Little Wars 2016 & Purchases

    The 1st game I played in at Little Wars 2026 - Marty's 'Pulp Alley' Chaos in Cairo game was a blast!

Little Wars in Chicago, HMGS Midwest's flagship convention, is usually not on my itinerary. Spring is such a busy time for cons here in Ohio that most years I can't squeeze it in. However, I had been telling myself since I retired that I wanted to attend more shows, and Little Wars is not that far away -- just under six hours driving (depending on traffic). We had attended a couple times in the past and had a fun time. So, when I saw how reasonably priced the hotel rooms were, I decided to make 2026 the third time!

    My 'haul' from Little Wars -- I kept my spending under control, for the most part

The next decision was whether I would run games or simply just shop and play. I went back and forth for a couple weeks, and finally decided I would go just as an attendee. When the event list was published, I sat down and picked out five games that I wanted to play in. When registration opened, I was ready, waiting on Tabletop Events with five tabs open -- ready to pounce! I successfully registered for all five of the games I wanted, and Jenny was able to get in most of them, too. 

    My 2nd favorite game at Little Wars was the 1970s IRA raid on British operations on Saturday

The drive to Chicago went much smoother than I expected. We got there earlier on Thursday afternoon than we had planned -- even before registration opened up. After checking in, we went to a local brewpub for a beer and stayed for another (and to get something to eat). We were joined by our "Michiana" (Michigan & Indiana) friends -- Steve S, Greg, Steve B, Tim, and his son Pat. It was good to see them. Since they stopped coming to Advance the Colors, sadly, we are lucky to see them once a year. Despite all of the good games I played in, hanging out with good friends and sharing laughs was truly my personal highlight of Little Wars. We doubled down on that Saturday evening, going out to dinner with Rich and his wife Gwen from RRB Minis & More. Vendors are always so busy at conventions that it was nice to spend a couple hours with them, too!

    My Pulp Alley league surveys the street -- spotting the first plot point that we needed to investigate

My first game Thursday evening was Pulp Alley -- a very fun system that we played about 10 years ago but hadn't in awhile. In 2014, I ran an Indiana Jones-themed series of games for the Sunday Evening Gaming Group called, Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures. Not wanting to be "that player" who doesn't know or understand the rules, I downloaded Pulp Alley's free Quick Start guide and read through it the night before. I was glad that I did, though GM Marty Devine did an excellent job going over the rules before the game. In fact, this would prove to be my favorite game of the entire convention. My "League" (as a player's group of figures is called) consisted of three miniatures trying to beat the other three factions to finding clues to the location of a secret map. We had a blast, attacking each other in this free-for-all, playing "Peril" cards on each other, and in general, trying to outfox the others.

    The center of the board with traffic, soldiers, and pedestrians making it a 'perilous place' to be

It was a thrilling finish to the game, too. On my last figure's activation, she charged into the player holding the major plot point and knocked them out, sending the prized possession flying. With no figure technically in possession of it at game end, the my league ended up in a three-way tie for first. The Little Wars staff give a medal to the GM of each game to hand out to the winner or player who performed best. I won my first of two for the weekend, but more importantly, had a great time. Marty ran Pulp Alley throughout the weekend, and Jenny went back for a second game of it, having an equally good time.

    I eyeballed this 3-D printed building RRB Minis had in their booth all weekend before buying it

Friday morning was a bit of a disappointment, as I screwed up the time my event started. I had utilized the "My Schedule" feature of Tabletop Events to pull up a spreadsheet of the games I had booked. What I didn't realize was that by saving the tab in my phone's browser, and not refreshing it when we arrived in town, my times were all off by one hour. For some reason, TTE has a "time zone" feature and adjusts your schedule to show your own local time when you pull it up -- not the scheduled actual start time for the game. So, if you were on the West Coast and pulled up your "My Schedule," game start times would be two hours off from Chicago's Central Time and three from my Eastern Time. Mine was one hour off, and Jenny and I showed up about 45 minutes after it had started. I felt awful for the GM in being a no-show, and bummed that I didn't get to play in his pirate game. 

