broadside wargame show he spotted a book that he knew would be of interest to me and so promptly acquired the same! I finally took delivery of it last night at the club - and am hugely grateful that he spotted it for me!

Given that I have changed the pre-dreadnought battle for the book from the Russo Japanese War to that of the earlier Sino Japanese conflict, the acquisition of this book could not have been more timely. The change of conflict has also meant that the manuscript, due for submission by the end of August has now been pushed back until the end of the year.

I need to buy the models for Yalu River and then paint them, along with those for the Falklands. Fortunately I already have those for the latter from the Tumbling Dice Age of Battleships 1:2400th range. Yalu River will be fought using 1:1200th scale models.

I am satisfied that the rules work well enough for the Ironclad and the Pre-Dreadnought periods so it is only the dreadnoughts that need testing. Whilst I currently do not have anything table ready for this period I know that Mr Fox does so I shall broach the subject with him when next we meet (or, as is more likely, over the phone or email!).

Back to the Missenhitti (Again!)

One of my favourite books on naval wargames

The Missenhitti River is of course the fictional waterway used by Bob Cordery in his excellent book, Gridded Naval Wargames, and that I then ‘borrowed’ to use in The Portable Ironclads Wargame and then Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War. 

Although I have been less than productive on the writing front for the new book over recent weeks - aerial shenanigans have been the order of the day - I have been getting slowly back into the groove with it. So much so that I plan to fight an ACW action tomorrow. 

The Peter Pig Hammerin’ Iron gaming mat - as used for an earlier action

The game will be limited in scope - one ship a side - and so I thought it would be nice to refight the action from Bob’s book using my scratch built ships and the Hammerin’ Iron gaming mat. I will even use the same ship names - the monitor U.S.S. Admonisher and the casemate ironclad the C.S.S. Missenhitti.

I shall be using the definitive version of the firing arcs and at this stage the only decision I need to make is what actual ships to base the two protagonists on. Methinks a quick dive into my ACW library will be in order - I can think of worse ways to spend an couple of hours!

A Lightbulb Moment and the Importance of a Well Placed Comma….

Rough and ready looking I know but this is the final version of the firing arcs. There are port and starboard shown in the left hand diagram whilst forward and aft wide are centre and right respectively. Forward and aft wide overlap with port and starboard and they can be further divided into forward and aft - straight off the bow or stern - and with the option for forward or aft wide solely on the port or starboard beam.

I am often guilty of over-thinking a given situation. This is especially true when it comes to writing wargame rules! A case in point has been the eternal soul-searching, hand-wringing and quite frankly torturous evolution of the firing arcs for the new book. I think I finally have it dialled in though, and, thanks to a valuable brainstorming session at the club last night with Messrs. Fox and Huband, I am even more certain!

I have been looking at this all wrong. I should have learned from the Portable Ironclads Wargame (more accurately Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame) but unfortunately I repeated the same mistake. I will not bore you with the tedious details but suffice it to say, there are four main firing arcs - port, starboard, forward wide and aft wide. The latter overlap the port and starboard arcs and both can, if required, be further subdivided into forward or aft - the row of hexes directly off the bow or stern respectively - or with port or starboard option. This equates to ten arcs if all were used. Where a gun or guns can bear in multiple arcs this is noted on the ship record chart and guess what? This is where the comma comes in. For example, a forward turret that can cover the forward wide arc (which includes the forward and the port and starboard parts) could also cover the port and starboard arcs. Previously this would have had its own diagram and would use the notation FWPS. No longer, as this is now described as FW, P, S. It is the same as FWPS but it better reflects the simpler arc convention and more importantly, can be seen in one of three diagrams rather than twenty! The eagle eyed will also note that I have made the overall Forward or Aft Wide arcs rather more generous in their coverage than previously - this was the mistake I made previously with the Portable Ironclads Wargame. Again, this can be seen in the series of diagrams above.

The plan is to test this at the club in a couple of weeks but in the meantime I will need to tweak the ship specs and change a fair amount of text to reflect the new system. Mea Culpa and all that.

Aside from the brainstorm session there was the small matter of presenting both Messrs Fox and Huband with some Axis and Allies goodies, acquisitions due to some eBay stalking and a bespoke solution now in the collection of Mr Huband. I have added to my own collection by virtue of some boardgame disposals so the Imperial coffers have not taken a hit - just as well as the car has cost a total of just under £600 for a variety of reasons - a new battery, a full service and a replacement pressure sensor!

An interesting set for use with a hypothetical war involving Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I will take a look at the rules and have a look at the ships - maybe a scratchbuilding project?

1:900th scale counters for use until the models are available, along with the turning circle.

Mr Fox presented me with a copy of the rules you see above. I had never seen these although the name Phil Dunn is well known to naval gamers. The rules look to be very much of their time - not that that is a bad thing - but by jingo there is a whole heap of potential! This is something I will take a good look at and then add it to the project list. Probably….

Another set of rules for WW2 naval. Heard good things about this set so will have a look and see what all the fuss is about!

The final piece of naval related news is that I was able to score a copy of Nimitz, the WW2 naval rules by Sam Mustafa from Mr Roche at the club. I have had my eye on these for a while but had not gotten around to getting a copy. More naval related reading material is never a bad thing in my experience!

Putting the Arc in Firing Arc

OK, I know it looks hellishly complicated but this is the draft version - the final copy will be a model of clarity….

After a pretty hectic couple of weeks and with little time to do anything meaningful gaming wise, I was able to spend a big chunk of today grappling with the ever thorny subject of firing arcs for my new naval rules. Well, after much deliberation I think that I may have finally gotten on the right track. To be more accurate, I am probably now at least at the right station so the right track would be a welcome bonus! 

I seem to have managed to have both over and under thought the whole subject of firing arcs - a legacy from The Portable Ironclads Wargame perhaps - but am now cautiously optimistic that they are where they should be.

I mentioned previously that there are six core arcs with an additional fourteen added for extra detail if required. Well, that has now changed a little in that I now have eight core arcs and am hoping to dispense with the extras! 

