Introducing the Wendigo Cabal (and Reign in Hell terrain)

 

    My Wendigo Cabal, with minis from a variety of sources, showing my front line & 'linebackers'

Although I have posted a few times on here about our games using the Reign in Hell skirmish miniatures rules, I have yet to do a dedicated post featuring my warband, or "cabal" as they are called under these rules. As you may remember, I decided to do a force with a Native American mythological theme. All of the creatures (or demons) are from the stories and tales of various tribes. For example, their name comes from their leader, a Wendigo, which comes from the Ojibwe word for the malevolent, flesh-eating creature roaming the forests. I have to admit that part of the reason I chose this theme was because I could use my already-painted Splintered Light Miniatures anthropomorphic animals as "Skinwalkers." The fewer new figures I have to paint up, the faster I can get my own force onto the tabletop. So, here is my introduction to my Cabal!

    My cabal leader, a Wendigo, from Native American mythology is a 3D print from Thingiverse

First up, is the leader himself - the Wendigo. This figure is huge and imposing, which is what I wanted my "demon lord" to be. It is a 3D print available on Thingverse. My friend Joe printed it up for me. I really like the pose -- especially the gaunt and almost skeletal aspect of the body. I painted its skin up suitably corpse-like, a pasty pale flesh covered in dark tattoos. His black, dead eyes and purple tongue give him a lurid, evil look. Of course, the bleeding hunk of raw flesh he is carrying doesn't hurt his terrifying aspect. In game terms, I use him as a Zealot leader of the Empty faction. Empty cabals are attempting to destroy Hell and return to Earth. I figured that made sense for Native American spirits trapped in the West's view of the spirit world. I tend to use him as a "linebacker" in the game -- rushing in to finish off enemy demons that have been engaged and wounded by his minions.

    My Devout (2nd in command) is a modified djinni I never painted from my old role-playing days

The leader's second in command in the game is called a Devout. I chose to portray mine as a Skadegamutc, which comes from Wabanaki legend. It is the spirit of a dead magician that refuses to stay dead and comes out at night to slay and feed upon the living. For this figure, I dug deep into my unpainted lead drawer and found an old, old Djinni. I modified him by putting deer antlers on his head and using green stuff to create the pelt of the deer on his shoulders and back. The deer head came from an Iron Wind Metals deer. I was really pleased with how the green stuff worked out -- my first time using it! I covered his skin in tattoos and gave him copper jewelry. In game terms, he's my assassin. I use his teleporting ability to have him materialize next to a wounded enemy demon and finish it off. I am sure he's killed more enemy figures in my games of Reign in Hell than most of the other demons combined.

    Skinwalker Bears from Splintered Light Miniatures' anthropomorphic animals form my battle line

My battle line of the Wendigo Cabal begins with my three Skinwalker bears. Skinwalkers are from Navajo legend and are witches who can assume the bodies of animals and walk around in them. There's a line from a Robert Mirabal song that says something to the effect that they appear as coyotes, wolves, etc., but walk around upright like men. That's a perfect description of the Splintered Light Miniatures line. I have painted  up quite a few figures from these lines but they seem to get little use nowadays. So, I jumped at the chance to use them in this game. In game terms, my Skinwalker Bears are Armored Demons. They have great defensive abilities, plus can absorb a lot of damage. Together with the Wolverines below, they are supposed to engage the enemy demons, stop their attacks, inflict some damage, and then let the Wendigo or Skadegamutc finish the enemies off.

    My Wolverine Skinwalkers from Splintered Light Miniatures masquerading as Corpulent Demons

I use my Wolverine Skinwalkers as Corpulent Demons in rules terms. Not that these wolverines are fat, but rather their ferocity and "never-say-die" attitude fits well with their very high Life stat. Corpulent demons can not only take a lot of damage, they regenerate some back every time they activate. I think that fits with the fiery animal's demeanor. And yes, I realize that if Skinwalkers are Navajo spirits, that wolverines don't live in the desert southwest. But hey! They were the next biggest Splintered Light miniatures I had. All of the raccoons, coyotes, etc., were significantly smaller than standard 28mm miniatures. 

    Great Horned Owl skinwalker, a prepainted figure from Hobby Lobby

I went back and forth what to use as a Mephit for my Native American cabal. These are the weakest of the Lesser Demons, and usually are limited to hit and run attacks using their speed and flying ability. They don't hit very hard and can't take much damage. Their best use is to move quickly to seize objectives in scenarios, or to pick off those badly wounded demons with only one or two Life left. My first thought was to use the Kanontsistóntie from Iroquois legends. These are flying heads, ravenous spirit creatures with insatiable hunger. There is an awesome miniature created by Flint and Feather of one of these, but I didn't want to pay the steep price. One of the Kanontsistóntie is in a box of four mythical creates for $49. Then I thought about creating my own, but couldn't find a head that I liked. So, I ended up going to the Skinwalker route and purchased a prepainted Great Horned Owl from Hobby Lobby. It is a bit larger than I wanted it to be (and a bit more expensive), but solved my problems quickly. I based it up on a stone outcropping and was done!

