It comes as no surprise that where wargamers who are primarily ‘land’ oriented use model warships in games, these are American Civil War vessels, Skytrex, Langton (for the millionaires amongst us!), or most frequently these days, ’Peter Pig’s’ delightful and inexpensive 1/600 range. The early steam ships and ironclads are also great fun in ‘solo’ games; I’ve often played the Confederate role, using forts, guns, torpedoes and submersibles as well as warships against a line of seemingly indestructible monitors as they attempt a passage.
Recently, I came upon an interesting scenario for an ACW naval game, played out in British waters. It appears in “Stand-off in the Solent: The American Civil War comes to Hampshire” By Mike Hughes. Published as no. 23 in the ‘Hampshire Papers’ series*. It develops in a short 25 page glossy booklet, the story of how the “CSS Nashville”, a commerce raider, and the “USS Tuscarora” faced each other in Southampton Water in 1862. A naval battle in the Solent was narrowly avoided only by the rapid re-enforcement of the British guardship “HMS Shannon” by powerful units including “HMS Warrior”! The well illustrated paper provides the background for an excellent wargame, involving a number of problems, provisioning, mooring, the role of the forts, and the effect of a smallpox outbreak aboard the US navy warship, which should have made short work of the lightly armed “Nashville”. At one stage in this encounter ‘HMS Shannon’ barred ‘Tuscarora’s’ passage with her guns run out as the ‘Nashville’ steamed out to sea.
I can recommend this delightful little booklet, not merely as the basis for a wargame, but for anyone with an interest in that conflict between the states. There’s an excellent bibliography too, and the paper is written in a style intended for both specialist and general reader. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
‘Hampshire Paper’ No. 23, ISSN 0964-9883, published 2002,is available from Hampshire Record Offlce, Sussex Street, Winchester, S23 8TH (tel: 01962-846154) Priced at only £1 (yes! ONE pound!) plus p&p.
More Book Reviews
- “The Armourer” (Magazine)
Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World
Siege Mines and Underground Warfare
A ‘Hampshire Paper’ : ACW Naval Battle
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