Four More Survivors (Replacements?) for Zombie RV

    4 more survivors for my Zombie RV games because...well, other ones "got 'et'!" Ha, ha

I decided that it would be a good idea to paint up the occasional survivor for my Zombie RV games just in case we continue to lose people. A couple weeks ago, I dug through my unpainted lead and picked out a eight armed with melee weapons or various firearms. This is the first of those eight. A batch of four replacements - two with pistols, two with melee weapons.

Once again, these 28mm miniatures are from various manufacturers. The tall guy holding two pistols is a Foundry figure from their Street Violence line in the "Scabies Punks" set. The two bald guys are from Battle Valor Games. The policemen was purchased in a flea market, so I honestly don't know what line he comes from. He's very tall, and the slotta base (ugh - I hate those things!) doesn't help with him looming over the other figures!

    My favorite of the batch from Foundry's 'Street Violence' range -- Mick, armed with two pistols

My favorite is the Foundry fig. His musculature really popped with the dark flesh wash I do in the beginning and the brown wash that I do at the end. The leather harness holding his magazines looks great, but my favorite part of how I decided to paint his pants. I went with black pants and metallic decoration on them. The stripe down the leg I painted in an almost florescent green to go with his punk rocker red mohawk and droopy mustache. I was tempted to do some tattoos on him, too, but honestly completely forgot about it! Still, he stands out from the other four already, so I guess he didn't really need the tats!

    Because my friend Keith wanted it, here's a survivor named 'Moe' -- from Battle Valor Games

The two bald guys are very similar figs, just armed with different weapons. Interestingly, they came form different packs. One is from Pulp 06A Civilian/Survivors and the other from Pulp 05A Civilians/Survivors on Battle Valor Games' website. So, to differentiate them more I painted one up black and the other white. I tried to use ordinary looking clothes as these are supposed to be survivors of the zombie apocalypse, not uniformed troops. In Zombie RV, replacements for your gang typically come with just a melee weapon. I wanted to make sure I had a couple of these guys ready in case, you know, the zombies get hungry! Once again, I thought about giving them logo wear or some sort of writing or decoration on their jackets. I ended up deciding not to do it as I couldn't think of anything to inspire me. Lame excuse, I know!

    I like this pose holding the flashlight in one hand and his pistol in the other - not sure who it is from!

The police officer is a pretty cool pose. I like how he is holding the flashlight in one hand and has his pistol raised in the other. Since Rick in the Walking Dead TV series was a police officer, it makes sense that some cops would survive the initial apocalypse. I mean, they're armed and have the training, right? I painted his uniform up to match my other police officers that I painted long ago for both Pulp and my Mean Streets gang warfare rules. He painted up very quickly, considering there are basically two clothes/uniform colors on him!

    An almost identical pose to 'Moe,' C.J. from Battle Valor Games is armed with a knife instead

I decided to go ahead and name these survivors. I found out what happens when I let my players name them...ha, ha! Still, in deference to my friend Keith, I gave him a "Moe." He won't get a "Schmoe," but at least he has one of the names he chose out of thin air the first time we played Zombie RV. So, what else is on my painting desk? LOTS! I have an emergency batch of 9 Dark Age peasants that I hope to get done in time for Sunday's game. Not sure it is going to happen, though, since it is Wednesday as I type this and I have only the flesh completed. I also have some more Sci-Fi terrain and one or two other oddball things. So, stay tuned to see what gets finished next...!

    Another look at the whole crew - and the police department die cast pickup I got at the grocery store!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 239

Giant 28mm Water Tower from Bad Goblin Games

    28mm water tower, 3-D printed from Bad Goblin Games -- a bargain at only $20!

Some of my favorite purchases this past summer at Historicon 2024 were from the Bad Goblin Games booth. This water tower was one of them. It has been looming over my painting desk since I brought it home in July, impatiently waiting for me to get it painted and ready for the tabletop. It'll be perfect for modern and post-apocalyptic games, and a nice piece of eye candy on the tabletop. Probably the most amazing thing about it to me was that it cost only $20! They also make a ruined one, by the way...