    Uktena, the Horned Serpent of Cherokee legends will make an appearance in my Wendigo cabal

Next up to see the table is Uktena, the great horned serpent of Cherokee legend. It is described as dragon like, which meant that his Jabberwocky miniature that has sat unpainted in my collection for years would be a reasonably good fit. I gave him green scales and then did a dark wash on him to make the scales stand out even more. I will be using Uktena as a Spined Demon if I play him as a Lesser Demon, or a Serpent Knight if I use him as a Greater Demon. He will become linebacker #3 to rush in and take advantage of the chaos created by the skinwalker bears and wolverines. A Spined Demon has an effective charge, so hopefully he will be able to finish off demons wounded by my Armored and Corpulent Demons.

I also have another of the Hobby Lobby prepainteds to use eventually, a giant Sasquatch miniature. I will hold off, though, until the Wendigo Cabal has enough experience that I can buy either a Greater or Superior Demon for him. The figure is too big to be a lesser demon, though I did buy a Yeti miniature at the Guardtower East during our last Saga Game Day. Maybe he'll make an appearance as the one remaining Lesser Demon I haven't fielded, a Slaughter Fiend. Who knows? 

    Six underworld-style terrain pieces for use with Reign in Hell games, each measuring 3"-4" across

I also decided to make up some quick terrain for Reign in Hell because my Saga pieces are too much bigger than the suggested size, in my opinion. They recommend 3-4" across, while most of mine are a minimum of 6". I cut up some styrene into irregular shapes of that size. I then glued down some of the plaster cavern pieces that my friend Tim P had cast up for me 2-3 years back. I thought they looked perfect for underworld type terrain, and glued a couple to each base. I added it some larger tallus stones, and then slopped on a 50/50 mix of brown paint and white glue. I poured fine brown ballast from Woodland Scenics across it. 

    One of the lava streams spilling from the pool at the base of the cavern piece

I decided that I wanted to have glowing streams or pools of lava on the bases. I thought they would add the perfect accent to the terrain pieces and make them even more Hellish. To create the lava streams, I used a thick craft knife to scrape away the glued-down ballast down to the surface of the styrene, in the shape of a winding stream or pool. A couple of the cavern pieces seemed to have pools at their bottom, so I would carve a stream spilling forth from those, too. 

    Red reflections cast by the glowing lava onto the rock faces were my final touch on these pieces

Next, I spray painted each base with Krylon Black matte paint. I let it dry again, then followed up by coating the cavern pieces and tallus with a 50/50 mix of black paint and water. This made sure they were a solid black. The next step was dry brushing. I first dry brushed the cavern pieces a dark gray and then again with lighter gray highlights. I did the lava with a dull red base, followed by a dull orange, then bright orange with yellow spots. I really like the way it came out and especially how it contrasts with the dark gray and black rocks. As a final touch, I painted a dull red reflection on the rocks near the lava. For as little effort as they took, I think they turned out really nice!

Followers of the Dark Prophet & Scout Bots

    The Followers of the Dark Prophet fan out as they advance across the post-Apocalyptic wasteland

I have begun my break from painting Saga figures in earnest. I have been wanting to put on some post-Apocalyptic games for years, and have been kicking around some ideas in my head. I really like the dark future world that the Terminator movies created, with the machines warring against humans. So, I decided to set my games in a version of that, with humanity disunited and broken into warring gangs squabbling over local control over resources. Food, fuel, weapons are their goals, as well as promoting their bizarre ideas of how humanity should begin anew. They know the machines are enemies, but the nuclear holocaust took them down a few pegs, and their bots also are scattered and under intermittent control of local programs and Artificial Intelligence that weren't taken out in the big boom.

    I individualized the head wraps that each figure wore, in fact, only the shirts and hats were uniform

I'd already painted up a couple gangs already, F Troop and the Blood Brotherhood. Both were from figure lines created by Sgt. Major Miniatures, now reissued by Battle Valor Games. I've always liked these figures, especially the way there are multiple poses and variety. Each faction or related figure packs have a unique and recognizable theme. This batch of seven figures I would paint are labeled "Space Terrorists," and were from their Sci-Fi line. They could easily be a gang in my Terminator world, though. After painting them, I dubbed them the Followers of the Dark Prophet to keep with the somewhat Muslim or Middle Eastern look to their clothing. I had painted their shirts and headdresses black, so it all seemed to fit.

