Author Archives: kgsmyth55

At last, summer break

Today is the day all teachers look forward to: the beginning of summer vacation.  My duties at school will end at about 1:00 this afternoon.  All the grades are submitted, my classroom is nearly cleaned.  Things are coming along nicely.  Actually, I’ve voluntarily delayed my summer beginnings by a day because I’ve opted for a class tomorrow morning, but the end is clearly in my crosshairs.

So what does that mean for game projects this summer.  First of all, there are the Truants, our summer game group that will meet every other Friday at the Game Matrix.  That should allow me to get some gaming in at least every other week.  I promised to host an ACW naval game some time in July so I better figure it out.

Lorri is currently unemployed and she has some duties for me to perform.  We have two major room renovations we’re doing, but I’m hoping those might be done by July 1st.  I’ve also taken organizing the WJEA Journalism summer camp.  This work has already started, but not much so far.  It will doubtless kick into high gear next week as student applications begin piling in.

I’m most interested in my painting projects, however.  The big game on my horizon is Bladensburg for Enfilade.  Here are the units I need to paint for this game

Three British line units @ 32 figures each

One British light infantry unit @ 48 figures

One American militia unit @ 24 figures

One American line unit @ 24 figures

My goal is to pare this list down considerably.  I’m in the middle of painting the militia unit, and could probably have them done in a few days IF I can make myself focus a bit more on painting.  I’d like to turn to the British line units.  Victrix figures, ugh.  I’ve started doing some assembly, but there is considerably more to do.  If possible I’d like to complete all three units before our first deadline begins in October.  To keep myself interested I’ll also be working on other projects.  I have some HYW French knights, foot and mounted, on the painting table, as well as a few planes and some 15mm fantasy figures I’d like to get done as well.

Yesterday my order of Spanish figures arrived from Dayton Painting Services.  I really like these figures, and I’ll offer up a review in the next few days.

A view toward 2014

It’s now post-Enfilade and time to begin looking toward what I may have on the docket for next year.  Yes, I know it seems early, but I’m heading into summer vacation, my most productive time of year, and I really am a planner. So here are a couple of ideas for the convention

Director again. I’m going to take on the role of Enfilade director one last time.  My goal was to continue on with the people we have in place and find successors willing to take on the jobs for at least three years 2015-17, and I’ve done that with Dave and Lloyd of Astoria.  My other goal is to extend our contract if at all possible at the Red Lion so Dave and Lloyd don’t have to worry about dealing with it during their tenure.  That’s still up in the air but we may have some information soon.

Those are the big picture items I have my eye on, but the small picture is determining how my duties will affect my game-running role at the convention.  Usually I’m involved with four or so games and I can see a fistful of games I’d like to do, but I definitely have some commitments for the War of 1812 bicentennial.  They may take up all the time I have to run stuff at the con.

Bladensburg and beyond.  By agreement I’m hosting the Battle of Bladensburg, the action outside the District of Columbia that led to the burning of the capital in 1814. I’m painting Brits and Americans, which I’m happy to do.  I just finished painting the last of the four British Marine units that show up in the third wave of British troops that make their appearance. My chief task is to paint the three British line units (Victrix plastic figures) and massive light infantry battalion present at the battle.  I also have an American line unit and  one more unit of Maryland militia.  Ideally I need to have these figures finished by the first of the year, so I have some time to try out a playtest or two leading up to the battle. The Americans outnumber the Brits, but not by a huge amount, and the Brits definitely have the not stupid and unit quality factors on their side. 

Mark is also hosting Sackett’s Harbor and Doug is waffling about hosting Chippewa.  I may get tied into these games as well.  Or not.  Still 11+ months to go to see what happens.

Hero of Weehawken. This is the name of a solo board game on the Burr conspiracy.  But I was thinking that maybe there was an interesting way to make it a multi-player miniatures game.  I’m hoping I can talk Daveshoe into helping me craft something with varying victory conditions per player as Burr, commanding a force of loyal militia followers as American regulars under a loyal commander, American regulars under say, James Wilkinson, and Spanish forces close in on him.  I probably wouldn’t have to paint many more figures to make it work, and there could be enough choices to make it really interesting.

Hydroplane racing.  I would really like to run Thunderboats at Enfilade again.  I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the game and it would give me a reason to finish the nine boats I have.  I’ve already decided on a design for the JagWire boat in Emerald Ridge colors–my own fantasy boat using the old hulls.  It’ll take some research and work to put together my picklefork fleet.

Just some thoughts going forward.

