Demo Day at Dragons Lair in Polaris area (Columbus, OH)

Indianola Mohawks check out O'Brian's Pot O' Gold motel at our recent game day at Dragons Lair

Our marketing specialist Jason Stelzer arranged a day at the Dragons Lair Comics & Fantasy game store in the Polaris area in Lewis Center, OH. We ran two of our rules sets, the ever-popular Song of Drums and Tomahawks and our most recent rules set, Mean Streets. There was quite the crowd in the store with lots of traffic, especially around our 1pm start time. 

    Jason teachers Song of Drums & Tomahawks to two store customers who said they had a great time

Jason kicked things off running the "Wagon Train Through Peril" scenario for Song of Drums and Tomahawks. This game features two or more families loaded up into wagons and trying to make the safety of a frontier block house across the river before being ambushed by rampaging frontier tribesmen. Jason had a number of players and ran through parts of the scenario three times over the course of two hours. Tim P and Jeff G, local historical miniatures enthusiasts, also showed up to join in on the fun. They played out one vignette while Jason walked two new players through on the other half of the board.

    A family seeks to escort a wagon with women & children through woods full of raiding tribesmen

The new players seemed to enjoy themselves, and at least one of them purchased the rules (which hopefully Dragons Lair will be carrying soon). There were a lot of swings in action with the women in children in the wagons getting in their swings against attacking Indians, as well. Cheers rang out through the store as crucial rolls saw a frontier family scoring successes or falling captive.

    Local gamers Tim P and Jeff P showed up to play the scenario and join in on the fun

Kirk, one of the new players, wanted to try another scenario so he staged a bloody attack on the blockhouse as a second game. It looked like his tribe's warriors couldn't summon up the courage to sprint across the open area into the blockhouse to attack, at first. However, overconfidence and aggression at leaving the door open and taking the attack to the Indians proved to be the downfall of the blockhouse defenders. Eventually, Kirk's warriors summoned up the courage (and activation rolls) to make a push through the door and into the blockhouse itself.

    Indian raiders hidden behind stumps open fire on a family wagon, seeking captives and mayhem

It was a bitter struggle inside the thick, wooden walls, but eventually the frontier fortification fell as the final Indian warrior took control of the upper levels. It was a good time and Jason did a great job teaching the game to new players.

    A 4-gang game of Mean Streets followed as our second event at the Dragons Lair

After a quick tear-down and set up, we ran Mean Streets for four players. I got a chance to play in this game and it proved that just because you wrote the rules doesn't mean you're the best at playing them! I controlled my Hispanic street gang, the Santanas, whose objective was to make it to the far corner of the table and steal a car from the Shell Service Station. Also vying for ownership of the streets were the Franklinton Flippos in their creepy clown masks, the Hilltop Highlanders, and our nemesis this game, the Indianola Mohawks.

    Jason's Mohawks were out for blood (and a little revenge against my gang, The Santanas)

Jason took on the role of the Mohawks and came after my gang right away once we made it out onto the main street intersection. He may have regretted picking a fight with my leather-jacketed thugs as our counter-punch knocked two of his gang members out of action. One of them was his Warchief, so I was feeling pretty pleased! I was also a bit overconfident, as I sent El Lobo, one of the Santantas' punks, away on an "end around" to complete our mission. Thinking my four Santanas could easily take out his three remaining Mohawks, I misjudged the situation.

    The Franklinton Flippos took the scenic route to their eventual goal of stealing some brews

While the Franklinton Flippos feinted at the diner and then headed for their true destination, Wallace's Brew Pub, the battle raged between Mohawk and Santana. Meanwhile, the Highlanders chased the clowns to no avail, eventually busting into the diner to fulfill their own mission of convincing the owner to put their gang on the "take." Four West Side gang members have a way of doing that when surrounding and putting a beat-down on an elderly restaurant owner!

    El Lobo, Manana, and Julio check out the action in front of the O'Brian Motel early in the game

Things slowly deteriorated in my battle with the Mohawks. Maybe, with her length of chain knocked out one of my Warchief Cruz and then another one of my gang members. Pretty soon, Julio was battling it out with three Mohawks who had him surrounded. He gave as well as he got, but pretty soon succumbed to overwhelming numbers. 

