Saturday, February 1, 2025

Two Miniature Building Authority 'Shanty Town' Buildings

    Two Miniature Building Authority structures I bought at Siege of Augusta painted up & ready!
Two of my purchases from Siege of Augusta a couple weeks ago are ready for the tabletop! I decided to jump the two Miniature Building Authority structures I picked up from their "Shanty Town" range to the front of the line. They both looked like they'd paint up easily, as well as be usable for a number of differnt periods, including modern, post-apocalyptic and even Sci-Fi. The larger building is the "Souq," a mud brick building with three small rectangular store fronts beneath a corrugated steel awning. The other is a building made out of a shipping container.

    I like how MBA's 'Souq Minimall' painted up -- the garage doors here pop in or out as you wish
The Souq M.E. Minimall is a hefty, resin piece. I decided to mount it on MDF board rather than the usual styrene plastic. I recently got a long sheet of MDF that came as packing from a purchase. I saved it, knowing it would be useful as basing material (and it was free!). I spray painted the building black and then brushed on a 50/50 coating of water and acrylic black paint to make sure paint got into all the nooks and crannies. As a first coat, I slathered on a wet brush of dark leather color. Next, I dry brushed a Khaki highlight. Finally, I did a very light tan on just the sections that looked like they were stucco. The exposed mud brick I left alone. 

    Back of the MBA Souq guarded by some of my 28mm Foundry figs from their 'Street Violence' line
Once that was done, I turned my attention to the corrugated steel awning. I decided to do a patchwork of colors to represent the material for the awning was scavenged from various sources. It is a "Shanty Town," building, after all...! I used pale greens, blues, yellows, pinks, and mixed in light gray, too. All the colors got the same white dry brush highlight. I mirrored the colors on the underside of the awning, though I doubt anyone will ever see it. Finally, I added rust effects to the corrugated steel. I painted streaks of Autumn Brown first, then added splotches of fluorescent orange to the center of the streaks. I was happy with how the rust turned out, which is not always the case!

    The roof is simply a piece of MDF that I textured with sand - here it is removed
The detail on the back side of this MBA building is really nice, too. I picked out the wires in a dark gray with light gray highlight. The electrical boxes were Steel and Pewter. The doors were either wood or painted steel (dirty pink and light blue). The trash heap was kind of a pain to paint. I did a dark gray across the entire heap, then went back and picked out various tin cans, bottles, and scraps of cloth. Finally, a light gray dry brush over the areas that remained gray completed the trash heap. The included roof is simply a rectangular piece of MDF. I painted it to match the wet brush leather color. Once dry, I painted the top surface with white glue and pour sand over it. This gave it a nice texture, which was made even better by the application of the black wash, below.

    A look inside each of the mud brick souq's 3 store fonts with the printed paper 'tile' floors
The next to last step was to apply my black vehicle wash to the entire structure, roof included. It ended up making it much darker than I anticipated. I should probably have watered the black wash down further (I am pretty sure it is already half strength inside my pre-mixed bottle). Oh well. It just looks dirtier, right, and shantier? I am not unhappy with how dark it is. It just doesn't match the other two MBA mud brick buildings that I have painted up previously.

    This MBA resin building can be used for modern, post-apocalyptic and honestly even Sci-Fi games
Finally, I went online and looked up "Middle Eastern floor tile" results on a Google Image search. Scrolling through pages of results, I finally found one with a brown tone that I liked and thought would match the overall color of the Souq. I used the Screenshot feature and my Affinity Photo program on my laptop to make a full floor pattern of it. I resized it into three different sizes, then printed it out at the local office supply store on their color laser printer. I picked the smallest tile size of the three and trimmed it to fit the shop floors. Voila -- floor tiles!

    Great idea for a shanty town -- a building made out of a converted shipping container!
I was in for quite the surprise when I opened up the Container House: Contractor Office. The shipping container was plastic and looked familiar. Hey! It was a Reaper shipping container -- the same as the one I have sitting unpainted in my closet...ha, ha! It also included two pieces of resin. The first is the resin front of the office, including a corrugated steel door and awning. It also has the outlines of a window molded into it. The second piece mystified me. It looked like a wooden door, but had no door handle. Later, looking at the photo on the box which I'd saved (duh!), I realized it was meant to be a wooden porch. I had already based it up, though, and didn't have room for it anymore. No biggie -- I decided to save it to use as a door for another project, someday. The building would work fine without a porch. 

