Demo Day at Dragons Lair in Polaris area (Columbus, OH)

Indianola Mohawks check out O'Brian's Pot O' Gold motel at our recent game day at Dragons Lair

Our marketing specialist Jason Stelzer arranged a day at the Dragons Lair Comics & Fantasy game store in the Polaris area in Lewis Center, OH. We ran two of our rules sets, the ever-popular Song of Drums and Tomahawks and our most recent rules set, Mean Streets. There was quite the crowd in the store with lots of traffic, especially around our 1pm start time. 

    Jason teachers Song of Drums & Tomahawks to two store customers who said they had a great time

Jason kicked things off running the "Wagon Train Through Peril" scenario for Song of Drums and Tomahawks. This game features two or more families loaded up into wagons and trying to make the safety of a frontier block house across the river before being ambushed by rampaging frontier tribesmen. Jason had a number of players and ran through parts of the scenario three times over the course of two hours. Tim P and Jeff G, local historical miniatures enthusiasts, also showed up to join in on the fun. They played out one vignette while Jason walked two new players through on the other half of the board.

    A family seeks to escort a wagon with women & children through woods full of raiding tribesmen

The new players seemed to enjoy themselves, and at least one of them purchased the rules (which hopefully Dragons Lair will be carrying soon). There were a lot of swings in action with the women in children in the wagons getting in their swings against attacking Indians, as well. Cheers rang out through the store as crucial rolls saw a frontier family scoring successes or falling captive.

    Local gamers Tim P and Jeff P showed up to play the scenario and join in on the fun

Kirk, one of the new players, wanted to try another scenario so he staged a bloody attack on the blockhouse as a second game. It looked like his tribe's warriors couldn't summon up the courage to sprint across the open area into the blockhouse to attack, at first. However, overconfidence and aggression at leaving the door open and taking the attack to the Indians proved to be the downfall of the blockhouse defenders. Eventually, Kirk's warriors summoned up the courage (and activation rolls) to make a push through the door and into the blockhouse itself.

    Indian raiders hidden behind stumps open fire on a family wagon, seeking captives and mayhem

It was a bitter struggle inside the thick, wooden walls, but eventually the frontier fortification fell as the final Indian warrior took control of the upper levels. It was a good time and Jason did a great job teaching the game to new players.

    A 4-gang game of Mean Streets followed as our second event at the Dragons Lair

After a quick tear-down and set up, we ran Mean Streets for four players. I got a chance to play in this game and it proved that just because you wrote the rules doesn't mean you're the best at playing them! I controlled my Hispanic street gang, the Santanas, whose objective was to make it to the far corner of the table and steal a car from the Shell Service Station. Also vying for ownership of the streets were the Franklinton Flippos in their creepy clown masks, the Hilltop Highlanders, and our nemesis this game, the Indianola Mohawks.

    Jason's Mohawks were out for blood (and a little revenge against my gang, The Santanas)

Jason took on the role of the Mohawks and came after my gang right away once we made it out onto the main street intersection. He may have regretted picking a fight with my leather-jacketed thugs as our counter-punch knocked two of his gang members out of action. One of them was his Warchief, so I was feeling pretty pleased! I was also a bit overconfident, as I sent El Lobo, one of the Santantas' punks, away on an "end around" to complete our mission. Thinking my four Santanas could easily take out his three remaining Mohawks, I misjudged the situation.

    The Franklinton Flippos took the scenic route to their eventual goal of stealing some brews

While the Franklinton Flippos feinted at the diner and then headed for their true destination, Wallace's Brew Pub, the battle raged between Mohawk and Santana. Meanwhile, the Highlanders chased the clowns to no avail, eventually busting into the diner to fulfill their own mission of convincing the owner to put their gang on the "take." Four West Side gang members have a way of doing that when surrounding and putting a beat-down on an elderly restaurant owner!

    El Lobo, Manana, and Julio check out the action in front of the O'Brian Motel early in the game

Things slowly deteriorated in my battle with the Mohawks. Maybe, with her length of chain knocked out one of my Warchief Cruz and then another one of my gang members. Pretty soon, Julio was battling it out with three Mohawks who had him surrounded. He gave as well as he got, but pretty soon succumbed to overwhelming numbers. 

    

    Suddenly, our gang boss Julio is bum-rushed by a horde of freakish Mohawks out for blood!

