New Hydroplanes

It's off to Enfilade tomorrow.

In addition to preparing for Cowpens, I've painted some more hydroplanes. Painting hydros has been really fun. They are all historical from 1951-1965, so they are classic hulls. I painted a couple for Dave Demick. Miss B and I is interesting because it has the pink sides and cowl. It's supposed to have big block letters and I just couldn't get 'em right. I also painted Gale V for Dave. It is one of my favorite boats from my childhood. It is a foreign boat from Detroit, but it has great colors. The model turned out well too, despite my endless search for the right shade of yellow.

For myself, I painted boats that would have had dropped sponsons. Because the models don't show this, it means that some details that would have been easier to paint require a bit more care. I painted Miss Pay N Save. It's a beautiful boat with the striped tail. I just couln't get the pin stripes straight, but I really did enjoy painting the unique striped details on the hull. Miss Madison (1962) was a boat I chose because of the interesting color scheme. The blue on mahogany scheme was attractive, but the odd shaped tail with the black and white pinstripes was difficult.

The hardest part of painting the hydroplanes is trying to shape the tails properly. At the bottom of the tail it is difficult to fit it into the slot of the body. The other challenge is shape the top of the tails. Miss Madison and Bardahl had odd-shaped tails. I really struggled to get Madison's correct. My next boats will be Slo-Mo-Shun IV and Miss Spokane. Sl0-Mo has a tail like Bardahl's only larger, and Spokane has a free form tail. They'll be a challenge.

Countdown to Enfilade

I have four days to finish what must be finished. Chief among these are my Enfilade duties. I am in charge of organizing the registration desk--rounding up and scheduling volunteers. Thankfully we have enough, and I am eternally grateful to them for giving up their time. It's a little different, as they will also be running the Bring and Buy feature, which replaces the old flea market tables. The pre-registration is my other job. We had a huge number of people go through pre-reg--145, which is an increase of thirty five over last year. This might be due to the PayPal feature we used. In any case it makes a lot of work for me, making badges and organizing all those who who have pre-registered. However, it should make life a bit easier for the reg desk volunteers. My work with this is almost done, but between typing badge names, assembling and stuffing badge holders I bet I have at least twelve hours in. The good news is I'm not waiting until the last minute.

I am running a passel of games as well. The painting is pretty much over. I am still wrapping up a few things. Cowpens is all painted. I finished four of the five 1/600 scale boats for Action Stations today. I have two hydroplanes 75% complete. However, there is still some work to do on the Cowpens scenario and the accompanying quick sheets. Once I get started it shouldn't take too long. I also need to organize all the militia units and determine what goes where as I do the set up for both sides.

I'm hoping to do one more entry before Friday. I have some pictures I'd like to take and post of at least my new hydroplanes, and perhaps some of the Cowpens minis as well.

Preparing for Enfilade

With Enfilade next week, I've been trying to get as much as possible done in the evenings to do my share of the planning preparation, as well as readying my games for the big hoedown.

I'm responsible for all the pre-registration prep, and this year I agreed to take on making the name tags for pre-registration. I finished that last night, only to realize that the font size I used was too small. Because I saved 'em as PDF's I couldn't simply change the fonts, so I actually re-did them all. I hate myself. My next big chore is to double-check the front desk volunteers and see if or where there are holes.

Last night I finally put to bed all the Cowpens miniatures. I rebased the highlanders, and magnetized the bases on the all the cavalry figures, highlanders, and Continental infantry. I still need to update the rules and charts a bit, and I need to write up the scenario stuff for both sides, but that is a project very nearly complete.

My last big must-do gamewise is painting and basing some Action Stations minis. Really not much to that, just enough to keep me busy for a few hours over a couple of nights. I have five mostly PT boats to finish. It's the basing that is time consuming.

On Sunday I finished Dave Demick's Miss B and I and my Miss Pay 'n Save. I just couldn't quite get either of them right. The big block numbers on B and I completely eluded me. Pay 'n Save went better. It's a beautiful boat with a dark hull and interesting accents. I've begun two more boats that I'd like to have for the convention. Dave wants Gayle 5, and I'm going to do the first Miss Madison (1962) which has some beautiful coloring. Unfortunately the latter has a very oddly shaped tail that I haven't quite gotten right, but I don't know if I ever will.

Final Cowpens Test-Success at last

Mark Waddington, Gil Fussel, Jr., Scott Abbott and Lawrence Bateman helped me out with my last Cowpens test yesterday. I made some changes based on our last go-round about five weeks ago. We agreed that the conditions of the battle were, in fact, difficult to reproduce. It's not surprising-often battles turn on such small chances, it's those little things that generate such interest. At Cowpens, Tarleton turned out to be a rash commander, rushing into battle without reconnaissance, not knowing that he was facing a considerable militia force with just enough backbone to beat his brains in. However the mechanics of allowing a large American militia force to retire safely from the battlefield in the face of an advancing enemy, returning again to fight, is difficult to re-create.

After our last playtest-which was so discouraging, I put the advice of others into action. The Americans were able to fight their second line off the table and return, while the cavalry did arrive on the flank of the British and administer a crushing defeat. Though enough of the Brits were present to retreat a chunk of their troops off the table-avoiding the Tarleton calamity. However, with most of the British cavalry gone and the American horse relatively intact, it might have been a nasty show for the little force.

In any case I'm looking forward to Enfilade and trying the game for real. I need to finish up some troops, and make some modifications to the rules and the tables, but I'm much further along than I was afraid I might be. Thanks to Mark, Scott, Lawrence, and Gil.

My Desk is a Mess

I'm sure you all have this problem from time to time. You work in a small space, and you have far more crap than you can easily manage. I've also managed to distract myself innumerable times with a variety of different projects and activities. Hence my desk is just damned messy right now.

I inherited my game space from my youngest son when he moved into the bigger bedroom eight years ago. It's 8' X 8' so the name game room is a bit of a misnomer. It's nowhere near big enough to play games in. It's really just my work space. I have my painting table and all my supplies here. To the right of the table is a large closet, which has a lot of storage. I keep almost all my unpainted figures here. Across the table, which you can see, is a bookcase with all my Ospreys, rulebooks, and other game related writing--some history books too.

Usually I amuse myself with movies while I'm painting. I've got the DVD racks against the wall, and like everything else, they've overflowed to other areas. I love to watch BookTV on CSPAN-2 on the weekends, especially since the Mariners are in the proverbial death spiral to the bottom of the American League and are difficult to watch today-down 8-2 to the hated Yankees. Lorri bought me a 36" HDTV a couple of months ago--bigger wouldn't fit in this space, and that was a nice upgrade.

I have too many things on my desk at the moment. The white pile of 15mm figures is an Anglo-Norman DBA army awaiting paint--has been for months. I have some of the Bronze Age 25mm Martian heroes range (I know they don't actually call them that-there is a copyright issue) The figures I'm working on and desperately hope to finish soon are the redcoated 17th Light Dragoons. I need these for my Cowpens scenario at Enfilade.

