There’s a lot to do. With my retirement and the end of my little notary business I’ve basically become a full time wargamer. MY CHILDHOOD DREAM COME TRUE!!!!!! That leaves me lots of time to paint for the limited time I can actually game.

There are lots of figures to paint. But which ones? I do have a couple of games to prepare for Enfilade. One of those is the Lissa game. My two remaining ships will be at the top of the list moving into January.

A second game for the convention is Matehuala for my Maxmillian stuff. It is mostly painted, but I have a few units I’d like to change out for new figures. The entire project is due for an overhaul. I’d like to remount the whole shebang.

The Mexican Adventure stands to be my big focus for 2022. It’s a really interesting, curious conflict about which I know too little. It’s kind of a three stage affair, beginning with the introduction of French troops in 1862, the arrival of Maximillian a year later, and active American assistance to the Republicans with the end of the American Civil War. Learning more is complicated by the lack of English language resources, but I’ll do my best to acquire what is available.

I feel like I’ve kind of chosen the wrong mix of figures, especially for the French and Mexicans, so there may be more in my future, but not any interest in adding still more figures at the present moment.

Looking beyond the tragedy of Mexico and Maximillian, I do have other things to work on. There are all the Caribbean figures for the Spanish American War. These are for The Men Who Would Be Kings rules and are intended for battles in Puerto Rico and Cuba.

This is a year when I’d also like to confront my American War of Independence mess. I have a considerable number of painted figures for two different sets of rules–Daniel Mersey’s Rebels and Patriots and Regimental Fire and Fury. I also have a passel of unpainted figures. My Regimental Fire and Fury stuff needs some updating and reorganization. In a perfect world I’d like to head toward running a Battle of Guilford Courthouse game. But what’s clear is I need to give time to these projects in order to make any of it work. On my to-do list.

I also promised George Kettler I’d make a real effort to work on my Vietnam era 1/300 planes. I probably won’t take that on until after Enfilade in May, but that’s something I’d really like to get done. I’m hoping to use the Ammo Mig paint colors, but they’re a little hard to come by at this moment. I’ll keep trying.

Finally, I have a couple of re-basing projects to work on, in addition to Maximillian. My Hundred Years figures and my Aztecs/Conquistadors should both be heading into 3-2-1 basing for Lion Rampant. It just cleans things up and makes them more orderly to do so. Don’t know how much progress I’ll make, but these need to be done and, shucks, I’ve got the time.

Of course this could all be de-railed by the suggestion of something new that fogs my brain and makes me hysterically sell my car in order to buy another truckload of figures, but I’m hoping that doesn’t happen. But Daveshoe did just point out the new European figures in the Crucible Crush Flint and Feather range. Sigh.

So, no big predictions or promises for 2022, just an outline of what I hope I might get done all things being equal. No promises about what I might paint that looks like whatever. I would like to try to be pretty regular in my painting–something like 50-70 figures per month. While I won’t project what I should paint, I will try to share what I have painted at the end of the month.

Smyth Moving and Storage was a prominent Seattle company in my youth. They also had ads in print and radio that trumpeted the claim that Smyth was the smoother movers. Hence the name of this post.

I’m doing a year end shout out to those folks I’ve done business with the past year. Just to be clear, there is no Amazon.com in this hobby. Even the largest manufacturer/sellers are all small businesses with small staffs, often trying to juggle a real job with doing this business with shaky fiscal underpinnings and a limited market in the middle of a pandemic. Anyone who chooses to go into the business of making or selling to the miniature wargame/hobbyist market is taking a major risk against questionable reward and they have my thanks.

That said I’d like to give a shout out to those purveyors of goods who seemed to me did an outstanding job getting the toys, tools and supplies I needed this year.

Miniature Men

I mostly have great experiences ordering figures, but a few really stood out this year.

Gringo 40’s sucked me in with their excellent Vietnam range. If you believe this is a period you’re interested in gaming, it’s hard to overlook them. I’ve made at least six orders to Gringo 40’s in the last year. With each order I’ve been promptly greeted by Ged. He lets me know the status of my order, and quickly follows up with my shipping costs. They are located in Kent in the U.K., so shipping costs can be costly, usually about 25%. I never complain about these things. It is a free market and I know what I’m getting into, even if it makes things a bit spendy. But they are fast, never more than two weeks from my phone to my home, the service is excellent and the figures are lovely. I recently made a large order from their Maximilian range, so I’m anxious to see how that goes.

I made three orders this fall for 1st Corps figures. Two of them were directly from the manufacturer, and one was from Scale Creep Miniatures, their American distributor. These were figures for my Mexican War project and they are really great figures. Again, 1st Corps is a British company, which makes their very complete range of figures a little more costly to get, and then there is that problem with shipping. But order placed, confirmed and arrived quite quickly. I really like the offers they make for figure packages, unit packs, and brigade packs. Scale Creep proprietor Mark Severin did a super job of answering questions and getting my order turned around within a week. Working with someone new is always a little scary, but 1st Corps and Scale Creep made it very easy.

