Doggerland Hunt: Pooping & Peeing in the Paleolithic

    Our neighbors to the west, Joel's tribe, which would go on to corner the auroch hunting market

So when my friend Keith said he wanted to run a Stone Age miniatures game using a rules set called Doggerland Hunt, it actually took me awhile to figure out which rules he meant. In the space of two years, three games came out with "Doggerland" in the title. One is a board game simply called Doggerland. Another is a weird World War I game, A War Transformed: WW I on the Doggerland Front. Finally, there is the one he was referring to, Doggerland Hunt: Rules for Stone Age Miniature Gaming. What's the fuss about with Doggerland? Apparently it is was a landmass between Britain and Europe before the glaciers melted and the seas flooded it, creating the North Sea. Or something like that!

    Keith, center, set up another Prehistoric game for us using 'Doggerland Hunt' rules

Anyway, Keith's Prehistoric games are fun, so it sounded good to me. We had six of us present that Sunday evening. Instead of each of us having our own human (or proto-human?) tribe, he said the rules recommended two people play the predators. In this case, it was a trio of wolves that Keith controlled and saber-tooths that Mike S commanded. Allen, Joel, Mike W, and myself controlled our own little band of six cavemen, except we lived in little huts. Not caves. No Stone Age women were on the table, so maybe they were back at the camp doing cave woman (or hut woman) things. 

    My tribe of stone age hunters discover fishing is much more productive than picking fruits or nuts

Keith explained that the game had a very board game feel. It was played on a hex grid, and the winner among the humans would be the tribe that secured the most units of food. We could gather (picking fruit or nuts), fish in the ponds, or hunt any of the animals wandering the table. They ranged in size from Aurochs, that were the smallest (!), through rhinos, and mammoths. There were also some omnivores like bears and angry giant boars, who might charge us if we got too close. We could make our hunting more efficient by creating weapons (flint napping) back at our encampment. All four of us chose to do that with a varying number of our six figures on turn one. 

    Meanwhile, the Predators (Mike S & Keith, standing) are busy pooping & peeing to claim areas

I left two guys back in camp to create weapons, then sent the other four off to pick fruit from the orchard not far from us. As guys returned with food, they'd take a turn flint napping, while those creating weapons rotated out. We did this until eventually we had five of our six guys with sharp pointy weapons. What were the predators doing while we were gathering? Well, in probably one of the most interesting (?) or different (?) game mechanics I've seen in my decades of gaming, they were busy pooping and peeing! Yep!! The game had rules for the predators controlling territory by marking it with their poop or pee. They could pee every turn (I'm not making this up), but could poop only after eating a fresh kill. Peeing controlled only one hex for the predators (thankfully, humans did not have to poop or pee to earn victory points). However, pooping controlled an area up to two hexes away in a circle from that apparently very smelly scat. I think Phoebe from the old Friends TV show should write a song about that, "Smelly scat..."

    Our neighbors to the east (Allen's tribe) suggested we hunt mammoths instead for even more food

My clan or tribe -- whatever us six guys called ourselves (one too many for a bowling team) -- switched to fishing after realizing we got twice as many food dice from that. When a guy returned to camp carrying up to two units of nuts (Yep, my guys were walking around with two nuts), we rolled one die per unit. However, when we returned with two units of fish, we rolled two dice per unit. Heck with fruits and nuts! We're not the Vegan tribe or anything! Then, my neighboring tribe (Allen) suggested we go hunt mammoths together. By this time, we were bristling with our flint armory and felt full of manly, Stone Age confidence. 

    We join forces with Allen's Skinny Tribe and pounce on one of the mammoths together

So, we checked the rules carefully, noting that if we got within two hexes of the mammoths, they'd simply run away. So, we stayed three back, then pounced, charging in our allowed movement distance of two hexes and attacking them in the adjacent hex. Keith assured us that was legal. A typical Stone Age dude rolls 1d6, needing a "6" to cause a wound. However, if he has sharp flinty weapons, he rolls 2d6. If he declares he is in "Fight mode," that goes up to 3d6 per guy.  Allen and I were planning on ganging up on the same mammoth when we pounced. Our little Stone Age jaws dropped wide open when the other one turned around, moved back, and charged alongside his brethren. We panicked and each of us attacked a different beastie. I inflicted two hits, but the first only makes it flee, so I did only one of the 9 or 10 wounds the mammoth could each take. Allen had only one hit ,so just made his flee. They had also attacked us and for each hit they inflicted, one of our brave hunters would soil his furry little shorts and flee, as well. So, I guess we were doing a little pooping, too!

    Much to our dismay, the 2nd mammoth comes back and charges in to aid his buddy - Holy Poop!

Allen and I, being the more intelligent type of cavemen, reformed our clans, and added in reinforcements telling the other members of our tribe to give up fishing and nutting and line up for our would-be barbecue. Our larger mass of odoriferous, hairy men sneaked up on the same pair of mammoths. They naturally didn't smell us coming because, by now, the board was full of steaming piles of tiger and wolf scat. Once again, we pounced! I have never been a fan of games where you hit only on sixes on d6. I rolled 17 dice and scored maybe one or two hits. Allen rolled 18 dice and scored none! The mammoths ran away again, but not before making more of our group poop their furry shorts and flee. Again.

