New Gaming Group

Apologies for the radio silence. I'm really enjoying my job with the Park Service, but the hour and a half to two hour commute (each way) every day, along with some other big life events (like my wedding two weeks ago) have limited my blogging time. Now that things are settling down a bit, I'm hoping to get in a more of a rhythm.

Another reason to expect more listings is the fact that I've formed a new gaming group. At a get-together with some of my wife's colleagues in the area, I discovered that one of the guys played the Lord of the Rings miniatures game back when he was at school and that another was a big fan of strategy boardgames and video games. To these, we added a former co-worker of mine from the Seminary Ridge Museum in Gettysburg. Though none of these guys have played historical miniatures games, they were all very eager. At least for the present, our schedules have not allowed weekly sessions, but we've been able to meet at least semi-regularly, which has allowed me to start introducing them to some of the games in my repetoire.

Our first game, with my new mates Chris and Wes, was the Operation Mutay I scenario from the Operation Enduring Freedom book for Force on Force. I took the role of the insurgents (I find this to be an easier role for experienced players) and had the other guys play the role of the British paras.

The British Paras advance into Now Zad

From the very start, the game did not go my way. The very first TQ check resulted in a Fog of War card which reduced all my units to low supply. On top of that, I failed all of my attempts to spring ambushes the first two turns and, even when I was able to fire, I inflicted no casualties on the enemy until turn 4 (while, as usual, the insurgents were torn apart by the fire of the ISAF troops).

A lone insurgent leader stands firm against the approaching coalition forces

Taliban reinforcements come...too little, too late

Tables began to turn as the Paras neared their final objective. One plucky insurgent leader held off three enemy fireteams in front of the target compound, which bought time for more reinforcements to be rushed to the scene from other hotspots on the battlefield. These new units slowed down the British advance to a near standstill as the game drew closer to its turn limit, and even scored some hits on the enemy, but some exceptional rolling on first aid checks saved the day for my coalition adversaries. By games end, nearly all the Taliban units had been destroyed and the British had only suffered three light wounded (one from mine explosion caused by a fog of war card) and one serious wound and managed to get their entire platoon to the target compound...a resounding victory for the Paras!

The British platoon takes time to reorganize after a hard-fought victory

The next week only Chris could attend, and so I took our small numbers to introduce him to another favorite from my days with the Williamsburg Legati: SAGA. Chris took my Scots, while I played the Anglo-Danes.

Some of Anglo-Danes prepare for battle

I've only played once in the last few years, and I must admit my memory of the game was not as strong as I had hoped. I insisted on using some house rules (involving turn iniative/order and when dice were rolled) from my old club that I apparently misremembered. As a result, we only had a few melees, but all were bloody. Turn 2 saw each side kill three opposing hearthguard, and in turns 3 and 4, we each lost seven warriors. Finally, in turn 5, some Scots hearthguard ganged up on my warlord and killed him, ending the game. Chris picked up the rules and his faction's battleboard quickly and said he really enjoyed the game. We're definitely both looking forward to playing again and the interest in the game has since caused me to start purchasing some other factions. My Footsore Saracens are currently in the post!

Unknowingly, the Anglo-Danes charge into defeat

Since my wedding in mid-October, we've been able to meet once more and tried out a new game. In an effort to help the bookstore where I work part-time and the publisher's we carry, I've agreed to help showcase the soon-to-be-released Wargame the American Civil War and American Revolution books from Helion & Company at the upcoming Fall In! convention. These are the newest in a series of fantastic paper wargaming figures illustrated by Peter Dennis. The books also include basic rules by Andy Callan. To run the demos at the show, Peter was kind enough to mail me his personal set of ACW "paperboys" across the pond. To get some familiarity with the rules, I decided to run a game for Chris.

