"Little Wars 2023 ACW Naval Games" Topic

I was happy to see the following ACW naval games listed for this year's Little Wars convention in Lisle, IL (April 27-30):

- Operation Anaconda (1/600, Black Powder & Steam)

- Naval Battle of Memphis (1/1200, Iron & Fire)

- Battle of Trent's Reach (1/600, The Ironclads, modified)

- Naval Battle of New Orleans (1/1200, Iron & Fire)

- Naval Battle of Mobile Bay (1/1200, Iron & Fire)

The latter two games will include some Confederate ironclads (CSS Mississippi, CSS Louisiana, etc.) that were historically unfinished at the time of the battles as well as a few additional Union ships for balance purposes.

All five games are scheduled for Friday the 28th, between 9am and 7pm, with a repeat of Trent's Reach on Sunday at 11am. More details can be found at the TableTop Events website:

link

Here's a photo of the Battle of New Orleans ACW naval game I played in at Midwest Little Wars back in April of this year.

The scale was 1/1200 and the ships were hand-carved, homemade affairs. We had eight players in all: four Confederate and four Union. Us rebels had 12 ships in play (3 ironclads, one multi-masted sailing ship and eight paddle-wheelers while the Union side had seven large wooden frigates and one side-wheeler.

In order to help balance this scenario, the GM had reduced the total number of Union ships available from 18 to just 8. He also allowed that the Confederates were able to complete their two big unfinished ironclad rams they historically had either on the slipways (CSS Mississippi) or launched but with no engines (CSS Louisiana). Both vessels were given top speeds far above what they likely could have achieved in real life.

Even with all these added (and considerable) advantages, though, we were unable to prevail over the Union fleet, losing six of our twelve ships and sinking only one in return. Two Union frigates were making their way upriver (see photo) when the game ended, with more likely to follow. The two forts (Jackson and St. Phillip) were able to inflict more damage than was done historically but even this wasn't enough to even the odds.

On the plus side for the rebels, CSS Louisiana was able to ram USS Mississippi twice and we finally managed to put her under and salvage a few shreds of dignity for ourselves.