Fix Bayonet '23: The Tribaling

Another Fix Bayonet! game day at Historic Fort Steilacoom has come and gone. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and I was on the road just after 7:00 am to get down to make it for our 9:00 am start time. The event is run by Lawrence Bateman, who started it it maybe a dozen years ago based on his association with the fort's historical society and restoration projects. It's always been a highlight of the gaming year for me and I've run/played many enjoyable games at past events. It doesn't draw a huge crowd (less with each passing year, I fear) and the playing area is limited, but the quality of the games has always been high. There's always a morning and afternoon session with a lunch break in between. 

This year, I ran two games: Xenos Rampant in the morning and Tribal in the afternoon. Kevin Smyth and I were going to run a single Xenos Rampant game together in the morning, but a paucity of other games being hosted and the loss of one game host due to COVID (he's fine, just quarantined) caused us to divide our forces and take on two periods each. Kevin ran a  Rebels and Patriots game in the morning using his long-neglected Wayne's Legion minis and an Irish Civil War skirmish game in the afternoon. There was also a Stalingrad game hosted by George Kettler and Will Depusoy using Chain of Command (this was their Best of Show winning game from Enfilade! in May). In the library room, Lawrence and Damond Crump ran a game of the Battle of Antietam using the Altar of Freedom rules.

First period: Xenos Rampant - Dance of the Drones

My Xenos rampant game was a reduced version of one of the games I hosted at Enfilade! in May (not a show winner, but it got best of period). John Werle and I played the Green Meanies against Pete Dixon and The Man Named Ford, who were the Red Menace. The object of the game was to capture and carry of the board two errant drones that were moving about randomly. There were two 24-point detachments on each side.

There was a lot of extreme range shooting, especially from the weapons drones that Pete and I commanded. I had one unit that lost two figures and then ran away after rolling snake-eyes for morale. (However, in retrospect, I forgot to add the +1 for my nearby detachment commander, which would have just caused them to be suppressed. C'est la guerre.)

The random movement of drones favored John and me. Except for a single turn when Ford grabbed one of the drones—before being shot up, suppressed, and abandoning it—we snagged them and got them off board. despite a lot of losses on both sides, it was a Green Meanie win.

Interbellum: Lunch 

As often as we can, we spend our lunch break at the Steilacoom Pub & Grill. Kevin, Scott Abbott, and I went. The food is great (and plentiful).

A huge number of bikers were just pulling out when we arrived, so we got there just at the right time. I had a delicious reuben sandwich and fries. They have really good fries.

Second period: Tribal - Hills of Contention

My Tribal game again used my beloved 40mm Bronze Age Europe minis. I'm really happy to be getting a lot of mileage out of these guys. Currently, they're the only minis I have to play Tribal with. I set up a four-player game that included the aforementioned Ford (honestly, I never got his last name) and me on one side against Gene Anderson and Scott on the other.

Tribal has a system of randomizing the game objectives where each player draws 1-3 cards from a separate deck (we drew two each) that indicate what their objective is. My cards were duplicates, so I had just one objective, which was to control my side of the board by having more of my units on it at the end of the game than my opponent (Scott). Other player's objectives varied. One of Scott's was to kill my warlord (didn't happen). The double-edged sword of the objectives is that you gain honor points by achieving them and lose the same number by not achieving them.

Ford and Gene (longtime friends/opponents) played a cautious game. There were a few sharp fights—and Gene's slingers dominated the central area—but as often as they massed against each other, they withdrew rather than clash. Ford got one unit up onto the hill that stood between them, but Gene kept pummeling them with rocks and arrows, which kept them at bay. Neither of them fought over the hill, but stuck to the swampy periphery. I have to confess, though, that I put Ford in a bad spot. His warlord was in a chariot that couldn't move across any of the terrain features.

Scott and I were at hammer and tongs almost right off. He seemed to show particular interest in the hill that sat bewteen us at the edge of the table. He'd placed his 'person' objective marker (Mr. Tambourine Man) on it and I assumed he was going after it. I meant to deny him. It started out rough for me, but in the end I prevailed.

We counted our objectives at the end of the game, Scott didn't get either. It turns out the hill didn't really figure into any objective and he had no interest in Mr. Tambourine Man. Scot was -6 honor points for objectives. Ford was one and one for his objectives and wound up with a net -1 for objectives. Gene also split his objectives and was maybe a net 1 for them. I, as I mentioned, had duplicate objectives, so I scored only for one of them at 3 points. However, I gained other honor points for combats won and enemy units destroyed. I came out on top with 14 honor points, nine more than I started with (we all started with a pool of five).

Other games

As I mentioned above, Geroge and Will played their Stalingrad game. It's quite an attractive set up. I understand that the Russians got a marginal victory for controlling certain spaces in the factory.

The scenario for Kevin's first game was a Legion of the United States attempt to recover the cannon abandoned by Gen.Arthur St. Claire after the Battle of the Wabash (a.k.a., St. Claire's Defeat). I believe that the result was another victory on the Wabash for Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, et al. I assume that "Mad Anthony" Wayne survived, but his eventually big win a Fallen Timbers was in doubt.

I didn't get pics of Kevin's second game, but I believe it was a win for the IRA over the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Lawrence and Damond's Antietam game seemed to go well also. I only poked my head in the door a couple times, but it seemed like the union was rolling over the Rebs. They got across Burnside's Bridge on the first turn—something Ambrose might have done himself if he hadn't dithered so.

