Just Checking In

Sorry for not being on the blogosphere for awhile, but I've been on a quest for fire, or more appropriately a firearms quest recently. Here in Washington State, a new law prohibiting the sale and transfer of firearms with more than a 10-round magazine capacity will take effect 1 July of this year. It does not affect (at least for now) the possession and sale of these prior to 1 July. This was announced a few months ago, and it prompted to me feel the "need" to acquire a few of these soon to be prohibited weapons. Prior to this, I really didn't have a burning desire to own anything of the sort - having spent 28 years in the Army, guns really didn't hold any special aura for me. However, that all said - just the thought of someday possibly wanting to own one of these soon to be "outlawed" guns made me go on a mini-buying spree of sorts. I already had a Walther P1 which I picked up over 10 years ago at a local outdoor store for $330. I honestly only fired it a few times over these years - mainly because I thought I could spend the money for ammo on other things - like figures and such. Anyway, I ended up buying not one, not two, but four new firearms.These are a Springfield Armory SA-35 (Browning Hi Power clone), an Uberti repro of a Remington New Army Revolver, a Smith and Wesson M&P 15 semi auto rifle - and just last night I ordered a Girsan Beretta M9 clone. Still awaiting the arrival of the Girsan. Granted the revolver isn't impacted by the new law, but it's such an iconic gun. With these acquisitions, I've spent a lot of time (for me anyway) on the range test firing them these past few weeks. 

Fired 100 rounds of .223 today with the AR 15. 

Target below is from the 25 yd target; also had a 100 yd target - but that one wasn't shot at too much. It was a nice day to be at the range.

Below are shots from last week with the Remington and the SA-35. I used a 45 Colt cartridge conversion cylinder with the Remington. It can also fire black powder with the cylinder it came with.

I had several 15 round magazines for the Browning Hi Power clone - and also this 30 round one.

Not to worry as I haven't quit the hobby. In fact, I packed up the figures and terrain for the games I'm hosting at Enfilade in a couple of weeks. Pictured below are the bins for the La Haye Sainte game on the right and the Marston Moor game on the left.

Well, I hope I haven't offended anyone with this post, but just wanted to share a bit of what I've been up to lately; and why I haven't been able to visit your blogs. Until next time, thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Wargames Atlantic Italian Infantry - Folgore North African Campaign

Another 12 figures from the Wargames Atlantic Italian Infantry box. Painted these up as Folgore in simple colors, without camouflage smocks or helmet covers. Not as pretty as the Bersaglieri, but wanted to do up a different kind of unit.

Besides, the helmets, the only difference from the previous 12 Bersaglieri, are the baggy trousers - which were made using some Green Stuff to cover the leggings.

A very quick paint job with minimal colors and stained with Minwax. Only the faces and hands were given a wash of Vallejo Flesh Wash afterwards. No highlighting or other detailing. Just a simple process to get more figures into a game.

The Green Stuff trousers bottoms aren't the best, but good enough for the gaming table.

The Allied forces will now need some additional troops to balance the game seeing how there are now 24 more Axis troops to battle. Maybe an LRDG force, or Free French Forces units. Anyway, thanks as always for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Wargames Atlantic Italian Infantry - Bersaglieri

Here are 12 figures from the 32 figure box of Wargames Atlantic WW2 Italian Infantry. These are painted up as Bersaglieri in the North African Campaign. The set comes with several head/headgear options, as well as arm/weapon combinations.

The arm/weapons combinations are numbered and go together easily. The hard plastic is very sturdy and should hold up to gaming well.

For the basecoat, I used a local hardware store Khaki spray paint as it was on sale - it has a gloss finish, but since the figures were sprayed with Krylon Flat after the usual Minwax stain, this wasn't a problem.

The feathers are separate pieces, so you can build these as regular troops wearing pith helmets. There are also steel helmet and Alpini head options.

The shot above shows an Atlantic figure between a Warlord Games metal Fallshirmjager on the left and a metal Perry French Legionnaire on the right. They size up well enough - although the Atlantic figures could be slightly bigger, but not noticeably so on the table. I do plan to run a few Bolt Action North African Campaign games after our big convention next month. I don't want to confuse myself with any rules besides Black Powder and Pike & Shotte until after this.