    We inflict only a fraction of the hits needed to kill a mammoth & can only watch as dinner runs away

After that, I decided to give up this new-fangled hunting thing and go back to fishing. Nothing fights back in the pond, or at least nothing we discovered. Meanwhile, we heard about the hunting "hack" discovered by the Very Skinny Tribe (Mike W). Compared to my hulking brutes, Allen was the Skinny Tribe, but even he was beefier than Mike's boys. They discovered that Rhinos are the perfect beast to hunt. Why? They bounce back after they run away. What?? Like bears and boars, they're angry types that will charge you if you're too close. Even if you make them flee with your first hit, they come right back for more the next turn. So, the Very Skinny Clan killed the first big game animal (not counting the aurochs Joel was killing). They butchered it, took it back to their camp, and became the Not As Skinny As Before tribe.

    Mike W's Very Skinny Tribe figures out rhinos are better to hunt because they come back & fight you

Why didn't Joel's aurochs count? Well, when butchered, they provided only ONE unit of meat (which still gives 3d6 worth of food, though). The rhinos and mammoths give a lot more -- I may be wrong, but I think it was 10 units of food. Doing primitive caveman math, were a tribe to kill one of those hairy elephants, they would end up with 30d6 rolls. Winner, winner chicken dinner! Er, mammoth dinner!! So, when we called it an evening, Mike W's Not As Skinny As Before tribe won (their bellies full of succulent rhino meat) and Joel's "We Cornered the Auroch Market Tribe" came in second. Allen and I went home with rumbling bellies, having to be content with a basket of blue gills.

    After two fruitless attempts to kill a mammoth, my tribe says 'So long!' to hunting & return to fishing

Late in the game, we also discovered that if you want to go in Fight mode you can move only one hex. I pointed out that made it impossible to even catch a mammoth. He (or she) will always keep moving away from you two hexes. Keith said he thought we were supposed to hem them in or corner them. I'm not sure with a two hex move if that is really feasible. And do we want individual hunters running around in a screen with two packs of hungry predators out there? I mean, the only way they can win the Great Predator Poop Race is to...well, poop! And the only way to have enough poop inside is to eat things, and we're not talking nuts and fruits!

    Our tribe has a post-hunt debriefing where we discuss plans & get out our manly frustrations

The game felt very much like it had not been play tested thoroughly to me. At times, the text of the rules contradicted the Quick Reference Chart. There was also the inability to catch prey, or at least catch them and be in Fight mode. The suggestion that players take on the role of the predators and spend the game moving around the table pooping and peeing seemed odd, too. Did the author's players really find that fun? Mike S (Team Saber-tooth) was being efficient in his trying to win, but it sure didn't look like he was having a lot of fun. He automatically killed Aurochs (no dice rolling necessary), and wasn't allowed to attack the bigger prey. Keith wasn't as focused on efficient spreading of his manure, but was getting his jollies out of trying to push the angry omnivores towards us. He fell far behind in his mission of stinking up Doggerland, though, and lost the Great Predator Poop Race.

We have done a number of stone age hunting games through the years, and usually have fun with them. As Keith mentioned early on, this one was more like a boardgame. Too much like a boardgame, I felt. We may as well have had meeples on the table rather than Keith's stone age hunters. And the predators could have little brown and yellow tokens to control the board. Keith is going to re-read the rules and see what we got wrong, though. So, maybe there will be a sequel to this game. Doggerland Hunt II: the Really Big Dump??

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 269

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212

Dinosaur Hunt - Back to the Jurassic!

    Keith, in pith helmet, set up a prehistoric world for us to each to explore with a trio of dino hunters

Once a fixture of our Sunday night games, but not having made an appearance for awhile on the tabletop, Keith finally ran a Dinosaur Hunt for our weekly game, again. Keith had found a new set of rules on the internet and wanted to give them a try. Truth be told, if Keith has run a dozen Dinosaur hunts for us through the years, this has to be at least the fifth or sixth rules sets he's used! As always, there was a new twist. We were teams of three hunters each being sent through a Time/Dimensional Portal by the government's somewhat crazy Health & Human Service's Secretary. We were looking for a cure to the pandemic raging through the world, and a well-known shaman Influencer told him where we might find it.

 

    My 3 Paleontologist dino hunters - would they survive going back to the Jurassic Age and return??

Yeah, a wacky premise, Keith admitted. Dino Hunts have always been about the fun and laughing at other hunters' misfortunes more than a serious game, so it fit the bill! I chose a group of Paleontologists well-armed with single-shot elephant guns from the different groups Keith had created for us. Allen, Keith, Joel, and Mike S all had their own group of three hunters, and we were transported through space and time into the alien but ancient looking ruined temple in the center of the board. The shaman said there were four nearby buildings and the cure would be in a crate inside one of them. Each of us took off for a different corner of the board, with Joel initially following his brother, Allen. After each group of hunters took their turn, Keith would roll to see if carnivorous dinosaurs would appear at our destination buildings. After seeing Allen roll for the arrival of an Allosaurus on three consecutive turns, Joel's "Boys from Brazil" turned around and began to follow my hunters, instead (who's destination building had yet to spawn any large carnivores).