Racing at Enfilade

Gee Bee Z leads Gee Bee Y in the early stages of Golden Age Air Racing on Saturday night

Gee Bee Z leads Gee Bee Y in the early stages of Golden Age Air Racing on Saturday night

I ran a pair of racing games at Enfilade. Friday night I pulled out the inaugural race for my Shapeways planes.  Saturday night I hauled out the hydros for a Thunderboats! game. Both were quite fun, and I have lots to share about both.

I run Golden Age Air Racing at the Museum of Flight each year, so my planes are often out where the public sees them.  However, I don’t often bring them to Enfilade.  It requires three large tubs to hault the 1/48th planes around, and I often have a carful of other stuff to bring to the convention, so they’re easily left at home.  Not so much the 1/144th planes.  Just a single tub for the pylons, and a smallish plastic box for the planes.

I made space for seven racers and with 12 planes let everyone make their choices.  Some were veterans, like Doug, Arthur, and John, while others were noobs, like Jeff and Owen. For some the race started off with a bang, as racers went full throttle at every opportunity, while others pushed every corner.  Others took a little time to get oriented.  By the end, however, everyone was madly screaming for the finish line.  Jeff Condon won the race on the final turn, and I doubt he’ll ever miss any race ever again.  Odd fact–Bruce Harborne suffered an engine stall on the second turn in all three laps.  That’s a tough way to win.

With the race over on Friday night, I decided to enter the three Gee Bees in the painting competition, and they won in the aircraft category.  That they had no competition means little to me.

Saturday was the Thunderboats! night.  There was some buzz about the boat race.  I’d run into Sean the night before and he told me he had some new boat miniatures he’d brought to the convention.  Picklefork hulls from the 70’s and 80’s, but still pre-turbines. He showed them to me, and they were absolutely beautiful miniatures.  I promised to buy six of the boats on race night.  I made sure Sean got into the event.

Chris's Tahoe Miss passes Jeff's Miss Wahoo, while John's Miss Bardahl follows closely.

Chris’s Tahoe Miss passes Jeff’s Miss Wahoo, while Nick’s Miss Madison follows closely.

When the event arrived, it was filled mostly with those who hadn’t raced before, including Jeff, Nick and Darcy.  But there were some cunning veterans like Chris, Sean and John too.  I had a feeling it could get wild.  And it did as Henry Sr. and Henry Jr. burst into the lead.  Both Henrys lit up their nitrous bottles early and took an early lead as Junior promptly set himself on fire. He put it out quickly, but both busted quill shafts early and fell out of the race.  John was driven out with a bad hull bounce.  After a rocky start, Chris eventually took a lead he would not relinquish, but barely edged out Nick who had a stupendous finish.  A late stalled engine put Jeff out of the running and Sean and Darcy battled to finish.  All agreed the game was a lot of fun, and that’s all we can ask.

I’ve pledged more games for the near future.

An Enfilade Gallery

I took a fair number of pictures using the camera on my iPad.  I’ve got a fair number I’d like to share.  There were literally hundreds (like 130 or so) games at Enfilade this year and my regret is I didn’t get more pictures of them, because there were lots of good ones.

Lloyd Mebust and Dave Mebust won the first period best of show with their Viking Run game.

Lloyd Bowler and Dave Mebust won the first period best of show with their Viking Run game.

Scott Williams' street fighting game based on Gangs of New York

Scott Williams’ street fighting game based on Gangs of New York

Guy Bowers' excellent skirmish/ rpg game based on Kurosawa's Yojimbo

Guy Bowers’ excellent skirmish/ rpg game based on Kurosawa’s Yojimbo

David Sullivan's Silent Death Returns game was a big hit in the first game period.

David Sullivan’s Silent Death Returns game was a big hit in the first game period.

Scott Potter gives instructions to his 15mm ACW Pipe Creek scenario

Scott Potter gives instructions to his 15mm ACW Pipe Creek scenario

Interesting take on the War of the Worlds including a mechanized Martian killing machine.

Interesting take on the War of the Worlds including a mechanized Martian killing machine.

Another glimpse at Chris Craft's beautiful Henry V game.

Another glimpse at Chris Craft’s beautiful Henry V game.

Wes Rogers ran two of his 28mm Seven Years War scenarios.

Wes Rogers ran two of his 28mm Seven Years War scenarios.

