The Portable Ironclads Wargame….A Self Critique

C.S.S. Tennessee heading into the fray

I was, and still am, very proud of The Portable Ironclads Wargame. It was my first venture into the world of book writing and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. The book was always intended to be the first step in a grid based ironclad era gaming system that would combine the flavour of Bob Cordery’s Gridded Naval Wargame rules with the detail of David Manley’s Dahlgren and Colombiad set. Ideally I wanted to use squares but settled on hexagons because at the time I was not able to get squares to work in the way I wanted to. 

The format of the book - with grateful thanks to Bob Cordery for his editing and publishing skills, not to mention his contributions to the book itself - I am particularly pleased with as I wanted an ‘old school’ vibe in terms of content and so the end result ticked that particular box quite comfortably in my opinion.

It is not without its faults.

There are a a couple of known typos and some errors in a few of the combat examples - nothing major but irritating all the same. The wording of the rules in places suffers from the occasional lapse into what can best be described as ‘political bloviation’ - when the author himself has to reread sections to be sure of the meaning then you know there is a problem!

I am happy with the combat/damage system overall, but there are a couple of niggles that will be addressed in the revised edition - mainly around tidying up the text to make things clearer.

As mentioned previously, the existing firing arcs will be tweaked slightly and there will be the option to use a square grid as well as the original hexagonal version. Then of course there will be a suite of optional/advanced rules to use as required.

The revised edition will not be reinventing the wheel and so owners of the original edition will certainly not have any concerns about wholesale changes to rules etc. Inevitably with any set of rules, gremlins of one kind or another usually surface and the Portable Ironclads Wargame is no exception.

If I were marking this book as a school report I would be happy to give it a B+/A- with the following commentary:

“David has grasped the essence of his chosen subject well but his natural exuberance and enthusiasm has sometimes overshadowed his grasp of the detail. With greater application and forethought I am sure he will, in time, be better placed to grasp the nuances of the subject in hand.”

The above was taken from one of my actual school reports from 1972 - oh well, 52 years later and I suppose that seems like a good idea, perhaps I should try it…. :-)

The Portable Ironclads Wargame - Revised and Expanded Edition….Part 1

C.S.S. Selma and Louis(iana)….Pictured here mainly as I rather like these two models! The model of the Louisiana has a rather long story leading up to how you see it now - she was one of my very first models and has been modified several times. I have a couple of spare frames (as seen on the Selma) that I have found a couple of uses for so expect to see another model duly equipped!

After a year of tinkering, fiddling about, musing, jotting down ideas and then discarding them I am now at last in the position of being able to start the work in pulling together all the strands of what will be The Portable Ironclads Wargame - Revised and Expanded Edition. This is going to be my main project for the year with everything else being dropped in as and when required - this is the reason I have been squirrelling away various solo boardgames - things that will not need much in terms of effort to get to the table. I have a goodly selection to mess around with and with plenty of variety so I will be able to indulge as and when. In fact over the Christmas break I quietly set about getting counters punched and trimmed, cards sleeved and shelf space allotted. It was all very therapeutic for sure.

Right then, so what will this new edition look like?

To begin with the core rules from the original title will be largely unchanged and those changes that have been made are really more about interpretation and clarification than anything else. For the most part the extra rules are very much at the players discretion - they can be used or not. There will be a full set of rule adaptations for use on a square grid as well as hexagonal - squares were always my preferred choice - and as mentioned, a number of extra rules that can be dropped in as required to suit the players preferences. 

The ship specs for the ACW will be greatly expanded and a few errors corrected. I will also be including specs for use with the War in the Pacific and possibly something extra by way of a surprise.

Work in progress. The masts are not fixed in place and this is the same seven models that have sat on the tray for around three months now….time to do something about that methinks! Note the hull at the top of the picture - destined to be something rather essential if refighting Mobile Bay…

Naturally the ship yards will be busy to cater for all this - I still have a number of ACW ships in various stages of construction sitting on my shelf of shame - and fortunately the number of models required for the War in the Pacific or the ‘surprise’ are relatively few in number.

If I am completely honest then it is fair to say that last year I found it difficult to build up a head of steam for this. Various ‘real life’ issues - nothing catastrophic but certainly time consuming and definitely energy sapping - wreaked havoc with any thoughts of schedules or an organised approach. So what is different now?

Well, a lot of the work required exists in one form or another and so knitting it all into a coherent whole is definitely achievable. Now that I have a chance to review everything it is in pretty good shape and a good foundation to push on from. 

The plan now is to formalise the chapter headings - I always find this to be a useful exercise as it serves to focus the mind - and then proceed to work through them. From a practical perspective there will be playing surfaces to be organised, models to be built and battles to be fought, along with the all-important pictures.

I am really keen to push on with this now - the creative juices are at last simmering nicely!

Wish me luck…. ;-)