Dragon Rampant: Rescue (or Capture) the Civilians!

 

    How would my Wood Elves fight as small, 6-man units of Scouts instead of 'mixed weapons' units?

We had four games of Dragon Rampant! going side by side this past Sunday for our regular game night. Most of the armies taking the field would be in their first battle (or at least the first for one of our DR! evenings). It would be the first appearance on a Sunday evening  for my Wood Elf army, who would be matched against Keith's Chaos army, also taking the field for the first time. Next to us, Mike S had created a new Greek Mythological list, which would battle Mike W's High Elves that he'd borrowed from Keith. Andy was also fielding a new army for him, a Woodland one featuring Hobbits and Ents. He would square off against Allen's Orcs. On the octagon table, Joel's Desert Goblins would face the army of the Evil Jungle Princess Salunga, yet a new iteration of Tom's beastmen.

    Sunday night's festivities with 4 games of Dragon Rampant! side by side (photo by Andy S)

I created the scenario we were playing, calling it "Rescue (or Capture) the Civilians!" It was inspired by a Lion Rampant scenario and each board featured four civilian figures. The players would want to move towards and take control of them before their opponents. Each was worth 1, 2, or 3 Glory points (DR! terminology for victory points). The civilians started roughly in the middle of the board and would move at the start of each player's turn a random direction and distance. Players would also get points for destroying or routing enemy units, of course. The civilians were meant to give them some tactical problems to consider besides the enemy army.

    Keith's Chaos Heavy Riders backed up by a Greater Warbeast Demon with spellcasting & Cunning

    Other half of Keith's center, another unit of Heavy Riders & his Chaos Lord with Elite Infantry

In our game, Keith's Chaos warriors and my Wood Elves couldn't be more different. He had only five units (none of which could shoot), while mine had nine. Here were our army's compositions:

• Chaos Warriors 
• Warlord with Elite Infantry @6AP
• Demon Lord - Greater Warbeast with Cunning and Level 2 Spellcaster @10AP  
• Chaos Knights - Elite Riders @ 6AP
• 2 units of Chaos Heavy Riders @8AP 

    Right wing of the Wood Elves with 2 units of Scouts & the Birds of the Forest, alongside the center

    Left wing of the Elves - Heavy Riders, 2 Scout units (one in trees already), & Heavy Elven Foot

• Wood Elves
• 4 units of Scouts @ 8AP
• 3 units of Heavy Foot (1 with Warlord, 2 with Level 1 Spellcasters) @14AP
• Elven Cavalry - Heavy Riders @4AP 
• Birds of the Forest - Lesser Warbeasts with Flying, Weak, and Cowardly @4AP 

    Wood Elven Cavalry trots out to face off against the much heavier Chaos elite knights in the distance

So, it was the classic Quantity vs. Quality matchup. After my first game, I had been unhappy with my infantry fielded as Light Foot with mixed weapons. Since they are wood elves, I felt they should fight more effectively in terrain, not less (Light Foot are penalized in melee when in rough terrain). So, I was trying something new with my archers field as small, 6-figure units of Scouts. I had never used Scouts before, but knew they should try to stick close to the terrain, where they were more survivable. One of my spellcasters chose Crimson magic (to be able to blast away at enemy at range), and  the other chose Magenta, chiefly to be able to enhance my Scouts shooting or my heavy foot's melee ability.

    Once the Chaos lord stopped his advance short of their range, the Scouts emerge from the trees

Keith was the attacker, so deployed first. His center was composed of his two Heavy Rider units on either side of his Elite Infantry. Behind the battle line was the big scary Demon (Greater Warbeast). He deployed his Elite Knights to the right to outflank me. The battlefield had four medium sized patches of woods, two on each half of the table. I lined two Scouts units each to occupy the woods on my left and right, while the heavy foot stretched across my center between them. The foot with the spellcasters were up front line while the warlord's foot bodyguard supported them from behind. Further to their rear were my Cavalry. The birds of the forest were on the right, positioned to support the Scouts.

    The Chaos Demon charges impetuously into a company of Heavy Elven Foot, who push him back

Keith's warband initially marched forward, but after their second move halted. They saw my Scouts infiltrating into the woods, and didn't want to move into the forest to face them OR get within their 12" of their shooting range. My army was not succeeding in its movement rolls like Keith's was, so my advance was in fits and starts. Our group plays a relatively common modified version of the activation system that the author introduced in his Rebels and Patriots rules. Rather than forfeiting your turn immediately when one unit fails to activate, you are given an opportunity to activate each unit every turn. You can still fail and do nothing (which my army did often enough in this game), but your turn doesn't immediately end with the other units not getting a chance. We feel that there is enough randomness in DR! with the shooting, combat, and magic system. You don't need to have the game thrown because one player fails his first activation for several turns in a row!

