Enfilade: The Big Picture

Enfilade 2011 was a great convention.  On so many levels it was one of the best of the twenty years of that event. 

It didn't start out auspiciously.  I had to work on Friday, which meant I couldn't leave until school was out at 2:10.  I blew out of the parking lot ahead of the buses, but still got stuck behind the giant piles of ER traffic.  Even so, traffic down to Olympia wasn't the horror show everyone talked about in years past, and I didn't hear many folks complaining.

I spent lots of time with luggage carts, schlepping stuff to and from my car and to and from my room.  My room seemed to be in a different zip code from the convention ballroom.

Due to the late start I missed getting into first Friday game session.  It would set the pattern for my weekend.  I spent most of my time wandering and watching games, talking to friends, having lunch with Dave Schueler.  I also ran three games, each of them great experiences, and I'll review them in subsequent posts. 

The wandering times gave me the opportunity to see a lot of other games, look at the terrain, and the interactions between players.  I was in charge of determining the best of period awards and the subsequent Best of Show award.  There were 115 games scheduled for the weekend, and together with some friends we did get to choose from some great games.  Just as a note, this year's group of games lacked that super aesthetic wow factor of other years.  However, as a group, the quality of the games and the level of engagement by those playing them was much higher than in the other years.  Overall, just better game experiences, a sentiment which was echoed by many of those playing them.

The middle scenario for Teutoberger Wald.  One of the best run games I've ever seen.

The convention was remarkably trouble-free.  My colleagues on the Enfilade committee-Bruce Meyer, Adrian Nelson, Jim Denberger, Al Rivers, Michael Koznarsky, Dave Schueler-really did a superb job.  There were enough games.  Lots of vendors.  Registration ran smoothly. Very few glitches occurred during the convention itself. 

There were some great games that won awards:

Friday Afternoon--Viking Run hosted by Lloyd Bowler

Friday Evening--Battle of Sluys hosted by me, Kevin Smyth

Saturday Morning--Battle of Teutoberger Wald . . . the Road Home hosted by the White Rock Gamers

Saturday Afternoon--Port Royal  hosted by William Stanchfield

Saturday Evening--Chelmsford on the Move hosted by Bill Vanderpool

Sunday Morning--Ice Age Hunting hosted by Mike Garcia

Teutoberger Wald also won the overall Best of Show for its originality and the engagment of its participants.  The White Rock guys really were masterful in moving the players through a complex game.  They win the suite and an admission to the convention for next year. 

Buffalo River by Bill Vanderpool.  Not actual winner, but one of six games Bill ran at the convention.

William Stanchfield's breathtaking Port Royal game.  Eye-candy a-go-go.

I gave the Director's Award to Michael Koznarsky for his work with the painting competition, and perhaps more importantly, providing leadership to the Citadel and the Enfilade Yearbook.

I'll be following this post up with additional posts about the three games I hosted at the convention: Battle of Sluys, Hobkirk's Hill, and Closing Wilmington.

Sluys-It Couldn't be Better

In my previous post, I noted I arrived late to Enfilade, which gave me time to check in, grab a very quick meal, and grab my stuff to set up Sluys for the evening period.  I was on the convention floor at 6:00, which gave me an hour to set up.

I was pretty nervous about the scenario.  On one hand I was very excited because it was my hand made project and I was so proud of it.  I thought others might think it strange and geeky and my work unworthy.  Really the latter troubled me more because most of my game projects are strange and geeky.  I was also worried the rules wouldn't work right, or I would somehow screw them up because I'd only run the scenario once. 

I shouldn't have been concerned.  The game was filled.  Mark and Sam Fortner, and Al Rivers ran the English.  Keith French, Brian Renninger, and Arthur Brookings ran the French.  Best, and most importantly Dave Schueler was there to help me with the scenario.  I'd re-written the quick sheets, taking changes from our playtest into consideration, so that helped.  We took the time to walk through the rules, and while there were some inevitable holes to fill, the game played pretty smoothly.  By the end of the fourth turn, I was no longer necessary, and Dave and I could talk about the Mariners-Yankees game.  Most gratifying, many gamers dropped by the table to look and ask questions about the cogs, the period, and the game.  Doug Hamm and Andrew Mah, tasked with scoring games for the Friday night period, chose Sluys for best of  show for the period.


The set up with both fleets hard against the Cadzand Is. shoals.


The game began with the French shuffling the order of their ships,while the English grouped theirs. The French position was centered between Cadzand Is. and the headland, and the English were prepared to take advantage of a small gap between the island and the fleet.  Unfortunately the gap closed with the night's tidal action, so the battle proceeded pretty much head to head.


Another view of the set up.  The French fleet clearly overlaps the English right. 


For the first three turns the English and French engaged in desultory artillery and missile fire.  Though there were some lucky die rolls on both sides, by turn four it was clear to the English they were going to have to close to win. In turn four the English closed and began supported melees in true DBA fashion.  Unfortunately DBA also requires some decent die rolling, and the English commanders, Mark and Sam, had much better dice karma than the French commanders, Brian and Arthur.  With poor command points, and much less capable of removing damage points, the French line began suffering large holes in the first squadron. 



The French third squadron moves toward their left flank.

 After turn four, Keith unchained his combined cog and galley squadron and began moving around the French left.  Though he had some early success, this flank attack was quickly stymied and then defeated.  By turn twelve, with the French suffering three times the English losses of five ships, I called a halt to the bloodbath.  Though the French three times during the battle, crippled King Edward's cog, the game was up.

Even so, there were lots of smiles afterwords, and I was happy the game was so well received. All photos were taken by Doug Hamm, and I thank him for letting me use them.

