"Game over!" -- our second 6-player Xenos Rampant Game

   Space Marine dreadnought takes heavy fire during its assault in our Xenos Rampant game

After our first game of Xenos Rampant back in summer of 2024, we decided that six 24-point detachments on an 8'x4' table was too crowded. We said for our next game, we'd try 18-points per player. Who knew it would take us six months to get in our second game? I'll take the blame for that, as I was the one pushing the rules and I never got around to scheduling round two. Well, this weekend we finally got in our second game. A great sign was that three of the six detachments were brought by the players, and I had to provide only three forces.

    Defenders, left (Keith, Joel, Allen from top) advance on Mike S, Tom, and Andy in our 6-player game

On one side, the attackers were Mike S, Tom, and Andy. Trying to hold them off were Keith, Joel, and Allen. I made sure the players who were bringing their own forces sent me their army lists because I was worried about min-maxing, which I'd heard Xenos Rampant could be susceptible to. In particular, I was concerned about the Attack Vehicles. The rules already limit each player detachment to one Attack vehicle, and any one unit to no more than 50% of the army points. I need not have worried because the two most expensive vehicles in the game, Keith's and Andy's, were driven back by their opponents and did not have a major positive effect for their side. Ordinary rank and file -- particularly those armed with heavy weapons -- seemed to rule the evening.

    Allen's Anadorans advance through the blue alien forest to firing positions against Andy's troops

All three forces I was providing, the Bronze Legion (Tom), Terminators (Joel), and the Anadorans (Allen) had three units of six points each. Both Keith and Andy's forces experimented with a handful of cheaper troops to support the more expensive ones. Mike S was trying out a Recon Infantry sniper team, and they proved very effective in his repelling of Keith's assault. I was seated at one of the ends of the table, so didn't see the nitty gritty of their game. Mike admitted that his Recon Infantry activated to shoot way above average (7+ on 2d6, failing only once I believe he said). On the other hand, I had a ringside seat for Allen's dismembering of Andy's Space Marines force. 

    Andy's Space Marines begin their advance against Allen's troops, unaware of the drubbing in store!

Allen's two units of heavy infantry had "Heavy Weapons," which score two hits for every "six" rolled to hit. It seemed like every turn, Allen's roll of 10 dice included at least three "6's" -- sometimes even four! Mike said it was similar in his battle. He basically hunkered down in terrain, soaking up the +1 to Armor rough terrain gives, and fired at Keith's forces while he moved up. In Andy and Allen's encounter, it was a similar paradigm. Allen adopted a defensive position while Andy tried to be aggressive and assault his opponent's lines. Of course, that begs the question: Is defense too tough under these rules? In the middle of the board, Joel was very tentative in his advance, with his Terminators staying behind cover and out of line of fire of Tom's Bronze Legion. Tom tried to advance and get line of sight, but Joel would duck back, keeping the alien forest or similar terrain between them. Eventually, Tom did get line of sight, and began putting hits on the machines and their forces.

    Keith's tank leads his space marine force against Mike's troops hunkered down & waiting in terrain

Keith's aggressive advance was the first to be shattered by an opponent. On the opposite corner of the table, Andy's was the second to admit defeat and pull back. Joel finally admitted that Tom's Bronze Legion had worn enough of his units down below half strength that he would have little chance of victory. So, after only about two hours, we ended up calling the game. I continue to be surprised at how fast the "Rampant" series of games play. Last week's Lion Rampant Dark Ages game ended early, too. Not that it is a bad thing -- heck no! About a year ago, we moved our Sunday evening start time up from 7pnm to 6pm specifically because we wanted to finish earlier. So, a game that plays fast fits right into our wheelhouse. 

    Mike's elite armored infantry hunkered down in the town, taking shots at Keith's advancing marines

Did the guys have fun? It appears so. I think both Keith and Andy were a tad frustrated with the die rolls, at times. However, they were both looking through their copy of the rulebook and thinking about tweaks to their list or dreaming up how to field new forces. Allen pronounced himself thrilled, as he was very successful the first time we played Xenos Rampant, as well! I think we have a "winner" for continuing games. I still feel I want to keep an eye on what forces players are fielding. In my reading of comments on the game, and in the rules themselves, they warn players not to try to tinker endlessly to recruit the unbeatable force. As tough as Mike's Recon Infantry snipers were, we all agreed there are solutions to an opponent fielding them. And Mike freely admitted his rolls for them were way above average. I saw myself how Andy's rolls were the opposite. He was successful on the "Firefight" ability (which allows a target of a shot return fire on a 7+) only once in the entire game!

    Joel's Terminators were obviously programmed for a very cautious, tentative advance

So, yes, Xenos Rampant is a dice game and the outcome can be heavily influenced by who is having a good night and who a bad one. Still, how many other games are similarly vulnerable to that? The rules are easy to pick up and players are running their own turns with few questions fairly early on. You do have to be very careful if you play multiple sets of the "Rampant" rule series. I took the time at the beginning of the game to go down the list of things I'd noticed that were subtly different from Lion Rampant. Commanders within 12" add +1 to activations in Xenos, but not Lion. You roll 10 attack dice if more than full strength in Xenos, but 12 in Lion. You subtract total losses for the game from your Courage roll in Lion, but only how many SP you lost in Xenos when testing for taking losses due to shooting or melee. Lots of tiny differences that can trip you up. It would probably be helpful to create a "Differences between X and Y sets of Rampant rules," if someone had the time and drive to do so.

