Lead Painters League 8, Round 5

 

"When You Don't Pay the Foederati..." my Round 5 entry. These 28mm mounted Dark Ages figures are from various sources. I ended up losing this contest by only 16 votes -- 229 vs. 213!

 I had primed these figures up months ago. They are to be used for my Dark Ages skirmish campaign that I intend to run for the guys at the Sunday night gaming group. I'd painted a batch of six mounted 28mm troops earlier, and these were the last of the ones I owned. In addition, they were pretty much the last figs I needed to paint up to be able to start the campaign.

So, when I saw one of the theme rounds for the Lead Painters League was "Ancients," I figured these would be a good fit. They're at the outer edge of the period, as many consider the Dark Ages to be more medieval than Ancient. I felt that would be splitting hairs, and figured I would bill them as mounted Germanic tribesmen used by the Romans as foederati (allies).

One major difference between how I paint up 28mm mounted and 15mm ones is I go for a more realistic look on the horses. In 15's, I had basic colors I painted them -- a couple shades of brown, a gray, black, white, etc. The only real variety was in the white spots I put on their legs or faces. A couple years ago, though, I painted up a large number of mounted Wild West figures as a commission for my friend, Joe. I did a lot of research, and found a page which has more than 70 simple colored drawings of various classes of horses. Since then, I've used that page to paint up my 28m horses, supplementing the small drawings with Google images of that type. I've been really happy with how my dappled grays have come out using real horses as a model. I also liked the way in this batch the chestnut turned out. His subtle coloring and shading makes him (her?) my favorite.

I thought I did a pretty good job on the details for these figs. I even tried to up my game by highlighting the colors on the shields. I learned that technique from Joe of the "An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields" website. Of course, he is 10 times better at me than it, but still, any improvement is an improvement. And that being my final goal for participating in the Lead Painters League, I am happy with how these came out. I thought my scene was staged fairly nicely. The title was supposed to be "When You Don't Pay the Foederati" (the guy in charge dropped the "when"). The implication is if you don't give your barbarian allies cash, they're going to take their payment by raiding villages. And that was the scene I depicted.

Prior to that round, I had mentioned to a friend that the previous 4 rounds had all been clear wins or losses. I'd had no close matches. I should have watched out what I wished for! I started out ahead in this matchup with some nicely-painted 28mm gladiators (though I thought mine were nicer...haha!). I was up all sunday in the voting, and by as much as 17 votes. It remained close, though, and was cut to a less than 10 vote lead by Tuesday. Suddenly, on Wednesday, the voting reversed. I was down by less than 10, and finally just under 20. It was a very strange reversal, I thought. Usually, early voting is a great indicator of how a race will go, but this was not the case in this round. When I checked earlier today (the final day of voting), I was down by more than 10 points, which will be a loss. If I somehow squeeze it to within 10 or less, it becomes a draw. No biggie -- just a bit mystifying.

Lead Painters League 8, Round 4: 28mm Conquest Miniatures "Winter" Indians

NOTE: I changed this to my Round 4 entry after photographing it...

 

My Round 4 entry in the Lead Painters League: Winter Hunt. These 28mm Conquest Miniatures Indians came up short against a well-painted entry 380-128, dropping me to 2-2 in the league.

In honor of the cold and snowy winter we've had this year, I thought I should paint up Conquest Miniatures' pack of 28mm Indians in winter dress. Even though round 2 will be right around April, I wouldn't be surprised if winter has yet to release us from its grasp. I realize now that this probably wasn't the most practical purchase I've ever made. Four of the five Indians I painted up are wearing snow shoes -- which means I'll have to flock them on a snowy type base. That means they won't match the rest of my Indians, and will look quite out of place on an ordinary, non-winter battlefield. Oh well...I bought them because they looked cool. And whether I find many uses for them on the tabletop or not, they will still fulfill that purpose...!

Although the pack contained six miniatures, I am trying to be ultra efficient in this Lead Painters League and paint the minimum five figures per round -- at least when I do 28mm figs. I decided to be even more efficient by painting this batch simultaneously with another set of five Indians. Painting 10 28mm figures at a time is probably about as big as I want to go. It was helpful to have them all at the same stage -- base coating, dry brushing, detailing, and so on.

I started with the flesh, like I usually do on 28mm figures. I paint Indians a base coat of Iron Wind Metals Red Brown, then dry brush Howard Hues Middle Eastern flesh, followed by a highlight of Ceramcoat Flesh. One of the figures is in what appears to be a coat made out of animal (bear?) skins. The other four wear thigh length tunics. As I often do when pondering what colors to paint minis, I examined a good source. In this case, "The Narrative Art of Robert Griffing: Vol. II, The Journey Continues." This large book has dozens of reproductions of the artist's paintings. Pretty much all of them are from the French & Indian War period, or right around that time. I picked out my colors, matched them up with the paints I own, and wrote down the details on the temporary cardboard bases I glue figures onto to handle while painting.