    Elven archers, cavalry, and heavy foot close in on the demon, who the Elf Warlord says must DIE!

That said, our modified system DOES make less expensive units like Scouts, Light Foot, and archers more effective than they might be otherwise. It also helps armies composed of lots of low-cost units perform better than they would be under the standard activation system. However, we figure that as long as everyone is aware of that, we are on a level playing field. In our game, Keith was having second thoughts about my four units of archers. With three of his five units counting as mounted, he felt they tilted the battle against him. So, the Chaos Lord refused to advance any further. He had snatched up three of the four civilians already and was ahead on points. In essence, he was saying, "Your move, Mr. Pointy Ears!" Knowing that I could shoot 12" but his Riders or Knights could charge no more than 10", my Scouts began to advance out of the woods and use the Skirmish ability to move and fire on the enemy. 

    2 units of Elven heavy foot march forward, ready to do battle with the hesitant forces of Chaos

My wizard tried to enchant the arrows of the Scouts to make their fire even more effective. Scouts normally hit on 5+ on each d6, or "6" if Skirmishing. The spell "Sharp Darts" would enable me to re-roll all of my misses. The Elven enchantress was doing her part. Over the course of the game, she successfully cast the spell five times. However, every time she did that, the enhanced unit of Scouts would immediately fail its Shooting action. Not once or twice, but five times in a row! Not once in the entire game did I get a chance to re-roll any of my shots. Doing some quick math, it appears that there is about a 1% chance of that occurring! I also kept track of the times my attacks scored hits but were one short of the armor level of my target (thus, no casualties). Over the course of the game, I did that 12 times. Augghh! Shades of the last outing with my Elves! 

    Demon lord slain, the Elves scent victory and advance all along the battlefield

Keith then sprang the trap that the Demon Lord had cooked up in his crafty, evil mind. He cast Transpose (which requires an 8+ on 2d6, incidentally), switching his demon's position with of one of my Scout units in the woods on the right. For some reason, I forgot the Demon Lord was his spellcaster, and we allowed it to follow up the spell with an immediate charge into the other Scout unit in that woods he'd appeared alonside (with a puff of brimstone, of course!). Of course, the Scouts failed their 7+ on 2d6 Evade roll, and the Demon Lord crashed into them. Perhaps realizing he shouldn't have been able to cast a spell AND charge, Keith rolled abominably, not wiping out the Scouts as he could have. He did win the combat, though, and scooped up the fourth and final civilian from the Scouts. Meanwhile, the Chaos Heavy Riders charged the magically misplaced Scouts out in the open. They were j-u-s-t over 2" away from the Wood Elves. These Scouts were a bit more inspired and did Evade, staying just out of reach of the cavalry. The Elven warlord saw the danger the Demon Lord presented in the midst of his battleline and immediately threw every unit he could against it. The birds of the forest charged in and caused two hits on the demon, driving him roaring out of the woods. The enchantress targeted him with magic, archers shot arrows at him. However, this was my time of the game where I was missing doing damage by one on most of my attacks. The next turn, the Demon Lord -- subject to "Wild Charge" -- crashed into one of the units of Elven heavy foot. Halberds twirled, two-handed swords sliced, and spears impaled the demon, driving him back, again. 

    Early stages of the Woodland Folk vs. Allen's Orcs & Goblins (photo by Andy)

More archery and spells failed to finish him off, though. Eventually, the Elven cavalry moved up to be in charge range. I knew I couldn't let the demon escape. Keith was up +8 points with the civilians, and was beginning to pull his battle line back towards his board edge. We needed to kill this 10-point Greater Warbeast to claim victory! The demon noticed the approaching cavalry and wild charged into them. Luckily, the cavalry counter-charged and did enough damage to finish the demon off. With the Chaos Lord disconcerted by the potential effects of Elven archery, the rest of his army continued to fall back.

    After their drubbing, Allen's Orcs may call Andy's stalwart spear, 'Nasty hobbitses!' (photo by Andy)

On the left, my two units of Scouts had damaged one of his Heavy Riders units, taking it down to one remaining strength point. It finally shook itself out of its stupor and galloped back out of their range. Keith made it clear his army was withdrawing and not coming any further forward. The elves were willing to chase them down with archery and spells, but there was nothing to prevent his forces from simply marching off the table. So, we agreed to call the game. The elves had avenged their defeat at the hands of the Bonefish Band a few weeks earlier. 