    Keith admitted that Attacking (melee) Mike's heavy infantry in the woods was a costly mistake

As it was, the Attackers -- Mike S, Tom, and Andy -- ended up winning on two of the three battlefields, so were declared the victors. Players were free to fire at opponents in adjacent clashes, but it happened only twice in the entire game. Each seemed focused on the detachment across the table from them, and probably rightfully so. I think I feel Xenos Rampant is more balanced after our second game than I did after the first. I made big changes to my detachments after Game 1, but now I'm not so sure they were the best call. I think that with proper generalship, all of the troop types can be useful and that none are all-powerful. Elite Infantry, which some may think are overpowering, can wilt away in the face of determined firepower. I think I will go back in and tinker with my forces, but not to optimize them. I think I will create more variety in them so that we are fielding a wider range of troop types in our next game.

    Andy kept his heavy infantry in reserve while moving his elite Marines & dreadnought forward

It was a fun, fast evening of gaming, and it was great to get everyone around the tabletop rolling dice. I will be miss the next two weeks of gaming, so I look forward to getting together with everyone later in February!

    Battle finally joined in center after the cat & mouse maneuvers of the Bronze Legion & Terminators

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 10 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 7

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 5

    Having taken 4 hits, Andy's Dreadnought Attack Vehicle is one hit away from destruction

    Andy embraced the role of Attacker, but found his troops battered by Allen's Anadorans

    Game hinged on the battle in the center, which the Terminators failed to win as their attack faltered

Lion Rampant: Charlemagne's Empire Battles Byzantines in Italy

    Our Sunday evening group gave Lion Rampant a try, with six 24-point warbands on the table at once

My friends Keith and Mike S had been wanting to try a big game of Lion Rampant for awhile. We finally got it arranged for this past Sunday, with six armies on the tabletop. Three Carolingian commands faced off against two Early Byzantine with one Avar ally. Each of the six players controlled a 24-point warband using Lion Rampant rules. I was worried that it would be too much of a traffic jam on my eight foot wide table, but it ended up not being the case. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

    Carolingian left wing in the early game as we struggle with activation rolls to move up

I commanded the left wing of Charlemagne's army. Jenny in the center and Allen on the right had identical forces taken from the 2nd Edition rule book. We each had two units of Heavy Cavalry, two of Heavy Infantry, and two Archer units. I was a little worried when Mike S and Keith deployed on their side of the field, though. Every unit in Mike's Byzantine command could shot, and all but one in Joel's Avars. Keith's Byzantines were on the opposite side of the field, and he was fiddling with his troop list still when he arrived, so I am not 100% sure of what he fielded. I do know his archers seized a crop field and shot Allen's troops mercilessly. So, I was worried how Lion Rampant would play out with a mostly shooty army vs. a mostly not. Missile fire is something "big skirmish" rules sets often struggle with representing, making it alternately too powerful or too ineffective.

    Jenny's Carolingian center command, with one of its archer units on the left supporting me

Jenny had put one of her archer units on the left end of her battle line, and they marched alongside my two archer units who were on my right to repel Joel's fast-moving Avars. In Lion Rampant, foot bows consistently out-range horse archers (18" vs. 12"). So, with Joel's steady advance, he was bound to take some shots coming in. Jenny's archers loosed first and drove back Joel's light cavalry (the unit failed its courage test), killing two of their six figures. That was my hope. Mounted units in Lion Rampant are typically six figures while foot are usually 12. We should have more staying power in an archery duel. On the left, that's how it began to play out. After a frustrating first couple turns, I finally got my archers moving, hurrying to catch up with the heavy infantry who were advancing to meet the mounted Avar battle line.

    Joel's Avar mounted horse archer battleline across the table from my left wing

Joel was unable to get close enough to shoot without taking casualties. The Frankish archers would cause 1-2 casualties with each shot, and that would often be enough to drive back the small Avar mounted units. Things became desperate enough for Joel that he sent the Avar general with his Elite Cavalry to fill the gap vacated by the light horse. The Avar nobles charged forward, first against my archers, then against Jenny's. They drove back my unit which was trying to enter the plowed fields, but when they followed up by charging Jenny's archers, disaster struck. In Lion Rampant, if a leader's unit takes casualties, you roll to see if he was killed. It requires a "snake eyes" -- "2" on 2d12 to kill the general, but guess what Jenny rolled? The Elite Avar cavalry failed its morale check and fell back. Each turn, archers would shoot at them again and again until the unit was finally destroyed.

    Joel's Byzantine allies, Mike S (left) and Keith as their legions begin to advance across the table

On the far left, my two heavy spear units attacked a unit of Avar Cavalry. Each time, they counter-charged and drove us back. However, with our combined 24 figures against their six to absorb casualties, they had little hope and were whittled down below half strength. My own general got in on the action and charged in to finish off the unit. The Avars opposed to us were disintegrating, and we surged forward to try to threaten the Byzantine center. However, we were too late. Mike had cleverly placed his shooting units in a crescent and concentrated archery on Jenny's units that advanced. The shooting of four to five units a turn devastated her forces. One after another, her infantry and archers were hurled back. Mike had began the game activating poorly with dice rolls. However, when crunch time came and the Carolingian center entered his range, his rolls were flawless and he proved my fears were justified. Five units shooting from a defensive posture were simply too much to overcome. Jenny's forces were crippled and fell back.

