A Lissa Through the Looking Glass

Back in the collection once again and this time for good!

I am fairly confident that most, if not all, readers of this blog will know that I am a great ‘churner’ of my collection. I also enjoy the whole ‘wheeler-dealer’ side of the hobby - buying and selling and so forth. Over the years I have bought and sold bits and pieces and in rather more cases that I care to admit, have repurchased items that had been disposed of in a somewhat over enthusiastic fashion.

A case in point is the classic board game, together with the accompanying expansion, of Ironclads, originally published in 1979 by Yaquinto Publications. 

One of the advantages of the aforementioned ‘wheeling and dealing’ is that one builds up a great network of contacts. Thanks to this I was able to secure the three games you see above for some surplus bits and bobs - the only monies involved was the cost of postage.

The base game covers the ACW and is quite a detailed system - very much of its time. The expansion adds to this but also includes the ships for the War in the Pacific and also for the Battle of Lissa. The latter is really helpful for the following reason.

I shall be building the ships and refighting the battle of Lissa using The Portable Ironclads Wargame and it will be included in the new book.

The scenario for the Battle of Lissa in the expansion kit focuses on the action between the ironclads which is exactly what I shall be doing and for this endeavour I have been fortunate to secure the services of the legend that is Nick Huband for testing and research purposes. Nick lives a quick twenty minute drive from me and so the plan is to ‘try it on the dog’ at some pint, I mean point!

Das Boardgame…..

Another old fiend that came as part of the exchange deal was board game Submarine. This was originally a Battleline publication but was added to the Avalon Hill range when they took over the company. The game covers Submarine warfare during WW2 and all of the combatant nations get a chance to be the hunters or the hunted. I really enjoyed this ‘back in the day’ so am looking forward to trying it once again. There are a number of articles in the Avalon Hill General covering the game and there is also a variant using coastal forces so Vosper, MAS boats, Elco, S and R boats feature. I shall take a look into this.

Flat Top and The Avalon Hill General

I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy reading the Avalon Hill General ‘back in the day’.

With grateful thanks to Ed who kindly pointed me to the correct edition of the Avalon Hill General magazine for details of the Flat Top Midway scenario. This was found on a very handy website called View From the Trenches and to anyone that is interested in any of the Avalon Hill catalogue of games this is an absolute goldmine of a resource!

As well as the scenario there is also an overview of the changes between the Battleline and Avalon Hill editions - including some rule tweaks - as well as a modest errata. Both of these are really helpful to me as I work out how to get the best out of the two games.

There are other useful bits and pieces contained therein for Flat Top including a scenario for Wake Island (I have seen this previously) as well as incorporating the British into the game, together with some background information on the Royal Navy. 

The funny thing with this current obsession of mine is that I do not in the least feel the need to get any models to game it with - having said that I have been casting an eye over Dauntless, the game that covers aerial combat in the Pacific or possibly Mustangs with models in 1:300th.

No ships though…. :-)

Flat Top vs Flat Top

The old (bottom) and the older (top)!

When Avalon Hill took over Battleline Games the first thing they looked to do was to bring the production quality up to their usual standard. For the most part this meant changing the box art, updating the rules, moving to mounted mapboards and ironing out any component issues. This was for the most part a really good idea but for me and as an aside, it never worked for Air Force and Dauntless. The newer aircraft charts for these two games were not easy to read, especially when you had clocked up as many air miles with the original versions as I had! Anyway, I digress, so back to the game in hand, Flat Top.

The two rule books - Battleline on the left and Avalon Hill on the right. The Avalon Hill version is laid out far more efficiently than the Battleline version but it comes at a cost - 36 pages to 32. Having said that I am very used to the earlier version!

The Avalon Hill version made several changes to the Battleline version. To begin with the two part map board was mounted which makes for a steadier playing surface. Usually the game has very few counters actually on the map so one could say this was probably a little indulgent. Where most counters are usually deployed is on the task force cards against the carriers or land bases. For example, the U.S.S. Enterprise has a maximum aircraft capacity of 33 (the game scale is 1 factor equalling 3 actual aircraft). These factors can be represented by individual 1 factor counters or any combination of counters with higher values - there are also 2s and 5s available. Each carrier or base has aircraft at one of three stages when on the deck so to speak - just landed, readying or ready - and these are reflected by the corresponding boxes. You can see then that having a little more elbow room for a myriad of counters is definitely a better idea! In this case the advantage lies with the Battleline version in terms of size but with the Avalon Hill version for being slightly more convenient as it is split into two halves.

The Battleline version on the left with the split Avalon Hill version on the right. Definitely more room with the earlier edition although being in two halves is quite handy - shame the box sizes for aircraft counters have shrunk somewhat!

The map itself is slightly larger and more significantly, the Avalon Hill plot maps are much more user friendly than the Battleline version a they are larger and much easier to read and write on.

Advantage Avalon Hill methinks - the larger format is easier to read and write on although taking up a lot more table space that the earlier Battleline version.

