Ironclads, Dawn of Iron, 1/600 scale 

As part of the ‘learning the rules’ drive, I staged another small American Civil War naval game at home, to see how less well-protected ships fared under these new rules. In the end I staged a slimmed-down version of Hampton Roads, and the fight between the Monitor and the Virginia (nee Merrimac). I missed out most of the small boats – mainly tugs and tenders – and the bigger wooden-hulled warships that stayed on the edges of the fight. So, that left me with the two ironclads, plus the elegant wooden-hulled gunboat CSS Patrick Henry and the beached  and immobile steam frigate USS Minnesota. Behind her, on the shore, was a small gun battery at Camp Butler. The whole layout was massively simplified – no shoals or shallow water, and only one piece of land, representing the northern shore of Hampton Roads around Camp Butler. This was, after all, a learning curve game.  In this game, David played the Confederates, while I commanded the Union. The game began with Virginia coming out of Norfolk off the southern table edge, followed by Patrick Henry (above). They headed for Minnesota, while the Monitor was over to the north-east, but was closing with the Confederates. The two ironclads traded shots at long-range, while the Minnesota and the Camp Butler battery fired at Patrick Henry, which began to get chewed up.Understandably, the rules didn’t have anything in them about overhead fire – technically the battery was capable of firing over Minnesota. However, I figures that once the range to about 16″ then it couldn’t do that any more. Patrick Henry was pounded though, before it got within cover of the stricken Union frigate. You’ll see in the damage cards above that Patrick Henry lost three of her five hull points, and her speed was reduced a little. By then though, the crew of the Minnesota had other things to worry about. Ignoring Monitor, which was approaching from her starboard beam, Virginia went to full speed, and rammed into the stationary frigate. We’d tried ramming before, in the Wassaw Sound game, and found it damaging for both ships. That’s what happened here, with Minnesota holed and  damaged, with some guns knocked out, while Virginia was damaged too, and lost her stern gun. Presumably it was dismounted in the crash. Meanwhile the Monitor had her steering position hit, and couldn’t change course. So, the Union ironclad maintained its course, steaming past the stern of the Virginia. This though, allowed her to fire into her at point-blank range. However, the Virginia successfully backed away from the Minnesota, and began turning around to take on the Monitor. From now on the ironclads would fight each other. While all this was going on the Patrick Henry slipped past the Minnesota, and sheltered off the Camp Butler headland, out of firing arc of the shore battery, and from the forward guns of the frigate, which had been knocked out in the ramming. the Confederate gunboat fired into the bow of the Minnesota, but this didn’t really achieve anything. Eventually, the gunboat gave up and withdrew up the James River, off the western table edge.  As Virginia moved out of range of the Minnesota, that left Virginia and Monitor in the fight. The Confederate ironclad though, was in poor shape. She’d taken a couple of red ‘Critical Hits’ from the Monitor, and yellow ‘Cumulative Hits’ from the Minnesota. Her after gun had been disabled, her beam guns were partly damaged, and her speed was reduced. So, it made sense to break off the fight and head for home. The Monitor was between the Virginia and Norfolk though, and the Confederate ironclad needed to fight her way past. So, a slow-moving gunnery duel followed. The Monitor had the greater kick, especially at point-blank range, but the Virginia was lucky with saves, and it didn’t really suffer. the The crew of the Monitor had just repaired their steering gear,  so she was able to manoeuvre, which was just as well, as Virginia tried to use her ram again. Then a lucky close-range shot from Monitor struck Virginia’s pilot house, and killed the ship’s captain, Commodore Buchanan. That added to the problem of an already shaken crew, so the Executive Officer Lt. Jones ordered the big ironclad head directly for home. Monitor would have given chase, but a temporary damage to one of her guns reduced her firepower, and so  Lt. Worden commanding the Monitor also decided to break off the fight. That then, was the end of the game. Minnesota was crippled, and Monitor temporarily damaged, but both Patrick Henry and Virginia needed major repairs – and a new captain. We called the game a draw, which seemed fair. The main thing though, was testing out of the rules. I still have some reservations, such as ship turning and firing rates, but these can be dealt with by house rules. On the whole though, I thought the rules worked very well indeed.  They’re available online from Wargames Vault, as a PDF, and I’d say they’re worth a try. Although a bit ‘beer and pretzels’, they’re good enough to reflect the way these battles panned out, while giving both sides some chance of success. My only criticism is the annoying number of damage cards being used, but even there the main key feature of them is the damage effect, like hull point losses or a reduction in speed or firepower. Recommended.

Tags: Dawn of Iron