    My hunters leave the time portal temple and begin to descend the hills, keeping an eye out all around

My group of Paleontologists had climbed down from the temple hill, crossed the river, and were climbing the rocky slope opposite when we heard the first hungry roar. Sure enough, we could make out the form of a Gojirosaurus prowling among the vegetation in front of the building we were heading towards. My best shooter was Jack, who closed the range a bit to 18" inches, aimed, fired, and brought the huge beast down with a critical hit head shot! It would be my own critical hit that evening, which you do by rolling doubles on your 2d6 damage dice. It was also the first kill by a hunter of the evening, which apparently prompted a horn to go off at the temple. In turn, this prompted every carnivore to immediately charge the closest hunters. Fortunately, we had just killed the closest to us, but it made things tricky for the other groups of hunters!

    My hunters crossed the river without incident -- Mike S had his hunters attacked by a giant croc!

In particular, Allen's group of elderly hunters was in trouble. A trio of Allosaurus had spotted them and were homing in on them. Allen ducked around a sheer-sided hillock, momentarily confusing the big predators. They scrambled and climbed up the steep-sided hill, just in time to see one of Allen's hunters get side-swiped by the tail of a Stegosaurus. It lumbered off afterwards, having proved its point not to mess with a grumpy, dangerous herbivore! Meanwhile, Allen tried to hustle through the gorge beneath the hill, while three curious and hungry Allosaurus watched him closely. Keith ruled that they'd be reluctant to scramble down the steep hill, giving each a 50% chance of doing so. Only one did, which prompted Allen to sprint for the building, while the other two ambled along the hill, tracking his progress.

    We spot our first dinosaur predator - a Gojirosaurus...is that really a thing? Sounds like a Kaiju!

As Allen's first hunter sprinted through the door, he was greeted by the sight of a half a dozen smaller dinosaurs. All curious at his arrival, and hungry meat eaters -- or "meat-osaurus" as they were referred to by a child in one of the Jurassic Park movies...ha, ha! Allen's hunter furiously fought them off for a turn, and then darted back out the door, placing his back up against it as the critters banged their bodies against it chasing him. The hunter's two companions ran up and cleverly fired through the windows at the smaller dinosaurs until all were eliminated. Of course, that meant they had their backs to a much larger threat -- the three Allosaurus, who were the largest predators on the table, Keith admitted later. Sure enough, the other two eventually worked up the nerve to descend the hill and came loping up. 

    Jack's gun booms out and I roll my one and only critical hit of the evening! One dino down!!

There was a mad scramble for the door, which two of the hunters successfully made it through, while one was snatched into the jaws of a hungry Allosaurus. The hunters now began to fire out the window at the looming danger, and were actually able to finish off one they had wounded earlier in the game. However, one persistent apex predator finally banged his way through the door. More gunshots rang out, and then screams as another was snatched into the jaws. At this point, Allen did one of those things that he does every week that make us scratch our heads. Knowing that the munching Allosaurus had only one hit point left, he ran up to engage the dinosaur in melee. The dino proved he is not a picky eater and dropped the one lifeless hunter and snatched up the new one that offered himself up as dessert.

    One of Allen's unlucky hunters gets too close to a grumpy Stegosaurus and is wounded by its tail

Meanwhile, my hunters were drawing closer to the building. Another Gojirosaurus -- I have to admit, it sounds more like a Kaiju from Godzilla movies than actual dinosaur -- appeared near the door. He was also shot down by Jack, who had notched up two kills, so far. As we continued on, another scrambled out of the jungle, drawn by the sounds of gunfire and the roars of pain by his brethren. As my hunters advanced, we made sure to stay just outside of its 12" charge range. Sure enough, it pounded up the slope towards us, falling just short on its move. I think I will suggest to Keith a random component to dinosaur moves for the next game. It was too easy to stay outside of their movement range and gun them down. Which is exactly what we did on our next turn. I was not tempted to emulate Allen and enter melee with them...haha!

    Allen's hunters being stalked by 3 Allosaurus predators who contemplate climbing the ridge

Joel's Boys from Brazil group were following along, just behind my group. Frankly, it made my Paleontologists a little nervous. Did they harbor ill intent? Were they just letting us clear the way for them? It looked for a moment like they would beat us to the building, after they spent a turn running with both actions. However, two of the three ended up winded, and decided to rest and catch their breath, while the third stayed with them, watching the vegetation for signs of dinosaurs. This allowed my three to duck inside the door and locate a wooden crate. As we closed in on it, we heard sounds from above. Three terror birds fluttered down from the rafters and closed in menacingly on us. We fired as they closed, but all three continued and their clawing and pecking wounded two of my three hunters. Eventually, though, we were able to kill all three birds and end their terrifying attack.

