Search & Destroy Mission with Surviving 'Nam at Buckeye Game Fest

    The squads' point men advance through the elephant grass in another game of "Surviving 'Nam"

I decided to take a risk and play test one of my scenarios for Surviving 'Nam at a local gaming convention this past weekend. Typically, I will have play tested it solo before springing it on players. However, I think most game masters (especially those who wrote the rules) get a good feel for play balance once they've run a number of games and created a good handful of scenarios. As this would be Mission #8 that I'd designed, I decided to take the risk.

    The heavily wooded board where the squad would conduct their 'Search & Destroy' mission

In this mission, the players began at one corner of the board and are attempting to cross to the opposite corner. They are on a Search & Destroy mission with the goal of killing as many Viet Cong as possible. Additionally, they must search five bodies for intelligence. They can't exit from the board until there are six or less enemy figures on table. The battalion commander wants "body count" and it is up to the players and their reinforced squad to provide it for him.

    Three U.S. fire teams advance onto the board, probing for contact with enemy Viet Cong

I had three players for the game, so each controlled a five-person fire team led by a veteran sergeant. They were also given platoon headquarters elements of an M60 gunner and his assistant, the platoon commanding officer and his radioman, and a medic. They split these five figures up among their teams. The scenario calls for the U.S. soldiers to march onto the board. One fire team begins on the board in the corner. Another marches on during the first Countdown to Contact phase, and the final one on the second. During Countdown to Contact, there are no enemy figures on the board. Each figure receives one action, which is typically used to move. My players also took the opportunity to begin to fan out, with the second team heading right to cover one of the squad's flanks, while the other began to move towards a patch of bamboo that would be on their left.

    My players march their forces onto the board, uncertain of when contact with the V.C. will occur

After turn 2 of Countdown to Contact, one of the players rolls 1d6. If they roll a "6", the V.C. spring their ambush and appear on the board. If not, they get another turn of movement and the V.C. will show up on a 5-6, or 4-6 on the next turn, and so on. Do you want to guess what the designated player rolled? Yep! A "6" on the very first turn possible. We then randomly rolled placement for the ambushing V.C., with two large squads of riflemen appearing in patches of jungle just within line of sight of the squad's advance scouts. Another very small squad and a number of individual V.C. riflemen also popped up on board. Once all the figures were on the board, it was time for the shooting to start!

    Contact is made very early in the maneuver phase of the game - a large squad of V.C. pop up

Like the fire team moving into the jungle to guard their right, the team on point decided to move their lead soldiers into cover. However, they chose the lightest cover on the table, a patch of elephant grass along their proposed line of march. They chose not to veer into any of the medium or heavy vegetation nearby. What's more, the player had also put the FNG on point, accompanied by the assistant machine gunner (also an FNG). For those who don't know, the "N" and "G" stand for "New Guy." I'll leave you to guess what the "F" stands for in the terminology of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam! There are three levels of troops under my rules, Veterans, Grunts, and FNGs.

   The early springing of the ambush kept many of the U.S. soldiers bottled up in their entry area

These two unfortunate newbie soldiers were targeted by numerous V.C., who typically fire at the closest soldier. It took a number of shots, but eventually both FNGs were "Down." In my rules, once a friendly soldier is hit and "Down," it can't take any actions until another comes and checks on it. This reinformces historical behavior of troops in Vietnam. They would check on their buddies when hit. Once the friendly figure moves into contact and spends an action, a roll is made on a chart to see how badly hit they were. There are about a half dozen results, ranging from "Messed Up" (out of action) to the soldier having been knocked down by the force of the bullet, but unharmed. Perhaps his equipment absorbed the blow. "Hey buddy, you're okay -- it hit your canteen! That's not blood all over your leg...it's water!"

I warned them to spread out because they were vulnerable -- V.C. mortar fire barely misses

So, it became paramount for the squad to rescue those two Down soldiers. Unfortunately, V.C. were popping up all around the squad. A light machine gun team opened up on them from the heavy cover of a tumbled down, ruined stone temple. Anyone who ventured into the elephant grass to check on those two privates would be prime targets for the deadliest V.C. weapon in the game. Initially, the players were bottle necked into their deployment corner, too. I suggested a few times they needed to spread out and move forward. There were enemy mortar round cards in the event deck! As if to punctuate my advice, one of the next players failed an activation roll, resulting in the draw of an event card. Sure enough, it was "Incoming!" The players got very lucky, as it landed in a perfect spot where no U.S. soldiers were. The blast radius was almost completely surrounded by Americans, though!