    Ents close in on Orc halberdiers, while the hobbits draw nearer in the distance (photo by Andy)

Meanwhile, the Greeks and High Elves on the battlefield next to us skirmished almost to a stalemate. They'd split the civilians between them, and only one unit was lost by the Greeks. This gave the edge to the High Elves, who eked out a victory. I believe Keith's "Shooty Elves" (as he calls them) are now 3-0 under various commanders. Keith constructed the list so that every unit shoots. The foot are mixed weapon light foot (like my Elves were in the first battle) and the heavy riders are equipped with bows, too. On the next battlefield further down, the clash between Andy's Woodland Folk and Allen's Orcs & Goblins was a slaughter. Andy said his forces destroyed or routed every unit in Allen's army!

    One of Salunga's units with control of a civilian - 'Lady Greensleeves,' I was told her name was!

There was one game still going on, though, so I drifted over to kibbitz and watch the match between Joel's borrowed Desert Goblins and Salunga, the Evil Jungle Princess. It was a bitter struggle. Tom's beastmen had six units, all of which had a spellcaster. He was having my dice rolling luck, though, and failing to cast fireballs amidst the goblins' ranks time and time again. Joel has played Keith's Desert Goblins a number of times and has gotten quite canny with them. In fact, after this weekend, he's tied for the second-most victories in our games of Dragon Rampant, having a 3-2 record. He used his savvy and pulled out a victory here, too.  

    Frustrated at the ineffectiveness of their magic spells, Tom's beastmen charge into Joel's goblins

I continue to enjoy DR! rules, and it seems they've really caught on in our group. More new armies are making it to the tabletop. Players seem intrigued by what they can create with this very open toolbox list building system. I look forward to fielding my Elves again, soon. It was great to see the army deployed on the tabletop after months of painting them up!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 210
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 166

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 71

Ten Warbands, Ten Players, Lions & Dragons Rampant, oh my!

  Pictish spearmen prepare to form Wall of Spears as the Vikings advance ever closer in Lion Rampant

We had a friend who visits only about once a year coming into town and he wanted to join our Sunday Night Gaming crew. I messaged him to see what he'd be interested in doing and Anthony said he would like to try Lion Rampant. With everyone coming, it looked like we'd have nearly a dozen people, so we decided to stage two multiplayer games. Anthony would join Tom, Joel, Mike S, our host Mike W, and myself in a giant game of Lion Rampant on a 10' wide table. Meanwhile, the 6' wide table would hold a 4-player game of Dragon Rampant. I was in charge of bringing all the battle mats and terrain, in addition to three 24-point commands of Picts, so it was quite the load to set up.

Three warbands of Picts & Vikings each clash on a 10' wide table for a huge game of Lion Rampant

To fill the forces for three Lion Rampant commands of Picts, it took up a big chunk of my 28mm Dark Ages miniatures. Our side would field 20 units and more than 200 miniatures. My friend (and as it turned out, cross-table opponent) Mike S would be bringing 17 units of Vikings, I believe he said. It would be an epic clash as the Vikings launched an invasion of Pictland, hoping to secure northern Britain as their base for raiding. We played a straight up battle rather than a scenario, since it was some players' first game of Lion Rampant. In addition, we used our usual "no crap out" variant of the activation rules. A failure by one unit did not end a command's turn. We use that across the board for all of Daniel Mersey's "Rampant" series and believes it provides a much more enjoyable and entertaining game.

    My 2 units of Pictish light cavalry swing wide right and prepare to pepper the Vikings with javelins

I gave all 20 unit cards to Tom and declared him the overall Pictish commander. I asked him to divide them into three commands, left, center, and right. He took the center and I was given the right with six units under my command. I had two units of Pictish spearmen (light infantry), one of Warrior Infantry (wild chargers), one of archers, and two of Pictish light cavalry. Facing me were six frothing at the mouth units of Vikings -- or at least that is how it looked to my Picts! I sent the two cavalry units to the far right, supported by the archers. In the center, the Pictish spear intended to advance to tempt the Vikings to advance, and both units formed their schiltrons (Wall of Spears) to resist the Viking charge. Meanwhile, the Warrior Infantry would try to race into the woods on our left and chase off their archers.

