Using Song of Drums and Tomahawks to Restage the Attack on Michilimackinac at Historicon

    A flurry of combats rage throughout Ft. Michilimackinac, as the Ojibwe & Sauk seek to take control!

Unlike last year, when the whole First Command Wargames crew went to Historicon, this year only Jenny and myself were able to make the journey. To simplify things, we decided to run just one of our rule sets - Song of Drums and Tomahawks. Not only was it our first rules set we published (partnering with Ganesha Games), it is also probably our all-time best seller. Plus, the American frontier setting fit with the convention's theme. 

    A birds-eye view of the layout of my take on this Michigan fort during Pontiac's Rebellion, 1763

I chose two 4-player scenarios to run side-by-side. I wanted them to be highly visual, but adapt well with either the full four players or also with just two in case we didn't fill up. I need not have worried about the last consideration, as all four of our events had the maximum eight players. I was pretty happy about that, especially since my name as a GM is somewhat unknown outside of the Ohio area. Jenny was listed as GM for two of the four events, and her name would naturally be even less well known. We were full, though, and had great players for all our games.

 

Gate tower sentry looks on in horror as Indians stream through the gates & execute their ruse

The first scenario we were hosting was the Attack on Fort Michilimackinac. This occurred in 1763 during Pontiac's Rebellion. The local Ojibwe and Sauk tribes were upset with the British, who had taken over control of the area after their victory in the French & Indian War. A grand conspiracy was organized by multiple tribes and the Ojibwe and Sauk scored one of its most memorable successes. The Indians arrived at the fort under the guise of peace, saying they wanted to trade. They also staged a lacrosse game on the grassy area in front of the fort, inviting garrison to come down and watch. At one point during the game, the ball was tossed over the ramparts into the fort. Naturally, the players streamed after it.

    A British officer stands firm, ready to meet Indians sprinting up the tower ramp with his pistol

Once inside, the Indian women stood up from where they had been trading and opened their bulky robes. Concealed inside were knives and tomahawks that the lacrosse players grabbed and began attacking the garrison. The ruse was a brutal success and more than two dozen British soldiers were killed. For my re-staging of the attack, I gave the two Indian players identical forces of nine figures each. One figure would be the leader and eight rank and file braves. Of those, the chieftain and three braves were assumed to have tomahawked a soldier and seized his loaded musket. In addition, the Indian players would take their turns first, followed by the British. This was to represent the shock and surprise of the attack. 

    Success of the attack often depended on the initial accuracy of the British soldiers on the palisades

Meanwhile, the two British players were each given an officer armed with a pistol and six soldiers with muskets. Since the attack was unexpected, they had to first deploy all figures spaced apart from each other (Short distance, in game terms). A maximum of half of the figures could be inside the four buildings or towers. Their advantage was that ALL British figures began the game with a loaded firearm, while less than half of the Indians did so. Most of the Indians would be forced to enter melee, which is of course riskier than shooting at someone from a distance!

    In a short time, both British and Indian dead or wounded littered the ground inside the fort

My Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules are meant to be a simple, fast-play skirmish set using only six-sided dice. The way the rules work out is that if two rank & file troops are fighting each other in melee, with no tactical modifiers (like defending an obstacle, extra enemies in contact, etc., each will roll 1d6 and add +2 (the figure's Combat score). Doubling an enemy wounds them and knocks them out of action. Beating them on an even die roll knocks them down (which makes them easier to kill in follow-up attacks), while an odd number recoils them away one base depth. However, shooting at an enemy with a musket at short range adds an additional +2 for the attacker. So, potentially, before rolling their die, the Shooter is already up +4 vs. +2. Of course, cover and other shooting modifiers can adjust those numbers, too. So, you can see why I gave the British fewer figures -- they would potentially have more deadly musketry attacks.

    Fighting was desperate & hand-to-hand inside Ft. Michilimackinac, once the muskets were fired

How did the battles turn out? Great -- and fairly even! I ran the fort scenario and Jenny ran the Clifftop Battle (which I will talk about in the next post). On Thursday, the British won the first battle in the morning, while the Indians won the evening battle. On Saturday (Jenny and I played in the Saga tournament Friday), the Indians won the first game while the second one was locked in what I called a Draw. The players felt the Indians had a slight advantage. However, comparing the number of loaded muskets the few remaining figures on each side had, I think the British could easily have driven the Indians from the fort.