Lately, I've been experimenting with using washes instead of simply dry brushing everything. Two of the figures used this technique, while on the other three I employed the more common base coat and dry brush. Since I would be entering these in the contest, I added quite a bit more beadwork and decorative details on the Indians clothing and equipment. When it came time to add their warpaint, I went back to the Griffing book for more inspiration. Though expensive, the book is an incredible resource as Griffing's work is authoritative and highly regarded.

When it came time to wash the figures, a semi-disaster struck. Since I am getting down towards the end of the bottle of ink wash I'd mixed up, I'd noticed it produced a much darker color than I really wanted. So, thinking to thin it down, I added in some distilled water. For some reason, this caused a dirty fog or sorts to appear in different spots on the figures. After all that time and work on them, it was pretty annoying to have this happen. I'd read online that a shot of clear gloss will often "erase" a fog caused by spray clear coats. So, I decided to try something similar here. I purchased a bottle of Vallejo Clear Gloss arcylic resin paint and brushed it on them. Although it did not fix them completely, it did make the surface look beetter.

I was stumped at first on how to produce a snowy base for the miniatures. Then I remember my old method of using Liquitex modeling paste. It produces a white surface that can be made smooth or rough depending on how much water you add after it is applied. First, I glued some rocks or branches down to be poking up through the snow. Then, I carefully applied it -- constantly having to soak up any that had slopped onto the snowshoes of the figures. Once dry, I applied to watered down washes of the lightest blue I own. Snowfields often have bluish shadows, and I wanted to replicate the effect on the miniatures. And finally, wherever the Liquitex cracked as it dried, I covered this up with white glue and applied a thin patch of Woodland Scenics "Burnt Grass." I was very happy with how the snow bases turned out.

In general, I am still disappointed with what the wash did to the figures. This will probably be the last time I use that ink wash on miniatures. Remember, I did a second batch of Indians simultaneously, so there will be one more entry using it. I plan on trying to add some black paint to the Vallejo Clear Flat paint and see how that works. I will come back and add pictures of the painted Indians after this entry has finished its week-long contest.

Modern Africa Hostage Rescue

My buddy Joel hosted us at his house this past Sunday, and had set up a modern Africa hostage rescue game. He'd found a set of rules off the internet and used the miniatures we had for our own modern Africa games. Why he didn't use the same rules...well, we asked that afterwards...? Here is Joel's entertaining report, along with a couple pictures I took...

    20mm modern Africa hostage rescue game hosted by Joel using "Execute" rules

Battle Report: Streets of Raƙumi
Rules:  Execute execute execute!
Mike S, Keith, Allen, Mike D, Tom (each player controlled a fire team of 3)
GM: Joel

Sgt. Daba, situation commander, could not tell how many tribal separatist or hostages were in town.
It was 2000 hours and getting dark, South African advisers thought the terrorists could use the cover of darkness to escape with the hostages. So, Sgt. Daba order the security forces to surround the town and check every building.  The terrorist had exceptional fire control. Luckily, no sniper was set up in town.  As the troops moved through town, reports came in "Building clear, building clear!" Sgt. Daba moved to the local police station, bypassed the security lock, and was attacked by three Sellenduq tribalist with a grenade and holding one hostage.  In the 20-minute gun fight with the well-armed Sellenduqs, Sgt. Daba lost two men before clearing that police station.  (Mike S rescued 1
hostage)

Meanwhile, across town, Yoro -- a town elder -- led two of his sons in the warehouses east of town.  They stumbled across two Abanaban tribalists crouching over an IED. The terrorist fled and so did Yoro and his sons. "BOMB! BOMB! BOMB!" they shouted trying to warn the nearby soldiers. Within seven minutes, the warehouse was destroyed in the explosion.

The South African advisers worked the backside of a street with the local militia.  The militia marked a large building clear, but the South Africans double checked and ran into three hiding Abanaban
terrorists.  The Abanaban threw a pipe bomb that failed to go off, and a 15 minute gun battle inside the large building momentarily stopped the South Africans advance. The South Africans cleared the building and rescued three hostages.  (Mike D rescued the most hostages so "won" the game).

    More action from the game, and a closer look at the ceramic buildings Joel is creating in his art class. The tile street is ceramic, as well.

Regular army troops on Sgt. Daba left flank checked and cleared three dwellings as they cautiously approached the fire fight outside the police station.  They stumbled across three terrorists with one
bomb set to go off.  They shot one terrorist, threw a grenade at the other terrorist, rescued one hostage and got away from the building, which then blew up. (Keith rescued 1 hostage).

    Tom, Joel and Mike S decompress with a game of Strozzi -- kind of an alternate version of the board game Medici

The game went quickly, so we had time. So, we did a quick board game, Strozzi.   We taught Mike D how to play, he won (so we told him TOO much in my opinion). We also learned that Keith is a slooooow pirate.