    Big Bass or my survivor group the Bass Reeves checks out the view from halfway up the tower

It is 3-D printed, so I gave it my usual treatment that I do for terrain. I spray painted it black first with Krylon acrylic paint and then went over it with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint when dry. I went back and forth about what color to paint it. My current water tower, a 15mm MDF one bought years ago from Impudent Mortals, is painted in a steel color. I like how it looks and have used it numerous times in my 28mm games, too. I mean, how tall is a water tower supposed to be to be "in scale?" So, I decided to copy that minus the rust effects I gave the MDF one. I struggled over the "to rust or not to rust" decision for awhile, too, but in the end thought it might look best with no rust on it.

My base coat was one of my favorite metallic craft paints, a Folk Art bottle called "Gunmetal Gray." I left the grooves between the square steel plating black, but painted the rest of it entirely in that color. Next, I used another Folk Art craft metallic called Pewter and did highlights were I thought the sun would be shining off of the tower. Parts that were underneath or would likely be in shadow I left that base coat. Finally, inside the irregularly shaped patches of Pewter, I added a splash of Bright Silver.

    I went back and forth how to paint the water tower but ended up going with boring steel...ha, ha!

This is typically the recipe I use for large, steel-colored metallic areas on miniatures or terrain. I really like how it looks once I put a black wash over it. The effect is to soften the lines between the different colors and blend it all together. Except this time it didn't. To me, the Pewter and Silver patches stand out too brightly still. At first I thought maybe I was being too critical of my work. Once it is all flocked and on the tabletop, it will look great, I told myself. Except I am still unhappy with it. No, I'm not going to repaint it or sell it or throw it away, or anything like that. It's just that normally I am fairly excited about how my terrain looks. The water tower is an exception.

    Out of breath from the climb, Big Bass admires the view from high above the tabletop

I would love to hear from readers of the blog what they think. Am I being too critical of myself? Who knows? Maybe next convention I see Bad Goblin Games at I will buy another one (it's only $20!) and try again next year...ha, ha! The flocking was done similar to how I do my standard bases with an irregular dirt and grass look. After finishing it, I also debated whether to "junk it up" with trash, discarded machinery bits, or whatever. In the end, I decided not to do that. Still, there certainly was a lot of indecision and self-doubt going on with this terrain piece!

Either way, though, the water tower itself is an amazing piece of 3-D printed terrain. The only modification I did to mine was to cut a hole in the upper platform so that the ladder comes up from the basket and through the hole. I had to cut to size the two 3-D printed ladders that came with the model. I took the trimmed off pieces and placed them along the railing inside the metal cage halfway up. I actually snipped a piece awhile back to use for my "Zombie RV" that I converted from a die cast pizza truck. Next time I am going to see them, I may ask them if I can buy more of those ladders. They could be useful for a number of things. Sure, I can scratch build them, too, but these are certainly more convenient!

    This very tall terrain piece will definitely catch the eye of passers by at a convention or game day

I highly recommend Bad Goblin Games 3-D printed scenery and buildings. I have more of it to be painted on my "short list," so you will likely see more from them here in the future. If you get a chance, please let me know what you think of the water tower and any changes you would suggest.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Mega Miniatures Civilians for Modern Games

Random modern civilians from Mega Miniatures -- whose products you don't see much anymore   

Last week, after I'd finished the "Rebel Scum," I had a moment of indecision. Usually, the queue for what miniatures I want to paint is fairly well established -- at least for the next several batches. However, with being away on vacation and it taking very little time to complete the Rebels, I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do next. So, I dug through the various drawers of my unpainted lead and looked things over.

I was stumped. In my mind at the time, the Rebel Scum completed the Star Wars project. Since then, I've decided to do a separate batch for the "Rebel Alliance," as opposed to the local rebels (I would use the "Rebel Scum" for those). However, at that time, I believed I was done. The zombie project was done. I may add more survivors here and there as potential replacements when my players' current characters die. There was nothing I felt I needed to paint up for Xenos Rampant. It was too soon to start painting things for next year's big project ("Shhh - don't tell them, yet!"). I wasn't motivated to paint anything up for Saga. So, yeah, what to do??

