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David Manley
08-08-2012, 15:49
A date for your diaries if you are in the UK next Summer. The Naval Wargames Show will be held at the Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport, Hampshire on 22/23rd June. It would be nice to think that we'll be playing SoG at the event this time :D

David Manley
05-27-2013, 16:12
An update on the show. Plans are coming on nicely . We have 13 games planned so far, nine on Saturday, eight on Sunday (some games are running both days) with demos of "Sails of Glory" and the new versio of Victory At Sea from Mongoose (as well as their new range of models).

Other games include

* the Cod War in 1/600
* WW2 Coastal forces
* 1/2400 'Hail Agrippa' ancient naval participation
* 1/600 ACW
* 20mm Sudan (including riverboats)
* Battle of Camperdown in 1/1200 (presented by the Inshore Squadron)
* Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1/3000
* Keshian Civil War (Man o Warrun by Jeff Crane)
* Shipwreck Modern naval in 1/6000

We should also have "The Anchorage" in attendance - Stuart Barnes Watson's new 1/1200 model dealership. So quite a diverse coverage of periods and scales.

7eat51
05-27-2013, 21:09
Looking forward to hearing about your experience with SoG. Have you decided on the format of SoG games?

David Manley
05-28-2013, 04:54
Looking forward to hearing about your experience with SoG. Have you decided on the format of SoG games?

probably starting with simple, open ocean games with one SOL and one FF per side (thats all the ships anyway), entering 18"' up from the "South West" and "South East" corners, wind from the South so neither player starts with the weather gauge and let them duke it out from there. Although of course I reserve the right to amend the scenario setup if that doesn't produce a fun game :)

David Manley
06-23-2013, 13:34
I've just got back from the show and it was the best yet! The games hall was packed both days with a great variety of periods, scales and subjects. Sails of Glory was extremely popular and I think the games have led to a number of players and visitors deciding to grab a copy when it becomes available (one friend was adamant he'd not be buying when he arrived - by the time he had played and had thought about it during lunch he was adamant that he WOULD be!). Piccies up soon.

And it was great to meet up with Rory - a true gent, and his models are even better in the flesh than his pictures suggest. With luck we'll be playing more games as and when the Wessex group of the NWS emerges from its dormancy!

Cmmdre
06-23-2013, 13:42
Wonderful report David. Look forward to see the action in pics. :clap:

Nightmoss
06-23-2013, 14:00
Thanks for posting the news, David. Looking forward to seeing the photos when you get the time.:salute:

Devsdoc
06-23-2013, 21:13
I've just got back from the show and it was the best yet! The games hall was packed both days with a great variety of periods, scales and subjects. Sails of Glory was extremely popular and I think the games have led to a number of players and visitors deciding to grab a copy when it becomes available (one friend was adamant he'd not be buying when he arrived - by the time he had played and had thought about it during lunch he was adamant that he WOULD be!). Piccies up soon.

And it was great to meet up with Rory - a true gent, and his models are even better in the flesh than his pictures suggest. With luck we'll be playing more games as and when the Wessex group of the NWS emerges from its dormancy!

Hi David,
Thanks for the game. I'm not too good now, bloody sugars are so low :sick: I will talk more later.
Be safe
Rory