Some of the initial dispositions

Confederate troops defend a stonewall atop a hill

The rules include a sample scenario for the beginner's rules and three for the regular game, each of which is loosely based on an historical encounter. I set up "1861: Fight for the Hill." The rules were easy, but not overly simplistic and we had a fun game, even though the dice gods were clearly on Chris's side. Rolls of 6s on D6s were automatic hits and Chris's first volley of two dice from his Union infantry resulted in 2 "6"s. The very next turn, we were caught up in a melee in some woods, during which Chris rolled 10 dice and got 4 "6"s and two "5"s, which were also hits. For the first few turns, most of my units refused to move and/or inflicted very little damage to the oncoming Yankees. By turns 3 and 4, Chris's luck began to run out as his advancing infantry stalled and failed to charge up the hill. I was able to drive the Union troops from my right flank, by my own left began to crumble. Turn 5 saw the arrival of reinforcements to the field, with a Union brigade joining the fray, but I had five new units that would be coming on shortly. The battle hung in the balance by the start of Turn 6, but it was getting late, so we called it a draw.

The beginning of a rather brutal fight for the woods

Confederate artillery begins to take its toll on the Federal advance

The US juggernaut begins to waver under withering CS fire

These are admittedly shorter AARs than I'd like to put up here, but these games have just been little teasers for our new group. We'll hopefully start getting some more thorough games going soon (and hopefully our long-awaited debut of Chain of Command).

If you happen to be at Fall-In this weekend, be sure to say "Hey!" at the For the Historian/Casemate booth!

4Ground Northwest European Farm Buildings (20mm) Review

At long last, I have the opportunity to post a review for the collection of 20mm farm buildings I bought a few weeks ago from 4Ground. My planned Chain of Command campaigns take place in the rolling farm fields outside Caen, so I knew a collection of agricultural buildings would be a must. As I've been very impressed with the 4Ground kits I've gotten thus far, I saw no reason to stop.

The first building I put together (I actually got two of them) was the North West European Hay Loft. A simple, but practical structure, this building will look great among the large wheatfields that feature in the Scottish Corridor campaign. Not too much to say here. The construction was straightforward and it came together in less than a half hour. Overall, a fairly handsome little structure with removable roof and staircase. I may put some dirt on the ground floor and pick up some hay bales at some point, but I'm glad to just have them to throw out on the table for now.

The completed loft

The loft's second floor interior

The lower floor and stairs

Next was the Dairy/Lean To. I wanted a small building for my farms and thought this would do the trick, but I did not realize at first that this model was just an add-on and, thus, only had three walls. It will add some variety, but undeterred, I bought a second that, when put next to the other, creates a workable (at least I think so) outbuilding.

Dairy exterior

Dairy interior

Ersatz outbuilding (good enough when needed)

Next came my favorite building, the North West European Granary/Cart Shed. Definitely the largest of the lot, this structure was not as intimidating to piece together as I'd thought. It has a nice mix of open ground floor and enclosed top floor, which should provided some useful cover for any defending troops. It also features a mixture of building materials which make it stand out even more. As always, the finished interior on the top floor is a nice touch. I may pimp out the ground floor a bit and maybe get a wagon for one of the stalls, but it's battle-ready for the time being.

Granary/Cart Shed

Upstairs interior

I really like these inlays

Rear detail

Since I needed more buildings than the variety offered, I bought two of the North West European Threshing Barn. Though I've assembled four-wall 4Ground buildings before, I had trouble with both of these. The problem seemed to be gluing the outer walls onto the inner ones fast enough so that the glue would not dry, but then I couldn't seem to get the recommended rubber bands and clothespins on fast enough to prevent the walls from warping slightly. Even leaving the bands and pins on for more than a day didn't seem to help much. The second one definitely came together more easily (though both were definitely messy affairs), but in my haste, I glued the long outer walls on the wrong side, so the vent holes don't match up perfectly with the inner ones. Nevertheless, it doesn't look half bad, and its enclosed design will stand out from the more open buildings. Wouldn't mind trying it again some time (maybe I'll try gluing the walls together first and then attach them to the floor).