What does your painting space look like?

Doin's

I know, It's been a long time since my last post. I was away yet again, this time to the JEA convention in Anaheim. Yes, I was within five miles of Brookhurst Hobbies, but managed to stay away. I spent a lot of time learning about student journalism, and a lot of time at the happiest place on earth (Disneyland) chasing around high school juniors and seniors. It was fun, but I can assure you I did little that had anything to do with miniature wargaming.

Since I returned home I've worked on a few things. I've been painting up my itty bitty unit of 17th Light Dragoons. I should have them done in a couple of days. I've also worked on a couple of hydroplanes. I am nearly done with the Miss B and I for Dave Demick. It's a Tacoma boat from 1958. I've also begun working on Miss Pay N Save, which is a very pretty boat out of Seattle. I'll have both of them for Enfilade.

When I arrived home on Monday I found my copy of Medieval Warfare by Terry Gore waiting for me. I had hoped to have it to take it with me to Anaheim, but missed it by a day. The rules look really good. They reflect the period better than lots of other more generic ancients rules, such as Field of Glory. This looks better for me that the HYW.

Mountbatten Pink

I am back from Palm Springs. It is my second trip to that wonderful community, and I found it almost as enjoyable as last year. Just to be clear, there are no wargaming shops in Palm Springs. There are hardly any book stores in Palm Springs--I brought my own. Just lots of golf courses. The weather was good-about 80 degrees most days.

That said, I haven't touched a paint brush in almost two weeks, which means I need to get it in gear. I still have two units to paint for Cowpens, plus some hydroplanes and wee boats for our Action Stations game. In addition, I'll be shuffling off to Anaheim in about ten days for the JEA conference, so there's no time to waste.

Mountbatten Pink is the color of the Campbelltown and the MGB's/MTB at Raid on St. Nazaire--that's a mix of gray and dark red: heavy on the gray.

Campbelltown Arrived Today

My 1/700 HMS Campbelltown arrived today. The manufacturer is Russian, called B-Resina. It's very nice. The hull is nicely shaped, with almost no flash or mold marks. There are few large parts to assemble, the funnels come as part of the hull. There are some superstructure pieces to assemble and the 20mm guns come as two part castings. They'll be tricky (but they sure look nice.)

Probably won't get far with this until summer.

Away, Away, Away

It's deadline week and I'm writing this from school. I haven't gotten much done since the weekend. To complicate things further, I'm heading off to Palm Springs next week during spring break. I am so ready, and I'm even happy to leave my miniatures behind.

Just a couple of quick things. We tried a Cowpens playtest on Saturday. My original concept for the game simply didn't work. The first line of sharpshooters we'll definitely eliminate. The Britsh attack stalled out attacking the second line of militia, and the militia simply didn't function as it should. We tried a second playtest eliminating the first line, and the Americans were overwhelmed, so it's back to square one. I've had a couple of suggestions. Wes Rogers suggested eliminating the passage of the second line altogether, beginning with the British wounded, and the militia bolting through gaps in the American third line. Jerry Nordbye is of a mind that there is a way to make the militia behave like freakin' militia, and play through the passage of the second line.

Anyway, we have another playtest scheduled for April 26th, and I'll worry about it then. For now I'm going away to Palm Springs--hope to see a road runner as I did last year, have some fun in Joshua Tree National Park. Fun is good.

Raid on St. Nazaire-hmmm

I'm still painting away on my Cowpens minis, but I am beginning to see the end, and I can begin looking ahead to future projects. As Daveshoe and I began talking about an Action Stations game we also talked about the Skytrex range of harbor accessories. Dave suggested that these were intended to build the port facilities for the commando raid on St. Nazaire in 1942.

I was intrigued by the possiblity of the action perhaps as a project for Enfilade '09. I also picked up David Mason's little Ballantine book on the raid from 1970. I polished it off, together with all of its fabulous illustrations and maps in a couple of days. It really whet my appetite. There are lots of things to work out, such as how the commando units would work with the rules, spotting and the like. However, the most important question was the miniatures. All of the motor launches are Fairmile B's, which are available from PT Dockyard. The funky MTB with tubes over the deck is available from Skytrex. What about the Campbelltown, the former American destroyer, modified and packed with explosives to blow up the Normandie lock gates? There is a resin waterline kit offered by B-Resina of the ship as it was modified. Cool eh

Format Change

I finally updated the format for the blog. It had some unintended consequences. The posts remain, but I had to re-do all my links, my library, and managed to lose my beloved counter. In any case it should be easier to look at the older posts, the photos are formatted better, and it is much easier to update links and post other information.

I'll even try to add another counter some time soon.

I've added a couple of new links to the blog. One is a link to a hydroplane history website. If you're interested in Thunderboats! at all, this is a treasure trove of photos and information. Another is a link to a Danish wargame site. It's mostly in Danish (shocking!!) however they have some great flag downloads including the American Revolution and the Hundred Years War which I've found quite handy. Last, I've included a link to the Company of Military Historians. These are chiefly artists creating color plates of uniforms in American military history. Many of these guys have been around forever and include names like Clyde Risley and Charles McBarron. Others are of more recent vintage. It is a treasure trove of information, and it is possible to become a subscriber and receive their work in your hot little hands. Hmmm, better references or more lead? Which would you choose?

Closer to Cowpens

This weekend I finished some more American troops for Cowpens. I wrapped up the Virginia/South Carolina State Dragoons, as well as the volunteer horse that filled out William Washington's mounted arm at the battle. I also got a bit of a start on the last twenty-four American militia I'll need to paint. This leaves only some British dragoons (6) and some unkilted Highlanders (24), plus some leader figures for both sides.

I've scheduled a playtest at Game Matrix. I'm hoping to have the militia ready to go for that practice game. I'll try to get some pictures of the new minis up some time early in the week.

State Troops

I've included photos of the state troops at Cowpens from Virginia and South Carolina. Because they are small, I've lumped them together in one unit. This is part of the revised Lawrence Babits American order of battle for Cowpens which certainly indicates that American forces at this action were much larger than is historically handed down. These are all Old Glory figures-hunting shirt in firing line, and infantry in firing line. Uniformish stuff and standards are all completely conjectural

I've never fussed much about OG figures in the past, but it is troubling that the hunting shirt guys have cuffs.

The picture on the right shows the unit in close order, and that on the left in open order as they would appear in a game of Tarleton's Quarter.

Back on the AWI bug

I've been painting more AWI figures for the Cowpens game I plan to run at Enfilade. I've been dogging it a bit because so much of what needs to be finished is cavalry-yes I know that seems odd. However, in the last ten days I finally polished off the British Legion cavalry-all twenty four figures, as well as a unit of South Carolina/Virginia State Infantry. I am working on the basing material for them at this time, as well as painting flags for the latter. There are a fair number of American figures that fall into the painting netherworld that are the uniforms-if any-for the patriot army. I'm about to enter the big time black hole of information of painting up four Virginia/North Carolina state dragoons and I'm just making it up the best I can. As soon as I finish mounting my troops, I'll get some pictures and put 'em up.