    

    Suddenly, our gang boss Julio is bum-rushed by a horde of freakish Mohawks out for blood!

Still, it was fun to get the gangs on the Mean Streets of Columbus, again. Dragons Lair is a nice, clean, well-lit shop and had a lot of customers of all ages roaming the aisles and playing games. The managers encourage folks to reserve a table and run a game, so the First Command Wargames crew will certainly be back -- probably in January! If you haven't already, check out this game store on the north side of Columbus.

        

   The Santanas rally to their gang boss's side and soon begin to knock out a couple punk rockers

    Meanwhile, the Highlanders follow the Flippos to their target: Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner

    Initially, things are looking good for the Santanas, as we knock out two Mohawks

    The tide turns and soon Julio is on his own fighting Mohawk gang boss Sid and Ian and Maybel

    While the Mohawks and Santanas were rumbling, the Flippos were crashing the brew pub for beers

    Early in the game, the Mohawks investigate O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel

Shore Wars 2022 Saga Tournament - what a birthday present!

    Mark B's Teutonic Knights charge Jenny T's Eastern Princes and their War Wagon at Shore Wars

How about a Saga tournament victory for a birthday present? That's what Dan Neal received this past Saturday at the inaugural Shore Wars convention in Mentor, OH. Dan's Baltic Crusaders scored two victories and one tie, beating out fellow Saga Ohio player Jim Randall on points for first place. Ten players battled it out in three rounds, bringing armies from Age of Alexander, Invasions, Vikings, and Crusades. Seven attendees were from our Saga Ohio group in Central Ohio. They were joined by a trio from Ft. Wayne, IN, making the very long drive there in back in one day. 

    Most of our 10 players who attended the Shore Wars 2022 Saga tournament in Mentor, OH

In the final round, Dan defeated Bob Boggs' Byzantine army to clinch the victory. It was a hard-fought game using the Clash of Warlords scenario, and spoiled Bob's 2-0 record going into the final round. In fact, a number of players had a chance at winning the tournament going into the final round (including me!). The final round was the only strictly "Swiss Chess" style round. I was trying to make sure people who showed up played new opponents. In particular, the last thing I wanted was for our Ft. Wayne friends  to have to play each other! 

    Dan N, left, knocks off Bob B in the final round to win the tournament - on his birthday, no less!

Since the seven Saga Ohio folks play each other fairly regularly, it wasn't always possible. Originally, I wasn't planning on playing. Jenny had volunteered to be my "odd person out," or ringer, as the tourney community is calling them, nowadays. However, she didn't see any events she wanted to enter and the others encouraged us to participate and join in on the fun. There was just enough table space to squeeze in one more game. Shore Wars was held at the rooms above a community ice rink, and it was a bit cramped quarters, at times. The good news is there was a lot of attendees for this inaugural convention. The bad news is it was a bit of a squeeze -- especially compared to the ample space we had at Advance the Colors!

    My Carolingians, at bottom, deploy against Jenny's Eastern Princes in Battle of Heroes, round 1

The first round was Battle of Heroes from the Book of Battles. It is one of our Columbus group's favorite scenarios to play on our monthly Sundays at the Guardtower East. There are six options for five different areas -- Scenery, Deployment, Special Rule, Game Length, and Victory Conditions. So, there are a countless number of options, making it a new challenge every game. I faced Jenny's Eastern Princes in the first round with my Carolingians. Our scenario rules we rolled up featured all uneven terrain counting as "dangerous," a diagonal deployment, and victory conditions that gave a bonus point to each unit which ended the game more than a Long from your base edge. Early on, I thought Jenny had me on the ropes. Her levy crossbowmen ensconced in the ruins were out-shooting my two units of Carolingian warrior bow. That's quite the feat, as the Carolingians have a lot of firepower. They can take multiple (and usually fatigue-free) shots each round. 

    My Frankish warband makes a concerted attack on the right vs. the more static Eastern Princes lines

Jenny sent her war-wagon to guard her left, and I targeted it as my first victim. It took a couple turns of shooting, but we eventually eliminated it. Meanwhile, she was whittling down my bowmen, reducing one of my big units to just four figures. My plan  was an aggressive advance on my right, circling around her weaker left wing. My hope was I would eke out a couple more bonus points being further from my base line and I could hopefully concentrate both bow units on one victim. Jenny had other ideas, and pretty soon I was left with just one effective bow unit.