    All of Mike S's force were archers -- from his lowly foot skirmishers to his heavy and elite cavalry

On the far right wing, Keith had been getting the better of Allen, as well. He had a unit of Elite Cavalry that was worth 8 points -- double what each of our units were worth. He used them to great effect to smash each unit Allen advanced, after it had been weakened by his Byzantine archers in the plowed field. Allen scored some successes, too, routing Keith's light infantry with bowfire. However, Allen's activation rolls were very poor -- especially with his other archer unit, which handicapped him severely. It is interesting that each command that attacked -- Joel's Avar left, Jenny's Carolingian center, and Allen right wing -- were all driven back by missile fire. Is archery in a defensive posture too powerful in Lion Rampant? This is only our first game with the rules, so I can't say for sure.

    Joel's Avar Light Horse dash towards the center of the battlefield, next to the village

There are a lot of variables in the rules, though. Units don't activate all the time. We needed to roll a 6+ on 2d6 to get our archers to activate. As the Carolingians, we failed at least 1/3 of the time, it seemed, with our bowmen. The Heavy Infantry do slightly better with a 5+ on 2d6, but that often meant they advanced unsupported against a wall of missiles. I did make the comment to the others that Lion Rampant was originally designed to be a medieval battle game -- not to replicate steppe warfare, which is kind of the army we faced. It convinced us that we need to be sure to do historical battles in our future games. Everyone was encouraged enough by the results to give it another try, though. Mike S suggested he'd rather fight the battles of Dark Age Britain than the continent, so there will be no horse archers or entirely missile-armed armies there...I hope!

    And those Avar Light Horse are promptly driven back by Frankish archery

Six commands of 24 points on an 8'x4' field DID work, much to my surprise. What's more, the game ended fairly quickly. Well, we actually called it early as Jenny and Allen's forces were in no shape to advance. I had won on the left, but I had no easy way to exploit my success with the Byzantine center anchored on the impassable terrain of the village in between out forces. I felt the enemy had won, though they weren't so sure. So, our experiment was enough of a success you will likely see us playing more Lion Rampant games in the future. Mike chose to use the variant of the rules where failure to activate a unit does NOT end your turn. Much like with Rebels and Patriots, you are given a chance to activate every unit in your force (assuming it did not have to rally), no matter how many other units had failed. Honestly, I prefer that. I know, I know -- playing the less forgiving command and control system forces you to make hard choices!

    Joel plugs the gap with his Elite Cavalry, who charge into the flank of my archers, driving them back

However, on a Sunday evening multiplayer game, I am looking to roll dice and have fun -- not agonize over every activation roll. And for those players having a bad night crapping out on activation rolls, there's not a whole lot of fun if you don't get to move troops around and shoot or fight! So, I guess I'm in the less serious, more "Let's have fun" crowd when it comes to "big skirmishes." And on that note, I don't really consider Lion Rampant, Saga, Warhammer, etc., skirmish games. They're big battle games. Anytime you're maneuvering 12-figure units around, you have left the skirmish world behind, in my opinion. Still, we laughed and had fun, whatever we want to call the game!

    Elated by their success, the Avar nobles charge into another archer unit...but lose their general!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 10 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

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

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

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

    The battle rages as my Carolingian leader at bottom leads his troops forward

    Victorious on the left, my command begins to sweep in towards the Byzantine center

    Good to get a table full of troops out & see the spectacle of a Dark Age warfare with Lion Rampant!

Zombie Mayhem as Convoy Passes through Mechanicsburg

    The center of the 5'x3' board, with creek, bridge, and cluster of buildings on the outskirts of town

After cooperating on a couple supply runs, several small groups of survivors met in a safe spot to make plans. They agreed that there is strength in numbers, and that they should all stick together for safety. Several argued that when it comes to the zombies, numbers is the problem. Specifically, Ohio and the Midwest's relatively dense population. They should get out of town and head West to "Big Sky" country...Wyoming, the Dakotas, Montana -- wherever. Anywhere that there was fewer people meant fewer to have turned into zombies. And so they packed up their supplies and belongings, and the convoy from Columbus set out.

    Small group of buildings standing in for Mechanicsburg - the first town the convoy passes through

Sticking to the side roads and avoiding the often blocked and zombie-infested highways, the convoy made their first stop just outside of Mechanicsburg, OH. Many of the survivors didn't even have firearms yet, and they were running low on food, again. An intersection near a small creek seemed a likely spot to circle the vehicles and take a handful of people in for a quick run. Hopefully, things would turn out better than at the creepy farmhouses near the cornfields, when they'd lost nearly a quarter of their group!

    Sunday evening gaming group did a much better job cooperating in this mission of Zombie RV

It was time to stage another game of Zombie RV for our Sunday evening gaming group. I urged all of the players to spend the Experience Points (XP) they'd accumulated from the last two missions. Most did so, hopefully beefing up their characters' effectiveness. The 5'x3' board would have two zombie spawning points -- a hotel amidst a small cluster of buildings in town and a graveyard (of course!) across the river in the outskirts near the trailer park. Since there would be 12 survivors, I would also need a third spawning point. I decided to repeat what I did last time and have the zombies from the third spawn point show up on random board edges. Interestingly, the random arrivals often showed up very near where survivors were, complicating their situations nicely.

