Thoughts on Firing

Pipe cleaner bow waves and cotton wool gunsmoke - the former indicating ships that have moved this turn, the latter for ships that have fired after their movement. Looking at the above you can see that the current game turn has ended and only the sloop would be free to fire at the start or end of its next move, the other two would have to wait until the end of their movement. If a ship does not fire at all during their turn then any smoke markers are removed. The markers you see will be replaced with something a little more aesthetically pleasing in due course!

During the recent test of the alternate move sequence and move/fire, fire/move idea - both of which seemed to work quite well - I was reminded of one of the small niggles that seems to have grown into something requiring a bit of a rethink. The offending system is of course that of firing.

I am happy with the two step approach - rolling to hit and then rolling for damage based on any successful hits scored - and would still like to use this but I am now less convinced that reducing the number of D6 rolled to hit by range makes for a fun game. All too often ships are rolling single D6s at range which just seems a little flat. I am now leaning towards allowing the full number of gun dice to be rolled, regardless of range but with modifiers to the D6 rolls to reflect diminishing accuracy. This is complicated by two things. Firstly, under the existing system potential hits are scored with a roll of 4 or 5 for a single hit and a roll of 6 for two hits. Clearly this is problem when using specific scores to hit because one could then have the situation where a maximum range shot requiring a 6 to score a hit would in fact mean that the roll of a 6 would score two hits! 

My solution would be to shift the 4 or 5 equalling a single hit and 6 being two hits to the damage resolution rolls so that firing to hit would be the number of gun dice the ship carries modified by range. The idea I have in mind looks something like this:

Guns with a range of 4 (penetration factor of 2 or less)

1 - 3, 4, 5 or 6

2 - 4, 5 or 6

3 - 5 or 6

4 - 6

Guns with a range of 6 (penetration factor of 3 or more)

1 - 3, 4, 5 or 6

2, 3 - 4, 5 or 6

4, 5 - 5 or 6

6 - 6

Damage rolls would follow the normal 4 or 5 for a single damage point and 6 for two damage points - this of course being modified by the penetration factor versus the armour factor. 

It is very early on with this alternative idea but I believe it has potential. My rationale is that rolling great handfuls of dice is an enjoyable mechanic and makes for a banter filled game! 

Front Loading for Retirement*

An excellent book and crying out to be Portable Ironclads Wargamed! But how or even when?

Assuming I ‘go the distance’ then at the time of writing I have 973 days until I retire - not that I am counting! I will retire when I am able to and if my current employment sees fit to put me out to pasture sooner then so be it. It would not be the end of the world if that happened - the house is paid for and we are financially ok in a modest way. From a personal perspective it would mean that I could spend more quality time with Laurel - which seems an odd viewpoint when I am working fully remote at home - and the pace of our lives would be a good deal less frenetic. I will have to see how things go but the relative nearness to the big ‘R’ means that decisions need to be made in respect of many things - the inevitable down or right size into a more manageable property - and of course, my collection.

In many ways I have been moving towards this over recent months, years even, with a series of disposals and selected acquisitions, all of which are designed to be as compact as possible. There are several decisions that have already been reached - more by chance than design - but I seem to heading in the right direction. More or less….

1. No more large armies 15mm or upwards. Aside from lacking the inclination to build large armies the associated cost and space requirement is too high. Any ‘armies’ I look to build will be confined to 6mm or smaller (more of which later). I shall still use 28mm for skirmish sized actions - 0200 being a case in point - or possibly even a dabble into Rampant territory but of necessity this will need to be carefully planned and managed. I have a WoFun ACW collection in 18mm which will go against this ruling, mainly because the armies take up so little space. I may even dabble further with WoFun but who knows?

2. Aircraft and ships will remain a constant as either take up little space and terrain requirements are fairly modest. I especially enjoy making ships and so see no reason to stop!

