Skirmish at Jumoville Glen - First of HMGS Monthly Games at Museum

    Canadian militia hurriedly form up as their sentries give warning of the Virginian advance

Back in July, one of the staff members of a local history museum, the Ohio History Center, reached out to me about having our club host monthly historical miniatures games there. Of course, I jumped at the chance. For a number of years, the Great Lakes chapter of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) has been volunteering to assist with an annual event called March Through Time. A handful of our game masters put on walk demos for visitors and families who attend the event filled with reenactors and other historical societies. Our games are always popular with the kids and their parents, so what we do is fairly well-known by the staff at the Ohio History Center.

    We had a crowded, enthusiastic table of gamers in the middle of the local history museum's displays

We agreed to host our games on the first Sunday of every month beginning in September. I volunteered to kick things off, and reached out to other game masters in our chapter that had assisted with March Through Time to schedule later months. I decided to host the Skirmish at Jumoville Glen as my game, since I could scale it easily based on the number of players I had. In this encounter, a young Lt. Col. George Washington gets his first taste of war when he attacks a French encampment, essentially starting the French & Indian War. Historically, Washington's Virginia regiment surprised the French and the battle was over in about 15 minutes. The French commander was slain, and Washington was later forced to fall back from a larger French force, leading to the defeat at Ft. Necessity.

    A French cadet leads a force of Canadian militia forward to secure a rocky outcrop amidst the trees

It made sense to stage this game at the Ohio History Center because the two sides were struggling over the Ohio territory -- who would have the right to settle it. I would use my Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules, as they are easy-to-learn and play fast. I began to publicize it on Facebook and in our chapter newsletter, The Herald. Players who contacted me in advance would have their name listed at the front desk and receive free entry to the museum that day. Going into the day of the game, I had six players listed. Just in case more showed up, I brought enough figs and make player cards for up to eight players. The turnout was great! In addition to all six of my "pre-registered" folks showing up, I had four other people who had heard about it from the Ohio History Center's own promotion of it. So, that made 10 players!

    The French emerge from their tents or bedrolls and get ready for action as the Virginians advance

Luckily, two players quickly volunteered to share their command of four soldiers and one officer, so we squeezed everyone in. We actually could have had 12 players, as Jenny had come along and the Ohio History Center staffer who'd set these games up, Alex, would have played, as well. This was definitely the largest single game of Song of Drums and Tomahawks that I'd ever run! Typically, if I am running a big game using my rules at a convention, I would set it up as four episodes from a particular battle. Each section would be their own 3'x3' battlefield with two opposed players. So, an eight player game would essentially be four 1-on-1 battles. This would be different, though.

    A look from the French right towards their center, formed by the flickering LED campfires

So, I decided to play with the normal rules sequence a little. When it was the Virginian players side, for example, all five players would be rolling for their activations simultaneously -- not sequentially, one after another. They would activate figures until they had activated all of them or had a turn over (aka, "crapping out"). This occurs when a player attempts for two or three activations for a single figure and fails at least twice with that figure. They resolve any successful actions, then their turn is over. So, players have to make decisions. If they're conservative, and attempt only one action per figure, they are guaranteed to at least get an attempt for all five. However, if their opponent is activating his soldiers with two to three actions every turn, and you are only doing one, they're likely to outmaneuver and outfight you. So, it is a gamble, and "crap outs" occur with players activating only one, some, or none of their figures.

    The cadet leading the French right directs his men to fortify the rocky outcrop as a firing position

The game kicked off with the both Virginian flank commands crapping out more than their share, and moving up slowly. The two center commands made good progress, though, and soon gunfire was being exchanged on both sides. On the French right, their flank command occupied a large, rocky outcrop and hunkered down in heavy cover. Although a Virginian soldier got a lucky shot and killed the French cadet leading the group, the Canadian militia were slowly able to get the better of the Virginians with their cover. Another thing that helped was that Virginia Capt. Waggoner's men pressed their attack very quickly and impetuously. The captain himself led the way, charging the militia holding the rock. Although facing two or three militia simultaneously, and knocked down with minor wounds several times, he held them off while his men straggled up. It could not last forever, though, and when the captain was finally slain, his remaining men panicked and fled back a short distance.

    The Canadian militia catch sight of the red-coated Virginians advancing through the trees

As Waggoner's men fled, Capt. Stobo's men finally got themselves moving forward to aid in the attack. This piecemeal assault likely ended up sabotaging the Virginian attack. Stobo's men pressed forward and it took assistance from the French center to finally drive the determined Virginians back. When Stobo fell, once again several soldiers panicked and dashed back towards the rear. The French were holding firm on their right, after being sorely pressed for awhile.