In the short term this will require testing so I will need to (re)spec some ships to the above template. I want this to work and so decisions will need to be made as to what guns can shoot where on all of the ship charts I have prepared thus far. Not to mention all the appropriate chapters that reference the older version.

Frustrating but needed so there is little point in dwelling on the subject - onwards and upwards and all that….

Hitting a Speedbump

Speed bump, writer’s block, call it what you will but whatever it is it has slowed me down quite a bit as well as giving me pause for thought. Taking stock is the order of the day at present, that and looking at other things in the hope that I will be sufficiently guilt-tripped back into the right direction!

I had planned to be slightly further along with the new book than I am currently. There, I said it. In truth I am just over 50K words to the good but I have really hit a brick wall. It is not that I have run out of ideas or things to write - more like I am second and third thoughts about what I have written thus far. I am happy with the rules but feel as though I am missing a trick with something. 

The rules as written cope very nicely with around half a dozen or so ships a side. For the ACW this works well enough but I am fast coming to the conclusion that for larger actions the rules will seem a little ponderous - especially when looking at the thorny topic of firing arcs. 

At the time of writing there are six main arcs and then some fourteen others making twenty in all. Bear in mind though, that the additional fourteen are in fact seven arcs mirrored so, for example, a forward turret with an arc of FWPS (forward wide, port or starboard) is reflected as AWPS (aft wide, port or starboard). I am quite happy with using all the arcs and play testing with them has thrown up only a singe issue that was quickly addressed. My feeling is though, that for larger actions this may be a little clumsy. 

Now this point may seem like a modest one but for me it has been seismic in its implications. I wanted to write a set of rules that would appeal to both the naval novice and the seasoned tabletop admiral and indeed, I believe I have but with the focus slightly off target. I am leaning towards using the six arc default for most battles of a dozen or so models a side at least with the additional fourteen as an option for smaller engagements. That in itself is simple enough but it has generated a lot of extra work as the emphasis of the book has been very much towards using the full suite of firing arcs.

It is extra work as changing the emphasis means redrafting a table, changing the text in a few chapters - none of this is hugely challenging to be honest - and then revisiting the ship specifications. That in itself is a big undertaking and to be honest, I think that is why I have been allowing myself to be distracted by other projects! It is not difficult to do but it will be time consuming. Still, it is the job that isn’t started that takes the longest to do - as a wise hobbit once said. 

Back to Jutland

Hidden under the seven boxes of block armies - two block navies!

The 5th Battle squadron steaming across the recently acquired Magister Militum hexed cloth. These hexes are 2” between the flat sides - just large enough for one of my three quarter sized ‘not quite Jenga’ Jenga blocks.

 Jutland by Avalon Hill was one of my favourite games. It was more of a miniatures game than boardgame as the ships were moved on any flat surface with nary a grid in sight! Way back in 2016 I planned to refight the battle using 1:2400th scale models and indeed, I got as far as painting all the capital ships for both fleets but the realisation that acquiring everything else - destroyers, light and armoured cruisers - was an undertaking too far for me. The whole exercise was a lot of fun though as trying to tweak the rules for Jutland to bring them up to date was a good grounding for developing my own rules.

The Jutland collection of models has long gone, along with the boardgame and the additional bits and pieces I acquired, but one part remained. The box of blocks you see above. I should also mention that I own in PDF format copies of everything Jutland related from the game itself and the various articles and variants published in the old Avalon Hill General and also the Boardgamer magazine. This is significant because it means that have the wherewithal to print all the material I need to, in effect, resurrect a copy of Jutland if I wanted to.

Which of course I do!

Joking aside, The blocks you see above will be invaluable for testing purposes when I get to the Great War section of the rules for the new book. I can also make use if the cloth with the 2” hexes  - it is six foot by four - so the potential for a large action is certainly there.

I think I may have just talked myself into an idea…. ;-)

Back to the Missenhitti….Part 2

The situation at the end of turn three. The C.S.S. Little Rebel was settling by the bows (the white markers indicate how many game turns before she slips beneath the waves) whilst the U.S.S. Carondelet is busily attempting to deal with two separate fires. Both the C.S.S. Atlanta (top centre) and the C.S.S. Albemarle (top right) are steaming at best speed to engage the two Union ships - the timber-clad U.S.S.Lexington (bottom centre) and the U.S.S. Essex (bottom left)

At the close of part one the situation definitely favoured the Confederates. True the C.S.S. Little Rebel was sinking, but the U.S.S. Carondelet was in a parlous condition, leaking like a sieve and with numerous fires blazing from stem to stern. Confident that the two ironclads, the C.S.S. Atlanta and the C.S.S. Albemarle could deal with the remaining Union ships, Captain Noah “Redeye’ Fox had ordered maximum speed as they bore down on the U.S.S. Lexington and the U.S.S. Essex. For sure there was smoke on the western horizon but he calmly deduced that it was sufficiently distant so as to not pose a threat.

Back to the Missenhitti….Part 2

Aboard the burning U.S.S. Carondelet the scene was one of abject chaos. Fires flared and died, seemingly of their own volition, whilst the crew scurried hither and thither, tackling each new inferno as it arose. All the while the coffee coloured river water poured into her riven hull. Her decks leaned first one way and then the other, drunkenly lurching as she settled ever lower in the water. Finally, some welcome respite as the fire that was blazing around the powder store was finally extinguished. It was short lived though, as a dull boom was heard coming from the engine space as flames leapt through the open gunports and hatches. With a ghostly sigh as the flames were slowly extinguished, the Union ironclad slipped unceremoniously beneath the waves. Her crew, bobbing about in the river or clinging on to whatever would float, made for the shore as best as they could and into certain captivity.

The crew of the C.S.S. Little Rebel gave a ragged cheer as the Union ships disappeared from view but it sounded curiously hollow. The ship was sinking, slowly to be sure, but sinking nevertheless. At least though, the crew had the advantage of being able to leave the ship in a relatively orderly fashion and with the closest shore still under Confederate control, they would soon be back at Pratt’s Landing.