    More V.C. arrive & advance to firing positions where they can easily target the Americans

Bit by bit, the U.S. soldiers moved up. Just as a couple soldiers ventured into the elephant grass to help the Downed guys, though, they rolled and sprang the "Bunker!" card. This brought another enemy machine gun into play in a reinforced log bunker. All of those in the elephant grass not already Down were immediately Pinned by its fire. Luckily for the players, the bunker was not on the far edge of the board, like the one in the temple. Instead, it was close by in another patch of elephant grass in range on their left flank. They all breathed a sigh of relief when an M79 gunner placed a perfect shot through the firing slot of the bunker and killed or wounded all of the occupants. Whew!

    C.O. advances boldly on the right to get within line of sight of the enemy LMG pinning them down

The lieutenant in charge was a bit of a fire eater. He chose not to relay to his sergeants that, after reporting contact with the enemy on the radio, the colonel had called back to say he should withdraw his soldiers. The lieutenant chose to inflict some damage on the enemy first before withdrawing. The "Colonel on the Horn" card can cause up to half a dozen different outcomes, and fortunately for them, they had rolled "Mission Scrubbed." What's more, the lieutenant began moving up on the right with his radioman in front of all of his soldiers. He wanted to get where he could draw line of sight on the temple. Once there, the player then had to wait for one of the two "Fire Mission" cards in the deck to show up, though. The two cards weren't cooperating, though! Fire was directed at the him and his radioman. They were Pinned, too. Another of his squad showed up to put fire on the enemy LMG team, but it was ineffective. So far, the enemy were simply in too good of cover. 

    Spotting a squad of V.C., the C.O. calls down a fire mission on the black clad guerrillas

"Where the Hell is the M60?" the lieutenant shouted back. Unknown to the C.O., the player controlling the M60 rolled a natural one on his first 1d20 roll to shoot. His gun fired a few rounds and promptly jammed. He looked for his assistant to help him clear it, but the newbie was currently pinned down in the elephant grass way ahead. It wasn't till late in the game that the squad's heavy weapon finally cleared the jam and got off a few shots. By then, battalion artillery had FINALLY answered the radio. Heavy mortar rounds screamed down into the temple complex. Rock and brick shattered and deadly fragments flew everywhere. When the rounds ceased and the dust cleared, there was no sign of the LMG team. "Outstanding!" He turned and shouted to his sergeants. "Grab the wounded and let's get the Hell out of here. Battalion is pulling us back!"

    An enemy bunker opens up on the squad from their left, concealed in the elephant grass

The squad medic was the first to make it to one of the wounded troopers. He patched him up, and sent the soldier limping to the rear. The assistant gunner -- way out of place on the battlefield -- reached the injured point man. He began bandaging him, too. Another grunt arrived to help him, and together they helped the man struggle back out of the elephant grass. The sergeants directed their more experienced soldiers to toss a few smoke grenades to cover their exit, and the wedge of troops contracted backwards on itself and exfiltrated the battlefield. 

    Luckily, the battalion colonel scrubbed the mission and the squad didn't have to fight its way through

At the loss of only two wounded, the lieutenant considered it a successful action. He directed his sergeants to tabulate an estimated body count, and mentally began composing his after action report. He checked on the wounded -- the medic assured him both would make it, but they needed Medevac soon. He got back on the horn and reported the successful contact to battalion, and called for the bird to come pick up the two wounded privates. Meanwhile, his soldiers were thankful that another mission In Country had been completed and they were another day closer to that big metal bird ride home!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 60

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

Gang Rumbles on the 'Mean Streets' of Buckeye Game Fest 2026

    The Mohawks spot the Santanas crossing the street towards the park -- are they looking to rumble?

It had been way too long since we broke out my Mean Streets gang warfare rules and set up some rumbles at an area convention. Jenny volunteered to run a couple games of it at Buckeye Game Fest 2026, primarily a board gaming convention, that HMGS Great Lakes has demoed minis at the last couple years. We had a table full of four players on both Friday and Saturday evening eager to prove their street gang was the toughest. All the players said they had a lot of fun as fists flew, chains were swung, knives and broken bottles slashed, and various crimes were committed!

    Jenny gives a quick rules briefing to the Saturday morning players at Buckeye Game Fest 2026

Each player controlled a gang of five uniquely-garbed street fighters, containing a Gang Boss, Warchief, and three ordinary "Punks." The Mean Streets rules are quick, simple, and easy-to-teach. All the players picked them up quickly and were soon dashing about the table representing downtown Columbus on various missions of larceny, revenge, and mayhem. Each player's gang has a unique mission they can try to accomplish, such as stealing a car from the service garage of the Shell Station, roughing up a factory owner to convince him to pay you protection. money, and so on. They also owe payback to a specific one of the three other gangs on the tabletop who gave them a "beat down" last weekend. And finally, they want to plaster the buildings with their gang logo, getting points for "tagging" each structure.