    A 28mm (25mm?) Mega Miniatures skateboarder and a little girl -- both turned out fairly good, I feel

In the end, a batch of modern civilians from the defunct Mega Miniaturess caught my eye. I think I bought them in a flea market, as there were only seven -- not the entire set of 20 it originally included. I had the female jogger, male and female businessmen, skate boarder, lady with stroller, and other cool stuff. You can always use more civilians as eye candy on the tabletop, right? Sure! So, I cleaned this batch up and got them ready to be painted. Mega Miniatures are not the highest quality figures. Their niche was weird stuff that you might not find otherwise (like the modern firemen a friend gave me to paint up as a gang for Mean Streets). The miniatures were relatively simple with a minimum of equipment, so they should paint up quickly.

    The jogger was probably my favorite pose and the man in the suit was probably my least

And that they did! After priming with Gesso and painting the flesh on all of them, I did the first color on the whole batch. After that, I kind of went off script from how I usually paint and focused on them one at a time. The little kid with the box of cookies (?) -- I think it is supposed to be a girl scout, but I wanted the fig to be more generic -- was the first to get done. Next, I did the jogger, and quickly worked my way through them all. Even inside this batch, the quality of the scuplts was uneven. I think the kid and the jogger are nice, simple sculpts. The male businessman is awful, though, and looks like he's from a different manufacturer and figure line altogether!

    The stroller was a bit of a pain to paint up with its somewhat 'mushy' sculpting, but I like it now

The woman with the baby stroller ("pram" for my European friends) was probably the most difficult. It wasn't easy to tell what all the various parts of the stroller were in a couple cases, and the baby itself is so tiny and undetailed that it was a bit of a challenge. What's more, the stroller's wheels hang off the edge of the metal base like the back wheels are on the curb and the front is hovering over the street. I had to fix that in the flocking stage, and am fairly happy with how I built up the ground. I based all of the figures on the same 1" round plastic bases I've been basing my Sci-Fi stuff on. I guess I wanted to be able to toss them onto a Sci-Fi table as civilians, too!

    You can always use civilians in modern games, right? If nothing for eye candy on the table...

All in all, they turned out fairly well. By no means are they my favorite figs I painted this year. Hey, that reminds me, I am only a few weeks away from another "Year in Review" post! Not sure when these less than magnificent seven will see the tabletop. Still, they were a good time filler while I got my bearings on what I want to be working on. Much as I do with my day-to-day activities, I've now created a "To Do" list for both Minis To Be Painted and Terrain to Complete. It's sitting on my painting desk right now so I don't have that momentary indecision anytime soon!

With these seven miniatures painted, I am not on the positive side in my Acquired vs. Purchased. Those two Stargave boxes I picked up at ATC 2024 (40 figures, when I had no intention of painting them all) really set me back. Otherwise, what's next? I have begun painting the 28mm Water Tower from Bad Goblin Games. I've also assembled and primed five figures for my Rebel Alliance faction for Star Wars skirmishes. It's good to be back on track with a plan...ha, ha!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 230 

Street Gangs Defend Their Turf at Drums 2024

    The Eastmoor Kings look back from the bridge onto the streets they've just fought their way through

I ran my Mean Streets gang warfare game twice at this weekend's Drums at the Rapids convention at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, OH. I couldn't have had two more different games. In the first, I joked with the players that it seemed I was running a game of Gaslands. Nearly all the gangs decided to carjack vehicles and use them to try to run down rival gang members. It has happened from time to time in the past, but never on the scale as in this game! I'm definitely going to have come up with more detailed rules for vehicles than the off-the-cuff die rolls I've been using to gauge player's success. In the second game, I left most of the vehicles off the table and it was a more standard street rumble.