    The Bad Squiddo figs that I picked up -- I kept in under control as their range tends to be very pricey

It did give me a LOT more time to shop, though! One of my favorite stops at Historicon was there, Badger Games, and I spent time looking through their extensive line of miniatures they brought to the show. They carry a HUGE number of figure lines, and curious, I asked the owner who'd attended about what percentage they were able to bring to the show. She estimated 10% -- the remaining 90% was sitting in their warehouse. I picked out five packs that I wanted from Bad Squiddo Games line, including a pack of "May Queens" that I think will make good female wizards for my Elven army for Dragon Rampant. That had been one of my shopping goals, as I hadn't bought any wizards with my Warhost army (which I got from Badger Games, by the way). 

    Phalanx Games was there with their MDF bases - $5 for as many as you can stuff & seal in a ziploc

Friday night's game (which I DID make it to on time!) was a hit and miss. It was using The Men Who Would be Kings from Daniel Mersey's "Rampant" stable. However, the GM wasn't very familiar with the rules, and I had to step in a number of times and help him figure out how the system worked. He was also a bit brain fried, he said, as this was his third game in a row. He also admitted he had yet to the play test the scenario, which quickly became evident when the Mahdists wiped our British and Egyptian forces off the table in half the time the game was scheduled for! Jenny was even less happy than I was, because the GM was clearly getting frustrated with players who weren't picking up the rules. The fact that it was his own two friends who were the most clueless of the bunch didn't make his badgering the players any better. Chalk that one up as a "miss," and hope the rest of the games are better. Unfortunately, bad games, bad scenarios, and bad GMs are all part of attending a convention. You have to accept your losses with your wins.

    Another of the lovely buildings that were part of the very fun IRA game I played in on Saturday

Saturday morning was much better. I played in a 1970s IRA vs. British scenario. The GM's board was beautiful! He had 3-D printed all of the buildings and it was definitely immersive. He explained we had two missions we needed to complete -- ambushing a Laundry Delivery Service van (a front for British counter-intelligence) and taking out a massage parlor, which was another intelligence effort trying to extract information from the "loose lips" of its customers. He let us plan every detail of our mission, whether to complete the missions simultaneously or consecutively, how many of our eight operatives to assign to each, and exactly how we would carry each out.

    Rich Brown of RRB gave me a good 'package deal' on these 2 smaller buildings & boulders

So, instead of 30 minutes explaining the rules to us, he kept that part of the game relatively secret. He wanted the preliminaries to be us hashing out our mission plan amongst ourselves. There was one of the five players who was a bit of a holdout, but we eventually brought him around to the group consensus. Once the missions themselves got under way, the system moved very quickly. In fact, the three of us players (and four operatives) ambushing the van completed it in record time, the GM said. We took no casualties and eliminated all four of the British agents quickly. He mentioned it was the best any group had done. The other team was having a bit rougher of a time, and ended up clearing only two of the three floors of the massage parlor. They lost one operative and had two others wounded, I believe. The other three IRA agents were able to exfiltrate, though, and soon joined us as we melted away into the pro-IRA neighborhood, with the sounds of British sirens drawing nearer.

    Lion Rampant, a very fun system, recreating the Battle of Enna in Sicily between Arabs & Normans

My final game Saturday afternoon was a Lion Rampant game between Arabs and Normans in Sicily. It was a four-player game with two commands on each side. Interestingly, the GM had us alternate activating one of our commands (one Arab, one Norman, etc.). We also re-rolled for Initiative each turn, so the possibility of a "double move" -- going last one turn and first the next -- existed, and actually happened. Personally, I think the game would have been better and faster moving if both commands on one side went and then the other side, and kept up that order throughout the game. Still, it was a fun game. My shooting and combat dice were pretty bad in the beginning, but eventually came around at the end. On one amazing charge, my "Bloodthirsty" general and his bodyguard cavalry rolled 13 hits on 12 dice against a Norman light cavalry unit. With his trait, each roll of a "6" caused two hits, and I rolled six of them on 12 dice!

    Last purchase of the con, an interesting looking 3-D printed medieval building from Phalanx Games

I wrapped up my shopping after that session of games, because Jenny and I would be leaving right away Sunday morning. In addition to the Bad Squiddo minis, I picked up two small medieval buildings and another larger one from RRB Minis & More. I also snagged a ziploc full of MDF bases of various sizes and another very cool looking 3-D printed medieval building from Phalanx Games & Sundry. My last purchase was a can of Howard Hues paint from Dayton Painting Consortium -- one of my favorite colors that I had run out of, recently. After dinner with Rich & Gwen, we closed out the evening like we had the other three -- sitting around swapping stories and laughing with our Michiana friends. It had definitely been a good weekend.

