It's done! Mean Streets ready for the printers!

The cover for my upcoming release of my gang warfare skirmish rules

A major reason why I have not been posting pictures of what I've been painting or constructing over these last few months has been my focus on getting my gang warfare rules ready for print. Well, as of today, the proofreading is complete - and the rules are ready for the printer! I will upload them to the Lulu website Friday, and order a proof copy to check over for needed corrections. After that, I'll upload any needed changes and they will be ready for sale!

Back cover with one of Jenny's photos of my miniatures and terrain

The project began in October of 2018, and saw playtesting from August of 2019 to March, 2020. I've had a LOT of fun painting the gangs, creating terrain for my 28mm cityscape, and writing the rules. They are about two months behind schedule -- I had planned on having them available in early April. Still, with the increased school workload during the "distance learning," I'm not that upset about their tardiness.

One of my students created both this inside front cover illustration and the cover art for me

The front cover and inside front cover were created by one of my students -- she is one of the most talented artists I have taught. The back cover, along with lots of interior photos, was photographed by my friend Jenny using my figures and terrain. I thought I'd post a couple pictures of them for a quick update so you can enjoy them. I will post again on here when the rules are available for purchase.

My signature banner image in Lead Adventure Forum advertising our rules

My signature banner image in Lead Adventure Forum advertising our rules

New Street Gang: Indianola Mohawks (and WizKids Gas Station)

The Indianola Mohawks, my newest punk rocker gang, take over the local gas station

While researching the names of manufacturers who make 28mm miniatures that would be good for street gangs, I came up on Casting Room Miniatures. Even though I felt that I had enough street gangs already to run my game, I couldn't resist buying three of these packs. They covered types of gangs I didn't have already, and the figures had lots of characters. So, I ordered them from England, wondering how much extra time they'd take with the Coronavirus lockdown.

Iggy and Julius look around for some civilians to harass and intimidate - I love the hairstyles on these figures!

To my surprise, they arrived within two weeks - faster than my Footsore Miniatures North America order which still hadn't shown up after five weeks (I eventually gave up on them, and got a refund). So, instead of painting Viking bondi warriors, I would be painting punk rockers! The three packs I bought were Street Scumbags, Leather Gals and Boys, and Tedious Hippie Scum. With only five figures to a pack, I decided to break them into two gangs -- punk rockers and heavy metal heads. I split the Hippie Scum bag up, two to each new gang, and filed away the remaining placard-carrying figure for another day.

Ian toasts the other members with his refill on his drink, while Kira says, "Hold on, Ian, this girl is pissing me off...!"

The Street Scumbags would form the nucleus of the punk rocker gang, which I chose to call the Indianola Mohawks. Indianola is a street running alongside OSU campus, north of downtown, and seemed a good neighborhood to locate a gang. Mohawks, well, many of the figure had mohawks, and Indian, Indianola...get it? I did some Google searches to come up with a gang logo, and settled upon a skull with sunglasses and a red mohawk. I also did lots of searches on punk clothes, hairstyles, and t-shirts.

Maybel (with the blue hair) is spoiling for a fight, as is Sid, who has his dukes up ready to rumble

I really liked the Casting Room Miniatures. I did have to give most of them weapons. I took snippings of lead spears flattened with pliers for knives, a wire spear with no spearpoint for iron rods, and jeweler's chain for, well, a chain! I really like how the weapons worked into the figures, and felt they looked natural with the poses. My favorite was how the hippie girl who was holding her hands in the air worked perfect for stretching a chain over her head. In fact, she ended up being one of my favorite figures from this gang!

I gave tattoos, earrings, nose studs or chains and bright, punk rocker hair to the Casting Room Miniatures figures

After looking at images online, I decided all the punk rockers would wear black, with a brighter accent color. The leather jacks and vests would be black with bright silver zippers or studs. The t-shirts, vests, jackets, and Maybel's skirt would get gang logos on the back. However, the t-shirts looked too plain with nothing on the front. So, I looked up punk bands and then added those names to "punk" "tshirt" searches. I picked out the easiest to paint -- a Public Image Limited logo, Dead Kennedys symbol, and Black Flag's logo.

