More Post-Apocalyptic (Wrecked Cars & Dead Trees)

    Mantic Games resin wrecked vehicles painted up rusted and dilapidated for post-apoc games

With Advance the Colors 2023 behind me, I now seem to have more time for finishing up things I'd begun (or wanted to start on) earlier. First and foremost were four wrecked vehicles that I want to use for scatter scenery in my post-apocalyptic games. I picked them up at the Guardtower East during one of our monthly Saga game days. 

 Biggest complaint was that the window for the back up the pickup had to be glued in and didn't fit

These were made of a gray resin or plastic and came with two pickup trucks and two cars. Each type was identical, and the pickup required one piece of assembly. The back window of the pickup needed glued into place with the truck's bed. Only it wasn't that simple. Try as I might, I simply couldn't get it to fit smoothly. There had obviously been some warping or distortion that went on in the casting process. I ended up having to epoxy the windows into place as close I could. I then filled the gaps with green stuff. I was fairly happy with how I did with the green stuff. It is definitely something I am still a learner on.

    The models come dented to simulate a wreck, but all the rust and wear and tear was painted on

I spray painted each vehicle with Krylon matte black, following it up with my usual 50/50 acrylic black paint and water. I then epoxied it to a styrene plastic base, though I was tempted to leave it un-based and free standing. It might even look better on the tabletop that way, but I detest holding onto things while painting something, with the chance of rubbing off paint. Or paint the bottom and then painting the top. Basing something up and holding onto that base is always preferable.

    The windows are solid, so I used my brushwork to make them look broken and busted, too

Next, I did the base color for all four vehicles, leaving black gaps in the seams of the body panels, doors, etc. I'm not sure why I went with brighter colors for the vehicles over the trucks, but I did. I followed this with a dry brush of white or lighter color of the base. Next, I did a three part rust effect, beginning with a dark brown, adding in patches of a rusty, leathery brown, and then finishing it off with an orange clay color. Since the windows were solid, I had to paint cracks to make them look busted up, too. I painted the chrome areas a steel color, then pewter and silver highlights. Of course, each vehicle got a dark black wash to look appropriately abandoned and dirty.

    3-D printed trees from Rusty Parker of Jarls Workshop. I decided to make them "dead" for post-apoc

The next thing I finished off were two 3-d printed trees that I'd picked up as prizes from the Hold the Line Saga tournament in Port Clinton, OH. Rusty Parker of Jarl's Workshop printed them off and had numerous ones he'd painted up for terrain for the tournament. He had flocked them to look like trees in bloom, but I thought their bare branches would make them excellent dead trees to add to the smaller ones I'd painted up earlier. In a post-apocalyptic landscape, the dead trees at a nice desolate vibe.

    Closeup of the one of the dead trees with my 28mm Planet of the Apes gorillas patrolling nearby

These were very easy to get ready for the tabletop! I simply spray painted them black, did my usual 50/50 acrylic follow up, and then dry brushed them. I applied the first dry brush thickly -- more of a "wet brush." I used the Camo Brown from Howard Hues. Next, I did a dry brush of Howard Hues Khaki. A black wash finished them out, and they were ready for flocking. There is an area between the branches that looks like vegetation, so I flocked that with Woodland Scenics "Burnt Grass" flocking. Otherwise, I did a fine brown ballast around the roots and applied a Turf Earth over top of that. A couple more patches of burnt grass and some tufts, and they were done. Of course, they are taller than the box which I stored my smaller dead trees would hold! I will sit them on their sides until I think of a better idea.

    The smaller dead trees in back are from Mantic Games' Terrain Crate line, 'Gothic Grounds'

These two mini-projects took less time each than a normal batch of Saga miniatures, so it was nice to feel they were painted up quickly! Hopefully, the speedy progress will continue!

Three Warlords that "Got Away"

    The first of the three warlord stands using Gripping Beast's Godfrey of Bouillon miniature

This year, I continued the tradition of painting up and giving away warlord stands for my Saga tournaments at Advance the Colors 2023. I ended up giving away six stands worth -- three were posted earlier. Here are my final three, finished literally the day before I had to pack up everything to take to ATC. Everyone who got one has said they appreciated the prize, and I've seen on Facebook that some have even been used in battle already! That's great to see.

