It's a Small World after all...

Sunday night board game at my place

This game probably wins the award for longevity in the "one I've been meaning to pick up..." category. I played it first a number of years ago, and liked it right away. Players control a series of fantasy races who invade and try to stake out as much territory as possible before playing themselves out, losing steam, and going into decline. Lots of player choices -- which race to choose from those available, where to arrive on the board, and how long to keep the race active before letting it go into decline so you can grab another one. Each game can be different because the races are randomly paired up with a special ability each game.

We were playing the Underground version, which Mike S owns. I began the game controlling the "Historian" Will O'Wisps. They get victory points each time another player race goes into decline. Since I took my turn last, I thought that would be a good way to pick up a few extra victory points. Next, I had the "Thieving" Mud-men, which others had shied away from because another race was in control of the muddy areas. As it turns out, their special ability -- to steal one victory point from any player with an active race adjacent to your tokens -- probably won me the game. I also briefly controlled a magic ring that did the exact same thing on one of my turns. I was adjacent to 3 of the other players, which meant they lost two points and I gained two points from each. That is a swing of four in my favor against three of the other four players (we had five total).

In the end, I was surprised I won the game. I never felt on any turn that I collected the most victory points. I guess I collected enough and avoided really low turns. The others accused me of "sand-bagging," by claiming I was losing. However, I could swear two or more players earned more victory points than me every turn. It was as great of a surprise to me that I won as it was to them!

Here's the boardgamegeek link for the game.

Corn Rows quick and simple

    One of Rogers Rangers advances through a corn field I constructed for my Bloody Run scenario

One of the centerpieces of my Battle of Bloody Run scenario is the farm where Pontiac springs his ambush on the British force. I already had farm buildings and some scratch-built field stone walls. I even had some pigs to put in a pen. However, I thought I'd need a good corn field to make the table look that much nicer. I'd seen a threat on the Lead Adventure Forum about how to use the O scale corn stalks by JTT Scenery Products.

    A package of 28 corn stalks by JTT Scenery Products

Some posters on the thread were creating a one-piece field using the stalks. Others talked about basing them individually. I wanted to be flexible. Eventually, I want to do Native American style corn fields, which also incorporated beans and squash amidst the corn. I wanted to leave open the possibility of rigging something up like that. Plus, one giant field would be harder to store, while individually stalks sounded too fiddly. So, I hit upon the idea of basing 3 stalks up to a rectangular stand. They would be in rows so they could be used for settler's corn fields, but in small enough numbers per stand that maybe something could be rigged up to make it look Native American later.

    I drilled holes in each 40mm x 20mm base and forced a stalk into each hole, covering it with two-part epoxy

I took some 20mm by 40mm Renaissance Ink magnetic bases I had left over from my DBA days. I drilled three holes in each with a pin vice. This was easily the most time consuming part of the process. I was lucky in that my smallest drill bit for the pin vice matched the size of the stalks. I then forced the stalks into the hole, covering each with a blob of two-part epoxy to affix them to the bases.

    A raised row is created by drawing a line of white glue connecting the stalks and dipping it into a tub of ballast

Next, I grabbed each base and put a line of glue connecting the stalks. The base was then dipped into a tube of brown ballast to give the effect of a raised field row.

    A batch of corn row bases sit drying, waiting to be dipped into Woodland Scenics turf

Once dry, I painted the whole base with white glue. It was then dipped into Woodland Scenics brown turf and the excess tapped off. Once dry again, I put some dabs of white glue on the raised row and sprinkled it with Woodland Scenics blended grass. This makes it appear more like the corn stalk is growing out of the ground. Finish it off with Dullcoate and a sealant of 50/50 white glue and water, and they're finished!

    Another look at a quick and simple corn field costing a little more than $5!

The JTT corn stalks come 28 to a package, and are priced at $8.99 at Hobby Lobby. If you use the online 40% off coupon, that brings it down to $5.34 before tax. One package produced nine bases of three corn stalks each. Being on bases of three, I can rearrange them for whatever size and shape of cornfield I want to create. Definitely a quick and simple way to do a corn field!

Log cabin for $3.99???

    "Dad-burn Injuns would come a'raidin' while the menfolk were away...!"

Although I don't approve of their attempts to impose their morality on their employees, I confess I love Hobby Lobby. My latest stop there is an excellent example of the serendipity that can be found wandering its aisles. I stopped by on the way home to pick up a can of Dullcoate -- my one and only sealant that I use on my miniatures. Lo and behold, I see this:

    Yes, this is indeed a roughly 28mm scale wooden log cabin for $3.99!

