And Now For Something Completely Different

Hall of Famer Goose Goslin patrols right field in Sportsman's Park during the '34 World Series.  All figures by Reviresco.

Sometimes things come along that just completely distract me. I'm not quite as distracted as three month old kitten.  In fact, I usually can stay on task for a good long time.  I had a plan for the summer-15mm Jacobites and 28mm hypothetical war in Mississippi 1797.  Then baseball happened and I was gone.

Yes, I'm sure I've mentioned it before, I love baseball.  I'm a fan of the Seattle Mariners, one of perhaps twelve in the entire area.  I also love baseball games.  Computer games, board games--baseball is really important to me.  Baseball has a rich history and tradition that other sports simply lack.

Pepper Martin bats and Mickey Cochrane catches in the World Series.  Cardinals won 4-3.

I've tried many different baseball games, but the one I enjoy most is called Sherco Grand Slam Baseball Game.  There's lots of things I like about Sherco. It's a great two player game because it allows the team in the field to position their defenders.  It's easy to rate baseball players from history and thus recreate players' best years, or notable World Series teams, or even really terrible teams like the 1930 Phillies (or 2010 Mariners.)  It's a fun game that plays really fast.  Once, I even had the idea to create a Sherco board and teams in miniature.

Right-hander Tommy Bridges pitches as the Tigers take the field .  The game area was on a 36" X 36" flocked mat by Monday Knight Productions.  I painted on the baselines, grid numbers and the infield area. The outfield wall was made from sheet styrene and based on the illustration below by Bill Purdom. 

I made the scoreboard out of wire and sheet styrene.  I did my best to recreate the advertising on the scoreboard and outfield walls.

Yes there is a baseball miniatures equivalent.  Reviresco in beautiful Olympia,WA makes a very serviceable range of baseball miniatures.  I bought some when they first became available and painted them up as the 1934 World Series teams, the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals.  In another one of my crazy adventures I even built the Cardinals' Sportsman's Park as it appeared for the 1946 World Series based on a painting by Bill Purdom.

 In any case, one of my baseball loving friends suggested a Sherco tournament for the rest of my baseball buddies.  We've agreed on a round robin six team tournament for July 16th.  It interrupts my current summer painting projects because it gives me an excuse to make game boards for the Kingdome, Tiger Stadium, and Candlestick park as well as painting up some representational miniatures for the games.  I've decided to paint the 2001 Mariners, and the 1975 Red Sox, two of my favorite teams.  The Baseball Hall of Fame has a wonderful website that provides pics of all baseball uniforms from 1900 to the present called Dressed to the Nines.  Think of it as baseball's online Osprey guide.

These two photos show my fantasy league team, the South Hill Flounders.  Uniforms modeled loosely on the Florida Marlins' teal jerseys.

In any case, this has derailed some of my painting plans for the next couple of weeks.  I already had the baseball figures and this is just an excuse to paint them.  Shouldn't take too long. 

Lord Kenmore's Battalion and AWI artillery

Lord Kenmore's battalion was one of two Scots battalions that served with the British army at Killiecrankie.  According to my source, which I photocopied from one of David Sullivan's books, so it is untitled and the author is unknown, this unit may have been newly raised, chiefly from Ulster refugees, and may have provided their own clothing.  The author prescribes hodden gray coats and bonnets.  Perfect for the figures I have.  I put the command stand in British red, as shown in the Jacobite Risings Osprey Men-At Arms #118.  The unit performed poorly at Killiecrankie, suffering only one dead, which indicates they probably broke at the instance of the highland charge.

Pike stand.  I hoped to show the tartan on the pikemen, but like all of these, the pics are darker than I'd like.

Lord Kenmore's Regiments in gray coats.  The flag is a white saltire on blue field.  It carries a thistle badge with a red ribbon above the badge.

The unit in red is Lord Hasting's battalion.  It is the only true British regiment at Killiecrankie, the rest being Scots and Scots in Dutch service.  Not a lot is said about the unit's performance at that battle, but, that said, I really think Killiecrankie would likely make a bad game. 

Lord Hastings battalion at Killiecrankie.  Miniatures are by Hallmark. 

The artillery is from a couple of my projects.  Well, they actually overlap.  The larger gun stands represent American field and heavy guns for Regimental Fire and Fury (8 pdr and 12 pdr.)  We don't usually see these gallivanting about a southern battlefield, but one never knows when big guns will be useful.  The guns and gunners are all Front Rank.  I still love the figures.  Yes they are big and bulky and can't be combined with Perry or Old Glory figs, but I still like the detail and that they seem so substantial.  The guns are quite nice.

The gun on the left is a 12 pdr.  The gun on the right is an 8 pdr.  All guns and figures are by Front Rank.

