Mississippi's "Merci Train"

The renovation is finally complete on Mississippi's "Merci Train" 40 & 8 boxcar.  It has been completely rebuilt and painted and is now on display beside the newly refurbished Gulf, Mobile, & Ohio Railroad Depot, Capitol Green, in Jackson.

Official disclaimer -- I am an employee of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, who is the owner of the 40 & 8 boxcar.  The pictures were taken by a co-worker and by me and are posted here as a tribute to the Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines who helped destroy the tyrannies that brought about WW1 and WW2.

Details behind the "Merci Train" which were gifts from France and the French citizens after WW2 -- http://www.mercitrain.org/  .  For details about the restoration project, complete with a picture of the state of the car before it was restored, please click on "Merci Boxcars by State - Mississippi" then click on "Current Status of the Mississippi Merci Boxcar" link to go to a press release from the Archives Department.

A co-worker friend of mine, Brother William, took the first series of pictures with his camera phone as they moved the car from its former location to its new location last fall.  They used a rather large crane to lift it onto a flat bed trailer and then back off at the new site, only about 100 yards away.

Removing the car from the old site.  The new site is barely visible at the left edge of the gravel lot in the background.

A rather fuzzy close-up of the decrepit state of the car.  A better "before" picture is in the "mdah" link above.

Ready to hoist away.

Loading the car on the tractor trailer rig.  You can see the new site (dark area) in the gravel in the left back ground.

Arriving at the new site by the GM&O Depot.  The track is now abandoned and only exists right there by the depot.

Getting the crane situated before the lift.

Beginning the lift.

"Lower away, handsomely!"

The lift is completed.

The car looks rather lonely at its new site.

Once in its new site, the car was completely stripped, all the way to the frame.  I kept meaning to get some pictures while the car was being refurbished but kept forgetting to bring my camera into work.  After a long number of months, the work was finished and I took the following pictures on Easter Saturday.

The completed car sits on its own little section of track outside the GM&O Depot.  My son, Sean, stands in front of it.

The east (or "back") side of the car.  The crests are those of the various French provinces.

The west (or "front") side of the car.  Here you can see the emblem of the Merci Train (lower left corner) and the "40 hommes - 8 cheveaux" placard (to right of upper door corner).

The newly refurbished Gulf, Mobile, & Ohio Railroad Depot which now houses the staff offices of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History's Museum Division.

For many years I despaired that the car would just moulder away, lost to wood rot and neglect.  But this fine example of historic restoration will keep the car in good condition for many generations yet to come to see and learn about the generosity of the American people after such a devastating war abroad.

"China" Marines

After much starting and stopping and restarting, I finally completed my unit of "China" Marines for the Back of Beyond.  They are Brigade Games miniatures from their Caribbean Empires range.  I already had a few and bought the rest from my Metarie friend "Zombie" Ken.  So here they are:

The Headquarters Section - Captain Jack Kelley with his bulldog Chesty, his gunnery sergeant (left), and a two-man BAR team (right)

The 1st Section, commanded by an experienced 1st lieutenant and a veteran sergeant; consisting of four armed with Thompson sub-machineguns, two BAR gunners, and six riflemen.  You just can't fool around when you are facing the Chinese hordes!

The 2nd Section, commanded by a green 2nd lieutenant and a veteran sergeant; with the same composition as the 1st Section.

These "Devil Dogs" will see action on April 21st in the play test of the game I am running at our regional Bayou Wars convention (June).  OORAH!!  Semper Fi!!

It Was a Good Day, Today

The Margraviate of Carpania is all abuzz today.  The Markgraf threw a lavish party to celebrate the 62nd birthday of his favorite commander, Major General Seamus Campbell.  Bells were rung at noon, good food and drink were consumed freely, and fireworks were aglow at dusk.

Actually, I celebrated my birthday starting with a work session at Bill's as we continued construction on our Mayan temple for a game at Bayou Wars in June, then seeing Act of Valor with Lord Sterling and Russ-sama, followed by a fish and fried onion dinner by my wonderful wife.

Brief review of Act of Valor.  While most of the acting was rather wooden (after all, most of the actors are actual SEALs and support staff), the action was first rate.  The scenes of the slick boats supporting the first operation were truly outstanding, especially the "curtain of Gatling fire" keeping the bad guys away from the extraction point.  A very uplifting and patriotic movie.  IMDB link  Roselyn Sanchez (of Without a Trace, among other performances) was good as the CIA agent and Alex Veadov and Jason Cottle were good as the bad guys.