    I like how the different pants, boots, and kit colors give the gang a ragged appearance

Black is always a tricky base color, but I was pretty happy with how the understated gray highlights I used turned out. After clear coating them, I had to go back over and brush on Vallejo matte clear to take off the shine that was unfortunately left by the Testors Dullcoate. It seems some batches of my favorite clear coat are less "dull" than others! I gave them a dark red belt or sash as an accent, but used a variety of colors for their pants, pouches, bags, and such. I like how this gives them a common theme, but irregular appearance. For a splash of color and individuality, each got their own unique face wrap. My favorites turned out to be the red and white and black and white checkered wraps.

    Some face wraps were simple, some were fancy, as a way to keep track of who's who on the tabletop

Their boots were done in a range of browns and grays, all heavily dry brushed to give them a well-worn appearance. I used khakis and olive drabs for most of their ammo pouches, haversacks, and other equipment, though I did throw in a few other colors here and there to keep with the slightly irregular look. The weapons were done with a steel color, highlighted with a brighter pewter. With a black wash to tone them down a bit, I think they weapons turned out nicely, too.

    Scout Bots roam the wastelands searching for signs of humans & calling back locations to their AI

Before painting this batch, I also began work on the first of my Bot miniatures. These were 3-D printed from Thingiverse by my friend Joe. I had him print up four different types of Bots for me -- Scout Bots, Patrol Bots, Military Bots, and Assault Bots. I did two of the Scouts first. They were a cool looking wheeled robot with headlights and two weapons. These patrol the wastelands looking for suspicious activity or signs of humans. They then report this information and position back to their local overlord program, which then sends out progressively heavier forces to investigate and neutralize. I decided to go with a colored metallic theme on these. I purchased some craft metallic paints in various colors and made them the main color theme, along with a steel base coat. Yes, I realize the red looks way more pink and is somewhat garish. However, I wanted to see how it turned out and have to say I think both it and the green one look pretty snazzy! The 3-D printed castings aren't necessarily the sharpest miniatures, but they were incredibly cheap and allow me to get a handful of each size painted up for a pittance.

Both the next batch of Bots and the next gang are primed and underway on my desk. So, hopefully, I will have more finished minis to post pictures of soon!

Trying out Age of Invasions Picts at Saga Game Day

    Andy S's new Republican Romans saw their first battle against my Picts from Age of Invasions

Age of Invasions has come out since my last blog post and I am definitely intrigued to try out some of the newly retolled armies. First up would be the Picts -- which is actually what my Age of Vikings Scots are painted to depict (no pun intended). I listened to the Northern Tempest Saga Podcast episode, as well as the Saga Thorsday preview, giving a nice rundown on each of the eight armies in the supplement. The Picts interested me the most. Fortunately, the army was already painted, so I decided to try them out at our November Saga Game Day at the Guardtower East, Columbus, OH.

    We had a fantastic 14 players show up at Guardtower East for our November Saga Game Day

My army would be a foot warlord, 1 unit of 8 mounted warriors with javelins, 3 units of 8 warriors (spearmen, essentially), 1 unit of levy bows, and 1 unit of levy javelins. This would be my first warband ever featuring two levy units. Why? Well, the Pict battle board has a "Stalking" ability which gives a bonus 3 attack dice. Plus, I felt the javelinmen could morph into a charging group with all of their melee dice bonuses when around terrain. Twelve javelinmen plus the "Ambush" ability can be 8 attack dice at +1 for charging with javelins. Not an overwhelming attack, but a nice solid punch to finish off a depleted enemy unit. 

    Joe M, left, brought his newly-painted Mutatawi'a onto the field to face Dave W's dangerous Welsh

The mounted javelin could also be sent in to attack a unit like the levy javelinmen, being even more effective due to their Long charge range. What's more, the "Scouts" ability would allow me to withdraw them a Long move with no chance of their move being reduced to Short due to fatigue. Similarly, I could simply gallop them up to take a free shooting attack, as well (and then withdraw them so they don't get shot or counter-charged). There are a number of other Melee attack and defensive abilities on the Pictish battleboard which can buff up either the mounted unit or the foot ones.

    Bob B's Byzantines march across the table to try to engage Jim R's ever-elusive Normans (Bretons)

A key aspect of the Pictish board is the need for terrain (uneven preferably) to maximize their abilities. Five of their 10 abilities require the unit to be near terrain or have terrain ontable to maximize its use. There is one Orders ability (which converts an area of terrain into solid cover for your troops but does not slow their movement in it), three Activation abilities, one nifty Activation/Reaction ability which essentially allows one of your units suffering a shooting or melee attack to teleport to within Very Short of a piece of uneven terrain, one Shooting ability, and four Melee abilities. It seems to me that the Picts will have to use their mobility and nimbleness around terrain to make up for devastating attacks that other boards may have. We shall see, though!

