I'm just back from Enfilade! 2019. This is the annual convention of the Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society. It's been at the Red Lion Hotel Olympia for 17 years now. Before that, we were in various places starting in 1992 with the Red Lion hotel in beautiful formerly bucolic Lynnwood, WA, just minutes from my house. Now I drive 85 miles to attend it.
We've gone from a two-day event with fewer than 100 attendees, to a three-day event hosting nearly 400. That's nothing by big Eastern conventions like Historical, Fall In, etc. But we're the biggest convention west of the Mississippi that caters exclusively to historical miniature gaming.
This year turned out to be a particularly fine event. It's probably the first time in many, many years that I've been actively involved in every gaming period over the weekend. I ran—alone or with confederates—three games, played in two, and helped staff the bring 'n' buy table. Of course, hanging out with friends over a weekend of gaming was the best of all.
Period 1, Friday afternoon: Weitzel's Mill, Rebels and Patriots
I pre-registered online for two games. The first was a Rebels and Patriots game of the 1781 Battle of Weitzel's Mill hosted by Peter Fry. I ran Banastre Tarleton's command of three light cavalry units and two jaeger companies.
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| Bloody Ban's bad boys |
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| Lee's Legion and Continental Light Dragoons come out to play |
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| A hard-pressed American line faces the British onslaught |
Peter said we'd performed better than the British players had in any of the pre-convention playtests. When the game was played on Saturday, the British lost.
Period 2, Friday evening: The skulking way of war, Song of Drums and Tomahawks
Kevin Smyth and I ran a game of Hurons vs. Iroquois and Dutch ca. 1630s on the Nieuw Nederland frontier. The forces were three bands of 8 Hurons defending their village against a force of two bands of 8 Iroquois and a detachment of 8 Dutch militia with muskets.
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| Bold Iroquois warriors |
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| Hurons defending hearth and home |
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| Iroquois crossing the river into Huron country |
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| From the wigwam Hiawatha Bore the wealth of Megissogwon, All his wealth of skins and wampum... |
Period 3, Saturday morning: Beware a risen people, The Pikeman's Lament
After all the work I did for my Ford of the Biscuits game at last year's Enfilade, I determined to run another game with my Elizabethan English and Irish. I had several unpainted cavalry from last year, which I meant to add to this year's game, but...
I came up with the idea of a more stand up fight, but one that still had an element of mission. The scenario was an English force returning from a raid into the wild Irish countryside being attacked by an Irish force intent on recovering the loot stolen from Irish farms (or stealing it for themselves). The main goal was for the English to get a wagon train over the ford behind them before the Irish could get to it.
The English force was all veteran versus an Irish force that was all raw. I didn't figure out points, but there was a bit of imbalance in that the Irish were still more numerous and had more firepower than the English, which made it a tough go for them.
English quality proved redoubtable at first, but eventually Irish numbers started telling. On the English left,
Period 4, Saturday afternoon: Kicking a hornets' nest, Rebels and Patriots
The event that got the most planning and preparation beforehand was our Rebels and Patriots game of the retreat from Concord in April, 1775. This game was Kevin Smyth's idea. We'd initially discussed doing the Battle of Blackstock's because we both have an interest in modeling the Southern campaigns of the AWI. The war in the South was more interesting and—speaking only for myself—doesn't require painting the elaborate 1763 regulation uniforms for the British. From 1777 onward, British dress became more suited to the environment. In the South, that pretty much meant 'roundabouts' and floppy hats. No lace, no facings for the most part. That kind of figure will paint quickly.
But no. We did the retreat from Concord instead, which not only features British in spiffy regulation uniforms, but all grenadiers and light infantry who have more lacey bits on their uniforms than the center companies.
Acquiring my British to paint is a tale best told in a later post, but the upshot is that I ordered figures in January and wound up rapidly painting all my grenadiers and light infantry—and getting a lot more than I'd intended—in the few weeks before the convention. In fact, all of Kevin's and my painting was complete by the weekend before when we did our dress rehearsal playtest.
We spent a lot of intellectual effort, aided by Dave Schueler, into how to play this as a satisfying game. We even debated victory points up to a few days before the date. We seem to have succeeded. One player expressed his dire disapprobation of the British victory conditions initially, but enthused after the game at how well it went.
