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.

    Force Z travels to Chehalis

    A setting up picture of Repulse. It would not stay quiet for long.

    Today was one of those days. I woke up at 3:15, and could not get back to sleep. At 5:00 I began drinking coffee and reading Chernow’s Washington. It didn’t put me to sleep either. I loaded the car last night. I started the car, and headed out at 6:30, stopped for a breakfast sandwich and Americano at Starbucks, and hit the road for Chehalis. Traffic was fairly light. and I pulled into the Vet’s Museum at 7:50. I laid claim to a table and immediately began setting up. By 8:45, I had four excellent choices to run the game and we got started.

    The Force Z game is played in five waves. In each of the waves there is either one squadron or two squadrons, 7-9 planes or 15-18 planes. Their goal is to deliver their ordnance while surviving as much damage as possible from the shipboard AA fire. The Japanese win by sinking the British ships. Anything less is a loss.

    The first wave of level bombers achieved their purpose with a hit and fire in the hangar area of Repulse.

    It didn’t take long to find four volunteers for the game. Vic, Dale, Joe and Jessica all were the Japanese mad bombers. Wave one was eight Nell bombers with 250kg bombs ready to drop them on the Repulse. They dutifully flew over the ship in column, and each plane dropped two bombs inflicting one hit that caused minor damage. The players could all learn what it was like to move, turn and take AA fire. The Repulse, in the middle of a violent made half its inadequate AA fire unavailable for the first wave, and inflicted some minor damage to the attacker

    Joe and Victor plan their attack for Wave 2 on the smoking Repulse.

    The second wave was a bit more challenging. The players get two squadrons of planes to run. They’re Nell torpedo bombers. The torpedo attack rules are more limiting. The bombers must be at low level. The attacks must be made at speed 7 or less until they drop their torpedoes. Torpedo ranges are critical and pre-measuring isn’t allowed. Bombers can’t launch in a turn in which their planes are turning. But torpedoes are the money in this game. Bombers flying two miles high just don’t hit much, so it’s the torpedo luggers that have to do the hitting.

    Wave 2 attacks the Repulse from the Southeast corner of the table. Lots of great discussion between the players about which chances to take. They decided a straight in strike would be best and with four torpedo hits, who’s to argue.

    The players had some decisions to make. The board entry put them closest to Repulse. Would they attack there? Would they maneuver planes to both sides and attempt an “anvil” attack (raises the chances of a hit. Would they try to shift the entry location and tempt the fates that all planes would get there on time.

    For the time being their decision could wait. At the beginning of the game they rolled on the Getting Started table which had three possible outcomes, all kinda bad for the Japanese. They rolled the Interception option. The British had 11 Brewster Buffaloes waiting 90 minutes or so away to come to the aid of the Force Z if called upon. In the Getting Started table, a die roll would direct the Buffaloes to intercept Wave 2 off table, with a die roll against each squadron. Jessica’s die roll directed both attacks on Lt. Take’s squadron and he paid the price. Two planes were shot down, and two were so badly damaged they couldn’t continue. Lt. Takei would be bringing 3 planes to the table instead of 7. The Japanese could have rolled differently and broke up their attacks or created unfavorable sea conditions making it harder to hit, but got the interception instead.

    Lt. Takei’s survivors and Lt. Ishihara’s nine planes stuck with a plan to attack Repulse directly. Though they had planes damaged in the attack, none were shot down before their torpedoes were launched, and one was shot down as it was exiting the board. The Repulse was not so lucky and suffered four torpedo hits. But it wasn’t just the hits. It was the die rolls on the damage table that were 7,7,8,8 on the D10’s the game uses. Anything 7-10 does critical damage, such as flooding, rudder jams, loss of AA or internal explosions. The Repulse was left in pretty bad shape, in a sinking condition and loss of most of her AA. Eeep.

    There was an actual lull of almost an hour between waves two and three. I meant to have a British damage repair roll. I wasn’t prepared (as in, I forgot,) but that will be something for a future game.

    12 of the Bettys in Wave 3 targeted Prince of Wales. The Prince actually shot down two of them, but as you can see, five torpedo hits left her paddling for her life.

    Wave three was two full squadrons of Betty torpedo bombers. Bettys actually lugged heavier torpedoes but I just didn’t think a distinction was worthwhile. They approached from the west, or mainland side of the Gulf of Siam. Five targeted the listing, sinking Repulse, while the remainder attacked Prince of Wales. By the time they departed the Repulse had taken five more hits, and the Prince of Wales engineering was wrecked, she was listing and the game was pretty much done.

    Vic’s five remaining planes targeted the listing, rudder jammed hulk of Repulse. You can see what happened. Five hits. Secondary explosions. Ick.

    Overall, I was incredibly pleased with the game. It looked great. It played easily enough. The mechanics of movement, anti aircraft fire, bombing and torpedo attacks worked well. The torpedo damage was really bloody, but the die rolling for the Japanese was really hot and I can’t do anything about that.

    But one of my goals was to get the Japanese through all five attack waves and we only made it through three. So here are a few things I’ll do for the next play test.

    1. Move the Prince of Wales a little closer to Repulse. That way the Japanese can still gang up on one of the ships, but it’s more likely they’ll be able to support each other with AA fire.
    2. Put two British destroyers on the table. There were three destroyers as part of the task force, though they seem to have played little part in the Dec. 10th attacks except for rescuing survivors. I have rules for the destroyers. They are mostly a distraction and contribute little to the AA attacks, but they’re something.
    3. Probably the big change is making the torpedo attacks harder to hit. Don’t have a problem with the damage, but it seemed like they were hitting at a rate of about 40% which is about twice the rate historically. It’s easier to judge the short range distance on the table from the long range, so hitting on the table has to be more difficult. At the current time hitting is possible on a 7-10 unless there are subtractions for angle or damage. I’m torn between hits on 8’s or 9’s.