    I am really happy with both the rust effects and the 'No Trespassing' signs on this building
I glued the office front piece in the center of the shipping container's long sides, then the building and the roof received the same preparation as the Souq: spray paint and 50/50 black mix. Shipping containers come in so many different colors, so I went back and forth on how to paint it. I decided a pale green, so gave it a medium green base coat and light, green-gray dry brush. I painted the iron latches steel and then went to work on the front of the office. I painted the corrugated steel office front pale blue, the door a dark red, and the window black with steel and pewter bars.

    The kit comes with 2 resin parts -- the 1-piece office front here and a porch that I didn't use
I liked how the rust effect had turned out on the Souq, so I duplicated it here on this building, as well. Once I had sufficiently rusted up the steel, I turned my attention towards the interior. Rather than paint it by hand, I decided to glue in patterned scrapbooking paper for the walls and floor. I measured the sizes, checked and trimmed each piece, and then covered the area it would be attached with a thin coating of white glue. This does a good job keeping it secure in place, as I have used this technique for multiple buildings. I decided to decorate up the interior like I did with my Bad Goblin Games trailers, too. I went with the same "hillbilly patriot" types of images to decorate the walls. I also built a little door frame out of cardboard, craft wood sticks, and corrugated styrene. I placed it inside lined up as best I could with where it was on the outside of the structure. To recreate the window, I used plastic grid netting ("granny grate," it is sometimes called) and trimmed away portions of it so that it looked vaguely like the window on the office front.

    The shipping container itself is plastic with separate roof and is from Reaper Miniatures
The contractor office came out well, and would not look out of place in my trailer park. In fact, I plan to convert my two unpainted Reaper shipping containers into another similar house. With the two new trailers I bought at Bad Goblin Games, I am getting close to being able to have a tabletop that is one big trailer park! That should be fun!! I'm happy with how both of these turned out and am glad I picked them up at the convention. Kirk at MBA is a great guy, and I always try to support him when I see his booth at shows.

    I used scrapbooking paper for the walls and floor and scratch-built a door and window to glue inside
What's up next? I am assuming I will eventually get around to doing the furled sail of the Viking longship one of these days before I leave of on vacation! The ship itself was actually finished before these two buildings. I've just been delaying doing the mast because I am afraid I will make a mess of the furled sail...ha, ha! I need to take the plunge and do it. I've said "I'll do it tomorrow" the last three days! Hopefully, that means I'll do it tomorrow...

    Of course, I decorated up the interior with what I thought were suitable 'Hillbilly Patriot' pictures
MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  • Miniatures painted in 2025: 10 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  • Terrain painted in 2025: 6

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  • Scatter painted in 2025: 5

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

"Fire, Fire! Heh-Heh!" Fire Markers from Bad Goblin Games

    At only $6 for a pack of 2, these flickering LED Fire Markers from Bad Goblin Games are a deal!
Sorry -- couldn't resist the Beavis & Butthead reference when introducing these fire markers! I picked up two packs of them from Bad Goblin Games at Siege of Augusta the other weekend. They are probably the most all-around useful of the various flickering LED markers 3-printed by Bad Goblin, as you can place them on or around anything, as well as on the table by themselves. Coming two to a pack, these come with their own tiny LED and battery that fits snugly in a cavity underneath the flames.

I decided that I wanted to give more depth to the colors of the flames this time, so added a wash of deep red to the brightly-colored orange plastic. I know that technically the darker colors would be further away from a flame's center (not nearer it), but I simply wanted was some veins of darker red-orange in the flicker. I'm not sure I made the wash dark enough, though. It does look a bit different, so I guess it was a success! One unexpected bonus was the wash -- I used a Vallejo acrylic red-orange -- got rid of the very plastic sheen that the flames have straight out of the pack. Hopefully, this gives more of a deeper glow when lit from inside.

    I added a dark red-orange wash to the orange plastic flames which I feel gives them a deeper glow
For only $6 for a pack of two, you really can't beat the price. In the past, I tried to cutting away parts to modify an ordinary flickering LED candle from the craft store, in an effort to make them smaller. However, that was only partially successful. I don't know where Bad Goblin Games gets their tiny LEDs, but these are much smaller than what you'd get taking apart one you bought at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. So, I highly recommend miniature gamers picking some of these up. You can find a multitude of uses for them in your games, I am sure!