The most significant change for me though, concerns the counter mix. The Battleline edition contained 800 counters whilst the Avalon Hill version tops out at 1300. The colour choice for the counters between the two editions has changed. In the Battleline version the US counters are green whilst the Japanese are yellow. In the Avalon Hill version the Americans become yellow whilst the Japanese are now red. I have no idea why these were changed in the Avalon Hill version but I have to say I prefer the older Battleline types. So why all the additional counters then?

The reason is simple but in turn it does raise a question or two. 

Midway. The Avalon Hill version features all the ships that were involved in the Midway operation and a suitably increased support counter mix to support them. The only snag is that nowhere in the Avalon Hill edition is there a Midway scenario. I will check back on the Avalon Hill General (their house magazine) but I am not sure if there was ever a Midway scenario for the Avalon Hill Flat Top. Given that they already had a Midway game in their catalogue perhaps this was behind the omission but why bother adding in the extra counters?

So was there ever a Flat Top based Midway scenario? Well the simple answer is yes, but in a roundabout way. Yaquinto Games published CV which was a game covering the Midway operation using the Flat Top system and once again, by S Craig Taylor. I owned a copy of this back in the day - as I recall I purchased this post the Battleline Flat Top but pre the Avalon Hill version. It was a cracking game albeit limited in scope. I seem to remember that the Japanese player could win easily by sinking American ships and so quite often would ignore Midway until after enough material damage had been inflicted on the ships of the USN. If I remember correctly there were a couple of rule refinements to the Flat Top system but without a copy in front of me it would be difficult to say.

So where exactly is all this going? To be honest I am not sure. Flat Top is not a game that lends itself easily to solo play although with some thought it could be done - perhaps purely on the tactical level although half the fun of this game was finding the opposition before they found you. It is something I would like to investigate further but then I have the later Smithsonian games of Midway and Guadalcanal that cover much of the same territory and look as though they will be more solo friendly.

Having looked closely at the two games I think on balance I actually prefer the original Battleline version rather than the Avalon Hill. The main reasons for this are the counter quality and the air/task force charts are better. Having said that the counter selection from Avalon hill, together with the plot maps, is far better. I am actually not that bothered about the mounted mapboards, mainly because there are usually so few counters on them. I can definitely see me using the Avalon Hill plot maps with the Battleline map.

The plot maps will come in very handy - I have a heap of 1:2400th 1914 ships waiting patiently for their turn in the painting queue - and the whole topic has given me something to think about from an aerial perspective (thoughts of Dauntless are looking large once again!).

We shall see but in any event, I am really pleased to be in this situation with the return of an old friend and the gaming memories that came with it!

Getting Reacquainted With an Old Friend

The rules and newly sorted counters. It looks untidy but there is a system. Each side has an around a dozen bags of units and these are in turn placed in a large grip top bag. The game markers (the blue counters) are kept separately in three smaller bags. Trust me, it all makes sense!

The plot map. The Avalon Hill version is split into two halves and covers a slightly larger area - in a later post I will ring the changes between the two versions

I spent a pleasant couple of hours going through the contents of the Battleline edition of Flat Top and sorting out the 795 counters into the various types. It took a lot of grip top polythene bags for sure! The game cane with the original plastic trays but I have never been a great fan of these - I prefer having counters bagged up and readily identifiable. I say 795 counters because there is actually 800 but of these five are blanks and they were missing so technically the game is incomplete but everything that counts is still there! Even the plotting pad is barely used although a lot smaller than the AH version which is in two parts and covers a wider area.

After I had sorted the counters I took some time to read the rulebook once again - the memories certainly came flooding back! The rules seemed to ‘pop’ out of the pages as game mechanic after game mechanic suddenly became comfortingly familiar, along with reminders of some cracking games in years gone by.

I reckon I picked up my copy in 1978 and at the time I was living at my late grandmothers in East Ham. Her flat was a twenty minute walk from Eric Knowles’s shop The New Model Army Ltd, home of the Newham Wargames club. My Saturday routine was invariably spending half a day at the shop gaming in the cellar, made suitably dramatic by the prospect of carbon monoxide poisoning as the air circulation was non existent! Invariably by Saturday evening meal prior to going out ‘on the town’ was a traditional East end speciality - pie and mash!

The East End breakfast of champions - no eels in sight though! Stewed eels I don't mind but I draw the line at the jellied variety!

Why am I mentioning this? Well, we had this for dinner last night, courtesy of my son, and whilst munching my way through the two pies, double mash and liquor (the green sauce you see) with the obligatory chilli infused vinegar I was suddenly transported back to pretty much any Saturday night in 1978 - probably reading the same set of rules over dinner or probably sorting out the same set of counters.

Cripes! That was 46 years ago….

In respect of Flat Top I am reminded of a well known quote that actually predated my acquisition of the game and in its own way has also had a profound impact on my gaming life.

“We meet again at last. The circle is now complete….”

Putting the Top in Flat Top!