The singly mounted figures and guns are from another project-Wayne's Legion in the Old Northwest and/or my hypothetical Mississippi campaign.  Wayne introduced a piece of ordnance called a King's howitzer, a 2 3/4 " howitzer that could easily be manhandled about and fired like a big shotgun. The guns, which came in two sizes, were very lightweight. The barrels were just 38 lbs. and 60 lbs respectively.  These pieces gave American soldiers the advantage of putting artillery in the firing line off the trail.  A nice advantage to have.  Unfortunately nobody makes such a field piece, and it was suggested I just use a 15mm Napoleonic howitzer, so British 5.5" howitzers made do.  There is a very nice article on the King's howitzers on the Legionville website.

Front Rank gunners with teeny, tiny Essex 5.5" howitzers.  Why is the picture so damn dark?

Photo of the lighter King's howitzer at the Legionville museum.  This site is devoted to preservation of Anthony Wayne's Fallen Timbers campaign (1794) You can see how tiny it is.  Just compare the gun to the height of the step.

Twas the First Day of Summer . . .

Yippee, it's the first day of summer break.  I'm writing this at 7:00 a.m. after having been up for two hours.  It's supposed to be 77 degrees in what can only be described as a spring from hell--cool, cloudy, very rainy, even the local farmers are complaining about the latest berry harvest ever.

But it's nice today.  I have big plans.  A morning walk, mow the lawn until my rechargeable electric dies.  I need to pull some weeds, do some house cleaning, then settle down to paint some figures.  I'm splitting time between Foundry's British Napoleonic light dragoons, which will become the 19th, stationed in America during the War of 1812.  The other unit I'm working on is Lord Argyll's regiment in 1689.  I finised Lord Leven's regiment, and will get some pics up later this week.

I made contact with the Dayton Painting Consortium's Richard Masse.  I asked about the availability of the old London War Room Range of Spanish Cuera figures for my project in the 1790's Mississippi territory, and he sent me a price list of available figures.  DPC had both the mounted and dismounted figures, which worked for me because I need a few of the foot guys to fill out my two nine figure units.  The availability of the mounted figures means I can hold out a bit longer on the Mexican Hussars.

Oh, one more thing to add.  I turn 56 on my next birthday, and my doctor is not very happy with my weight so this is the summer I finally do something about it.  Today is day one of my weight loss plan.  So far, so good.  I just got back from a delightful morning walk.  Managed to avoid being struck by any South Hill commuters.  Off to mow the lawns-'til the mower runs out of juice.  At noon I'm off on my first bike ride of the summer.  I wonder if exercise will improve my failing eyesight? 

The First Jacobite Wars

I'm finally going to wrap up my Jacobite War project.  It's about time.  Just to be clear, I've had these figures since Bill Clinton was in office.  Maybe longer.  I bought a big chunk of the them in the early Enfilades from Kelly Jones and Vauban Enterprises.  Sigh. I miss Kelly.

They are Hallmark figures, true 15mm miniatures from their League of Augsburg range.  I'm basing them for King's War by Bruce Bretthauer.  I've never really encountered a set of rules that really works well for the period, but so be it.  I'll need to play these a bit to determine how I can best tweak them for this particular period.

Hallmark's 15mm Jacobites are made for the 1688 rising.  Absolutely beautiful, proportional and well-detailed

My highlanders are mostly painted and mostly mounted.  They had a box disaster when one of Casey's cats knocked the box they were in off the dining room table.  But they survived without major incident.  I have enough figures painted for seven 18 figure units.  Some still need mounting and I'm short a couple of standard bearers.  I'd ordered a pack of command figures some time ago to resolve this problem, and it was supposed to include three standard bearers.  It came with none.  I do, however, have some extra pipers and clan chiefs, however.  Needless to say, I'm not thrilled.  I'll have to create a couple of standard bearers; it won't be the end of the world.  These are little gems, definitely the best 15's I've ever painted.

Another clan.  They look fierce, sort of.

Viscount Dundee and his handful of mounted retainers.

I have a long ways to go with the English.  I had a big clot of troops painted for them, but they need remounting.  I have enough troops.  When they are all finished I should be able to field six or seven units of infantry plus cavalry and artillery.  I also have a bunch of wagons and baggage from Hallmark's wonderful range of accoutrements. I'm hoping to progress fairly quickly through them and host a game in our Truants series this summer.

So What's Next?

It's been a week since Enfilade and now I can finally give some thought to what I'd like to accomplish next.

First, let me say that I did cleverly rope myself into something new at the convention.  Galactic Knights by Monday Knight Productions.  I bought the rules, a game mat and some space ships, but I don't anticipate that it's a large or time consuming project.  It just looks like fun.  It's Daveshoe's fault that also coincides with an old and amusing story.

