Tag Archives: gaming

Burning Hesselberg and What Comes Next

Owen gives me the “Not another project!!” look

About six weeks ago I agreed to host a game at our Drumbeat South gathering at the Chehalis Veterans Museum. It’s a wonderful venue if you happen to be in central Washington heading up or down I-5 to or from Portland. Kind of tucked away, I highly recommend a visit. It’s also a great, affordable venue for a game gathering. NHMGS has taken to sponsoring an event there twice a year and I really like it. Roomy enough, affordable. Food close by. It’s a yes from me.

A few pics I didn’t take of the Chehalis Veterans Museum. It’s an easy venue to like and the meeting space upstairs is first rate for a regional gathering.

The game I’ll be running at the Vets Mu on August 15th is another Take Action game. I guess I know longer think of these as playtests because I’ve sort or adopted them as my rules of choice for semi-skirmishy horse and musket rules. If Chris was to throw up his hands and abandon them tomorrow, I think I’d still play them just because of the options it gives to the players. Simple, easy to run, fun stuff.

I’m running a game I’ll call Burning Hesselberg, and it is another game rooted in the 1777 and beyond “Forage Wars” in New Jersey. These little struggles to control supplies, led to wanton destruction that drove New Jersey firmly into the Patriot camp. The British failed to bring Washington’s forces to a decisive battle and the alienation of the locals led General Howe to pack up and head for Philadelphia via a long voyage into Chesapeake Bay.

New Jersey Loyalists and Connecticut regulars under construction. Hoping the lot is done in the next couple of days.

My scenario is a five player game with three British players running eight units and some wagons. Their goal is to sack a farming village and saw mill that has supported Washington’s forces. They have an interesting mix of troops with quality British dragoons and Hessian jaegers, some Loyalist regulars and Loyalist not-very-good militia. Their job is to torch as many buildings as possible and forage some useful resources for the troops back in Brunswick. The Americans forces, comprised of a mixed force of Continentals and militia is to make their job that much more difficult.

There is stuff to do to get ready. I needed to paint some figures–that I have of course. There were mounted and dismounted British dragoons. I needed more Loyalist regulars. And then there was the matter of some more fairly ratty looking Continentals. Lots of time to accomplish this, except that I volunteered to play test the game on July 25th at Wizard’s Keep, cutting three weeks off my timeline. Even so, things seem to be coming together. I’ve even added a couple more buildings to my meager collection including an Etsy 3D print of a water powered saw mill, I’m calling Sylvester’s mill. Things should be ready for the WK game. The scenario is written and I’m excited to give it a try. I’ll be sure to include a post with photos to fill you in.

This is Sylvester’s

I will be giving the American War of Independence a bit of a rest to pick up something different. I wrote earlier about doing something with the Peloponnesian War. Yes, Greeks, hoplites, spears, those guys. At Enfilade I bought a pair Xyston 15mm DBA armies for Sparta and Thebes. Though I parted with my many DBA armies a few years ago, there is a part of me that’s interested in playing again, and these armies offer an entry point to something larger. But nothing is ever quite as simple as it should be. I need bases and I’m going to avoid painting symbology on those wee, small 15mm shields. The Xyston figures need spears. So all that stuff must be ordered, and I have now done that.

My hope is that I can go ahead and do the 15mm thing without a lot of difficulty and the DBA’s can come together quickly. Then I’d like to move on to something a little more intense and that is using these same DBA figures to play the Control to Catastrophe rules. This game is played on a gridded game board. Of course, I don’t have a gridded game board so I’ll have to come up with one. I think I have something I can use and create a board. Because I’m playing with 15mm figures mounted on DBA bases, I don’t need a big space.

It’s not clear how many more figures I’ll need to do both DBA and C to C, so I’ll have to figure it out. However, I do have enough to start, plus bases, plus spears, plus shield transfers-or at least I will have enough when it all arrives from Mr. Litko, Mr. Xyston, and Mr. Victrix.

Enfilade Approacheth: and What Comes After

The Repulse attacked in a playtest for Enfilade.

