Mongol Horde Ready to Ravage the Saga Scene!

    More than 40 horsemen comprise my Saga army from 28mm Curteys Miniatures

My Mongol horde for Saga is done! I say "horde" because it felt like I was painting up a horde of figures. Lots of people joke about hating to paint cavalry, but there is no denying it takes longer to paint up a mounted 28mm miniature than it does for most foot figures. Looking back at my blog posts on this army, it not only felt like it was taking a long time, it DID! I began painting this army more than a year ago. The first blog entry for the Mongols I found was dated July 28, 2021. Wow!

    My Mongol warlord, Kettle Drummer, and half of the light cavalry horse archers

Now, I admit I worked on other things in the meantime, from terrain for the Advance the Colors Saga tournament (last year and this year's), to post-Apocalyptic figures, to demons for Reign in Hell rules. So, it was not literally 13 months of uninterrupted painting of this army. In fact, with my busy teaching schedule, there were long stretches of time when I did no painting whatsoever. On the other hand, I am not really done painting all the figures I want for this army. I plan to paint up one more batch of mounted, armored cavalry to give me some choice and variety in army composition. So, technically, I'm not really done...

Six armored cavalry and the rest of the light cavalry of my Mongol Ordu (where we get 'horde' from)

Nevertheless, I have 6 points worth of Mongols that I can begin playing with. The last two things I painted were the warlord's stand and the Kettle Drummer's stand. The Kettle Drummer is a 1/2-point "hero" stand that gives a free activation to all units within one Long distance of him and is indispensable to a Mongol general. As I plan on fielding my army, I am also taking 1.5 points of mounted hearthguard (armored cavalry) and 4 points of mounted warriors (horse archers). So, that's a total of more than 40 horsemen that I painted up for this army.

    Three different angles of the warlord's stand (with small pile of severed heads)

I like to paint up the warlord stand last when I do a new army. I think I will be more skilled at color combinations and looks for the army by that point, so I want to maximize on what I learned painting the rest of the army. I decided to mix things up from what my 28mm Curteys Miniatures cast for the army general. I mounted him on one of the armored horses rather than the unarmored one that came in his pack. I gave what was supposed to be his horse to the standard bearer. This included a very cool add-on - a pet leopard perched on the rump of the horse. This isn't fantasy, it is from an account written by Marco Polo from his visit to the emperor's court!

In addition to the spotted leopard riding shotgun with the standard bearer, I added in a stack of four severed heads to the base. I went through my unpainted (and unlikely to use) 28mm figures and found figures that would be easy to sever, and leave a nice, flat bottom to be glued in place. With the horse tail banner, leopard, and heads, I think the warlord stand turned out very nice. Especially considering the time I took painting the individual scales on the horse armor!

    My Mongol Kettle Drummer mounted on a camel and accompanied by a Shaman on foot

When I ordered my 28mm Curteys Miniatures from 1st Corps in the UK, I ordered quite a few extra packs. The main reason I chose Curteys was the huge variety of poses that they had in their Mongol line. One of those was a Mongol Shaman banging a large drum that I added onto the Mongol Kettle drummer's base. Perhaps the coolest part is that the towering kettle drummer figure is mounted on a camel. It's the only camel mount in the army - the rest are all on horses. The camel and the rider are also cast as a single piece. With all the other packs, the riders are separate from the horses. The kettle drummer actually painted up fairly quickly, at least compared to the horse archers, who are festooned with all kinds of equipment, bottles, bow cases, quivers, etc. With him wearing mail, there wasn't a lot to decorate on him - just his sleeves. So, I made up for it with the foot shaman, and gave him a patterned robe and decorated border and headband.

I really enjoyed painting up this army. The figures are a bit smaller in size than other 28mm mounted, but I am okay with that. Not only are all the figures in my army from the same manufacturer, cutting down on odd-looking size differences, I mounted them on taller bases so that they don't look too much smaller than opponents on the battlefield. I also used oval bases that were probably a bit narrower than most probably would have. This was purely for game purposes. I wanted the bases of the back rank figures to be able to project up in between the front rank for measuring range in Saga. The composite bow in the game shoots only 6", so the more I could scrunch them up, the easier it will be to move and fire my horse archers on the tabletop. I put lead sinkers as weights on the base to keep them from being top-heavy or (hopefully) from toppling over.

