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

Road trip and gaming weekend in Michigan

Saturday afternoon at Jim's Clubhouse - hypothetical defense of a station in the Anglo-Zulu War

If you had the budget, what's your dream for the ultimate gaming clubhouse? How about your own building for you to keep all of your miniatures, terrain, unpainted stuff, rule books, etc.? Make it within walking distance of a pub, couple restaurants, and in a quaint, downtown area. Sound perfect? Well, that's what my friend Jim W has done!

    Jim's painting desk with his comfy, leather lawyer's chair and rack of paints at his fingertips

Jim's gaming clubhouse came about when the local law firm in the village (population approximately 3,000) had its last attorney retire. They were looking to sell their one-story law offices downtown and gave Jim (an old acquaintance) a sweetheart deal. Jim even got to keep all the furniture! So, Jim moved in and kept as much of cabinets, shelves, tables, and of course padded leather chairs as he could. He uses the attorney's comfy office chair for painting. The filing system for blueprints, large deeds, etc., now houses miniatures. The taller shelves hold 28mm figures, medium height ones 20mm, and shortest ones 15mm scale miniatures. Of course, Jim -- who admits to being a bit OCD -- labels each shelf with the appropriate label. Terrain and buildings line the shelves on the walls, with everything close at hand and not packed away in some crate or box.

    The Game Room - note the shelves all around with terrain, buildings, and necessities close at hand

Jim described the clubhouse to us at Drums at the Rapids and we all agreed that we should pick a summer weekend and have a bunch of us drive up north to visit. We agreed to stay for the weekend and game Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Life got in the way for just about everyone else, though, and I ended up being the only out-of-towner joining Jim and his regular gaming partners Ted and Gene for the games. I'd rented a room at the local B&B, and in a great case of serendipity, the weekend we chose also ended up being the village's Beerfest! So, after the Saturday game, Jim and I met his wife and her friends at the beerfest for brews, food, and I am not kidding -- a Kiss cover band!

    The law office left Jim these various-sized drawers pull out and hold Jim's miniatures collection

Most of my friends know that I have a plug-in Electric Vehicle, so this ended up being my longest road trip with it. I searched on the Plugshare app and found a high-speed charger at a dealership in Sylvania, OH -- 20 minutes from Jim's village. I drove north, found the high speed charger and plugged in, and then retired for a leisurely lunch. My 2017 Chevy Bolt's range got a boost last year when the manufacturer rolled out a recall and installed a brand new battery. My range went from 250 miles to close to 300. Of the 20 "battery bars" which designate remaining charge, I had used 12 of them on the drive up. I charged it back up to just over 90% to be on the safe side, and continued on to the B&B.

    Jim is VERY organized...so all the drawers are labeled with period and scale!

I met Jim and Ted at the clubhouse and he gave me the grand tour. Honestly, I don't think any miniature gamer would be disappointed with Jim's setup. I know I'd be more than happy with something like that. After the tour, we sat down and Jim ran the three of us through his "Prisoner Exchange Gone Wrong" scenario. I controlled the gang from out of town, appropriately enough. Jim played the locals, while Ted (ex-Corrections Officer) was the cops. We were using Fistful of Lead Core Rules, which is the same set I am using for my Post-Apocalyptic games. One innovation Jim had done with the rules was to take his deck of cards he was using for it and write on the "special" cards what they do. For example, 2's allow a player to roll two dice and take the higher roll for any rolls they are called upon to do that turn. He wrote it in ink and this proved to be a good reminder and one less thing you need to check the Quick Reference Sheet for!

    Jim has plenty of shelf space for all the miniatures rules he likes to buy

The game was a blast, as I imagined it might be. Jim sprang an ambush on my out-of-towners, but we quickly shot back. In a space of one turn, my group gunned down three of his characters and wounded another. After that, Ted, who had been trying to treat both gangs equally, decided his local cops would favor the local bad guys in their shootout with the strangers. Things started to go bad for my guys after that, and my rolls cooled off a bit, too. We did free our prisoner and he, my leader, and another gang member ran back to the car, jumped in, and drove off. This was about the same time as Ted's "back up" was arriving. He rolled randomly for the two police cars and BOTH came in on the road my guys were trying to escape on. One in four chance...really??