Just a quick project and update to the blog. Thanks for visiting and and wishing you all the best.

Veterans Museum in Chehalis, WA Game Day

Had a great time today at the Veterans Museum in Chehalis, Washington. One of our gaming buddies is a member at the museum which allows us to use their conference area for a game day. I've posted this game day before along with photos of the awesome collection they have. It's a privately owned and funded museum and all of the artifacts are donated and have a connection with service members from Washington State.

I was able to playtest my La Haye Sainte game prior to hosting it again next month at our big annual convention, Enfilade. The reason for this playtest was that it has been scaled down from the earlier playtest last year. I'm using the scenario which concentrated on the fighting in and at the farmhouse. I got a lot of great feedback and ideas on streamlining and simplifying the game for the convention. A couple of the players who play Rebels and Patriots a lot said that those rules would be perfect for it. I told them that I'd try it out, after the convention as I didn't want to learn a new set of rules weeks before the convention.

My buddy (the one who is a member of the museum) playtested his "The Sand Pebbles" game again. He's also hosting it at Enfilade.

There was a Black Seas game with great looking ships.

In the second period, I played in a Vietnam War game using Arc of Fire rules. I ran a squad of Marines and actually did quite well, capturing a hootch for victory points. In fact, the name of the game was called "Hootch to Hootch". It's the second time for me using the rules - the same GM's hosted the Battle of Hue game using Arc of Fire last September at Enfilade.

My Marine fire teams moving up along the right flank.

My squad moving up to the tin roofed hootch which they eventually captured. Another group of Marines, run by my buddy, getting decimated from long range AK-47 fire in the grove of trees in the background.

A few shots of some of the weapons in the museum's collection - again, each privately donated with some historical ties to Washington veterans.  Most of the firearms have an example cartridge/round displayed along with the weapon.

A collection of Colt handguns.

Some of the many small arms in the collection.

Again, another great game day with great games and good company. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Warlord Games/Wargames Factory AWI Hessians

Another group of Warlord Games/ Wargames Factory AWI plastics. This time a few Hessians from a couple of sprues off of ebay. I had ordered the infantry sprue, but was sent the command sprue by mistake. The seller kindly let me keep the command sprue and sent the infantry sprue too. With the two sprues I was able to build a small 12-man force of Hessians in skirmish order. 

The pink facings represent the Hesse-Hanau Regiment Erbprinz prior to them changing to crimson facings in 1780. They are mix of Fusiliers and Grenadiers as I like the look of both mitre caps.

The figures are on 25mm round Litko bases and grouped on 6-figure movement trays.

These sculpts appear (to me anyway) a bit nicer than the earlier Colonial Militia figures. Maybe it's because Grenadiers are supposed to be taller? The headgear are very nicely sculpted - you can even make out the Hesse lion coat of arms.

Not sure when these will join the other AWI figures in battle, but I have a copy of Rebels and Patriots as well as the first edition of Muskets and Tomahawks. Black Powder is also an option.

A box of Wargames Atlantic WW2 Italian Infantry arrived the other day - it was sent after a long delay while awaiting an order of WW1/2 French Infantry. They said they'd send the French once their back in stock. I also have the Perry and TAG figures for Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign too. As for gaming, I am hosting another playtest for the Black Powder La Haye Sainte game next Saturday at a gameday event. It's been scaled down from the previous playtest and will only include foot troops - sticking with the scenario of the actual fighting in and around the farmhouse. Until next time, wishing you all the best.

The Sand Pebbles

Playtested my buddy's "The Sand Pebbles" game today at his awesome bunker. All the figures, watercraft and terrain (including the bamboo rope boom) were made/painted by him.

This game is a labor of love of sorts for him, as he's read the novel cover to cover and watched the movie countless times. The scenario is from the last part of the movie where the US gunboat is steaming to breakout of the rope and junk boom held by the Chinese forces. The rules are a home brew mixture of The Sword And The Flame, Bolt Action and some other rules. It worked well and only a few tweaks will be added the next time - mostly allowing the Chinese to have some of their small watercraft outside of the boom and more able to reach the US gunboat.

