Two Small Medieval Town Homes (or Farmhouses)

    Two more 3-d printed medieval buildings from RRB Minis & More -- these are smaller homes

My latest purchases of 3-D printed buildings for my medieval town from Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More were technically Farmhouses. I felt they could easily work as smaller homes for a more urban setting, though. I slated both of them to be my next additions to my medieval town -- hoping they would paint up significantly faster than the 3+ story buildings that I've been doing in the past.

    Like many of my others, this farmhouse building is from the 'Ferisia' line carried by RRB

One of the two is from the Ferisia line that many of my other buildings are from, while the other is an earlier work of Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni, who created that line. It is called Stormhill City Farmer House. Actually, it was a gift from Rich as thanks for all the exposure my posts here on Lead Legionaries have given him. What better way to accept somebody's generosity than to use the gift they gave you right away? So, on a particularly nice, sunny -- but not humid day -- I spray primed both of them up. Each is two piece -- a roof and bottom level. I did my usual follow up with a 50/50 mix of black acrylic paint and water.

    This photo gives a good look at the thatch roof on this building and its rear

I thought about doing one of them in a different color stone than gray, but in the end, opted for standard gray stonework. There is already so much exposed wood on these buildings that going with a brown tone could be a bit confusing. I remember taking part in a discussion on the Lead Adventure Forum recently about how wood isn't really brown and all stone isn't gray. However, if you paint your wood terrain and scatter gray and your stone ones brown, I feel that you're working against people's expectations. People expect to see wood being brown and stone gray, so your terrain will look "right" in your eyes if you paint it in the stereotyped colors. That's my sentiments, at least!

    The interior of the Ferisia building with its nice wooden floors and wooden beams

Once again, I began with the interiors for the lower level of the farmhouses and the roof of the upper levels. The Stormhill City Farmhouse had a wood tiled roof while the Ferisia Small Farmhouse had thatch. For the interiors, I did a very dark gray wetbrush over the black, followed by medium then light gray highlighting. Next came the woodwork and I painted the beams dark brown first. I followed that up with my usual "wrong" (ha, ha!) recipe of medium brown and khaki dry brushing. I did the window frames in a painted color (highlighted in a lighter tone). I chose blue for the Stormhill City Farmhouse and green for the Ferisia one. I applied the color as a dry brush to the window frames so that they looked like paint had chipped and worn away.

    This farmhouse is from an older line called 'Stormhill City' -- Rich gave it to me as a gift! So kind!!

Meanwhile, I was working on the roofs at the same time. The thatched roof got a medium brown wet brush, dun yellow highlight, and final light gray dry brush. There! I painted some vegetation with a grayish tone...happy?  For the wood tile roof, I decided these would have been painted by the home owner. I liked how the roof of the "Cottage" I purchased from the Misty Hollow line came out, so did it in a relatively similar fashion. Instead of faded green, though, I went for faded blue. It still received the medium brown wet brush and Khaki highlight, I just finished out each tile with a dab of faded blue. The exposed beams were painted next, in exactly the same fashion as the interiors were. Weirdly, I decided to do the small stonework that was showing on the roof sections after the wood beams. Why? I figured they were small enough that the chances of splash over on my highlighting were minimal.

    The rear of the farmhouse with a nice look at its faded, wooden blue tiles

With the roofs done and the interiors completed, it was on to the exteriors. I pretty much followed up with the same recipe for stone and wood on the outsides. I did brighten up the stonework a bit, figuring more light would be playing over its surface than reached the interior through its windows. Otherwise, everything was pretty much the same. I discovered that two small buildings do take significantly less time than the three and four story monstrosities I've been painting up to this point. Once I got started on the, they really took relatively little time to complete. 

    I love the fancy wooden floor with slats going alternating directions -- lots of wood beams, too!

I decided that the buildings did need a black wash over them -- especially the thatched roof. I always worry that I'm going to lose the highlighting I did and give them too much of a gray look when I apply an overall black wash. Hopefully, folks don't think they turned out too dark! So, what else is on my painting desk? Well, I did decide to be a rules lawyer and combine my next two batches of miniatures. I am painting up there Elven wizards from figures bought this year and three ordinary human wizards from the Frostgrave Wizards set I bought last year. They're coming along very nicely and won't take too many more sessions to complete. What's next for terrain? Well, I have a 3-D printed Huey helicopter from my friend Ted B that I've started. It has the base color done and dry brushed. Now, I need to do all the finicky details. Look for those works in progress to be finished next week at the very earliest. I am attending Origins Game Fair this Wednesday through Saturday, so won't be doing any painting during that time.