    Indian attackers took advantage of the ramps that led up to the corner cannon platforms

The Indians actually begin deployed inside the fort at the start of the game. I have half a dozen casualty figures littered near the gate entrance to represent the initial, shocking moments of the surprise attack. All Indians deploy within one Long distance of the gate, limiting them to a relatively small semi-circle. The more successful Indian players began their first turn firing off their capture muskets at British sentries who were out in the open on the palisade platforms. Those who tried to eliminate sentries deployed in positions of hard cover ended up fruitlessly wasting their musket fire. Also, the more aggressive Indian players were with their braves armed only with knives or tomahawks, the more successful they tended to be. Moving into contact with a British sentry and locking him in combat, meant that not only could he not be shot by that soldier, he couldn't be targeted by his fellow garrison members either.

    Another closeup of the Ojibwe and Sauk boiling through the gate in the initial moments of the attack

The more successful British players began in good cover, taking advantage of the towers as well as the log piles, buildings, etc. They immediately targeted the closest Indians, scoring initial successes to even the numbers. One of the things about my rules is that players are constantly called upon to make decisions. When a player is activating a figure, he must choose to roll for 1, 2, or 3 Activations. If the figure is within the leader's command range, he succeeds on a 3+. If outside, rank and file succeed on a 4+. The risk part of the rules is that if you fail with two attempts on a single figure, your turn is over. We call it a "crap out." Any unmoved figures lose their chance to act. 

    Cannon platforms were the scene of many bitter struggles over the course of four, hard-fought games

Obviously, you could roll only one dice for all of your figures until your final figure (when you roll 3, because your turn will be over anyway after this figure is finished). However, this very conservative path means you are often activating far fewer times than a player rolling for two or three. I advise players to prioritize. Which figure is the most important one to activate? Has your leader been knocked down? Activate him first to keep the enemy player from launching a killing blow before he can stand back up! Are any of your figures in contact with enemy they have knocked down, and can finish off by simply beating and not needing to double them? Prioritize those, as well. And finally, remember figures within range of your leader have a 2/3's chance of success to activate, while those outside have only a 50%. Many a player has unwisely chosen to begin with those out of range and lost their turn throwing poor activation dice.

    A look at the two games, side-by-side, set up and ready for its next batch of players

The players picked up the mechanics quickly, as usual. Once the game begins, I typically assist them in calculating their factors for the first couple shots or melees. After that, I go into teacher mode and ask them to calculate it for me, checking to ensure they have it right. Not far into the game, I hear the players talking to their friends excitedly about how these simple mechanics work really well. They begin to ponder taking the rules engine and applying it to another period they play.

 

    Released in 2014, Song of Drums and Tomahawks is still First Command's all-time best seller

We sold all but one of the Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules sets we brought with us. The rules were carried in the Exhibit Hall by Brigade Games and (I believe) On Military Matters, as well. I know they sold copies, too. So, I felt happy that the game was popular with my players. There were a lot of cinematic fun moments, too. One particular British soldier in the final game we nicknamed "Badger" for how fierce he was when knocked down. He would lose his even-up melees against Indians, only to time after time defeat the enemy who followed up to finish him off. Thursday night was a blast when my friend Jason and his two high school age kids played. Lillian did the same thing, over and over. She won at least four combats in a row when she was on the short end of a +4 vs. +1 disadvantage. Killing a rival player's miniatures is always a visceral thrill in a wargame, but the taste is that much sweeter when it is your Dad, sister, or brother! I commiserated with the Indian player matched up against Lillian as he was being hit doubly by the wargamer's maxim of "not rolling dice against women or children."

    Here is a link to my 2014 blog post about building the Acheson Creations frontier fort

The Acheson Creations fort looked great, as it always does, on the tabletop. I got lots of nice compliments about the terrain and the miniatures themselves. Most are from the old Conquest Miniatures line, and I spent a lot time detailing them with tattoos, bead work, and more. It was fun to run my first published rules, again. I had been running my gang warfare Mean Streets rules, as well as my Wars of Insurgency modern Africa game much more, of late. Historicon was a nice blast from the past and let me remember how fun of a game it is to run. 