    Viking battle line, led by a fearless and battle-hardened shield maiden in the center

It was a good plan, and early on it seemed to be working. The one unit of Vikings (Warrior Infantry) that entered the large field of crops opposite my archers began to waver under the archer's arrows and the cavalry's javelins. They began to fall back, battered, which encouraged my two mounted units to circle around the field. The lead unit of cavalry charged the Vikings while their morale were still battered and inflicted enough casualties for them to fail their courage test and rout from the field. The cavalry looked ready to encircle the Vikings and attack them from the rear!

    The battle lines of Picts & Vikings begin to edge towards each other as arrows fly overhead

On the left, my warrior infantry charged one of their opposite numbers from the Viking's center command. Joel's Viking warriors had surprisingly been driven back by Tom's Pictish archers. My warriors struck the disheartened Vikings and slaughtered enough of them to drive them from the field. Elated, they rushed towards the woods where the Viking archers were firing upon my spearmen and inflicting casualties. The warriors were cut off, though, and charged by a unit of Viking axemen (heavy infantry with bloodthirsty). Luckily, my warriors rolled high enough to counter-charge. We inflicted more casualties, and more importantly, Mike had a second drastic morale failure. The axemen ran from the field. 

    My warrior infantry, having chased off one unit, ready to face down more Vikings with impunity!

Emboldened by their success, the Pictish warriors charged their third foe -- the Viking archers. Their numbers were thinned by two combats already, but they inflicted enough casualties to rout the archers, as well. Good rolls on Courage tests were a scarce commodity on this flank! My Pictish spearmen were also failing their tests vs. the one or two casualties Mike's archers had been inflicting. Unfortunately, that third charge was it for my good rolling for the night! From this point on, I failed nearly every courage test and rolled poorly in every combat. The warriors decided they'd done enough for the day, so they also decamped from the field. Good on them, though -- three enemy units driven from the field!

    My Pictish spearmen are thinking, 'That sure looks like a lot of Vikings...! Are we sure about this??'

That was indeed the Pictish "high water mark" on the right flank. Mike's remaining three heavy infantry units began to advance on my wavering Pictish spearmen. Just in time, I rallied one unit and was even able to form Wall of Spears before the Vikings charged home. On average rolls, this should have been a victory for the Picts. However, over the next several turns, three times Mike's Vikings charged my cowardly and intimidated spearmen. Three times they were driven back by the Vikings. When my commander's spear schiltron eventually failed morale and broke and ran from the field, it unleashed a string of 2d6 rolls that never came close to average or succeeding. One of the cavalry units became battered upon hearing the warlord was dead, and proceeded to fail their next two tests, as well. The other spear unit steadily failed and retreated backwards four more times over the next four turns, until they backed off the field.  

    No two units failed more morale checks than these two units of spear -- it was maddening!

The cavalry unit and archers, although passing their courage test when the warlord fled, proceeded to fail their activation rolls time after time. When the archers did shoot, I rolled way under average and did not cause any casualties to a Viking unit that was at half strength and ready to crumble. It was a miserable ending after a spectacular beginning. Thankfully, Tom in the center had routed Joel's entire command, and began to send help my way. One of Mike's Viking heavy infantry broke under Tom's pressure, leaving him with just his general's heavy infantry and the half strength unit. That unit refused to charge my archers, who themselves failed to inflict enough casualties to get the Vikings finally running. Time after time, Mike's Viking heavy foot unit with his commander passed morale checks while mine failed them. In the end, I still outnumbered him in units, but my troops just wouldn't fight!

    Beers, snacks, and lots of orcs & goblins raging about on the Dragon Rampant battle table!

Fortunately, Anthony had finally won on the left flank, outlasting Mike W's Viking wing and driving it from the board. Tom crushed Joel in the center, losing no units, while Joel's entire command fled the field. Seeing this, we called it a Pictish victory. My wing was wavering at best, but Mike's was hanging on by a thread, too. My Picts could console themselves by saying they'd driven off more enemy units than we lost, but honestly, their "second half" performance was shameful! It was certainly the most frustrating run of failed courage tests I've ever had in any of the Rampant style games we've played. 

    The arid plains of the DR! battlefield were soon drenched with blood (fortunately no spilled beer!)