 

    The room for storing unpainted lead, terrain, and buildings is slightly less neat...!

Still, he had to make a roll to put two and two together and realize the car driving off was involved in the shootout and not locals fleeing for safety. He failed both those and my gang was able to rescue its prisoner, thus "winning." As it turned out, all three of us completed the victory conditions Jim had set. So, we all won...ha, ha! We didn't all get a trophy, though. I lost one more gang member than Jim. Considering he was set up in ambush position, and Ted concentrated at least 2/3's of his attacks on me, I considered it a victory!

    Jim shuffles the deck in preparation for another turn in his "Prisoner Swap Gone Bad" game

We sat around and shot the breeze for awhile, before I retired for the night to my B&B. Breakfast there the next morning was fantastic, and the owner of H.D. Ellis Inn entertained the guests with stories from the past of not only the house, but the village's founding, too. It was very interesting to learn about Blisffield's history and anecdotes about the early residents. At the agreed upon time, I headed back to Jim's clubhouse. Though it was within walking distance, I drove since Jim had parking right out front of his clubhouse. Plus, it was supposed to rain today, and I didn't fancy getting soaked walking back.

    Jim's thugs and my out-of-town gangsters meet at the fountain to swap some prisoners

We chatted for awhile while Ted was setting up Saturday's game - a hypothetical clash between Colonial British and Zulus using Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles. I had downloaded the rules earlier, but had yet to play them (or even read them, I confess). I was really curious how a skirmish set scaled up to bigger battles since that is something First Command Wargames is working on doing with our French & Indian War rules, Song of Drums and Tomahawks. In the end, I really liked the way the same basic mechanics translated to a game which saw us controlling almost 10 times the number of troops. In particular, I liked how the "Shock" mechanic functioned as a morale effect. Units need to rally when under the stress of combat or they become ineffective. 

    Ted's police cars drove right by my escaping out of towners in the yellow sedan

Ted's scenario was very much in the vein of Rorke's Drift. Jim and I were defending a station against overwhelming numbers of Zulus. Ted had set the game up with essentially two phases - an initial attack and a follow up. For awhile, I didn't think we were going to repulse the initial attack. However, we did. Ted also let our Surgeon make rolls to bring some walking wounded back into the fight. The Zulus then received all of their reinforcements that had not shown up and rolled for their initial entry points. The results looked grim, with a massive force coming at us from one direction. This meant, they would be able to screen each other. By the time we had caused enough casualties on the front unit, the ones in back would be essentially able to charge us. 

    British force prepares to defend the station against the oncoming Zulu first wave

I honestly thought there was no way we would survive the onslaught. We even received two small troops of cavalry as reinforcements, but there was little they could do with only melee weapons vs. massive impis of Zulus. Somehow, we ended still being alive when the final turn was reached. Ted ruled that was when the relief column trundled onto the table and the remaining Zulus scattered. Our surviving Brits were less than a skeleton of the our initial ranks. Still, we somehow "won" the game. That meant two hard-fought battles where I lost more than half of my troops. 

    Supporting fire from the Gatling gun and rooftop riflemen were crucial to turning back the first wave

I had a fun time in both games, though. It was fun to get a chance to game with Jim, Ted, and Gene in a friendly "gaming night" setting instead of at a convention. We took a break for lunch, talked politics, the war in Ukraine, future painting projects, and more. Ted and Gene took off not too long after we'd finished. Jim and I closed up his place and headed out into the first sprinkles of rain to check out the brewfest. Unfortunately, the rain kept up all night long, which somewhat detracted from the experiences. However, we had a good time enjoying some beers, talking with his wife and her friend, and even watching the Kiss cover band for awhile.

    After lunch, the 2nd Zulu wave arrived and things began to look grim for the defenders

It was a great, relaxed gaming road trip, and I had a blast. I ducked out early the next morning from the B&B so I could get home before noon. I had a lot to do as school was starting that very next day. So, I guess that meant I was productive with my summer, squeezing out one last trip on the very weekend before school restarted! It was great to see Jim's clubhouse, and I definitely envy him his setup. I think every gamer upon seeing it would be equally jealous!