Lead Painters League, Round 3: Rogers Rangers

 

My Round 3 entry: Rogers Rangers. These 28mm Conquest Miniatures scouted out my second victory in the league, 466-18.

After running my French & Indian War game for 8 players at Advance the Colors 2013, I was overjoyed to see how successful it was and how much the players liked the format. This meant I could plan even larger battles! Note the word "plan," because for that game, I had nearly every miniature I'd painted for that period on the table. Which I naturally interpreted as meaning I needed to buy more figs! I picked up two packs of Conquest Miniatures 28mm Rangers, amongst other things. I sorted through them and snagged the five poses I liked best, and scheduled them to be painted for round 3.

One of the things I like best about participating in the Lead Painters League is that it forces me to improve my skills. For this batch, that meant trying a new washing method to give some depth and shading to their green uniforms. My black washes on green clothes never really seem to come out looking that nice. So, it was time to experiment!

Normally, I start out painting the flesh of a figure first -- you know, the "inside out" method. However, washes can get messy, so I did the Rangers' green jackets first. I took a very pale and sun-bleached green (Ceramcoat Stonewedge Green) as my base coat. Then, came the experimenting. I used Ceramcoat Yew Green for the darker wash color. I put a few drops in the palette and added water. My first consistency was too watered down, and added too little shadows. I added another drop of paint, and it was better. It took a third drop before I was happy with the effect it was giving me.

There are a lot of images online and painting guides to help with Rogers Rangers. They show different varieties. For their Indian-style leggings, I chose to make them leather for better contrast. The really interesting part of the Conquest Miniatures Rogers Rangers is how UN-uniform they are. From what I've read, that rings very true. Many times they personalized their equipment. Their jackets may have been one of the few uniform things about them. These figures hold true to that -- especially when it comes to their headgear.

And finally, these were the first batch of figures that used only the new final black wash method I have started. I am using a mix of Vallejo's Glossy Varnish and Glossy Black. I like how it brings out the shadows better than the previous ink wash I was using.

I will post a picture of them painted once voting on their round is complete.

Lead Painters League 8, Round 2: On the Warpath

 

"On the Warparth," 28mm Conquest Miniatures Indians -- my entry for Round 2

I have always joked that every Sunday morning, when I wake up and check the matchups in the Lead Painters League, I'm secretly dreading seeing myself matched up against "Frank." Well, it finally happened. Frank is a German painter who participated in my first Lead Painters League (#6), but took last year's #7 off. He is without a doubt one of the most skilled painters on the Lead Adventure Forum. And quite possibly, my favorite painter -- at least alongside "Dr. Matthias." So, when I saw that I was matched up against Frank I knew this round would be a loss.

I was disappointed only in that this entry is my favorite of my first four. But that's the way it goes in the LPL! Your best entry ends up matched up against an elite one, while your lesser submission goes up against a more beatable opponent. My disappointment soon disappeared, though, when I saw the score in the match.  No, I wasn't winning. I was holding down close to 40% of the vote, though. To me, against Frank, that is a victory. It is not just a moral victory, but almost an affirmation that, hey, maybe I'm not such a slouch painter! Frank usually slaps down his opponents in the 90%-10% range. And here I was -- an admittedly middle tier painter at best -- giving him a run for his money.

Honestly, I think it is not only because of the miniatures -- which I *did* put all kinds of details I normally wouldn't onto -- but also the staging. My cliff pieces that I created last summer turned out great, and I've talked about them on this blog more than once. They really set off the photo, and may have swayed a number of votes. Couple that with Frank's submission not being one of his usual, drop-dead, stunners, and I gathered quite a few points in this round. Votes equals points, and I came away from my 303-186 loss with a handful more than I would have expected, going in against my opponent. So, in this case, I came away happy with a loss...!

Dakota Smith goes to Cincycon!

    The board was a big hit with the players, and got lots of nice comments

I packed up pretty much every piece of SE Asia terrain that I've made for my Pulp games, all of my 28mm Pulp figures, and headed to Cincinnati, Ohio, for Cincycon 2014. I would be running my game both Friday night and Saturday morning. Jenny and I arrived before noon, and I took the opportunity to set up the board since no one was using it before my evening event. It took a good bit of time because I hadn't done a "dry run" like I'd originally planned on doing. What's more, I hadn't even play tested the scenario -- usually a "no-no" for me!

    Close up of the board, with the river dividing the boards. Notice the large temple in the upper left and the giant, Petco statue in the river island.

