Beer & Pretzels Ironclads flashback

Back in 2011 I had the privilege of visiting Historicon, held at that time in Philadelphia. I was hosted by a gentleman called Eric whom I had met on US Army exchange and found we had kindred spirits in terms of sense of humor and hobby! Eric kindly put me up for the week and we went to the worlds largest wargames show, Historicon. We spent  four days with the Philadelphia Rogues wargames group hosting a number of games. Eric and myself hosted four games of Beer and Pretzels Ironclads by Buck Surdu. The rules are for 1/600 scale boats, is simple, fast play and enormous fun. As the name suggests that beer is a suitable accompaniment to the game! Eric provided the scenery and his vast collection of Thoroughbred Figures Ironclads. These ships are pewter and are of exquisite quality and detail.

Beer and Pretzels Ironclads by Buck Surdu, available from Old Glory

One of the games is recorded by a fellow blogger whom I remember as being a really good sport, his review can be found as this link. https://misternizz.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/historicon-2011-first-day-second-day/

One of the 2011 Historicon Games, probably up the Yazoo river.

The game scales up well with other scales, in fact on the closing night of Historicon the Philadelphia Rogues held a very large and spectacular drunken ACW battle (shows are way more fun in the USA!) in 15mm using Fire and Fury rules for the ground element and 15mm scale Ironclads by Old Glory using Beer and Pretzels Ironclads. As the confederate Admiral I was soundly whipped by the Union.

15mm drunken Fire & Fury with Beer and Pretzels Ironclads is not for the feint hearted.


Following Historicon I had acquired by own fleet of 1/600 scale Ironclads by Mr Peter Pig and spend most of my emergency on call shifts during the 2012 London Olympic games painting them in the office. Peter Pigs range is excellent value for money and covers the whole variety of the ships from that period, they scale well with Thoroughbred's offerings. I also stumbled upon Terrain Mat  (  http://www.terrainmat.com/ )who make excellent coastal mats and terrain. This game took a hammering over 2012 and 2013, looking back they really were fun games to play so I may dig the collection out again for a long overdue airing.