ACW Naval: Recommeded Ships & Rules
Tim Marshall
Some of us here know nothing about ACW Naval engagements, but are
interested in some of the lines of 1/600 ship models available. While we
will soon start reading & researching the subject, we want to get on with
the other side of this hobby - model building! So here are three
questions I'll throw out:
1 - Ships. We are going to start off ordering 9-10 ships; WHAT SHIPS DO YOU
RECOMMEND, the only ones I redfacedly admit to knowing about are monitor
and merrimac and they were not the whole naval war!!!! What sailing
ships, etc, should we first purchase?
2 - Rules. What rules are out there and available?
3 - Research. Can someone recommend any decent books that are not hidden
away in the dungeons of some used book store in Malaysia? :)
If you can respond to all or part, please email me or respond here - I'm
sure others would be interested in the replies.
TIA!
Tim
* * * * * *
Facilities Management /\ /\ *"Come away, O human child!... For
Memorial University { O O } * the world's more full of weeping
St. John's, NF =(=@=)= * than you can understand"
Canada - * - W.B. Yeats
T Cane
>TIA!
A readily available book that I can recommend is :- Warships and
Naval Battles of the US Civil War, by Tony Gibbons, published by
Dragon's World in 1989, ISBN 850280940.
This has 100's of colour illustrations of the ships, potted histories
of most of the ships used, including stats on armour etc. It alos has
a list of every vitually every ship used with brief details, and very
brief information on 3 or 4 battles.
The rules I use are Age of Iron, published by Mindgames but these are
probably more suited to smaller scale ships. They do include several
interesting scenarios.
There are sevel sources of ships and rules in the UK but I am not sure
of there availability. The Peter Pig range is definitely worth
checking out. Should be available via Brookhurst Hobbies. They do both
the ships and a rules set
T Cane
Tim Couper
>A readily available book that I can recommend is :- Warships and
>Naval Battles of the US Civil War, by Tony Gibbons, published by
>Dragon's World in 1989, ISBN 850280940.
Does anyone know where this book can be purchased? Last I heard
(some time ago), it was out of print.
Tim Couper
David Sullivan
> 1 - Ships. We are going to start off ordering 9-10 ships; WHAT SHIPS DO YOU RECOMMEND, the
>only ones I redfacedly admit to knowing about are monitor and merrimac and they were not the
>whole naval war!!!! What sailing ships, etc, should we first purchase?
Tim (et al.):
In 1/600th there are two lines available: Thoroughbred Figures and Peter Pig. Thoroughbred are
excellent white metal highly detailed and excruciatingly accurate and are the sole work of one
person, Toby Barrett in Virginia. The line is fairly large, but small when one considers the
number of ship types employed during the war. Peter Pig are resin cast and are not nearly the
quality of Thoroughbred but there are some very nice models and PP fill some of the gaps in
Throughbred's line.
Sailing ships are still pretty scarce in 1/600th. Thoroughbred has a USS Hartford (Richmond
and Brooklyn, too). These were screw sloops and fought in several engagements: New Orleans,
Vicksburg, Port Hudson and Mobile Bay. Thoroughbred also makes two types of double-ender a
Sassacus class and a Paul Jones class. These were double-ended wooden steamships with two
masts. There were several in each class and they served all over the place. Toby is also
planning some 90-day gunboats and a Kearsarge and Alabama that will be out sometime this year
(I think). For a source of these check out Grandiosity's page at:
http://www.erinet.com/bp/through.html
Bob French sells the entire range of Thoroughbred at discount prices. For Peter Pig check out
Brookhurst Hobbies in So. California. They are a major distributor of British products and
have a good level of service (I live in Seattle and get orders from Brookhurst within 5 days).
The ships to start with depends on what kind of actions you want to do. On the Mississippi,
the Union had several types of armored or partially armored gunboats as well as some
steamships called "tinclads" and some steam rams. The Confederates had mostly just cottonclad
steam rams mounting only a few guns but with reinforced bows for ramming. There were also some
ironclads, especially notable is the CSS Arkansas. The Manassas fought at New Orleans as did
the Louisiana (as a floating battery). All of these types are available from one or the other
of the two manufacturers above.
In the east, the war was mostly blockading ports and rivers. The confederates had several
powerful ironclads in harbors or rivers. The CSS Albemarle fought single-handedly agaisnt
several Union Warships in the Roanoke River. The Confederate James river squadron had 3
ironclads at Richmond plus some gunboats, facing them were a lot of Union gunboats (mostly
double-enders) and some monitors including the twin-turreted USS Onondaga.