Next up will be an account of Clifftop Battle. If you have seen the movie The Last of the Mohicans, then you have an idea for my inspiration!

Thracian Warlord & More Rhomphaia Men

    My third batch of Thracians using 28mm Crusader Miniatures (purchased from Badger Games)

I continue to work on my Thracian army for Saga: Age of Alexander. Normally, the last thing I do for any new army is paint the warlord stand. However, I was tired of using my Roman warlord as proxy for this army (which IS about half done, now). So, I decided to paint up the last of the rhomphaia men and the warlord. I've also decided to take a pause on playing the Thracians at our Saga game days to get some practice in with my venerable Welsh army. I will likely be playing it in the next two tournaments I take part in.

    A look at the shields of this batch, which includes the warlord stand & five rhomphaia men

The only assembly necessary for these Crusader Miniatures Thracians (which I bought from Badger Games) was epoxying the shields on the arms and giving the warlord his spear. I particularly liked how many of these Thracians have their left arms extended to make it even easier to properly center and affix the shields. As readers of my blog know, I prefer metal miniatures over plastic kits with all of their heads, arms, and torsos that require assemblage. I am getting a bit better at using super glue recently, but still not enough to want to have to glue a whole army together. Give me the heft and weight of metals any day! 

    Almost no assembly required -- the wicker crescent shields were the only thing I had to glue on

I started my usual way on these figures: white priming and then painting the skin. I use ordinary white craft paint to prime figures with a thick, stiff brush. Next, I paint all of the flesh areas with craft paint flesh. The color I use is too pale for my liking, so I put a Terra Cotta colored wash over the skin afterwards once it dries. The next step is the artistic step, in my opinion. I grab a ballpoint pen, survey my paint rack, and select the colors for the figures tunics and cloaks (if they have one). I write these down on the cardboard square I temporarily base my figures being painted upon.

    The pastel colored tunics and cloaks of the Thracians all received a dry brush highlighting

After painting the base color for all of the tunics, I do a dry brush of a lighter version of that color (usually the next day, after the acrylic paint has had a chance to "shrink wrap" onto the figure). Then I follow up with the cloak color, and dry brush it the next day, as well. Okay, I lied. This NEXT step is truly the artistic step for the Thracians. I sit down and plan out the cloak pattern for each of the figures wearing cloaks (six of the eight in this batch). I will physically draw a sketch of the pattern on the cardboard square, with notes on what colors I will use. 

    So far, I am a big fan of how these geometric patterns are coming out on my Thracian Saga army

On about half of these patterns, I used micron pens. The rest were done with a brush. I am really happy with the way the cloaks on my Thracians are turning out. The micron pens (I buy the Sakura brand from Hobby Lobby, and my favorite pack contains six "Earth Tones"). However, I recommend getting an even smaller tip black mircon pen, too. It is very useful for the tiniest detail work or outlining a shield pattern. Some things I find easier to do by brush, though -- such as borders on cloaks or evenly spaced lines on particularly rippled cloaks. Cloaks with deep folds make it difficult to fit the nib of the micron pen all the way into. Of course, none of these details would be possible without my lighted magnifier that I hold the figures under while painting. My eyesight simply isn't what it used to be for finer details, and I depend on it regularly.

    Several angles of the warlord stand - note the severed heads on the standard & ground in front

For the warlord, I decided to forego giving him a dog or other animal on his base, like I often do in Saga. I liked the standard bearer figure on foot (with its two severed heads suspended from the pole). I also decided to use one bodyguard type figure with a rhomphaia, in addition to the mounted general. This would give me a total of three figures on the warlord's base, which is what I like. Also, if I use one mounted figure and two foot figures on a warlord base, I can legitimately claim that stand as either mounted or foot! I will usually use him as mounted with this army, but there may be opponents where I would prefer him to be on foot. This way, I paint up just one warlord and use him for both options. 