What else is on my painting desk at the moment? Well, five Viking characters from Brigade Games have been started. They will represent Ragnar Lothbrok and his family and friends in my Viking Town Raid game at Cincycon 2025. Their resin longship, purchased more than a decade ago, is nearing completion. I'm also working on a couple of the buildings I purchased from Miniature Building Authority at Siege of Augusta. So, stay tuned...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  • Miniatures painted in 2025: 10 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  • Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  • Scatter painted in 2025: 5

Monday, January 27, 2025

Lion Rampant: Charlemagne's Empire Battles Byzantines in Italy

    Our Sunday evening group gave Lion Rampant a try, with six 24-point warbands on the table at once
My friends Keith and Mike S had been wanting to try a big game of Lion Rampant for awhile. We finally got it arranged for this past Sunday, with six armies on the tabletop. Three Carolingian commands faced off against two Early Byzantine with one Avar ally. Each of the six players controlled a 24-point warband using Lion Rampant rules. I was worried that it would be too much of a traffic jam on my eight foot wide table, but it ended up not being the case. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

    Carolingian left wing in the early game as we struggle with activation rolls to move up
I commanded the left wing of Charlemagne's army. Jenny in the center and Allen on the right had identical forces taken from the 2nd Edition rule book. We each had two units of Heavy Cavalry, two of Heavy Infantry, and two Archer units. I was a little worried when Mike S and Keith deployed on their side of the field, though. Every unit in Mike's Byzantine command could shot, and all but one in Joel's Avars. Keith's Byzantines were on the opposite side of the field, and he was fiddling with his troop list still when he arrived, so I am not 100% sure of what he fielded. I do know his archers seized a crop field and shot Allen's troops mercilessly. So, I was worried how Lion Rampant would play out with a mostly shooty army vs. a mostly not. Missile fire is something "big skirmish" rules sets often struggle with representing, making it alternately too powerful or too ineffective.

    Jenny's Carolingian center command, with one of its archer units on the left supporting me
Jenny had put one of her archer units on the left end of her battle line, and they marched alongside my two archer units who were on my right to repel Joel's fast-moving Avars. In Lion Rampant, foot bows consistently out-range horse archers (18" vs. 12"). So, with Joel's steady advance, he was bound to take some shots coming in. Jenny's archers loosed first and drove back Joel's light cavalry (the unit failed its courage test), killing two of their six figures. That was my hope. Mounted units in Lion Rampant are typically six figures while foot are usually 12. We should have more staying power in an archery duel. On the left, that's how it began to play out. After a frustrating first couple turns, I finally got my archers moving, hurrying to catch up with the heavy infantry who were advancing to meet the mounted Avar battle line.

    Joel's Avar mounted horse archer battleline across the table from my left wing
Joel was unable to get close enough to shoot without taking casualties. The Frankish archers would cause 1-2 casualties with each shot, and that would often be enough to drive back the small Avar mounted units. Things became desperate enough for Joel that he sent the Avar general with his Elite Cavalry to fill the gap vacated by the light horse. The Avar nobles charged forward, first against my archers, then against Jenny's. They drove back my unit which was trying to enter the plowed fields, but when they followed up by charging Jenny's archers, disaster struck. In Lion Rampant, if a leader's unit takes casualties, you roll to see if he was killed. It requires a "snake eyes" -- "2" on 2d12 to kill the general, but guess what Jenny rolled? The Elite Avar cavalry failed its morale check and fell back. Each turn, archers would shoot at them again and again until the unit was finally destroyed.

    Joel's Byzantine allies, Mike S (left) and Keith as their legions begin to advance across the table
On the far left, my two heavy spear units attacked a unit of Avar Cavalry. Each time, they counter-charged and drove us back. However, with our combined 24 figures against their six to absorb casualties, they had little hope and were whittled down below half strength. My own general got in on the action and charged in to finish off the unit. The Avars opposed to us were disintegrating, and we surged forward to try to threaten the Byzantine center. However, we were too late. Mike had cleverly placed his shooting units in a crescent and concentrated archery on Jenny's units that advanced. The shooting of four to five units a turn devastated her forces. One after another, her infantry and archers were hurled back. Mike had began the game activating poorly with dice rolls. However, when crunch time came and the Carolingian center entered his range, his rolls were flawless and he proved my fears were justified. Five units shooting from a defensive posture were simply too much to overcome. Jenny's forces were crippled and fell back.