   Virginian commanders on the left discuss their strategy as they try to deal with activation failures

On the other half of the battlefield, the Virginians and Canadians were firing away at each other furiously. Here and there, a Canadian militia man or Virginian soldier would fall. In particular, Lt. Col. George Washington's command was pressing Ensign Jumonville hard. Neither faltered, and bravely led their men forward. Washington was enjoying his first taste of battle. He accounted for three of Jumonville's men himself. The two commanders were able to look into each other's eyes as they led from the front, exhorting their men to drive the enemy back. The Virginians were having success in the center, but couldn't push through on either of the wings. They were also losing more men, and slowly it became apparent to Washington that his men had not won through this day.

    Those activation failures led to the Virginian attack being piecemeal rather than a coordinated

After two hours of fierce battle, the players agreed to call a halt to the firing. The Virginians had lost more than half of their men, while the French had lost far fewer. The Virginians had also lost half of their commanders, which would handicap them in activating their soldiers. We decided to call it a French victory, due to the discrepancy in losses and commanders slain. It was a near thing, though. Washington was very close to killing the enemy commander, and had that happened, the battle might have gone differently. He could have broken through on the center and outflanked the enemy positions on either side. As it was, both sides gave a good account of themselves. Virginian and Canadian men had proved themselves worthy. 

    Hero of the day for the Virginians was Lt. Col. Washington, who accounted for 3 enemy himself!

Washington would go on to write his family about his experiences that day: "I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound..." All of the players said they felt similarly, and enjoyed the game. Everyone was positive and having a good time even when things weren't necessarily going their soldiers' way. The Ohio History Center staff was very excited about the success of our first game at the museum. In fact, our success may prove to be a challenge. It is not always easy to expand a scenario or game to include way more players than you had anticipated. I could easily have run TWO tables of my scenario with the 12 players! I will definitely warn my future GMs hosting monthly games here to be ready for a bumper crop of players and to have a plan.

   The Canadian militia on the right tenaciously held their positions, which helped secure victory

It was fun to run Song of Drums again. I believe my tweak to the player activation system worked like a charm. I did not see one time when having multiple players activating simultaneously on the same side caused a problem. The opponents did a good job of helping keep track of what was going on in neighboring commands. I was worried about a player having an unfortunate run of "crap outs," and feeling left out as he accomplished little. Although the crap outs did occur on the Virginian side early on, everyone seemed to take it in stride. And by the end of the game, their rolls had switched and they were scoring multiple successes and moving, shooting, or charging rapidly to make up for their earlier failures. 

    Canadian militia filtering through the trees, ready to meet the attack of Washington's Virginians

Still, in future games, I may import my activation system from my Mean Streets gang warfare rules. In that system, a player rolls 1d6 for all figures under his control and within his officer's command range. He then distributes one dice to each figure with scores of 1-3 being one action, 4-5 two actions, and a 6 three actions. Any figures outside the command range roll individually. Although it means fewer decisions a player has to make, it allows all figures to act at least once and eliminates "crap outs."

All in all, it was an amazing success. I had a great time meeting new players in the area, and our chapter likely recruited several new members. A number of visitors passing through the Early America gallery we were playing in asked about what was going on and seemed very interested. We handed out flyers for our upcoming Advance the Colors convention, Oct. 10-11. We also gave out sample Heralds, which will more than likely convince some more to join up. A successful day, by any definition!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 288
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 194

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 36
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 61

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 159

Canadian Militia for French & Indian War

    My newest F&I War figures -- 6 Canadian militia posing near one of my Acheson longhouses

I am running the "Skirmish at Jumonville Glen" (where Lt. Col. George Washington essentially starts the French & Indian War) this coming Sunday at a local history museum. To make sure I had enough troops for the French, I decided to paint up another batch of six Canadian Militia. I will be using my own rules, Song of Drums and Tomahawks, and plan on giving each player five figures (a leader and four soldiers). Chances are that I will have six players for the game, which is a rather large game for what I normally run at conventions with these rules. However, I think five each will do fine. With these six figures added in, I'll have plenty of French -- even if I end up with four players per side!

    Closeup of two of the poses of what I believe are 28mm Foundry figures (please correct me if not!)

I believe these 28mm figures are from Foundry Miniatures, but I could be wrong. I couldn't find them on their website, and the other manufacturers I checked also turned up negative. There were three poses in the unmarked ziploc bag I had put them in, two of each. Initially, I thought these were meant to be the French irregular -- coureurs de bois. The more I looked at images online for inspiration, though, the more convinced I became they were actually Canadian Militia. A lot of reenactor pictures were dead ringers for these guys! So, militia they were -- which was perfect, since the French force in this battle was composed mostly of militia.

I used a mix of light tans & light grays for the "white" that seemed to be the typical militia shirt

The Canadian Militia (who were actually very effective troops during this conflict) seem to wear loose white shirts, floppy blue or red caps, and bright red or blue gaiters over their trousers. Not wanting to look like they stepped off a parade ground, I used a variety of white-ish colors, three in the gray range, and three in the tan range. Most of the pictures I saw online had red caps, but some had blue. So, I gave four of the red and the other two blue. For the gaiters, I noticed those were also the most popular colors, so divided them between the two. I did a range of shades, though, from a very pale to a medium blue, and a dark, reddish brown to a faded salmon. I think this kind of variety in tones make for very effective looking irregulars.

