Author Archives: kgsmyth55

Bringing A Couple of Projects to a Close

I’ve written a lot about how I’m project oriented and that one of my few strengths is the ability to persevere, to stick to it until a project is completed. This year it’s been a bit different, I’ve been able to stick to it until I’m heartily sick of it, do something else and come back to it.

These are my Cuban rebels. These are all Old Glory figures, both foot and horse. They are basic but quite serviceable. The Rebel end of this project is now complete. I have nine 12-figure infantry units mounted in the Mersey-esque 3-2-1 configuration. I also have 24 single figures to play One Hour Skirmish Wargames for a total of 132 figures. In addition, I have five 8-figure cavalry units for a total of 172 figures.

This has been especially true of my Cuban Rebellion Project. This is the Cuban Rebellion of 1895-98 that ends with the Spanish American War. Yes, it is somewhat unique, but it’s part of my web of projects that includes the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Moro War and the naval side of the Spanish-American War as well. And it’s good I’m bringing an end to things because I’ll be running a Cuban Rebellion game on September 20th so I’ll let you know how it goes. I still have a few figures I’m painting. I’m now down to my final two figures, a pair of American mounted officers. There is a part of me that would really like to order a pack each of Old Glory American Marines and American Bluejackets to add to my nest of One Hour Skirmish figures, but I really don’t need any for a larger game, and 30 of each is just too many. I finished the project with 108 Cuban infantry and 40 horse, and 180 Spanish infantry, 16 horse and two guns. So not huge but plenty of work, and lots of painted rayodillo. Ugh.

I’m using Daniel Mersey’s The Men Who Would Be Kings. It’s been a while since I’ve played these, so there’s studying to be done. 1898 Miniaturas has done some really cool stuff for wargaming this period, providing some action OOB’s for TMWWBK, as well as stuff for Black Powder (boo, hiss.) I’ve created unit charts for my troops based on their ratings. I ran this game I called “Mambi Justice” on Saturday at Fix Bayonets in old Fort Steilacoom. There was lots of fire and burning things and I had a terrific time. It’s looking like this will be an Enfilade game.

Another project that I’m nearing the end of, I’m not really nearing the end. I’m doing the Spanish Civil War with Michael Koznarsky, Mark Waddington and possibly others. These are 28mm Spanish Civil War figures, chiefly by Empress Miniatures, though today I’ve ordered some figures from Northstar’s fairly limited range.

When did this all happen and why the Spanish Civil War? Well, when we were cleaning out David Sullivan’s garage, we stumbled across his small pile of Empress figures. Later in discussion, the group decided to do a project in remembrance of David and I suggested SCW. Believing it would require limited input from everyone they all said aye. Well limited means different things to different people and Michael and I have jumped in two-fisted. I think we both like the wide variety of troops and the clash of ideologies. The two of us have been cobbling together an SCW Daniel Mersey-inspired set of rules. Some day I hope to be able to share them right here. The rule writing has been really challenging and fun. Michael has been the editor and voice of reason. He’s also come up with super design and graphic ideas, so that’s been a great collegial experience.

So what does it all mean? I’m currently in with about 100 Republican militia figures, including POUM socialists and CNT/FAI Anarchists. I’m adding a couple amazing (amusing?) improvised armored vehicles. I plan to keep adding other things to my pile. I have Republican regulars on the way. Would love to do some Basque Army units. Some Nationalist regulars and maybe some Falangist militia. Michael and Mark have a mix of other units including Carlists, Spanish Foreign Legion and Moroccans. The rules are intended to be semi-skirmishy and I want to avoid any sizable armored encounters. That’s for a different game, though I know some tanks are inevitable

So, with the Cuban Rebellion finished, and the SCW project probably in a state of fits and starts, what next? I have a lot of figures to paint. My friend George would love to do some Vietnam War air battles and I would love to help him. He already has a lot of painted planes, and I have a lot of unpainted planes I’d like to paint. So that’s something I need to pull up on my list of to-do’s. A friend has contacted me about helping with a different air project, the attack on Force Z (the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse in 1941.) That’s an Enfilade project and I’ve signed on to. Both the Vietnam and Force Z projects will get my nose back in David Manley’s air rules, which I’ve sworn I will do. There is some ship-building and airplane-painting needed, but nothing super major. Finally, I have my Blanchetaque game that will continue the Hundred Years War painting and basing. I’ve had enough of a break, that I can get things going again.

Reviving the Oldies: Quetzacoatl Rampant Leaves the Closet

There’s always gotta be some mouthy guy up front giving orders.

In 2015 or 2016, or maybe both years, David Sullivan and I had played a few games of the Lion Rampant and decided it would be cool to try to adapt it over to playing the game system with Aztecs and Conquistadors. Of course, the rules didn’t quite cover the period, but we didn’t let that stop us. David immediately began crafting some changes that all Daniel Mersey rules seem to invite. He called them Quetzacoatl Rampant. We both bought piles of figures. Most of them came from Eureka Miniatures and their fine range. Others were from The Assault Group and Outpost Miniatures.

We ran a couple of different scenarios. David and I both acquired Aztec temples from Stonehouse Miniatures, but David was much more “all in” with his. We ran a big temple game at Enfilade. I focused my efforts on a foraging scenario with the Spanish aided by Tlaxcalan allies trying to gather supplies in the face of hostile Aztecs. That was a long time ago.

When David passed away in March, I tried to glom on to as many of our shared projects as possible. One of those was David’s Conquistadors and Aztecs. His painted figures were mostly focused on the Spanish, which more or less repeated mine-a cavalry unit, a bunch of swordsmen, a cannon and some missile troops. But his are a bit nicer (mine are okay,) and these were also his first venture into the Dip painting technique he would get to be so good at at.