Sluys terrain pieces

In April, while playing Sluys with Dave, Mark and Joe, we chatted about the table for the game and how I might spice it up.  Let's face it, there was a naval game-never an eye catcher, in a big roadstead with lots of land, and all the pieces were made of felt.  Based on my illustration of the area, in living color in Fighting Techniques of Medieval Warfare (Matthew Bennet, et. al).  The picture shows the land area, the river estuary, headland and island.  In the illustration there are four small villages forest covering the rest of the area.

Bare felt terrain from March.  Lots of open space

I started out by thinking about the villages.  We're talking about the 14th century, and all I could imagine was that each little village probably had a church with a number of houses and other folks living in the surrounding area.  To keep it simple, I decided to make structures out of square wooden dowels available in the craft department at Michael's.  I cut them in a couple of different sizes and shaped their roofs with a Dremel sanding tool.  I painted them a brown and the roofs a yellow brown for thatch.  Each church I made pretty much the same on a much later model-but using my 28mm Miniature Building Authority church as an example.  The structure is longer with a bell tower.  I kept the painting deliberately simple

One of the four villages made with wooden blocks and somewhat shaped Litko bases.

 Trees were a bit more of a challenge.  I had an unopened bag of small tree armatures from Woodland Scenics.  The question was:  what to do with them?  It thought seriously about individual trees mounted on washers for weight.  I thought I'd just be picking up a bunch of trees all through the game.  So, I cut up some sheet styrene for bases, and applied some acrylic modeling paste from Liquitex that was tinted with Ceramcoat spice brown. Then I just squished the trees right into the paste and let dry for a couple of hours.  I wish I had more sheet styrene because I could probably use some more clumps, like twice as many as I have.  Hopefully it will look a bit more than a few clumps of trees.

One of the larger tree bases

Cadzand Island with trees and village.  Yeah, still seems bare to me too.

With Enfilade a Week Out . . .

It's that time of year again.  Social Studies classroom based assessments, the last issue of the paper in process, and of course Enfilade. 

Fort those who don't follow, Enfilade is our annual historical miniature gaming convention, held each Memorial Day weekend in Olympia, WA.  I'm the director this year.  I was director from 1999-2004. It's a busy job, and I don't feel like I've quite been able to do it justice.  I've actually announce that I am resigning from the Enfilade committee after this year.  I'm just too busy with school and currently stressed out by life in general to do it justice.  I've also been on the committee for a long time so I think it's time to take a break. 

I'm looking forward to having some time to prepare for games at the convention-hosting and playing-being one of the guys in the back of the room.  Next year I expect to do just that-avoid the registration desk, and everything except run and play games.  I can see offering to help in other ways in 2013-judging the painting competition, working the desk, other small things.  But I just need to enjoy myself a little more than I do. 

My games are nearly ready.  Because I have to run down after school this year, I'll be packing early, starting this weekend.  I want to see if I can fit all my AWI stuff for the Hobkirk's Hill game in one big box.  I still have a gun and crew to finish up for that game.  I'll also try to assemble the ships for Closing Wilmington.  I need to decide on the battery composition and work through the infantry rules again.  Finally, I need to make piles of trees for  Sluys.  I've made four little villages to represent the towns in the estuaries, just for show, but the terrain is heavily forested as well.  It will add to the geographic flavor.

In many respects I'm very excited about my game offerings.  Sluys can be more than a one-off game. But it's the satisfaction of having made everything that goes with it that pleases me. Hobkirk's Hill is the first in a series of games I'll offer on the Revolution.  Next Year I'd like to do Hobkirk's and Eutaw Springs, which has fairly challenging terrain, but not a lot of new units to paint.  Closing Wilmington is the game I'm most conerned about because Ironclads can be so fiddly for new gamers, but I confess it's the only game system I like for the period.

How Can I Possibly Keep Up?

Twenty-five years ago, the only Osprey Books that drifted on to the market were the Men At Arms series.  I'd wait anxiously every couple of months hoping they'd fill out their Napoleonic range, got really excited when they issued the two volumes on the Polish renaissance armies, and even bought a couple titles just for the pictures.  The two latter that come to mind are the volume on the Ottoman Turks and the Burgundian Armies of the late middle ages.  The first had a fabulous picture in the ruins of Constantinople of an Ottoman soldier about to be flambeed by a soldier with a Naptha projector.  The look in his eyes of one about to be barbecue is priceless.  The Burgundian MAA has an illustration of a bombardier measuring stone to be shaped into cannon balls for a bombard.  It' s a job I think I could do quite well, and probably make more money (and definitely have a higher status) than I do as a teacher.

 At some point, however, Osprey became a publishing empire.  Men At Arms was not enough.  First there was the warrior series, with more in depth examination of certain troop types.  I've picked up a few these, the ones I thought were quite useful-longbowmen, highlanders, Huns, those that coincided with my projects.  Battle books.  Some are very good.  I love the Hundred Years War battle books by David Nicolle and Matthew Bennett.  I've avoided the essential histories, even though they often are written by great authors.  For example, Anne Curry wrote the Hundred Years War volume. 

I also didn't get into the small but potentially interesting  Order of Battle Series.  With one exception.  Unfortunately there is also a sad story that goes with it.  Perhaps the most useful book ever published by Osprey was the Battle of Quebec OOB #1 in the series.  I bought it when American Eagles in Tacoma closed.  It was super.  Great history of the campaign, campaign histories and color plates of each unit that fought at Quebec.  Wonderfully comprhensive and practical.  I gave my copy to Dave Demick, who I thought could use it more than me because Dave is my friend.  I though I could pick up a copy easily enough. WRONG!!! It's out of print.  It was out of print when I bought it.  It was out of print when I gave it away. I see that decent used copies can be had for under twenty bucks, so that may have to be a summer investment.

