Wargame Matchbox Challenge - Adding Contents (Part 2)

I am continuing the challenge to develop my wargame in a matchbox. The idea behind this fascinating challenge stems from a discussion between Mark and Alan on their blogs Man of Tin and Duchy of Tradgardland.

This week, I have added some new components to the game, riverbanks and a river flow indicator. The riverbanks are represented by pieces of string which can be easily laid out to define the course of the river. The flow indicator is made a card and is important for the game’s movement rules, where ships are activated one by one, starting upstream and progressing downstream until all ships have had the opportunity to move.

Adding some more contents to the matchbox.

A game in progress with the string representing the river banks.

A simple blue arrow is used to show the river flow.

Having opted for an American Civil War (ACW) ironclad game (see previous post) and having scant knowledge of the naval aspects of the ACW. I thought I had better do some reading so I purchased an ebook “Mississippi River Gunboats of the American Civil War 1861-65”.

Some reading to help with the game and provide ideas for the rules.

The current combat rules involve tracking hits to specific areas of the ships. To simplify the tracking of damage, I made a card for each ship where the damage can be marked with a pencil. These cards are designed to fit neatly into the bottom of a matchbox. However, I realised I will need to revise the cards in a way to make the game entirely self-contained in a matchbox, and not rely on the players having a pencil readily available.

Ship cards sized to fit into the bottom of the matchbox.

The next steps are to write up the rules to make sure they fit into the matchbox. The to hit and damage tables will be glued onto the outside of the matchbox to save space. The other idea I want to try out is making the draw of the matchbox into a fort for the game as they played important roles in the ACW naval campaigns.