    Will Allen's hunters make it inside the door? Well, one of them did before the other became a snack!

Just then, the Boys from Brazil charged into the room, chased by a pack of four Paleo dogs. They scratched and howled at the door. One braced himself against the shuddering door while the other two went over to the window and opened fire on the pack with automatic weapon fire. After a cacophony of howls and yelps, the door stopped shuddering. Joel's hunters began to search the room, their eyes eventually resting on the crate that Jack was sitting on. "That belongs to us," they said. Our loaded, single-shot elephant guns pointed at them. Joel and I looked at Keith. Would our hunters actually fight each other over the prize? Keith explained it was supposed to be cooperative. The world needed just one group of hunters to bring back the cure. With that, Jacked tucked the crate under his arm and my trio exited the door and began making our way back to the temple ruin.

    Blissfully unaware of the horrors Allen was undergoing, my hunters cross travel across the ridge

When we arrived there, we discovered that not only had Allen's hunters been killed to a man, so had Keith's. They had been charged by a trio of Ceratosaurus predators. They killed one before they closed, but the other two gulped down one each of Keith's three hunters. Winston, the remaining one, fired at one of the two that was wounded as the other loped off into the woods carrying his meal. He'd killed the second Ceratosaurus, but didn't see the point of chasing down the other, if his friend was already dead. He continued on to his destination building where he was overwhelmed my smaller predators and devoured. Mike S had all three of his predators survive, make it to their destination building, and also recover a crate. The three surviving teams met back at the temple, activated the dimensional portal, and returned to save the world!

    Another Gojirosaurus charges my trio, only to be shot down by three, single-shot elephant guns!

It was good to get in another dino hunt. We had been telling Keith that it had been too long since our last one. I think he was inspired by Tim R's Caveman game he played in at Advance the Colors 2025 a few weeks ago. He decided to get out his dinos and set up another entertaining game. Speaking of games, I plan to do one more Vietnam playtest this week. I want to test out the Surviving 'Nam scenario that I will be running this weekend at World at War at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, OH. I'm furiously finishing up terrain for the game this week, and hopefully will have all done. Stay tuned for pictures of that and maybe one more bonus game soon!

    Meanwhile, Keith's hunters were having a very 'Allen-like' experience with Ceratosaurus carnivores

   Two of Keith's hunters having the worst day of their lives -- or at least the last few seconds of it!

    Hot on my trio's heels are Joel's 'Boys from Brazil' who are being stalked by a pack of Paleo dogs

    Jack dealing with a terror bird ambush inside the building -- with an unloaded weapon!

    Once the terror birds were dealt with, we were able to obtain the prize! Now, back to the future!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 258

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 61

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 201

    Keith ponders the imminent demise of his hunting party...now, how will the rules get me out of this?

The Coming Storm - First Game of Devilry Afoot

    Mid-game view of our first Devilry Afoot game - you can see the circles of lantern light vs. shadows

For weeks, tribal drumming at night was heard from a nearby hill by the residents of Franklinton, a new settlement in the Ohio Territory. As the drumming built to a crescendo, each night storms of deep rolling thunder would roll in. Their thunder matched the drums' bass pulsation. Unnatural flickering lighting in brilliant colors would illuminate the night. Worried by the storms' growing intensity, the Marib and Enoch Domigan called together a meeting of their secret society of supernatural hunters. Something had to be done. Each storm was more violent than the last, and in the morning, livestock would often be found ripped apart. The Monsignor, visiting from the north, agreed and said the storms would only get worse until the town was torn apart by nature -- and the Devil's -- fury.

    Board after setup with the stone altar on the hilltop in the center & hunters arriving on the edges

The next night, six hunters gathered as the witching hour began -- when the drumming would usually start. The co-founder of the Society, Marib Domigan, her friend Sarah Starling, lawyer Orris Parish, the Monsignor, scholar Jacob Shade, and the former Indian captive Jeremiah Armstrong each brought a trusted man so their number would equal 12 -- same as the Apostles of Christ. Marib also brought her faithful English bulldog, Henry, who feared no night shadows. His throaty growls answered both the drums and thunder as they pulsated through the night in unholy rhythm. For some reason, the dog's growls brought both courage to the hunters and a thrill of anticipation. The time had arrived for the Society to act. Franklinton would strike back at the devils that had besieged their village in recent weeks. For the missing hunters, for the strangely torn apart livestock, and for the fearful, godly folk of the Ohio Territory's newest settlement, they would seek out the enemy tonight and attempt to destroy it.

    Old Grubb carrying a lantern, illuminating him & Jeremiah Armstrong, while Old Sarge advances

Unbeknownst to the brave hunters from the Society, three shamans drummed and dance furiously on the Cursed Hill less than a mile away. They danced around a stone altar surrounded by a ring of oddly shaped stones. Guarding their backs were three fanatically devoted Delaware braves, stripped to the waist and painted for war. Occasionally the three warriors would hear the echo of a howl in the woods, far away. The braves knew that the medicine men were summoning not only the forces of nature to send against the trespassers, but also those from the spirit world. The braves also knew their tribal chiefs had instructed them not to follow the way preached by Tecumseh's brother, Tenskwatawa. All three felt Tenskwatawa was right, though. Only by summoning help from the spirit world would the tribes be powerful enough to drive the invaders away. The chiefs may have signed the Treaty of Greenville, but the braves believed its words did not bind the shamans nor the true believers of their religion. They would continue the fight and call upon the aid of the spirit world to regain the land that once theirs. 