    The clown-masked Franklinton Flippos set out onto the streets of Columbus looking for mayhem

I like to give players a number of options on what to do, and players consistently take different approaches. Some like dart about the board tagging as many buildings as possible. Some like to split their gang and send part to complete their evening's mission, while others like to keep all five together and simply "jump" other gangs and duke it out. When assigning the missions to the various gangs, I ensure that they have to cross paths with the other gangs, providing a temptation to them to get in fights. My evil plan almost always works and before long there is usually a big scrum as two rival gangs are going at it when suddenly a third (or even fourth) joins in. 

    The Linden Daos make their way past the market & Wallace's Brew Pub, 'tagging' buildings along

This weekend was no different. Everyone who played got into rumbles, some losing only one or two members, while others lost most of their gang. The Hispanic Santanas eked out a narrow victory by one point on Friday night, while the Linden Daos, a black martial arts gang, claimed victory on Saturday. It was fun to see the different approaches the players controlling each gang took on Friday and Saturday. Friday evening saw two gangs battling it out at the top of a stairway inside a stairway of one of the apartment buildings -- first time that has ever happened! Jenny decided to keep things simply and not allow carjacking and attempted vehicular homicide in this particular running of Mean Streets...haha! At least one of the players always ask, though, if their gang can steal a car and use it to run over their rivals!

    Boss of the Indianola Mohawks, Sid, leads Julius & Kira through the Shell Station, ready for trouble

Everyone who stopped by commented on the table setup, enjoying the urban panorama of streets lined with diners, convenience marts, a city park, motel, and more. I made sure to make it come to life with various scatter, including dumpsters, street lights, fire hydrants, gas pumps, and lots of terrified civilians. It was fun to get all the various urban terrain I'd created out onto the table, from the heavily modified MDF kiosks to the buildings named after my friends, including Swingle's Shawarma and Wallace's Brewpub!

    Daring ICE or any gang to stop them, the Santanas walk down the main street, ready for a fight

I'll have to make sure Mean Streets makes it onto the tabletop more often. Thank you, Jenny, for taking the time to run the game at Buckeye Game Fest. Interestingly, when I recently asked on a thread on Lead Adventure Forum for suggestions of a good, free-for-all skirmish system that can take up to six players, I was gratified to see someone respond with "Mean Streets." That comment made me think about a way to use the mechanics of the game, with its simple command & control and combat, in other periods. This actually lead to the game our Sunday Evening group will be playing tonight! So, expect another Mean Streets-"ish" report later this week!

    Friday's players move their gangs forward, each with their own unique mission or mayhem in mind

In the meantime, I have finished the ABC Robot Warriors (post very soon on that), and have begun my next batch of 28mm Elves for Dragon Rampant. I'm also working on one of my 3-D printed medieval buildings, too. So, I have a feeling the second half of March is going to have LOTS of posts here on Lead Legionaries. So, stay tuned, as always...!

    The Mohawks shout across the street to the Flippos, who quietly continue their creepy clown advance

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 60

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

    As the Mohawks & Flippos are trading blows, the Santanas approach and get ready to join the fight

 

    Blood is spilled (my wound markers) as a 3-way rumble breaks out in the middle of the street

Flippo Canuck swings his sledgehammer & down goes Julius! For just a 'Punk,' Canuck did very well

 

    Despite 2 wounds on him, Canuck takes down Manana, taunting him, "Wake up tomorrow, hippie!"

    Bleeding from his wounds, Gang Boss Julio of the Santanas desperately faces off against 4 Daos

   Linden Daos show discipline with the whole gang sticking together...the Flippos ain't scared, though!

    'Hey! That's my shawarma...hands off, punk!' A rumble breaks out between the Mohawks & Daos

 

    Pissed they tagged a building in 'their turf,' the Santanas wade into the clown-masked Flippos

First Batch of Elven Spearmen from Warhost

    My 1st batch of 28mm Elven spear from Warhost -- I love the Tolkien vibe of these figures!

I really enjoyed painting the first batch of archers for this project, so I was looking forward to seeing how I fared on the spear. I chose two of the five spear packs (eight figures) I'd purchased from Badger Games and opened them up. I was happy to see the brass wire spears included, but a bit surprised by the long, elaborate, 3-D printed points to glue onto the tips. This was an extra step that I wasn't crazy about because it was one that I could easily screw up! I think I did manage to super glue them on relatively straight, so the first potential crisis averted!