    The trailer park end of the board, with the graveyard spawning point at the top of the picture

The players decided to drive on board in four vehicles to maximize the number of "safe spots" to return to and exit the tabletop. Keith and Tom's survivors arrived in the group's RV, pulling off the dirt road into the driveway leading to the trailer park. Allen and Joel's van showed on the opposite board edge, not far from the two-story apartment building. Jenny and Mike stopped each of their vehicles on the street running behind the hotel at two widely spaced places. All twelve survivors quietly exited their vehicles, gripped their weapons, and headed out into danger.

    As Fredrik gets ready to enter one of the trailers, the zombies spot him and begin to surge forward

Keith's survivors Junior and Roman darted out of the RV and into the trailer park's dilapidated, stone office building. Tom's duo ran past them, splitting up, with Fredrik headed towards one of the trailers and Mophius shouldering his shotgun and beginning to climb the water tower. The cluster of zombies outside the graveyard spotted Fredrik, and began shambling towards him. 

    It doesn't take long before zombies spot Earle and hungrily begin to chase him across the board

Joel and Allen's van pulled up alongside a wrecked SUV that looked promising, as its back seat appeared to be stuffed with boxes and sacks. Big Bass and Benny combined to pop open one of the doors and search through the stuff inside. They secured a well-stocked First Aid kit for their efforts. Earle ran past them while they were searching, towards the center of the board, pausing by a dented red sedan. Jimmy hung close to Big Bass and Benny, covering them with his pistol. The cluster of zombies milling outside the hotel spotted Earle as the darted past and began to stagger slowly towards him.

    Daisy, at right, finds a cache of supplies that someone had to abandon on the balcony of the hotel

Jenny's two survivors exited their silver sedan and investigated the shipping truck flipped over in the road. Jackie and Curly combined their efforts to wrench open the back doors, with Curly hopping inside to investigate. He tossed some useful supplies from the truck's load into his backpack. Meanwhile, Coop and Daisy pulled not far from the refugee car -- or at least that's what they called it, with all of the stuff piled onto its roof! Coop began rifling through the abandoned belongings, looking for useful items. Meanwhile, Daisy bravely tip-toed up the stairway to the hotel. She'd spotted a bundle of items at the top of the stairs. Someone had obviously collected things together to leave hurriedly, then had to leave them there for some reason. Considering the number of zombies pouring out of the hotel, Daisy could guess what had interrupted them!

    Coop & Daisy took advantage of their friends' distraction of the zombies to net 3 caches of supplies

The players alternated who would roll for the number (and type) of zombies appearing at the spawn points. In general, their rolls were excellent. Perhaps three quarters of the rolls were a 1, 2, or 3 on 1d6, spawning the minimum 3 ordinary zombies. In the entire game (8 turns, perhaps? I didn't keep track), only two "Fast" zombies were spawned, and a couple "Nasty" zombies. Joel played a clever game using Earle as a "rabbit," essentially, luring the zombies one way and then another. In Zombie RV rules, the zombies generally go after those in sight and making the most noise. Joel would run one direction in his first action, and then fire off a shot to draw the zombies towards him. The next turn, he would run for both his actions ending out of sight, and the zombies would meander off towards another survivor making noise. The following turn, Earle would lead them back another direction, running and firing. Although he never killed a zombie, his actions were very valuable to his teammates, as he kept the zombies busy and allowing them time to find the supplies.

    Junior (actually inside - not on the roof) blasts away at zombies coming from the graveyard

In the trailer park, Junior stuck his head out the window and blasted away twice at the zombies chasing Fredrik, killing quite a few. This allowed Fredrik to creep into the trailer and hide, out of sight, behind some furniture. When the zombies instead streamed towards the office, Roman braced himself against the door to prevent them from bursting through. Meanwhile, after climbing to the platform halfway up the water tower, Mophius discovered his shotgun didn't have enough range to really do a good job of picking off zombies. He sighed and began to descend. Once the zombies were fully focused on Junior firing out the window, Fredrik stood up and began searching the trailer. He found another survivor, Moe, terrified, and hiding in one of the closets. He motioned him to follow him. One of the things players can find in a cache is more survivors. For some reason with the Sunday evening group, it comes up regularly more regularly than it should! Fredrik and Moe snuck out of the one trailer and dashed across the yard to the second trailer.

    Big Bass and Benny face off against a group of zombies in the alley way near the apartments

Meanwhile, Big Bass and his crew hurried across the street to the apartment building. Benny was the first through the door and began a thorough search. Once again, they found a terrified survivor hiding in one of the rooms. He was named C.J., and confirmed there was nothing much of value left in the apartment building. C.J. was very eager to join Benny's group rather than hiding out alone. Outside, they could hear both Big Bass and Jimmy firing at the zombies who'd began shuffling towards the apartment building. C.J. motioned to the back door, and the duo ducked out, only to find themselves being converged upon by zombies coming up the alley and from the hotel.

    Coop & Daisy begin firing on zombies streaming towards Allen's characters to draw them away

This began probably the most dangerous fight for the survivors as Big Bass, Benny, and C.J. fought hand-to-hand against numerous zombies. Jimmy hung on the periphery, remaining out of the range of zombie charges and firing ineffectively at them. Both Benny and Big Bass were wounded. C.J. proved a tough new addition, though. Twice he was hit by zombie attacks and twice he passed his "Grit Check" to shrug off the damage (needing a "6" on 1d6!). As more zombies converged on Allen and Joel's crew, Mike S moved a bit closer to help out. His rifleman Coop began firing, picking off zombies, and making enough noise to draw the zombie reinforcements towards him instead of Allen's hard-pressed trio. This was key, and doubtless just as responsible for their survival as Allen's good dice rolling!

