Year in Review: My Lead Legionaries "Bests" of 2022

Best of 2022 was returning to gaming in person! Here is me (maroon) with the Sunday Night Crew

Looking back at this year, it certainly had some gaming high points. From winning my first Saga tournament in January to us returning to in-person gaming on Sunday evenings, 2022 had some winners. This post is a look back at some of my favorite games, miniatures painted, conventions, and more of the year.

My 28mm Mongol army for Saga, using Curteys Miniatures (which are a bit on the small side)

Favorite Miniatures Painted: 28mm Saga Mongol army

The first painting of this army was begun in July of 2021, but they then they sat untouched for almost six months. It wasn't until January of 2022 year that the second batch was finished. So, I am counting it as a 2022 accomplishment! Much like with my Moorish Saga army, I did unique robes and patterns on many of the figures in this 28mm Curteys Miniatures army. As I began cataloging each unit finished over the course of the year, I talked about the great variety of poses in the now (I believe?) discontinued line. I really liked the faces on the figures, too. I decided at the outset to just paint the eyes as black, and not put in the usual black socket, white slit and color dot that I do for most 28mm minis. Budokan's horde (my name for the army - a nod at the classic album by Cheap Trick) has done well so far on the tabletop, going 2-1, I believe.

    Little did we know when we fought over Swingle's Saloon, we'd be using these rules a lot!

Favorite New Set of Miniatures Rules: Fistful of Lead

On the last Sunday of February, we finally returned to in-person gaming with a bang. We were back at "Wallace's Brewpub" (the basement of my home brewing friend Mike W) after a very long time meeting Sundays online on Boardgame Arena. For the occasion, Andy S ran Fistful of Lead miniatures rules. These are a line of rules that use the same basic "engine," but tweak it for a huge variety of periods. In due course over 2022, we would also play FFOL for periods as far afield as Star Wars spaceship combat to my own Post-Apocalyptic miniatures game. The thing I like most about them is the choices a player is forced to make. They usually receive one playing card for each figure (or starfighter or whatever) under their command. These not only sometimes provide tactical bonuses, but also dictate when it will act. Thus, players must choose which card to use to activate which figure - who's going first, who has the best shot and is the best fit for that card's bonus, and so on. As I said, I liked it so much I chose FFOL for my own Post-Apocalyptic games over a number of other possibilities.

 

    This trailer from Sarissa Precision (HEAVILY modified) is my favorite piece of terrain I built in 2022

Favorite Piece of Terrain I've Built: Post-Apoc (or Abandoned) Trailer

Although it has yet to be used in a game this year, this trailer was my favorite piece of terrain I built in 2022. It took a lot of time as almost all of the surfaces were modified. I used corrugated paper for the main facing of the home, as well as corrugated styrene plastic of various sizes for "patches" and affixed to the roof. I used "Granny Grate" from craft stores as the bars over the windows. The interior is painted, as well (see the link above), though I did scale back my original plans. No shag carpeting or posters on these walls. I think I was suffering from fatigue over the length of time it was taking to build. In fact, there IS a second set that I purchased. After how much work this one was, that second one still sits unbuilt. Oh, I plan to one day (a project for 2023?). It will be a much simpler version, though. Maybe I'll build it as the manufacturer intended (minus the cardboard awnings which are not doable, in my opinion). Look for that in the upcoming year!

    The First Command Wargames crew ran four of our rules sets at Historicon 2022 to great success!

Favorite Convention Roadtrip of the Year: First Command Waragmes Trip to Historicon 2022

It had been awhile since we'd done this, but the First Command Wargames crew packed up our games and headed to Historicon 2022 in downtown Lancaster, PA. I was running two sessions of my gang warfare rules, Mean Streets. I helped Jenny run two sessions of Wars of Insurgency, Mike and Jason S combined and ran Song of Drums and Tomahawks, and Steve V ran the War of Austrian Succession supplement to his Seven Years war big battle rules. We had great turnout for our games. I know that all sessions of Mean Streets and Wars of Insurgency were completely full. For our second game of "To Kill A President" -- the modern skirmish scenario set in a fictional, 20th century African country -- we even showed up on Little Wars TV. One of the hosts was playing the president's faction and enjoyed himself quite a bit. That seemed to be the theme of the weekend. Not only did our players enjoy themselves, all of us loved the venue. The wealth of restaurants and watering holes within walking distance of the convention center made it a great trip. We will definitely be back!