    Eight 28mm ravens as fatigue markers for my Mongol army - I like scenic markers on the tabletop!

The final touch was an addition at Historicon last month. I found a pack of 8 ravens from Bad Squiddo Games. I figured these would be perfect fatigue markers for Saga! I can use them for other armies, of course, but these will be the ones I put in the Mongol figure box. They were quick and simple to paint up, as nearly all of a raven except the legs are black. I based them on squares of magnetic material, flocked them, and now my horde is complete. It took my way longer than I would have guessed last summer when I started painting my Mongols, but I am very happy with how they turned out. Whew - finally done!

Romans Defend Idols Against Crusade

    My Roman legionaries moment of glory - 5 Warrior infantry repel the charge of 8 mounted knights

We had 9 players at our August monthly Saga game day at Guardtower East. Jenny graciously bowed out as the extra person, which allowed my Republican Romans to take the field at second time. This time, we were matched against the black-robed crusaders of Lee P's Milites Christi. I encouraged players to try out one of the scenarios we will be using in the upcoming Advance the Colors Saga Tournament (Oct. 8). Two groups of players chose Wrath of the Gods, a scenario designed by Joe M of the Northern Tempest Saga Podcast. I apologize if this is a nuts and bolts analysis of Saga game mechanics - so, if you're not interested in Saga, you may want to skim this report!

    'Wrath of the Gods' scenario involves players trying to seize control of 3 pagan idols on the board

In this scenario, players are attempting to control one of three objective markers in the center third of the board. If they have a unit within Very Short (2") distance and there are no enemy within Short (4") of them, they may force the opponent to remove 1 figure per objective marker controlled. These count as losses and the game is scored with Massacre Points. I had recently created a bunch of appropriate objective markers for the pagan idols that the scenario encourages you to use. My favorite were the tree idols made using the Enchanted Tree Stumps from Bad Squiddo Games.

    Two tables played 'Wrath of the Gods' - Lee and I in front and Bob B and Mike S in the back

The first marker goes dead center of the board, and each player places another. Both Lee and I placed our markers as close to our side (just past 12" Long distance) of our board edge, and moved up to the markers with our first turn movement. I had a quandary on how to take the battle to Lee, though. I knew he had one unit of Warrior crossbowmen and a mercenary unit of Turcopoles. So, once again, my Republican Romans were up against a warband with significant shooting capability. I view that as the chief weakness of the battle board, though after Game 2 with them, I think there are some other vulnerabilities. I decided to make a strong push in the center with 3-4 infantry units. My Velites were my only shooting unit, and I was worried about a long range charge against them by Lee's 8-man, Hospitaller knights. So, I moved them forward then into the heavy cover of the ruins in my center half of the board.

    View from the Roman side at the end of our Turn 1, making a general advance towards the objectives

I deployed my big 8-man unit of Roman legionaries on the far right to contest Lee's control of the objective marker closest to him. It was a waste of time and resources, though. After moving them up on the first turn, I never moved them the rest of the way to get within Short of his Hospitaller foot sergeants that had seized the objective. Otherwise, it was a steady advance by my Roman legion. Lee responded with a similar advance, but also proved that his shooting was going to be something I would have to worry about. In one shot with his crossbowmen, he killed three figures of a six-man unit (one Saga dice down already!). His Turcopoles also shot down another legionary from the unit which had moved up to contest the center objective. In my five, supposedly 50% chance saving rolls, l had made only one roll. Sigh. I sometimes wonder why my Romans even wear armor??

    Each of us seized our closest objective on Turn 1 - here my legionaries defend one pagan idol

I did have a slight edge in this scenario as the Milites Christi are not allowed to take any Levy troops in their list. So, when I forced him to lose figures with the Wrath of the Gods, he was losing Warriors while I would be losing Levy (until he eliminated that unit on turn 3!). On my Turn 2, I brought my Levy out of the rocky area, tempting his knights to charge. Meanwhile, I advanced to control the center pagan idol, and would hold it for a couple turns. I left my board loaded up with defensive abilities for his counter-thrust, which I had a good feeling was coming on his half of the turn.