3. Boardgames. I have a long history with boardgames and with the choice and selection available there is plenty to keep me going. I have consciously moved towards tactical boardgames or specifically designed solo types. I have a couple that qualify as strategic level and indeed, I may well explore this further but ina measured way. The tactical games I have chosen are mainly those that cover periods of history I am unlikely to ever translate into miniatures based games. As a confirmed grid based wargamer the transition from miniatures to counters/blocks or back again is a very easy one to make!

For Tactical combat on land these include various Command and Colours titles (Samurai Battles, Jacobite Rising and American Revolution), Lock and Load (Heroes of North Africa) and Flying Pig Games (‘65, Night of Man). I also have both editions of Combat Infantry by Columbia Games - NW Europe and the Eastern Front for WW2. Finally, I have the full set of the Undaunted series.

4. Small but perfectly formed. I have acquired a collection from the painting legend and all round good chap ‘Lee Gramsom of nine 3mm ancient DBA armies with camps terrain and a set of painted gaming boards as well. I shall be meeting up with him to take collection of these probably on 25/02 - the day of the Cavalier show at Tonbridge in Kent. These are quite exquisite and painted to Lee’s usual outrageously high standard! I used to play a lot of ancients back in the day and enjoy DBA so this collection, in its bespoke storage box will be an ideal way for me to dabble once again. 

5. Mention of skirmish/Rampant style set ups includes such things as the aforementioned 0200 (WW2 night raids) along with Sci Fi Stargrave/Five Parsecs from Home/ Another Glorious Day in the Corps style games. Rampant will be reserved for something special - I have not decided yet but I have a few things in mind.

I do not own vast armies of painted figures and so by keeping to skirmish sized actions in 28mm I can keep things within modest bounds - an important consideration for storage space when the inevitable down/right size comes and for being doable. The biggest single part of my collection is probably the library. Again, I have made strenuous efforts over the last couple of years to keep this within sensible bounds. It is slightly larger than I would like but I have in mind some disposals that should get it to where it should be. This will also have the advantage of enabling me to organise it rather more effectively. As with every part of my collection there is an element of ‘churn’ as things come into or drift out of fashion - the butterfly will o doubt still be fluttering!

If I was to score myself out of ten as to where I am at with this overall retirement vision I would probably give myself a 6, bordering on a 7. There is work to be done but I at least have a handle on what needs attending to and so the overall picture is slowly coming into focus. At least I still have potentially 973 days to get where I need to!

* I am indebted to Aly Morrison for introducing me to the concept of Front Loading for Retirement - many thanks old chap!

Thoughts on the Revised and Expanded Edition

With apologies for the poor picture quality, the newly commissioned C.S.S. Tennessee steams gallantly towards the Union blockading ships.

As mentioned in my recent post I am planning to fight a small test action this weekend, pitting the newly commissioned C.S.S. Tennessee trying her luck against a Union sloop and a monitor. In many ways this will be similar to Hampton Roads with the exception that the old navy sloop will not be aground! I also mentioned that there are a couple of optional rules I am trying out that, assuming they are successful, will appear in the Portable Ironclads Wargame Revised and Expanded edition later in the year.

The two rules cover the turn sequence and firing and  remember, these are optional.

Alternate Movement.

In the original version of the rules players rolled for initiative with the winner having the choice of moving first or second with all their ships. As an option I am allowing players to alternate movement based on the initiative roll. My rationale for this is that I believe it will better reflect the organised chaos of most ACW naval actions as ships jockey for position whilst being mindful of the opposition. If using this method then some means of marking a ship that has moved is required and for this I shall be using sort lengths of white pipe cleaner folded into a ‘V’ shape and placed on the ship’s bow. This represents a bow wave and so as each ships moves it will become clear who has and it is an easy way to keep track. When all the ships are thus adorned the turn is over and these markers are then removed during the first phase of the next game turn.

Move and Fire, Fire and Move.