Some of the pieces from the WizKids 4D Gas Station

I spent a lot of time decided on hair colors, too. Bizarre hair has always been one of punk rock's most noticeable icons, so I wanted to do it up right. My favorite turned out to be Iggy's rainbow effect mohawk. I also really like how Maybel's blue hair came out, too. Once I was finished with the t-shirt logos, I decided to go ahead and give them tattoos, as well. I'm happy with how all the extra stuff I painted on these turned out.

Iggy and Sid check out the service entrance of my Sarissa Precision gas station, and more of the WizKids pieces

When it came time to take pictures of the gang, I decided to set up a recent purchase of mine. I am trying to support the brick and mortar gaming stores in the area. One avid supporter of the wargaming scene is Fun Factory Hobbies in Mt. Gilead, north of Columbus. I messaged him on Facebook, and he patiently went through what he had that I might be interested in. I ended up buying the WizKids 4D Gas Station from him. It contains 25 pre-painted pieces, such as pumps, ice and soda machines, propane tank, trash cans, air pump, and more. I may go back and add yellow trim on the pumps so they match my MDF shell station, but these images are straight out of the box.

Sid and Kira help themselves to some ice and soda (with a little liquor in it?), while keeping an eye out

I encourage others out there to support their local hobby stores at this time, too -- especially the
"brick and mortar" ones. I bought a boardgame (Terraforming Mars) from the Guardtower here in town. Dan from Game Table Adventures has some 28mm 3-D printed Viking A-frames for me, too. I essentially decided to spend my state tax refund (around $300) supporting the local game shops. I need to pick up something from the Guardtower East, too -- this week, hopefully.

O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel - 28mm MDF Building

The Eastmoor Kings check out the action at O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel, my newest 28mm MDF building

Schoolwork has definitely been keeping me busy during our "stay-at-home" time. Another thing keeping me from getting a lot of hobby stuff accomplished is my back injury has flared up, again. Years ago, I herniated a disk while working for the airline. I've kept it under control for the most part in the decade since then, but it has really been bothering me for the last two weeks. I know it is my fault. I spent WAY too much time on the computer -- most of it in a semi-slouched posture in my recliner in the living room. When you add the hours on schoolwork to working on painting miniatures -- or in this case -- painting the MDF building, I aggravated my back. The problem was, it seemed even when I was taking a break from schoolwork I was working on the computer -- laying out Mean Streets, for example.

Full view of the motel, with lift off second floor and roof (with scratch-built sign)

All of this has combined to limit my hobby time in a big way. I will work on school stuff for maybe 40 minutes, then I have to go lay down and stretch out my back. I bought a heating pad to help, but it eats up a lot of my "free time," laying down recovering from the soreness that accumulates when I am doing schoolwork. So, enough excuse making -- it is time to present my latest (and finally completed) 28mm MDF building for my urban terrain. O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel is a 28mm Sarissa Prescision MDF building. It is meant to simulate those small, kitschy motels of the late 20th century that have mostly been gobbled up by big chains, nowadays. In keeping with my latest trend, I am naming it after one of our Sunday evening gaming group -- Brian.

Part of my modification - the pillars are meant to be one long piece, but I cut them so one half was attached to each floor

The building was easy to assemble, as per usual with Sarissa Precision. I made a major modification right away, though. The arched supporting pillars at the front of the building are supposed to be all one piece. However, I am so glad I measured them ahead of time, quickly realizing they would make the building too big to fit inside my terrain boxes that I use. So, I sawed them in half and modified how they attached to the building. I also modified the roof, which was simply a flat piece of MDF. I added the trim all around it with square bass wood dowels. I created a sign to sit atop the roof using balsa wood, bass wood trim, paper clips, and felt. All in all, I like the modifications I made to the motel.

The motel with the roof off, showing the second floor guest rooms

The motel would be a small one in the real world, with only four guest rooms. However, it is one of my larger buildings in area, and will need to be split over two of my 13"x13" terrain boxes. The rooms also have a subdivided bathroom, but other than that, it is a fairly simple layout and build. When gluing it together wit Tacky glue, I made use of large rubber bands to hold everything tight in place while the glue dried. The surfaces were prepped in my usual way -- Krylon black acrylic spray paint, followed by a 50/50 mix of black paint and water.