I spent a lot of 2024 remounting my 400 or so painted figures for this project to my preferred 3-2-1 mounting model. I haven’t remounted David’s figures, which are mounted singly and honestly, I don’t think I will. However, by acquiring them, I did plan to work in a game or two. July was the month for me to act.

There are some important rule changes to note for QR. Actually, these are rules that could be applied to any Lion Rampant derivation. There is that entire activation thing. We’ve played the game straight out of the box, that any activation failure means you’re done. That seems harsh. We’ve played so that everyone gets a chance to activate, which seems excessive. We’ve played so that the leader can re-roll one failed activation or courage test per turn. David and I decided that instead we could give each side ten Appeal to God tokens. Each of these could be spent to re-roll a failed Activation or Courage test. However they also gave their foes an additional victory point.

Another change we made was in the die rolling rule for Lion Rampant. Full strength units get 12 dice and then at 50% casualties they fell off the cliff to six dice. We felt this was too arbitrary. Our game group in Tacoma decided to allot dice by figures in the unit. A standard 12 figure unit generated one die per figure, so twelve. Six figure units would generate two per figure or twelve. But as figures were removed by casualties, they would lose one die per figure or two dice per figure respective.y. A big deal for this project because all Spanish units are only six figures

Last, but not least, there are the historical flavor adds, and that is in the pile of little modifiers we threw in to reflect the period. Gunpowder weapons negatively affected Aztec armor and Courage tests. However, our favorite was the “Your Beating Heart” rule which allowed the Aztecs to capture casualties rather than remove them from play. This required a Courage test, with all required modifiers. Success would boost the captors’ Courage and give a negative courage modifier to the enemy. The hearts could give the Aztecs victory points as well.

July provided a couple of opportunities for me to host games using my Aztec pile of wonder. I focused on running the foraging scenario twice, once for the monthly game day at Wizard’s Keep and the other at Silver King for my usual game buddies.

The Wizard’s King day came first. Lots of guys I knew well who would be reasonably kind. I had a 6′ by almost 8′ table so lots of width and depth. The Spanish were constrained by the bay of chimnampas or floating gardens, which was also a source of victory points. The table was bisected lengthwise by a stream. Most of the food storage to be captured by the Spanish was located there. The Spanish had three retinues. They were pretty big. The two flank retinues were mostly Tlaxcalan allies with two Spanish units-a swordsman and a missile unit. The middle retinue was all Spanish and included a mounted unit, a sword unit, two missile units and a cannon. They set up 12″ on to the table.

The Aztecs set up 18″ on the table. Again the retinues were largeish with four units of warriors and two units of skirmishers. The middle retinue had five units of warriors to cope with the Spanish to with the skirmishers. The right hand retinue appeared on the board edge at the end of turn one to give the Spanish something to think about.

This game didn’t go quite as I planned. I loved the activation snafus and the decisions about whether to Appeal to God or not. Honestly, there may have been too many units for everyone to manage effectively. I probably should have started units further on to the table-activation failures really slowed the armies from getting to grips. The skirmishers were too effective. The game ended up a Spanish victory. All the native bearers who collected forage were successful and survived. The Aztecs took some hearts and inflicted some casualties, but not enough, but it was a fun first step.

The Silver Kings game was only a few days later so I had a chance to clean things ups. I wanted to reduce and standardize the retinues. The Tlaxcalans would each have three warrior units, a Spanish swordsman, two units of bearers and a skirmish unit. The Spanish would have a horse unit, a swordsman, an arquebusier and a crossbowman, the cannon and one bearer. The Aztecs would also be a bit more limited. The two flank commands each had four warrior units and one skirmish unit. The center unit had five warrior unit and two skirmish units.

The tables at Silver Kings are only 4′ wide, so much narrower. I also limited the skirmishers to be the “Flighty Light Troops” on pg. 120 of Lion Rampant, ed. 2, which limits their shooting to skirmishing only, no Shooting activations.

The game was popular and we had seven players for the six positions. Keith and Scott divided the center Aztec command which effectively became two commands. The game also played much differently

The Spanish/Tlaxcalans almost immediately lost two units of bearers, and reduced their ability to gather forage reduced by 40%. The narrower table, however made the Spanish shooters much more effective and Mark rolled well with them, doing a lot to put pressure on the Aztec center. Those guys were severely affected by splitting their command, as Keith took his pile of warriors to the left to help Mark fight Kurt while Scott had his smaller group of guys to fight off other Mark in the center. At the other side of the table, Eric and John conducted their own private bloodbath of Tlaxcalan warriors with their handful of Spanish fighting off Aztec Knights in what seemed like an even struggle.

I thought a couple of choices made in the game were really interesting. One were the few Appeals to God made in the game. Each side burned three tokens. Because the game was so tight, it may have been a wise choice, though I wonder about the activations not made as a result. The other choice was the few Beating Hearts attempted. Mark had one successful capture-worth victory points. But after failing a second attempt, he decided to stop. No other Aztecs attempted Beating Hearts. I thought it was interesting.

It was a great game and everyone had a good time. Lots of figures on the table makes everything good. It was very tight with the Spanish perhaps winning by one victory point.

I am anxious to try again this fall. David had perhaps as many as a hundred unpainted Aztecs and Tlaxcalans I’m hoping to paint. I’d also like to pick up some Aztec civilian types that Foundry makes. I have a scenario I’d like to try that was generated through Chat GPT that has potential. Looking forward to more.

I’ve been quiet

My 60th birthday, 2015.

It’s been a long time since my last post. It’s not that I haven’t played games, or painted figures. We had a convention and lost a great game day. I’ve had some really great days and great games. But I think my writing go derailed when my friend David Sullivan died quietly on March 7th.

For those of you who didn’t know David, I can only say I’m sorry you didn’t know him. David was a wonderful man, an incredibly smart man who reveled in the knowledge of the arcane and off-beat. It informed many of his gaming interests. It made him a wonderful conversationalist. He was good friend, a lover of cats, and a good scotch. I deeply miss him.