    I attempted to run a Saga campaign for our regular, twice-monthly Saga Ohio gaming group...but no

Biggest Flop of the Year: 'Strongholds' Saga Campaign

I love a campaign! I love running campaigns!! So, it stands to reason that everyone else will love the idea of playing in a campaign that I am running? Ahh, what is they say about hubris and the gods? This was definitely my biggest flop of the year. I misjudged the mood of our local group that gets together at the Guardtower East once a month to play Saga. I figured that since we'd been meeting regularly for more than a year that people would be getting tired of random, one-off matchups. However, I think part of the appeal of Saga is that there are so many different factions or armies to choose from. People like building and trying them out. Most Saga players are always in that, "What's my next army?" pondering, if not actively painting it up. And once it's done, well, they ARE going to want to play it, right? So, a Saga campaign that locks them into the same army for an indeterminate length of time is likely to go over like a lead balloon. Which it did, proving that hindsight is 20/20, and hubris dramatically near-sighted. The campaign lasted all of one turn and died a quiet, unheralded death.

    After being snake-bit in recent tournaments, it all came together in January for my Picts' victory!

Biggest Success on the Tabletop: Tournament Victory at Game Table Adventures Saga Tournament

Not to brag, but I have a better than average win rate at our Saga games on our monthly game days. However, to this point, when I entered a tournament, I fared poorly. If I remember right, I was 1-1-1 and 1-2 in my previous tournies. So, I was feeling a little snake-bit going into Game Table Adventures' Saga Tournament to start off the year in January. I had decided to play the Picts from the relatively new Age of Invasions book. I'd been playing them the last few months and was having a good time with them. They're an aggressive army that requires a fair amount of terrain on the board, so that concerned me. I was kind of waiting till I showed up at the store that day to see what the boards looked like before I decided for sure. I checked with the tourney organizer on how one of the mercenary units that allows you to alter terrain would work out in his tournament. When I arrived, though, I looked around, and felt there was a reasonable amount of terrain on the boards. So, I went with my plan of playing the Picts. Check out the link above to read my account of my three games. Suffice to say, I went 3-0 and scored my first and only Saga tourney victory to this point. So that was definitely a high point of the year (never mind that it occurred in January...ha, ha!).

    We had 24 players show up to our ATC 2022 Saga tournament - great turnout, great time!

Best Tournament (that I ran): Advance the Colors 2022 Saga Tournament

A good bit of my hobby time this year was spent preparing for this fall's Advance the Colors Saga Tournament. Last year in our inaugural tourney, we had 16 players. My goal for this year was to hit 24, which weirdly was exactly the number of players I had. At one point, it was in the 30's, but a Covid outbreak amongst the active Fort Wayne, IN, community meant a good handful of guys couldn't come. Still, ATC is a great venue for a Saga tournament. There is a ton of space in the Clark County Fairgrounds venue. We could have fit many, many more players (which means there's room for this to grow...?). Players had a lot of elbow room and could spread out, which was nice. It was a VERY easy tournament to run, too. I had a bare minimum of rules or scenario questions. All of my players were friendly and said they had a great time. There was awesome prize support from Gripping Beast, Father and Son Gaming, Jarls Workshop, Game Table Adventures and Saga Ohio, itself (um...that would be me, painting up six warlord stands to give away!). We ended up having a tie with D.J. Andrews and Daniel Broaddus both going 3-0 to tie for the victory. Great time, and I look forward to next year's tourney, as well. Dare I hope for 30 players this time...?

So, there it is - my bests of 2022. Hope you had a great year of gaming, too!

Giving Fallout Skirmish Rules a Try

    My Super Mutants investigate a damaged auto repair station, where it looks like a blast went off

One of our friends, Mike S, has been a devotee of the computer game Fallout for years. Once the miniatures game came out, it was a no-brainer he'd buy into it and collect miniatures, terrain, and more, eventually running it for us. The confusing thing was why it took him so long! I expected him to beat my post-Apocalyptic games to the punch easily. I guess he was waiting till he felt comfortable running the rules for his son Jason and his nephews before springing it on us.