    Advancing in the shadows, from left Jacob Shade, Marib Domigan & her dog Henry, and MacAfee

The society split into two groups to approach the cursed hill from different directions. Marib, her faithful servant MacAfee, and Henry padded silently through the trees. To their left, they saw the lantern glow of Mr. Shade and his man, Old Grub, as they advanced. Also illuminated by Old Grub's lantern were the young woodsman Jeremiah Armstrong, who had been kidnapped in his youth by Indians, and the gleaming halberd of his devoted, older friend nicknamed Old Sarge. As silently as they could, they moved forward, making out a ring of strange trees bare of any leaves, then the circle of stones, and finally the altar. Dark shapes cavorted around it.

    Shamans and Indian warriors on the hilltop react to the approach of the hunters from two sides

On the other side of the hill, Sarah Starling led a group that included her neighbor, John Huffman, village lawyer Orris Parish and his neighbor Arthur O'Harra, and dimly visible in the distance, the Monsignor. He was accompanied by Domigan family servant Hanby, who held aloft his lantern. These glowing yellow orbs of light alerted the shamans and Indian warriors to the approach of the society. Blue lightning crackled overhead, and suddenly, men and women were in motion all around the hill. One of the shamans strode purposefully down the hill towards Marib. The shadows seemed to make the masked Indian grow larger. At her side, Henry growled menacingly. MacAfee fired off a shot of his blunderbuss, but it appeared to miss. A crashing in the undergrowth to the shaman's right preceded a loud voice ringing through the woods. "Damn you, devil!" Old Sarge cursed as he charged. "This is for my cattle you and your demons have slaughtered!" The former Revolutionary War soldier swung his halberd, but it missed the shaman.

    Old Grubb charges a shaman stalking towards them, while Marib & her friends hurry to help

Suddenly, a flash and pistol shot boomed out from behind the shaman. The tongue of flame briefly illuminated Jacob Shade, who had crept behind the distracted shaman and fired upon him. The pistol ball took the shaman between the shoulders. His arms flew up, and he fell forward on his face and lay unmoving. "See you in Hell," Shade muttered. Soon, the woods were full of the flash and bang of musket and pistol shots. Lanterns waved wildly as the Indian braves fired at the advancing Society members, whose return fired crashed out in reply. Seeing his compatriot fall, one of the shamans raised his arms and screamed a long, ululating cry. Old Sarge's eyes grew wide and he turned and fell back through the trees. Seeing the society members wavering, the shaman dashed down the hill to his right towards Old Grubb's circle of light. Waiting for him, Jeremiah raised his musket and sighted down the barrel and whispered, "I see you, uncle, but I will not let you harm my friends." Another crash of musket fire. The shaman, who had just taken a swipe at Old Grub, missing, yelped as Jeremiah's musket ball struck him. 

    First shaman down! Scholar Jacob Shade sneaks behind him and fells him with a pistol shot

"Mother of God," Old Grubb gasped. Before his eyes, the shaman's form wavered and a towering buck stood in its place. The deer glanced once in Jeremiah's direction and then crashed away back up the hill, gathering speed as it raced past the stones. It stopped just outside of the circle of light thrown by Orris Parish's lantern. Realizing a real deer would be nowhere near the chaos on the hilltop, Parish fired his pistol into the deer's bulk. He then backed away slowly from the unnatural animal. 

    One shaman howls in response from the hilltop, causing some hunters to back off in fear

Not far away, one of the Indian braves charged down the hill towards Sarah, where she stood holding her lantern aloft. She held her dagger, pointing it at the Indian's painted face in her other hand. Feet pounded through the undergrowth and both Arthur O'Harra and John Huffman raced to her side. Furious fighting ensued, and soon the Indian brave lay dead at their feet. Sarah automatically reached for her medicine bag and began to kneel to check his wounds. "My lady," John said reaching out to her shoulder, "you can treat him later. For now, the fight is still afoot..." Sarah closed the flap and followed John and Arthur up the hill. 

    Wounded Indian warrior charges toward physician Sarah Starling as fights break out across the hill

On the other side of the hill, another Indian warrior was engaged in melee with Marib and Henry. Orris Parish raced to her aid, also, as the giant deer ran off. Blood was spilled amongst all the combatants, until finally the Indian lay dead at their feet. All across the hilltop, the Society's hunters were gaining the upper hand. Just then, a terrifying howl erupted from the woods behind Marib. A coyote skinwalker appeared at the end of the trees -- more than man height, covered in fur, and stalking erect on its hind legs. Several society members edge backwards. Indian shamans and warriors were one thing, but here was truly a demon from Hell! One man stood firm, though. Jacob Shade muttered a term in the tribal tongue, recognizing the form of the creature from one of his books on the supernatural. "Yee Naaldlooshii -- I do not fear you!" The creature turned its head and charged at Shade who slashed at it eyes with his dagger. The two fought, Shade pulling his reloaded pistol out and firing it. The skinwalker howled in pain. Shade grunted as one of its slashes drew blood from his shoulder.