I won’t carry on for too much longer, but David and I were good friends. We met the summer of 1991, right after the first Enfilade convention. We immediately became colleagues in a host of gaming projects. We did the Battle of Manila Bay with the old Houston’s ships 1/1000 scale models. We did Ironclads first in 1/1200, and when Toby Barrett launched his Thoroughbred 1/600 scale ships we transitioned to the larger scale and converted the hex-based games to no-hex miniatures. We used Crossfire to do a Tarawa game in the ’90’s. He dragged me into playing WRG 6th edition ancients in 28mm in the early 2000’s (I should have just said no.) We did Hue, and Aztecs. Our most successful game was the retreat from Concord. We did lots of stuff together, but we weren’t joined at the hip. David explored lots of projects on his home and self published a number of rules sets–Row Well and Live, for ancient naval rules, and Pike and Periwig for pike and shot in the age of Louis XIV.

Kevin and David do Hue, Enfilade 2021.

David and Daveshoe and I were a thing together. We just loved each others’ company. I’ll never forget in 2018 we spent the two previous weekends prior to Enfilade together playtesting Concord, then we ate every meal together during the convention. To lose them both has been hard.

David also had incredible piles of stuff. Painted and unpainted figures. Beautiful terrain pieces. Lots of ship projects. Together with my friends, Eric, both Marks and Michael, we’ve been able to see that it all got a home. I, of course, took way more stuff than I should, and I’m hoping to re-home some of it. But I’ve hung on to a lot of bits I’m hoping to do something good with over time. There are Perry AWI figures, a bunch of Mexican War figures, Ancient ships, pre-Dreadnoughts for Germany, Japan and China, Aztecs. You name it. David had a little problem with figures. It’s been really challenging rehoming some of it and absorbing more than I should, but I’m doing my best.

Though I haven’t written much, I have been busy. My big Enfilade project was the Battle of Shrewsbury from 1403. It’s a battle of English vs. English from the Hundred Years War period, though it was really one of the acts of rebellion against Henry IV’s usurpation of the crown in 1399. We played a modified version of Lion Rampant. Very bloody and very fun.

A group of us have decided to do the Spanish Civil War in 28mm a in sort of skirmishy version. I am painting Republican militia, both the POUM socialist militia and the CNT anarchists. Empress Miniatures are just really nice for the period.

I’m also working on my figures from the Cuban Rebellion 1895-98. I’m making progress through my pile. I’m going to have a bunch of stuff for Daniel Mersey rules “The Men Who Would Be Kings”, but I’m also doing some singly mounted figures for One Hour Skirmish Wargames. Dopily, I’d also like to add more figure types, American bluejackets and American Marines. I have an idea for a scenario–the landing at Guanica at Puerto Rico. Hoping it’s an August game.

I’m also planning for a couple of opportunities to pull out my Aztecs in the next couple of weeks. We’ll be using David’s Quetzacoatl Rampant modification of Lion Rampant as rules. I’ll be sure to write it up and share some pictures from the game.

I apologize for my absence, but it’s honestly I’ve needed some time away. Hope all is well with each and every one of you.

Age of Chivalry: English vs. French, the primer

Uh, oh, the French have moved just a little too close. Time to give them Wall of Arrows!!

The Age of Chivalry is the latest expansion for SAGA. I’ve been excited for it to come out. I am a regular SAGA player, so the mechanics-building a warband, the mechanics, the SAGA board are familiar. More than anything, I was anxious to see how it all played out in a period I’m pretty familiar with.

The English set up

On Wednesday I played my English against my friend Kurt’s French. In AoC the entire English command is dismounted. Dismounted hearthguard (knights/men-at-arms), longbowmen are warriors, not levies, and there can be a unit of spear/polearmed, sword wielding warriors. A warrior unit may also be mounted.

On the surface, the longbowmen seem uninpiring. They are some variable off of eight figures only half of whom can shoot. However, the bowmen at the heart of any Hundred Years War English army is strengthened by a host of SAGA abilities that boost their range (at the expense of damage), increase their damage at shorter ranges and even increase their melee abilities if they charge (as they often did.)

The fighting ability of hearthguards are also improved by a variety of other SAGA abilities. However to use those, the board requires units to stick together. Many abilities may only be triggered by the proximity of other English units (within S). That’s a mistake I made that cost me a unit in my game with Kurt.

The French advance, skirting cover where they can find it.

A quick recounting of the game is this: I chose three four-figure hearthguard units and three warrior units numbering 9, 9, 6. That allowed me to boost my fire by one figure each turn. Kurt chose three mounted hearthguard of four figures, two foot hearthguard of four figures, and a levy crossbow unit of 12 figures.

We played a simple “kill the warlord” scenario. In choosing terrain, I chose the ruins to anchor my left flank and a field to anchor my right. In the ruin I put a 9 figure archer unit and a MAA unit, in the center two MAA units flanking my six figure archer unit, and in the field my final 9 figure archers.

Kurt placed a hill and two woods to try and screen his advance from bow fire , knowing I was not likely to come and get him. I did open fire on turn one at the 2L range allowed by the SAGA ability “Loose!” It’s a -1 to hit, but it also forced Kurt to play “Full Harness” allowing his units Resilience 2 which change hits to fatigue, but also slowed his movement to M. It wasn’t very effective though it did give him something to think about.

Kurt’s pictures of the French advance as it unfolded. They had quite a ways to march, mostly under fire. The last image shows one of the mounted hearthguard unit depleted.

By the end of turn four, things got interesting. Kurt was within 12″ and there would be no more -1 die rolls. Bow fire eliminated one of the mounted units. On Turn 5, with his dismounted units trailing behind, Kurt launched his leader at my archer unit in the field, and his hearthguard at one of my hearthguard units. The leader defeated my archers, but they still stuck around, with the leader taking two fatigues, plus one for the melee. The hearthguard vs. hearthguard battle was worse for the French, losing three figures, while my unit suffered no loss.