    Andy S's Republican Romans get their first game in, as do my Picts (bottom) - armies at deployment

My first opponent was Saga Ohio founder Andy Swingle, playing his Republican Romans from Age of Hannibal -- also for the very first time! His list featured mostly warrior foot with two units of mercenaries (Thureophoroi and Cretain Archers). Luckily, I was second player so was able to get the fourth piece of terrain on the table. Our Clash of Warlords game featured a large woods on my left, fields in my center, and Andy placed a marsh guarding his left rear and a rocky area his right rear. He deployed the Cretans in the rocky area and the rest of the army between the two pieces of cover. The Theureophoroi led the center, supported by five (all but one 6-man) units of warrior foot Hastati/Princeps legionaries. His warlord was a Tribune, which would give him an extra "We Obey". This allowed him to advance steadily, yet still utilize at least one or two Activation/Reaction abilities to stiffen his legionaries' defensive abilities.

Picts meet the Roman advance on their half of turn 1 with their only effective shooting of the game

I deployed my levy bow in the center, ready to enter the fields. They ended up not needing to do that as Andy's aggressive advance meant they had targets within range from Turn 1. The bows were flanked by one unit of warrior foot on their left and two on the right. The mounted warriors were in reserve, while the levy javelinmen were in the woods, ready to dart out using the Scouts ability when a target presented itself.

    Roman turn 2 - Theurophoroi (in blue) and legionaries (white) lead the Roman advance

As Andy's legion marched forward, I decided to seize that opportunity on the very first turn. His entire formation except for the Cretans advanced steadily forward. The archers fired at the far left hand legionary unit in front of the Cretans. Next, the javelinmen dashed out and took a shot, as well. Our rolls were above average and with 15 attacks we caused five casualties. Little did I know, this would be our high point of the game when it came to rolling. An even more ominous, that was Andy's low point. From that point on, he would continue the tradition that began at Cincyon game two of my opponents rolling spectacularly. Andy was quite disconcerted that one of his legionaries was down to one man already, but he need not worry. We apparently ran out of missiles after that first shot!

    A small unit of Hastati legionaries chase of Pictish levy javelinmen

I also moved up the warrior unit in the gap between the fields and woods to support the javelinmen. Andy responded quickly, shooting with the Cretans at the levy and causing two casualties. The Theureophoroi entered the fields and hurled javelins, killing one warrior spearman. On his left, the main weight of his legion advanced against the two units on my right. During turn 1, I had also maneuvered the horsemen out to that side, thinking to maybe isolate a maniple of his legionaries. 

    We must be out of arrows! 15 attack dice yields only two casualties on advancing legionaries

I decided to load my board up and try an attack on turn 2. Let's see how good these Pictish spearmen are on this new battleboard! I had Ambush ready, to give the warrior unit a bonus 4 attack dice. Should be enough, right? First, I did my shooting, firing twice with my archers at the closest legionary unit advancing against my right. With 15 attack dice, I scored 2 hits -- well below average. With the levy javelinmen, I scored zero hits. Whoa...definitely subpar, and about to get worse. My warrior spear unit charged against the Theurophoroi. We had 12 attack dice, he had 8. My spearmen caused zero casualties against his mercenaries and lost two, dropping down to five figures and falling back.

    Pictish spearmen are repulsed, causing no casualties, despite having a 12-8 attack dice advantage

Andy saw he had the momentum and charged the Theurophoroi against my depleted warrior unit. I had saved "Sacred Tattoos" for the bonus 4 defense dice. I had also played "Feint" to give me a +1, so when I closed ranks it meant I saved on 3-6. Andy couldn't bump his attack dice because they were mercenaries, but as it turned out, it wouldn't be needed. He used my fatigue to lower my armor to 3 and managed to hit with all 8 dice. I rolled 12 defense dice, saving on 3+ and failed utterly, with the entire unit wiped out. Whaaat??? Would this be a repeat of the abysmal dice I suffered in my 1-1-1 performance at CincyCon? It appeared so. On his left, Andy charged with his legionaries. I closed ranks again, but suffered two hits again. Luckily, we scored two hits on them and they fell back. 

    Andy's mercenaries continue their superhuman exertions, wiping out the remaining Pictish spear

On my third turn, I decided to shoot some more, once again ineffectively for the most part. Nine attack dice should score 4-5 hits every turn on warrior targets, but I was way below average. And Andy's saves were sublime. At one point in the game, I hit him six times and he saved every single roll! I moved my horsemen back over to the left, because I thought I would need them. I was hoping my Pictish spear could hold off his legionaries. All in all, it was two completely ineffective turns in a row.

    The horsemen get their revenge, riding down the Thereuphoroi and then withdrawing out of range

Andy's legion continued to pressure my warband. Another legionary unit charged my javelin levy, while the legionaries facing my right switched targets and charged my levy bow. Andy loaded up on his defensive abilities against melee in both my and his turns. He was content to nick away at me, knowing that with his bonus defense dice and my inept rolling he would come out on top, consistently. The javelinmen were driven back into the woods. The archers lost half their number and recoiled away, too. 