End of Turn 4. Both of the Confederate ironclads turned to starboard in readiness to engage the two Union ships. The C.S.S. Atlanta, passing by the stern of the sinking C.S.S. Little Rebel and the blazing U.S.S. Carondelet, heads for the U.S.S. Essex whilst the C.S.S. Albemarle goes for the U.S.S. Lexington.

Captain Fox, aboard the C.S.S. Atlanta, had noticed that the great, looming bulk of the U.S.S. Essex had managed to slip her moorings and was slowly getting underway. A ram attack head on could be risky, so he ordered the spar torpedo deployed instead as the ship lined up to face the Union vessel.

So far the two Union ships appeared to be holding station, almost as though they were waiting for the Confederate vessels to close with them. Captain Fox considered this and assumed that the caution being exercised was merely to draw them closer in, by which time the mysterious smoke cloud in the distance would doubtlessly be making an appearance. Quickly calculating the odds he made the only decision he could - the two ironclads would close with the Union vessels, deal with them promptly, and then head back before the smoke cloud arrived. It would be a race, and given the miserable speed of his two ships, he would need a head start for his plan to work. 

End of Turn 5. The Confederates won the initiative, and so opted to move first. The C.S.S. Atlanta attempted to use its spar torpedo against the U.S.S. Essex only for the mechanism to fail! The Union ship threw her engines into reverse and slowly backed away from the rebel ship, firing as she went. The C.S.S. Atlanta then returned fire once the spar torpedo crew had cleared the foredeck. Meanwhile, the U.S.S. Lexington opened fire against the C.S.S. Albemarle who promptly returned the compliment with both ships taking damage.

Captain Fox cursed his decision to use the spar torpedo against the Union ironclad, frantically backing away from the bow of his ship. His experienced eye noticed the three gunports, now open, that pointed ominously towards his bow. Without wasting a moment he ordered the ship to open fire, knowing that he would likely come off worse in a prolonged exchange of artillery fire. A cacophony of noise - firing guns and the great clang as shot after shot struck the casemate and foredeck. The C.S.S. Atlanta fought back as best she could but to little effect. She could attempt to close and use the spar torpedo against or even ram the Union ship - either would be preferable to turning away and exposing her flank. Little did Captain Fox know but any decision he made was about to be overtaken by events elsewhere - and not in a good way.

The C.S.S. Albemarle maintained her station on the port beam of the C.S.S. Atlanta but in doing so attracted the attention of the U.S.S. Lexington. Although the Union timber-clad had already sustained some damaging gunfire earlier in the action, she was still game and up for the fight. Despite the diminutive size of the Confederate ship the Union ship was still able to score some telling hits against her better armoured opponent. The C.S.S. Albemarle’s captain quickly realised that he would be outgunned by the Union ship and so needed to close the distance as soon as possible, potentially with a ram attack as an option. As with the C.S.S. Atlanta though, events elsewhere would soon take the decision out of the hands of the captain of the Albemarle’s captain..

End of Turn 6. The C.S.S. Atlanta (top left) sees the U.S.S. Essex backing cautiously away from her whilst the C.S.S. Albemarle prepares to engage the U.S.S. Lexington. The initiative for turn seven would be critical….

Whilst Captain Fox pondered his options in respect of the Union ironclad directly ahead and the C.S.S. Albemarle had turned to engage the rapidly reversing U.S.S. Lexington, the ominous smoke cloud sighted earlier transformed into not one, but two Union monitors. To make matters worse, the two ships were heading directly down the middle of the river and so would be between the two Confederate ships that were currently facing the wrong way. 

What had appeared to be a straightforward ‘butcher and bolt’ operation had become something entirely different and nigh on impossible to achieve. With the Union advantage of numbers as well as outgunning the two Confederate ships, there was little doubt that they faced an uncertain future. Captain Fox, to his eternal shame and chagrin, ordered the helm hard over to port and prepared to enter the Union maelstrom.

The C.S.S. Albemarle, seeing the approaching Union monitors, opened fire immediately at the leading vessel, scoring some minor damage. It was scant consolation though, given the situation that the two Confederate ships now found themselves in. Essentially they were separated by two powerful Union monitors and outflanked by a pair of gunboats whilst facing up river. 

With the U.S.S. Canonicus in the van, followed by the U.S.S. Winnebago, the two monitors make their appearance. Directly ahead is the C.S.S. Albemarle whilst the U.S.S. Lexington backs away from her.

End of Turn 7. The monitors the U.S.S. Canonicus, followed by the U.S.S. Winnebago, steam into action with the U.S.S. Lexington (top) and the U.S.S. Essex (bottom left) poised to outflank the Confederate force. 

An alternative view of the final positions (courtesy of Mr Fox). 

Due to time constraints we had to call the action at this point. 

Taking everything into consideration, it would be highly unlikely that both of the Confederate ships would be able to get back to Pratt’s Landing. The biggest difficulty they have is that they are both facing the wrong way and will need to turn to retreat. Therein lay the problem as turning uses up distance. This means that the Union monitors would be able to draw level with them and be able to engage at close range where their turrets could be used to maximum effect. The C.S.S. Atlanta had been heavily hit and had suffered roughly fifty percent damage whilst the smaller Albemarle had lost a third of its flotation points. Of the two ironclads I think that the Albemarle is potentially the more likely to get away but only because she has already begun to turn, but even then, she is dangerously close to the U.S.S. Lexington which would certainly look to impede her. As for the Atlanta, well her problems are many. She would have to turn across three Union ships at very close range in order to be facing the right way - and they would be very keen to ensure that she did not do so! 

From the Union perspective, the timely arrival of the two monitors without a doubt turned the tide. Considering only the lead ship actually got to fire that is a bold statement to make. Prior to their arrival the Union were definitely on the back foot as both ships attempted to keep away from their assailants. It worked in a rather unexpected way in that the further they retreated, the more the Confederates came on. As it turned out, this proved to be decisive. 