In any case, as you can see, Osprey, the little specialist company, has morphed into the big, giant military history octopus, adding new series ad infinitum.  I have seen one book in the new Raid series, however, that looks pretty interesting. The Great Chevauchee will be published at the end of May and includes details of John of Gaunt's raid into central France in 1373.  It will include details of skirmishes and ambushes along the way and should be a useful source for some HYW scenario.  I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

It used to be there were those who simply collected Osprey books.  How can they possibly afford to do it anymore?

Hobkirk's Hill Playtest

Enfilade is only a couple of weeks away and with three games on the docket I've scrambled to finish figures and get games ready.  I've also struggled to try and playtest my three scenarios, so hopefully they all turn out.

Last summer I walked through Closing Wilmington a couple of times and it just needs some minor tweaking.  I got in the Sluys playtest last month and enjoyed it thoroughly.  We tweaked a couple of modifiers to the charts, but the game will play as planned.  I was hoping to get in a second playtest but it just didn't happen. The only game left out there for me to run through was Hobkirk's Hill and yesterday seven of us got together to play through it.

Hobkirk's Hill  was fought on April 25, 1781 near Camden, South Carolina.  In the grand scheme of things it was a minor affair, but it was the first of a series of actions that forced the British to abandon their outposts in South Carolina to very active patriot militia.

The action took place as American commander Nathaniel Greene tried to enlist the aid of South Carolina militia leader Thomas Sumter.  Sumter, not an easy guy to get along, let the pleas of Rhode Islander Greene fall on deaf ears.  In the meantime, the British command, young Lord Rawdon committed to attacking Greene in his encampment at Hobkirk's Hill.  Counting on information from a deserter that Greene had no artillery, Rawdon made a night march through some heavy woods and massed in front of half of Greene's army, and that's where the scenario began.

We used the Regimental Fire and Fury rules with official modifications for AWI. Bruce Meyer, Al Rivers, Mark and Joe Waddington, Scott Murphy, and Wayne Harold came down to Game Matrix to walk through the game.  I went with a historical set-up, the British largely set up against the American left flank, but seriously overlapped by the American right.

A panorama shot of the set up.  The British are clearly massed east of the Logtown Road, while Huger's Virginia Brigade is in position to turn the British flank.

David Sullivan controlled the first group of three British regiments.  He promptly rolled three 10's for fire in the first two turns of fighting, reducing the effectiveness of the two Maryland infantry battalions.  Sensing an opportunity to shatter the American left, David quickly assaulted the 1st Maryland, who unexpectedly repulsed his charge.  Al Rivers likewise attacked the 2nd Maryland with the 63rd Regiment and the Convalescent battalion, and despite some initial struggle, eventually drove them off.  A second assault by Sullivan's troops cleared the left flank of American troops,  leaving a gun behind to be captured.  Only a large unit of North Carolina militia and Washington's Light Dragoons remain to hold on to the center.  The 1st Maryland broke and fled the battlefield while Greene tried to rally the 2nd Maryland.

The Volunteers of Ireland, and the The King's American Regiment get the best of the 1st Maryland in a firefight.  The Marylanders repulse their bayonet attack, and hold the hilltop by their fingernails.

A longer view of the battle shows the 1st and 2nd Maryland under attack by the British all along the line.

On the right flank, Mark Waddington, running the Virginia Brigade, struggled with Brigadier Isaac Huger's poor commander rating.  This large force, came up only slowly as the British made a mess of the American center and left.  The 4th and 5th Virginia watched helplessly as Bruce launched Coffin's militia dragoons against the North Carolina militia.  Things ended badly for Coffin's troops, however, as fire from artillery and the militia decimated them.

William Washington's Dragoons are about to ride to the rescue and run down the 63rd Regiment.

Just as things began to look hopeless for the Americans, Joe managed to launch two devastating charges against the 63rd Regiment with the Continental dragoons. With everyone in extended order to move over the rough ground, the light horse had its way, slaughtering the British foot.  At that point we agree to wrap things up.

At game's end, the North Carolina militia hold  the Logtown Road in support of the Continental Dragoons.  In the distance, Huger's Virginians make slow progress toward the British.

I did get great feedback on the game.  All agreed the basic concept was good.  Al even asked if he could help me he could help run the game on Saturday night at the convention.  He has the most experience with the regimental version of the rules so I was all over it.

Stuck Fast

I don't have much new to report.  It's sad I know.  I've been painting, but verrrryyyy sssllloowwllyy. I'm working on figures for the Hobkirk's Hill game, all Perry figures.  I finished the King's Provincial Regiment, and I don't have much left to do to wrap up--just some guns and gunners, a couple of limbers an ammunition wagon and a couple of British officers.  I did manage to finish one limber and horses as well as the British gunners. I've started on the American gunners, but the guns aren't done and, well, I know you can count.  Lots of stuff has gotten in the way--the trip to Anaheim, I'm stressed out about our deadline week in which seniors don't seem to want to work, and, I hate to say it, yardwork all day Saturday.  Thankfully I still have about four weeks to finish the figures and playtest the game. 

Pictures of some finished stuff soon.

Headed to points south

Thursday is the day I take some of my journalism kids down to the National Student Press Association convention in Anaheim.  It will be nice to get some sun-supposed to be in the 80's.  It will be a nice change given that my classroom is still freezing and I'm wearing sweaters to school most days.  Seems silly for April.  Of course we had snow here last week so what do I know.

 So I'll be away until Sunday.  The good news is that I did finally finish the last full unit I need for Hobkirk's Hill.  They still need to be based, which won't happen until next week.  I still have guns, gunners, limbers and a few other goodies to finish, but nothing major.  Seemed like the King's Provincial Regiment has been on my painting table since the first of the year.  Probably because they have.

Off to Anaheim.  You know what that means . . . a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.  I know you were thinking Brookhurst Hobbies, which is pretty close, but I am without wheels and I don't know any students who would like to go with me.