    I kept pushing forward with my legionaries, reaching the center page tree idol and controlling it, too

Luckily for me, this time his shooting did little damage. He planned to make up for that, though, with the charge of his knights -- two full points of mounted hearthguard against one unit of 5 Warriors. Slam dunk, right? However, this was the strength of the Romans (supposedly). I had played Exhortation at the start of his half of the turn, giving all my units within Long distance of my Roman Consul warlord two bonus dice (either attack or defense) in melee. I also had queued up three melee abilities on my board. I closed ranks, but still would roll 9 attack dice and receive 6 bonus dice. This combat would prove to be my high water mark for die rolling for the whole game, though! The five Roman legionaries shrugged off more than a dozen hits from his knights. Lee had played a number of dice on his Orison battle board ability, too, allowing him to shrug off our hits, as well. Neither side suffered casualties, so his knight recoiled.

    The 'one that got away'...15 shots against Armor 4 mounted knights result in only 2 casualties!

On my next turn, I decided to go after those knights with shooting. Mounted hearthguard are 4 vs. shooting, but armor 5 in melee.  So, I moved up my Levy and took two javelin throws with them. In addition, another 6-man unit of legionaries tossed their pila (3 more shots) and charged in. I rolled 15 shots at a 50% chance to hit (7.5 hits, right?). We killed just two knights with the shooting instead of the four we should have, and two more in melee. His unit of 8 was down to 4, but my 6-man unit failed every single save and was eliminated. My streaky/bad die rolling with the Romans was continuing and would keep it up all game.

    Lee's one that didn't 'get away' - his Hospitaller knights prepare to charge and wipe out my Velites

With the eliminated legionary unit, the Velites received a second fatigue. Of course, on his next turn, his knights charged and totally destroyed that Levy unit. Despite inflicting 1-2 casualties on Lee through Wrath of the Gods every turn, I began to feel that my army was  coming out on the wrong end of the casualty exchange. His shooting was wearing my legionary units down, and more importantly, I was not capitalizing on my attacks where I had the advantage. With the missed flubbed shooting turn and my charge that killed only two figures, I felt I was losing. However, during his half of the turn, I counted up the casualties. To my surprise, we stayed surprisingly close all game. 

    Romans are stubborn, and keep up the pressure. My Triarii (right) cutting down his crossbowmen

I sent my legionaries in against his knight unit, which had been whittled down to 2 figures. I played "Pilum," and an extra dice in combat bonus. This time, our javelins finally struck home and both knights fell! On the next turn, I brought my Triarii hearth guard forward and charged into his crossbow unit. We ended up killing all but two. Things were finally getting better, it seemed. At this stage, I might even be ahead, I felt. 

    Hospitallers don't give up either - his Turcopoles mercenaries ride down a battered legionary unit

Lee still had his warlord and mercenary Turcopoles, and they both charged home next turn to redress the odds. My dice deserted me again and his warlord not only completely destroyed the Triarii, the Turcopoles also wiped out the remnants of the legionary unit next to the center objective. This set up my turn 6, though, and I felt I knew a way to seal the win. His warlord was Exhausted, meaning one more casualty would eliminate him. I set up my remaining Saga dice and prepared to see my legions through to victory.

    Another vicious, hard-fought battle was Mike's Jomsvikings clash with Dan N's Poles

However, it was not to be. Lee received an urgent text from his wife and had to pack up and leave right away to take care of a family matter. We didn't have time to count up points. So, sadly, this hard-fought game had to be called with no winner and no loser. I think I could have pulled out a victory by eliminating both his warlord and the remaining two crossbowmen. However, the dice had not been kind to my Romans this game, except for a couple of instances where our saves were good. So, my final strike could have fallen flat. Equally, Lee could have turned the tables in his half of the 6th turn. We'll never know, though. 