Links Update

Okay, I'm not at home to paint, so I have to steal some time to do other valuable things, such as update my blog. I've always admired those blogs who have a skazillion links. I had a few, but forgot how to update them. After looking at the html formatting, I suddenly remembered how to do it, and bingo, update links.

I added PT BOATS, Inc. This is a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of information and images about pt boats. Lots of squadron information and oral history.

The PT Dockyard is one of my recent favorite shopping places. David Gregory, proprietor of the miniature company, is very responsive. He casts on demand, and charges when the miniatures are completed, accepting payment by PayPal. There are several ranges available. However my favorites are the 1/700 modern coastal range, and the 1/600 WWII coastal range. The castings are resin, come with a hull, and a wafer of weapons and accessories cast in thin resin.

De Re Militari is a scholarly society for the study of medieval warfare. This site includes book reviews, and discussion of important topics from this era.

Last, but certainly not least, is Giles Allison's wonderful blog about wargaming the American Revolution. He is a wonderfully talented painter, and has lots of great observations about this period.

Deadline Week

Deadline weeks usually mean a no painting week. The hours are just too late to get anything done, though I may have some time Thursday and Friday. I usually dash home for an hour in the middle of the afternoon to take care of the dogs, so I may try to sneak in a few moments of painting.

Last night I got a lot done. I've finished eight of the fourteen British Legion dragoons (at last,) and I also polished off twelve figures worth of Virginia and South Carolina state troops at Cowpens. No more fiddle farting around with this project. I still have a lot of horse and foot to finish in order to get done. The last six BL dragoons are next, followed by four Georgia/South Carolina state dragoons.

Fields of Glory, Tarleton's Quarter, and some sleep would be nice

My copy of Fields of Glory arrived yesterday. They are the new ancients rules written by Richard Bodley Scott who partnered with Phil Barker on DBM. They are also published by Osprey, so they are quite impressive-hardcover, lavishly illustrated with diagrams and Osprey art. It's also not cheap at $35, but I've seen worse. I pre-ordered the rules and the expansion on the Middle Ages before Christmas, and they arrived Thursday. I've poked through the rules a bit, but haven't gotten very far. I'm interested to see more. They won't be a simple rules set to play, but they look pretty good, though they desperately need a quick sheet.

I was supposed to get together and run another round of Tarleton's Quarter today, but I had to cancel. I've been suffering through a week of insomnia. Stress no doubt, but I've been running on 4-6 hours sleep a night since the 13th, and I've got to get some down time. I'm trying to re-schedule for March 22nd. I've made some additions to the rules. I added a unit effectiveness chart for rating the effectiveness of units of different quality as they lose stands (a Fire and Fury feature.) I also am going to make a little table for units that roll a 0 on the fire table to determine the results. Maybe I can figure out a way to post these on the blog.

ConQuest: Sunday

My friend, Mark Waddington is always good for a game or two of Martian death at a convention. I thought it might be fun to run a Sky Galleons of Mars game in addition to our traditional Sword and the Flame based game, so I piled everything in my car.

I set up the Sky Galleons game for the morning, and we had about ten players. It was the Escape from Shastapsh scenario I've run several times before. In previous games the Martians have had a hard time accomplishing much. However the last time I played it--several years ago, the Brits were slaughtered. This time out, the Brits were massacred too, but they took a fair number of Martians with them. I think next time I would give one fewer Hale rockets to the Anarchists converted Clearsights and replace them with a Nordenfeldt gun. Sky Galleons is just a fun game whether running it or playing it, and there was just enough flames and explosions, and even a boarding action to keep it interesting.

In the afternoon we trotted out the Brits and Martians for a really big Sword and the Flame on Mars game. There were sixteen (!!) players with eight on each side. The game was Landship Down, which we ran once before. A broken down steam tank is defended by a small British infantry command, while a larger relieving force marches down the table. The relieving force has many mechanicals, including tanks, walkers and a gunboat, and are opposed by significant Martian infantry, artillery and anti-air defenses. The Brits got started with difficulty, but disposed of some nasty Martian late arrivals. Unfortunately they lost some a tank and a couple of walkers along the way. Their gunboat, the Ranger, was hit twice but still was aloft. The Martians, unwisely, advanced a couple of their legion units out of cover, and were getting shellacked in the open. However, they had some success routing the broken tank crew their defending infantry out of cover, and now controlled the broken down hulk. In any case, the Brits couldn't take the heat and recalled the relief column.

I've included pictures from both games. The single, somewhat fuzzy picture of a ship for SGoM is a Gametech Whisperdeath kite-a beautiful miniature. A second photo shows the death of a British dirigible that's just been Hale rocketed. The 25mm gunboat is Mark Waddington's spectacular scratchbuilt Ranger. Finally, we see the advance of the British relief column for Landship Down. All the mechs are scratchbuilt by Mark.

ConQuest Saturday

Saturday was the day I really worried about. I thought the number of games could be pretty thin, and even at that we might not have enough gamers to play what we did have. In the end things turned out fine. Though we had some promised games that didn't materialize, we also had some pick-up games to pull out of our hats, and everybody seemed to have fun.

Paul Hannah ran a session of DBA and Hordes of the Things in the afternoon. I didn't get an opportunity to follow these games because I was wrapped up in my own game. However it looked like things were going reasonably well, especially as more DBAers trickled in later in the day. Chris Ewick and Game Matrix ran the DBA Open tourney in the evening. There were eight players, and the tournament was won by Seth Terry and his Maoris.

Dave Schueler and I ran an Action Stations WWII coastal naval game. It was based on the cooperation between the radar armed US PT boats and British 4.7 inch gun armed LCG's in their interception of German convoys on the Italian coast 1943-44. The scenario allowed the German players to choose the escorts for their convoy. The Germans chose well from their collection of Italian cast-off vessels, but even so there were just too many Allies in the wrong place. A lot of the German escorts escaped, but the transports and their supplies were at the bottom of the Guly of Genoa. The Allies lost a PT boat, a LCG and a Fairmile motorgunboat.

We ran more Thunderboats in the afternoon, and it was just some hellacious racing. Of all the racing games I've ever run or played in, it was the best. Scramble starts, pushing engines and corners from the very beginning of the race, it was very fun. Lots of guys were asking about boats and rules.

Herbie Fairbanks was scheduled to run a couple of games, but didn't arrive until late. His work schedule conflicted with the gaming schedule. It would be easy to be angry and frustrated, but that's just the way real life goes. Sometimes the real world gets in the way of our hobbies.