I thought the Kelly green and light gray-green gives it that 1970s kitschy vibe

I decided I wanted a colorful & kitschy scheme for the exterior. If you Google "vintage motels" you see all kinds of turquoise, bright Caribbean colors - you name it. They always seemed to have such distinct names, too. Not the "Days Inn" or "Quality Inn" of today. So, in going with the O'Brian's Irish theme, I decided to do a bright Kelly green for trim, and a light, green-gray for the main exterior. On the inside, I wanted to four different colors for the rooms. I ended up going with a Sky Blue, Golden Yellow, Medium Green, and Burnt Orange. For the bathroom areas, I chose a slightly lighter tone of the wall color of the rooms. One side effect of my black priming method of the MDF surfaces, in essence, is it usually takes more than one coat to give a solid cover of the walls. Three coats, in the case of the yellow.

The stairs are attached to the first floor and are a neat feature of the motel

Next up was the floors. I really like using color-printed patterns for the floors. I toyed briefly with the idea of finding a fabric that would mimic shag carpet, but since the craft stores are closed with Coronavirus, I used patterns I'd printed off with a laser printer at the local office supply store (which is open). For the bathrooms, I chose a black and white checkered pattern and used the same for all four. The other four got either a wooden (or faux wooden) flooring, a patterned linoleum that matched the wall colors. For the heck of it, I decided to put a painting on each wall. I Googled "American landscape" and chose four I liked, gave them a thick, brown border for the wooden frame, and added them to what I needed to print off.

As usual, all signs and graffiti for the building are created in Photoshop or found online and printed off

I also printed off the signs for the building. I learned a few buildings back that my hand is not steady enough to paint the signs. I like the way it looks when I create a sign, or find one online and resize it in Photoshop, then print and glue it to the walls. I also glued graffiti to the side and back outside walls. One touch that I just began doing on my buildings is using Fine Blended Gray Ballast from Woodland Scenics as the concrete areas. The three dimensional aspect of the ballast makes the building "pop" more, in my opinion, and makes it more than simply a printed building made of MDF instead of cardstock.

One of the Eastmoor Kings checks out my scratch-built sign (note the paperclip on the sign's edge)

I knew I wanted to scratch-build a motel sign for the rooftop, but I pondered over how to make it stand up. I just couldn't come up with something for a tripod-like design I could easily do myself. I knew I would use a rectangular slab of bass or balsa wood for the sign, but how to create a stand? I then hit upon the idea of using paperclips, I bent two to be identical, having one arm of the paperclip driven through the top of each side of the balsa wood sign, and another army alongside the edge. Then, the rest of the paperclip was bent to the proper angle and voila! A simple sign. I covered the top of the paperclip with cardstock and the bottom with felt (to make it stick in place on the rooftop ballast). Although it is definitely no frills, I'm very happy with my little sign.

The most unflattering view - the almost prison-like look to the rear of the motel

The final step was to wash the exterior to give it more of a weathered look. I don't always do this, but I am glad I did on this one. I use a bottle I premix of the Vallejo Matte Clear paint with drops of black in it, so I don't have to experiment with the darkness every time. It is fairly expensive, as washes go, so I normally use it only for miniatures. However, I had bought a couple bottles right before the Coronavirus lockdown, so I knew I could mix more up if I ran out.

Close up of the interior of the first floor - note the wall paintings and floor patterns printed off

All in all, I really like the look of this building. I especially like the way the balcony and second story look. I can definitely see scenarios in my gang warfare games where somebody has a rendezvous in Room 4 of O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel! Whether to pick up a shipment of something, or take out a rival gang member -- a motel definitely gives me more ideas for missions for the players in my games. What's next on my painting table? Well, I was hoping that my 24 unarmored Viking bondi would have arrived from Footsore Miniatures North America, by now. However, they seem to be backed up and having trouble getting orders shipped, unfortunately. So, I have two new 28mm street gangs primed up and ready to go. So, look for those in the next week or so!

Pack Mules with Handlers in 28mm

My loaded-down mules and their equally loaded-down handlers moving along a path in the forest

So, one of my frequent readers upbraided me for not posting more often during this "social distancing" time. Although I have been spending time regularly on working on hobby stuff, nothing has been finished since my last post -- other than 7 more concrete medians. I didn't want to do another post about that because they look exactly like the first batch of eight. However, Dave and other readers may be happy that I finally did finish something off today!