    Poles and Jomsvikings batter each other in this brutal, 23-23 tie in Clash of Warlords

After the game, I reflected again on the Republican Roman battle board and warband. We covered this faction in depth on the most recent Saga Ohio podcast. Three other Republican Roman players and myself analyzed the board in a great conversation. As I expressed in that podcast, I don't know if the Romans have a "Plan B" if getting to grips in melee is not successful. In the beginning, I thought loading up on defense dice and letting the enemy wear itself out in fruitless attacks would be a winning strategy. After two games, I'm not so sure. 

    Earlier in their match, the Jomsvikings on left close with the Polish battleline

Perhaps another big vulnerability is whether an army that relying on mostly Warrior infantry can roll enough "Common" Saga dice to be able to move and maneuver its army? Some of the better abilities on the board also require Rare dice. In both my games, I have failed to roll Rare dice on most of my turns. In fact, I think I rolled a Rare on only two of six turns against Bob's Age of Invasions Romans. I know I rolled them on only one of my five turns against Lee. So, that's three of eleven rolls with no equivalent "6" on a Saga dice for an army that generates seven dice when fresh. Crucially, if the Republican Roman player rolls no Rares and instead mostly Uncommons instead of Commons (as I did at least a couple of turns in each game), they are severely handicapped. So, at this stage, I think the jury is out on the effectiveness of this army. 

    Joe D (L) teaches his friend Bob how to play Saga in a Viking vs. Viking battle

Perhaps even more key, I am simply not having a lot of fun with this army. Loading up defensive abilities to blunt an enemy's attacks is not the most exciting part of a game of Saga. Their ability to launch offensive melees is also not overwhelming. Since most of their battle board abilities are Melee oriented, and if they really aren't that great in melee, uhmmm...what can they do?? I think I will give the army one more try, though. If third time is not a charm and I am not having a lot of fun with these guys, it is likely they will go on the shelf except for Age of Hannibal type events.

    Bob B's Byzantine army takes control of the center objective in his 'Wrath of the Gods' match

Elsewhere, my game with Lee was definitely NOT the only close game. In our four games that day, three games were ties (counting mine as a tie). Here are the results from our game day:

• Dan N's Poles tied against Mike H's Jomsvikings in Clash of Warlords, 23-23.
• Lee P's Milites Christi tied against Mike D's Republican Romans in Wrath of the Gods (unknown score).
• Bob B's Byzantines defeated Mike S's Milites Christi in Wrath of the Gods, 56-8.
• Joe D's Vikings tied Bob's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 29-30.

    Byzantine and Knightly cavalry struggle for control of one of the objectives on the flanks

Both boards that played Wrath of the Gods said they enjoyed it, so looks like we have a fun scenario lined up in October for the Advance the Colors tournament. I hope folks can make it out for this event! 

    Vikings vs. Vikings in a Clash of Warlords, somewhere in Scandinavia

Idols, Altars, & Sacred Spaces, oh my!

    Primitive Idols as Objective Markers for Saga - I love how these Bad Squiddo ones turned out!

Now that Historicon is over, it's time to set my sights on what I need to prepare for my next convention: Advance the Colors 2022 at the Clark County Fairgrounds, Oct. 7-8, 2022. I will be running a Saga tournament there for the second year in a row. Last year, we had 16 players and this year I am hoping to increase that to 24. 

    Plaster or resin stones with spare 28mm figures and you have a Pagan or Christian Idol/Altar

One of the challenging parts about running a Saga tournament is organizers are expected to provide the battlefields and terrain. In this case, it means I should be ready to have a dozen tables of relatively matching terrain for each round. I'm probably a bit anal retentive on making it fair, so I want each board to be as identical to the next one as possible. The terrain will be preset, and each round it will be changed out to provide the players a new tactical puzzle. So, if I need a large hill in the center of round two's board, for example, that means I need 12 large hills! Last year, I prepared for eight matching pieces of terrain of all the different Saga types -- fields, bogs, ruins, rocky ground, etc. So, I need to up those numbers some, obviously.

    These resin 'Toothy Skulls' have been in my unpainted resin bin for years...now they'll see use!