I followed up Kurt’s attack with two of my own, finishing off two wounded mounted units. But I also moved one of my hearthguard units beyond support. Kurt finished the game by killing that unit off. I did little in turn 6.

Nearing game’s end, you can see King Edward on the left urging on one of his hearthguard units. They’ve just finished off a French mounted unit. But they’re too far away from help and are about to get the chop from a French dismounted unit. Sad.

The French finished pretty badly mauled. But it was a pretty difficult first game, with the English in a pretty strong defensive position and having to march across the table under the threat of fire. I thought Kurt did a pretty good job, but there were definitely lessons learned. The English hearthguard give as good as they get, even against cavalry. The archers are warriors and get to melee with all their figures, rolling as many dice as a hearthguard unit before looking at SAGA boards and fatigue.

For the English I learned a few things. I don’t need to play “Grueling Advance” until the French get closer. That allows me to set up stakes or other obstructions that give fatigue to attackers. I was using it most turns. Pour dice into the Combat Bonus for archers for the first couple of turns. They aren’t rolling that many dice, so give ’em more for Loose! Don’t allow yourself to spread out. Many SAGA abilities only apply to units within S of other units, especially for melee. I haven’t quite figured out a plan for taking the English on offensive.

I felt the game a relatively interesting feel for the period. If I have a complaint it is that as a skirmish, the English would likely have had some mounted units. It felt like we were trying to fight Crecy, or Poitiers, or Agincourt-relatively large battles, while the endless actions in Gascony over the course of the Hundred Years War, were small encounters with mixed mounted and dismounted troops. Really, my only complaint.

The Riders of Rohan and my Tolkien Snobbery

Theoden leads his men to the Pelennor Fields and his doom

One of my goals for 2024 was to finish my Middle Earth figures. I have, as with most projects, both sides. So Rohan and Isengard. Today I completed the last of my Rohan figures. They are a mix of GW figures and some 3D printed variations. It was nice to get them done. Not huge, but significant.

My mounted Rohirrim

At the present time I’m playing GW’s Middle Earth Strategy Battle System (MESBG.) I’ve played the rules a four or five times. They are enjoyable enough, but require regular play to pound them into my head. If I could cobble together some rules that were just a bit more accessible that would be great. However, MESBG does a super job of recognizing the power of Middle Earth characters in LOTR, so at least at the present time that’s what I’m playing.

I think MESBG does a pretty good job of rating the army of Rohan. They are charging cavalry, but not lancers. They can throw their spears, but they get kind of a bonus for throwing them, and I feel like that’s a bit gamey. Their leaders have good ratings, and I like that. If I have a beef, it’s that they are also all bow-armed and that simply isn’t accurate. In the Two Towers at the defense of Helm’s Deep Legolas remarked “But even more would I give for a hundred good archers of Mirkwood. We shall need them. The Rohirrim have good bowmen after their fashion, but there are too few here, too few (pg. 137)” Even in the movies, while mounted bowmen are depicted, the vast majority are mounted spearmen. Everyone a bowmen seems pretty extreme.

Men of the Westfold with their distinctive red shields

MESBG is based on the Peter Jackson movies. They were great movies. I enjoyed them all. Not the Hobbit movies which were over done and departed spectacularly from the short children’s book it was based on. But, in many cases, Jackson departed from key elements of Tolkien’s story. Some, such as the omission of Tom Bombadil, the Old Forest and the incident on the Barrow Downs are kind of story dead-ends. A wise omission to save both time and money. And some things he adds illustrate aspects of the story Tolkien dismisses with a line or two such as Gandalf’s fight with the Balrog in The Two Towers. Others changes-the reforging of Narsil into Anduril happens at Rivendell in The Fellowship, Arwen, please save us from Arwen, and Aragorn’s beheading of The Mouth of Sauron, are inexplicable, but oh well.

Dernhelm (Eowyn) rides to confront the Lord of the Nazgul. A 3D print that also comes as a dismounted figure.

But others are simply unfathomable to me. Eowyn did not lead refugees from Edoras to Helm’s Deep, she took them to the shelter of Dunharrow in the mountains. King Theoden led his guard to Helm’s Deep where he joined with the survivors of the Westfold, plus the trio of Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas to defend his keep. Eomer, could not have led his warriors to charge into the back of the orc host, because he too was defending Helm’s Deep. Rather, Gandalf led Erkenbrand Lord of the Westfold and his men on foot to attack the hosts of Isengard. And most egregiously, there were no fuckin’ elves from Lothlorien at Helm’s Deep. They were too busy defending their forest home from invaders of their own.

This is just one of a series of examples from one key moment in Tolkien’s story that Jackson makes his own and runs with (don’t get me started on Faramir bringing Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath while Sean Astin screams “We’re not supposed to be here.”) My problem is not that Jackson has altered the story for the big screen. It is that Jackson’s story is so pervasive that many who have seen the movies and not read Tolkien see these changes as the Lord of the Rings instead of as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. We see that in the GW game, which frustrates me to no end. Haldir and his Galadrim appear in each of the many Helm’s Deep scenarios from the War in Rohan scenario book.

Outriders. This is an invention of MESBG and are REALLY good mounted bowmen. 3D print.

I’ve been called a snob because of my loyalty to the original work. I know a game has to work. I know a movie has to be saleable. But I still think that where possible telling Tolkien’s story is important. In The Two Towers, the defense of Helm’s Deep was pretty serious stuff and a very dark moment in the tale. You could still have the torch bearer setting off the bomb that blows up the Deeping Wall, with dozens of additional exciting action shots, but adding elves to the defense–why, and how does it further the story? Where does it go while being 100 percent false? At the end of the story the elves are non-factors. Haldir and his mates are dead, they don’t go to Isengard, they don’t follow The Paths of the Dead, they don’t ride to the Pelennor Fields, they don’t contribute to the story arc. Why are they there? Yeah, I know, I’m a snob.