    This was all Jim and I had left of our original force at the bitter end of the game!

28mm Policeman & Other Things I've Been Doing

Police officers investigate a disturbance in an alley way littered with garbage bags from Miniature Building Authority

I imagine this has been a somewhat productive week for miniatures bloggers. In the spirit of Monty Python's "The Life of Brian," I'm trying to look on the bright side of life (feel free to whistle along...) while the Coronavirus shadow looms over Ohio. Classes at my school district are cancelled in an attempt to limit the spread. This means I am working from home -- creating online assignments, answering questions, communicating with parents, grading, and more. It also means I am at home pretty much all day. That, on the bright side, translates to more hours to spend on miniatures projects.

These plaster barrels sitting outside Wallace's Pub needed only the metal bands painted and basing to be complete

Before we'd closed down, I had pulled out some various modern scatter for my 28mm urban city -- another dumpster, trash bags of different sizes and shapes, and a huge resin heap of rubbish. In addition, I added the four 28mm police officers I'd purchased at Cincycon from Iron Wind Metals to the other four I had never painted, and set them out to clean up and prime. During one of my games at the convention, one of the player's gang got knocked out pretty early. As I was sitting there feeling bad that the game was over for him, I got an interesting idea. Why not, at conventions, have players in a similar situation come back as a police car with a couple officers inside? Have them come in on a random board edge, and get them back in the game.

Ral Partha (Iron Wind Metals) policemen check out a Miniature Building Authority dumpster

Well, to do that, I'd need police! I am also in the process of looking for a suitably sized die cast police car. I know they're out there because I've seen them in other gamers' photos. So, if anybody sees one here in Central Ohio, give me a shout! The police officers themselves were painted dark blue, then highlighted with a brighter blue. There wasn't a whole lot of detail that wasn't uniform bits, so they went really quickly -- black belt, hat brim, and shoes, along with silver for the badges and steel or brown for their revolver or billy club. Pretty soon, I had a force of 8 police officers to clean up the mess my gangs would make of the city!

Most of the garbage scatter were things I picked up last Cincycon from Miniature Building Authority. They're a fantastic store, and make some truly amazing buildings and other miscellaneous things for the wargamer. I had brought a little wad of birthday cash and was planning on spending it with them, but alas, they did not come this year. Some of that went to Iron Wind, instead, of course! For the garbage, I spray primed it all black, then went over it with my usual 50/50 mix of black acrylic paint and water. Next, I dry brushed the dumpster and trash bags Iron Wind Dark Green, followed with Kelly Green highlights. I picked out some other odd bits in different colors, and they were quickly finished.

This garbage heap from Miniature Building Authority was the most overwhelming to focus on details to paint

The trash heap, well, that was another story. It was mind-boggling to look at. There were so many bits of this and that it was hard to focus on anything to decide what color to paint. So, I got out a post-it note, and wrote down a half-dozen things to paint on the first pass -- a sheet of corrugated metal, various tarps, a window frame or lattice, pipes, etc. After that was done, I did it again, picking out some more things. Eventually, everything was painted, and I added in my earth brown for the main part of the heap. I based the heap and the garbage bags on styrene plastic, and then added medium blended gray ballast (I should have used my Fine, though). As a final way to darken up the heap and blend the colors together, I gave it a dark black wash. Finally, I was happy with how my pile of rubbish looked!

There is more on my painting desk that I am working on, but I'll save that for another update. Expect to get at least one Lead Legionaries update a week as long as my school remains closed. Unfortunately, it will be mostly about painting and building and not gaming, as the convention scene is closed for the next couple months at the minimum, I'd say. Even our Sunday night gamers are leaning towards taking a hiatus, though Brian is pushing us towards online board game play. It is Sunday as I post this, so we'll see what happens!

