An Actual Gaming Post At Long Last! Live From Enfilade! 2018

Posting this late Saturday night from Olympia, Washington - the second day of the flagship historical gaming convention here in the Pacific Northwest, Enfilade! I was happy to host four Lion Rampant games. Two First St Albans games on Friday (afternoon and evening periods); and two Tewkesbury games on Saturday (morning and afternoon period). Each game had six sign ups filled up before the convention started - I actually was honored to have a seventh player walk on for my last two games - Chris Ward from Cigar Box battle mats. I was even fortunate to get into the new TFL "What a Tanker" game on Saturday night. I liked the rules very much and may be picking up a copy. Without further adieu here are some pictures of just a few of the 124 listed games.

Alyssa Faden's amazing Teutoburg games using modified DBE. Incidentally, she's also the convention director for the first year and did an outstanding job. Check out the cool "Wicker Man" she painted in the distance.

My first First St Albans game on Friday afternoon. The Yorkist got into the town and captured King Henry in both games - but not after being well bloodied.

Longtime NHMGS member and former president, Kevin Smyth's Thunderboats game with his hand-painted boat based on actual race boats from Washington State. Description: Thunderboats is a hydroplane racing game. Players create their own driver and boat characteristics, and press those to the limit. Played with miniatures representing historic hydroplanes from the 1950's and 1960's.

Down the pike to Pottersville. Presented by Victor Pecka. Volley & Bayonet published by Test of Battle Games. Union forces are moving down the pike towards Pottersville where they run into a Confederate blocking force.

Team Yankee presented by Colin Wilson. Team Yankee-Flames of War. Americans stopping a Russian attack. Lots of tanks and helicopters will be involved in the play of this game.

Another shot of Alyssa's Teutoburg game which she ran in several periods and deservedly won Best of Show.

James Sagan's Alps Aflame! Saxon Trap game using modified Black Powder; the table was super long. From the event detail: Tyrolean Rebels under Andreas Hofer are fighting desperately for liberation from Napoleon's tyranny. French General Rouyer leads a Division made up of the armies of numerous small German duchies and principalities. Their mission is to clear the Brenner Pass of rebels. The game will utilize the superb figures from Eureka and Perry Miniatures played out on an extra-long board.

A fantastic Hot Wheels, HMGs, and Human Gangs games by Bruce Smith. Post Apocalyptic Gang Warfare using modified Hotwheels, 1/72 & 20mm miniatures and buildings. Choose one of the six gangs with its vehicles and men to destroy the opposing gangs and gain more control of the ruined city while being very careful to avoid all the other hazards which you may encounter on your quest to victory!!

Survive S-Mart Presented by Reviresco. Headshot Z published by James McEwan. Saturday after noon, Shopping at S-Mart. Look Zombies attacking! But wait this is S-Mart they have just about everything a hardcore zombie killer would ever need to make weapons. Time for you to run to the hardware section or maybe to sporting goods! But no matter what aisle you run to you will have to defend yourself!

Bronze Age Heroes game using 40mm figures by my buddy David (I Live With Cats blog). Advanced. Rules used: Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes

Bruce Meyer of Company B's Java 1942 game using Combat! (which I've never heard of before).

A Ratt and Some Mauses Presented by Greg Moore. Russians driving into Germany in 1945 encounter a very big surprise. All models 3D printed

Chrysler's Farm 1814 Presented by Ronald Oldham. British are Coming (modified)

Battle of Bagradas 253 BC – 10mm Miniatures Presented by Robert Knestrick. Command & Colors Ancients.

A very nice Fornovo game using The Pikeman's Lament rules by Spencer of Portland Little Wars blog.

Another shot of the Hot Wheels game.

Some pics from the Tewkesbury games on Saturday. The Yorkist barely won in both games.

The mounted unit on the right, with a bunch of "dignitaries" including deposed Queen Margaret, was classified as Mounted Yeomen and should've only had 6 figures. I was still a bit "battered" from the two games the day/night before that I didn't realize I had included an extra 2 figures. It was only after the unit received some casualties that the mistake was realized - I ended up removing a stand of 2 figures and all worked out well enough.

Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits presented by David Sullivan. The Pikeman's Lament published by Osprey. 1594 - English forces in Ireland marching to relieve the Blackwater Fort are ambushed by Irish rebel forces. 28mm skirmish game using The Pikeman's Lament rules

"Who Runs Barter Beach" Presented by Neil Marker. Pulp Alley published by Phipps & Daughter. In a post-apocalyptic world, rumors of newly unearthed Old World technology draws many would-be seekers.

Attack the Redoubt Presented by Dale Mickel. All Quiet on the Martian Front published by Ironclad Games. Spoiler attack on the Martian Redoubt. A mixed force of Canadian, British and United States troops attack a small Martian base in British Columbia. The human forces attempt to spoil an upcoming Martian offensive that is pointed at the Frazier Valley.

Start of my very first game of What A Tanker!

I ran a T-34 with exceptionally good dice rolls - nearly taking out a Stug, which was actually finished off by the IS-2.

Berlin Breakout using Bolt Action 2d Ed. It is early Spring of 1945, and the forces of Nazi Germany are all but beaten. As the Red Army closes in on Berlin, German troops make a desperate break to escape the Soviets and surrender to comparatively friendly Americans. Will the Germans escape to the West, or can the Soviets cut them off? Only you can decide in Berlin Breakout.

Battle For Henderson's Gulch - 6mm Homebrew Scenario presented by Andrew J. Knestrick. Classic Battletech published by Catalyst Game Labs. Description: Hungry and stranded on the arid planet of Ostara, a rag tag band of MechWarrior's defend a farming town from an onslaught of bandits seeking to plunder it for their own survival. Outnumbered and outgunned, can the MechWarrior's hope to save the town and their lives? | We'll be using 3D terrain with a little bit of homebrew rules to help speed the game along. 

The Other Great War. Presented by Greg Moore. World War Tesla published by Fat Dragon Games. Alternate history WWI battle with fantastic war machines inspired by Nikola Tesla. All models 3d printed.

Jackson's Night Attack 54mm presented by Nick Stern using The Men Who Would Be Kings.

Thar be pirates 'ere presented by Mark JoHahnson. Blood and Plunder rules.

Lost in Lemuria Again using In Her Majesty's Name. Many are the stories of the Temples of Lemuria, the jungles the natives, the Monster Apes, the uncountable Treasure, the natives.

"Vault of Terrors" Presented by Neil Marker. Pulp Alley published by Phipps & Daughter

EDIT:
Here are some Sunday morning games - I left soon after and there was also an afternoon period. The con has grown from no Sunday period, to a few tables for open gaming, to a few registered games and now two periods. This is very impressive and the afternoon traffic starts to get pretty heavy on Memorial Day Sunday - and we have folks traveling back home to British Columbia, Oregon and Eastern Washington (basically Idaho ways).

Greg Moore's Tesla-inspired game again.

Siege of Castle Miser. Presented by William Clark. Medieval Tactica Siege Rules published by Arty Conliffe.Castle Miser is back sitting on its hill waiting for those with the will to sack it. The rules are quick simple and bloody. Why assault? Your vassals' annual service time runs out today, come the dawn and you owe scutage. Assault now, scutage costs money, the dead cost nothing.

Casablanca, a Pulp Adventure. Presented by Ron Palma. Pulp Alley published by Dave Phipp and Daughter. The year is 1941 in Casablanca. The Vichy French are in control of the city, with the Germans poised to take over; refugees are trying to escape to friendlier territory, gun runners are smuggling guns to freedom fighters, thieves are looking for ancient artifacts to make their fortunes while avoiding artifact protectors. Can you guide your league through adventure and peril to escape Casablanca?

Forcing the Frazier. Presented by NHMGS President Sven Lugar. All Quiet on the Martian Front. This time the combined forces of the Canadians & USA stand forth to repel a large force of Martians sweeping down the Frazier river valley in the North. A train of civilians flees down the Trans-Canadian Rail Road towards Vancouver pursued by Tripods. Can the combined force stop them?

The Martian end of Sven's long table accommodating 10 players.

For whatever reason, I find that I enjoy hosting games more than playing in them. Especially at Enfilade! Maybe, it's because I plan for it so far out and look forward in anticipation to hosting it. Of course, it's always great to see folks I only see once or twice a year and have developed what I would consider a friendship with. Thank you very much for stopping by and best regards to all!