    My Carolingian nobles charge into a line of Eastern Princes warriors, eliminating them

In the end, it was a very close game, but I received +5 points for having all but one of my units outside of a Long of my edge. Jenny had forgotten about the Victory Condition, and had only one unit advanced far enough to score that bonus. As the rounded ended and I scanned the score sheets, I noted to my dismay that all the Ft. Wayne guys came out on the losing end in Round 1. This would complicate my goal of matching players up against folks they usually don't play against. Still, I was able to cobble together the 2nd Round matchups while making a quick dash to Wendys for lunch. I usually try to schedule a 45-minute break between Round 1 and 2 so folks can have enough time to eat.

    Bob's Byzantine army certainly was gorgeous enough to win - here they take on the Ordenstaat

Our second round was a repeat from the Advance the Colors tournament: Wrath of the Gods. In this scenario designed by Joe from the Northern Tempest Saga Podcast, there are three objective markers across the rough center of the table. Players controlling markers at the start of their turn can force their opponent to discard a casualty of their choice. I had matched myself up against Mark Bishop, one of the main organizers of the Saga Indiana group. I was looking forward to chatting with him as we had never played each other before. Mark fielded his recently-painted Ordenstaat army. This was my first match against the Teutonic Knights in Saga, so figured it would be an interesting experience. 

    Round 2 'Wrath of the Gods' - my Carolingians take on the Ordenstaat (Mark B who drove 3+ hours)

Knowing the Carolingian's shooting prowess, Mark dismounted all his knights as foot hearthguard. I was surprised by the number of javelin-armed levy he brought to the table. I assumed he was planning on sacrificing them for the numerous battle board abilities that require the Ordenstaat player to remove his own figures as casualties. Instead, Mark also liked to use them aggressively, charging often with them. His favorite tactic was to use the "Slay the Pagans" ("Hey! Carolingians are Christians!") ability which activated two units to charge. He would charge in first with a levy unit, then follow up the charge with the knights (who would use the enemy fatigue to raise their armor and take fewer casualties.

    Mark's foot knights prepare to charge my bowmen in the ruins - and are in for a nasty surprise!

This caught me by surprise. I fully expected him to sacrifice some of the javelin men, as well as shoot with them, but not charge! Mark also had a nasty surprise when he sent in one of his 6-man foot knight units to charge my Warrior Bowmen, who were defending in the ruins. With 12 attack dice -- Warriors rolls one for one, unlike Levy Bowmen, our attacks destroyed the enemy hearthguard unit to a man. True, there was only one bowman left, but I felt this blunted his attack.

    My Frankish foot keep an eye on Mark's Turcopoles - who I wanted to charge, but miscalculated

Not to make excuses, but I was beginning to suffer the headache of both playing and running the tournament, and made several mistakes. The most important one was when I planned to use my own 6-man mounted hearthguard unit to take out his mercenary Turcopoles who had ended his turn isolated on the flank and within two moves of my nobles. My plan was to move them forward with one activation and then charge them with the "Illusio" abilitly (which generates a charge with no fatigue). However, I had completely forgotten that I had not rolled any Rares yet this game, so my Proelium was stocked with only two dice, instead of three! That meant Illusio would enable only a 4-man unit to charge (2x dice in Proelium). 

    Mark's faithful javelin levy are never far from his Teutonic foot knights, ready to support them

I had placed my Saga dice and made my plans centered on that charge. My a lack of concentration put my troops in danger. If I left the noble cavalry in place, the Turcopoles would dash over and shoot them. If I ran them away, they'd be out of the battle for awhile. I finally decided that since I had melee abilities loaded up and ready to go, why not pick another target? I decided to charge his other foot knight unit, which was within range of one movement and didn't need Illusio. I knew my surviving cavalry would then die on Mark's next turn to concentrated javelin fire. But it was better than accomplishing nothing. Think of it as akin to a chess player trading pieces. He would be left with only his warlord and levy to try to win the game, and I felt like my position would be ever so slightly stronger. 