    Mike and Jason S ran the game for us, which flowed fairly quickly as we searched the various ruins

Well, our first taste of the rules came last Sunday when Mike and Jason showed up to teach us the rules and run an introductory game. The seven us were each given a four-figure squad. Our game included two Super Mutant factions (Keith and I), two Raiders (Jenny and Joel), and two Minute Men (Andy and Bruce). The mission of the mutants was to find food and investigate the area. Food, incidentally, included Humans! Each other faction had a similar mission, though the human factions weren't as keen to cannibalize as the mutants might be...

    My super mutants and pet 'dog' break camp - I have to say the Fallout Miniatures didn't impress

It took a bit longer for us to wrap our head around the rules, and even longer to get a handle on the weird dice faces on the proprietary dice that Fallout uses. Well, to be honest, I never really got a handle on the symbols. I would have to say it is my chief beef with the rules. Do you really need five or six different colored dice each with an array of cryptic symbols on them, in addition to ordinary numbers? You can't work with percentages and the various sized dice to attain the results you're looking for? Or is it perhaps to simply sell dice along with the oddly-scaled plastic figures they make for the game?

My mutant checks out the intersection, finding nothing interesting (Keith snapped up the goodies!)

Speaking of the figures, I honestly was not impressed with them. My friend Mike is a talented painter, but the proportions of the miniatures screamed Clix figures to me. I know a lot of folk use the various clix figures that have fallen out of favor as an inexpensive source for miniatures. I just don't like either the scale or the shiny plastic look to them. My three super mutants and "dog" looked like the Incredible Hulk, which is fine if you're playing Marvel superhero clix, but...

    Our cohorts, Keith's Super Mutants, chase Bruce's Minute Men out of the shanty town

Anyway, enough complaining! How did the game go? Well, we mostly moved towards the center, which was bad news for the factions in the center of the table. Poor Jenny and her Raiders got squeezed on one side by Andy's Minuate Men and the other side by my Super Hulks. Andy's sharpshooters killed two of her figures sheltering on a concrete roof, while my dog and one of my Hulks got another one who was trying to flee. Andy was also shooting Joel's Raiders, as was Bruce. Bad day to be a raider. I think both Joel and Jenny ended up with only one figure left on the table.

    Keith's mutants are hot on the trail of humans - "Them's good eatin'!!"

Bruce, like Jenny, skedaddled when he saw Super Hulks coming their way. Keith pressed him closely, the dog scampering ahead to engage one of the Minute Men. Although his buddies came to his aid and eventually shot the mutated, wild boar sized pooch dead, Bruce had lost one of his figures to its massive maw.  Andy undoubtedly killed the most enemy, taking cover in ruins and blasting away all game long. He even took a long range shot at one of my hulks, claiming it couldn't hide behind a puny, human-sized door. My green-skinned menace took offense at the derogatory comment about his bulk, but decided to scoop up the dead Raider and drag his dead pooch along back to camp. My other mutants grabbed Jenny's dead Raiders, and similarly headed home.

    Mike's Fallout terrain looked nice - a good mix of 3D printed, resin, and MDF terrain

The game flowed fairly quickly with the spiraling activation system (players going around the table to activate or hold a figure at the ready).  I had no problem with that, though I do like the randomness and strategy of the Wiley Games system I am using for my post-Apocalyptic rules better. Keith said he preferred the Wiley Games system over Fallout. I'd be willing to give it another chance now that we have a better idea what we're doing, though.

With Jenny, Joel, and Bruce's figures falling back, and my mutants carrying more than they could eat for a few days back with them, we called the game. The jury is out for me on this one. I didn't hate it, and am sure I will get used to the annoying dice. So, we shall see what the, ahem, Fallout is on the first playtest and see if we do it again!

Halloween Bash: Squabbling Over the Hound of Hell

    Keith's Mephits swarm around Cereberus, the 3-headed guardian of Hell, in our Halloween scenario

Since the next day was Halloween, I was able to convince the Sunday evening gamers to break out the Reign in Hell rules and our cabals that we had built last year. It had been many months since we'd played the rules and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Our usual host was out of town, so Jenny and I hosted. Keith brought over a special, Halloween themed battle mat. There were only five of us that evening, so we decided to play "The Beast" scenario on a 36" square mat.