    My prizes (and the figs that won them for me) from two of the fun games at Little Wars 2026

Will I come back? Well...actually, I'm not 100% sure. The Little wars registration fee was a bit of sticker shock. Sixty dollars is a lot for a convention -- at least compared to the ones I attend. I know $60 is not Gencon pricing, but it is more than the much larger Historicon was in 2025 ($50), and four times what we charge for a weekend member badge at Advance the Colors. Also, I'm not exactly crazy about the way HMGS Midwest bundles a year's membership in their chapter into the convention price. Long ago, all HMGS chapters across the country agreed to give members of other chapters the discounted admission rate that their own members received. What's the point of that if members of other chapters HAVE to buy your membership? Yes, I understand Chicago may be an expensive city, so the venue could be pricey. Still, the Sheraton, where the convention was held, was a suburban hotel -- not downtown in the high rent zone. And honestly, it is getting a little worn on the edges and needing renovation. For example, when we arrived, only one of its three elevators was working. So, Little Wars' convention price could certainly factor into my future decisions on whether to attend or not. Seeing all of my buddies is priceless, of course, but these two things probably take it out of the "must go" for me.

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 176
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 91

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 7
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 23

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 17
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 56 

Merchant's Store for My Medieval City

    3-D printed medieval building from the Ferisia line from RRB Minis & More - Merchant Store B

After building another of the large buildings last month from the Ferisia line carried by RRB Minis & More, I decided to build a smaller one next. As opposed to the towering ones composed of 4-5 levels/roofs, Merchant Store B had only two pieces. The lower one was the house itself while the upper one was just the interesting looking roof. What I liked most about it was the covered patio attached to the house, where the merchant would ostensibly sell his goods. It was a unique design and matched the overall look of the buildings I've been painting up, so far. The STLs for the Ferisia line are from Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni. They've created a number of other, very interesting lines, and I highly recommend folks to check them out. 

    Side and rear of the merchant house, with a good look at the wooden tile roof

As much as I like the 3-4 story Duncan and Catrin Houses, I assume that most medieval cities would have a limited number of buildings that tall. The bulk of the homes would more likely be one or two stories tall. Because of that, I'd picked this building up from Rich Brown of RRB at Cincycon, and fast-tracked it to be the first one that I painted up. Of course, I bought another tall one at the same time, simply called the "Merchant's House," that is four stories tall (interestingly, the roof being part of the 4th story). Considering that I just came back from Little Wars 2026 yesterday, where I bought three more buildings from him, I have a feeling this is going to be a routine for this year. See Rich, buy buildings! Ha, ha!!

    My favorite part of this building is the roofed patio and its counter where the merchant sells products

Anyway, back to the Merchant Store B! I painted this one up using the same system as the others, with a black spray prime followed by a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint. Once dry, I completed the stone sections first. I gave them a dark gray wet brush over the black, then a light gray dry brush. Next, I painted the wooden sections dark brown, followed by two highlights -- a medium Camo Brown from Howard Hues and a Khaki dry brush. Next, I painted up the metal components on the two doors and pillars holding up the open air, covered patio. I base coated them in Iron Wind Metals Steel first, followed by Bronze. I wet brushed the window panes and frames in Iron Wind Dun yellow.

    A look at the interior of Merchant Store B and its patterned wooden floor & fireplace

The results on the building looked good, but I thought it needed more. I decided to do a checkered pattern on the stone tile covered patio. I used a very light dry brush, alternating the colors of the square sections in Dun yellow and a light Wedgewood blue. I liked how that looked, so added those colors to the raised arc of stones surrounding the front door to the house and the side door from the patio to the home. Finally, I echoed those colors again on the rooftop's conical decorations. I had gone back and forth on whether to portray those finals as metallic or simply painted wood. In the end I went with painted wood in pastel blue and yellow.

    Front doorway with its 2 torches,  blue & yellow stone archway, & decorated wooden door

There are also two torches flanking the front entrance. Originally, I was worried they might be fragile, considering they are 3-D printed. However, I never brushed them accidentally during painting, so I think they'll be fine. The torches were completed with a wooden handle, metal rim, and very bright yellow and orange. I admit I am a bit worried about the conical decorations on the roof's spine. I snapped a couple off in transporting the building home from Cincycon, but luckily Rich had the foresight to include extras. This is a similar to a problem with the finials on the railings of the Catrine House. You really have to be careful where you put your hands on the model to pick it up. No "claw" grips! Watch where you clasp your fingers around it to pick it up! Otherwise, these 3-D printed buildings are sturdy and solid state. I have no worries about breaking off any other sections. As you can tell from how many I have bought, I really like this line of buildings and Rich does a great job on printing them.