I was incredulous when I saw the price: $3.99. My first thought was, "This CAN'T possibly be in a scale I can use for 28mm figures." I read the building dimensions on the package and turned it over and examined at the wood that came with it. It sure looked like it would work for my figures. I had just finished painting an Acheson Creations (my favorite terrain maker) log cabin, raising my total of dwellings to 2 cabins and 1 shed for the period. My upcoming game at Advance the Colors could actually use another cabin. "Hmmm...." I thought.

What the heck? It was only $3.99! I picked it up, and went home and did a dry run of assembling it. I shook my head...it really didn't look half bad. I decided to dress it up a bit, though. I dashed up to Hobbyland Graceland and bought a piece of basswood I call "scalloped" or "clinker-style," with what appears to be overlapping boards. I figured that would look much nicer than the flat wood included. That piece of bass wood actually cost almost as much as the building...Hobbyland has never been cheap. Their selection of bass wood in various shapes, patterns, and styles is unbeatable, though.

I  began putting the building together using tacky glue. The notches cut in the wooden dowels make assembly easy. Once all pieces were together, I epoxied it down to a piece of black styrene I'd cut for the base. I cut a slice of the scalloped bass wood for the floor and slid it under the logs. I then began assembly of the roof. I used some bluetack to hold it together as I glued the two triangular pieces to one side of the roof. Once dry, I glued the other side of the roof on. I then cut a piece of cardboard, folded it into a "V"-shape, and glued it along the top to hide the seam between the two pieces of wood.

Next, I glued the door and windows to the outside of the building. I tricked out the door a bit by adding a frame made from wooden craft sticks. Note that there are no "cutouts" on the inside of the cabin for the windows or door. It looks like solid wall. Maybe I'll try adding those in if I do another one!

 

    The inside of the cabin is bare, but it would be easy enough to saw the dowels to create cutouts for the windows and door

Finally, the wood chimney piece was dressed up, too. One side at a time was painted with white glue and pressed into a tub of coarse ballast. Once painted back and dry-brushed, this would give it a more stone-like appearance. Speaking of painting, it was time to paint the cabin. I spray painted it black first. Then I applied a 50/50 water and acrylic black paint to cover up all the areas the spray nozzle missed. Once dry, I added a wet brush layer of medium brown (Howard Hues Camo Brown) and then a Khaki. A black wash completed the painting of the wood insides, outsides, floor, and roof. The chimney received a black base coat, then medium gray and lighter gray dry brushes.

Flocking along the edges completes the cabin, and just that simply a new dwelling is added to my American frontier!

Battle of Bloody Run at Advance the Colors 2015

    I ran the Battle of Bloody Run once each on Friday and Saturday nights at ATC 2015

I had been running my Ohio Frontier Aflame for a year at various conventions, so I felt it was high time to shake some things up. I decided to use a historical engagement as my basis for my four battles side-by-side scenario. The Battle of Bloody Run from Pontiac's Rebellions was perfect for the format! It is a sprawling, disjointed battle that could easily be divided up into four (or more) separate engagements.

    The 12-foot long table for the Battle of Bloody Run, seen from the fort on the left and Baptiste Meloche's farm on right

The historical background is that Fort Detroit is under siege by Chief Pontiac's Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomie warriors. A convoy of boats carrying reinforcements, including by Major Robert Rogers of the famous Rogers Rangers, forces its way past the Indian blockade. Shortly thereafter, the British officer in command of the convoy, Captain Dalyell, convinces the post commander to attack Pontiac and break the siege. Pontiac watches the British column leave the fort and waits until it is strung out along the river road. As the van crosses the bridge to Baptiste Meloche's farm, Pontiac springs his ambush. Fighting rages up and down the line. Historically, the British were battered and retreated back to the fort -- thanks to the heroics of some of the British commanders, including Rogers.

    British regulars cross the bridge under fire from Pontiac's ambushing warriors

    When the redcoats take cover in a treeline, Pontiac sends his warriors forward to engage them in melee

I created four boards all inspired by the account I read of the battle in the excellent biography of Rogers, "War on the Run," by John F. Ross. One end of the table was anchored by Baptiste Meloche's farm, with two log buildings, a gorgeous Acheson Creations bridge, and woods. British regulars had to force their way across the bridge and drive off Pontiac and his ambushers. The bridge -- which doubles as a pier if you take off one end -- attracted a lot of comments, and led Bryan Borgman (who brought some of their product) to sell out of them at the event! Next in line was a curving line of river road bordered by woods. A detachment of Colonial Militia were escorting some wounded to a waiting bateau. They are attacked by a warband of Indians, their blood fired up for scalps and blood.

    Colonial militia escorting a group of wounded are attacked by Ojibwe and Ottawa warriors out for blood and scalps

The third board was inspired by an incident in the battle when Rogers and his rangers seize a log cabin and convert it into a strong point to hold off the swelling numbers of Indians. Since my Acheson Creations log cabins don't really have enough loopholes and windows to simulate this, I also threw in a wood shed and a stone walled cornfield for the rangers to use. The other end of the table was anchored by the outworks of Fort Detroit and a tiny part of Pontiac's original encampment. Here the rearguard was being ambushed by Indians within sight of the fort.