You can see how many sacks, bags, and other burdens are piled up on these poor pack animals

I honestly have no idea where I obtained these 4 pack mules (donkeys?) from, nor who their manufacturer would be. I did an extensive Google search, but came up blank. I hope one of my readers will recognize them, and I can label them as such. I dug them out of my unpainted lead pile (actually, it's in a very organized wheeled cart, if you're curious...) about three weeks ago, and primed them. However, what with working on the medians, barrels, dumpster, trash bags, etc., I hadn't progressed on them much. Once all of that was finished, though, I began to work on them more wholeheartedly.

The handlers look like French-Canadian voyageurs and Native Americans, to my eye

There are two poses of donkeys (mules?) along with two poses of the handlers. Both are heavily loaded down, which makes me think they are meant to be from the American frontier period -- possibly French & Indian War era voyageurs. One of the handlers looks like a Native American rather than a Frenchman, while the other is your stereotyped, heavily-bearded Frenchie with his cap. So, I painted them up that way, with an eye for them being "generic," and being able to use them for pack animals for just about any period. Luckily, they have no firearms or equipment that would pigeonhole them into a specific period.

The whole line of muleteers make their way through the Eastern Woodlands

One thing they do have is LOTS of bags and loads festooned on them. The handlers are veritable human pack mules (donkeys?), themselves! I certainly wouldn't want to walk around all day carrying what they are carrying. Although this looks very colorful, it does present a challenge to paint. If you paint all of the sacks and such the same color, they will fade together as a blob, and not stick out. If you paint them in distinct and bright colors, they will be overwhelming to they eye, I thought, and look equally bad. So, what I did was to set out all of the faded colors that I have that sacks and bags and such might be colored. The more than a dozen paint bottles were lined up across my desk. I would select one, and then go through the eight miniatures, men and animals, and paint maybe one sack in that color. The effect turned out good, I think. The loads look realistic but not an amorphous blob of the same color.

I used faded colors to show these poor souls have been on the trail for months on end

The handlers I painted in faded colors, figuring they've been on the trail for months and would likely wear the same sweat-faded garb day in and day out. I wanted them to have a very dirty look to them. In fact, when I finished with them, I just had to play a song from Mark Knopfler's latest solo release called, "Trapper Man." It paints a picture of these gentlemen exactly how I imagined them, "...Trapper Man's in from the hinterlands, filth and grease on his clothes and hands..." I decided not to attach a lead from the handlers to the donkeys (mules?) because I wanted the miniatures to be usable without each other, as well. I really like how they came out, and hope they make it to the tabletop one day soon.

What else have I been working on? Well, I have been spending a LOT of time laying out my gang warfare rules, Mean Streets: War in Gang-infested Cities. Sadly, my publishing program, Adobe InDesign finally died. The software no longer works with the latest Mac OS. I got my money's worth out of it, though. I used it while I was editor of the HMGS Great Lakes magazine, The Herald, for years. And I haven't been editor for more than a decade! It somehow made the migration from my first MacBook to the MacBook Pro that I still use for hobby stuff now (my latest MacBook Air is used pretty much just for schoolwork). However, when I went to fire it up, it wouldn't work. So, the long and short of it is I bought a new desktop publishing program -- Affinity Publisher. It has been a slow learning curve using it. Figuring how to do this function or that function isn't as intuitive as I'd hoped, but I am progressing with it. I try to use lots of graphics in my rule book layouts for First Command Wargames, so that makes it slower going.

My proposed cover for my gang warfare rule book for First Command Wargames

Anyway, here's a shot of my proposed cover artwork. I would honestly like feedback on it. Don't be afraid to comment and say you don't like it. Usually, my I fall in love with what I do as cover art, but on this one, I'm still not sure.

Concrete Medians (and Clowns) for my Mean Streets

A car drives quickly past my new concrete medians, hoping to avoid an encounter with the menacing looking street gang

After setting out all of the terrain at Cincycon the other weekend, one thing bothered me a bit as I tried to admire my setup. I had left about eight inches between the city blocks for the main roads. Although I do like my charcoal gray wool felt, and think the fibers in it do a good job of replicating the multiple colors in asphalt, something left me unsettled. That was simply too big of an expanse of featureless asphalt. It needed something 3-dimensional on the road to complete the picture of a city street.