I took care of the hills at Historicon, purchasing a dozen very affordable hills from Pastimes on the Square's booth in the Exhibit Hall. I will count out to make sure I have enough styrene pieces pieces to plop trees on for Woods, but I think I am okay there, too. That means I need to pony up some more of the other four types -- yikes! I guess I'd better get busy on that!!

    A couple of wooden Buddhas & a resin snake atop plaster bricks make good looking idols

One of the scenarios that I am running in this year's Saga tournament is called "Wrath of the Gods." It was developed by Joe M of the Northern Tempest Saga Podcast. It features three objective markers which are meant to represent idols, altars, or something similar. Prior to coming back from Historicon, I had plenty of "loot" type of objective markers, but only about a half dozen that could be considered idols. I dug through the closet where I store my various unpainted resin and terrain odds and ends. I found quite a few that I could use as idols. What's more, I found plaster stone tiles that were the exact dimensions required for an objective marker that Tim P had given me a few years ago. Adding in the plaster bricks I had left over from my friend Dave Z's generosity years ago, and I could do quite a few with zero new purchases!

    Bad Squiddo Games' Enchanted (or Angry?) Tree Stumps as they appear on the package illustration

So, I sat down and started Tacky Gluing pieces things together. Resin skulls were attached to plaster stones, and appropriate looking idol heads were glued to the 40mm square stone tiles. I also went through my 28mm unpainted lead looking for things I could use as statues. These would be placed atop platforms made from the resin stones. Before I knew it, I had 14 altar-like objective markers assembled. Another six were created using a purchase from Historicon -- the Bad Squiddo Games "Enchanted Tree Stumps" package I had bought at the Badger Games. I used green stuff to bond the incredibly cool looking resin stumps to the top of a large Acheson Creations tree stump. Once placed atop the larger stump, the leering faces of the "Angry Tree Stumps" looked like a seated tree god or spirit. Or maybe they were a primitive wooden  idol lost and forgotten in a forest? I was incredibly happy with how they turned out. Yes, if I tell you that I used green stuff to bond the two together, and then carved to look like bark, you will be able to find the "seams", so to speak. But they look like they belonged on top of the stumps. Very sacred grove looking, I thought!

    I used green stuff to attach the tree stumps to a larger tree stump and they look like seated idols!

Once they were all constructed and put together, I spray painted the whole lot with Krylon acrylic matte black. Then I did my usual thing that I do for terrain, and went over the entire surface with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. Painting these was SO easy and quick. For the stone ones, I started with a dark gray dry brush, then followed up with a light gray one. That was it - a coat of clear acrylic matte and they were done! 

    I had only five large tree stumps, so this one sits alone on the ground (flocking still wet with glue!)

For the Enchanted Tree Stumps, I began with a Howard Hues Camo Brown dry brush. I followed that up with a light khaki colored dry brush highlighting. Then it was time to get creative. The picture that accompanied the pack of stumps showed them painted up with the faces in various colors. I tried to make it look like paint had been daubed across the wood, sticking to the highlights but not sinking into the crevices. The eyes I painted a bright light green. The mouths or maws were done in a darker red brown. I used a number of different colors for the faces, including Terra Cotta, faded blue, darker green, lighter green, and reddish brown. 

    Another of the resin cobras and a Norse and Celtic looking figure atop stone altars

I was very happy with how the faces turned out. I looked at the pieces, though, and decided the colors of the faces looked a little chalky, and needed a good dark wash. I did a black wash over the entire piece and was even happier with the results. I had only five of the large Acheson tree stumps to be the seated bodies of the tree spirits, though, so one had to be attached to a circular base and flocked. I have a feeling these models will appear in non-Saga games -- perhaps as warnings to trespassers that they are entering a sacred grove protected by a savage tribe!

    Two more resin skulls I've had sitting unpainted and an African looking statue

From start to finish, this entire batch of 20 objective markers took only about four days of a couple hours work each day. This brings me to a total of 26 markers. I'll need 36, as each board has three of these. So, before October I have 10 more to do. I've got the formula down, so I imagine they'll go fast. 