    Cheers and groans rang out along the table as dice rolls heralded successes and defeats

The two games filled up with eight players in both. On the first night, the British could do no wrong. They won an overwhelming victory using the scenario VPs I'd created. However, on the second night, it was much, much closer. The British won on two boards and the Indians on the other two. Counnting up the totals, it came to a difference of 10 points -- one scalp! One more British soldier killed and scalped and it would have been a victory for Pontiac. All the players seemed to have a great time.

    Indians close in on the log cabin that Robert Rogers and his rangers have occupied

 We sold 8 copies of Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules at the show. I was hoping we'd sell more -- especially since we had a dealer table at the show, as well. I think we've hit HMGS Great Lakes conventions fairly well this year, though, and many of the attendees had already purchased them. Time to get back to work on that Beaver Wars in Ohio campaign book...!

Can I call them the "Stink-eye" Tribe?

    28mm Old Glory Indians (well, one is a Falcon fig -- can you guess which one?) from the "Stink-eye Tribe"

I am sure that sometime during my decades of painting miniatures it took me longer to complete a batch of figures than these. However, I can't think of any recent examples. These 8 Old Glory 28mm bow-armed Indians have been partially painted and sitting on my desk (or conveniently hidden out of sight in a drawer) for months. Not years, but definitely quite a few months! Well, they're done, now. I want to call them the "Stink-eye Indians" because they have been sitting there, glaring at me, for so long, impatiently waiting to be done.

My friend Mike gave them to me when he purchased a horde of them at a flea market for a great deal. I needed more bow-armed Indians for my Beaver Wars campaign playtest, so I eagerly bumped them ahead of other projects in the queue. I wouldn't say I lost all motivation to paint shortly after I started on them, but I certainly had a lot of other things jump up and grab my attention. It didn't help that they were Old Glory figures, either. To me, Old Glory is the minimum of baseline of quality in historical miniatures. If you go much lower, it is not really worth investing your time in them. They aren't great figures, but they aren't horrible, either. They certainly do not hold a candle to my usual Conquest Miniatures. But when Mike handed me a batch of these for free (my favorite price, I admit), I chose to paint them over putting in a new order with Conquest.

    More Old Glory"Stinkeyes" ready to participate in my Beaver Wars playtest!

Since they weren't the world's most stunning miniatures, I decided to experiment a bit on them when it came to warpaint. I am normally fairly conservative when it comes to warpaint on my Indian miniatures. However, I tried out a couple whole torso warpaint schemes. Plus, I used a different technique for the red paint on the scalp. I actually liked how both experiments turned out. So, though these will never be my favorite figures in my collection, I was able to use my painting of them to improve my skills a bit.

Next up, is a batch of 7 28mm Indian women produced by (wait for it...) Old Glory. Once again, my O.G. pusher Mike purchased a batch of these online and asked if I wanted to split them with him. Since there is a decided shortage of 28mm Native American women, I agreed. After this, I think I want to take a break from Indians. Not sure what it is that I'll paint, but I can definitely use a change of pace. Hopefully, it won't take me as long to complete the Old Glory women as it did the men of the Stink-eye tribe!

Dinosaurs as the "good guys"??

    Although it was a laugh-a-minute for the players, it wasn't so much for the Nazis frantically trying to escape

We were heading to Keith's "man cave" for our usual Sunday evening of gaming. He was hosting his 11-year-old nephew, Michael, for the week, and wanted to put on a game that he might enjoy. With Keith being only mildly over-the-top about dinosaurs, it was only a natural he put a game on involving dinos. Rather than one of his usual Dino Hunts, Keith had a twist in store for us this evening. WE would be playing the dinos. And we would be hunting humans...specifically, Nazis!

    Nazis try to in vain to take refuge on a steep hill

Keith had seen a light-hearted set of rules called, "Eat Hitler" on Wargame Vault and downloaded them during their July sale. The scenario for the evening postulated that Hitler and his closest associates, with assorted guards, escape the fall of Berlin in a time machine. Russian artillery fire knocks the controls awry, though, and they ended up back in prehistory in a valley populated by hungry dinosaurs. Each of us would play a carnivorous dinosaur (or a number of smaller meat-eaters) with the herbivores and Nazis as non-players.