    Zombies spawning at the graveyard, left, pour after Earle, firing from the far end of the bridge

On a quieter section of the board, Jackie and Curly waded the creek and crept as silently as they could past the graveyard. They tried to stay crouched behind the walls and out of the zombie's sight. Back at the trailer park office, Junior had run out of ammo at the office. He was instead bashing zombies trying to crawl through the window one at a time. He was also shouting to keep their attention. Roman kept bracing against a Nasty Zombie that was trying to batter down the door, muttering to himself, "Hold the door! Hold the door!" Mophius was trying to remain inconspicuous, staying out of sight of the mob near the office door and blasting with his shotgun at the wandering zombies that showed up all too frequently (for him) in his sector of the board. Eventually, he joined up with Fredrik and Moe as they finished searching the second trailer.

    Jackie blasts away at zombies honing in on her from the porch of a trailer

By then, Jackie had scurried up onto the porch of the third trailer and fired at the recently-spawned zombies that were now filtering towards her and Curly. Earle helped her out, too, by dashing onto the bridge, and firing to draw the attention of more zombies -- especially the dangerous Fast Zombie that had appeared. Earle then scampered off as half the zombies streamed towards him. Jackie and Curly entered the trailer, with Curly bracing himself to keep out the half dozen zombies hot on their heels. After a quick search, Jackie was dismayed to see there was no back door. They were trapped! Curly pointed to a pull down ladder in the hallway, doubtless leading to the roof. Once Jackie found some supplies, they both agreed it was time to get out of the trailer park! They felt the safest way was climbing onto the roof.

    Benny & Big Bass are both still standing and battling zombies, but are going to need to run soon

Allen's trio of brawlers had also decided it was time to go. The supply of new zombies staggering out of the hotel and towards them seemed never to let up (it doesn't in Zombie RV!). The sight of a huge, red-coated Nasty Zombie closing in doubtless help convince them that the game was up. All three sprinted for the van. Jimmy was already in the driver's seat, gunning the engine to let them know he was ready, too. Through the alley way, Coop and Daisy had decided it was time to go, too. Daisy picked off the wandering zombies who showed up with her pistol and dashed for the driver's seat. She tapped the horn to let Coop know she was ready, and he sprinted towards the car, opening the door and diving into the back seat. Daisy punched it, knocking aside a zombie and accelerating down the street.

    Earle spent nearly the entire game playing 'rabbit' and luring the zombies one way and then another

Back at the trailer park office, both Junior and Roman agreed they needed to get back to the RV. They jumped up onto a desk and crawled out the back window. A wandering zombie showed up right at that moment, but Roman split its skull with his axe. As they ran towards the RV door, they noticed Mophius, Fredrik, and a new guy (Moe) doing the same thing. All five piled through the door at about the same time that Jackie, leaping off the trailer roof, sprinted across the dirt road and dove into the driver's seat of the RV. She rolled the window down and blasted away to cover Curley He did not land his leap to the ground as well as she had, twisting his ankle badly. Luckily, the zombies were drawn to Jackie's gunfire and ignored her hobbled friend. As more and more zombies clustered around the RV, Jackie saw Curley shake his head and point back the way they'd originally come. He'd try to quietly limp over there, and join up with them away from the zombies. There was no way he could get through the mob.

    Zombies swarm the RV, with Jackie in the driver's seat blasting away to lure them away from Curley

As the vehicles peeled out and exited the way they'd come, Earle trotted over to Jackie and Curley's vehicle. He grabbed the keys from the console, started it up, and roared out after his friends. As far as he could tell, everyone had made it out alive. This was so much better an outcome than at the creepy farms where they'd almost lost Big Bass, and had lost Wrich, Red, and more!

    Big Bass and C.J. run back towards their blue van with a Nasty Zombie hot on their heels!

The players were very fortunate this game in not losing any of their crew. Consistently low spawning rolls and excellent die rolling by Allen (again!) meant they survived the one big melee that could have gone bad for them. They also showed better teamwork in this game. Joel helped out both sides of the table with Earle's fleet feet and noisy rifle. Mike S's Coop and Daisy intervened and diverted overwhelming zombie reinforcements from Allen's three survivors that were trying to brawl their way out of trouble. Keith's Junior and Roman kept the attention of the zombies long enough to allow Tom to find the supplies in the trailers. The crew from Columbus was on their way west with lots of looted medicine, some supplies, and even a new weapon or two. It's a long way to Wyoming, though, and the convoy will doubtless face many more dangers on the road. Stay tuned for more adventures with Zombie RV!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 0

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

Year in Review: 2024

        2024 was definitely the "Year of Sci-Fi" for me and my painting and modeling projects!

Looking back over my most prolific year posting here on my Lead Legionaries blog, two main periods were dominant. Science-Fiction was by far the most dominant period I posted about, whether writing about new miniatures I'd painted or buildings or scatter. Second place was Post-Apocalyptic, as I began an entirely new type of game (Zombie Apocalypse), while continuing to run games, paint miniatures, and get buildings or scatter ready for the tabletop. Modern gaming was a distant third, though to be fair, much of what I created for post-apoc games could also be used for ones set in a modern (non-apoc) setting.