Childhood Living Is Easy To Do...

If you had an indulgent mother who nurtured your interest in military subjects - particularly uniforms and armor. Seeing blogger buddy Jonathan's recent Palouse Wargaming Journal post of Genoese heavy cavalry made me reminisce of similar model soldiers in childhood books which I still have. The "Color Treasury of Model Soldiers" has some splendid images from days gone by. All of these books are from the 70's when I was young grommet growing up in Hawaii. Thankfully, I've kept them ever since.

My mom, now 86 years young and still living in the same house I grew up in back in Hawaii, bought all of these for me - save the "Military Dress of North America," which my cousins got for me for Christmas 1975. Incidentally, my aunt used to work for the Hawaii Public Library and would get me all kinds of books on said subject. Yes, I was totally indulged at an early age. Thanks for letting me share a bit of my history and best wishes to you all!

Elephants Rampant?!

Before even getting a first game of The Pikeman's Lament in, local rules expert (he wouldn't say it himself, but I consider him so) Pat L. (aka Socal Warhammer) presented the local Rampant sycophants here in the Pacific NW with a version of Lion Rampant based on the Punic Wars era. It's very well thought out as he had been working on it in private for sometime. As you may know Pat has written a version for Chariot warfare - it was in an issue of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy a year or so ago. Having sold off most of my Macedonian/Successor army (including four pike phalanx units), it was nice that I held onto a few models. These are just enough for a core "retinue" (not sure what the proper term will be) using Pat's rules. Too bad the Scythed Chariot I still have can't be used (yet).

The elies are Aventine (painted many years ago - as the rest of the models); the Companion/Cataphracts are 1st Corps - led by a Relic Seleucus; the Hypaspists a mixture of Foundry and 1st Corps.

The elephant profiles are based on Dragon Rampant's Greater Warbeasts. Haven't really pointed them up with Pat's rules yet, but just wanted to post a teaser shot. I'm sure I'll only be able to afford the use of one of the elies for a 24 point force. Here's a link to the Pacific NW Rampant FB if you would like to join and check out Pat's rules. Best wishes to you all on this Pacific NW rainy Friday the 13th (aka Templars Round Up Day).

The Pikeman's Lament - 24 Point Sengoku Army

The local "Rampant" loyalists have decided to get into The Pikeman's Lament. Using the "Exotic Army List" I will be able to get my old (as in Old Glory) ashigaru and samurai figures on the table again. Here they are as: 1 Aggressive Forlorn Hope OR Aggressive Elite Gallopers @ 6 points (Samurai on foot or mounted); 2 Shot @ 4 points each (Ashigaru with Teppu/Harquebus); 2 Pike @ 4 points each (Ashigaru with Yari/Long Spears) 1 Commanded Shot @ 2 points (Ashigaru with Yumi/Bow).

I've yet to read through the rules - they just arrived today thanks to a trial Amazon Prime membership; they can't be too far removed from the previous Rampant sets (Lion and Dragon). I'm very fortunate to belong to a community here who are into these rules.

As mentioned above, these figures were painted a long time ago and used with various rule sets before - i.e. WAB and Hail Caesar. I'm looking forward to getting them into action action. Thanks for visiting and wishing you the best!

Looking for Hoichi

Since the previous post was one with European style armor, it seemed only fair to post one with armor from the Far East. This even more so as the recent games I played were with Samurai. Also, I don't think I've posted one wearing this kabuto. The kabuto is sort of Heian and Kamakura. The helmet bowl with large rivets are Heian (12th C.), but the wide, flaring shikoro (neck guard) is more late-Kamakura - early-Muromachi (13th-early 14th C.). This was a custom helmet made by Iron Mountain Armory. The rest of the armor is later period, 16th C.

Anyway, I got the urge to put on the armor after watching old Zatoichi movies on YouTube; and finishing off a pint of Old Rasputin Imperial Stout. On the painting front, I'm still waiting on a Tamiya 1/48 251/1 Hanomag to arrive from Japan. I couldn't resist the price ($17 USD free shipping); but it's been about three weeks now since I won it off ebay. On the gaming front I need to order a copy of Pikeman's Lament as this seems to be the direction the Rampant group of locals are heading in. I also wouldn't mind building either a Polish or Ottoman force. The Winged Hussars and Janissaries from Warlord Games look pretty  nice. Thank you very much for stopping by.

