Ironclads vs. B Movies

Was fighting your first ironclad scary?

No? Then how about your first Sea Monster!?

One of the regular hosts in the local gaming group has a flair for both historical and non-historical gaming, and occasionally he combines them. I've always missed those games and then regretted it later, so when his "Ironclads v. Mysterious Phenomena" was upcoming, I made sure to get there.

Each of the players got two Ironclads or ACW Iron ships from about 1865. On the other end of the board, a huge archway with dazzling lights within it turned out to be a portal through which monsters were coming. The job of the USN on this occasion?  Destroy the monsters and close the portal!

The first few turns were full of suspense, but only Moby Dick and a Giant Narwhal showed up, the latter ramming a ship but getting stuck for a turn...

However, it was soon joined by Giant Frogs, a Troll and Sea Serpent. The Troll mounted a small atoll and began hurling boulders at the gallant ships opposing him.

As if that wasn't bad enough, a dragon soon flew into the battle, his breath worse than any tarheel to take ship in the Western Hemisphere!

Below, Moby attacks my ironclad, which unleashes a full broadside into it - unfortunately missing 5 / 6 shots!  Clearly, my sailors were at their wits end with terror!

My iron frigate did hit, which made Moby swim off and blubber quietly a while...pun intended.

But that wasn't all!  The Sea Serpent decided my ships looked the tastiest. Rearing it's ugly head and baring its menacing teeth, it charged in my direction!

 

Below, the menace facing the USN - they thought the war was over!  Wait, are these monsters CSA, French or British??  Will they interrupt shipping?

As they reload their broadsides, my ships take up positions to "unleash hell" against the monster next turn.  Moby is blubbering well behind as we slowed him down.

A terrifying view from the deck of the Mohican!

Meanwhile, the Scottish Kraken - Phil Mac Kraken - chases down and attacks the Onandaga, snatching and snacking upon sailors through any opening it can get a tentacle thru! "Tentacally Sir, I don't think his tentacles should fit through those ports" says the officious engineering officer...

In a furious attack, the dragon dives down, huffs and sets an ironclad afire - sailors flambe??

While the surviving frog shoots his sticky tongue claiming the lives of a few more flies, erhm, sailors, crunchy them in his slimy mouth. The horror!  The horror!

In a masterful move, Commodore Alexander circles and then blasts the Sea Serpent, while staying out of reach of Moby Richard. Sheer nautical genius, if I do say so meself...

With an unholy scream, the Sea Serpent gushes his last...

But don't get complacent, laddies!  The Dragon has got us in his sights, and is flying a full cup over the battlefield, too high for our guns to elevate!  Oh, for a slightly more advanced weapon that could fire higher... the AD Gun?  Anti-Dragon Gun?

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the board, the Leviathan sinks a Union ironclad...

In the end, altho the USN was closing with and firing upon the supernatural archway into another dimension, monsters were slightly ahead, having sunk a few vessels while replenishing their numbers through unnatural means.

A fun game!  It would likely freak out some of the rivet-counters who tend to love ship [and tank] games, and would be likely to argue the relative effectiveness of huge sticky tongues and the reloading period for dragon's breath.  But I say sometimes you just have to relax. And that's what we did with this interesting adaptation of "Beer'n Pretzels Ironclads" by Buck Sardu and Michael Miller. Which had some streamlining changes by the host to give it more Beer and less Crunch!