    Andy's left of three legionary units begins to grind down the Pictish right wing

It was time for the horsemen, I decided. They galloped forward and charged the Thereophoroi. I had loaded up my battle board abilities, adding Frenzy (2 bonus attack dice, plus rerolling misses) to Ambush. This was finally enough, and we obliterated the mercenaries to a man.

 They continued to be the only unit doing any damage late in the game. On the next turn, they galloped forward again and hurled their missiles at the unit that had chased off my javelinmen. Two hits reduced the unit to three figures. With a little misdirection, the horsemen galloped past their targets and instead charged his single figure legionary from turn one who had been trying to withdraw from battle. I used "Swift as the Wind," which meant I suffered no fatigue on this second activation. I had Ambush queued up and rolled 12 attack dice against the single-figure unit, scoring six hits. He. Saved. Them. All. Nooooooo!!! 

    The Pictish horsemen would take over in the second half of the game as my only effective troops

I could see his eyes light up as he anticipated his Cretans decimating the low-armor mounted warriors with shooting on his turn. Not so fast, Tribune! I played "Scouts," which moves a unit a Long distance and cannot be reduced for fatigue or terrain. I used this to pull the horsemen back out of his range. The only satisfaction I got was a disappointed, "Oh, come on...!" Hey, if you can't fight, at least you better be able to move out of the way!

Andy got his revenge on Turn 5, though. He charged and wiped out my archers, and cut one of the warrior units on my right down to half strength. Of course, the numerous Roman bonus defense dice meant he was taking no casualties in these engagements. My saving rolls continued to be terrible, and my figures (especially the levy bow) died in droves. There wasn't a whole lot I could do about it, though. I launched some game end attacks, getting a second shot at his single-man legionary unit and failing equally as spectacularly. My levy javelin tried to charge his legionaries, but the +1 to my rolls made little difference. On my final turn, I even had the warlord charge one of his legionary units that had been chipped down a couple figures by my horsemen's javelins. 

    You  know I must be frustrated if I am charging in my warlord to get a couple kills late game!

By my calculation, I had lost abysmally. I simply couldn't seem to cause casualties. I know that the Romans' strength is their defensive abilities. However, Andy complimented that with superb saving rolls all game long, barring the first turn. He admitted the dice were in his favor this game as we counted up the points. Shockingly, it ended in a draw. He scored 20 points while I scored 18. Clash of Warlords requires you to beat your opponent by more than 3 points, so somehow my first outing with my Picts ended up in a tie.

I did make a major mistake, I admit. I misread "Secret Ways," thinking that the unit which teleports also needs to begin near terrain. It doesn't. It only had to end up within Very Short of uneven terrain and more than Medium from enemy figures. I should have withdrawn my right flank steadily as he charged it, bouncing it over to the woods on my left. That would have saved a lot of figures, and possibly won me the game. I probably also underestimated the steadiness of the Roman defense. I thought a couple bonus defense dice here and there would make only a minor impact. They contributed to my inability to do much damage to his legion. I look forward to trying out the Picts again -- hopefully soon. 

I probably should have mentioned his higher up in the blog post, but we had 14 players show up for our November game day. Three were brand new players brought by Lee P, and one was playing her second game. Here are the results of all the games (which I believe were all Clash of Warlords):

• Joe Merz's brand-new Muttatawi'a tied against Dave W's Welsh, 20-18
• Karen's Vikings defeated Jason's Vikings (no score recorded)
• Lee P's Milites Christi defeated Stan's Gauls (no score recorded)
• Jenny T's Vikings defeated Mike's Anglo-Saxons, 20-12
• Andy S's Republican Romans tied Mike D's Picts, 20-18
• Jim R's Normans (Breton) tied Bob B's Byzantines, 18-17
• Adrian J's Britons defeated Dave E's Romans (no score recorded)

Gangs Taking Over the Streets of CincyCon 2021

    A half-dozen Flippos surround a couple Eastmoor Kings while the Santanas get ready to wade in

Sporting their leather jackets and colors, rival gangs took to the Mean Streets to rumble for control of turf and put a beat-down on their rivals at CincyCon 2021, Oct. 22. The Franklinton Flippos, Indianola Mohawks, Hilltop Highlanders, and other gangs brought clubs, blades, chains, and bare fists to take control of businesses, steal cars, and help themselves to brews on a day of mayhem and urban warfare. Just as often, the gangs ignored their planned missions and threw themselves into spilling blood of their hated rivals when they felt they deserved a little payback.