The Rules and other Stuff

It was a cracking action with plenty of ‘what if’ moments to savour! If the Confederate spar torpedo has worked then the U.S.S. Essex could well have joined the U.S.S. Carondelet at the bottom of the Missenhitti. The U.S.S Carondelet was unlucky in sustaining two fire critical hits but it did not stop her from sinking the plucky C.S.S. Little Rebel. Gunnery between the two sides varied from good to bad and threw up an issue to be addressed in a later post. Nothing serious, just a minor tweak in respect of the effectiveness of smoothbores versus rifles. 

Once again my thanks to Messrs Fox - the funnel smoke was from his collection of pyrotechnic effects - and Huband for their willing participation and input - always a pleasure for and I hope never a chore for them!

Back to the Missenhitti….Part 1

The opening positions. The two Union ironclads gunboats - U.S.S. Carondelet with her distinctive red funnel bands top left and the U.S.S. Essex bottom left - are at anchor with the timber-clad U.S.S.  Lexington at the top of the picture on patrol.

A closer view of the Union ships. The cloth is from Peter Pig from their Hammerin’ Iron range and features hexes that are 4 1/2” between the flat sides. Luckily these models fit in a single hex - the frigates and sloops I have built are slightly larger - averaging around five inches long at the waterline - which explains why I have not used this mat for much in the way of testing for the new rules. Plus the fact it has banks either side of the river!

Wednesday evening saw a further test of the rules for the new book. This time, we went back to the American Civil War. As a reminder, I have completed the specs for the ACW ships along with the ship record charts, so it was a good idea to see how it worked out. I was also keen to see how they compared in action with those in the Portable Ironclads Wargame. Once again, the trusty dynamic duo of Messrs Huband and Fox were in command of the Union and Confederate forces respectively, whilst yours truly was busy with umpiring and general observations etc.

The scenario was set along a stretch of the mighty Missenhitti River - the ‘Great Father of Waters’ - some miles upstream of the small extemporised Confederate naval base of Pratt’s Landing. The action falls between the battle described in Bob Cordery’s book Gridded Naval Wargames and that in my own The Portable Ironclads Wargame. 

This is part one of the after action report, mainly due to only being able to run three game turns in the time allowed but, the grand finale will be fought next Wednesday so consider this to be an appetiser of sorts!

At the start of the action the Union forces consisted of the timber-clad gunboat the U.S.S. Lexington and the two ironclad gunboats the U.S.S. Carondelet and the U.S.S. Essex. These vessels formed part of a task force ordered to sweep the river of any enemy shipping but thus far, no Confederate vessels had been sighted. As was standard practise, half of the ironclads anchored close to the shore for the night whilst the remainder continued to patrol the river. In the meantime, the U.S.S. Lexington acted as a guard ship for the  vessels moored inshore.

Back to the Missenhitti….Part 1

Captain Ambrose Hill of the U.S.S. Lexington was looking forward to anchoring his ship and getting some well deserved rest once the two ironclads he had been guarding had raised steam and resumed their station. It had been a quiet night, with no sign of any enemy activity on the river. The confederates were there though, along both banks with the telltale light of their campfires casting an eerie glow in the night sky. He knew that they had been shadowed and that their presence would have undoubtedly reported to Pratt’s Landing. So far though, nothing had happened. Captain Hill hoped it would remain so. He was to be disappointed.

Captain Noah “Redeye” Fox, officer commanding, C.S.S. Atlanta had quietly slipped his small squadron of three ships - the ironclads C.S.S. Atlanta, C.S.S. Albemarle and the small ram, the C.S.S. Little Rebel - from their moorings in the early hours of the morning, based solely on a fragmentary report arriving from one of the roving cavalry patrols. According to the reports he could potentially be facing anything from three to seven ships, including ironclads. He had carefully weighed up the odds and deduced that four or possibly five ships would be the more likely, of which half or slightly more would be ironclads. Numerically then, the odds were not in his favour but, with the element of surprise in his favour, this alone could negate any numerical advantage the Union may have. He had hoped to have been able to take the C.S.S. Missenhitti with him but she was still being repaired after her recent action against the Union monitor, the U.S.S. Admonisher. Given the paucity of material available to effect her repairs, there were shortages of all kinds of necessary equipment, Captain Fox was no longer convinced that she would even be repaired - broken up for spares would be her more likely fate.

The three Confederate ships, in line abreast, heading upstream to look for the Union squadron. The C.S.S. Atlanta was in the centre with the C.S.S. Little Rebel on her starboard beam and the C.S.S. Albemarle on the port side. 

They had just rounded a gentle bend when the lookout on the Atlanta dropped rather than climbed down the ladder into the pilot house. “Smoke dead ahead, looks like a side-wheeler!”. Captain Fox and his officers immediately peered into the early morning gloom. “There….there she is!” Captain Fox urgently ordered the ship to action stations and increased speed. 

Meanwhile, the C.S.S. Little Rebel, operating off the starboard side of the C.S.S. Atlanta, had spotted the ugly, squat outline of not one, but two Union ironclads seemingly at anchor directly ahead of her. Better than that, neither ship appeared to have steam raised. Her captain ordered maximum speed and to prepare for ramming.

Captain Hill aboard the U.S.S Lexington spotted not one but three plumes of smoke astern of him and so without ceremony ordered the ship to turn to face them at best speed, all the while giving out five honks from the ship’s horn - the signal for danger.

The two Union ironclads heard the warning signal from the Lexington simultaneously but the U.S.S. Carondelet had already deduced that something was amiss as she spied the rapidly approaching Confederate steamer, seemingly on a collision course. Both ships, galvanised into action by the approaching Confederate ships, desperately attempted to raise steam so as to be able to manoeuvre away for the shore and into action. It would be a race against time.