The Battle of Towton

...was fought on Palm Sunday, March 29, 1461.

Lion/Dragon Rampant Tournament Game Day at Gig Harbor

Just got back from playing three games of Lion Rampant at a tournament hosted by Pat L. (aka Socal Warhammer). As mentioned in the previous post this was a cleverly designed format with five total games, the first two being Lion Rampant, the third being the players' choice of either Lion or Dragon Rampant, and the final two being Dragon Rampant. This allowed the player to have three (or five) total games to count for the results. I chose to stick with Lion Rampant for the first three games as I knew I would not be playing the last two games of Dragon Rampant. I ended up tied for second place with my first two games being ties and winning my third game - each game having 2 Glory points. I used the Boast of killing more using my bows than with spears. Not too difficult as four of my five units were bow armed. I left after the third game and the remaining folks are probably finishing up their last game about now. As usual, I took a lot of pictures, but over half of them were too blurry.

Bruce M.'s "Ever Victorious" Samurai retinue. For the record, Bruce is the owner/proprietor of Company B.

From my first game against David S.'s (I Live with Cats) El Cid retinue. My unit of archers stupidly failing to take the high ground before David's cavalry got into Attack range.

I managed to get my archers on top of the hill to accept the Attack so I could at least get a +1 to my Armour in the first round. Would've been smarter to have fired on the cavalry prior to their Attack though.

My Ferocious Foot monks taking on some Spanish foot.

My second game against Bryan S.'s all-cavalry unit - most with missiles. I managed to roll 7's for Leadership skill in my last two games; giving me the Commanding trait which allowed one re-roll per turn for a failed activation of units within 12" of the leader - as well as the leader's unit.

A Dragon Rampant game in the third round.

My third and last game against Scott A.'s 13th C. retinue of two Mounted MAA units, two Foot Serjeants and one unit of Crossbows. I luckily was able to kill off half of his retinue for the win.

Most of the standings at the end of game three. The scoring was calculated by wins/losses/ties and the amount of Glory points achieved (or lost). As you can see, Bruce not only won all three of his Lion Rampant games, but also won an incredible amount of Glory points. I should note,
the reason there were so many ties is that we had an hour and a half for each game and if a clear victory wasn't achieved (i.e. killed off over half of the enemy, etc.) it was declared a tie. Players also had to choose between 1 and 3 Boasts, each with up to 3 Glory points each. Boasts not achieved had those Glory points subtracted from the score.

Another Dragon Rampant game during the third round with Bryan S.'s Penguin warband.

Yet another third round Dragon Rampant game. Although I did want to use my recently painted Oni in a Dragon Rampant game, I didn't want to stay for the last two games. Maybe they'll get on the table in the near future.

Well it was another great event with a good bunch of gamer buds using a fun set of rules. Thanks for stopping by and best wishes to all.

Early Samurai Lion Rampant "Retinue" & Dragon Rampant Warband

I'm committed to attend a Lion Rampant/Dragon Rampant "tournament" game day this coming Saturday. Seeing how I like "shooty" armies, I'm planning to use my old Early Samurai figures which haven't seen the gaming table for quite some time. These are mostly TAG figures which I had painted many years ago and used a lot when I was playing WAB. I'm really looking forward to using them again with Lion/Dragon Rampant.

The 24 point "retinue" pictured above consists of two units of Mounted Serjeants with bows; a unit of Fierce Foot (the Sohei monks); and two units of Archers - one rated as Expert. Four of the five units are shooters - which allows them to attrite the enemy without coming into close contact - I hope!

The second picture shows some of the earlier figures along with the recently painted Oni as a 30 point Dragon Rampant warband - namely the "Men of the Far East." This warband is composed of two Heavy Rider units with mounted missiles; an Elite Foot unit with missiles; a unit of Heavy Foot rated as Offensive (the monks); and finally the Oni as a Lesser Warbeast with Spore attack. The monks are Kingsford minis and quite nicely sculpted.