I’ve ordered from and crabbed loudly about ordering from Wargames Foundry Miniatures. My orders were filled, but lost on the slow boat to Alpha Centauri. It wasn’t pretty. I ordered again from Foundry,twice before the holidays, carefully looking at my scars from prior experiences and found it is time to give credit for a great job. Any time a seller in the UK can have figures to me in a couple of weeks, that’s something to celebrate. It seems to me they have also improved their customer communication, and I really appreciate that. They have some very nice holiday discounts, and offering free shipping at 100 pounds makes working with them very inviting. So all, the past hassles are forgotten and all the nasty sentiments taken back. Thanks guys

Rules Guys

There is something special about Wargame Vault. There is a feeling of gaming democracy about it. The access to rules and supporting paper ephemera that is useful, affordable and feels somehow home-grown is refreshing. I find my Wargame Vault Deal-Of-The Day in my e-mail box every morning, but never feel like I’m being spammed. I also have a couple of very good printers, which is a must when downloading docs to print. But Wargame Vault is a great source of print to play rules and games for little out-of-pocket. I’ve downloaded literally dozens of games and never had an issue. It’s a great resource.

Bits

During the pandemic I’ve become this painting and modeling dude. Two things I have to have to carry this off is paint and brass wire. Both are in remarkably short supply locally, so I’ve had to find folks I can count on on the web. I am a Vallejo paint user. Unquestionably my favorite paint due to its pigment-rich formula. Unfortunately Vallejo is also from Spain and getting stuff into shops from the EU has been a challenge. I’ve ordered from Amazon and eBay sellers with very mixed success. Either it’s super costly, or is packaged poorly, often arriving God knows when, and leaking. I managed to access Midwest Model Railroad when I was going through a Vallejo Light Blue Grey crisis. I had three bottles inside of a week at a reasonable price and affordable shipping. They were in a box and safely packaged. No leaks. No muss. I will be looking to MMR when I need future Vallejo colors.

As I’ve become more involved in building ships for miniature games, I’ve used brass wire and brass rod in a variety of different thicknesses. I use everything from .006″ to .032″. Yep that’s pretty small, and it’s even harder to find, especially as supply chains are stretched and local hobby stores have empty shelves. Walthers, the railroading folks, filled in nicely, getting me what I needed when I needed it. Three times I’ve ordered my Detail Associates wire and K and S brass rods, and they’ve never failed to deliver. Their website lets me know what’s in stock, confirms my order, and my goodies always show up within ten days. It keeps the Smyth Shipyards open for business.

The Guys

The pandemic has done a great job of driving gaming underground and out of sight. This is a hobby that perches on the edge. It is socially demanding. You need other guys to play with, or you might just as well be playing computer games on Steam (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) If anything the virus has brought a group of us together, and I so appreciate every one of them. So I’d like to say thanks to Dave Schueler and David Sullivan, who are long-time partners in crime and whom I love like my brothers. While I wish things were easier for him to meet and play with his Canadian neighbors, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know John Gee and including him in all my gaming dastardly ideas. I’ve known Bill Stewart and Eric Donaldson for many years, and though we managed to drift apart over time, the pandemic has brought us back together again, and I am so much better for it. Michael Koznarsky is such a great guy, a nice person, an expert modeler and loves projects at least equally as weird as my own-maybe even a touch weirder. I’m so glad he’s gaming with us. It is a privilege to be included with this group and I thank them for it.

I begin every year with plans, plans, plans and then at year’s end I’m left with a puddle of poop. Why is that? One of my friends gave me a verbal dope slap and said to stop my damn planning and I’d be happier.

I made all kinds of suggestions at the end of 2020 about what I would get done, and what I might not get done:

I finished all the 72 woodland Indians I had for my America Rampant project (Rebels and Patriots rules for a fictitious conflict between an expansionist United States and rickety Spanish Empire in America.) I also added some figures to those Spanish to make them playable for R and P. I wrapped up all the ships for the Spanish American War. I think I have everything from battleships to monitors to really terrible gunboats–and Vesuvius and Katahdin–I just don’t think I can stoop any lower.

At the beginning of 2021 I made noise about acquiring a few Gringo 40’s Vietnam era USMC for a little skirmish game. I did that. While Vietnam never turned into a raging crazy project, I did paint about 160 figures–Americans, NVA and Viet Cong, a few vehicles and some of the most elaborate terrain of my life that became the Hue game David Sullivan and I ran at Enfilade. I painted all my figures except for the 15 or so ARVN figures I seem to be saving for a rainy day. I see myself adding a few more ARVN and maybe some cool terrain bits from Acheson Creations, but I’m about done

I said I’d paint 150 planes for the year. I painted 12. More to do in 2022. I have a big stack of Vietnam era planes I’d like to work on.

