Five Players, 10 Delvers on Rescue Mission in Moonrest

 

    Oslac the Fighter & Leof the Brute are assaulted by orcs in our big game of Four (10?) Delvers

The goal of cooperating with Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More on revamping David Bezio's fantasy skirmish rules, Four Delvers, was to see if it would work for my Sunday evening gang. Typically, we have 6-7 players, and the original rules were written with only four adventurers in mind. So, it would need some expansion to accommodate. My plan was to have each player control two Delvers, so with six of us present this past Sunday for the playtest, I would have 10 Delvers on the table. I decided not to play myself, though it is a cooperative game and no GM is really necessary. 

    Somewhere inside Moonrest are 3 shepherd boys, kidnapped by orc raiders - can you free them?

I created a dozen characters to give the players some choice. Rich and I had greatly expanded the original Fighter, Wizard, Elf, and Dwarf characters to include a Barbarian, Cleric, Thief, Brute, and others. The core of my original adventuring gang from my two solo games was chosen, so Oslac and Company would once again be exploring the abandoned city of Moonrest. The scenario was that Orc raiders had kidnapped several shepherd boys (along with some sheep, of course), and were dragging them back to their haunt in Moonrest. The adventuring party tracked them to the city, spied out where they were encamped, and concocted a plan to free the captive boys -- if they were still alive. Except this was our Sunday Evening Gaming group, and they skipped the whole "plan" stage and just lined up on the board edge they were sitting closest to and charged in!

    My group of five players for the play test: 'Plan? We don't need no stinking plan...charge!'

That might have worked as a plan, but it had one noticeable flaw. Joel and Mike S didn't have a "fighter type" among their four Delvers. Joel controlled the "halfling" Setch and the cleric, Friar Horace. Mike had the Elf Erevan and thief Cain. Their best two in melee would be the elf and cleric, with Setch and Cain being the weakest with only 1 Hit Point each. On the other side of the table, there was a bit more beef. Jenny controlled the dwarf Baldur and the ranger Minatur, Allen the barbarian Callum and wizard Malik, while Keith had Fighter Oslac and the new Brute, Leof. Lots more fighter types on this side of the table!

    The 19 orc defenders were deployed randomly throughout the 3'x3' board, including in this square

In an attempt to streamline the game process, Rich and I had made the Wound Table more deterministic. Rather than being able to take an unlimited number of Wounds after dropping to 0 Hit Points, monsters could take a maximum three, but would likely be knocked out of action on their second wound with the modifiers were had created. However, the possibility of rolling a 8-12 on 1d12 still existed, so models taking their first Wound could still be knocked out. Rich had also wanted to limit Wandering Monsters to one on-board at a time. So, my thought was that I would need to beef up the initial monsters by about 50%, with those changes. That mean 19 orc enemies were randomly deployed on the table, 7 of which had bows.

    Setch the Sidhe 'halfling' and Erevan the Elf occupy a ruined building & begin shooting orcs

The Delver's pregame scouting of the orc location led them to believe the creatures had the shepherd boys stashed somewhere inside the 10 buildings on the 3'x3' tabletop. When a Delver searched the inside of a building, they would roll a six-sided die: 1-2 they found a treasure token; 3-4 sheep, 5-6 one of the shepherd boys. Each player also received one token for a free re-roll of a die during the game. They also randomly determined their player order, resulting in Joel and Mike's weaker force coming on first. The lack of strategizing likely handicapped the players, along with what would prove to be awful die rolling. Or, should I say, their excellent rolling for the monsters? Time and again, they would roll successful "Battle" rolls against the Orcs only to have the nasty creatures make their Save rolls. I insisted they roll for the enemy, since this was meant to be a cooperative game, and I didn't want it to have to do all the rolling for the enemies.

    Minastur the ranger & Baldur the dwarf are beset by orcs, but Callum rushes to their aide

Under the rules, the Delvers and monsters alternating activating a figure until all models on the board have activated. For the Delvers, we had each player activate one of their characters in turn going around the table, then their second figure. In between, of course, a monster would activate. Since the orcs outnumbered the players, we would resolve the remaining half dozen or so at the end of each turn. The players split up, with Mike and Joel arriving on table and occupying a ruined building in the middle of their table edge. They immediately began shooting at the orcs, who quickly closed in on them or began to shoot back. Soon, four Delvers were crowded inside their little "Alamo," doing their best to fight off the attacking orcs.

