Getting Even Closer….

One of the recent new additions to the Union fleet - a ‘double ender’gunboat.

Lots more progress with the Portable Ironclads Wargame! I had a substantial photoshoot over the weekend  of examples of play togthere with drafting the accompanying explanatory text. This was a useful exercise as it highlighted a couple of points within the text of the rules that needed a little clarification. Aside from these pictures etc I was able to sign off on the main draft of the rules and so these are now in the hands of the editor in chief of the publishing empire that is Eglinton Books - Bob Cordery himself!

I will be honest, I felt dead chuffed to be sending the rules over and surprisingly even a little sad. The rules have been such a part of my wargaming for nigh on two years or so it felt like saying goodbye to an old friend. However, a line needed to be drawn and so I drew it! Joking aside I fully expect there to be numerous house rules and tweaks arising from playing experience and indeed, it would be very unusual if this were not the case given most wargamers tendency to tinker with rules. In many ways this is the bedrock of the entire Portable Wargame series - being able to tailor the system to suit one’s own specific interpretation of the history being gamed.

I have a further photoshoot planned for the chapter on modelling ships for the period - the text has been written - and then it is on with the battle report that will be included in the book. I have a few ideas for this   but just need to give them some detailed thought. Needless to say I am really looking forward to this! The final piece from me will be the bibliography and again, most of this has been written already and so merely needs a little tidying up.

In the meantime though, I am conscious that the models need to be finished as there are still fourteen left (actually fifteen now as I have decided on another model for the Confederates). Suffice it to say that this last model is a little different….

Getting Closer….

C.S.S. Virginia in action against a Union frigate….I will say no more….

Things have been moving along rather nicely albeit perhaps not in the way I intended! The Portable Ironclad Wargame needs a couple of photoshoots, a battle report and a bibliography and then it is done. The schedule for this is by mid November and I am confident I will be finished by then. 

I have been busy taking pictures to illustrate various parts of the rules - it is far easier for me to do this rather than draughting diagrams - and then describing what is taking place. I have really enjoyed this part of the project but it has come at a cost. I have not made any progress with the remaining models although given that my editor will be away for a week or so fairly soon hopefully I will be able to catch up then!

The picture above is a taster of what is to come - I will not offer any explanations as to what is represented   - and so I hope that the ‘eye candy’ will help to inspire some new ACW fleets among everyone that has taken a look at this so far using either commercially available models, 3D print files or scratch built.

For the record I have now settled on my Christmas present. I want to get a good quality 6ft by 4ft blue cloth with a white hex grid (4 inches across the flat sides) and some Hexon terrain to plonk on it.

I will need to have a word with Santa methinks….

More on Napoleon’s War: The Hundred Days

The second game in the series that includes the Russians and the Austrians along with more French. The rules are an evolution from those in the 100 Days set and fix a couple of contentious issues. Luckily BoardGameGeek has some files that ring the changes!

I took a peek at BoardGameGeek yesterday evening in order to flesh out my knowledge around the Napoleon’s War series published by Worthington Games. It was certainly time well spent!

The Gates of Moscow set was a standalone game that included the Russians and Austrians (in green and white plastic respectively) and the game featured the following battles: Marengo, Austerlitz, Aspern-Essling and Borodino. The rules were the same as for the 100 Days although a couple of things had been changed in the light of playing experience. There are a few useful files on BoardGameGeek that ‘ring the changes’ which is handy and yes, I have downloaded them!

Worthington also released two Battle Packs that each featured four scenarios and map boards but no figures. Battle Pack Number 1 featured the following battles: Alexandria, Jena, Auserstadt and Busaco. Battle Pack Number 2 was focused on the War of 1812 and so included the following four battles: Queenston Heights, Chippewa, Bladensburg and New Orleans.

Mark Cordone pointed out that the figures are in fact the same as those included in the US version of Risk which are sadly not available in the UK.

The core system is fun in a Portable Wargame/Command and Colours way and it captures the flavour of combat in the period rather nicely. The use of action points which can be adjusted on a random basis each turn by a dice roll regulates movement and combat with a little more freedom than the card driven Command and Colours system. At least one does not have the situation of having a handful of command cards for the wrong sector! Personally I am happy with either system though.

The only downside I can see is that the game has been sold as a battle refight system in that the map boards are solely designed for the featured battle. There are no terrain tiles to customise the playing area or to do ones own thing although that would certainly not stop most gamers I know (myself included!)!