As the Lexington swung about so as to engage the enemy, buying time for the ironclads to join the fray, the U.S.S. Essex, by virtue of her superbly drilled crew, raised anchor and cautiously eased away from the shore, all the while readying her guns and attempting to increase speed. U.S.S. Carondelet however, was about to have rather more pressing problems to contend with.

The C.S.S. Little Rebel, her engine straining to the utmost, bore down at full speed on the hapless U.S.S. Carondelet. Aboard the Union ironclad the scene was of chaos as guns were hastily readied whilst the boiler was hastily and unevenly stoked. Her captain knew what was about to happen and barely had enough time to order “Brace for Impact” when the small Confederate steamer tore into her amidships. The effect was very nearly catastrophic.

Aside from the gaping gash ripped into her starboard side, great gouts of flame gushed from her gunports as the hastily readied powder charges ignited when exposed to the spill from the boiler’s furnace - the ships haphazard efforts to make ready quickly working against her. The fire caught quickly and the luckless ironclad was smothered in patches of flame, soot and smoke. The blazing crackle and screams of the burned and scalded crew added to the hellish scene, but the U.S.S, Carondelet and her captain were made of sterner stuff, as the C.S.S. Little Rebel was about to discover.

The C.S.S. Little Rebel, surging ahead of the rest of the Confederate force, prepares her run against the anchored U.S.S. Carondelet (middle left). The C.S.S. Atlanta, supported by the C.S.S. Albemarle, bears down on the stern of the U.S.S. Lexington.

Another view of the action with the C.S.S. Little Rebel fast approaching the U.S.S. Carondelet.

The battered but unbowed U.S.S. Carondelet successfully defeats the C.S.S. Little Rebel while attempting to stay afloat. She is still burning, but the crew are struggling to contain the flames.

The U.S.S. Essex is successfully underway with the C.S.S. Atlanta heading her way.

Aboard the small Confederate steamer all was not well. Whilst her impact with the Union ship had seriously damaged the enemy vessel she did not get off lightly. Her bows were smashed in, open to the muddy brown waters of the Missenhitti, and as she backed carefully away, she came under heavy fire from the battered U.S.S. Carondelet at point blank range. Shot after shot poured into her riven hull and she was soon in a parlous condition. With water flooding in from the great holes along her side and her smashed bow,  so the proud and gallant steamer settled lower and lower in the river, sinking slowly.

Captain Fox saw all of this and noted that the second Union ironclad was underway whilst the side-wheeler was heading his way. His practised eye could also not help but notice heavy smoke approaching from the West….

To be continued….

ACW and Imagi-nation Napoleonics

The standard two-decker on the right and my filed version on the left. The plastic is very hard so it took a lot of careful wok to get the hull reduced and more importantly, level!

I was really firing on all cylinders yesterday! In a burst of productivity I was able to finish the ship specs for the American Civil War ships for the new book - a week ahead of schedule. In doing so I made the decision to split the ship specification section into two parts - the first being how to spec any given warship (including a few historical examples, something I did not do in The Portable Ironclads Wargame) and with the second being the pre-generated specs I have been working on. Next up will be the ship charts and once they are ready I reckon a cheeky little ACW naval game may well be in order.

I took delivery this morning of a whole pile of generic 18mm-ish hard plastic Napoleonic types - infantry, cavalry, artillery, a warship and two sizes of building - to add to the pile I picked up from Bob Cordery a few years back along with the ships from Mark Cordone. These are the same figures used in the Worthington Games Napoleon’s War series along with a US game called Viktory II (that is how it spelled for game purposes).

For the moment it is the ships that I am particularly interested in as I have an age of sail itch that is becoming more and more insistent. As mentioned in a previous blog entry the model is a stylised two-decker in full sail but minus a ‘spanker’ - the big sawn-off triangle sail at the rear of the ship. Well, I have a cunning plan to rectify this involving a certain well-known naval rules author and a willing 3D printer!

I was able to fashion a single deck warship by filing the lower hull - the plastic is very hard so it took some work - but am unsure about three-deckers. I will give that some thought.

Some suitably generic buildings - I have a dozen of each size which will give me enough for a couple of small towns/villages. They are easy enough to ‘pimp’ with the addition of walls etc.

The buildings are suitably generic and ‘Monopoly-esque’ and again, in that hard plastic. They will be very useful for a few ideas I have as I wanted something smaller than my old standby ‘Town in a Bag’ wooden buildings.

Horse, foot and guns. They are rather elegant models and again, suitably generic. The infantry are around 18mm tall.

The figures themselves are perfectly usable as they are and certainly for imagi-nations they are ideal, as Mark Cordone with his wonderful armies has shown. Something else to think about then (again!).

Halfway Through….

Two of my research sources - Paul Silverstone’s excellent book and the ship cards from Yaquinto’s Ironclads board game. These are really helpful for gun locations.

I am of course, referring to the ship specifications part of the new book - not the whole thing mind - more specifically, the Union ships for the American Civil War. Rather naively I fell into the trap of thinking that this would be quite straightforward - just a few tweaks to those already published in the Portable Ironclads Wargame - but not so. It has not been difficult to do but it has taken longer than I expected, mainly due to checking the artillery carried and in which direction it could fire. Bearing in mind I am using single hexes per model rather than two.

The Confederates are next, and they should be finished in a week or so. This is just as well, because once they are complete the plan is to try them out at the club once the Russo Japanese War has been signed off.

The Great War will then follow and once that has been covered it will be on to the main text. The rules snd ship specs needed to be prepared first for obvious reasons - it means that I can get in some meaningful testing. There will be three battle reports in the book so I should soon be a position to to start thinking about them.

It is moving along, steady as she goes….

Thoughts on the Recent Battle

The Russian cruiser Oleg beginning to have a bad day….

I have been fortunate in that so far the testing of the rules for my new book has been conducted using real players. This makes for a pleasant change as when I was writing the Portable Ironclads Wargame nearly all the testing was conducted on a solo basis. There is no doubt that having real players attempting to break one’s rules really helps to focus the mind!

Having said that, the last battle I fought was a solo effort and was played with a specific aim in mind that would probably not have happened using live participants! 