    Oslac (quartered blue shield) is the toughest fighter in the game & immediately bloodies his enemies

Keith brought his two warriors in on one street, while Allen and Jenny entered in the alleyway behind the church. All were immediately swarmed by orcs when spotted. The "A.I." for the monsters has them advance relentlessly towards the Delvers unless armed with a missile weapon. In that case, once within range, they fire away. If Delvers come within 6", they fire and back off. I think the A.I worked fine. There were only a couple times when it seemed the rules had the orcs not being clever enough. This happened on Keith's front, whose Brute and Fighter blocked off a narrow street, creating a bottleneck of orcs behind those engaged with the Delvers. I solved this by having a couple of the orcs circle the buildings to attempt to fall upon their rear.

    Wounded, Malik the Wizard is stalked by orcs, but Callum bravely rushes to his aide

Only one Delver was knocked out of action. Malik, roaming about his side of the board rather freely instead of sheltering behind the fighters, was targeted by orc archers and eventually fell to the street, riddled with arrows. Several others reached 0 Hit Points and had to make rolls on the Wound table when they were hit again. More than half of the players cashed in their re-roll tokens to save their Delvers. When the wandering monster (a troll) finally showed up, this prompted the "Alamo" to be abandoned by Erevan, Setch, Horace, and Cain. This actually allowed Cain to find one of the shepherd boys when he sought refuge inside a building. Horace made up for his excellent rolling in my last solo game and struggled to heal Erevan, who was down to 0 Hit Points for the last one-third of the game or so. Joel and Mike did a great job, though, keeping their under strength force alive, though. I don't blame them for fleeing rather than facing the troll when it finally wandered over to their makeshift stronghold.

    Joel & Allen's 'Alamo' defensive position is getting crowded when joined by friar Horace & Cain

Jenny's characters, augmented by Callum the barbarian, did a good job holding off the orcs in the alley beside the church. Keith, though ringed by orcs thirsting for his Delvers' blood, slew more enemies than any of the others. I feel the Fighter is the single strongest Delver type, so was not surprised he slowly and steadily racked up the kills. However, Keith was plagued numerous times by orcs saving against his successful blows an unlikely number of times. He fully got to experience the frustration I felt might be inherent in the system.

    It took several turns, but finally a wandering troll showed up, drawn by the sounds of fighting

How did the game go? The players said it went fine. They seemed less bothered by the frustration than I felt they might be. Keith admitted it did get to him at times, but seemed philosophical about it. Bad die rolls or lucky opponents happen in wargaming. We discussed how the rules worked out for about 20 minutes after the game. Had I overestimated how many monsters would be needed with the changes to the combat system Rich and I had made? Possibly. I used 50% more than the equivalent number would call for. I felt the limit on Wandering Monsters would really hamper the monsters. I had 3-4 show up in each of my previous games, with 2-3 on the table at the same time. The troll didn't come on until turn 3 or 4, and his "Stupid" trait meant he spent one of those turns scratching his head, wondering where all those Delvers that were holed up in the ruin had gone.

    Though orcs are bloodied all around them, the ring of foes around Oslac & Leof seems not to falter

For myself, I am still not 100% sold on the mechanics. Many, many games using a Saving roll. However, when you are in control of only two characters instead of an army or large force, enemy saves seem to have a bigger impact. Time and again, Keith would roll for Oslac, have him inflict a hit or two hits on an orc, only to have it save against all. Then, the monsters would counter-attack, inflict a hit on a Delver, only to have the Delver save, too. Four rolls, but a whole lot of "no effect" going on! Like I said, I think I was more bothered by the potential frustration of this system than my five players were. Still, we got through at least 8 turns in three hours. However, the players were not near to completing their mission. There were still a good number of orcs on the table -- enough to prevent the players from breaking off a Delver or two to begin searching rooms (only four buildings were searched, finding one shepherd boy, two treasures, and some sheep). 

    Another look at medieval Moonrest before the battle begins, with orcs patrolling the alleys

We'll see, though. I reported back to Rich Brown, so I may have him take over 100% of the rules tweaking for awhile. I'm still tempted to try a variant of my Mean Streets gang warfare rules to see how they play out for a small scale medieval or fantasy skirmish. So, that will likely be the next thing I try. I'd already crunched a bunch of numbers and written a few pages of things down for a fantasy Mean Streets variant. Maybe it is time to get that on the table and compare how the two games go? Stay tuned to see what comes up!

In the meantime, my next batch of Elves is all but done. So, I will likely be posting pictures of them soon. I'm working on another medieval building, too. So, now that I am back from vacation, I should get back to posting more regularly!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 85

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 56 

A Dwarf and a Specter Walked into a Graveyard...