Randy O'Boyle pulled out another Ironclads scenario for Friday night. I found it less interesting than Friday night's game, just because it was an improbable collection of ironclads pounding on one another. But, the players seemed to enjoy it, and that's all that really matters.

I left for my evening repose at about 9:45 in preparation for Sunday's big games

There are a couple of pictures from the Action Stations game. The Rhone freighter stuck in the yellow circle means "Oh shit, I'm spotted." The hydroplanes photo is from one of the great scramble starts on Saturday afternoon. It was amazing. The last pic is of Chris Bauermeister working with a couple of youngsters on his Russian Civil War game. He did a fabulous job with them.

If you feel so inclined to leave comments, please do so (sometimes I think I'm talking to myself.)

ConQuest Friday

Got back last night from ConQuest in Bellevue. This is a four day multi-genre convention owned by Avalon conventions out of California. This is my second year working with the staff there as historical miniatures coordinator. Last year, the miniatures room was constantly filled and a huge success. This year I had a lot of difficulty recruiting games and gamers from my NHMGS brethren. Regardless, the show must go on, and we still managed to host some great games and have some fun.

I knew Friday night was going to be thin, so I brought my Thunderboats! stuff and hoped I could drum up some interest in a hydroplane racing game. When I arrived at about noon, both Gil Fussells were waiting in the miniatures room, fiddling with Wings of War. The room was already set to go, so life was good. Battletech players arrived shortly thereafter, and I put together my tables for Thunderboats! A wide variety of players dropped in and out of the Somerset room to watch and play. We ran five mini-races or heats, each of three laps. These each take about an hour. The racing was very good. I've run or played this game about a half-dozen times, so my ideas about the best strategies are still forming, and it was interesting to see everyone else's take on the game.

As I stated, there were lots of different guys playing, but Gil Fussell found ways to new ways to crash in each game. I think he raced in all five games, and manged to finish only once-winning the last race.

In the early evening, Randy O'Boyle ran an interesting Ironclads between mostly ironclad vessels defending a fortified dockyard. It was fun to watch as the more numerous Confederates crashed into one another. He used some ships I've never used such as Roanoake and Columbia, so it was fun to see them perform. Randy certainly knows the game well and doesn't let the history stand in the way of a good time.

I've got a couple of pictures of Thunderboats here, as well as the self-satisfied Mr. Fussell upon completing a couple of laps, leading the racers without the intervention of some apocalyptic act of God. I have one quick picture of the Battletech game. These guys were fantastic, loved the game and sustained interest in their scenarios for at least twenty hours over the weekend. I also have one quick picture of the Ironclads game with the ram Stonewall attempting to breach the log boom protecting the dock area. Reminded me a bit of Trent's Reach, but not quite.

Valentine's Day and Getting Ready for ConQuest

This is the end of a fairly crappy week. I am an insomniac. I've been tending in this direction for a number of years now, and this year, with all the stress of my new job, it's really become a problem. On those days when I come home after 4 1/2 hours of sleep, it is very difficult to get much painting done, and a lot easier to just read or watch tv (though I am quite selective about the latter.) I think I've found a routine that will still let me get an hour of painting time per night, and 7-7 1/2 hours sleep too.

However, today is Valentine's Day, and Lorri bought me a 32" HDTV for my den. I spent most of last night getting it set up to accept my DVD player, so not much more than five minutes or so laboring over British Legion Dragoons. I'll be so glad when they are done. The television is great, will help me see movies and Mariners games better. I also get to see some of those wonderful digital channels. Anyway, it looks like the den is getting a bit more upscale, and I need to clean it up a bit more. Unfortunately, my own contribution to Valentine's Day doesn't look like much--a copy of The Jane Austin Book Club, and a couple of Jim Brickman (ick) CD's.

Tomorrow is the first day of ConQuest. I spent last night puttering around, getting stuff ready to go. I printed the cards for Thunderboats, and they came out great. I just used Office Depot two sided business cards as Daveshoe suggested, and it was as easy as pie. I also printed out the boat cards for the game, with plans to laminate them. Unfortunately the laminate I purchased was the self sticky kind, not the laminating pouches I thought I was getting. I ran out this morning to pick those up. I'll have to try again tonight.

I have four different games I'm running which means a challenge to my ever fragile memory. Thunderboats Friday night, Action Stations Saturday morning, plus I need my DBA army for the Open Tournament, just in case. Sunday morning its Sky Galleons, and Martians in the afternoon. I hope to get out of Dodge early on Sunday night after the banquet. Thank goodness I have Monday off. I'm truly not looking forward to this. I'm exhausted, and could use the time to relax, but I volunteered and nobody was twisting my arm. It's likely my last year as miniatures coordinator however. There simply has not been the enthusiasm for the con among the miniaturists this year, and I simply don't wish to be the guy who is swimming upstream against the tide.

Coastal vessels

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As promised, I've included photos of my coastal vessels. As usual, taking photos is a challenge for me. In this case the lighting is crap. Using the camera's flash washed out the detail, so I opted for no flash which picked out the detail but messed up the actual color. Some day I'll figure it out.

The first photo is of 80 ft Elco PT boats with an LCG in the background. Didn't do much with my LCG's. They're Skytrex miniatures and your basic gray. The Elcos are PT Dockyard minis. they turned out reasonably well and are camouflaged. Probably too much blue in the dark gray. The boat on the left with only two torpedoes is armed with a quad 20mm Thunderbolt.

The next two pictures are of two large Italian vessels that were pressed into German service. the larger of the two is an Italian destroyer escort. It's big and nasty, a PT Dockyard model. The smaller vessel is a corvette. It's probably my best effort among all of my vessels, another PT Dockyard ship.

The last two pics are of a pair of late war F-Lighters and a Flaklighter. Great models by PT Dockyard. The lighting being terrible they look like a rust brown color, when in fact they are dark gray almost, black, and dry brushed to highlight the detail.

Now I'm back to my AWI miniatures, working on Tarleton's British Legion, as well as a combined unit of Virginia and South Carolina state troops. ConQuest next week. I'll keep everyone posted on how it went, hopefully with pics.

One Week Until ConQuest

With a week to go until ConQuest, I still have a little bit of getting ready to do. Tonight I finished the last of my coastal craft. I like the German lighters, but am very pleased with the Italian corvette. Pictures tomorrow, promise.

I do still have some game prep to do. I need to get with Mark Waddington about our Martian scenario. I have to make up the cards for Thunderboats. I also need to put together the ship cards for my Sky Galleons scenario.

I'm also hoping to finish all of the British Legion cavalry before ConQuest. It's not likely I'll get that done, but it's always important to have goals. The Cowpens project isn't going to finish itself, and with Fields of Glory coming out in the next couple of weeks, I want to be able to move on as soon as possible.

Super Tuesday: A Weekday Paintfest?