Devsdoc
06-24-2013, 19:56
HI All,
Better now! Had a oppps with my blood sugars late night, not good. But O.K. now. It was so nice to meet David and Mark yesterday at Gosport. To see folks face to face is so much better than just on line.
I died and went to haven seeing Marks group playing Camperdown The ships looked oh! so good. The game is all based around a computer. You tap in what you wish each ship to do and the computer works it all out for you. e.g. you fire with full sail. The computer tales you something like, "Good shot, but you have started X number of fires on your ship". Then you move the ships. If you fight the fires next turn the computer says "very good fires are out" or you don't fight them " Bad the small fires are now bigger more crew need to fight the fire, so you can not fire all your guns this time". I was lucky to see a first with this game as the British Flagship exploded. Mark also had the damaged ships to replace non-damaged ships it was a beautiful looking game. But this time the Dutch had the upper hand. Also as the game logs all movement, you can stop the game pack all away and re-set it up again X days later and carry on playing. Mark sent me the game sometime ago, but my computer does not like it and will not play it. Mark said he will give me a hand in putting it right. I must say I like the idea of this game, but think I will miss the dice. Good and bad.
Sorry! but I was not so interested in the non-sail games, so cannot said much about them. O.K. one game, the WW2 Coastal game. It was 1-1200 scale The coast line was made with Langton's stuff. They had his small harbour set ( about 2/3 smaller than mine) with around 15-20 houses all with gardens etc. and a church. Around 2ft along the coast he made a small fishing village with a small wooden pier and 5-6 houses again all Langton's. It looked so good I could hear the church bells and smell the fish. To top it all off, he had one of Langton's small islands painted, flocked and the light-house and one small house on it. It was like a Lilliput setting. The ships boat on the islands beech was the end for me, I had to go for a fag (Smoke) and a sit down. I'm going to put my order in for an island or two very soon "2 small and 1 large".
This is the funny bit, as most of you know I'm not the biggest fan of SOG. But thanks to David I'm one of the first in this group to give it a go (Don't hit me). So what do I think of it? I played with I hope to be a new friend Matt. We both do sailing ships the old way. We both played SOG for the first time, I played the French. I had 1 SOL and a frigate. Matt Played the British ships. I liked the card movement, simple and fast, the frigate movement being longer and turning sharper than the SOL. I was a little left out with the shooting as the target ship does all the work, picks the counters, does all the working out of the damage you have done. Again maybe me missing the dice.
Again the piles of counts is fun to see the damage you are doing to the enemy and the Oh dear! to see your piles add up (not so good). With Matt and I it was O.K. If we had more ships or/and more player around the table I can see them being knocked over.
David had bowels for the counters. For Matt and I that was alright, no peaking. I know of some players I would not trust, so the bag bit is a must for me.
David had a great idea for the bases. Use normal bases for the ships and use a template over the ships for firing. I think this is a good idea as the bases for me make the models look toyish and kills it for me.
I can see the idea of lets open the box and play as being good. I think big games would not work with SOG, so cannot see the point of lots more ships. Once you can do the standard game, Mark and I picked it up in a turn or two it was fast and fun. One funny bit we spent 3 turns going backwards in a straight line firing at each other??? I wanted to do the next bits, fires, boarding actions, sail drill and different ammo etc.
So! would I play it again? Yes. Would I buy it? No. The day Ares sale the bits only set (No Ships) Yes. Would I mix the ships with 1-1200? For me it would be O.K. Would I use it? I can see no reason to for me. The models are O.K. but I would/must have to add to them. I hope some of you will enjoy SOG so much that you start making your own ship models or using the ships in other rule sets.
I'm so happy I meet David and Mark and hope to meet them and play again. I also meet a new friend in Matt. I had a great day.
Be safe
Rory

7eat51
06-24-2013, 20:16
Thank you for your thoughtful review Rory. I will have the shooting ship draw the counters, which I think would be a better approach for the reason you mentioned; the target player can even state where his/her current box is in terms of damage, and the shooting player can lay out how the damage is applied. I agree with the use of the bags. I have a few friends I would trust, but with the easy availability of bags, it doesn't make sense not to use them.

I hope you will continue sailing with us even if you pass on the game.

7eat51
06-24-2013, 20:17
David, when you have time, please share any thoughts you have from your experience running an SoG game. We have discussed running games in general before, but if there is any new advice you have for SoG specifically, it would be most appreciated.

Devsdoc
06-24-2013, 21:14
Thank you for your thoughtful review Rory.

I hope you will continue sailing with us even if you pass on the game.

Someone has to keep you lot on the straight and narrow :hmmm: and to many friends here. :drinks:
Be safe
Rory

Nightmoss
06-24-2013, 21:38
Rory, it's good to hear you're doing OK and feeling better. Blood sugar stuff can get very nasty. Do take care of yourself.
Thanks also for your report on the naval wargames weekend. Others may know what you were talking about, but what computer program was monitoring the fighting you referred to? Sounds interesting.
Also, happy to hear you got a chance to play SoG. Your assessment was a good one and I can understand why you'll stick with other age of sail systems for your engagements. By the same token I know folks here abouts will go for SoG because it's less demanding of time, energy and commitment.

David Manley
06-25-2013, 14:47
HI All,
Better now!

Excellent news :happy:

Devsdoc
06-25-2013, 14:52
Rory,Thanks also for your report on the naval wargames weekend. Others may know what you were talking about, but what computer program was monitoring the fighting you referred to? Sounds interesting.
Also, happy to hear you got a chance to play SoG. Your assessment was a good one and I can understand why you'll stick with other age of sail systems for your engagements. By the same token I know folks here abouts will go for SoG because it's less demanding of time, energy and commitment.