    The Linden Daos martial arts gang gathers by a building splattered with graffiti by them previously

The last time I had been able to run my new gang warfare rules had been the previous Cincycon, 20 months ago in March of 2020. A long, Covid-induced layoff of cancelled conventions had kept me from taking my rules on the road to promote at gaming shows. I was actually scheduled to run it three weeks earlier at Advance the Colors 2021, but my dad's passing that week led me to cancelling both events. Here I was, though, nearly two years later at the same venue where I had done my final playtest prior to publishing the rules in summer of 2020. 

    I had 5 players for my four slots in the evening game, and six in the afternoon one...scheduling oops!

I planned small, shooting to run it in the afternoon and evening on Friday for four players each time. Cincycon's website and scheduling woes led to both games being oversold. I had six players for the afternoon game and five for the evening. Luckily, I had brought most of my gangs along so had spares that I could toss out on the table. The hardest part was where to place their starting areas, as the table was 4'x4' and each gang was supposed to start in a corner. My players would good sports and understood I was making changes on the fly to keep from turning people who had registered away. 

   Jeffe, El Lobo, and Julio of the Santanas spot rival gang members and get ready to rumble!

It felt good to be running games at a convention, again. I felt bad that the stresses of the last few weeks had caused me to forget that I hadn't done certain things to prepare. Gone were the cards with pictures of the gang member that I'd created but forgot to print out. That meant I had to scrap the Special Abilities for the gang members and ran all figures as "base" Gang Bosses, Warchiefs, or Punks. Also gone were the gang member's names I planned to write with the Micropen on the edge of each miniature's base. Sigh. At least the player's didn't seem to notice or mind that missing touches. Everyone said they had fun and enjoyed the rumble.

Franklinton Flippos stalk past Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner intent upon Friday night mayhem

The planned scenario had each gang -- the Flippos, Highlanders, Santanas, and Mohawks -- starting in their respective corners. They were given a mission to achieve that was diagonally across the table. It might be stealing a car from the Shell station's service department, beating up the owner of Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner to get put on the "take," or similar missions. In addition, each was given two secondary missions. One was to give some payback to a rival gang who'd recently put a beat-down on them. That target gang was the one to each player's left. Gang members were also supposed to "tag" buildings with their gang logo to get the word out on the streets that they were there.

    Patrick and Andrew's gangs mixed it from turn one, both ending bloody and battered

In the first game, most players made an attempt to complete their missions. I doubled up on one mission, and gave the sixth player a different mission. Both had their objectives across the table from their starting points. In the evening game, all but one of the five players abandoned their missions and immediately barrelled into melee with each other. The Hilltop Highlanders ignored the provocations of the Santanas and continued to move through the streets till they arrived at Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner. Poor Benny (or was it Jack?) had no chance as he was mobbed by the street toughs from the west side of Columbus. Josephine, who was playing the Highlanders, scored double the points of her more belligerent fellow players who simply beat the snot out of each other instead.

    The bitter end of Archie of the Eastmoor Kings, encircled by both the Flippos and Santanas

I like to give players some choices when setting up a game. I did leave out the "home turf" element that I sometimes throw in. Often I will task a gang with the secondary mission of protecting their home turf (a designated building near where they start) from being tagged or harassed by rival gangs. This will tend to force players to consider splitting up their gangs. Each gang has a Gang Boss and a Warchief, so players are given the resources for doing so if they desire. Most of the gangs in both games kept themselves in a fairly cohesive group, this time around. So, I will probably add that back in the next time I run it.

Santanas pay a visit to the kiosks -- are they looking for some smutty magazines or some robbery?

This game also featured the unveiling of my new "streets" for Mean Streets -- vinyl 1' square floor tiles that I'd purchased this summer that conveyed the look of a faded asphalt street. The mottled gray pattern looked good, I thought with all the buildings, scatter terrain, and miniatures on it. I got some nice compliments on the look from players and passers by alike. Yes, vinyl floor tiles are heavy, but I thought they looked better than the charcoal gray felt I'd been using and a lot better than my scratch-built MDF concrete squares I had previously placed buildings atop. The tiles were the "peel and stick" type that Jenny attached black felt to the bottom of to make them sit well on the tabletop and stay in place. All in all, I was pleased with both the look and functionality of the new tabletop.

Flippos check out a cool convertible before sauntering down the street to engage in some mischief

As intended, the rules were taught quickly and questions were at a bare minimum. Mean Streets was written to be a fast-play rules set that is easy to learn for a convention game. The system allows you to tailor your gang how you like and individualize the figures with special abilities. There is a campaign system included in the rules, if players want their gang members to grow in experience and become tougher as the games progress.

Flippos jump a couple of Eastmoor Kings who they suspect of messing with their building 'tags'

I hope to run more Mean Streets games, but likely will not be doing so at any conventions over the next few months. School has been keeping me ridiculously busy (as usual), and my Dad's passing and helping my mom deal with it has been consuming a lot of my free time. So, I would love to hear from anyone who purchases Mean Streets ($20 print, $10 PDF) and how their games are progressing. It might give this stressed gamer a chance to live vicariously through your gaming opportunities. The links to purchase Mean Streets are on the First Command Wargames website.