    A Muslim general painted up with leftover miniatures I had from my Gripping Beast Moorish army

I like to pick up the figures I use for them at the Historicon booth of Cotton Jim's Flags. He always seems to have some Gripping Beast metal miniatures on discount. If I'm buying something to give away, it only makes sense to reduce what I pay. Somehow, I was able to reduce the time it took me to paint this batch of nine miniatures. I finished them and created their banners in Photoshop in about half the time the previous batch took me. Of course, deadline pressure sometimes can do that!

    I used Gripping Beast's 'Attila the Hun' miniature and a 'Saxon Warlord" for this Eastern warlord

I really liked how all three came out, and I hope those who won them feel the same, too. I tried to paint a variety of nationalities so people could find something they had an army to match. At the same time, I tried to paint them relatively generically so that they would fit with more than one army. 

So, look for these three stands being used in games of Saga somewhere, sometime...!

Warlords Gather from Near and Far to Battle at Advance the Colors 2023

 

    We had 24 players on Saturday for the 'Age of Melee' tournament and 14 on Friday for Ancients

Earlier this year, I decided to add a second Saga tournament at Advance the Colors. Joining Saturday's open "Age of Melee" tourney would be an "Age of Ancients" one on Friday. My hope was that players from further away might be willing to come for the weekend if they could be guaranteed two days of Saga fun. Judging from where some of our attendees drove or flew in from, I would have to call it a success.

    For many, it was their first time facing the multiple elephants of Daniel B's Indian army

I had players attend from South Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Two were international from Toronto, Canada. We also had our usual players from Ohio and Indiana (and even one from Michigan, this time). I had 14 for Ancients (Age of Hannibal and Alexander books), and 24 for Age of Melee. Of my 14 participants on Friday, 11 of them also played on Saturday. So, on a technicality, we DID grow from last year's 24 players (having 27 unique participants). I was hoping Saturday's tourney would break into the 30s, but who knows? Maybe next year!

    Dan Neal's Persians won "Best Painted" on Friday in the Age of Ancients tournament

I think Age of Ancients is a valid choice for a theme tournament. It will be made even better when Age of Caesars is released (2024?). I think I counted 9 of the 14 were "Greek-ish," whether actual Greek Cities, Graeculi, or Successors. There was only one Republican Roman player and no Carthaginian, Numidian, Iberian, Thracian, etc. That was a tiny disappointment -- I like seeing a variety of armies at a tournament. We did have Indians and Persians, though. I don't think that's surprising, though, as both armies are highly regarded among experienced Saga players. 

    Bob Boggs' Asiatic Successor army went 3-0 and won Friday's 'Age of Ancients'

I did my usual dividing of players into two pools -- a "local" and "visitors." My reasoning for this is to ensure players face as many opponents that they usually don't game with as possible. Thus, winning "local" players would face winning "visitors" in the second round, and the same for ones who lost. There was a little bit of fudging, of course. The locals were outnumbered by the visitors (which is a good thing because the more people come from far away the more it means we're growing!). So, I co-opted my friend Jason from South Carolina onto the home team as he grew up in Ohio. Rusty and James joined the locals, even though they don't usually play against our Saga Ohio players. You get the picture, though. I was happy that I was able to keep the home vs. visitor matchups going pretty much through all three rounds.

    Anthony Adams, left, had a very successful weekend going 5-1. He plays Lowell & his Graeculi

I had a ton of prize support. Gripping Beast shipped in boxes of miniatures from England. The ever-generous Jeff Gatlin of Shieldwall Gaming provided lots of prize support, both miniatures and gift certificates. Cotton Jim Flags sent four Saga books. Father and Son Gaming donated MDF Saga measuring sticks. Sword & Scabbard Games donated two sets of their unique sets of 3-D printed markers for Saga. Arriving after I'd left for Springfield and ATC were six very generous gift certificates from Badger Games. I sent them to the top three finishers of each tournament electronically, so they go double prizes! And of course, Saga Ohio (in this case, me!) donated six custom-painted warlord stands. I also shelled out some of my own money to make sure everyone got a prize by purchasing stuff from the vendors present at ATC 2023.