There will be a total of five games for the tournament. The way the host, Socal Warhammer, has it set up is two Lion Rampant games in morning/early afternoon. A third game being the gamer's choice of either another Lion Rampant game or switching to Dragon Rampant. The last two games will be Dragon Rampant. This way the gamer can chose either three games of of either ruleset for a final three game score. I'll likely play three games of Lion Rampant as I don't plan on staying the night to finish the last two games. Until then, best wishes to all!

Reaper Bones Oni

Picked this up at a local gaming store for under $5.00; well actually a little more after our state 10% sales tax. It's made out of a soft plastic - not unlike old Airfix figures. The club was a little bent from the packaging, but easily reshaped using hot water, followed by a rinse in cold water to set it. I planned to use it as a Lesser Warbeast in a Dragon Rampant warband. Hopefully pick up some more Japanese mythical creatures.

This is actually my first Reaper Bones model, but at the price, I plan to get a few more.

I'm not normally into painting gory stuff, but the eyeballs on the wristband looked appropriate for this guy.

The skulls on the belt give him a very GW flavor!

A couple of TAG demon hunters for scale. Hope to find more Oni as I want to paint some up in blue and green. On the gaming front, I'm signed up to attend a Lion/Dragon Rampant game day/tournament next Saturday. Best wishes to you all!

Tamiya 1/48 Jagdtiger - Ready for Action

Or how to burn over 500 points for a Bolt Action force. Not sure why anyone would want to field this in a 1,000 point game, but it is ready if needed. I managed to pick up a bottle of Tamiya Dark Yellow to dry brush over the hand-painted green camo striping. This seemed to tone the green down a bit, but it's still nowhere as nice if it were airbrushed. However, I'll likely never be an airbrusher - so, this will have to do.

Pin washing and adding the tools and spare tracks also help hide the flaws in the camo work.

The driver and commander are nice additions to the kit.

With some Victory Force Minis for scale.

The fit and finish of Tamiya kits are quite impressive - and these can be had for under $30 on ebay.

Thanks for visiting and allowing my indulgence into model kit building.

Tamiya 1/48 Jagdtiger - WIP

Greetings all. Apologies for the long absence, but here's a "keep it alive" post on another 1/48 scale Tamiya kit I've been working on. Actually, I put the kit together a couple of weeks ago, but was trying to find a local, off-the-shelf spray paint which would approximate the dreaded "dunkelgelb," the German Dark Yellow used on most of their late-war production tanks. I finally broke down and picked up a can of Tamiya TS-3 Dark Yellow off of ebay - if not for the shipping it would've been a decent price. Anyway, this is another superb kit with minimal parts; and I am actually getting better with putting the multi-piece tracks together. Here it is after a coat of the Tamiya Dark Yellow and some hand-painted camo stripes.

The green stripes were applied using successive layers of light watered down Vallejo acrylic. I plan to dry brush the base coat color over the stripes to soften the edges and tone down the green. Also, attaching the tools and spare tracks should hide most of the imperfections of the brushwork.

Doing some online researching, this green stripes over the basic dunkelgelb combination seems common for the 653rd Heavy Panzerjager Battalion - one of only two units which were issued Jagdtigers; the other being the 512th.

A total of only about 80 Jagdtigers saw service from late-1944 until the end of the war. It weighed 71 tons and the main gun was the 12.8cm Pak 44 L/55. It performed best in an ambush role, as would be expected by it's powerful main gun. However, due to its weight it was prone to mechanical breakdown. Also, by the time it entered active service, the Allies held air supremacy which also limited its deployability. Interestingly, the first Jagdtiger that was destroyed in combat was taken out by a bazooka! Not sure who the grunt was who fired it, but he should've gotten a medal just for that.

In addition to the dry brushing, it'll also get some pin washing and a little weathering. The kit also comes with a commander and driver - both will be added later. The hatches are held in place with masking tape on the inside for now.

Here I am next to the Jagdtiger at The Bovington Tank Museum which I visited several years ago. You can see how large it is - I'm about 6' tall - give or take a foot.

So much for now; thanks for stopping by and best wishes to you all!