    A 3-D printed specter from A Critical Hit haunts a Dark Ages 'dwarf' in a graveyard

I needed a batch of something "old" (bought prior to 2026) to paint up. I also needed a dwarven adventurer for my next game of Four Delvers. Did I own a figure that could be both of these? No...and yes. I actually own zero dwarves in my collection of 28mm figures. However, I decided to go through my unpainted Dark Ages miniatures to see if there was something in there that could reasonably pass as one. Sure enough, I found this old Grenadier miniature from the 1980s, I believe. He was crouching down, fully mailed, and more in 25mm scale than more recent 28mm. He was missing a weapon hand, but in my unused weapons bag I had an axe I could use...with a hand attached to it! Seriously!! I think it was from one of my Gripping Beast figures where you have a choice of weapons to attach.

    This figure was the closest thing among my unpainted lead that could be used for a fantasy dwarf

I super-glued the slightly larger hand (don't notice that!) onto his right stump and voila! An axe-armed dwarf!! He was quick and easy to paint up, being mostly chainmail. As dwarves HAVE to have beards, I tried to make it stick out more by painting it an auburn/red. The figure's could be a bit bushier to really pass as a full-fledged cousin of Gimli. It'll do, though! I gave it some dwarven runes on its shield and a bit of fancy decoration on the clothes peeking out from underneath the mail. 

    The entire 3-D print was in this sparkly, black-green filament - I painted the skulls & black hood

The specter is actually a 3-D printed figure from A Critical Hit. I bought it because I thought it simply looked bizarre enough to be an alien monster for my Majestic 13 games. However, once I got it home and examined it more closely, I could see the skulls. It is printed in a sparkly, dark green filament material. I painted the hollow hood of his cloak black. The skulls I painted up as...well, skulls! The figure seems to be materializing out of the mist, which actually forms its base. I added a piece of magnetic material underneath it to make it stand up in place in my storage boxes and also to give it more stability on the tabletop. For just a buck or two, I really like how it turned out! I'll likely include it with my fantasy monster collection, though, instead of my Majestic 13 monsters.

    These 3-D printed tombstones & plinths I picked up from RRB Minis & More at Hold the Line 2025

The last items in this batch aren't really miniatures -- they're scatter. I decided I needed to bulk out this batch of "old" miniatures, though. One dwarf is hardly a batch (shhh...I bought the specter this March at Cincycon!). These are about miniature figure sized, though, so I decided they would fit. I bought them last November at Hold the Line 2025 convention from my friend Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More. I based them up on various miniature bases (See? They're miniatures...! Ha, ha!!). 

    I based the headstones on figure bases and added the slightly raised mound of flocking for the graves

There were five tombstones and three plinths (that's what Jenny said they're called) in the little bag I bought for all of $2. I liked the gargoyles atop the plinths, and the slightly ruined state of the tombstones. The coolest part of the tomstones were the ones with burnt-down candles placed atop them. That was a nice touch! I based four of them up on horizontal cavalry sized bases. Then, I took rubble that I had bought for various ruins and poured it in a heap atop a blob of Tacky Glue. I flocked over the grave with my fine brown ballast, then did it again when I did the rest of the base. I think it created a believable mound where the body is interred. I gave the bases some grass, tufts, and the leaves to give it more of a disheveled look. 

    I decided to base everything individually for flexibility - unlike my graveyard in the background

The plinths were the easiest to do. Black base coat, and two dry brushes of gray and the painting part was complete. I used square miniature bases and flocked them like I did the tombstones. I intentionally painted and based all of these individually rather than as a group. My giant 28mm graveyard I built awhile back (and in the background of these photos) is a great piece of eye candy, but functionally, not very useful on the tabletop. I wanted something more flexible so figures can get around and amongst the tombstones...and plinths! All in all, a quick batch of "old" figures that keeps me in line with my alternating system. I think they turned out well, and hopefully, will see use in a game of Four Delvers or something soon!

That's it for a while, though! I'm heading overseas on vacation, so won't do any updates for at least a week and a half. When I come back, I'll be finishing up some more 28mm Elves next!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 85

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 56 

Big Alien Monsters for Majestic 13

    Four of the 'big alien monsters' I picked up at Cincycon for my Majestic 13 games

When I decided to give Snarling Badger Studios' rules Majestic 13 a try, the only thing holding me back was the lack of figures for the enemy. In this solo or coop game, you control a team of alien hunters (think a slightly less tongue-in-cheek version of the Men in Black movies). The foe for each game would be a different, large alien creature which I essentially had none of...ha, ha! That was quickly rectified at Cincycon a month or so ago, where I picked up a half dozen miniatures. These four are the first I've painted up.