    Another playtest on the 28th at Wizard Kings. I’ll need to organize. Looks like the PoW’s mast needs a repair. But looking forward to it.

    Just one last word in praise of the Chehalis Veteran’s Museum. First, for our group, it’s a terrific venue for a game space. It isn’t huge, but it could easily house our three or four games we ran each period. It’s comfortable, not too warm, lots of room to spread out. We had 32ish folks there at one time. It wasn’t loud, which is what often happens with a bunch of old guys who don’t hear well. I didn’t spend time in the museum itself, but I have and it was great. Lots of great stuff to see including exhibits on women in the service during WWII. Some might call that woke; I just call it history. It’s equidistant between Portland and Seattle and we had a nice turnout from both areas. We’ll be back in August, and I hope to be there too.

    Force Z explained

    The Trumpeter Repulse completed and ready for action.

    In a few days I’ll run my first playtest of the Force Z game I’ve planned for Enfilade. It’s one of three games I’ll run at the convention, but because I’ve written the rules and more or less designed the game myself, it’s the one I’m most proud of, concerned about, most involved with. So I’m going to lay things out for you, dear reader, we’ll see how it goes, and I’ll follow up with a review.

    For those not in the know, Force Z was the naval task force the British sent to support their forces in Singapore. The task force included the relatively new battleship Prince of Wales, the WWI era battlecruiser Repulse, plus several destroyers: Express, Electra, and the WWI Australian vessel Vampire. While cruising the Malayan coast, hoping to intercept Japanese invasion forces, the ships were set upon by long range Japanese naval bombers and destroyed. Happening a few days after the Pearl Harbor attack, the raids on the Philippines, and host of other Japanese raids, Asia was on the edge of falling to the Japanese, and the Age of the Battleship seemed to have sunk in the muck of Hawaii and the bottom of the Gulf of Siam.

    Prince of Wales and Repulse with a few of the markers I made for the games. The markers were more fun than the models.

    The game was suggested to me by a friend. He was a fanatic about doing this game. Though I did the work on the game, it wouldn’t have happened without James’ suggestion. Dave Schueler and I did similar games combining air and naval elements. In those games the ships were simply targets, pieces of terrain. Dave built the ships, I painted most of the planes, and Dave designed the scenario. Often there was air combat over the ships. In this game air combat is unlikely and will take place off-board.

    In this game, I’ve envisioned the battleships as a large unmoving target much like marshaling yards in Normandy, the ball bearing plants of Schweinfurt, or the oil production centers of Ploesti.

    This is a co-op game and all four players will fly the Japanese bombers. The planes will arrive in squadrons and be armed as historically, either with bombs or torpedoes. It’s not quite enough to just say, okay go sink the ships, because generally that would be pretty easy. I mean, it was easy. So, I’ve added some circumstances to spice things up a bit. At the beginning of the game the Japanese commander will make a die roll that will A) cause the squadrons to be even more split up, B) two squadrons are intercepted by alerted Buffalo fighters and suffer damage, or C) the conditions are rough and it is harder to hit with torpedoes. Another variable, is whether any British destroyers are present and give a tish more AA support during the game. Again, a die roll

    Torpedoes in the water and a hit on the Prince of Wales.

    Each wave of Japanese bombers arrive in a specific order. There are five waves of planes, some are bomb armed, some armed with torpedoes. Some waves are a single squadron of 7-9 planes, some are two squadrons each with 7-9. The planes are subject to AA fire and can be damaged or destroyed. Each ship puts out a certain level of fire that is measured in D10’s. Each turn the squadron remains within the radius of that fire they’ll have to roll. Level bombers can only be hit by long range fire. The torpedo bombers will have to brave long range fire and short range fire.

    The game will be won or lost by the torpedo bombers. Their torpedoes can be launched at long range (20″) or short range (10″). If they have a broadside shot, that’s better, but maneuvering to get to a better position will keep them under fire longer.

    The challenge will be to keep the mechanics simple, and the game challenging. Ideally the Japanese players should have to work through all five waves of planes with the ships sunk or near sunk at the end. If they are sunk after the second wave, there’s a problem.

    I’d like to give credit for the inspiration for the game. I would like to imagine it sprang into my head one day, and I exclaimed “What a great idea!” but I’m just not that smart. First and foremost James McAbee suggested it to me last summer and I wasn’t sure. We agreed to talk more and we did. I agreed to do the planes, because they’re planes, I love planes and that wasn’t hard. The challenge was to create a workable game engine. I considered a six player game with two British players who would also run a British air interception featuring everybody’s favorite Buffalo fighters. But a conversation with Chris Craft in December really changed my thinking and encouraged me to look at this as a cooperative game instead. Initially I was thinking six players, but felt there might not be enough for six players to do, and so I cut it to four.

    I read the Osprey Air Campaign book on Force Z, which is handy and has useful information. However, to really get to know the action I highly recommend Battleship by Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney. The book is focused on the formation and destruction of Force Z. Lots of useful details on the differences between ships, the Japanese search process and the actual action itself, the nature of the British commanders. I can’t recommend it highly enough and it’s a great read.

    The basic air mechanics are largely based on David Manley’s fun and very playable Airwar 1940 rules. Dave Schueler and I used the rules for most of our “and bomb stuff” games. For this game, because it needed to move quickly through the attacker waves, I eliminated the phase 2 for each turn, but the mechanics for those turns were the same.