Sluys Playtest

On Saturday I met with Dave Schueler and Mark and Joe Waddington at Daveshoe's house to try out Sluys.  I decided to play the scenario straight out of the box as it appears in David Manley's Medieval Fleet Battles rules.  I put together some quick sheets and hauled my ships up to West Seattle.

(Note, if you would like a copy of the Medieval Fleet Battles rules, which include the Sluys scenario, David is willing to send a pdf.  Just contact him at dm dot at dot dstl @ btinternet dot com  .)

 I set up the game so the English began within 6" of the French.  I allowed the French to configure their three squadrons in the order they wished explained their positions shifted two inches to right against the shoals of Cadzand island.  This was a historical occurrence that badly tangled the French deployment according to HYW historian, Jonathan Sumption.  It also left a gap for the English to move to and through. I gave the English the option of the cannon ship offered in the scenario and they accepted that. I also provided that the English would always be player A--given they were the attackers, and the French adopted such a defensive stance.

The English have covered the French front and are moving around the French left.  The closest cog, however, has run onto the shoal and will remain stuck there for some time.

Both players found the artillery exchanges were largely useless. Very few hits were made.  The French did well on their command rolls and usually were able to pull their damage.  Missile fire was a bit more successful, but not so much to offset the French close combat bonus.

Another view of the two fleets coming together

The English moved to the French left flank, but had difficulty making progress. With the French close combat superiority, it was challenging to get enough pluses to make a difference.  As turn four rolled around the French unchained their third squadron and moved to the attack. The English were stuck and not much good was happening.  The three galleys, with their superior boarding factors really made a difference, making short work of a trio of medium cogs.  When the Flemish appeared on turn 10, they were immediately confronted by three medium French cogs, and rather than turning the tide against their enemies, the Flemings found themselves fighting for their lives.

Turn seven.  The French third squadron is loose the galleys are beating up on the English flanking force.

At about turn 12 the pizza arrived and we called a halt to the festivities and debriefed the game.  We agreed on some changes and tried those out.  We made it more difficult to pull damage chits and gave the English a +1 boarding factor for this battle.  There were historical justifications for the changes that give the English a bit more of an edge, at least the opportunity to follow up on their missile successes. In the end, as with the historical battle of Sluys, the artillery and distance shooting is nice, but the battle had to be won with the sword. With the French close combat advantage, and the number of their supports that was going to be very difficult. 

 I think everyone had a good time and are anxious for another try.

Getting Serious: The French fleet at Sluys

We're about eight weeks out from Enfilade and my first project is pretty close to ready to go.  The Sluys game is finished.  I wrapped up the French last Saturday before my trip to La Conner.  Tomorrow I take the French and English up to Dave Schueler's house and we playtest with Mark and Joe Waddington.

 The action takes place in an enclosed roadstead at the mouth of the River Zwin, and there is a fair amount of land to represent.  I used the map from Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World, by Matthew Bennett, Kelly DeVries and others, a book which I've found regularly disappointing, but pretty helpful for this battle.  The map shows a fair amount of land representing the Zwin estuary and bay, the island of Cadzand and northern headland.

The game is tough to scale.  David Manley wrote his rules for 1/1200 ships on 30mm square bases and planned for a DBA 3' square table.  I'm facing a couple of different problems.  I'm looking at a convention game on an 8' X 5' table.  Sheer aesthetics require more complete use of that space.  My ships are small, medium and large and are unscaled.  They all have a 40mm frontage, but are 30mm, 40mm, and 60mm long respectively. They take up more room.  How much more room? Well, we'll find out how much tomorrow.  Dave has an 8' X 5' game table which I can cover with my 10' X 6' felt mat, will lay the terrain over top and see what I need.

I took advantage of Jo-Ann Fabrics' felt sale and bought some green and blue.  The green represents the land and the blue represents the shallows.  They will almost certainly come into play.  I hot-glued the blue and green pieces together, but it was pretty messy and left quite a bit of residue.  If the pieces seem to be scaled properly, I may remake them and glue them with fabric glue.

All the land elements are seen on the table.  I may draw Cadzand Is. out more from the shore with the wider table.

 The pictures of the French fleet show their array for the battle.  It's always a challenge to determine command vessels, so I gave Behuchet's (the French commander) cog Christopher a sail with the Oriflamme.  The cross of St. Denis appears on the squadron commander's sail.  The French first line is very long, with each line subsequently shorter.  Only four cogs and three galleys in the last line.

French in battle array.  The galleys are clearly visible on the right of third line.

 For all intents and purposes, Sluys is complete.  It's been a very satisfying project from start to finish, and I hope the playtest goes well tomorrow.

Off for some R and R

This morning I finished the last of the cogs.  Yes, you heard it hear first.  Unfortunately, I'm also running off to La Connor for a few days with Lorri and won't return until Tuesday.  I'll be sure to get some pics and post them when I get back.  I'm on Spring Break and plan to get a number of game-related activities done this week, but first a much need break away from school, games, headaches.

We're scheduled for the first Sluys playtest on April 2nd.

Galleys: Finished at last

Castilian flagship.  The sail depicts the arms of Castile

I finally completed my galleys for the cogs project.  I needed three models for Sluys.  The galley participants at Sluys were Genoese, but the Castilians also supplied galleys to the French, so I made three more for them.

The three Genoese galleys.  The Grimaldi family arms for a Genoese leader

I also included the Grimaldi family arms on the aft awning.

They weren't super difficult to build, and honestly I could have done a better job in smoothing and sanding them, but at their size it's hard to tell much of anything with them.  Honestly, I just feel the need for speed building these guys.  I did drill the sides of the basswood for the eight oars per side, and used steel wire for the holes.  All in all not bad.  A little washed out ivory paint and cover the lot with gloss gel and not so bad.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with Castilian awnings.  I decided to embed the Castilian arms in a field of blue.

