Ninjas Escape With the Treasure in 28mm 'Test of Honor' Samurai Game

    Tom's mounted noble charges into the village center in his game-long attempt to save his bride

  We gave Test of Honor Samurai rules a try out yesterday evening at our regular Sunday evening gaming get-together. It was a kind of free-for-all scenario with eight players. It is a tribute to the rules that the game actually flowed well and there wasn't a lot of waiting around for your turn. My friend Mike S was running it, and was using some modifications that he'd seen at a sprawling game at Historicon. He had to adapt on the fly when players on the same side of the table decided to attack each other. It worked out, though.  

    One of the clans gets ready to cross the stream to join the fray in the village center

 

I was playing the Ninja force, which doesn't begin the game deployed ontable. My mission was to hijack a payment going from one clan to another. We didn't know which clans were involved in the transaction, nor the form of the payment it would be. Everyone else had similarly vague missions, which he intended to make each player not trust the other, including their neighbor. It worked like a charm for Mike W, who promptly attacked Keith's force in the early stages of the game. To be specific, he sent two of his samurai over to kill the draft ox pulling the cart containing Keith's two female samurai. The ox proved to be made of sterner stuff than expected, resisting two swings of the sword by two separate warriors. 

    Hilarity ensues as 8 factions tussle near the village in the center of the board

Tom also charged into the fray early, when he saw someone upend a palanquin containing his noble's bride. The fact that the bride jumped out, armed with a sword, didn't deter him from shouting to any and all in the area "hands off" his bride. He was the only mounted figure in the game, and he was still swinging his sword and upholding his bride's honor (or avenging her after she was slain) at the end of the game. I seized upon this confusion in the village center to have my ninjas bolt from inside one of the houses and search the inside of the palanquin. Mike confirmed it contained the treasure I was looking for, announcing it to the table at large. This meant that slowly many other players shifted from their local feud to attack my black-robed thieves trying to abscond with the treasure.

    'Ha, haaa!!' My Ninjas reveal themselves and then discover the treasure in the overturned palanquin

The ninjas darted back into the house from which they'd came, and my other ninjas emerged to fight off the attacks of the other players. As the ninjas, I could remove any civilian figure and replace it with my own undeployed troops, representing us uncloaking our disguise. I was rolling fairly well and was able to fight off Mike S's mercenaries who, unbeknownst to me, were also hiding in the very same house on the second floor. I sent the trio of archers holding the treasure out the back door, hoping to bolt for the board edge. Joel's clan raced to cut off my retreat, but I was able to beat back his attacks, for the most part. Opposite Joel, Keith and Mike W's clans ceased their battle, perking their heads up, "Treasure...?" They also moved forward, trying to close the jaws I was attempting to escape from. 

    Escaping our the back door with the treasure, we are immediately beset by Mike S & Joel's forces

There was lots of laughter around the table as we mocked each other's vague missions. We began pulling up Google Translate and typing in our taunts to each other, to read aloud in Japanese by the female voice on the app.  Just when it looked like the last of my archers carrying the treasure was going to go down, the games was called on account of time. The 4th quarter reprieve by the clock meant we had possession of our objective at game's end. Of course, I declared my victory to the jeers of the other players.

    My ninjas cut down one of Keith's samurai who attempt to waylay us and steal our seized treasure

I'm sure there were numerous things we did wrong in our first Test of Honor game. Still, the game flowed well and eventually the various factions came to blows. I would probably tweak the scenario to give incentive to factions on the opposite sides of the table to attack each other. Maybe victory points for killing members of rival clans (who are the ones opposite you)? There can also be secondary objectives for each player, like Tom's protecting/rescuing his bride, my hunt for treasure, etc..

    'The Affair of the Ox Cart' sparks a clash between Mike W and Keith's clans

I'm sure we'll play more Test of Honor soon since most seemed to have a good time in the game. My friend Abel D runs the game regularly at HMGS Great Lakes and regional conventions. I'd never got a chance to play in one, but everyone seemed to be having a good time at his table. Now I can see why, and look forward to the next time Mike breaks out his samurais, ronin, ashigaru, and ninjas!

    The palanquin moments before it is overturned and the donnybrook in the village begins...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 288
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 161

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 36
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 50

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 150

Star Wars Mission 2: Firefight on the Flightline

    An imperial TIE fighter base deep in the Tatooine desert is the target of a surprise raid by the rebels

Deep in the desert of Tatooine, a TIE fighter base responsible for patrolling an area rife with Tusken raids, has received instructions to go upgrade its computer coding for its perimeter defenses. There was a possible security breach in Mos Eisley, and upgrading systems is recommended. When a squad of Bronze Legion mercenaries are flown in to augment the flight line's security, the base commander decides perhaps the instructions were more urgent than he realized. The technicians begin to work their way through the laborious re-coding process when alarm sounds. All perimeter security defense have been over-ridden and taken offline by a signal of unknown origin. The base commander orders the flight line on full alert!