It's Tuesday night. Last night was Curriculum Night for incoming freshmen. Last week was deadline. It's my first normal weeknight in over a week. After my WASL meeting ends at 3:30 I can head home and use my time however I wish. Super Tuesday will be plastered all over the television tonight. I sense a weeknight painting orgy coming on.

Okay a painting orgy for me may not be much. Maybe three hours if I'm lucky. But I really need the time. I've made a bunch of progress on 25mm British Legion dragoons. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on one's position) my PT Dockyard order arrived yesterday, with bunches of F-Lighters, flaklighters, and a super spiff looking corvette that require assembly and painting in time for ConQuest (a scant ten days from today!)

In any case, unless Lorri demands my time-she'll be watching Hillary, I'll be rooting for Obama-I hope to get some serious work done as we assess the drama from Massachussetts to California.

Deadline Week

Deadline week is always difficult. It means late nights that get me home just in time to go to bed. I've managed to sneak in a few moments to paint Action Stations coastal vessels--LCGs, pt boats and I've worked on the German S-boats. If I could just get an hour or so they would be done too, but I haven't been able to get that hour.

Fortunately today is the last day of deadline, and we send the paper to bed some time tonight.

I should be able to finish my coastal vessels this weekend, though I have a few more coming in from PT Dockyard soon. I'd like to add some more German lighters and a second Italian corvette with my next order--probably in March.

I'm moving back to work on the Cowpens project. I've primed up all of the remaining British Legion horse, which I need to complete before moving on to the 71st battalion. I still have some militia to paint as well as the state troops and volunteer cav for Morgan's army. I think I'll start organizing the militia into units on Sunday.

DBA day tomorrow. I hope to get my Early Roman army some action against the Early Etruscans. My bets are on the Etruscans.

Snow Day!

Yes, it's true, we got about four inches this morning, though it is raining right now. Snow days are problematic. When school is closed the days have to be made up. Usually that means the Enfilade Friday is the make up day, so I have to do the fast shuffle. This is a deadline week for Jagwire, which means the paper will be delayed coming out. That's not so good either.

However I did take advantage of the time off to make more progress on my 1/600 Action Stations boats. I should have at least five more finished, which means I'm that much closer to working on something else. I went over the list of vessels I need to have finished for our game at ConQuest. That should be no problem, but I also have a some more coming that would be useful in the game, so no time to fool around.

On Saturday we had our first Enfilade meeting, which did raise my level of concern about getting my Cowpens figures tallied and painted, so moving on past Action Stations and getting those figures done is also a great idea.

I've included pictures of my 15mm Scots army from the First Jacobite Rebellion. The wide shot is of my five completed infantry units plus my little bitty cavalry unit led by The Dundee himself. I zeroed in on Dundee for the second shot. You can't quite pick out the tartan on the infantry, but oh well. I did receive my last last two standard bearers in the mail last week. That will allow me to wrap up my last two units, and then half this project will be complete.

Tarleton's Quarter: First Play Through

Tarleton's Quarter is the name I gave to my little homegrown adaptation of Fire and Fury to the American Revolution. It is a very focused set of rules, intended to be played in the Southern Campaign 1780-81.

It is a regimental level rules set, based on the open formations adopted by British units to fight American skirmishers and riflemen in persistently lousy terrain for traditional close order, two rank formations. In Tarleton's Quarter, British units are free to move between an open order, or standard two rank line. These are documented in Lawrence E. Babits' excellent "Devil of a Whipping," on the Battle of Cowpens. The rules strongly resemble Rich Hasenauer's wonderful Fire and Fury ACW rules, the original brigade level game, not the regimental system that is under development, and possibly will be under development for the rest of my lifetime. It also owes a huge debt to Doug Hamm's work on a similar adaptation for the War of 1812.

I've been remounting and painting troops for my little game system for the past three or four months (off and on) and I finally summoned up the courage to try to play the rules. Mark Waddington and Scott Abbott, both expressed interest, so I dragged all my stuff down there on Saturday. Surprisingly, there were a lot of guys there to try 'em out, so what I believed would be a handful of players, ended up being eight.

The scenario was simple. A British force of three infantry units, a cavalry detachment, and a gun were to advance against an American safe house, capture their supplies and free some British prisoners. The Americans had five units of militia, including a rifle armed unit.

The Americans and British made their plans. The Brits had to advance across a creek, had bad die rolls, and were shot at a lot. The Americans didn't have to move as much, and rolled much better on their shooting die rolls and repelled the British advance.

All the players were pretty complementary, but offered some good suggestions:

• I rewrote the maneuver table for the d10 level of the original F and F game. It's now easier to move.
  
• I added one more category of troops-loyalist militias and American state troops, and factored in their brittleness to the maneuver table.
  
• I rewrote the melee table to better represent the militias' reluctance to come to close quarters.
  
• Everyone expressed an interest for adding a special events card draw for rolling a natural 10 on the fire table. This would end the automatic out of ammunition and/or officer casualty result from the brigade level game.
  

Everybody also expressed an interest in playing the game again, so I will need to make some time soon if I am to have the rules serviceable enough for play at Enfilade.

I, of course, forgot my camera, but will have pics next time for sure.

Next up is the first Enfilade meeting of the year at Bruce's next week. DBA day is on February 2nd, if I can make it.

Preparing for ConQuest

ConQuest is coming up in February. It's been a bit of a trial to get ready. NHMGS members seem pretty reluctant to support the con this year, and I'm not quite sure why. I have probably lined up as many games as I'm going to get, and now I hope I have enough gamers to play them.

Daveshoe and I are going to put on an Action Stations game. It's very exciting. I love those rules, and just need the experience of running the game a few times. In any case, tonight I've been madly assembling some of my little horde of PT Dockyard vessels in preparation for our late Med Sea scenario.

This does disrupt some of my other plans. I've been mounting some of my 15mm highlanders, but I've gone as far as I can because I'm short a couple of standard bearers. I've ordered them, and hope they'll be here in the next week to ten days. I've also primed all my Anglo-Danes, and should start them tomorrow--in between painting little ships.

On a 15mm kick

I'm finished with all of my 15mm highlanders. They are from the wonderful Hallmark League of Augsburg range, and I will use them to play King's War. They are just painted, not based, and I still have a handful of irregular cavalry to paint, as well as Dundee himself, and a wishful cannon. Then the army will be complete (I think.)

After that, I think I'll paint another DBA, army. I have a pile of 15mm Old Glory Saxons lying about that I can use as Anglo-Danish. They are all foot, which means 46 figures, but they are pretty easy to paint. It's nice to be cutting into my stockpile o' stuff a bit.

Drumbeat 2008

Dick Larsen hosted Drumbeat in Seattle today. It is a smallish gathering held at a city community center on Seattle's Beacon Hill. The setting is intimate, and attracts historical only games. Dick's intention is to recreate the feeling of Camp Long many years ago. I'm not sure he succeeds, but I certainly admire his effort. We each kick in ten bucks each toward defraying the cost, but it doesn't cover the total expense. In many ways, it's his gift to the attendees, and I, for one am thankful for it.