Enfilade 2026 is just a a few weeks away. Games are scheduled. Duties are assigned, mine included. The convention never ceases to stress me out. I had a number of text messages, voice mails and phone calls left unanswered while I was on vacation–on a cruise ship (the quality of sea-borne internet has indeed improved.) I think part of it is because I feel responsible. Nobody wants to be the director who screws something up. I also know this is my last Enfilade as director. And yes, I mean that absolutely, positively. I’m confident that my successors will try hard, learn how to do it, and will be just as attentive. I wish them the best.

I’ve given myself fewer things to do. I am running three games, but beyond that I’m going to do my best to relax and take it all in. If I can sneak into Gerrit Swaneveld’s Sack of Troy game or Steve Rees’ Maxmillian race game, I may partake. But I may just put myself on call and relax, we’ll see. In any case I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and the awesome games they’ll host.

As I wrote in my last post, my life doesn’t begin and end with Enfilade–though it often shapes what I do. I’m hoping I can take the approach the next year differently. Rather than create a whole new project requiring a lot of new buying, building and painting, I’m hoping I can happily paint away and a project will take shape.

Hessians. One simply can’t have too many. These are based for Rebels and Patriots/Take Action

At the present time, with my Enfilade work happily complete and in the can, I’m following a pattern I hope to keep up throughout the summer. I’m painting units for my two AWI projects–the skirmishy Take Action rules and Regimental Fire and Fury–and I’m working on my LOTR plastics. I’ve been able to complete all my Hessian figures-which is equal to five 12 figure units for Take Action. I’ve finished two of the GW plastic Isengard orc units.

That’s a lotta orcs. But wait, there’s more . . .

I also want to be sure to do at least one ship per month. In March I complete six of the Fletcher class destroyers Mark Waddington printed for me. This month I finished the other nine. So that’s done and off my work table of doom. I think May I’ll take on a couple of the David Sullivan leftover Thoroughbred river boats.

Looking ahead, my mind is being shaped by a recent conversation with my friend Chris Leach in White Rock. Chris was a guest on the Tanks and Tomahawks podcast. We were discussing skirmish games and massed battle games, and I pointed out that while he does almost exclusively massed battle games, I do almost entirely single figure skirmishy games. In reflection, I thought that was weird. In 2010 I wrote the an article for the much loved but now-departed Citadel called “What’s Up With Single Figure Gaming?” I followed that up with a blog entry from my much missed Blogger site on the same topic. At the time I didn’t question but did express wonder at the explosion of single figure games. I guess that 16 years ago I wasn’t doing as much, but certainly some. That was high water for the Martians, exploring Lewis and Clark and trying to figure out what to do about the Hundred Years War. But today, I can truly say I do very little in the way of massed battle gaming.

But I have all these piles of figures, especially unpainted ones, that need something besides a skirmish scale set of rules. So let me say here and now that I have a plan, sort of, kinda. These will be my massed battle projects. Now, stop rolling your eyes and shaking your head. I see you out there!!!!!

  1. AWI–Fire and Fury. This is a no brainer. In fact I’ve already started. I have no idea how many unpainted AWI figures I have, but it’s some where between a buttload and a shitpile. I have unpainted Old Glory figures, Front Rank figures and Perry figures. I’ve even ordered more. (What a dope!) Some of these will be representative units for Take Action. But others will be devoted to doing those Nathaniel Greene battles I keep blathering about. I’ve got the figures. I’ve got rules. This is an easy choice that has already been made.
  2. The Hundred Years War– a project in search of rules. I have a lot of painted Hundred Years War figures mounted for Lion Rampant or even the pre-gunpowder version of Take Action. I may even have too many. There is no reason not to do massed battle armies for this period. I don’t know if I have quite enough figures to pull this off? I really am not sure about rules. Not only do I have a fair number of metal figures for the period, I also have four boxes of Perry Plastic figures. I know there are rules out there-Control to Catastrophe covers the period, but I don’t know if I want to do a gridded mat for 28mm figures. That sounds spendy and the matt would likely have to be much larger than any table I could use. 2012 or so I started working with Daveshoe on an adaptation of Fire and Fury to the Hundred Years War. For Dave it was kind of an eye-roller, but we walked through a playtest at Game Matrix back in the good old days. I love the command rolls and think there could be something there. I’ve begun having conversations with Co-Pilot. I’ll keep you posted.
  3. The Peloponnesian War–this is a looking ahead last project idea. This is something I’d do in 15mm. That’s saying something. I haven’t painted 15’s in a very long time. I’m thinking I’d start with some Xyston DBA armies, get some use out of them, and they’ll be a basis for an Athenian and Spartan Control to Catastrophe armies. I don’t mind the gridded mat for this scale. It will not have to be large and would be more affordable. I don’t expect I’d spend a penny on this until September.