    Recruited by the rebels, Sluggr of the Criminal Syndicate slips on board, but is immediately targeted

This was the setup for our second mission in our Star Wars skirmish campaign using Space Weirdos rules. In the first mission, the rebels successfully retrieved the stolen security plans from the droid in a chaotic battle in Mos Eisley. Now, the rebels are using this information to raid imperial bases after knocking their security systems offline. For extra muscle, they contract with Foxhurst's Criminal Syndicate, who surprisingly quickly agrees to join the raid. Do they have ulterior motives? And what about the squad of mercenaries from the Bronze Legion? Are they wholly on the imperial side? Each player was given their own particular victory conditions, which did not always neatly coincide with those of their allies!

    Stormtroopers, led by Darth Pylor at top center, begin blasting away at the attacking syndicate

Our regular six players were present -- host Mike W as the Rebel Alliance, Tom as the local Tatooine rebels, Allen as the Criminal Syndicate, Keith as the Mercenaries, Joel as Corporate Security, and Mike S taking on the role of the Empire. Each player had a chance to upgrade the stat of one of their four characters prior to the mission. This will simulate the fighters gaining experience. I've decided rather than keeping track of experience points, I would simply allow one upgrade between each session so that the sides remained relatively equal. I did tell them that players taken out of action during a mission and not revived by the end would have to roll for their recovery. I actually still need to work out how I am going to do that!

    Action slowly simmers around the board as players maneuver their characters from cover to cover

I allowed the defenders (Empire, Corporate Security, Mercenaries) to leave up to half their figures off-board at the start of the game, writing down which building they were located in. It would take one of the characters three actions to appear adjacent to the structure they wrote down. The attackers would start on the short edges with the goal of placing explosives in contact with the TIE fighters. It would take two actions to set the charges with the third action presumably being spent running for cover. Then BOOM -- the TIE fighter would be considered destroyed and anyone inside the 5" blast diameter also possibly taking damage. 

    Although hapless in the films, the Stormtroopers aggressively & successfully defended the flightline

The rebels first movement were very tentative. They came on board and crept only marginally closer, hiding behind the next terrain piece or building. I honestly feel they missed an opportunity, as do the Initiative rolls, they all moved first. Their first figure moving wouldn't have to worry about any defenders having opportunity fire set in place. After all players had moved one figure, they then moved a second figure in the same order. The stormtroopers and mercenaries immediately began placing figures in overwatch. As subsequent attackers moved, energy blasts lanced out and the attackers began to fall. The criminals, in particular, took it on the chin all game. At one point or another, three of the criminal figures were taken out of action. Their leader, Foxhurst, used the Force to heal them back up, but they were struggling to get near the high value cargo that they'd actually come to steal.

    Finally, Zimeon - leader of the local rebels - dashes forward boldly and blows up the first TIE fighter

Finally, the local rebel player (Tom) took a chance. His leader, Zimeon, dashed forward at the end of turn three, ducking under the wing of a TIE fighter. As defenders drew a bead on him, he used his Command Points to dodge closer to his objective. On Tom's first action of Turn Four, Zimeon planted the charges, set them, and ran for cover. Ka-boom!! The first TIE fighter exploded. The angry defenders blasted away at Zimeon, but Tom cleverly used his new turn's command points. The first one was used to dodge the first shot (back towards cover), and the second time he was targeted he used one to "Power Up" his Defense roll. Zimeon dove for safety behind terrain, unharmed.

    Outnumbered mercenaries waged a fierce firefight against both rebel factions at one end of the board

This seemed to energize the attackers. With much urging by Tom and the other players, Mike W's Rebel Alliance finally gathered their nerve. Rebel pilot Knox imitated Zimeon's tactics and successfully blew up a second TIE fighter. Time was against the raiders, though. The Corporate Security and Empire were slowly getting the perimeter defenses back online. This would allow them one extra attack (2d10 -- the games most powerful) at an enemy character with no range or cover modifier. 

    Spurred on by Zimeon's success, the Rebel Alliance uses their tactics to destroy another fighter

All three defender players fought back aggressively against the attackers. Mike S's stormtroopers almost completely shut down Allen's Criminal Syndicate. I was worried I had made victory conditions too easy. All he had to do was move adjacent to one of three designated high value pieces of cargo (only he knew which three they were), complete a "Use Item" (two actions), and thereafter it would hover and follow the criminal who planted, immediately matching their movement. When we called the game, Allen's leader was within 1 move of one of the pieces of cargo, but he never made it into contact with enemy and ended the game with 0 Victory Points.

