Lotta "What A Tanker!"

Keith's 20mm tanks stalk one another across a cityscape in What A Tanker! rules

Sometimes, I'm the odd man out in my group. For instance, many of my regular Sunday night gaming group love all things tank related. I've always abhorred tank games. Maybe I've been stuck in one too many chart-intensive, plodding micro armor games in my four decades of gaming. Whatever it is, my group knows I am not the biggest fan. However, Keith was insistent that we try out Too Fat Lardies "What A Tanker!" rules. He said they were not like most armor games.

Peekaboo! My Italian tank sneaks up behind Andy's British one and squeezes off a shot

Keith was definitely right. If I had to sum up the two things I dislike most about armor games it would be: (1) Their tendency towards dense rules sets that force you to calculate angles and thicknesses of armor; (2) Their unabashed love of anything German. Of course, that last one could be true of many World War II rules sets. More than one gamer has joked that if wargamers wrote History, the Germans would have won WW II. On that note, the French would likely have won the Napoleonic Wars, etc.

Our Sunday night gaming group engages in a swirling tank melee in a North African city

What A Tanker completely fixes those two things in my book. Tanks are given armor ratings, which is the number of defense dice they roll. With the tanks we've used, this has tended to be three to five dice. The rules fix the second thing I hate because a German "4" is no better than a British "4" (let's wait a second while the tank lovers run screaming from the room...). The way side and rear armor is covered is you needed different numbers to hit if you are shooting from that side (let's wait again, while the rest of the armor heads leave the room). Yes, no dense charts in this game at all!

Finding avenues of fire and playing cat and mouse is a big part of the fun of these rules

It IS a different style game, though. The dice dictate what happens and generate their own fog of war. You cannot do what you want to do some of the time...check that: MOST of the time. You roll a certain number of six-sided dice when initiative says its your turn to move.  The score on each dice lets you a different thing: 1's = movement, 2's = spotting, 3's = aiming, 4's = firing, 5's = reloading, and 6's are "wild," allowing you to use them as any number. So, yes, that means you may have a bead on another tank, be spotted, aimed, and ready to fire but roll no 4's. Your crew freezes, or random smoke has drifted across your vision -- whatever.

Joel and Brian check a ruling in this easy-to-learn set, while Mike S ponders his tactical situation

Although these pictures are from our third game, our first game featured me in a tank rated Fast, but not so heavily armored. I was able to race around and get on my opponent Brian's rear. Though my movement dice were fantastic, my shooting dice were awful. I fired away again and again, bouncing off his armor. Equally frustrated, he was unable to get move dice and get facing me. The game definitely works best with players controlling only one or two tanks each, we've found in our massive three games of experience. It also works best with lots of terrain, so you can play cat and mouse with the enemy. The dice provide the fog of war, so that your stalking doesn't always work out the way you wanted it to. I can recommend What A Tanker rules for anyone who normally doesn't like armor games. That said, my friends who DO like them also enjoy the rules. 

More What A Tanker action (don't ask me which tanks these are -- remember, I hate tank games! Ha, ha!!)

3-D Printed Market Stalls

3-D printed market stalls from Analog Arcade Accessories and some 28mm customers at this impromptu farmers market

The next step in bringing my 28mm city to life is to paint up those miscellaneous things besides buildings that occupy a downtown area. First up here, are three 3-D printed market stalls. These will go along with some previously painted market stalls from Miniature Building Authority to make a farmer's market area. I picked up the stalls at Cincycon 2017 from a new vendor, Analog Arcade Accessories. They carry lots of things for the miniature gamer, including buildings, vehicles, crates/boxes, and of course, market stalls.

This is my favorite of the stalls -- I decided that it was lettuce and baskets of beans that were for sale

The market stalls come with the awning separate, ostensibly to make it easier to paint the contents of the stall before gluing on the roof. I made the questionable decision to epoxy them into place first and trust that I could get in there adequately with my brush. The stalls were fairly cleanly printed with little flash or "strings" to remove. I primed them black with Krylon Fusion matte black spray primer. I then brushed over them with a 50/50 mix of black paint and water to make sure all the crevices were covered.