John Gee and I chatted off and on throughout the spring about perhaps expanding my Philippine Insurrection project to include the Caribbean and the Spanish-American War. I took him up on it. I painted some Spanish for him, and added some for myself. I got a bunch of units painted for The Men Who Would Be Kings and got sidelined by yet another new project. I don’t know. Is THIS a new project or just the expansion of an old project (which falls completely within the unwritten Smyth Proclamation of Purposes: No New Projects (but project growth is okay.) I’m such a failure.

I also promised to paint 50 ships. I don’t know if I did that. I think I did, but maybe not. I wrapped up all my ships for the U.S. vs. Spain. Dave Schueler and I agreed to do the Japanese fleet at the The Battle of the Yellow Sea (1904.) I’ve done some but there are plenty more to acquire and paint. I took on yet another new project by agreeing to run the Battle of Lissa at Enfilade in May. It’s in 1/600 scale and I’m doing a little more than half the Italians. Seven ships. Five are completed. I still have a significant stack of ships to paint, I need more Japanese and I’m slowly acquiring a few of Matt Lawson’s 1/600 Brown Water Navy ACW river gunboats. There will always be ships. If there weren’t I’m sure I’d try carving them out of soap.

I don’t know about you, but I love just hanging out with my gaming buddies. I have awesome gaming buddies. They are terrific to game with. No rules lawyering. Not too competitive. It’s always fun to see or hear about what folks are working on. However, it can dangerous. In one conversation David Sullivan was talking about The Texas War of Independence and/or The Mexican American War and it seemed that 10 minutes later four or five of us were ordering figures for the Mexican American War. It’s a Rebels and Patriots project and I ordered Mexicans and Americans. About 150 figures. It’s really coming along well. I’m working on the final Mexican unit and I am about 40% done with my American forces.

Finally, I wrote about the resurrection of my Maxmillian project. I’ve already added some figures to this once-completed activity. This morning I ordered even more. There will be plenty of cavalry, when I once was just scraping by. There will be lots more Imperial troops and Republicans and a few more French for good measure. John and Dave are both adding some figures to the period, so I will only be mostly alone on this one. Hoping for Camerone in the spring.

I’m not gonna say never, no, nothing dammit for 2022. But it seems to me I have a zillion loose ends to work on. So, hopefully no new projects, but at least they’ll be a tough sell. I’ve got some figures to paint.

I’m racing toward the end of the month-hey, that’s tomorrow-trying to finish up an item or two. November was not a super painting month. I’m likely to finish the month with 61 painted figures. Not bad. But not as good as October, which was one of those rare 100 figure months (102 to be exact.) I am shooting to be in the 50-70 figure range, so November will be right in the middle.

Most of my completed figures come from the Mexican War project, which is one of those weird projects derived from a moment of mass hysteria. David Sullivan suggested MAW or the Texas Revolution, ten minutes later there were four or five of us ordering figures. How does this happen?

In any case, I finished the 24 figures of Mexican line infantry from the 3rd Regiment. Then I moved on to a Mexican artillery piece, and wrapped up with 24 units from 3rd Light infantry. The latter were not some of my favorite guys to paint. They really were a slog and I was glad to see them finished. The 1st Corps light infantry figures are nice, but just wrong. They should have shorter coats instead of the long tails as with the line troops. Because the turnback tails are piped instead of a block red, they are more challenging to paints. The rest of the unit is piped red too, so just more going on. Ah, I whine too much. They’re finished and I’m happy to call it good.

The Mexican American War project still has more pieces to get through. I have one of the two Mexican light cavalry units presently under the brush. There is a second as well. Sounds like a lot, but they are only six figure units. I’ll wrap up with a fistful of Americans, 24 infantry, six dragoons and a gun. Am hoping to trudge through all of these in December, but that’s going to be a busy month.

I’m also working on my Lissa project. I have seven 1/600 scale ships from Bay Area Yards to complete for my share of the game. This is an Enfilade project I’m doing with Dave Schueler and John Gee. Dave and I have split the Italians (though in the actual the Italians effectively split themselves, and the Austrians did okay at splitting them too.) The ships are hulls only and I’ve taken to making my own masts, applying ratlines and rigging as appropriate. I’ve learned a lot from this process. I used to see George Kettler’s beautiful ship miniatures and wonder how did ’em, and now I get it sort of. I’ve completed Affondatore, Principe de Carignanon, Terribile, and Forrmidabile. I have gotten a slight start on Re D’Italia, and will also have Ancona and San Martino to wrap things up. Timeline is, again, the end of December. But there is a complication.

Lorri and I are actually getting away for a week. Out twice canceled cruise to Mexico is back in business, Omicron variant be damned. I’m vaccinated and boosted, prepared to further inoculate myself with prodigious quantities of gin. I will be safe. But without paints, brushes and figures. I’ll lose a week of paint time.

One more quick add. Sometimes it’s fun to have a vanity figure. I completed the Bay Area model of the French armored ship of the line Magenta because it just looked so cool.

