"Re-embarking on the ACW project" Topic

OK, years ago I started working on my ironclad project… needless to say…. I am starting over…. I am getting help from a bunch of folks who are extremely knowledgeable, but… to be thorough.. one must speak to those here.. I think…. I find you guys always very helpful and knowledgeable!

Anyway, I have opted to do the Atlantic stuff. Before anyone starts, I already know the war was won on the rivers…. but. I beg to differ a bit… anyway… I am fresh back from my Easter trip to SC and come home to find my package from Langton…. 30 ships!!! all 1:1200…

I am set with scale, color schemes and even how I will base them…. I even have a set of rules in mind.

My questions to you folks are as follows….
1. What rule set do you recommend for 1:1200?
2. Is there a good place to go to get lots of scenarios and "what if" battles….
3. What ships would you recommend getting?

The reason for my last question…. I know that for a lot of the CSS ironclads I will be able to use the same model as the ships were of the same class but not at the same battles…. but even knowing this…. I come up with 21 USS and only 9CSS.. I seem to think I am missing some, somewhere….

As follows:
USS:
Monitor, Sassacus class (2), Miantonomoh, Roanoke steamer, Minnesota steamer, Hartford, Passaic class (2), Canonicus class (2), Onondaga, 90 day gunboats (2), Roanoke, Kearsarge, New ironsides, Keokuk, Armed ferryboat, Mississippi, commercial steamer

CSS:
Virginia/Merrimac, Richmond class (1), Palmetto state, Albermarle, Rattlesnake, Fredericksburg, Virginia II, Alabama, Colonel Lamb

Am I missing stuff?

I plan to eventually wrap around and get to Gulf stuff, like New Orleans, Mobile Bay, etc…

Any help is greatly appreciated!
As are any direction to scenarios, especially "What ifs"… as a lot of the CSS Atlantic stuff never got completed.. what if it did?

We have had fun with Sail & Steam Navies. With Yaquinto's "Ironclads" still not out there as a mini's set of rules, I do like SASN, quite a bit! I would look to Thoroughbred for any more ships you need, Toby just came out with the best 1:1200 ships out there last year. As for Scenarios, I do think there are a bunch in the SASN rulebook, but I'm not positive & I'm at work! Here are a few pics of a test game using SASN for a H-Con game a few years ago: link
Good luck & Have Fun!
Peter

Thanks for the start, I hope others chime in!
I own an unpunched copy of Yaquinto's Ironclads, but not the expansion (blue box).

IT has a lot of scenarios….

Also…. the rule set my group uses is VERY CLOSE to the original Ironclads…. it even has about 700 cards for ships!!!! The name eludes me though!!! You buy it on disc.

I did hear at Cold Wars too that another author is coming out with an Ironclads game very comparable to Yaquinto's Ironclads….

I have heard amazing things about Thoroughbred's stuff too… I went with Langton because that is what I had… before they disappeared… long story for a different time… anyway… I ordered direct because of the exchange rate and pricing couldn't be beat, even with the shipping!!!!

I also wanted to apologize.. I posted this in the wrong forum and didn't cross-post it to the Ironclads forum… and I iz to dum to figr out how to post it elsewhere now that it is locked in, lol!

I posted this in the wrong forum and didn't cross-post it to the Ironclads forum… and I iz to dum to figr out how to post it elsewhere now that it is locked in, lol!

The only way I know is to PM the editor-in-chief, tell him the URL to this thread, and ask him to cross post it for you.

- Ix

You can find my long, boring impressions of various 1/1200 ACW naval ranges in this thread. Short version: Langton and Thoroughbred are about equally lovely, but different enough in style that all vessels of the same class should come from only one manufacturer.

Both S&SN and Ironclads include scenarios, and I think the 1993 Ironclads expansion had even more scenarios.

My favorite scenario is some variation of "kill the monster": one Confederate ironclad run by the GM (me!) facing off against numerous wooden Union boats. It puts all the players on the same side, presents them with a tough tactical problem, lets the referee play the game, and easily scales up or down, especially when adding shore batteries, transports, little gunboats, torpedo rams, etc.

- Ix

I'd recommend my "Iron and Fire" rules from A&AGE which I wrote with 1/1200 in mind. But then I am a bit biased :)

Agree, Ironclads is an excellent source of scenario material.

No problem with concentrating on the Atlantic to start with. The war was won there and in the Gulf of Mexico if anywhere at all

Thanks folks!
I have started reviewing material and am looking at color schemes/prepping the ships.

You can often find both Ironclads and it's expansion set on ebay, and at what I would consider reasonable prices. My old club played it in 1/1200 as a miniatures game by simply converting hexes to inches ( I cannot off the top of my head remember the conversion, but it was simple and worked) and made up some turn radius rulers/markers from manila folders.

Although there are a number of fine rules sets out there for this period, I can think of none finer, nor more complete, than Ironclads, and it's expansion set.

Not just the ACW ships, but the scenarios AND foreign ironclad vessels for post war and "what if" scenarios, such as English or french intervention in the Gulf, Mexico, etc.

Yes, one of the things I want to do is look at a lot of "what-if" scenarios….