SCENARIO 2 VICTORY POINTS

Keith's Bronze Legion mercenaries fought like lions to defend the flightline. For the most part, he disregarded the victory conditions I'd given him and fought hard to defend the spacecraft, like a loyal imperial soldier. Joel's Corporate Security also were all over the table, shooting at any attackers they saw. In the end, it wasn't lack of effort by the defenders that caused the empire's narrow loss. It was the fact that the rebel players weren't giving up, and were pushing the attack, so couldn't count as "repelled." Once again, Local Rebel player Tom was the victor, boosting the morale of the Tatooine rebels.

CAMPAIGN STANDINGS AFTER TWO TURNS  

 I'm really happy with how Space Weirdos rules are working out for our Star Wars skirmishes. We've made a couple tweaks, particularly on Overwatch for a six player game, but everyone seems to be happy with how things are progressing. I felt this game was a little slow to get going, but it could also be that some players had not played the rules in awhile. Mission 1, These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For, took place two months ago. I think I need to run the game more often than that to keep us up to speed. It's not like we don't play other rules systems, and it is easy to get them confused, as regular miniatures gamers know so well!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 237
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 138

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 21
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 43

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 112

Trying Out WW II Rules 'O Group'

    Well, we did it -- we played a battalion level WW II game using (gasp!) micro armor...!!

Prior to this one, there were precisely five World War II tagged posts on my blog. That's for more than a dozen years of documented gaming on Lead Legionaries. Among those five posts, all but one were either aerial or naval games. So, to say we don't really do a lot of WW II land battles in our Sunday evening game group is probably an understatement. To be clear, I don't document every single game we play. We have played What A Tanker (which I enjoy) a handful of times, for example. I just didn't take pictures or make a blog post for most of those games.

So, when Tom said he wanted to run a battalion level WW II game for us, we were intrigued. It would certainly be a change of pace. He wanted to use a set of rules I'd never heard of called, O Group: Wargames Rules for Battalion Size Actions in World War II.  They are written by David C.R. Brown and published by Reisswitz Press and Too Fat Lardies. Now, I've read about the Lardies' Chain of Command rules. They seem to be pretty popular. Those rules state they are at the Platoon Level, though. Tom was drawn to a set of rules that had us in command of bigger forces.

    Allen sends his tanks down the center of the board towards the Americans - what could go wrong?

When he explained the scale, I was a little bewildered. I wasn't aware Tom owned that large of a collection of WW II figures. I asked him what he'd be using, and he replied his micro armor miniatures. Now, my friend Jason knows that, at this point, I would usually run screaming in the other direction from a micro armor game. I flat out NEVER play in them at conventions. Why? It has been my experience that a good number of folks running micro armor at a convention want to throw every damned miniature they own on a tabletop. Never mind that there are no aircraft, so you don't need the anti-aircraft vehicles! They own them and want to sit back and proudly survey their entire collection on the table. Never mind that it will take so long to move all those dang miniatures that the game is going to be slower than slow! They own those figures and want to inflict them on their players. "And, they're in the TO&E...!"

Another reason I typically avoid micro armor (ha, ha...he said "typically" -- read that as I "typically" avoid swimming with Great White Sharks!), is that the rules sets used are often overly complex, focus on the bewildering and unending varieties of armored vehicles, angles of fire, armor thickness, which type of round you're firing...bleh! These games often ignore the infantry entirely because they looove their armored vehicles! Jason and I played in one game at Cold Wars decades ago which still may go down as the worst convention event I have ever signed up for. It was part of the battles the National Security Decision Making (NSDM) folks were fighting out, featuring China vs. Vietnam. Whoa...sounds interesting, right? Nope. Not a single stand of infantry in two of the biggest infantry-heavy armies in the world. We were all given so many vehicles to control (some irrelevant to the battle like those air defense vehicles), that it took forever to complete our turns. It was such a horrible experience that it was the moment I swore off micro armor. Never again. The shark has been jumped! Um, Tom...are you sure about this micro armor thing?

    Two of my three German infantry companies holding the ridge as the Americans advance on us

Anyway, Tom's game would feature lots of infantry. In fact, the TO&E (those words are like nails on the chalkboard for me) for the Germans and Americans meeting in North Africa would feature so much infantry he didn't have enough stands to represent them all. In O Group, each player takes on the role of a battalion commander. For example, I was given a German infantry battalion, with attached assets because...you know, TO&E! I had three companies of infantry. Each company should have included its company commander stand and three platoons of three stands of infantry each. In my case, two of my companies had an attached heavy machine gun instead of the third infantry platoon. Short on infantry stands, Tom telescoped this organization to each platoon being one stand. Things got a little confusing and required some modifying when it came time for shooting. Still, I liked the infantry focus.

