Year in Review: 2024

        2024 was definitely the "Year of Sci-Fi" for me and my painting and modeling projects!

Looking back over my most prolific year posting here on my Lead Legionaries blog, two main periods were dominant. Science-Fiction was by far the most dominant period I posted about, whether writing about new miniatures I'd painted or buildings or scatter. Second place was Post-Apocalyptic, as I began an entirely new type of game (Zombie Apocalypse), while continuing to run games, paint miniatures, and get buildings or scatter ready for the tabletop. Modern gaming was a distant third, though to be fair, much of what I created for post-apoc games could also be used for ones set in a modern (non-apoc) setting.

    Contingent of 3-D printed Stormtroopers from JS Wargamer Printing guarding an Acheson building

Science-Fiction

Part of the reason that I posted so much about Sci-Fi was because there were three separate sets of rules or types of games I was playing (or getting ready to play).  In the beginning of the year, I was heavy into getting things ready for a Xenos Rampant game. Although virtually every size game likes to call itself skirmish nowadays, no matter how many figures are on the tabletop, I would call this a "big battle" game. We typically have six players for our games on Sunday evening, so I had to build forces for six different factions. I went with what the rules recommend, 24 army points. That typically means 4-6 units of anywhere from 5-10 miniatures. In some cases it may be fewer, like a war machine or bot. For the rank and file, though, 5-10 figures is the most common.

    We found that my table was a little small for six full-size Xenos Rampant detachments

In the end, I used two factions belonging to my friend Keith to run our 6-player game. Still, fielding miniatures for four factions was a lot of work. That's around 20 units, so maybe between 100 and 200 miniatures? Some were painted last year, or taken from my post-apocalyptic factions. Still, it was a LOT of work. And the worst part about it is I haven't gotten around to running a second game. We agreed after playing that six 24-point factions on my 5'x12' table was just too crowded. After discussing it, we settled on 18 points per faction for future games. Hopefully, that future game will be soon, possibly in January. I will be hosting for much of January and February while our regular host, Mike W, is out of town "snow birding."

    The Inconceivable crew sneaks up on the objective in one of my Five Parsecs from Home solo games

In addition to Xenos Rampant, I began playing regular solo games of Five Parsecs from Home. Ostensibly, I was "testing" the system out to see if it would work as a game for our Sunday evening crew. As fun as Five Parsecs is, I didn't think it would be a good fit for six players. I was enjoying the way the rules create a story arc as you continue along on your campaign. In fact, Capt. Alistair Valentine and his merry crew will finish their quest with the next mission -- so I definitely want to play that one out in 2025. My trip to Morocco in November derailed the captain and crew of the Inconceivable temporarily, but hopefully readers of my blog will be enjoying more of their adventures soon.

Although I got in only one Xenos Rampant game in 2024, I hope to play more in 2025

The third Sci-Fi game or period that I was busy prepping figures for was going to be a true skirmish (players control 4-6 figures -- not units!) in the Star Wars universe. I was bouncing around trying to decide which rules to use. Of course, we could use Wiley Games' Galactic Heroes rules as we are familiar with them. We've played a couple games with them already, plus it is the same basic rules engine and system I use for the post-apocalyptic campaign. However, I wanted to try something to give a different flavor, and an old friend suggested I download Space Weirdos (thanks Steve P!) from Wargames Vault and look over it. I liked it enough to say that's what I will try first for my Star Wars skirmish, which hasn't had a game played, as yet. I have all the factions completed (a LOT easier when you're painting 4-6 figs instead of units...ha, ha!), though. Look for that in January or more likely February. I still need to create cards for each of the player's characters and the measuring sticks it uses.

    I took these fantasy Gatorfolk from Beldolor Studies and converted them into Sci-Fi figures

Just to give you an idea of how heavily focused I was this year on Sci-Fi, I made about 16 posts about painting miniatures for the period, along with about 10 blog entries about buildings or scatter. So, a big part of my output was geared towards Sci-Fi, it seems! And now that I have all these figures, look for a lot more game reports covering these rules!

    This downed chopper was the focal point of a scenario in my post-apocalyptic campaign

 

Post-Apocalyptic

Like my Sci-Fi projects, my production in the Post-Apoc period was a mix of old and new games. Our post-apocalyptic games using Wiley Games Core Rules is still continuing into its third year. That's great news. I think my players would like me to run it more often than I do, and hopefully I will be better at cranking out scenarios for them in 2025. For our most recent game, my friend Mike S provided the scenario so he could use the city block terrain he'd been busy building. I'm sure he wanted a chance to game with it on the tabletop, so he talked me into GM'ing the scenario he'd created. For the scenarios that I create, they tend to revolve around a particular piece of terrain or scatter I've created. One example was the "Chopper Down!" game I ran where the factions were converging on a helicopter that had auto-rated down into the middle of a ruined city. There had been no explosion, so hopefully that meant some great salvage! 