These medians are placed too close to the sidewalk for the photo -- my main streets at Cincycon were 8" wide

I had dismissed the idea of yellow lines on the asphalt -- partly because I hadn't come up with a way that I thought would look good and was practical. Then the idea struck me. What about concrete medians going down the center of the road? And why not fill those medians with decorations -- like trees or flower beds? Fortunately, a vendor selling flower tufts was there at Cincycon, so I picked up three colors (orange, pink, and white with pink) to supplement the purple and yellow flower tufts I had already at home. I had lots of leftover MDF board from my concrete city blocks to cut up into strips for the medians.

Strips of MDF with a flower box created from square concrete dowel sections

Once again, I leaned on handywoman Jenny to cut a section of MDF into 1"x6" strips. I took one of those to Hobby Lobby and picked out square bass wood dowels that I could use to construct "flower box" atop the concrete median. I cut the bass wood up with a craft saw and X-acto knife, using Tacky Glue to arrange them into rectangular boxes atop the MDF. I decided to do a batch of eight first to make sure it all worked out. Doing a lone test one seemed to much of a time waster, and I had a feeling that I would like how they turned out.

Fine blended gray ballast is my go-to for a 3-dimensional concrete effect - as seen in the now-concrete flower boxes

My concrete is made from Woodland Scenics Fine Blended Gray Ballast. I decided to flock the flower box first, and seal it up good so that I would have something to hold onto when I did the flat, top surface of the median. I painted it a light, concrete-looking gray first, then when dry, brushed on full strength Elmers Glue-All white glue. I then poured the ballast over it trying to cover the surface thoroughly. Some places ended up patchy, so I went back and reapplied more later. Once dry, I sprayed it with Krylon clear matte. Next up, I brushed on a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water to fully seal the ballast onto the surface.

Last-minute idea of painting the sides of the medians "traffic yellow" so motorists in my Mean Streets see them better

At this stage, I got the idea of painting the side edges of the MDF the standard "traffic yellow" you see here in America. I am glad I thought of this touch, as you do occasionally see the sides of medians painted yellow for visibility. Plus, it is a splash of realistic color against the asphalt. Next, I painted the top surface of the medians gray, and then followed it up when dry with full strength white glue. More ballast was poured onto this surface. Once again, I sprayed it with matte sealer, then added 50/50 white glue and water.

A line of white glue is squeezed into the flower box, followed up by fine brown ballast as base layer of my "dirt"

At this stage, I realized that for such a simple terrain piece, it was a fairly laborious process to create them. The next-to-last step was to squeeze in full strength white glue into the flower box itself and pour in Woodland Scenics Fine Brown Ballast that I used as my earth mixture on figure bases. Once dry, this is followed up with a Brown Turf flocking from Woodland Scenics to give it the dirt color I use. FINALLY, it was time for the last step. I once again squeezed white glue into the flower box and placed my flower tufts in there. I did two colors per median piece to make it more bright and sunny looking (I know, not exactly what you think of when gang warfare comes to mind!).

The finished medians - each having two colors of flowers planted in the concrete box -- to brighten my city streets

Speaking of gangs, in my rush to get ready for Cincycon I had completed my eighth gang -- the Franklinton Flippos. Named after a Columbus TV clown star, Flippo the Clown, this West-side gang uses figures from the Assault Group. They have two packs with masks, one with clown masks and the other with "anonymous masks." I painted both styles up as clowns, though. To go along with Flippo's costume, I gave them dark blue shirts with white polka dots. I also gave them jeans, shorts -- whatever the figure appeared to be wearing.

Creepy Franklinton Flippos (figs from The Assault Group) hang out next to the median, creating a nuisance

I really like how this gang looks on the tabletop. Some of my favorite photos I took of the two games of Mean Streets that I ran at Cincycon have the Flippos in them. They definitely look creepy. So, when I wanted to pose some miniatures with my new concrete medians, the Flippos were the ones I picked! Now that I have my first batch of eight done, I will probably follow it up with the remaining MDF bases Jenny cut for me (six? eight?). I have the process down, and I have my head wrapped around how long it will take. I'm fairly happy with how they turned out. I think they look better on a tabletop than they do close up in photos -- and certainly better than the plain asphalt street!