    I used a variety of reds, blues, & "whites"to make them look like they'd been in the field for awhile

These being 28mm miniatures, that range of tones for base colors meant that I had an almost equally wide variety of dry brush highlighting, too. In the pictures I saw online, I did not notice an overwhelmingly standard color of packs or belts. So, I used my own tastes to choose those. And speaking of bags and equipment, it had been a long time since I painted any French & Indian War figures. I had forgotten just how many details are on some of these figures. They seemed to be loaded down with as much equipment as a modern infantry man. Besides the musket, these figures had strapped on them or carried the following items: knapsack, cartridge bag, powder horn, knife, native-style loin cloth, tomahawk, hair ribbon, leg gaiters, gaiter ties, floppy hat, leather band on wrist, belt, and buckles. Whew! And not all figures had the identical equipment (which is a good thing, really), so these took a little time, as you can imagine!

    Looking into the eyes of Lt. Col. Washington's foes for the upcoming 'Skirmish at Jumonville Glen'

I really do like how they turned out, though. The colors work well together, yet look like they belong in the woodlands of frontier America. Of course, I would have preferred six different poses, but these three are nice and seem to fit for a woodsman. Though they were established units, the Canadian Militia did not fight like European line infantry, preferring a more "Indian-style" warfare. The mustaches and beards look French, too, and I'm thinking there will be few quibbles from my players about any historical license that I took. 

    A look from above at the 6 figures, along with my scratch-built fish smoker and scalp poles

So, what else is on my painting desk right now? The next batch of Hicks & Hobday Warhost Orcs are ready for flocking. They went faster than the Linebreaker Orcs (and considerably faster than the Canadian Militia!). So, expect to see them in a day or two. Also on my desk are three large tents for the Canadian militia's camp for this Sunday. With all the really cool terrain that I have for the French & Indian War, Washington's attack on the French camp was basically in a wooded, rocky area. So, I wanted to have something besides trees and rocks on the table. My local HMGS chapter (Great Lakes) will be hosting monthly historical miniatures games at the Ohio History Center museum. It is a great way to let the public see our hobby and possibly recruit interested folks to miniatures. Of course, I'll do a blog post on the game!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 288
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 186

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 36
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 61

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 159

Fun Games and Good Times at Siege of Augusta

    Headed down to 'Gator Country' for Siege of Augusta - very cool pool terrain with lurking reptile

It had been quite a few years since I had driven south to Siege of Augusta. My friend Jason, who lives in Columbia, SC, regularly prompts me to come down. Now that I am retired, I don't have the excuse of not enough days off for another convention...ha, ha! So, Jenny and I drove down Thursday, spent the evening with him and his family, and then headed to the convention on Friday.

I'd looked at the games on the Siege of Augusta website, and there were a few that I was interested in. We planned arriving before the noon session of games so that we didn't have to get up ridiculously early. Jason lives about an hour and fifteen minutes away, and Siege's first session begins at 8am, so there was no way I was getting there Friday in time for the morning session! Siege has an unusual system for attendees to sign up for games: it doesn't have one! You have to find the table and ask the GM if he or she has room. Nothing at the registration desk, no sheets on the game table (well, the chariot game had a signup sheet, but that was the only one I saw) -- nothing! I have to confess that I was disappointed with this aspect of the convention. 

    Main hall at Siege of Augusta -- I got to hang out with Jason, play in fun games, & meet nice people

Another thing I wasn't thrilled about was that start times are v-e-r-y approximate. The GM can list a firm start time in his description. If not, you have to assume it starts when the session starts. Except that they don't always do that. For example, I was told by people who got up early enough that the "8am" games that most didn't start till 9am. However, you don't know that. Since you can't sign up for it in advance, if you really want to get in a game, you have to be there at 8am. Or actually sooner, as spots are given to the first players to arrive (assuming the GM hasn't already promised spots to someone). All in all, it encouraged me skip the first session on Saturday morning. I just didn't want to deal with the uncertainty.

As Jenny and I made the rounds checking out the games Friday, we ran into another problem. Which games were which? There was no schematic or map anywhere to be found, so we had to deduce that from the event titles. The event descriptions were online (if you brought your laptop with you). However, the Siege website doesn't work well with mobile devices and condenses the nice, easy-to-understand grid into spaghetti. So, that part is hit or miss, too. We did our best to match the terrain and figures we saw on the tables with event titles on the handout we'd picked up from the registration desk.