    Mike S brought his city ruins terrain he'd bought and had been working on for another scenario

By far the most posts I did on this period in 2024 was a new niche, or mini-period -- zombie apocalypse! I was inspired by purchasing the County Road Z rules and began accumulating the necessary zombie horde. As I was working on it, though, I read about another set of rules called Zombie RV. It was much shorter, way less expensive, and had a fun, quick, and bloody feel to it. I was so intrigued that Jenny and I pulled out some of my post-apocalyptic figures, I set up a tabletop, and we played a game of it. Although our mission to collect supplies failed miserably, we both agreed it was fun and we'd just had some awful luck leading to our deciding to flee the field prematurely. 

    Zombies swarm towards the survivors in one of our Zombie RV games over the course of the year

I reached out to the rules author David Bezio, and he sent me an unfinished "campaign" introduction in answer to my questions about running a continuing series of games. He encouraged me to expand on what he'd started and work up my own rules for experience and improving character skills and abilities. The next step was to inflict it on the Sunday evening group. I ran three side by side battle boards with two players sharing the four survivors like Jenny and I had done. It went over really well, except Keith had issues with zombie senses -- how do they see? Do they smell? Hear? Everyone else took the simple rules with a grain of salt, but Keith had questions. So, for the next game, I wrote out an even more detailed Zombie A.I. that the rules come with to hopefully answer his scientific inquiries...ha, ha!

    3-D printed fortified trailers from Bad Goblin are one of the highlights of my Zombie RV tabletops

Of course, more players meant more zombies would be needed! My zombie horde ended up totaling 74 figures, which included a handful of "Fast Zombies" and "Nasty Zombies," according to the Zombie RV rules. The first half of the zombie horde were 3-D printed ones from JS Wargamer Printing. After that, I was able to get ahold of some Wargames Factory male and female zombies to finish out the horde. A couple people suggested using Zombiecide figures, but my initial 3-D printed batches were way too small compared to the oversized ones from the board game. Luckily, the Wargames Factory zombies were close in size, so it all looks good together on the tabletop.

    Painting female zombies from Wargames Factory were a nice change of pace in the horde

I do have to admit that I got a little tired of painting zombies! Thank goodness for the female zombies my friend Keith gave me -- I know, that sounds weird! They spiced things up and I could have some fun with various outfits including party dresses, bikinis (hey, that's how they molded them!), evening gowns, and more. I was getting so tired of painting the walking dead that by the end I was painting them to resemble my gaming friends. Of course, no one thinks "their" zombie looks like them...!

    This 3-D printed bridge from Rusty's Jarls Workship was the centerpiece of my Mean Streets games

Mean Streets Gang Warfare

My "Convention Game" for 2024 was Mean Streets, my self-published rules covering rumbles between street gangs. I ran it at Cincycon, Drums at the Rapids, and Origins. It was a big success at all three conventions. I had lots of interested players and sold some copies of the rulebook (which is also available at many other places, including Ganesha Games, Shieldwall Gaming Club, On Military Matters, RRB Minis & More, Brigade Games and other places). It turned out to be the 25 anniversary of the movie that inspired the rules, Hollywood's 1979, The Warriors. So, it was appropriate I ran a Warriors-inspired scenario in 2024. 

    The Eastmoor Kings gather on the bridge after running the gauntlet of rival gangs in 'Mean Streets'

My big terrain piece for that scenario was probably one of the biggest ones I have ever assembled and painted. It is a modern, stone city bridge that I bought from Rusty at Jarl's Workshop. I went for a yellowed, golden stone work and really like how it came out. I added in graffiti as it will see use more often in my Mean Streets games, or maybe even post-apocalyptic ones. In the scenario I ran, it was the goal for the Eastmoor Kings, who were taking on the role of the Warriors and trying to move from one side edge of the board to the opposite one. I didn't paint up any new gang members in 2024, but I did paint up some civilians.

    More than 14" height, this is my tallest terrain piece, a 28mm water tower from Bad Goblin Games

Speaking of big terrain, I also painted up the tallest terrain piece I've done to date. Once again, 3-D printed, it is a water tower from Bad Goblin Games. It has yet to see action on the tabletop, but it went together very easily and painted up quickly, as well. At $20, it is a bargain and I highly recommend Bad Goblin's 3-D printed terrain. Their fortified trailers were featured in a couple of my Zombie RV games and are fantastic. 