I chose bright colors for this fruit vendor, so went with red, yellow and green

I decided to do the contents first, which also meant guessing what food items were in the various baskets or boxes. I went onto Analog Arcade Accessories Facebook page and scrolled through their photos to see if I could get some clues. I had correctly guessed that one of the stalls had fish. The others I had to do my best guess as I could not find labels for them. First, though, I painted the wood boxes or boards that the produce was sitting on. I gave it a light wood color and washed it with a black wash. Then I painted each food product in a darker and lighter highlight color to give them some depth.

A fish vendor completes this trio of market stalls

I really like how the stall with the lettuce and baskets of various beans came out. I think it is my favorite. I even used two colors inside the baskets themselves -- so the coffee beans were painted a darker brown with dots of lighter brown to give it some depth. The lettuce (or some kind of leafy green veggie) looks good, too, kind of spread out. However, I wasn't as crazy with how the fruits turned out. If you look closely, you can see the strings connecting the individual globes that are the fruits. I briefly thought about painting a green stem at the top of each -- it looks like this was modeled -- but decided I wanted the more mass effect of a crate full of fruit. Still, I think both look good. The fish vendor's products were the easiest to paint, with a medium gray base coat and a light gray dry brush. For effect, I put in a light silver wash over each fish, but it doesn't really show up in the photo.

A busy morning at the Farmer's Market in my 28mm city center

The wood of the stalls consisted of two layers of dry brushing: Howard Hues Camo brown first, followed by Colonial Khaki (my normal way of painting wood). The crates and barrels were trimmed with Iron Wind Metals Steel for their metal bindings. The awnings were done in three faded colors -- a faded tan, light blue, and light green. These were dry brushed white, then washed in brown or black. I was tempted to do stripes on a few of the awnings, but decided against it.

Unfortunately, I don't remember how much the market stalls cost, as it has been almost two years since I purchased them. Check them out on Facebook and pick up some of their products, if you're interested!

New Gang: Sons of Thor (German Village chapter)

The Sons of Thor (German Village chapter) are the next of my fictional gangs in my urban warfare project

 When I first decided to go ahead with this project, I had my eyes on Foundry's Ancient German line of 28mm miniatures. I had one or two for my Dark Ages project and new that a number of them were simply bare-chested guys with pants. Since both hands were empty for most, there was nothing overly Ancient about them. I had my friends Tim and Don, who were heading to Fall In 2018, pick up some from a vendor who I knew would be in the flea market selling them.

28mm Foundry Ancient Germans were the figures I used for this gang, with scratch-built weapons

I picked out twelve that I liked the best, and then sat down to make weapons for them. I decided to make some sledgehammers, pipes, clubs, and chains for them. For the chains, I decided to do an experiment with a metal handle with a length of chain attached. The handle was just brass wire, and the chain was a leftover one from a broken piece of jewelry. I had done this with one of the Bexley Blockwatch, but left the chain handing straight down. For these, I decided to paint them with the chain arranged as if it were swinging through the air. I liked it MUCH better this way. For the hammers, I took tiny little pieces of MDF leftover (punchouts) from the 28mm buildings I have been making. I drilled them with a pin vise, holding onto and squeezing the MDF firmly so it didn't split while it was drilled out. I epoxied in more brass wire, then wrapped a tiny bit of duct tape around the wire for a thicker and somewhat textured handle. I should probably have shaped the hammer head with an X-acto knife some, but I think they turned out okay, too. The pipes were aluminum tubes from the craft store, and the clubs were pieces of craft sticks trimmed up with an X-acto knife.

I like the chains whipping through the air much better than simply hanging straight down

The figures were done with my usual, brush-on white prime base coat. I then painted a craft paint flesh on them, followed by a ruddy orange wash that I have premixed. It really gives definition in the muscles. The jeans were painted with Denim craft paint color and dry brushed a Howard Hue light blue. Some jeans were done in a darker blue, and a couple in black. I gave them dark brown or black belts with highlights. For their hair, I went with a number of blonde or light hair colors as this was to be a gang from German village -- which used to be where many German immigrants lived in Columbus on the south side many years ago. I chose the Sons of Thor as a gang name, and postulated they are the local chapter of a nationwide, Teutonic gang. Thus, the proliferation of blondes, auburns, light browns, with a few darker mixed in. Each was dry brushed with a highlight color. The shoes were done as sneakers, mostly white but with a few blue and red.