    One of the shamans stalk towards Old Grubb as Jeremiah Armstrong prepares to fire at him

Old Grubb, seeing his young friend in danger, charged into the fray. He slashed wildly with his dagger as the lantern swung in his grasp. The flickering yellow light seemed to affect the skinwalker more than his dagger thrusts, though. The melee continued as thunder boomed out, again, and all could smell the approach of the rain on the gusting wind. All around the hilltop, the hunters of Franklinton had gained the upper hand. All three shamans and Indian braves lay motionless in the grass As they looked up to where Grubb and Shade fought with the nightmare coyote-man, the skies opened up. Drenching sheets of rain crashed down on the hilltop like a wave on the shore. Marib reached out to Henry who she could not see, though he stood next to her. She clutched his collar and shouted, "Home, Henry!" The dog began to tug her in the proper direction, downhill. She called out to MacAfee, reaching her hand out into the rain. She felt the Scotsman grab it, and fall into step beside her.

    Marib, Henry, & MacAfee close in on the hilltop guarded by an Indian brave with musket

Shade called to Grubb, whose lantern had become extinguished in the torrent of rain. He heard no answer, and warily felt around till he stumbled over a crumpled form at his feet. It was Grubb, curled into a ball and shuddering in pain. He looked around for the skinwalker, but no attack came. Apparently, the wounded horror had withdrawn into the trees. Shade scooped up his neighbor in his arms and began stumbling towards where he thought Franklinton lay. Unseen in the torrents of rain, the Society's other hunters did the same. 

    The Coyote Skinwalker has charged Shade at left, while Marib, Henry & a shaman melee in center

As the rain slowly let up, and the thunder rolled away into the distance, the society's hunters finally looked up. They could dimly see the outline of Franklinton's homes in the clouded moonlight. Sarah raced to her side, already unshouldering her medical bag. "Grubb...is he...?" Shade set him down, reassuring her that he was still alive. The young physician began treating his wounds. Others who had been injured walked over and stood, waiting for her attention, as well. The Monsignor arrived, and taking bandages from Sarah's pouch, began to treat those who were bleeding. After each wound he bandaged, the Catholic priest muttered in Latin, saying a blessing on it to help ensure the healing. 

    In a bloody melee, the final shaman falls to the combined blows of Marib, Henry, & Orris Parish

 "Marib...?" A voice called out from the direction of Franklinton. It was her brother Enoch, racing to the small group of hunters. "Mr. Culbertson and I kept an eye out on the town -- nothing approached. Is everyone okay?"

Marib nodded. "We have won. Sarah says Old Grubb will be fine, and the rest of us, myself included, will also survive our wounds. The Society has won, and driven the devil drummers from the Cursed Hill..."

    Shaman lies in the grass, felled by the Society, as Hanby & the Monsignor investigate the hill

We played our first game of Devilry Afoot last night. We had six players, each of whom controlled a character and a follower. Opposing them were three shamans (witches), three braves (outlaws), and one Coyote Skinwalker that would appear on turn 3. The board was the recommended 2'x2' square, but all six of my players felt it was a tad small for so many figures. I agreed, and will likely enlarge it to 3'x3' for the next game. I wasn't exactly sure how to balance out the forces of hunters and horrors. I decided to err on the side of caution and make the enemy force a bit weaker. I certainly succeeded in that, as only one Follower was taken out of action, Old Grubb, and none of the characters. All of the shamans and Indian braves were taken out of action. The skinwalker had taken two of its three wounds when Turn 5 arrived and the first roll to end the game was a "10," which brought the rain and closed the struggle. 

Although Devilry Afoot has "bounties" for each monster in the game, it does not have a corresponding points system for the players to balance things out. Each scenario lists a recommended number of characters to oppose the monsters in it, but I'm sure it will take some tweaking to figure out how to make a balanced game. The players learned the fairly simple rules easily enough. The only mistakes were things I forgot. I did not remember to do the Opportunity Attacks for the defender when the attacker misses until turn two or so. Once everyone knew about it, we remembered it easily enough. 

    Old Sarge helps Marib & Henry finish off an Indian warrior during the end stages of the game

I was disappointed that the shamans did not summon any woodland animals to their aid on their action rolls. There was only one attempt and it failed. All of those 28mm animals I painted up...haha! I did forget until about turn 2 that when a shaman flees or hides it changes into spirit animal form. I remembered it after that, though. All in all, things progressed easily enough. The game took only about two hours to play, despite having 12 chits in the bag for the hunter side (one for each of six characters and followers), and 5-8 for the monsters (the three for the skinwalker not being put in till turn 3). So, it moved along quickly enough.