There were two game periods, with what seemed like six games each period. I regret I didn't get more pictures of each of the games played, but I got wrapped up with what I was doing. There were some 25mm colonials, some great looking WAB Samurai and Mycenaeans, 25mm Napoleonics, Wings of War and DBA/Hott games.

I ran, or helped run a couple of games. I hauled out some of 1/600 Ironclads and ran a scenario I've run a few times. In 1865 a Confederate squadron is headed to Havana to put in for a final overhaul before beginning operations against the Union blockade. They damage from a storm and encounter a Union squadron sent to intercept them. The Union ships are all large wooden vessels, with good crews who have not been affected by the storm. The Confederate flotilla includes the ironclad ram Stonewall. It's a tough battle, and the game played well. According to the rules of the scenario, if any Union ship suffered 50% hull or flotation damage they would have to withdraw. In a game that saw some real ups and downs, the Confederates won, exiting three of their four ships from the table. The Union victory conditions included inflicting 50% hull and flotation damage on Stonewall. The Union fleet was banged up, but not grievously when, according to the scenario rules, the commander of the flotilla panicked and required a retirement of the Union ships.

I brought the hydroplanes and Daveshoe did most of the Thunderboats game. I spent most of my time talking with Darin Howard and Tom Biecker. We used to game together many years ago in the days of Fire and Steel Napoleonics. It was great to see them both. So much water has passed under the bridge since those days, it was hard to get caught up. Darin was interested in the ACW naval stuff, and I will make sure to get at least another game or so in before his busy season starts again in April. It was perhaps the highlight of my day.

I did sneak in to the last heat of the Thunderboat races and managed to finish. It looked like I was going to place second, but Dale Mickel passed me on the last turn of the game on a fabulous die roll. Good work.

As always, the games were fun. It was great to drag my ships out of their boxes. It was fun to race the hydros. It was wonderful to see the other games--Paul Hannah's Christmas Wars HOTT game looked reaalllly cool. However, the best part is seeing friends and spending time with them. I thank them for playing giving up their Saturday for my games.

DANG Recap

December 28th was Dave's Annual Naval Game, or DANG for short, hosted by the Schuelers each year at about this time. There is always a different theme, and this year's game was based around the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the actions at sea. Arthur Brooking, Dave Creager, David Sullivan, George Kettler and I were the participants. David Sullivan and Dave Creager ran the Israelis and George, Arthur and I volunteered for Arab duty.

We Arabs knew we were all in a hard way. I think each of us played the old Yaquinto Missile Boat game, so there were no big surprises. The Israelis would be hard to beat. George took on the Syrians, whom I knew would be doubly stinky, and Arthur and I opted for the Egyptians. They were merely bad. We had lots of boats. Mainly Osas and Komars with some lesser vessels thrown in for good measure. As with all DANG games, it was run as a mini-campaign. In this case, we had daily missions to run, some required, some optional. Unfortunately, on Day One we drew a required patrol off Haifa, which we knew would not be fun.


The actions looked a lot like this: Syrians or Egyptians encounter Israeli boats. Israelis slaughter Syrians or Egyptians. Scenario ends. The Israelis had some significant advantages. One was that their boats were simply larger than the Osas and Komars. They mounted heavier guns, more missile launchers, and missile reloads. Another plus, was that they were technologically more advanced. They had ECM capability, and also had decoys and chaff to defend against our Styx missiles. Our advantages were A) more boats--not an inconsequential factor, and B) our Styx missiles had greater range than the Israeli Gabriels, and greater hitting power. The problem was getting them to hit.

The rules we used were David Manley's Bulldogs Away. Dave and I ran them at Enfilade, and they are very easy to use. It allowed us to play through lots of encounters. We ran through five days of the Yom Kippur War, with at least one encounter almost every day. It gave we Arab players plenty of opportunities to test, and improve our tactical doctrine. Unfortunately the doctrine frequently involved launching all of our Styx missiles at one or two Israeli Saars, only to see them diverted by chaff and flying off after a flock of seagulls that happened to be circling nearby. Meanwhile, the Israelis could fire a couple of missiles at each of our boats and we'd be faced with having to remember the next verse to "There's a hole in the bucket."

In the end, both the Syrian and Egyptian navies were wrecked in five short days. The truly tragic part is that in wrecking our navies we were also able to sink or seriously damage four Israeli vessels, out performing the historical record. I think the Arab fleets were able to preserve a few more of their boats however.

Just some quickie notes about the pictures. The first picture shows the ending moments of the game as six Egyptian missile boats encountered an Israeli patrol off the Sinai. We implemented new tactics which, sadly, worked about as well as the old tactics. These worked almost as well as raising one's hand and saying "shoot me." You can see the two Israeli Saar boats in the middle about to do the old rope trick and escape all but one of the red Egyptian missiles. The Egyptian boats, on the other hand, are also surrounded, but they will simply plunge to the bottom of the Mediterranean. The second shows an Israeli Saar boat surrounded by incoming Styx missiles. By the time these sixteen VW sized missiles penetrated the chaff and flare dispensers maybe three or four would remain. By the time we were finished rolling badly the Saar would be sailing back to Haifa with the Big Smile signal flag hoisted in its halyards. If precedent was broken and we actually rolled a hit, it was big nastiness. However, I titled the picture Houdini, because more often than not the Israelis escaped. The last picture is just photo of a couple of Dave's wonderful Skytrex Saar boats.

Struggling through the difficulties did not diminish our good time. Dave and Lynn always know how to show us a fun with comfort and good eats. DANG is always high on my dance card of annual miniature events.

These Eyes

Well, it's off to DANG today. Dave's Annual Naval Game is an Arab-Israeli missile fest using Bulldogs Away, so that should be fun. I should have pictures to post tonight or tomorrow.

We met friends Greg and Carolyn for dinner last night and watched Pat's band play at Jazzbones in Tacoma. It was a good first show and it was great to see G and C. We exchanged belated Christmas gifts and I received an articulated light/magnifier. I confess, I probably need it, but haven't been prepared to do anything about it. I'll try to get it set up in painting land today or tomorrow and give it a try. Anything I can do to help me see those teeny-tiny Hallmark highlanders.

About those highlanders--I finished my first fifteen yesterday, only about eighty left to go. I think I've figured out a strategy for painting, them, just not a very good one. If they were all dressed in Brooks Brothers suits, rather than plaids it would be easier.

LibraryThing

For the past couple of years I've had a LibraryThing account. Virtually all my books are listed there, and I am gradually writing reviews of them as I read. I'm also reviewing my Ospreys, which I think could be handy. In any case, tonight I added the link to my electronic library.

Quiet Week

Not much going on this holiday week. A little bit of painting. I finally finished my Early Roman DBA army. It's the hoplite army the Gauls slaughtered in their 5th century invasions of Italy. I also wrapped some some figures for Space 1889 and some militia for AWI.