    My too slow Wendigo cabal advances on the first turn of the game

In "The Beast," all the players are trying to capture the hulking, namesake creature who begins at the center of the table. We represented the Beast with a three-headed model of Cereberus, the Greek guardian of Hell, appropriately enough. Players could either attack Hades' lapdog normally or they could attempt to subjugate him. To do so, the player must have an active demon within 3" of the Beast. They roll 6d6, and if they roll any 6's, they score ONE success. Once a player reaches 10 successes, they take over control of Cereberus. They may then roll one activation die for the Beast as if he were his own demon and activate him on the Initiative die he chooses.

    To our left, Allen's Demented cabal of Death Angel pass around terrain, seeking out its enemies

I was playing my standard Wendigo cabal with the addition of one Greater Demon, a Serpent Knight representing the Horned Serpent of Native American lore. I had asked the players to build 150 point cabals. They could purchase one Greater demon. The rest must be Lesser Demons (not counting the Leader and his Devout, which are technically free). So, besides Wendigo my leader and Skadegamutc, my teleporting shaman Devout, I fielded 3 Armored Demons (Bear Skinwalkers), 2 Corpulent Demons (Wolverine Skinwalkers), and 1 Mephit (Great Horned Owl).

    Mike S's Earthbound cabal features a Succubus which can take control of one of your demons

To my left was Allen, playing a Demented Cabal that I had created. His leader was Death Angel, his Devout was Bone Dragon, and he had a Torture Master as his Greater Demon. Otherwise, he fielded 2 Slaughter Fiends, 1 Tentacle Beast (Ent), and 3 Spined Demons (Terror Birds). Jenny was to his left with the cabal I had painted for her as a Christmas present this past December. Keith was next in the circle, fielding a very Mephit-heavy force. He wanted to see how the Demonic Air Force played out, and as we shall see, it was very effective in this particular scenario. His force was technically illegal, as he fielded 12 demons -- two above the maximum of 10. We shrugged it off as most were Mephits, which we knew from previous games, die easily.

    Cereberus lashes out at his Mephit tormentors, nearly dismembering one with a swipe of its paw

The final cabal was Mike S's Earthbound cabal. Its Devout is a Succubus, which has the ability to activate and move (and attack with) another player's demon if it is within 3". This would prove crucial ability on the final turns of the game. Well, that is until Wendigo bounded over and slew the Succubus! There's no gratitude in Hell, as both Mike and I knew he had actually done me a favor right before I killed his Devout! But I am getting ahead of myself - first, setting the scene.

    Jenny's massive leader roars towards the Beast, while its Spined & Slaughter demons follow

On Keith's first turn we realized his very clever plan for winning this scenario. He flew his horde of Mephits directly towards Cereberus. Each landed within 3" of the hulking, three-headed hound, and began rolling to subdue the Beast. Even though Keith was rolling under average, he was quickly racking up successes. Inside, I think all of us thought, "Uh-oh!" The Beast activates on Initiatives 12 and 6 (twice, as opposed to player-controlled demons, which activate only once). On 6, Cereberus pounced and rended one Mephit to within a point of death. That was actually a very bad roll. Reign in Hell is very bloody. You hit an enemy demon on 2+ if you have a greater Combat Value, 3+ if the same, and 4+ if the enemy's is greater. With 12 attack dice (13, actually, since he was charging), Cereberus should have scored 11 hits, on average. Saves are only on a "6" on 1d6. With Combat of 3, and thus only three saving rolls, the lucky Mephit should have been shredded!

    The cabals of Jenny and Allen close in on each other in the center

On Turn 2, Keith took advantage of the ability to Attack and then Move, and had all his Mephits rack up more successes while pulling them back out of the range of Cereberus. "Stick and Move," light horse tactics in Hell?? Either way, it was working out for Keith. Mike S saw the danger right away and ignored my cabal and quickly began hurling his demons at Keith's minions. They quickly began mixing it up, with Mike's Succubus sending Keith's Corpulent Demons towards Cereberus to be eaten and draw the Beast towards Keith's other minions.