    Lots of smiles and Saga action going on amongst the tables at Advance the Colors

How did the tournaments turn out? They went VERY well, according to the feedback from my players and my own judgement. Most the players went out of their way to thank me and praise how the tournaments ran, which was very gratifying. I'd spent many, many hours preparing for this weekend. The fact that all seemed to have a good time makes it worthwhile, and gave me a deep sense of satisfaction. I fully realize that the Saga tournaments at ATC are among the largest in the United States. It speaks to the dedication of our local Saga Ohio players and the camaraderie with the Ft. Wayne and Indianapolis contingents from neighboring Indiana. Without those guys, our tournaments would lose some of their luster, and I thank them for their continued support of events here in Ohio.

    James Tolbert's Greek Cities: Spartans hurl themselves upon their Gallic opponents

Here are the full results of the Age of Ancients tournament on Friday. The battles we played were, Rescue the Hostages (my own adaption of a scenario we played this summer at Historicon), Desecration, and Clash of Warlords. Congratulations to Bob Boggs and his Asiatic Successors army for winning the tournament!

1. Bob Boggs, Asiatic Successors, 3-0 (88 points)

2. Dan Neal, Median Persian, 3-0 (61 points)

3. Anthony Adams, Greek Cities: Spartan, 2-1 (40 points)

4. Edgar Gillock, Greek Cities: Athens, 2-1 (40 points)
 
5. Jason Mirosavich, Indian, 2-1 (30 points)

6. James Tolbert, Greek Cities: Sparta, 1-1-1 (48 points)

7. Scott McPheeters, Achaemenid Persian, 1-1-1 (37 points)

8. Lowell Lufkin, Graeculi: Syracuse, 1-2 (71 points)

9. Jim Deppen, Republican Romans, 1-2 (67 points)

10. Doug Dunn, Gauls, 1-2 (65 points)

11. Shea Dunn, Gauls, 1-2 (55 points)

12. Andy Swingle, Greek Cities: Athens, 1-2 (49 points)

13. Charlie Clay, Greek Cities: Athens, 1-2 (37 points)

14. Rusty Parker, Graeculi: Epirote, 0-3 (52 points)

    The Ancient armies looked great on the tabletop, and the players seemed to really enjoy the theme

Best painted army was won by Dan Neal, who received a $25 gift certificate from Shieldwall Gaming. Dan also went 3-0, but was out-pointed by his gaming buddy Bob. So, it was an appropriate consolation, imagine.

    Ed G drove from Tennessee for the convention and plays against Andy S - founder of Saga Ohio

Saturday was the bigger day for participants, of course. My Age of Melee tournament began at ATC in 2021 with 16 players. Last year, we had 24 players, and this year we equaled that with another two dozen. I have to remember to ask for more space next year because if we had any more players, I would have had to scrounge extra tables from the convention staff! 

    Top tables in the final round: Anthony vs. Joe D (Huns vs. Mongols!) left, and Charlie vs. Shea

Here are the full results for the Age of Melee tournament, below. The winner was Shea Dunn, who drove down with his dad Doug. Shea was playing Irish and was entering his FIRST TOURNAMENT EVER! The 23-year-old has been playing less than a year, and overcame staunch opposition to come out on top of a pile that included many, many winners of previous tournaments. I have to admit, it was hard not to pull for "the kid" -- especially since he's such a nice guy who always has a smile and is there to have fun. Best painted was Charlie Clay with his Persians. Charlie has been the true Saga nomad enthusiast, traveling around the country for work and bringing his Saga armies with him. He seeks out games with local clubs and has become quite the ambassador for the game. Charlie won a 4-point Gripping Beast Gallic starter army box from Shieldwall Games. Congrats to both Shea and Charlie!

    Beautiful armies, beautiful banners, and lots of spectacle on the tabletop throughout the two days!

