Most Tuesdays it’s pretty easy to rip off 800 words without a lot of hemming and hawing around. I mean this is a gamer’s blog and I have virtually become a gamer retiree. I have puppies to take care of (almost adults now,) I have a yard to manage. I am my wife’s household servant. I work four hours a week at the antique store. But really, I do a lot of game stuff. Every day. Surely I have something worthwhile to say.
Right. Well, this is what I’ve got this week. Last week I wrote about the Moros and in fact I have been working on that project. I completed two batches of guys. One group is of Moro riflemen. These are all the Moro riflemen I’ll ever paint. Though there seem to have been a fair number of rifle armed Moro warriors, battle accounts I’ve read simply don’t share much about their prowess. It’s the blade-armed guys who tended to do the damage. The other batch of guys I painted are the Moro Scouts/Constabulary that were in American service. During the Moro War and he earlier Philippine-American War, U.S. forces recruited locals who opposed the rebels and used their knowledge of the land, local culture and abilities in the terrain to assist American forces. I would suggest these are not simply auxiliaries and they should play an important role in games of the period.
These are Tiger Miniatures. They’re okay. They are largeish and well-fed. Some of the casting is sketchy, but they aren’t expensive, come in groups of five, and paint up well. Tiger also simply fills holes that other makers overlook. Philippine and Moro scouts, American mountain guns, Colt machine guns set up or being carried. Mule trains. Just don’t look too closely. I sent off an order for even more Tiger Miniatures this week. A few more Moros, but mostly I ordered some Cuban Rebels for the 1895-98 war, also for One Hour Skirmish Wargaming.
A couple of words about painting. The Moros often war brightly colored clothing. Some also wore armor. The only color pictures of Moros are 20th century art that often depict them in armor and bright clothes. I question how much of either they wore. Lots of contemporary black and whites of Moros show them in fairly dark austere clothes and no armor. I’m not quite sure what the correct answer is, but I think there needs to be a balance between colorful and not, and armored and not. That said, I didn’t do a very good job of striking a balance with the shooters. The Moro scouts wore khaki and are in Vallejo Tan Earth, lightened and dry brushed and then washed in Army Painter Soft Tone. They ended up a little darker than I’d like.
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The last twelve months or so I’ve read a lot about the WWII in the Pacific. That’s because between a plane project and a ship project I’m doing a lot of WWII in the Pacific and I always want to know more. It’s not that I don’t know anything–I think I read Samuel Eliot Morrison’s “The Two Ocean War” at age 13, the first time–I just think projects should always be learning opportunities. Two trilogies have really grabbed me.
The first is Ian Toll’s Pacific War Trilogy. The volumes are titled as follows: Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific 1941-42; The Conquering Tide-War in the Pacific Islands 1942-44; and Twilight of the Gods 1944-45. It’s a towering narrative that begins with the disaster at Pearl Harbor, and ends with Japan’s surrender. What makes Toll’s work so special is the author’s ability to combine elements of biography, with details of military technology and battle narrative while constantly advancing the chronological story.
These are really mammoth volumes, but I truly could not put them down once I started reading, and I am itching to read them again. A few high points–the description of Pearl Harbor after the attack, the work of the code breakers, the careful depiction of the division of the Pacific battlefield (so to speak) between McArthur and Nimitz/Halsey and the inevitability of their conflict being more than just McArthur’s prima donna persona. These are of course available as hard copies, but I got mine as E-books and I am very happy with that decision due to cost and storage issues.
The other trilogy that I’ve really enjoyed is Bruce Gamble’s Rabaul Trilogy. Invasion Rabaul begins with the rapid, but weak, Australian response to Japan’s opening of war, and the tragic surrender of the small forces they placed on Rabaul. Fortress Rabaul tells the story of Japan’s fortification of the port city and the early efforts of the United States and Australia to use air power against the Japanese in New Guinea and on New Britain. Target Rabaul is about the air campaign win the campaign in New Guinea and the Solomons and neutralize Rabaul at the center of both. I have a real interest in doing elements of this campaign in miniature with planes.
Great story. Okay, I confess, I haven’t read the first volume, but the other two are very good. Lots of things I’ve learned. In many respects Gamble does the same things well that Toll does. However, he does occasionally bog the story down in a little too much detail. But never for too long. Fortress Rabaul was the more fascinating volume for me, but Target Rabaul is also very good. It’s the story of an ever-changing air campaign. It is not a history of the land campaigns in New Guinea, it is not a story of the naval actions and landings in the Solomons. However, the book is very good at showing how Rabaul’s position as the premiere Japanese naval base and aircraft hub in the region affected both campaigns and why its reduction was critical to the Allied war effort. My guess is the story of Lark Force in Invasion Rabaul might be the most compellingly interesting story; sadly it’s outside the scope of my gaming interest but I may yet grab that bad boy.
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Finally, but far from least, is the reminder that Enfilade, the NHMGS flagship convention, is a mere two or so weeks away. The 2024 version of Enfilade is unlike any other because we were forced to move on fairly short notice after the Olympia Hotel at Capitol Lake was sold to developers in December. Lots of detail I could share, but I’m not sure there’s a point to it. Besides, I’d really rather focus on the Kevin part of this.
I’ve been a leader in most of the 32 or so Enfilades. This seems by far the most demanding. There was six weeks searching for a suitable site. There’s the hoping the LaQuinta actually fulfills that role. There’s the fear that it doesn’t. There’s all the concern about the details that were routinely taken care of in Olympia, which in a new place we’re still learning.
I may be the director of the convention, but really I’m just one of the guys. I want the same things everyone else does. I want to see my friends and hang out with them. Run some games. Maybe buy some cool stuff that doesn’t lead me down a rabbit hole. I pay my registration like everyone else, but I’ve volunteered my time, literally hundreds of hours and my time at the convention will largely be spent plugging holes and making sure things work. I’m exhausted and I nightly hope it will all work out. ‘Cause I cannot begin to tell you, dear reader, how much I do not wish to move this convention for 2025.
Hopes and dreams.
A Gamer's Tales 