Don't get me wrong. There were armored vehicles in this game. It was micro armor, after all! Allen commanded our center and his battalion was an armored one composed of all vehicles. On the other side, the Americans had lots of tank destroyers and other such vehicles. They would spend the game blowing up Allen's command, who took their tactical inspiration from the ditty, "Hey diddle diddle, up the middle...!" I don't think Allen actually had a plan and just intended to drive down the road going through the center of the board and shoot things. On the other hand, his more tactically cautious subordinates (myself and Mike W), chose to hold the difficult terrain on the flanks with our infantry and utilize cover and shoot the Americans as they advanced upon us (in my case, as they advanced across open ground towards me).

    The mess of foam hills represented a "badlands" where American & German infantry fought

Now, before anyone comments on things we did wrong, Tom did send an email this morning after the game, which began: "Lord! We did so many things wrong!" Haha! One of the things about O Group that I discovered in my blog reading and watching YouTube videos beforehand was that its heart is the command and control system. Battalion commanders (us) receive only a limited number of orders and we need to issue those to companies. So, we won't always be able to do everything we might want. I went in thinking the system sounded a tad "fiddly," but actually we picked up on it fairly quickly. The fiddly bit was the minutiae of any big WW II game with its overwhelming number of caliber of guns, mortars, artillery, etc. "Which line of that tiny chart goes for this scout car I have attached to my battalion?" And honestly, it is one of the reasons I don't usually enjoy WW II armored engagements. I don't really care about the various versions of Panzers and Shermans, and the last thing I want to do is argue about whether its an A or D version, which gun it was equipped with, or whatever. That part was pretty exhausting.

When I asked Tom partway through the game what his impressions were, he responded, "I think I should have read the rules more deeply beforehand." My friend Keith, who loves all that I hate about WW II, wasn't particularly impressed with the rules either. He and I seemed to pick up the mechanics the quickest, though, and we did our best to help out the others (and Tom). In the end, I told Tom the best thing to do to really test them out would be for he and Keith to get together some evening and do a one vs. one game, with each controlling a battalion. That's what the rules are intended for. We were already stretching them by triple sizing it and having three battalions each. After sleeping on it, Tom pronounced himself ready to give them another try, but trying to scale down the level of command each player represented. Some players might be company commanders instead. I'm still unconvinced of that, as then he is changing the core component of the rules -- the battalion level command. 

Keith (left) and Mike S ponder what doom they will unleash on Allen when he rounds the corner

His point that he doesn't have enough infantry to represent three battalions per side doesn't seem like the right reason to give it another go. I say get more and we'll try it then...ha, ha! And actually, I found my micro armor gaming experience less than satisfying. I simply cannot see those teeny tiny infantry and vehicles well enough to be able to tell what they are, in most cases. Many times during the game, I picked up one of my stands and said, "What is this stand again, Tom?" I honestly couldn't tell the heavy machine gunner laying down from my forward observer laying down. Part of the reason we do miniature gaming is for the spectacle -- the look of a miniature army on the tabletop. A micro armor army doesn't provide that satisfaction for me. I'm sure it does for others (Keith), but it is lacking for me. I think the spectacle would be fine if we were playing this game in 15mm, or maybe even 10mm. At one point in my gaming career, I was actually building 10mm WW II forces. I know...shocker!!

Anyway, we called the game after about three hours. My command on the right was still in great shape. We had chewed up Joel's U.S. command opposite us pretty good. On the left, Keith and Mike W were giving and receiving punishment about equally. In the center, Allen was a disaster. He lost the most stands by far of any German player. Of course, we figured out more than halfway through we were doing shooting vs. armored vehicles wrong, but I'm not sure that would have made as much difference. I would hazard a guess that the Americans had a slight edge when we called it quits.

    Keith moves his American battalion to attack Mike W on our left, while taking pot shots at Allen, too

What did I think of O Group? Well, the command and control was easier than I thought it would be. The shooting was very fiddly -- maybe part of the things Tom said that we did wrong. Shooting against infantry was very slow and attritional, taking multiple terms to get a company to a point where it had to withdraw. On the other hand, armored vehicles blew up like popcorn! So, that felt wrong. Finally, the scale. Micro armor. Sigh, I am simply not a fan. I feel it is a scale that deserves a "Thanos snap" (Marvel Comic Universe reference for the confused) and to be replaced by at least 10mm, if not 15mm. So, if anyone knows of where Tom can pick up three battalions each of Germans and Americans, please send a link to Tom...ha, ha!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 237
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 117 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 21
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 41