The map hexes are 40mm across the flat sides and it would not be beyond the capabilities of most gamers to produce terrain etc that could be used to supplement the maps.

In Conclusion

For me there is certainly some mileage in this system in terms of what it could be used for. A good example would be to use Command and Colours scenarios with the Napoleon’s War rules and troop types as the former are readily available on the net to download from a variety or sources.

I like them as a stripped back alternative to Command and Colours.

Back to Waterloo

Worthington’s Games take on the Waterloo campaign of 1815

The rear of the bo which should give you a flavour of what is to come

The 1815 Waterloo campaign is one of my perennial favourites with a fondness for it going back to the days of Airfix armies, Bruce Quarrie’s Airfix Magazine Guide and THAT film. There is something about it that never ceases to inspire me although in many ways elements of it have always remained tantalisingly out of reach - primarily I suppose because despite all of the ink that has been spilt over the years about the campaign and the battle we only have a series of educated guesses as to what happened and when. I have dabbled with using figures and played numerous board games on the subject over the years and even attempted a version using Waddington’s Campaign as the basis. I also nearly took part in a 54mm Little Wars inspired refight so it is safe to say my interest in Waterloo is well established.

I noticed the above game advertised on one of the Facebook Marketplace groups and so I immediately made a beeline for it. 

The game uses a system that is very much Command and Colours light in that there are similarities to Richard Borg’s design but without the use of command cards. Instead of blocks there are three armies made of up of generic looking figures presenting infantry, cavalry and artillery made from hard plastic and scaled at between 15mm and 20mm. The armies are red, blue and grey and I am pretty certain that a follow up volume included the Russians in Green and Austrians in white. I also believe that there was a standalone expansion book that covered the war in 1812 against the USA. I will check BoardGameGeek later for confirmation. The game contains map boards for Wavre, Ligny, Quatre Bras and Waterloo itself. There are also some counters for use to differentiate troop types - skirmishers, heavy cavalry, horse artillery, that sort of thing - as well as for the three main commanders. The rules are very straightforward and games are expected to take between an hour or two.

The scenario cards - note the reinforcements for Quatre Bras and Waterloo….

The figures

The rules, play sheet and the counters.

The use of generic troop types means that the figures (120 in all) would be eminently suitable for a Portable Wargame style set up and when used in conjunction with any of the commercially available plastic figures for the period a pretty nifty set could be raised. I am not about to do that anytime soon but it is handy to have the wherewithal if required. In the meantime though, I will be able to easily get my Napoleonic Waterloo period gaming fix in a simple but effective way.

Certainly this is one I am pleased to have in the collection and I will look to try and tack down the expansions etc in due course.

Another 2 Down….14 To Go!

The pair of ‘double enders’ - for identification purposes I have placed the flags in different places!

A better view showing the overall configuration of the type. I have seen images where the funnel was located further forward meaning that the design was not entirely symmetrical - I think I prefer this version although the location of the masts will be a giveaway as to which way they are travelling!

Aside from getting to SELWG yesterday I was also able to finish another pair of models for the ACW project. These are the famous ‘double ender’ gunboats that have enjoyed a somewhat chequered history as part of this project!  If you recall I had to order the appropriate hull shape from Warbases as the original models used my standard template - for the non nautical types this was pointed at one end and rounded at the other! - which did not look right. The original pair of models will now be completed as something else.

In common with many ships of the period the pictorial evidence is often contradictory. This makes life easier for me as it means I can quite simply go with whatever ‘look’ works best and so once again the pair of models above are ‘based upon’ rather than museum quality offerings.

The most famous of this type of ship was the U.S.S. Sassacus. 

I enjoyed building these two and so without pausing for breath it is on with the next batch - another pair of gunboats, this time converted civilian types for the Confederate Navy.

I am also more or less at the final stages for the published version of the rules. I need to get some pictures organised and then the stage will be set for the battle report that will feature. I have something in mind for this but need to finalise the details first and then find the time to fight it!

I Have Been To….SELWG!

 The haul. I opened the box for the Test of Honour upgrade - the unarmoured Samurai figure contained therein is really nice - so that you can see the contents. Note the book (top right) for which there is a related cunning plan….

First of all I have to say that it is far easier getting to the Lea Valley Leisure Complex than it ever was going to Crystal Palace! Fifty minutes door to door - a quick dash down the A127 followed by the M25 and voila! When I arrived there was a bit of a queue but nothing major. I was in shortly before opening at 10 and the first order of business was organising some trade for Dave Lanchester courtesy of David Carey, a good friend of David in Suffolk. Once this was taken care of I was unleashed on the venue and able to have a good mooch about as well as catching up with old friends, the first of which was Tamsin P!