    My dino snacked on two Nazis before they decided to flee the hill

I don't think the rules were designed for the 7 players we had participating, so we had to make some modifications early on. What's more, after playing it through, we had some more suggestions for changes if Keith were going to run this as a fun, convention game some day. We had a good time, of course. Just about everybody got to chomp some Nazis. My Allosaurus-sized dino (whose Japaneses name I forget) managed to eat one guard and Adolf Galland. No one ended up eating Adolf Hitler, who was saved from a pack of velociraptors by his loyal dog, Blondi. The seven players chased the Nazis around the board, generally ignoring each other and the herbivores. In the end, only Hitler, Blondi, and two others were left scrambling furiously to avoid the dinosaur rampage.

    Steve's raptor pack used their cleverness to drive a pack of herbivores ahead of them to avoid Nazi firing

Keith's nephew Michael played the T-Rex, and seemed to have a good time. I took lots of pictures of the mayhem, and decided to go ahead and post some here. Enjoy!

    Michael's T-Rex showed up and crashed the raptors' dinner party

    A spinosaurus got in on the feast and chased down the last remaining group of Nazis

Beaver Wars - Turn 4 Conclusion & Wrap-up of Phase 1 of Playtest

After we played out the first three battles of the Turn 4 of the Beaver Wars playtest, I never expected it to take 2 1/2 months to get around to doing the final two. Some issues at work ate into both my motivation and my time. One of our ordinary Sunday night gaming crew asked for a break from First Command Wargames playtesting, and we were more than happy to grant it. Add to that a busy May convention schedule, and we encountered delay after delay in picking it up again.

Four of us got together to fight out the last two battles. In one, the Ojibwe were attacking another Potawatomie village. In the other, the Seneca sought to take over the last of the Illinois towns. Keith showed up to help us fight them out, so he fought Steve's Ojibwe while I tried to hold the ground for the Illinois. Since we had fought all six choices for "Invasion" battles, I set up both boards before the players arrived. One would be a battle amidst the longhouses and wigwams of the Potawatomie village. The other would be fought in the woods near a rocky outcrop just outside of the Illinois village.

The intervening weeks had seen us reflect on the performance of "Youths" in the campaign. We all felt they were simply too weak and not worth the cost even at 2 Youths = 1 Warrior. Keith and I exchanged emails and came up with something we liked. We would improve their Quality score from 5 to 4. We would also give them the "Woodsman" trait, meaning they could move normally in the woods rather than slower. However, to balance it out, we gave them the "Wavering" trait, which meant they would be -1 on morale checks. Keith ran the points and found that, when both were armed with a Bow, they came out to exactly half of a warrior's point value according to the Song of Drums and Tomahawks point system. Perfect!

    Seneca warriors form a firing line to snipe with my Illinois defenders

We would definitely get a chance to see how they'd perform, as all players selected a good number for their rosters. Many of us chose the exact same breakdown: 1 Chieftain, 6 Warriors, and 4 Youths.  At the conclusion of the games, all four players gave a thumbs up to the changes. The Youths could be an asset in battle, but still needed to be used carefully.

In my battle against Mike's Seneca, I formed the Youths up as a second line. Think of them as "linebackers." In Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules, you must fire at the closest enemy (unless he is a worse shot because of cover or whatever). So, I was careful to make the Seneca target my Warriors, who at a Combat score of 2 should be more survivable than the Youth's 1. This worked for the most part, except it meant that as I lost troops, I lost my tougher and more experienced warriors. Mike wasn't as careful with his Youths, which meant I picked off a number of them. It was a heck of a battle, though. Both of us had to take "Below 50%" moral checks. It came down to my Illinois Chieftain and 3 Youths vs. the Seneca Chieftain and 2 Warriors. I got a bit risky with my leader and he was killed. The Youths fled back towards their lines, and we decided to call the game. The Seneca invasion force had been bloodied, but they held the field of battle and collected their scalps.

    Potawatomi braves attempt to defend their town from the Ojibwe invaders

I did not get to see much of Keith and Steve's battle, even though they were sitting right next to me. I did hear the groans of Keith as the Potawatomie were rolling no better under his command than they had so far in this game under Joel. In fact, Joel was so disheartened with how his tribe was progressing in the Beaver Wars that he actually dropped out, turning them into an non-player tribe. I will discuss this aspect later in this post. It looked like each tribe's warriors tried to form a strong point in the village and pick off the enemy with ranged weapons. Twice, Steve's victorious warriors charged out after enemy scalps, which forced the battle into hand-to-hand. The Ojibwe proved the stronger at this, and soon the Potawatomie were fleeing out the back gates of one of their last villages in the Ohio country.

    The campaign map at the end of turn 4

At the end of four turns of playtest, the Ojibwe held a one point lead over the Seneca for control of the Ohio territory. Both had won a similar number of battles, controlled the same amount of towns, and had turned in the same number of beaver pelts. The Ojibwe edge was in battlefield experience points, where they held a six point lead. Both Steve and Mike are aggressive players, and it would be very likely they would clash in the future. However, it is just as likely that they'd declare a truce and attack the other three tribes (Ottawa, Miami, and Wyandot). The chart below shows the scores in each of the four categories, along with the standings at the end of four turns.