    Jenny's demons keep pushing on the center, but Keith cleverly began pulling back, saving his cabal

I had split my cabal, with half moving to form a wall between my cabal and Mike S's (I never trust Mike in multiplayer games...ha, ha!). The other half moved to attack Allen's cabal. My shaman slew one of his Spined Demons with two attacks, then teleported back to the cover of rocky terrain. A wedge of one Bear Skinwalker, Wolverine Skinwalker, and the Horned Serpent moved up and ganged up on Allen's other Spined Demons. We eventually slew all three of his Terror Birds, but at the cost of being too far away to do anything to Cereberus. 

    A huge scrum develops in the center with demons from four cabals slashing away at each other

Meanwhile, Jenny and Allen were pushing towards the great, three-headed Beast. Jenny was racking up successes at controlling Hades hound, but Keith had built an insurmountable lead. As one, the four of us decided we needed to switch tactics to killing the creature, instead. The winner of the scenario is either the player who controls the Beast at the end or has slain it. Keith soon took control of Cereberus and showed us he had no plans to make it easy on us. He began pulling Cereberus back towards the far corner of the board. This meant all of our slower demons would have no chance at getting into the fight. Only our faster moving demons, or ones who were already nearby, had any chance at helping out in the onslaught on the Beast.

   Wendigo has misjudged the situation - his Skinwalkers and Horned serpent are out of position

Mike S started away at Cereberus, and we all began to help out. I had racked up several "Soul Dice," which you get when you slay an enemy demon. You roll 1d6 and can then use that dice's score once to substitute it for the number of either your combat roll or an opponent's. I began using my rolls to cancel out the sixes Keith would roll as saves for the Beast. Mike S began doing the same. At first, we felt there was no way we would get to the 40 wounds needed to kill the Beast. However, they slowly began to pile up.

    Every demon of Keith's enemies piles damage on Cereberus - but with 40 Life, its a long way to go

I moved my teleporting Shaman, my Horned Owl, and Wendigo as fast as they could go. They would be my only contribution to the fight (other than using soul dice against Keith). Mike S had the great idea to move his Succubus next to my shaman and order him to teleport and attack Cereberus. The hound was in the 30's on damage. We had only one turn remaining, though. It was an all-out attack on the Hound of Hell. I waited as long as I could to attack with Skadegamutc, because I didn't want to just soften the dog up for one of the others to cherry pick me. Finally, on my last Initiative Dice, I attacked with my Devout Shaman. I rolled a bit under average, but Keith would need to roll decently for Cereberus to survive. 

    Sideshow battles abound - here Death Angel & his Torture Master take on Jenny's Corpulent Demon

I missed killing the Beast by ONE POINT! Lucky dog!! A couple other players sent Mephits at Cereberus (they were the only ones that could move far enough to attack where Keith had retreated him to). However, Keith would have to whiff all his saves for them to have a chance, and he did not. The final turn ended with Cereberus having one point left. Keith's Demonic Air Force was victorious! Of course, we could have placed an asterik next to his victory since he began with 12 demons, but he earned the win. He quickly realized the advantages of his cabal in this scenario and executed his tactics perfectly.

    With more than 50 demons on the table, it was a riot of mayhem on the tabletop!

The game was a blast, and everyone had fun. We will definitely have to descend into Hell for more games again, soon...

    Despite my misjudgement, my shaman Skadegamutc came within 1 point of killing Cereberus on the last turn!

Big Stompy Robots playtest (or BattleSuit Alpha)

    Attacking Mechs (aka Big Stompy Robots) advance towards the moonbase that is our objective

I have to admit, I never played Battletech - that game with giant robots blasting away at each other in the distant future. Robots? Yes, I know that some versions of it envision a man inside the suit, ala the Matrix and "Knuckle up!" Either way, it was never something I bought figures for nor remember playing. So, when Keith and Andy in our Sunday night gamers group expressed a desire to try the Wiley Games version of Big Stompy Robots, aka BattleSuit Alpha, a try, I wasn't jumping up and down in joy, but nor was I saying "Not for me!"