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 106

Star Wars with Space Weirdos: Imperial Boarding Action

    Allen's Star Wars rebel soldiers prepare to defend themselves as they hear the Stormtroopers advance

My friend Keith had a taste for some Sci-Fi skirmish, and wanted to get his Starship Vengeance 3-D printed cardboard terrain onto the table. The "box terrain" set from Gale Force 9 is pre-printed and cleverly goes back together like a Russian matryoska doll, with each slightly smaller box fitting inside a larger one. We decided to use Space Weirdos rules again, since we had just used them and they would be fresher in our head. I suggested a very Star Wars-like scenario with stormtroopers boarding a rebel cruiser looking for a high value target (in this case, "the Princess"). Keith brought along his Wizards of the Coast prepainted Star Wars figs, and we set up a simple, shoot-'em up scenario.

    Keith's very clever 3-D printed cardboard spaceship interior was our battlefield for the evening

We had three Empire players and three Rebels. Each controlled a sergeant leader and three troopers. The profiles were identical for both sides except that the rebels had laser pistols and the Stormtroopers had laser rifles. Of course, in the heat of the moment we promptly forgot to apply the weapon bonuses and restrictions until the very end of the game. We also forgot about our grenade's +1 on the damage chart, and our armor's +1 to Defense rolls. I have an idea on how to redesign the character sheets to make it less easy to forget all those fun things. It didn't imbalance the game as both sides completely forgot those modifiers until the very end of the game!

    My entry point was the bottom of the picture - but as we advance, Keith's rebels move to flank us

Keith laid out the very cool looking cardboard terrain to form the sprawling interior of a rebel cruiser. First, I had the Empire players discuss and then choose three breach points, one for each player, where they would board the ship. Next, the Rebel players returned to the room and deployed their figures. Jenny and I had chose to breach into rooms that led to corridors that essentially bisected the ship. Tom chose to breach into a perpendicular corridor that led left and right, so to speak. We figured we would come in the middle of the interior, so to speak, and then march right or left once we saw where the Rebels (and more importantly, the Princess) were. All three Empire players had a silent chuckle when they saw Joel deploy his four Rebels soldiers in the hallway Tom would breach into. To one side of the central axis, Keith had deployed his guys and the Princess in Engineering. To the opposite side, Allen had deployed his in the Control room. 

    Tom's Stormtroopers burst in through their breach point and quickly gunfire & blasts erupt

Crucially for me, there was another corridor that led from my access point to the back of Engineering. So, I feinted forward to look like I was going to reinforce Tom in the central hallway battle. Keith sent one of his soldiers to reinforce Joel, but the other three began moving towards the corridor, possibly to outflank me. This decided matters for me, as I would throw all four of my stormtroopers at his position. Before we engaged though, the battle was raging in the central hallway. We later nicknamed it the Hallway of Death for the Out of Action soldiers sprawled about the corridor. 

   Early look at the 'Hallway of Death', with two of Jenny's Stormtroopers at the bottom ready to join in

Tom raced through the breach point and immediately engaged the rebels in melee. I'd given each figure a grenade, in addition to their blaster, and the players were not shy about using them at all. Soon, shock grenades were going off all over the ship. Stormtroopers fell, Rebels went down -- anywhere that figures were bunched up within the half stick blast radius, a grenade would be tossed. Even with forgetting the +1 on the damage chart, grenades rolled 2d10 on attack vs. the laser pistol or rifle's 2d8. We debated whether it was possible to use one of your two Command Points each turn to "power up" the grenade to 2d12. It is possible to spend one point to power up your attack one dice level. We decided that it was possible, which made throwing grenades even more attractive. The sounds of booms soon rang through the hallways as men screamed and fell to the floor.

    Fortune was on the Empire's side as my Stormtroopers clear the corridor leading to Engineering

Tom pushed his attacks aggressively, drawing all of the attention of Joel and Allen. Jenny advanced to support him, keeping most of her troopers in the corridor leading to the Hallway of Death, though. While the battle raged there, it was mainly a distraction. It kept 2/3's of the rebels away from protecting the princess. All I would need to do would be to defeat Keith's three troopers with my four, grab the princess, and get out, and we would win.

    Unfortunately for the Princess, Allen's troopers remained pinned down inside the control room

Keith won the Initiative though and started turn 2 off with a bang. He threw a grenade which would catch three of my troopers in the blast. I used one of my two command points to have one Stormtrooper dodge out of the blast area. Only one of the other two was hit, and he was still up. I decided to use the movie tactics of the Stormtroopers and advanced to the attack, moving into his hallway and shooting with all of my Stormtroopers. We also tossed our share of grenades, too. It was a bloody battle, but my Stormtroopers were slowly getting the upper hand.