The future

There seems to be a growing number of game days sprouting up. COVID shut down some game venues and events that never got restarted. Once a staple of mid-winter gaming, Drumbeat (begun by Dick Larsen) is gone and likely not to return. The venue we'd held it in for several years, Lake City Community Center, had a fire in April and is permanently closed. 

When Fix Bayonet! started, it was a late summer option that would tide us through until Drumbeat. Now we have Summer Offensive (a.k.a., GaryCon) run by Gary Griess and the VetMu event in Chehalis that Gene runs, we have less pent-up gaming urges to satisfy.

We're also getting older and many people who thought nothing of driving 50 miles to game for a day, aren't inclined to even go 10 anymore. Coming down from Lynnwood, I'm likely the farthest-travelling attendee. While not young, I'm still up for a road trip.

I hope Fix Bayonet! continues for years to come. This year saw a smaller crowd than it's pre-Covid high, but it may be that it's just getting back to a regular part of the NHMGS game day rotation and once established, it will draw the same interest as before.

Game day at Fort Steilacoom

Yesterday was our annual game day at historic Fort Steilacoom. This event was begun by Lawrence Bateman, who has been involved with the Historic Fort Steilacoom Association for several years. The event raises funds ($10.00 donation per attendee) to help upkeep and restoration of the remaining buildings from the fort.

The fort was founded in 1849 to give the US Army a presence in light of recent attacks on white settlements by native American tribes. During the Puget Sound War of 1855-56, the US 9th Infantry Regiment was stationed there. The fort was in use through the Civil War and after, but was decommissioned in 1869 and the grounds were used for the Fort Steilacoom Asylum for the insane, which is today Western State Hospital.

Fort Steilacoom circa 1860

Several of the original buildings remain, which are kept as a museum housing several artifacts from the era. There are also a few old cannon on the grounds.

The days of boom are long gone for this old veteran

We set up 4 tables for games in the restored officer's quarters and run two periods, morning and afternoon. So, there's potentially 8 games that attendees can join on a late summer's day.

Our venue

I came (late) for the first game period, but managed to wheedle my way into Kevin Smyth's "America Rampant" game, which is his modification of Dan Mersey's excellent The Men Who Would Be Kings skirmish rules. I have the rules, but this was the first time I played them.

Kevin has a long-running project that focuses on the hypothetical interaction between forces of the nascent American republic and the Spanish influence in the Old South along the Mississippi. Think of it as another French and Indian war, set 40-ish years later, with the Spanish as the French allied with Choctaws.

I commanded a couple units of mounted rifles, who got jumped on turn 1 by two bands of excitable Choctaws hidden in a patch of woods. I got smacked and sent reeling back.

Were'd all them gol-durned injuns come from!?

I had my back to the edge of the board/world. One unit kept failing it's rally test and ran off home to mama. With the other unit, I managed to dismount and start shooting slow rifle shots at my attackers, who kept ripping into me with tomahawks and clubs.

Meanwhile, three units of Spanish regulars were advancing.

¡Adelante, hombres!

In the center and left, American militia and regulars were advancing against a Choctaw stockade and some cornfields, which they had a mind to burn down and deprive the Spanish-Indian forces with food (or capture and make into corn liquor).

Let's make us some popcorn, boys!

Choctaws manning the stockade

The American right (me) continued to crumble. However, the wee American cannon in the center managed to drive the Choctaws out of their stockade. On the left, the American regulars were giving short shrift to the Choctaws skulking in the woods on that end.

I lost my second unit of riflemen under a fury of Choctaw war-clubs and took over command of one of the militia units. I traded shots with the advancing Spanish, but when the Choctaw warbands, fresh from killing my riflemen came on, it was all over.

The last stand

With the last of my units gone, I ran out on a mission to get cash (which I rarely carry) so I could pay my donation and maybe pick up something at the swap tables. When I got back, they were picking up the game. I don't think I ever knew who won. I just know that many fewer militamen were comin' home to their kinfolk.

Other games being played were Dean Motoyama's beautiful First Battle of St. Alban's, which he ran using Lion Rampant rules. Dean's blog has featured his work painting these over the last few months—and really, just a few. He not only paints well, but fast.

Yorkists attack!

The game Yorkists apparently didn't come out like they did historically. The gates of St. Albans (really just barricaded lanes) proved a nut too tough to crack for York and the Neville boys.

Forward to defeat

The one other game played in the first period was a naval game between George Kettle and Damond Crump. I'm not sure what the rules were, but the models were all battleships (WW1, I think), so a hard pounding on both sides, I imagine.

Battleships engage

Kevin Smyth and I went out to lunch in "downtown" Steilacoom where we talked of many things, of shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings, etc. We also talked up the idea of using The Men Who Would Be Kings for playing the American Civil War. We both have significant ACW lead-piles that we want to do something with. There was talk of doing Fire & Fury Regimental in 28mm, which would be a big undertaking. Doing ACW with TMWWBK is more manageable (for me, the painting weenie—Kevin is another prodigious painter like Dean).

I didn't stay for the second period, but there were a few games setting up. One of them, run by Lawrence, was a skirmish between set in the Puget Sound War using his modification of the Brother Against Brother rules.

After Kevin and I came back from lunch, we chatted with other gamers a bit. Then I headed back north—with a few stops en route—to make it to the vigil mass, so I could sleep in and goldbrick this morning. Last week was a long week.