I painted the warlord in more of a Greek style rather than one of the tribal Thracians. From recent excavations of the tombs of Thracian kings, they would often imitate Greek dress and fashion.  In hindsight, I wish I had put more effort into his horse rather than giving him a boring white one. Sigh. I do like the severed head on a post and helmeted head leaning against it, though! I've had these painted up ever since my Roman army, but decided the leader of Thracian tribesmen would be the perfect general to use it on!

So, what's up next on my painting desk? I actually assembled an MDF building that I will need for the next post-apocalyptic scenario. It is black primed on my desk and I should begin painting the interior walls tomorrow. I also have some more wrecked cars I picked up as part of a Terrain Crate pack that I want to squeeze in between more batches of Thracians, too! So stay tuned -- it is summer and I finally have time to work on my hobby stuff!

Searching an Abandoned Army Base

    F Troops arrives at the abandoned army base to begin its exploration into the mystery

Our Sunday evening gaming crew got together to play out the fourth installment of my post-apocalyptic campaign. Each player has their own gang of survivors, and most have been steadily using their Renown Points earned to add skills and traits to their crew. Some, in particular Mike S's Bucknuts, are proving even more effective and deadly than they were at the start of the campaign! The scenario for this game was that the survivor gangs had each heard that a nearby army base had recently been abandoned.

    A shot of the base before the start, showing where each survivor gang would come on

Each gang had sent a scout to spy on the base from afar, and all groups received similar reports. The base had indeed been abandoned - there was no movement, and no signs of life. There were clearly indications that a battle had taken place. The quonset huts were riddled with bullet holes and the perimeter chain link and barbed wire fence had been cut and showed signs of forced entry. The players' scouts all surmised that it was NOT an attack by the Machines. There appeared to be no signs of heavy artillery or high caliber weapons -- only small arms. The Machines would certainly have brought heavier weapons in their assault, if it had been them. Each gang outfitted a party to unravel the mystery of who the attackers were, and hopefully to scavenge some useful military equipment, food, or supplies.

    Daffid and Yoav of the Followers of the Dark Prophet enter the base and take cover

Players had four members of their survivor gang arrive at the edge of the table, two on each long sides of the base, one on each short side. Their arrival locations corresponded to a place where the fence had been either cut or physically forced inwards. Gang members entering through those places wondered what could have bent the aluminum bars inward. It must have been very powerful! I was playing my Green Dragons, and we had chosen to bring along our leader Ting, specialist Wang, Quon, and recently-upgraded Bao. He had been practicing with the assault rifle and ammo the Green Dragons had brought back from the second scenario. 

    Wang of the Green Dragons dashes up to the fence, and quickly surveys the buildings beyond

Wang dashed up to the fence, quickly surveyed the sandbagged positions, supplies, and quonset huts in front of him for signs of activity. Seeing none, he ducked through the cut section of the fence, and darted between the two closest quonset huts, seeking cover. Bao crept into the twisted remains of a burnt out vehicle for a firing position to cover him. On the left, Quon entered the woods to keep an eye on the Nightstalkers. On the right, Ting crept into the woods to take a position to observe the Bucknuts. He cursed them as he caught sight of them. Those country bumpkins were the bastards that had killed Chen in the last scenario!

    Gunfire erupts as the Blood Brotherhood catches sight of the Followers and opens fire on them

All along the perimeter of the base, the other survivor gangs were making their way inside. To the Dragons' left, the Nightstalkers entered in force -- all four darting inside, two creeping inside the first quonset hut. Wang could hear them moving things around inside, searching for valuable equipment. He darted along the path between the huts and took cover besides a stack of spare tires and other equipment. Gunfire rang out, and Wang ducked down even more. Bullets began to tear through the tires and boxes near him and he huddled into a ball, hoping that whatever was inside was solid enough to stop the bullets. He peeked over the top and saw it was indeed the Bucknuts who had been shooting at him.