    This is one of the old, old Star Wars pre-painteds that I touched up...nice flea market find!

Well, in the case of the first two, I should specify "touched up" rather than painted from scratch. These were picked up in the flea market and are from the Star Wars Miniatures plastic figures produced back in 2005 by Wizards of the Coast. The preying mantis looking creature is called an Acklay that appeared in episode II The Attack of the Clones. The other, more rhinocerous looking beast, is called a Reek and was in the same episode. If you remember, Obi-Wan and Anakin had to fight them in a gladiator type arena. 

    These were EXACTLY what I was hoping to find for alien monsters - this is a 'Reek,' apparently

Some of the paint was a little dull colored or needed highlighting, which is chiefly what I did on these creatures. Essentially, I tricked them out a big and brightened them up some. I also added a black wash to try to give them more depth. I briefly thought about adding putty or something to cover up the obvious joins where the various pieces of the Reek were glued together in China. However, I was afraid that might make it stand out even more if I didn't match the paint colors well. So, I decided to go with a quick touch up and chock these two alien creatures off as done.

    This was likely a fantasy monsters (stone giant? earth elemental?), but he will sub in as an alien

The next ogre or giant-looking figure I picked up from BV Traders in their clearance bin at Cincycon. It is made from a soft plastic, but I have no idea where it is from. I liked the rock-like protrusions on his back, arms, and legs. That certainly looked alien enough for me, though I could easily see using this figure as some kind of earth elemental or stone giant. I painted his skin a terra cotta color, while his bumps, lumps, and protrusions were in a medium brown. I added in a dark brown towards the tops, and then gave it a red brown dry brush. I wanted to stick with that orange-brown-red color scheme, so did his loin cloth in dun yellow and his long nails on hands and toes I painted tan. I gave him pale yellow eyes and teeth and did a brown wash (of course) over him. I like how he turned out, though I admit he is the most Fantasy and least Sci-Fi looking of the four.

    Headless, alien monstrosity to terrify and battle against my 'Critter Control' alien hunter team

The final one I also picked up from BV Traders. It was another soft plastic monster, but was obviously missing its head. Why somebody would try to sell a miniature missing its head, I don't know. But hey -- I bought it! I felt that the cavity where the head would be glued in looked like a perfect maw of some bizarre, headless creature. I added pieces of brass wire around the "mouth" to give it a kind of Venus Fly Trap look. Thing of them as feelers, sensing when something very unfortunate is being guided into the waiting maw. The pose of the figure adds to its hideous look, like it has actively sensed something and is getting ready to snatch and swallow it hole. I decided to go with a pale blue flesh with salmon and pink colored mouth. The inner maw showing was painted in a darker, pinkish red. I decided not to paint the bumps on its skin, hoping that the bluish-white dry brush and the dark wash at the end would be enough to make them stand out. He definitely looks like some alien critter for my team of hunters to "control!"

    Last look at this batch of 'new figures' -- all purchased at Cincycon at a nice discount

Speaking of Critter Control, it is past time for me to get another Majestic 13 game on the table! I would really like to get it done before I leave for vacation in a few days, but we shall see if that happens. Meanwhile, I am hurrying to get as much on my painting desk done as possible before my trip. If you're curious where I'm going, keep an eye on my travel blog, Worldwidemike for reports and pictures from abroad. Most Americans will have been completely unaware of this country or at least where it is! Now you have two blogs to "stay tuned" on...ha, ha!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 83

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 48

Gnolls Rescue Me From a Broken Promise

    Six Gnolls from the Frostgrave plastic kit from North Star -- picked up by the sprue from Firelands

I bought three of the sprues from the North Star Frostgrave Gnolls from my friends at Firelands Games last year. That gives me 15 of them, along with the usual extra heads, weapons, and such they include in these plastic, multipart kits. My original thinking (besides buying something to support my friends' store at a convention), was 15 would give me enough for a Dragon Rampant unit, which are typically 12 figures. Now I'm thinking that I'm more likely to use them in Four Delvers, Sellswords & Spellslingers, or some other smaller skirmish game.

    I've always liked Gnolls -- I guess the idea of crazed, tribal Hyena Men appeals to me...ha, ha!