But I digress. My Rohirrim are finished. I have 73 painted figures. About half of those I’ve had since 2003 or so, so it was nice to get them done. Half are mounted, the rest are foot figures. 25 or so are 3D printed figures, which is a whole different story. With the exception of a few personality figures, they are all plastic, which presents their own difficulty. I’ve weighted them with washers and magnetized their bases, but they feel light and the horsemen mostly have one foot glued to their cursed slotta bases, so my fear is they could be wiped out by one act of clumsiness (likely my own.)

I still have the forces of Isengard to finish, and I’ll tackle them in 2025. I’ve included some trolls in my order to Proxy Wars, an awesome 3D printer in Portugal, and when they arrive I’ll have all the figures I need.

Sometimes The Stars Just Align

Welsh Infantry by Footstore. Really nice figures, but I’m doubtful about the heater shields. I was perplexed about painting them, believing the average Welsh soldier probably wouldn’t have a heraldic symbol on their shield. I divided them between the cross of St. George and the cross of St. David.

After sitting relatively fallow the past ten years, my Hundred Years War project is simply beset with activity. I made up my mind as 2024 was nearing its end that I was going to re-base my singly mounted figures to my preferred 3-3-3-2-1 for Lion Rampant. Why? Fewer figures are falling down in boxes, and it’s faster to move five bases than twelve. Is it a pain? Well, yes, but I have a system that allows me to remount a unit a night if I want to. Typically I don’t, but so far in January I’ve remounted 11 longbow units, so I’m make good progress. Altogether I’ve remounted 262 figures, with many more left to do.

Archers in the “dunk tank” awaiting rebasing. These guys will actually be rebased on round bases for SAGA.

I’ve also had this rash of scenario ideas. Some old and some quite recent that should be fun to play. I think I’ve posted about a game for Blanchetaque Ford in 1346. I probably can’t do that until the remount is finished and I see where I am and what, if any figures I’d need. It is a game that is process driven more than fought. The French are relatively few in number but can drive the English crazy as they try to frantically get their army across the very wide Somme River before the tide comes in.

Recent adds to my bookshelf. Mostly Shrewsbury related, but I’m barely knee-deep in the final Sumption volume which will take weeks to finish.

I’m also really interested in fighting Shrewsbury 1403. Fascinating battle between the royal forces of Henry IV and the rebel forces under Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur). Both sides are blessed with large numbers of longbowmen, and Lion Rampant is quite effective at simulating longbow death. Even though missile fire is a super important feature of Shrewsbury, the battle is decided by armored knights and men-at-arms clubbing each other with large, heavy two handed weapons. Percy died and King Henry did not.

I’ve got a couple more old chestnuts for Lion Rampant, but the even bigger news is that I’ve received the Age of Chivalry expansion for SAGA. I enjoy SAGA. I only have painted armies for the Age of Vikings, but I’m looking forward to doing something a little different. The armies for this volume are really aimed at the Hundred Years War and the later middle ages. The designers really encourage the use of more generic troop types because so many armies use them. Generally I’d spit on that idea, but in this case I get it. Not quite sure how far I’d tread down that path but I’m intrigued. Needless to say, I’m looking at the English army first. I have tons of unpainted figures, but I’m also really interested in looking at the painted figs I might remount for SAGA just to get something on the table. Any way you look at it, we’re just not talking about a lot of figures.

If this isn’t enough, I am also anxiously awaiting the release of Guy Bowers’ new book “A Wargamer’s Guide to the Hundred Years War.” Supposed to have some good stuff for scenarios and building armies for the period. I met Guy at Enfilade a number of years back. Seemed a good fellow and he is a regular contributor to Wargames, Soldier and Strategy, so I’m interested to give it a look. It was supposed to be released in December and I pre-ordered from Blackwells. Alas it was not. Scheduled to come out at the end of this month, but I’ll wait until it’s a for sure deal.

This is the year of the Hundred Years War to be sure, if for no other reason than getting my figures painted and on the table in one form or another. I’m working on it. But not to the exclusion of other things. I’ve also made a little progress on my Cuban Rebellion figures. Well, one unit. Before January is over I also plan to finish my last two units of Rohan cavalry, which will complete my Rohan army for MESBG.

The Hundred Years War and Me

I know, I know, in my last post I laid out my plans for the new year, and honestly I’m not sure they’ve changed a lot in less than two weeks. Santa the gamer was quite kind to me. Actually Missus Kevin was quite kind to me. She rounded up the remaining figures I need to complete my LOTR project, elevating it to a must do wrap up. I’ve finished another unit of Cuban rebels for the The Men Who Would Be Kings. However, my time right now is pretty focused on The Hundred Years War.

I have few project interests in the Old World. No Romans or “ancients” per se. My Dark Ages SAGA stuff for sure. No Seven Years War or Napoleonics. They’re pretty, but a black hole of gaming because I could paint my entire life and never have enough. Nope, most of my interests are in the Western Hemisphere. AWI, Western Expansion, The Mexican War, Maximilian, The Spanish American War and it’s subsidiary effects. But that Hundred Years War thing.

I find it to be a fascinating conflict, incredibly complex, with roots more than a century before its outbreak, even back to 1066. It’s a war with terrific economic stress on both sides throughout the conflict. There are great kings English and French, ineffective kings, mad kings, great leaders, poor leaders, changes in technology, sea battles, great sieges, politics, politics, politics, usurpation, civil wars, civil wars within civil wars, and the emergence of France as the first true nation-state. It’s amazing.

