Page last updated: 3/20/00
IRON AND FIRE is a set of rules written by David Manley and published by Felix Enterprises. According to David, this set was originally for the Civil War period only, but has been expanded to become "a more general set...in the heyday of the early Victorian ironclad".
Readers may be interested to know that IRON AND FIRE will be reissued by A & A Game Engineering sometime in 2000. It is cirrently undergoing an overhaul (not changing too much, but some of the inconsistancies and "niggles" are being sorted out and some new stuff added). This update was provided by David Manley and was originally on the IRONCLADS One-List.
These rules are supported by a home page http://www.btinternet.com/~david.manley/naval/ironfire/ironfire.html
HAMMERIN IRON II A rules set distributed by PETER PIG available in this country from BROOKHURST HOBBIES. Here's what Graham Evans said about this set.
"Hammerin Iron is ACW Riverine warfare, - ie ironclad sternwheelers and paddle boats using buckets of dice & a rather neat movable hex system for movement using cutout hexagons.As with Peter Pig the ships (boats?) are really nice. You can get both sides for the game plus the rules for under £30 if you buy the bagged armies (sorry navies), and paint up all you need in an evening. It's the closest I've ever come to instant wargaming without compromising on the quality."
Another person said "...Hammerin' Iron has got to be Peter Pig's idea of a joke... It seems that no set suits everyone.
RUN THE GUNS: Naval Actions in The American Civil War is a set of rules written for and sold by J&T Miniatures to go with their "Merrimack" line of Resin 15mm "semi-scale" Ironclads. J & T MINIATURES will take you to their web page.
A HOTTER FIRE is a set of Civil War naval game rules on the web. Written by Alan Saunders. You can click on the title to go there.
SMOKE ON THE WATER is a 68-page rules set for the ACW Ironclad era. There is a nice review HERE on "The Miniatures Page".
IRONCLAD GUNBOAT are the rules set we have used for 20 years for American Civil War naval battles. An adaptation of a set by Lowry and Wham originaly published by Guidon Games in the 70s.
STEAM IRON & TINis a cute one sheet (front & back) rules set that used to be given away free at conventions to promote the sale of 15mm Minifig cannons and sailors. A similar set for sailing ships was called LIMEYS AND SLIMEYS! I got a set of these in 1985 and built my own 15mm Ironclads to go with them. These were wonderful, and per 10/11/04, Tom Dye of Minifigs says that Toby Barrett of Throroughbred Figures has the rights to reissue these great Fast-Moving rules. I cannot wait to see them!
IRONCLADS This is a boardgame, published by Yaquinto games WAY back in the 80s. If you use free movement instead of the flimsy hex gridded board, voila' you have a set of miniatures rules. The problem is that it is so realistic, it is hard to play. You have to see whether each shot hits, where it hit, if it penetrated, and what damage it did. See Below under BOARDGAMES.
David Sullivan on the Yahoo IRONCLADS list informed us in 2002 that Toby Barrett of Thoroughbred Figures has acquired the copyright to "Ironclads" and is in the process of re-issuing it as a miniatures rules set. Toby himself wrote at some length setting forth his progress, and ideas on the new edition of IRONCLADS. I do not know what the current status is of this projcet.
SHOT & SHELL This is a boardgame by 3W (World Wide Wargames) published in the late 80s. It is very similar to IRONCLADS and can be used with free movement and miniatures as a fine set of miniature rules. See Below under BOARDGAMES.
DEVIL AT THE HELM is a British rules set covering war afloat during the latter half of the 19th Century. They were published by Skytrex, but are not in the current catalog. I have seen them and read them but never played them - Jay.
IRONCLADS This is a boardgame published by Yaquinto games WAY back in the 80s. If you use free movement instead of the flimsy hex gridded board, voila' you have a set of miniatures rules. The problem is that it is so realistic, it is hard to play. You have to see whether each shot hits, where it hit, if it penetrated, and what damage it did. I had a set years ago, but somebody who needed it more than I did has it now. It is long out of print, but used copies circulate at major conventions such as HISTORICON.
IRONCLADS EXPANSION Also by Yaquinto games, this had more ship counters, more scenarios, and (I think) additional rules. I never played this one. Same availability as above.
SHOT & SHELL This is a boardgame by 3W (World Wide Wargames) published in the late 80s. It was to have been a second expansion for IRONCLADS (see above) but Yaquinto was out of the game business by the time the design was finished. Some basic rules were added to the scenarios and a game board thrown in to make a free-standing game. I was told that the scenarios and ships dropped right into the earlier two games (as well they should have!). Availability as for IRONCLADS above.
Michael Llaneza comments on the 3W game: "Shot & Shell was more of a "Yaquinto's out of business, who can reprint the game?" and wound up being a second edition, not a second expansion. There are a few more ships in S&S, plus basic rules for land combat (the ACW was big on amphibious operations). Even the maps are much the same, and the rules are nearly identical. The game is a lot of fun to play, despite the number of charts (and I like blowing big holes in things)."
Further praise for SHOT & SHELL comes from Robert A. Minadeo: "I purchased Shot & Shell when Ironclads was out of print and before it was re-issued. For that I am very thankful the full rules were included in S&S. Now having access to all three games in the trilogy, my feeling is that S&S is the best of the lot. The naval rules are simplified in a number of places, allowing for larger actions to be gamed. The rules for land forces are a great improvement over those in the IC expansion, and would make a fun game by itself. The only area in which the game fell short was in describing what terrain features are present on shore in those scenarios including land forces. All in all a great product with or without the origional Ironclads games."
Sea Devils was published in issue 191 of Strategy & Tactics magazine. This is not a game of ironclads, but of commerce raiding by the Confederacy during 1861-65. I include it here because ACW naval games are few.
There is an ACW naval card game that is similar to Avalon Hill's "Naval War" called Damn the Torpedoes", by Winsome Games. The cards are basic (not crude), and they are neatly done. Cards are black printing, on blue for ship cards, and yellow for action cards. Ship cards have a simple, reasonably accurate, ship outline on them. Play is very similar to "Naval War". I have solo-played it 1 time. I got it as a collectors item. Fun little game ,as is Naval War, but strictly lite beer and pretzels. Published by Winsome Games 515 W. Hutchinson Ave .Suite #6, Pittsburgh, PA 15218-1347 (412) 244-0599. Copyright J. Bohrer 1995 I paid $15-20 if I recall correctly, at a convention . This review by Chuck Duggie
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