The big auburn-haired dude is the only one with cast-on weapons that I used in this gang

The tattoos came last. I did a Google Image search of Viking+Tattoo and picked out ones I liked with elements I thought I could recreate with a brush. My efforts were so-so -- not stunning, by any means, but not embarrassing, I hope! I chose to do the tattoos in dark blue, dark red, and black to give it some variety. Some turned out better than others, some more clumsy than others. All in all, I am pleased with this gang - my fifth for the project. I think I will paint up two more before I start playtesting my rules. So, stay tuned!

Miscellaneous Urban Terrain

Dumpsters from Miniature Building Authority (right) and Sea Dog Studies

I tend to pick up the odd piece of terrain at conventions, but then it may languish in my unpainted boxes for awhile. Since I am working on my urban gang warfare project, I figured it was time to pull out some of these pieces and prime them up and paint them.

These dumpsters painted up easily and are a great addition to an urban tabletop

First up are three dumpsters from two different sources. The larger two are from fellow Columbus resident Brian Carnes of Sailpower rules fame. He has been 3-D printing ships for his Age of Sail game for quite awhile, but recently added in other types of terrain. He calls his company Sea Dog Game Studios - check out their booth at area conventions. I had my modern Africa games using Wars of Insurgency rules in mind when I bought these, but they will work equally well in inner city America. The smaller dumpster is from Miniature Building Authority, which I believe I picked up at Historicon this year. This is one of their unpainted resin terrain pieces. It is a slightly different style, but that's a good thing! Both of these painted up incredibly quickly. I sprayed them with Krylon Fusion acrylic black primer first. Then, after dry, I brushed on a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint onto them to seep into all the detail and make dry brushing more effective. Next, I dry brushed a kelly green craft paint over them, mainly because a lot of the dumpsters I tend to see in Columbus are green. I then highlighted the raised areas in a lighter shade. The lid was dry brushed a medium gray, though that detail tended to disappear after I clear coated them....hmmm. All in all, great urban scatter for the tabletop at a bare minimum of prep time!

Hmm...I don't look like these four Miniature Building Authority police barricades will hold these dudes back!

Next up are four police barricades from Miniature Building Authority. I believe these were also purchased this year at Historicon. MBA has so many great terrain pieces besides the buildings they are famous for that it his hard to resist picking up a few items every time I see them at conventions. The fact that they are such nice guys and loyal supporters of our historical miniatures hobby, makes me even more willing to part with cash when I see them. These were also black primed, then gone over with a 50/50 mixture of black paint and water. Next, I heavily dry brushed Iron Wind Metals "Steel" (one of my all-time favorite paints) over it. I followed that up with a silver dry brush and voila! Three colors and done! More terrain for my urban battlefields.

A pleasant day in the park, and a comfy place to sit - Sea Dog Studios 3-D printed park benches

Finally, two 3-D printed park benches from Sea Dog Game Studios. They seem a bit small for the more heroic scale 28mm figures, but I still liked them so picked them up. I heartily recommend perusing Brian Carnes' booth if you see him at a convention. There is just so much he makes that you wouldn't think about but will look cool on the tabletop. I have a vandalized Coca-Cola machine that is primed and waiting for its turn sitting on my desk right now! These were easy to paint, as well. I did the same spray prime/50-50 mixture as above. I then dry brushed the wood slats Howard Hues Camo Brown, followed by its Colonial Khaki. I painted the wrought iron sections Iron Wind Metals Steel, and honestly, that was it. I plan on doing a park as part of my urban landscape and these benches will go nicely on it.

What's next? Well, I am just about done with my next urban gang - the Sons of Thor, German Village chapter. Look for a post on them soon. Keep checking my blog as I have a two week break from teaching coming up soon, so I am bound to get more done!

Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner

Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner is a Sarissa Precision 28mm MDF building - here being defended by the Linden Daos

 After purchasing the Sarissa "City Block" 28mm MDF buildings from Wargame Tools LLC, and being incredibly pleased with them, I ordered some more buildings awhile back. Two were for shops or businesses for my city, and the third was a factory. I had already painted up the smaller of the shops before, and so started in on the second one a week or so ago. I was actually quite shocked how much larger this second turned out to be! It measures 10.5"x9.25" length by width, and is 3.5" tall. Thankfully, it will fit in the boxes my terrain gets stored and transported in!