A head on look at the Castilians

 

  I've built the next 11 French cogs, all the large ones plus some extras.  I'm hoping to have them finished by mid-week at the latest. 

Sunday Shipyard Review

You can see a dozen large cogs (2 inches long) with their fighting platforms and crenelations in place.  The fighting platforms for the 16 medium sized cogs are also done, though I haven't done anything about the walls.

Well, I'm disappointed.  I really did work hard on the Sluys project today.  I probably put in eight hours, but didn't finish anything.   I really hoped to have the galleys done, and did make considerable progress on the Genoese vessels, but still didn't get them done. I did cut all the fore and aft castles, and installed them on a dozen large cogs. Got a good start on stuff, and I'm positioned to make progress and wrap a lot of items up when I can get some time.  Probably not until Wednesday evening because we're on deadline this week.

Made progress on, but didn't finish the Genoese galleys.  You can see the Grimaldi family arms on the aft awnings.

The Shipyard is open

Blank hulls for large and medium cogs waiting for built up fighting platforms

Today is a critical day for me to get stuff done on the Sluys project.  I really want to wrap this up before Lorri and I shuffle off to La Conner on the 26th and this is a very ugly-looking deadline week. Not only that but they've stolen another hour from me with the move to daylight savings.  At this writing, it's eight o'clock and I'll have to go into work for a couple of hours this morning.  I've probably got nine or so good work hours-no doubt filled with interruptions-but I did try to get my honey-do's done yesterday.  Called my parents, did the grocery shopping, changed my oil.  Missed the Husky baseketball game (blues.) Anyway, the scene is set for a big time hobby work day.  I'll end-of-work-session pictures tonight.

Galleys got their decks and masts painted.  Still need forward superstructures and awnings painted, as well as basing stuff done.

Yesterday I got ready for today but wasted a lot of time.  However, I did finish all the small cogs for the Flemish and French forces at Sluys, did a little bit of painting on the galleys, but most importantly, I shaped all the hulls for the French fleet.  About 30 of those, so no small deal.

Renendra Tent sets

I made a small purchase today.  I ordered a couple of the tent sets by Renendra from Architects of War.  I'm pretty excited about them.  They'll represent the brigade encampments in Hobkirk's Hill.  They look nice and aren't very expensive.  Each set costs ten bucks.  I'm also anxious to give AoW a try because they are the reincarnation of Barb's Bunker, whose work I enjoyed so much. 

An Enfilade Check-up

Enfilade begins on May 27th.  That's 77 days from today.  Seems like a long time, but in project preparation time, not so far away.  That will include three newspaper deadlines, a trip to Anaheim for journalism nationals, a well-deserved spring break rest in La Conner, and countless honey-do's and sleepless nights.

I still have a lot to finish and play test.  The cog project is back in full swing, but there are still nearly 30 to finish.  This weekend I'll fully reopen the Smyth Sluys Shipyard.  There are about 30 hull blanks piled on my painting table that need to be shaped.  If I do that then I'll be in good shape to be working them throughout the week.  The sooner I finish the cogs the sooner I can playtest the scenario.  I'm hoping to maybe do that with Daveshoe and Dean sometime in March.  Gives me an excuse to have Dave down and Dean has expressed an interest and lives nearby.  I can do the land areas in felt for now, but I'll probably do the actual areas in foamboard for the convention. 

The Flemish fleet at Sluys.  Not quite finished.  Still some basing and sails to finish

Genoese and Castilian galleys.  They still have a bit of work to do.  Lots of paint and basing stuff and they'll probably each need sails

I'd like to shape all these hulls this weekend.  There's about 25 of them yet to do, but that's it for the project.

Small cogs for the French fleet.  It will be these guys and the Flemings finished tomorrow for sure.

I still have lots of figures and bits and wagons and stuff for Hobkirk's Hill.  I haven't played Regimental Fire and Fury, though I don't think it could be that difficult.  Spring Break (March 26th-April 3rd) should be enough time to do some practice walk throughs.

The Closing Wilmington scenario really needs some walk throughs.  The land combat portion of the rules definitely lead some work and some play testing.  I also want to be sure I get the right balance of Union Navy and Confederate shore batteries. 

Mediterranean Galleys WIP

One of the ship types I have to produce for my cog project is some 14th century Mediterranean galleys.  The French hired galleys and crews from the Genoese and the Castilians, so it's only right that I have a few in my collection.  Three models are necessary for Sluys, so I made six, hoping might get three usable ones.

Found this picture in Fighting Techiniques of the Medieval World by Matthew Bennett, Kelley DeVries and others.  Single square rigged sail, but I couldn't quite accept the low yard.  Why bother with a strange teeny, tiny sail?

I started with this picture of a 14th century Venetian galley and did the best I could.  I cut 1 1/2"  hulls from 3/8" by 1/8" thickness basswood, and cut the bow into a point.  I added a little forward and aft superstructure and followed up with lots of sanding.  Then I drilled holes for steel wire and voila, we have the unfinished product.  They will look anything but perfect, but I think they'll do.  I'll post the finished product when I'm done

Fairly close up shot.  As you can see, nothing special.

The lot of them definitely look better at a distance.

The field is fallow

I've had a heckuva time getting anything done lately.  I've got about three different projects I've been piddling at on my desk and getting frightfully little done on any of them.  I've entered one of those zones I face a few times a year when I don't get much done and just kind of hang out and read.  I'm not sure I have a good reason.  I did have a nasty fall at home a few weeks ago.  I really banged up my left leg just below the knee and it has a huge knot.  If I sit for very long it gets very stiff.  It's finally starting to get better and maybe that will help.  Today was a good painting day.