Doug gives pre-game instructions to the massive 28mm Napoleonic game

Doug gives pre-game instructions to the massive 28mm Napoleonic game

Andrew Mah and Denny Hartung play Check Your Six Jets

Andrew Mah and Denny Hartung play Check Your Six Jets

Bombing the Tirpitz

Daveshoe and I ran the Tungsten, bombing the Tirpitz game.  Actually, Dave ran the game.  I was called away frequently enough that I wasn’t too much help, though I did aid the Germans in getting set up.  The British mission was to drop enough bombs on the Tirpitz to seriously damage it, while keeping the Germans fighters occupied enough to keep the bombers safely on their mission.  The Germans had a pair of FW-190A fighters and two ME-109 G’s, while the British players took six Barracuda bombers and an assortment of American-built Corsairs, Hellcats and one British Firefly fighter.

The fighter combat ended up being an uneven mix, as the outnumbered Germans did their best to tangle with the British.  The Corsairs got to the Focke Wulfs early.  Though both FW-190’s were shot down, they did manage to take a Corsair with them.  The Messerschmidts seemed to travel above the whole business and never seemed to engage either the fighters or bombers.  The Barracudas were unhindered by fighters and merely had to deal with the flak.

Flak was the Tirptiz’s true defense against air attack.  (During the Tungsten raids there were no defending German fighters.) Unfortunately the flak was woefully unprepared for this battle.  Though the German players had a clear and good plan, the execution was not so hot.  Die rolls for the flak seemed to average about 1.5 on a 10-sided die roll. The six bombers rolled in unscathed, and when it was time to drop their bombs, they didn’t miss. The Barracuda pilots rolled up three critical bomb hits and at least one lesser hit for the victory.

Thanks to all the guys who played: Tom Bieker, Gill Fussell, Sr., Andrew Mah, and Dave Creager played the British.  Bruce Harborne and another fellow whose name I’ve forgotten played the Germans.  I hope everyone had fun.

German fighters prepare to intercept British planes lining up for the attack

German fighters prepare to intercept British planes lining up for the attack

Barracudas prepare their bomb loads.

Barracudas prepare their bomb loads.

British player Tom Biecker watches as the bombers enter the wall of flak.

British player Tom Biecker watches as the bombers enter the wall of flak.

The bombers begin their approaches on the Tirpitz

The bombers begin their approaches on the Tirpitz

The battleship is wreathed in fire and smoke as the Barracudas recover from their bombing runs.

The battleship is wreathed in fire and smoke as the Barracudas recover from their bombing runs.

Enfilade Day Two: period one

Almost a full house this morning. One table empty due to a no-show. The hall is buzzing. Life is good. Lots of good games from lots of periods.

Here are some of note.

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Neil Marker’s The Battle at Bjork’s Drift. A 28mm battle on Mars.

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Dave Schueler’s Second Battle of St. Leonard’s Creek.

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Doug Hamm and Seth Terry run the Battle of Hanau in 28mm

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Chris Leach runs his Conquest of Empire game in 28mm. Can’t have too many Zulus.

Best of show winner for this period: assault on Crete.

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Enfilade live blog?

It’s Friday!!! I’m so excited for the convention. Usually I go with this feeling of foreboding and am totally stressed out. But I don’t feel that way this year. Maybe I’m just too dumb to know better. In any case I’m looking forward to it.

I thought I would try my hand at some live blogging this year. Of course that’s all contingent on having access to wireless at the hotel. If there’s no free internet, no live blog. I’ll try to keep anybody that reads this blog up to date as I go along. One more caveat: there are six game periods, I’m playing in one of them and running games in four of them, so it may be difficult to get around a lot.

1:30 at the Red Lion. Half hour short of the first game period. Here are pics of games being set up.

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Lloyd Bowler and Dave Mebust’s Viking Run Game.

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Fix that damn Bridge game 28 mm Civil War

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Chris Craft’s Henry V game.

Playing in Chris, Agincourt game. Old friend Kim Harris and I split a command. Unfortunately the English have not covered themselves in glory. Arrow fire has been fairly ineffective, so archers have been driven from their stakes. The French have been un able to totally take advantage of the situation but things are looking bad.

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Jammed full

When I made my last post, I thought it would be smooth sailing to Friday, but such things were not to be.  One of my problems is that even though my games are pretty easy to schlep and transport, I’m providing goodies for my friends to use.  A couple of game mats, and tidy tubs of air racers and hydroplanes, my Fleet Air Arm planes and throw in some rules and dice and ta-ta, I’m good.  However I’ve agreed to support Mark Waddington’s Crysler’s Farm game with figures and terrain, and Scott Murphy’s Martian game with figures.  This means transporting three times more stuff than I am dragging along for my own games.

