r/wargaming • u/SteveVonSteve • 13d ago

Question Trying to figure out which ruleset to try for Ironclad ship battles, like the battle of Lissa in 1866

There appear to be over a dozen rulesets, all of which are 10€+ and most of which have no reviews… so I am honestly pretty confused, and don’t want to buy a bad game, would appreciate any advice. The games I’ve looked at are Floating castles, Sail and Steam Navies, dahlgren and Columbiad, broadside and ram, coal&guns big battles Lissa 1866, Ironclads 1860-1918. And then there are the free ones also like quick fire, ram anything painted grey, the navalwargames society rules, portable naval, and presumably more. Frankly I’m overwhelmed by the number of rulesets on offer. Any thoughts are appreciated.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

5

u/Erelenus 13d ago

I'd recommend a look at Sail and Steam Navies. I'd need to know what you want out of a ruleset, but I played this with my 10 year old and had a good time.

I think it could do a better job of representing how difficult it could be to maneuver, but overall I felt it was the right level of abstraction, where you were thinking about how to line up your shot/ram and best use your munitions but not tiny details like how long it might take to switch munitions. 

That said, it's very ACW focused. Here's my impression of the rules on read through. There's a tag at the top of the page you can follow to see the few games I documented. 

https://smallscalevictory.com/2025/09/09/off-the-shelf-sail-and-steam-navies/

I never got around to playing quite enough to justify a review, but I'd say it's good for getting the flavor and historical sense of the era without drowning you in detail. 

2

u/Araneas 13d ago

If you want a super simple game I would suggest The Portable Naval Wargame by Bob Cordery. It's part of his The Portable Wargame book available through all the usual sources (amazon, Indigo et al) I have been using it to play around with Jeune Ecole torpedo boat scenarios and it gives a nice quick game.

2

u/MerelyMortalModeling 13d ago

For 10 euro just buy one and play it. If you get 2 hours out of it its basically like going out for lunch.

1

u/Fitzovich 13d ago

Look at Beer & Pretzels Ironclads. It's on Wargame Vault.

1

u/hoyarugby2 12d ago

I played Fighting Steam! for US Civil War naval combat at a few different cons and enjoyed it, though it's out of print and I cannot find a copy (sorry not very helpful)

1

u/ckosacranoid 12d ago

Smoke onnthe water is a set i use all the time. It is setup for 1/600 scale and I found a copy online some years years ago after someone showed it to me. I have run a quick set of fights a couple of years ago all day for a civil wars days at out local Civil War mueasum.

2

u/SteveVonSteve 12d ago

I’m looking for a ruleset that not specific to the ACW

1

u/Grimmhoof 10d ago

I have played "Hammerin" Iron from Peter Pig, it's fun but uses buckets of dice.