Still, it was fun to get the gangs on the Mean Streets of Columbus, again. Dragons Lair is a nice, clean, well-lit shop and had a lot of customers of all ages roaming the aisles and playing games. The managers encourage folks to reserve a table and run a game, so the First Command Wargames crew will certainly be back -- probably in January! If you haven't already, check out this game store on the north side of Columbus.

        

   The Santanas rally to their gang boss's side and soon begin to knock out a couple punk rockers

    Meanwhile, the Highlanders follow the Flippos to their target: Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner

    Initially, things are looking good for the Santanas, as we knock out two Mohawks

    The tide turns and soon Julio is on his own fighting Mohawk gang boss Sid and Ian and Maybel

    While the Mohawks and Santanas were rumbling, the Flippos were crashing the brew pub for beers

    Early in the game, the Mohawks investigate O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel

Gang Rumble in Downtown Lancaster, PA

    A terrified pedestrian backs against a wall as the Flippos arrive in downtown Lancaster

For the first time in years, the First Command Wargames crew was heading to a big convention to run our games. Five of us had scheduled events at Historicon 2022 in downtown Lancaster, PA. I would be running Mean Streets on Thursday night and Friday morning. Jenny would be helping me run Wars of Insurgency on Friday night and Saturday morning. I had created a terrain setup that would be usable for both games, which minimized the amount we had to haul east and pack and unpack out of the convention. Meanwhile, Mike S and his son Jason would be running Battles on the American Frontier using Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules. Steve V would be running his Battle of Mollwitz, 1741, using his War of Austrian Succession supplement for his For King or Empress rules.

    Two gangs of bitter rivals battle it out on the Mean Streets - the Flippos and the Mohawks

Kicking it all off was my Gang Rumble in Lancaster Mean Streets scenario. I have to admit, I did nothing to make my terrain resemble downtown Lancaster, PA. Until this point, I had never even been to the downtown portion. I was pleasantly surprised at all the historic buildings and the many restaurants, markets, and brewpubs there were within walking distance of the convention center. Jenny and I arrived Wednesday night and met up with Jason M, who had reserved the rooms and been very helpful reminding us when event registration opened and so on. One of our regular Sunday night gamers, Andy, also arrived Wednesday night. We met him and his roommates Tim and Don for beers on a rooftop bar that evening. It was an enjoyable way to begin a weekend convention.

    Our Thursday night group of players start to rumble on my downtown battleground

The convention actually began on Wednesday, but its first main day was Thursday. After breakfast, Jenny and I grabbed a hotel cart and took the terrain, miniatures, and First Command rule books up to our table. The Historicon staff was very gracious and placed all three of our event tables adjacent to each other. We hoisted our First Command Wargames banner and (I think) made a nice presence in the Commonwealth room. It took less than an hour to set up the terrain for Mean Streets. I was given an 8'x5' table, which gave elbow room for the players with my 5'x4' setup. I was really pleased with how the table looked. In the last couple months, I have made some tweaks to my urban terrain. I've added cork squares as the asphalt streets to place between the acrylic floor tiles which resemble gray concrete. The latest addition were my street medians, which I had scratch-built using wooden molding decorated with Woodland Scenics street lamps and small shrubs and flowers. The scratch built guardrails on each end with their yellow and black pattern really set them off. I find it is the little things like the medians that often make a table "pop" and draw attention.

    The martial arts gang, the Daos, stand their ground as the Santanas approach in their leather jackets

Once we were finished setting up the terrain, we wandered through the rest of the convention center to check out the early games that were under way. One that stuck out to me in particular was the Have Gun Will Travel Old West game. His game spread across several tables popping with eye candy, including a mine lit with electric lights and a native American cliff dwelling. When the Exhibit Hall opened at noon, I was able to take my time and get my shopping fix in right away. I didn't want to buy a lot on the first day, though, because Jason would be trying to sell my last three 15mm DBA armies in the flea market. If they all sold, I'd get an influx of more than $300, so I was going to buy only the things I really needed Thursday. Or, at least that's what I told myself! I'll cover my purchases in the next post covering my Wars of Insurgency game.

    The Kings, in their black and green gang colors stalk towards the gas station to join the rumble

I had a very relaxing start to the day, and was ready to go when 7pm and rolled around and the first session of Gang Rumble in Lancaster was set to begin. The table was completely full - as were all four of my sessions of both games. I find that if you can set up your game early, place a sign telling potential players which event it is, then your terrain can sometimes recruit those last spots to fill up. That was my #1 reason for getting set up first thing that morning. Most gamers at Historicon don't know me or my games like folks back home in HMGS Great Lakes country. I'm lucky back home that enough people have had fun in one of my previous games that my events tend to fill up.