Afterwards, I wanted to talk to the players about how the campaign was progressing. Although Keith, Steve, and Mike were all very positive about how it was playing, I had some issues. It came to four main points that I did not like about the way the rules were written at this point. These were:

#1 - The campaign system meant that usually not everyone had a battle to fight in each turn. When tribes chose to "Trap & Hunt" or "Visit the Trading Post," they usually would not have a battle. This meant they were often relegated to sitting and watching the others play. To me, that was unacceptable on a gaming evening. Sure, it might work in a large club, where there are plenty of other things to do. But in a small gaming group meeting on an evening to do a turn of Beaver Wars, I don't like some people not being able to play.

#2 - Players were being knocked out of the campaign. Joel's Potawatomie were essentially knocked out only 1/3 of the way in. Some have no problem with this type of game. Think of "Risk," for example, which always results in players be knocked out one by one. To me, that is old school, and I would rather have all my players involved up till the end. The lower ranking ones may have no chance of winning, but they should still be able to show up and do something.

    My Illinois tribesmen cluster atop a rocky outcrop in attempt to hold off the Seneca attack

#3 - The campaign had the potential to generate too many battles to be resolved in one meeting. Although the players felt there was no such thing as "too many" battles, I felt this could lead to logistical issues getting the right combination of players to show up in a subsequent evening. It took us 2 1/2 months to finish off Turn 4. It is true there were other factors that helped cause that. As a GM, I like it to be clean and neat. We meet for an evening of a campaign, we should walk out with all battles finished.

#4 - Keeping track of individual experience points for figures that survived battles was too much. I had suspected this might be the case going in, but four turns of the campaign proved it would be a lot to ask of prospective players or GMs. I wanted the system to be more elegant and simple. Keeping track of each warriors's XPs and then what traits he has purchased was simply too much logistics for a campaign I wanted to produce.

So, was Beaver Wars done? No. I had been brainstorming ideas in the week leading up to our evening and had come up with some ideas to retool the campaign. After getting the players' input on the campaign, and asking their feedback on the four issues above, I presented my ideas to them. All three liked the ideas I had to change Beaver Wars and make it more simple and elegant. They gave a couple suggestions to the new system that I liked, as well.

    The clash between Seneca and Illinois gets bloody and up close as Indian warriors and youths close to hand-to-hand

Since it would be pointless to play out six more turns if I was going to make major changes, I decided to call Phase 1 of the Beaver Wars playtest complete. I would assemble players to restart the campaign using the newer system. To me, I want a campaign system that will be easy for people who purchase it to handle. I want the game systems to work together seamlessly and do an elegant job of producing tabletop battles for players to have fun resolving. I want players to have fun seeing how a campaign is progressing without being bogged down with or arguing over minutiae.

So, watch this blog for the start of Phase 2 of the Beaver Wars playtest. We may even try out the earlier, mid-1600s campaign which features the initial Iroquois onslaught into the Ohio area. It will give us more chances to test our rules adaptions for the early period, as well. I hope you have enjoyed reading this account of the Beaver Wars. Yes, unfortunately the changes and more playtesting means it may be more months before the rules are published. A bright spot is that the retooling will require more scenarios which will be included in the rule book. So, even those who don't want to play out a 10-turn campaign may be interested in a supplement that contains dozens of scenarios. I am more excited about the final product now than I was before, and think purchasers will get much more bang for their buck!

Indian fighting at Fort Meigs

    Friday night's crowd was full for Ohio Frontier Aflame and saw a massive French victory

I'd decided that I would be changing the four scenarios I run as part of "The Ohio Frontier Aflame" game that I run at conventions. So, the trip up to Fort Meigs for Drums at the Rapids 2015 would be the last running of these games. The four battles seem well balanced, with a wide variety of French-allied victories and British-allied wins. I use the games to showcase my French & Indian War rules, Song of Drums and Tomahawks (which you can see for sale on the table in the picture above!). As always, I receive compliments on the look of the table, and once again players had fun and enjoyed themselves. We sold 11 copies of the rules that weekend, though three were to the Fort Meigs gift shop. That is something I'd like to do this summer -- contact the gift shops of historical sites and see if they'd be interested in carrying our rules.