So, what's next for me? Two things are fighting the idols for space on my painting desk right now. One is the last two stands of my 28mm Mongol army for Saga - the warlord and the kettle drummer. Each stand will have two figures on it and are primed on my desk as I type this. The other thing is a Sarissa Precision trailer home. More on this hopefully soon. It has been sprayed black so is almost ready for the brush! Stay tuned for more updates as I use these last two weeks of summer to squeeze in as much work on projects as I can!

Kammebalango's Capital Rocked by Factional Warfare as President's Motorcade Fired Upon

    Mysterious helicopter with unknown intentions hovers over the capital of Kammebalango

This trip to Historicon, the first since 2018, would be an experiment of sorts. Normally, I bring one of our First Command Wargames rules sets to run at the show. This time around, I was running two of my rules - both Mean Streets gang warfare and Wars of Insurgency modern skirmish. To make this more doable, I created scenarios for both that could utilize the same basic terrain. For Wars of Insurgency, the downtown area I used for Mean Streets became the capital of Kammebalango. I changed out the magnetic billboards to my third world Africa ones, and shifted the location of a couple buildings to create a "Z-shaped" route for the president's motorcade to move from the middle of one of the short edges of the 5'x4' area to the opposite corner.

President's motorcade & bodyguards roll through the capital streets - will he make it to the airport?

The scenario would be "To Kill A President," which I playtested last month at DayCon 2022. Each player controls a faction in the country with varying degrees of support or opposition to the President. One faction is the President's bodyguards, which are attempting to shepherd him safely off the table in the direction of the airport. He wants to attend a meeting of African leaders in Cairo, something the UN Faction opposes. The Ghanaian peacekeepers don't want to kill him, they just want to make sure he doesn't make it to that summit. The mercenary faction, on the other hand, has other plans for him. They are trying to kidnap the president and take him to a secure location where he can be intimidated into signing away mining rights to a Western corporation (who is paying for the Mercs).

    The president will be safe if the loyal Peoples Militia have anything to say about it!

On the other hand, the Peoples Militia wants to protect the president. He is the Great Elephant and beloved of the people. They don't care if he exits off the correct table edge or not. They just want to stick to him like glue and ensure his safety. Aiming to frustrate that, the Army Faction is in open rebellion and is attempting to assassinate the president. Their goal is the most straight forward. Finally, there is a mysterious new faction, Kammebalango for Kammebalangans (K4K). Their goal is to root out foreign influence, and they are kind of a wild card faction. They violently oppose both the Mercs and UN, but have no beef with the rebel Army faction. How aggressively this faction was played often was the hinge that the events of the game turned on.

How do the Ghanaian UN peacekeepers feel about the president attending that conference in Cairo?

In the final game on Saturday, K4K was fired on immediately by the People's Militia and presidential bodyguards, who were spooked by their advance. Ostensibly, they are an ally of the president -- though there is nothing in either faction's briefing to spell that out for them. This degraded the combat ability of K4K, and in the end, gave both the Mercs and UN more free reign. In this game, the President's motorcade was turned back. The president and his bodyguards took shelter inside an apartment building from the fire of the two mercenary helicopters, who were hosing down his escort vehicles with LMG fire. Not checked by K4K, the UN player enforced his own "no fire zone" in the vital intersection the president would have to pass through to escape.

    The answer would lie in the hands of these people - our players - who were a wonderful group!

The game on Saturday morning ended with the president alive and well-protected inside the building. His mission to fly to the meeting failed, but he was alive. The every-loyal Peoples Militia was at his side, meaning they had actually won a Major Victory. The UN won a Minor Victory as the president did not make his flight. However, he had not give up and left the table, preventing it from being a major one. The fate of the UN faction in the two runnings of this game at Historicon could not have been more dramatically different. In Friday night's game, everyone seemed to be taking pot shots at the UN. They were not completely eliminated, but they lost a substantial number of troops. On Saturday, the player really got into the role playing aspect of it, making announcements and doling out clues that kept the other players from firing upon him for most of the game. It was fun to see the blue helmets take on a leadership role in the progress of the game.