Plus, I was not using Pulp Alley -- the rules I normally run for the guys in our Sunday night games, Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures. I had set it up for 8 players, and I really didn't feel confident running the rules for a group that large. Instead, I was using "Flying Lead," the modern rules set from the Ganesha Games engine made popular by Song of Blades and Heroes (which I use for Dark Ages skirmishes). I had never actually run a game using FL, but had played in a number of them. I was using my innovation I premiered at Advance the Colors 2013 of splitting the game board into separate, simultaneous games. Rather than have it be four one-on-one matchups, like at ATC 2013, this game would essentially be two separate four player games. The figures could meet up, though, as the two boards were connected by a the rope bridge piece of terrain I'd scratch-built. I felt pretty safe running the rules, though I did need to scan them a couple times to make sure I was aware of the differences between FL and SBH and the French & Indian War variant I usually run, Song of Drums and Tomahawks.

    Svetlana's international smuggling ring advances towards the jungle hut

I really didn't need to worry as the players all said they had a blast. There was a lot of laughing and joking around going on, so I think everyone had fun. I made one adjustment after the first game, switching out the deployment of the secret martial arts society, The Order of the Fire Coral, with that of the international smuggling ring, Svetlana's Smugglers. The pygmy cannibals were simply too deadly to the martial artists, and I felt that with three submachine guns, Svetlana's lot would be able to handle the swarm attack of the pygmies. It was a near thing, though, and if it hadn't been for the Pygmy player crapping out twice in a row exactly when they had the smugglers on the ropes, they might have repeated as the scenario winner on Saturday, too.

    Von Jaeger and the German archeological party, with a force of German sailors, advance on the jungle hut on the other board

As it was, there were a lot of humorous and cinematic moments. My favorite was when the portly Harris McLeod of the British archeological team braved the crocodile infested water and escaped only by the skin of his, well, you know what...! Another favorite moment was when Svetlana -- beset by three martial artists -- was knocked off of the cliff. The player remembered the reroll ability of the Hero trait just in time. With a new set of dice rolls, Svetlana went all "La Femme Nikita" on the Fire Coral and drove them off, remaining Queen of the Mountain.

    Harris McLeod leads the British Museum party, guarded by a force of Sikhs, survey the area around the big temple

Pics and comments are below. I'm grateful for all the praise and comments I received from players and convention goers. Many years ago, I remember admiring South Pacific Island skirmish games set up by other GMs. I recall secretly wishing that, one day, I could run a game like that. Well, Cincycon 2014 was THAT day, and I'm happy it all worked out great and seemed to give the players several hours of enjoyment

    The Order of the Fire Coral infiltrates the temple area, looking to secure artifacts from the prying hands of the foreign devils...

    The Pygmy Cannibals were vicious and deadly, swarming over the martial artists of the Fire Coral and then attacking the Germans and Americans in Friday night's game

    Pierre Fournereau's French archeological party and their Senegalese Askaris seize the high ground

    Tatko and Jaz Minh of the Order of the Fire Coral sprint up the cliff path to be the first to make it to the river island

    Other agents follow them and cross the rope bridge in their path, while below Jaz Minh -- who fell when making the leap into the lap of the stone god -- scrambles away from the hungry, hungry hippo

    Meanwhile, H.T. (who won playing the Pygmy cannibals Friday) notices that the martial artists have split half of their strength off...it is a well-known fact that Pygmy Cannibals highly enjoy Chinese food!

    One by one, the Fire Coral's agents remaining on that half of the board are surrounded, beaten down, and dragged off to the simmering cookpot -- including the leader, Opay

    Meanwhile the British climb up their side of the cliffs to squabble over it with the French

    It became quite the scrum on top of the cliffs. Peace broke out for a moment in Anglo-Franco relations, but it was quickly tossed aside as close-range shotgun blasts proved too tempting!

    The final, climactic battle royale atop the cliffs. When the martial artists attempted to cross over to join in, Harris McLeod cleared the bridge with a shotgun blast that pitched three into the water

    After securing the fabled artifact, the Tears of the Buddha, from the island temple, Tatko decided to bypass the bridge and instead take a shortcut through crocodile and hippo-infested waters. The burly martial artist ended up being guest of honor in the resident crocodile's dinner plans...!

Lead Painters League 8, Round 1: Splintered Light Miniatures Mice

 

My Round 1 entry into Lead Painters League 8: "Fight the Gouda Fight!" Splintered Light Miniatures mice, painted and based for the fantasy miniatures rules set I'm writing. I won 443-17 in that round to start with a 1-0 record.

Since Round 1 of Lead Painters League 8 is a theme ("Classic Fantasy"), I decided to go to the inspiration for Splintered Light Miniatures excellent 15mm-20mm line of anthropomorphic animals. The mice of the Redwall series are the iconic force from Brian Jacques line of young adult fiction novels. I've wanted a mice army ever since I read the first novel in the series. However, whenever I parked myself in front of the Splintered Light booth, something else always seemed to catch my eye. First it was the badgers, then Squirrels, Fauns, Raccoons -- it seemed everything animal in the forest was cutting in front of the mice. However, when I decided to write my own set of fantasy miniatures rules, I knew it was time. I bought the figs needed for the mice from David at Splintered Light.