The Threshing Barn

Threshing barn interior, showing some of the warping

The last building was the only one I decide to experiment with upgrading, but I felt like a pigsty without dirt and mud just wouldn't look right. As I've stated before, though I'm a veteran wargamer, I have never really done much when it comes to terrain construction or painting before, but figured this would be an easy project on which to experiment, I picked up some brown battleground basing material and wet mud paint from The Army Painter and applied them liberally throughout the pigsty. Though the dirt settled nicely, I was a little disappointed with the mud. I applied an undercoat and then, as instructed on the bottle, hit it with varnish and put another coat on to bring out more of the gloss, but it didn't turn out as expected. I tried the process again, but it still didn't have the glossy effect I hoped for. Perhaps it is just slightly dried mud. :-)

The finished Pigsty/Chicken Coop

The interior of the chicken coop

The interior of the pigsty

Finally, I picked up some accessory packs. I got some of the stone walls and stone walls with gates kits. These are super easy to assemble (and inexpensive) but will add a lot to the table. I also purchased some telegraph pole kits. I was really looking forward to these as I thought they would be a really nice detail that would add a level of realism to my setups. The straights were much lighter than the gate sections, so I hit them with a wash of Vallejo smoke, which helped a little. Might need to add another coat (and do the same to some of the stone buildings). While the base and poles were easy to glue together, but most of the more fiddly pits are made of a very flimsy cardboard that often separated as I tried to cut the pieces out or glue them to the poles. Though I got a few of those pieces on, it was turning out to be much more frustrating than I had hoped. Losing my patience (and terrain-making fun), I decided just to leave a couple as is and save them to be used as Rommel's asparagus - poles with mines mounted on top - if I ever decide to do the 29 Let's Go campaign.

I added some dirt to the walls and put a wash on some of the lighter sections

A sampling of some of my telegraph pole attempts

The untouched sheet of pole bits - the bane of my terraining existence

Though the kits did not all turn out as planned, I'm rather pleased with my acquisitions overall and can't wait to get them on the tabletop with my long-awaited figures. For those looking for farm building kits, I'd highly recommend the Hay Loft, Cart Shed/Granary, Dairy/Lean To, and Pigsty (as well as the stone walls). They are available for 15mm, 20mm, and 28mm figure scales.

Historicon 2017

This past weekend I attended the Historicon miniature wargaming show in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The largest of the three conventions run by HMGS East (that's the Historical Miniature Gaming Society), this show was one of the highlights of my year in grade school, but have not been a regular attendee of late, so when I was asked to run some more playtests for the Skirmish Sanging Platoon Plus game for my friends at the Phalanx Consortium, I was happy to oblige.

The set up for the Afghan War playtest of Operation Platoon Plus that I ran on Friday night

Friday night's playtest went rather smoothly. The game resulted in a pretty serious defeat for the British players, owing partly to some of my misunderstanding of the rules (I only received the current draft from the author the week before the show and hadn't had a chance to play through it myself), terribly unlucky dice throughout for the ISAF forces, and some flaws in the rules which need some more attention. We reached a stopping point after about two hours of play and had a great debrief sessions during which the players provided a lot of constructive criticism and suggestions for future draft that are making their way into an AAR that will be off to the author in New Zealand later this week.

Unfortunately, Saturday's playtest was not nearly as successful. A few hours before the game's start time, I discovered that the show organizers had double booked the table for my game and I was going to have to find another. Fortunately, they were able to squeeze me into another space, but made no formal announcement or posting about the switch. As a result, only one of the six players scheduled to take part showed up. So we ran through some of the basic mechanics and called it a day.

My original plan was to attend the show from Friday through Sunday and had signed up for a big War of 1812 game for Saturday night, but I wound up having to work Sunday, so I wasn't able to make it. This combined with my game mastering schedule meant I was unable to play a proper participation game, but still had a great time.

The highlight of my weekend was getting to demo the new(ish) rules from Firelock Games called Blood and Plunder. This game, covering the historical actions (not the Hollywood ones) of the golden age of piracy in the seventeenth-century Caribbean, has been taking the wargaming community by storm the past few months. The kickstarter for the base game (featuring the Spanish, English, French, and unaligned crews) was wildly successful last year and their current Kickstarter, for an expansion featuring the Dutch, native peoples, and minor European powers, funded in the first four hours (I've backed it for some Dutch and European units). I had purchased the rules previously but had yet to play and so hung out in their booth in the vendor area for a while until I got a chance to try a demo turn.

