A quick update as to the progress on the above title. The final text has been passed over to the editor in chief for some cosmetic formatting tweaks and then it it over to the proofreader for him to work his magic. All being well it should be available very soon but in the meantime, here are a couple of tasters:
The front of the box….
You may recall a while ago I picked up a copy of the above board game which covers the Polish - Soviet War 1919 - 1920. This is a card driven block based game that uses a map that is town to town based rather than using hexes - rather like Columbia Games 1815 game Napoleon. It looks really good fun and is designed for two to four players. Given rather more pressing priorities - ACW ships and the final work for the Portable Ironclads Wargame - the game has sat on the shelf awaiting some attention. At this stage the two card decks - one for the Poles and one for the Soviets - are still in their shrink wrap, the counters are unpunched and the blocks have yet to be labelled. I had also made a mental note to read up on the war in order to add some historical context. There are a couple of Osprey titles covering the war - both of which are on the Christmas list - but I seemed to recall seeing the book below in a branch of Waterstones some years ago and so after a little digging was able to track down a copy via eBay for the princely sum of £4.21 including postage.
A small A5 sized hardback edition by Adam Zamoyski - I reckon with the brace of Osprey titles currently on my Christmas list and the useful notes on the war contained in the game above I will have pretty much everything I need for a Portable Wargame experience.
Projects
One of the ‘long way down the road’ projects I am planning is a late 19th century Colonial style set up using the figures included in the board game War in the Age of Imperialism by Eagle Games. The basic European style infantry figure (of which there are a couple of hundred in the box!) is pretty close to a Zulu War British infantryman in a standing firing pose. I added a box of Hat Industry Zulu War British Infantry Command, together with their very nice Colonial artillery and the inevitable Gatling gun set. Ideally I wanted to get the Hat Industry Unmarried Zulu boxed set containing 60 figures but this is as rare as hen’s teeth at present. The ESCI and also Call to Arms Zulus are nice albeit a little fiddly in terms of assembly. To be honest I kind of parked the idea for the time being as I figured that hopefully when I am ready to pull the trigger they will be more readily available.
The contents of a most welcome Jiffy bag! Bob mentioned that the shields and spears were missing but that is not too much of a problem and is easily rectified. I was particularly pleased with the number of riflemen included for reasons that will soon become apparent….
Anyways, a chance exchange of emails with the painting machine that is Bob the Old Painter ended up with a small Jiffy bag arriving of some ESCI Zulu War figures to get me started with. I mentioned to him that I had a cunning plan with these and so now can unveil the beginnings of an idea.
The tribal figure included in War in the Age of Imperialism is a splendid looking fellow but there are only 16 of them - hardly enough for a Impi! Well, the plan I am thinking about is to use the above in conjunction with the aforementioned tribal figure to set up an African tribal imagi-nation called tentatively the Mazuti. This is a fusion of the Masai, Zulu and Ashanti types. The army will have fierce warband style warriors backed by skirmishing firearms equipped warriors and some as yet to be organised mounted types. The Mazuti empire will be based in central Africa but will have an outlet to the sea but again, I have not gotten as far as planning it out yet.
That is the kernel of the plan though but it will be a while before anything tangible happens with it. Or maybe not….
My thanks to Bob for the figures and rest assured they will be used in one way or another!
I will say no more. Ok, then I will. No clues but a teaser of the action being played out for the Portable Ironclads Wargame. Trust me, so far it has been great fun. I cannot see any of those pulling 10g though….
The front of the box….
I recently acquired a couple of secondhand boardgames at a very good price and in excellent condition - particularly the subject of this post as it was unpunched and still in the shrink wrap. One of the pair has been earmarked as a Christmas present so I am not at liberty to divulge any details but the other one is now ‘in the public domain’ so to speak.
The Russian Front in WW2 needs no introduction from me as a topic of wargaming interest and indeed, over the years I have fought games on the subject from all levels from skirmishes up to strategic boardgames. The above definitely falls into the latter category and it has piqued my curiosity in many ways.
The nicely rendered map board - note the use of areas rather than the more usual hexes.
To begin with, the map uses areas for movement rather than hexes which, along with a low counter density, makes for a pleasantly spacious and uncluttered playing surface. There are no dice for combat resolution, instead cards are used which also add specific tactical or strategic options. I must admit that having played the old Avalon Hill classic Russian Campaign many times I will interested to see how the approach in this game works out. I should also mention that the solitaire suitability is quite good as well.