    Col. Munro leads his daughters & a British column through the woods in Magua's Revenge

One of the games we talked about getting in was "Magua's Revenge" by Les Faison. He was just setting up when we walked by. We saw the trees and dirt road and figured that was it. We asked if this was the right game, and if he had spots open. Les said he had one of his five spots left. I encouraged Jenny to play, as I had some serious shopping to do from the nice selection of vendors (see yesterday's post on my Siege of Augusta purchases).

   Hawkeye & Chingachgook escort Cora Munro while in the distance Uncas helps Alice

It would have been fun to play, though. As some of you may know, I am the author of the rules he was using -- Song of Drums and Tomahawks. I watched a bit of the game in between my shopping. I was hesitant about stepping in and explaining the rules when players had questions. Les had listed in his description that it was a modified version, so I didn't want to tell anyone the wrong thing. After the game, when he found out I was the author, he said I shouldn't have been so shy. It was only his second time playing the game and he had questions. Jenny has run Song of Drums many times, though, so she was able to assist when I was off wandering around. Les' tabletop was very cool and his 40mm French & Indian War miniatures were awesome. Jenny said she had fun and was able to recreate movie history by having Hawkeye and Chingachgook rescue Cora Munro and get her off the table. Uncas did rescue Alice Munro, but both them were shot down by treacherous Huron as they tried to flee off-table.

    Les, the GM (in red), assists one of his layers as he moves up his Huron to ambush the British

I spoke with Les for a bit after the game and praised his game and adaptions to the rules. I gave him my email address in case he had further questions. I liked how he adjusted the turn sequence so that players would not necessarily have to wait too long if they "crapped out" early on their activation rolls. Typically, I do four players maximum in one game to avoid player frustration when their dice are not cooperating. His system of using a card deck to determine whose turn it was alleviated some of the bad things that poor dice rolling can make occur in multiplayer games of Song of Drums. For only his second game with the rules, he did a great job!

    A U.S. naval landing force of sailors takes position on the rooftops looking for downed airmen

Jason and his high schoolers, Lily and Graham, showed up a bit before the 4pm session. We all decided to get in Mark Young's Banana Wars Mayhem game together. He could take up to nine players and ended up with somewhere around seven, if I remember right. Each of us controlled a faction in early 1900s Nicaragua -- U.S. Marines, Banana Corporation private security, bandits, rebels, and more. I took control of one of the two rebel factions. We each had about 15 or so miniatures (except the more elite Marines and U.S. Naval landing force). The activation order was randomized each turn, which in the end, worked out really well, allowing my rebels to execute their nefarious plans.

    My force of Nicaraguan rebels arrives on the board ready to cause trouble in Banana Wars

Besides being rebels and killing government troops (Jenny's Federales -- I would end up pitted against her all weekend...ha, ha!), we were also on the lookout for two downed U.S. pilots. It would be a feather in our rebel sombreros if we could take possession of them and give them to the leader of our rebel movement (presumably to ransom back to the U.S. for lots of money!). Wouldn't you know it, but the Naval landing force (their to rescue the pilots) came on board to my right, while Jason's bandits entered the table on our left. I immediately began politicking and dissembling. I told the Naval player that we had nothing against the United States. It was our own government we hated and wanted to overthrow for the horrible way it was treating its people. He let me know he was looking for the pilots (everyone had a secret mission), and I told him that I would definitely not fire on him or the pilots. If I found them, I would let him know (heh, heh...).

    Dole Corporation's trucks ferry a shipment of bananas through town, guarded by private security

I moved from the board edge to a large building to our front, and then to another one in front of that on the next turn. We manned the second story windows of the second building looking down the main street. And who should appear in our gun sights but the hated Federales? We shot up Jenny's troops for several turns, though her leader did use his Jedi mind tricks on us to make us miss several times after we'd hit. Apparently, her leader was in charge of the secret police and causes fear in anyone his malicious eyes are turned upon! After a few turns, we'd killed all of Jenny's visible troops (she had others on the opposite sides of buildings, and was busy shooting at pretty much everyone else on the table). She did a great job making the Federales the hated force that they were!

    Jason's bandits arrive on board, hungry and looking for some bananas to steal from Dole

Just then, a rocket flare went up not far from us. I guessed it was the pilots signaling the U.S. forces of their location. We returned closer to our board edge, which fortunately was near where the pilots had secretly moved. The Naval player asked what I was doing and I said that we'd killed all the Federales. Did the sailors need any assistance? He was suspicious, but I'd done nothing negative to him all game, so he seemed satisfied. Soon enough, the pilots ran to the building the sailors had occupied, adjacent to the neighboring building where all my men were huddled. As the last turn began, I hoped we would move after everyone else. Fortune smiled on the Revolution -- everyone else moved before me. 