The venue is fine and the mix of trade and games felt about right. There seemed to be a lot of people there - the bring and buy was mobbed - although a lot of traders said the gaming public were being very selective about what they purchased. A sign of the times methinks.

I took a few pictures and managed to catch up with Messrs Fox and Harbron from SEEMS who were busy fighting the Battle of Britain using Axis and Allies: Angels 20 and my old friend Chris Hardman who fighting a Peninsula War skirmish using Sharpe Practise. Another old acquaintance from the Newham Wargames Clun days - Derek Oram - was taking part with the Lardies ‘O’ Group WW2 rules, fighting a very nice looking Kursk inspired Eastern Front game. 

I only had two hours available so it was a real race to get around but I managed. The retail haul was very modest - the second edition upgrade for Test of Honour (the Samurai Skirmish game) and an expansion for the same with some additional scenarios as well as historical clan orders of battle. I also picked up a copy of Roger Crowley’s book Conquerors covering the formative years of the Portuguese overseas empire. Methinks there may be a game in there somewhere. 

The following is a selection of pictures from the show.

SEEMS like the Battle of Britain. A really nice looking aerial game using Axis and Allies: Angels 20 - with a few Mr Fox inspired ‘tweaks’.

The game blurbs etc together with the SEEMS crest.

A Napoleonic skirmish set in the Spanish Peninsula….

….organised by the The League of Gentlemen Anti-Alchemists featuring my old friend Chris Hardman.

The Empire striking back….

‘O’ Group on the Russian Front

All in all it was a good, albeit rushed visit but really worthwhile and I came away suitably inspired by the games on show and meeting up with many old friends.

…. 

Fighting the ‘45 - WoFun Style

The Government contingent. Three regiments of foot, a regiment of Dragoons and the gun crews. There are also a few casualties as well - handy for recording losses or morale status etc.

The Jacobites. Two sprues of Highlanders, one of Lowland infantry and the Royal Ecossias Regiment.

There is something about the Jacobite Rebellion - in this case the ‘45 rather than the earlier versions - that has always struck a chord with me. I think it is once again the idea of asymmetric forces using differing tactical methods that appeals along with images of wild Highlanders rushing down heather-coated slopes into nervously waiting government soldiery that has ticked a number of boxes. Of all the periods of military history I have looked at over the years this is the one that I would most certainly never paint figures for - at least not in anything larger than 10mm and even that would be at a push! 

The WoFun 28mm Jacobite Rebellion 28mm starter army with artwork by Peter Dennis is a thing of beauty for sure. I have pretty much everything I would need figures wise although as with the ACW collection, there are a couple of other bits that I may want to add in due course. As projects go it is a little way off but I thought it would be good to take a look at what there is and more importantly, think about revisiting the Jacobite Rising section of the library - currently consisting of a couple of biographies of James Wolfe. With SELWG coming up on Sunday - my last show for the year - I will be swinging by Dave Lanchester’s book emporium to see what he has that may be useful.

As with the ACW collection I spent some time going through the box and for sure a few additions will be needed to make the collection more usable. Certainly a personality sprue as well as some artillery - I currently have government gunners and some draft horses but no guns (not that I would need many anyway). I would be keen to bolster the Highlanders as well. All things in time though and given the issue of shipping and customs etc I am happy to wait until I have worked out what I need for both collections and so can do the order in one fell swoop.

In the files section of the Portable Wargame Facebook group there are a few ideas for me to play around with when I get to it but there are a few other projects in front of it so tables full of kilt-wearing marauding  Highlanders are some way off at the moment but there is no harm in taking a look.

A number of year ago I was away on business in Edinburgh and stayed in modest hotel a stone’s throw away from the famous castle. In the hotel reception area there was a rack of tourist leaflets for various events in and around the castle and the city. My eye was drawn to a couple of leaflets describing a pair of living history talks that took place at the castle on a daily basis. These were both about the ‘45 from the perspective of a rebelling Highlander and a government redcoat. In each case the person delivering the talk was in period costume so there was a fully equipped Highlander with musket, broadsword, dirk and all the other associated paraphernalia and a very snappily dressed government redcoat, again with all the trimmings. I never went to either, my schedule did not permit it, but I was struck by one thing. The Highlanders talk allowed two hours whilst that of the redcoats was a mere 25 minutes or so….