Last look at the 2 newest additions to my growing medieval town

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 125

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 28

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59

Fallout Skirmish Playtest Using 'Blast Pistol' Rules

    Super-mutant 'Big Boss' charges towards two Minutemen in a skirmish set in the world of Fallout

My friend Mike S is a huge fan of the Fallout series, having played the video games and bought the various versions of the official rules. However, he hasn't been exactly crazy about the mechanics of those games. The first we tried, with its proprietary dice, was tedious in keeping track of what each symbol meant. We did one game using it back in 2022, but quickly told him it really wasn't for us. He agreed. He also bought the more recent version, Fallout Factions, I believe it is called. He wasn't that impressed with those either. So, he set off on a search for a set of rules he could play Fallout games with.

    Soldiers of the New California Republic advance onto the table searching for supplies & food

He ended up picking Nordic Weasel's Blast Pistol as the first set to try out. The rules were released back in 2017 by the author of the more well known Five Parsecs from Home (or the fantasy version, Five Leagues from the Borderlands). I ran a short solo campaign using Five Parsecs back in 2024 to see if it would be appropriate for a Sci-Fi campaign with the Sunday Night Gamers. Blast Pistol is very similar in its combat mechanics -- very bare bones and easy to pick up. Mike asked me to create a Quick Reference Sheet for it, so I did. And lo and behold! The gamers actually used my QRS Sunday night...ha, ha! Everyone picked up the mechanics quickly. Essentially there are two things to take into account when making a ranged attack. Are you in your weapon's most effective range (typically about 12"), or beyond? Is the target in cover or not? So, a chart with two rows and two columns (four possible "to hit" numbers) is sufficient and very easy to remember.

    The 'Gunners' mercenary faction, my other neighbor, and came under attack by Super-mutants

We had an amazing turnout that evening, as Mike brought his son Jason along and Tom brought along Bob, our gaming pal from a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away). Mike divvied out the factions to the nine players, including two of "Super Mutants," two Vault denizens, one cannibal raiders, and a variety of other survivor factions. Each player's faction was composed of anywhere from 7 to 14 figures. I ended up with a generic "Survivor" faction of seven figures armed with a different weapons, but also including one guy in an armored suit and a robot with a nasty cutting wheel as a melee weapon. 

    My neighbors on the left also came under attack quickly, this time by the Reservation Vault faction

Next to my generically named Survivors on the left was Mike W with the New California Republic faction. They looked like a uniformed paramilitary organization and were armed mainly with shotguns and assault rifles. On my right was Allen with a mercenary faction called the Gunners, whose main motivation was wealth. My faction's goal was to set up trade networks (+5 VP apiece) with each faction that agreed, find supplies or food (+2 VP), and eliminate "Threats" (+1 VP). The only factions my briefing called "threats" were far from me on the board, though.  Tom's Super-mutants were in one corner, Keith's "Jackals" (cannibalistic raiders) were in the other opposite corner, and Joel's Super-mutants were on the other side of Allen.

    Jenny's faction was a typical, blue-clad Vault faction and they stumbled upon a Deathclaw

I decided to approach each of my immediate neighbors first and see if they agreed. Fortunately, both trusted me enough to agree to set up a trade network (despite Tom's calling out to everyone not to trust me...ha. ha! To set up a network, one of our figures had to be within 6" of the other to make the parley (and not fire on each other, obviously!). Honestly, I was amazed that I pulled that off! It probably helped that Mike had immediately been fired upon by the Reservation Vaulters (Bob's faction), and Allen was attacked by his brother's Super-mutants. Each welcomed a secure flank. I decided to shift my forces to the right to assist my new allies, the Gunners, against the hulking, nasty-looking Super-mutants and their ravenous, oversized dogs. They were pretty far away, though, and Joel was very clever in utilizing cover, so most of my shots needed a "10" on 1d10 to hit. Needless to say, I think I missed the first half dozen shots or more!