    These 8 spearmen come from two Warhost packs -- 2 base poses (stabbing & receiving with spears)

Next up, I cleaned off the flash and attached the shields and spears. I'm glad to see that Warhost models the right hands as a closed fist. It is a simple matter to use a pin vice to drill a hole into fist and then to use two-part epoxy to glue them into place. There were four poses holding their spear upright and four stabbing downwards with them. As I examined them closer, they seemed to be sculpted in pairs of very similar figures. So, the four stabbing downward had two basic poses wearing the same type of armor, whether scale, banded, or whatever. I liked how they may have a similar look, but still contain slight differences in helmets, vest length, or whatever. However, I would say overall they are less individualized than the archers, but a long way from a 1970s or 1980s mono-pose regiment of figures. Of course, I would also paint their clothes in varying tones of green. So, that would help individualize them even more.

    Among those stabbing & receiving poses, there was a big variety of armor, vest length, etc.

After priming, I painted the various parts in the same order that I did with the archers. Flesh was first, then armor, inner tunic, outer vest, and so on. Speaking of the armor, that was probably the hardest thing to figure out on a couple the poses. What was armor and what was tunic? I actually guessed wrong at first and had to go back and redo armor on four of the figures. There were also some unique types of armor amongst the spearmen -- one pair of poses wearing a vertically banded armor. It looked almost like lamellar armor that some steppe horseman wore historically. I painted all of the armor types in gold on top of a gunmetal base coat, though. In later batches, I may paint some as dyed eather or linen for a change of pace. We'll see! For now, I'm sticking with the Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings, elves-in-golden-armor look.

    I have almost 2 dozen greens among my paint bottles & employed a variety of shades on this batch

For the inner tunics and outer vests, I followed a similar approach as I did with the archers. However, I was more organized. With a Sharpie, I put a number 1-8 on each base. On a notepad, I wrote down what colors I would use for each article of clothing ahead of time. This allowed me to think more about which shade of green I would use for the lighter inner tunic and which darker shade I would use for the vest. For the decorative lining on the vests, I also tried to use color combinations that were a little more subtle and less high contrast. I was worried that the contrasting colors I chose for some of the archers may have looked too busy. I examined the first batch closer, noting which patterns and color combinations I liked. Hopefully, the spearmen's vest decorations turned out a tad more subdued. I imagine this will be something I get better on as I progress through this army.

    I tried to make the decoration on the vest hemlines more subdued this time - I like how they look!

Writing my proposed colors for each figure also helped me keep track of where the armor was on some figures because it wasn't always easy to tell. For example, I was fairly certain that five of the figures were wearing leg greaves, while the remainder looked like they were wearing trousers. Or were they? After I was done, I thought maybe the trousers could just have been greaves whose top was simply covered up by a longer vest. D'oh!! I did not go back and repaint them as greaves, though. I also noted for each numbered figure which had armor popping out tunics onto their shoulders, for example. It kept me on track more and reduced instances of going back and redoing parts! 

    Wood elven spear assemble near an ancient pavilion deep in the woods, ready for battle!

For the equipment and trousers, I'm sticking with the brown tonal range I used for the archers. When I think wood elves, I typically think green and brown. Shoes I painted in various leathers, browns or grays to fit with what I feel is a sylvan look, as well. My long-time friend Jason asked if I would recreate the shields of my old 25mm Ral Partha Elven army with my Dragon Rampant army. Way back in our brief Warhammer Fantasy days, I had a very cool army of wood elves using the gorgeous, but venerable, wood elves from Ral Partha. Based out of Cincinnati (an hour and a half away), it was the miniature company I grew up on. In that army, each of my mono-pose regiments of elven spearmen had a matching type of leaf design as their shield blazon. For example, the regiment painted in red-brown regiment had a maple leaf. However, with the Warhost figures, there are a variety of shield faces. Three had a number of raised, circular designs or bosses on them. The other five just had a single, central, decorative boss. I felt it would be too hard to use the exact same blazon on the two different shield types. So, I made the decision to make each shield different. I did some Google Image searches of leaves and their colors, and saved my favorites. 

    Shield closeup for you, Jason! Homage to my 25mm Ral Partha wood elf army, sold long, long ago...

I am planning on fielding most of my elven infantry in units of 12 Light Foot armed as "Mixed weapons" in Dragon Rampant. This means they are equipped with both melee and ranged weapons. I plan to mix a relatively equal number of archers with spear or sword-armor elves in the units. Next up, was the elves' long, flowing, rock star hair. I liked how the four different shades of blond I used on the archers turned out. So, I duplicated it here. I also liked the very dark blue for the center dot in their eyes. Previously, I would often use lighter shades of blue or even gray on some miniatures. However, I've come to the opinion that these eye colors often seemed to get lost on the face. Tthe figure would end up with an almost glazed look. So, lately I've been using a very dark brown for the eyes of most of my figs. These are elves, though, so I went with dark blue. I like how it looks. 