    "Come on, guys! Let's steal a car and drive to the bridge..." Tyrese comes up with a plan

 

    Players gathered around the table on Friday -- both of the games were full & everyone had fun

The scenario is a nod to the 45th anniversary of the release of the movie, The Warriors, which is my inspiration for the game. My Eastmoor Kings stand in for the role of the Warriors, and have been lured to a bogus parley with other gangs. When no one else shows up, they have to hoof it home, and know they're in for a fight crossing the turf of rival gangs. The game is set for six players -- two controlling the Kings and four controlling a gang each that has their own agendas but are not happy with the arrival of a new gang on their turf!

    The Kings enter the tabletop and immediately see their first obstacle: the Indianola Mohawks

    And on the other side of the street, the creepy clown gang awaits - the Franklinton Flippos

 Each player controlled five gang members -- a Gang Boss (the toughest dude), Warchief, and three punks. I standardized the traits that each gang member possessed. In the first running of the scenario at Cincycon 2024, I gave the Kings one more gang member and more traits. I was worried that the other four would call a truce and pounce on them. In three runnings, that has yet to happen -- even when the four other players ostensibly agree to a truce. Someone is always unable to resist punching a rival gang member!

    On the far side of the board near the bridge, the Santanas and the Linden Daos begin to rumble

 

    On Friday, Mohawks boss Sid has a solution for the invasion -- steal a truck and run them down!

 Kings boss Tyrese at the wheel has an answer to Sid's tactics -- ram his truck and pin it against a wall!

I think in future runnings of the game I need to dwell more on explaining the traits that each gang member has. Each leader has a powerful one, whether Blackbelt (can do one attack per action), Intimidate (can spend an action to make rival gang members -1 or their own +1), or Scary Mutha (punks and Warchiefs have to test morale to enter melee). The only ability that came into play during both games was Blackbelt. So, I either have to take the time to explain the traits more, or standardize it further for convention games and just give all the leaders that trait. The game felt more balanced this time with all players have more similar forces.

    The Daos send their warchief Juanita and a punk to steal some smokes from Mohawk turf

    Saturday's players try to choose between the many objectives I presented them with in this scenario

Both games moved very quickly with six players and were completed it under three hours. To me, that is the gold standard for a convention game. The days of me wanting to play (or GM) an eight hour game are long since passed. I don't mind a four hour game, but ideally if it can normally be completed it three, you have a little insurance against slower players that could cause you not to finish. I think it takes an active GM, though, to ensure this for Mean Streets. The sequence of play sees gangs dicing for initiative, and then moving all of their figures when it is their turn. Waiting for five other players to finish before it is your turn could make it slow, but I keep an eye on who's next up in the order. If they're not going to affect the currently moving faction then I have them get started. This tends to move things along a lot quicker.

    The fighting begins as the trespassing Kings, tagging as they go, begin to be met by defending gangs

    The Mohawks & Flippos begin to swarm the stragglers at the end of the Kings column

The goal of the Kings was relatively simple. They were to cross the 5' length of the board and get onto the bridge at the far end of the table. The surviving gang members are to board the bus and once on board, are safely on their way home to their turf. They are encouraged to "tag" buildings and let folks know they were there. They are also admonished not to back down from a fight and run like a bunch of sissies. The other four gangs are encouraged to punish the Kings for trespassing on their turf. However, each also had a secret mission, such as to steal some beer or snacks for tonight's party. In addition, each gang owed "payback" on another rival gang. Everyone gets points for knocking out members of rival gangs, but each of the other four got bonus points for taking out a specified rival.  All gangs get points for tagging buildings in their rival's turf (who then lose points for having their turf tagged by an opponent). 

    "Keep moving!" Warchief Archie shouts as the Kings cross the street into the central intersection

    Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide! The Kings begin to fight their way through the city streets

All of the various victory conditions add up to a game that is more chaotic and free wheeling than a simple 2 vs. 4 that it might be otherwise. In our first carjacking-heavy game, the clown-masked Franklinton Flippos came out on top. Had we played for an extra 45 minutes, it was very likely the Kings would have done much better than their last place finish. Five of them were in a stolen car and headed towards the bridge. The cops were on the table and would be in pursuit. In addition, the Santanas and Daos were waiting for the arrival of the Kings, smacking their fists in anticipation of a beat-down on the newcomers. All of the other gangs (and the police) did a great job of slowing the Kings down so that -- at game's end -- none were on the bridge waiting for the bus.