A few of weeks ago I gave a name to our game group. We could have been, “The Kraken In Reverse” “The Puget Sound Wet Warriors” or “The Widely Dispersed Guys of Various Interests.” Instead I settled on “The Guys Who Are Too Old.” It seemed perfect.

Actually I never feel too old. Aside from fairly persistent sleep issues, I have no health issues. I can drive. I have prescription readers I wear to paint, but don’t need additional assistance a la a visor or magnifier (though I probably should have cataract surgery in 2022, no biggie.) I feel fortunate. And I’m retired. I’m not utterly broke, and my wife WANTS to keep working (though I hope she is cured of that in the next couple of years.) Life Is Good.

However, I have these piles of figures. . . and not just the unpainted ones. I have more projects than I can shake a stick at and I wonder how long I can justify holding on to all of them. I wish I could play more, but the facts are: A) I am actually playing many more miniatures games than I did when I was working. I usually get in a couple a month. I would guess I played maybe eight games a year three years ago. And there may still be some room for growth. B) I am dragging out a few more of those aging projects and re-introducing them to the game table

The premiere example of the latter is my Maxmillian in Mexico project. I bought these figures at least twenty-five years ago. They were, at the time, Wargames Foundry figures, but because the range wasn’t complete and the company seemed to be in a degree of disarray, I could only buy what was available at the time. There were some French figures sculpted by Alan and Michael Perry and some Mexican figures from Aly Morrison. But beyond the basics there wasn’t a lot available. I used ACW artillery for both sides and bought some smallish but serviceable Richard Houston cavalry from someplace, maybe The Virtual Armchair General, but maybe The London War Room when they were still in business.

I painted the French for Camerone, so mostly blue with white pants as the French Foreign Legion. I even ran a couple of Camerone games, including cooperating with another gamer at Enfilade to run the show. I also ran some Maxmillian games at the convention using the old Warpaint rules, which weren’t terrible, but for some reason, a lack of forethought or simply being overwhelmed with stuff, I parted with those rules. Dumb me.

In September I made a trade at Enfilade. Could I teach a friend how to play Rebels and Patriots in exchange for an awesome looking board game on the Spanish American War? The answer was an easy yes. I was trying to figure out what figures to drag out, and decided it should be the Maxmillian figures. We played a little one-off game. It was fun and I enjoyed pulling the figures out.

I planned to host a game at my place on November 13th and thought maybe Maxmillian’s minions could make another appearance. I began paging through my none the worse for wear copy of Tim Tilson’s Colonial Campaigns: Maxmillian in Mexico and found his scenario for Matehuala that looked pretty good. Then I went rhrough all my figures to make sure I had enough toys to run the game. It turned out I had just enough for five players, which is the number I expected. I would just run the game.

The action at Matehuala is really a pursuit action gone bad. Maxmillian’s Imperial forces are chasing Juarez’s Republican forces when they ran into stiff resistance and had to be rescued by a relieving French force. The scenario was scaled for The Sword and the Flame at reduced size units and in terms of figures that worked pretty well for Rebels and Patriots.

I set up the game with the town of Matehuala on the south end of the board with French reinforcements entering the town on the road. I also allowed for some road movement-9″ per turn for infantry units in close order and the same for limbered artillery. David Sullivan’s Imperial forces were set up on the heights north of the town. One unit was veteran and the other two were regular line troops. They had a medium gun with a limber, as well as a line cavalry unit. One unit had to begin in the redoubt which counted as hard cover. The rest had to be within six inches of the redoubt but could be behind the hill, though not in close order. The French were told the position was well scouted by the Mexican forces and they would have to set up first.

The Mexicans had more figures, more units, more of almost everything except quality. There were three Mexican commands. The first was small with two light cavalry units commanded by Dave Schueler. One unit was a line lancer unit, aggressive but bad shooters. The other was a rurale unit that were good shooters, but could only fire as part of skirmish move. Bill’s command was composed of three line infantry units, nothing special. They also had a medium gun, but no limber. Michael’s command was composed of four 18-figure line units, green and bad shooters. These were the local militia units, largely untrained, but just a pile of guys.

I envisioned this as a reverse pursuit battle with the advanced French units falling back on the arriving reinforcements. Hence the two step in the scenario title. The French received victory points for holding the town, which seemed likely. The Mexicans would have to have incredible luck to take the town. The French lost victory points through casualties-routing units or permanent disorder (50%) casualties.

Of course nothing survives first contact with actual play. I envisioned the French setting up in the redoubt and behind the hill ready to retire. They set up on the hill. Both sides rolled for initiative. The French lost, and the units outside the redoubt immediately began taking significant fire. from the Mexican regulars and the rurales as the Lancers advanced behind their left flank. The mass of Mexican militia began slowly moving across the left flank.