    Meant to be a target of my Survivor faction, Tom's Super-mutants were too far away from me

On the other hand, the two warring factions on my left (NCR and Reservation Vaulters) were not so keen on cover. Both simply lined up like a gunfight in Tombstone and blazed away at short range and in the open. Bob's dice were abominable (despite it actually being his birthday). Mike W soon began to make short work of his Native American survivors. It didn't help that Bob simultaneously attacked Tom's Super-mutants. His search rolls at the end of each turn also discovered a large group of Feral Ghouls that promptly attacked him. Caught between the NCR's blazing shotguns, the Super-mutants return fire, and the ghouls, Bob's vaulters were down to two figures by the end of the game.

    It was a huge turnout with 9 players, but Mike's game and 'Blast Pistol' rules handled the crowd well

Allen's Gunners began to lose guys to the Super-mutant attack, too. One soldier was vaporized by a "buzz bomb," two were devoured by the dogs, and two failed morale and bolted away from the threat to hide in the ruins. Like a good ally, my men and women began to lay down fire on the mutants from positions of good cover. I slowly began working my robot forward so that he could charge into melee with his cutting saw. Surprisingly, he succeeded in getting close enough without being shot. He promptly rolled into contact with one of the mutants blazing away from behind a beat-up pickup truck. From our understanding of the rules, it doesn't take an Action to do hand-to-hand. Instead, it happens immediately upon contact. The ambulatory buzzsaw sliced into two Super-mutants all by itself, while my forces succeeded in gunning down another. A mastiff on steroids charged one of my survivors, but amazingly, he was able to drive it off.

    Jenny's Vault denizens retreated from the attack of the Deathclaw & actually ended up killing it!

Despite horrible my very bad dice rolling at the beginning, my rolls were heating up. A pack of Feral Ghouls sprang on us, too. However, one by one, we were able to gun them down over the course of the next two turns (and avoid taking any damage from them). We weren't so lucky when our own searching sprung a Deathclaw from its burrow inside a wrecked box truck. Startled by our presence, it sprang towards us, prompting an immediate debate between Mike W and myself about who it would charge on its subsequent action. I insisted (loudly enough so the GM could hear) that his guys were closer. Mike replied that it couldn't see his guys. I showed him with the laser pointer that it could. 

    As a result of my end-turn search rolls, a party of Feral Ghouls leapt from cover to attack my group

My proof failed to convince the GM, though, who charged the monster into one my gals. Luckily, the survivor contacted survived to recoil rather than be eaten. The monster roared with a terror attack and my survivor sullied her drawers and sprinted off-table with alacrity. Two of my other survivors who were near the Deathclaw had already fallen back, leaving my sniper trapped in a corner of the ruins alone. We were saved by our new trading partners, though. Mike's NCR team opened up on the Deathclaw (fearing they would be dessert after it ate my sniper for dinner). Mike's rolls were even hotter and the towering monstrosity went down with a crash. My sniper sighed in relief, wondering if she would have to seek a change of clothes when she got back to camp, too!

    The Boy Scouts...er, Minutemen, take cover from the shooting of the Jackal cannibal clan

The fighting raged back and forth between the various factions, most of whom were all too happy to open up on their neighbors. I guess they didn't have "set up trade networks" as a victory condition! Jenny's Vault faction sprang a Deathclaw, as well. In addition, she was attacked on three sides, by both Tom's Super-mutants and Keith's fine young cannibals. One of Joel's dogs thought the Vaulters in their trademark blue jumpsuits looked too much like squirrels and sprinted across the board after them. It ate one of the vault denizens (they tasted soft and juicy, apparently), then howled in frustration when it couldn't have another. The howl brought the Super-mutants' "Big Boss" onto the table -- more trouble for Jenny's vaulters!

    Despite the number of players, Mike's game moved quickly - everyone had fun & enjoyed the laughs

Who would be a "Boy Scout" and come to save those naive Vault denizens in their foray into the Wastes? The Boy Scouts, of course! Or that's what we jokingly called Jason's faction all game long. Technically, they were the Minutemen, but their khaki uniforms brought the Boy Scouts of America to my mind (which I dubbed them to the group's great humor). When they leapt forward to protect Jenny's Vaulters from the Big Boss, I quipped that they were all hoping to earn their "Big Scary Monster" merit badge! Anyway, Jason took the ribbing in good grace, and was easily quick to disparage his survivor's efforts at...well, surviving! He was on the losing end of a fight with Keith's cannibalistic Jackal clan, when surprisingly both agreed to a truce. I guess the Jackals had enough Boy Scout for one day and couldn't eat another bite...!