    All of Mike S's force were archers -- from his lowly foot skirmishers to his heavy and elite cavalry
On the far right wing, Keith had been getting the better of Allen, as well. He had a unit of Elite Cavalry that was worth 8 points -- double what each of our units were worth. He used them to great effect to smash each unit Allen advanced, after it had been weakened by his Byzantine archers in the plowed field. Allen scored some successes, too, routing Keith's light infantry with bowfire. However, Allen's activation rolls were very poor -- especially with his other archer unit, which handicapped him severely. It is interesting that each command that attacked -- Joel's Avar left, Jenny's Carolingian center, and Allen right wing -- were all driven back by missile fire. Is archery in a defensive posture too powerful in Lion Rampant? This is only our first game with the rules, so I can't say for sure.

    Joel's Avar Light Horse dash towards the center of the battlefield, next to the village
There are a lot of variables in the rules, though. Units don't activate all the time. We needed to roll a 6+ on 2d6 to get our archers to activate. As the Carolingians, we failed at least 1/3 of the time, it seemed, with our bowmen. The Heavy Infantry do slightly better with a 5+ on 2d6, but that often meant they advanced unsupported against a wall of missiles. I did make the comment to the others that Lion Rampant was originally designed to be a medieval battle game -- not to replicate steppe warfare, which is kind of the army we faced. It convinced us that we need to be sure to do historical battles in our future games. Everyone was encouraged enough by the results to give it another try, though. Mike S suggested he'd rather fight the battles of Dark Age Britain than the continent, so there will be no horse archers or entirely missile-armed armies there...I hope!

    And those Avar Light Horse are promptly driven back by Frankish archery
Six commands of 24 points on an 8'x4' field DID work, much to my surprise. What's more, the game ended fairly quickly. Well, we actually called it early as Jenny and Allen's forces were in no shape to advance. I had won on the left, but I had no easy way to exploit my success with the Byzantine center anchored on the impassable terrain of the village in between out forces. I felt the enemy had won, though they weren't so sure. So, our experiment was enough of a success you will likely see us playing more Lion Rampant games in the future. Mike chose to use the variant of the rules where failure to activate a unit does NOT end your turn. Much like with Rebels and Patriots, you are given a chance to activate every unit in your force (assuming it did not have to rally), no matter how many other units had failed. Honestly, I prefer that. I know, I know -- playing the less forgiving command and control system forces you to make hard choices!

    Joel plugs the gap with his Elite Cavalry, who charge into the flank of my archers, driving them back
However, on a Sunday evening multiplayer game, I am looking to roll dice and have fun -- not agonize over every activation roll. And for those players having a bad night crapping out on activation rolls, there's not a whole lot of fun if you don't get to move troops around and shoot or fight! So, I guess I'm in the less serious, more "Let's have fun" crowd when it comes to "big skirmishes." And on that note, I don't really consider Lion Rampant, Saga, Warhammer, etc., skirmish games. They're big battle games. Anytime you're maneuvering 12-figure units around, you have left the skirmish world behind, in my opinion. Still, we laughed and had fun, whatever we want to call the game!

    Elated by their success, the Avar nobles charge into another archer unit...but lose their general!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  • Miniatures painted in 2025: 10 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  • Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  • Scatter painted in 2025: 1

    The battle rages as my Carolingian leader at bottom leads his troops forward

    Victorious on the left, my command begins to sweep in towards the Byzantine center

    Good to get a table full of troops out & see the spectacle of a Dark Age warfare with Lion Rampant!

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Armored Archers & Such for Sellswords Semi-Historical

    Six heroes of the British Isles ready to take on the Viking raiders in my semi-historical campaign
The really cool thing about starting to play a new set of rules -- cooperative Sellswords & Spellslingers in a semi-historical setting -- is that I have almost all of the figures I need already. Well, almost. One thing I noticed as I was reorganizing my Saga Dark Ages miniatures was that I have no armored archers. All of my bowmen are unarmored. Some have helmets or shields, but none had chainmail or even leather armor.

Thus, this batch of four armored archers in case one of my players decides they want to equip one of their archers with armor. The other two figures are covering other minor gaps in my collection. Since the players will represent the heroes of the British Isles -- Anglo-Saxons, Britons, Picts, Scots -- I noticed that I didn't have many "heroic" looking Pictish figures. Also, pretty much all of my miniatures with a two-handed axe or sword are Viking. And in this campaign, the Vikings are the "bad guys." So, I tossed in a Pictish hero and a Anglo-Saxon with a two-handed axe (and shield on back). These six won't cover every gap I have, but it is a start. Not to mention that the players may want to use their own figures...heresy! Ha, ha!!