    A Flippo tries to convince a market stall owner to pay protection money (their gang mission)

The scenario is my standard one for Mean Streets. There were six players, each controlling their own gang. I chose my most eye-catching gangs, which for this game would be the Flippos in their clown masks, the punk rock Mohawks, the leather jacketed Santanas, the black and green Kings, the Highlanders in their checkered pants, and the Daos in their purple and yellow martial arts attire. Each gang would have a Primary mission, which might be stealing a car from the service station garage, shoplifting at the general store, or shaking down merchants for "protection money."

    Meanwhile, Ramona of the Santanas sneaks into the service station bay to steal a car

Each gang also had a secondary mission, which was to get some payback on a rival gang that had put a "beat down" on them last week. I selected the target gang so that every gang had one other going after them. Finally, all gangs had the additional way of earning victory points by "tagging" buildings with their gang logo. Players received a stack of foam circles emblazoned with each gang's logo. Players also lost victory points for each of their gang members knocked out of action.

    A late-arriving police officer puts knocks down a Flippo with one blow from his billy club

After one of my CincyCon games, I have a special mechanism I've installed in my gang warfare games. If a player is essentially knocked out of the game with all (or nearly all) of his gang members down for the count, I have that player control a police car which arrives on the scene. The player is given complete control over where to bring it on and what he wants the two policemen to do. They can get payback on the player who beat them up, try to take out the one that appears in the lead, or just have fun with it. I tell the other players that they hear sirens. This also has the effect of encouraging players to wrap up their missions and heading for the board edge. I don't tell them the game is moving towards a conclusion, but by this time, they are getting into their role of a street thug and they begin to think it might be a good idea to take their winnings and skedaddle!

    Julio, gang boss of the Santanas, and his warchief Cruz catch Kira in the act of tagging their turf

I thought about writing separate battle reports for Thursday evening's and Friday morning's games. However, I figured that might get a bit redundant. I liked how the balance worked out, though. The gang that scored the most victory points on Thursday, the Flippos with 21, actually scored the least on Friday. Similarly, the winner on Friday, the Mohawks, were in the bottom half of scores on Thursday. Some players were laser-focused on their primary missions. For example, the Kings on Friday barely engaged in any scuffles with other gangs until they had completed their mission. Once they each had a six-pack of beer under their arm, they returned to the street ready to rumble. Other gangs ignored their mission for most of the game and concentrated on attacking or evading other gangs. The Daos did that on Thursday, and it ended up causing them to fail to complete their mission of convincing the owner of Finn's Factory to pay protection money. In fact, Manager Keith bloodied the nose of the punk who tried to rough him up!

    The other Mohawks come to avenge Kira's knockout, while the Kings decide to join the fray

One thing that was common in both games was much of the mayhem centered on the gas station near the center of the board. The wide open space and clear path to rival gang members was too much for most players to resist. At one point, nearly every gang was involved in a huge scrum in the center of the board. Mohawks traded punches with Santanas, while Kings and Daos duked it out in front of the alarmed patrons of the Shell station. When I am setting up scenario, I make it a point for each gang to have to traverse the board to a far side to complete their missions. So, a player who starts in the middle of one of the long edges of the board will likely have to go to an opposite corner to reach their objective.  If you were to draw arrows from where gangs deployed to where they ended up, you'd see the arrows intersecting many times in the middle of the board.

    The Santanas don't look happy that other gangs have muscled in on their turf - the gas station!

Adding in the secondary mission of wanting payback against a certain gang, and making knocking their figures out of action worth double points, usually tempts them away from focusing only on their primary mission. The player may have planned to stay on target, but when they see a punk from a rival gang by himself, they can't help but dash in and beat him up! Honestly, I feel that if players just moved around the board and tagged buildings and then beat up shopkeepers, it would be a fairly boring game. That's why I structure my victory points and starting positions/objectives to encourage them to mix it up. I am always reminded of my old friend Eric's frustration in a game when no casualties were being removed and it was mostly maneuver. He pounded the table with his fist in mock anger saying, "I just want to kill something!"