All the hard stuff is done.  Eight small cogs for Sluys.  They need masts and bowsprits, then it's prime 'em and paint 'em

I spent the weekend  painting a bit, but finished nothing.  First, I have eight small cogs I'm working on.  I need small cogs for the Flemish forces at Sluys, and will have a few left over for the French.  I'm getting more motivated to jump on the rest of the ships for Enfilade so I can get on with playtesting the scenario.

16 miserable figures that aren't even hard to paint.  Why can't I get the done??!! Argh!

 I worked a little bit on these silly Perry figures for the King's Provincial Regiment.  It's the last unit I need to paint for Hobkirk's Hill.  Again, I need to playtest the scenario so I gotta get on them.  Right now, every hour I spend on them seems like weeks.  Gah!!

Absolutely one of my favorite minis of all time.  Alys and Her Pussycat by Hasslefree Miniatures.

 This is Alys and her Pussycat based on the Alice and the Cheshire Cat from Hasslefree figures.  Its my last HF figure, and is one of my favorites.  It really captures the subject well.  Not quite finished, just gotta do something with the base.

Two limbers, two gun crews, three mounted officers and one ammunition wagon await my attention.  Perhaps I should just cover it all with Scenic Cement and give up.

This stack of Perry boxes are all the guns, gunners, wagons and officer figures I need to do for Hobkirks.  For the most part they're just for show and don't comprise a whole lot of minis.  Even so, it's a big pile of boxes.  Sheesh.

Saying Goodbye Was Hard

Early this morning I headed north to an Indesign workshop in Montlake Terrace.  For those who don't know, Indesign is a page layout program that is a wonderful tool  It can do far more than the Pagemaker 2 I started out with so many years ago.  Nevertheless, I am such a miserable schlub with the program.  I have CS3 at home and at school and it's the program we use to lay out the paper.  I am little or no help to my students, so I thought it was important to take the class the Washington Journalism Education Association was offering.  All I proved was that I need a lot more practice as well.

I made myself a promise to stop by American Eagles on the way back.  I've wanted to go the last couple of weeks to take advantage of the sales.  No, that's not really true, I really wanted to stop by to pay my respects.  I knew from visiting the shop after Drumbeat there wasn't a lot I was interested in, but I was sure I could find something, even if it was a token amount, I could use for one project or another.  I arrived at the shop at about 3:00, and it was pretty busy with a fairly consistent line at the register.  I was really hoping to find a nice 1/48th sale model of a P-6E Hawk.  The army flew these in formation at the Cleveland Air Races, and I thought it might be a fun addition to my collection.  Alas, there was no such thing, much to my chagrin.

So, I spent a lot of time looking.  There were lots of model planes, but not one that really floated my boat.  There were tons of role-playing supplements, but not many sets of game rules, definitely none of interest.  There were many leftover copies of Seekrieg 4.  There's a reason for that. Lots of very nice Clash of Arms games, but board-gaming really isn't my gig.  I finally settled on a a couple of 1/700 ship kits.  One was a Spruance class destroyer.  Designed in the 70's and retired after 2000, I figured I couldn't go too far wrong with that.  The Taiwanese picked up four of these just prior to 2000, so I can maybe use it in an Airwar C21 game.  I also picked up the Tamiya set of Japanese auxiliaries for World War II.  Comes with three handy small vessels.  Unfortunately the labeling is all in Japanese, so I'll have to check on what I actually got.

 There was something deflating about the entire shopping trip.  Though I never went to the Lake City shop enough to feel at home there, it did seem that I was saying goodbye to something familiar.  I've been going to American Eagles for years.  I remember George Edwards when he was a little boy running around the shop making his mom crazy.  I went to American Eagles when I was first married, and when I was carrying Patrick around in my arms. Today is Pat's 31st birthday.  And today I'm saying goodbye, as I said goodbye to Escape Velocity in the 80's and American Eagles in Tacoma a few years back.  They're places I grew up with, and now they're gone.

Yes, There's Magic in the Air

It's February 27th and there is snow on the ground outside my little house.  It's been a week of winter.  Though I've managed to get some figures painted while avoiding burst pipes sliding on the ice, the late for Puget Sound snow has been weird.  But today, February 27th marks the beginning of my favorite time of year--baseball season.  The M's play the Padres, who share their training facilities in the Peoria, AZ, in their annual charity game before opening the Cactus League season in the coming week.  Better still, it's on the radio.  So, my big plans to spend the morning at work correcting assignments will take a bit of hit, as I only work a couple of hours instead of three. Ball game is on at noon, and I'll be painting a Hasslefree figure as well as my languishing unit of British loyalists while listening to Rick Rizzs and the boys.

Ahhhhh, I love baseball.

The PT Dockyard Sale

I haven't bought any new stuff for my WWII or modern coastal fleets in a while.  I get a lot of my toys from PT Dockyard in New York.  Dave Gregory's business fills a nice little niche in the hobby, offering vessels from WWI, WII and the modern era.  He specializes in coastal vessels for the "narrow seas" but also has his Shangri-la line of 1/1200 ships of might-have-beens, including a what if modernization of the armored cruiser Seattle that is quite spiff. Gregory is a super vendor, one you can always feel safe doing business with.  The models aren't always a snap to assemble, but they are quite nice.

PT Dockyard vessels from the med.  An Italian torpedo boat leads escorts into battle with British and Americans on the narrow seas.

Sometimes it gets quiet around PT Dockyard, and I get a little e-mail from Dave announcing new releases or some short term deal.  He sent off an e-mail last week announcing a 15% off sale.  Good deal, and last night I took advantage of it.  I ordered three Fairmile B MGB's and a re-released model of an American motor gunboat on a subchaser hull.  It keeps alive my commitment to some day doing the Raid on St. Nazaire and adds a valuable little piece to my American coastal fleet.

