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| Western Approaches 1651 - Royalist and Irish privateers attack GWC ships |
True, I have not been blogging as frequently as usual recently but that is not an indication of lack of hobby time, the opposite is true. A cancelled holiday in the north of Scotland due to raised levels of national restriction gave me an extra week with no work and no travel. That has allowed a real focus on several projects. As 2020 hurtles towards its close I can actually look back on this year with some satisfaction. I got a lot done on the hobby front.
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Donnybrook - open ocean action in the Atlantic
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What has been preoccupying me over the last couple of weeks is the drive to release a set of naval rules. No, not the set which I have been play testing and blogging about all year (they are coming very soon) but rather, Donnybrook at Sea.
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1683 Sfax Harbour, Tunisia - Under attack by the English.
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My delve into 17th century naval gaming has uncovered so many small actions and to be even more specific, actions involving small ships, that I firstly deemed it necessary to review the small ships rules in Mad for War (to be released I hope over the next 3-4 month) but also to create a naval framework for Donnybrook.
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A boom slung between an English gunship and two warships
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The rules fuse core Donnybook concepts with the multitudinous learning experiences of all my 1/1200 and 1/2400 gaming.
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One of my favourite bits of history no one has heard of - Holmes's Bonfire 1666
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I firstly played over a dozen games and then slung the rules and notes about them Stateside to get Clarence's perspective. Then, we ironed out several glitches together and he got busy on the layouts. This mean, within a couple of weeks, we will present Donnybrook at Sea. My time has been taken setting up playtests, gaming, photographing and writing scenario pdfs to support the release. Clarence has been busy on layouts and stress testing!
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| 1666 The English burn Schelling Town and make off with the loot. |
The games have been so much fun to create and run and the source material is stacking up so I see no shortage of unusual and fact based scenarios to support the rules.
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Invading Greenock - yes, it happened. The Campbell's are coming!
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I will of course do a specific guide to Donnybrook at Sea but set up this post just to let you know what is coming and what it looks like. Whether you want to use war canoes or galleys, pirate ships or merchant crews, marines, militia, marksmen or mahrattas.. it will be with you very soon.
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| 1709: Guayaqil, Peru - Robinson Crusoe and his pirate bros invade Spanish territory - True! |
As a final appetite whetter, have a look at this short video
And if you liked that, you will love this a 'Jingal' or wall gun