1. Shea Dunn, Irish, 3-0 (116 points)

2. Anthony Adams, Huns, 3-0 (99 points)

3. Lee Parker, Milites Christi, 2-0-1(85 points)

4. Jason Mirosavich, Scots, 2-1 (86 points)

5. Charlie Clay, Achaemenid Persians, 2-1 (82 points)

6. Jim Randall, Byzantines, 2-1 (79 points)

7. Scott McPheeters, Irish, 2-1 (78 points)

8. Jim Deppen, Welsh, 2-1 (78 points)

9. Joe Dihrkop, Mongols, 2-1 (72 points)

10. Eric Morrow, Greek Cities: Spartans, 2-1 (68 points)

11. Edgar Gillock, Anglo-Saxon, 1-1-1 (71 points)

12. Daniel Broaddus, Indian, 1-1-1 (67 points)

13. Mike Zajchowski, Carolingian, 1-1-1 (67 points)

14. Dan Neal, Baltic Crusaders, 1-1-1 (65 points)

15. Bob Boggs, Byzantines, 1-2 (78 points)

16. Doug Dunn, Gauls, 1-2 (74 points)

17. Jason Stelzer, Romans (AOI), 1-2 (72 points)

18. Benjamin Barber, Pagan Peoples, 1-2 (66 points)

19. Phil Keifer, Welsh, 1-2 (64 points)

20. Dave Eblin, Romans (AOI), 1-2 (44 points)

21. Joseph Merz, Gauls, 0-2-1 (72 points)

22. Mark A. Bishop, Franks, 0-2-1 (49 points)

23. Lowell Lufkin, Anglo-Saxon, 0-2-1 (48 points)

24. Karen Metz, Viking, 0-3 (64 points)

    What Saga is all about -- two warbands striving to overcome each other on the battlefield!

A special thanks to my "odd-man out," Joe Merz, who cheerfully volunteered to be my extra in case I had an odd number of players. I didn't need him on Friday, but I did on Saturday, and appreciated his stepping in and playing. 

    The thing I enjoy most about a tournament is seeing all the armies arrayed & meeting the people

There have been a LOT of tournaments in our area this year, but there IS one more. Those who can make it to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, can participate in the Rumble on the Rivers. Join the always-fun Ft. Wayne group and our Saga Ohio contingent who will be heading over to join them. Here's the link for the convention.  

    The somber, black-clad Hospitallers of Lee Parker's Milites Christi held down 3rd place Saturday

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the beautifully painted armies the players brought. It was a pleasure for me just to walk around and admire them. Thanks to all the players who attended, and to HMGS Great Lakes for providing us the venue for our third annual tournament(s).

    Anthony's Huns vs. Joe's Mongols -- lots of horses riding to and fro on the battlefield!

    Charlie's best-painted Persians take on an elephant in the Age of Melee tournament

    "For Sparta!" Greek Cities of both Athenian & Spartan variety proved very popular all weekend

    Greeks vs. Gauls -- historical matchups were common in Friday's 'Age of Ancients' tourney

    Republican Romans feeling awfully lonely in a field of Greeks, Greeks, and more Greeks!

Some Miniature Building Authority (MBA) Middle Eastern buildings

    Two resin buildings from Miniature Building Authority - including a shawarma shop!

I have been so busy that I have had little chance to update this blog, lately. There are a number of things that I have finished off in my "crunch time" before Advance the Colros 2023. One of those has been a pair of Middle Eastern buildings from the quality resin terrain line Miniature Building Authority. I chose two small buildings in a vain, last-ditch attempt to get all of what I bought from MBA at last ATC completed before this one rolled around!

 

    The shawarma shop on the left is named after my friend Andy, of course!

One of the buildings is their "Ice Cream Shop." Of course, being me, I decided to change things up. I made it a Shawarma stand. I like to name my buildings after my gaming friends, so my buddy Andy got the honors on this one! In hindsight, I wish I had colored the background of the signs. As I mentioned, I have been pressed for time of late so ended up cutting a corner here. Still, I like the way the building came out. MBA makes high quality buildings and their line of Middle Eastern buildings are top notch.

Metal bits were done in a steel color with pewter highlights, but otherwise, these were quick to paint!

These were very easy to paint. I spray painted them black first. Then I dry brushed them with a medium brown color from Howard Hues called "Camo Brown.? I added in successive highlight colors of Khaki and white. I finally picked out wood and metal highlights. But honestly, these buildings paint up so quickly that you'll get them ready for your tabletop in no time at all!

    I highly recommend buildings from Miniature Building Authority!