By turn two, the French on the hill were returning some fire, but there were far more Mexicans shooting at them, and it took little time for the battery to be wiped out and one of the two infantry units outside the redoubt to be routed, taking the unit commander with them. The cavalry unit and the remaining infantry unit confronted the militia, firing away best as possible, inflicting a few casualties, but taking some in return. The unit in the redoubt was all alone, under constant fire from the mostly immobile Mexican gun and infantry, while two of the Mexican line units ascended the hill for the inevitable assault. While the Imperial troops held on, fire reduced them to splinters and forced the tiny remnants back toward town and the relief troops.

The French relief was forced by the scenario to piece-meal their way on to the board. As they began to edge their way into the game Eric, playing the French, made a terrible discovery. I’d rated the French as shock infantry, good at melee, but only a 12 inch shooting range. Meanwhile, Michael’s zillions of Mexican terrible troops were popping off at him at 18 inch range, hitting rarely, but enough to be painful. Eric was able to beat up Dave’s cavalry with his artillery and engaged his lancers with his cavalry detachment. Though Dave’s cavalry was neutralized, Eric was unable to help the Imperial troops stay on the hill and hold the redoubt, or prevent their destruction. Bill’s and Michael’s commands were in charge of the hill position and slowly advancing.

The victory conditions were for the French to hold the town and preserve as many of their troops as possible. Unfortunately, David’s troops were pretty beat up with only one unit remaining on the board. While Eric’s forces seemed pretty capable of defending the town, the Imperialist/French side was well behind on points. We called it a game and retired to lunch.

The game sparked some interest in my friends, and definitely renewed my own. I’ve taken advantage of the Wargames Foundry Christmas sale to add to my figures. The period definitely has enough interesting French and Imperial troops that just having a selection to choose from will be fun. David also discovered the French/Filibuster sets in the Old West range for Camerone. So I’ve also included all four packs of those in my order. Received notice a couple of days ago my order shipped, so I’m excited for their arrival. It’s good to see my interest in this project spike again. Camerone Day is April 30 and I’m at least mentally making plans.

I have an interest in hosting the game again, perhaps at Enfilade in May. I see a few tweaks. Notably I’d give the French the initiative advantage. That would make it easier for the advanced Imperial forces to choose staying or retreating. The French infantry would also be veteran, aggressive line, which would give them the good melee qualities I wanted them to have without penalizing their shooting, which was not my intent.

When I foolishly agreed to jump fully dressed into the cement pond of the Mexican American War, I kind of vowed (to myself of course, nobody else takes my vows seriously) to do both sides. I didn’t promise to do piles of guys-this is not going to be the biggest Smyth project of all time. But I did want to have a representative batch of Mexican soldiers, and a reasonable group of Americans. The Mexicans are less effective than their northern neighbors so I’ll be doing a few more of them.

So the troopies I’ll be building look something like this

Americans

4 X 12 units of infantry (1st U.S. Artillery

1 X 6 unit of U.S. Dragoons

1 X 6 lb gun

Mexicans

4 X 12 units of line infantry (3rd Line Regiment)

2 X 12 units of light infantry (3rd Light Regiment)

1 X 6 lb gun

2 X 6 Light Cavalry

It may be a tish different, but not much. I still have some things to buy, but not a lot.

This week I’ve been working on the Mexican line infantry. I chose the 3rd Line and 3rd Lights because they fought at Monterrey. Monterrey was fought in northern Mexico and was a tough city-fight. The Americans chiefly fought for strong points in the city, and it wasn’t the walk-over they experienced at the earlier Palo Alto and Resaca De Las Palmas battles.

These are 1st Corps figures and I’m sticking with these for the project. I ordered the Mexican Brigade pack directly from the manufacturer in the UK. That gives me 72 figures including 48 line infantry with two command groups, and 24 light infantry with one command group. I also purchased a gun and crew. They weren’t super cheap. Including shipping, it was about $132, so less than two bucks per figure, a fair price point. 1st Corps was easy to deal with and prompt. I had my order within ten days or so.

I finished the Americans I had and quickly moved on to the Mexicans

The Mexican troops are problematic. They are, shall we say decorative, compared to the U.S. Army in Mexico. Very much influenced by French uniforms, they seem downright Napoleonic. However, Mexican troops also received one fancy schmancy uniform and then they were pretty much on their own for staying clothed and they wore a patchwork of linen and canvas and the attractive blue with colorful facings in wool became less available. More sombreros than shakos, more sandals than shoes.

The 1st Corps Mexicans show them at their best, which is fine. The figures look great and that’s always a plus, but they also give the painter a couple of options. Everyone is in their long blue tailcoat, with a shako or fore and aft barracks cap. Pants were a wear item and could be painted in blue or in off-white or white as replacements come in. I opted for a mix of blues and not blues. Some pants I painted Vallejo Ivory and washed with GW Agarax Earthshade (or Vallejo Brown Wash for those not playing GW Bingo.)