    Wiley Games now makes custom decks for their various rules sets with special rules printed on each

So far, we have given a number of the Wiley Games rules a try. It began when Andy ran their Western game, Fistful of Lead. Then, I ran my post-Apocalyptic game with the Core Rules - their generic rules for any period. Next, Keith ran their Starfighters game with X-wings and TIE fighters (and various other space ships from the Star Wars universe). I was worried that we would end up doing so many games with Wiley Games rules that it wouldn't feel like we were playing the PERIOD, but were instead just playing Wiley Games. I remember many years ago when we were playing Hordes of The Things (HOTT) a decent amount, we began experimenting using those rules for all kinds of periods. One of our Sunday night gamers at the time, Zeke, exploded one evening and said, "Not EVERY GAME is a version of HOTT!" He had a point, and after that we cooled off on the ancient galley wars version of HOTT, the spaceship version of HOTT, and so on.

    Andy, right, was one of the organizers of the game - here he watches to ensure Allen doesn't cheat :)

Now, in our playing of Starfighters, we found it DID have a completely different feel than either Andy's Western or my post-Apocalyptic game. Basic mechanics were similar (which isn't bad), but the feel of the game was different. There were enough different special or extra rules mechanics that made it feel sufficiently different. Would Big Stompy Robots be a bridge too far, though? No, as we discovered, it did not. There was enough of a different feel that it felt like we were gaming a period. Granted, it is not a period that I am overly familiar with, so I am not a good judge of it. However, both Keith and Andy are fans of stompy robots and pronounced themselves pleased with it. 

    In Wiley Games, figures like this patriotic mech, can take damage (orange cubes) or shock (counter)

What's more, I had fun with it. I felt like tactics made sense. I felt the weapons differences led you to moving your troops a certain way on the tabletop. We each commanded three mechs each, and felt perhaps we should have started with two. It did take awhile to set up the game, though, so perhaps that was the reason we were slow out of the gate. The scenario Keith set up made sense but there was no way we could game it to conclusion in the time we had. No fault of his. I like that he came up with a scenario rather than just say it was a standard clash with two groups fighting each other.

    My Light Mech grabs some cover, hoping combined with its 'Nimble' trait would make it hard to hit

We plan on playing another game of BattleSuit Alpha soon. Originally, it was going to be the very next Sunday. However, noticing that it was the day before Halloween, I suggested we resurrect Reign in Hell for a Halloween themed game. So, demons and cabals are on the table next time! It has been a LONG time since we did this. It'll be a one-off game, not another chapter of our aborted attempt at a campaign. So, keep an eye on this space for another descent into some Hellish miniature gaming!

    An overview of the battlefield as the Attackers (bottom) advance on the Defending Mechs

    A force of three Mechs heads towards the cover in hopes of getting shots at the enemy

    I really like the idea of custom decks for this game -- special rules for types of cards printed on them make for a great reminder (especially for newer players)

Water or Gas - what's your poison? First Post-Apoc AAR

    Tosh of the Bass Reeves examines the gas pump to figure out how to extract fuel with no power

Summer break from school is already half over, so I figured it was high time that I kick off my Post-Apocalyptic games that I've been planning. I have been painting miniatures and creating terrain and markers for awhile now. So, I invited the Sunday evening gaming group over yesterday to my place and set up our first scenario using Fistful of Lead Core Rules. We'd played the Western rules a couple times, but this would be our first game with these rules in a different period. Since it had been a couple months since our last game with these rules, I played it safe and kept the force size small at four miniatures per team.

    The stealthy, camo-clad Bucknuts stalk through the trees towards the water tower

The teams represent bands of human survivors after a recent nuclear apocalypse. As in Arnold Schwarzenegger "Terminator" movies, an artificial intelligence has taken over the war machines created by the nations of the earth and launched an extermination of mankind. In desperation to take down the machines, the nations of the earth resort to nuclear weapons. The resulting Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) does seem to cripple the A.I., and it is no longer able to coordinate its extermination efforts planet-wide. However, the local bots that survived are still on the rampage, and appear to be controlled by regional networks that are still a danger. Meanwhile, society breaks down as groups of humans scramble for control of scarce food, water, and other supplies. The players each control one of these groups.

    The Bass Reeves take up firing positions around the gas station to cover Tosh's attempt

This scenario begins as word spreads that someone has found a way to tap into a local water tower and pump out clean, fresh water. Rumor has it that also nearby is a gas station still has some fuel in its pumps. The survivors set out to secure these supplies for themselves. To Hell with the other groups -- they have lots too many of their friends and families to rival groups to have any sympathy for the other survivors! We had six players, so I started one in each of the four in the corners of the board and the other two in the centers of the long edges. The water tower and gas station were on the center line of the table, one on the more to the right and the other on the left.

