Finished the Italian houses

After starting and stopping for a few months on painting these buildings, I have finally finished them. I think they turned out okay.  I'm always harsh about the things I paint and I know if I had spent some more concentrated time on them they would be better.

I did try something new on these models, MIG Pigments.  They work well and are pretty easy to use.  I took some of the powder and mixed it with some Enamel Thinner.  Since I used acrylic paints for the models, I brushed on a matt varnish to seal the paint.  I then bushed pigment onto the buildings. Once the thinner dried it left a nice dusty look to the buildings.

Here's a link to my first post about the buildings: Painting Italian Buildings

Here are some pictures of the finished products.

On this one I used the MIG Pigment Black Smoke and brushed it along the edges of the collapsed building areas etc.

I have also decided to base the buildings on 6"x6" artist boards.  I'm thinking it will give some uniformity to the "towns" when they are placed on the table and it will help define areas for combat.  I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to do this.  Any suggestions?

Here's some prelim photos:

Any suggestions from those with better experience on doing this is greatly appreciated.

First ACW Ironclad game.

Last year at Enfilade my friends James, Andy and I got a chance to play in a game of Sail and Steam Navies.  The three of us loved the rules.  Very easy to comprehend after a few turns and played quickly within a few hours.  Our game at Enfilade was a large battle and we had very decisive conclusion.

These were the CSS ships that opposed the Union ships at Enfilade

Since this was the first time I was running the rules I went very simple.  Garland controlled the union ironclad Cairo and James controlled the confederate ship Arkansas.  Just as we were getting started Andy arrived and I added another confederate ship the General Sterling Price.

Garland started off on the right side of the table on the inlet to the river.  Both Andy and James started at the far end of the table.  The current of the river was a 2 and it flowed with the confederate ships and the union ship until it turned to face the CSS.

The first few turns were both sides moving closer.  

The first few shots did nothing to the ships.  As they closed and maneuvered to gain an advantage the Cairo started to take a beating.  James and Andy steered their vessels to ram the cairo twice.  Both times they missed and glanced off causing no damage to either ship.  Garland breathed a sign of relief.

The Arkansas finally found the right angle and hit the Cairo.  The d10's  rolled also had +2 modifier to them.  The Cairo sunk like a rock with no lower hull left.

All said and done the four of us enjoyed the game.  It played quickly even though I was constantly going back into the rules when questions came up we still played the game in about 3 hours.  We will play these rules again and again.

It also has boosted my want to get more ships for this era.

The Commanders Speak

After I posted my recap of the 1859 campaign a fellow gamer/mentor Peter G.(Blunders on the Danube) asked me to see if the two commanders would post what they thought about the campaign.  I thought that was a great idea.  Here are their comments on the campaign.

James the Austrian Commander:


I had a lot of fun with this campaign despite losing. I think that once we got past most of the learning curve it ran very well. The whole process will be familiar to anyone that has played Piquet rules. I especially liked the way battles and battlefields are generated. It is card driven and very fair to all players.
I can think of only one thing that I would improve upon. I would make counters for my own map to help me keep track of the current location of all my armies.

Garland the Italian Commander and Winner of the Campaign:

Where to start? In forty years of gaming I've taken part in a lot of campaigns that have fallen apart due to bad rules, judging, attitudes, and more. For the most part we stayed away from these and had a very entertaining campaign. The time we took to learn and become familiar with the rules was well worth the time. Having a campaign move separate from the battle night let us stay away from getting to hectic due to time constraints. The time it takes to set up at first seems daunting. With practice it became part of the fun of the game. The different layers to the set up give the battle meaning.That's not the proper word but i think it's close enough. Do I have strength advantage? Can I set up on my opponents flank? Will he take units away from me? Am I Bennigson at Freidland or Jackson in the Valley?
The flow of the game system itself is both nerve racking and fun. As Victor has already stated we use domino's after the initiative roll to determine initiative points. In our last battle this allowed James, outnumbered 2 to 1, to dictate where the main fight was to be on the table. In the you move I move systems this would have been almost impossible. The varying formations in the system allowed James and I to have two different tactical doctrines in the beginning. I was in open order most of the games trusting to the rifled musket, and it worked well this time. Next time will most likely be different.
Where to end? Now. Thanx, Garland