Now I'm working on some 15mm Hallmark highlanders. They're tiny figures with kilts--a bad mixture at my age and eyesight. I also have begun working on my first Action Stations miniatures. One is an 80 ft Elco PT boat, and the other is a massive flush deck Destroyer/Transport. I've assembled some German S boats as well, but everything is still ways off from completion. I'm hoping to have a relaxing and productive couple of weeks off. I'll get some painting done, and some reading in.

I've been reviewing the 100+ Osprey books I own in my LibraryThing account. I'll try linking to that.

Mark Waddington and I made a find this week. Stone Mountain miniatures offered up a bunch of old Houston's Space 1889 ships pretty cheap. Mark ordered a passle. I ordered a much smaller passle. They might be here before I go back to school.

Next game: Daveshoe's Annual Naval Game on Friday.

Saturday on Mars and What's Ahead

No pictures today. We had an infantry slogfest at the Game Matrix playing Space 1889 yesterday. I was a British commander trying to control some difficult terrain. Things went badly fairly quickly. Ambushed by some hill Martians, we lost an infantry unit and some Gatlings. Things were pretty much downhill from there. The scenario rules set some conditions that were difficult for us to overcome. It's hard to see how we could have succeeded without a couple of breaks going our way. Aah, better luck next time.

Today I finished my Early Roman DBA army. I've had these guys for a few years, and it's nice to get them done. I'm going to be moving on to working on my 15mm Hallmark figures from the First Jacobite War for Kings War. They'll be different and fun for the period--way different than what the other guys are painting. I have some done already that will need remounting, but lots more of both sides to paint.

I'll be playing in Daveshoe's annual naval game on the 28th (DANG), and then it's off to Drumbeat January 5th. I'll be running Thunderboats and an Ironclads game at the latter. Pictures, I promise pictures.

Thunderboats and Eyestrain

Last weekend five of us got together at The Game Matrix to try the Thunderboat rules once more. Son Casey, rules designer Dave Schueler, Dave Demick, and model maker Sean McEvoy met me in South Tacoma for three heats of racing.

It was my first opportunity to haul all six of my finished boats out on to the game table. It was truly a blast. The rules are just amazing, and the drivers are really forced to make a lot of dangerous decisions. I won the first heat despite a bunch of very aggressive decisions, and the dice were with me. Things did not go so well for me in the following heats. Daveshoe had some astonishingly bad die rolls and I'm not sure he ever completed a lap. There are a couple of differences between this game and Golden Age Air Racing. First, is that it is much more difficult to re-roll out of aggressive choices. Drivers are much more constantly on the edge. It is important to finish laps, and disaster seems much closer for the boat drivers than the air racers. Second, is the chance cards. Chance cards are bad. They are almost always bad, except when they are good--which is about a quarter of the time. Unlike the air racing, I can almost see myself playing it safe sometimes.

I've included pictures of all the boats and some racing courtesy Dave Schueler

I've finished up a few more AWI militia, because one simply cannot have too many. However, I'm going back to 15mm for to wrap up a few more loose end projects. I am finally painting my early Roman DBA army. They are an enemy for my Early Etruscans. The only problem I've ever had is coming up with a suitable color scheme for them, particularly the shield patterns. I'll just have to do my best.

When the Romans are finished, I'm taking on a long time unfinished project--my 15mm Hallmark figures from the First Jacobite Rebellion in 1689. These are beautiful true 15's. I've always wanted to paint them, but have never really had a suitable set of rules. I've decided to adopt the King's War rules by Bruce Bretthauer over DBR, because the latter makes all the highlanders warbands, and liable to being shot down rather ineffectually. In King's War there are some special highlander rules that gives 'em a fighting chance. In any case, I have a enough figures painted for a couple units on each side. I've ordered some Litko bases, as well as a few more command figures to fill things out. It should be fun.

DBA Day

Today was the first Saturday of the month, which made it DBA day. I was in need of some time away from home to be sure. I really enjoy the regulars at DBA--Andy, Dale, Mark, Scott and the others, and I don't get there every month. So, it was nice to be welcomed.

I brought my hydroplanes for show and tell, and it was nice to share them around. I even bought a new army. Game Matrix is stocking some of the Xyston boxed armies, so I picked up the Aitolians. It is pretty unhoplitelike, but cheap, so I thought I'd give the army a whirl.

I squeezed in three games. First, Andy and I tried the Emishi and the Pre-Samurai Japanese. I took the former, and it was tricky. The Japanese lost a big chunk of their cavalry, but in the end I lost 4-2. Then I played Gary Griess's Vikings with my Eastern Woodland Indians. This is always a great matchup, one I've played many times, and I really clobbered Gary 5-0. He asked to play another game, and we went back to the Emishi and P-S Japanese. Gary took the Emishi, and had a bit more success than I did. We got into a bow shooting death match, while I tried to work around his flank with my cavalry. Gary took a 3-1 lead, but I evened it up and killed his general to win 4G-3. It turned into a really great game.

I'm looking forward to some painting this evening, before a lot of school work tomorrow. I'd like to get pictures up of all the hydroplanes tomorrow.

Tactical Solutions

Tactical Solutions is this weekend. This is a new convention hosted by NHMGS members in Spokane. I confess, I've been so frantically busy with school and other family issues that I haven't given it much thought. With my Philadelphia trip coming up next weekend, I decided long ago I wouldn't be able to attend. Nevertheless, I wish Chuck Hamack, Mike Clinton and the other organizers well. They've worked hard to pull this off.

For more information about this event click on the link to the NHMGS website.

Highs and Lows

It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last posting. Lorri's father passed away, and there have been additional family difficulties since then. Add our second deadline week at JagWire, and my life has been pretty full. However, I have managed a couple more finished thunderboats. No new pics today, but I'll try to get something on the 'net soon.

I finished Bill Brow's Miss Exide from 1965. Exide was a chief competitor for Musson's Bardahl during the glory years 1963-65. Brow was a family favorite because his day job was as a milk-man. Since my dad had also been a milk man, he was someone we could root for. We saw Brow racing limited boats on Green Lake in the early 60's. Sadly, he was killed when Exide disintegrated in 1967.

My second boat is Miss Wahoo. Wahoo was owned by Bill Boeing, and named for the town of his wife's birth, Wahoo, Nebraska. Wahoo was a very good boat in the late '50's, the best of a class of three including Miss Spokane and Shanty One. It was driven by Mira Slovak. Slovak was a good driver and a great story. He was a Czech immigrant and Cold War refugee, so he always made a great story.

Return of the Thunderboats

My post-Enfilade post included a picture and some information about some hydroplane racing we did at the convention. Though it didn't attract a huge crowd, the races were full, and we had actual miniatures to work with. I also mentioned that Shawn McEvoy was going to send me six miniatures and the big hydro party would begin.