This option changes the sequence of play in that the firing phase is dispensed with as it now fits in with movement. The plan is for ships to be able to fire at the start of their move or at the end. Ships that opt to do the latter should have a marker representing gun smoke placed by them which then stays in place until the end of the ships next move (these are not removed at the start of the next turn. In effect a ship that fires at the end of a turn will not be able to fire again until the end of the next turn, assuming it wants to. If it does not then the smoke marker is removed and the ship is then free to fire either at the start or the end of the following move.

Both of these rules will force extra decision making on the respective commanders as timing suddenly becomes critical. In truth I was a little wary of these ideas as I figured that it may slow things down a little but but careful ‘marker management’ all will be later and besides, seeing bow waves and gun smoke adds to the visual appeal which is no bad thing.

‘65….A Bump in the Boonies*

The box featuring a ‘grunt’ suitably festooned with ammunition….

….and the rear of the box featuring an area of ‘bandit country’.

With one eye on the inevitable ‘right-sizing’ in a few years I have been realigning much of my collection so that it is portable and does not take up vast amounts of space. For me this translates into boardgames rather than models - with of course some notable exceptions - so that the eventual move should be as painless as possible. Large armies will no longer feature so the block armies or 2/3mm will be the order of the day. 28mm will be for skirmishes up to ‘Rampant’ level. Note that ships, aircraft, starships or Battlemechs are not included in this!

As part of this process you may recall a while ago I acquired a whole bunch of WW2 tactical games published by Lock and Load. The rules are outstanding but for a variety of reasons they never really caught my imagination. Everyone I know that games the system swears by them but somewhat perversely I suppose, I am not one of them! What had caught my eye though, was a boardgame published by Flying Pig Games called ‘65 - Squad Level Combat In The Jungles Of Vietnam. This was might up my street in terms of the scale of the game and so I attempted to source a copy. It proved to be an almost impossible task to get a copy in the UK and I was on the verge of giving up when a gaming chum pointed out that a set was up for grabs on Ebay.

I duly ‘watched’ the listing and then on the last day entered a bid, then another, then another after that until eventually the auction finished and guess what? I had won it! It was a little higher than I expected but still an absolute bargain.

The game itself contained all the currently available expansions and although the counters were punched out it was unused. I am a little fastidious about boardgames in that I much prefer mounted map boards and chunky counters and so ‘65 delivers this in spades. The counters are 1” squares or larger and the map boards are suitably ‘Nam looking - loads of trees, rice paddies, small villages and so on. One of the expansions features a cityscape - Hue in this case - so going full on “Full Metal Jacket’ could be fun to try out.

The other expansions include the USMC and ANZAC forces as well as some additional cards and, best of all, a solo system. Gameplay and combat is driven by cards and is quite fast paced and with plenty of decisions to be made every turn. In short, it is a great tactical game.

In years gone by I would have thought about how to use figures for ths and indeed, I acquired a whole pile of ESCI US and VC 20mm figures and developed a version of Memoir ‘44 to use with them but, like so many ‘good ideas at the time’ the enthusiasm faded, mainly due to the work involved to get it to the table.

I can feel a re-reading of ‘We Were Soldiers Once….’ Coming on - I might even watch the film again!

*A Bump in the Boonies was the title of a set of Vietnam wargame rules by Cliff Mitchell and published by Gosling Press. 

Assaulting the Jailers….Game Number 76, Part 1

An early plan of the fort….

….and an aerial view - probably a drone shot methinks.

After having finished the C.S.S. Tennessee it would be somewhat churlish to not put her through her paces on the tabletop. Whilst I will refight Mobile Bay in due course (I will need to model Fort Morgan first) in the interim I will look to pit the Confederate ironclad against a monitor and a sloop, almost Hampton Roads like. It will also be a good way of testing a couple of the optional rules that will be appearing in the Portable Ironclads Wargame Revised and Expanded Edition.

The action will be fought using the revised firing arcs - this is a minor change fro the original rules and is the only one of any impact - and the optional rules will cover alternate movement and changes to the firing. I will not go into details here but I reckon that these will certainly add to the decision making!