    On Friday night, the Kings attempt to drive across the table is cut off by the arrival of the police

 

    Meanwhile, the Daos-Mohawks rumble in the alley behind the hotel gets more and more bloody

Speaking of the police, what I do at a convention is to have any player who's been reduced to a single figure or less take control of a police car next turn. It arrives with two cops (who count as Warchiefs), and the player can choose which street table edge it arrives on. That allows them to exact a little revenge on the gang that beat them down or frustrate the intentions of any front runners. Friday's nights cops, controlled by the Daos player, arrived just in time to cut off the two vehicles loaded with Kings that were attempting to enter the intersection in the center of the table. The Kings tried ramming the police car, but the driver locked the wheels down with his brakes and they were unable to move it. His partner got out and shot the driver of one of the Kings vehicles, knocking him out of action (it would go on the police report as "self-defense"...after all, it WAS attempted vehicular homicide, wasn't it?). 

    It wouldn't take long before rivalries resurface and the neighbor Mohawks & Flippos trade punches

    Once the Kings had cleared out, the rumble between the Flippos and Mohawks raged on

In the second game, no cars were jacked and the Kings looked like they would be allowed to pass through the gauntlet of the Flippos and Indianola Mohawks unmolested. However, as soon as the bulk of the Kings passed by, those two gangs pounced on the rear of the column. A furious melee ensued with four gangs pounding on each other in the streets. When there was a pause in the fighting, and the two Kings factions won initiative to move first and second, they decided to sprint across the center of the board, unfortunately leaving one or two of their gang members behind who were locked in melee. At the other end of the board where they were headed, the Santanas and the Daos had been clobbering each other from the start of the game. Each sent an end run of their warchief and a punk to accomplish their side missions, but that meant when the Kings did arrive, they were in no shape to contest their passage.

        With cars trying to run people down, Cruz of the Santanas picks a safe spot to guard his turf

    Meanwhile, Kira of the Mohawks sprints around the table tagging buildings in rival turf

I could have given one of the two a police car to even things up. However, they hadn't lost that many gang members. The Daos were down to three, and the Santanas had four. So, technically they hadn't been beat down enough to qualify. At the start of Saturday's game, I thought for sure the Mohawks would be first to be given a police car. Abbi, who was controlling them, ended up fighting all five of the other gangs at one point in the game. By turn two, she was fighting against both Kings players, the Flippos, and the Daos. However, at the end of the game, I was shocked to see she hadn't lost a single gang member!

    It's a long way from the far end of the board to the bridge...will the Kings make it there?

    "Hurry! The bus is coming!" On Saturday, Kings make it to the bridge for the first time in 3 games!

The winner in Saturday's game was the Eastmoor Kings. I take each of the Kings players victory points, add them together, then divide by two. With getting roughly three quarters of the combined gang onto the bridge, that gave them enough to score 13 points. However, both the Flippos and Mohawks scored 12 each. So, it was a narrow victory. Their tactic of pouncing on the King's column while knocking out a good handful of rival gang members brought them very close to victory. It was a chaotic, fun game, with all six players involved in the fighting. The winning Kings had to make some tough choices, but correctly kept the bulk of their gang moving so that they could reach the bridge. It was actually the first time in three games that any Kings members actually made it to the bridge!

    Early in Friday's game, Delroy leads the Kings onto the board "Just remember - act like Kings!"

    Warchief Iggy and Gang Boss Sid of the Mohawks would be in for a busy weekend...!

My game filled up both Friday and Saturday, and my players all seemed to have a good time. In fact, two of my Saturday players were repeats. They had such a good time Friday evening that they wanted to try it again controlling different gangs. Everyone had their successes, and no one took it on the chin so much that they might have become discouraged with the game. I'm definitely calling the scenario a success, and look forward to running it again this June in Columbus at Origins Game Fair. I will run it six times over the course of the con, twice on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the mornings and evenings. 

