Rhodesian Bush Wars at Cincycon

Rhodesian G-car flies over a ZANLA encampment in a Fire Force scenario at Cincycon 2019

It is interesting that one of the more interesting conflicts of the 20th century "Bush Wars" -- that of Rhodesia fighting to maintain its minority rule -- is also one of the most challenging to game on the tabletop. In particular, the Rhodesian Fire Force missions of helicopter-borne and paratroop dropped assaults on insurgent camps can be a thorny scenario. The casualty ratio between the Rhodesians and the insurgents is so lopsided that for a long time I considered them not worth trying to stage on the tabletop. I mean who wants to play a side that loses casualties at an 80-to-1 rate vs. their opponent?

ZANLA encampment prior to the Fire Force assault, with troops milling about in the village grounds

However, as I continue playtesting the air support rules for my modern skirmish rules set, Wars of Insurgency, my mind kept trying to solve the riddle of putting on a fun, playable Fire Force assault game, yet keeping casualty rates vaguely historical. One day it came to me: why not have the insurgents played by the GM? The players would take on the role of the helicopter-borne and paratrooper infantry attempting to corral the ZANLA insurgents and prevent them from escaping. Another player would take on the role of an Alouette K-Car (armed with a 20mm autocannon) and an Alouette G-Car armed with a machine gun as fire support. The players would be challenged, as the Fire Force historically was, to prevent the maximum number of enemy from escaping the board. I wouldn't have any ego issues watching large numbers of my troops become casualties, while inflicting few on the elite Rhodesian infantry.

Rhodesian K-car opens the engagement banking left to allow its 20mm autocannon to engage the enemy below

I intend to do another post on obtaining and getting the Alouette III helicopters ready. I ended up going with two different sources, a Heller 1/72 scale plastic model kit (which would end up being the K-Car), and 1/72 die-cast from Amercom (G-Car). The plastic kit would be the K-car because I would be chopping it up to have the door open and insert a gun to represent the 20mm autocannon. I wouldn't bother with sticking a gun in the metal die-cast helicopter. The die-cast rotor assembly was EXTREMELY flimsy, and broke while I was just sizing it up to see how the blades would fit. After consulting with folks on various Facebook modern military history groups, I replaced the blades with a clear plastic sheet to represent the spinning main rotors. I was extremely happy with the look.

On the ground, sticks of Rhodesian Light Infantry advance through the bush, determined to cut off the escape of ZANLA

One unfortunate aspect of running a cooperative, players vs. GM game is that it limits the number of player commands. This would be my smallest Wars of Insurgency game, yet, with only four slots for Rhodesian players. Both slots filled up at Cincycon 2019, though -- I was running Friday evening and Saturday morning. That's my usual trick to allow me to have to set up and tear down only once each. My first group of players were fellow HMGS Great Lakes members and a fun and laid-back group. It included fellow board member Randy Miller and his high school senior daughter, Emma. She has gamed with Randy through the years and has the reputation of being a deadly opponent. 

Due to the large numbers of insurgents, a G-car is pressed into gunship mode and prepares to engage

We had a blast in the first game. I particularly enjoyed the players reacting with alarm as insurgent groups neared the edge of the board as they called over Randy for fire support from his chopper command. In the end, 18 insurgents out of 120 made it off the table. The Rhodesians lost five casualties. Honestly, considering the wounded-to-killed ratio of modern warfare, that would mean only one or two KIA, the others being wounded and out of action. So, the ratio proved very historical, in my opinion. I asked for suggestions from my players and they said it was perfect -- not to change a thing!

The players picked up my Wars of Insurgency rules quickly, and were a great help in keeping the game moving smoothly

The next morning I promptly disregarded their advice and made a couple changes. Number one was allowing two friends to play the insurgents for me, letting me sit back and GM (and causing the game to move faster with two players moving and firing 120 figures!). The best side effect was that both Jenny and Mike S who played the ZANLA force said they had fun. They said other players would likely feel the same way -- as long as they're not hyper-competitive and aren't the type that need to "win" to feel validated. I think at DayCon 2019 next month I will offer those two slots to walkup players, briefing them on what they're getting themselves into!

Rhodesian Light Infantry advance through a village to clear it of insurgents in Rhodesian Bush Wars

The other change I made was rearranging how the ZANLA troops were organized. Friday night, they began with groups of 12 or so, while Saturday morning I chose 20-figure groups. The reason they were so large was because I was replicating the "bombshell" tactic of ZANLA troops when under assault by Fire Forces. The insurgents would scatter in multiple directions (bombshell). So, I made a rule that when a group of insurgents took casualties, they would split into two separate units next turn. Thus, a 20-man group would bombshell into two 8-9 man units. Then, they would further bombshell once more, into 4-5 man groups. From my research, this would be the typical size of small units fleeing through the bush to escape. It wasn't until a unit got down to the smallest size and lost further troops that they would check morale.