    The Santanas and the Hilltop Highlanders mix it up when the two gangs bump into each other

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the gangs and their rumbles! Feel free to comment either on my blog or on the Mean Streets: War in Gang-infested Cities facebook group. Hope to hear from people soon!

Hell of a Squabble Over Relics

    My Wendigo leader, backed by skinwalker bears and wolverines, battles the leader of an enemy cabal

Much to my surprise, our regular Reign in Hell players decided to count our last game as "Game 1" of the campaign. So, we began our evening working our way through the effects of the last battle, "Two Kings of the Hill." First off, all demons who died had to roll on the Soul Loss table. This could end up having a negative, positive, or no effect. Then they roll once on the "Reward Table" -- and a second time if they won the scenario. My Wendigo Cabal won our 4-player half of King of the Hill, and picked up a Lucky Charm relic. I gave this to my Skadegamutc Devout, since I use him so aggressively in combat. This would enable him to reroll any one die in all combats.

    The leader of Mike S's cabal and two of his lesser demons swarm Jenny's Devout

I hadn't lost any demons, so all received 2 experience points, except my Wendigo leader who received a third one for leading the cabal to victory. One or two players were starting anew, but most of the eight players went through the steps of rolling for their outcomes. We had decided earlier to skip the "Titles" aspect of the campaign, as it seemed to laborious to track. Now that I have looked at it closer, I am also going to propose that we skip "Expeditions" in between turns. At least for now. Once everyone was ready and their cabals had received whatever benefits their rolls garnered them, we began deploying for Game Two of the campaign.

    The cabals advancing towards the relics at the end of Turn 1

I suggested Relic Hunters for this campaign. It seemed relatively balanced and should involve us getting mixed up in combat quickly. We also decided to use one of the optional rules from the first issue of the Demonomicon, Snarling Badger Studios' blog. Instead of using 6" deployment areas in the corner, it suggests enlarging them to 9". We did find this meant we couldn't place the relics the mandatory 6" away from deployment areas, board edges, and other relics. I think we shrunk that down to 5" and each player was able to legally place a relic.

    On the other table, Andy's Dryad Leader proves that SOMEBODY cares about the trees!

Directly across the table was Jenny T with her Judges Philosophy cabal that she had borrowed from Keith. To my right was Allen S, who was also playing The Empty -- the same philosophy as my Wendigo Native American themed Cabal. Diagonally across was Mike S, who was playing Earth-Bound. Mike and Jenny were the first to seize a relic, snatching them up with a speedy flying Mephit lesser demon. On my turn 1, I perhaps unwisely split my forces. I sent two of my Skinwalker Bears (Armored Demons) towards the relic between Jenny and I. They were supported by the Skadegamutc shaman (Void Demon, my devout second-in-command) who teleported into the rough terrain towards the center of the table in our quarter. The rest of my force, two Wolverine Skinwalkers (Corpulent Demons), the remaining Skinwalker Bear, and my Wendigo leader began lumbering towards the relic between Allen and I. 

    End of Turn 2 - my cabal has seized two relics, but the other players are trying to wrest them away

I rolled really good initiative on turn 2. In Reign in Hell, players roll 1d12 per demon in their cabal at the start of the turn. In an interesting mechanic, all 12's move first, then all 11's, and so on. Players choose which demon to move when their turn comes up. A demon cannot move on two dice, but is limited to using one. So, once you move them, they're done for the turn. My good rolls allowed me to seize both of the relics I was advancing towards. Jenny's disgruntled sound made me realize that I'd have to fight for it, though. About 2/3's of Allen's troops were marching towards me, so I knew this would not be a repeat of King of the Hill, when I really had to face only one other player, Allen. I'd whomped on his pretty good, so I imagined he was going to be up for revenge this game. That's the way Allen rolls!

    Splitting my cabal proves perilous, as Jenny's Leader & Slaughter Fiend attack two skinwalker bears

My Wendigo leader must have succumbed to hubris, as fighting two other cabals wasn't enough. My Skadegamutc shaman teleported into contact with Mike's Mephit (who had been advancing towards one of the relics I seized). Mephits can take only 7 hits, so I knew my shaman had a decent chance of killing it outright in one attack. We succeeded, and rolled a lousy "3" for our Soul dice. In my opinion, you want to roll a 1 or a 6 on that 1d6, because you can utilize Soul Dice to substitute for either your rolls or your opponents. You need natural 6's to save against hits, so those are very useful. Ones are great to substitute for your opponent's to-hit rolls. Still, killing one enemy demon early in turn 2 was a great start.