The sign, awning, interior floors, and graffiti are all printed paper glued onto the MDF surface

 I decided to make it into a diner, so actually Googled famous diners in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. It was hard to pass up a name like "Jack and Benny's Old Time Diner," so I picked that one! For some reason, this shop went together easier than the first, smaller shop. Maybe I am just getting better at assembling and gluing these together. I use Tacky Glue and use rubber bands to hold pieces together while the glue is drying. This building has a combined wood and brick exterior, along with a long awning running along the front of the building. The awning was definitely the trickiest part to assemble, but it went together well.

Hated rivals of the Daos, the Bexley Blockwatch checks out the premises, including the roof flocked with gray ballast

After my less than impressive paint job on the smaller shop's awning, I decided to print out a striped pattern and simply glue it on. First, though, the assembled building and separate roof/awning piece was primed with Krylon Fusion black spray. I then painted the wood exterior in sky blue, following that up with a white dry brush. Next, I painted the bricks red brown, dry brushing them Howard Hues Middle East flesh. Next, I picked out the trim and doors in a medium blue, dry brushing it a light blue. I finished off the exterior walls with a light black wash.

The interior of the building is divided into three areas, which I envision as the diner seating area, kitchen & office

The interior walls were done in a craft paint "Quaker Gray." I painted the doors the same blue but left out the dry brushing because I figured the interior would not be weathered like the outside. Then it came time for the floors. I had decided on a black and white checkered floor -- that seemed suitably Diner-ish! I downloaded a Google image of a black and white checkered pattern, resized it in Photoshop, and then exported it into a PDF file for printing at the local print shop. I actually created my own blue and white stripe pattern for the awning and similarly printed it off at the Staples office supply. Likewise, I created my own sign for Jack & Benny's, to be pasted onto the front of the building.

I really like the floors of the diner - the black checkered pattern really makes it stand out

The awning is part of the roof, which I did similar to previous roofs on Sarissa buildings. I like the way the gravel flocking gives the buildings a three dimensional character. One issue I sometimes have with MDF buildings is they can look two dimensional without proper texturing or modifying.

The Grandview Gurkhas have tagged their own wall of the diner, which is sure to provoke a rumble with the Daos

I had gone back and forth while doing these Sarissa Precision buildings on whether to "urbanize" them. Since I will be using these for my urban gangs project, I finally decided to give it a try. I decided to print off graffiti for the walls, too, rather than try freehand painting it on. I did a Google image search of graffiti and found lots of cool images. I picked out two for the long side walls. Then I found a website that lets you type in your own graffiti lettering and save the file. I created a "tag" for both the Linden Daos and the Grandview Gurkhas. In Photoshop, I pasted them onto a "transparent" background, then pasted that image onto the colorful graffiti I had downloaded. The graffiti was rectangular, so in Photoshop, drew an irregular black outline following the images of the graffiti to be the border. I cut these out, painted white glue onto the back of them, and stuck them onto the walls.

The printed graffiti is a nice touch, I think, but could be supplemented by more plain graffiti on future buildings

I like how the graffiti adds a splash of color to the wall. I think I made the graffiti too large, though, and will double-check my measurements next time. All in all, I am very happy with how Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner turned out. Doubtless, it will be the scene of many turf wars once my Urban Gang Warfare project is underway!

New Gang: Bexley Blockwatch

The Bexley Blockwatch - a fictional gang of suburban men fed up with gangs preying upon their middle class streets

One of the cool parts about getting into gaming modern urban gang warfare is that I could scrounge through my collection and use all those cool 25mm-28mm figures I picked up over the years but had no real use for. Rooting through my trays of unpainted lead, I found I had a lot of 20th century types that looked nothing like what you would consider gang members. So, I came up with the idea of a neighborhood of ordinary, middle-aged folks who were fed up with the crime on their streets and decided to do something about it. Thus was born the Bexley Blockwatch!

The figures come from a variety of periods/sources - including the posh gentleman in the center armed with a golf club!