Good bye American Eagles

We got the word a couple of weeks ago that American Eagles in Seattle would be closing its doors. That's too bad, not because Eagles was a big loss to the gaming world--it's not.  I think it's just symbolic of what seems to be happening to hobbies like miniature gaming, plastic modeling and model railroading.  These are hobbies that seem to have generational appeal and unfortunately the generation of enthusiasts is slipping away.

American Eagles in Lake City.  Currently holding a closing business sale, its last day is April 9th.

I'm not going to bash younger people for their interest in video games or other interests.  Nor will I bark at those of my age for not doing more to interest kids in their prized interests.  I've been out there and recruited and it's really hard.  I feel for people like my father, who is a lifelong Freemason, and represents generations of Masonic members, but couldn't draw me in.  My generation walked away from service organizations like the Elks, Lions, and Kiwanis in droves, and now for whatever reason, our interests too may be doomed to the utter fringes of hobby interests.

American Eagles will be missed.  I was a frequent visitor in the late 70's and early 80's.  Though I never found it to be the mecca for gaming supplies, I was also forgiving of this failure.  As miniature lines grew, Mike Edwards simply couldn't stock 'em all.  Like many of my friends, I ordered from Modeler's Mart and other catalog operations.  Still I bought what I could there.  Rules, books, the Courier, were all frequent pickups on the way home from my job in Crown Hill.  For a while we held monthly game days at the Ballard store.  But the gentrification of Ballard forced the move, and Mike's retirement pointed toward the end for AE.  It was just too far out of the way for me down here. What the move didn't kill, the internet did.

Seattle Times photo of George Edwards contemplating.  Like me he's probably wondering where the next axe will fall.

In the  South Puget Sound community I worry about losing those bricks and mortar stores.  Where can we get simple hobby items, the foundation of what we do like, CA glue, Testor's spray paint (which I use for primer) and Dullcoat, sheet styrene without having to find an online source, or resort to craft shop giants like Jo-Ann's and Michaels which are completely under resourced.  We see this in the shrinking number of paint lines.  While miniature ranges have exploded and we have more choices than ever, those fundamental building blocks are more difficult to come by.  The last hobby shop in Puyallup closed nearly a decade ago.  The Hobbytown store in Parkland, a delightful shop catering to RC aircraft enthusiasts, where I can get styrene, brass wire and tubing, and CA glue is frightfully quiet and located on a recovering Garfield St.

 In any case I wish George Edwards well.  There was a great article on the closing of American Eagles in the Seattle Times this morning.  I don't believe he could have done more than he did, and while I'm sorry to see the shop go, I understand.

Field Trip: Dick Blick's on Capitol Hill

In my February 10th post I lamented the condition of my brush collection and the difficulty of getting replacements.  I also commented about the opening of the region's first Dick Blick art supply store on Capitol Hill in Seattle.

I've been scheming for a way to get up there, but I really needed another reason to drive the 35 miles or so.  Wednesday was the end of our newspaper cycle, and I usually pick up our finished product in South Seattle on Thursday night.  Because this is a four day weekend for me, I decided to put off driving to Pacific Publishing on a Thursday night and head up this morning.  Casey and I decided we'd go out for breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe (highly recommended) pick up the JagWire and check out some neighborhoods in Seattle as Casey looks for a place to move.  Capitol Hill is on his list, so we agreed to stop by the big Dick's.

We picked up the paper, grabbed some good eats and headed over toward Broadway.  After some creative parking solutions we walked in and I immediately began searching the brush aisle.  They did indeed have my Master Kolinsky brushes and on sale 50% off.  The only problem is they don't stock all brush sizes, so the Number 1's that I really needed weren't available.  They did, however, have 0's and 00's and 50% off is 50% off so did grab an 0.  Because I really did need some 1's I looked really hard at what they had.  The brush selection was super, though there really wasn't much in that size.  I picked up a couple of Da Vinci 1's, which unfortunately weren't 50% off and also used synthetic bristles.

Two Da Vinci Cosmotop No. 1's flank a Blick Master Kolinsky 0 from Dick Blick's Art Supply.  Located at 1600 Broadway across the street from Seattle Central Community College.

Aside from that we didn't spend much time.  I did ask about the Master Kolinsky 1's which could be special ordered, but I didn't feel the need.  They also showed me their behind the counter collection of Windsor and Newton series 7's, also Kolinsky brushes, but they demanded Casey as collateral.  I offered, but he refused.  Honestly, I don't have as good a result with the W and N brushes, so Casey made a good choice. There was one upside.  Like all vendors, they offered to make me a preferred customer.  When I asked if there was a cost, the said not if I was a teacher or student.  Bonus.  10% off my purchase.

I didn't look at anything else, no paint or acrylic gels.  It was great to go to a real art house with real art supplies as opposed to Michael's or JoAnn's. It was a worthwhile trip.

Time to 'Fess Up

I have done a much better job of posting on the blog since December, but I haven't been really good with my counting stats--figures painted and figures purchased.  That's not quite true either, I do update my painted stats regularly, but I haven't included my figures purchased stuff.

I really do try to keep purchases to a minimum.  Like you, I just have too many unpainted figures for too many unpainted projects in my drawers of shame.  My chief culprits are the American Revolution and the Hundred Years War, but I have lots of other figures for lots of other projects.  So, I make it point to try to only buy figures that round out units I need for a specific game, and try to avoid buying lots of other figures that will sit for years waiting for brush to apply paint.  I've kind of done that-sort of-almost.