We've found that the best games for this are those that combine wooden and ironclad vessels.
The mixture of the all-powerful ironclad and the all-vulnerable wooden vessel make for some
spactacular events and reducing the ironclad makes for an edge-of-the-seat kind of game.
>
> 2 - Rules. What rules are out there and available?
>
I use a modification of the old Yaquinto boardgame "Ironclads" and the "Ironclads: Expansion".
These are being reprinted by Excalibre Games in Canada, but they're not cheap. The two sets
run $35.00 each in the US.
Another option is "Age of Iron" by Leo Walsh. This is a simpler set than "Ironclads" but is
quite enjoyable.
I'm currently at work on a rule set for ACW naval that I hope to combine some of the accuracy
and detail of "Ironclads" with enhanced playability. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Peter Pig markets a set of ACW naval rules called "Hammerin' Iron". Avoid them.
>
> 3 - Research. Can someone recommend any decent books that are not hidden
> away in the dungeons of some used book store in Malaysia? :)
>
The best book to get is "Warships of the Civil War Navies" by Paul Silverstone. It lists every
ship in both navies with good info on each ship: size, crew, armament, armor and service
history during the war (and after in some cases). It also contains numerous pictures of the
ships. Definitely a must - and it's still in print!
"Iron Afloat" by William Still is a great book on the history of the Confederate Ironclads.
More of a narrative than a source book, it gives a good understanding of the challenges faced
by the Confederacy to build a navy that could stand up to the Union behemoth. It's put out by
South Carolina University Press.
Aslo from SCU Press is "A Year on a Monitor" by Alvah Hunter. This is a record of the year
spent aboard the USS Nahant outside Charleston Harbor. Hunter was a 16 year old ship's boy
during 1863. While on board the Nahant he took part in the first two assaults on Fort Sumter,
the attack on Battery Wagner (where the 54th Mass. Colored saw action on land) and the capture
of the ironclad CSS Atlanta outside of Savannah. A good read and it gives more color to the
naval war than anything else I've read.
There are also a handful of histories that have come out. the 3-volume "Civil War at Sea" by
Virgil Carrington Jones has been reprinted. This is a good general history of the entire naval
conflict. Also "Divided Waters" came out last year. This is a single volume history of the
naval war. I haven't read it and don't recall the author, but it may be of interest for
someone new to the subject.
Among the harder to find books is Thomas J. Scharf's "History of the Confederate States Navy".
This is a 19th century work that has a lot of good information. As the title may suggest, it
sees the war from a Southern perspective but is a good read. Also look for Alfred Thayer
Mahan's "The Gulf and Inland Waters". This is part of a series on the Civil War and covers the
campaign for control of the Mississippi and its tributaries as well as the capture of Mobile
on the Gulf. Its out of print, but I got a copy last year at Vicksburg from the National Parks
gift store. They have a lot of books that are not currently available anywhere else (such as
Edwin C. Bearss' "The Vicksburg Campaign" and "Confederate Victory at Vicksburg" about the
first failed attempt to take Vicksburg from the water - very good information about Farragut's
operations on the Mississippi after the capture of New Orleans in 1862). David Dixon Porter's
"Naval History of the Civil War" has also been reprinted a number of times. It's out of print
now, but it shows up in used books stores occasionally (and North American ones at that).
As a final suggestion on ship data. The US Government Printing Office (GPO) has available the
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting ships (DANFS). This is a multi-volume work that covers
details of every fighting ship that ever served in the US Navy. In volume II there is an
appendix which covers every ship of the Confederacy. The Union ships are, unfortunately,
listed alphabetically throughout the volumes. Also in volume III is an appendix in Civil War
naval ordnance. Good information about the guns used onboard and on land in the naval
conflict.
I hope this is helpful. Welcome to the fight! If you have any other questions, feel free to
e-mail me at the address below. I'm happy to correspond with anyone on this subject.
Responding to the list is OK but my access is sporadic. The firewall here is a little too good
and a lot of internet news doesn't get through, or it gets through after long delays (I only
got your posting today 6/28).
Regards,
David Sullivan
dasu...@mv.us.adobe.com
kwenker
it, it ain't printed. Best military bookstore there is. Bar
none.
Kevin
les....@ukonline.co.uk
Thanks for posting such good information about ACW naval gaming.
I'm interested in how you have converted Ironclads for miniatures. This
is something I always promised to do. Perhaps you could help me out.
You could EMail me direct if you think there's something I could use.
You probably know that you can get some good ACW books from Naval Institiute
Press (your Navy not ours!) in Annapolis. The Old Steam Navy books are wonderful.
Thanks once again - Les