Pulp Alley: Shootout at the Docks

The Rebel players in Joel's Junta & Pulp Alley mashup - Keith, Bruce, and Brian

We hadn't played Pulp Alley in what seemed like forever. So, when Joel volunteered to run it last Sunday, I knew we would need a refresher. I read through the "Quick Start" guide to get the basics down in my head, again. I passed along these to the other players -- especially the two brand new ones -- and felt like I was semi-ready to play. The Pulp Alley rules use some very clever mechanisms that go beyond the basic move/shoot/melee types of rules.

Brian's Rebel Peasants came charging in from the jungle countryside to enter the fray

Years ago, I had run our group's initial campaign following the adventures of Dakota Smith in SE Asia in the interwar years. It was a lot of fun, so I was happy to get a chance to play when Joel picked it up, albeit with different characters. Joel's Pulp Alley world was a very clever combination of the old Junta boardgame and Pulp Alley. Each player was one of the factions from the boardgame - I was the University Faculty, Allen was the Black Marketeers, Keith was the 3rd Brigade, and so on. He had also given us our alliances, Rebel vs. Loyalist.

Allen's Black Marketeers leader (in black, of course!) and Sidekick race to engage the 3rd Brigade

Unfortunately, with five players and Joel GMing that meant only Allen and I were present from the Loyalist faction. Add in the fact that both Keith's faction, and the Peasants that Brian would be playing had a "league ability" that gave them extra troops, we knew we'd be outnumbered. The rebel faction that Bruce would be playing (the Church), was a "normal" league for our games, consisting of a Leader, Sidekick, and Ally. I didn't realize till the end we were outnumbered 18 to 6, but hey, who said life in a Banana Republic was fair?

One of the features of Pulp Alley is the use of "plot points" (one major, four minor in our game), which act as the victory points for theses games. Most of the minor plot points were spread throughout the warehouses in the docks district. As a real twist, Joel made the Leader of the Church faction the major plot point. He also placed him in our midst, far away from his own league and those of his Peasant and 3rd Brigade allies.

The Church and 3rd Brigade tack refuge among the shipping containers as they close in on an objective

Allen and I planned to jump on his quickly, hopefully knock him out, and meanwhile send the rest of our forces to spread out and snag the minor plot points. Fortunately for Bruce, he won the Initiative and his leader (who had a special ability that made him faster) quickly skedaddled and disappeared among the shipping containers. I took that as a change of plans, and spread out to seize three of the four minor objectives (each worth one VP, while the major was 3 VP). If I could get those, and Allen snagged the remaining one on his side of the board, we'd eke out a victory.

That's about when the shooting started. My Sidekick, Professor Emilia, is a handy shot with a gun - as is my leader, Professor Duarte. Our graduate assistant doesn't believe in guns, so has no shooting ability. I gave him the device our "Bastion of Science" league ability grants us that allows him to automatically solve a plot point when adjacent. Within two turns, both the grad assistant and Duarte had seized minor plot points. Emilia decided to be overwatch instead, and gunned down the first unlucky rebel of 3rd Brigade who came within her line of sight.

Allen's Black Marketeers & Keith's Rebel 3rd Brigade mixed it up in the center of the table with grenades, guns, and fists

Allen sent his Ally to the corner of the table furthest from our enemies to snag the third plot point. His leader and sidekick dashed towards the center and began to mix it up with Keith's 3rd Brigade, and an occasional minion of the Church who popped up. It was a back and forth battle that had the effect of stymieing each from accomplishing anything else. Meanwhile, Bruce concentrated most of his league into picking up the fourth minor plot point. There was nothing I could do that didn't seem suicidal, so I began to move back towards the waterfront, taking cover behind crates, containers, and a fountain along the way.

My University Faculty moved towards the water with our plot points, taking cover and firing on the rebels all the while

A surprising development occurred when the entire Peasant force made a beeline for the corner where Allen's Ally had thought to easily snatch up the plot point there. One feature of Pulp Alley that is unique, and takes some getting used to using effectively, are the Fortune Cards. These allow you to spring traps on other players, cause them to move less, be out of ammo, etc. With three players on the Rebel side, and only two on the Loyalist side, we were at a disadvantage in these. Still, things looked pretty much in hand until Brian's peasant gunned down Allen's ally, giving them a clear road to the the fourth plot point. We got a bonus when Bruce's minor plot point he'd snatched up turned out to be a Red Herring (0 VP).

