This supplement to the game Hammerin' Iron (1992) describes itself as more of an expansion than a rewrite. It is intended to be played with 1/600 scale miniatures, although conversions to other scales would be relatively straightforward.

Hammerin' Iron 2 is a set of rules designed to covers river conflicts of the American Civil War, 1861 to 1865.

This rules system uses a hex movement system that is described as original to Peter Pig. This system requires that each ship miniature be placed upon a 5.5" hexagon cutout. The hexagons are used as a 'floating' hex grid radiating from each ship miniature. These hexes offer the ease of a hex grid in regulating movement, but since rotations of odd angles (for example, 34 or 52 degrees rotation) are possible, this system is free of the constraints of a traditional grid which would limit ships to 60 degree rotations.

Combat is based on a dice-pool system, in which to-hit modifiers affect the number of dice rolled. Each dice result of 5 or 6 (on a d6) is a potential hit, which is then tested against armor deflection. Potential hits not successfully deflected score hull hits.

A major change in this rules system compared to the first edition is the omission of the ship schematics and crew counters (in which individual crew counters were moved about the ship to allocate crew to various ship functions). However, if one views Hammerin' Iron 2 as an "expansion" rather than "rewrite", then one is open to include the crew and schematic rules from 1st edition in the Hammerin' Iron 2 rules.

Equipment (in addition to the rules) required for play include:

Ship models (1/600 scale preferred)
approximately 12 hexagons cut from 5.5-inch plastic or cardboard circles
approximately 16 six-sided dice
cardstock or felt cutouts to represent sandbars, shallows, shorelines etc
cotton (white or black) to represent damage to ships
notepaper and pencil
order cards (can be cut from rulebook, or alternatively prepared from cardstock)

Games