Finding a dark blue I really like is tough for me. I want something that does a great job on a first coat, that means a color that is pigment heavy. Dark blues often separate a bit on a first coat and I learn a lot about a color when it separates. Is it purply or greenish? I really love dark blues that have a hint of gray to them. I think that’s a great uniform color because, I believe blue uniforms that wore with the weather looked more gray. The best uniform color ever was Polly S Israeli Armor Blue. Unfortunately, Polly S was acquired by Testor’s long ago, taken out back and buried with the dinosaur bones. Sigh.

Enough of that. I tried a few different craft colors, an Army Painter blue and Howard Hues Union Blue, but finally decided on Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue. It’s a bit purple but quite dark. The figures took a great first coat. Then I gave it a dry brush after lightening with Vallejo Sky Grey. I gave it a second brush after lightening further with a little bit of white. I was really happy with the result, and expect that will be the way forward for me with similar uniform colors.

Facing colors are Vallejo Dark red, piped with Vallejo Sky Blue. Flat Red for the turnbacks and shoulder thingies. No other mysteries.

These are busy figures. The shako needs a lot of attention-chinscales, shako plate, cockade, shako bands are all there to be painted. Uniform buttons are recessed and I could just see making a mess so I passed on them.Some figures have a belt plate, some don’t.

In any case, I’ve now painted 4 X 12 units of these bad boys, and while I’m glad they are done, they were really fun and different for me to paint.

I have friends who are meticulous about tracking the paint colors they use on different units or different projects. Paint blotches and paint names are carefully placed in steno pads or spiral notebooks, or perhaps on index cards in storage boxes that can be carefully organized and easily sorted as needed. Of course I have a better system. Information is stored in my superior memory that can be readily accessed for at least a week, maybe even a month where it is consigned to the same place with the names of all the members of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. I know it’s in there somewhere. Helloooooooo!!

Okay, so I don’t keep careful track of these things and sometimes I forget and that can be embarrassing as I rummage about for the right color. But there is something worse than this, and that’s when the colors themselves change. Yes, it’s true, sometimes manufacturers change the formula for their paint and the result is a color that isn’t what it what was five years ago or two years ago or, well, last week. Often I only hear about it and never quite experience it myself, but recently it happened to me. Here’s my story.

I’ve written a lot about my Philippine/Spanish-American War project. Most of my figures, for the Philippines, are Miniaturas 1898 figures, but if I was to broaden into the Caribbean I’d need some Old Glory figures. Further, I’d also purchased some more of Miniaturas figures including some Spanish infantry and a couple of guns. All would require the infamous rayadillo pinstripe paint job, and that meant I’d be using a lot of the Vallejo 70-943 color 061 Grey Blue paint.

I’d painted some figures for my friend John Gee in the rayadillo and followed the formula of block painting the main color, the blue grey, progressively lightening painting before carefully painting in the representative pin stripes, which is the blue grey lightened for a third time. It’ demanding. I really have to do all of it in one sitting. Yes, I’ve tried a wet palette, but it just hasn’t worked for me.

One of the batches of troop types I bought from Old Glory are the Spanish in sun helmets, which were worn in Puerto Rico. I got started on these early in the month. After I put down a base coat I noticed something incredibly disconcerting: it was the wrong shade. The paint was darker, grayer, and less blue than the earlier work I’d done on my Philippine figures. And I had no idea what I was going to do about it.

Not only that but I’d blocked out 24 figures or two units worth of figures. So I’d either have to come up with an entirely new color, or repaint everything I’d done.

First, I shouted at the air, beat my fists and considered rending my hair as all classical heroes do. But that really hurt too much, aggravated my wife and the dogs and I began to come up with better solutions.

The first thing I did was to search about for a substitute. My preference is something highly pigmented like Vallejo, Army Painter or Citadel. It didn’t take long to strike out. The second choice was to search out the zillions craft paint offerings. I actually bought a shade and brought it home only to discover it is way more green than blue (thanks to the super lighting at Michael’s.) I’m always on a schedule.

This left me in the position of trying to cobble together a workable color. I began with a base of the Grey Blue. In order to get a little more blue in the paint, I added a few drops of Vallejo Sky Blue, which is very blue and very bright, and then began to add Cold White to the paint. I had to give it a good stir before painting/repainting.

Block painted the jackets and trousers. Then lightened with white and dry brushed. The Old Glory figures don’t have as many creases, rolls and crevices as the 1898 Mini figures do, I had to work a bit more at the dry brush. The first lightening was followed by a second. Then it was on to pin striping. It’s a far different gig with the OG figs, because with the more regular surface, there aren’t as many places to hide and stop painting the stripes. It was a much longer and more tedious gig, especially since I was working on 24 figures at once instead of 12. But they’re finished.

Just a quick review of the Old Glory figures. They are really nice. They’re proportioned well and I really like the sun helmets. They lack a little bit of detail, but overall pretty good stuff. If I have a complaint it is that the cartridge boxes seem a bit small, but that’s about it.

I have 36 more figures to paint of these bad boys, so I’m going to have to do my best to match the paint color as closely as possible. I’ve had to order more of good ol’ 70-943 number 61, so hopefully it will arrive soon.