To be honest, though, I would say that my batting percentage on painting a perfectly good eye is about 50-75% for each batch of figures. I like how half or more come out, but am not crazy about a certain percentage of each it seems. I know there are many good miniature painters -- more skilled than me -- who eschew painting eyes. However, I found early on, when painting a 15mm army of Ancient Picts with tattoos and individual tartan or checkered patterns, that doing precise details like that but leaving the eye sockets blank looked...well, weird. Almost like they were creatures who had no eyes at all. I know some folks go by the "six foot rule." Unfortunately, though, people pick those figures up and hold them up more closely than six feet to examine! Plus, with my close up photos of each batch of figures, I am zooming in WAY closer than six feet! So, the "eyes" have it!!

    Final look at these excellent Hobday & Hicks sculpts -- I am very happy with how they turned out

 To touch on something I mentioned in this post early on, I am a bit concerned about the 3-D printed elaborate spear heads. Being spear points jabbing at an imaginary enemy means they naturally stick out. Will they 3-D printed points snag on things, or be dropped and snap? I guess we will see once the elves start making an appearance on the tabletop. I hope that they don't break, because I'm worried that replacing the spear points will be a pain in the butt! If that happens, I will likely trim off the entire point and repaint a new, simpler one directly onto the wire spear itself. I was actually tempted to do that anyway when I began assembling this batch. I decided to bow to the wisdom of the figure sculptors, though, and give the points a try! So, cross your fingers and stay tuned on how that turns out! Speaking of Hobday & Hicks, I was very flattered and grateful for their praise of the first batch of archers both on this blog and Facebook. Thanks, guys -- I truly appreciate it!

What else is on my painting desk at the moment? Well, prior to leaving for Cincycon last week, I got out five of my seven ABC Robot Warriors that I'd won in a raffle a couple years ago. They were soft plastic figures that were a royal pain in the butt to glue together. Superglue didn't really work, modeling cement didn't, and neither did two-part epoxy. I swear that some of the folks designing miniatures are frustrated military modelers of days gone by! Anyway, I figured some could be used as big alien monsters for my Majestic 13 games. Once I got them all glued up and had a close look at them, I was wishing I'd picked a different batch of figures to paint...haha! Esepcially after I bought all of those more appropriately big alien monsters at Cincycon! That would be cheating, though, on my 2026 vow to alternate older figures with this year's purchases. So, I've been soldiering on and working on these not-as-simple-as ABC figures simultaneously with the elves. Stay tuned to see how they turned out -- I will likely finish them next week.

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 60

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

What If There was a 2nd Edgehill in the English Civil War?

    Battle is joined between Royalists & Parliamentarians in a hypothetical English Civil War fight

My friend Mike S and his son Jason are really getting into the English Civil War in 28mm, lately. They've been shuttling boxes and boxes of troops to the prolific Ted Bender to be painted, then Mike (being retired), bases and flocks them for his son. Last year, Jason ran ECW games at both Origins Game Fair 2025 and Advance the Colors 2025. Folks who played in them seemed to enjoy it very much. We had play tested his Battle of the Severn scenario last year, but Jason wanted to run an even bigger game for us on Sunday evening.

    I expanded the table to 12' width and threw down my 2 six-foot fleece mats for Battle of Edgehill II 

I expanded my gaming table to its full 12' width and Jason set up four commands per side. The battle was a hypothetical one, postulating the two sides actually meeting for battle rather than maneuvering and then one force dissolving. We would fight it near the well-known Battle of Edgehill (it is well known because I have actually heard of it, not being a ECW buff...ha, ha!). So, it was the 2nd Battle of Edgehill in Jason's alternative and more interesting take on history.

    My command of five units of 'Trotters' -- units of horse that primarily fire their pistol when fighting

I was given the far left cavalry wing of the Parliamentarian army (which historically dissolved without striking a blow against the reborn Royalists). I had five units of six figures -- all of a type of horse known as Trotters. Our way of fighting would be to shoot our pistols at the bigger, meaner, and nastier five units of Gallopers deployed across from us. Mike S commanded them, and his tactic would be to charge in and force the engagement at sword point, which his troops were significantly better at than mine. We were using "Pikemen's Lament" -- the English Civil War rules set in the "Rampant" system by Daniel Mersey. 

    Closeup of Jason's English Civil War figures -- one of my Trotters looking foolishly confident!