    Daffid goes down wounded, as the gun battle with the Blood Brotherhood intensifies

Outside the fence, Ting had opened fire once he could make out the form of the Bucknuts' leader, Coop. The woods and the target's good defensive position prevented his shots from having any effect. Coop sighted along the barrel of his assault rifle and fired off two bursts at Ting, forcing him to dive for cover as bullets hit all around him. Coop shouted, "Green Dragons - we weren't trying to kill your man in town, last time! We were shooting at the dogs!" The Bucknuts' leader paused to make sure Ting was listening. "Truce? Let's see what happened here first, and we can settle our differences later." Ting wasn't sure he could trust them, but he knew they all seemed to be much heavier armed and equipped than his men. He shouted okay, then called out to Bao to relay the information to the others.

    A third survivor gang joins the battle as F Troop arrives and begins shooting at both the other two

The shouting was immediately drowned out by the staccato booming of gunfire from the other side of the base. The Followers of the Dark Prophet had entered near the front of the base, immediately taking up cover. Moments later, the dark red robes of the Blood Brotherhood slipped around one of the quonset huts and opened fire. Gunfire rang out back and forth. Daffid of the Followers slumped to the ground wounded, and Brother Intensity cried out and fell beneath the pile of supplies he was sheltering behind. Bursts of automatic gunfire rang out as the two sides fired on each other. The Followers' leader Solomon motioned one of his men along as he crept along the side of one of the quonset huts. The two quickly disappeared inside.

    Wang takes cover from the Bucknuts fire, but also has to worry about the arrival of the Nightstalkers

The gun battle at the front became even more intense as a third group arrived. After occupying the sandbagged guard positions outside the gate, F Troop moved up to the fence and began firing on both the Blood Brotherhood and the Followers of the Dark Prophet. More bullet holes in the buildings of the army base as the rival survivor gangs battled it out. Those who ducked inside the quonset huts found signs of the previous bloody struggle. Bloodstains were everywhere, and trails of bodies being dragged could clearly be discerned. The attackers had ransacked the place already, it appeared, and everyone struggled to find anything of value left among the debris of battle. 

Commander Zander of the Nightstalkers seemed particularly spooked. After two of his men found some useful equipment, he was the first to motion his men to exit the army base. "Whatever did this, boys, might be back. Let's get out of here!" The well-equipped group then quickly ex-filtrated through the large gap in the fence. Zander stopped to examine the bent aluminum bars. "No vehicle tracks," he muttered, shaking his head. "These bars were bent by someone or something. I don't want to meet whatever could bust open a fence like this!" His men stealthily crept from the base, regrouping in a patch of woods.

    Bucknuts begin to ex-filtrate from the compound, with their leader Coop covering their withdrawal

A cry from near the front of the base signaled another casualty of the gun fight. F Troop's Captain Amos slumped next to his firing position, clutching his side. "Got him!" Deacon Justice of the Blood Brotherhood shouted in triumph. It seemed there was little effort in searching among the base's buildings from the three groups near the entrance. Instead, here was a chance to settle some scores and pay back some bad blood between rivals. In my campaign, players earn Renown Points for knocking out of action members of rival survivor gangs. However, they receive a bonus to that score if it is from a group that inflicted a casualty on your gang during the previous game. This might explain Jenny's behavior with her Blood Brotherhood this game, and her bloodthirstiness!

Once the third casualty had been suffered by the players, that sprang the return of those who had attacked the base. I had the players who'd all suffered a casualty roll off, with the winner indicating which of the six woods spaced along the table edge "something" would arrive. Joel chose the woods between my Green Dragons and Mike S's Bucknuts. On the first turn, I indicated the shadowy "something" was stealthily creeping to the edge of the woods, so that it could see out. Its closest targets were Bao inside the cover of the burnt out car and Brutus and Jackie O of the Bucknuts, who had just exited the base and were in the open. 

    With the Bucknuts distracted by "something" firing at them, the Green Dragons prepare to exit

I had received an extra card for the "something" -- I like how the players reacted to the mystery, by the way! I saved the "2 card" for the creature, because it allows an extra die to be rolled, when attacking (player chooses the best). In addition, it was armed with an assault rifle. So, I fired two bursts, with Jackie O falling to the ground wounded and Brutus receiving a "Shaken" marker for near misses. Since anyone in hiding loses that status when they shoot under the Fistful of Lead Core Rules, I described the firer as a dark, human-sized figure that looked vaguely like...Allen! Allen has a bushy beard, hair, and mustache. I said the hair and skin were very much darker than Allen's, and immediately the players began to speculate on who or what the firer could be.