It will be interesting to see how long I can say “This is it!!!!” But for right now this is making sense to me. There will be updates and pictures

What’s Happening With the Lead Pile?

I have a lead pile. I’m sure you do too. It’s the nature of the hobby. It’s March 21, and unlike me, I don’t believe I’ve purchased a single figure, hunk of terrain or other associated game pieces this year. And I’m tellin’ ya it’s really hard.

Our Wednesday game group, a very fun social group of guys, has its fingers in lotsa stuff. In some ways I envy them. They are playing games I’ve never tried. I’m not sure whether I’ve avoided them because I’m just kind of a snob and stay away from the next new thing (though they aren’t new anymore.) Or maybe it’s just that I have my hands full and hope to concentrate on those things. Instead of me just blathering on without real context, let me give some recent examples.

I’ve now played two games of Flames of War using my podcast partner, Steve’s desert armies. Both games were really fun. However, of the games I’ve tried, it’s the one I’m most likely to stay away from. From a historical standpoint, I’m really not heavily into WWII land combat. I’d have to build two armies, because I’m just not tournament oriented. Steve showed you can do some scenario making, but even if I was to do that, I’m not sure what I’d do. It’s just not my period. I will happily play and enjoy every minute.

I played my first game of Bolt Action. The rules were just a blast. I think it’s because we kept armor to a minimum. There is lots of discussion in our group about adapting BA to Vietnam. There are some semi-official Vietnam adaptations, so I’m really interested. In fact, I’m hoping that this week some time I can get some time to review what I have and determine whether I have enough. Can’t imagine I don’t. I’ve painted all the figures I own except for a handful of ARVN guys. They’re all really big Gringo 40’s figures. I have David Sullivan’s figures as well, so there should be plenty to play with, plus he has some unpainted stuff. Worth investigating. However, I have been thinking about Warlord’s Korean War range . . .

Finally, I also played WWI Wings of Glory. I think I’d played once before years ago. Again, just a lot of fun. I got shot down, but enjoyed the heck out of the game. I’m pretty sure at some point I’ll order a few planes, plus the game expansion and a balloon. Just so I can add something to a game.

The challenge when you’re introduced to something new is to not rush out and buy shit piles of stuff that needs painting and maybe never get to it. I am 70 years old. I am a healthy 70 years old. I can still see. I don’t have arthritis in my fingers (unlike my poor beloved who is also a very capable quilter and has a hard time threading needles.) I love painting and I paint every night because a day without painting is like a Pacific Northwest day in December listening to Bill Withers sing “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

So here’s what the plan is for the Lead Pile for the moment:

I’m working on AWI stuff. At the present time, I have two separate AWI game projects. One is based for semi-skirmish games like Rebels and Patriots and the Take Action rules I’m helping to beta test. The other is more of a massed battle game played with Regimental Fire and Fury. For the skirmish based games, I really need some representative units. Continentals, British, Hessians, maybe some Provincial forces and some cavalry and a gun or two. The F and F stuff is all built around Greene’s southern campaign and those must represent specific units. I have loads of unpainted figures, but I will need a few more. I stated the goal of painting 400 AWI figures by the end of the year. So far I’ve finished 24. But I have more I’m working on now.

Finished Front Rank Hessian figures. I love me some Front Rank figs. They are well cast and seem so old school. They take my Hessian count to two units for semi skirmish.

Kurt and Mark said they want to do some MESBG. That’s all I needed to hear, because I have a fair number of Isengard figures. All orcs. It would be nice to finish these. They paint up quickly. I have the Isengard set from GW Lorri got me for Christmas in 2024. That’s 40ish figures, plus I have six Warg riders. I’d love to finish them and draw a bow around this project. I don’t expect to buy more figs, but I could see the potential. This month I’ve finished three Trolls and ten armored orcs.

