I am advised that my wargame rules, Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls, has been printed and copies are now at the Pen and Sword warehouse! This means that they will soon be available for sale through the Pen and Sword website ( http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Blood-Bilge-and-Iron-Balls/p/3130/ ) , Amazon and so on. I doubt you will find a copy at Waterstones or anything...not that I wanted to stroll into such a store, pick up a copy and say in my outside voice, 'Oh my! Here is a copy of the book that I have written, wow it does look nice and shiny....' etc etc etc. Nope, not the sort of thing that I would do at all.
Here is a picture of it too, just so you know what you are looking or when you finally realise how desperately you want a copy. Perhaps you could forward this on to Santa, just so he knows you dont want socks or bath salts or an eighteenth copy of 101 things to do with a dead cat. It might be worth you printing a copy or seven of this blog off, you know....leave them lying about the place in strategic locations so anyone wondering what to buy you can be left in little doubt. And, given that it is generally available for under £15.00......no? Fair enough.
The Pen and Sword site has a space for people to leave reviews, there are none for these rules yet of course but I wonder what will end up there? One other set of rules on that site has four reviews but the very first one is anything but positive, what will people make of my efforts????? A little worrying but my editor tells me I have nothing to worry about. He has a lot of confidence in my rules so I will just have to trust his judgment. Any proceeds of this book will help support the MHWC and its efforts to bring wargaming to new audiences.
I wrote the very first version of these rules way back in 1991 and the very first person to ever play them in anger was also the very first person to join my Blog, Robert (Bob) Cordery! He liked them back then, I wonder what he will make of them now? Given that Bob was also my head of year in 1977/78 and my teacher for many years he probably has an axe or three to grind.....oh my......
A belated, welcome to the blogasphere, I've just stumbled onto your blog and like what I've read. I'll definitely look out for your set of rules, at the moment we use a very simple but fun set of rules for our ship games and are always on the hunt for other sets.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my blog for some rather dodgy photos taken at Broadside earlier in the year, my club Posties Rejects hail from just up the road from you in sunny Gravesend!!!
By the way my footie team are gonna thrash Millwall on Saturday 3-0 me thinks.......well hope so anyway!!!
Hi Ray, good to hear from you and welcome to my blog. If you do get a set let me know how you get on, always good to get feedback from fellow gamers.
ReplyDeleteAlso nice to know you made it to Broadside, we are organising the 2012 event now, perhaps the Posties Rejects could put a game on? let me know if you are interested and we can send details. perhaps you could visit us one club night and say hi?
As for Millwall...least said, soonest mended. Getting into the championship has only silver plated their ego, whatever can be done to tarnish that silver can only be a good thing.
I'll ask the guys if they'd like to put a game on, we've been talking about it for a while now, so you never know, roughly when do you think the show will be on next year??
ReplyDeleteBroadside 2012 is set for Sunday 10th June, take a look at the club website www.mhwc.co.uk for details of traders and clubs that have already signed up. We atarted organising the next show a few weeks after the first one! they do take some work. It would be good to see you all if you could make it.
ReplyDeleteSounds good. Shame i'm to far away :(
ReplyDeletehi Brummie,
ReplyDeleteSorry you cannot make it down for Broadside. The cost of petrol these days is making all think twice about some trips. Welcome to my blog anyway, nice to hear from you :)
Good luck with sales of the rules - I've ordered my copy from from Amazon. More stuff to try out over Christmas - I'm running out of days!
ReplyDeleteMy ship models have been gathering dust since WH Historical's Trafalgar set drove me to distraction - at one point half my fleet were rudderless, while the other half were on fire.
Cheers,
Norman
Hi Norman, thanks for your comment and good wishes. I hope you enjoy the rules, perhaps you could send us a game report or a review? A member did run a 'Trafalgar' game at the club and I was not that impressed either, even allowing for my bias. In BBIB damage can be repaired and fires put out, depending upon the amount of crew you have available etc. That said, I have seen a ship with a damaged rudder throw everything at the repair and still fail; we all laughed as the otherwise intact ship sailed off of the table and out of the game. This is a rare occurance BTW, still funny though!
ReplyDeleteI'll try my best to post a game report on my blog in the new year. It wasn't so much that rudders were shot away or fires happened in the Trafalgar rules, it was the sheer amount of critical hits being dealt out which put me off them in the end. The fact that it happened once (memorably) in your rules is a good sign that it's the exception rather than a common occurrence.
ReplyDeleteNorman
Hi Norman,
DeleteHow did you get on with the rules in the end?
Hi Alan, I've just seen this. I've had good intentions to play the rules, but I've been distracted why other things :-). I went through a bit of a painting slump and haven't played much else but board games since Christmas, but the rules are still on the to do pile - I hadn't forgotten, honest.
DeleteCheers,
Norman
Hi Norman,
DeleteNo worries mate, we all get the occasional log jam! The club are to play this at tke Legion Show in Ramsgate 28th October....assuming I get the bloody ships finished in time! If you cam make it there you can see it in action, join in too.
There will also be a game set out during our club open day on the 15th September. If you can make it along to that I can show you it personally.
Hi Norman, with BBIB hits do not always do damage. Damage is determined by the drawing of playing cards, usually one per hit. This randomises damage across four areas, sails, Hull, gun decks and command; the higher the card the worse the hit. This means that some attacks score lots of hits but do relatively little damage, on the other hand a drawing a joker is bad news. The ships are quite strong so they can take punishment, as did their historical counterparts, and most damage can be repaired.
ReplyDeleteThere is no 'I go you go' either, it is possible for you to get two broadsides off and sail out of arc before your opponent gets a single shot off....just dont rely upon it! Each ship takes a little management but nothing arduous, a few tick boxes and icons on a simple record sheet.
Of course I am a little biased :)
I have brought BBand IB and thoroughly enjoy them i think its a great game I also played it at a wargame show ITs so inspired me that i have ordered a load more ships from Langton but could i request some rules for engaging shore batterys like at Toulon please thank you mark
ReplyDeleteHi Mark,
ReplyDeleteReally pleased you enjoy the rules....good luck painting all those ships! As for the rule for engaging shore batteries....hmmmm. Let me look into that for you. email me at miltonhundredwargamesclub@googlemail.com and I will send something through to you directly. I would love to hear about your games too, perhaps i could post a few of your battle reports on this blog?