The other building is called "Small Middle Eastern Building II" on the MBA website. It is a good example of their two-part ruined buildings. The top 2/3's of the building lifts off, leaving a ruined foundation and stubble of walls on all four sides. When you place the top back on, the crack delineating the join between the two pieces looks very natural. It's a great way to get two buildings, essentially, for the price of one. It was painted exactly as the other building and should look good for my modern games. What's more, I think it will look fine for even Sci-Fi games. So many of the Star Wars movies feature that desert look, and I think these will go perfect for that period, as well...

Three Warlords of Saga

 

    My first warlord prize stand for the Saga Age of Melee tournament, a "Welsh-style" general

Last year, I painted up a handful of warlord stands as prizes for the Advance the Colors 2022 Saga Tournament. I wanted to do the same thing again, but figured that doing them in several batches, rather than all at once, would be easier. I am running two tournaments this year, so picked out one batch of figures for the Ancients tournament and one for the Age of Melee (all historical periods). I would be painting at third warlord stand for myself at the same time. With three figures per stand, nine figures wouldn't be so bad, right?

    Using Gripping Beast's "Aetius" figure, I created a warlord stand for Roman-style armies

Wow...these three stands seemed to take FOR EVER...FOR EVER (channeling the movie "Sandlot")! Granted, the warlords themselves were mounted while their standard bearer and bodyguard were on foot. Still, that shouldn't take that much longer than a normal batch of 8 miniatures, should it? Apparently so. Being general or heroic figures, they did have a lot of detail. And being prizes, I wanted to make sure I did a bang-up job on them. How embarrassing would it be if the painted warlord stands were the last prizes chosen? Last year, they were some of the very first chosen, which I found gratifying. I received a lot of kind words and praises for them, so I had to make sure these were up to the same standard.

    I would have to say this stand is up there in my all-time favorite warlord stands I've painted for Saga

The Age of Melee stand would use as its base a mounted general from Gripping Beast (I believe), called "Mounted Welsh Warlord." It is an incredibly cool figure with scale armor and a dashing half-cloak over his shoulder. The horse is rearing majestically and it is simply a great pose. I decided to alternate silver and bronze scales, and was happy with how those turned out. I crossed my fingers and did a tartan for the cloak, which came out great, I felt. The yellow squares at the intersection of the blue and green "grid" really set it off. The shades of green and blue colors gives a nod to current Scottish tartans, so I felt they looked believable.

I added a bard figure to the stand that has been sitting in my unpainted lead drawer for more than a decade. I am no longer sure where this figure comes from, but it is a beautiful casting. I love his sweeping gesture as he points out the subject of his praise. I gave him lots of decoration so that he is dressed to befit his lord's status! The standard bearer was simply a well-armored dark age warrior who I thought fit the look of a Dark Age British style warlord. I want these stands to be relatively generic and useful for at least several or a handful of warbands. In that vein, I made the banner a Celtic-style boar which I found with a Google Image search. I put it in Photoshop and switched out some colors and added a nice border. I made it match the color scheme of the warlord and feel it really stands out.

    I really like how the bodyguard's and standard bearer's shields came out on this stand

Next up was the warlord for the Age of Ancients tournament. I chose Gripping Beast's Aetius, Magister Militum figure for the general. Not only are there Roman armies in pretty much every Saga "Age of..." book, there are other warbands that might have Roman-style equipment in Age of Invasions that it could work for, I feel. Of course, since he is Roman style, I had to go with deep reds for the color scheme, with a dash of purple here and there. I went with a yellow cloak for contrast and think it works well overall with the banner and accents on the clothes. I Googled "Roman Legionary Banners" and sorted through the dozens of images before deciding on the rampaging bull. I added a border of tiny SPQR eagles around it, hoping that it wouldn't date the warlord to one particular period (such as Christian imagery might). You have to remember, Age of Caesars will be out before too long (hopefully), so I want him to be usable for that book's Romans, as well.

    Aethelflaed Alfreds-daughter, Lady of Mercia, is believed to have actually led armies

Finally, the third stand that was for myself -- Aethelflaed, Alfreds-daughter, Lady of Mercia! Ever since watching The Last Kingdom series on Netflix, I thought it would be amazing to have an Anglo-Saxon army with the redoubtable Aethelflaed as a warlord. This daughter of Alfred the Great was raised at court and is lauded by historians both modern and medieval. It is certainly within the realm of Saga to have her as warlord (perhaps even subbing in as a "Legendary Warlord" for her dad?). The miniature (I believe) is from Reaper Miniatures Bones line, but I had long since thrown away the box and had the figure sitting on my desk for years.