When our turn finally came, we sprang our treachery and dashed into the sailors' building, seizing control of the pilots. It was likely the last turn, but there was no guarantee I would be able to maintain control of my hostages if we'd played another. So, I told the player controlling the landing party maybe we could come to an agreement. The pilots were apparently carrying a wad of cash to bribe their way out of trouble. I suggested we do a trade. They hand over the cash and I would give them their pilots. He agreed, and thus I declared a "cinematic victory." After all, our fearless leader off-table was going to ransom them anyway, right? I just saved him the trouble! Victory -- with an asterisk!

    A gorgeous looking game I would have LIKED to get in -- 'Mythic Earth' run by Mike Frang

Jason and Lily decided they wanted to go to dinner and skip the evening session of games. Jenny and I agreed, as spending time with them was the main reason we'd decided to attend the convention. Graham is a hard core convention goer, though, and he stayed and played in Renaissance Naval Warfare game. When we returned from dinner (bringing carryout for Graham), we walked around and shopped a bit. Jason and I marveled at the 3-D printed terrain that Bryan Stroup of Garrison 3D had brought. He picked up some Egyptian statues from him, and then admired an Ancient, domed temple. I could tell he wanted it, but Jason is a very deliberate shopper. He's not prone to impulse purchases and likes to think things over. I warned him it might be gone tomorrow, but he stayed true to his nature and held off buying it (until the next evening!). We closed out the night with a game of Settlers of Cataan, which I somehow managed to win (no asterisks this time).

    Deer Hunter, left, moves up to guard our flank while Pork Chop hurries towards cover

As mentioned earlier, I skipped the early session of games. Thankfully, the folks at Bad Goblin Games had saved Jenny and I a spot in the noon running of Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse. We had both played in this game at Historicon 2024 and had a blast. I had chatted with three members of their group Friday and had been encouraging them to follow through on their idea to run it at Cincycon 2025 this March. Two of the members will be in town for work, and they thought, "Why not stay in town for the weekend and attend the convention?" They live in Florida, though, and are flying to Cincinnati. I offered to bring down my own trailers I had bought from them, as well as a game mat and other terrain for them. I hope they follow through. I think Cincycon players would enjoy playing their game.

    Monster truck in the center of the board (at left), is everyone's objective - but first, you need the pig!

It was the same scenario I had played at Historicon, and I even controlled the same faction, aka the "awakened" mutants of Team Road Kill. Jenny had won that game in cinematic fashion. The goal is to seize control of a pig who has a surgically implanted monitor which deactivates a kill switch on a Monster Truck that all four factions were drooling over. If you try to start the truck without the slippery pig with you in the cab...BOOM! The other factions included Jenny's "Bubbas," Dave's Childen of the Soil plant mutations, and Lily's Bubbas. We each began in a corner of the 4'x4' board out of sight of the other factions. 

    Col. Clucker takes advantage of the cover in the trailer park to move towards the board's center

Over the first few turns, we crept forward utilizing the cover (chiefly provided by eight of their trailers, as well as various other buildings, walls, and dumpsters. I really like their activation system. You begin the turn rolling 1d10 per figure you control (we all started with four). Then, each round you secretly choose one of those dice to use that turn. First to activate are 10's, then 9's, and so on. That way, the order of activation switches each round. Some turns you may want to move (or fire) first, other turns you may want the react to what the other players do. There is a card deck, too, which can affect Initiative, protect you from damage, give you an extra turn -- all kinds of interesting possibilities. You draw back up to five cards at the beginning of each turn, though there are some cards you may want to hang onto. I hung onto one the entire game in case a player got a "kill shot" on one of my figs, which thankfully never happened.

    On our left, the Children of the Soil move towards the center, threatening our flank

The pig begins the game on the truck, but then moves about the board controlled randomly by one or more players each round. If the 10-sided die you used to activate that turn matches the one rolled for the pig that round, you get to move it. In a weird statistical occurrence -- which my friends would laugh at and say is just my bad luck -- I think I activated the pig only twice over the entire game. Jenny was fortunate on pig activations, and was the first to grab the pig. Unfortunately for her, that also made her the target for the other players. My leader, Col. Clucker (a mutated chicken) blasted away at Joe, her leader, a couple times along with other players and Jenny was soon down one gang member. I had placed Deer Hunter (a deer armed with a hunting rifle) on my left to keep a bead on the plant people. He ended up killing their Mushroom Man and wounding his large carnivorous plant, Audrey (yes, from the movie). 

    Pork Chop's gambit - sprinting across the street and snatching up his distant porker cousin

My own mutated pig, Pork Chop, dashed into the trailer bordering the street where Joe lay bleeding. Using an extra action card, he dashed across the street, snatched up his distant cousin, all the while keeping an eye on huge, lumbering two-headed Jethro in his bib overalls not far away. Naturally, someone else activated the pig before Pork Chop could carry it towards the monster truck, and I lost the opposed die roll with my 5d10 vs. the pig's 2d10 (there's that statistical occurrence again!). He squirmed away, squealing, "Four legs good, two legs bad!" (Hopefully, some readers get the Animal Farm reference!) Things got real confusing after that. Lily's faction entered the fray, blasting away at Jenny's depleted ranks. She returned the favor, lining up her flame thrower to fire up three of Lily's gang members with one shot!