I've always liked gnolls. I guess it is the hyena-men appearance, their crazed, bloodthirsty look, and weird, hunched posture. The kit does a nice job of reproducing that in plastic. The torso and legs come together as one piece for four of the five minis on each sprue -- not sure why the fifth one has to be glued together. Needless to say, I didn't use any of those poses for these first six! The less assembling that I have to do, the better. Anyway, there is a longer neck projection coming out from between the shoulder blades that you glue the head onto. I think it is to specifically give that hunched over look. So, the head glues on almost perpendicularly to the torso. This is fine -- it just means you have to hold the head in place until the bond of your glue takes hold.

    Confession to make: I really don't like 'assemble & customize your own' plastic kits - I prefer metal

There are weapons for gnoll archers, but I chose all of mine to be melee weapons. As with any Frostgrave kit, I really struggle when a weapon calls for both hand to be on it. Assembling is a challenge for me, for some reason, and getting the arm to line up with the long spear AND sit flush with the shoulder is bewildering to me. What's more, I would not be surprised if I was supposed to do the same with the two-handed sword. I punted on that, though, and didn't even try. Give me a one-piece metal casting over these "Build a Bear" kits any day...ha, ha! Yes, yes, I now -- the variety! Customization!! Not for me. I can instead just make sure I purchase a bunch of different poses and weapons types, right?

    I tried to use a variety, but really struggle with figs where both arms are gripping the same weapon

Once the six figures were all glued together, I based them up on one of my usual thin, plywood round bases with a heavy duty magnetic base bottom. Then I primed them with Liquitex White Gesso. Once they were dry, I remembered another thing that I am not particularly crazy about plastic kits. The detail is relatively shallow, and once you prime the figure, it becomes even more so. I think it becomes most noticeable, though, when you are dry brushing fur or clothing or something that would normally have a bit of depth to it on a metal figure. You certainly don't get the same effect with dry brushing that you would on a well-cast metal figure.

    Crazed hyena faces and a subtle variety of fur shades which I'm not sure anyone will notice!

I looked up some images of African hyenas online, and then at my paints for potential matches. Since I saw various fur tones in the pictures, I'd felt I'd be justified in using a handful of tones for the base coat. So, I picked out and used a half dozen beige, khaki, light brown, etc., colors, with each being slightly different. My favorite one was a craft paint called "Khaki." It had a very nice yellowish tint to it that looked perfect for gnolls. That said, I'm not sure after dry brushing and washing that the differences between the various shades stand out much. I also used the images to paint the dark brown around the muzzle, as well as the bottom of their legs and spots on their fur. I used a relatively thin craft paint called "Walnut." It is almost semi-transparent, which gives a shading effect. I also painted the black for the eyes and their nose, while I was focusing on their faces. 

After that came the difficult part. I looked at their torsos, arms, and legs to figure out what was clothing, what was leather armor, and what was something else entirely. It wasn't easy, which is another reason I'm not a plastic kit fanboy. For their tattered clothing, I chose pale or darker colors -- similar how I painted the orcs of my Bonefish Band. Next, I dry brushed a lighter shade on the clothing. I used a variety of leathers or browns for the leather armor or the skins they appeared to be wearing on top of their clothes. Some also had cloth wraps on their legs and leather bracers on their forearms. So, lots of different leather tones!

    Last look at these North Star plastic Gnolls (or at least until they make onto the table for a game...!)

I decided to do their shields in a wicker pattern, with a dark brown and Camo Brown dry brush, along with bronze and steel for a metal strip that appeared bolted on for reinforcement. I did the leather straps on the inside of the shields in my lightest leather color. Somewhere along the way, while waiting for a base coat to dry, I also finished their faces. I did a pale yellow for the "whites" of their eyes, and a dark brown pupil/iris. Their mouths were painted blood red. Once dry, I picked out tehir teeth in pale yellow. I felt the faces looked great, and they are probably my favorite part of the figures. They definitely have that crazed gnoll look in their eyes!

 I considered doing some sort of primitive tribal designs on their wicker shields, but chose not to in the end. The shields themselves are kind of small, but wouldn't you know it? That's the deepest incised detail on the figures, which would make straight lines more difficult to do. So, after a brown wash on most of the figure and black wash on selected parts, this batch of gnolls was mostly complete! I flocked them so they would match most of my figures and finally spray dull coated them. Done!