On the Dragon Rampant board, Andy and Allen's orcs and goblins had a bloody battle with Bob's and Keith's armies. The orcs fled the field in the end, with Bob and Keith holding on for the win. I didn't get over there much to watch the battle, but it sounded brutal. They were fighting on a smaller width battlefield (6' wide for four armies, two per side). I had brought over a folding table to add 2' to their width, but the table heights were too mismatched. There would have been a weird drop off three quarter's of the way across the table! So, the orcs and their foes fought in close quarters that evening. Still, it was impressive to have 10 players and 10 warbands clashing all at once. It was fun, but a LOT of work to set up and pull off. Thanks to Mike S for bringing three warbands of Vikings and Mike W for hosting such a throng of gamers! Lots of dice were flung and good times were had!! 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 141

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 29

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 62

Fallout Skirmish Playtest Using 'Blast Pistol' Rules

    Super-mutant 'Big Boss' charges towards two Minutemen in a skirmish set in the world of Fallout

My friend Mike S is a huge fan of the Fallout series, having played the video games and bought the various versions of the official rules. However, he hasn't been exactly crazy about the mechanics of those games. The first we tried, with its proprietary dice, was tedious in keeping track of what each symbol meant. We did one game using it back in 2022, but quickly told him it really wasn't for us. He agreed. He also bought the more recent version, Fallout Factions, I believe it is called. He wasn't that impressed with those either. So, he set off on a search for a set of rules he could play Fallout games with.

    Soldiers of the New California Republic advance onto the table searching for supplies & food

He ended up picking Nordic Weasel's Blast Pistol as the first set to try out. The rules were released back in 2017 by the author of the more well known Five Parsecs from Home (or the fantasy version, Five Leagues from the Borderlands). I ran a short solo campaign using Five Parsecs back in 2024 to see if it would be appropriate for a Sci-Fi campaign with the Sunday Night Gamers. Blast Pistol is very similar in its combat mechanics -- very bare bones and easy to pick up. Mike asked me to create a Quick Reference Sheet for it, so I did. And lo and behold! The gamers actually used my QRS Sunday night...ha, ha! Everyone picked up the mechanics quickly. Essentially there are two things to take into account when making a ranged attack. Are you in your weapon's most effective range (typically about 12"), or beyond? Is the target in cover or not? So, a chart with two rows and two columns (four possible "to hit" numbers) is sufficient and very easy to remember.

    The 'Gunners' mercenary faction, my other neighbor, and came under attack by Super-mutants

We had an amazing turnout that evening, as Mike brought his son Jason along and Tom brought along Bob, our gaming pal from a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away). Mike divvied out the factions to the nine players, including two of "Super Mutants," two Vault denizens, one cannibal raiders, and a variety of other survivor factions. Each player's faction was composed of anywhere from 7 to 14 figures. I ended up with a generic "Survivor" faction of seven figures armed with a different weapons, but also including one guy in an armored suit and a robot with a nasty cutting wheel as a melee weapon. 

    My neighbors on the left also came under attack quickly, this time by the Reservation Vault faction

Next to my generically named Survivors on the left was Mike W with the New California Republic faction. They looked like a uniformed paramilitary organization and were armed mainly with shotguns and assault rifles. On my right was Allen with a mercenary faction called the Gunners, whose main motivation was wealth. My faction's goal was to set up trade networks (+5 VP apiece) with each faction that agreed, find supplies or food (+2 VP), and eliminate "Threats" (+1 VP). The only factions my briefing called "threats" were far from me on the board, though.  Tom's Super-mutants were in one corner, Keith's "Jackals" (cannibalistic raiders) were in the other opposite corner, and Joel's Super-mutants were on the other side of Allen.

    Jenny's faction was a typical, blue-clad Vault faction and they stumbled upon a Deathclaw

I decided to approach each of my immediate neighbors first and see if they agreed. Fortunately, both trusted me enough to agree to set up a trade network (despite Tom's calling out to everyone not to trust me...ha. ha! To set up a network, one of our figures had to be within 6" of the other to make the parley (and not fire on each other, obviously!). Honestly, I was amazed that I pulled that off! It probably helped that Mike had immediately been fired upon by the Reservation Vaulters (Bob's faction), and Allen was attacked by his brother's Super-mutants. Each welcomed a secure flank. I decided to shift my forces to the right to assist my new allies, the Gunners, against the hulking, nasty-looking Super-mutants and their ravenous, oversized dogs. They were pretty far away, though, and Joel was very clever in utilizing cover, so most of my shots needed a "10" on 1d10 to hit. Needless to say, I think I missed the first half dozen shots or more!