    The Flippos and their creepy clown masks are always a scary sight on the streets

Keeping Eric's adage in mind means my games and scenarios are designed to allow players to inflict casualties. Mean Streets' combat system reinforces this. When a gang member wins a combat, he either inflicts a wound on an opponent (permanently giving that street punk a -1 to further rolls...and wounds ARE cumulative), doubles them and inflicts twice as many wounds plus a special effect for the weapon the figure is armed with, or triples them knocking that figure out of action. No matter how mild mannerd a player may be in real life, there is a visceral thrill to beating up the rival players' street punks. This is YOUR turf and you're the baddest street gang out there!

    What's this? A truce between the Santanas and Highlanders to go beat up other gangs??

And speaking of casualties, both games saw the police car arrive on board late game. This time, I told the player the cops are armed with billy clubs but also have their pistol. They could choose whether to shoot the gang member or just try to beat up the punk. Surprisingly, no shots were fired this time around, but the officers did knock out a punk or two! The arrival of the police car always seems to light up the table. Players smile and pull out their cell phones to take pictures. Maybe I should find on that has actual flashing LED lights? Or maybe I should get a police siren sound effect on my phone and play it when the cops arrive? The thing a GM wants is for his or her players to have fun. Anything that adds to the thrill is worth looking into!

    The colorful Mohawks are one of my favorite gangs - most figs are modified from The Assault Group

Speaking of which, all the players said they had a great time. It is always satisfying to hear your players say that, and even more when they are excitedly recapping events in the game. As a rules designer, I love to hear players say, "Hey, I could use these rules for ____!" Mean Streets seems to get those comments more than any other system. It is a "toolkit" kind of system which can be accessorized and added to so that it fits a different period. I have run this same engine for French & Indian War frontier raids and even Pulp adventures in the South Seas. 

    In both runnings of the game, a swirling melee broke out in the back alley near the gas station

This was our first time coming to a convention and having several vendors already stocking our rules. So, although we had a small holder with a copy of the rules we were using on the table for our games, we did not have the whole line displayed like we have done at other conventions. We told players where they could buy the rules in the Exhibit Hall and encouraged them to to get it from them (even though we make less on wholesale to vendors than retail to players). As a company, we realize we can't be at every convention running games and then selling them off of our table. We need those vendors out there taking our rules to shows, putting them on their websites, and so on.

    The back alley rumble gets bloody as more gang members wade in with chains, clubs, and knives

One of our vendors told me that people must have had fun with Mean Streets because there was a "run" on the rules he had. That was satisfying to hear. Only a dozen people total participated in the two sessions of Gang Rumble in Lancaster, but you hope your game creates a "buzz" as they tell their friends and others how much fun they had. Based on vendor feedback, First Command Wargames' trip to Historicon was a success. Based on my players' comments, it was a knockout success!

    Mean Streets cover was drawn by one of my students - pick up a copy if you don't have one already!

A Different Kind of Battle Report

    Click here or on the photo to read my comic book style after action report on my Mean Streets game

I took my Mean Streets game up to Drums at the Rapids 2022 this past weekend. Both of my games were completely full and the players said they had a blast. I wasn't 100% sure introducing a new class of characters (Heroes) above Gang Bosses would work. I found that there is definitely enough granularity in the d6 system when paired with multiple modifiers that results were no preordained. There were heroes knocked out of action and there were heroes who were still up and fighting at the end of the game.

    The gangs begin to arrive and are met  in the streets by the Bexley Blockwatch in 'Invasion: Bexley'

In fact, more than one player seemed excited about creating new abilities (Skills in Mean Streets) for the heroes. I'd added a few for the scenario and don't think any were particularly over or under powered. My mind has been whirring with new ideas -- usually when I'm trying to sleep! Does anyone else have that problem? I seem to get a lot of game system ideas while I am lying in bed trying to shut my brain down and go to sleep. I thought of a character who can choose to abort an enemy attack (leaping backwards out of contact) by sacrificing one of their future actions. The player selects to do that immediately before the dice are rolled, giving them a chance to negate a badly disadvantageous melee roll. I also thought of one who can choose to attack while executing a Run action anywhere along the path of his movement. Normally, if you choose to Run (as opposed to Move) you may not attack. Pair that ability with Sprinter and you have a Quicksilver/Flash type character.