It threw up one key issue which was easily fixed. You may recall that I had a procedure in place for determining the location of any damage points inflicted. Basically for each hit a D6 was rolled to locate where the damage was inflicted. I must admit to being a fan of such a system although I prefer to keep it limited to hull/superstructure and weapons rather than everything including the ship’s cat or the wardroom drinks cabinet. The system worked but it did mean another round dice rolling and it felt very much as though it unbalanced the flow of action. It needed changing or something.

I opted for the ‘something’ option and have dispensed with it entirely - or have I? Hit location adds to the feel of a set of naval rules and such an honourable process cannot be easily discarded - so I have not. The system I am now using is determined by the number of hits scored - essentially, the more hits scored the greater the ‘spread’ of damage. This is not new, and anyone that has played Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Air Force and many other games besides will recognise the similarity. This approach works well for ‘normal’ hits so the exciting and exotic damage is reserved for the Critical Hits table. This was the other thing that caused me a few issues - Critical Hits, ore more specifically, what triggers them. I have changed this ever so slightly based on the new damage/hit location system. In a nutshell, flotation point damage is the key - not guns etc and before anyone says ‘what about magazine hits etc?’ These are included in the Critical Hits section so fear not, if you want to see an exploding battle cruiser the potential is still there!

With these various ‘soupcon’ changes the biggest single advantage though, is that for firing guns only a single round of dice rolls per calibre firing is required. This balances out the process immeasurably and adds to the flow of the action.

I feel far happier having done this!

Seven Days In….

Between these two (along with Conways and Janes) I reckon that I will have more than enough technical detail for the ships of the Kaiser. As well as the ships that served with the High Seas Fleet there are also details of projected types as well as those that were German built and served in other navies.

At long last my annual throaty, chesty thing seems to be petering out and as a result I am feeling rather more with it! A start has been made of the reorganisation/tidy up of the man cave and as expected, this has nudged my brain cell in various unexpected directions. The biggest single thing thus far is that I now have my boardgames in some kind of order, at least more so than previously. Amongst the collection by far the largest ‘space taker’ is Memoir ‘44. I own a lot of what was published (except for the Air Packs, some of the scenario packs and the books) but in truth most of it has languished on the shelf for sometime - at least until the new, refreshed version appeared. That served to reignite my interest in the period (not that it ever disappeared) and as it makes for an easy WW2 fix I fully intend to get some mileage out of it this year - possibly using the Axis and Allies miniatures along with the Tanks collection recently acquired (and added to!). 

Needless to say there are a few disposals arising from reorganisation including some that may be rather surprising. I have decided to let my Air Force collection, along with Wings and Spitfire, head off into the sunset. I never thought I would ever do this but game mechanics and rules have moved on from their heyday (late 70s to mid 80s) and the chances of me getting any of them to the table top, let alone against a live opponent, are slim to zero. I could say the same about Flat Top but I am to emotionally invested in the game to part with it - especially as I have an unpunched copy signed by S Craig Taylor.

There are many more ‘modern’ aerial rules I can play around with that do not require copious amounts of record keeping and so for me that is where I shall be looking.

The New Book

Work has continued on the new book, despite a couple of self-inflicted speed bumps, and so I am now tackling the ship specifications for the American Civil War. I have nearly finished the Union ships - much of the data I already had available from the Portable Ironclads Wargame - and then it will be the Confederates. I will also tackle the ships for the War in the Pacific so the adventures of the Huascar. The Great War will then follow - at least a certain portion of it.

I am hoping to get another Russo Japanese test game in this month which should, all being well, ‘wrap’ this part of the book. Fingers crossed!

 

Ship Charts and Firing Arcs

The ‘Mark 2’ version of a ship record chart (actually more like mark 8!). I am a lot happier with this version as it is far ‘leaner’ and user friendly. The ship details are at the top whilst the bottom covers the weapons fit. 

 I mentioned in my previous post that I had been busy beavering away on the rules for the new book and so you can now see a couple of examples of what I have been up to.

The ship record chart I am rather pleased with as it is a lot tidier and far more obvious as to what is what. Having said that I have just spotted something that will need amending - the arcs of fire for the turrets do not account for port and starboard fire. The chart also reflects a rule change that I have incorporated. Essentially secondary guns get one box per two barrels whilst tertiary guns get one per three barrels. This was incorporated to help to equalise the hits between the hull (flotation) and the weaponry. I have also incorporated a very simple hit location table. In a nutshell, for each hit a ship suffers the owning player rolls a D6. A roll of 1 to 3 is a flotation hit, 4 is a tertiary, 3 is a secondary and a 6 is main guns or torpedoes. If a ship does not carry any of the weaponry listed then the hit is classed as flotation.

The beginnings of a firing arc diagram. I created this rather crude diagram using MS Excel. It was a royal pain to do so and worst of all, when you try and add it into Word you can see where the lines do not quite line up (the bold lines are where this occurs). This diagram illustrates the arc for forward firing guns.

I was rather pleased with the above until I tried adding it to a Word document. It looked horrible so the above is very much a work in progress. In the Portable Ironclads Wargame I used models and my hexed playing mat for the arcs but I was keen to add them as a diagram this time. I shall continue to experiment with this - I reckon that I just need to check out a couple of You Tube tutorials to get this bedded down. Aside from diagrams it will also allow me to draw battle maps on a hex grid which will be very useful indeed - way beyond naval games!

Today I Have Been…..

 An old favourite from back in the day - 1980 to be exact - that I spent many hours grappling with at the club. The grey matter still winces at the memory of the abuse it suffered!

…..Mostly sorting through the ship data cards from the old Yaquinto board game of Ironclads and the expansion set. 

I played Ironclads an awful lot ‘back in the day’ but it became a real struggle when you started fielding a large number of ships. It works really well with around half a dozen or ships a side and I have been tempted to use the rules along with my models for old times sake. I would definitely need to revisit the rules though!