No no.
SOG is not a 2nd class game. It has its place in naval gaming. Matt and I had a fun game. We have an idea what it is all about, one person a WOG player said "He did not like the wind making him do things he did not wish to do"! If someone rang me now to play SOG again I would jump at the chance. My commitment to the game is high. I understand the models and the help they will be to many naval wargamers. It is the non-commitment of Ares for people like me that makes me said "No way".

You must ask Mark Baker about the computer game. He is sometimes on this site and on T.M.P. site. He is I think a friend of David's. As the game is not working on my computer. I have windows 7 which has no DOS, a must have for the game. I cannot talk about it.
Be safe
Rory

Devsdoc
06-25-2013, 15:06
Excellent news :happy:

Hi David,
Thank you for a great day. It was so nice to meet you. I think your showing of SOG was very good and helpful. I do hope this first meeting will not be the last. Thanks again
Be safe
Rory

David Manley
06-25-2013, 15:06
So, the Naval Wargames Weekend has come and gone for another year. With the museum conference room packed with games on both days it was deemed a great success and we have made a provisional booking for the same weekend in 2014, and expanding into the museum "board room" to add space for more games. In the end we had everything from fantasy through ancients, some lovely Tudor models (a work in progress), age of sail (including SOG), RJW, WW1, WW2 (coastal, fleet and special forces, in the form of a "Cockleshell Heroes" participation game), modern fleet actions in the Med and counter piracy ops off Somalia. A fantastic mix. And I think everyone had agreat time. It was an event for gamers to get together, run their games, try each others and to chat and to share thoughts, ideas and techniques. And in that I think it did very well.

As far as SOG was concerned - it was a real winner. We played several games, all of which attracted some serious attention and caused a lot of discussion. Just about everyone came to see it, looked at the models and discussed the rules. The overwhelming response to seeing the game in the flesh was extremely positive, with a good number saying they would be buying in to the game when its available. And a few regretting passing up on the Kickstarter.

I took a few pictures of the SOG games although time to do that was limited as I was overseeing the games as well as recording them for posterity. I've added them to my album. I also took copious pictures of the other games there and I can post them if anyone is interested.

As far as the running of the games themselves was concerned, I had a typical starter set available, so four ships; two frigates, two SOLs. We started with ships entering the table from the East and west sides, the wind running down the table from the North and let players choose exactly where they came on. Canny players set their ships up as far upwind as they could and in these cases some careful manoeuvring to preserve the benefit of the wind gauge was the inevitable opening few moves. As expected, frigates died horribly when they got too close to the SOLs, as they did in nearly every case. But also in every case the battles were close fought, often coming down to a narrow victory with the last ship standing having suffered nearly as much as her vanquished foe.

http://www.sailsofglory.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5690&d=1372194629
Here's Rory getting to grips with the game!

Reaction to the models was good; it was interesting having a 1/1200 game with some museum quality Langton models on the table. Obviously the plastic prepaints couldn't hold a candle to these, but they still looked OK, sizewise were not a million miles away, confirming that 1/1200 small craft, boats, gunboats and batteries will work fine with SOG - and when viewed from a distance and especially after an hour's hard fought action they looked just great. Again, fairly unanimous views that some minor additional paintwork combined with a light brown wash will bring the models up a treat.

Interestingly one of the models did not have its mainmast glied into the ship so for a while a few players were hoping that all the masts would be removeable so as to show damage. Alas they were, in this at least, disappointed.

For Andrea - we have tried out the scenarios outside the show and they work fine :happy:

After the success of the weekend I took the game to one of our local clubs to give it a run out there - reactions were pretty much identical.

David Manley
06-25-2013, 15:22
I do hope this first meeting will not be the last.

I very much doubt it will be! Great to meet you. Looking forward to the next time.

Devsdoc
06-26-2013, 15:39
Hi David,
Could you post photo's of Marks game and WW2 Coastal Forces? I would love to see themt. I think members would like the ships in Marks game and the Coast line in WW2 C.F. Thanks.
Be safe
Rory

David Manley
06-27-2013, 15:15
More pics and a report on my blog:

http://dtbsam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-naval-wargames-show-2013-report.html

David Manley
06-27-2013, 15:15
More pics and a report on my blog:

http://dtbsam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-naval-wargames-show-2013-report.html

Devsdoc
06-27-2013, 16:48
Thinks David.
I think the photos and report were very good and show the meeting off as it was, A GOOD DAY for me. I was only sad about one thing. I missed Saturday.:sad:
Be safe
Rory

Nightmoss
06-27-2013, 19:36
Thanks for the blog link and series of super photographs. Looks like a great time was had by everyone attending.