    Contingent of 3-D printed Stormtroopers from JS Wargamer Printing guarding an Acheson building

Science-Fiction

Part of the reason that I posted so much about Sci-Fi was because there were three separate sets of rules or types of games I was playing (or getting ready to play).  In the beginning of the year, I was heavy into getting things ready for a Xenos Rampant game. Although virtually every size game likes to call itself skirmish nowadays, no matter how many figures are on the tabletop, I would call this a "big battle" game. We typically have six players for our games on Sunday evening, so I had to build forces for six different factions. I went with what the rules recommend, 24 army points. That typically means 4-6 units of anywhere from 5-10 miniatures. In some cases it may be fewer, like a war machine or bot. For the rank and file, though, 5-10 figures is the most common.

    We found that my table was a little small for six full-size Xenos Rampant detachments

In the end, I used two factions belonging to my friend Keith to run our 6-player game. Still, fielding miniatures for four factions was a lot of work. That's around 20 units, so maybe between 100 and 200 miniatures? Some were painted last year, or taken from my post-apocalyptic factions. Still, it was a LOT of work. And the worst part about it is I haven't gotten around to running a second game. We agreed after playing that six 24-point factions on my 5'x12' table was just too crowded. After discussing it, we settled on 18 points per faction for future games. Hopefully, that future game will be soon, possibly in January. I will be hosting for much of January and February while our regular host, Mike W, is out of town "snow birding."

    The Inconceivable crew sneaks up on the objective in one of my Five Parsecs from Home solo games

In addition to Xenos Rampant, I began playing regular solo games of Five Parsecs from Home. Ostensibly, I was "testing" the system out to see if it would work as a game for our Sunday evening crew. As fun as Five Parsecs is, I didn't think it would be a good fit for six players. I was enjoying the way the rules create a story arc as you continue along on your campaign. In fact, Capt. Alistair Valentine and his merry crew will finish their quest with the next mission -- so I definitely want to play that one out in 2025. My trip to Morocco in November derailed the captain and crew of the Inconceivable temporarily, but hopefully readers of my blog will be enjoying more of their adventures soon.

Although I got in only one Xenos Rampant game in 2024, I hope to play more in 2025

The third Sci-Fi game or period that I was busy prepping figures for was going to be a true skirmish (players control 4-6 figures -- not units!) in the Star Wars universe. I was bouncing around trying to decide which rules to use. Of course, we could use Wiley Games' Galactic Heroes rules as we are familiar with them. We've played a couple games with them already, plus it is the same basic rules engine and system I use for the post-apocalyptic campaign. However, I wanted to try something to give a different flavor, and an old friend suggested I download Space Weirdos (thanks Steve P!) from Wargames Vault and look over it. I liked it enough to say that's what I will try first for my Star Wars skirmish, which hasn't had a game played, as yet. I have all the factions completed (a LOT easier when you're painting 4-6 figs instead of units...ha, ha!), though. Look for that in January or more likely February. I still need to create cards for each of the player's characters and the measuring sticks it uses.

    I took these fantasy Gatorfolk from Beldolor Studies and converted them into Sci-Fi figures

Just to give you an idea of how heavily focused I was this year on Sci-Fi, I made about 16 posts about painting miniatures for the period, along with about 10 blog entries about buildings or scatter. So, a big part of my output was geared towards Sci-Fi, it seems! And now that I have all these figures, look for a lot more game reports covering these rules!

    This downed chopper was the focal point of a scenario in my post-apocalyptic campaign

 

Post-Apocalyptic

Like my Sci-Fi projects, my production in the Post-Apoc period was a mix of old and new games. Our post-apocalyptic games using Wiley Games Core Rules is still continuing into its third year. That's great news. I think my players would like me to run it more often than I do, and hopefully I will be better at cranking out scenarios for them in 2025. For our most recent game, my friend Mike S provided the scenario so he could use the city block terrain he'd been busy building. I'm sure he wanted a chance to game with it on the tabletop, so he talked me into GM'ing the scenario he'd created. For the scenarios that I create, they tend to revolve around a particular piece of terrain or scatter I've created. One example was the "Chopper Down!" game I ran where the factions were converging on a helicopter that had auto-rated down into the middle of a ruined city. There had been no explosion, so hopefully that meant some great salvage! 

    Mike S brought his city ruins terrain he'd bought and had been working on for another scenario

By far the most posts I did on this period in 2024 was a new niche, or mini-period -- zombie apocalypse! I was inspired by purchasing the County Road Z rules and began accumulating the necessary zombie horde. As I was working on it, though, I read about another set of rules called Zombie RV. It was much shorter, way less expensive, and had a fun, quick, and bloody feel to it. I was so intrigued that Jenny and I pulled out some of my post-apocalyptic figures, I set up a tabletop, and we played a game of it. Although our mission to collect supplies failed miserably, we both agreed it was fun and we'd just had some awful luck leading to our deciding to flee the field prematurely. 

    Zombies swarm towards the survivors in one of our Zombie RV games over the course of the year

I reached out to the rules author David Bezio, and he sent me an unfinished "campaign" introduction in answer to my questions about running a continuing series of games. He encouraged me to expand on what he'd started and work up my own rules for experience and improving character skills and abilities. The next step was to inflict it on the Sunday evening group. I ran three side by side battle boards with two players sharing the four survivors like Jenny and I had done. It went over really well, except Keith had issues with zombie senses -- how do they see? Do they smell? Hear? Everyone else took the simple rules with a grain of salt, but Keith had questions. So, for the next game, I wrote out an even more detailed Zombie A.I. that the rules come with to hopefully answer his scientific inquiries...ha, ha!