Having been sucked into the Mexican American War project with my friends, which I say with the greatest affection and knowing my eminent suckability, I quickly sent off an order to 1st Corps in the U.K. I limited myself to a brigade pack of Mexican infantry and a gun and crew. We’ll be playing Rebels and Patriots and units are usually twelve figures or at least multiples of six, up to eighteen, and a brigade pack is three units of 24. So that’s a pile of units. I’ll be busy for a while.

But while I was waiting for 1st Corps to do its magic, I got mopey. I really love the American uniforms, and believe it’s always a good thing to have both sides and I kibitzed with my beloved missus and persuaded her I should order some 1st Corps figures from Scale Creep miniatures here in the states and took the plunge. With a fresh re-stock of figures, I ordered enough figures for two 12-figure American infantry units, with the understanding they would be artillerists serving as infantry.

Scale Creep was amazing and I had more order within a few days. I was staring at some of my Old Glory Spanish infantry that required their rayadillo pinstripes, and decided they could wait and I plunged right into the Yanquis instead.

The figures are quite nice. A litle bit of flash between the legs, but really quite clean. Lots of tin in these guys. They are quite hard and difficult to re-position, but in general, they are well-balanced and very well-cast. Plenty of nice uniform creases. They are a great size that could easily be mixed, though probably not in units, with Old Glory’s considerable Mexican War range. They primed up well and were a pleasure to paint.

I ordered the charging/advancing figures and a command pack. They come eight to a package, and the command figures four to a pack. The command figures come with an officer, a drummer and two standard bearers. I am painting these for Daniel Mersey’s Rebels and Patriots, so two twelve-figure units. I put the officer and drummer with one unit and the two standard bearers with the second.

Truly, the paint job is pretty simple and straightforward. The Mexican-American War U.S. uniform is one of my favorites due to it’s color and simplicity. The American artillery as infantry has largely the same uniform as the U.S. infantry–sky blue trouser and sky blue short jacket. Some sources suggest artillerists may have worn the dark blue short jacket, so I mixed a few in there as well.

I painted the forage hats Vallejo Prussian Blue with a little light grey mixed in for a dry brush. The artillery also had a red hat band, and I used Vallejo Flat Red for that. It’s a bright enough color so it doesn’t get lost, but not as blinding as Vallejo Vermillion or Scarlet.

Lots of facial hair on these guys so using a medium brown or dark sand color that can be washed with a brown wash, either the Vallejo Brown Wash, or Citadel Agrax Earthshade looks good.

Uniform colors were a little sticky. The infantry sky blue definitely faded on campaign, and the Vallejo Sky Blue is quite bright. I used it anyway lightening it twice with white, and dry brushed over it. It’s still a bit brighter than I’d like.

Not much of the collar shows for the yellow piping, but certainly on the shoulder straps. The figures also got a thin red pants stripe to denote their status as artillery, and illustrate their description as “red-legged infantry.”

I decided to paint my own standards. I’m not sure this was a good plan for the national flag. A commercial version would have looked better than my own attempt at a 28 star version of the Stars and Stripes. Oh well, I gave it a shot. I was sort of pleased at the outcome of the 1st Regiment artillery flag. The guns could be longer and slightly better positioned, but the detail looks nice.

In any case, the two units are done. I’m painting that good Spanish Rayadillo right now, but I’ll be switching over to some Mexican line infantry by the weekend. The projects are all coming along and that’s all one can ask. I’ve finished 72 figures for October so far, and I’ll be really disappointed if I don’t make 110 for the month.

What is it about promises and miniature wargaming that are so utterly impossible to tie to together. I stayed with the nothing new pledge for a week and foof, just like that gone.

Let’s start at the beginning. Last weekend I enjoyed a game of Rebels and Patriots at Eric Donaldson’s house. We played ACW in 28mm. It opened up an entire world of possibilities for me. I have a bunch of painted ACW figures from 30 years ago. They are nice, but I don’t paint like that anymore, and to remount figures is not one of my favorite things. Nevertheless, I’m remounting away. I hope to have a couple of units done by the end of this week.

Somehow, in the conversation that grew in the week that followed, David Sullivan suggested we do the Mexican American War in 28mm for R and P. Now, the smart answer would have been “I’m out,” right? But no, I took the bait like a Northern Pike and within 24 hours had an order off to 1st Corps in the UK for a bunch of Mexican regulars, followed by a smaller order this morning for some Americans. I’m sitting at about 100 figures for now, and am trying to hold the limit there at least until I get most of them painted. It is clear that wargame promises are made to be broken.