    Pity the player in the middle! Poor Jenny's Vault denizens under attack on all three sides

All in all, it was a lot of fun with laughter around the table. No one took it hard when they came under fire. Everyone picked up the rules well and understood that a simple d10 system would be very "swingy," as Jason called it. My opinion was that a system that allowed around 100 miniatures controlled by nine players fight it out, man-to-man, in less than three hours, can't be too bad! Mike seemed happy with how the rules played, too. So, barring him getting a case of the "Ooh, shiney!", we will likely be doing more Fallout soon. Hopefully, it will be in a continuing series of games, aka a campaign. We shall see, though!

    Things are looking grim for my sniper Daisy, both a Deathclaw & Feral Ghoul hungry for her flesh!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 125

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59

    Keith's Jackals shoot it out with Jason's Minutemen, with Jason starting to get the worse of it!

   Vault Denizens from the Reservation were particularly aggressive, attacking both of their neighbors

 

    One of Joel's Super-mutants taking cover in the junkyard and firing on Allen and I (mostly Allen!)

    Last stand of the Reservation Vault faction as they are about to be consumed by Feral Ghouls

Birds of Prey: 'Lesser Warbeasts' for my Elven Army

    Birds of prey as 'Lesser Warbeasts' for my 28mm Elven army -- from a variety of sources

I have to be honest and upfront -- I am unable to identify where most of these figures came from. Most are likely from "Companion packs" by various manufacturers. Some are metal, though, and some are plastic. I believe the one of the elf with a hawk on her arm is a game piece from some board game that I've never played. I think a friend gave it to me because I definitely don't remember buying it! I did have to convert that figure, lopping off her rifle-carrying hand and substituting one carrying a sword. So, if anyone recognizes these miniatures (other than the Bad Squiddo Ravens, which I know), please speak up in the comments!

    Bird whisperer? Bird mistress? Plastic fig from a board game - I cut off her rifle & gave her a sword

 As I sat down to base these birds (or as Gollum would say, "birdses..."), my first thought was that I wanted to elevate them off the ground. For some I took wooden dowels and sliced them to a height I liked. Next, I shaved their sides with a hobby knife to look more like a wooden trunk. I used my pin vice to drill a couple holes and then inserted bent pieces of brass wire to become scraggly branches. For others, I used a large rock and epoxied the bird directly onto that. The clever among you may have noticed that Lesser Warbeasts in Dragon Rampant require six figures, but I am painting up seven. I was hedging against being less than thrilled with how one came out. The unlucky one will be relegated it to my box of animals!

    Left hand hawk is a raven from Bad Squiddo, but I have no idea of the metal bird on right

All were based on normal sized circular bases from Litko with heavy duty magnetic material underneath. Well, the elf bird-whisperer was on her own plastic base, so all I needed to do was put a magnet beneath her. Once all of the feathered Elf friends were securely epoxied to their base or perch, I primed everything with white Liquitex Gesso. Then they sat there for several days while I pondered how to paint them. On a day trip my friend Tom had organized, we stopped by Cedar Bog -- a wetlands nature park in Ohio. In their gift shop, they had laminated plastic cards of birds of prey that can be found in Ohio. I took a quick photo of it and then did Google Image searches on the species whose coloring I liked best. I chose only six because the seventh miniature was obviously a vulture of some sort. So, I picked the breeds with a color combinations that I liked. I numbered each base #1 - #7 so I could keep track of them. Perhaps I will mark on the underside of the base which each one is...? Or maybe not. Keith will likely look at them and say, "That's not a Northern Goshawk...!" Sigh. Some gaming groups have uniform experts who may critique every miniature. We have Keith who...well, according to him, knows everything! Ha, ha!!

    Right hand fig is another soft plastic fig, while left on the skull is metal, once again unsure of origin

From that point on, I would go down the list, pull up the table I'd saved with images of that species, and paint a color or two on it. I would then move on to the next, then the next, and so on. Of course, I was painting the Elven bird mistress at the same time. Why did I choose a green dress when all of the other figures in the army are pretty much green? Well, would YOU wear a different color if everyone else was wearing the one color? Ha, ha! I figured she would want concealment, too, as she stalked through the woodlands with her flock of attack birds. It took me a couple days to get the various plumage heads, beaks, eyes, and feet for all seven birds completed. One most of the birds, I did a brown wash to blend all the various brush strokes together. 