    First ominous signs - two APCs of an army unit roll onto the table, looking angry, fingers on triggers

Unlike at DayCon, where the president succeeded (barely) in getting off the table, neither game went according to script for the beleaguered Kammebalangan president. He was turned back in Friday night's game, and on Saturday had to exit his motorcade and take shelter. On Friday, the Peoples Militia pulled off a surprise win, too. The father-son team playing President and People had a shocking ending to their teamwork. The militia actually fired upon the president's driver to prevent the limo from taking him out of their vicinity and "into danger." This sudden betrayal by a stalwart ally was the final nail in the president's hopes at getting off board. It made for a fun and interesting ending Friday night.

    Another warning sign - a helo lands on a rooftop disgorging a squad of mercs...followed by another!

Both groups of players did an awesome job and were loads of fun. When the president's turn came to move on Friday, his loyal players would immediately let out a cheer in honor of the Great Elephant. Once the shooting started, some of those turned to jeers. It was all in good fun and smiles were all around. On Saturday, the president was Steve from Little Wars TV. His role in the game is featured in their Historicon 2022 report on YouTube, which is well worth a watch. I encourage readers to check it out. They do a high tech, fast-paced and fun look at their attendance at historical miniature's biggest show in the States. Steve ended up buying both the Wars of Insurgency and Mean Streets rules. He seemed to have a great time, and was a perfect example of the great players we were lucky to have sign up and play for our games.

    The motorcade and Peoples Militia come under fire from the rebel army's APC-mounted HMGs

Steve's presidential motorcade was ruthlessly hounded by the mercenary helicopters in Saturday's game. The player was definitely the most aggressive and persistent in the use of the mercenary's air mobile assets I had seen yet in any of the three times I've run the game. The helicopters did take some hits, but neither were forced down like happened at DayCon. The Mercs plan looked like it might be working to fruition until one of his squads made the mistake of running across the street in the open. A burst of fire from K4K cut down three of the four professionals. These losses hamstrung his firepower and made him give up on his attempt to nab the president.

    Even the president's (or is it his decoy's?) up-armored SUV begins to take hits from the HMGs

I may have to give the Mercs a few more troops in future runnings of the game (though technically they have the highest starting point total). So far, none of the mercenary factions have laid hands on the president or even been within one move distance of him. None of the three players expressed any dissatisfaction with their lot in the game, though. On the contrary, they seemed to enjoy the challenge of planning and executing a Special Ops mission. So, maybe I'll leave it "as is," and see if future Dogs of War surprise me and pull off a victory in the scenario.

    A look at the table for 'To Kill a President' and our Friday night players -- a fun, boisterous group

The rebellious army faction was played aggressively, as well, in both games. They have a clear-cut mission and in both games hammered away at their enemies. The key to their survivability is to not make unnecessary enemies. Both games saw their firepower diluted by responses from either K4K or the UN, who should not be an enemy as the scenario is set up. Both games saw their forces slowly dwindling due to the attrition of attacks by other factions.

    A squad of mercenaries descends the stairs after disembarking from their helo on the hotel roof

One of the things I almost included in the scenario was for the army and UN to be able to set up barricades. This could be burning tires or a bus or other vehicle blocking the road. However, I felt that this might make it too difficult for the president to escape. I certainly can't have them completely block the road, otherwise I would need to include mechanics for removing the barricades. I don't know, though. The three games of it I have run so far were all fun, interactive, and all the players said they had a great time. Maybe I will leave it alone?

    Too much fire coming from the intersection forces the presidential motorcade to divert down an alley

Another success, I feel, was using similar terrain setups for Wars of Insurgency and Mean Streets. I feel my mostly Sarissa Precision buildings work equally well for my 28mm gangs and 20mm modern forces. This has been a definite success, and I will likely continue to do this in the future. As the sole author of these two sets, it is kind of up to me to run games of it to promote the rules. This pairing of events allows me to run both games in one day, as I did Friday at Historicon. I may do the same thing at Advance the Colors 2022, the October convention for HMGS Great Lakes.  I even have an idea for a new terrain set up that would work well for both games. Stay tuned for details on that!