    I like this little diorama for Aethelflaed, and I think the plastic Reaper figure turned out well

Another touch I really liked was the Saxon warrior holding his shield over his head, blocking arrows from hitting his Lady. The Saxon comes from the Gripping Beast's Ceorl Shieldwall pack. When I saw the figure, I got the idea to use him as a bodyguard catching arrows intended for his lord (or lady). So, I saved the figure until I was ready to paint up Aethelflaed. Actually, I thought I had two, but could find only one. I originally wanted an arrow catcher on either side of the horse. I drilled out the Saxon's shield and pushed brass wire through. I added "green stuff" to the end of the wire as the arrows' feathers. It came out okay. I am sure others could do better, but I am still learning with green stuff. I wanted a royal deep red and dark blue color scheme for the Lady, and echoed it on her attendants. The casualty figure at her feet was actually a last-minute addition. I had painted it up for something else, but just loved how it looked, so placed it on the base during the flocking stage. As a final touch, I used Aethelflaed's supposed banner from the Bernard Cornwell novels of the goose holding a cross in its mouth.

All in all, I am VERY happy with how these turned out -- even though they took me about three weeks worth of work! Stay tuned for another batch of warlords over the next month...!

Thracian Javelinmen - 2nd Batch Finished

    My latest batch of 28mm Thracian javelinmen showing off their colorful, geometric-design cloaks

I've had these guys finished for almost two weeks, but just haven't found time to take pictures of them and post them up till this evening. I am close to finishing this Saga Ancients army, with only two batches left to do before they're complete. I plan on having them done in time to loan them out to someone for the Advance the Colors 2023 Saga "Age of Ancients" tournament on Friday night, Oct. 13. So, if you want first crack at commanding this fun, tactically interesting army, send me a message!

    Each of the packs of 8 Crusader Miniatures javelinmen come with 4 different poses

This batch of eight 28mm Crusader javelinmen turned out very nicely, I think. Of course, I'm pretty happy with how the whole warband is looking! Hopefully, this will be another eye-pleasing army on the tabletop. I think it will definitely be up there with my Moors, Picts, and Mongols! Maybe once these are done, I'll have folks vote on which one looks the nicest...ha, ha!

    Because I am inept at using decals, all of my Thracians feature hand-painted shields

As always, I replaced the lead spears that come with the miniatures with North Star Miniatures brass wire spears from Brigade Games. Another thing I try to do when attaching the spears is to make sure each has two points of contact with the figure or base. If you epoxy or superglue a wire spear into a hand with only the palm being the point of contact, it seems you are just asking for them to get knocked off while moving them around during a game. So, I make sure the front of the spear contacts the shield or something similar. If you look closely in these pictures, you should see the second point of contact. When doing this, I tend to lose very few (if any) spears during my games. Of course, dropping them...that's another story!

    I really like how both the flowered green cloak and the blue on blue shield came out on these two figs

Like with the other batches of Thracians, I tend to select lighter colored tunics to offset the more colorful cloaks. I'll use pastel, faded colors for these -- light greens, blues, tans, grays, pinks, etc. Since the Greeks of the time remarked on their colorful cloaks, I feel justified historically in using a brighter palette for those. I do mix in duller colors on cloaks to represent those that have faded over time. I'm assuming they wouldn't buy or make a brand new cloak every time they went to war.

    As always, the fine detail work is a mix of brushwork and using colored micron pens

For the Thracians' fox-skin hoods, I use a range from dark red-brown through ordinary browns to faded leathers. I figure that, like the cloaks, some members of the warband have newer hoods while others have old ones that have been through rain and sun to bleach their color. I do the same with their boots, using a mix of colors. I tend to plan out my tunic and cloak color -- writing what I will use down on the cardboard base I attach them to for painting. However, the rest of the clothes are improvised. I will set out the three colors I will use for the hoods, for example. And then I will look at each closely and decide which figure goes with which color at this stage, lining them up next to the paint bottles.

