Enfilade Just Four Weeks Away

I love Enfilade, but preparing for the convention is always a bit frenzied for me. I always seem to have some new thing I'm trying to do.
This year it's Lewis and Clark. Unlike most of my projects, however, not only do I need to paint figures, I also have to make terrain. The figs are done, but the terrain is just beginning to get started. I need to make an island, and I'm thinking I should do it on felt. I was going to do it on plywood, but I've got so much stuff to transport that I don't think I can manage tubs and tubs of stuff as well as a large rigid terrain piece. I also have some playtesting to get done-though I have no clue about when that will happen at this point.

I'm putting on three additional games at the convention. The first is a big hydroplane race. No big deal. It should be fun, and honestly I hope I get to race Miss Wahoo or some other boat-maybe Miss Spokane. Friday night.

I think I'm free Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon I'm running a game with Daveshoe. He's put together a great Action Stations scenario in the Mediterranean. I still have to assemble and paint a couple of R-boats. They have a pretty cool camouflage, so I'm looking forward to painting them.

Saturday night is Corps of Discovery night. I've painted lots of figures, assembled a couple of boats, but I still need to put together my river, a river bank, some hills, a chokecherry grove and play test BlackPowder Battles. Lots to do still.

Sunday is Bladensburg. The figures are pretty much painted, though I still need to paint three flags for my District of Columbia militia. It should be fun. I love War of 1812 games.

As you can see I'm going to be busy up until the day of the con. Throw that in with getting through a Jagwire deadline, Casey's birthday, and doing yardwork and the picture isn't pretty.

The Flotilla of Discovery

Lord, it's been a difficult couple of months. Between journalism conventions, spring break and other activities, it's been hard to get much done, let alone blog about it. Last week it was the national journalism education convention in Phoenix.

When I got home I had to decide whether to finish my last figures-the ten mounted Spanish militia-or do the two boats that will serve as Lewis and Clark's pirogues. I opted for the latter because I needed them for this weekend's game as well as for pictures for an article I was writing.

Here are the pics in all their glory. The boats are from OG/Merrimac Shipyards. They are a real bargain at ten bucks each (or less if an Old Glory Army member.) I gave each vessel a mast (one is broken for the scenario I'm running) Lewis and Clark armed each with a boarding blunderbuss, though these seem to be in pretty short supply, so I simply gave each one the swivel cannon that came with the boats. The prirogues were known as the red pirogue and the black pirogue, so I painted each accordingly.

Back from the Desert: A Lewis and Clark update

The L and C project continues. Why oh why does it seem endless. I took a little vacation from painting as Lorri and I went south to Palm Springs over my break. I had a good time as usual. Palm Springs is a wonderful place. It's restful, the weather is fantastic, and there is always something interesting to see. This year I took the missus to Joshua Tree and we drove up into the San Jacinto Mountains to hang out in the rustic little town of Idyllwild.

We got came home on an entertaining plane ride Friday. We got caught up in one of those occasional desert wind storms that blow in from the coast through the gap between the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains. We had a hard time even getting off the ground and arrived home at 11:00 p.m., instead of three hours earlier as planned.

I did get some painting time this weekend. I finished the second unit of Soldados de Cuera, as well as the remaining Comanches. All that is left is the unit of mounted Soldados. Okay they don't look terribly soldado-like. I bought a pack of Presidial Lancers from the Old Glory Mexican War line in the wake of the London War Room disaster. They look pretty usable with their round hats and boar spears. I've gotten a nice start with them, but I'm also in the middle of deadline. I'm hoping I might have them finished by Sunday.

Today I received some hills I ordered from Battlefield Terrain Concepts in Virginia. They are very nice resin hills that I want to use to break up the battlefield. They aren't intended to be difficult terrain obstacles, just provide dips in the ground. I also am beginning to work on the river bank, and have picked out the piece of plywood I'll use to form the large island in the river that will hold the Corps of Discovery's encampment.

My hope is to begin messing around with the Black Powder Battles rules next week. It should be fun.