My biggest question is if my decision to give each player a character AND a follower was truly necessary? I will ask my players about it. Would they have been fine controlling just one hunter -- their character? I was worried that they wouldn't get to do much with only one figure under their control. Unfortunately, one of my player's character and follower really didn't get a chance to do much. I think that was more a function of his starting location being fairly far away and also that the others polished off the bad guys before he could get in range to do much. If the players are willing to try it with no followers and just their main characters, I will do that for the second game.  

I think the Devilry Afoot combat and movement system works fine. The QRS I had designed helped players and myself adjudicate the shooting and combat quickly enough. I was worried about the randomness of the separate roll to wound, but I think it added a nice touch of uncertainty. The players picked up on how to use the 4" circle of lantern light to their advantage. Groups of characters and followers tended to cluster around the light, which not only made their activations a higher percentage of success, it also helped them in combat or shooting. Same with the player controlling Marib who had a dog. Dogs are a pain in the butt for the monsters, and Mike S used Henry the bulldog well. The stout old canine did suffer one wound, but will be back for more devil-hunting action next time!

I asked the players if they enjoyed the game enough for me to run it again, and they said yes (in varying degrees of enthusiasm). No one seemed to hate it, which is a good thing -- considering all the time I've spent painting up stuff for it! So, hopefully, stay tuned for more Devilry Afoot in Franklinton in 1797 Ohio...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 254

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 61

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 201  

World War II City Fight with Xenos Rampant!

    Keith wanted to get all of his craft store wood buildings and MDF structures on the tabletop!

My friend Keith decided he wanted to get all of his craft store wooden buildings and MDF stuff onto the table for one of our Sunday evening games. He apologized that circumstances kept him from getting all of the buildings completely finished in time, but they all had paint on them. And there were LOTS of them! Keith had his setting in mind, but wasn't 100% sure about the game itself. In the end, he decided to go with a World War II city fight using Xenos Rampant! rules. 

    After 3+ turns, my U.S. paratroopers are finally all on the board -- in a much safer landing zone!

It had been too long since we played XR!, so I was glad he chose them. He was intrigued by our mutual friend Jim W (of Jim's Toy Box fame) using the rules for modern or WW II games. In our latest visit to Jim in Michigan this past August, he had run a modern game using small, 5-figure squads and XR! rules. I told Keith that I was surprised by how survivable these small squads were, when given terrain to hide in. In XR!, units typically roll 10 attack dice until they fall to half strength. Units takes casualties in increments of their armor, so if they have armor 2 (like most in this game) and take four hits, that's two of their five men gone. Very deadly. However, soft cover increases a unit's armor by one, and hard cover by two, meaning the same number of hits would be only a single casualty if you're ensconced in a building. And there were lots of them on Keith's city tabletop! In addition, you don't round up. It would take 8 hits on 10 dice to cause two casualties to a unit in a building -- 7 would round down to one. 

U.S. paratroopers are sitting ducks for the German machine gun guarding the street they're strolling

 Keith said the scenario was inspired by an incident during the WW II Arnhem campaign. The German side (Joel, Tom, Mike S, and Mike W) controlled rear echelon type units. Their ostensible goal was to defend German high command staff in a four story office building in the center of town. The snooty commanders didn't want the rear area riff-raff in their building, though, and had only their guards protecting them in the actual building. The bulk of the German forces were supposed to be an outer arc of defense that the allied paratroopers and Dutch resistance would have to fight their way through.

    One of my U.S. machine gun jeeps moves into position to support the British assault

Jenny controlled the British paratroopers on our left, Allen the Dutch Resistance in the center, and I controlled a huge force of American paratroopers. My force outnumbered my allies, so I handed off a squad of paratroopers (Light Infantry in XR!) to Allen to bulk up his smaller force. Of course, Allen being Allen, promptly marched them up a wide open street towards a German heavy machine gun emplacement. Needless to say, Mike S rolled very well and slaughtered them on his half of Turn 1! One turn, one attacking unit gone! So much for the terrain making the units survivable! Of course, for it to do that, I pointed out to my impetuous Dutch ally, you have to USE the terrain! 

    U.S. paratrooper force is hunkered down in terrain and ready to hammer the Germans opposite them

Meanwhile, I was making horrible "Special Insertion" (yes, cue several rounds of off-color jokes) rolls for my paratroopers to come onto the board. Keith allowed us to land anywhere on the board -- including rooftops -- as long as it wasn't within 6" of a building occupied by German defenders. Jenny kept getting proximity warnings for her Brits trying to parachute in as she tried to deploy forward. Joel and Tom had saturated the area in front of her with defenders, and she ended up having to land in relatively open area. Guess what happened to some of her paratroopers when the defenders took their first turn? Yep, many were cut down in the open, too.