28mm Policeman & Other Things I've Been Doing

Police officers investigate a disturbance in an alley way littered with garbage bags from Miniature Building Authority

I imagine this has been a somewhat productive week for miniatures bloggers. In the spirit of Monty Python's "The Life of Brian," I'm trying to look on the bright side of life (feel free to whistle along...) while the Coronavirus shadow looms over Ohio. Classes at my school district are cancelled in an attempt to limit the spread. This means I am working from home -- creating online assignments, answering questions, communicating with parents, grading, and more. It also means I am at home pretty much all day. That, on the bright side, translates to more hours to spend on miniatures projects.

These plaster barrels sitting outside Wallace's Pub needed only the metal bands painted and basing to be complete

Before we'd closed down, I had pulled out some various modern scatter for my 28mm urban city -- another dumpster, trash bags of different sizes and shapes, and a huge resin heap of rubbish. In addition, I added the four 28mm police officers I'd purchased at Cincycon from Iron Wind Metals to the other four I had never painted, and set them out to clean up and prime. During one of my games at the convention, one of the player's gang got knocked out pretty early. As I was sitting there feeling bad that the game was over for him, I got an interesting idea. Why not, at conventions, have players in a similar situation come back as a police car with a couple officers inside? Have them come in on a random board edge, and get them back in the game.

Ral Partha (Iron Wind Metals) policemen check out a Miniature Building Authority dumpster

Well, to do that, I'd need police! I am also in the process of looking for a suitably sized die cast police car. I know they're out there because I've seen them in other gamers' photos. So, if anybody sees one here in Central Ohio, give me a shout! The police officers themselves were painted dark blue, then highlighted with a brighter blue. There wasn't a whole lot of detail that wasn't uniform bits, so they went really quickly -- black belt, hat brim, and shoes, along with silver for the badges and steel or brown for their revolver or billy club. Pretty soon, I had a force of 8 police officers to clean up the mess my gangs would make of the city!

Most of the garbage scatter were things I picked up last Cincycon from Miniature Building Authority. They're a fantastic store, and make some truly amazing buildings and other miscellaneous things for the wargamer. I had brought a little wad of birthday cash and was planning on spending it with them, but alas, they did not come this year. Some of that went to Iron Wind, instead, of course! For the garbage, I spray primed it all black, then went over it with my usual 50/50 mix of black acrylic paint and water. Next, I dry brushed the dumpster and trash bags Iron Wind Dark Green, followed with Kelly Green highlights. I picked out some other odd bits in different colors, and they were quickly finished.

This garbage heap from Miniature Building Authority was the most overwhelming to focus on details to paint

The trash heap, well, that was another story. It was mind-boggling to look at. There were so many bits of this and that it was hard to focus on anything to decide what color to paint. So, I got out a post-it note, and wrote down a half-dozen things to paint on the first pass -- a sheet of corrugated metal, various tarps, a window frame or lattice, pipes, etc. After that was done, I did it again, picking out some more things. Eventually, everything was painted, and I added in my earth brown for the main part of the heap. I based the heap and the garbage bags on styrene plastic, and then added medium blended gray ballast (I should have used my Fine, though). As a final way to darken up the heap and blend the colors together, I gave it a dark black wash. Finally, I was happy with how my pile of rubbish looked!

There is more on my painting desk that I am working on, but I'll save that for another update. Expect to get at least one Lead Legionaries update a week as long as my school remains closed. Unfortunately, it will be mostly about painting and building and not gaming, as the convention scene is closed for the next couple months at the minimum, I'd say. Even our Sunday night gamers are leaning towards taking a hiatus, though Brian is pushing us towards online board game play. It is Sunday as I post this, so we'll see what happens!

'Mean Streets' a Success at Cincycon 2020

My newest-painted gang, the Franklinton Flippos in their creepy clown masks, saunter past the Shell Station

 As I prepared my gang warfare rules, Mean Streets: War in the Gang-infested Cities for publication, I was hoping that Cincycon 2020 would prove to be the final playtest. The core engine of the rules set had been proven in games I ran for the public at the Ohio History Center (as a simplified American Frontier rules set). The adaption for urban skirmish had worked in the playtests I held with my Sunday night gaming group. Now, I wanted it to meet the convention-going crowd. We all know gamers can do things we'd never expect when planning out our scenarios and writing our rules. Would Mean Streets, my newest rules for First Command Wargames, survive the tables of a wargaming convention?

