The League of Augsburg

Off the Bakendik Bolong, Rupert attacks the stranded Temperance.

Eight days (15 turns) into the campaign, we are at the 25% mark. It has been an eventful journey so far and the Royalists are no further than four miles from the mouth of the Gambia River. They have had two encounters with Berber pirates coming off worst in the first encounter and being mere spectators to a French victory in the...

The campaign has a full and detailed narrative which accompanies the turn by turn mechanics. All of the narrative is based on events which happen in the table-top wargames combined with the role-play conversations and the umpire controlled activities. 

So far, the narrative runs to over 5,000 words for the first ten turns. Below is an extract from 5th March, five days into the campaign and it...

We've recently begun a campaign recreating the adventures of the itinerant Royalist Fleet on the West African coast in 1652. Under Prinz Ruprecht von der Pfalz known more commonly in Engish as Rupert of the Rhine, a small battered squadron 'privateered' between the Islas Cabo Verde and The Gambia for some weeks. 

Campaign Map

I have manipulated a few facts but nothing too outrageous. We have...

Tomorrow sees a return to Claymore for me. Last time I was there was three years ago and I was lucky enough to win the Best Display game with a land based Ottoman Wars effort in 28mm. This time I am significantly downscaling in line with my green-policy of getting rid of the German tank of a car and opting for a quiet little Nipponese hybrid with much less space inside. 

Having downscaled the...

A grand fleet - Charles II's battleships 1666

At Partizan this year I am doing something different. I am running a 'demo rules-workshop' where anyone curious about Anglo-Dutch naval wargaming can come along, throw a few dice, try a few mechanisms and ask lots of questions. 

Line of battle developed between 1652 and 1660

I will set up gaming scenarios in three different scales to explain the scope of...

If you don't know much about the Four Days Battle of 1666 there is a hole in your life! This epic sea battle between the Restoration English Navy and that of the Dutch Republic involved a massive number of ships - around 160, over 40,000 men and in excess of 9,000 guns. It was fought over four days (hence the name!) with some fighting also happening at night.

It is crammed full of desperate...

6 x 4 table 1/4800 scale

An express taken by the yacht Zwole from Michiel de Ruyter to The States General following an action on July 24th 1666

It is my misfortune to report to the States General that in an encounter with the English fleet under His Highness and the Lord Albemarle, my own squadron was unable to impress upon the enemy that a conflict between our nations leaves no winner. With the...

Set up on a 6 x 4 table

Where to begin? The last battle was a decisive victory for the English fleet. This encounter sees de Ruyter’s large 1^stsquadron of the Dutch fleet, badly battered after a day of engaging the Duke of Albemarle off the Suffolk coast. Having broken off in the late afternoon, the Dutch are heading southeast to regroup, repair and replenish when to windward, they spot twenty-one...

I worked on a lot of scenario stuff during the holiday break being confined to bed with the lurgy. One such was the latest free 4Play scenario set focused on Mad for War. 

It is imaginatively titled - Mad for Wargaming! It features three unusual scenarios

The first has a lone VOC ship facing a flotilla of Chinese pirate junks and fireships of various sizes in the spice islands of Indonesia. If you...

I have been working on a Fleet level version of Mad for War which slots in very well with the current rules. It is a while since I managed to make any videos so I crammed this one in before the turn of the year.

It is a walk through the mechanics as worked out using 2D ship counters before I go for the 3d model versions. I chose a section of the fleets from the famous Four Days Battle of 1666. 

Happ...