Painting plastic figures isn’t something I do regularly, but that is different with my Middle Earth stuff. The Trolls had to have a pin drilled into their feet to get decent purchase on a base. Used Warpainter speed paint for their flesh. Different, easy. The Orc mob to the right is my third such collection. The fourth one will likely come in April. Trolls by an Etsy seller, Orcs by Games Workshop.

I also said I promised to paint some ships throughout the year. God knows I have lot of ships for almost every period and scale you can imagine. A couple of years ago Mark printed 18 Fletcher class destroyers for me in 1/1250. This month I painted six of them in the very basic Measure 21 blue gray on blue gray scheme. My guess is I’ll keep working on these until they’re done. But there is so much more. Some is mine, some I inherited. ACW ships, Lissa in 1/2400, Tsushima in 1/3000, German pre-dreadnaughts in 1/1250, WWII Japanese and Americans in 1/700. Love me some ships. Any ships.

Six Fletcher class destroyers, early production. STL’s from War Times Journal. Printed by my friend Mark Waddington. There are more to paint, but different versions. In Measure 21 camouflage, which is a darker blue gray, over blue gray. Some paint schemes are easier than others.

    Our Weekday Warriors game group has changed in the last year. We’ve added a couple of new members, lost a few others. That’s really changed the mix of what we play. Not as much SAGA, though that’s a game I still really like. There are more games that I’m less familiar with, but am happily willing to try. Introducing new things to the mix is good, if a little dangerous, because it always tempted the younger version of me to chase it. I think I’m more into re-purposing existing figures and projects than just buying more stuff and adding to Kevin’s pile of lead.

    My little bit of Ireland project

    Cannon Fodder IRA miniatures. Miniature Building Authority buildings and cobblestone plaza.

    Cannon Fodder IRA miniatures. Miniature Building Authority buildings and cobblestone plaza.

    As an Irishman two generations removed from County Cork, I’ve always had a bit of an interest in Irish topics.  I’ve even accumulated some figures over the years, and last week began painting a few of my hidden treasures.  About ten years ago I purchased some figures from Cannon Fodder Miniatures.  It was an Australian company that teamed with Eureka for production.  They had some interesting ranges.  They started with some American sailors and Marines for the river war in China during the warlord era, and had a handful of Irish Republican Army figures from the Irish War of Independence in the 1920’s.  I bought some of the sailors, and I bought some of the Irish and waited for the ranges to be completed, which unfortunately never happened. I’ve added some miniatures from Musketeer, Renegade and Reviresco, but could still use some more.

    Last week I began working on my ten IRA guys and today I finished them.  The Cannon Fodder miniatures are nicely detailed.  They are well-proportioned, not massive on the order of Copplestone or Renegade.  They are, generally, either armed with some sort of pistol or an Enfield Rifle.  One figure comes in the uniform of the Irish Republic, but most are in civilian dress.  Cannon Fodder went away a few years ago, but sculptor Greg Blake’s ranges are available at Blaze Away Miniatures in Australia.  There’s actually a few more miniatures available than when I purchased mine many years ago.

    I have always been at a loss for how to do the conflict.  I did locate my copy of Leo Cronin’s The Black and Tan War after some frustrating searches.  After re-reading those rules, I think they are exactly what I’m looking for.  Cronin’s rules are a combination of skirmish wargaming and role playing that I think will be really fun. I see setting the situation as a series of tactical problems the players need to plan for and work through that can be played on a fairly small table in an evening.  I think I’d tweak the ground scale a bit.

    Leo Cronin's Irish Rebellion: Black and Tan Wars combine elements of role playing and skirmish gaming. It is both useful and practical.

    Leo Cronin’s Irish Rebellion: Black and Tan Wars combine elements of role playing and skirmish gaming. It is both useful and practical.