The Eastmoor Kings investigate the back entrance of Wallace's Brewpub in one of my Mean Streets events at Cincycon

The answer was a resounding success. All of my players seemed to enjoy the game and had a blast rumbling with other gangs on the tabletop. The game seemed fun both on Friday and Saturday night, and in both runnings my players commented on how they liked the simple approach used by the rules. I noticed on Friday night that my players were running their own combats with next to no help from me from turn one. I stepped in a bit more on Saturday, as my players were quite as veteran I had on Friday night. Still, they knew what to do and only needed to ask my ruling when unusual situations came up.

The Bexley Blockwatch keeps an eye on the gang activity in the streets, ready to wield their walking sticks as clubs

I wrote down a few things to adjust in the way the rules are worded (gamers are wonderful at trying to push the envelope in rules, making you rule out the letter of the rules rather than just trying to get by with the spirit). I also learned a couple things on one or two of my missions. One proved too difficult and needs to be tweaked. Another was a bit too easy, I felt (mainly because where I had the gang deploy -- too close to their objective). When I plan on the primary and secondary missions I give gangs in my multiplayer games, I try to make everyone's projected path cross. I purposely adjust their victory conditions so that they have to encounter other gangs. I leave warnings in my mission explanations to look out for a gang looking to intrude on their turf or possibly interfere with them in other ways.

The Hilltop Highlanders cruise past the basketball court on their way towards their objective

In addition, I add in a bit of gang rivalry in the victory points. Players get VPs for knocking out opposing gang members, but certain gangs are worth double points because of a "bad history" with them. This ensures that punches are thrown and the players have a good time mixing it up. Although running around on the table completing missions without a combat may appeal to some players, most want to fight others and get into the spirit of inflicting a beat-down on rival gangs.

A shot of the 5'x4' board I used at Cincycon 2020, with three city blocks separated by two streets and numerous alleys

This game used a 5'x4' board with six players. I started four in the corners of the board, and the other two at the midpoint of the 5' edge. This spaced them out enough that they weren't jumped by other gangs on turn one, but kept them in close enough proximity to each other that fights were sure to develop. I used what are (in my opinion) my six coolest gangs: the Hilltop Highlanders, Sons of Thor (German Village chapter), Bexley Blockwatch, Franklinton Flippos, Eastmoor Kings, and Linden Daos. The Flippos were finished the week of Cincycon, with the final Dullocoate being sprayed on them Wednesday night -- two days before they threw their first punch in a game.

Arthur of the Bexley Blockwatch prepares to enter Wallace's Brewpub, while the civilians get edgy and nervous

I used most of my 28mm buildings that I have been working on for the last couple years in this game. I depicted three city blocks, separated by about 8" of street. The blocks themselves were divided between each building by 3" alleys. I had learned from previous playtests to ensure there was a 3" alley between each building and the board edge so that no one was bottled up too easily. The center block consisted of my buildings with the greatest depth -- Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner, the Shell Station, Sams Quick Mart, and a playground surrounded by a chest-high stone wall. One board edge was the apartment row, with four Sarissa Precision City Block buildings, with my scratch-built basketball court sandwich between. The other long board edge consisted of my two factories, the Street Market, St. Jennifers Church, and the corner of a city park. In retrospect, I think maybe the 8" streets were wider than I needed. I may try to add more depth to one of the blocks and narrow the two large streets. We'll see!

A rumble breaks out in the street between the Hilltop Highlanders and the Sons of Thor

What's more, I decided to upgrade my "chrome" for the convention. I created character cards for each of the six gang members players would have for the game. These were done over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday evening, with the printing and cutting out and putting in sleeves done the night before the convention on Thursday! Each card showed a front and back view of the miniature, along with their stats and special abilities, of course. Players said they were helpful, and I saw them leafing through their cards when they got into a fight to double-check if their figure had any advantages they wanted to make sure they used.