    3-D printed fortified trailers from Bad Goblin are one of the highlights of my Zombie RV tabletops

Of course, more players meant more zombies would be needed! My zombie horde ended up totaling 74 figures, which included a handful of "Fast Zombies" and "Nasty Zombies," according to the Zombie RV rules. The first half of the zombie horde were 3-D printed ones from JS Wargamer Printing. After that, I was able to get ahold of some Wargames Factory male and female zombies to finish out the horde. A couple people suggested using Zombiecide figures, but my initial 3-D printed batches were way too small compared to the oversized ones from the board game. Luckily, the Wargames Factory zombies were close in size, so it all looks good together on the tabletop.

    Painting female zombies from Wargames Factory were a nice change of pace in the horde

I do have to admit that I got a little tired of painting zombies! Thank goodness for the female zombies my friend Keith gave me -- I know, that sounds weird! They spiced things up and I could have some fun with various outfits including party dresses, bikinis (hey, that's how they molded them!), evening gowns, and more. I was getting so tired of painting the walking dead that by the end I was painting them to resemble my gaming friends. Of course, no one thinks "their" zombie looks like them...!

    This 3-D printed bridge from Rusty's Jarls Workship was the centerpiece of my Mean Streets games

Mean Streets Gang Warfare

My "Convention Game" for 2024 was Mean Streets, my self-published rules covering rumbles between street gangs. I ran it at Cincycon, Drums at the Rapids, and Origins. It was a big success at all three conventions. I had lots of interested players and sold some copies of the rulebook (which is also available at many other places, including Ganesha Games, Shieldwall Gaming Club, On Military Matters, RRB Minis & More, Brigade Games and other places). It turned out to be the 25 anniversary of the movie that inspired the rules, Hollywood's 1979, The Warriors. So, it was appropriate I ran a Warriors-inspired scenario in 2024. 

    The Eastmoor Kings gather on the bridge after running the gauntlet of rival gangs in 'Mean Streets'

My big terrain piece for that scenario was probably one of the biggest ones I have ever assembled and painted. It is a modern, stone city bridge that I bought from Rusty at Jarl's Workshop. I went for a yellowed, golden stone work and really like how it came out. I added in graffiti as it will see use more often in my Mean Streets games, or maybe even post-apocalyptic ones. In the scenario I ran, it was the goal for the Eastmoor Kings, who were taking on the role of the Warriors and trying to move from one side edge of the board to the opposite one. I didn't paint up any new gang members in 2024, but I did paint up some civilians.

    More than 14" height, this is my tallest terrain piece, a 28mm water tower from Bad Goblin Games

Speaking of big terrain, I also painted up the tallest terrain piece I've done to date. Once again, 3-D printed, it is a water tower from Bad Goblin Games. It has yet to see action on the tabletop, but it went together very easily and painted up quickly, as well. At $20, it is a bargain and I highly recommend Bad Goblin's 3-D printed terrain. Their fortified trailers were featured in a couple of my Zombie RV games and are fantastic. 

    My gaming year included a trip up to Blisffield to visit my friend Jim and play in two of their games

What DIDN'T I Paint?

Compared to other recent years, there has been one (probably) noticeable period missing in my 2024 posts. I may as well talk about it, too, as it does influence my gaming. I have found myself taking a break from Saga over the course of the year. I began the year finishing my Thracians, and painting their severed head fatigue markers. However, the only other painting I did for Saga otherwise was Warlord stands to give away as prizes at the Advance the Colors and Origins tournaments. And speaking of tournaments, I have also taken a break from being the one running them, too. Thankfully, others in the Saga Ohio community, such as Lee, Joe, Dan, Rusty, and James stepped up and took over running the ones I did.

    I enjoy making specialized fatigue markers for each Saga army - severed heads for my Thracians!

I was still playing Saga through the first three quarters of the year, though. I simply was not writing up blog posts about our Saga Sundays or my tournament entries. I played in both the DayCon tournament (run by Adrian and Jim) and the Hold the Line Ancient tournament (run by Rusty and James). We were still getting together on Sundays at the Guardtower East, but our number of players was steadily shrinking. Sometimes, we had just four show up -- and that is counting Jenny and myself. We did some Facebook polling and text discussion, and eventually in the Fall decided to suspend our once-a-month, Sunday get-togethers. There was another group at the Guardtower West who were gaming weekly and were much more active. We thought, "Why split up the player base into two groups?"

    An Ancient Warlord stand that I painted up as a prize for the ATC 2024 Saga tournaments

Interestingly, in this time of my declining Saga interest I finally got around to trying my "Saga Lite" ideas. With Saga Lite, there are no Advanced Abilities. Players use only the Basic Activations, Combat Bonus, and Activation Pool on the top half of their battle board. I was happy with how it worked out, and may run that for friendly games on Sunday evenings when we have a hankering for Dark Age, Medieval, etc. battles.  

    We tried out 'Rebels and Patriots' rules for the Revolutionary War and liked them, playing 3 times

Odds and Ends

In the early part of the year, I didn't do too good of a job blogging about what our Sunday evening group did on our game nights. True, it was often board games, and sometimes the same ones over and over. Let me tell you, if I never play Seven Wonders: Architects again...ha, ha! However, looking at the rules sets I did blog about, there are nearly 20 different ones listed. Granted, many of them were "one-off" games, typically when Keith got an urge to play PT Boats or Age of Sail or something similar.