Bexley is a relatively high to middle income suburb surrounded by a sea of low income neighborhoods in Columbus. So in my fictional gang warfare Columbus, the residents react to an inner city gang moving in on their middle class streets and preying upon their families. All the hotheads and ex-rugby and football players meet to hash out a plan. The next time the gang wanders through the neighborhood, they are surrounded by a growing mob of angry, middle class men. Before long, the men wade in with walking sticks, pool cues, golf clubs -- whatever they had handy, and beat the snot out of the gang. A few weeks of quick reactions to gang members coming in trying to get payback, and the Bexley Blockwatch has control of its neighborhood. The more hot-headed among them decide it was fun busting some heads again, and agree to export their protection services to other neighborhoods in exchange for compensation (of course).

The leaders of the Bexley Blockwatch - from left, The Captain, Cueball, and Wilberforce

The miniatures are from a wide variety of manufacturers, of course. There are few that I actually know where they came from, so I'll mention them in the closeups. For example, the imposing green-suited guy in the center above is a Reaper Henchman -- I think supposed to be Odd Job, the hat-throwing villain from James Bond movies. I don't know where I got The Captain, who dresses in his old ship captain's uniform, or Wilberforce, who looks like a wealthy gentleman out for a stroll with his walking stick. Since the figures come from a number of manufacturers, they are of different sizes. These three are the tallest, so I decided to make them my leaders.

Many of the figures required modification, such as taking the guns out of the hands of the two on the right

A lot of the figures I culled from the unpainted bins for this gang were armed with pistols, including the two on the right. I did my best to trim away excess metals so that it isn't noticeable, but I never claimed to be the best modeler when it comes to that skill! I really like the guy in the center, and think his color combination came out great. He stands ready to wade in with his fists should any young gang punk show his face. The guy on the right has brought a fire axe to the fight, and looks ready to use it! And finally, the civilian on the left is modeled on my friend (and Bexley resident) Allen. I added the bushy gray beard and hair (and the pool cue as a hastily-snatched weapon). Allen does wear glasses, and was an architect at one point in his career. So, the briefcase has his last name on it in tiny letters!

Three more upper crust, middle-aged men keep watch on their streets, ready to deal out a thumping to any miscreants

The figure in the center is one of my favorite. I chose a number of these figures for this gang because they had no obvious weapons other than walking sticks. This guy leans on a golf club driver. What with his baggy golf pants and suit jacket and tie, he personifies Bexley's reputation in Columbus as a wealthy suburb. His jaunty pose and arrogant stare really make the pose come to life! The one on the right, I believe, is a 25mm Ral Partha model because it is noticeably shorter than most of the others in the gang. Speaking as someone who has been noticeably shorter than most other males throughout his life, I can vouch for the realism of including bigger and smaller figures in a unit. He is obviously meant to be a private detective model, and it is hard not to like the flinty stare as he sucks on his cigar. He's unarmed...unless that left hand is reaching for something in his pocket? The left-hand figure was armed with a pistol, as well, and looks like an Indiana Jones type miniature. I kept in the overall brown scheme of Indiana Jones, but added in a more colorful straw yellow vest and red tie. I also added in a brass rod painted to resemble a pool cue.

The final three members of the gang epitomize the variety of sources I gleaned the miniatures from

So, these last three somewhat epitomize the variety of sources I pulled figures from for this gang. The one in the middle is an Old Glory figure from its newspaper reporters pack (from the Spanish-American War, I believe). Thus his campaigning boots, shoulder bag, and cowboy-esque hat. I think he was supposed to be holding a microphone in his left hand, but I switched it to cigar. His rough and ready look shows he would be one of the first residents to volunteer to smash some heads to protect the neighborhood. The one on the left looks like a genteel Victorian gentleman, but his glare shows that he's quite ready to use that cane to thrash any insolent punk that shows his face. I really like his hairstyle, too, the mutton chops giving the look of someone immersed in his bygone age or respect and proper treatment for society's "betters"! Finally, the slighter figure in the suit jacket and tie on the right originally held some sort of electronic device (flashlight, maybe?). I changed this to a steel rod with a nice length of chain attached. I plan on arming a number of gang members in this project with chains, as I have a nice length of it I scavenged from some broken piece of jewelry.

I'm really enjoying painting figures for this project! Already primed on my desk is the next gang from the south side of Columbus, German Village. Stay tuned to see what their theme is...!