On the Bucknuts turn, Brutus scooped up the fallen Jackie O and ran behind the woods out of sight of his ambusher. Bravely, Wrich stepped around the woods and blazed away with his assault rifle. He missed, from which the players learned the firer had the "Stealthy" skill. Return fire inflicted a Shaken marker on Wrich, but also resulted in an Out of Ammo for the shooter. My Green Dragons took advantage of the distraction of the Bucknuts gun battle with the attacker to exit the base, as well. We dashed off-table with two backpacks full of supplies. Not the greatest haul, but for the first time, we were also leaving the table with no casualties!

    Players speculated over the identify of the mystery attacker - was this a clue to the fate of the base?

Near the front of the base, both the Blood Brotherhood and the Followers ceased firing and made their way off the base. Joel saw them do this, so had F Troop seize the opportunity and dash forward and search for some supplies. After finding some, they also took the opportunity to leave, carrying the unconscious body of Capt. Amos with them. The game had been a tale of two separate encounters. At the front of the base, the three survivor gangs had fired on each other from the outset. All three suffered a casualty, but upon rolling at the end of the game, the gang members all survived. On the other hand, the Nightstalkers, Bucknuts, and Green Dragons had avoided gunplay, for the most part. None suffered a casualty, with Jackie O recovering from her wound before exiting the table.

Fierce speculation ensued as to the identity of the dark-clothed, dark-skinned attacker. I decided to throw in something to worry the players as we broke up. I informed them that all of their gangs, upon heading back towards their bases, felt they were being followed. Whatever was following them was too clever to be caught, though. Whenever they tried to leave someone behind to ambush the stalker or double back, the pursuer would detect it, and stay out of sight. Doubtless, the next mission will involve more clues as to who this mystery enemy might be!

Serving up 'Bloody Congo' for Four

      Heroes of the encounter, the Katangan gendarmes, move out through town to engage the enemy

The Katangan Secession crisis was waged again at Origins Game Fair 2023 in Columbus, this weekend. Although I had it set up for six players, I ended up with four in my Friday morning session. This scenario pitting the newly-independent Congolese forces, augmented by a UN contingent, against Katangan Gendarmes and hired European Mercenaries. As with my six-player version I ran at CincyCon 2023, the mercenaries are bringing vitally-needed ammunition in their armored personnel carriers (APCs) to the Katangan forces.

    The Congolese players, Sam & Kyle, move up their forces while Jenny brings on her APCs

With only four players, I decided to leave out out the Congolese paratroopers and the Katangan militia. In my previous runnings of the scenario, those two factions tended to slug it out with each other and not interact as much with the other four forces. I felt the game worked out just as nicely without those two and was a good solution to having fewer players than I'd hoped. Origins is an all-genre convention, but historical miniatures are definitely under-represented there. So, I wasn't exactly surprised that a "hard historical" game ended up not filling up. In general, of the games our First Command Wargames crew ran at Origins, the less historical games filled up better than the more hardcore historical miniatures ones.

    Three squads of Ghanaian UN troopers hurry towards the road to cut off the vehicles' passage

Three of my players were brand-new to my Wars of Insurgency rules, but picked them up quickly and seemed to enjoy them. One of them purchased the rules after the game, which is always a bonus! Another reason I really enjoy this scenario is, being a two-sided scenario (but with each faction having its own goals), it plays quickly. That, and the board is super quick and easy to set up, but still looks nice, I think. I think the billboards with the propaganda posters makes it "pop," and shantytown shacks give it a third world feel.

    Carrying sorely-needed ammunition, European mercenaries roll ontable in their armored vehicles

Action on the table proceeded similarly to my previous times running the scenario. Perhaps the European mercenaries in their three APCs were a little less aggressive than they have been before. Jenny played them and focused on using the terrain to prevent the Congolese getting off RPG shots at her vehicles more than using the heavy machine guns (HMGs) mounted on the APCs to hammer the enemy. As before, the UN troopers and Katangan gendarmes began skirmishing at long range and quickly intensified into a full-blown firefight. In this game, Sam (who played the UN), aggressively charged into extremely close range in an attempt to clear the Katangans from the town they had occupied. Both wore each other down, with the Katangans likely getting the better of the exchange.