And I have figures. A virtual shit-pile. How many? I have no idea. I am planning to remount them for Lion Rampant. Not a great rules choice for big battles, but I think I can make it work. Daniel Mersey is quite flexible in that way. But just to give an idea of how many figures I may really have, I’ve remounted six units of crossbows plus one unit of mixed missile and melee troops, two units of French local levies, for a total of 108 figures, plus four units of French mounted knights, and a unit of Irish skirmishers for the English. A total of 140 figures. A drop in the bucket. I was looking at my painted longbows last night and they number at least 200. Maybe a few too many. That leaves aside dismounted men at arms and various other wretched infantry, many mounted figures, plus all the unpainted stuff (which will likely be added as SAGA armies for the new Age of Chivalry factions.)

So I’ve got a lot of figures for the period.

What’s changed is that these figures have mostly laid fallow for the past decade, and now I’m super enthused about them. Maybe it is the imminent arrival of Age of Chivalry, maybe it’s the publication of the final volume of Jonathan Sumptions’s history of the Hundred Years War. I’ve also read Dan Jones’ excellent new bio of Henry V and recently ridden the Michael Livingston traveling circus. But something has fired up my interest in revisiting this project

I’ve begun to consider scenario plans to go with it. I would really like to do the Battle at Blanchetaque ford in 1346 just days before the Battle of Crecy. It would be a very different, interesting game. However it would require a lot of playtesting due to the unique nature of the action. I just don’t think there is enough time to do the remount and do enough practice to make a good game at this time. Instead I’m drawn to the Battle of Shrewsbury of 1403. It’s a battle between Englishmen during Henry IV’s contested reign and the sky will be filled with arrows. It should be fun, and I’ll keep you posted dear reader.

Farewell 2024: and a look ahead to 2025

Michael Koznarsky’s gift of the Wooden Hand of Captain Danjou was a highlight of my 2024.

2024 was a pretty good year in Kevin’s wargaming life. I painted a lot of figures and played a lot of games. It was a year that was hard for a couple of reasons, but it was a time of some personal growth too.

2024 was the year of The Big Move. Enfilade lost its longtime home in Olympia on very short notice and we were able to relocate to the LaQuinta Inn and Suites in Tacoma. I did a lot of the work but certainly not all of it. The convention came off. It was good if a bit crowded. I look forward to 2025, if for no other reason than we’re not moving this year. I would be lying, however, if I didn’t say I haven’t fully recovered from The Big Move.

Camerone at Enfilade. It was amazing in no small part because the participants were so wonderful.

One of my biggest accomplishments of the year was the completion of Camerone. This was not my project alone. Mark Waddington built the hacienda and it is simply splendid. Mark is such a wonderful creator and he happily constructed the building for the game without charge and I simply can never thank him enough. Did a couple of playtests of the game and ran it with an appreciative audience at the convention. Michael Koznarsky provided me with a beautiful cased articulated Hand of Captain Danjou. What a wonderful and thoughtful gift. I’ll need to be thinking of other uses I can have for the hacienda.

These are my Pacific Northwest Natives by Paymaster games. The critter on the right is the mythical Ogopogo that lives in Lake Okanagon. I haven’t quite figured out how to get it into a game.

Moros and Americans.

There were two sets of rules I played a few times this year that really got me. One was Tribal, 2nd ed., by Mana Press. The other was One Hour Skirmish War Games by John Lambshead. Tribal is very much a pre-gunpowder set of rules, and the original OHSWG rules are intended to begin in the horse and musket period could go up through sci-fi. What makes them similar are their diceless play systems. Everything from activation to morale is captured through a normal card deck. Tribal is kind of stylized. I have two Northwest Native armies with figures by Paymaster Games. Only played with them once so far, and I’d like to do more with them. OHSWG is a true skirmish game that plays very quickly and usually accompanied by a lot of laughter. I’ve played or run at least a half dozen games and enjoyed every one. Both offer projects with few figures. For OHSWG I have completed two projects-the Moro Wars, and Maximilian in Mexico, but I have three more I’m working on-the Cuban Revolution of 1895-98, the Spanish Frontier in Mexico with Spaniards vs. Apaches, and The Philippine Army vs Japanese in 1941. Lots to look forward to.

Printed Rohan Outriders for MESBG

The Lord of the Rings. I’m a sucker for all things Tolkien, and when my friends Keith, Scott and Kurt showed up at Weekend Warriors with figures to do the Games Workshop Middle Earth Battle Strategy Game (MESBG) I was immediately intrigued. It was a short trip from intrigued to hooked. I had a long secreted away pile of figures from the early 2000’s and it took little to persuade to paint those bad boys. Scott also showed me some Etsy 3D prints, and I was off. I’ve painted three fourths of what I have plus my printed figures. Honestly I don’t love MESBG, but I’ll play it. I may be looking at another system that is a bit less stylized. The system is rightly character-driven, but the combat feels fiddly. Plus I don’t love the GW/Warlord/Studio Tomahawk business model of endless revisions aimed at sucking cash out of my pocket. There must be a better way.

Remounting. This is a topic that frequently throws people over the edge. I wouldn’t say remounting is the worst thing in the world. It has two very positive aspects. One is that I get to reorder one of my projects in a way that, I believe, makes it more playable. Another is that it allows me to revisit a completed project, or at least kinda, sorta mostly completed, and appreciate what I have. This year I completed one big remount and began working on another. Both projects were intially singly mounted projects for Daniel Mersey’s Lion Rampant rules and now I’m remounting 3-3-3-2-1 which speeds up game play and better protects them from wear and tear. This summer I completed remounting my Aztecs/Conquistador/Tlaxcallan figures. That is a 400 figure project, so nothing to sneeze at. David Sullivan and I wrote rules specifically for these and I need to haul them out and play with them. I have begun working on a remount of my Hundred Years War figures. I’ll write a separate post about them in the future, because I’ve ginned up a lot of motivation to go back and work with what I think is a pretty large collection of these figures. This will take a while and I will have to transfer a fair amount of wealth to Mr. Litko, but I think I’ve redone seven units so far which is simply a pittance.