On with the show.  There are a number of projects I'd like to complete or at least make major progress on before the next convention.  First on my list is to work on figures for a hypothetical conflict in the American Southwest before the Louisiana Purchase.  There is tons of history to support such a conflict with Spain.  That Spain controlled New Orleans and the port of entry there was a matter of intense conflict between American settlers in the west (Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee) who depended on friendly governments to allow the free passage of trade.  In addition, there was considerable angst between the United States and Spain over the latter's intrigue with the Choctaws and Chickasaws and control of the eastern bank of the Mississippi River.  Spanish construction of a fort at Chickasaw Bluffs (a familiar name from Grant's Vicksburg campaign) nearly provoked conflict in the region.

Mexican Hussar from the period I'm interested in.  It can be easily made from the Perry Napoleonic French Hussar figure.

This project broadens two existing projects.  First it gives me something else to do withwith the Spanish troops I have for my Lewis and Clark range.  I'd like to add a few horse and a gun or two and combine them with my large number of painted, but never played with OG woodland Indians.  It also gives me a reason to paint up my stash of Wayne's Legion infantry.  It would allow me to use both the Indians and the Americans for war in the Mississippi Territory or on the Ohio frontier. We'll use the Brother Against Brother rules.

Another project I'd really like to finish this summer is my 15mm First Jacobite War.  They are all beautiful little Hallmark figures.  The Highlanders are done and just need to be mounted. I have some of the English figures painted but have lots more to do.  I'm going to play Bruce Bretthauer's King's War for the period, unless you, brilliant readers, have something better to suggest.

I still have skazillions of other unpainted figures to work on.  I don't see myself acquiring much new.  I'll work on Eutaw Springs at some point.  All the American units are the same except for some militia--but I already have those figures painted-and a couple of units of North Carolina Continentals.  I need to double check the British again, but those units are pretty familiar too.  I've got some figures to paint from Mars, and some hangers on from the Spanish Civil War. 

This very instant I'm finishing up some guns and gunners from the revolution, including some of the little King's howitzers Wayne used in Ohio.  It doesn't bother for me to paint a little aimlessly too.  Sometimes that's just fun. It should be an enjoyable painting summer.

Wilmington: Open for Business

My Sunday morning game was Closing Wilmington, an Ironclads scenario I've written about before.  The Union has eight ships and a division of infantry with which to capture or destroy the forts protecting Wilmington, N.C. on the Cape Fear River.  I have some additional missions for them and the naval landing party that goes with them. The Confederates have it a bit easier.  They just shoot and shoot and shoot.

Things got off to a bad start, however.  I have some sleep issues that are aggravated by the fact that I never go to bed much before 2:00 at the convention.  I bolted awake on Sunday morning at 6:15.  Knowing I had a membership meeting to run at 8:00, and realizing the ballroom would open at 7:00, I got up early and dutifully schlepped my stuff down to the game area and began setting up. At 7:45 Bill Nitsche, a fellow gamer came by and asked if I had set up on the wrong table.  In fact I'd read the table diagram incorrectly and set up on not only the wrong table, but one that was five feet wide instead of six feet. Gah!!  I didn't move, and decided to just make it work. 

A fun group played the game.  Dave Schueler, Joe Waddington, Daniel Moon, and Tom Bieker played the Confederates.  Lloyd Bowler, Mike Smith, Scott Abbott, Ed from Bellingham, and Andy Doty ran the Yankees.

Lloyd advanced with his division of Union infantry and quickly captured the nearest Confederate fort.  That would be the high point of the game.  The Union ships quickly passed upriver, tiptoeing around the minefields, but took only minor damage from the Confederate shore batteries.  As the flagship Malvern charged upriver, it was taken under fire by the only 7" Brooke rifle on the board, located in the Martello tower.  One fire broke out, and then a second.  Aiming for the island with the tower, Malvern ran aground. 

By turn five, both Confederate vessels were on the table and making their way downstream.  The ironclad Wilmington began to fire on the advancing Union ships, finally targeting the monitor Montauk. Successive hits from Montauk's 11-inch and 15-inch smoothbores did considerable damage, but did not deter Wilmington from ramming and then detonating it's spar torpedo.  Though the ram was fouled by the sinking monitor, it was able to escape before being pulled under.

The Malvern discharged its secret weapon, a naval landing party, and attempted to capture fort A.P. Hill, the Martello tower.  Dazed and weakened by their smoky journey upriver, the defenders of the tower held on and repulsed the Federal attackers.  With the loss of the Malvern and Montauk, and the remaining Union forces unable to make way against the forts, I declared the game a Confederate victory.

The game went much more smoothly than I anticipated.  Running an Ironclads game at a convention is always a bit risky.  It's not an easy set of rules to learn, but there were enough veterans that the turns seemed to move along.  Maybe it was the scenario, maybe it was the players, but everyone seemed to be engaged and interested.  Unfortunately, at the end of the game Wilmington remained open for business.