    Round 1 (Battle of Heroes) - Joe D (right) and Mark moving troops while Andy and Bob watch

My prediction proved true. My noble cavalry wiped out his foot knights, then the two survivors died the next turn to his levy javelin men. At this point, neither Mark nor I had much punch left. However, Mark got very aggressive (he warned me he errs on the side of aggression in Saga). He charged his warlord into one of my warrior units, which left him heavily fatigued. I followed that up with a charge by mounted warlord against his weakened warlord, taking him out. In the end, that was what saved my Franks from defeat. Mark had won heavily on the "Wrath of the Gods" exchange, taking out more of my warriors than I had of his levy. The game ended up in a tie - a bruising, hard-fought draw, but a fun game for sure!

    Age of Alexander is already popular in Saga Ohio - here, Andy's Macedonians advance

At this stage, we had one 2-0 player (Bob and his Byzantines), and quite a few with a 1-0-1 record. Dan had the highest points of those and I matched him up with Bob (even though they had driven up to Mentor together!). I was up against the ever-dangerous Jim Randall, who was playing his Last Romans. I admonished Jim that he had to beat me. There was no way I wanted to win my own tournament. That is bad form, in my opinion. Jim said he approved of my sentiment, though I doubt he needed much encouragement to play his best against me. 

    Bob and Andy (left) maneuver their troops at Shore Wars, which was packed with 230+ attendees

I consider Jim one of the best players in Saga Ohio, so I'd given myself a hard matchup. My mind was not fully focused, with being called away to referee occasionally. I continued to make mistakes, including the same Illusio one! Jim's dice were hot and mine were not, so he was off to a good start in fulfilling my wishes and ensuring that I didn't win the tournament. 

    Jarl Sigvaldi & his mercs don't receive a casualty after eliminating a 12-man warrior unit in ruins!

I definitely didn't "lay down" in this game. I gave it my all, but was totally blind-sided by the hitting power of his mercenary unit, Jarl Sigvaldi. He charged my 12-man warrior bow unit (which had one fatigue) with Sigvaldi (who had two fatigues). I used those fatigues to lower his defense. I figured that I would do the same thing to Jim that I did to Mark in the last game and take out his unit, too. What I didn't count on was the 8 bonus defense dice Jim accumulated from his Last Roman battle board. That, and a high number of 5's and 6's meant he took zero casualties and wiped out the bowmen to a man (despite the fact we had a 50% chance on our saves). 

    The stubborn Carolingians pull back after the disaster in the ruins, hoping for bowfire to help

That set the tone for the game. Jim rolled about 2/3's "5's" and "6's" regularly throughout the game, while my defenders needing 4-6 rolled less than 1/3, typically. My mind was too frazzled, and on my final turn couldn't even count up the number of activations I needed for my mounted hearthguard to charge his general to take him out. Jim said that I did well, but tactically, it was one of the worst games I've played in ages. Mistakes, bad rolls, and not anticipating my opponent's moves did me in. But hey! The good news is I didn't win my own tournament....ha, ha!

    'Where's my chicken dinner??' - Tourney winner Dan N sets up his Baltic Crusader battle board

Here are the standings after three rounds of action at Shore Wars 2022:

Dan Neal, Baltic Crusaders, 2-0-1, 67 points

Jim Randall, Last Romans, 2-0-1, 55 points

Jenny Torbett, Eastern Princes, 2-1, 84 points

Bob Boggs, Byzantines, 2-1, 56 points

Mike Demana, Carolingians, 1-1-1, 74 points

Joe Dihrkop, Saxons,  1-1-1, 61 points

Eric Morrow, Normans, 1-1-1, 53 points

Andy Swingle, Macedonians, 1-2, 43 points

Mark Bishop, Ordenstaat, 0-2-1, 55 points

Phil Keifer, Mongols, 0-3, 32 points

   Phil K tried out my Mongols, showing no fear in playing a brand new army at a tournament!

Thanks to Shieldwall Gaming Club for the prize support and staging the convention. They had a phenomenal 230 attendees, including dealers. It was a fun way to close out this year's Saga tournaments and I am glad my players talked me into joining them!

Rats! And ROUS's (for Post-Apocalyptic Games)

    My Reaper Miniatures rat swarm arrayed in front of some recent post-apocalyptic terrain I'd painted

Everyone has their own personal flavor for a post-apocalyptic setting. They range from raw and gritty, Mad Max type of setting to a world populated with bizarre mutants, sentient plants, and psionic powers. My preference is more toward the first, as I've mentioned in my posts before. My personal apocalypse is a channeling of the Terminator movies with a self-aware Artificial Intelligence launching a war of destruction against humanity via the various bots that humans had created.

