I was thinking of building a pair of fleets of Houston's 1/1000 scale Pre-Dreadnoughts for the Russo-Japanese War . . . . But I had pretty much decided to do that with either 1/2400 Panzerschiffe or 1/3000 War Times Journal ships . . . not only because of the cost factor, but also because of the table room required.
Furthering that, the Houston ships I acquired via Bartertown do not fit into the RJW . . . in fact they are so varied that they don't fit into anything like a historical conflict . . . so what to do?
My intention with the Houston ships was to use the "Perfidious Albion" rules (they look like a lot of fun) . . . and the recommendation from those who've played them is for players to only run two or three vessels until they are very experienced.
Well, looking at the ships that I have, I can put together two or three ship "squadrons" of Battleships and/or Armoured Cruisers for each of a half dozen nations that come very close to each other in terms of "Perfidious Albion" points.
So I'll build those squadrons and then players can pick which one they want (or we can dice for them) and then we'll dice for allies and go to it.
Meanwhile I'm looking at a couple of different rule sets for the RJW . . . and both of these projects are non-immediate . . . but it is good to plan ahead.
-- Jeff
4 comments:
Jeff,
I have the Panzerschiffe Japanese and Russian Tsushima fleets. The ships are tiny (of course) but you can distinguish the gun turrets and mounts, bridge, funnels, etc. I will be running an intro the the rules Sides of Steel next Monday and have a game in March. I also plan on the players only controlling two or three ships initially.
Sides of Steel is available, IIRC, from Cotton Jim's Flags ( www.cottonjimsflags.com/prodetails.asp?prodid=556&start=1 ). I purchased my copy at an Historicon several years ago.
Jim
Hi Jeff,
A plan is always good. It's always fun to look back and see how far the finished product deviated from the initial vision. Ha, ha!
How's your knee and Grizzlyville coming along? Has everybody in your neck of the woods caught "Olympic Fever" yet?
Sounds like a fun project, Jeff, lots of opportunity fro 'What-ifs' around this time period; Russia vs Britain over the Dogger Bank incident - Italy vs Austro-Hungary at anytime over anything, and more historically Span-Am and Sino Japanese of course.
Rules wise I like to use Damn Battleships Again for a bit of beer and pretzel style - but am currently exploring the free downloads of Battlefleet 1900 set available at WTJ (War Times Journal).
Health wise there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that I was able to hit the gout with medicines early enough that we beat it back into submission.
The bad news is that the floating cartilage in my knee will continue to be a problem until it finally gets worn down and broken up . . . so I'll have to live with pain in my "trick knee" for a while.
As for the Winter Olympics, while I'm sure that I'll enjoy the spectacle, etc., having them here is a double-edged sword.
They are horrendously expensive (and the Province is hiding much of the expense) . . . so the Politicians have really cut back on LOTS of programs. Education, Health Care, Public Assistance and Support for the Arts have all been slashed.
-- Jeff
Post a Comment