    I do take credit for the anti-aircraft fire tables. I had a lot of trepidation over the bombing and torpedo tables. I consulted Manley, looked at Command at Sea, GQ 3 and an old set of rules called Clear For Action. But I needed something simple for To Hit. It wasn’t going to be a game that involved running out torpedoes aligned against ship movement because the models weren’t going to be moving on the table. So I cobbled together a few simple modifiers and put together a hit table I hope will work. I was really concerned about calculating damage–again something that was quick and dirty–and really labored those and drew the most inspiration from Clear For Action and did my best to offer something that was simple, and possibly dramatic.

    Finally, I’d be failing if I didn’t give credit to my missing bestie Daveshoe. I think this game contains the best of the work we did together, including the simplicity and common-sense abstraction that offers an interesting but easy-to-play convention game. He is much missed.

    I’m hoping for three playtests before the convention and I am anxious to give it all a try.

    Pods and Projects

    About 18 months ago I began planning for a podcast about gaming the Pacific Northwest. My view was there was lots of great stuff happening here, and that it would be great if others knew about it. I’d listened to some podcasts, but not a lot, and I thought I had some things worth saying, and that others would enjoy listening to. I was working with my son Patrick, a veteran podcaster, and preparing for something starting in the spring of 2025.

    Almost exactly a year ago my friend David Sullivan died and I spent more than a month cleaning out his game stuff with others. It derailed my plans and really sent me to just kind of a dark place. I didn’t have the energy or the confidence to take on something this new or this unfamiliar. So my super spiff microphone sat in a box in my den alone and ignored.

    I was at a game day in November when Steve Abarr expressed his interest in doing a podcast for exactly the same purpose–a Pacific Northwest focused podcast that featured local gatherings, game designers, business owners and other topics that would inform local gamers and the larger game community what we do out here. I asked if I could tag along and he seemed happy to have the company. Though my roots in local game history are older, Steve is better connected and his reach is broader than mine. We compliment each other. I offered to participate and he agreed. We’ve been recording the Tanks and Tomahawks podcast for the last couple of months. We’ve completed five episodes so far, but only the first three are available. We’re trying to keep it a monthly offering. We are both going to have a busy summer, and we’re trying to get some additional episodes in the can and release them in a deliberate manner.

    The Repulse and Prince of Wales join Tirpitz and Illustrious in Daveshoe’s box of ships. All, including the destroyers, appeared at an Enfilade game (or two in the case of Tirpitz). I can think of no more honored spot for my ships.

    Doing the episodes is fun. We’ve started with a script that we stick to less and less with experience. Each episode we have a guest and the pod is focused on them. We’ve had a blast. Steve is doing all the hard work of editing and posting the work, and he’s doing a super job. Still a few things we’re trying to get right, but we feel like it’s coming along.

    The Repulse in all of its gray and black glory. The model is quite long, and I love it’s lean battlecruiser appearance. The photo also caught an amazingly large fingerprint in the middle of the black camouflage block I’ve had to go back and repaint. Nice.

    Today, I’ll complete the HMS Repulse and the Force Z project will be nearly done. Let’s just say that building the Trumpeter Repulse has been a humbling experience. It was an order of magnitude more difficult than the Prince of Wales, which was another order more difficult than any previous modeling experience. It felt like the Trumpeter kit was needlessly more difficult with more assembly of structures that had to be properly fit, while similar pieces of superstructure were cast complete in the Tamiya kit. And honestly, I just couldn’t make it all fit. I’m sure a more experienced and capable modeler than I would have been just fine, but it was definitely more difficult for me. The good news is the paint scheme is far simpler than the PoW.

    I’ve been marching Force Z toward completion. I’m creating some player aids. So far there are torpedo hit markers and some torpedoes in the water markers. I need to create some damage markers from bombs, but those should be an easy evening’s work, and honestly I don’t need too many of them. I finally wrapped up the torpedo damage charts. The good news is Saturday March 14th is the day of the first playtest, so I’m anxious to see how it turns out.

    Finishing up this project will leave me free to do other things. I have piles of other things to do. In some ways I’m just looking forward to doing something different and if that leaves me wandering a bit that’s okay. A couple of the guys from our Wednesday group have expressed an interest in doing some MESBG, and it just so happens I have a bunch of Lord of the Rings figures that need painting. The American Revolution and the Hundred Years War are my Forever Projects, that I’d like to make progress on as well. Plus there is all the stuff on behind my painting area that are just piles of goodies I need to take care of. It should be done. Maybe from now until Enfilade it’s just The Big Cleanup. At this point I’ll do anything

    Whatever it is I work on, the good news is the Repulse will be done by tonight and I will have finished my first figure of the month.

    IPMS Would Kick Me Out But . . . the Prince of Wales is Finished.

    When last we met I had finished the British destroyers for Force Z, and was about to begin working on The Prince of Wales.

    Well, it’s done. I took a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to build it. Relatively painless . . . sort of. In a painful sort of way. The PoW is far larger and more complex than the wee destroyers. Lots more pieces. I managed to only drop and lose one, the pontoon from the Walrus scout plane. The one major faux pas was not getting the hull to fit firmly down on the bottom piece provided with the kit. I had it glued and used rubber bands and a clamp, but no not good enough. The gap is plenty big enough for me to see, and everyone else I’m sure. I also managed to glue the main guns of turret A in a semi depressed state, and I wish that hadn’t happened. But the bottom line is this: each of these ships serves as a big ol’ piece of terrain. They don’t move, and will simply have to do.

    The painting was the real challenge. I brush painted the ship. I don’t own an airbrush, and just don’t see the need for one. I only build models as I need ’em and that’s not often. But painting the Prince of Wales was a big challenge because it is large and had a very elaborate camouflage for 1941. The Repulse is also camouflaged, but it’s scheme is pretty monochrome and blocky, all angles. The PoW’s scheme flows, includes several shades of gray, but additional shades of green and blue. I approximated it as best I could, but painting the camouflage, all the detail, usually multiple coats with my somewhat thin Lifecolour paints took more than a week.