    It's April and I've kept my promise to intermix batches of figs bought this year with older ones

What else is on my painting desk? Well, since these are "old" figures, I can do a batch of new miniatures for new projects next. So, it is finally time to finish off those big alien monsters that I bought at Cincycon! Two of them are complete and two are about halfway done. I can't imagine they will take too long to polish off, but we'll see. Also on tmy painting desk is both the next "old" batch of figures AND the next new one of elves. So, as I was finishing these gnolls, I had four different batches of miniatures in various states of progress. It's getting crowded on there! I leave for vacation on Monday, though, so there will be a week-plus hiatus with no progress or updates. Maybe THAT is why I have so many projects going on at the moment -- I'm trying to make up in advance for that!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 79

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 48

 

Battle of the Gems - 6-player Good vs. Evil Dragon Rampant Game

    Tom's fast-moving giant lizards (Lesser Warbeasts) with 3 gems in tow charge Keith's Frogmen

I decided to create a two-sided, mutiplayer scenario for Dragon Rampant using the classic Good vs. Evil fantasy trope. However, I didn't want this to be a standard game, with one side along one table edge and their enemies on the opposite. I felt that would mostly end up being three, separate 1-on-1 matchups. How to do something different that would force each contingent on a side to make difficult choices? I came up with an idea that would intersperse each side's armies in deployment areas along the perimeter of the table. So, a Good army would be flanked by an Evil army on each side, and so on. 

    Interspersed along the table edge, 3 Evil players wage war over magical gems against 3 Evil players

Here was the storyline I created for the battle: "Long ago, the wealthy trading town of Sigilmesa was buried suddenly by the sands -- much like a desert Atlantis. All of its wealth and magic disappeared beneath the sand, along with its people. However, when the great sandstorms tear through the desert, the city's ruins are often exposed. On the surface, some of its great treasures are scattered across the sand until they are eventually buried by the shifting sands, again. The greatest of these treasures are its incredibly beautiful and magical gems. So, when news of the desert sandstorms spreads, entire armies race to be the first to arrive..."

    My map of the battle, showing deployment areas, difficult terrain, sandstorms & gem locations

I placed 14 gems in between the players' deployment areas. A unit could pick one up as part of a movement or skirmish action. They dropped them if routing off-table, retreating from melee, or if destroyed by magic or spells. A unit defeating another in melee could also pick up any gems dropped by their opponent as part of their victory.  Gems were worth 5 VPs each, and each side also scored VPs in equal to the Army Points of enemy units destroyed or routed off-table. There were also three standstorms on the table that armies would have to contend with. At the start of each side's turn, all three would move 2d6 inches, each in a random direction. If they made contact with a unit, the unfortunate troops suffered a 12d6 attack, hitting on 5+ on each dice. 

    'Good' Allen deploys his army of Human knights ready to march out & dispute possession of gems

We had six players on an 8'x4' table, so it would be close quarters and armies mixing it up almost immediately. No deployment area was within 12" of another, but whichever side went second might easily be within charge range of enemies. The armies were Orcs, Goblins, "Wheel of Time" Beastmen, Frogmen with their dinosaur allies, Human knights, and Human Steppe Tribes. Tom declared his Beastmen were more evil than Evil, so he teamed up with the orcs and goblins. So far, Tom has given his Beastmen army a complete makeover after every game as he tries out various troop types, spells, and fantastic abilities in his (to date) unsuccessful attempts to "break the system." His foray this game into hacking the system was his unit of Bellicose Foot which costs 10 army points (1/3 of his force). Tom stacked "Berserk" (re-roll 6's in melee for more chances of hits) and "Enchanted Blades" (plus 3 dice in melee) onto the already potent troop type to see how it fared.

    Evil Tom, left, and his Beastmen know they will probably wage war with Good Keith's Frogs, right

The game started off with the Steppe Tribesmen (Mike S's Avar army) suffering from terrible activation rolls. His Froggy ally, Keith, had no such trouble, though. Keith's troops raced towards the center of the board and to each side in an attempt to snatch up as many gems as possible. Allen's knights moved a bit more cautiously, eyeing the orcs on their right and goblins on their left. On the Evil half of the turn, Tom's beastmen stormed across the battlefield, too, his Lesser warbeasts snagging gems with their enhanced speed. Joel's goblins also suffered from poor movement activation rolls, but were able to announce their presence to Allen's knights with the fire of his rocket battery (heavy missiles). Mike W's orcs advanced from their side edge deployment area cautiously, as well.

