New(er) Captain in Northern Virginia

[JimBlkHwk]

Greetings all!

Name is James, new Captain in Alexandria, VA. Finally took the plunge and got the game for Christmas. Played a few games already and am greatly enjoying it.

Looking for any players/games in the NoVa/DC/MD area.

Also any advice on what next to get/resources to look into. I currently only have the starter game.

Best,
James

[Baxter]

Hi Jim and welcome. I am sure you will find fellow enthusiasts in your area. I have 12 ships in total. I went for one big first rate one per side, six 74's. (3 per side), a couple of frigates, and a couple of the smaller sloops. That gives me enough for most scenarios. As well as a single Sails of Glory play mat, I use a six by four rectangular piece of blue felt rectangle for my ocean, but if this is your only and main game, you might want to get a better looking play mat from somewhere like deepcutstudio.com They deliver world wide. I have 3 of their 6 by 4 cloth mats for my other games. :drinks:

[Naharaht]

Welcome to the Anchorage, James, from here 'across the Pond' in the United Kingdom.

[Bligh]

Welcome alongside James.
I am sure you will find your new shipmates a friendly lot of swabs. Just watch out for the Bosun, he is a real mean cuss.
Rob.

[Dobbs]

Welcome James, from 2 hours north of you ( a bit of a commute to blow up little plastic ships)!

[Comte de Brueys]

Bonjour James, welcome on board. :salute:

[TexaS]

Welcome to the Anchorage!

[JimBlkHwk]

Thanks all for the warm welcome. Glad to be aboard.

Dobbs,
Never too far! Hope to see you around.

Baxter,
Thanks for the rundown, incredibly helpful. I was actually going to inquire more about them. Please let me know if there is already a thread on this or a better part of the forum to post in on this
What preferences do you all have on material for a game mat? I really only have gaming space at home for 4x3 or 4x4, but understand paying at local stores or clubs there will likely be more space. Any suggestions would be kindly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Dobbs]

I favor plain blue vinyl from Joann's Fabric. It comes in dark blue which is very ocean-like, but I favor the lighter blue. I feel that it keeps the room lighter and reminds me of sailing in the Keys. You can see examples in many of my photos.

https://www.joann.com/marine-vinyl/prd23669.html#q=Blue%2Bvinyl%2B&start=1

Here's a link, and it looks like it's on sale for $6.99 a yard (54"wide)!

[Baxter]

Thanks all for the warm welcome. Glad to be aboard.

Dobbs,
Never too far! Hope to see you around.

Baxter,
Thanks for the rundown, incredibly helpful. I was actually going to inquire more about them. Please let me know if there is already a thread on this or a better part of the forum to post in on this
What preferences do you all have on material for a game mat? I really only have gaming space at home for 4x3 or 4x4, but understand paying at local stores or clubs there will likely be more space. Any suggestions would be kindly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi Jim,

You should check out Dobb's suggestions but I like cloth for two reasons. One is that the cost of postage from Lithuania is minimised with a smaller parcel, and the other is that it is so easy to fold up and take to other venues if you want to game away from home. They do various sizes of mat and the smaller the cheaper. I like 6x4 because it covers all situations. I leave them on my dining table all the time and put the one we want to use on top when required. With cloth ones too they are very durable and can be machine washed and ironed.

[Bligh]

I use the vinyl too James, because I roll rather than fold if I can to avoid crease lines. You can also wipe off any spilt beer easily. However I have also got a small artificial silk one for taking on holiday by air. It folds up to next to nothing and weighs very little. Horses for courses, just like the game rules themselves.
Rob.

[Capn Duff]

Welcome to you from me in Bristol uk.
I have two official mats which are ok but personally I dont like the lines on them.
So I also use a vinyl mat which started life as a table cover as well as a professional gamers mat from Tiny Wars here in uk.
Have fun, I have found the game is fast and fun, especially when you use the advanced rules, the problem seems to be getting people to play, once they do however most say they enjoy it.

[JimBlkHwk]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Finally growing my fleet and gaming space. Going to dive into the solo campaigns in the coming days.

[Teamski]

I concentrated on 3rd-1st rates as sloops, 4th and 5th rates wouldn't have normally been used in a line of battle; in the end, you really don't need that many of them. as you won't see too many scenarios with more than a few engaged. Here is the fabric I use. It is a lot deeper of a color in person. I really like the textures.

-Eric

[Bligh]

Another thing to bear in mind, is the size of your table. Most two mat scenarios can't handle more than about six ships a side. If you go for bigger games at clubs, other players can contribute their ships to make up larger squadrons and Fleets. It is only obsessives like Chris and myself who collect enough ships to do Trafalgar and the Nile. We ask ourselves stupid questions like when will Ares bring out the Dutch so that we can do Camperdown.
If I were starting again with hindsight, I would restrict my Squadrons to the following for British, French and Spanish.
For each Nation:-
One First Rate, one 80, Three 74s, one 60 or 50, three Frigates of differing size, a couple of Sloops, and my two favourites a Bomb ketch and a Razee. If you add a Merchant ship to each fleet which can be use as any nationality I think you will have the backbones of many and varied scenarios.

That would total about 36 in all. The underlined being the least important, you could reduce that number to 30, or leave out the Spanish Fleet and end up with 24 ships.
That should fit the bill for whatever your pocket or the other half can stand.

Rob.