    Meant to be a target of my Survivor faction, Tom's Super-mutants were too far away from me

On the other hand, the two warring factions on my left (NCR and Reservation Vaulters) were not so keen on cover. Both simply lined up like a gunfight in Tombstone and blazed away at short range and in the open. Bob's dice were abominable (despite it actually being his birthday). Mike W soon began to make short work of his Native American survivors. It didn't help that Bob simultaneously attacked Tom's Super-mutants. His search rolls at the end of each turn also discovered a large group of Feral Ghouls that promptly attacked him. Caught between the NCR's blazing shotguns, the Super-mutants return fire, and the ghouls, Bob's vaulters were down to two figures by the end of the game.

    It was a huge turnout with 9 players, but Mike's game and 'Blast Pistol' rules handled the crowd well

Allen's Gunners began to lose guys to the Super-mutant attack, too. One soldier was vaporized by a "buzz bomb," two were devoured by the dogs, and two failed morale and bolted away from the threat to hide in the ruins. Like a good ally, my men and women began to lay down fire on the mutants from positions of good cover. I slowly began working my robot forward so that he could charge into melee with his cutting saw. Surprisingly, he succeeded in getting close enough without being shot. He promptly rolled into contact with one of the mutants blazing away from behind a beat-up pickup truck. From our understanding of the rules, it doesn't take an Action to do hand-to-hand. Instead, it happens immediately upon contact. The ambulatory buzzsaw sliced into two Super-mutants all by itself, while my forces succeeded in gunning down another. A mastiff on steroids charged one of my survivors, but amazingly, he was able to drive it off.

    Jenny's Vault denizens retreated from the attack of the Deathclaw & actually ended up killing it!

Despite horrible my very bad dice rolling at the beginning, my rolls were heating up. A pack of Feral Ghouls sprang on us, too. However, one by one, we were able to gun them down over the course of the next two turns (and avoid taking any damage from them). We weren't so lucky when our own searching sprung a Deathclaw from its burrow inside a wrecked box truck. Startled by our presence, it sprang towards us, prompting an immediate debate between Mike W and myself about who it would charge on its subsequent action. I insisted (loudly enough so the GM could hear) that his guys were closer. Mike replied that it couldn't see his guys. I showed him with the laser pointer that it could. 

    As a result of my end-turn search rolls, a party of Feral Ghouls leapt from cover to attack my group

My proof failed to convince the GM, though, who charged the monster into one my gals. Luckily, the survivor contacted survived to recoil rather than be eaten. The monster roared with a terror attack and my survivor sullied her drawers and sprinted off-table with alacrity. Two of my other survivors who were near the Deathclaw had already fallen back, leaving my sniper trapped in a corner of the ruins alone. We were saved by our new trading partners, though. Mike's NCR team opened up on the Deathclaw (fearing they would be dessert after it ate my sniper for dinner). Mike's rolls were even hotter and the towering monstrosity went down with a crash. My sniper sighed in relief, wondering if she would have to seek a change of clothes when she got back to camp, too!

    The Boy Scouts...er, Minutemen, take cover from the shooting of the Jackal cannibal clan

The fighting raged back and forth between the various factions, most of whom were all too happy to open up on their neighbors. I guess they didn't have "set up trade networks" as a victory condition! Jenny's Vault faction sprang a Deathclaw, as well. In addition, she was attacked on three sides, by both Tom's Super-mutants and Keith's fine young cannibals. One of Joel's dogs thought the Vaulters in their trademark blue jumpsuits looked too much like squirrels and sprinted across the board after them. It ate one of the vault denizens (they tasted soft and juicy, apparently), then howled in frustration when it couldn't have another. The howl brought the Super-mutants' "Big Boss" onto the table -- more trouble for Jenny's vaulters!

    Despite the number of players, Mike's game moved quickly - everyone had fun & enjoyed the laughs

Who would be a "Boy Scout" and come to save those naive Vault denizens in their foray into the Wastes? The Boy Scouts, of course! Or that's what we jokingly called Jason's faction all game long. Technically, they were the Minutemen, but their khaki uniforms brought the Boy Scouts of America to my mind (which I dubbed them to the group's great humor). When they leapt forward to protect Jenny's Vaulters from the Big Boss, I quipped that they were all hoping to earn their "Big Scary Monster" merit badge! Anyway, Jason took the ribbing in good grace, and was easily quick to disparage his survivor's efforts at...well, surviving! He was on the losing end of a fight with Keith's cannibalistic Jackal clan, when surprisingly both agreed to a truce. I guess the Jackals had enough Boy Scout for one day and couldn't eat another bite...!