ROUS's (Rodent of Unusual Size) ready to pounce on any unwary survivor who doesn't believe in them

So, besides Bots (and fellow humans), that leaves me in need of some "bad guys" for the players to struggle against in their bid to survive the dangerous, post-apocalyptic world. Rats are hardy creatures, and can grow quite large, so I figured swarms of bad-tempered rodents would make logical monsters prowling the ruins of humanity's cities. And why not an occasional ROUS (Rodents Of Unusual Size, for those not familiar with the classic Princess Bride movie), too? Reaper Miniatures makes a number of different rat packs in their line of plastic miniatures. They came essentially in three sizes. Dire Rats came in a pack of eight and were the smallest. Giant Tomb Rats were the next size up, and the six in the pack were appropriately shaggy and angry looking. The largest were ("ROUS's? I don't think they exist..." RAHHRR!!!) the Barrow Rats, and came two to a pack. All in all, I had two dozen rats to paint up after a few months of collecting packs from Guardtower East or Dragons Guildhall on our Saga game days.

    My two dozen rats were painted in four basic colors, dry brushed over a black base coat

I decided that I wanted to black prime my rats to give them a dirty look. I would just dry brush the fur in one of four colors - light gray, dark gray, medium brown, or a cream color. I could have done more colors, but I thought four would provide enough variety. The ears, nose, and tail I painted a base salmon color and dry brushed a lighter pink. I gave them ivory claws and teeth, along with black eyes with a red dot to give them a feral or "eyes glowing in the dim light" aspect.

    I like how the pink tails, noses, and ears make them stand out from their dark background

Once they were all painted, I applied a heavy black wash. Most of the rats had various stone tile or cobble stoned bases, which I also did in shades of gray. All in all, I was happy with how they came out looking ragged and dirty. Since I am using Fistful of Lead rules for my post-apocalyptic games, I based the smaller rats up three or four to a base as a "Swarm." The ROUS's, which are the size of a very large dog or small bear, were individually based, of course. Since base size or shape doesn't matter for this game (or most rules I play), I put them on some available oval MDF bases I'd purchased last year at Cincycon. 

    I textured and decorated the bases to look like a decaying urban battleground

I flocked the bases with Woodland Scenics Fine Ballast (Gray Blend). I gave this a dark wash, as well (perhaps too dark?). I also put some resin bricks on the bases that I'd purchased at the Dragons Guildhall, too. I finished the bases off with some tufts of grass for that overgrown urban environment effect.

My horde of rats painted up quickly, so now it is on to more projects!

Holy Mackeral! Another Wars of Insurgency Report

    An overview of the village where most of the battling BushWars campaign contingents ended up

Having a few days off for the Thanksgiving holidays, I decided to re-post some more Wars of Insurgency battle reports from the active and enthusiastic Nunawading Wargames Association. Since they post their AARs on Facebook group, most readers are unable to access them unless they join their group. Plus, I think readers of Lead Legionaries will enjoy their humor and excitement, as well as the models and creativity they show. So enjoy!

OPERATION “HOLY MACKEREL” 

...or in this case, "Don’t be late for the flight!"

    The goal of the contingents: Board the flying boat and get the heck out of there!

by Mike Fly Goldyn (July 1, 2022)

Last night, several national contingents - New Guernsey, Omovo, PKL and Zevonia - were operating along the coast of Khenefria and at a given point in time converged into an area where it was known that a flying boat was moored. A race developed as to which national contingent would embark on the flying boat (a Beriev Be-6) and fly to safety.

    All four contingents had to march across the board and find clues or equipment to help them

Advancing towards the port town, the Zevonians found a crate with two LMGs within. Unfortunately, they were useless. They also encountered the local population first. It was a decidedly frosty reception.
(Side note: civilians were in the area to offer information to contingents they were questioned by. Some were ambivalent, one was enthusiastic, but most were downright hostile, even aggressive! Several soldiers met their end from a well-placed kick!).