The Linden Daos tag a playground and Sams Quick Mart - notice my newly-made, circular tag markers with gang logos

Finally, I created 3-D "tag" markers. Gangs receive VPs for "tagging" buildings and other structures over the course of the game. They are penalized if a rival gang tags their home turf. I'd created circular logo-style tags earlier in the week for each gang I've painted up. I just wasn't sure what I wanted to attach them to, yet. I stopped in Hobby Lobby after school Thursday, and found a package of 60 circular, foam emoji faces in various colors. The best part was they were adhesive backed, which meant no gluing would be needed. I could peel off the backing and slap the printed out logo on it! I was really happy with how these looked. They look nice on the tabletop, and were a bright, visual reminder of what they'd done so far and where other gangs had tagged buildings. A number of times, they drew rival gangs to the spot to "tag over" their marker and spray-paint their own.

Friday night's five players were a good-natured bunch, except for the punishment they inflicted on rival gangs!

The games themselves went great, I felt. I had five players on Friday night, instead of the six slots I had available. I thought about jumping in myself as the 6th player, but I wanted to see if that unbalanced any of the missions. It didn't. The game went great, and saw lots of laughing and joking as gang members were knocked out, one by one. It also went a lot faster without the sixth player. We were done within 2 hours, including time for explanation of the rules. Saturday's game was full and ran a bit longer. It was still under 3 hours when my players decided to call it when the big, climactic rumble at the end became obvious which way it would go.

The Franklinton Flippos show their gang colors, moving stealthily past the Shell Station towards the main street

I think that big rumble was the most cinematic event of the weekend. The Franklinton Flippos (in their creepy clown masks), had the mission of "Show the Colors." Their job was to saunter down the street in front of the apartments and dare all others to bring it on. They intimidated the Bexley Blockwatch, who scattered into buildings and alley ways to let them pass. As the gang neared their goal of the far edge of the board, they spotted a lone Linden Dao dragging a reluctant basketball player from the court across the street. The Daos' mission was to "Protect a Brother" and go rescue the younger brother of the Gang Boss, who was playing basketball at the courts (and rumor said a hit was planned on). Since the Daos were being run by the brother of the Flippos' player, the temptation was too much to resist. They beat down the long gang member and were then promptly jumped by another three Daos.

The Flippos use their superior numbers to inflict a beat-down on the martial artists of the Linden Daos

At full strength still, the Flippos began to wear the black martial arts gang down. However, that's when the Flippos' West side rivals, the Hilltop Highlanders showed up. Fresh from the beat-down on the Sons of Thor, the Highlanders formed a line and began to slowly close in on the rumble. They soon charged in, and it was obvious they thirsted for clown blood, as they ignored the Daos and began to beat up the Flippos. At the other end of the streets, the Blockwatch appeared. Like with the Highlanders, they formed a line and began to slowly close in on the three-gang rumble. It was certainly a made-for-TV moment! The only thing missing was the clanking of pop bottles and the taunting cry from a hearse, asking the rival gang to come out and play!

The Hilltop Highlanders arrive on the scene, facing off against their hated West side rivals - the Franklinton Flippos

So, I think my players "digged" the rules, and it is my goal to get them layed out and printed by Daycon 2020 next month. A lot of times running games at conventions leaves me stressed out and tired, but this game almost seemed to run itself. That's a good sign, and I find myself re-energized to write the final passages of the rules covering different settings (like The Warriors, or Gangs of New York 19th century, or Peaky Blinders 1920's Engalnd). This is my event I will be running this convention season, so I hope you get a chance to catch it showing at a convention near you this year. The tour includes Cincycon this past weekend, DayCon in Dayton April 17-18, Drums at the Rapids May 15-16, Origins Game Fair June 17-21, Historicon July 8-12, and Advance the Colors Oct. 9-11. I might also run it at a few game shops in between -- we shall see!

Steve Cole, controlling the Flippos, watches his brother Mike move his Sons of Thor in the Saturday game

Master Okambo, Gang Boss of the Linden Daos, talks his younger brother into abandoning his basketball game

'Give me the keys to the red sports car!' demands Delroy, Gang Boss of the Eastmoor Kings, in the Shell service bay

One of my favorite moments of the weekend - Saturday's Big Rumble with three gangs and a fourth closing in

Finished the week of the convention, the Flippos were a hit at Cincycon - if not with their rivals!

Another look at the Flippos, as Marvin, Bud, and Canuck strut down the main street, showing their gang colors

Inside the Brewpub, Arthur - warchief of the Blockwatch - "convinces" the manager to pay protection money to his gang