    My grenade tossed into the doorway leading to the Engineering knocked out a rebel & the princess

Keith's rebels began to fall back from the corridor. One of my men tossed a grenade in the open doorway leading to engineering. In the blast radius were three of his rebels AND (unfortunately, maybe) the Princess. The princess and two of the rebel soldiers were knocked out of action. He counterattacked knocking out one of my guys. Still, the doorway remained open at the start of the next turn. I had one of my Stormtroopers run in, pick up the princess, and dart back out into the corridor. I made sure I hung onto one of my command points, though, waiting for his rebels to pursue into the corridor and shoot my Stormtrooper carrying the princess. When he did, I played it, Dodging out of the corridor back towards my entry point.

    Bodies continue to pile up in the Hallway of Death, and amazingly Tom's Stormtroopers fight on!

Meanwhile, bodies continued to fall in the Hallway of Death. Allen's rebels, who'd been relatively content to hold the command center, finally came out to take on Tom and Jenny's stormtroopers. More grenades went off, more figures were either Knocked Down, Staggered, or put Out of Action. The Hallway's floor grew slick with the blood from wounded lying on the metallic floor. 

    Three of my Stormtroopers exfiltrating back towards our breach point with the princess' body

When we decided to call the game, my troopers were within one move of their exfiltration point and Keith did not have enough rebel soldiers left to stop them. He kept insisting the princess was dead, though I pointed out the rules say only "Out of Action," which doesn't mean dead. It was an imperial victory, especially considering the Sci-Fi medical advancements which could revive or heal the princess, we argued. Everyone had a great time, laughing as we made Star Wars movie references or comical dice failures beset us all. I think everyone is enjoying Space Weirdos. It is easy to pick up the concepts. There are a few questions that have arisen in our games, but we tend to be able to agree on the intent of the rules. If you're looking for a fast Sci-Fi skirmish game (they also have Sword Weirdos for Fantasy), with easy to learn rules, you may consider downloading the rules from Wargame Vault and trying them out. At only $5, how wrong can you go?

For only $5, how wrong can you go picking up & checking out a copy of Space Weirdos?

Meanwhile, my painting of 28mm Vietnam figures continues to roll along, as does my work on jungle vegetation scatter terrain pieces. Look for pics of those soon!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 80 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 57

Unemployed..? In Greenville?? Zombie Road Trip Part 2

    Earle and Jimmy pause for a moment as zombies seem to be everywhere in the trailer park!

 

 Unemployed...? In Greenville? - Zombie Road Trip: Part 2

The convoy of survivors had nearly made it to the Indiana state line when they decided they would be better off stopping somewhere to scavenge for more supplies. Near Greenville, they spotted a quiet looking trailer park. No signs of zombies were anywhere, and no people could be seen moving about. This seemed to be their best chance to find some food, gas, medicine, or even weapons. The convoy sent eight ahead in two RVs to investigate and explore, while the rest remained with the other vehicles. The recon group split up, with four approaching from each of the long sides of the trailer park. Things were still quiet, so they exited their vehicles and began to sneak forward.

    A look at my 4'x3' trailer park board complete with half a dozen trailers and a water tower

For this game, I had four players, each controlling two survivors. I was using a 4'x3' board with a dozen buildings in two rows, separated by a dirt road going down the center of the trailer park. A water tower loomed over the center of the board on one edge. Instead of fixed spawning points, as is typical in a game of Zombie RV, I had 12 potential places (each building) for new creatures to spawn each turn. Dividing the trailer park into two halves roughly on line with the water tower, the players would roll a d6 for the which building would be the spawn point on each half of the board. Then they would roll for how many. That way, threats would be coming from both sides of the board, and the players could not "know" where new ones would appear. If a building had already been searched when rolled, the zombies would instead come from the treeline nearest the building. And yes, the zombies could spawn in a building a survivor was currently inside and searching (but not yet found anything). That never happened, though, but fairly quickly, the zombies seemed to be everywhere on the board!

    Players could place their vehicle starting point along any board edge, including along the tree lines

All 12 buildings could potentially have supplies, but the player's mission was to get eight supplies and then get back to their vehicles and escape. I also gave them a chance for each cache of supplies to also include a weapon or extra ammo, if they rolled that. Joel's characters (Earle and Jimmy) teamed up with Mike W's (Reef and C.J.). They began in the center of the side of the board opposite the water tower. Keith's characters (Junior and Roman), with their companions Mike S's Coop and Daisy, began in the shadow of the water tower. Each group of four split into teams of two and sought out a building to investigate.