    The good news is I’m ready for the Repulse. I was going to start working on it in between painting sessions, but I opened my box and found it missing an entire sprue, including most of the main deck. I had to re-order, and the new Repulse should be here tomorrow. It’s a Trumpeter kit and a bit different than my Tamiya Prince, but I’m looking forward to it. The original seller has offered to send me the missing sprue, but he’s located in Asia, so who knows how long that will take.

    One ship to go until everything is complete. I still need to finish up some rules issues. Chiefly I’m concerned with generating and recording damage to the capital ships. I’ve been looking at other rules sets and am not quite finding what I’m looking for. Maybe I need to look harder. First playtest on March 14th so I need to get on my horse.

    And Now For Something Completely Different

    Because I am Kevin the Retired, I can work on stuff whenever I want. Sort of. Unless I am Kevin the Grocery Shopper, or Kevin King of Laundry, or Kevin Keeper of the Aussies. The rest of the time I am Kevin the Retired . . . unless I am fixing dinner, or loading and unloading the dishwasher. Well . . . you get it.

    Anyway, I am trying to use daylight to build my ships for Force Z. My last post was about finishing the destroyers. Today, I began working on the Prince of Wales. Let’s just say it’s all a learning experience and believe me I’m trying to learn.

    It’s just a little too dark to work on the ships without some natural light this time of year, so I’ve been painting in the evening and watching Lost. Never watched it back in the day, so I’m catching it now. Just as my television choices are a little different I decided to drag something out of my drawers of shame that are a bit different too. I’m working on a 90mm figure of a Continental soldier in kind of adverse condition.

    I don’t know the figure. It is completely assembled. The maker’s mark says Worster. Worster Miniatures was acquired by Lost Battalion Miniatures. Lost Battalion is still around, but this figure is no longer available. I think I got it from American Eagles in Lake City after Charlie died and they “rescued” considerable surplus product from his apartment. I picked up a few of these “big boys” (as Doug Hamm calls ’em) at a pretty nominal price twenty years ago.

    So there’s a story here. There always is right . . . Back when I was very young, before I ever imagined playing a game with painted little men, I was attracted to toy soldiers. My Grandfather bought me a set of Scottish Britains in the early 60’s, and I acquired a few more–the plastic Britain’s Dee-tail range when I was probably 10 or so. I was a bad plastic modeler, and painted stuff with enamels. I bought my first 54mm figure, a Rogers Ranger figure by Monagram Merite when I was 12. I ordered figures from the Soldier Shop in New York and was an enthusiastic, if unskilled painter of 54mm figures for a number of years. I acquired figures throughout my 20’s and 30’s, but mostly they simply joined a stash of stuff. And there they’ve sat.

    I did recently paint a Monagram Berdan’s Sharpshooter, and I was pleased with how it turned out. I promised myself I’d paint more, but I haven’t. As I began painting the planes and then the ships for Force Z, I decided that I needed to paint something a bit different, that might be fun and relaxing, something that would be different. I ferreted around in my two drawers of strange and wonderful figs and pulled out this guy, and decided he was right up my alley.

    I’ve been really inspired by others who have painted the bigger figures. Victor Cina in Oregon has done some really spectacular painting. Busts and other figures. Though I don’t love busts I do really do admire his work. We spent some time talking about it at Enfilade last year over beers and what a wonderful evening. I don’t know if I can specifically say I learned something, but Victor did insist there was no right way to do things. That encouraged me, even if I didn’t exactly take the plunge immediately.

    I also saw that my friend Dean Motoyama was busily painting some resin Verlinden Napoleonics in 120mm scale. Dean is simply among the best, if not the best, painter I’ve ever known. He’s known for being able to produce figures almost overnight. But it’s not just the speed, it’s the quality. I got a chance to play a game at his home recently, and I took a look at his painted Verlinden guys, and I really liked what he did. They were clean and bright, the detail was all there, but they didn’t have a bunch of shading. Even so they looked great. It inspired me to try something big and colorful and see what I could do.

    I took a look at my guy, and the first thing I noticed was there was a lot of flash and a really nasty mold mark. Really unusual for a figure of this quality and this size. I did my best to clean it up with x-Acto and file, but I didn’t get it all sigh. I used to brush prime my big guys, but decided to spray prime this feller with Miniature Painter Desert Yellow, a color I increasingly prefer to Matt White.

    I decided to focus on different parts of the figure and paint them to completion. I started with head and worked down. I also made the determination after painting the neck cloth that covered our shivering soldier that I simply couldn’t do the three color shading thing. The figures was simply too large and the traditional lightening and darkening was simply too stark. So I decided to just lighten by drybrushing. It worked, and though I’m always a weeny about using colors that are too light, I did get some shading that may not show up well in the photos, but I like it.

    I wasn’t quite sure about what colors to use for a Continental soldier. He was kind of a tough guy to figure out. He clearly has a uniform coat, no tricorne, but a pretty nice cocked slouch hat. He has a cartridge box, pretty nice breeches, but he’s obviously chilly, and semi-shod. He’s pretty well dressed for Valley Forge, but I think most Continental soldiers weren’t well attired after the winters of 1777-80 at least and owing to the clear desire to stay warm in this guys accoutrements, I’m guessing he’s late winter or early spring. One of my favorite units of the American Revolution is the Maryland infantry. There were eight regiments of Maryland regulars raised during the war. I’ve painted a fair number of them for my 28mm American Revolution projects. I consulted Lefferts’ book on uniforms of the American Revolution and learned that in 1777, most of the Maryland units had blue coats faced red, so I was good to go. I decided the rest of our guy’s attire could be ad hoc, begged, borrowed and stolen as he could get them.