    This is not a massive project.  I’d like to double the number of IRA figures I have.  I’d probably pick up some of the awesome Musketeer miniatures to supplement my Cannon Fodder guys, but I’d like a total of 20-25 IRA figures.  I have a few Cannon Fodder Black and Tans, and a dozen of the very nice Musketeer Auxies.  I also bought a unit pack of the Renegade WWI British soldiers in early war uniform, including GS hats.  I’m going to take half of these and paint them as a few of the 80,000 British that served in Ireland 1919-22, and the rest will be members of the Irish Free State Army that had a somewhat different color but generally a similar uniform.  At the most I’m talking about another 40 figures, including civilians.

    Blurry photo of the Matchbox Crosley tender. Used without the top or canvas cover, the tender is in perfect scale with the miniatures.

    Blurry photo of the Matchbox Crosley tender. Used without the top or canvas cover, the tender is in perfect scale with the miniatures.

    Then there is the question of vehicles.  I’ve pretty much decided to do them on the cheap, using old Matchbox Cars of Yesteryear.  I know I can get these fairly cheap, like less than ten bucks a pop.  I have some of the Reviresco miniatures, but they’re just too small.  Matchbox has a great Crosley tender that just needs to be reprimed and repainted. I bought one on Ebay and am awaiting its arrival.  I’ll probably go the same route for other vehicles from the period.  Matchbox makes some nice Model T’s, Maxwell and some interesting trucks/vans. I have a Reviresco Lanchester armored car, but at 1/64 scale it’s a bit small.  I’d really like to snag an Old Glory Austin A/C as a replacement.  The creme de la creme would be a Lancia armored lorry made by Musketeer, but at 20 quid it’s a bit spendy.  Maybe this summer.

    In any case, I’ve finished the first ten CF figs, and have primed a dozen more including British regulars, Black and Tans and some smallish Reviresco Royal Irish Constabulary.  More to follow.

    Just For Fun

    I’m usually a very focused painter, but I’m taking a little break to do some fun stuff.  Ever since Enfilade (last May) I’ve been a good boy and painted figures for the Hundred Years War and the War of 1812.  All in all some 50 HYW figures and 56 War of 1812 figures.  I’ve decided to just do some stuff that is fun and different.

    Old Glory Crossbowmen may be my last HYW figures until after the first of the year. These are the last of the crossbow figures I have and fight in the vanguard at Poitiers. Hope to finish basing them today or tomorrow.

    These 30 Black Raven orc archers will make six Sk stands and six Bw stands. Nice start on what I hope will be progress on Orcs for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

    First, I’m going to paint up some 15mm orcs.  Yes, orcs.  I’ve been hanging on to a bunch of 15mm fantasy figures for many years.  They’re intended to help me portray the Battle of the Pelennor Fields from the Lord of the Rings.  I just cranked out 30 archers.  I’ll be using a DBx basing for the stands, and will combine the figures for Bw and Sk.  I have loads more to paint, and am pleased to get a start on them.  My Rohan army is already complete, so I’m anxious to have somebody to run against.  I think I have all the figures I need except for the Black Raven Foundry Witch King figure.

    Collectair Lancasters with their base “earth” paint job. The color scheme isn’t real difficult with the earth, green and black basics. It’s getting every thing to line up properly that’s tricky.

    I’m also preparing to paint five 1/300 Collectair Lancaster bombers from WWII.  They’re primed and I hope to finish painting them over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Four are armed with the Tallboy bombs used to sink the Tirpitz in Norway in 1944.  They aren’t super challenging to paint, but they do have some pretty straight lines to manage.  I’ll do my best.  I’m even assembling nine (9!!) C in C Ki-61 Tony fighters I picked up at the NHMGS auction and there hasn’t been one of those in years and years.  It’s kind of fun to revisit this old, old stuff and make something happen with it.

    The C in C Tonys are little gems. Assembly is super easy. I’ll paint five up as home defense fighters from a “ramming” squadron. Fun stuff eh. Become a fighter pilot. Ram a B-29. The rest will be interceptors defending the empire.

    Crappy pictures courtesy of my iPhone.

    I still have plenty of War of 1812 and HYW figures on my radar.  I’ve still got 20 French men-at-arms partially painted that I’ll tackle-when I feel like it.  Just can’t face dealing with heraldry right now.  I also have twenty Maryland militia artillery primed.  Probably sooner rather than later.  But right now I just need to have some fun by doing something different.