    Pity the player in the middle! Poor Jenny's Vault denizens under attack on all three sides

All in all, it was a lot of fun with laughter around the table. No one took it hard when they came under fire. Everyone picked up the rules well and understood that a simple d10 system would be very "swingy," as Jason called it. My opinion was that a system that allowed around 100 miniatures controlled by nine players fight it out, man-to-man, in less than three hours, can't be too bad! Mike seemed happy with how the rules played, too. So, barring him getting a case of the "Ooh, shiney!", we will likely be doing more Fallout soon. Hopefully, it will be in a continuing series of games, aka a campaign. We shall see, though!

    Things are looking grim for my sniper Daisy, both a Deathclaw & Feral Ghoul hungry for her flesh!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 125

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59

    Keith's Jackals shoot it out with Jason's Minutemen, with Jason starting to get the worse of it!

   Vault Denizens from the Reservation were particularly aggressive, attacking both of their neighbors

 

    One of Joel's Super-mutants taking cover in the junkyard and firing on Allen and I (mostly Allen!)

    Last stand of the Reservation Vault faction as they are about to be consumed by Feral Ghouls

Paleolithic Play Test Using Wiley Games Rules

    Jenny's tribe chases some megafauna in Keith's Paleolithic hunting game with Wiley Games rules

My friend Keith is a big fan of all things prehistoric. Over the years, he has run a number of Dinosaur Hunt games for us using a variety of rules sets. When our friend Andy bought some 28mm cavemen recently, it got us talking about a series of games set in that distant time period. Each player could control a band of hunter-gatherers vying to survive in the dangerous and wild Paleolithic era. I mentioned to Keith that I thought the Wiley Games rules, aka Fistful of Lead series, would work great. Players could receive an extra card each turn that they could use to activate any of the animals on the tabletop, whether predators or prey.

A crew of cavemen and women and Keith's tabletop filled with 54mm hunters and Stone Age creatures

As I hoped it might, that intrigued Keith. He said he would begin working on it. My interest had been piqued by the recent activity and painted miniatures folks were posting on the Prehistoric Facebook page. Also, a number of bloggers, were posting battle reports of their games. One good example is Vagabond's Wargaming Blog and the adventures of the Shell Clan. You can check these out on his Stone Age themed posts. Keith worked quickly and said he was ready to run a game this past Sunday, tossing in a twist in declaring that we'd be using 54mm miniatures.

    How hungry is my hunter? My 1st hunter advances towards the big & smaller creatures on the plain

Honestly, I have no idea where he got all of the plastic figures in this admittedly obscure scale. I'm sure they were from a toy set sold somewhere, but there they were -- painted up and based. Each of us took control of four hunters with various weapons including spears, hafted stone weapons, clubs, and even a big, honking, old rock! Keith kept the "traits" to an absolute minimum. In Wiley Games' various rules, you can personalize a figure giving it various traits that make it quicker, more accurate, able to ignore effects of wounds it has suffered, and many, many more abilities. One figure was designated a Leader, but he was pretty much equal to all of the others in fighting power. 

    Uh-oh, 3 apparently VERY angry prehistoric giant penguins waddle onto the board near my band

The tabletop was populated with various prey animals, from lumbering, elephant like Deinotherium, thick-skinned Megacerops, and several smaller animals including large, Stone Age era capybera and wombat-like mammals. My apologies to Keith if I am giving the wrong names! Anyway, there was also a chance predators might appear based on our actions. I began moving my band of hunters off the board edge and towards the megafauna that was grazing in the middle of the table. We hadn't gone far when a trio of man-sized prehistoric penguins -- apparently called "Palaeeudyptes klekowskii" -- waddled onto the board very near us. My crew wasn't sure how they'd taste, but figure it might be something like chicken...ha, ha! Before you laugh, apparently these were twice the size of a modern day Emperor Penguin. My remaining two band members who hadn't moved yet sprang into action and darted forward to the attack.

    1st hunter vs. megafauna meetup did not go well for the hunter...oh, the names? Keith being funny!

The first player vs. prey animal encounter had occurred moments earlier when one of Tom's hunters attacked one of the huge Deinotherium (I believe, it could have been one of the other species -- but it was big!).  The hunter ended up splattered and out of action when the enraged creature defeated him in Close Combat and then rolled an "Out of Action" wound result. Ouch! This prehistoric hunting thing could be dangerous! My duo of hungry hunters duly discovered that themselves. We felt perhaps the penguins should be renamed "Beaks of Fury," as both penguins wounded and knocked down the hunter who had attacked them. Yikes! Half of my force was prostrate and bleeding on turn 1!

