Saturday, June 23, 2012

Bayou Wars Report - Part 1

It has been two weeks since Bayou Wars, the HMGS Gulf-South regional convention (link) in Kenner, Louisiana ( a suburb of New Orleans).  But those two weeks have seen me go through first a viral sinus infection and then a bacteriological sinus infection.  I've finally felt energized enough to post the pictures I took.  Herewith are general pictures I took of various games being run at the convention, in no particular order.

15mm Battle of Albuera - Napoleonic Peninsular battle

Battle for Henderson Road - 15mm SciFi
Battle of Isle of St. George - 1:2400 WW2 naval, French vs Italian in the Med, 1940

Battle of Ligny- 15mm Napoleonic Waterloo campaign

Battle of the Crossroads - 15mm Seven Years War; Austro-Russians versus Prussians

Battle of Borodino - 1:72 Napoleonic, 1812 (200th anniversary)

Burn the Village - 25mm Victorian Colonial

Chariot Racing makes a triumphant return to Bayou Wars

Command and Colors Napoleonic - with 15mm figures!

Firestorm Armada - spaceship battle on star scape gaming mat

French and Indian War - 25mm with a lovely fort

The Foraging Party - 25mm ACW Brother vs Brother

Battle of Cross Keys - 15 mm ACW in The Valley (150th anniversary)

March and Die - 54mm French Foreign Legion vs Arabs

Panzers' Graveyard - 15mm WW2 armor action

Invasion of Peleliu - WW2 in the Pacific

Search for the Gold Monkey - 25mm pulp action (the ship is over 4 feet long!)

Ship featured in the Search for the Gold Monkey game

The Patrol - 25mm "Sergeants 3" action on the Northwest Frontier

WW2 air to air combat
That is just a sample of all the action that was going during six 4-hour gaming periods over three days.  Plus there were several tournaments and a bunch of dealers.  This is an excellent regional convention that is easily accessible for gamers from Texas to Tennessee to Florida.  Hope to see you next year!

Parts 2 and 3 will cover the games in which I directly participated as either a gamemaster or a supporting producer.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Where There Is Smoke ...

There is fire and police.

After completing preparations for my Bayou Wars game earlier this month, I took a short break in painting, partly because I have had both viral and then bacteriological sinus infections.  But as I am finally recovering from them, I completed some fire and smoke markers and a few British early 20th Century police.

The fire and smoke markers are made by Litko Game Accessories and I have had them for a number of years.  I finally decided to glue them together and then to steel washers to make them easier to store and use.

The sets come with small flame markers in two colors and tall and short smoke columns.  I mixed the flames and smoke pieces together to get ten small and ten tall markers.  I then glued them to steel washers (3/4" or 20mm) and painted the washers a charcoal color.  I'll primarily use these with my 1:2400 pre-dreadnought ships and my plastic Renaissance galleys.

Here are a couple of Japanese battleships, the lead ship showing that a single fire has been started and the trail ship showing that a massive, critical fire has gained on the damage control teams.


I also painted some heavier armed police for my British police flying squad.  I'll use these in pulp fiction games and as my contribution to our WW2 home army games using I Ain't Been Shot, Mum rules.

The detective inspector (in mufti) is an old out-of-production Ral Partha police detective while the three rifle armed constables are from the Artisan Design Thrilling Tales line.  The detective inspector was originally painted as a gangster in a very bright blue suit (a la Dick Tracy style).  But I repainted him in a more neutral charcoal suit although he still wears a red carnation boutonniere.  They will join four other bobbies that I painted back in December.

The British police flying squad can quickly respond to any crisis and swiftly put the Hun infiltrators in their place!



Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Mississippi's Restored Confederate Flags

Over the past several years, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (where I work) has been engaged in a project to restore our state's Confederate flags that have survived.  On Monday, the Museum Division opened a small exhibit in the lobby of the William F. Winter Archives Building showing six of the restored flags.  The building lobby is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Monday through Friday and from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm on  Saturday.  If you are close to Jackson, please stop by a see these restored flags.  The exhibit will be in place through the end of November.  More details about the department, including a map of the Winter Building's location can be found here:  www.mdah.state.ms.us

The pictures I took show the information plaque that depicts the flag prior to restoration, a close-up of the wording, and then a picture of the restored flag.  One picture in the portion about the 22nd Mississippi's flag describes how some of the restoration was done.  Two of the flags were captured in battle and later returned to the state.  There are detail pictures showing the capture information added by the captors.  Finally there is a picture and description of the rare twenty-star United States flag that we need to restore once funds can be accumulated.  The flags are framed behind glass so I had to use some unusual angles to cut down on the reflections, when I could.  I hope you enjoy this exhibit.  And please stop by and see them in person -- they are magnificently restored!

















I couldn't eliminate all the reflections on this flag's picture.












Not readily apparent but details about the capture of the flag were added by the captors.
"Captured by 1st Lieut Adj THOMAS P GERE
5th Minnesota Vols
at the BATTLE of BENTWOOD HILLS near NASHVILLE
Demcember 16th 1864"
































Details of the flag's capture added by the captors.













Contributions to help restore this rare flag can be mailed to:

Foundation for Mississippi History
ATTN:  Twenty-Star Flag Restoration
P. O. Box 571
Jackson, MS   39205-0571

And please designate that the contribution is for the Twenty-Star Flag.