    Katangan gendarmes begin to occupy the buildings of town as a fire base to engage the UN

The ANC (Congolese National Army) concentrated most of their firepower on the mercenaries and their vehicles. They did respond to spoiling attacks by the gendarmes, but did their best to set up shots with their RPGs on the mercenaries, and succeeded in taking out the lead APC. However, Jenny restricted their line of sight with the patches of brush effectively, and neither of the other two took damage. When the APCs arrived at the bottleneck close to where the UN and ANC were occupying the brush, the gendarmes stepped up their attacks and drew the Congolese return fire. This action protected the APCs and enabled the two vehicles to dart past the "kill zone" with minimal shots. Once past that, the vehicles would be able to use the patches of jungle and the buildings as cover to reach the table edge. 

    The UN advance into the teeth of the gendarmes' fire, hugging cover and moving up

It was at that point that we decided to go ahead and count up points. For the first time, the ANC were able to fulfill their primary mission of grabbing ahold of one of the disabled APCs and restocking their own depleted ammunition. Although their mission includes being part of the attempt to put down the secession, the central government has kept this local garrison under-supplied and they were also short on ammo. However, even that was not enough to make up for the casualties that the gendarmes had racked up. In previous games, the APCs accounted for most of the Congolese losses. However, in this game, the gendarmes held their own and killed many of the UN and ANC troops.

    Cleverly using the bush to restrict Congolese line of sight, the APCs advance across the table

All four players had a good time, they said. They picked up the rules and how to calculate their own shots, adjudicate hits, and roll for saves without me having to actively manage the process. I think the rules make for a good convention miniatures game: easy-to-explain, quick-to-learn, and the players feel like their decisions are having an impact on how the game proceeds. This may be the final time I run this scenario this year, though. For Historicon next month, I am switching off and running my French & Indian War rule, Song of Drums and Tomahawks. So, stay tuned next month for reports from those games! And if you feel like channeling Magua and killing "Gray Hair," sign up to play!

    BOOM! An RPG strikes a damaged disabling it completely, killing the last of the mercenary crew

Close assault by the UN attempts to drive the gendarmes from the town and cut off the vehicles' escape

    The heroic Katangan gendarmes seem to be everywhere, though, and distract the Congolese focus

Barbed Wire Compound

    Two boxes worth of Monster Fight Club's Chain Link Fences (bought locally at Guardtower East)

When I was creating my 28mm urban terrain, I scratch-built a bunch of chain link fence sections. To be honest, I was never very thrilled with them. The styrene tubes I used as the aluminum poles and the "granny grate" plastic material for the fence looked okay. They were a little over-scale, though, and their construction looked clunky. So, when I saw Monster Fight Club's scenery pack of Chain Link Fences, I snatched up two boxes of them right away. I felt these would look much more realistic, plus they'd be able to be use as a barbed wire compound.

    The box from Monster Fight Club, which contains 10 sections that each measure roughly 5" long

Since it's me, though, I couldn't resist modifying them a bit. They come with these strange, brick-like, rectangular pieces that the poles fit into to stand upright. The picture on the box also shows them being used at the top to "clip" sections together. I didn't like the way that looked nor they way it elevated the fence off the ground. Wouldn't an elevated fence allow unwanted visitors to slip underneath? So, I decided to snip off all of the bottoms of all the vertical poles. Since these are soft plastic, that was easy enough to do with wire cutters and an X-acto knife.

    One of the unpainted sections - not the poles projecting from the bottom which I trimmed away

Each section measures roughly 5" long, so I cut thin styrene bases for them that were just a tad longer. I had to figure out a way, though, to make sure I glued them perpendicular to the ground. Otherwise, my fences would be leaning this way and that. Keeping them upright was the job of the now-discarded "brick clips." And with 20 sections total, even a small bit of lean would end up looking pretty topsy-turvy the longer the fence line grew. I decided to sandwich each section firmly between two square rods of bass wood. I would shave these into a triangular shape with an X-acto knife to allow the ground to slope from the fence to the base. The sides squeezing the fence section and the side in contact with the base remained a true 90 degrees, hopefully keeping them perpendicular.