I gotta do a better job of getting pictures of people Mark Waddington, Mark Wensnahan and Eric Donaldson indulged my interest in the Great Snow Fight of 1864

Friends. So much has happened since the pandemic that has changed me, changed my life. The isolation of the plague, the various critical losses in my life, have made me appreciate each and every one of my people, whether they are family or friends. Nowhere is this more true than among my gaming buddies. I wish I could just drop names, but there are too many and I really don’t want to leave anyone out, because whether I play with regularly or we just see one another occasionally they truly mean so much to me. They are always up for a game, whether I run something or somebody else does. They are fun to play with and never a cross word. The Weekday Warrior group that meets on Wednesday is just super. I’ve also been drawn to Ralph Holloway’s game group that meets at Wizard’s Keep the last Saturday of the month. Lots of game attendees and willing to try anything. As we age, of course, we all suffer through a little something. I would be remiss if I did not mention my dear friend David Sullivan’s serious illness and my wish that he was well. David and I have been friends for 33 years. We have jointly plunged into some of the most dangerous of projects together, and every moment has been fun and adventurous. If I could have one Christmas wish it is that David’s illness would be cured and 2025 would be the best of years.

Looking ahead to the New Year, here are some things on my plate:

I’m planning to run three games for Enfilade 2025. The first is a naval game, the Battle of Inquique. This is a hypothetical game based on the not-so-hypothetical friction between Chile and the United States over politics and the 1891 death of two American sailors in Valparaiso that nearly led to war. We’ve played this scenario a few times and tweaked some bugs out of it. We’ll use David Manley‘s Fire When Ready rules. My second game is a One Hour Skirmish War Game scenario based on the Moro Wars in the southern Philippines. This is another scenario we’ve run a few times. I am offering it as a six player game though I haven’t run it as more than four. Looking forward to it. The play tests have been fun. My final game, the big one, I’ll run on Sunday. It is a game based on the Battle of Blanchetaque that allowed Edward III to cross the Somme River to face the French at Crecy. This will be a Lion Rampant game with lots of scenario specific rules that offer both sides some challenges. Still lots of work to do on this bad boy.

In keeping with Blanchetaque and all things Hundred Years War, SAGA (Studio Tomahawk) is about to release it’s new book, The Age of Chivalry. I’ve pre-ordered it and I’m hoping it doesn’t make an utter botch of things. It will include a pile of interesting armies that I could see sucking up every bit of my painting interests until the end of time. Though I have many painted HYW figures, I also have many unpainted HYW figures. Of course I do.

My other big get done project is my Cuban Rebellion for The Men Who Would Be King. I’ve completed the Spanish regulars and have a good start on the Cubans. I need to add some Spanish auxiliary figures at some point. It’s a period I’m really intrigued with, though everyone kind of says “hunh?” when I mention it.

I have lots of other bits to work on too between some air war, naval war and One Hour Skirmish War bits. My big challenge is to play as many games as possible from as many projects as possible. Maybe I should keep track.

I guess I’d like to close with a couple of other thoughts/goals/ideas for the new year. My goal is to keep painting and as long as my sight and hands allow me I hope to pop out some 60 or so figures a month. Sometimes it will be more and sometimes it will be less. But because painting is something I really enjoy and not a chore, I should find time to paint almost every day. I’m not going to say no new projects because something always happens. Since I’m retired, but working one day a week for gaming, there’s always a few bucks for new stuff, and I’m always a sucker for something new and beautiful. But it would be nice to paint more figures than I’m purchasing. And no I’m not going to keep track.

Because, Just Because: The Great Snow Fight of 1864.

The 9th Florida prepares to advance against the 5th Georgia. Each unit has a stack of stamina markers and a supply of two snowball ammo markers that can be expended. Reloads are available but it’s tricky.

It’s been a while since my last post. Sometimes I feel like I just run out of worthwhile stuff to say. I’ve been busy. I’m probably playing 3-4 games a month. A fair amount of SAGA, some MEBSG (Lord of the Rings) and some Moro Wars using the One Hour Skirmish Wargame rules. More than anything I’m enjoying time with my friends. Oh, and preparing for Enfilade 2025 in May. Ack.

Georgians (blue) and Floridians (gray) brawl.

However, one day I decided to do something I’ve always wanted to do and that is write some rules for and run a game of The Great Daulton Snowball Fight of 1864. Just a quick historical synopsis. In 1864, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, disastrously ejected from Chattanooga at Missionary Ridge by U.S. Grant, was encamped at Daulton, Georgia in winter quarters preparing for the 1864 spring campaign. Under new leadership by veteran general Joseph E. Johnston, the soldiers awakened to a snowfall of 5-7 inches and snowball fights broke out across the encampment. Eventually, the skirmishes spread into company, regimental and even brigade level clashes. Generals Cleburne and Polk both appeared at the head of their troops as snowballs whizzed by. I learned of this fun-sounding clash while reading Steve Davis’ wonderful article (“The Great Snow Battle of 1864”) in the June 1976 issue of Civil War Times Illustrated many years ago.

Probably 25 years or so ago I tried to run a game using a published set of rules on this topic and it just didn’t go well. I’ve always had this in the back of my mind, and thought it would be fun–and different–so I cobbled the rules together over a couple of days and yesterday we tried them out.

I have a few ACW figures for Rebels and Patriots, six infantry for each side. These are twelve figure units. Not a lot of figure losses, though that changed a bit with our game play. I got together some willing friends on a Weekday Warriors Wednesday and we gave it a try. I’d like to say they were perfect out of the gate, but they weren’t. However there was a basis for constructive collaboration and I really appreciated that.