I've made two figure purchases since the first of the year.  The first was to RAFM for some of their Martians.  I needed a couple of figures to finish out a unit, and, being a firm believer one can never order just two figures no matter the excuse, I added another unit too to make my order a still paltry, but more acceptable thirteen figures.  Have I painted any of the thirteen?   No, but they are sitting on my painting table primed and very much on my to do list

My other order was to the Warstore.com where all Perry figures worth having live.  Son Casey gifted his mom and I each 60 bucks when he got a big bonus from his employer and I combined that with thirty five or so simoleans I'd stashed away for a future order.  I could get some serious stuff with that much cash, and I really wanted some limbers and wagons for my AWI projects, particularly Hobkirk's Hill where an encampment, artillery pieces and transport was really important.  So I did order a couple of the Perry two-horse limbers, and a powder wagon.  It would have been fine to stop right there and reinvest the leftovers in paint brushes, but I just couldn't help myself, and I spent the rest too.  I snapped up two packs of the very nice Lee's Legion foot, which I'll eventually need for Eutaw Springs.  I had just enough left over to pick up the Indian Cavalry Command figures from the Sudan range--just what I need for one of my Martian units I've got a-building in my mind.  I have all the remaining figures for the unit--just need a commander.

 There, I've come clean.  Do you have any purchases to confess?

A Look Ahead

It's a short look ahead.  Mostly to the weekend.  Because of President's Day and the extra Friday the district provides us, I've got a four day mid-winter break holiday coming up in a couple of days. What do I have planned.  I remember the days when we'd run to Whistler or stay in Seattle, leave the house for a few days. Well, we're broke, so that's not going to happen this weekend. 

What better to do than watch movies and paint figures this weekend?  Lorri's mom gave me the entire collection of Harry Potter vids, so I could check those out.  I don't recall what's in the old Netflix queue.  I dunno, I have plenty to watch.  I also have some painting to do.  I have eight or nine Hasslefree miniatures I need to paint.  I should have role-playing this Saturday so they need to get done--plus I need to work on my Serenity adventure. 

Looking father out, those sixteen semi-painted Perry AWI guys are calling my name and I really need them for Hobkirk's Hill.  And cogs, more cogs, I need lots of cogs, though not quite as many as I painted for the English. 

In any case, I'm on deadline right this very minute, so I could use a break.

Cogs: The English Fleet

Edward III's cog Thomas lead's the English fleet to Sluys

Hoo boy,

I've finished my English fleet for the Sluys game.  I haven't talked too much about the rules or the scenario, but it's based on one laid out in David Manley's Medieval Fleet Action Rules.  I don't know if David has plans to publish these, but I've reviewed them and I like them a lot.  In the rules he provides an order of battle for Sluys.  The rules are simple.  There is an artillery fire phase, a missile (arrow) fire phase, and a boarding/hand to hand phase.  All the phases are adjudicated a la DBA, with a fighting factor combined with a die roll.  If your die roll exceeds that of your opponent that's good.  If your die roll doubles that of your opponent, it's very good.

 The scenario calls for 22 English cogs, plus Edward III's flagship Thomas, which can be seen leading the parade.  I painted far more cogs than called for--there are 43 of them out there.  The only thing I want to do is to put together a cannon, so one model can be cannon armed per the scenario.  You can see the large, medium and small sized cogs.

Another view of the English fleet

This is a project I'm really proud of.  My goal was to hand make everything, and I've succeeded.  I'm really not much of a scratchbuilder, as any of my friends can tell you.  The minis are far from perfect, but even so, they work.  My next big challenge is to figure out how to come up with a workable galley, though I have some ideas.

All 43 of my English cogs

 The project is only half completed at this point.  There is a small Flemish fleet with five small cogs, and 28 French fleet.

 The English decisively won Sluys, but it wasn't a walkover.  They fought all day and into the night and the French casualties were horrendous, as you could imagine.  The English cleared the decks with arrow fire and then fought hand to hand, throwing the losers, in armor overboard.  Not a good battle to lose.  However the scenario is very well constructed and poses some real problems for the English to resolve.  My hats off to David.  I've admired his work for years and I really like this scenario. 

Friday night at Enfilade.  Be there or be square.

Don't you hate it . . .

That great brushes are so hard to come by of course.  For the past five or six years I've bought Dick Blick's Master Kolinsky sable brushes.  They are really good brushes that last about a year before I wear 'em out.  I take pretty good care of them but eventually the bristles start to shed a bit, and the points get uneven.  I know, others claim to make them last for years and years, but I ride 'em too hard. 

Love the brushes, but the cost and getting them make me a bit crazy.  When I began buying brushes from Dick Blick, they cost a little less than five dollars a pop on the web.  Not a bad deal.  Unfortunately the price has skyrocketed to just under ten dollars, though one can occasionally get them much cheaper if the big Blick is running sale, which is most of the time.  What really makes me crazy is the shipping cost.  I never order fewer than five or six brushes because they're shipped in a little padded envelope and the shipping is ten bucks!! My weighty miniatures from the Warstore only costs six dollars and they are fast and well padded for the journey.

However, I did see that Dick Blick opened an art supply shop in Seattle on Broadway, so I'll have to check'em out.  I'll bet I can get the brushes alright, but they'll cost an arm and a leg.  What I save in shipping I'd lose in gas.  We'll see.

Poll Closed: Woo Hoo!

The poll was really fun.  I was always tracking it, so if you took the time to post your choices thanks.  I look forward to more polls.

It's also influenced my thinking for the convention.  So it looks like I'll go with:

1. Sluys on Friday night using David Manley's DBA-based Medieval Fleet Action rules
2. Hobkirk's Hill Saturday night using Regimental Fire and Fury
3. Closing Wilmington Sunday using the Ironclads rules.  

It will be a spring time of playtesting, and I may be forced to do more solo efforts as I work the games out.  Of the three Sluys will require the most work.

 Cog Update--I have twenty two cogs a building including Edward III's flagship the Thomas.  I should have them done this weekend if not sooner.  However I do start deadline again tomorrow, which is a deterrent to serious painting progress. When these are finished I'll have 43 painted English cogs at a cost of less than twenty bucks.  Not bad.