    A view of my barbed wire fence sections set up as an abandoned military base for my next game

I slathered the styrene base with 5 minute, two part epoxy and then placed the fence section between the two bass wood rods and held them into place while it hardened. This did a good job of affixing them upright to their bases. It was somewhat time consuming, what with trimming the bass wood square rods, and epoxying them essentially in batches of two or three. It also provided a nicer look, I feel, with the fence actually set into the ground rather than above it. I flocked the sloped rods and bases naturally, which allow the fences and bases to "disappear" onto the tabletop.

    F Troop investigates one of the damaged sections - what could have forced open the metal fence?

I took three sections, cut them in half, and converted them into damaged sections. I also created a gate piece sitting on scratch-built rollers. Half of the damaged sections were made to look like the chain had been cut and the horizontal tubes bent inwards. The other sections I used an X-acto knife to cut one horizontal section of chain and bend it down (as if someone had cut the wire and broken into the compound). Even without the damaged sections, two boxes of the fences provided almost eight linear feet of fencing. So, I had enough for a fairly big compound!

    The rolling gate created from one half of a section, with scratch-built rubber wheels (beads)

How to paint them, though? I decided I would spray them black first with Krylon matte black. I did it at several angles to ensure I got all of it. I didn't want any gray plastic peeking through! I also didn't want to have to do any brushwork on these, figuring it would be a time-consuming mess! After they dried, I used a can of spray silver that looked fairly "aluminum" like. I tried to spray lightly from the top so that some black would show as shadow. I'm not sure there's much shadow, though, and the fences look fairly silver. To tone that down a bit, I went over the horizontal and vertical poles with a dark, black wash. This did a great job of weathering the look, and I am happy with the final color of the fencing.

    The color came out okay - black spray paint with a dull silver spray over top and black wash on poles

The vertical poles are topped by angled pieces of metal which are obviously meant to be strung with barbed wire, in real life. Monster Fight Club did not sculpt any wire, but did have three shallow indentations where the wire could be strung for enterprising modelers. I decided to be one of those, but what material to use? I ended up going with braided, silver thread. The twisted strands of the thread catch the light at different angles and make it sparkle. I thought this would give the visual effect of the tiny barbs on the wire.

    I like how the silver thread is strung somewhat loosely and irregularly (or cut in damaged parts)

Stringing the thread onto each section was probably the most fiddly part of the entire build. I decided to use a drop of superglue on each indentation to hold it. I was afraid Tacky Glue might dry white, so I went with superglue. First, I cut each strand of wire so that there would be about an inch extra left over to trim off. Then, I glued the three strands to only the left-most pole. Once it had hardened, I put the drops of superglue onto the the other three poles and stretched it across into place. I wanted to be able to pull it relatively tight, so it needed to be affixed firmly to the left-hand pole (if this description makes sense). Since the thread in wound around a spool, it would try to bend back upon itself. However, the superglue minimized this movement, and instead it made it look like irregular slack spaces in the barbed wire. I felt this actually added to the realism.

    You can see the twisted "braiding" in the silver thread that catches the light and gives it a sparkle

Although VERY fiddly, I think the simulated barbed wire really makes these "pop" on the tabletop. I would recommend anyone picking these up to also get a roll of braided silver thread (or raid your wife's sewing kit). The thread was only about $6 with an online coupon at Joanne's Fabrics, if you have to scrounge your own. One final note -- I did all of my clear coating of the fences (and flocking) BEFORE affixing the wire. I didn't want to take a chance that my Dullcoate would take away any of the thread's sparkle.

    I'm really happy with the chain link fence sections and highly recommend them!

I am really happy with how these fences turned out, and will be using them this weekend in my next Post-Apocalyptic game. Stay tuned as the survivor gangs investigate the abandoned military base and try to piece together clues on what happened to the force that had been stationed there...!