Let me just take a big step backward here, and explain my bizarre interest in this project. I grew up just outside of Seattle in the 1960's. We really didn't have any major league sports until the late 60's when the Sonics and then the Pilots arrived. Our AAA baseball team, the Angels, wasn't very good; the Huskies had moved beyond their '60's Rose Bowl teams and had settled into the mediocrity of the later Owens years. What we did have every summer was hydroplane racing. As a 10 year old in the summer of 1965, I knew the boats, what they looked like, who their drivers were, and how they were doing. The neighborhood was fairly divided between Ron Musson's Miss Bardahl, and Bill Brow's Miss Exide, with all the cornucopia of other boats mixed in for fun. Though hydro racing had moved out of the province of the underfunded amateur owners, and into the hands of commercial sponsors, it still was small enough that on any given day anyone could win. One of the lasting sports memories of my childhood was the dreadful 1966 President's Cup race on the Potomac when Musson and two other drivers were killed. Despite the lack of ESPN or a 24 hour news cycle, the disaster was big news in Seattle, and we young fans were all plunged into a state of mini-mourning.

When I was a kidlet, all those of my age on my block built our hydros out of scrap plywood, painted them the best we could, and tied them on to the backs of our bikes. We'd race them up and down the street to emulate our heroes. Summer was the race season.

Shawn's inexpensive resin-cast miniatures, together with Dave Schueler's very fun rules offered me this opportunity to recapture a bit of my youth. I'm working on my first three boats. I've finished 1955's Slo-mo-shun V. It was damaged in a flip during the same week in which I was born. Driver, Lou Fageol was in the same hospital where I was born at the same time. I'm also done with Musson's Green Dragon. It's different than the earlier Bardahl's classic lines and bronze green and orange finish. Musson's Bardahl was a national points winner from 1963-5. I'm also working on a 1965 version of the Exide. The brilliant red boat with its lightning bolts and checkered tail offer a bit of a challenge for me, but I'm hoping it will be done in the next week or so.

Yes, I know it's another weird project, a bit divorced from the medley of little men that usually constitute our hobby. I see it as simply another outlet for me to express my historical interests in miniature outside the usual shoot up, stab 'em, or blast 'em with high explosives. I really like my connection to racing games, both the air racing and hydroplanes. I fully expect a large panoply of racing games at Enfilade 2008.

Museum of Flight and Gigtoberfest

I've managed to squeeze in a couple of game days between schoolwork and family tragedy. On September 29th NHMGS held its annual day at the Museum of Flight. This is my second year organizing the event, and it is often fraught with frustration. In the past the museum hasn't been very cooperative, and our membership hasn't turned out to support the event, despite offering free admission.

This year was different. The MoF had has set up in our customary place under the SR-71 Blackbird. All the tables were ready for us, and we had plenty of space. We also had plenty of representative games filled with players for the day. I could not have been more pleased. I ran an air racing event, and that was a lot of fun for me and the participants. It also happened to be a Seattle "free museum" day, so there were lots of passersby and inquiries about our strange and wonderful hobby.

Yesterday, October 13th, we gathered at Bruce Meyer's house for Gigtoberfest. This was a day Bruce arranged as a general miniature gaming opportunity at his magnificent Gig Harbor game room. Bruce suggested we drag out our AWI figures and run a game of Guilford Courthouse. We agreed that it was a big enough game to keep plenty of folks involved, while proving an interesting experience. We'd run the game a couple of times before, but a few years ago, with a home grown set of rules. Bruce ran the game, I played Greene, and the game was a lot of fun.

The Brits made the fatal mistake of not being aggressive enough, taking a few initial casualties to chase away the nasty militia with the bayonet. My guys were under strict orders to retire to the flanks to support the 3rd line of Continentals, and too many of the Brits obligingly got drawn into a fox chase into the wooded far flanks, and were unable to aid their outgunned friends in the center of the battlefield. It was a nasty business, and Cornwallis would have had a difficult time making sufficient excuses to Parliament.

It was a great time. I saw lots of friends involved, including folks I don't always see. John McEwan of Reviresco was up from Olympia with his latest multi-media design, the Water Witch in 25mm. Clyde Carpenter made his first appearance since moving west of the mountains. I think everybody had a good time. I only stayed for the morning gaming session, due to the death of Lorri's dad this week. There was lots to do at home. Gaming continued in the afternoon with three smaller games hosted by Michael Koznarsky, Tim McNulty, and Chris Bauermeister. Everyone agreed after the event that we would try to do this again in the spring.

A Summer Like No Other

It's September 1, and summer is nearly over. I can't remember a summer like it for the sheer sapping of time and energy. A lot of the time was spent on learning new things.

I have a new job, one that I am very excited about, teaching high school American Studies and journalism at a school where I truly want to work. The principal has a vision of working for kids that I truly share--as long as my energy holds out. My job will require a great deal of my time. We are on deadline six days per month, and it will require some late evenings. I haven't ever taught in a traditional high school, and this one is unique in its asymmetrical scheduling. It's all very exciting, a little intimidating, and frightening at the same time.

My father in law has been sick, and in the hospital since July 13. It's taken a lot of our time as we worry over his recovery, make visits, and stress over his health or lack thereof. His near death in late July was almost more than the family could bear. His lack of progress is both heart-rending and irritating because we just can't move on.

I've also been gone a lot this summer. Delayed by my father in law's illness we went with niece Beth Anne to Victoria for five days. It was wonderful, I simply love that city. We did some shopping, relaxed in a great room overlooking Fisherman's Wharf, and went hiking on the Sooke Peninsula. The day after I returned, I headed off to eight days of journalism conference in Ellensburg. It was enjoyable, and I learned a lot, but it was also exhausting, and I was all in by the time I got home on August 4th.

Needless to say lots of great gaming time was lost to these competing activities. Few games played, and not even much time for painting. I did attend Dragonflight August 10-11. Enjoyed it too. Mark and I ran two big Space 1889 games which were well received. I also managed to sneak in a couple of DBA games today with Al Rivers, which were quite fun. Otherwise, game times have been scarce. I am hosting the Museum of Flight get together on September 29th, but the rest of the weekends this month are filled with other activities. A wedding, a Weyerhaeuser function, and a couple of Mariners games are keeping me busy.

Though I've had less time for painting than I'd like, I've settled in for some genuine progress the last few weeks. I've finished a couple units of Royal Marines for Space 1889, as well as some mounted troops. They look good. Next up will be some Sepoys manning a pair of Hotchkiss revolving cannon. I also finished the 7th Regt. (Royal Fusiliers) at Cowpens. These are Perry figures, and I struggled a little bit to pick out their facial features adequately, but I still enjoyed painting them. Most importantly, they are finished. I'll likely work between the two projects-AWI and Space 1889-through the rest of the year.

Hopefully, as I settle in to my new position at Emerald Ridge, and get used to life as a high school guy, life won't be quite so troubling.