    In most games, the Mercs and rebel army realized they were allies and poured fire into the motorcade

All in all, I want to thank my players for being such great groups of wargamers to roll dice with. We all know how one sourpuss can cast a pall over a game, and that did not happen in any of the Mean Streets or Wars of Insurgency events at Historicon. It was fun to have my buddy from South Carolina, Jason M, play in each event, too. And of course, thanks to Jenny for helping me run all four events. If you watch the Little Wars TV report, you will see her there in the First Command Wargames shirt ably running the game on Saturday morning.

    Unfortunately for the president's enemies, the K4K faction tipped the balance against them

With all four games successfully run, and the terrain and miniatures packed away, I could relax and enjoy the remaining hours of the convention. So, what does that mean to an avid wargamer? Shopping in the Exhibit Hall, of course! As I was running my final game Saturday morning, my friend Jason texted me to let me know the last of my DBA armies had sold at his flea market table. I ended up with $340 in profit from minis that have been sitting on my shelf, unplayed, for nearly a decade. This would make my trip to the dealer area even more sweet!

    With little hope of kidnapping the president, a squad of mercs exfiltrates via their helicopter

What did I buy? First, I got some essentials. I picked up more wire spears for my Saga armies from Brigade Games. I use the North Star ones and trim them to length to be a javelin, spear, lance, or long thrusting spear. I also picked up some Howard Hues paints from Dayton Painting Consortium - I use these for my dry brushing as they are a bit thicker in consistency. I bought some Gamers Grass flower tufts from Michigan Toy Soldier Company. Lastly, I visited Pastimes on the Square, who make all kinds of great terrain for wargames. They had great pre-made and flocked hills, three to a bag, for $11 each. I ended up buying about six packs in all. My Saga hills are getting a bit abused or in need of an upgrade and these fit the bill perfectly for practicality and looks.

    Two of the Bad Squiddo Games animal packs I bought from Badger Games & Cotton Jim

Those were the "Needs." Next, were the "Wants." I went to the Badger Games booth and bought a pack of Crusader Miniatures Thureophoroi as mercenaries for my Republican Romans. I also picked up another pack of their Roman gladiators so that I have more figs for my students to use if I redo my gladiator game day this year. While I was there, I was captivated by their animal packs from Bad Squiddo Games. Between Badger's booth and Cotton Jim's, I picked up Freyja's Wildcats, Ravens, Beavers, Moose Family, and a very cool pack called "Angry Tree Stumps." These resin tree stumps appear to be carved into leering faces by a primitive tribe and will make perfect objective markers for Saga. Wait till you see in another post what I did with them to make them even cooler! The ravens will make good fatigue markers, preying upon corpses or body parts littering a battlefield. The other animals can be used in my French & Indian War games for hidden movement or decoy markers.

Crusader Miniatures purchases sitting on the 6'x4' fleece mat I bought from Shieldwall

Finally, there were the impulse purchases. Cotton Jim was running a 50% off sale on lots of Saga stuff, so I bought five different packs of warlords. I plan to paint these up and give them away as prizes in the upcoming Advance the Colors Saga tournament, Oct. 8, 2022. I also bought the Greek and Barbarian Age of Hannibal dice since they were 50% off, too. Who knows? I may paint one of those armies one day! The last impulse purchase was at Shieldwall Gaming Club's booth. I went back and forth whether to buy one of his 6'x4' neoprene ocean mats or a fleece mat I can use for basic land games. I ended up going with the fleece one. Jeff Gatlin was one of our incredibly generous sponsors at last year's Saga tournament, so I always like to support his booth when he attends a show that I visit.

    My "impulse purchases" - five packs of Saga warlords (50% off!) to be painted up as prizes for ATC

Doubtless, the money I made off of the DBA armies spurred some of my purchases, but I felt that I kept my buying under control this trip. I didn't sink money into a whole new period or rules set or anything like that. Everything I bought was either something I needed for a current project or supplies I was running low on. So, I guess "self-control" is a success, too! With my Wars of Insurgency games continuing the success of my earlier Mean Streets ones, it was an overall "win" on my visit to Historicon 2022. And though the president of Kammebalango did not get to Cairo, my trip east was a definite success!

    The Peoples Militia and his bodyguards escort the motorcade through a narrow alley

    Another look at our full Wars of Insurgency game being run at Historicon 2022