Col Campbell gives it two wargamer's thumbs up!

Jim

Mini-Campaign Tree Flowchart

With thanks from Ed from Hesse-Fedora my flowchart for yesterday's mini-campaign response is now complete.

You can click on it to get a larger image.

Mini-Campaign Response

Last Saturday, February 11, "Bluebear" Jeff challenged those of us on the Emperor vs Elector blog to develop a series of linked scenarios using Charles Grant's Scenarios for Wargames.  I decided to give it a whirl.  This is what I developed.

LINKED  MINI – CAMPAIGN

From:  Scenarios for Wargamers by Charles Stuart Grant

1.  First Encounter:  Scenario #41 – Chance Encounter.  Loser withdraws and becomes the defender (Blue force) in the Second Encounter.

2.  Second Encounter:  Scenario #3 – Holding Action (1).  If defender wins, attacker withdraws and becomes defender (Blue force) in Scenario #4 – Holding action (2) [3a].  If attacker wins, defender withdraws and stays defender (Blue force) in Scenario #1 – Positional defense (1) [3b].

3a.  Third Encounter A:  Scenario #4 – Holding action (2).  If defender wins, attacker withdraws and becomes defender in Scenario #3 – Holding action (1) [2].  If attacker wins, defender withdraws and stays defender (Blue force) in Scenario #2 – Positional defense (2) [4a].

3b.  Third Encounter B:  Scenario #1 – Positional defense (1).  If attacker wins, defender withdraws and stays defender (Blue force) in Scenario 6 – Rear guard (1) [4b].  If defender wins, attacker withdraws and becomes defender (Blue force) in Scenario #4 – Holding action (2) [3a].

4a.  Fourth Encounter A:  Scenario #2 – Positional defense (2).  If defender wins, attacker withdraws and becomes defender (Blue force) in Scenario #3 – Holding action (1) [2].  If attacker wins, defender withdraws and stays defender (Blue force) in Scenario #6 – Rear guard (2) [5].

4b.  Fourth Encounter B:  Scenario #5 – Rear guard (1).  If defender wins, campaign tree ends as defender (Blue force) safely withdraws.  If attacker wins, campaign tree ends as defender (Blue force) is destroyed.

5.  Fifth Encounter:  Scenario #6 – Rear guard (2).  If defender wins, campaign tree ends as defender (Blue force) safely withdraws.  If attacker wins, campaign tree ends as defender (Blue force) is destroyed.

Note:  There are several repeating loops, depending on who wins or loses in various engagements.  The loops are:  (1)  Scenario #3 to #4 and back to #3; (2)  Scenario #3 to #1 to #4, and back to #3; and (3)  Scenario #3 to #4 to #2, and back to #3.  I’ve made no attempt to rationalize force compositions between the various scenarios, leaving that as an exercise to be completed by the game master or players.

I've made a flow chart using Microsoft Excel, but I can't figure out how to post it to this blog.  Rats!!!  When and if I do figure it out, I'll add it in a separate posting.

 

German-Equipped Chinese Troops

After a dismal month of painting in January, I got motivated and completed my two dozen Brigade Games China at War figures.  They are six of the eight packs available from that Brigade Games line.  I've divided them into two 12-figure sections, each with an officer, a sergeant, eight soldiers, and a two-man light machinegun team.

The "Red" Section, led by the senior officer (in soft cap), are mainly in firing and other stationary poses.

The "Gold" Section, led by the junior officer (in helmet with pistol), are all advancing/action poses.

The light machineguns are Czechoslovakian made, while the machine pistols and rifles are all German made.

I think that this unit will make a formidable opponent for their Anglo-American opponents in my Bayou Wars (June 2012) convention game.  They will also "double" as German-allied Central American warlord troops in another Bayou Wars "pulp fiction" game being run by my friend Bill and me.

I've started on my American Marines (also Brigade Games figures) and hope to have them completed before the end of February.

January Was a Bust

Well, February is already here and I didn't get a thing completely painted in January!  I started work on converting several paper-mache Michael's bird house decorations into small houses with a tiled roof that would serve for Mediterranean or Chinese structures.  I got the roof on one but that's about all I did.  I started on my German-equipped Between the Wars Chinese for a convention game this summer, but still haven't finished them.  Did I say January was a bust?!  I'm hoping for better the rest of the year.