    I wasn't sure how to paint the wooden tile (or 'Shake') roof -- decided to go with a new wood tone

The roof of Merchant Store B obviously looked to me like it had wooden tiles -- not terra cotta ones. I was tempted to paint it with the same red brown base coat and orange flesh dry brush anyway, but decided not to, instead.  I did a handful of Google searches on wooden or "shake" tile roofs. Based on those, I decided to do a different tone of brown. I wet brushed the tiles with a medium leather craft color called Raw Sienna. Next, I did a dry brush of craft paint of a darker Khaki color. I liked the different tone it gave from the wooden beams and patio pillars. In fact, I liked it so much that I chose not to do a black wash over it for fear it would "gray out" the colors too much. Same with the gray stone sections of the store. I did the black wash only on the wooden beam/pillars, the metal, and the Dun yellow windows. I really like how it came out!

    I did a blue and yellow patterned tile flooring to the patio, which comes off of the side of the house

So, what's next on my painting desk? I'm hurrying to get things together for my scenario that I will be running at Drums at the Rapids, May 15-16. I'll be using my medieval town terrain for it, and I want to get as many structures completed as possible. So, in that light, I'm painting up two of the smaller ones that I bought this past weekend from him at Little Wars (see them in an upcoming post on the convention). To go with that, I'm also working on a batch of eight figures that can pass for medieval townsfolk. You know how it goes -- if I am not rushing to get something completed it time for a game I'm running at a convention, things just aren't right! So, considering the upcoming deadline, hopefully you will see more updates soon!

    A final look at the newest addition to my medieval town, which will be used this weekend in a game!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 91

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 23

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

Warhost Elves Armed With Long Sword

    My latest batch of 28mm metal Warhost Elves, 2-handed swordsmen, for my Dragon Rampant army

Before I posted the Four (Five) Delvers and Surviving 'Nam battle reports the other day, it had been nearly two weeks since I updated the blog. Blame it on my amazing trip to North Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia with a new name). It was gorgeous -- lots of incredible scenery and awesome historical sights. To read more about the trip and see photos, check out my Worldwidemike blog on Travellerspoint here: https://world-wide-mike.travellerspoint.com/

    I really like these 2-handed sword poses - they look ready to slice and dice some bad guys!

This batch of elves armed with two-handed swords was about half done when I left for North Macedonia, and I've finally got them all finished up. I purchased these 28mm Warhost metal miniatures because I plan to field them for Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition. They have a unit type called "Light Foot" that can purchase an option called "Mixed Weapons." This allows them to shoot, so I plan on putting them on the tabletop in units that have roughly half the figures armed with bows and the rest spears or these swordsmen. These will definitely provide some variety in the look of each unit.

    I like the effect of a variety of shades of green for the tunics & vests -- definite wood elf vibe

As you can see, all of them carry very long, two-handed swords and no shields. Otherwise, they have similar equipment and clothes as the Warhost archers and spearmen that I've painted up already. With theses done, I have 26 figures left in the purchase I made earlier this year -- 8 more archers, 12 more spearmen, and 6 cavalry. I still need to find some 28mm Elven mages in case I want to add them into my units, as well. Dragon Rampant lets you add a spellcaster to a unit for one army point per "level" of the wizard. I want to have that option open when making my army list. Unfortunately, I wasn't crazy about Warhost's Elven Wizard figures, so I am hoping to find some generic fantasy Elven mages to buy at some convention I attend in the upcoming months. 

    What do you think? Is the blue-green guy on the left fancy enough to be my army commander?

I painted these up pretty much as I have been doing for the archers and spearmen. Their long-sleeved undertunics are done in lighter shades of green while their longer out vests are in darker shades. The one with the dark blue-green vest I painted up ostensibly as the army commander. I decorated his outer vest a bit more than the others, and also used a color that was more blue than green to have him stand out more. If I find a figure later that I like better as an Elven lord, I may demote him to just a slightly better-dressed swordsman. I like how the lighter colored designs look on his vest. The swordsmen seem to have fewer deep pleats on their vests than either the Warhost archers or spear, so that made the designs a bit easier to do. The flowery designs do make him look a bit like a hippy, but then again, aren't Tolkien's Elves essentially that? Ha, ha!