    End of Turn 3 and Wendigo cabal is best on both flanks by Allen and Jenny's cabals

Wendigo Cabal was able to follow up its success on Turn 3. First, my three lesser demons accompany my leader ganged up on and killed one of his Slaughter Fiends. Then, when Allen's leader waded into the fray, I brought Wendigo in to hopefully kill him off with one lucky roll. I would be rolling 10 dice, hitting on 2+, AND getting double hits on natural 6's. It was not to be, though. We badly wounded his Leader, causing him to take advantage of the "One With Nothing" immediately on the following turn and disappear from the board (reappearing on the subsequent turn). Allen struck back, bringing in his own Void Demon to kill off one of my lesser demons. My shaman gave him a taste of his own medicine, though, and teleported in and wounded him grievously. A follow-up by a Skinwalker Bear killed off his demon...well, kind of. Void Demons have a great special ability that allows them to reappear after being slain, albeit in a wounded state with only 5 Life left. That was TWO of Allen's demons we had in our grasp only to have slip away by his clever use of the Empty's special abilities!

    My armored demon Grisly doesn't give up, chasing down Jenny's leader & seeking revenge

Meanwhile, Jenny was making due on her unspoken threats. My two Skinwalker bears planned on making a dash back to the terrain with the relic. However, her Leader and a Slaughter Fiend jumped on them before they could make good on their escape. One bear went down, and the one with the relic was able to limp into the terrain. The next turn, Jenny's leader chased it down and finished it off. I was rolling terrible on my saves (armored demons have a high Life and good saves, but mine were beginning to die in droves. The skinwalkers' support of the Skadegamutc had departed to assist against Allen, so I had lost all my forces on that flank.

    The battle rages as Skadegamutc shaman, Wendigo, and skinwalkers attack Allen's cabal

My next turn, I believe my highest 12-sided die roll was a "6". Things looked bleak for the Wendigo Cabal, which had previously won both of this battles. Allen redeployed all the forces facing Mike S, and my demons were being ground down between two enemy forces. My wolverine skinwalker who had the relic tried to withdraw towards my corner, but was too slow. Allen was able to chase him down and kill him when both his weakened leader and void demon reappeared. One subtle mechanic of Reign in Hell is that when a demon is slain, the player losing the demon must discard an unused initiative d12. That usually means you have one demon who is unable to move (and thus strike back). If you lose two in a turn, you have two who are unable to fight back. I was on the losing end of this ebb and flow as my Initiative die rolls were low, and both Allen and Jenny were killing off my demons, meaning I could do little in reply.

    Jenny made it an early goal to kill Mike S's devout, a Succubus which can take over enemy demons

My only measure of revenge at the end of the game was Skadegamutc was able to slay Jenny's devout and take back the relic my bears had seized. My Wendigo died, though, before he could utilize "One with Nothing" himself. I had set up my Wendigo to be tough to kill. He has the Essence Regenerating Soul, which heals 1 Life upon activation. He also carries the Soul Drinker relic, which also heals 1 Life if he slays an enemy demon. However, I seem to have gotten very little use out of either of these abilities in my three games with the cabal. I am considering giving Skadegamutc the Soul Drinker, and giving Wendigo the Lucky Charm. I use my shaman in a much more aggressive role. Even though he can't roll as many combat dice as the leader (meaning fewer natural 6's), he tends to attack every turn, unlike Wendigo.

 

    If you enjoy Reign in Hell, check out the optional rules in Snarling Badgers blog, Demonomicon

We ended the Turn 5 with each of us in possession of 1 relic, so there was no game winner. I had lost way more models than the others, but my bad luck turned to good luck when I rolled on the Soul Loss for my slain demons. Two of my Bears rolled "Twisted", which allows the player to reduce either Move, Life, or Combat by one and add one to one of the other three. I chose to lose Life (Armored Demons begin with 13, and I feel 12 is still pretty good) to lose it from and Combat to gain it. One of my Wolverines rolled Chaos Power for Soul Loss, which I used to increase their Combat by one also. All of the other slain demons, including my Wendigo, rolled "no effect" for their Soul Loss. I did flub my Reward roll and score a "no reward found"...so not ALL my post-battle rolls were killer!

Finally, we totaled up our Soul Dice we didn't use for rerolls on the Soul Loss table or during the game. Those become "souls" which we can use to buy new demons. I think that I will buy a Spined Demon as Uktena, the horned serpent of Native American legend. I'll also buy a Mephit as (good luck pronouncing THIS name) Kanontsistontie -- giant, floating heads of powerful village elders returning from the spirit world. I know that Flint & Feather makes an awesome miniature for that as part of its boxed set, but I am currently balking at the price on that one. Who knows? Maybe I'll scratch-build or find something at the convention I am attending this weekend. 

    I'd love to buy these minis, but Flint & Feather figs are NOT cheap...

 

Which makes a great segue! Next update will be my report from Cincycon 2021...