New Gang: Grandview Gurkhas

The Grandview Gurkhas - a fictional Nepali gang protecting their home turf of Grandview Heights in Columbus

Another gang is painted up and ready to fight for control of my fictional mean streets of Columbus. This is a gang composed of Nepali immigrants (my city actually has a very high number of recent immigrants from Nepal, so it seemed appropriate). I decided to reflect the colorful traditional garb of Nepal, those these figures are actually not meant to be Nepali. They are from an Old Glory 25mm bag of (I believe) Moros from the Spanish-American War. I did my best with the brush to make them look the part with color choices, vests, etc., though the turban is not exactly a Nepali Dhaka Topi!

Fists ready to pound intruders into the pavement, these gang members were originally Old Glory Moros, I believe

Each fictional gang is given an actual Columbus neighborhood as their home turf, and so I chose Grandview Heights, as it is close to downtown and the alliteration fit to call them Grandview Gurkhas. As most History buffs know, the Gurkhas were elite British army units recruited from people of Nepali ancestry. So, it made sense that a gang would hearken back to its past for a name. My gang symbol painted on the backs of the vests didn't turn out as nice as my sketch of it did (a 6-pointed red star with a black scales of justice inside). Oh well...maybe I should have chosen white on the red star, instead of black!

I thought the leaders came out pretty well - they were the only ones I got fancy with, adding stripes on the pants

There were five basic poses I had to choose between. One leader pose with a staff needed little modification, though I did try to bend the arms of one of them a bit to make it look different. There were two sword armed poses. I did my best to bend the swords sharply to make them look more like Gurkha knives, which have a backward curve. I was fairly happy with how they turned out. The remaining two poses were supposed to be spearmen. I bent the arms around to make them look less like spearmen without a spear and hopefully more like guys with their fists up in a boxing pose.

The swords of these figures were bent backwards to make them look more like Gurkha knives

For the colors, I did Google searches of traditional Nepali costume, and saw that darker vests with lighter shirts seemed fairly common. The headgear tended to be very brightly colored, so I painted the turbans in a variety of colors, as well. Each figure has its own color combination, what with the vest, shirt, pants, sash, and headgear. I find it helpful to temporarily base miniatures on stiff cardboard, which allows me to write notes on the base to remind myself of what colors I'd picked out for that figure.

Gang members keep watch from the roof of a three-story Sarissa Precision MDF building

I was pretty happy with the look of the bases on the Linden Daos (my first gang painted up for this project). However, I thought the ballast I used was a little big, so I went to the store and bought some Gray Blend of medium size. This turned out much better, I thought. And my black wash wasn't as dark, which also makes it look like good city flocking, so to speak.

The exterior of the three story MDF building - I like how the gray dry-brushing turned out

The figures are posed against one of my Sarissa Precision City Block buildings. One of the cool things about these Sarissa MDF buildings is that you can buy extra floor sections of most of the city block styles to make them go from 2-story, to three, four -- whatever you want. This one I painted gray with dry brushing on the stones to give it more of a three dimensional effect. I added a structure atop the roof to be where the roof entrance lets out, and added more of the coarse Gray Blend Woodland Scenics ballast for the roof. 

I also like the printed paper floors I added to these buildings - they give them a nice touch, I think!

I have a few more gangs in the pipeline, so stay tuned for more posts about this project!

Finally giving "Of Gods And Mortals" a Try...

On the neighboring battlefield, Angels war against an army from Celtic legend using "Of Gods and Mortals" rules

So, we had been talking about trying Osprey's "Of Gods And Mortals (OGAM)" a try for a couple years now. Seriously -- it has been that long that at least three of us in our Sunday night gaming group owned the rules, but none of us stepped forward to set up an evening to try it out. Well, Keith finally shouldered the load and scheduled an evening and sent out lots of sample lists and tip sheets.

My Elves, led by the Valar Orome and assisted by Ents, war against an army from Norse mythology

One of the main reasons we'd wanted to try it out was that we have tons of 15mm fantasy armies for Hordes of the Things (HOTT) which we don't play anymore. I brought along three Plano boxes and another larger box with 28mm creatures to use as Legends and Gods for the 15mm rank and file. As it turned out, we had only four of us show that evening, so only one loaner army was needed. I pulled out my 15mm Elves and sat down and created a list when I arrived. It contained:
• 1 God (Orome, Huntsman of the Valar)
• 2 Legends (Ents)
• 2 units of 6 Elven spearmen
• 1 unit of 6 Elven archers

The Huntsman Orome positioned atop a rocky area dealt "Legolas-style" barrages of arrows across the battlefield

My small army faced off against a Norse mythology list with a couple giants, several units of spear, and a Thunder God of sorts (not Thor, though). My opponent, cleverly seeing I'd purchased Forest Walk for a number of my Elven units, placed no forests as defender, but did put a rather large rocky area in the center of the table which I seized with my first deployed unit. OGAM has players alternately deploy units anywhere on the board, as long as they are not within two medium distance sticks of an already-deployed enemy unit.