    Vulture (yes, not a bird of prey) perched across scratch-built tree stump & another Squiddo raven

I flocked the bases to match the rest of the army, with the exception of adding some clump foliage to the dead tree stumps. We are in the time of the year here in Ohio when the weather can make me wait several days or more to get a chance to spray coat my figures once they're painted. Some days, the humidity is too high even if the temperature isn't too hot. Other days, the humidity is too much even if the temperature is within the recommended rage for the Krylon matte clear coat that I use. I know, I know. My gaming buddy Mike S tells me at least once every couple months, "Why haven't you built a spray box for your house? It's easy!" Well, if I did, what would I have left to gripe about??

    Final look at the birds -- I like how the tree stump perches turned out...which one is odd bird out??

Tossing this in here because I didn't want to do a post just about measuring sticks. My friend Rich from RRB Minis & More handed these four sticks after I bought my last buildings. They are literally made to look like sticks (or branches? Trunks?) with wood grain and all. He asked if I preferred the 6" or 8" measuring stick, and of course I responded bigger is better! Rich 3-D printed them in a brown filament, but you know me -- I had to fancy them up! I spray painted them black and then brushed my premised 50/50 water and acrylic black paint over them. After that, it was my normal wood style recipe. Dark brown wet brush, Camo Brown dry brush, then Khaki highlight on alternating sections so it would be easier to see. I liked the alternating lighter and darker brown shades on the sticks. The final step was to paint the recessed notches between each one inch section black again to cover up stray dry brushing. So, now I have four measuring stick sticks...ha, ha!

    Measuring sticks painted as...sticks! Or branches or trunks, whichever you prefer. From RRB Minis

So, what else is on my painting desk? Right now, two 3-D printed medieval houses are racing the birds to be completed first. Yes, quite a sight to see a bird racing a house! Anyway, after that, I have nothing primed up, believe it or not. I guess I'd better get cracking! Since this was a batch of "old" figures, the next batch can be new, so that means another batch for my Elven army. I have the six mounted figures, six spearmen, and three (or so) wizards. Sayyy...I could be really clever and put together three of those Frostgrave wizards from the sprue I bought from Fireland Games. And combine the batch into a three of new and three of old? That sounds like a genius plan to me -- otherwise a batch of three figures may not seem like much. As for terrain, I don't know what is next for that, either. I could do another of the 3-D printed medieval houses -- maybe a two story, medium sized one? We'll see...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 125

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59  

 

 

Last of the Elven Archers

    Final batch of 28mm Warhost Elven archers -- still have more Elves to go, but the archers all done!

After being a bit disappointed at how long it took me to finish the previous batch, I set out to get this group of 28mm Warhost Elves done more quickly. Thankfully, I was successful in cranking them out in just over a week or so. These are the final archers for the army, which means I'm close to getting the whole army completed -- yay! I have honestly enjoyed painting these elves...and the orcs and goblins before them. I am planning on taking a breather before I do another army for Dragon Rampant, though. Wait...what was that advertisement? Warhost is making 28mm metal dwarves...? Nooooooo!!!

    Close up of two of the metal archers -- I like how the greens look as if they'll blend into the woods

Anyway, I have painting these guys down to a routine, by now. Weirdly, though, I tend to do the steps in a slightly different order with each batch. Luckily, with the archers, I get to skip the "assembly" step! After cleaning up the minimal flash on these Hobday and Hicks sculpts, I primed them, did their flesh, and then lined all eight of them up on my desk. I plopped a bottle of green paint behind each one to note which color their lighter, inner tunics would be. After painting that on, I did the armor base coat. I remembered to use the craft paint Gun Metal this time instead of Iron Wind Steel. These two packs of four had fewer guys with helmets or leg greaves, so that step went faster. Then, I realized I'd forgotten to dry brush the tunics before going on to the armor. No biggie, since I would be following that up with the bright gold color for the armor, which would likely cover up any stray swipes.

    These two packs of four had considerably more bare-headed as opposed to helmet wearing Elves

After the armor and tunics were complete, they were put back on parade. I picked out which darker green shade I would do the long vests in and placed the bottle behind the figure. Typically, this takes a bit time since I want the two greens to go together well. The vests were painted, and the next day I highlighted them. I stuck the elves back on parade and picked out a border color for each one's vest. I don't stick with green here, but I am hoping for the color combinations to be more muted and less contrasting than my first batch or two. Then it was time for the dots! My go-to for making a border or item of clothing look like it has a pattern or decoration is usually dots. These can be in a row or a pattern, giving the effect of an intricate design without actually having to do it. My friend Eric is a big proponent of all things dotted. Check out his blog here, which he has begun to update more often now that he has finally retired from teaching. 

