The League of Augsburg
His wonders to perform... God and the Medway Estuary
I actually wrote this piece last year and made a conscious decision to give up flying about two weeks later. I have am pleased to say I have only been in a plane eight times since. Of course, the current situation makes flying almost impossible anyway. Good, we're saving the planet.
I do a lot of flying....
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| The terrain as it stands |
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| Upper middle of shot - Isle of Sheppey and beyond - The Medway Estuary. |
I do a lot of flying....
10 Reasons why this is my favourite wargaming period
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| Neerwinden/Landen 1693 |
I have been gaming the period 1666-1720 for thirty years this year. Despite forays into other periods of which I am fond, I always return to my favourite. Recently, I have agreed to write a title for Helion about wargaming the period 1666-1697 specifically and that has made me reflect on why I maintain an enduring fascination for this 60 year span of history.
So, here are my...
Saved the best to last.. Caribbean test 3
It's a funny old game (to paraphrase Greavsie). Having experienced two wins from two for the single 'blinged up' privateer Sea WolfI thought I'd give the European power trio's third leg a chance to prevail over the pirates. It turned out to be the best game of all with so many little twists that I played on for 15 turns to get the final result. It took about 90 minutes altogether but of course I...
Second run of the privateer play test
I considered the first run of this game not a fluke but perhaps a little fortunate for the privateer ship.
So, giving it another go with pretty much everything the same except, the opponents this time were the Dutch West India Company Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie or GWC. The ship profiles were exactly the same with Jupiter replacing Elizabeth, Schiedam substituting for Swan and Egmondfor...
Launching a privateer - Small ship action using my naval rules
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| The game setting... tropical paradise or, mosquito infested hell hole? Europeans in the Caribbean. |
I took an inevitable diversion into the world of piracy by painting a 4th rate up and flagging it as a late 17th century privateer of indeterminate nationality.
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| The frgiate Elizabeth set sail to meet the privateer threat |
Having further developed the points system for my rule set I thought it would be...
Naval campaign part 2 preview
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| A nice day out at Ardnamurchan.... maybe not for some of these ships |
With a little help from my friends.....
Dave and Colin came over last week to keep the campaign going. We played three cracking games with me going to pick up the fourth and fifth when I get a chance.
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| Make ready your guns! Tocht challenges Rochefoucauld at Duinkirk 1672 |
Scenario number 1 entitled 'King Louis's ships'takes place off...
It's Saturday, I'll build a castle
I have several new scenarios coming up for the 17th century naval campaign. I needed something that resembled a Scottish castle. I thought - just a tower. Then, what about a tower on a rocky outcrop? Then that morphed into... maybe I could expand it to look like the stronghold of a clan chief with outbuildings etc.. yeah...
Now, how was I going to do that. Well, two cups of coffee, various rummages...
Sea, what I mean..
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| Some 1/2400 scale ships on the finished boards |
Sea mats have been very useful so far in my naval adventures and some of them are actually pretty nice. I would however, feel a bit of a phoney if I used one in a demo game at a show. This piece is a short insight into an experiment in making sea boards as opposed to the river boards I am pretty comfortable in producing.
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| A Nine Years War battle in... |
Medway Project: the second board
Completion of the first (and most complex) board for my Medway Campaign fired me up to attack the second. I managed to get it from plain MDF to finished product sans the varnish in less than a week.
This section, downriver from the Royal Dockyard stretches from Upnor Castle, an Elizebethan era...
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| Unadorned Board 1 with unpainted board 2 - just sizing it up and getting motivated to begin the paint job. |
This section, downriver from the Royal Dockyard stretches from Upnor Castle, an Elizebethan era...
Medway stage 2
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| A dressed shot of the dockyard looking east from White Wall Creek. |
When I started the project I knew where I wanted it to go but it seemed somewhat of a tall order. Several months down the track and I believe the most difficult bits are behind me. Most of the ships are done. The dockyard board which is the most involved, is done bar the shouting - one minor road change plus the appearance of a...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 2 - Hail Mary!
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| What will happen to the unlucky Eendraght? |
The walk through of my evolving naval rules for the 1640-1700 period continues where we pick the action up at the beginning of Turn 4 with the Allies once more winning the initiative which allows them to move first or, compel the French to move.
By the firing step in T4 the Allies had manouevred ships into two opportunities. The first involves Eendraght,...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 1
Let me start by saying thanks to Neil Fox for helping me get onto this path in the first instance. He sent his Solebay Fast play sheets to me and I played many games with them to get a feel for the issues around naval gaming and in particular the period 1650-1700.
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...
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| The Allied squadron in line astern |
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...