    In any case, he’s done. I don’t remember too many things I’ve painted I’ve been more pleased with. I’m eyeing my next project. I have a nice Andrea 54mm Richard Sharpe figure from the Bernard Cornwell series that is crying out for paint. From the storming of Badjaoz I think.

    Modeling: Gee I Wish I Was Better At This

    These are the three destroyers that escorted Prince of Wales and Repulse. They include the Australian destroyer Vampire, and the two British E-class Express and Electra.

    Over the years I’ve had all these genius ideas for games that required building plastic models. There was the Golden Age of Air Racing game. These mostly really old Hawk air racing models were pretty simple. I even bought an air brush and compressor that I stopped using after the planes were done. Pretty serviceable stuff. I built a model of a Littoral Combat Ship when Dave and I ran our Bulldogs Away game for a Gulf of Hormuz scenario back in the mid aughts. I took advantage of a local hobby shop’s estate sale of models. But there are some 20 boxes of 1/700 scale ship models sitting in my garage, none larger than an Aoba class cruiser waiting for construction.

    What would I do with them? Well they are mostly scenic pieces waiting to be bombed in an air game. I have a few Americans, including a Liberty ship. I have a lot of Japanese. Thinking Rabaul. I have two friends working on Bismarck Sea projects, so that’s probably unnecessary. The two Aobas are for the day after Cape Esperance and what happened when American planes based at Henderson Field tangled with IJN planes from New Ireland over the damaged, fleeing cruisers.

    This is kind of a tag-along I thought I’d go ahead and finish. It’s a Tamiya O/P class that I finished as Pathfinder with it’s green-gray/dark gray camouflage.

    Now there is Force Z. I ordered the necessary ships in November. There are three destroyers plus the two capital ships. I’m not dilly-dallying. I finished building and painting the small ships last night. Tomorrow, I’ll start on the Prince of Wales.

    This is so not my long suit. Painting figures just comes a lot easier to me. For painting, I always know what I’m trying to do. I know what colors I’m using. I know how to modify those colors if need be. I have appropriate brushes that I’m really picky about. I paint every day, it’s a matter of routine. For model building, I lack experience an confidence. I have to fight off urges to be impatient and press on when things should be drying. Ack.

    The Vampire was a V and W class WWI era destroyer in Australian service. Sunk in 1942 by Japanese carrier planes. The first of the destroyers I built and a good learning model.

    I have learned some lessons from building the destroyers. The models were Tamiya ship models and easy to work with. I made a commitment to actually using model glue, the Tamiya thin brush on glue that worked fine. In the past I’d used CA glue, which is pretty unforgiving and allowed me to accidentally glue searchlights to hulls and my fingers. I bought some really great tweezers for use on applying decals and that helped with some of the really small parts. Just a heads up, these were purpose-built tweezers for modelers that were really inexpensive on Amazon. I think it was three pair for about six bucks, and more than worth the cost. Yes, I’m sure they’re from China.

    The Express was the second of the two E-class boats. Always good to learn, and find a way to apply one’s failures.

    I also learned that sometimes things just have to dry before trying to move on. Honestly, the Tamiya glue acts fairly quickly, but it does its work by melting plastic pieces together. That can take some time. I can always fold clothes, take the dogs for a walk or read a book for a bit before heading back to the den for another session.

    Two views of the Electra. Electra was a challenge. Lost a boat davit somewhere on my dining room floor so she is short a boat. Managed to cover up the holes. Though I sprayed all the ships with primer after completion, Electra just didn’t want to take my Lifecolour light grey, so the base coat for both the E’s was Vallejo Sky Grey. Did complete the decks and camouflage with the Lifecolour paints.

    But amid all that learning there is still some frustration. Ships have lots of little pieces. Gun directors, searchlights, boats and boat davits. I don’t really have a model builder’s table, it’s a painting table littered with painting stuff. It’s easy to lose tiny pieces or, worse, drop them on the floor even if I’m being super careful. I can’t tell you how many times I managed to find a tiny 20mm gun lodged in a little fluff of dog hair on my floor. I actually managed not to lose anything. Well . . . there is the matter of some misplaced decals. Sigh.

    Painting is likewise a bit different. I’ve tried to use accurate naval colors based on what I’ve learned are the camouflage patterns on the British destroyers. HMAS Vampire is blacks and grays, while Express and Electra used grays, gray-green and blue-gray. I used the Lifecolor paint set for the Royal Navy. I’d used these paints before for 1/1200 scale ships and really liked them. The problem with many specialty paint sets, for me at least, is that many are really intended for airbrushing while I am a brush painter. So the paints tend to be pretty thin and require multiple coats. That’s a pain, but I lived through it.

    But the good news is that the three British destroyers are done. And they were just rehearsal for what is coming. This weekend I hope to complete the Prince of Wales. It is likewise a Tamiya model. I’ve popped open the box and looked at the directions, and like the destroyers is a lot of sub-assemblies that eventually all go together and then requires some paint. A pretty complex camouflage pattern. It’s too large to build at my painting table, so I’ve gotten permission to work at our dining room table, but at least I have a plan. The Repulse looks even more daunting. It’s a Trumpeter model instead of a Tamiya kit. 300 pieces. Lord.

    Annihilating Force Z and some playtesting

    Betty bombers will be armed with torpedoes when the attack Force Z including the battleship Prince of Wales and Repulse.

    Oops, hope the title isn’t too confusing. Those are two different things I’m doing.The first, and most time consuming is preparing for one of my Enfilade games–The Annihilation of Force Z. This is the Japanese naval air attack on The HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse from Dec. 10, 1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor. The sinking of these two ships, together with the destruction of America’s battleship fleet three days earlier truly signified the end of an era in which surface ships could roam the seas in daylight without air cover in the face of a determined foe with massive modern air assets.