    I have been consistently happy with these Warhost sculpts -- especially the variety of poses

I pulled out the same four shades of yellow I've been using for Elven hair next. I set two figures next to each bottle, hoping to give as much variety as possible. I dry brushed them the next day -- lighter yellow for the medium blonds, white for the lightest, and dun for the darkest. Moving on, I decided this time to do all the various sheaths, quivers, and pouches at once. Since I am going with a brown or tan tone for the equipment, I hoped it might save time. I pulled out five different brownish colors, unscrewed the caps, and laid them out before me. I know some say you shouldn't do it, but I usually shake my paint and use the paint inside the caps to dip my brush into. I've heard this causes the paint to dry up more quickly, but I honestly have never noticed that in my decades of painting this way. So, I continue to do it. Once that step was done, I went back the next day and applied a quick dry brush to each color I used. 

     Not sure why, but I wasn't as happy with my photos this time -- I feel the figs looks better in person

The figs were getting close, but still had some details to do. Next, was their waist sash or belts, shoes, arrows inside the quivers, feather fletching on the arrows, and so on. Eventually, they were done. With virtually ever color applied getting its own highlighting in a lighter shade, it does take longer to paint "my way" than some who have mastered the new breed of Contrast Paints. I would be interested in trying them out some day, but probably for a specific project. I don't want to have to re-purchase all of my paints. As you've probably noticed with this Elven project, I have more than a dozen greens alone!

    Sunlight through the trees -- final look at the final batch of Elven archers

So, what's next? Of course, my 2026 rules is for it to be a batch of figures acquired last year or earlier. Luckily, they will still be for my Elven army. I have seven birds of prey sitting on my desk which I have begun work on. They came from various source -- Fantasy Familiars or other packs from different manufacturers. They're mostly metal figs, but there are some plastic or Reaper Bones ones. I'm getting some more scenery ready to go, too. This includes not only two more medieval houses (smaller homes this time), but also a 28mm 3-D printed Huey helicopter. I would like the chopper (or all four) to be ready to use in a "Hot LZ" scenario when I run my Vietnam game at Origins Game Fair this June 17-21 here in Columbus. Lots more in the works, so stay tuned!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 118

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59  

 

Surviving 'Nam Layout is Underway! Check out these Photos!!

    I fell in love with this atmospheric river village scene from the moment I saw it -- great job, David F!

The layout phase has begun for my Vietnam cooperative & solo miniatures game, Surviving 'Nam: An Infantryman's Year 'In Country." All 12 scenarios have been written, most of the proofreading is completed, and the rule book is now being laid out in the publishing program. Part of that process was gathering awesome photos of Vietnam miniatures and scenery to illustrate it. 

    You can almost hear the waterfowl and slap the mosquitos in this sampan scene set up by Jenny T

I'm lucky in that three of my prolific play testers, Bob F, Pete S, and David F, have an amazing collection of terrain and miniatures and were willing to stage photos for the rules. Coupled that with my own collection, and Jenny and myself staging photos, I ended up with more than enough photos to fill the rule book with excellent artwork. Surviving 'Nam is being published by Andrea Sfiligoi of Ganesha Games. He is giving me sorely-needed graphics and layout advice and will be making the final call on what photos make it in the book. However, I thought I would do this post to share some of my favorites. 

    NVA insurgents stalk through the elephant grass in this excellently posed vignette by Jenny T

The fact that the rule book will be in full color is something I am looking forward to, as well. Andrea suggested it, and said that it really won't drive up the costs that much. The wargaming rule book standards for publishing have gone up and up in recent years, so this will make my rules look a bit more like they belong on the shelf...ha, ha! So, enjoy these pictures, and I will keep you posted on its progress.

    Pete S's Buddha scene has wonderful warm colors & hope it makes the rule book!

    I love David F's green river water in this village scene the set up - definitely publication worthy!