The box may be faded but the contents are complete and in great condition for a game getting on for nearly 50 years old!

At long last I have managed to track down a modestly priced copy of the original version of Flat Top - the game of carrier battles in the South Pacific during 1942 (excluding Midway) by S Craig Taylor and published by Battleline way back in the 70s. I can remember playing this to death ‘back in the day’ and whilst I also own the later Avalon Hill version (still unpunched) the earlier version has a special place in my gaming heart!

Why get this when I have the Avalon Hill version which is superior in just about every way? Well, that is an easy one to answer. It was challenging but fun, as long as you had an opponent that was prepared to play. At the time I was lucky in that my usual gaming partner enjoyed board games rather more than using models and so we played this, Avalon Hill’s Jutland and the Air Force trilogy to death. 

The Battleline version of Flat Top came in at 800 counters whilst the Avalon Hill edition has 1,500, together with mounted mapboards and a plot map in two halves. the rules have also been updated slightly. Crucially it also includes the ships for the Midway operation which the earlier version did not. The Battleline counters are chunkier than the Avalon hill version.

In a sense the Battleline version is rather more specific in its approach which is an advantage - especially as it is punched and ready to go! 

The rest of the South Pacific collection. 

In addition to this version of Flat Top I also have S Craig Taylor’s two Smithsonian series games - Midway and Guadalcanal - which cover much of the same topic but crucially in a simpler fashion. 

The one game that I am missing from this sequence was produced by the same designer when he moved across to Yaquinto Games. This was called CV and covered the Midway operation. Like many boardgames I have owned this ‘back in the day’ but no longer have a copy.

I suspect that will be next….

En Garda - Where the only blades are on Propellors!

Better known as the Italian Job or “You are only supposed to blow the bloody paddle wheels off!”

The indefatigable David Manley - writer of rules, guru of all things naval and all round good guy - has been a busy chap and produced a new title in his ‘Steamer Wars’ series. For the benefit of the uninitiated these rules are designed with low level gunboat style operations in mind and often feature extemporised warships - the original rule set covered the WW1 Lake Tanganyika operations so you will get the idea of what I mean. Thus far there have been two expansions - one covering the Russian Civil War and the other tackling the operations during WW1 along the Danube.

The set that started it all. WW1 on Lake Tanganyika - going forth with Mimi and Toutou

The newest title covers something I had certainly not heard of and this is the naval engagements that took place on Lake Garda during the war of 1866 - probably better known for the battle of Lissa. The Austrians and Italians feature and as well as a dedicated set of rules there are also ship specifications for the combatants, a potted history of the fighting, a campaign system and for those that are 3D printer equipped, he has designed some files available from Wargames Vault of the ships available. 

The Russian Civil War expansion

I am probably biased in that David is a good friend of mine but take it from me, this series (in truth as are all of his rules) is well worth investigating if you want something naval but low key and requiring but a modest amount of preparation and models. You can also be guaranteed that the rules work and the information and research therein is of a very high order!

Plenty of inspiration here for sure!

Before you ask I am already thinking about scratch building the models for this (along with Lake Tanganyika but that is another story) and I really hope that David continues with this series - I rather fancy something for the great rivers of China, real ‘Sand Pebbles’ territory!

All of these rules are available from the Wargames Vault under David’s Long Face Games banner - this also includes all of his other rules.

A really useful book covering the ships mentioned in the rule sets above. There are a number of Osprey titles that cover similar as well.

It would be remiss of me to not mention the above title that is an absolute goldmine of information about the ships and gunboats used on the world’s rivers and lakes. Methinks I will be dragging my copy off the shelf again soon!

“Zulus….120 of ‘em!”

At long last - I have only been on the lookout for these for around three years….

Back at the Cavalier show in February I got talking to Dave, the proprietor of 1-72 Model Figures about the semi-legendary and seemingly nigh-on impossible to get hold of box of Unmarried Zulus produced by Hat Industries. Turns out he had six of these ‘back at base’ and so after a brief exchange of emails a parcel arrived yesterday with two boxes of them - 120 figures in total.

One of the four sprues in each box viewed from the front. There are two figures holding captured rifles to the box holds 8 out of 60 or 16 over the two sets. Possibly a little on the high side but close enough for my needs.

The reverse side of the sprue.

These are for my 20mm soft plastic Zulu War project in which the British rank and file and mounted troops have been sourced from the board game War in the Age of Imperialism. 

The main reason I was so keen to get this set was due to the fact that the majority of the figures are one piece castings so no separate shields or weapons (with a single exception). The ESCI Zulus feature separate shields and weapons and these are, in my opinion, a royal pain to deal with. The only drawback is of course that these are Unmarried Zulus and so lack the distinctive head ring that the married veterans wore. The tribal figures from the aforementioned board game may be usable in this case but I will need to check. In any event there is another box of Hat Zulus that features the married types although guess what? That is currently equally as difficult to get a hold of! 

Expect a further update on this project in 2026…. :-)