I also needed to do some extra work for Crysler’s.  First, I made myself a little deal about mountings for my War of 1812 stuff.  I remounted all my artillery on 50mm square bases, from their much larger bases.  In some ways this is ground-breaking stuff.  Doug Hamm always feared having masses of artillery on the board.  Now there is.  I have five sections of militia artillery, four sections of regular artillery and two sections of naval artillery.  Need it all for Bladensburg.  Though Doug may fear bumping into this in a game, it all runs away defending Washington, except the naval guns.  I also remounted all my officers (six) on smaller (40mm square) bases, including one on a round base that could serve as a C in C.

I also agreed to bring trees.  There was a problem with this, of course.  I no longer own any singly mounted trees.  I followed Mark’s lead to create some vignette-like wooded bases.  Unfortunately, I only had four of these, and some were quite small.  I also had three that were incomplete, and much larger.  I decided to take these on over the weekend and finished them Sunday.  The key to completing these pieces is to try not to rush them.  Make them each look a little different. Not sure they are that great, but, I also think it’s foolish to make them too busy (just in case you have to put move figures through them.) I’ll need two tubs to get it all to Enfilade.

So lots of stuff going south.  This is complicated by my desire to part with my Geo-Hex.  I bought this in the early 80’s, and for a good fifteen years gave it quite a workout.  Unfortunately it’s passed it’s prime and I’ve tried to find other solutions to creating varying elevations. I have a willing victim who is willing to take it all, and there is a lot of it.  And that’s part of my problem.  Somehow I have to get it all down there. I did do a trial jamfest last night and everything seemed to fit.

Enfilade is just around the corner

The last 10 days before Enfilade. It’s always a spring down the home stretch to be sure projects are done. But that’s not the case this year. I didn’t have anything major to complete for the convention. I’m running an air racing game and hydroplane racing game. I’ve miniaturized all my air racers with the Shapeways planes. I finished the last of them yesterday. My latest additions are the Laird Solution, the year later Super Solution and the Howard “Pete.” All three were reasonably easy to paint, so nothing super challenging there.

Arctic Skunk's Howard Pete is very nice, and very small.

The Super Solution seems like it could be a bit more hefty with its bigger engine.

The Super Solution seems like it could be a bit more hefty with its bigger engine.

The Laird Solution is nicely executed. Maybe the Solution is too big and the Super is just right

The Laird Solution is nicely executed. Maybe the Solution is too big and the Super is just right

I’m also working with Dave Schueler on our Tirpitz scenario. We got together last Saturday (May 11th) to walk through the game. We were aided by Scott Murphy, Scott Abbott and son Casey. Dave already constructed the scenario, and the playtest showed the options were right on. The Brits had some interesting choices to make, and honestly the playtest was mostly focused on them. Casey and I sort of fiddled with the Germans. There were two things we really needed to accomplish. First and foremost, Dave and I needed to walk through the Mustangs rules. Once upon a time we played these a lot, but not so much the last decade. One reason we hoped Scott Abbott would play is because he has run the rules recently and he could keep us honest. The other big issue was walk through the flak rules Dave designed for the game. The light flak in the game rarely came into use as it only reached up to level 2, though we’re going to stretch it to level 3 for the game. The heavy flak was most concerning. It did damage a fair number of the incoming Barracudas and shot down one. We agreed the flak should have the threat of being effective if the Brits roll poorly or the Germans roll well, but there is a lot of potential for heavy damage, and we’ve decided to reduce it’s attack factor.

Barracudas fly through flak before beginning their dives on Tirpitz

Barracudas fly through flak before beginning their dives on Tirpitz

My other helping out game is with Mark Waddington’s Crysler’s Farm game. I’m schlepping all my War of 1812 stuff. I’ll supply whatever Mark needs, but still need to rebase some artillery and Indians. This weekend’s micro project.

I’ve also recently finished some Breton light infantry-bidets or bidowers. Breton troops are interesting because they can fight for either side. They’re just javelin armed light infantry. Brittany was torn by civil war through much of the middle 14th century. Because it was one of several autonomous regions of France, owing feudal allegiance to the crown, that plunged into dynastic struggle during the Hundred Years War. With the French backing one side and the English the other, these fraternal conflicts persisted far longer than needed, plunging Brittany into needless bloodshed and misery. I’ve painted them very plainly, because they would have been drawn from the lower classes and fought mostly for loot. They are on half stands to show their skirmish ability.

Breton skirmishers advance through Farmer Smyth's vegetable garden. Not a great angle

Breton skirmishers advance through Farmer Smyth’s vegetable garden. Not a great angle

I’m back to working on Royal Marines. One more unit to paint and then one more unit of Maryland militia for Bladensburg. After that, all that’s left is my Victrix British. I’m not looking forward to that but such is life. You buy ’em, you own ’em, you paint ’em.