On Monday a small group of us got together to play a Civil War ship game. The period is fascinating because developments in ship building went crazy with a variety of unusual ships appearing. George agreed to put the game on using a variation of the Gridded Naval Wargames by Bob Cordery. These are played on a hex type mat and are very simple but not dumb. instead they simple down the things that can happen. A lot of chrome is left out but that still gives you a fun game.
Your basic ship types are monitors with turrets, casement ironclads, steam ships, paddlewhellers and rams. Each ship has its advantages and disadvantage. Iron ships can take a incredible amount of damage but are very very slow. Steam ships are fast and have lots of guns but limited amount of damage. Paddlers are really manoverable. And rams can if course ram and are very fast but very fragile.
The game was four union ships had to get pass the Confederate ships. There were islands and sand bars in there way.
Warren and I took the Union fleet ; warren had a monitor and a steamer, I had two steamers.
John and Phil took the Confederate fleet of two paddelers, A steamer and a iron clad.
The game moved very fast. First phase both sides shot and add damages. Then both sides roll with high side moves first. islands block movement and you cannot fire over them. Sandbags will cause your ship to ground and be stuck; but you can fire over them.
The Union navy charged forward. I took two Steamers and made straight for the lower passage while Warren with the monitor made for the northern rout. Basically we found out very quickly that iron ships are clumsy and slow. It was the wooden ships that did most of the fighting. I used my two steam powered frigates to race pass an casement iron clad ship. Then the extra number of guns to blast the smaller paddelers who came out to fight one at a time. In the end the Union eliminated three of four Confederate ships and exited off the table.
There was enough time left in the day we reversed roles and played again. Similar results with the Union again winning. Two games in one day that's a record. The rules are simple but with twists and provide a fun game. Naval purists will moan and complain about how unrealistic the rules are. Well, they are. They simplify lots of things so a die roll gives you a result. A game can be played in a reasonable amount of time and gives a reasonable accurate result. But best of all you get to play with these unusual and strange ships and have a fun day out. Ill take that any day of the week.