Orome comes down from his rocky hilltop to drive the Norse god onto the spears of the elves and secure final victory

My plan was to seize the rocky area as a firebase, and have Orome and the archers pepper any enemy units within range. I ended up feeling kind of cheesy with how I purchased my Valar. I gave him Shooter (Long), Legendary Shooter, and Combat Master. I maxed his statistics out with a Quality of 2 (best in the game - lower is better) and Combat of 5 (similarly best).  The rules allow you to forego activating Mortal units (my spear units and archers) and have them "Invoke" the god instead, giving him an extra die to roll for activation. That was pretty much my mode, giving Orome up to six activations each turn. Legendary archer allowed him to make multiple attacks. So, if his target was a Legend (my opponent's giants), I would take one shot at the maximum +3. If targeting rank and file, I took individual shots -- one per activation, withering their ranks.

My opponent quickly gave the center firebase a wide berth, but he had to engage us sooner or later -- otherwise my elves would shoot them to pieces. We did have our losses, too, though. Their god had a Lightning Bolt he could cast each turn, which he used to fry my Ents, and begin to wear down my archers. However, we had the upper hand pretty much all game. After Orome killed their god with a well-placed shot, he was re-invoked by his mortal worshippers. I realized I needed to kill half of his Mortals and all his Legends, and THEN kill his god to end the game. Orome decimated a Norse spear unit and then proceeded to engage their got in melee. He pushed him back into a unit of Elven spear, who got in the final strike and banished the Norse god forever, securing victory.

We discussed the rules afterwards. There are certainly a lot of Traits you can use to customize virtually any army from mythology or fiction. Even though I benefited from it, I felt the system is definitely open to some clever min-maxing and Trait combinations to produce devastating forces. I think we were all a little disappointed that it did not have that "big battle" HOTT feel. The play seemed more like simply a big game of Song of Blades and Heroes, rather than a tactical battle. I have never been a huge fan of "units" of 6-8 men. Of course, we were playing the minimum 900-point size forces in one-on-one battles. Mike S suggested we try it with bigger forces and utilized the multiplayer rules.

So, perhaps my Elves (or many of my other HOTT armies) will see the tabletop again, one day. Either way, it was fun to see them on the tabletop again.

"Can you dig it, suckas...?" The Linden Daos, my First Gang

The Linden Daos, the first of my 28mm modern urban gangs inspired by the movie, "The Warriors"

The quote, "Can you dig it, suckas?" is from the cult classic 1979 movie, "The Warriors." Cyrus seeks to unite the gangs of New York City into one force and take over the city. This world, with its bizarre-uniformed gangs is the inspiration for my latest painting project. If you read my earlier post, "What Project Next?", you now know it was the winner of the two choices. I've decided to run games of modern gang warfare in the city using the Tribal rules with their Brutal supplement.

Most of the figures come from a Mega Minis blister pack, Kung Fu fighters, including these four

Here is my first purposefully painted gang for this project: The Linden Daos. Loosely modeled on the The Riffs from the movie, they are a black gang devoted to Kung Fu martial arts. I have chosen to set my games in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, using various actual neighborhoods for each gang's home turf. Since the movie was set in the 1970s, I've given this gang a very 1970s color scheme -- yellow and purple. I chose yellow because I thought it would be a good contrast for African-American skin tone, and purple because it would look like something from the 70s.

Three more Linden Dao gang members posed in front of their turf - my newest 28mm Sarissa Precision MDF building

Nine of the figures for this gang are what I had left over from a blister pack of Mega Minis Kung Fu fighters. Mega Minis is no longer in business, which is a shame. They always had a wide variety of some pretty unusual miniatures. They weren't the highest quality figures, but they hit niches that other better quality figure lines miss entirely. Plus they were always a good deal, price-wise. I used the rest of the blister pack earlier for my secret martial arts society for my Pulp games, The Order of the Fire Coral. I think those boys will make an appearance as a gang, too. It just so happens I painted up exactly 12 Fire Coral figures, which is the size I am painting each gang to -- at least initially.

