Infernal Machine

The following article is the second in the two part series from Ed recounting his experience visiting the “H.L. Hunley” at Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, SC. You can read the first article in the series here. In this second article, we will see how the Lasch Center is carefully piecing together the answer to the […]

To make the board game “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare” as historically rich and fact-accurate as possible, I had to reach beyond the confines of my library, beyond that of my local university and even beyond the Internet. No, the facts and information I was looking for could only be found as close to

By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2) Hello again, young Inventor. With your new knowledge of the materials and mechanisms that will make up your Marvel of the Age it is now time to discuss the hiring and care of the Mechanics, the “wizards” who will assemble the parts and mechanisms into the whole. In

By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2) Last time, your Inventor’s Vade Mecum handbook supplied you with information on the different materials and mechanisms available right now to make your dream of an underwater wonder a reality. Today, we will discuss how to give that underwater wonder of yours its aura of dread and destruction.

By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2) Hello, and good day to you, young Inventor. Our using the Inventor’s Vade Mecum today will work a miracle of modern industrial science. No, we will not recreate the alchemist’s dream of turning base metal into gold. Instead, we will transform paper into iron: turning your machine shop’s

By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2) Good day again to you, young Inventor. Since our last meeting, your mind must be a-whirl with ideas and plans to make your undersea weapon of war a reality. Let’s temper that reality by understanding that, though you may indeed be the One With The Idea, it will

By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2) Good day to you, young Inventor. You are to be congratulated. You hold in your hand the Inventor’s Vade Mecum, a handbook for you to use whatever, wherever, whenever and, most important of all, why-ever you have questions or need assistance in your chosen field of endeavor. Your

It was a United States $20 gold piece that started it all. A badly dented $20 gold coin, minted by the U.S. Treasury in 1860. A gift from a young lady named Queenie to her beau, Lieutenant George E. Dixon, formerly attached to the 21st Alabama Regular Infantry, Confederate Army of Mississippi. The coin got