A sample ship data cards from Ironclads, in this case the famous Union gunboat U.S.S. Carondelet

The main reason I have been going through the ship data cards is because they are quite useful in respect of what guns are mounted where on a given ship. This in turn is helpful as I am currently drawing up the ship specifications for the American Civil War - the start of the ‘Ironclads’ sub period - for my new rules. These will be appearing in the new book, along with a couple of surprises.

You will recall from my last post that I am currently preparing ship cards that show individual gun positions. This is quite old school in many ways but I am a firm believer in using this type of system for naval games as it gives some extra flavour to the action.

The rules from the Expansion Kit - more ACW ships along with those for the War of the Pacific and Lissa.

Once I have completed the Ironclads ship specs I will go on and produce the ship damage cards. The final part will of course be the Great War, or at least the 1914/15 part of it.

Ship Damage Record Charts

First draft of a ship damage record chart. I fully intend tidying this up in due course but for now it will suffice.

The planned test game did not take place this week and so has been rescheduled for November 5th. There will be doubtless be fireworks….

What I have completed this week though, along with the rules, is the complete ship specification design chapter for the book as well as the ship damage record charts for all the combatants included in the WoFun Tsushima fleet pack. The picture you see above is the chart for two of the Russian Borodino class battleships that took part in the battle where the Borodino was sunk and the Orel was captured by the Japanese. 

I intentionally made these quite large - two ships on a side of A4 although you can get four destroyers - so they are clear and that it is obvious what is what. They are probably not the final version but you can see where my thinking is currently at.

The top half looks at the ship itself whilst the bottom covers the weaponry. Each box in the latter portion refers to a single gun or torpedo mount. The letters refer to firing arcs whilst the numbers refer to the type of gun and the range table it uses. There are six types of gun, six range tables and six levels of protection. 

The rules themselves are heavily influenced, in part, by The Portable Ironclads Wargame but this is not simply a rehash - there is a lot of new material here!

Once the test game has been fought there will be an after action report and pictures to follow. It will see the first use of the WoFun Tsushima collection - at least a part of it - so I am very much looking forward to it!

WoFun Russo Japanese Ships - A Few Anyway….

 

The contents of Japanese sprue number 2. The ships are 1:1400th and not 1:1200th as I reported previously. The bases have been edged in black using a Sharpie - quicker than painting them! 

All of the WoFun Tsushima set are now on bases so the next task will be to edge them. I will be using a black Sharpie for this as it is quick and easier to do than using a paintbrush. The sprue above was included in the box of replacement bases and as it is a duplicate I thought I would see how the black edging looked. I took the squadron to the club last night and Messrs Fox and Huband agreed that it looked pretty good so I will need to edge them whole collection. It should not take long to do and I have also thought about storage for the two fleets. I am thinking about using A4 sized box files - the type that is half as deep as the normal size. The foam used in the WoFun boxes and be cut to size and shape so that the ships can be stored lying on their side. Despite a couple of minor issues (currently being resolved) I am really pleased with this collection and am looking forward to getting it into action soon.

Research, research and more research.

As part of my research into the ‘Battleships’ era (this is what I have christened the pre dreadnought sub period in the book), I have been adding to the library in a modest way. The latest acquisition is the two titles you see below.

Really pleased to have got these two - the information on the ships involved is really comprehensive and comes with plenty of pictures, many of which are new to me.

For the most part I think I have more than enough in the way of printed material to use for my research into the naval dimension of the Russo Japanese war although there is still plenty more out there!

So aside from the edging the bases of the WoFun models all I then need to think about is the basing for the Tumbling Dice models for the Great War. I shall get that particular task organised over the next couple of days. Then it will typing up the first draft of the rules.

Plenty to do then, but it is all manageable!

Shades of Blue and Basing

Original bases on the right with the newer on the left. I am much happier with the new colour!

Those Wonderful WoFun people have done it again! You may recall that when my Tsushima fleet pack arrived - with the bases - that I had an issue with some of them being way too small for the ship. A fair number of destroyer bases and a few cruisers were short by as much as a centimetre. I duly contacted WoFun who were happy to replace them with the suggested size I wanted which was extremely good of them to do so. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the bases arrived yesterday morning and not only had they replaced the incorrectly sized version but also the entire fleet set and the shell splash, fire and explosion markers. 

I was very pleased with this, thinking at the time what would I do with the excess bases, when I realised why they had done this. The sea colour had changed from tropical to more of a blue water colour.

I spent an hour or so swapping the bases over and fixing the ships in place with a touch of glue and merely have the nine Russian destroyers left to finish the job. I am going to stick with the bases supplied but I will certainly look to edge them as the brown of the laser cut MDF looks plain wrong as sea. In the interests of speed I may just go over the edges with a suitably coloured permanent marker although I have yet to decide what colour would look best.

I have also made a list of the ships included on a sprue by sprue basis. The list will also include the ship type, what formation they were in for the actual battle itself and any other pertinent notes. 

The full review will take place once I have sorted the models into their respective formations and yes, there will be plenty of pictures.

The Great War

I also went through the selection of Tumbling Dice 1:2400th scale models I have for the projected Madasahatta/East African/Arabian Peninsula naval campaign - there are a few models I will need to add for this but surprisingly not that many - with a view to getting the bases ordered from Warbases. Once I have these I can organise the models needed for Coronel/Falklands although the temptation to do something with the Goeben and Breslau in the Black Sea is gnawing away at my conscience!

Another Game and The New Rules

Mr Huband's wonderful 'pimped' Minifigs ships - in this case the Russians emerging from Port Arthur with the two minesweeping destroyers in the van.

Lots of domestic stuff going on at present hence the paucity of postings BUT, I was able to take part in a thoroughly enjoyable Russo Japanese naval game using Mr Huband's variant of Bob Cordery's Gridded Naval Wargames pre dreadnought seton Wednesday evening.