    The Huron rescue party takes a two-pronged approach to their attempt to recover their captives from Stockbridge Indian raiders

Commercialism aside, it was nice to have a full eight players for both Friday evening and Saturday morning's games. We were put in the meeting room of the visitor center due to my 12' long table. The players were happy to use the rolling, comfy office chairs, though once the game gets going, most end up standing a significant percentage of the time! Even better, by opening the Venetian blinds in the meeting room, we had a nice view of the reconstructed War of 1812-era Fort Meigs. There is nothing like playing a game set in the contested frontier while looking out at a battle site that played a part in the struggle. Even better, after I'd packed up Saturday afternoon, I went for a one hour stroll through the fort grounds (which are included in the convention admission). Fort Meigs is an excellent, atmospheric site, and I always make it a point to take one of the gaming sessions off and take my time to explore the fort. Many of the blockhouses have displays and exhibits, so it is easy for a history buff to eat up an hour or more immersing yourself in the past.

    A wagon load of women and children are so close to reaching the safety of the blockhouses, but Indian raiders close in to try to cut off their escape

Friday night's game was a hoot, as I knew a good number of the players. There was lots of bantering back and forth (I know...surprise, surprise!), and the players frequently found humor in the events of the game. There is a truism in miniature gaming that you should never seek to roll dice against kids and women. However, the French-allied side disproved that one by trouncing Heidi and three Toledo-area high school students fairly handily. Everyone enjoyed their games, though. There was an especially dramatic moment when the sole surviving Stockbridge Indian held off a half dozen Hurons, killing several in turn. Had he killed one more he would have forced a morale check on the Hurons (who were teetering close to the "Below 50%" mark). If the rolls went bad, that hero could have won the day. Numbers eventually told, though, and the Hurons recovered their women and children captives from the Stockbridge allies of Rogers Rangers.

    Ojibwe Indians use trickery to gain access to a British fort and attack the garrison

Saturday's game was much, much closer. It also saw one of the rare occurrences of reinforcements from one game turn the tide in the other. The Ojibwe Indians were driving the British soldiers out of the fort and were close to winning the game, when suddenly a force of a half dozen frontiersmen showed up at the front gate. They had driven off the Indians who were rampaging around their blockhouse (sadly, not before the Indians had scalped a wagonload of women and children trying to reach the safety). The frontiersmen were in a vengeful mood, and their arrival turned the tide and rescued the British regulars. That incident alone may have been what made the French-allied side eke out a narrow victory in the second game. As always, the players seemed to enjoy themselves, with a number purchasing the rules after playing.

    Atmospheric Fort Meigs -- strolling its reconstructed War of 1812 grounds is a bonus to your convention admission!

In the evening, four of us tested out my friend's scenario he will be running this weekend at Nashcon. Keith is one of my co-authors, and he will be running a three-scenario array chronicling stages of the Raid on Fort Amanda. We played the Boat Builder scenario, which features an Indian warparty attacking a lightly-armed working party building boats along the river. After one turn, the Indians had wreaked so much slaughter, Keith did a "reset" and changed some parameters of the scenario. This resulted in a much closer game. To my surprise, our boat builders -- most of whom do not have muskets -- were able to win the game. Particularly satisfying was defeating my other coauthor Mike on our half of the battlefield...!

All in all, it was a good weekend of gaming at Fort Meigs. I highly recommend people check out one of the events HMGS Great Lakes holds there: Drums at the Rapids in May, and World at War Miniature Wargaming Day in November. They are intimate, friendly events that you are bound to enjoy.

Frontier extends south to Cincycon

    A good-natured batch of players game out another session of the Ohio Frontier Aflame using our Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules

Last weekend, I headed south a couple hours to Cincycon, which would be located at the Butler County Fairgrounds in Hamilton, OH (near Cincinnati). I'd scheduled so many conventions this school year that I was fresh out of personal days. That meant I had to teach a full day and then dash south. It also meant there would be no way I would be ready for my 6 pm game, in time. It was my fault for not confirming the time, though. I assumed selecting "Evening" for my start time meant 7 pm. Luckily, a friend was already there and they put a sign on my table informing people the start time had been moved to 7 pm.

Perhaps because of this (or what seemed to be lighter attendance on Friday evening), I had only four players out of my possible eight. I let them choose which of the four scenarios they wanted to play, and we sat down and began the rules explanation. Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules don't take long to pick up, so before long, the players were deploying and the first shots rang out. I had two lady players and two men, and the ladies chose to play the French side in the "Interrupted Raid" and "Rescue the Captives" scenarios.

    A Huron hunting party returns through the palisade entrance, interrupting a raid by Rogers Rangers

Rogers Rangers got the jump on the Huron hunting party returning to the Indian village right away. The Huron player was rolling terrible for activations, allowing the Rangers to regroup (they start scattered throughout the village) and open fire on the Huron braves as they slowly filtered into the village. The Hurons charged into contact as they were able to, but the Ranger musketry wore them down. It ended up being more one-sided of a battle than usual -- in fact, it was the first Ranger crushing victory ever in this scenario.