These three figures are from Bob Murch's Pulp Figures (I believe) and are meant to represent the leaders of the gang

All nine of the figures for the Linden Daos are unarmed, using only their fists for weapons. The Brutal rules accounts for this, and units are not really be penalized for brawling only with their fists. The other three figures in the unit are from (I believe) Bob Murch's Pulp Figures collection. The woman was supposed to be holding up a pole with a large parasol attached. However, I felt her hands were in a nice Kung Fu pose without the pole. So, I left her that way. The other two figures, the one with the sword and the other with the walking stick and pipe, are meant to represent that bad-as-Hell elderly master of the order. The cane-using gentleman will be the main leader, with the other as a hero.

Two gang members on lookout atop the roof of my new storefront building - note the darker flocking after a black wash

I decided to have their uniforms emblazoned with a gang symbol on their back. I Googled "Kung Fu symbols" and over and over, the Yin Yang symbo popped up as the response. The more I thought about it, the more I believed it would be relatively easy to paint. As it turns out, it is harder than it looks! Some of my Yin Yangs look good. On others, you probably can't tell what it's supposed to be...ha, ha! I also felt the black would complement the black sashes they wore. I think they turned out okay, but I really felt they would look better.

Street level view of the Linden Daos gathered in an alley, ready to go on a raid - note the funky 1970s colors!

Since most of the battles will occur in the city (cue the Joe Walsh song here), I gave them a different kind of flocking. I painted the basing a medium gray, then flocked them with Woodland Scenics Gray Blend Ballast. I used the coarse size, but will likely go up to the store and buy some Medium to make it look a bit less rocky and more gravelly. Once dry, I gave the ballast a black wash -- probably too dark on this first attempt. Later, I added a couple patches of grass and green tufts to break up the all gray appearance. I like how the flocking looks -- urban, but not too jarring. It should blend in well with the tabletop.

The figures are posed around my latest 28mm Sarissa Precision MDF building. This is meant to be a mini market, or some similar storefront. I haven't decided to do it as a convenience store, or diner, or what. When I do decide, I intend to add some posters to the exterior walls to jazz it up a bit.

Some Indians and Frontiersmen

Some 28mm Native Americans originally intended for the raffle for Advance the Colors 2018, but not finished in time

This batch of 6 Indians and 5 Frontiersmen were intended to be my donations to the Advance the Colors 2018 raffle. However, with about a week before the convention, I realized that I wouldn't get them done in time. So, I stopped work on them and donated some from my collection. Since then, I was able to continue working and now finally complete them.

28mm Native Americans from (I believe) Irregular Miniatures

Only one of the 28mm Indians is from my favorite manufacturer, Conquest. He's the guy in blue loading his musket. The others are -- I believe -- from Irregular Miniatures. I am happy to be corrected if what I'm saying is not true. I am pretty sure the two poses that are firing are Irregular, but I can't swear on it. Anyway, I painted them up in my standard way, and decorated them each with individual warpaint. My favorite is paint is probably the one with the half blue, half red face. I should do more like that, but I think I'm worried about it not turning out and "ruining" the figure.

Some 28mm Frontiersmen from a huge bag I picked up at a flea market long ago

The frontiersmen are all from the large bag I bought at a flea market years ago. I am not 100% sure of their manufacturer, but I have painted a number of these up already. I painted them in a buckskin kind of theme, and was fairly happy with how they turned out (like the Indians). They're not the greatest figures in the world, but when painted up, they do the trick. Not that I really need more French & Indian War figures right now, but since I'd begun painting them I felt I had to complete them.

What's next on the painting table? Well, I have done the flesh on a big batch of 13 28mm Dark Ages archers for Saga. I thought I was cleaning out my unpainted bin of them, but recently found another stash of them in my "Unarmored Vikings" bag. Not all in that bag were Vikings I noted. So, I may pull out  more and do them up more specifically for Viking, Briton, Saxon, etc. Or I may leave them sitting and do something new. We'll see...stay tuned!