    Mike S's historical Avar army simply added a couple spellcasters to become a Dragon Rampant force

It wasn't long before the sandstorms began to claim some victims. One raced through the goblin's greater warbeasts, who were then subsequently charged by a unit of knights. This saw the game's first destroyed unit. The goblin's cousins, Mike W's orc army, also was struck by more than its share of whirling sandstorms. As Keith's Frogmen closed in on the orcs, they took casualties from the scouring sands, too. The orcs closed to within missile range and began loosing arrows at any human or frogman that came close to them. The Frogs continued to spread out all over the table, grabbing magical gems. They would be aided in that goal by an oversight that Tom admitted to late in the game. By giving his lesser warbeasts "Fast," increasing their move to 14", he was able to grab quite a few gems. However, that left him with their increased Wild Charge range of many enemies. So, he would pick up gems only to hand them over to his opponents in lost melees. In one case, Tom lost 3 gems to Keith's Frogmen heavy foot in melee! 

    'That doesn't look good!' A sandstorm boils up out of the desert and heads towards Joel's goblins

At one point, I commented to Tom that his beastmen seemed to be having a frustrating evening, so far. When he wanted to close in for the kill on some of Mike's horsemen, their sorceresses would either create a magical wall between them or freeze the beastmen motionless into place. His 10-point unit? It spent the first four turns just trying to get into contact with enemy, who simply withdrew and refused to let them charge into home. I think he told me that, over the course of the battle, he charged with the 10-point unit only once. And wouldn't you know? In that battle, he rolled poorly --  getting only one "6" on 15 dice! The enemy also chose to shoot at him instead of melee, so the most expensive unit on the table ended up causing very few casualties. That seemed to be the case for a lot of the high point units, though. Joel's greater warbeasts (8 points) were the first to die, while the orc's burrowing worm didn't show up till later in the game and did not accomplish much, either.

    After the goblin's giant lizards were buffeted by a sandstorm, Allen's knights charged in for the kill

I had asked the players to send me their lists ahead of time so that I could make up unit cards. As a unit was destroyed or routed off-table, I would collect the cards. It soon became obvious to me that the "Good" side was out to an early lead. Despite the bad activation rolls of the Steppe Horsemen, their units were holding firm on their flank of the battlefield. Keith's troops were all over the board, but didn't seem to be taking many casualties, either. As usual, Allen's lost a couple of his 6-figure units of knights, as they advanced beyond the support range of their infantry archers, hand gunners, and spearmen. 

    Facing two armies, the Steppe tribesmen frequently used magical barriers to keep the enemy at bay

The players all seemed to be having a good time, though. I had cautioned them against creating armies of huge numbers of small point value units, worrying this would slow the game down. They had listened, and most armies seemed to be composed of 6 or 7 units. Most of the gems were grabbed in the first few turns. After that, they changed hands only as a result of lost combats. I hadn't been tabulating which side had the most, but my guess was that Good was ahead in that category, too. As losses began to mount, or an army's horde of gems grew, all across the table, the forces began to back away from each other. They prepared to withdraw from the battlefield. When it seemed all six armies were done engaging enemy, I asked the players if they wanted to call the game. They agreed, and so I counted up the points. 

    Frustrated beastmen prepare to finally charge into a tribal unit of light riders

First, each Evil army was in possession of only one gem each -- 15 total points. The Good armies had 11 -- for 55 points! When tabulating losses, the trend continued. In the end, the Good armies combined for a win with a 3:1 advantage in points -- a decisive victory for Good over Evil. I thanked the players for bringing their armies -- Keith, in particular, had fielded three of the armies that were on the battlefield. I believe everyone continues to enjoy the rules, so I look forward to more evenings of Dragon Rampant! Maybe next time I will get to play, too...ha, ha!

    The orc's giant sand worm tunnels up to the surface & charges into Keith's unit of bullywogs

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 73

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 48

    Keith's unit of Frogmen heavy foot, also armed with short range missiles, sight in on an enemy

    Seeing they are carrying a magical gem, goblin halberdiers charge into a unit of human light riders

 

    Keith's army of frogs, dinosaurs, and such were all over the center of the table snatching gems

Catrine House - Another Lovely 3-D Printed Medieval Building

    Towering Catrine House - 3-D printed purchased from RRB Minis & More adds to my growing city

My medieval (or fantasy medieval?) town is slowly growing. My favorite part of it, so far, has been the 3-D printed buildings that I've bought from my friend Rich Bown of RRB Minis & More. He bought the license to produce and sell the Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni products and their Ferisia line. If you get a chance to check out this line or any of the others, it is truly worth your time. They are amazing, evocative buildings. The Catrine House is no exception. The fact that "Katrin" was one of my best friends from teaching (our middle school's German teacher), makes it all so much the better...ha, ha!