    My U.S. paratroopers fire down upon the German machine gun emplacement at the intersection

Seeing how things were going, I made it a point of landing behind the buildings on my table edge -- except for one unit which landed on the rooftop of a tall building overlooking Mike S's deadly machine gun emplacement. Sure enough, Mike S opened up on my guys immediately after I landed, but my armor being bumped up to four meant they took only a single casualty. We passed our Courage check and sprayed them from above next turn. Mike got his revenge and shot again on his turn, but even though I took no casualties, I failed my check that time. The following turn, he unlimbered on me again, and I roll ridiculously bad on Courage and my guys routed (which I assume means we cowered there or on the floor below the rest of the battle). 

    Safest place for infantry in this game is inside a building or on the roof -- heavy cover is essential!

I had a weird rhythm going on with my dice rolls. I was rolling awful for unit activations, but pretty good on shooting. My two machine gun mounted jeeps activated on a 6+ on 2d6. That's a 72% chance of success, and I estimate I failed on 2/3's of my rolls with them! Eventually, they did get up to where they could fire at Mike's machine gun emplacement and finally took it out. I brought my other jeep over to belatedly help on the assault on the German HQ. In hindsight, as the most powerful force, I messed up pretty bad by focusing on fighting Mike S and Mike W's forces deployed across from me. I was winning the fight against them -- I lost only the rooftop unit and my forces shattered both of their commands. However, I forgot the objective. Eventually, I started moving my squads laterally to help, but looking at the clock, I knew they'd never get there before the game finished.

    Mike W's German (actually Polish) armored car gets a nasty surprise when U.S. bazookas open up

During my firefight with Mike W's forces, I was able to sneak my bazooka-armed Support Infantry up to where they were in heavy cover, but could fire on his armored car. My infantry guys had no hope of rolling five 6's on 10 dice to inflict a hit against his armor 5. It was kind of cheesy, but I moved them up while he was absorbed looking at his phone and not paying attention. Over a couple of turns of firing, the bazookas were able to get a few hits on his armored vehicle, forcing it to back off and essentially handicapping it for the rest of the game. Once a unit falls to half strength, it rolls only 5 attack dice. In addition, damaged vehicles move at half rate. Otherwise, there was a lot of our squads firing at each other in heavy cover and doing nothing other than forcing a Courage check. 

    My two (overpowered) machine gun jeeps hammer away at German squads in the buildings

The Support Infantry and Vehicles were the real killers in this game, unless somebody (I wonder who?) was in the open. They hit on 4+ on each of their 10d6 attacks, while infantry hit on only 6's. Keith and I discussed it online after the game, and we feel that squads need to hit on a 5+ to really be effective. So, Keith may give the infantry units in the game the "Increased Squad Size" ability, which allows them to do that. I also think my jeeps were WAY too effective, counting as a Fighting Vehicle in this game. Also, bazookas in a squad also should not be Support Infantry, we agreed. Just giving an infantry squad the "Armor Piercing" ability does a better job of reflecting their presence, we feel.

    Not learning the 1st time, Allen marches Brit commandos down the street to attack the intersection

After I damaged Mike W's armored vehicle, Mike W pulled his infantry squads out of their buildings and into the street behind them. They weren't really causing any casualties, while my jeeps were putting hits on both him and Stelzer. This gave Mike a good shot at Allen's commandos, who were foolishly out in the open (again!), assaulting the intersection held by the last remnants of Mike S's machine gun emplacement and another infantry squad. Once again, Allen's boys took it on the chin. However, the allies got their payback. I sneaked a unit into the building overlooking the intersection. I also raced my jeep around the side of the building, and together they decimated Mike and Mike's infantry in the open. 

    Dutch Resistance and their British support form to assault through the alleys to the German HQ

Meanwhile, Allen's lone Dutch squad that made it into the office building were driven out by Tom's determined counter-attack by the SMG-armed guards. I blamed myself for not getting over there with my jeeps soon enough to soften them up prior to his assault. As it was, though the German rear echelon troops had taken grievous casualties, at least on my flank. However, I was too busy to see how Jenny and Allen were faring against Joel and Tom. Either way, we made no real inroads to capturing the German high command. Keith didn't declare it as such, but I would give the victory to the defenders. 

    Pulling back from a firefight with paratroopers, the armored car & a squad look for easier targets

In hindsight, I think having our paratroopers "Special Insertion" or drop into the city didn't really work. We should have simply just moved in from the board edge. In all three attacking players' cases, we would have been way more successful. There was some confusion about what the capabilities of the various squads were, and some players were definitely rusty on the rules. Tom and Joel joked that they probably made rules mistakes every turn. We probably should have had a more thorough rules refresher at the start. Fewer troop types with fewer special abilities might have made it easier for everyone to pick up, too. The way it ended up, the most experienced players with the rules (myself, Keith, and Mike S) were all on one end of the table. Those who had played it less were on the opposite end. Likely, that didn't help either. 

    A machine gun-armed jeep & infantry in the adjacent building catch the Germans out in the open

Still, I think that with a few tweaks, XR! can be used for more WW II battles in the future. Of course, Tom is still planning on running O Group for us. So, who knows? Maybe WW II may go from one of our more infrequently played periods to more often in the future! As always, stay tuned to see.

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 288
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 208

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 40
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 61

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 200