    My own encounters did not go well, either -- two hunters Wounded & Down to one pissed off penguin

Others were having a slightly easier time of it. Allen's continued his amazing string of rolls which he started last week when his orcs stomped mine in a Dragon Rampant game. Seeing his early success, I decided to give him something tougher to chew on. One of the random predators showed up, a giant, long snouted wolf-like creature called a Andrewsarchus. To me, that sounds like somewhat you might meet at a work conference ("Hi! I'm Andrew Sarchus, but you can call me Andy...").  One of Allen's hunters was trailing behind the other three, and I used my highest card to send "Andy" off to take a bite out of him. Lo and behold, Allen continued to be an unstoppable, dice-rolling machine. He rolled a "10" on 1d10 in combat to beat it, then a "9" to knock it out of action with his big, honking rock.

    Always the clever, thinking gamer, I sent the first predator that arrived to attack one of Allen's men

In revenge, Allen's brother Joel (they were on the same side or "tribe," activated Beaks of Fury again, giving my two Down hunters another wound each. Long ago, I learned not sit between the Sams brothers in any board game featuring conquest (lest you end up in a "Sams-wich"!). Apparently, that bond extended all the way back to the savannas of the Stone Age. I sent both of my two upright hunters back to gang up on one of the frenzied penguins. The first also was knocked down and wounded, and it took my final guy to take out one of those dynamite birds. However, both of my downed guys were skewered by the long beaks when they attempted to get up off the ground. My rolls were lackluster to say the least, and pretty much anyone rolling against me -- Keith as GM, Joel, or Allen -- had nearly unbeatable high dice. Extinction loomed as a definite possibility for my small band of hunters.

    Allen was on a dice rolling tear! Here, 3 of his hunters bring down a Megacerops -- plenty of meat!

My fellow tribe-mates, Mike S and Jenny, were having poor luck, as well. Jenny was hitting the Megacerops, but kept rolling lower on the Wound table. She was unable to deal a knock-out blow, and was resolved to chasing along behind it poking it in the back side, inflicting another shock marker. It would then flee and she would have to chase it down again. Despite being ostensible allies, Mike and Jenny nearly came to blows when he "poached" one of her heavily wounded mammals, finally killing it. 

    Two megafauna with their own collection of wound & shock markers, courtesy of Jenny's band

My two surviving hunters finally got their act together and killed off the rest of the penguins. Oh, I forgot to mention: all that time they were beating me they were rolling d8's and I was rolling d10's! Our shell-shocked women and children broke from their stunned disbelief and darted forward to drag their bodies back to our camp, hoping there was some meat under all those feathers!

    For sending the Andrewsarchus ("Andy") after Allen, Joel sent the penguins on a follow up attack

For an encore, we managed to ambush and kill a giant, prehistoric capybara. At that point, my duo were willing to call it the hunting trip concluded. We were dragging four, hopefully meaty bodies back to camp. No use trying to down one of those huge elephant or rhino like creatures! And the other tribe's warriors seemed to be too scary and efficient of killing machines for us to take on. The Ancestors obviously weren't with us today. Maybe, on another day, their spirits would favor us and we would be more fortunate in our hunting.

    My entire band had to combine to kill our 1st penguin...then my 2 guys died trying to get up!

The game played well, though doubtless Keith will do some tweaking to how the animals appear and act. I liked the ability to send a predator after another player's hunters, though most players used the card to move a prey animal closer to themselves, instead. Maybe next time let prey animals be moved only one move distance to represent the herd's wanderings? Or have herds move in a random direction? Otherwise, it almost seems like we were whistling and calling them over, only to bonk them on the head and kill them. That didn't seem very natural or realistic behavior. 

    Meanwhile, other bands were taking down bigger prey -- a Deinotherium succumbs to their blows

Either way, I hope Keith continues running these hunts, but allow us to create our own hunter band and keep track of our hunts in a continuing series of games. There are campaign rules which allow characters to improve or giving them a chance of dying when they were wounded or put out of action. It could be similar my post-apocalyptic campaign that I ran for the Sunday Night gamers using Wiley Games rules. Anyway, despite my struggles, I had fun and look forward to more games telling the story of the deadly life of early hunters on the savanna! 

    Hey look! One of my hunters actually took out one of the prehistoric capybaras without dying...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 110

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59  

    I suppose we won't starve, dragging this meat back to our camp -- but we lost half our hunters!!