I like how the "Eye Shields" turn out, but I don't want to overuse the design  

Thracians were known for their reddish hair, but I assume there was a mix of other colors, too. So, I mix in browns and blonds, as well. I switched the bright blue I was using for their eyes on this batch and liked it much more. I'm not sure if that is something you can really notice in the photos, though. Eyes are kind of hit or miss for me, too. I'm very happy with how some figures' eyes come out, and other times I'm disappointed. I don't know whether to blame my close up vision fading a bit, my hand's steadiness, or the sculpting of the figure. The latter IS important to having good eyes come out on a figure. If the eye is detailed enough and accessible enough, I can usually do a decent job on them without ending up with "googly eyes"...ha, ha!

  I'm very happy with how this batch of Crusader Miniatures -- actually the entire army -- is turning out

So, what's next? Well, I am taking a one-batch break from Thracians. I am painting up three warlord stands. Two of them will be prizes for the Advance the Colors Saga tournaments. For those who didn't know, we are running one tourney on Friday and another on Saturday, too. So, if you're a big Saga buff and live within driving distance of Springfield, OH, you really should consider attending. We had 24 players in our 2022 tournament, and turnout looks like it is going to be great again, this year. I have players driving in from as far away as Canada and South Carolina already. So, come join the Saga fun!

Coal Miners & 'Detectives' shoot it out at the Battle of Matewan, 1920

    Miners and passengers waiting for the 5pm train out of Matewan, WV, wait for action to unfold

Summer was waning, and I decided to plan one last gaming weekend out of town. Four of us headed north from Ohio to Michigan to meet up with Jim W and his gaming crew at his Blissfield, MI, Clubhouse. Last summer, I went up to see and game in Jim's building he had purchased to house all his gaming stuff (and host his weekly or so get-togethers with his crew in Southeast Michigan). I imagine there are quite a few miniature gamers out there who have a pipe dream of having their own building for their private gaming clubhouse. Jim has done it, and it is a cozy place for a game.

    Locals eye the armed miners warily, wondering if gunfire is about to break out in their WV town

We drove up Friday after work and met Jim, Ted, and their wives for some tasty Mexican food. Saturday morning, we reconvened at Jim's Clubhouse -- or "Toy Box" -- as he sometimes calls it. On tap was his second playtest of the Battle of Matewan, 1920. This "massacre" -- as it sometimes is called -- was a gunfight between coal miners in the area trying to unionize and the detective agency thugs hired to put them down. Jim had visited Matewan this year, walked the streets, toured the museum, and even chatted with the director about his game to their enthusiastic response. He's been painting up figures for the scenario, as well as constructing period buildings, for a good part of 2023.

    Jim's Matewan tabletop is very eye-catching, and has been modeled to look like the town he visited

Jim was using Fistful of Lead Core Rules, which are the same set I use for my post-apocalyptic games. Most of the Ohio crew (Jenny, Mike S, Jason S) were playing the miners. I joined Jim's friends Ted and Gene to play the Baldwin-Felts thugs. I like to tease Ted about his bad luck (mainly because it is nice to know someone is as inept at rolling dice as me). So, perhaps putting both of us on the same team wasn't my brightest idea of the day! Jim explained the scenario to us, we divvied up our troops, and dealt out the cards for our first turn.

Baldwin-Felts Detective thugs round the corner on Railroad Street to see armed miners gathering

Much to my chagrin, we deployed in a double-deep line, out in the open, at the end of the street. Many of the miners were in cover on the streets or well-positioned in windows or on rooftops with a bead on us. Well, the rifle-armed ones would have us in their sites! Those miners armed with shotguns and pistols would need to close the range -- just as our guys would. In that vein, I decided to bolt right across the railroad tracks for cover. One by one, I sent my guys over the railroad tracks and ducking behind one of Jim's many fine die cast, period automobiles. The last to move was my rifleman, who would be in range of any nearby miners. He took a potshot at one of Jenny's miners who was running along the station platform and gunned him down! Jenny was okay with that, though, as she had been steadily picking off poor Ted's men and would continue to do so against him and Gene all game!