    This will be my opening Enfilade game. Friday afternoon I’ll be tucked away in the Alder Room and the game will be a four player cooperative game. All the players will be Japanese pilots trying to do their job: sink the two British capital ships. The Japanese pilots who flew the twin engined bombers that destroyed Force Z were veterans, and knew their jobs. They were at the end of their fuel limits and were afraid the Royal Navy slipped from their search. But when they were found, the various Japanese pilots were summoned to the place and they guided their attacks to success. It wasn’t easy. The anti-aircraft fire was fierce. The angles of attack weren’t favorable. But in the end the deed was done, and airpower prevailed over sea power. The Japanese players will have to do the same.

    From left, a little closer look at the Bettys. Center, 18 Nell bombers that heft bombs or torpedoes in the game. Everything is stuck on a low or high level flight stand identified with numbers or letters. The things we do for our games. Right a little closer view of the Nells.

    The rules for the game will be my own. The Japanese planes will appear on the board in squadrons of 7-9 planes. Sometimes two squadrons will appear at the same time. So there won’t be 50 planes on the board all at once, but there could be 18. At the beginning of the game, a simple die roll will determine the additional obstacles the Japanese will face. It could be that some of the squadrons were intercepted and some planes were lost or damaged. It could be that the squadrons are even a little more scattered by weather. It could the seas are rough and the conditions are windy and it may be more difficult to hit with bombs and torpedoes.

    The rules are mostly my own work but inspired by other games I’ve played. As always, I’m motivated by the aircraft rules in Airwar 1940 by David Manley. A lot of the AA rules and scenario specific flying rules are determined by what can keep the game simple and easy for the players to figure out on a Friday afternoon. The bomb and torpedo rules in the game have stretched my thinking, and I’ll be referring to three sets of rules to determine something final. Those are an old set of rules called “Clear for Action,” “Command at Sea 5” by the Admiralty Group, and “General Quarters, 3rd edition.” I’m really inspired by the Osprey Air Campaign book on Force Z and Martin Middlebrook’s wonderful writing in “Battleship” which covers the history of Force Z from it’s inspiration in the UK to it’s apocalyptic demise.

    I’ve painted more than 40 planes for this game. They are all 3D printed from Flight Deck Decals. Equal numbers of G3M Nells and G4M Bettys. Finished the last of them a couple of days ago. I’m working on the five ship models that will have to be built. I’m done with two of the three destroyers and then come the capital ships.

    Play testing will be critical to the success of this game at this convention, though that hasn’t always guaranteed success in the past. Careful planning rarely survives first contact with the gaming public with all apologies to Helmuth Moltke. However, I am hopeful I might have a first go of it on March 14th for our scheduled game day at the Veteran’s Museum in Chehalis.

    Though I spend a lot of time in my den painting (and building) stuff, I do try to get out and game regularly. I think I’ve written that when I was working-teaching-I spent a lot of time planning for my games but rarely got out to play as often as once every other month. Now I try to get out to game at least once a week. Doesn’t always work out that way but I do my best.

    Recently, I begun playtesting a set of rules for my friend Chris Leach. Chris is a game designer in White Rock, B.C. who has worked extensively with Arte Conliffe on a number of games and gone on to design and publish some of his own including the ancients game Control to Catastrophe. Chris tends to favor mass battle games, but he put something together that is kind of skirmishy and asked if I’d be willing to give them a try. I put together a couple of scenarios for my Wednesday gaming colleagues to try. We liked them.

    Our Take Action game from last week. The Americans were tasked with forcing the Spanish out of “Nachitoches” during a hypothetical conflict in 1806 over the Southwestern boundary following the Louisiana Purchase. Figures are mostly Old Glory Wayne’s Legion, some Conquest Comanches, and some RSM Spanish. The keelboat was scratchbuilt for me a long time ago by Mark Waddington. The game was tough on the Spanish mostly because the rules didn’t quite work as I intended. Back to the drawing board.

    The rules are called Take Action. They are for that horse and musket period also covered by Daniel Mersey’s Rebels and Patriots rules. Like R and P the rules are activation based, but activation can be more varied. Units may combine different actions with their die rolls. The number of die rolls is determined by the quality of units. So, regulars get four die rolls and militia get three. A unit can use these dice to rally, move or shoot. The mechanics of the game are deliberately simple, and we have had no trouble picking them up and playing them. We’ve been able to give them a try a couple of times and are angling to get in one more game sometime this month.

    It’s been fun to get in on this, and I appreciate Chris trusting us enough to not make a mess of them.

    What’s the Plan for 2026?

    Last night I finished building Tamiya’s 1/700 HMAS Vampire which was one of three destroyers present in Force Z, my big 2026 project. It will get primed today and I’m waiting on my Lifecolour paint set to wrap things up. Model building is not my long suit, but hopefully this was a useful learning experience.

    Actually, before I leap into 2026, I want to just review 2025. I tend to get lost in David Sullivan’s passing and the resulting massive flow of David’s stuff into my possession. But honestly, it was a pretty fine year. I did lots of stuff. Or at least I think I did. Let’s see if I can actually remember–age, you know.

    I bought into Studio Tomahawk’s endless SAGA expansion and acquired the rules for Age of Chivalry. Hah! I didn’t buy a damn thing, I just remounted a handful of my gazillions of Hundred Years War figures and played with those. No, I haven’t been able to do a damn decent day of work with those bad boys, and have struggled to figure out how to win with them at all.