    The other players, including Jenny's 'Jethro' here, would keep Porkchop from succeeding

As we headed into the last turn, Jenny looked ready to pull off her trailer park magic, again. She played the right combination of cards and one of her gang members scurried to the cab of the monster truck with the pig. Unfortunately for her, she had moved first in that round. EVERYONE opened up on her. Jenny was secretly holding onto a card which allowed her to heal 1d10 wounds immediately. She played it after her last character moved, but before my final one. If she rolled high, she would survive and win. If she failed, I had -- you guessed it -- another nefarious plan. I m-a-y have chanted, "One, one, one!" to influence her roll, which was indeed a "1"! With that, Col. Clucker fluttered down from the sandbag emplacement on a nearby trailer and hopped into the cab with her many-holed corpse, but more importantly, the pig. We pressed the start switch and lobbied for a cinematic victory. I did not have control of the pig, true, but it was already in the cab. So, the truck should rumble to life and not explode, right? 

    As it turned out, the Children of the Soil didn't cause my Team Road Kill any harm

The GM conferred with his partner, and they said they do like to allow for the "Rule of Cool" in their games for strange things that occur. So, they admitted they were leaning towards awarding Team Road Kill the victory, albeit with another asterisk! Either way, it was once again a very fun game that came down to the last turn to decide who would drive off with the monster truck. If you get a chance to play in their game at an upcoming convention (or buy their rules), I encourage you to do so. 

With that, Jenny and I decided to hightail it out of Augusta, Georgia, as snow was forecast the next day in the mountains for our drive home. We stole a march on Mother Nature and made it home shortly after 1am Saturday. I had fun hanging out with Jason and his kids, played in some really fun games, and bought cool stuff from nice vendors. A successful trip to Siege of Augusta! Will I be back next year? Hmm...I do wish they'd fix their event registration system. If so, definitely. If not, I would have to think about it...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

Song of Drums and the Spirit World?

    It's 'Song of Drums and Tomahawks' with mythological creatures from the "Spirit World" added in!

One of my co-authors of Song of Drums and Tomahawks (my French & Indian War rules) mentioned he was intrigued by incorporating fantasy and horror elements in skirmish warfare on the American frontier. Mike S also knew I had done some preliminary research into creatures from various tribal myths with a look towards doing a similarly themed expansion for our rules. Since family and school have my writing tied up for now, I urged him to pursue it.

    "We come from the land of ice and snow..." -- the Viking invaders of Newfoundland

Last night, we sat down with our Sunday evening gaming group and gave it our first playtest. Mike liberally blended rules and traits from various other games in the "Song of..." series, both Basic rules and Advanced. Interestingly, he had set up three one-on-one scenarios from wildly different times on the American frontier. My game against Allen was set in the Middle Ages with Vikings vs. Skraelings in Newfoundland. Mike faced off against Keith in one set during the Salem witch trials. And finally, Joel and Mike's son Jason played English and French forces set upon by a Wendigo. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the other games -- just my own. 

    The shaman urges the Skinwalkers forward, the Bear having already changed into his animal form

Allen took the Vikings and had a force of a Hero, four spearmen, three archers, a priest of Odin, and three brothers who were berserkers/weres. Similarly, I had three Skinwalkers (Bear, Wolf, Puma), a shaman, tribal chieftain, and a half dozen bow armed Skraeling warriors. We each moved our forces up to rocky outcrops in the light woods, while sending forward a handful of troops to scout out the enemy. The difference was I sent my three Skinwalkers to attack the enemy while Allen had sent ordinary Viking warriors. 

    My plan takes shape -- 3 powerful skinwalkers ready to pounce on two ordinary Viking warriors

My plan was to pounce upon the spearmen with my much-tougher Skinwalkers and hopefully get a "gruesome kill" (which Mike was re-introducing into these games). Allen was also struggling with activation rolls, and it looked like my plan was set to be implemented as the three Skinwalkers faced off against two trembling Vikings. Allen's dice came to life, though, and in a flash, three werewolves howled towards my trio and it was now 4 to 3. Still, he hadn't made contact, so I was able to begin the melee on my next turn. I sent the Bear Skinwalker, the mightiest creature on the table, forward to attack the werewolf on the end with a "powerful blow" (-1 to the enemy). Up +2 on the die roll, the mighty bear knocked the werewolf down. My Wolf Skinwalker surged forward and slew the disadvantaged werewolf. First blood to the Skraelings protecting their homeland!

    But it was not to be -- two werewolves race to the aid of the trembling Viking spearmen!