    The New Guernsey contingent hopped on board the dubious and flammable transport of a fuel truck

It was the PKL contingent that started the shooting. New Guernsey troops found two vehicles, a fuel truck and a bus, in working order and had decided to use those for transport. As the New Guernsians were traveling past, the PKL-ers threw a barrage of hand grenades at the passing vehicles. A lively gunfight ensued between the soldiers roadside and the vehicle passengers. (Side note: statistically, it was amazing how many hand grenades were duds! At times, it was like throwing rocks.)

    The Zevonian contingent advances along the edge of the board, hugging the cover

The fuel truck driver was shot and killed whilst hurtling down the road. With a combination of gymnastics and extreme contorting, the officer passenger was able to shift the dead driver out of the seat, replace him as the driver and gain control of the truck. Similarly, the bus became a bullet magnet, gradually filling with casualties. But they gave as good as they got. The roadside was piling up with PKL dead and wounded. 

    After a long and harrowing run, the New Guernsian hijacked bus crashes into a building

Finally, the PKL-ers managed to blow up the fuel truck in a great ball of flame. Surprisingly, there were few casualties as those hanging onto the truck for grim life managed to jump clear before the explosion. At almost the same time, the bus driver was shot and killed, causing the bus to swerve and collide into a mud brick building. It was this bus crash that caused the most casualties. 

    One squad enters the village, peering around the corner for signs of their foes

Thereafter, both the New Guernsians and PKL-ers were spent forces. What was left of the PKL contingent decided to continue their advance to the town, past more abusive villagers. The New Guernsians took shelter in the building they just crashed into. Sporadic gunfire between the two contingents continued until the PKL-ers moved out of range. 

    Omovans and Zevonians take cover and begin to battle it out in the center of the village

The Zevonians made steady progress towards the road. They threatened the New Guernsians, made a marriage proposal to a local villager and… other stuff. On the other flank, the Omovans also advanced towards the road, meeting along the way several unhelpful villagers. 

    Interrogating locals could end up helping a faction (or not!), as it did with the Omovans

With some luck, they found the one key person of the operation. In the briefing, it was stated “No One is your friend; trust No One”. Upon approaching a rather attractive (and dangerously armed) young girl, she introduced herself as No One. She showed the Omovans a secret tunnel system that led to the other side of the town, just opposite of the pier. 

    No report of factions attempting to interrogate the elephants (despite their reputation for memory!)

As the Omovans were about to descend into the tunnel, the poor hapless PKL detachment (downgraded from contingent) entered the town and thus coming into range of some F.L.A.W. guerrillas. The resulting ambush caused yet more casualties on the ever-shrinking PKL detachment. 

    The formerly peaceful village erupted in gunfire as the four factions made their way slowly to it

The town now became the focus of new conflict. The remaining PKL-ers took shelter in the corner townhouse, engaging in a firefight with the guerrillas. The Omovans found an Umgawan special forces team who were there to hunt down the F.L.A.W. guerrillas. They all emerged from the tunnel in the courtyard of a walled building. The Zevonians engaged the guerrillas. The New Guernsians remained skulking in the mud brick building. 

    Sneaking through a grove of palm trees towards the outskirts of the village

In amongst the carnage, some bloke started playing singing bowl music (probably some stray musician from Duloc), enhancing everyone’s morale. The F.L.A.W.-ists were eventually eliminated. The Umgawans left as their mission was completed. The Zevonians changed targets and started shooting at the Omovans, whilst the Omovans were battling the remnants of the PKL-ers.  

    The firefight in the village gets more intense as the end of the game nears

In amongst the flying bullets and lobbed hand grenades, the Zevonians made a dash for the pier and the Beriev flying boat moored to it. Amongst the bullets and wood splinters from the pier, the Zevonians managed to embark onto the Beriev, take off and fly away with no further calamities. Mission success for Zevonia! 

    The Zevonians hurry down the pier and pile into the waiting flying boat to make their getaway

Side note: as the Zevonians won the battle and managed to fly away with a crate full of platinum bars, they will be rewarded with D10 x10 points which they can add to their contingent in the next game. Many thanks for another exciting and hilarious game to Tom Chenu, Ashley Jenkins, Piotr Kaczmarek and Aaron Mauger, with additional thanks for the special input by Keiran Pycroft.