To say that we enjoy his series of rules would probably be an understatement -- as any regular reader of Lead Legionaries could tell. This is the fourth of his series we've played in in February and March alone. We've done Dragon Rampant fantasy several times this year, played an American War of Independence game with Rebels and Patriots, used the Sci-Fi Xenos Rampant rules for a Vietnam convoy ambush, and now sicked mean old Gallopers on poor hapless Trotters in Pikemen's Lament. I told the guys that if we were real gluttons for punishment, we should try to sneak in another game of Medieval Lion Rampant and Colonial The Men Who Would be Kings! Not because the rules aren't good, but because each is slightly different and it is sometimes a challenge remembering what the tweaks are for the rules set you're playing. In fact, one player apologized in an email the day after the game for "cheating" and misplaying a rule. Turned out he had actually done it right -- he as confusing the game with Xenos!

    Our enemy on the left wing -- Mike's 5 Galloper units (2 of which cheated by wearing more armor!)

To my right, my Parliamentarian partner, Allen, would be trying to hold off the assault of Jenny's "forlorn hope" and more on his gun emplacement. Allen's mission was simpler than mine -- shoot the attackers down and maintain control of his fortifications. Jenny advanced fairly boldly across the field and the two were quickly exchanging shots. Each traded deadly blows. Keith led our center, and was marching across the field to drive Tom's Royalist scum from the field. Both commanded traditional pike and shot formations that were the bulk of the infantry in this war. Jason has each pike block of 12 figures flanked on either side by two shot units, also of a dozen figures. On the far right, Mike W -- recently returned from snowbirding in Portugal -- commanded a mixed infantry and cavalry force against Joel's force or mean, nasty Gallopers.

    To my right, the gun emplacement my fellow Parliamentarian Allen had sworn to hold against Jenny

As the battle opened, I quickly began to realize my five units were undermatched against Mike's five cavalry squadrons. You may have realized that already, though, with my emphasis on how big and nasty they were and how poor and hapless we were...ha, ha! So, I began to do what any flank commander would do when he feels he's overmatched. I began to swing my forces backwards to refuse our left flank. I was hoping Mike would fail some activation rolls and that his solid line of horse would become broken up and attack me piecemeal. Lately, Mike and I have been razzing each other about whose die rolling has been worse. In our DR! games, he has been the clear winner. However, tonight was his night to make up for the last several months of below average dice rolling! Mike did not fail an activation and kept closing with my troops in a solid line. No chance of ganging up, or shooting up an overextended squadron.

    Fearing tyranny of Royalists & the deadly 'maths' in their favor, my horse swing to refuse our flank

Jason insisted that the Caracole was my Trotter's advantage. Under this rule, we can move half of our distance and shoot at the enemy. Then, for the same activation, he said, we can charge in after the shot -- essentially striking twice (but in melee we'd roll only half our normal dice). I pointed out to him that his cavalry hit on a 4+ on each of their 12d6 they would roll in melee, while we hit on only 5+. Plus, two of his units were armored and would require 4 hits on to produce a casualty, while mine needed only 3 to lose a figure. Jason countered, "But you're rolling 18 dice to his 12." I kind of felt like I was in Spinal Tap and being told, "This one goes to 11...", but I decided to gamely spring our Caracole advantage on Mike.

    We deploy our advantage, the Caracole formation, the Royalist wall of horse seems unimpressed

One other disadvantage our Trotters had, we were slower than the Gallopers. So, to get within shooting range, we had to come within their charge range. I decided to give it a go and two units trotted forward, daintily deployed their pistols as they rode around in a fancy formation giving each man a chance to shoot. One unit scored a single hit while the other scored none. Hey, I was rolling Mike's normal dice! Jason tried to talk me into charging in, but I saw another special ability he had added to the rules for my Trotters. We could roll a 7+ when charged and shoot at an enemy charging us. No thank you, we simpered daintily, and formed back into ranks ready to receive our inevitable counterthrust. 

    Royalist Tom also seems unconcerned by the massive line of pike and shot Keith is hurling at him

Mike did not disappoint and both units within range passed its activation test and crashed into my Trotters. Jason's "Stand to Receive" tweak to the rules meant we got to roll 18 dice, well...kind of. Once again, we fired with a roll of 12 (or was it 6?), and then fought in melee with 6 (or was it 12?). Either way, we did NOT cause more casualties than the mean, nasty Gallopers, despite rolling 50% more dice. Things were shaping up like I thought they might, not helped by the fact Mike was rolling very well and I was rolling very bad. Several times over the first few turns, I rolled 12 dice and scored only a single "5" or "6", causing zero casualties. The Gallopers began to steadily wear down the Trotters.