And there they sat. At least for a year. Until the league was announced, and the Classic Fantasy theme was unveiled. I am assuming that the league won't have a problem with them counting as "classic". After all, a line of 22 books is fairly extensive! Anyway, my new rules feature units on hexagon-shaped bases. Each base contains 3-5 figures. So, I sorted through my lead pile and pulled out two bases worth of mice. One is a unit of spearmen, er, spear mice, and the other is armed with swords.

Like I do anytime I paint an animal or SLM anthropomorphic animal, I did my research first to see what mice really look like. I sorted through Google images until I found and downloaded a range of colors from white, gray, tan, brown, black and yellowish-colored mice images. I always glue my figures down onto cardboard squares to paint them. So, I wrote on each piece of cardboard what that particular figure would look like. Each base would have a standard bearer, leader figure, and three rank and file mice. I decided to go with a "quartered" medieval look. The spear unit would be green and white, while the swords would be red and yellow. I also intended to give them a regimental name. In a rare bit of whimsy (for me), I decided to name each regiment after a type of cheese, and give the a battle cry based off of that. So, channeling the state of New Hampshire, the Brie regiment would have a battle slogan of "Live Brie or die!" The Gouda regiment would be "Fight the Gouda Fight!"

The first step was to paint the fur. Using dry brushing and washes, I did my best to replicate a variety of mouse looks that I'd found in the Google image searches. The figures are crisply detailed and relatively easy to paint. There is not a overabundance of equipment on them, so they went fairly quickly. I did a dry brush for each color of their uniform quartering, too, beginning with a darker tone and dry brushing the lighter over it. I really liked how some of the figures turned out -- the medieval hooded surcoat in particular looks sharp painted up in a quartered pattern.

I wasn't overwhelmed with the job I did on the shields. I was even less pleased with the look my ink wash gave me. I've been using this new method of washing ever since I abandoned the clear Acryl and black mixture. The acryl has a tendency to strip the acrylic paint I use off of the miniature to the bare metal. The ink was a change, and I have been fairly pleased with it. I am starting to become disenchanted with it, though. This league may see me switch if I'm not pleased with it again, soon.

For the banners, I used a combination of Google images and Photoshop. I created a rectangular banner with an image of cheese on it, with the battle slogan for each unit. I printed them off on my color laser printer and glued them around the standard bearer's pole. The mice standard bearers are cast with no flag, but simply a large crescent shape atop their pole. I also decided to change the way I do the flocking for this entry. I painted the base with white glue and poured Woodland Scenics brown medium ballast over it. Once dry, I painted it in Burnt Sienna -- my favorite earth-red ground color. I then dry brushed a light tan over the ballast. I also added a few slightly larger pieces of tallus as rocks. I did my ink wash over the surface, and then Woodland Scenics blended gray turf was added to it for patches of grass, and clump foliage further added for brush.

All in all, I am pleased with how these two bases of mice came out. Will they bring me a victory? Well, smaller scale figures tend to not do as well in the Lead Painters League. So, we'll see, as these little buggers measure about 10mm from feet to eye level. I'll bill them as "15mm" in the contest. Otherwise, voters always assume the figs are 28mm.

Remember, pictures will be added after the first round voting is complete (late March).

"Going dark" for the Lead Painters League

I'm about to enter my third year in the Lead Painters League -- a 10-week contest run by the Lead Adventure Forum website. I'll be painting up ten entries to submit one a week in a head-to-head match against another participant. I've yet to break the .500 winning percentage mark -- nor do I expect to this time. The quality of artistry in this league is superb, and my meager skills put me nowhere the top of the field. That's okay, though. I enter because it forces me to try to improve my techniques and get better at painting miniatures.

One of the stipulations of the league is that the miniatures receive bonus points if they have never been published on the web before, qualifying as "new." Needing all the points I can get, I try to submit a newly-painted entry each week. So, what does this mean for Lead Legionaries? Well, essentially, my posts here may not contain photos for awhile. I may talk about what I'm painting up. I may even link some pics of the unpainted version of the miniatures. However, my painted results will have to wait until the end of the match that entry appeared in.

So, what am I going to paint up for the contest? When the contest was announced around 3 weeks ago, I dug through the unpainted lead pile to plan out my 10 entries. There will be a heavy dose of French & Indian War. Six of the 10 rounds will feature Indians, French, or Rangers. One round will be for my Pulp games and will be a pack of Splintered Light Miniatures Velociraptors. The other three rounds are Theme Rounds. For the Classic Fantasy round, I will be submitting some Splintered Light mice (ala the "Redwall" series). For Ancients, I will paint up 6 mounted Dark Ages warriors. And finally, for the World War I round, I have a few packs of figures that I purchased for Pulp, but can be used for WW I (at least, that is what my friends have told me).

