Fort Morgan

1/1100 Scale ACW Fort

review by Jim Arnold

Fort Morgan, Lyzard's Grin, P.O. Box 14522, Oklahoma City, OK 73113. $18.00.

I stray outside my mandate as Napoleonic reviewer, but I must put in a plug for the efforts of Richard Houston of Lyzard's Grin. I first noticed his American Civil War 1/1100 scale ships at an HMGS convention some years ago. My friends laughed when I brought home yet another collection. Now they laugh no longer. One has joined me in becoming an avid Houston fan and several others regularly enjoy our ACW naval actions. Recently we began a combined river-seacoast game complete with blockaded ports, river batteries, steam rams and the hodge-podge CSA ironclads. Now we add Fort Morgan, a wonderful, historically accurate metal miniature version of the fort that stood guard against Farragut's Union juggernaut in 1864. The fort comes in several sections (a small problem because the joints must be joined to look good) and is obviously a labor of love. Richard visited the fort and provides the buyer with the results of his research. A typed insert informs me of the fort's color scheme, the number of guns, and its landscaping! This is really a commendable effort.

Two years ago while visiting the Confederate Gunboat Museum in Columbia, Georgia, I learned that the curator was sending CSA naval designs to Richard. I then knew that Richard took his research seriously. Fort Morgan only confirms this impression. If you have any interest in ACW naval encounters, I strongly urge you to consider Fort Morgan.

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