    Ack! More Royalist Gallopers! These are Joel's command on the opposite side of the battle

Meanwhile, after an initial deadly blast of fire, Jenny was beginning to win the shooting exchange, despite the bonus Allen received from his emplacement. She was able to get her forlorn hope into charge range and swarmed across the gabions, destroying one of Allen's units. His left-most gun was flanked and charged by another of her units, and things were looking grim for Allen's ability to hold his fortifications. Further down the line, Keith was advancing steadily towards Tom, but sent a unit or two to attack Jenny's troops, as well. Tom cleverly did not fire on Keith until he came within 12", not wasting his +1 initial fire on a long-range shot. This shattered Keith's line and sent him reeling back. On the far right, though, Mike W seemed to be holding his own against Joel. He had some enclosed fields to use as cover and obstacles and his shooting seemed to be wearing down Joel's Gallopers.

    My Trotter's numbers are dwindling, but we gamely Caracole on, but it still isn't working...!

There was a point, late in the game, when I looked at my left wing and didn't feel so bad. Mike and I had three units left, two having fled the field. Was I really giving as well as I was receiving? It was smoke and mirrors, as all three of my units were half strength or under, while Mike had one full-strength armored unit of Gallopers. I felt I had one chance, though. I could Caracole his weakest unit with two of my smaller ones. If he failed his morale test, his command would fall below half and all units would have to take morale checks. It was not to be, though. I failed two of three activation rolls, and could do nothing but sit there and take it on his next turn. After Mike's counterstrike, my entire command was dead or fled the field. 

    The center pike & shot blocks controlled by Keith and Tom begin to close to perhaps decide the fray

Shortly after we finished, the other opponents began to add up how things were going. As it turned out, the Parliamentarians lost three of four sectors of the battlefield. Only Mike W had stymied Joel's attack and driven him back with greater losses. We had lost decisively. Long live the King, I guess...ha, ha! After the game, I pointed out to Jason how the odds were truly stacked against the Parliamentarian Trotters. He agreed, and has a tweak in mind for next time he runs it. As with all Mersey rules, it was a fun, quick game. We all picked up the Pikemen's Lament version of the rules quickly. Jason had designed a clever, asymmetrical scenario. It should be interesting to see how it plays out again.

    The end phase of the battle on the left wing with more Royalist cavalry (left) than Parliamentarians

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 52

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

Cincycon 2016 Purchases

    One of my Cincycon purchases, the Catrine House, from RRB Minis & More

Cincycon is usually my first convention of the year. Fortunately for me, it falls near my birthday, so I can rationalize some "birthday presents" to myself when I visit the various vendors at the show. I showed up with a number of things on my shopping list, which I duly typed into the Notes section of my iPhone. And then promptly forgot to check it...!

    These excellent 3-D printed buildings from RRB Minis & More are STLs from Dadi Dungeon

The biggest purchases in both size and money spent were the 3-D printed buildings I was picking up from Rich of RRB Minis & More. I ended up coming home with three new medieval town buildings -- two roughly 3-4 story ones and another that was 1-story. Rich's prints are always nice and his prices simply can't be beat. The first building was the Catrine House, which is the sister of the Duncan House that I painted up earlier this year. If anything, it is even more cool and elaborately designed. I also picked up a building titled simply "Merchant's House" by Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni. Like the Duncan House, it is from the Ferisia City line. If you check out that line and see something that you like, Rich has the STLs and can sell you any of the buildings from the line. Merchant's House is also a 3-4-story one with window galleries and other cool features.

    Rich talked me into buying this 'Merchant House' from the Ferisia line - a gorgeous model!

The final building of the three was called Merchant Store B. It is a simpler, one-story building but with a unique feature. It has an attached outdoor, roofed section with long counters for the family to sell their wares from the exterior of the home. I don't want every building in my medieval town to be 4-story medieval skyscrapers. This one still fits in well with the others, but is simpler. I actually ordered two more buildings from him, but through no fault of his own, he did not receive the STLs from the Kickstarter until the day he was leaving for Cincycon. I'll likely pick them up in April from him at either DayCon or Little Wars. I look forward to painting up all three of these buildings.

    Winged Insectoid alien & heavy weapons pack I'll use for Sci-Fi terrain from JS Wargamer Printing

The next "big thing" I was looking to pick up at Cincycon were big alien monsters for use with the Majestic 13 solo/coop rules from Snarling Badger Studios. One of these I found at JS Wargamer Printing that was in his line of movie monsters. It is a very large, insectoid creature (Megagirus) that will fit perfectly as an opponent for my Critter Control team. I also picked up a pack of some miscellaneous Sci-Fi heavy weapons which I will make turrets or other scenery with for my Star Wars games. The pack is meant as an add-on pack for his 3-D printed mechs or futuristic tanks, but the guns and such will work perfectly as installation defenses in my skirmish games. 

    3-D printed Jawas from Big Mr Tong that John at JS Wargamer Printing had waiting for me...