We planned for 6 players: 2 British and 4 American, but a late minute addition of Dave Creager to command the grenadiers separately brought it up to 3 Brits and 4 Americans. Dave is one of our inner circle of gamers and was an inspired addition. He played the grenadiers aggressively, which certainly helped the British win.
Period 5, Saturday evening: Staffing the bring 'n' buy
In a rash moment of feeling dutiful, I volunteered at some point before the convention to help staff the bring 'n' buy tables for the Saturday evening shift from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. I was there with Mark Waddington (who was in charge overall for the whole convention), Norris Hazelton, and Randy Miles.
It was a long, tiresome time with few sales being made. With four of us staffing it, there wasn't much to do. I wandered the vendors' tables in the main room. Bought some stockade sections from Monday Knight Productions. I took my newly acquired swag up to my room and took the opportunity of a bit of a rest until about 10:00, so I could come down and help shut down the section at 11:00.
I had to wrestle with my conscience a bit. Being pretty tired, I really just wanted to go to bed and stay. However, I went back down at 10:00 to sit for a while and close up the bring 'n buy area.
This was my first experience staffing the bring 'n' buy. I've always run a lot of games at the convention, helped plan the convention, and was convention director for a few years running. I have a great appreciation for the people who staff things like the registration desk and bring 'n' buy. While others are enjoying their time, they're spending a period doing less exciting things—but crucial to a successful convention.
Period 6: Sunday morning: Floating filth from the sea, The Pikeman's Lament
My last game was to participate in a game run by Randy Miles, which was a pirate attack on a Spanish port in some undetermined colony in the Caribbean. I was one of the Spanish players defending the town.
The pirates came with two forces from the sea and another emerging from the jungle on our right flank. I was on the far left of our line and managed after much effort—and much help from our center—to wipe out the rightmost of the pirate force. Our center was faring about the same as me. However, on the right, the force defending against the flank attack was soundly thumped.
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| The pirates land! |
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| Pirates from the swamp |
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| My best unit and least well performing in the game |
Randy has a very nice collection of figures for this period. The Pikeman's Lament was a good choice for the rules to use. The units were all 6 figures strong, with five units in each command. The stats for the pirates was a bit better, but all units had a stamina of 3.
It was a fun game and a nice end to the convention.
Buying and selling
I'm trying more and more to keep my gaming possessions to a manageable amount. To that end, I've been selling off some of my past projects in order to fund new ones. This year I sold my Beyond the Gates of Antares Algoryns. This may cause some dismay the next time someone suggests a BTGOA game, but I haven't played a game with them in nearly two years and don't expect the suggestion to arise in the near future.
I also sold my Medieval (El Cid) Spanish, which I painted as a Lion Rampant army and repurposed as a Saga army. I haven't played Lion Rampant for a while (many other Rampant games to play), and have moved to a Welsh warband for Saga. The Spanish in Saga are a bit unsatisfying to play. So, adios viejos amigos. You served me well.
I also sold a couple other bits and pieces, in fact everything I brought to sell, I sold.
My buying was pretty minimal this year. K.R. Rohan was there selling Geo-Hex. I had the bright idea to buy a boxed hill. I normally use a mottled relish green felt mat as a playing surface. For hills, I've used 2" thick pink insulation board cut and beveled that I place under the mat. Around here, it's impossible to buy thinner insulation board and the 2" thickness makes for tall hills. Also, cutting and beveling pink board is a pain. The Geo-Hex is 3/4" thick. A few pieces scattered around underneath make for some nice, not too tall contours for the playing area. I used what I bought for the Song of Drums and Tomahawks and the Pikeman's Lament game.
I picked up a few things from Monday Knight Productions, including the previously mentioned stockade pieces. I can use them for stockaded settlements in Ireland with my Elizabethans and also for stockades in North America with Rebels and Patriots, Song of Drums and Tomahawks, and Muskets & Tomahawks. I also availed myself of their stock of Howard's Hues paints, several of which are staple colors for my painting.
Bob Murch of Pulp Figures was there. I picked up a few more packs of Iroquois from his Flint & Feather range. He didn't have any of the Europeans he's working on; they're not released yet. I think that Flint & Feather is Bob's finest range. I hope to see it expanded, but Bob has a lot of irons in the fire. His current passion is his Black Sun range, but there are other nascent ranges and British Colonial and Zulus to be released in the near future. Bob's a busy man.