The Battle

There are pictures of the action but sadly my own are rather poor so I will look to get some from Mr Fox at some point. The scenario had a Russian squadron attempting to breakout from Port Arthur with a Japanese force attempting to stop them. A sneaky minefield had been laid more or less on the Russian doorstep by the Japanese destroyers and this was intended to be an integral part of the Japanese plan. 

I should mention that Mr Fox was in command of the Russians whilst yours truly commanded the Emperor's finest.

The Russian force consisted of the following:

Sevastopol PB (Flag)

Poltava PB

Potemkin PB

Petropavlovsk PB

Dvenadsat Apostolov Old PB

Tri Sviatitelia Old PB

Rossiya AC

Rurik AC (Flag)

Gromky DD

Grozny DD

The Japanese force consisted of the following:

Shikishima PB (Flag)

Kaga PB

Akagi PB

Asahi PB

Chitose AC

Yoshino AC

Idzumo AC (Flag)

Ikazuchi DD

Inazuma DD

Oboro DD

Akebono DD

The Japanese orders were to prevent the Russians breaking out whilst maintaining the integrity of the fleet - basically avoiding losses where possible. With this in mind the Japanese plan was simple. The cruisers and destroyers were to ambush the rear the of the Russian line whilst it negotiated the minefield - hopefully with some damage inflicted during the transit. The Japanese battle line held back with the intention engaging the van of the approaching Russians.

The Russians emerged with their two destroyers on minesweeping duty whilst the Japanese flanking force raced to get behind them, counting on the minefield to delay and hopefully break up the Russian formation. 

Aside from scraping the paint from a couple of Russian ships as they raced by the minefield might as well have not been there for all the good it did! This meant that they managed to get much further forward than anticipated, almost up to the Japanese battle line. 

The action that followed was intense to say the least! 

The Japanese destroyers flung themselves at the centre of the Russian line and two - the Ikazuchi and the Inazuma - were duly sunk for their trouble. They died honourably. The rear of the Russian line gleefully engaged the flanking Japanese armoured cruisers, sinking the flagship, the Idzumo. Whilst this was happening the Japanese cruisers fought back hard, battering the Potemkin, the Sevastopol and the Dvenadsat Apostolov. They also managed to sink one of the two Russian destroyers, the Gromky. 

In the van of the Russian squadron the two Russian armoured cruisers had the misfortune of running into the Shikishima, the Kaga and the Akagi at point blank range who then collectively reduced both ships to a sinking condition in fairly short order - to paraphrase Mr Fox as he drily observed, I most certainly did enjoy destroying both cruisers at point blank range!

Sadly we had to call a halt at this point but it was a cracking action. As Mr  Huband observed, the tracks that two fleets took had the feel of an actual battle - which is after all, how it should be. It certainly felt like it!

New Rules

The 'New Rules' alluded to are of course, those that will be appearing in the new book. I am happy to say that I am now at the first draft stage and I will be looking to start play testing in a week or so. There are a few elements borrowed from the Portable Ironclads Wargame as well as Bob Cordery's Gridded Naval Wargames so they will not be too unfamiliar. 

Given that the rules will be extensively tested before publication having them ready now is really handy. As an aside it also means that I will need to get cracking on some painting for the Great War portion of the rules, as well as drawing up some ship charts.

Once again my thanks to Messrs Fox and Huband for a most excellent evenings entertainment

 

Girding One's Loins - NWASS 1

A nice way to ease myself back into the Great War at Sea after a surfeit of Ironclads!

Following on from our brief and rain soaked sojourn to the West Country last week, work has commenced in earnest on the new book. Currently the working title is "Naval Wargames in the Age of Steam and Steel" but this may not be the final word. It will however, suffice for now.

I have been busy going through my physical and digital archives to dig out any usable material for the book and was delighted to find several bits and pieces I had forgotten I had. To begin with there is a very nice table of Jane's Gun Ratings and which ships carried what. These came from a set of rules published by Skytrex back in the day and I have fond memories of using them with my 1:3000th French.

I also came across some of my earlier naval rule sets for the period 1890 to 1920 including one titles "The Naval Wargame 1890 - 1920" which contains some ideas that I may well bring up to date and include in the new set.

Another part of this process is that I have decided to type up the salient bits and pieces from various sources so that I have a digital version handy and also so that the information is all in one place. I have really enjoyed doing this and it has had the added advantage of limbering up my keyboard skills. It is also handy having a physical version for making notes on etc - I tend to do this and then retype the text.

The amended bases for my WoFun Russo Japanese collection will be on their way this Thursday which is really handy. This will means that the two fleets will be ready for action very shortly and the plan is to persuade Mr Huband to let me use them as part of his ongoing RJW project - naturally with pictures and after action reports! 

I also dug out the box of 1:2400th Tumbling Dice WW1 British and German ships that will need basing and painting. I may tackle this particular task sooner rather than later which will then mean that I will have all the ships required for the three sub periods - now referred to as Ironclads, Battleships and Dreadnoughts.

You may recall that I had flirted with the idea of a Madasahatta inspired WW1 naval campaign that included East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The models acquired reflected this and so the list is as follows:

ABB38 Bristol 1909 (CL) x 1

ABG2 Brandenburg 1896 (PB) x 2

ABG30 Magdeburg 1911 (CL) x 1

ABG24 Moltke 1910 (BC) x 1

ABB26 Apollo 1890 (CL) x 2

ABB9 Swiftsure 1903 (PB) x 2

ABB14 Cressy 1899 (AC) x 1

The fleet packs consisted of the following:

ASB MSP9 British China/Pacific Squadron 1905

ASB MSP12 British Falkland Islands 1914

ASB MSP11 German Pacific Squadron 1914

You can probably guess where two of the above packs are heading! In fact I plan to run Coronel/Falklands as the WW1 game in the book although the temptation to use the Goeben and the Breslau against the Russians in the Black Sea is also quite tempting....

At this stage I have no plans to add to the ACW collection so that is 'good to go' as they say. In the meantime though, I need to measure up the TD models for their bases as well as typing out the name labels. Luckily I already have the ensigns in stock.