Today we are pleased to present the graphic design of the next battleship for the Gods of War: Togo naval wargame. Ladies and gentlemen, here is the pride of the Russian Imperial Fleet, a Borodino class battleship in all its glory (1: 1200 scale).
Battleships of this class were modeled on the earlier type Tsesarevich, with slightly larger displacement and stronger secondary armament. Borodino was the most numerous class of Russian battleships in history, as many as 5 were built, although the last of them – Slava – was no ready in time to participate in the Russo -Japanese war.
The other 4 ships of this type are: Borodino, Imperator Alexander III, Knyaz Suvorov and Oryol.
Armed with four 305mm caliber guns of Russian production, a number of medium and light artillery, as well as torpedo launchers, with armor up to 254 mm thick, capable of reaching 18 knots, was a serious opponent for every battleship of that time .
The model will be available for playing in Gods of War: Togo – our emerging system of fighting in the sea in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Together with the Japanese Mikasa it will be one of the game’s starter sets. Te see Mikasa please click the link: http://www.gmboardgames.com/blog/en/mikasa-battleship/
Who wants to cross half the world and prove to the Japanese that the Russians are the best warriors also in the sea?
Here is the pride of the Japanese Imperial Navy, the flagship of Admiral Togo in the battles in the Yellow Sea and Tsushima.
Ladies and Gentlemen – it is with great pleasure that I present to you the design of the battleship MIKASA! (1:1200 scale).
Armed with four 12-inch (305 mm) guns, and a number of medium and light canons, as well as torpedoes, with armor up to 356 mm thick, capable of achieving and maintaining speed of 18 knots, was one of the best ships of its time.
In the last blog entry we promised to provide more information about our new project: Gods of War: Togo.
CSS Stonewall/Kotetsu
The game’s patron is the famous Japanese admiral Togo Heihachiro, called by many “Nelson of the East”. He also considered himself the reincarnation of this British admiral. Togo began his career in the 1860s, therefore, at the time of the decline of wooden warships and the advent of the age of ironclads. Sails were gradually replaced by more and more effective steam propulsion. But his greatest successes belong to a different era – predrednoughts. As a commander of one of the ships he took part in the battle at the Yalu River, and as the supreme commander of the fleet he won the battle in the Yellow Sea and the battle of Tsushima in 1905. This victory was also one of the biggest victories in the recent history of naval warfare. Admiral Togo’s ships eliminated the entire enemy fleet!
In the future we will write more about admiral Togo.
CSS Stonewall vs wooden frigate.
History of naval warfare can be divided into different periods. Togo will include three of them:
Golden Age of wooden ships of the line, from 18th to first half of 19th century.
Ironclads warships, which emerged in 1860s, and matured about two decades later.
Predrednoughts, heavily armed battleships, which emerged in 1880s and were produced till first decade of 20th century.
When preparing the game, we focus initially on the last two periods – ironclads and predrednoughts . The first two starter sets will also be about these two eras. It is mainly associated with the production of models, ship cards or admiral’ss cards, as well as rules for individual nations. Rules for sailing fleets will already be in the main game manual.
Models for Togo will be produced in 1: 1200 scale, mostly as 3D prints. CSS Stonewall / Kotetsu, CSS Virginia and USS Monitor presented in the pictures are resin models produced with 3D printing technology, painted by Nutka maluje. CSS Sterling Price and USS Cairo are models sculpted in a classic way, cast in resin.
CSS Stonewall/Kotetsu.
It’s time to mention little more about game rules.
The rules will be scalable and consist of two parts: basic and advanced rules. It will be possible to play with a single ship, then the clashes will be as fast as British destroyers ;), or with entire fleets divided into several squadrons. Advanced rules will include commanding entire squadrons of ships, formations, the influence of admirals on their squadrons, etc. They will not have to be used in a game in which only a few ships will fight.
CSS Sterling Price vs USS Cairo
Command and control will be a very important element of the game, which is typical for the entire Gods of War series. It has been adapted to the specifics of naval warfare and the main assumptions of the game. Players will assign two orders in advance for each of their ships (or in the advanced version of the rules – for each squadron), which means that it will be necessary to anticipate enemy moves and plan accordingly. In fact, ships have their inertia, making a turn or changing speed take a long time. The orders will relate to the chosen sailing direction and speed.
Similarly to other games in the series, we will use d6 dices, where a 4+ score will mean success, and throwing “6” will cause special effects. Armor and ability to pierce it through will also be an important factor. It’s not enough to hit the enemy, you also have to pierce through his armor.
City class ironclads were tough opponents for Confederate gunboats.
These rules will enable Togo’s compatibility with another game (in dewelopment) from the Gods of War series – Gods of war: Grant, which will introduce siege and fort warfare. Your heavy cannons will be able to level the enemy’s fort to the ground, unless … the enemy will sink your ship 🙂
USS Cairo and USS Baron DeKalb shelling Confederate fort.
Finally, a few words about the movement of ships. It will be carried out using two specialized measure tapes. The first will be used to determine the speed of the ship, while the second will be used to determine the direction of sailing. The shape of the latter allows the use of models on stands of different lengths in the game.
Ship and measure tapes (WIP).
Finally, we cordially invite you to this year’s Fields of Glory, which will be held on September 27-29. Most importantly, you will be able to personally take command of our ships and try who is a better admiral! We invite you to try the test version of Togo (on Saturday and Sunday).