The demo table featuring some English privateers squaring off against Spanish militia

A sampling of the ships offered in the game

A quick shot of the naval rule demo

Though I didn't play long, I was really impressed. It is a simple, yet elegant game that will provide a lot of fun (and I might even be able to get my fiancee to play, too). My excitement over this game even inspired two of my purchases this weekend - a collection of battlefield debris that will be great for a Caribbean village, some sugar cane fields, and a collection of "pirate village" buildings from Old Glory Miniatures, but more on those later.

Overall, what most impressed me this weekend was the high volume of really high quality tables. Wandering around the gaming areas I found myself constantly marveling at talent and creativity put into some of these games. Here's a selection of some that caught my eye:

Canadian troops advancing in Sicily

A game depicting the epic 1809 battle between the French and the Austrians at Aspern-Essling

A French & Indian War game using Sash & Saber Casting's stunning 40mm figures

A beautiful table for a Battle of Point Pleasant game using the Muskets & Tomahawks rules

Another shot of Point Pleasant

Some scenic ambiance at the Point Pleasant game 

Another pirate game...a popular theme at the show

A well-designed table for the fantasy game Frostgrave

A view of a soon-to-be-released modular warehouse designed by my friend Chris

A Punic Wars game with some 54mm figures

A game called "Ben Franklin's War" - a sort of sci-fi American War of Independence game

A more convention American Revolution game - in this case, the Second Battle of Trenton

On top of the purchases for Blood & Plunder, I also picked up some more trees (and cookies) from "The Tree Girl," a talented and eager 11-year-old gamer, a new American Revolution board game, some magnet sheets to help store the new trees, and a new figure case.

Even with the disappointments of the playtests, it was a great show overall. It's always nice to catch up with old friends and to see what's new in the hobby.

Some Historical Excursions

A few weeks ago, I took advantage of a rare weekend off and made some trips to historical sites in the region.

First off, I am pleased to report that I have accepted a position as a seasonal visitor use assistant with the National Park Service at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (in Baltimore, MD) and Hampton National Historic Site (in Towson, MD). I applied for the job back in January, but thanks to the government hiring freeze, did not have a interview until April. I accepted the job a few weeks later, but then had to wait a number of weeks until my background check was finalized. My report date is June 25th and I'm absolutely thrilled to be back with the NPS (having previously worked at the Yorktown Battlefield back in 2011-2012 and at NPS headquarters in 2015). More to come on the new job...

Since accepting the post, I've taken up some casual research on the War of 1812 and the Chesapeake campaign in particular. When I needed some recommendations for books to check out, I asked my friend Ed Seufert, a Baltimore native and experienced War of 1812 Royal Marine reenactor. In addition to directing me toward some great monographs, Ed also offered to take me on a tour of the land side of the attack on Baltimore - especially the Battle of North Point. While the peninsula on which General Robert Ross and his British troops landed in September 1814 was largely open farmland, the growth of the greater Baltimore, and especially the shipyard at Sparrow's Point over the last two hundred years has resulted in much of the ground that was fought over has been overtaken by industrial and suburban sprawl. Nevertheless, we were to work our way through the modern structures and make some sense of what happened as the British ground forces advanced on the city.

We started at the tip of North Point in what is now part of Fort Howard park. This military installation was built in the late nineteenth century to protect the entryway into Baltimore (essentially doing what Fort McHenry had done, just further out and on a much larger scale). Though much of the former base is currently owned by the VA, some of the old artillery batteries are still available. We walked down to the tip of the peninsula to get something akin to the view of Baltimore that the British soldiers and marines got the morning of September 12, 1814. Leaving Fort Howard, we continued to a nearby soccer field just off the base. On the other side of the pitch we found ourselves at the beach where the British horses and artillery pieces were brought ashore.

The beach on the southern shore of North Point, where General Ross landed his horses and guns

The next part the tour involved a lot of driving past sites that were either not open or have been lost to time. One of these was Todd's Inheritance, a private home used as an observation post but later burned by the British. Though rebuilt, it is only open a few days a year. We also tried to go see the battle exhibit at the North Point State Park visitor center, but it was not open yet and both Ed and I were a bit stretched for time that day, so we pressed on.