    Vietnamese insurgents arrive in a friendly village and immediately set up base there in Bob F's photo

    You've seen these guys once or twice! One of my photos of a US patrol passing through a village

    Perfect for my "Downed Airmen" scenario -- Pete S's crew being taken prisoner by the Vietnamese

 

    Bob F set up a Vietnamese floating market with civilians and took pictures of it for my rules

 

    "Don't shoot my water buffalo, sir!" My 28mm Vietnam figs I set up in a vignette for the rulebook

Surviving 'Nam will also feature a deck of cards, which control the actions of the enemy Vietnamese troops. This will be my first time using Drivethrucards, so I thought I should go out and find an artist to do some simple illustrations for each one. I saw the artwork of Uriah Groves on Facebook, and reached out to him. We made a deal for him to supply a number of Vietnam-themed black and white images to match the cards and their effects. Check out his work on Instagram!

    Likely, this image drawn by Uriah will be on the back of each card in the deck

So, with the flurry of work on Surviving 'Nam's publication, my painting has slowed to a halt over the last couple days. Still, it was important to get this out while Andrea had time to help me through the process. It has been since Mean Streets that I published a set of rules and my skills had gone rusty in the intervening years. Thanks to Andrea for his expertise, and hopefully the production will keep scooting along! 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 110

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59 

Paleolithic Play Test Using Wiley Games Rules

    Jenny's tribe chases some megafauna in Keith's Paleolithic hunting game with Wiley Games rules

My friend Keith is a big fan of all things prehistoric. Over the years, he has run a number of Dinosaur Hunt games for us using a variety of rules sets. When our friend Andy bought some 28mm cavemen recently, it got us talking about a series of games set in that distant time period. Each player could control a band of hunter-gatherers vying to survive in the dangerous and wild Paleolithic era. I mentioned to Keith that I thought the Wiley Games rules, aka Fistful of Lead series, would work great. Players could receive an extra card each turn that they could use to activate any of the animals on the tabletop, whether predators or prey.

A crew of cavemen and women and Keith's tabletop filled with 54mm hunters and Stone Age creatures

As I hoped it might, that intrigued Keith. He said he would begin working on it. My interest had been piqued by the recent activity and painted miniatures folks were posting on the Prehistoric Facebook page. Also, a number of bloggers, were posting battle reports of their games. One good example is Vagabond's Wargaming Blog and the adventures of the Shell Clan. You can check these out on his Stone Age themed posts. Keith worked quickly and said he was ready to run a game this past Sunday, tossing in a twist in declaring that we'd be using 54mm miniatures.

    How hungry is my hunter? My 1st hunter advances towards the big & smaller creatures on the plain

Honestly, I have no idea where he got all of the plastic figures in this admittedly obscure scale. I'm sure they were from a toy set sold somewhere, but there they were -- painted up and based. Each of us took control of four hunters with various weapons including spears, hafted stone weapons, clubs, and even a big, honking, old rock! Keith kept the "traits" to an absolute minimum. In Wiley Games' various rules, you can personalize a figure giving it various traits that make it quicker, more accurate, able to ignore effects of wounds it has suffered, and many, many more abilities. One figure was designated a Leader, but he was pretty much equal to all of the others in fighting power. 

    Uh-oh, 3 apparently VERY angry prehistoric giant penguins waddle onto the board near my band

The tabletop was populated with various prey animals, from lumbering, elephant like Deinotherium, thick-skinned Megacerops, and several smaller animals including large, Stone Age era capybera and wombat-like mammals. My apologies to Keith if I am giving the wrong names! Anyway, there was also a chance predators might appear based on our actions. I began moving my band of hunters off the board edge and towards the megafauna that was grazing in the middle of the table. We hadn't gone far when a trio of man-sized prehistoric penguins -- apparently called "Palaeeudyptes klekowskii" -- waddled onto the board very near us. My crew wasn't sure how they'd taste, but figure it might be something like chicken...ha, ha! Before you laugh, apparently these were twice the size of a modern day Emperor Penguin. My remaining two band members who hadn't moved yet sprang into action and darted forward to the attack.

    1st hunter vs. megafauna meetup did not go well for the hunter...oh, the names? Keith being funny!

The first player vs. prey animal encounter had occurred moments earlier when one of Tom's hunters attacked one of the huge Deinotherium (I believe, it could have been one of the other species -- but it was big!).  The hunter ended up splattered and out of action when the enraged creature defeated him in Close Combat and then rolled an "Out of Action" wound result. Ouch! This prehistoric hunting thing could be dangerous! My duo of hungry hunters duly discovered that themselves. We felt perhaps the penguins should be renamed "Beaks of Fury," as both penguins wounded and knocked down the hunter who had attacked them. Yikes! Half of my force was prostrate and bleeding on turn 1!