The contest was announced Feb. 5, and I've been busy pretty much ever since. My hope is to have five rounds' worth of entries completed before the contest begins on March 20th. Tall order, I know, but it will certainly help keep deadline pressure away! I'll start detailing my round-by-round entries below. After that entry's match is over, I'll go back and put in photos of it.

So, wish me luck...and I hope you enjoy my entries...!

The Great Bacon Battle, Saxons vs. Vikings

    Vikings steal the Saxon village's pigs after driving off the local Saxon force in the center of the village

So, Steve V was requesting a Dark Ages skirmish on what could be his last gaming evening in awhile, so I threw together a quickie scenario. He wanted to try the format I'd used for my French & Indian War game at Advance the Colors last year. In this head-to-head format, I divide the table into one-on-one matchups using terrain. Players can move troops back and forth if they wish, and they make a collective decision on how to allocate their troops to the different scenarios. This version was much simpler, but still the same format.

    Mounted on a stolen horse, the Viking commander chases down a Saxon

In the middle board, I faced off against Steve V. I was the local Saxon eorl trying to keep the Vikings from bringing home our bacon (pig pen). The board consisted of numerous buildings -- most from Acheson Creations -- and the centerpiece, a scratch-built pig pen with three stands of meat on the hoof. To my left, Keith was trying to prevent the Viking warband commanded by Mike S from stealing horses to raid faster inland. On my right, Allen was racing to prevent the Vikings from looting the local monastery.

    Monks retreat to the chapter house and barricade the doors as the Viking raiders arrive. I think this is the first game my monastery made an appearance in...!

Each player commanded anywhere from 8 - 12 troops, including a leader. I modified the Song of Blades and Heroes rules to take out group moves. I figure that "units" don't exist when you're talking about so few men. It is a straight up, man-to-man skirmish at this level. I also eliminate the "Gruesome Kill" morale check rule. Honestly, this is the Dark Ages. ALL the kills are gruesome! And finally, I have warbands test morale each time they take an additional casualty once they fall below half. It doesn't make sense to me that units that troops might break when their casualties fall to half, but then ignore when they go to 1/3, 1/4, etc.

    Help arrives in time for the monks as the local Saxon leader interrupts the Viking looting and a fierce battle erupts

The games went VERY quickly. Keith and Mike had an incredibly bloody battle and the Saxon lord chased the Vikings off from his corral. I had my usual failures with activation rolls when I play the "Song of Blades" system, and Steve V took it to my Saxons quickly. We fought back, though, and reached the stage where the next player to lose a man would have to test morale (and have their troops scattered, likely). Unfortunately, I was the one to be that next player, and the Vikings were able to bring home the bacon in the center.

    Both commanders poured troops into the fray until the monastery was crowded with men fighting and dying

The battle over the monastery turned into quite the slugfest up amongst the monk's beehive huts and the stone chapter building. The Vikings go there first, but the Saxons arrived shortly after, preventing any looting. The battle degenerated into quite a wall-to-wall scrum, which the Saxon lord was able to win by entering the fray himself. Joel and Allen's game lasted longer than the others, but seemed like it was quite the battle royale.

The game got us pumped up for the Dark Age Britain campaign I'm planning on running for them once I get a few loose ends tied up here. The players suggested I modify what I've written to do games in this format, so I'll have to look into that. I think it is very doable, but I'll definitely need to change a few rules I've written.

As always, Song of Blades provides a fast, bloody game that is a good time.

Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures, Chapter 3: Coming to a Boil

    An overview of the most elaborate table I've ever set up: the river encircles an island in the center of the table. White steam marks where the cannibal cookpot has Brother Virigi on "simmer". The cliffs and pathways represent the various entry points for the five archeological factions.

The drum beats and howling from the pygmy cannibal village unnerved the archeologists as they crept towards it. Through the trees, they could see the glow of flames. Would they be too late? Would the Portuguese monk, Brother Virigi, already be the village dinner by the time they arrived? Caution and haste were called for at both times.

    The players study their initial fortune cards and try to map out a strategy to be the first to rescue Brother Virigi

On the river, Harris McLeod poled his hastily-built raft to shore, motioning his companions to follow him. The monk knew the location to the hidden city, and God alone knew the riches he could find there for the British Museum! Not far away, Pierre Fournereau hissed instructions to his men, "Zee monk must be rescued at all costs! Only with him, will we find zee ruins we seek..." Far above them, Von Jaeger and his Germans surveyed the scene from a rocky cliff. Giant stone idols loomed out of the jungle -- doubtless showered with riches by the savages of the jungle. Hurrying down the path leading to the cannibal village, a step ahead of the Germans, Dakota Smith and his friends also were eyeing the same giant stone heads, and the riches that may lay hidden near them. Another group of fortune hunters, Lady Shannon's Irish, looked down from a rocky hill at the two paths ahead of them. Should they cross the perilous looking rope bridge -- the quickest way to the village -- or detour to the temple below them and search it? Meanwhile, hidden in the jungle, three agents of the Order of the Fire Coral watched the approach of the westerners -- vowing the foreign devils would not succeed.