    My long-time gaming companions, Joel & Allen, enjoy an Age of Sail game put on by Keith

However, one that I think will stay is Rebels and Patriots, which are the American War of Independence version of the popular Lion Rampant series. It is what I would call a "big battle" game, and we played it three times (I believe) over the course of 2024. It uses the same engine as Xenos Rampant, which should be a positive, right? We will be more familiar with the mechanics when we play a game. The only thing that worries me about sets of rules that use the same mechanics in a wide variety of periods is will the games feel different? When I run another game of Xenos Rampant, I don't want everyone to say, "This feels like the American Revolution but just with space figures. Does this make sense? A game system's mechanics should give the feel of a period. I worry that systems like Rampant and Wiley Games may suffer from sameness. Honestly, that is why I chose to try something different than Galactic Heroes for my Star Wars skirmishes. I don't want it to feel like a Western gunfight or post-apocalyptic game simply set in space.

    After 3 games, our group has the basics of how 'Rebels and Patriots' works -- which is always good!

Still, Rebels and Patriots has gained traction in our group. I enjoy it, Keith likes running it, and the players are become more and more familiar with the rules. We will see when I run Xenos Rampant again if anyone remarks, "Hey, this feels like an AWI game..."! I'd be interested in hearing from readers if you have encountered this in your own game clubs or feel that way yourself. Perhaps I'm the only one who worries about this or feels this way? Feel free to comment below.

    Although not mentioned on the blog often, we are avid board gamers, too, on Sunday evenings

Speaking of comments, this has probably been the most prolific year by commenters on Lead Legionaries, too. I really enjoy reading your feedback and hearing your thoughts. So, thank you to Bill, Donnie, Jason, Neil, Ray, Tom, and the man who seems to be everywhere, Anonymous! Ha, ha! Seriously, I really enjoy your comments as it confirms for me people are actually out there reading my blog. I'm sure every blogger wonders about that. Lacking any passive feedback such as "Likes" that you see on Facebook or "Times viewed" on Lead Adventure Forum, your comments are what I have to go on. I have had friends or acquaintances tell me they read my blog regularly, so I appreciate that, as well. 

    Expect more Zombie RV AARs in 2025 - more close escapes and characters that don't make it!

A Look Ahead (and some stats)

I mentioned 2024 was my most prolific year. If I get this posted tonight (New Year's Eve), it will be my 86th post of the year. That beats by about 20 my previous high, which was 66 in 2014. December 2024 has been my busiest month ever, too. This will be post #15, eclipsing the previous high pf 13 in October 2013. I actually started Lead Legionaries in September of 2013, though you will see posts dated 2007 through 2009. Those were "re-posts" of After-Action Reports from games played in those years.

    Keith, at right, gets a hankering from time to time for random periods -- like Civil War ironclads!

Why all the productivity this year? Well, it should be obvious - RETIREMENT! When people ask me how retirement is going (I finished teaching in May), I answer, "Every day is a good day." Unless I am out of town, I begin every day by going downstairs into my hobby room and putting in about an hour on whatever I am painting or modeling at the moment. I do get an occasional chance to sneak back downstairs during the day, but this steady one hour a day had done wonders for my output. As you may have seen at the bottom of my posts throughout the year, I have been tracking my Acquired vs. Painted totals. I ended up this year painting 254 miniatures. I took in 227. I hope to make the gap even bigger in 2025 with a full year of being retired.

    My 'Five Parsecs' crew investigates some of the Sci-Fi scatter & buildings I painted up in 2024

What projects will you see posts on in 2025? A number will continue -- my post-apocalyptic campaign and Zombie RV games are both meant to be continuing series. So, my players' characters will improve (though some will likely die -- especially in Zombie RV!), which hopefully means they'll want to keep playing games. I like campaigns, though nowadays this means a continuing series of linked skirmishes rather than the old school Ancients ones where players controlled a kingdom. What else? I will likely finish the story arc of Five Parsecs from Home and then reevaluate whether I want to keep playing solo games. You will see the start of my Star Wars skirmishes, with players controlling factions ranging from the Empire to the Rebel Alliance and all shades of opinion in between. I hope to keep running one-off games of Xenos Rampant, too.

    'A new period...?' Admiral Akbar asks..."It's a trap!!" Mon Calamari 3D-printed figures

 What about new stuff, you ask? Wellll...I enjoyed how Sellswords & Spellslingers worked for my Viking Town Raid. I plan to use that system for a series of linked skirmishes set in Britain during the Viking raids. The players will control a couple characters, seeking to help the inhabitants of Britain survive the fury of the Norsemen. And I plan on tinkering with that system to adapt it to...Vietnam! I have long been tempted to run Vietnam games, but balked at starting a new period (and not having a set of rules I liked). I like the idea of running Vietnam cooperatively, with each player being a sergeant in control of a squad of grunts. Their goal will be get as many of their men to survive their 13 month tour of duty in Vietnam. I will likely test it out solo, first, using my 20mm modern Africa figures. If I like how it works, I will probably invest in a new period in 2025 -- 28mm Vietnam. We'll see, though -- no guarantees!

Thanks for reading my Year in Review! I know it was long, but your readership is appreciated...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254