My plan was to next begin working on his ordinary Viking warriors. The chieftain, noticing that his Skraeling warriors were hanging back (bad activation rolls), raced forward to support his mighty skinwalkers. He launched arrow after arrow at the Vikings, keeping them from helping each other. Meahwhile, the Bear-sark Viking changed into his animal form and hurled himself upon the Bear Skinwalker. He was swatted backwards with a mighty sweep of the skinwalker's paw. Time and again, the bear would hurl himself upon his ursine rival. Each time he was driven back or his attack stopped.

    First blood! The Bear Skinwalkers knocks down the werewolf and my Wolf then leaps in for the kill

As a Viking and member of an honor culture, Allen fought fair, one-one-one matchups. My Skraelings had no such scruples. We ganged up on enemy warriors whenever we could. The plan was to try to get a gruesome kill -- tripling an enemy's total in combat. This would cause a morale check for all within a Long distance and likely shatter his line. This should leave more lone, unsupported Vikings to pick off. Eventually, the Wolf and Bear teamed up against a Viking spearmen whose head soon went flying through the air. The Viking line duly fragmented, but none fled the field completely.

    Lucky long range arrow knocks down a Viking warrior while the Puma Skinwalker wades in, too

The Viking leader saw the situation was dire and stepped in to intervene. He charged the Puma Skinwalker and slew it with a might stroke of his sword -- worthy of the Sagas! However, encouraged by their tribe's success, the Skraeling archers had finally crept within range. Whenever a Viking was knocked down by an arrow, a Skinwalkers or the chieftain would race over and finish him off. A key mechanic in Song of Drums and Tomahawks if a combat can result in a figure being knocked down. If they are beaten a second time before they have a chance to clamber to their feet, they are knocked out of action. My rolls that night were definitely better than Allen's. At key moments, I knocked down his troops and then was able to activate another figure to finish it off.

    With his Skraeling bowmen hanging back, the chieftain in red moves forward to support his attack

Morale checks happen when a force falls below half, and Allen was teetering that direction. Soon, he had lost two both of his werewolves (the mighty bear fought on), all four spearmen, and Odin's priest. One more loss and he his force would test morale. The Skraeling chieftain took aim at the Viking warleader and was able to knock him down. The skinwalkers had already acted that turn, so it fell to a Skraeling brave to attempt to finish him off. He raced forward and used his flint knife to slice Olaf's throat as he tried to pull himself to his feet. A mighty roar went up from the tribe's warriors. Victory!

    Skinwalkers then began to attack the Viking warriors, hoping to get a gruesome kill and scatter them

Allen and I agreed to call the game at that point. He had just lost more than half his figures AND his leader, so would likely have men running for their lives at this point. The Skraelings had lost only the Puma. I was very careful about sending my Indians into the fray. The archers had stayed back as a firing line in close support of each other. The chieftain used the skinwalkers as a shield and shot his bow from behind their protection. The trio of skinwalkers stayed close to each other and cooperated well.

    Olaf the Fearless wades into the battle, and in a blow worthy of the Sagas, takes down the Puma

Despite the seeming one-sided nature of the battle, Allen and I had a lot of fun. I definitely think Song of Drums and Tomahawks works with mythical creatures thrown into the mix. I asked the others how their battles went, and they both seemed very close. The magical duel between Keith's native shamans and the freed-from-prison Salem witches was apparently a tightly-contest of wills. Everyone seemed to have fun, so not only was the evening a success, the playtest was off to a great start. Mike plans on running these games at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, June 19-23. So, we will doubtless see more evenings of tweaking the rules and crafting a competitive and fun convention game.

    Bear on bear and wolf on werewolf - the battle in the primeval American forest rages!

The miniatures were a mix of mine and Mike's. The mythical creatures were all his except for my Wendigo, which is a very creepy looking 3-D print from Thingiverse. I have picked up various Reaper Bones or other figures that will work for creatures from various tribes' mythologies. Mike seems intent on painting them up, so my contribution will likely remain either the rank and file or human heroes.

    After Olaf is knocked down by a Skinwalker, a brave native warrior rushes forward and finishes him

If everything goes well with the rules, Mike is interested in publishing an expansion book for this period. He wants to chat with Andrea Sfiligoi from Ganesha Games first, though. Ganesha and First Command Wargames cooperate closely on the "Song of Drums and Tomahawks" line of rules, so we want to make sure he's on board first, as well. So, look for more "Spirit World" games in the future...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 26

Clifftop Battle - Song of Drums and Tomahawks at Historicon 2023

Huron raiders lead women and children captives north to Canada after their attack on a Seneca village

Most people remember the climactic skirmish on the clifftops in the movie The Last of the Mohicans. So, it was only natural that when I first got into the French & Indian War, that I'd want to re-stage that fight. I created a scenario actually using Magua, Hawkeye, and their companions and ran it years ago for Cold Wars 2015. When deciding which scenario to run at Historicon 2023, I decided to bring that one back out. Well, a version of it, that is! I didn't include the heroes, but instead players represented either Huron raiders leading away captives or their Seneca men attempting to rescue them. In fact, this scenario, Clifftop Battle, will be in our upcoming scenario book which is entering its final editing stages.