The leader of the secret martial arts society, Opay, saw the Irish head towards the temple and acted first. He found a way into the temple and discovered the skeleton on the floor. The satchel of the long-dead foreigner carried maps, he saw, maps that must not fall into the hands of the foreign devils! Before he could escape the temple, though, the rugged Irish mercenary Ryan O'Shea burst through the door and the two struggled over the satchel. Eventually, Opay disengaged and dove out through the window. There, he had to dodge a fusilade of shots fired by Ryan's companions. Unscathed, he scampered off into the jungle. Here was one clue to the Forbidden City's location that the Westerners would never find!

    Both the German and American archeologist leagues close in on one of the stone idols. Dakota Smith's band would spend the game frustrating their rival Germans, snatching treasure after treasure from under their nose.

On the other side of the village, Dakota Smith and his pal Harold found their way to one of the giant stone idols. Together, they pried out the immense ruby eyes, and disappeared into the brush as the sound of German voices drew near. Von Jaeger, cursing that Fraulein Blucher had fallen and knocked herself out climbing down from the cliff, let off a stream of Teutonic obscenities as he saw his rival Dakota disappear into the jungle. The empty eye sockets of the idol seemed to be mocking him. He and Otto hurried out onto the path, where they saw Dakota Smith and Dolly Flanders clambering up a cliff path towards another one of the savage's stone idols. Chuckling evilly, he and Otto Tulmann fired bursts of automatic fire above the Americans, which set loose a rockslide. Dakota reached for Dolly's hand as she slipped, but missed and watched her fall, knocked senseless onto the rocks below. "Zat is for Frau Blucher, mein American..."he growled. Dakota leapt up and blazed away at the Germans with his six-shooter, who ducked, then fired back. Harold Fortwine, who had made it to the bridge leading to the village, hearing the firefight, turned and pulled out his revolver and joined in, as well.

    Dakota blazes away at Von Jaeger and Otto Tulmann below, while Dolly takes a tumble from the rocky cliff path

Harris McLeod and Maj. Speke-Eastman had looted an idol of their own when they were surprised by the Fire Coral agent Jaz Minh leaping onto the path next to them. Inexplicably, all were too stunned to attack each other. Instead, the speedy martial artist raced up the path towards the cannibal village. Dumbfounded, the two Brits looked at each other, "Bloody Hell...?" Harris cocked his head, and asked, "Say, my good major, have you seen Clara?"

    A "Parley" fortune card made for this comic moment as Jaz Minh leaps out from the underbrush at Harris McLeod and Maj. Speke-Eastman, only to have all concerned stare at each other until she darted off.

The major looked back on the path and shook his head. "She was behind us just a moment ago..." In the woods a ways off, Harris' niece lay unconscious. They pygmies looming above her noticed the two Brits, and turned to stalk them next.

    Tex becomes my rope bridge's first (and probably not last) victim as his cowboy boots break through the rotted slats and send him hurtling towards the river below

Meanwhile, Lady Shannon's American mercenary, Tex, swallowed and tread softly out onto the rope bridge. His cowboy boots seemed to sink into the soft, almost rotted wood until there was a crash. He caught himself, though, and slowly dragged himself onto the next wooden slat. Beneath him, the waters of the jungle river writhed with evil dark shapes. Tex watched them for a few seconds, then pulled himself up and raced for the end of the bridge. There was another crash, and the American screamed as he fell towards the river below.

    Cue climactic orchestra music: With a display of athletic prowess, French leader Pierre Fournereau kicks aside pygmies and rescues Brother Virigi from the cookpot

There was a chorus of shouts and the drumming ceased when Pierre and his Frenchmen came charging across a bamboo bridge into town. Pygmies ran towards them, but Pierre kicked them aside. Dr. Lambert swatted another with his stout leather briefcase, while Jacques Nero blazed away with his shotgun, scattering the crowd of cannibals. Pierre hurled himself across the village and up the wooden plank that led to the boiling and hissing cookpot. He picked up the two pygmies who were poking the flames with their spears and hurled them to the ground. With a display of superhuman strength, the athletic French archeologist snapped the leather bonds holding Brother Virigi and lifted him bodily out of the cookpot. The monk was flushed red and looked slightly scalded, but seemed not unduly hurt. Pierre half-dragged, and half-carried him back down the plank towards his companions.

