It was my intention to end my book about gridded naval wargames with a chapter that covered coastal operations, particularly how my PORTABLE NAVAL WARGAME rules work in conjunction with my PORTABLE WARGAME rules.
What started out as a couple of pages has grown into a full-blown battle report that covers how the rules work together. For inspiration I went to Donald Featherstone's NAVAL WAR GAMES and have adapted his THE RAID ON THE KRIEGSTAATZ BATTERIES scenario from the imaginary Anglo-German War of 1885. In my case the battle is entitled THE ATTACK ON THE KRIEGSTAATZ FORTRESS, and the tabletop looks like this:
I am several turns into the wargame, and it is developing into quite an interesting battle. I have no idea how it is going to end, but hope to find out later today. Once it is concluded, I will be able to finish this chapter, which will leave only one other to write before the book's text can be sent off for proof reading and correction.
What started out as a couple of pages has grown into a full-blown battle report that covers how the rules work together. For inspiration I went to Donald Featherstone's NAVAL WAR GAMES and have adapted his THE RAID ON THE KRIEGSTAATZ BATTERIES scenario from the imaginary Anglo-German War of 1885. In my case the battle is entitled THE ATTACK ON THE KRIEGSTAATZ FORTRESS, and the tabletop looks like this:
I am several turns into the wargame, and it is developing into quite an interesting battle. I have no idea how it is going to end, but hope to find out later today. Once it is concluded, I will be able to finish this chapter, which will leave only one other to write before the book's text can be sent off for proof reading and correction.
Looking good, Bob! I'm particularly interested in how you handle this in PW, as I want to do something similar for the 18th century/Napoleonic era.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Arthur
Arthur Harman (Arthur),
DeleteBecause the PW and PNW rules were designed to be compatible, the rules should work fairly well together.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI certainly like and enjoy your approach to your PWG - in particular I like how your Map is exactly as the Game is set out - just perfect. The Battleship in your photo reminds me of HMS Victoria or 'Victorious' of around 1885- you have done well to characterize such a large Battleship and design your own version in miniature. Interested to read your final Battle Report on taking the Fortress. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteOne of the joys of using a gridded tabletop is the ease with which it is possible to duplicate the terrain on the map on the tabletop ... and vice versa.
HMS Empress is based very loosely on the design of HMS Victoria and came about as a result of my attempts to model the battleship that is used as a token in the game MONOPOLY. she has appeared in quite a few battles, although not always with the same name!
All the best,
Bob
I hope there's something about littoral terrain, tricky tides, currents, fog, etc. Land makes naval maneuver much more difficult - the issue of being shelled from land isn't even the most technically difficult challenge!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of fighting near land...I just finished adapting the Manila Bay ships more closely to PW. I did end up using the Steam Gunboat for several of the ships, so glad I stumbled onto the ACW Naval / Ironclad rules. Hope to get a playtest in soon, with a couple of special scenario rules that will help even the score. And of course, there's always German intervention and Camera's Relief Squadron to think about!
Queen Catherine,
DeleteI must admit that I have kept things as simple as possible, and have avoided the problems of tides etc. Adding them would make the game more realistic, but could add a level of complication that would probably not appeal to the sort of wargamer my rules are aimed at.
I look forward to seeing how your playtest turns out, and using the Steam Gunboat from the ACW version with the Pre-Dreadnought rules is exactly the sort of way I expect players to mix-and-match elements from the different versions of my rules.
All the best,
Bob