    Players had a great time in both games - so much so that two showed up again the next day to play

Interestingly, the inspiration for the scenario -- the Warriors trying to make it back to their home turf after a gang parley gone wrong -- was also being run in Portland, Maine, this very same weekend. Another big fan of The Warriors (Cat O'Mighty on Facebook) has built a New York City setting for a very similar scenario. She has painted up many of the gangs from the movie, including the Warriors, Orphans, Riffs, etc. I am looking forward to her after-action report on her games from the Huzzah convention and will come back and post the link here when she publishes it. 

Here is her AAR on Lead Adventure Forum - check it out!

    Meanwhile, in Maine, another group was playing Mean Streets in an amazing NYC layout

Between our two games, The Warriors was definitely honored this weekend. I look forward to adding a couple more wrinkles to my games at Origins. So, if you want to "come out and play," you know where to find a good rumble!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 67

Coal Miners & 'Detectives' shoot it out at the Battle of Matewan, 1920

    Miners and passengers waiting for the 5pm train out of Matewan, WV, wait for action to unfold

Summer was waning, and I decided to plan one last gaming weekend out of town. Four of us headed north from Ohio to Michigan to meet up with Jim W and his gaming crew at his Blissfield, MI, Clubhouse. Last summer, I went up to see and game in Jim's building he had purchased to house all his gaming stuff (and host his weekly or so get-togethers with his crew in Southeast Michigan). I imagine there are quite a few miniature gamers out there who have a pipe dream of having their own building for their private gaming clubhouse. Jim has done it, and it is a cozy place for a game.

    Locals eye the armed miners warily, wondering if gunfire is about to break out in their WV town

We drove up Friday after work and met Jim, Ted, and their wives for some tasty Mexican food. Saturday morning, we reconvened at Jim's Clubhouse -- or "Toy Box" -- as he sometimes calls it. On tap was his second playtest of the Battle of Matewan, 1920. This "massacre" -- as it sometimes is called -- was a gunfight between coal miners in the area trying to unionize and the detective agency thugs hired to put them down. Jim had visited Matewan this year, walked the streets, toured the museum, and even chatted with the director about his game to their enthusiastic response. He's been painting up figures for the scenario, as well as constructing period buildings, for a good part of 2023.

    Jim's Matewan tabletop is very eye-catching, and has been modeled to look like the town he visited

Jim was using Fistful of Lead Core Rules, which are the same set I use for my post-apocalyptic games. Most of the Ohio crew (Jenny, Mike S, Jason S) were playing the miners. I joined Jim's friends Ted and Gene to play the Baldwin-Felts thugs. I like to tease Ted about his bad luck (mainly because it is nice to know someone is as inept at rolling dice as me). So, perhaps putting both of us on the same team wasn't my brightest idea of the day! Jim explained the scenario to us, we divvied up our troops, and dealt out the cards for our first turn.

Baldwin-Felts Detective thugs round the corner on Railroad Street to see armed miners gathering

Much to my chagrin, we deployed in a double-deep line, out in the open, at the end of the street. Many of the miners were in cover on the streets or well-positioned in windows or on rooftops with a bead on us. Well, the rifle-armed ones would have us in their sites! Those miners armed with shotguns and pistols would need to close the range -- just as our guys would. In that vein, I decided to bolt right across the railroad tracks for cover. One by one, I sent my guys over the railroad tracks and ducking behind one of Jim's many fine die cast, period automobiles. The last to move was my rifleman, who would be in range of any nearby miners. He took a potshot at one of Jenny's miners who was running along the station platform and gunned him down! Jenny was okay with that, though, as she had been steadily picking off poor Ted's men and would continue to do so against him and Gene all game!

    The first of my agents darts across the tracks to the cover of an automobile

Jason's miner who had been taking cover on the other side of the car fired once at my guy, missed, and then retreated to cover at the corner of the building. On the second turn, I had much higher cards. I moved my shotgun armed detective to point-blank range of Jason's miner and blasted him, knocking him out of action. Two shots, two enemy out of action! No one could accuse me of having "Ted dice" today!! I continued to move all four of my figures around the back of the train station, chasing off the couple of miners who had been lurking back there. If I remember correctly, we gunned down another miner before my shooting luck began to cool. The miners didn't run away, but backed steadily into cover and awaited the incoming reinforcements.