In the mean time, I’m just kind of joyously painting whatever. September was the month I finished every, all, absolute totality of my Irish Civil War figures. It was a nice feeling. I also put them to good use on Friday when Michael Koznarsky made the trip from Steilacoom to South Hill and played a game of Like Crickets But With Guns and we dragged out the ICW boys and played a cooperative game in the infamous Smyth Garage

The game was pretty easy and based on a scene from the 1996 movie Michael Collins with Liam Neeson. In that movie Collins leads a group of rebels to attack a Royal Irish Constabulary barracks with flaming clods of dried turf to drive out the defenders and capture the weapons and ammunition inside. In our game, we had four eight-figure units of the Antrim Flying Column to attack a house and outbuildings defended by ten RIC regulars. The IRA units were a mix of regulars and green militia. They had limited ammunition supply and there were rules for making, preparing and throwing turf torches. I let Michael make the important decisions, but knowing that movement in the game is pretty limited, I allowed him to set up the squads ten inches from the buildings.

Michael chose to immediately begin making torches in a field fairly well covered from RIC gunfire. Even so, my militia unit lost a figure, checked morale and immediately hit the dirt for the next four or so turns. In gunfire exchanges, the coppers almost always rolled below average, while my boys always seemed to roll sixes.

It didn’t take long for the torches to eventually find their way to the roof of the barracks. With the RIC defenders driven by gunfire away from the windows, and the roof catching fire and the intensity growing each turn, it didn’t take long for the few survivors to surrender. The Antrim boys easily made off with their booty before the local Auxiliary outfit showed up with much heavier weapons.

The rules were fun and easy and surely see myself dragging them out again.

This final week of the month will be spent painting up some Spanish American War figures. I have John’s last unit of Spaniards nearly done as well as a good start on some Cuban rebels. Assuming they’re finished by Thursday, I’ll have painted 74 figures for the month, one shortened by the convention and convalescent period that followed. Not bad.

Hue is officially done. That doesn’t mean I won’t be pulling out the figures, the tanks and the buildings and maybe adding a little something to them. I have my eye on some Acheson bunkers that look pretty interesting, and Gringo 40’s is adding to their ARVN troops. But, I really do want to do something else.

I’ve pulled out my remaining Irish Civil War figures and have plowed into them. I don’t have a lot to do to wrap those up, and I’ve finished the first 20 figures of Royal Irish Constabulary and IRA from Reiver castings. Not bad. Not as good as Footsore, but not bad. I’ve also assembled, to the best of my limited skill, two Crosley Tenders. They were a difficult build and will form my little vehicle corps along with a Lancia armored truck.

My guess is the Troubles will be finished before the end of the month. What follows is unclear. I’m trying to set a bar for myself and Enfilade 2022. Often I pick a project and I stick to it until it’s complete. The problem is I have zillions of unpainted figures and I REALLY WANT TO PAINT THEM. I know this is unique for a miniature wargamer, perhaps it’s just naivete, but this year I’m really going to try to stick to the, don’t do anything new pledge.

Well, let me break that for just a second. I think I am going to take on 1/600 Lissa with John Gee, which will involve ten or so Italian ships that will need to be masted and rigged. Yep, broke my own rules, and it only took an extra sentence. But it’s also something small I can pick at.

Here are some things I’m thinking about:

I have a bunch of 28mm ACW figures. We’re actually going to play a 28mm ACW Rebels and Patriots game on Saturday. I have a load of unpainted figures and a load of painted figures. I’d really like to paint those that require it and make some decisions with those that are painted. Problems? The painted figures were completed 30 years ago and I use a completely different painting style. There would be remounting required and would they all be remounted for R and P or would I mount some for Regimental Fire and Fury–understanding if I did the latter I’d need a lot more figures. Why can’t everything be easy?

This year I acquired a bundle of figures for the Spanish American War and I didn’t buy ’em just to have ’em. I’ve purchased stuff for both sides, plus some Cuban rebels. The Spanish are a pain to paint, but I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. I see myself progressing on this but I don’t see everything being painted by May. And that’s okay.

John Gee has kindled my interest in organizing my figures and painting unpainted miniatures I have for the American Revolution for Regimental Fire and Fury. I really like the rules and I have a lot of unpainted stuff. The Perrys have recently added to their range with figures for the Guards, and Guilford Courthouse is kind of my battle. Anyway, I foresee some units being painted toward that end. I also have additional figures for Rebels and Patriots, so I can just throw a dart, spill some paint and move the ball a little bit toward completing what I have on hand.

Finally, I am really interested in working with John and Dave Schueler toward playing The Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1/1250 scale. John has like all the Russians for the siege of Port Arthur so Dave and I are working on the Japanese. I’ve finished a few ships, have a few more, and will buy more still. I’m not making rapid progress, but I’m making some.

Those are the things I’m looking at as we aim at Enfilade 2022. I’m still the director next year, so my ability to host more than a few games just doesn’t look very good. Instead of painting toward a particular game, I’m hoping to just paint away and perhaps a game will magically appear out of the work. John has talked about Lissa and a War of 1812 battle. I could be persuaded to either of those, though I’m not sure I could be available to run both. I kind of have a hankering to run my Philippine Insurrection game, San Pascual, but I’m not sure. Some may depend on Shoe’s health and whether he opts into the convention. Maybe there will be planes. Maybe not.