Brian's Rebel Peasants begin to make a run for the crucial final plot point

I saw the danger developing, and all three of my characters began rushing for that side of the board. On the final turn, both my Duarte and Emilia got in good shots at Brian's sidekick, who was looking to give them the clear win by securing the third minor plot point. He was wounded, and when he activated, we played the nastiest trap we could on him. Brian needed to roll three six-sided dice, all with 4's or higher for them to win. Otherwise, we would secure a tie. Luck was not with the University Faculty and Black Marketeers that night as Brian succeeded (12.5% chance?).

The climactic final scene as Professors Emilia (yellow) and Duarte (green jacket with gray hat) try to prevent the Peasants from seizing the final minor plot point

It was fun to play Pulp Alley again, though. I thought the Loyalists (particularly the University Faculty) did a good job, despite being outnumbered. We almost held them off and secured a tie -- despite the fact after the first turn we had very little chance of wresting the major plot point from them. It just goes to show you...there is never a "dole" time in the Banana Republic!

An Interlude with a Prelude

The Blood Brotherhood of the Wastes

When I came home from Historicon last week, I had a “problem” I hadn’t experienced in quite awhile. I wasn’t sure what to paint next! I pretty much had everything I needed for Ghost Archipelago (except for the four chimps I bought at the convention). I didn’t feel like continuing working on the Fox army for my fantasy miniatures battle rules (a completely separate project involving the Splintered Light Miniatures animals, but on multi-figure “unit” bases). Hmm...what to paint, what to paint...?

One of the three types of poses in Sgt. Major Miniatures Cultists line that I bought

At Historicon, my friend Jason had brought along his choice of post-Apocalyptic miniatures rules - Across the Dead Earth. I read them and liked them - more so than another set I had borrowed to read, This is Not a Test. I always imagine post-Apocalyptic as the Mad Max movies - not the weirdo, magical mutations of the old Gamma World role playing games. No psionic abilities, no lobster-clawed humanoids. Just desperate, punk rockers meet motorcycle gangs type action.

Back of the three Waste Cultist pose

Last year, I picked up a couple dozen or more 28mm Foundry figures for a buck each from a guy who bought out a store going out of business. They were a mix of street gangs, modern military types, and armed civilians. I sorted through his collection looking for figures that would work for a post-Apocalyptic world. They were to supplement the packs I had been slowly picking up from Sgt. Major Miniatures at the conventions. They have an amazing post-Apocalyptic line, though they seem to have stopped coming to shows. Their website says they’re closed and up for sale, so hopefully someone will buy them and revive the line.

Two of the Waste Cultists wearing gas masks

So, I decided to begin painting post-Apocalyptic figures. Yes, yes, I am still running Ghost Archipelago. This is - as the title I’d this blog entry says - a Prelude to future games (no pun intended). Before they closed, I had purchase two “gangs” - how Across the Dead Earth organizes a player’s forces. One of these were Chaos Cultists, which could also easily work for my Pulp games.

These hooded guys with sub machine guns could also easily be used in my Pulp games

There were three main varieties of poses. A pack of three sub machine gun-toting hooded and robed figures (think KKK-looking). The other pack had five robed and hooded guys with ninja-style face masks. Two wore gas masks instead and had full backpacks. The other three had the upper half of their face visible. All five carried a black powder looking weapon. These would be my first gang -perhaps the Blood Broetherhood of the Wastes?

I chose to give them iron red robes with tan trim. White would make them look way too KKK-ish, and might draw some objections from players (and in this current political climate, myself included). I painted the robes and hoods a craft paint color called Iron Red - which is just a slight bit brighter than a red-brown. I dry brushed them with Howard Hues Middle Eastern Flesh, which gives it a nice orangish cast. I really like how the robes turned out.


As for the accessories, I painted them with a leather, tan, or olive drab look to show they scavenged their equipment Andy were not uniformly equipped. I also made them multiracial with the majority Caucasian, along with a couple black and a couple intended to be Hispanic/Middle Eastern or Asian. It’s interesting that when doing painting the periods that I have, it is not something I have had to do much. My gladiators were multi-racial, too, but the other periods I’ve painted were not as diverse as I envision the near future.

