Whilst I was on my recent cruise, I began thinking about whether I could produce a naval wargame that would fit in a small box. This was inspired by the recent 'wargame in a matchbox' challenge ... and especially American Civil War naval wargame devised by Peter of the Grid Based Wargaming – but not always blog.
Rather than just copy what Peter had done, I wanted to create a naval wargame that used ironclads or pre-dreadnoughts. The homemade Greek and Turkish fleets that I made for my version of Jane's Naval War Game are in storage and were not immediately available so I looked around for another source of suitable models ... and remembered that years ago I'd considered building a scaled-up version of the Monopoly battleship token for my wargame navy. (The end result didn’t turn out to be that similar to the original, but it did feature in a number of battles.) A quick search of the Internet showed that these tokens are available to buy online ... so I bought twelve!
Once these arrive, I hope to play-test some rules that I have been drafting. When I have, I'll write a post on this blog.
Looking forward to seeing where this one goes Bob, very interesting indeed, never thought of using Monopoly battleships for gaming but I can see the attraction and use.
ReplyDeleteDonnie McGibbon,
DeleteThe models are quite small but remind me a lot of the models used by Fred Jane in his wargames ... which is one reason why I decided to use them.
All the best,
Bob
Funnily enough Bob when playing Monopoly with our son, I've often pondered on whether to use the ship for your naval rules, as they are not too big or detailed. Another thing to add to the to-do list!
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteI bought mine from one of the suppliers of spare parts for board games ... and they each cost me about the price of a metal wargame figure.
All the best,
Bob
I have bought quite a few of these myself. I mark the top of the mast with different colors and use a roster to keep track of hits. The first one I painted in the white and buff of the US Navy from the early 1900s.
ReplyDeleteJhnptrqn,
DeleteThat's an excellent idea! I had been wondering how to identify each model and was dreading trying to paint on funnel bands!
All the best,
Bob
They look to be metal, Bob, so should have a nice weight and feel to them.
ReplyDeleteSteve,
DeleteThey are metal and weigh about the same as a 28mm wargame figure.
All the best,
Bob
I’ve always thought the playing piece of Kang / Kodos (from The Simpsons monopoly set) would make rather quirky aliens for a Hordes of the Things fantasy army.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Geoff
Elliesdad (Geoff),
DeleteThat's a very interesting idea. The figures that come with board games have lots of potential for wargaming. I have several bags of RISK figures that I hope to use for wargaming at some point.
All the best,
Bob
I’ve had that same idea Bob. If I’m not mistaken, I think the token is bases on the USS Olympia.
ReplyDeleteNickN,
DeleteThere’s been quite a bit of online discussion about the design of the battleship token. The majority opinion is that it is based on the design of the Spanish-American War battleship USS Indiana, although she had a much lower freeboard … unlike the USS Olympia which has a high freeboard.
All the best,
Bob
A clever idea using these ship game tokens. 12 tokens will provide you with a couple of fleets.
ReplyDeletePeter,
DeleteI’m hoping to create two fleets of six ships or three fleets of four ships. I’m not yet sure which option I will be choosing.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteThis posting reminded me of a number of similar warships of (roughly) comparable size from the Eagle Games 'Age of Imperialism' set. I was gifted several playing pieces of the game, which pile included 6 vessels each of four colours: red, blue, grey and purple.
At about 36mm overall length, these vessel are about 1-2 mm too long to fit across the width of a standard matchbox. That's rather unfortunate... The second half of the following post talks about these ships:
https://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.com/2012/08/first-marnon-war-concluded.html
I suspect that your Monopoly ships are more handily sized.
I've done some checking, and, although I gather the Monopoly battleships can vary in size, at roughly 1-inch long they are smaller than the Eagle Games pieces. They could, I suppose, become cruisers against the EG pre-dreadnought battleships.
I am also reminded - made aware - of my failure to play out the Battle of Stickioutland - the Red (Ruberia) and Purple (Porphyria) fleets versus the Blue (Azuria) and Grey (Grauheim). Must do that some time!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI used to have a copy of that game but I passed it on to another wargamer. I remember those ship models and they would have been ideal for use with these rules.
The Monopoly battleships are about 25mm long, which means that they fit quite nicely into the one-inch grid squares on my Chessex mat.
I do hope that you manage to fight the Battle of Stickioutland sometime soon as I love your naval battle reports.
All the best,
Bob
I never thought to buy the metal pieces from Monopoly. The game is so ubiquitous here in the US you can find them in almost any store that has a toy display at least.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites are the Risk! army sets you can buy in almost any setting, musket settings century being the most common but AI have some modern armies, WW2 armies and some sci-fi pieces from various Risk! sets from yard sales and 2nd hand shops.
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteThere are loads of copies of Monopoly available to buy in local charity shops (I think that they are known as thrift stores in the US) but the thought of having to buy loads of copies of the game to get enough battleships rather put me off … although thinking about it, the other components - such as the money and the boards - might have been useful.
The figures from RISK (and especially the replacement ones that I bought online from the US) are an excellent starting point for nineteenth century armies, and I used the figures from my copy of the LOTR version as test pieces for my Portable Ancient Wargame rules.
All the best,
Bob
I bought he odd copy of monopoly in the Op shops for 3-5 NZ$ and gift the games back less the battleships :-)
DeleteGunnery Sargent Rock,
DeleteThat’s probably a more effective way of obtaining a number of Monopoly battleships.
All the best,
Bob
Nice idea Bob - the Monopoly Battleship was always a favourite of mine as a child. It will be great to see a number of them in action.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteEven as a young child I saw the potential of the Monopoly battleship, but it’s only recently that I’ve been able to turn that into a reality.
I hope to paint my models over the next couple of days … and then the fighting can begin!
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
ReplyDeleteIt would be easy enough to paint one fleet a light grey and the other a dark grey to differentiate the two sides. Have fun with these ships. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteI am thinking along similar lines, although it’s likely that I’ll go with two (or possibly three) fleets with different coloured hulls.
All the best,
Bob