    I really like the Pictish hero, left -- doesn't he took a bit like Mel Gibson in 'Braveheart'?

My favorite figure of this batch is the Pictish hero with his arms upraised. I don't know if it was intentional, but to me he looks a LOT like Mel Gibson's William Wallace character in the movie "Braveheart." He is a 28mm Gripping Beast miniature from their Scots-Irish Heroes pack. I believe they also package him individually as chieftain because I swear that's how I bought him from Cotton Jim's Flags at Historicon either this past year or in 2023. I went with a highlander looking color combination -- a dark red and black tartan wrapped across his shoulder and a dark greenish kilt. I considered putting a pattern on the kilt, too, but have found that sometimes too many patterns on one figure is "too much" for the eyes. The other figure is a cloaked Dark Age warrior that I believe is also from Gripping Beast. I gave him a bow and arrow made from lead spears. I also gave him a pattern on his reddish-brown cloak, though it is hard to see it in this photo. 

    An armored Briton converted into an archer and a Saxon warrior with a two-handed axe

I have owned the 28mm figures I use for my Britons for so long I have honestly forgotten who the manufacturer was. The figure on the left comes from that pack, which you may be able to tell from his almost Late Roman style helmet. Speaking of patterns, his cloak pattern is my absolute favorite from this group of six. Since the Britons were definitely Christian at this time, I thought I could get away with a cross and dot pattern on a broad red stripe. Otherwise, I have him a deep blue cloak, pale blue tunic, and dun yellow leggings. I love the horn strapped at his waist and think it helps him pull of the archer vibe. The Anglo-Saxon warrior shows he is from the period with major Scandinavian influence on equipment, and could easily substitute as a Viking if needed. I like the green and yellow color combination on him, and his baggy trousers.

    Another 'general' figure raided for an archer & another Briton complete the set of six figures

I raided another Gripping Beast leader figure for this armored archer on the left. This is their Alfred the Great figure reduced in prestige to merely a heroic archer. The arrows that the four archers in this post are carrying are slender lead spears I've trimmed down. For the feathers on the ends, I painted the tips in white glue and sprinkled fine Woodland Scenics flocking on them to give it some texture. Alfred's bow is a brass wire spear (I needed something narrower to go though his closed fist), while his British companion carries a slightly thicker lead spear trimmed and bent. I like how both of these turned out, and love the balding head of the Briton. Alfred the Archer's fur-lined cloak is cool, while I went all-out on his companion's cloak with my Micron pens. 

    Another look at the six heroes I painted up, the first specifically for my semi-historical campaign
All in all, these six figures should prove useful if players choose to use them for their characters. I envision each player controlling 2-3 figures in this cooperative minis game. The bad guys are run by the A.I. and card deck in Ganesha Games' Sellswords & Spellslingers rules. As I mentioned, this will be semi-historical, so no "wizard" characters and we shall have to see how the supernatural makes an appearance in the games. At the soonest, it will likely not be till late March that I begin running games with the rules. It depends on if I run my Star Wars skirmish first.

So, what else is on my painting desk? I have begun working on some Viking heroes resembling the characters from the History Channel "Vikings" series. There's Ragnar Lothbrok, his wife Lagertha, and more. Those will be for my Viking Town Raid game, as will the 28mm resin Viking longship which is done except for the creating the sail. Stay tuned for those and more which are underway...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  • Miniatures painted in 2025: 10 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  • Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  • Scatter painted in 2025: 1




Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Fun Games and Good Times at Siege of Augusta

    Headed down to 'Gator Country' for Siege of Augusta - very cool pool terrain with lurking reptile

It had been quite a few years since I had driven south to Siege of Augusta. My friend Jason, who lives in Columbia, SC, regularly prompts me to come down. Now that I am retired, I don't have the excuse of not enough days off for another convention...ha, ha! So, Jenny and I drove down Thursday, spent the evening with him and his family, and then headed to the convention on Friday.

I'd looked at the games on the Siege of Augusta website, and there were a few that I was interested in. We planned arriving before the noon session of games so that we didn't have to get up ridiculously early. Jason lives about an hour and fifteen minutes away, and Siege's first session begins at 8am, so there was no way I was getting there Friday in time for the morning session! Siege has an unusual system for attendees to sign up for games: it doesn't have one! You have to find the table and ask the GM if he or she has room. Nothing at the registration desk, no sheets on the game table (well, the chariot game had a signup sheet, but that was the only one I saw) -- nothing! I have to confess that I was disappointed with this aspect of the convention. 