    The Nightstalkers eschewed the loot and instead targeted members of the rival teams of survivors

Each group adopted different tactics. In one corner, the Nightstalkers made no real effort to push towards the gas station they could see ahead. Instead, they took up positions in the ruins of buildings and sniped away at the rival gangs. Players could earn "Renown Points" (victory points) by either obtaining water or gas or killing their rivals. Keith was playing the Nightstalkers, whose advanced armor and firepower resulted in killing the most enemy figures. He was even able to take down one of the Scout Bots that was drawn to the area by the gunfire. The arrival of bots is triggered by the number of player figures being killed. A Scout Bot arrives when combined table losses reach 10%, a Sentry Bot at 20%, and a Military Bot at 30%. If one bot is killed and the higher level one has not been triggered yet, a replacement of the lower type appears.

    A Scout Bot rolls onto the table edge, preparing to fire at two Followers of the Dark Prophet

The bots are actually controlled by the players. Whoever has suffered the most losses is given the first Scout Bot. Next most losses at the time gets control of the next bot to arrive, and so on. They arrive at any table edge, but will fire on the closest human (even if it is under that player's control, so they have to be careful). If a bot is downed, it becomes another source of potential Renown points. Figures can go up to it, and if they make a Hard Task roll, can remove useful hardware such as weapons, ammunition, or technical components. In our game, the last turn ended with a Sentry Bot gunning down one of the Bass Reeves. With that, the players agreed it was time to scram and their figures began to leave the field in droves.

    The truce at the water tower as the Followers of the Dark Prophet and Bucknuts agree to share

On the water tower side of the battlefield, though both the Bucknuts and the Followers of the Dark Prophet advanced towards it and took up positions in opposing woods, overlooking the tower. The Followers shouted a truce offer across to their rivals - one member of the party from each side be allowed to draw water without being shot at. Amazingly, the truce was adhered to by both sides! First, one of the Followers trotted forward, analyzed the apparatus that had been installed to tap into the water tower, and passed his task roll to figure it out. He filled up a container of water just as Jackie O from the Bucknuts jogged up. Watching how he did it, she also was able to draw water for her team.

    The Blood Brotherhood looks at the gas pump -- sooo close -- but watched over by two rival teams

The moment of calm was interrupted by gunfire, though. F Troop, whose members had recently made their way back from the wars to their home town, opened fire on the Followers of the Dark Prophet. Both sides blazed away at each other with the ex-military unit getting the worst end of it. Both of their leaders, Capt. Amos and Sgt. Seneca, fell to the return gunfire from the black-clad Followers. The remaining two members of F Troop retreated off the board, dragging with the them the unconscious bodies of their leaders.

    Finally, the Grandmaster of the Blood Brotherhood dashes forward to fill up his gas can

Meanwhile, at the gas pump, things were about to explode in gunfire. Both the Blood Brotherhood and The Bass Reeves had team members poised to dash out into the relative open of the pumps. Each had taken a casualty from the sniping of the Nightstalkers, but persevered to where they were in position. The Bass Reeves jumped first, with tech-savvy Tosh darting from behind the battered Coke machine and reaching the nearest pump. He also passed his Task roll, figuring out how to get gasoline from the pump in the absence of electrical power. He quickly filled his plastic container and dashed for safety.

    The Followers of the Dark Prophet at the edge of the woods overlooking the water tower

Peering from the ruins nearby, the Blood Brotherhood were perhaps shocked by the audacity of Tosh's move. They noted how he was able to milk the pump back to life and only opened fire only as he was dashing away. Perhaps they were worried a stray bullet might cause an inferno, but Tosh made it to cover safely. The crimson-robed Grandmaster of the order hissed to his men to provide covering fire and sprinted for the pumps. Mimicking Tosh's actions, he was also able to fill up the gas can he'd brought along. He was also equally fortunate in dashing back into the ruins for cover unscathed.