Finally, I needed to fit their base flocking scheme to the imagined wasteland of the future. I went back to gluing large rocks onto their bases first. I washed the boulders brown to make them blend in more. Next, I added Woodland Scenics Fine Brown Ballast. I used some greenish-brown tufts and a tiny dab of grass to give it some color. Finally, I sealed it out withmix of white glue and water.

I really like how they turned out, and look forward to doing another batch!

Pulp High Adventure in Sumatra

The table with ruined temples, Skull Cave, a Pygmy Cannibal village (with cookpot) and more!

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would bring out the 28mm Pulp miniatures for Sunday night gaming. Cannibals, Skull Cave, ruined temples, and animal abominations that walk upright like men would haunt the table. More importantly, it would give me a chance to playtest my rules for convention Pulp games. Although I enjoy playing Pulp Alley (see Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures), I am not sold on its use for a large, multiplayer convention game. I want something that is easy to learn, fast-moving, and gives me a chance to run a game for up to 8 players.

Von Jaeger's German archeological team, with German sailor muscle, moves to investigate a temple

Enter "War-Drums," a variant of Song of Drums and Tomahawks I'd written and ran at last year's March Through Time at the Ohio History Center. I tweaked the rules a bit to take it out of the American Frontier and into the "High Adventure" genre. I cooked up a scenario that would have my players control European adventuring teams with a squad of sailors or soldiers as backup. They were investigating strange occurrences on the island of Sumatra. Here was the U.S. player's briefing (all players received similar ones):

Their arch-rivals, Dakota Smith and his American archeologists, close in on the same temple

“…Hair-raising reports have been coming out of the Sumatran jungle for the last year or so. It seems cannibals have been raiding settlements and carrying off screaming captives for their fiendish feats. But even worse things have been spoken of, in whispers. Animals of the forests have begun to walk upright and forge weapons. They, too, have stalked settlements, stealing away with captives to devour (or worse).
    These dark forces seem to emanate from the area of the fabled lost city of Yothai. Untold riches are rumored to be buried there, along with arcane objects of immense power. Has someone uncovered one of these and is behind all this? You suspect the Nazis, whose lust for objects of power seems unquenchable. You have assembled a small force of men you can trust, and the government has given you a detachment of U.S. sailors to safeguard you. Your mission is to investigate Yothai, find what is behind all of this devilry, and see if you can put a stop it…”

The French party had to cross a series of bridges across a swamp to arrive

I set up a huge board with a hill in the center, surmounted by Skull Cave. At the midpoint of each board edge was a ruined temple. The cannibal village was on one side of the board, and the players started out spaced out around the board edge. When they came within a certain distance of one of the temples, it would spring enemies to appear (the player in question rolling 1d6 each turn to see how many). My Pygmy Cannibals, along with my Splintered Light Frogs and rats were the enemies.

When the French were partway across, a band of Frog-men rose up out of the swamp and attacked

I think the activation and combat system worked well enough. The scenario design was likely flawed, though. With each player having to run not only their own troops but a force of enemies attacking their neighbor it took way too long between player turns. Mike S's troops did not really get a chance to do much as they rolled very low for their enemy numbers. Meanwhile, Allen and Joel had their hands full with the Frogs and Pygmy Cannibals. Keith and Mike W also faced off with the cannibals, but between them were able to keep losses to a minimum.

Pygmy Cannibals swarmed out of the jungle and attacked the British archeologists, as well as the U.S and Germans

The game was not the most rousing success, but I learned some things for future scenarios. I think it would work best with an A/B movement systems with players in two informal alliances. That would pretty much cut out the long waits between turns and make it more fun, I think. Also, large numbers of non-player enemies will slow it down, too. The players suggested fewer, but bigger and tougher (tigers? crocs?) fauna.

Mike S's force of Diggers, unscathed by the intermittent attacks of Ratmen, investigate a temple

Still, it was fun to see it all out on the table again.