Ironclads of the American Civil War (2022)

On March 9, 1862, the clash of the ironclad gunboats CSS Virginia and USS Monitor at the Battle of Hampton Roads heralded a new age of naval warfare. The innovations of the early industrial era yielded powerful new warships, armed with strong new guns, and plated with thick metal armor. A new ironclad navy threatened to revolutionize the practice of naval warfare, rendering old wooden fleets obsolete.

This solitaire book game explores the use of ironclads during the American Civil War through a series of scenarios that teach the system gradually. In seeking to capture essential qualities of the battles in a fast and playable system, many aspects of these conflicts have been abstracted. Simplicity and ease of play have taken precedence over intricate rules and historical detail.

Each scenario consists of a playsheet (left) and mapsheet (right), and features a short historical introduction. The scenarios, which each usually take 20 to 30 minutes to play, walk you through the rules. As you progress from scenario to scenario, new rules will be added, basic rules will be upgraded to ‘standard’ or ‘advanced’ status, and scenario-specific rules may come into play. By the end of the book, you’ll have experienced the game system in full, and perhaps something of ironclad history as well.