Start of the game - I ran part of the Chinese forces - a mix of regulars and militia.

Chinese militia in the foreground malingering on a dock, but ready to board the sampans to render assistance to the tied up junks.

US gunboat "The San Pablo" crewed with 3" gun,  Lewis guns and BAR's.

San Pablo moving fearlessly into a boom of Chinese junks and bamboo rope.

Chinese junks with 9 pounder cannon crews already killed off after taking fire from the San Pablo.

There were Chinese regulars on either side of the river, but their small arms were out of range.

Boarding action by the San Pablo crew having wiped out the Chinese crew.

Some Chinese regulars and militia in sampans firing on the Americans, but not scoring enough hits to make a difference.

Near the end of the game, with the Americans ready to cut the rope boom. It was called a US victory as the San Pablo still had most of her crew and armed with superior weapons.

All in all a great game and fun day to hang out at my buddy's bunker which is packed to the roof with games, miniatures and historical references. 

Entrance to the bunker

Fully heated/AC with latrine.

An Iwo Jima diorama in 54mm he has - a buddy of his gave it to him for safekeeping.

He's hosting this game again next Saturday at the Chehalis Veterans Museum and also next month at Enfilade as well. I'm hosting the La Haye Sainte game next Saturday at the museum too - a sort of refresher/playtest game. Until next time, thanks for dropping by and wishing you all the best.

Warlord Games née Wargames Factory AWI Militia Men

Picked up a sprue of 10 figures off of ebay for about $8, just to see how they look. They're a bit lanky looking, and some of the details are sculpted in lower relief than other makes. Still not too bad to flesh out a skirmish game.

They were block painted and given the usual Minwax stain treatment. I didn't highlight anything afterwards. I did give the flesh areas a wash of Vallejo Flesh to give them a bit more "life". I watered-down the basic colors over a white basecoat - sort of  my own version of contrast paint.

One of the poses looks like the right hand is working a bolt action. Maybe they're covering the flint from wind or rain. Lol!

The frock coats are actually pretty good - they fringes took the staining well.

Above photo shows a comparison next to a Perry plastic; close enough for government work, I think.

Just a quick blog update, and wishing you all the best.

Battle of Bergisel 1809 - Tyrolean Rebellion - Black Powder

Playtested my buddy's Black Powder Tyrolean Rebellion game today. It's actually the second time playtesting this game. He's hosting it at next month's Enfilade convention. It was originally supposed to happen in 2020, but the lockdown prevented this. He also didn't have time to prepare for it at last September's convention as he was deployed the earlier part of the year. All of the figures and scratch-built terrain are his.

I ran a couple of the Tyrolean brigades, along with another buddy - mostly skirmish order troops and some villager types classed as warbands. The Bavarians had cavalry units - which didn't play a big part as the Tyroleans stayed on the high ground for most of the game. They also had more artillery. In fact, the gun I had only was allowed to fire 3 times during the game before running out of ammunition. We played 5 turns and it was considered a close Bavarian victory as although most of the Tyrolean units were intact, enough were shaken and a unit of Bavarians held a key bridge - a victory condition. There are quite a few special characters and special events occurring as part of the scenario. One of the special events has someone rolling boulders down the slopes onto the enemy at some point during the game. There is also a female heroine bringing resupplies, including cannon balls, to the rebels. All in all a fun scenario which is based on actual historical events. Should be a winner at the convention.

A unit of Bavarians occupying the high ground after destroying a Tyrolean unit - the Bavarians then turned about and faced another Tyrolean unit below them.

My buddy who hosted the game, far right in the photo, had two of the Bavarian players pose along with him with some actual pikes from the Lucerne armory he picked up when he was stationed in Europe.

Have playtest next week for another buddy's game for Enfilade. This one will be based on the movie, "The Sand Pebbles". Looking forward to it. Thanks again for stopping by, and wishing you all the best!