    Angry looking madam of the house looks out from the rear of the stucco & stone building

I love how this building turned out. However, I don't want to play down how long it takes to paint up a five piece building (base ground floor, level 2, 3, 4, and roof). I believe I have been working on it for at least two weeks! The main reason for this is because I'm using my standard base coat and dry brush method for just about every part of the building. That means a lot of waiting overnight (or at least half a day) for the base coat to dry and "shrink wrap" onto the model, so the dry brushing sticks out properly. So, let's say that on Day 1 you spray prime, Day 2 you put on a 50/50 mix of black paint and water like I did, and Day 3 you base coat the interior stucco wall portions of levels 2, 3, and 4. That means you have to wait a day for it to fully dry before you dry brush the interior stucco. On the same day, you can do the base coat for the stone sections of the interior. Now, you have to wait another day for it to dry before you can dry brush that part. You get the picture, and you are still about a dozen days away from being done! 

    'Now where have those danged kids gone off to...?' Looking from the cool, 4th-story balcony

I like to do all of the interiors sections of each level first, then the exteriors. This ensures I have something to hold onto that isn't wet paint while I am working. So, once I've done the interiors, I pretty much have to then repeat the process for the exteriors, if that makes sense. Once I'm started, a normal day working on the Catrine House settled into a dry brush highlighting what I had base coated the day before and then base coating the next part. On most days, that is 20-30 minutes worth of work. So, it is probably best to be working on something else, too, while you're painting a building -- perhaps a batch of figures? That way, after finishing your 20 minutes on the building, you can work on the figs for the rest of your painting session. In two weeks, you should be done. Well, that's if you are being anal retentive like me and insist on doing a thorough job and not doing a just quickie paint! 

    All five pieces of the 3-D printed Catrine House laid out side by side

Note that I'm no boasting and saying that I've done the best-ever paint job possible on this building. To me, it seems like I am doing a minimum acceptable job. There was no customization on the Catrine House, no signs, no graffiti -- nothing to make this building "pop" other than its own natural beauty. Why not add a bit extra like those things? Mainly, it's because I these medieval/fantasy 3-D buildings to be useful for a maximum number of periods or games. I want it to be able to look great on a tabletop simulating a thriving medieval city, but also on a ruined, abandoned one. The less individualization I do on it, the more games I can use it in the table without needing a wink and a nudge!

    Level 1 is all stone and came out very nicely - I like the faded green & blue tiles and stairway up

I especially like how these Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni buildings recreate a variety of textures and surfaces. Of course, that is also part of the reason it took me two weeks to get this beauty painted up! I think it does look more natural, though, for it to not be all stone or wood, or whatever. All the different types of surfaces also add variety to the tabletop. The quality is great -- each level (and roof) fits securely onto the level below and comes off easily. It makes it much more skirmish friendly for gaming! 

    Who's this ruffian at the front door...? Is he a particularly unsavory looking employee of the owners?

Still, these buildings are no idle undertakings. I will do the much smaller, two-story one I bought from RRB next. Then, I will tackle the next 3-4 story one. And once I finish those, it will likely be time to see RRB Minis & More at an upcoming convention. And you know what that means, right? There's a very good chance he'll be bringing along more 3-D printed buildings for me to buy...ha, ha! Anyway, I just need to keep telling myself it is not a sprint to get these done. Work on them slow and steady! Hopefully, you guys are enjoying seeing them. And perhaps, some of you are reaching out to Rich to buy some of his incredibly affordable buildings, too!

    Interior of level 3 of the Catrine House - you can see the trapdoors and ladders to go up & down

So, what else is on my painting desk? Well, Samwise will be happy with me. I did go back and assemble and prime a half dozen of the North Star Frostgrave Gnolls. This will allow me to fulfill my promise to myself to intermix in a batches of figures purchased this year with ones purchased in previous years. That means the big alien monsters I was working on were "kicked to the curb" by the gnolls. And the monsters don't look happy...ha, ha! Also, I began working on a single, 25mm, 1980s Grenadier Dark Ages warrior . Why? He is the only thing I have in my unpainted lead pile that could possibly pass as a Dwarf...ha, ha! I will need him for my Four Delvers games. So, stay tuned for pictures of these things soon!

    Level 4 without the roof on - I think this upper level balcony adds a nice look & gaming possibilities!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 73

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 48

 

    A final look at the building with no figures around it -- an abandoned house in Moonrest...??