    Jeremiah and Sarge of the Bass Reeves are surprised by a Sentry Bot while looting the Scout Bot

Tosh wasn't so lucky, though. A long range burst of automatic weapons fire from the Nightstalkers brought him down. The Bass Reeves leader, Big Bass, darted over, tossing the unconscious Tosh (and the gas can) over his shoulder and scurried offtable. This was about the time that the Scout Bot arrived. It fired a burst at the Nightstalkers, whose return fire must have hit a critical component. The Scout Bot crashed into a wall and fell over, its sole wheel spinning. One of things we were worried about with Fistful of Lead rules was whether the 3 Wounds each figure can take would even come into play. Or would most of the casualties come from "Out of Action" rolls on the Wounding chart that players roll on after scoring a hit? In our first Western game, this was certainly the case. In this game, of the five characters and one bot taken out of action, five of the six were knocked out by a d10 roll of 8-10 on the Wounding Chart. There were many others that were hit with Shock Markers or Wounded by shooting, so the percentage of kill shots was definitely less than our Western game. Still, it is something to keep an eye on and perhaps tweak.

    F Troop before the game - players chose which four characters to take on the mission

I informed the players that the downed Scout Bot was another way to earn Renown points. The Bass Reeves jumped at the chance. Two of their members closed in on the wreckage. Just as they bent over the the armored scout, looking how to pry it open or remove components, the sound of mechanical gears and the metallic stamp of feet grew louder from around the corner. They turned and saw the gleaming bronze surface of a Sentry Bot, its machine gun swiveling towards them. Sarge grabbed a panel that had been jarred loose by gunfire and tore it free as he darted through the ruins towards the table edge. Jeremiah struggled to pull free one of the scout's guns, but was too slow. A long burst of machine gun fire sliced into him from the Sentry Bot. Jeremiah slumped senselessly onto the surface of the Scout Bot.

    The Blood Brotherhood, a cult whose members have sworn to protect each other and the Order

At this point, more and more characters began running for the table edge. The machines had arrived and it was best to flee to fight -- or scramble amidst the ruins for supplies -- another day. Seeing the Followers of the Dark Prophet fading back into the trees, Brutus of the Bucknuts lumbered forward with his water container. Jackie O had to call out instructions on how to operate the apparatus, as he was fumbling amidst the levers and wheels with no success. He finally figured it out, just as another Scout Bot rolled onto the table. Luckily for him, it pursued the fleeing Followers of the Dark Prophet. Brutus finished filling his container and ran for the table edge where his teammates were waiting for him, gesturing frantically.

    "All right, I can take three of you with me..." Bucknuts: "Take me, Coach Coop!"

I came up with a rough system to award Renown Points to the teams. Using this, the Blood Brotherhood were the winners, getting two cans of gas and killing two rival team members for 7 Renown points. Well, their characters killed one and the Sentry Bot they controlled gunned down another. I am awarding full points to the players controlling the bots to ensure they act with appropriate, Terminator-like bloodthirstiness! Close behind were the murderous Nightstalkers and stealthy Bucknuts with 6 points apiece. Both the Followers of the Dark Prophet and the Bass Reeves earned 5, while F Troop escaped with a single Renown point for exiting the table with 50% of their number alive. I hope to allow players to adjust their characters using the Renown Points, acquiring new skills or similar experience.

    The Nightstalkers weren't there for gas or water -- they were there to hunt their rivals!

There is also a table in Fistful of Lead (and the Post-Apocalyptic supplement Wasteland Warriors) to roll on to see what happens to the characters who were wounded or knocked out of action. I forgot to keep track of the wounded, so they will all get a free pass on this game. However, here were the results of the out of action rolls:

• F Troop, Capt. Amos: "It's Not So Bad" (miss next game)
  
• F Troop, Sgt. Seneca: "It's Not So Bad" (miss next game)
• Blood Brotherhood, Brother Fortitude: "It's Not So Bad" (miss next game)
• Bass Reeves, Tosh: "It's Not So Bad" (miss next game)
• Bass Reeves, Jeremiah: "Shot Full of Holes" (miss next game and suffer a Negative Trait as permanent damage).

 

I felt the game flowed well. We had a couple times when players forgot they had a certain value card and didn't activate when they were supposed to, but we kept needling each other and everyone stayed focused. I think the mix of objectives and "go kill the enemy" was good, so I will likely try to replicate that. I think I will also add in some "payback" Renown points, where you get a bonus point for taking out an enemy figure whose team took out one of yours last game!

Hopefully, the players will be eager to get together again soon for some revenge and to try another game soon!