    C.J. gets ready to check the door of a trailer as Reef covers him, looking out for zombies

Mike W's C.J. ran forward and onto the deck of the trailer with the metal bars over the windows. Just as C.J. reached for the door, he heard a familiar moaning sound from behind him. Three zombies had just spawned from the building behind him and began shuffling towards him. His companion, Reef -- a new guy the convoy had just picked up -- fired at the zombies, killing two. C.J. disappeared inside the trailer and ducked inside one of the rooms, closing the door behind him. He heard Reef continuing to fire, and then begin to curse loudly. "I'm jammed, C.J.! I'm out of here -- heading back to the RV!" Quietly, C.J. cursed the faithlessness of his new companion and peeked out the corner of one of the windows to keep an eye on the zombies. They seemed to be following Reef. That was good news, at least. They seemed to have forgotten he was there.

    Zombies shamble across the dirt road towards Junior on the porch and Coop, in the distance

Not far away, Jimmy and Earle were creeping quietly between a rusted home made from a shipping container and a trailer painted bright pink. They heard the gunfire and flattened themselves against the shipping container building. Slow shuffling footsteps sounded like they were just on the other side of the building, so they crouched in place, hoping not to be noticed. On the opposite side of the board Junior and Roman dashed up onto the wide deck of a large trailer that seemed to be in pretty good shape, other than dirt, trash, and leaves piled up around. Across the little lawn between it and the neighboring, heavily damaged trailer, Coop and Daisy were moving forward to investigate, too. "Check inside," Junior whispered to Roman, "I will cover you from out there." Roman pulled his hoodie up and pushed open the door of the trailer.

    Hearing Reef's gun shots and slow, dragging footsteps, Earle and Jimmy take a moment to hide

Much to my surprise, the player controlling Reef was serious -- his rifle-armed character who'd rolled a "1" (out of ammo) did flee back to the trailer and jump inside, gunning the engine. I let him move the trailer back and forth along the edge of the table, which was really all he did for the rest of the game. He did try to run one zombie down, but only knocked it off its feet. Poor C.J. cowered inside as the zombies circled the trailer where he was hiding. They were drawn by the gunfire of Earle, who would shoot at the group of zombies, then dash off out of their movement range. The tactics of Earle "the Rabbit" would be put to the test as zombies spawned from all around him in this game. As the zombies were distracted, Jimmy ducked inside the container building and began searching.

    Drawn by the sounds of shooting, zombies begin to shuffle towards the survivors

Meanwhile, zombies began to notice Junior standing on the corner of the deck keeping watch, and shuffled towards him. A Fast Zombie led the charge. Once a large group was within range, Junior let off two blasts of his shotgun, killing several and physically hurling others back. More zombies began to converge on Junior, and he continued blasting away until he ran out of ammo. One zombie clambered up onto the deck and clawed at him, but Junior smashed its head with the butt of his shotgun. Hearing his cursing, Roman dashed out onto the deck. "Found some supplies," he said, shoving things into his backpack, and you might want these!" He tossed a belt of shotgun shells to his friend, who snatched it and quickly began to reload as more zombies shuffled into view.

    Coop and Daisy pause after searching a trailer, only to be surprised by zombies arriving nearby

Seeing his distress, Coop began firing at the growing horde of zombies, killing two. Daisy dashed out of the fire-damaged trailer slinging her pack onto her back, "I'm good!" she called, "Let's move!" The two moved towards the water tower just as a trio of zombies emerged from the trees behind them. The trailer Daisy had just searched came up as the spawn point, which meant they arrived in the trees behind it, instead. As the two dashed off, pursued by zombies from both sides of the street, Earle sprinted across the dirt road. He had rolled an extra action, so he stopped at the corner of the building and blasted away with his rifle twice. The zombies redirected and began to converge on Earle. 

    Junior takes a position on the deck of a trailer and blasts away with his shotgun at groups of zombies

Meanwhile, Roman had darted back inside the trailer, planning on ducking out the back door to search Swingle's Schwarma Shack across the street, when the coast was clear. Junior quietly snuck off the porch and crossed the lawn, hoping not to be noticed. Earle's friend Jimmy also ran across the road, firing his pistol. He followed Junior behind the damaged trailer. Zombies followed them both, streaming around both sides of the building. "Damn!" both cursed simultaneously. With nowhere to run, each turned to face the oncoming zombies. Junior's shotgun barked twice, while not far away, Earle's rifle fire cracked out. Zombies fell, but soon Junior and Earle were in hand-to-hand combat with zombies hungering for their flesh. They heard the sound of Coop's rifle and Daisy's pistol, though, as the two fired on the zombie horde. Junior hoped that the gambit would draw the zombies off.