This will be a simple battle but in my experience games involving fewer ships (or indeed any type of unit being represented) tend to focus the mind somewhat - at least that is my opinion!

In the meantime though, I will need to think about how best to model Fort Morgan. An idea I have been pondering is to make a baseline style model - David Manley suggested something similar to a DBA style camp or BUA (built up area) which seems like a good idea.

As far as this test action is concerned it will be the first time I have tried the optional rules so keeping it fairly simple seemed like a sensible approach. The plan is to fight the action over the coming weekend so I shall get the necessary paperwork ready over the next few days.

Looking forward to it!

C.S.S. Tennessee - Mobile at Last!

There she is - C.S.S. Tennessee all set to take on the Union fleet in Mobile Bay

After a largely straightforward build - helped by the somewhat more measured approach I adopted rather than my usual ‘headlong, bull in a china shop’ technique - the Confederate ironclad the C.S.S. Tennessee is ready to join the rest of the collection. As ever the model is more ‘based upon’ rather than strictly accurate but I think she conveys the overall sense of menace that the original ship had. So, the hull is the wrong shape - as are the gun port covers - and she has the earlier pattern naval ensign as well as missing the deck cowl vents (also missing from the other models in the collection!)  but other than that she is good to go! 

‘Purely Representational’ a wise man once said….repeatedly!

As deployed on my hexed cloth

I really enjoyed this build, certainly more than I expected to given the shape of the casemate. She will make a powerful addition to the Confederate fleet and it means that I now have all the Rebel ships for Mobile Bay - the others being the C.S.S. Selma, the C.S.S. Morgan and the C.S.S. Gaines. I could probably rustle up sufficient Union ships for the battle although the ‘lashed together’ wooden vessels may require a little thought, not to mention the Confederate Fort Morgan. 

C.S.S. Tennessee in the van with the C.S.S. Selma following closely. In flanking positions are the C.S.S. Morgan and the C.S.S. Gaines

During the course of this build I have been thinking a lot about the ACW collection and what else is needed for it. The answer is of course, plenty! There are ships I want to model as well as some terrain pieces but in the short term I am thinking around half a dozen more models (three of which are already under construction) and a large fort will suffice. The other bits and pieces can be dropped in as and when the mood takes me. The important thing is that I now have a sufficient variety of models to fight just about anything from the war between the states. 

It is a great place to be in!

Assembly finished….Now for the painting

Sealed and ready to paint. The actual ship appeared to have a rather tall and quite slim funnel although this may have been a replacement after she was captured. The flagstaff I found in a spares box and was originally going to be used to fashion gun barrels from. Note the hole drilled for the flagstaff - the funnel is glued directly to the roof of the casemate. The ruler is so you can see how big she is.

After a quick half hour session in the man cave at lunchtime the C.S.S. Tennessee is now ready to be painted. I had some deck detail, cut a suitable length for the funnel and managed to find a piece of previously painted cocktail stick to use for the flagstaff - very much a case of ‘here’s one I prepared earlier!’ 

The whole thing was coated with a sealer which is now drying prior to undercoating and then the final paint job.

According to most of the pictures and plans I have seen of the actual ship itself there should be a pair of funnels forward and two pairs aft, along with the deck mounted chains leading to the rudder aft and he anchors on the bow. As I have not depicted either of these parts on any of my previous models it seemed fairly pointless starting now despite the actual ship becoming unmanageable due to having the steering chains  severed by gunfire during the fateful battle of Mobile Bay. I have instead opted for my default deck detail of hatch covers! 

Strictly speaking the hull should also have an angle leading to the waterline which I probably could have done using my Dremel but for the fact that by the time I had thought about this the models was more or less complete - especially the casemate.

Once again then we have a ‘purely representational’ or Hollywood ‘based upon’ style of model - a fact of which I offer no apologies for! ;-)