    But I did do some fun Hundred Years War stuff. I began the big remount with them, and probably got about two thirds of the remounting done. I painted all the stash of Old Glory figures I have. I ran my Shrewsbury game a couple of times before making it my main event at Enfilade. It was fun. I have plans for more HYW historical games using Lion Rampant, but it’s on the horizon, not in the painting queue.

    I wrapped up a years long project to finish all my Wars of American Imperialism project. It’s probably been about ten years since I began by working on the Philippine-American War, continued on into the Spanish-American War, dodged into the Moro Wars, and built the myriad naval forces for the period as well, finishing up with the Cuban Revolution of 1895. I ran a fun Cuban Revolution game in September and plan to run it again at the convention in May.

    Together with Michael Koznarsky and Mark Waddington I jumped into a Spanish Civil War project. It’s a big deal because we developed our own rules. I think we’ve done three rules tests and stalled out chiefly because Michael has had ankle surgery that at least for the moment leaves him pretty immobile. I did paint something on the order of 150 figures and 4 vehicles for the Republicans.

    Photos from our December game in George’s bunker. Still kind of figuring out the rules, but we’re close. It ended badly for the Americans with escorting Phantoms blasted out of the sky by MiG’s and ground fire. The Thuds jettsioned their loads and hoped to make it home.

    Two other items deserve mention for 2025. One is the two games of Airwar C21 I did with George Kettler. It encouraged me to paint every single Vietnam era plane I had, plus converted some buildings, AA and radar over. I added additional planes and painted ’em all. Moreover it sent me down a road believing I could do the air games Dave Schueler and I did six years ago. On Saturday I hosted a Song of Drums and Tomahawks game using figures David Sullivan and I did together. It went, well, in fact I believe it was actually fun, and I believe “The Search for Father Anthony,” a game I devised with the help of Chat GPT will be a game I run at Enfilade. I cannot begin to express the relief I have that a certain number of ghosts have been purged. I know you won’t understand, but trust me . . . some weight has been lifted.

    Scenes from The Search For Father Anthony, my Song of Drums and Tomahawks game from Dec. 27th. The game was fun and despite leaving my rules at home, pretty easy to run. I’ll do it again.

    So what was 2025 like? I painted about 810 figures this year. Some projects were finished and I think others came into more clarity. Worth mentioning, is that the end of my responsibilities to NHMGS have come into view and that is like deepening my respiration and lowering my blood pressure. I look forward, with enthusiasm, to just being Kevin Smyth, gamer dude. It’s like retiring for a second time. I’ve enjoyed my service, but I’m ready to blend into the woodwork.

    So here are things I’d like to accomplish for 2026

    Projects always come with new reading material. Christmas gifts from my beloved and understanding missus.

    One thing I’d like to do is continue painting AWI figures for Rebels and Patriots and Regimental Fire and Fury. My goal is to run those Nathaniel Greene battles for Regimental Fire and Fury, do semi-skirmish games in New Jersey 1777 and South Carolina 1780-81 for R and P. I just need more figures. I have ’em but they need paint. I’d like to complete 400 figures in 2025. It won’t wrap things up, but it will move the story along.

    I finished a unit of Hessians, Regiment Von Donop, for Rebels and Patriots. I’m not quite sure which figures these are, but I’m thinking Hinchcliffe or RSM, but certainly not newer guys. I have a couple more units of Hessians to paint for Rebels and Patriots.

    I did a lot of work with my Hundred Years War figures in 2025 and I’d like to continue to make progress with them. I have a couple of games I’d really like to run with them. One is the crossing of the Ford of Blanchetaque in 1346 and the other is the the Battle of the Herrings during the siege of Orleans in 1430. Unfortunately I don’t think either of those will be completed this year. However, I would like to continue making progress on this project. My hope is I can finish rebasing all my HYW figures, and paint another 100 figures.

    One thing I’d really like to finish for Enfilade is attention to some of my air projects. I simply don’t have as much left to do as I did a few years ago. I identified a lot of painted and unpainted planes I decided I’d never do anything with and gave ’em away. I held on to some WWII planes and acquired what I thought I’d need for Vietnam and the Pacific War. As I stated earlier, I finished all my Vietnam era planes and am just down to my Pacific War stuff. I recently committed myself to all the work needed to pull of the destruction of Force Z, the British fleet built around Prince of Wales and Repulse. This includes not only building five 1/700 scale ships plus about 45 planes, but developing a workable game and playable game rules. This will be my big Enfilade project. The planes and ships have been ordered, and things are already under construction. My goal is to have everything and built and painted by March 1st so I can start playtesting. Ambitious but doable.

    Flight Deck G3M Nells awaiting paint. They are half of the Nells needed for the Force Z game.

    Part of this project is to complete a set of scenario-specific rules. I’m a fan of David Manley’s excellent air rules, but in this case I can use them merely as a guide. The game is played by Japanese commanders in a cooperative manner. There will be no last minute rescues by the Australian Buffaloes and it will be up to me as game designer to make the game interesting by creating obstacles for the players to overcome. Working on the basic mechanics, but I haven’t gotten there yet.

    I have lots of other projects I could be fiddling with, and knowing me I likely will. But I think this gives me a basis on which to proceed. I am a daily painter, so it isn’t like I’m asking myself to do something I wouldn’t normally do. I usually shoot for something like 60 figures per month. During the dark winter months I get more painted, during the busy summer months, sometimes it is less but getting 700-800ish figures painted in a year is not something that is a stretch, all things being equal.

    I’m a User not a Maker

    I’ve shared my exploits as a 3D printing loser. It was an abject failure, mostly because I simply don’t have the stick-too-it-ive-ness to make it work. I offer nothing but plaudits and praise to those who do. I passed along my Elegoo and all its bits to my friend Mark, and I think he’s gotten his money’s worth.

