Between 1850 and 1880 there was a complete transition in naval warfare. In 1850 there was little difference in the ships of the line and those that had fought 100 years before. With large sailing ships with multiple decks and large banks of smooth bore cannons at the start of the period to even larger ships with a few much bigger caliber guns firing from behind ever increasing armour plate by 1880.
Guns in this period were constantly increasing in size to deal with the also ever increasing armour plate of the day. By 1880 ships were unrecognisable from those of 1850, with warships being heavily armoured and steam powered. The construction of the Warrior in Britain and the Glorie in France made all previous warships obsolete over night.
The wars covered in this book are from all across the world. Our previous set of rules covered the American Civil War . These rules now cover the wars of Independence in South America, the conflicts in Japan in the Tokugawa wars, The mighty battle of Lisa in the Adriatic between Italy and Austria and finally the Battle (or was it slaughter) at Sinope at the start of the Crimean War.
There will be further books covering the later part of this period in the future.
This period is pre destroyers, quick firing guns, radio and fire control computers. And in that way was much like the previous 50 years, but the sheer destructive power of the guns and the introduction of the shell which had a devastating effect on unarmoured ships especially changed naval warfare for all time.