    Main hall at Siege of Augusta -- I got to hang out with Jason, play in fun games, & meet nice people
Another thing I wasn't thrilled about was that start times are v-e-r-y approximate. The GM can list a firm start time in his description. If not, you have to assume it starts when the session starts. Except that they don't always do that. For example, I was told by people who got up early enough that the "8am" games that most didn't start till 9am. However, you don't know that. Since you can't sign up for it in advance, if you really want to get in a game, you have to be there at 8am. Or actually sooner, as spots are given to the first players to arrive (assuming the GM hasn't already promised spots to someone). All in all, it encouraged me skip the first session on Saturday morning. I just didn't want to deal with the uncertainty.

As Jenny and I made the rounds checking out the games Friday, we ran into another problem. Which games were which? There was no schematic or map anywhere to be found, so we had to deduce that from the event titles. The event descriptions were online (if you brought your laptop with you). However, the Siege website doesn't work well with mobile devices and condenses the nice, easy-to-understand grid into spaghetti. So, that part is hit or miss, too. We did our best to match the terrain and figures we saw on the tables with event titles on the handout we'd picked up from the registration desk.

    Col. Munro leads his daughters & a British column through the woods in Magua's Revenge
One of the games we talked about getting in was "Magua's Revenge" by Les Faison. He was just setting up when we walked by. We saw the trees and dirt road and figured that was it. We asked if this was the right game, and if he had spots open. Les said he had one of his five spots left. I encouraged Jenny to play, as I had some serious shopping to do from the nice selection of vendors (see yesterday's post on my Siege of Augusta purchases).

   Hawkeye & Chingachgook escort Cora Munro while in the distance Uncas helps Alice
It would have been fun to play, though. As some of you may know, I am the author of the rules he was using -- Song of Drums and Tomahawks. I watched a bit of the game in between my shopping. I was hesitant about stepping in and explaining the rules when players had questions. Les had listed in his description that it was a modified version, so I didn't want to tell anyone the wrong thing. After the game, when he found out I was the author, he said I shouldn't have been so shy. It was only his second time playing the game and he had questions. Jenny has run Song of Drums many times, though, so she was able to assist when I was off wandering around. Les' tabletop was very cool and his 40mm French & Indian War miniatures were awesome. Jenny said she had fun and was able to recreate movie history by having Hawkeye and Chingachgook rescue Cora Munro and get her off the table. Uncas did rescue Alice Munro, but both them were shot down by treacherous Huron as they tried to flee off-table.

    Les, the GM (in red), assists one of his layers as he moves up his Huron to ambush the British
I spoke with Les for a bit after the game and praised his game and adaptions to the rules. I gave him my email address in case he had further questions. I liked how he adjusted the turn sequence so that players would not necessarily have to wait too long if they "crapped out" early on their activation rolls. Typically, I do four players maximum in one game to avoid player frustration when their dice are not cooperating. His system of using a card deck to determine whose turn it was alleviated some of the bad things that poor dice rolling can make occur in multiplayer games of Song of Drums. For only his second game with the rules, he did a great job!

    A U.S. naval landing force of sailors takes position on the rooftops looking for downed airmen
Jason and his high schoolers, Lily and Graham, showed up a bit before the 4pm session. We all decided to get in Mark Young's Banana Wars Mayhem game together. He could take up to nine players and ended up with somewhere around seven, if I remember right. Each of us controlled a faction in early 1900s Nicaragua -- U.S. Marines, Banana Corporation private security, bandits, rebels, and more. I took control of one of the two rebel factions. We each had about 15 or so miniatures (except the more elite Marines and U.S. Naval landing force). The activation order was randomized each turn, which in the end, worked out really well, allowing my rebels to execute their nefarious plans.

    My force of Nicaraguan rebels arrives on the board ready to cause trouble in Banana Wars
Besides being rebels and killing government troops (Jenny's Federales -- I would end up pitted against her all weekend...ha, ha!), we were also on the lookout for two downed U.S. pilots. It would be a feather in our rebel sombreros if we could take possession of them and give them to the leader of our rebel movement (presumably to ransom back to the U.S. for lots of money!). Wouldn't you know it, but the Naval landing force (their to rescue the pilots) came on board to my right, while Jason's bandits entered the table on our left. I immediately began politicking and dissembling. I told the Naval player that we had nothing against the United States. It was our own government we hated and wanted to overthrow for the horrible way it was treating its people. He let me know he was looking for the pilots (everyone had a secret mission), and I told him that I would definitely not fire on him or the pilots. If I found them, I would let him know (heh, heh...).