I had also pre-ordered a pack of Star Wars Jawas from him. They are STLs from Big Mr Tong and will be fun to paint up. They will also likely find their way into a scenario for our skirmishes using Space Weirdos rules. Jawas are one of those iconic Star Wars races that are part comic, part atmospheric. Not as cartoonish as the Teddy Bear-like Ewoks, but still instantly recognizable with their hooded faces and somewhat sinister appearance. If there are any Big Mr Tong or other Star Wars figures you need, John at JS Wargamer Printing can print them off for you very affordably.

    From one of the Star Wars games, these pre-printed plastic figures will work fine as big, nasty aliens!

In my search for big alien monsters, I found about a half dozen more, some in flea markets, others in the bargain bins of vendors. Two that I picked up from the flea market are actually pre-painted plastic models from one of the various Star Wars lines issued through the years. One is called a "Reek" and the other an "Acklay" -- whatever those are. I am not as steeped in the "Lore" as the folks at Wookiepedia or anything! Bing already painted fairly well, all that I will have to do is perhaps a wash and then flock the base. They'll be ready to take on Boone MacDonald and his buddies defending Earth from alien invasion.

    3 aliens that I will have to paint up to be monsters for Critter Control to fight in 'Majestic 13' games

Some others I picked up will require painting and even conversion work, but I'm happy that I now have them. I think that counting the stuff I already have, I can more than cover any other missions I game out this year with Majestic 13. One of the vendors I picked them up from also carried Iron Wind Metals paints. I am almost completely out of their Steel color, and I was able to snag two bottles of it! That should cover me for at least the rest of the year, and hopefully more!

    I wanted more wagons as scatter for my medieval town from A Critical Hit & picked up these three

Inevitably, I made some purchases of 3-D printed scatter from A Critical Hit. Talking to the owner, I was happy to hear that the family's possible move to Seattle did not happen and they will stay in the Midwest area (they're from Indianapolis). So, I can look forward to seeing them at least a couple times a year at various conventions. On my list of purchases were more of the two wheeled carts that I painted awhile back. She had only two in stock, but I also picked up a four wheel wagon to go along with it. I was actually VERY restrained at her booth this time around. I think that the only other things I purchased were 8 tiny rats (real scale -- not giant ones), and a wheelbarrow to have laying around in my cityscape near a market, perhaps. Somehow, though, a tiny bin full of carpenter's tools also found its way into my purchases, though I have no memory of putting it in there!

    I was VERY restrained at A Critical Hit's booth and picked up a fraction of what I usually do!

In addition, I found a couple bigger pieces in A Critical Hit's bins that I felt could be used for aliens for Majestic 13. One is of a spider like creature with crystals growing from its abdomen. This was printed in colored material so won't need to be painted at all. Its legs are multiple pieces and are secured and strung by a string or something so are flexible. It has bright eyes and is meant to look "cute," I think. However, that is genetically impossible for any spider-like creature! Ha, ha!! The final piece is printed in a dark green material and is honestly hard to figure out. I probably will need to paint some of it black so that the green parts "pop" a bit more. Either way, two more aliens for Critter Control to hopefully defeat!

    More aliens for Majestic 13 -- the spider-thi8ng on the left is pretty much ready for the tabletop

The last thing I purchased at Cincycon was from my friend Dave E. He had a box that I eyeballed half a dozen times at World at War 2025, but decided not to pull the trigger, so to speak. It contained three packs of unpainted Splintered Light Miniatures anthropomorphic animals. They were three, bigger "hero" packs, I believe, and would fit in well with the Splintered Light figs that I already have painted up. Actually, some I actually likely already have! As part of the package deal, he threw in a 3-D printed 28mm orc village (I believe), consisting of one more elaborate chieftain's hut and four others. Finally, he included the Ganesha Games Song of the Splintered Land stand-alone supplement to Song of Blades and Heroes. I don't have that one in my collection, and since the package deal was a bargain even without the rules, decided to finally pick them all up from him this time...haha! The sheer number of essentially 15mm-sized figs skews my Acquired vs. Painted totals to Hell and back, but I really do enjoy their anthropomorphic animals.

    Pics from the Splintered Light website of some of the figs I bought from Dave -- unpainted, though!

I've updated my statistics below, with the unpainted miniatures taking the biggest hit, as I mentioned. I had begun to climb back closer to even after my Gringo 40s and Warhost Elves purchases, but that goal is receding even further from sight! I have no doubt that I will eventually draw even by the end of the year. However, convention season is always the worse time for my totals. I like to support the vendors who show up to support our hobby. I figure as long as my totals balance out by the end of the year, I can splurge a little once in awhile. Besides, in the famous words of Gollum, "It's my birthday present...!"

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 52

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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