    My own encounters did not go well, either -- two hunters Wounded & Down to one pissed off penguin

Others were having a slightly easier time of it. Allen's continued his amazing string of rolls which he started last week when his orcs stomped mine in a Dragon Rampant game. Seeing his early success, I decided to give him something tougher to chew on. One of the random predators showed up, a giant, long snouted wolf-like creature called a Andrewsarchus. To me, that sounds like somewhat you might meet at a work conference ("Hi! I'm Andrew Sarchus, but you can call me Andy...").  One of Allen's hunters was trailing behind the other three, and I used my highest card to send "Andy" off to take a bite out of him. Lo and behold, Allen continued to be an unstoppable, dice-rolling machine. He rolled a "10" on 1d10 in combat to beat it, then a "9" to knock it out of action with his big, honking rock.

    Always the clever, thinking gamer, I sent the first predator that arrived to attack one of Allen's men

In revenge, Allen's brother Joel (they were on the same side or "tribe," activated Beaks of Fury again, giving my two Down hunters another wound each. Long ago, I learned not sit between the Sams brothers in any board game featuring conquest (lest you end up in a "Sams-wich"!). Apparently, that bond extended all the way back to the savannas of the Stone Age. I sent both of my two upright hunters back to gang up on one of the frenzied penguins. The first also was knocked down and wounded, and it took my final guy to take out one of those dynamite birds. However, both of my downed guys were skewered by the long beaks when they attempted to get up off the ground. My rolls were lackluster to say the least, and pretty much anyone rolling against me -- Keith as GM, Joel, or Allen -- had nearly unbeatable high dice. Extinction loomed as a definite possibility for my small band of hunters.

    Allen was on a dice rolling tear! Here, 3 of his hunters bring down a Megacerops -- plenty of meat!

My fellow tribe-mates, Mike S and Jenny, were having poor luck, as well. Jenny was hitting the Megacerops, but kept rolling lower on the Wound table. She was unable to deal a knock-out blow, and was resolved to chasing along behind it poking it in the back side, inflicting another shock marker. It would then flee and she would have to chase it down again. Despite being ostensible allies, Mike and Jenny nearly came to blows when he "poached" one of her heavily wounded mammals, finally killing it. 

    Two megafauna with their own collection of wound & shock markers, courtesy of Jenny's band

My two surviving hunters finally got their act together and killed off the rest of the penguins. Oh, I forgot to mention: all that time they were beating me they were rolling d8's and I was rolling d10's! Our shell-shocked women and children broke from their stunned disbelief and darted forward to drag their bodies back to our camp, hoping there was some meat under all those feathers!

    For sending the Andrewsarchus ("Andy") after Allen, Joel sent the penguins on a follow up attack

For an encore, we managed to ambush and kill a giant, prehistoric capybara. At that point, my duo were willing to call it the hunting trip concluded. We were dragging four, hopefully meaty bodies back to camp. No use trying to down one of those huge elephant or rhino like creatures! And the other tribe's warriors seemed to be too scary and efficient of killing machines for us to take on. The Ancestors obviously weren't with us today. Maybe, on another day, their spirits would favor us and we would be more fortunate in our hunting.

    My entire band had to combine to kill our 1st penguin...then my 2 guys died trying to get up!

The game played well, though doubtless Keith will do some tweaking to how the animals appear and act. I liked the ability to send a predator after another player's hunters, though most players used the card to move a prey animal closer to themselves, instead. Maybe next time let prey animals be moved only one move distance to represent the herd's wanderings? Or have herds move in a random direction? Otherwise, it almost seems like we were whistling and calling them over, only to bonk them on the head and kill them. That didn't seem very natural or realistic behavior. 

    Meanwhile, other bands were taking down bigger prey -- a Deinotherium succumbs to their blows

Either way, I hope Keith continues running these hunts, but allow us to create our own hunter band and keep track of our hunts in a continuing series of games. There are campaign rules which allow characters to improve or giving them a chance of dying when they were wounded or put out of action. It could be similar my post-apocalyptic campaign that I ran for the Sunday Night gamers using Wiley Games rules. Anyway, despite my struggles, I had fun and look forward to more games telling the story of the deadly life of early hunters on the savanna! 

    Hey look! One of my hunters actually took out one of the prehistoric capybaras without dying...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 110

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59  

    I suppose we won't starve, dragging this meat back to our camp -- but we lost half our hunters!!