Sadly I took no pictures of this game, though Dave Schueler has photos on his blog.

Holding My Breath: Hobkirk's Hill

It is my dream to game all of Nathaniel Greene's battles in South Carolina.  Hobkirk's Hill is an important part of that dream.  The battle has the simplest terrain, the easiest order of battle for both sides.  I'm also finished with the figures.  So, it was a natural to host at Enfilade this year.

When Fire and Fury finally published their regimental rules, and also provided support to the American Revolution I jumped on it.  In previous posts I've shared my ruminations on AWI rules and my own efforts at drafting some Fire and Fury-like.  The adaptation of the long awaited regimental rules gave me the opportunity to choose rules that were commercially available and fairly familiar. 

Your obedient servant cutting out labels for Regimental Fire and Fury.  Ugh!

Even so, I hosted the game on Saturday night with a certain degree of trepidation.  I hadn't played the rules a lot and there are some significant differences between the brigade and regimental systems.  I did playtest the scenario once, but didn't feel once was enough.  When Al Rivers offered to help me with the game I jumped at the chance.  Al definitely was more familiar with F and F regimental, though the AWI rules were a tad different. 

The game had a full six sign-ups.  Chris Pramas, Tom Foosen, and Gene Anderson ran the Americans.  Chris Craft, Andrew Mah, and Mitch Berdinka ran the Brits.  Chris Craft and Mitch had a fair amount of experience with the rules, which left the Americans with those relatively new or unexposed to the game.  The objectives were pretty simple.  The Americans needed to hold their camps on the hill and inflict heavy casualties on the British.  The British needed to capture the American artillery and inflict heavy casualties on the Yankees.



4th Virginia Regiment.  Figures by Old Glory





Colonel Campbell leading the first rank of British. Figure by Perry figures.

 Chris and Mitch immediately led attacks on the Maryland Brigade, holding the American left.  They closed ranks and charged the Americans in extended order, as any self respecting British commander would do.  Though the 1st Maryland was thrown back, the 2nd Maryland beat Mitch's command back.  This would be the pattern of the game.  The Brits would have success to the left of the Camden Road, but not enough to completely unhinge the Americans.



The British set up in two ranks in extended order.  They will quickly form and give the Americans the cold steel.



The 5th Virginia moves to the attack the Loyal Americans and Coffin's Light Dragoons.

 On the right, Chris Pramas advanced his Virginia Brigade to confront Andrew Mah's troops.  Using his artillery to support his fire and eventual attack, the Virginians moved rapidly to take advantage of their numbers.  Andrew could only form a firing line and take it.  In our playtest, the Virginians, with their poor commander were slow and had little influence on the game.  At the convention, they destroyed the convalescent battalion, drove off an attack by Coffin's dragoons and man-handled the Loyal Americans.

By turn 10 both sides were close to reaching their casualty limit.  The Americans had driven in the British left flank, and the British had pushed back the American left flank.  An attack by the 2nd Maryland against the 63rd Regt. and New York Volunteers, both at half strength, eliminated the lot and the Brits suffered a major morale loss. Even though Chris Craft's Volunteers of Ireland and South Carolina Royalists were unscathed , when the game ended on turn 12, the Americans won the victory.

I was pleased the game was so tight.  It really did come down to the last turn.  I just need to play the rules more, so I'm better prepared.  It's the little things I really didn't get. The game turned out fine, but I think I got lucky.

Some choices to make on Saturday.

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I wandered with my iPhone camera on Saturday morning and just tried to get some pics of games.  These aren't all the games in the ballroom, but these were some of my favorites.

Wes Rogers 28mm Battle of Soor

Sven Lugar left behind his 6mm figures to host a 28mm Winter War skirmish, Lake Kookojarvi.  There were a number games fought in winter terrain, and Sven's was excellent.

Neil Marker's Fallout scenario, "A Town With Troubles," may have had the most original and interesting terrain of the convention.  Based on the video game, and some say it was a dead ringer.

Scott Potter's 15mm Battle of Fredricksburg.  One of several Regimental Fire and Fury offerings at Enfilade.

Chris Craft's 15mm Palo Alto game.  Another Fire and Fury scenario.

Will Thompson's Battle of Tsushima.  Used the Fire When Ready Gridley rules.  Naval games were quite popular at Enfilade this year.

Allan Dyer and Jeroen Koopman hosted 2nd Day at Gettysburg all day using Regimental Fire and Fury.  Get 'em boys.

This photo doesn't do justice to Bruce Smith's Swamp Fever game.

Olympia Gamers' Schlemmer's Gold.  Nothing like fightin' on Venus right after breakfast.

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.