    Dole Corporation's trucks ferry a shipment of bananas through town, guarded by private security
I moved from the board edge to a large building to our front, and then to another one in front of that on the next turn. We manned the second story windows of the second building looking down the main street. And who should appear in our gun sights but the hated Federales? We shot up Jenny's troops for several turns, though her leader did use his Jedi mind tricks on us to make us miss several times after we'd hit. Apparently, her leader was in charge of the secret police and causes fear in anyone his malicious eyes are turned upon! After a few turns, we'd killed all of Jenny's visible troops (she had others on the opposite sides of buildings, and was busy shooting at pretty much everyone else on the table). She did a great job making the Federales the hated force that they were!

    Jason's bandits arrive on board, hungry and looking for some bananas to steal from Dole
Just then, a rocket flare went up not far from us. I guessed it was the pilots signaling the U.S. forces of their location. We returned closer to our board edge, which fortunately was near where the pilots had secretly moved. The Naval player asked what I was doing and I said that we'd killed all the Federales. Did the sailors need any assistance? He was suspicious, but I'd done nothing negative to him all game, so he seemed satisfied. Soon enough, the pilots ran to the building the sailors had occupied, adjacent to the neighboring building where all my men were huddled. As the last turn began, I hoped we would move after everyone else. Fortune smiled on the Revolution -- everyone else moved before me. 

When our turn finally came, we sprang our treachery and dashed into the sailors' building, seizing control of the pilots. It was likely the last turn, but there was no guarantee I would be able to maintain control of my hostages if we'd played another. So, I told the player controlling the landing party maybe we could come to an agreement. The pilots were apparently carrying a wad of cash to bribe their way out of trouble. I suggested we do a trade. They hand over the cash and I would give them their pilots. He agreed, and thus I declared a "cinematic victory." After all, our fearless leader off-table was going to ransom them anyway, right? I just saved him the trouble! Victory -- with an asterisk!

    A gorgeous looking game I would have LIKED to get in -- 'Mythic Earth' run by Mike Frang
Jason and Lily decided they wanted to go to dinner and skip the evening session of games. Jenny and I agreed, as spending time with them was the main reason we'd decided to attend the convention. Graham is a hard core convention goer, though, and he stayed and played in Renaissance Naval Warfare game. When we returned from dinner (bringing carryout for Graham), we walked around and shopped a bit. Jason and I marveled at the 3-D printed terrain that Bryan Stroup of Garrison 3D had brought. He picked up some Egyptian statues from him, and then admired an Ancient, domed temple. I could tell he wanted it, but Jason is a very deliberate shopper. He's not prone to impulse purchases and likes to think things over. I warned him it might be gone tomorrow, but he stayed true to his nature and held off buying it (until the next evening!). We closed out the night with a game of Settlers of Cataan, which I somehow managed to win (no asterisks this time).

    Deer Hunter, left, moves up to guard our flank while Pork Chop hurries towards cover
As mentioned earlier, I skipped the early session of games. Thankfully, the folks at Bad Goblin Games had saved Jenny and I a spot in the noon running of Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse. We had both played in this game at Historicon 2024 and had a blast. I had chatted with three members of their group Friday and had been encouraging them to follow through on their idea to run it at Cincycon 2025 this March. Two of the members will be in town for work, and they thought, "Why not stay in town for the weekend and attend the convention?" They live in Florida, though, and are flying to Cincinnati. I offered to bring down my own trailers I had bought from them, as well as a game mat and other terrain for them. I hope they follow through. I think Cincycon players would enjoy playing their game.

    Monster truck in the center of the board (at left), is everyone's objective - but first, you need the pig!
It was the same scenario I had played at Historicon, and I even controlled the same faction, aka the "awakened" mutants of Team Road Kill. Jenny had won that game in cinematic fashion. The goal is to seize control of a pig who has a surgically implanted monitor which deactivates a kill switch on a Monster Truck that all four factions were drooling over. If you try to start the truck without the slippery pig with you in the cab...BOOM! The other factions included Jenny's "Bubbas," Dave's Childen of the Soil plant mutations, and Lily's Bubbas. We each began in a corner of the 4'x4' board out of sight of the other factions. 

