As I mentioned in my recent blog entry, some years ago I recreated Lieutenant Chamberlain's GAME OF NAVAL BLOCKADE and demonstrated it at SALUTE. I subsequently took it along to a naval wargames event organised by John Curry aboard HMS Belfast, and today I found two of the photographs that I took of the game in use.
The game was designed to be set up quickly ... and if the necessity arose (i.e. a call for all hands to go to their Action Stations) a game could be stopped and put away by the simple expedient of folding the board along its centre – with the ship models, islands, and rocks inside – and tipping the whole lot into a convenient draw in the wardroom.
Now that is a truly portable wargame!
The game was designed to be set up quickly ... and if the necessity arose (i.e. a call for all hands to go to their Action Stations) a game could be stopped and put away by the simple expedient of folding the board along its centre – with the ship models, islands, and rocks inside – and tipping the whole lot into a convenient draw in the wardroom.
Now that is a truly portable wargame!
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Glad to hear that the RN officers are keeping up their tactical studies.:)
ReplyDeleteRoss Mac,
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the modern RN could do with something similar for its junior officers.
I was recently reading that most current RN officers will not have actually been allowed to take command of a ship (even as a Junior Watch Officer) until they reach at least the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Gone are the days when ship handling was learned by experience whilst one served as a junior officer.
All the best,
Bob
How big are the squares? They about an inch square - a 2ft square board is about as portable as my chessboards.
ReplyDeleteI like the Pentomino Archipelago, by the way - an awkward spot for a smaller craft action...
Archduke Piccolo,
ReplyDeleteThe squares are 1.2 inches x 1.2 inches, making the board 24 inches x 24 inches.
The islands and rocks give ships the opportunity to hide from each other ... or at least to try and sneak past one another without being hit by gunfire or rammed.
All the best,
Bob
PS. The Pentomino Archipelago is a great name and deserves to be used on an imagi-nation map!
Great pictures Bob, thanks for posting. I can see value in the book now for home games, or at least giving me something to tinker with....
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Pete,
ReplyDeleteThe pictures make it much easier to understand how the game works, and the rules have been available on my blog for some time. Might I suggest that you give this wargame a try; making your own version should be quite quick, simple, and low-cost.
All the best,
Bob