Steve's Ironclads

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I couldn't fail to observe that Steve is a very organized wargamer.

This is his storage system for ironclads. "It's mounted on casters to move it around (easier for cons!)," explains Steve. "Each drawer has two layers of foam, with cut-outs to fit the hex bases. All of the ships - in 1/1200 scale - and obstructions, mines, trees, buildings, etc., are mounted on 1¼" hexes made from aluminum bar stock." (Steve works in a machine shop.)

Here Steve has set up a terrain board for Scenario #15 from The Ironclads rulebook - The James River, Virginia, Jan. 24, 1865. "It is set-up on my 3½' x 5' dining table," says Steve, "which is one of the reasons I like 1/1200 scale! Plus, they're cheap!"

(Since my visit, Steve has moved his house to some land he bought and put it on a 70' x 28' basement. "So now I have a big table downstairs," he says, "and plenty of room for gaming.")

"I use Geo-Hex hex terrain for movement and fire, so no modifications to The Ironclads rules are needed," explains Steve, "as it is really a boardgame."

"I paint all of the ships with a 'generic' paint job," says Steve, "so I can use them as whatever ship is needed.

"Basically, all ironclads get a metal color, while wooden vessels get brown/painted surfaces.

"This works good for novice players at cons - they may not know how individual ships were historically, but they know the difference between iron and wood!"

100 lb. Parrot battery above City Point.

Boom unit obstructions and a hulk obstruction.

"The buildings are small blocks of wood shaped with a belt sander," explains Steve, "painted and glued to hexes."

USS Osceola and USS Miami defending the docks.

Town hexes made from sanded wood bits.