    Col. Clucker takes advantage of the cover in the trailer park to move towards the board's center
Over the first few turns, we crept forward utilizing the cover (chiefly provided by eight of their trailers, as well as various other buildings, walls, and dumpsters. I really like their activation system. You begin the turn rolling 1d10 per figure you control (we all started with four). Then, each round you secretly choose one of those dice to use that turn. First to activate are 10's, then 9's, and so on. That way, the order of activation switches each round. Some turns you may want to move (or fire) first, other turns you may want the react to what the other players do. There is a card deck, too, which can affect Initiative, protect you from damage, give you an extra turn -- all kinds of interesting possibilities. You draw back up to five cards at the beginning of each turn, though there are some cards you may want to hang onto. I hung onto one the entire game in case a player got a "kill shot" on one of my figs, which thankfully never happened.

    On our left, the Children of the Soil move towards the center, threatening our flank
The pig begins the game on the truck, but then moves about the board controlled randomly by one or more players each round. If the 10-sided die you used to activate that turn matches the one rolled for the pig that round, you get to move it. In a weird statistical occurrence -- which my friends would laugh at and say is just my bad luck -- I think I activated the pig only twice over the entire game. Jenny was fortunate on pig activations, and was the first to grab the pig. Unfortunately for her, that also made her the target for the other players. My leader, Col. Clucker (a mutated chicken) blasted away at Joe, her leader, a couple times along with other players and Jenny was soon down one gang member. I had placed Deer Hunter (a deer armed with a hunting rifle) on my left to keep a bead on the plant people. He ended up killing their Mushroom Man and wounding his large carnivorous plant, Audrey (yes, from the movie). 

    Pork Chop's gambit - sprinting across the street and snatching up his distant porker cousin
My own mutated pig, Pork Chop, dashed into the trailer bordering the street where Joe lay bleeding. Using an extra action card, he dashed across the street, snatched up his distant cousin, all the while keeping an eye on huge, lumbering two-headed Jethro in his bib overalls not far away. Naturally, someone else activated the pig before Pork Chop could carry it towards the monster truck, and I lost the opposed die roll with my 5d10 vs. the pig's 2d10 (there's that statistical occurrence again!). He squirmed away, squealing, "Four legs good, two legs bad!" (Hopefully, some readers get the Animal Farm reference!) Things got real confusing after that. Lily's faction entered the fray, blasting away at Jenny's depleted ranks. She returned the favor, lining up her flame thrower to fire up three of Lily's gang members with one shot!

    The other players, including Jenny's 'Jethro' here, would keep Porkchop from succeeding
As we headed into the last turn, Jenny looked ready to pull off her trailer park magic, again. She played the right combination of cards and one of her gang members scurried to the cab of the monster truck with the pig. Unfortunately for her, she had moved first in that round. EVERYONE opened up on her. Jenny was secretly holding onto a card which allowed her to heal 1d10 wounds immediately. She played it after her last character moved, but before my final one. If she rolled high, she would survive and win. If she failed, I had -- you guessed it -- another nefarious plan. I m-a-y have chanted, "One, one, one!" to influence her roll, which was indeed a "1"! With that, Col. Clucker fluttered down from the sandbag emplacement on a nearby trailer and hopped into the cab with her many-holed corpse, but more importantly, the pig. We pressed the start switch and lobbied for a cinematic victory. I did not have control of the pig, true, but it was already in the cab. So, the truck should rumble to life and not explode, right? 

    As it turned out, the Children of the Soil didn't cause my Team Road Kill any harm
The GM conferred with his partner, and they said they do like to allow for the "Rule of Cool" in their games for strange things that occur. So, they admitted they were leaning towards awarding Team Road Kill the victory, albeit with another asterisk! Either way, it was once again a very fun game that came down to the last turn to decide who would drive off with the monster truck. If you get a chance to play in their game at an upcoming convention (or buy their rules), I encourage you to do so. 

With that, Jenny and I decided to hightail it out of Augusta, Georgia, as snow was forecast the next day in the mountains for our drive home. We stole a march on Mother Nature and made it home shortly after 1am Saturday. I had fun hanging out with Jason and his kids, played in some really fun games, and bought cool stuff from nice vendors. A successful trip to Siege of Augusta! Will I be back next year? Hmm...I do wish they'd fix their event registration system. If so, definitely. If not, I would have to think about it...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  • Miniatures painted in 2025:

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  • Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

  • Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  • Scatter painted in 2025: 1