Following the advance of Ross's army up the North Point Road (which has not changed its course since the battle), we drove past the sites of the Gorsuch and Shaw houses as well as the spot where a mortally wounded Ross allegedly died we drew closer to the site of the first real contest between the Americans and British troops. Now the site of a small, suburban neighborhood, this is the area where General Ross was felled by American fire and is marked by a small, solitary obelisk - not to the foreign general, but to Private Aquila Randall, a private in Baltimore's famed 5th Maryland Regiment.

The Aquila Randall Monument

This sharp but brief skirmish led to a somewhat disjointed fighting withdrawal by the Americans to their main line of resistance between the Bear and Bread and Cheese Creeks, where General Stricker had deployed his militiamen of the City Brigade to meet the redcoated invaders. The British troops were eager for a fight and with their new leader, Colonel Arthur Brooke, at the lead, they push on and we followed.

We soon arrived at a pair of twin sites - one old, one new - at the heart of the North Point story. The Battle Acre, the site of the Bouldin farm (which burned during the battle), was dedicated in 1839 and served as the venue for many of the early commemorations of the battle by the people of Baltimore. Meanwhile, the nine-acre North Point State Battlefield located across the street was preserved and developed for the battle's bicentennial and is located along the main American battle line.

A wayside at the Battle Acre depicting the battle

A wayside describing the dedication of the Battle Acre on the 25th anniversary of the fighting

The Battle Acre

One of the panels at the State Battlefield

A path leading to the American lines at the State Battlefield

The main battle did not last long, and cost the British dearly, but confusion reigned among the untested Maryland militia and after some time, fell back (in varying degrees of order) to Baltimore. We followed their route, and that of their pursuers, to the nearby location of the old Methodist Meeting House, where the Americans had camped the night before and where wounded from both sides were tended to after the battle. From the meeting house, we proceeded into Baltimore and finished up on Hampstead Hill (now Patterson Park). This was were the bulk of the American forces had dug in to protect the landward approach into Baltimore, which they did with great effect. It did not take Colonel Brooke and Admiral Cockburn long on September 13 to realize that they lacked both the numbers and guns to overcome the advantages the position gave to the numerically superior American forces. Combined with the failure by the Royal Navy to neutralize Fort McHenry on the 13th and 14th, they called off the advance that day and led their men back down North Point road to the transport ships. We returned to Ed's house for a bit of a debrief and I headed home. It was a great day!

Not wanting to end the history tourism on Saturday, Sunday found Becca (my fiancée) and I driving down to Harper's Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia. The town of Harper's Ferry has a rich and diverse history. The site of one of the early republic's two arsenals, it played a crucial role in the development of the American army and its weaponry, provided the Lewis & Clark expedition with its military stores, was the site of the famed raid of the arsenal by the militant abolitionist John Brown and his followers, saw numerous captures (including the largest surrender of American troops until the Philippines in 1942) during the American Civil War, was home to historically black Storer College in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and played host to the second conference of W.E.B. Dubois' Niagara Movement (the forerunner of the NAACP). Mixed with the stunning beauty of the Appalachian Trail and the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, it makes for a fascinating places to visit.

The Point - where the Shenandoah and Potomac meet

Many of the nineteenth-century buildings have been restored and now contain a variety of exhibits, some very well done, some needing a bit of updating, that highlight the various stories that come together to create the history of the town. We also took in an interpretive ranger program that was part weapons demonstration and part town history talk.

Our rangers describing some of the weapons produced at the Harper's Ferry arsenal

The arsenal fire house, "John Brown's Fort" - though not in its original location,  having been moved to Chicago for the Columbian Exposition in the 1890s and returned to the arsenal grounds

A sign (the skinny vertical one) marking the heights of various floods in the town. The most devastating was in 1936 and crested at 36.5 inches. Six years later, another would top 33.5 inches.

 We had hoped to take in a little more, but it was a terribly hot and humid day and many of the exhibit buildings, lacking air conditioning and fans, were rather uncomfortable to spend more than a few minutes inside. Overall, though, we had a nice visit and Becca has agreed to go back again.