Mark, Mark, and Eric consider how best to survive this initial test of The Great Snow Fight of 1864

Each unit was allotted stamina points, because while snowball fights don’t cause casualties, they do wear out the participants with cold, wet and the odd bumps and bruises. Units could “huck” (throw snowballs) or they could “brawl” (melee). The rules as written really favored brawling, so we saw more of that than huckin’. Units expended their stamina points quickly in brawls which forced them to take time to recover their stamina before jumping back into the festivities. Each player also had an encampment building which needed some defending. Each turn was played in rounds with a die roll for initiative. Snowballs were restricted to supply and reloading. It was possible to have “dirty” snowballs, but they carried a required brawling response that was sort of like mutual assured destruction, so we didn’t see these used. We played 12 turns in about 2 1/2 hours

All agreed that the game was a fun idea and that there were lots of choices for players to make. Lots of sensible suggestions were made that standardized some game features, including figure losses (think of them as desertions as things got too cold, wet and rough.) I’ve already made changes to the rules and am anxious to try them again. I’ll get the chance on December 28th at the monthly Wizard’s Keep Saturday. Looking forward to it. A big thank you to Mark Waddington, Mark Wensnahan, Eric Donaldson, Gary Griess and Keith French for playtesting the rules. I had a lot of fun.

September is flying by

Old metal Games Workshop figure of the Gamling with the Rohan standard. It really wasn’t Gamling in the book . . . but don’t get me started.

It’s the middle of the month already, but it’s been a good month . . . sort of. I’ve devoted a lot of time to painting, not a bad thing because the weather in August and September is much cooler and wetter than is typical. On the other hand, my back yard looks like it would in April or May which is not so good.

As promised I’ve been working on mostly Lord of the Rings figures. I have some of my own stash of GW plastics that I’ve been saving for 20 years, and I’ve ordered more from Etsy (of course I have.) The Etsy figures are 3D prints and are very nice looking. They’re also pretty spendy. Six or more dollars for a single foot figure isn’t unusual and I confess to biting the hook pretty hard. However, at the suggestion from my good friend Mark, some of these 3D mini masterpieces can be replaced by much cheaper metal historicals. So, I’ve ordered a mixture of the excellent Footsore Dark Ages figures to become the wildmen of Dunland at likely less than half the cost of the printed variety.

These are plastic Games Workshop figures I’ve had for many years. It was fun to get them painted. They’re my first mounted unit, and there are at least five more to finish. Red shields represent the Westfold.

Because I’m a lover of all things Tolkien (except the Peter Jackson Hobbit movies, bleah) I saw myself having larger and larger ambitions to acquire and paint EVERYTHING. I think my appetite has shrunk to somewhat more manageable size. I am going to go big on my beloved Rohirrim. I’m adding enough Dunland figures to do the scenarios in the War in Rohan book, and I’ll eventually add enough Isengard figures to do whatever Isengard figures do. I’ll resort to GW plastics and metal figures when I can because they cost less, and the fact of the matter is I’m good for now.

This 3D printed guy is Erkenbrand Lord of the Westfold and Captain of Rohan. He’s a great miniature. All my plastics are weighted with washers.

I’ve finished painting my first mounted Rohan unit. They are GW figures from the long ago hoard, and have the red shields of the Westfold. I’ve completed some personality figures included Gamling with his Rohan flag. I’m working on some very nice printed mounted royal guardsmen printed by Forgemaster Miniatures in the UK.

Last week I was able to run my first One Hour Skirmish Warfare game, using my Moro Wars guys. It was a straight up scenario and I enjoyed it very much. The rules are quite simple and invite some scenario specific rules and general common-sense fiddling. In our game the Americans were holding an advanced post and were assaulted by some angry Moro clansmen. The cards prevented Moros from getting their act together to pull together a dynamic charge, so the Americans were able to pick away at them bit by bit. It was a great learning game for me, and I’ll be running the same scenario on the 21st at our annual Fix Bayonets get together.

I’ve also been able to work in couple of other things. I painted six of the Flight Deck 1/300 scale Betty bombers. Very nice stuff. I’m very impressed with their 3D prints. Today, I hope to start masting six Japanese cruisers from the pre-dreadnought era. I’m going to try using the New Times Journal masting jig for the first time, just to see if it makes the job easier.

I’d like to close with just a few random thoughts from a 69 year old miniature gamer. It feels like I have a lot of stuff. I don’t object to having the stuff. I’m kind of addicted to adding to my mob o’ dudes. I love painting and I’ve loved working on and completing my big ol’ pile. It feels better to have purchased and completed my figures than it does to have a bunch of unpainted figures that I know I’m never going to even try to paint. But it really does feel like I’ve maxed out even what I think I might be able to do. I have this great group of friends who always expand their interests, and I think I just have to say, “That’s great, but I’m just gonna have to play along with your figures.” No harm in that. These are the projects I have left to complete. In some cases I already have all the figures, while some need a bit more.

  1. Lord of the Rings (MEBSG) Rohan, Dunland and Isengard. I have elements of all of these and I’ve begun work on all of these.
  2. 28mm Cuban Rebellion, and Spanish American War. Again, I have most of the figures and I’ve worked on all sides. Back to them in October.
  3. SAGA Armies: Vikings, Saracens and Mutatawwi. I have all the figures, just need to get it done.
  4. Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk’s Hill and Eutaw Springs for Regimental Fire and Fury. Some figures are painted. Some figures are not. Probably need more figures. Yeah.
  5. The Gringo 40’s Indian Wars new guys. Seduced by the new stuff, what can I say. I have some. I need some. More stuff is being released. Help. The newest of the new shiny things. Will begin as a One Hour Skirmish Wargame project, but it has potential for yikes.
  6. ACW ships. I have a bunch of Bay Area Yards resin hulls calling my name. I don’t see to hear them at this time.
  7. 1/300 planes for the Pacific and Vietnam. I do kind of pick at these guys. I just need to devote some real time to getting them done.

There are more small scattered things to wrap up, but those are the biggies. It’s why I need to just say no to new things.