 

    Jason's pistol-armed miner backs up to the corner of the train station as more thugs head his way

One feature of the game that was slowly making itself felt was Jim's rule for Miner Reinforcements. When Jenny, Mike, or Jason lost a figure out of action, they were immediately given another miner to bring in anywhere on the board edge on the next turn. When we lost a figure, no such luck! We had already taken a number of casualties on Railroad Street to the hot dice of Jenny, Mike, and Jason. Gene and Ted were shortly down to two figures, and then a single figure each. Fortunately, I had taken no losses, yet. Meanwhile, the miners were staying at their starting numbers. Their numbers were beginning to tell.

    It is to no avail as...BOOM! A shotgun blast rings out and my boys have killed their second miner

However, Ted had a great shot on our target for the mission -- Sid Hatfield, Matewan's police chief. He fell wounded just outside the entrance of the train station. I decided it was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. My shotgun-armed detective dashed through the train station and pounced on Hatfield, defeating the wounded police chief in melee and taking him in custody. We pulled him into the train station. I told Ted and Gene we should concentrate all our resources here to hold on for the 4-5 more turns we need to before the 5pm train arrived and we could hop on board with our prisoner and skedaddle out of town.

    We begin to swarm around the back of the station -- avoiding the killing fields on Railroad Street

It was a forlorn hope, though. Man by man, our detectives were shot down by the miners' superior numbers. It felt a little like that situation from Black Hawk Down when the rangers realize they've riled up the whole city and are facing off against overwhelming numbers. My shotgun armed detective was killed, so I moved up Lee Felts, one of our leaders, to take over control of the police chief. Steadily, our detectives fell, one by one, though. My leader, Lee Felts, went down, too, and we lost control of the police chief. Before long, my rifleman who was trying to hold off the swarms of miners outside, was the sole survivor. 

    My detectives move around the back of the train station, searching for the police chief to arrest

My rifleman was doing well, though. However, the movie changed from Black Hawk Down to Dawn of the Dead. As each miner he killed fell, another one popped up in its place. Though my rifleman had been hugging the cover of a car nearly the entire game, the miners able to show up wherever they wanted. He was outflanked repeatedly. Finally, hearing the sound of gunfire inside the train station cease, and seeing miners closing in on all sides, the rifleman through down his rifle and held up his hands.

    Our high water mark of the game! My detective defeats Chief Hatfield in melee & cuffs him!

My crew of four detectives had put up a heck of a fight. We had defied the odds more than once -- especially in driving back the miners in melee inside the train station. Jason's rolls with his 12-sided die were more apt for a 4-sided one. I don't believe he ever rolled above a "4", and quite a few came up with "1's!" Throughout the game, my forces knocked half a dozen or more of the enemy out of action. That was way more than I'd lost. So, I felt Lee Felts' boys held up our end of the battle. Ted and Gene? Sigh. Well, they had "Ted luck"...ha, ha! Still, we had a blast playing the game. It moved fast, looked great on the tabletop, and had very interesting twists and turns in the action.

    The tide is turning, though, as more miner reinforcements arrive and one of my thugs goes down

Thanks to "Captain Jim" for hosting a game for us. It was great to see the Southeast Michigan crew, and I look forward to seeing them at Advance the Colors 2023 in Springfield, Oct. 13-14. Jim will be running the Battle of Matewan (tweaked after our playtest) there. So, if you want to get into this historical wargame set not too many hours (or years) away, I encourage you to attend and play. His games are always a blast!

    It's 'Alamo time' inside the station as Lee Felts tries to hold onto the cuffed & wounded police chief

    On the other side of the street, bodies of detectives (tan crosses) litter the sidewalks

    My rifleman did a solid job holding down the flank before surrendering to overwhelming numbers