Drumbeat 2020

Saturday was the annual NHMGS Drumbeat game day. The morning session had nine games and another five in the afternoon. Additionally, there was a small "Bring and Buy" session.


I played in a Pike and Shot game using The Pikeman's Lament rules in the morning and then a Rebels and Patriots game in the afternoon. Both periods were well attended and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Here are a few photos from the day.

Battle of Lake Erie using the Black Seas rules

Scottish Jacobites ambush an English relief column

Battle of Shiloh using the Alter of Freedom rules

Battle of the Pelennor Fields using the Heroes of Erehwon rules

100 Years War battle using Lion Rampant

The Last of the Mohicans - Retreat from Fort William Henry using Musket and Tomahawk rules

My command unit for Pikeman's Lament

The pike and shot game had the English holding a hill in the center of the table with the Irish attacking to take the hill. English relief forces had to cross a river to reach the hill.

The English defenders (left) with the Irish getting ready to move up hill

The Irish setup

My setup with the river crossing

Unfortunately, my die rolling was not up to snuff and I had trouble getting my troops across the river and into action. I did drive off a couple Irish units, but it was too late for the troops on the hill by then.

The Irish taking the hill

In the afternoon session I played in the Race to the Dan scenario using the Rebels and Patriots rules. The scenario represented a rear-guard action where the Americans needed to delay the British and get their troops across the Dan River. My command was the British regulars with a small cannon.

My regulars at the rear with the British light troops in the lead

Americans on a wooded hill with the river to their rear

The Americans occupied a wooded hill in the center of the play area with regular troops and skirmishers.

The British cavalry was deployed on the left. They planned to move around the American flank and try to cut off the retreat while the British foot troops occupied the Americans. Unfortunately, the cavalry ran into some American sharpshooters. Then the cavalry decided to shift their advance to the center of the map.

British cavalry passing in front of the regulars

My regulars kept up the pressure and did some damage to the Americans, as did the cavalry. The Americans were in a good position to win, with many units getting across the river. But the British light troops eked out the victory for the British by pushing American losses over the threshold.

British light troops pressing the Americans

There was another Black Seas game in the afternoon, a WWII Russian front game, and an ancients battle. There was also a Battletech game going on throughout the day, but none of my photos of that turned out.

Operation Bagration using the Battlegroup rules

Book-ending this blog post with another Black Seas photo

Enfilade Project Updates and more

I haven't been keeping up the blog lately, but I have been working on a few things. Mostly getting together stuff for my Enfilade games.

Last weekend Kevin and I set up the Ploesti terrain and did a quick walk-through of the game. Since the last version of the game was done on a hex mat, we needed to see how the layout would work without one.

Refinery layout looking toward the American entry side

A view from the oblique

We think we came up with a good way to put out the refinery components. But we decided that having the building directly on the grass looked a little off. So I'm getting some gray felt as a concrete base for the buildings. I'll also see about making a few roads.

We were also trying to decide if we need anymore flak batteries. Right now we have 11 bases with a mix of heavy (88mm guns) and light flak (37mm and 20mm). Kevin was a little worried that there wasn't enough. But after laying it out on the table, it seemed like plenty.

The big battery of heavy flak

Kevin has some planes to finish up, while I finish the terrain and rules. Overall this seems very much on track.

For my Shores of Tripoli game, I need to repair a few ships and put together the paperwork (quick reference cards, ship cards, etc.) for the game. So this project is also on track.

Going through my box of sailors to make sure no one has jumped ship

Drumbeat, the NHMGS mid-winter game day, is next Saturday (February 22). I'll be there to get in some gaming and help out with running an event. You can see a list of the Drumbeat events at this link.

On Saturday, I took a trip over to the Museum of Flight to look at the Northwest Scale Modelers show. I always enjoy seeing what they are putting together. While there are a lot of aircraft in the show (it is at the Museum of Flight), there was still room for land and sea vehicles too. Here are some photos from the event.

While I really enjoy the modeling aspect of the miniatures gaming hobby, I also like to play with my models. I still do some non-gaming models from time to time, but I don't really have good places to display them. So my main focus is on stuff I can use in games.