Meanwhile, the Ranger's Stockbridge Indian allies were in a much bloodier battle atop the cliffs, as they sought to return home with Huron captives. Losses mounted on both sides, and both ended up having to make "below 50%" morale checks. The Stockbridge rallied quicker, though, while one or two key Huron braves fled the field. This allowed the Stockbridge to slowly whittle away at the remaining Indians until they alone held the clifftops. Far below, one Stockbridge warrior led the captives on a circuitous path to avoid any Hurons getting close enough to rescue them. With both scnearios ending with "British allied" victories, we did not bother counting up the victory points. The British side was declared the winner.

    Stockbridge and Huron Indians fight to the death atop the cliffs in an attempt to rescue or maintain control of the captives from the raid on the Huron village

The next morning, we had six players, who decided to play the "Fatal Lacrosse Game," "Hurry, to the Blockhouse!" and the "Interrupted Raid" scenarios. I actually knew all of the players, so it was fun to watch the combatants banter back and forth as they competed. Good-natured jokes and taunts flew back and forth across the table just as often as musket shots. Jenny, who had played the previous evening to even out to four players, did the same again. She played the part of the Rangers and did not have near the success that they did last night. The Huron hunting party took vengeance for its defeat the previous evening, and all but one of the Rangers was killed in scalped. This racked up a huge amount of victory points for the French side.

    A family of English settlers are escorted by frontiersmen, hoping to make it to safety at the local blockhouse

In the "Hurry, to the Blockhouse!" scenario, Steve's frontiersmen attempted to escort a settler family to the local blockhouse. He was able to quickly get a relief force from the blockhouse to join up with the family. However, when they turned around and began to retrace their steps, they ran into a solid firing line of Indian raiders. Steve's brother Mike played the Indians, and after exchanging a few shots from patches of wood on either side of the road, they both charged into hand-to-hand. I had never seen a game where two skirmish parties lined up in melee as neatly as Steve and Mike's troops did. Both sides lost men, but soon the Indians began to force the frontiersmen back. Just when their morale was about to break, a fresh party of Indians showed up near the wagon at the rear (reinforcements from the Huron victory on the neighboring board). I allow players in the Ohio Frontier Aflame to send reinforcements onto other tables if their games are over or well in hand. The new arrivals turned the tide, and the Indians reached the wagon and began to kill and scalp the family. Once again, this resulted in big points for the French side, and a defeat for the Frontiersmen.

    Brutal, hand-to-hand fighting as frontiersmen struggle desperately to escort a family to the blockhouse

    Rogers Rangers were big winners in Friday night's battle, but on Saturday were killed and scalped almost to a man

The final battle was the one inside the fort, inspired by the seizure of Forth Michilimackinac during Pontiac's Rebellion. The local Ojibwe Indians have used the ruse of a lacrosse game to follow an errant ball and storm into the fort. The battle between the attackers and the defending British is usually a brutal and bloody one. Kevin and Derek's game was no exception. The Ojibwe managed to kill three redcoats early on, but Kevin was able to pull his scattered garrison back into command range of his leader. He then began to use musketry to shoot down the attackers, half of whom were armed only with knives or tomahawks. The battle was a tense and close one -- with both sides being one away from the "Below 50%" morale checks. The British were forced to check first, which scattered their forces, again. Kevin bravely charged his leader into melee with the Ojibwe chieftain. It was a clever move -- if he killed him outright, the Indians would have to take two consecutive checks and would likely lose most, if not all, of their forces. The Ojibwe leader won the combat, though, and with it, the battle. This meant the French came out overwhelmingly on top by victory points.

    My scratch-built cliffs are always atmospheric eye candy at our games

It was a great series of games, and the players seemed to have fun. We sold 13 copies of Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules, which continue to go over very well with players. I'm extremely happy with their success. I look forward to equal success in a week and a half at Drums at the Rapids -- our next convention stop. There we will run a game Friday night and Saturday morning in the shadow of the palisades of Fort Meigs. This reconstructed War of 1812 fort is an atmospheric place to visit, and I always enjoy wandering among its blockhouses and artillery emplacements after running my games. Anyone in the area on May 16 or 17 should stop by and check out both the game and the fort!

Come to Fort Meigs on May 16-17 to play in the next running of the Ohio Frontier Aflame using Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules!

Latest Painting Projects: Last of the Mohicans & Footsore Minis "Skraelings"

    Conquest Miniatures "Last of the Mohicans" pack: Hawkeye, Chingachgook, Uncas

Contrary to what it may look like from reading this blog, I have actually been painting in the last couple months. The problem is what I am painting is deadline-driven. I need it for a project. Soon. Most of those projects have been for convention games, such as getting stuff ready for Cold Wars -- or more recently -- Cincycon (next weekend!).

