In the Northwest, Memorial Day weekend is the beginning of summer, when the damp moss-backed residents of western Washington peer out their windows, throw the kids in the car, and head for the campgrounds. For historical miniature gamers, Memorial Day weekend is always Enfilade weekend. The 14th annual Enfilade convention, the flagship activity for the Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society, was held at the Olympia Red Lion in Olympia, Washington May 28-30. Over 200 attendees participated in the 85+ scheduled events, and had a great time. There were about a dozen vendors and some swap tables comfortably deployed in the Red Lion's generous Forest Ballroom. Though Enfilade also sponsors the Norwest Advanced Squad Leader tournament, it is a miniatures only affair with at least 85% of our events limited to historical miniatures. We draw attendees from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Southwestern British Columbia. We usually have many impressive events. Though we are stuck up in the upper left corner of the U.S., our members are able to produce games that hold up to those hosted anywhere. 2004 was no different. Though Enfilade doesn't establish historical themes, this seemed to be the year to remember World War II. From Jeroen Koopman's quartet of well-made microarmor games to Scott Odden's striking 54mm Combat! scenarios, game hosts seemed moved to remember the dedication of the World War II memorial occurring that weekend. DBA flourished with a Greek-themed Mount Olympus mini-campaign, and a 700 point 25mm DBM battle drew enthusiastic players. History was covered from Randy Landtrip's caveman adventure; In the Breakfast Time of Man to Gary Griess's contemporary Can Osama Escape? And then there was the fun stuff. Prince John was captured by Robin Hood in Bruce Meyer's vision of Sherwood Forest. Pilots shouted "Gooooaaaal!" as they shot down the enemy in Paul Hannah's Soccer Wars scenario for Mustangs. Gary Williams gave his best Aaarggh in his spectacular Pirates game. Racers screamed pell mell around the pylons, and sometimes into the table, in my own Golden Age Air-Racing game. At the center of all the gaming was Blenheim. Fought in 1704, Ian Croxall and his mates from the Salem/Eugene, Oregon region assembled a remarkable game to celebrate the 300th anniversary of this decisive battle from the War of the Spanish Succession. 2000+ painted 25mm figures, layers of attractive, but extremely functional terrain, and an extraordinarily organized, gamer-friendly presentation of rules and commands made this an eye-popping and gratifying experience. Thirty-six players witnessed the reversal of history as the British cavalry self-destructed on the French artillery, and the French cracked the British and allied lines. The game was brought to a conclusion in a little over seven hours. Our revitalized painting competition handed out awards to Paul Hannah, Phil Bardsley, Bill Stewart and others. Our panel of expert judges awarded best of show awards for each of our six game periods. They included Bruce Meyer's Robin Hood, Steven Ward's Siege of Minas Tirith, my own air racing game, Bill Vanderpool's Zulu Civil War, Wes Roger's Battle of Lobau, and Ian's Blenheim game. Blenheim won the overall Best of Show, and Ian will receive an all expenses weekend at Enfilade next year. We hope to see some of you at Enfilade Memorial Day weekend next year. It is a great middle sized convention. We are presently making plans for '05, and as soon as we can, we'll post final dates and location on our website at http://www.nhmgs.org/enfilade.html Kevin Smyth is the Enfilade director, and a member of the NHMGS Board of Directnrs Back to MWAN # 131 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 Legio X This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com