    I like the more understated and less contrast-heavy hem decorations -- I'm shooting for subtle

I'm getting excited about finishing up this army. Essentially, I have 3-4 more batches of miniatures to do. It depends on whether I paint the 12 spearmen as two batches of six or one big one of a dozen. I prefer to work in smaller batches as it seems to me that I am making progress quicker. I guess every miniature painter has their sweet spot on how big of batches to paint in. Mine is between six and eight 28mm figures. I do have a plan to add a unit of flying "Lesser Beasts" to my Elven army. I would model them with hawks, eagles, owls, and such. Currently, I don't own the required six miniatures the unit would require. I think I have one...ha, ha! I may see if Hobby Lobby has some appropriately sized pre-painted plastic figures I could use. Or perhaps I'll pick up the birds of prey as I see them in stores or at conventions.

    Final look at my latest Warhost Elves -- only 26 more to go from the batch I bought awhile back!

So, what else is on my painting desk? I have another of the medieval, 3-D printed buildings I picked up from Rich Brown at RRB Minis & More underway. It is a smaller, one story building rather than the 3-4 story monstrosities I've painted up already. After that, I need a batch of "old" miniatures. I have an idea what I might dig out of my unpainted lead pile. I'm going to be running a medieval town skirmish at Drums at the Rapids gaming convention in May 15-16. It will be a two-sided civil disorder going on, with one faction supporting the local priest and the other side supporting the powerful nobles on the town council. So, I may paint up some 28mm peasants or unarmored soldiers up so that I can give each of the six player factions a coherent "look" on the tabletop. After that, I'll probably try to get another building done big medieval building before the convention. I guess I enjoy deadline pressure...accelerating a project I was envisioning for later in 2026!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 91

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 

Fortunate Outcome to Vietnam 'Search & Destroy' Mission

    V.C. machine gun in a bunker opens up on the U.S. soldiers in my 'Surviving 'Nam' game at DayCon

I had one more playtest at a convention for my Surviving 'Nam rules before going "all in" on laying out the rule book to get it published. I ran my "Search & Destroy" scenario for four gamers that I consider friends in the Saturday morning slot at DayCon 2016. One of them even admitted he never signs up for 9am games, but made an exception (and the trip from Cincinnati) just to play in my game. Thanks, Ed -- that is quite the compliment! In fact, I knew all four of my players and was happy to see they'd signed up.

    My 4 players at DayCon 2026 -- I consider all four friends & I was very excited to see them signed up

In this mission, the players start on one board edge and have to exit the opposite corner. During their progress across the board, they have to search at least five V.C. bodies and cannot leave the table until there are less than six enemy on table. Due to the last time I ran this game at Buckeye Game Fest in March, I increased the scenario modifier so that the V.C. couldn't spring their ambush until the players had at least three turns of "Countdown to Contact" movement across the table. Wouldn't you know it? Just like my players at BGF, they rolled a "6" on the first turn that the V.C. could possibly arrive! 

    2 of the fire teams arrive on board, moving cautiously along a path between jungle & elephant grass

The random placement of four V.C. squads did a fairly good job of surrounding the four American fire teams on the table. It was kind of fun to see the players' faces when the last enemy squad was deployed. They knew they were in for a fight. Every dice roll became important and the tension rose almost immediately. The four players had a good battle plan in place, though, and they had troops in just the right spots to immediately put fire on the ambushing V.C. Would they get a chance to do that, though? It all depended on their activation rolls. Each failure by a player to activate one of his soldiers meant that I flipped a card, which typically activates the enemy or brings more on table.

  U.S. soldiers progress across the board, taking advantage of their 'Countdown to Contact' moves

The players admitted at the end that they had been very fortunate with the cards drawn from the Event Deck. Almost immediately, a Fire Mission card came up, which meant the radioman had established contact with battalion artillery. This also prompts a reshuffle, which means both Fire Mission cards are somewhere in the deck, ready to be drawn. In this case, one of the next cards was "Colonel on the Horn." This one is a complete wildcard, with the colonel possibly changing or scrubbing the mission, demanding a detailed Situation Report (causing the C.O. and Radioman to lose their turn), or -- in this case -- actually doing something good. The colonel demanded "body count," which meant that card counted as a Fire Mission card. That was the best possible outcome for the players (and the worst for the V.C.). Sure enough, BOOM! The player controlling the lieutenant called in an artillery strike on an unfortunate squad of V.C. who'd just showed up in an open corner of the board.

