"Memoirs, Detailed Accounts, Rules: Pre-dread?" Topic
11 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please do not post offers to buy and sell on the main forum.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Early 20th Century Product Reviews Message Board Back to the Early 20th Century Media Message Board Back to the 19th Century Product Reviews Message Board Back to the 19th Century Media Message Board Back to the Naval Gaming 1898-1929 Message Board
Areas of Interest19th Century World War One
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Top-Rated Ruleset
Featured Showcase ArticleA walk down memory lane - do you remember the Tank Trap?
Featured Book Review
|
Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
Texas Jack | 09 Jun 2014 12:14 p.m. PST |
Here are some goodies from archive.org: From the captain of the Indiana: link The USS Eagle, an armed yacht: link Admiral Schley: link George Dewey´s autobiography: link There is also one on there somewhere written by the chaplain of the USS Texas, but I didn´t come across it in my quick search. And finally here is a book about the Russian cruiser Novik during the war with Japan. I found it to be outstanding: link |
Texas Jack | 10 Jun 2014 11:01 a.m. PST |
I´ve read Leeke´s book on Manila and Santiago, and it is interesting but without any new information. That is the problem with this era, there aren´t many battles to examine, and the ones that were fought have been examined to death. Still, while not earth shaking, Leeke does write well so I can recommend it. Berry´s book I have somehow missed, so I cannot comment on that. I read Jane´s rules years ago, but I am afraid those brain cells must have perished while I was at college. I really should dig it out again. |
Yellow Admiral | 10 Jun 2014 5:01 p.m. PST |
If you want rules with good background, get "The Russo-Japanese War" by Clash of Arms, the RJW verion of Fear God and Dread Nought. The game itself is extremely detailed and very slow to play, but the research that went into it is excellent. I own a copy exactly for this reason. The fastest rules I've found that give a good feel of the uniqueness of each ship are Fire When Ready (by David Manley) and Perfidious Albion (by John Hurst) – both published by A&A Game Engineering and available through wargamevault.com. However, both of those rules are a bit slow to play, best with only a few ships per player. I've managed to play the Battle of the Yellow Sea and a few "what if" battles with FWR, but it took a long time and I had to do a LOT of work to generate easily-read ship rosters. There are lots of other rules for pre-dreadnought gaming, but most of them leave out the characteristics that make pre-dreadnoughts interesting. The period saw a lot of experimentation in armor types, armor schemes, propulsion, guns, shells, gunpowder, hull forms, optics, etc. Everything was in an experimental stage, and the differences could (theoretically) be critical in the right circumstances. But tracking all those details in a miniatures game is time-consuming. I was hoping for the longest time that a pre-dreadnought version of General Quarters 3 would come out. The basic mechanics have a lot of potential for simulating unique characteristics of individual ships without bogging down the game too much. Alas, the author said he'd never do such a thing. - Ix |
NCC1717 | 11 Jun 2014 5:47 p.m. PST |
For a pre-dreadnought in the dreadnought era (the Slava): George M. Nekrasov, "Expendable Glory: Russian Battleship in the Baltic, 1915-1917" ISBN 0-88033-534-3 |
optional field | 21 Jun 2014 3:36 p.m. PST |
They're not for the SAW, but if you do consider rules for playing the period, Fear God & Dread Nought by Clash of Arms is excellent. You could re-create the ships of the SAW with the information provided in the rules. |
138SquadronRAF | 23 Jun 2014 6:42 p.m. PST |
I really like "Fire When Ready" and the author is member of TMP |
|