The first of these convention-related subjects are the six characters from Conquest Miniatures' "Last of the Mohicans" pack. A couple of the games I was running at Cold Wars last month were scenarios from the movie. So, I pretty much needed to have the figs done in time! I purchased the set months ago, but never got around to painting it until deadline pressure loomed...not like that is common for miniatures wargamers or anything!

In the above image, you can see my take on Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas. I tried my best to make them look like the actors from the 1992 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It certainly looks like Conquest Miniatures had them in mind when they sculpted them. I used successive layers of watered down acrylic washes to do Hawkeye's shirt. I think it looks better in person than in this photo. I also like how Uncas turned out. His faded green shirt and decorative beading on his straps and belts makes for a good look.

    Conquest Miniatures "Last of the Mohicans" pack: Magua, Alica, Cora

Next up is Magua and the ladies, Col. Munro's daughters Alice and Cora. Conquest chose to sculpt the ladies in their tea dresses rather than what they wore for most of the movie. That is unfortunate because I think there is a lot more detail and possibilities with the ladies' "campaign wear." I don't particularly like Alice's face. I think I can only partially blame it on the sculpt, though. Cora's looks better, I think. I also did washes to come up with the tan and light brown for the ladies' skirts. They came out okay, but a little too much collected in the folds. So, they're not perfect.

I like how Magua came out much better. The sculpt appears to be from when he was at the Huron village negotiating with the chief on what to do with his captives. I like the contrast of the antique gold shirt and the blues and reds of the blanket. I couldn't resist decorating up his apparel with fancy borders and beadwork. Even though he did not have on warpaint in that movie scene, chances are he will see action on the tabletop during battle. So, I gave him my take on the movie warpaint scheme. All in all, I'm happy with how the Mohicans characters came out. They'll definitely add some splash to the tabletop when I use them in scenarios.

    Footsore Miniatures "Skraeling Warriors" with scratch-built gun stock war clubs

My most recent batch of figures comes not from Conquest Miniatures -- for a change. I love Conquest's line so much I rarely paint anything else. However, they do not make a pack armed solely with hand weapons -- no bows or muskets. I need those types of figures for one of my scenarios I run in "Ohio Frontier Aflame." So, when I saw that Footsore Miniatures' Skraeling line had a pack armed with separate spears, I bought a couple at Cold Wars. Since the spear is not in as common usage in my period as it is in the Viking period (which is what this line is produced ostensibly for), I decided to do some of my own weapon modification.

First off, I wanted to make at least a couple figures armed with what are sometimes called Indian "gun stock clubs." There is debate about whether they actually used discarded musket stocks, but nevertheless, the shape is similar. Early on, animal horn points were inserted on the club. This was later replaced by metal points. I decided to make my early ones with deer horn points. Where did I get the shape? Well, I'd been saving the lead sprues that some of the 28mm spear points I owned came attached to. These provide jagged-like points on a curved shape. By trimming off all but two of the points, it made a passable club. The difficult part was drilling out the end so I could attach a needle to it through the warriors fist. I figured this would be a more secure hold than simply gluing the end of the weapon onto the fist itself. Plus, the end of the needle gives a rounded end to the handle. I like how they turned out, and would have done more if they weren't such a pain!

I like the Footsore Skraeling miniatures themselves. I'm not exactly crazy about every single figure having an animal tail dangling from their clothing, though. I made the best of it, though. I'm sure they researched it well and it must have been spoken about in Viking sagas or other sources.

    Footsore Miniatures "Skraeling Warriors" with scratch-built root ball war clubs

The rest of the weapons I modeled were forms of the root ball club. This was much easier to do. I simply epoxied a small rounded bead onto a paperclip. Once it was dry, I bent it into the proper shape. I added more epoxy to give it more of a transition from the handle to the root ball. I kind of messed up the middle figure above when adding epoxy, and went overboard. However, some root ball clubs were more compact and less streamlined, so it doesn't look horrible. I think these ended up looking the most accurate of the all the weapons I modified for these figures

    More Footsore Miniatures "Skraeling Warriors" with scratch-built root ball war clubs

I really like how the figures painted up. They are mostly all bare-chested, which gave me more scope for applying tattoos and warpaint. Although I know some Indians wore large amounts of warpaint covering much of their chest, shoulders, and face, I tend not to paint them that way. I am not sure they look as "realistic" as more subdued amounts of warpaint. Strange, I know. Maybe on the next batch of these that I do, I'll try one of the all-black or all-blue paint warpaint jobs.

I did a mix of leather tones and common colors for their loin cloths and leggings. I decorated them to make some bright and colorful and others more subdued. Once again, I referred to my picture book of Robert Griffing's paintings of Indians. Time and again, it has proven an excellent, well-researched source of Indian apparel, patterns, tattoos, and warpaint.

I hope you like them!