    Jaz Minh bravely hurls herself on the three Frenchmen to keep Virigi (and his knowledge of the Forbidden City) out of the hands of the foreign devils

There was a shout and the martial artist Jaz Minh raced towards Pierre and began kicking and punching the Frenchman, who fended off her blows. There was an even louder shriek of fury, and the pygmies of the village converged on the intruders. Jaz Minh gasped as a pygmy spear laid open her leg. The Frenchmen knocked away pygmies from all sides, gathered up the monk and moved towards the bridge. Pierre handed the monk off to the doctor, and stood as a valiant rearguard, battering aside any pygmies that tried to follow.

    Another agent of the Order of the Fire Coral, Tatko, bravely holds off the Irish leader and sidekick for several turns -- keeping them out of the action

Not far away, the martial artist Tatko and the Irish fortune hunters Lady Shannon and Ryan were engaged in a fierce brawl themselves. Tatko showed blazing speed in avoiding the attacks of the two Irish. The furious clamor from the village prompted them to break off their melee, and sneak towards the path to investigate. When they saw Dr. Lambert hurrying the monk down the path, they knew the French had been successful. Tatko stepped out onto the path for a clear throw, and zipped two shuriken at the archeologist. Dr. Lambert calmly ducked, then opened his briefcase, pulled out a revolver, and blazed away, wounding Tatko. Lady Shannon and Ryan appeared and both raised their weapons. "The monk comes with us!" they shouted. Lambert trained his revolver on them and fired. The Irish clucked in disbelief, "Och, bad decision, laddie..." They aimed at the doctor and squeezed their triggers..."Click! Click!" Out of ammunition -- both of them! The two let out a stream of curses in Gaelic as the Frenchman scooted past them, laughing.

        Clutching the monk's arm, Dr. Lambert runs the gauntlet of Tatko, Lady Shannon, and Ryan -- aided by not one but two "Out of Ammo" fortune cards

Meanwhile, far away in the jungle, Dakota Smith was definitely not laughing as he fled from the angry orangutan, whose frustrated howls rivaled those of the pygmies. Although he had not rescued the monk, he was somewhat relieved to see the French had done so. Now, all he would have to do would be to follow the French to the hidden city! He'd calmly finished looting the last of the pygmy idols and had been sneaking off into the jungle when he'd surprised the massive ape. His shots back at it did not seem to deter it from its chase, though. Eventually, he blundered onto the path, where he met Harold Fortwine, carrying Dolly Flanders. "What's that sticking out of your tail end, Harold?" Dakota asked.

    A comic end to the tale was a great ape chasing a wounded Dakota Smith out of the jungle

The burly academic grunted, "Cursed pygmy arrow!" Behind them, they heard more howls, though they could not tell if it was pygmies or apes. The two giggled and fled off into the jungle, not sticking around to find out.

Our third game of Pulp Alley was a blast. I had six players -- five archeological leagues, and one martial arts society whose job is to frustrate the objective of the others. Each team except for the martial arts society had a Leader, Sidekick, and Ally. Humorously, four of the five allies ended up being knocked down and out -- and all by the play of Fortune Cards. Both Frau Blucher and Dolly Flanders took tumbles on perilous cliff paths, while Tex was the first character to try to cross my rope bridge (and failed). British Clara was ambushed by pygmies in the woods early on. The only Ally to survive was the French Jacques Nero.

The French won the scenario, with the heroic charge led by their leader, Pierre Fournereau. They were really the only faction who made a concerted effort to go for the major plot point -- Brother Virigi stewing in the cookpot. All of the others were distracted by the minor plot points of idols and temples. The Germans in particular, spent the game chasing after Dakota Smith and his band after they snatched a plot point from under their noses. The Irish were also frustrated, but by the Order of the Fire Coral. First, Opay stole the plot point out of the temple just ahead of them. Then Tatko was a one-man wrecking and dodging crew, holding off the Irish leader and sidekick single-handedly. The Order of the Fire Coral has three sidekicks instead of the Leader/Sidekick/Ally combination. They played masterfully this time. They did not win, as the French had the major plot point, but they prevented the Irish from being a factor. The British succeeded in looting one idol, and seemed content with that. Dakota Smith surprisingly ignored the quick pathway to the village and left it to the French to rescue Brother Virigi, while he went off idol hunting. The Americans snagged two plot points, and escaped off board.

The players all seemed to have a good time...well, except for the Germans! We are getting better at creating the storyline of what happens in each perilous area, and making up what form each challenge takes. In the extremely perilous river island -- the cannibal village -- the perils were simply pygmies rushing at the players. Easier challenges represented lone pygmies, while difficult ones were swarms of them. The systems forces us to tell the story as we go along, and it often turns out to be a fairly hilarious one, too! Seven friends sitting around the table can be pretty ruthless when it comes to thinking of embarrassing things that happened to your characters when they fail challenges...!

The next chapter will find the archeologists finally exploring the hidden city that Brother Virigi had spotted so long ago. Stay tuned to this channel for more thrilling Oriental Adventures with Dakota Smith...!