    The first of my agents darts across the tracks to the cover of an automobile

Jason's miner who had been taking cover on the other side of the car fired once at my guy, missed, and then retreated to cover at the corner of the building. On the second turn, I had much higher cards. I moved my shotgun armed detective to point-blank range of Jason's miner and blasted him, knocking him out of action. Two shots, two enemy out of action! No one could accuse me of having "Ted dice" today!! I continued to move all four of my figures around the back of the train station, chasing off the couple of miners who had been lurking back there. If I remember correctly, we gunned down another miner before my shooting luck began to cool. The miners didn't run away, but backed steadily into cover and awaited the incoming reinforcements.

 

    Jason's pistol-armed miner backs up to the corner of the train station as more thugs head his way

One feature of the game that was slowly making itself felt was Jim's rule for Miner Reinforcements. When Jenny, Mike, or Jason lost a figure out of action, they were immediately given another miner to bring in anywhere on the board edge on the next turn. When we lost a figure, no such luck! We had already taken a number of casualties on Railroad Street to the hot dice of Jenny, Mike, and Jason. Gene and Ted were shortly down to two figures, and then a single figure each. Fortunately, I had taken no losses, yet. Meanwhile, the miners were staying at their starting numbers. Their numbers were beginning to tell.

    It is to no avail as...BOOM! A shotgun blast rings out and my boys have killed their second miner

However, Ted had a great shot on our target for the mission -- Sid Hatfield, Matewan's police chief. He fell wounded just outside the entrance of the train station. I decided it was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. My shotgun-armed detective dashed through the train station and pounced on Hatfield, defeating the wounded police chief in melee and taking him in custody. We pulled him into the train station. I told Ted and Gene we should concentrate all our resources here to hold on for the 4-5 more turns we need to before the 5pm train arrived and we could hop on board with our prisoner and skedaddle out of town.

    We begin to swarm around the back of the station -- avoiding the killing fields on Railroad Street

It was a forlorn hope, though. Man by man, our detectives were shot down by the miners' superior numbers. It felt a little like that situation from Black Hawk Down when the rangers realize they've riled up the whole city and are facing off against overwhelming numbers. My shotgun armed detective was killed, so I moved up Lee Felts, one of our leaders, to take over control of the police chief. Steadily, our detectives fell, one by one, though. My leader, Lee Felts, went down, too, and we lost control of the police chief. Before long, my rifleman who was trying to hold off the swarms of miners outside, was the sole survivor. 

    My detectives move around the back of the train station, searching for the police chief to arrest

My rifleman was doing well, though. However, the movie changed from Black Hawk Down to Dawn of the Dead. As each miner he killed fell, another one popped up in its place. Though my rifleman had been hugging the cover of a car nearly the entire game, the miners able to show up wherever they wanted. He was outflanked repeatedly. Finally, hearing the sound of gunfire inside the train station cease, and seeing miners closing in on all sides, the rifleman through down his rifle and held up his hands.

    Our high water mark of the game! My detective defeats Chief Hatfield in melee & cuffs him!

My crew of four detectives had put up a heck of a fight. We had defied the odds more than once -- especially in driving back the miners in melee inside the train station. Jason's rolls with his 12-sided die were more apt for a 4-sided one. I don't believe he ever rolled above a "4", and quite a few came up with "1's!" Throughout the game, my forces knocked half a dozen or more of the enemy out of action. That was way more than I'd lost. So, I felt Lee Felts' boys held up our end of the battle. Ted and Gene? Sigh. Well, they had "Ted luck"...ha, ha! Still, we had a blast playing the game. It moved fast, looked great on the tabletop, and had very interesting twists and turns in the action.

    The tide is turning, though, as more miner reinforcements arrive and one of my thugs goes down

Thanks to "Captain Jim" for hosting a game for us. It was great to see the Southeast Michigan crew, and I look forward to seeing them at Advance the Colors 2023 in Springfield, Oct. 13-14. Jim will be running the Battle of Matewan (tweaked after our playtest) there. So, if you want to get into this historical wargame set not too many hours (or years) away, I encourage you to attend and play. His games are always a blast!

    It's 'Alamo time' inside the station as Lee Felts tries to hold onto the cuffed & wounded police chief

    On the other side of the street, bodies of detectives (tan crosses) litter the sidewalks

    My rifleman did a solid job holding down the flank before surrendering to overwhelming numbers