    Though I am not printing my own stuff, I do see a ton of value in buying 3D printed goodies. The cost and the detail available from the printed goodies is often cheaper and better in what one might find in cast metal or resin. Molds don’t wear out, the prints are often cleaner than the castings. The downside is fragility. Though I have purchased some, I tend not to buy printed figures. Swords and spears simply break. If you drop ’em they might shatter. I’ve received printed horses that often arrive without tails and sometimes without legs. I think figures are where I draw the line.

    Sadly I can’t remember who printed these two delightful figures of Edward, the Black Prince of Wales in 28mm. Edward is a legendary hero in SAGA and he might help my doddering English HYW army. The same printer also did an excellent Edward III figure, mounted and dismounted. The miniature is well cast, and none of the detail, including the raised sword, seems particularly breakable. On the right a well printed Rohan horseman, Erkenbrand of Westfold.

    I have a fair number of printed ships. Mark has printed some beautiful War Time Journal models for me. Chiefly German pre-dreadnaughts, but also some very nice Fletcher class destroyers in 1/1250. WTJ used to print their own miniatures, but now they just sell their STL’s. Either you have to print them yourself, or they do have a couple of reliable printing services they work with. Neither the Germans or the American DD’s are completed, but I’m hoping I might have a shot at them this year. Matthew Lawson likewise does some great work for the American Civil War at his Brown Water Navy site. He is branching out into lesser known 19th century ships as well. I occasionally add to my ACW stuff which has grown obscenely large, and almost all of my Spanish ships from the Spanish American War come from Matt. Finally, David Manley and his Long Face Games designs have also done some terrific ACW stuff. These are printed by Iron Horse Collectibles and other in the U.S. and I am extremely satisfied with the quality of the designs and the prints. I often have to make masts for my pre-dreadnaughts, which isn’t a big deal (I have had lots of practice.)

    From the top, the three above are David Manley creations through Long Face Games. The ships are the Double End gunboat Cimarron, a Mississippi snagboat, and the ferry Hunchback. They are printed by Iron Horse Collectibles The magnificent Blackhawk tinclad below was David Dixon Porter’s flagship for his various operations in the Mississippi Valley campaigns. It is a great example of Matthew Lawton’s work over at Brown Water Navy.

    I’ve also done some work with printed 1/300 scale planes. Back in the day when Shapeways was a thing, I ordered some planes from them. I think it’s very unlikely I’ll ever buy another metal plane. I have lots and lots of them, from tiny fighters to really big ol’ B-24D’s. The printed planes have several tremendous advantages. One is their light weight. It has always been a challenge to plunk a big plane on a stand and not have it be dangerously top heavy. I have a few printed B-17E’s and they are so much easier to manage than the big metal Liberators. I have a friend who is doing some 1/200 Pacific War games and has a PBY that is just really big. But light as a feather. Another advantage is the prints are so much cleaner than the metal castings. Some of these molds are old, they are in desperate need of cleaning or replacement. I recently ordered some A-7 Corsair II’s for Vietnam and they were dreadfully cast. I also really like the detail the designers can build on to the model. No more trying to stick on racks of expensive bombs or other underwing stores. The down side is I found myself cutting off some centerline fuel tanks for my mounting posts. Finally, the printed planes are so much less expensive than metal. Better detail, quality prints, lighter and easier to play with, more detail, I paid about $5.00 each for some beautiful F-4C’s that would cost fourteen bucks from GHQ and probably wouldn’t be as good.

    Printed planes from Flight Deck Decals. From left, F-4C Phantom II, B-17E, PBY Catalina, and bottom, P-40B’s.

    My maker of choice for planes is Flight Deck Decals. They provide good service, generally have what I’m looking for, and they fit in my budget. Plus, I can get my decals from them. They have WWI, WWII and modern planes from P-26 Peashooters to B-52G’s and newer. WWI planes are offered in 1/144. The other planes are available in 1/200 and 1/300. They will tweak some things for 1/285 but it’s more expensive. They also sell STL’s if you want to print commercially. Other makers are out there too.

    Perhaps the real genius of 3D printing, isn’t the figures, ships and planes, it’s all the cool terrain bits. It doesn’t matter what one is doing in miniature wargaming, there is a ton of cool terrain bits to meet your needs. I’ve gotten a number of cool pieces. First on my list is a spiffy steam train with tracks. I haven’t used it yet, but I see a number of possibilities for the revolution in Cuba in the 1890’s or in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish put in a train north/south in Cuba and guarded it with blockhouses. Could be cool. I also got from the same maker, Guardian Hobbies on Etsy, a super collection of Spanish Houses, again for use in Cuba and Spain. For the train and the buildings the cost was, to me, reasonable. Not only that, but I’ve painted them and the buildings have made their way on to the game table.

    These are some terrain bits I’ve had printed from Etsy sellers for my table. Top left is a Spanish village with three buildings. Small, but just right for my purposes. I have some larger buildings if I need them. Upper middle and right is my train with five cars. I added the water tower. Came with six feet of mostly straight track. Below are my Rohan hills. They seem quite Peter Jacksonish and I really enjoyed painting them.

    I’ve picked up some great items for my Lord of the Rings projects. I have some super spiff Rohan hills. A variety of different but very usable hill for any skirmish project. I also have a few Rohan buildings that seem very Dark Agey in appearance I could use for other purposes. Those I haven’t finished yet.

    The list of possible terrain pieces or bits and accessories just seem endless. Buildings, trenches, very cool rocks, or just rocky spaces have caught my eye, but for now, I’ll leave well enough alone. Regardless whether I’m currently in the market or not, compared to alternatives, the 3D prints compare at least equally with the laser cut pieces, and so much cheaper than pre-finished options like MBA. Just in the interest of transparency, I have both.