The two counter sheets - the top features the units whilst the bottom are various game markers
Production wise the game is top drawer. A fully mounted map board and oversized full colour counters add to the look of the thing and the rules and playbook seem fairly straightforward although somewhat illogically the basic game rules require some of the regular rules to work properly - a point made on BoardGameGeek. For all that it is something I shall look forward to setting up and tackling in due course - a world away from 19th century ironclads for sure!
U.S.S. Carondelet on the left, U.S.S. St.Louis in the centre and the U.S.S. Louisville on the right - the traffic light flotilla….
Partially inspired by Boy George and Culture Club and their hit single Karma Chameleon I present the trio of City class ironclad gunboats sporting funnel bands of “Red, gold and green….red, gold and gree-ee-een…!” Well the video was based on a riverboat set during the 19th century so it had a certain whimsical appeal to me….
The C.S.S. Mississippi - once again she was underpowered, incomplete and eventually burned to avoid being captured by Union forces. Her very existence, along with the C.S.S. Louisiana, influenced Union strategic thinking as their deterrent value was substantial
On a more serious note the above trio of ironclads have also been commissioned. A brace of the C.S.S. Atlanta - one with each flag so the Union get to use her as well (and they did!) and the C.S.S. Mississippi - a rather large casemate ironclad being at the same time as the C.S.S. Louisiana. The brace of Atlantas still need to have a spar torpedo assembly fitted.
Next up are three more fully masted types before we head back down into gunboat territory and the final brace of ironclads - a pair of C.S.S. Tennessees, one for each side.
To paraphrase the eminent archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones - “Octagons, why’d it have to be octagons….!”
I think it is fair to say that the ACW project has very much been a good example of project creep! I shall be drawing a line under it once the final batch of models have been completed but, inevitably, there has been a minor twist in the tale. The batch of 15 models that I have been working towards completing has now morphed into 17, simply because I have decided to add two copies of the C.S.S. Tennessee to the collection. Why two models? Well, after she was captured at Mobile Bay the Union repaired and recommissioned her so having two models, one under each flag, makes sense (at least to me anyway!). This will take the collection to 72 scratch built models - and there are still holes in the respective fleets!
There is a certain irony in this as when I originally embarked on this project - we are now in the third autumn of its duration - the plan was to build around a dozen models that were designed to be generic and with the option to swap flags as required. So here we now are - building duplicates of models instead of swapping flags to allow for captures and with a collection six times the size of the original plan!
Meanwhile the other four ironclads have been varnished prior to final assembly and flags (and painting funnel bands for the City class) and so will be making their appearance shortly.
Stay tuned, as they say….
The current state of play. Just a few pieces of tidying up to send to and then the final assembly, varnishing and the all important raising of the respective ensigns are all that remain. Next up will be the three on the right - the masts are assembled and ready to go (and have been for weeks now) and then we are left with eight to go.
‘Twas a dark and stormy night’ - at least that is how it sounded in the man cave this evening as the rain lashed against the windows and the wind picked up. We had the mists earlier in the week and so are currently waiting on the ‘mellow fruitfulness’ to arrive - Autumn is definitely here methinks!
I had a good session with the paintbrushes in the man cave which meant that the armour colour was added to the four ironclads. All that now remains is for some tidying up of the odd area of overpainting and then the final assembly can take place. These four will definitely be ready for action at the weekend. Nearly that is, in the case of the pair of Atlantas. I say nearly because for these two I have yet to work out how best to model the spar torpedo they carried. I will certainly be adding this but my early attempts have so far ended up looking way too ‘heavy’ for the model. Once I have this worked out it will be simple enough to add them later.
The gnawing idea continues to tease me. It is one of those that absolutely has no logic to it but then again, how many wargames projects have? That was a rhetorical question! Seriously though, It is something that would require a subtle rethink of my building process - you would have probably guessed that it is a naval endeavour - but, and this is the issue I am grappling with, it would open up something else if I pursued it, something that is definitely on the ‘to do’ list.
I am quietly hoping that I can weather the storm of enthusiasm over this idea so that what passes for normality in my world will resume. Time will tell.