    The players controlling the street gangs got victory points for knocking out the scattered civilians

Another idea I had was for a character who plows into an enemy, receiving a bonus for movement in a straight line on the same turn as their attack. I know I should probably also come up with some heroes with missile type attacks. I am worried that it may be overwhelmingly powerful if others can't respond -- especially if they stick to the rooftops and hurl attacks at the characters below them. I don't know, though, maybe I just need to try it and it will work out.

    One of the hero abilities was being able to leap from a rooftop and land on an enemy below

Either way, the response to my games was positive enough that I will keep working on new hero abilities. I should also find a source for miniatures, too, while I am at it!

Indianola Mohawks close in on an unsuspecting Bexley citizen in their bid to take over the streets

By the way, summer is here, so what else is on my painting or project table? Number one was to finish gluing the shields and weapons on for my 28mm Republican Roman Saga army. I am going to do a first and mail it off to Ted Bender to be painted. I know it is so far down the list of me getting to it that I figured I would help Ted out and give him some business! I also have another batch of six 28mm Mongol horse archers for my Saga army. A few more batches and I will actually be finished with this army! An entirely mounted army tends to paint up a bit more slowly than foot ones! Now that it is summer, I also hope to be able to finish up a few odds and ends for my post-Apocalyptic games so I can begin running them for the Sunday night gang. So, it should be a busy summer for me, painting-wise. So, stay tuned...and check out my comic book style battle report on the game at Drums!

Playtest for Drums Mean Streets Game

 

    A tense night in Bexley - members of the Blockwatch await the feared invasion of street gangs

The next wrinkle planned for my Mean Streets gang warfare miniatures game was to add a completely new class of character: the masked vigilante. Or - if you prefer - crime fighter....or hero. This is not to be a comic book character of the stature of Thor, the Hulk, or Iron Man. This is more along the lines of the gritty, dark characters from the Watchmen (minus Dr. Manhatten). 

    Brave members of the Bexley Blockwatch gather on Main Street to face off against the street gangs

For those who have played Mean Streets, you know that in ascending order there are troop types known as Wimps (civilians), Punks (ordinary gang members), Warchiefs (second in command of a gang), and Gang Boss. Their base Combat Ratings (CR) are 0, 2, 4, and 6. Well, I planned to make Heroes an "8." Would that break the system? It *IS* a d6 system - mean you roll 1d6 and add your CR. However, there are enough modifiers that it should be mathematically possible for a Punk to win a combat against a Hero. Unlikely, yes, but possible. So, I was eager to see if adding in 8's would break my system, so to speak.

    Sid leads the Indianola Mohawks across Main Street and into Bexley to bust some heads!

The scenario was that three local street gangs had called a truce to invade the wealthy suburb of Bexley (Columbus near East side). It is Saturday night and there is a police convention, with many of Bexley's boys in blue attending. The gangs figure it's a perfect night to invade and put the squeeze on various businesses. The local residents of Bexley have formed the Bexley Blockwatch -- middle aged men armed with golf clubs, pool cues, and walking sticks -- to fight back against the increasing wave of gang violence showing up on their formerly quiet streets. They have gotten wind of the planned invasion and a few brave souls have ventured out to face off against the street gangs.

    The Green Ghost appears and descends the stairs to haunt the plans of the street gangs

The Bexley Blockwatch is outnumbered and outclassed. They are all "Punk" class, with no Warchiefs or Gang Bosses. So, they're doomed, right? The bad guys are going to win, right? Well, my new twist on Mean Streets postulates some determined and frankly pissed off souls wanting to strike back against the hoodlums trying to take over the streets. These brooding men (and women, maybe one day?) have trained themselves to peak fitness. They have no real super powers, but use equipment, martial arts, and even fear to aid their one-man battle against the scum of the streets. I am creating a few new Skills to cover "heroic" abilities, such as leaping off a building and landing on an unsuspecting enemy to make a dramatic entrance (and essentially a double attack, with the unwilling human cushion taking the hero's falling damage).

    Surrounded by four punks, Dark Crusader is battered into unconsciousness

The classic hero is Dark Crusader, who wears a deep purple cape, blood red and gray costume, and has the Blackbelt Skill from Mean Streets. He also has Heroic Leap/Climb (mentioned above, but also allowing scaling buildings at twice the speed and the ability to leap across alley ways from rooftop to rooftop with no Tricky move roll. I also gave him Sprinter from the rules, giving him a 50% faster move. For his miniature, I used a Sgt. Major Miniatures post-apocalyptic figure that I added a cape to with green stuff. I painted his mohawk as part of his mask and think it turned out fairly well.

