Smyth Air, LLD

In this some what blurry photo, there are Beaufort torpedo bombers in back with Spitfire Mk.V fighters, both by Raiden.  The Scotia Betty bombers are to the right.  All the planes in the Channel Dash scenario will have the same camo, and begin with Vallejo Neutral Gray with Vallejo Military Green over the top. Phase one has just begun.

Making my Enfilade plans

One of my Enfilade projects will be to assemble and paint these 1970’s era hydroplanes courtesy of Sean McEvoy. It will be fun.

I’m a planner.  Always have been when it comes to convention games.  Last year I helped Dave with the St. Nazaire game, and ran a pair of sizable Lion Rampant games.  They both required some prep time, but I made plans early and didn’t have to rush, except to get in a last minute play test. It involved hundreds and hundreds of miniatures and a car load of stuff.

I’m already making my Memorial Day plans and I’m aiming for a much smaller carload of stuff.

Here is what’s on the docket and what I’ll need to do to prepare

At least one session of Thunderboats!

• This is my hydroplane racing game and I already have dozens of painted boats.  But a couple years ago I bought the next generation of boats–all picklefork hulls and cab forward designs from the 1970’s from Sean McEvoy.  I’ve been working on assembling them today.  There are seven of them, and I’d like to get them all done for the con.  Likely will run this game on Friday night.
• May run a second session early Friday using the older boats.  I have a couple of older boats to paint, including two drop sponson hulls and the huge Thriftway Two, which is  one of a kind.

The Channel Dash 1942

This game will be modeled on the flight of the two German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisnau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from the Breton port of Brest to German North Sea ports. Likely a Saturday afternoon and evening game.

• This is probably a two session game I’ll do with Daveshoe.  Dave is going to tackle the big ol’ models of Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen.  There are also some auxiliaries.  Don’t know how many will need to be done.  I’ll focus on painting some Royal Air Force planes.  It’s shaping up to be a bunch of Spitfires, Whirlwinds, Beauforts and Swordfish.  I may opt for a few more planes including some Wellington bombers just for the hell of it. Maybe two dozen planes in all.
• The second period will be the attack of the British light naval forces on the forces screening the large German naval units.  Not quite sure what my painting responsibilities will be here. I do have a great model of a German torpedo boat to assemble and paint.

A big ol Ironclads game

I’ve been negotiating with David Sullivan about dragging out some of our 1/600 scale ACW ships for an Ironclads game.  I know, we mostly play Sail and Steam Navies around here these days, but I still have a fondness for the old Yaquinto rules.  It’s going to be mostly hypothetical, though the ships will be mostly historical.  It will involve forts and reversal of roles. I’m hoping to persuade David this should be a Sunday game, but I have more flexibility than he does.

• Doesn’t look like my painting responsibilities should be too bad.  I’m thinking a big Bay Area Yards star fort and a couple of ships, one of which I don’t own.  Not sure, there may be more I have to pick up, but we’ll have to see.

What’s On Your Painting Table?

Stalled out painting the Volunteers of Ireland today. Will make progress this week.

With the Baueda tent safely painted and tucked away . . . somewhere, I moved on to working on my next project–Perry’s Volunteers of Ireland.  Haven’t gotten too far with them.  I worked on them for a couple of hours on Saturday during the Huskies apocalyptic failure against Oregon.  Bleah.  Made progress.  Got very little of anything done today (Sunday.)  Just not feeling great.  Nursing some sort of weird virus that is giving me some nasty headache action.

Rather than paint, I decided to start working with the resin hydroplanes I’ll need to do for my racing game.  These are all blank resin kits.  They mostly require some sanding, but they also had much different tails from the hydroplane minis from the 60’s, so there is some assembly required-not my long suit.  I’m not quite sure what boats I’ll be painting and I’ll definitely need some reference photos but, I’m leaning toward the following: Miss Pay N’ Pak, Atlas Van Lines, Squire Shop, Oh Boy Oberto, Miss Bardahl (checked version) and others.

And Now For Your Listening Pleasure

In 1986, the New Wave, the New Romantics, and disco had passed on.  The Police were breaking up, and U2 was getting ready to record one of the best records of all time. The musical scene was fluid and and was fertile ground for an American band called The Smithereens.  Especially For You was their first record and it is quite good.  If you are of a certain age, remember the British Invasion,  or have a fondness for bands like The Beatles (early phase,) the Kinks, or the Hollies, or even early Elvis Costello, you would recognize their influence in the music. It tends to be up-tempo and  instrumentally straightforward, with lyrics that are anything but happy and carefree.  There aren’t any throwaway tracks, and my favorites include “Strangers When We Meet,” “Time and Time Again,” and “Blood and Roses.”  I’m actually interested in trying Green Thoughts, their second record. Definitely worth a listen.