A squad of lucky ZANLA troopers make it to the cover of the wooded hills near the board edge

For both games, I used a random aggression die roll when a ZANLA unit activated. I rolled 1d6 per squad. The higher the roll, the more aggressive they would be. So, if under fire from a Rhodesian squad and taking casualties, on a "5" or "6" they would move into cover and return fire. If not actively under fire, they would move to cover and advance towards the sound of Rhodesian fire. On low numbers, they would break off and scatter away from visible enemies. For rolls in the middle, I had them act in what I thought they would consider the most intelligent fashion. This type of simple AI for the insurgents works well in a game with a GM, and I was able to make most of my decisions without any questioning or complaints from players.

Rhodesians closes in on the village center,  firing from the cover of the trees

I was very happy with the outcome of both games. Number one, the players had fun and said how much they enjoyed the game. Number two, it felt like a historic action and had a realistic outcome, in my opinion. And finally, my air support rules worked very well, I thought. Although very little fire was directed at the helicopters, one G-car had to withdraw when it took accurate, damaging fire from the ZANLA on the ground. That also seemed to ring true with the players.

A shot I took before the game with the K-car above the native village, before placing troops

Fire Force will spring into action April 5th and 6th at DayCon 2019. I'll be repeating my times, with a Friday evening game and a Saturday morning games. DayCon is a fun, small convention that is growing rapidly -- come check it out!

ZANLA insurgents begin to scatter in the early stages of the Fire Force attack as a Alouette III G-car moves in

Tribal Clash - Orcs vs Celtic Humans

Orcs and Human chieftains slug it out on the tabletop in a raid on a troll village using Tribal skirmish rules

 A month since I've updated this blog? Okay, sorry about that! Stuff HAS been going on. It is just that reporting on gaming stuff has been shouldered aside by schoolwork. Never fear, a game in Keith's basement is likely to prompt an update to Lead Legionaries! This time, Keith wanted to get out the Tribal rules again, and do an Orc vs. Celtic Humans clash. The scenario had both sides getting word that the trolls in a nearby troll village had left their village, leaving it open for some exploratory looting.

One of my Orc warbands (old Ral Partha 25mm Orcs) spring towards a troll hunt in the search for loot

We had six players, with Allen, Mike S, and Brian being the Der Dadagh (not sure if I spelled it right) human tribes. Across the table from them were myself, Mike W, and Joel as the Orc raiders. Our goal was to loot the five troll huts and maybe even abscond with some pigs in the village pen. As it turned out, I was the closest to the pen and decided to ignore it in favor of hurrying forward to beat the humans to the huts.

The Der Dadagh beat my second Orc warband to the troll hut, while my hero (bottom right) gives them the stink eye

Tribal is a very simple skirmish system, with combat being decided by rounds of card play. There are modifiers, of course, with troops armed with long weapons getting bonuses when playing spade cards and clubs helping those with short weapons (like clubs, swords, axes, etc.). Keith threw in some of the skills, too, as this was our third or fourth time playing the game. So, some units had Agile, which allowed them to begin combats with the initiative, others had fearsome, which caused more wounds, and so on. I really felt the extra facets added a lot to the game.

A nasty surprise awaited the humans -- a magical Troll familiar -- who tore into them and drove the humans off

One unit of my Orc troops sprinted towards the Troll village and entered the nearest Troll hut. We found a stockpile of treasure (3 honor points). My Orc unit on the left was beaten to the Troll hut by Allen's Der Dadagh, who were surprised by a magical troll familiar. This fearsome rat-like creature drove off the unit of human warriors, but not before being wounded by them. On the next turn, my chieftain entered the hut and finished off the familiar, scooping up the magical item (1 honor). My Orc unit lined the slopes of the hill in case the humans came back to interfere.  Sure enough, the crazy Celt hero charged uphill into the face of my warriors, and was driven off with two wounds (heroes take five, warriors take only one each).

This was my hand when Allen charged me...thought I was doomed, but Allen's cards were even lower!

On the next turn, the my brave orcs charged down and dispatched the survivors who had been chased off by the troll familiar. Surprisingly, the Celtic hero chargecd into them as well, and was similarly dispatched. When you win a combat in Tribal, you get an honor point. When your victory destroys an enemy unit (or slays a hero), you take one of your opponent's honor instead of it coming from the central pool.

 

Meanwhile, Joel's Orcs were taking on all comers and dispatching them on our left

Meanwhile, in the wide open plains on our left, Joel was busy taking on all comers and driving them away. In three consecutive fights, one of his units drove off an enemy unit, killing four of its five figures in the unit. Joel and Mike W continued to get the upper hand on the center and right. It was a mournful day for the Der Dadagh. Although they won a few fights, the majority of them went poorly for them. Allen did manage to slay one troll found lingering in a hut, and Brian did win a couple battles against Joel later in the game. Nevertheless, the Orcs won a crushing victory in Honor Points earned.

Mike W's Orcs face down his human opponent, Mike S, across the table, eventually eliminating most of his men

I like Tribal's card system for deciding combats. There is enough decision making going on in when to play your cards in your hand, and how to take advantage of your unit or hero's abilities, that it gives melee resolution more flavor than simple dice rolling. I think the next thing I'd like to try is a free-for-all type game with each player actually designing their own warband, instead of the GM assigning them one. We could then begin to see how the balance in honor and skills plays out.

Either way, it was a fun evening, getting out the Tribal rules again and playing them. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to do more soon!

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!