    The Green Ghost and a Blockwatch member are swarmed by members of the Franklinton Flippos

Another hero who received the Heroic Leap was Green Ghost. I used a spooky, cultist-type miniature I'd picked up at the Guardtower on one of our Saga days. His ghostly green mask and gloves radiates in a haunting way, which along with his immense size, make him a "Scary Mutha" - another Skill from Mean Streets but upgraded for Heroes. Anyone who tries to move into melee contact with Green Ghost or attack him must roll a Morale Check. Failure means the action is wasted.

    The Mohawks enter the Shell Station to knock out some civilians for easy victory points

Finally, the man who has bought the best equipment to augment his hand-to-hand combat skill is Captain Steel. I used a miniature of a policeman in riot gear but painted in metallic colors instead. He carries a heavy steel shield, truncheon, and wears a bulletproof vest reinforced with metal plates. I created a new Heroic Skill called, "Armored/Shield." It allows the figure to roll 2d6 (instead of 1d6) when attacked by an enemy and choose the best result. Note that it does not come into play when Captain Steel is attacking. 

    The Flippos strut through an alleyway headed towards Main Street and a night of mayhem

So, how did the heroes fare in our playtest? Only one hero went down and was knocked out of action -- Dark Crusader began his crimefighting career on a low note. Green Ghost, on the other hand, almost single-handedly held off the Franklinton Flippos. The player controlling him (and his three Bexley Blockwatch extras) was incredibly bold. He had his three Blockwatch members charge across the street the moment any of the Flippos showed their clown-masked face. Green Ghost appeared in the motel across the street, descended the stairs and had to hurry to catch up with Bexley's bold defenders. The Ghost was immediately mobbed by a number of Flippos, but in true superhero style, he knocked out one after the other. When he knocked out the Gang Boss, the clown-faced thugs scattered. At that point, it was pretty obvious Green Ghost had made his mark in Bexley.

    A giant melee breaks out in the middle of Main Street, with Captain Steel inspiring the Blockwatch

A huge melee broke out involving two gangs against the Blockwatch and both Dark Crusader and Captain Steel. Pity the poor El Lobo, the Gang Boss of the Santanas, when he got "ganged up" on by both heroes. It was long before he was face down and out of action in the middle of the street. But the Indianola Mohawks poured in their gang members, too. The fight raged back and forth, and mighty Dark Crusader was pummeled into unconsciousness. I have added a feature for my convention games that if a player's figures are mostly or all knocked out of action, I have them appear on the board as a police car with two troopers. I warned the heroes that these cops don't like any costumed freaks -- whether gang members or illegal vigilantes. Luckily for me, Allen lost pretty much all of his troops and brought the police car onto the table so I could playtest that, too.

    Dark Crusader has joined the huge melee and gang members begin to fall

I had also placed about 20 civilians in the businesses across the street from where the gangs enter. Only the Mohawks made it a priority to send a few punks after the civilians to rack up easy victory points by knocking them out. On the other side, only Captain Steel's player sent one of his Blockwatch members to warn the civilians to flee the buildings and go out the back doors. I told the heroes that the civilians won't move unless instructed by either a Blockwatch member or a hero. One budding Bexley Paul Revere ran from building to building warning the timid civilians to flee for their lives. 

    The Blockwatch member heading into the brewpub is playing Paul Revere and warning civilians out

All six of my players seemed to be having fun. The game moved VERY fast, since I abandoned the Initiative phase for this scenario. Since it is a two side game, I had all three players of one side move, then their opponents, then the first side, and so on. I think quick-moving games are important for conventions, so I was happy this made it go faster than the normal free-for-alls that I run where each player dices each turn for initiative order.

    The arrival of a police car with two troopers prompted most of the street punks and heroes to flee

Who won? Well, the gangs scattered when the cop car's flashing lights appeared on Main Street. The heroes also beat a hasty retreat into the shadows, now that law and order had been reestablished. As the two police officers chased a few gang members, no one noticed two gray-clad figures sneak onto the table. They picked up the unconscious form of Dark Crusader and carried him off-table before the cops returned. Were they saving him? Were they kidnapping him? And what did their gray, ninja-like robes emblazoned with a red shuriken mean? Stay tuned for more episodes of Invasion: Bexley to find out!

    Time for some action! The Mohawks cross Main Street to join the fighting