    Coop & Daisy continue their methodical search, cleverly always just out of reach of the zombies

The zombie attacking Junior swung wildly with its claws, but missed. The burly survivor then bashed in the creatures forehead with the butt of its shotgun. As he saw more closing in, he cursed again, and ran for the RV parked nearby. Jimmy quickly followed him into the vehicle, shutting the door behind him. This left Earle alone and in a bit of a lurch. A stream of zombies closed in on him, led by a Fast Zombie clothed in nothing but bright red underwear. Her claws tore through Earle's leather jacket, but the survivor shrugged off the pain. Another zombie closed with him. Earle heard the door of the RV opening and closing, and began edging backwards that way. He battled fiercely, and shoved himself free for a moment of the zombies' flailing arms. When he did, he heard shots ring out and the snap of bullets whistling past his ears on either side. Both zombies dropped as his friends covered him from the windows of the RV. Seeing an opening, Earle dashed for the vehicle himself, ducking inside and shouting, "Go, go, go...!"

        Things are getting dangerous -- Junior attacked by a zombie while Earle faces down another

Meanwhile, with all the commotion, Roman had been able to sneak across the street, using the burnt out hulk of a vehicle as cover. After what seemed like forever waiting for the zombies to shamble a safe distance away, he sprinted for Swingle's and dove across the counter top into the small, stone building. While waiting, Roman had been shaking his head, watching as Reef drove the other RV up and down the lane on the other side of the trees, alternately revving the engine then skidding to a stop. "What the freak is that guy doing...?" he mumbled. When the new guy returned to the corner intersection and slid to a stop, Ramon waved at him frantically at him. Once he caught his eye, he mouthed the words, "WAIT...FOR...ME!" He got a thumbs up and a grin. Ramon shook his head, again. "Crazy mutha..."

    Things are looking bleak for Earle -- in contact with 2 zombies and nearly surrounded

Coop and Daisy were on the run, again. They had eased the pressure off their friends, but were attracting the attention of a lot of zombies. Daisy would quickly enter a trailer to search it, while Coop tried to hold off the zombies with his rifle. Once Daisy had found something worth scavenging, she would exit the trailer, and add her pistol to the firing to slow down the zombies. Once they stemmed the surge a little, they would dash for the next building in the trailer park. As they were outside the last one, they heard honking as their RV sped around the corner. Earle and Junior's heads were hanging out the windows shouting at them to get in. Needing no further encouragement, the two survivors darted for the van and jumped inside. On the other side of the trailer park, C.J. was doing the same. Roman held the door open for him as he sprinted inside. C.J. shouted, "I'm in, now let's get out of here! Reef, you are a crazy sonofabitch...!"

    Zombies shuffle back and forth underneath the legs of the water tower drawn by gun shots

There were some close escapes, but all eight survivors exited the board inside one of the survivors' RVs. They scavenged nine caches of supplies and rolled well enough to find a couple more weapons or extra ammo. This would keep the convoy moving well into Indiana, and keep their bellies full. Earle certainly had the closest calls. He was hit by zombies twice, once rolling the necessary "6" to pass his Grit Check. The other time, the zombie rolled only a "Flesh Wound." Junior also had very good fortune, too, never seeming to miss when a zombie closed the distance and was within striking range. Mike S's Coop and Daisy were seriously good "team players." Whenever one of their group was about to be overwhelmed, they fired like crazy to draw off the zombie hordes. 

    Coop and Daisy on the run from zombies, again -- they played cat and mouse with them all game

Reef's "peace out" as soon as he ran out of an ammo was a disappointment. The player contended that he couldn't do anything since he was out of ammo. I told him that there are survivors in every game of Zombie RV that we play who are armed with only a melee weapon. He could run. He could search. There was plenty he could do besides leave his companions to do all the scavenging for supplies. Driving up and down the lane beyond the line of trees in the RV wasn't going to accomplish much. In the end, he did provide pickup service Roman and C.J., who had been cut off from the rest of the group. So, the "new guy" wasn't completely useless.

    Earle will relive this moment in nightmares as more and more zombies close in on him...!

I was happy with how the trailer park looked. The water tower is a great, iconic rural America terrain piece, too. The system of moving spawn points worked really well, I thought. I like it better than the one I've been using. It raises the danger level and limits the somewhat cheesy "rabbit" tactic of having a fast player continuously run back and forth to distract the zombies. Instead, the players stepped up for each other, firing to support group members who were in trouble. Except in scenarios where a single spawn point makes sense, I may keep this mechanic of moving spawn points for most of my scenarios. Its hard to use the word "realistic" in a zombie apocalypse game, but it certainly makes more sense.

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 119
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 54 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 17

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 39