[Teamski]

I found that the black folding 6' tables you find at Walmart work really well. They are really light, relatively cheap and storable. I bought 5 for gaming and that gives me a temporary 5x10 area. I use it for other games like Bolt Action or Check your Six. Now, this is if you have the floor space of course. Throw the cloth over the whole thing and bob's your uncle. ;)

-Eric

[Bligh]

The biggest gaming area that I can squeeze out Eric, is 6' 7 for wargames and four players, but that would leave no space to lay out the number of mats for a more than six ship a side action, so for Sails games I'm better off with the two mat and a spare table for the accoutrements situation.

Rob.

[Capn Duff]

The one disadvantage for sails is the rather large area needed per ship for the ship logs. Unfortunately they are needed for the ships for damage and other information. If possible and room permits a second table for these mats would be preferable leaving the gaming area purely for the ships.
I use , whaen I can, my dining tablefolded out gi ving an oval 6 by 3 playing surface

[JimBlkHwk]

Thanks for the continued thoughts all.

As it stands, I have the following.
British: 1x First Rate, 2x Third Rate, 1x Fourth Rate, 3x Frigates, 1x Sloop
French: 1x First Rate, 3x Third Rate, 4x Frigate, 1x Sloop (and a Spanish frigate).

Kind of a hodge podge, but basically got what I could and told people they were my Christmas/birthday gifts from them. Figure I can cover plenty of scenarios and fudge on somethings if need be.

As for playing area, I just got two SoG mats in the mail, and have a paper mat that came with Oak and Iron. Also figure I can repurpose some of their.terrain features (shoals, islands, coastline, fog). Just picked up a SoG coastal battery set as well. I really only have my kitchen table, so nothing too big, but have that of using my bed now that I have some sturdy mats!

[Bligh]

Not that far removed from what I suggested yesterday then James. You are well on the way already.
I will keep my eyes open for another third rate British ship for you. Which do you already have?

Rob.

[JimBlkHwk]

Thanks! I actually got my hands on a second copy o the starter set, so I can play both HMS Defence and HMS Vanguard. So I'm guessing probably something with more/less guns? My fourth rate is HMS Leander/HMS Adamant.

[TexaS]

I'd recommend HMS Impetuex. It's the same number of guns but it's still a big difference.

[Vagabond]

Welcome Jim, it sounds as if you have gone down a very similar route to my own, I've ended up expanding my fleet to double the size I originally intended and just recently bought the 50gun ships because as I said to Mrs Vagabond "they are a bargain at that price, it would be foolish not to have them in my Navies" It went rather quiet when she asked how many ships I had altogether and how many of them had seen action.

I'll be honest and say when I drew up my list of ship types I then went through all the ships made and decided which ones I wanted based on the ones I thought prettiest. For a good supply of ships check out Miniature Market they have most of the ships in stock at reasonable prices. I've bought planes from them in the past and was impressed with the service.

Once you have got your feet under the table please post any games reports on the forum, I for one enjoy reading them. I've found it a difficult process but I might be just getting the hang of posting pictures after all. If you look in the Campaigns section there are some really good scenarios to use and some excellent write ups of the games.

Cheers

[Bligh]

I've ended up expanding my fleet to double the size I originally intended and just recently bought the 50gun ships because as I said to Mrs Vagabond "they are a bargain at that price, it would be foolish not to have them in my Navies" It went rather quiet when she asked how many ships I had altogether and how many of them had seen action.


Cheers

This was a bit worrying John. Please remember that Mrs Bligh is a member of the Anchorage and I have just had to answer some pretty searching questions!:girlieangry::help:

Rob.

[Bligh]

Though you might like to see my way of dealing with the playing mats in my War Room.





Rob.

[Teamski]

Great layout. I always appreciate a man who practices safe gaming.

-Eric

[Bligh]

The card backing for the ship mats was Captain Duff's idea, if you need to place them on your gaming table you can move them readily when that stray ship sails into your mat area. It also means if you are in the middle of a game and need the table for something else you can move them and not have to pack up your damage chits or cards.

Rob.

[Vagabond]

Nice looking layout and thanks for showing how you deal with the amount of space required to play the game and use the ships logs. I have wondered about using a tablet to hold the data on the ships, it should be possible yo use something like excel as a spreadsheet and just page through the vitrual, book to see the individual ships saving a load of space but I don't think it would be as visual as the card logs.

[Bligh]

It may just be my age. and failing eyesight John, but I always find it takes longer to find and execute notation on a laptop than to do it on paper or record on a shipmat. it also interupts the natural flow of a game.
Rob.

[TexaS]

I use my app and find it easier to use than paper. Sadly I must upgrade it again to be able to publish it.

I somehow find time enough to make it playable, but not to finalise it for publishing.

[JimBlkHwk]

Though you might like to see my way of dealing with the playing mats in my War Room.





Rob.

Thanks Rob, that looks really great. I think my space in the new place will have a corner like that so I can work some backgrounds. I'd like the table to be a bit wider than it is, so I'm thinking of getting some stuff poster board or the like to extend the edge, if anyone has any ideas.

[Bligh]

That table of mine had the oak lipping added so that it could accomodate the length of an Ares Mat. Before the upgrade it had about two inches of mat overhanging on both sides. I can also detatch the top for larger games and add an extension. It can then go onto the table with the mats on to reach both sides. Ideal for wargaming with soldiers. you just have to sacrifice the clouds.
Rob.

[bullfr0g]

I live in King George and have been looking for people to play with.

[JimBlkHwk]

Welcome aboard George! Would be happy to get together and play some time. Feel free to send me a DM if you'd like. There's also a group that gets together the third Thursday of every month up in Maryland. I was only able to go once before COVID hit and the gaming shop suspended hosting. Hopefully they'll be reopening soon. Thread for that meetup below:

https://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?1943-Sails-of-Savage-Mill-(Maryland)

Best,
James