Angus Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames
The Anglo-French War of 1890
Victorian Elegance on the High Seas
I've explained how I talked myself into building these fleets in the main Pre-Dreadnought section. I bought these ships mainly because I found the naval architecture of the time really fascinating. The ships looked incredibly funky, but elegant at the same time. There's a Jules Verne quality about them I really liked, and while I've never been one for science fiction, I didn't mind a fictional game, using two historic fleets who had the good fortune never to fire at each other in anger. Fortunately the mid to late 19th century abounded with war scares, and with Anglo-French diplomatic clashes. It wasn't really too far-fetched to turn one of these from the late 1880's into a real shooting match - my fictitious little Anglo-French War of 1890!
The British fleets at this time were undergoing a change from the Inflexible style of battleship to ones more akin to later pre-dreadnoughts. Still, I liked these earlier ships, and included two of them in my fleet - Inflexible and the smaller Edinburgh. However, I was also able to include a few other favourites, including the Camperdown (1885) and the Victoria (1890) which accidentally rammed each other in 1892, because the admiral in charge gave the wrong orders, and was too bloody-minded to change them. At least he had the good grace to go down with his ship.
As for the French, because it took them more than 10 years to build a ship, their vessels look a little dated by comparison, although their guns were just as effective as those on the British ships. Of course, they were French, and as we all know they are natural victims at sea. In every game I played with them the poor French never won, or even came close.
Of course, the Royal Navy ships were better than their Republican French counterparts, but a little bit of British naval élan never goes amiss. It's all about the "expectation of victory" - as the British losing to the French (or anyone else) is just unthinkable - particularly in this period!
HMS Victoria The Courbet
The models themselves were relatively simple to put together, although rigging them proved a bit fiddly, especially after you've covered your fingers in super glue. One of the charms about this period is the choice of colour schemes - ships were pretty - none of this boring old grey paint which crept in a decade later. After looking at a load of paintings and old photos, I opted for black hulls all round, with the Royal Navy ships having white upper works and ochre masts and funnels (Foundry Ochre 4B), while the French upper works and masts were painted a slightly darker shade (Foundry Buff Leather 7C). For the French decks I used Foundry Rawhide 11B, and Foundry Ochre 4C for the British.
The Admiral Duperre HMS Edinburgh
I mounted the ships on plastic card, used Polyfilla to make the wake, then painted them a blue-grey-green to match the sea mat. I like rounding the corners of most of my bases, as it gives the whole thing a nicer look, and I always paint ship names on - this time using a fine white pen from the local art shop. As I play down the local wargames club (some 10 minutes walk away), they needed to be transported safely. I therefore divided a couple of file boxes into little compartments using foamboard (Foamcore in the States), which kept them safe as I staggered home (you have to drink "pink gins" if you play the British in this period)!
French Torpedo Boats Ouragan & Alarme HMS Rattlesnake - a Torpedo Boat Destroyer
The French fleet sails out to do battle - "natural victims at sea"
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Perfidious Albion Playsheet (1890 version)
Note: My playsheet is geared up for 1890, which means the factors are altered from the main rules
Perfidious Albion rules are available as a download from A&A Games. (off-site link)
For examples of games using The Anglo-French War of 1890 fleets see Journal 6 & Journal 12
For games set in the later Pre-Dreadnought period of 1905-10, see Journal 29 & Journal 32
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