    Overhead view of the board for the 'Clifftop Battle' featuring my scratch-built cliff sections

Another reason that I wanted to bring this battle back is because the scenery is gorgeous. I feel it is perhaps some of the best that I have ever scratch-built. I created my three cliff pieces by using two different sizes of wooden boxes turned upside down and glued to styrene plastic. The cliffs were covered with pine bark which actually looks very realistic depicting a rocky cliff. For anyone interested in doing the same, I followed this series of steps:

• Dry out the pine bark in the sun thoroughly
• Glue it to the surface (I used Tacky Glue) and fill in whatever gaps between the pieces with Woodland Scenics ballast
• Thoroughly spray paint it black
• Brush paint it with a mix of 50/50 acrylic black paint and water, so it seeps into crevices
  
• Dry brush it in 2-3 shades of either gray or bleached brown
• Seal it thoroughly with clear coat

    Huron warriors leader their captives along the clifftops back towards their villages in Canada

I looked for my blog post on creating the cliffs, but I must have done them before I began this (relatively) newer Google Blog. So, don't bother searching Lead Legionaries for it -- sorry! Anyway, I really like how these cliffs turned out and they are always nice eye candy when you're trying to attract people to your table. And since getting people's attention was kind of the whole point of our First Command Wargames visit to Historicon, the Clifftop Battle was on!

    The way was long, rocky, and hard for the captives, who were suffering and exhaused

In this version, Huron warriors have raided a Seneca village while most of the men were out hunting. They captured a number of women and children and headed north across the mountains towards Canada. They plan to adopt them into their tribe to replace losses from the unending tribal warfare. The returning Seneca hunters discover what has happened and race to catch them. Using pathways unfamiliar to the Huron, they send one party ahead to cut off their march while pursuing with the rest of their force. When the battle begins, one Huron party including four captives is on the tall, center clifftop section and the other is behind it. Their goal is to make it off the opposite corner edge and off-table. The mission of the Seneca is simple -- rescue their women and children!

    Shots ring out, echoing from hillsides -- the Seneca rescuers have arrived and are attacking!

As I mentioned in the previous post, all four of our events were completely full with 8 players (four each in Clifftop Battle and four in Attack on Fort Michilimackinac). Since I was running the fort scenario, I didn't get to see much of the action in the four runnings of this skirmish. I heard everyone had fun -- which is the main point, of course. Also, the running score was fairly close. The Huron won twice, Seneca once, and they tied the fourth time. The only tweak we made over the course of the games was to allow Seneca Player One to move first before Huron One (followed by Seneca Two and finally Huron Two). Jenny said this really tightened the scenario up even more. I'll be sure to make that change in the scenario book, too -- although we have played this one a number of times, already. 

    Seneca rescuers have freed two of their women from their ropes and prepare to lead them to safety

Both sides have important tactical decisions to make. Once the Seneca catch up and force battle, they need to decide whether to focus on freeing captives or killing Huron. On the other hand, the Huron need to decide how big of a rearguard to leave to delay the Seneca and how big of an escort to send ahead with the captives. Too small of a rearguard and they will be overwhelmed. Too big and Seneca can race ahead and steal away women and children from their string of prisoners.

    The steep terrain hampered both the Huron raiders and the Seneca rescuers

The game had a suitable climactic finish in our final running. Four friends signed up to play and they were quickly lubricated with the white man's "fire water." War whoops were let out and dice rolls were celebrated -- exchanging historical Indian high fives...ha, ha! It was obvious they were having an absolute blast. Poor Phil Viverito's players gaming his World War I trench game did not seem as thrilled as the volume steadily escalated during the evening! Still, sitting down with friends, rolling dice and having fun, is the core of what we do as wargamers. It warmed our hearts to provide the opportunity for fellow gamers who would obviously go to their rooms razzing each other about each other's successes and failures.

    A string of captives descend the cliff path nearing the board edge -- their hopes of rescue dashed!

All in all, Jenny and I had a great time running Song of Drums and Tomahawks at Historicon. If you are interested in a quick, fast-moving set of skirmish rules that are easy to pick up...and ahem, obviously fun...I recommend them highly. Of course, the fact that I wrote them along with my friends Keith and Mike has NOTHING to do with that at all! At only $15 a print copy, how can you go wrong?

    A close up of my native women figures with one brave escorting them along the path

Some photos taken by one of our players at Historicon, Charles Sherrange

    Seneca warriors race to catch up with the Huron rearguard and exact their vengeance

    High above the forests below, Huron raiders lead their captives along the cliffs

    A desperate struggle ensues at the exit from the cliffs between Seneca and Huron warriors

    Massed on the cliffs, the Huron warparty readies itself to repel the Seneca attack