My only disappointment was the absence of Wizard Kraft. I love Wizard Kraft's product, but it's a hard company to do business with. I've only ever bought items when he's come to Enfilade. There are too many horror stories of long delayed web orders. The website is closed for maintenance indefinitely. But I must say, that I love the product. It's the best terrain I've ever seen and I feel fortunate that I've been able to collect a large number of pieces. I had intended to spend a good amount of money there acquiring roads and any other clever new things he might have available. I hate to think it's a year at least before I have a chance to get more.
Uninhibited Rampancy
I said in a previous post that 2017 was my Year of Living Rampantly, but that hasn't really stopped. Most of my gaming in 2018 and nearly all of it so far in 2019 has involved the Rampant family of rules by Dan Mersey and Michael Leck.
Four of the five games I played in or hosted over the weekend were Rampant: I played in a Rebels and Patriots game on Friday afternoon and hosted one on Saturday afternoon. I hosted a The Pikeman's Lament game on Saturday morning and played in one on Sunday morning.
My rapid-fire dip method of painting and the Rampant rules have really got me gaming. All of the figures for the retreat from Concord game were completed this year (and only a few were started last year). My first ever fantasy army was painted for Dragon Rampant.
The distant second for my affection is Saga 2.0 and what I've painted for Lion Rampant and Dragon Rampant can easily be leveraged to play Saga. While there are other projects in the works, I see myself devoting a lot of my gaming energies towards further Rampancy—along with games I'll run at next year's Enfilade.
Me and my shadow
I haven't played a game with Randy Miles since I can recall. He's from Portlandia, so we have only ever played at Enfilade, and he's been away from the convention for a while. I think last year was his first attendance after several years' hiatus. So it was funny that we wound up being together in every single event and activity this weekend:
- He commanded the British center in the Weitzel's Mill game.
- He commanded the Dutch musketeers in our Song of Drums and Tomahawks game.
- He commanded the English left in my Pikeman's Lament game.
- He commanded the right flank British light infantry in our Retreat from Concord game.
- He was one of the bring 'n' buy staff with me on Saturday night.
- I played in his pirate game on Sunday morning.
The feline home front
With Rhiannon's death last month, I'm down to two cats who don't get along. I used the same cat sitting company as I have for the last several times I've been away. It was all much easier when my three cats were Grendel, Rhiannon, and Maebh. They got along well most of the time. Now, with Maebh and Bogart, a line of demarcation is set in stone.
Maebh is a slippery customer. She's bold and shameless with me, but fearful of strangers. She's always hidden from cat sitters in the past, which makes it hard to find her. When I returned home last year, even I couldn't find her until I contacted the sitter, who told me that she was last known to have hidden herself under the bed covers.
This year, she popped into my open closet—where I'd shoved a pile of clothing that I was planning to sort through and hand off to the Goodwill—just before I left. Ensconced there, she could smile at all her terrors with impunity. Rather than root her out, I left the closet door cracked open. This proved to be a bit of a blunder.
The sitter knew that she needed to keep Maebh and Bogey separate: Bogey out during the day and Maebh shut in the bedroom, Maebh out during the night and Bogey shut in the den. But with Maebh hiding in the closet, she couldn't tell whether she was in or out. We communicated throughout the weekend. When she said that she couldn't find Maebh, I assured her that she was likely in the closet not to be found easily.
It turns out she must have been burrowed under/within my leather recliner Saturday morning, which meant that she and Bogart were un-separated from each other.
I came home and couldn't find Maebh in the bedroom, even after rooting through the mess of the closet. I figured she must have burrowed deep and I figured a few shakes of the Greenies bag would lure her out. It did, but it was from under the recliner that she emerged, with Bogart watching incredulously. I quickly grabbed him before he could pounce and put him up in the den, thus restoring balance to The Force.
On returning to Maebh, I could see a wee scratch on her nose. Otherwise, she was fine. No apparent bites on Bogey—I'll have to keep an eye on abscesses forming—but it was clear that he'd chased her about. Under the desk in my den, there was a lot of Maebh's long wispy fur and things were knocked about. That's not much different than the evidence I'd find of Grendel and Rhiannon clashing while I was away.
Being rescued from Bogart and the fearsome stranger, Maebh was delighted by my return. She's been a constant and affectionate gadfly as I write this blog.
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