    On the 1st chance of the ambush arriving, it happened! A squad of V.C. arrive in a patch of bamboo 

Having seen a number of games played (and having done my own solo play tests), I also think the players were fortunate in their timing of cards drawn. The most deadly cards in the game, the two copies of "All Hell Breaking Loose!" didn't come up until the end of the game when there were few V.C. left on board. One time, there was only one enemy was on the table! The player's inevitable die rolls failures came, of course, but were streaky. When one player was suffering a case of double failures to activate (two Event cards drawn), the next players would roll particularly well and bring fire upon the V.C. who had just popped up.

    Another squad enters the board behind the players, stalking through the elephant grass

There was a hairy moment when a V.C. light machine gunner showed up in the player's rear and began firing on the C.O.'s team. One soldier went "Down" and three others were pinned, including the M60 gunner. Next, a sniper popped up and fired at the lieutenant from the cover of the nearby elephant grass. Things were looking ugly for that player. However, he weathered that storm, had the lieutenant use his free action to unpin the M60 gunner, who on his turn, suppressed the enemy machine gun team. He also rolled well all three times the sniper activated to shoot at his C.O. figure. Needing a 7+ on 1d20, he was successful every time. Whew! 

    Most dangerously, a squad showed up opposite side from 2 U.S. soldiers in some temple ruins

As the players continued to pass the majority of their activation rolls, they began to wear down the enemy squads. Their M79 gunners were particularly key to their success, as more and more black-clad infantrymen went down after bloop gun grenades landed on target. The V.C. were not so lucky with their "Incoming!" mortar fire cards. Twice, the rounds deviated to j-u-s-t the right spot, despite it looking like any shift in location would have to hit a soldier! 

    And just like that, fortune went the soldiers' way with a lucky, early arrival of a Fire Mission!

Another thing that helped the players was they had gotten far enough on board to seize solid cover. So, when the enemy fired on them, they were in good positions. Not so lucky were the V.C., who often showed up in much lighter cover. The players were able to use that to their advantage to line up higher percentage shots on the enemy, while suffering low percentage return fire. All in all, things seemed to be going their way. The one enemy soldier who'd been downed by the V.C. machine gun turned out to be only lightly wounded. He was soon back in the fight.

    John L, who had volunteered to be the 'Point' fire team, prepares to move his soldiers up

I remarked a few times during the game that it looked like they were going to be very lucky and never have the "Bunker!" event card drawn. It wasn't till late in the game that it finally showed up. Too little, too late! What's more, an excellent roll by an M79 gunner (15+ on 1d20, if I remember correctly) popped an explosive round through one of the firing ports. The bunker was quickly neutralized without causing any U.S. casualties.

    V.C. sniper in the grass would fire 3 times at the lieutenant, & against the odds, missing him!

All in all, as lucky as I was in having four great guys show up to play my game, the players themselves were lucky in their Event Card draws. They also seemed to roll above average most of the time -- especially with their shooting dice. Once the enemy fire slackened, they were able to leapfrog their advance forward and search the required enemy bodies. As the last V.C. were removed from the table by accurate U.S. fire, I went ahead and called the game in their favor. I decided to spare them "going through the motions" and having to exit the table at the required board corner. It had been a fun game for them, so far. I figured why end it with some anticlimactic drudgery? Ha, ha! They had proved that Lady Luck was on their side for this Search & Destroy mission. The V.C. had been given a bloody nose, and would likely withdraw to lick their wounds, in this situation.

    The player's success wasn't all luck -- they did a great job keeping their men in good cover all game

The next scheduled convention play tests are at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, June 17-21. I will be running Surviving 'Nam Wednesday evening, as well as twice Thursday and Saturday. If you would like to try out the rules, sign up to play! Event registration supposedly begins in less than a week on Tabletop Events. Who knows? Maybe I'll have excellent news then and tell you that the rules have been submitted to the publisher and copies will be available soon! Until then, I will likely do 2-3 more final, solo play tests to double-check a couple of the dozen scenarios that will be included in the rules. So, stay tuned here for more Surviving 'Nam soon...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 173
  
• 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 

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