    My gaming year included a trip up to Blisffield to visit my friend Jim and play in two of their games

What DIDN'T I Paint?

Compared to other recent years, there has been one (probably) noticeable period missing in my 2024 posts. I may as well talk about it, too, as it does influence my gaming. I have found myself taking a break from Saga over the course of the year. I began the year finishing my Thracians, and painting their severed head fatigue markers. However, the only other painting I did for Saga otherwise was Warlord stands to give away as prizes at the Advance the Colors and Origins tournaments. And speaking of tournaments, I have also taken a break from being the one running them, too. Thankfully, others in the Saga Ohio community, such as Lee, Joe, Dan, Rusty, and James stepped up and took over running the ones I did.

    I enjoy making specialized fatigue markers for each Saga army - severed heads for my Thracians!

I was still playing Saga through the first three quarters of the year, though. I simply was not writing up blog posts about our Saga Sundays or my tournament entries. I played in both the DayCon tournament (run by Adrian and Jim) and the Hold the Line Ancient tournament (run by Rusty and James). We were still getting together on Sundays at the Guardtower East, but our number of players was steadily shrinking. Sometimes, we had just four show up -- and that is counting Jenny and myself. We did some Facebook polling and text discussion, and eventually in the Fall decided to suspend our once-a-month, Sunday get-togethers. There was another group at the Guardtower West who were gaming weekly and were much more active. We thought, "Why split up the player base into two groups?"

    An Ancient Warlord stand that I painted up as a prize for the ATC 2024 Saga tournaments

Interestingly, in this time of my declining Saga interest I finally got around to trying my "Saga Lite" ideas. With Saga Lite, there are no Advanced Abilities. Players use only the Basic Activations, Combat Bonus, and Activation Pool on the top half of their battle board. I was happy with how it worked out, and may run that for friendly games on Sunday evenings when we have a hankering for Dark Age, Medieval, etc. battles.  

    We tried out 'Rebels and Patriots' rules for the Revolutionary War and liked them, playing 3 times

Odds and Ends

In the early part of the year, I didn't do too good of a job blogging about what our Sunday evening group did on our game nights. True, it was often board games, and sometimes the same ones over and over. Let me tell you, if I never play Seven Wonders: Architects again...ha, ha! However, looking at the rules sets I did blog about, there are nearly 20 different ones listed. Granted, many of them were "one-off" games, typically when Keith got an urge to play PT Boats or Age of Sail or something similar.

    My long-time gaming companions, Joel & Allen, enjoy an Age of Sail game put on by Keith

However, one that I think will stay is Rebels and Patriots, which are the American War of Independence version of the popular Lion Rampant series. It is what I would call a "big battle" game, and we played it three times (I believe) over the course of 2024. It uses the same engine as Xenos Rampant, which should be a positive, right? We will be more familiar with the mechanics when we play a game. The only thing that worries me about sets of rules that use the same mechanics in a wide variety of periods is will the games feel different? When I run another game of Xenos Rampant, I don't want everyone to say, "This feels like the American Revolution but just with space figures. Does this make sense? A game system's mechanics should give the feel of a period. I worry that systems like Rampant and Wiley Games may suffer from sameness. Honestly, that is why I chose to try something different than Galactic Heroes for my Star Wars skirmishes. I don't want it to feel like a Western gunfight or post-apocalyptic game simply set in space.

    After 3 games, our group has the basics of how 'Rebels and Patriots' works -- which is always good!

Still, Rebels and Patriots has gained traction in our group. I enjoy it, Keith likes running it, and the players are become more and more familiar with the rules. We will see when I run Xenos Rampant again if anyone remarks, "Hey, this feels like an AWI game..."! I'd be interested in hearing from readers if you have encountered this in your own game clubs or feel that way yourself. Perhaps I'm the only one who worries about this or feels this way? Feel free to comment below.

    Although not mentioned on the blog often, we are avid board gamers, too, on Sunday evenings

Speaking of comments, this has probably been the most prolific year by commenters on Lead Legionaries, too. I really enjoy reading your feedback and hearing your thoughts. So, thank you to Bill, Donnie, Jason, Neil, Ray, Tom, and the man who seems to be everywhere, Anonymous! Ha, ha! Seriously, I really enjoy your comments as it confirms for me people are actually out there reading my blog. I'm sure every blogger wonders about that. Lacking any passive feedback such as "Likes" that you see on Facebook or "Times viewed" on Lead Adventure Forum, your comments are what I have to go on. I have had friends or acquaintances tell me they read my blog regularly, so I appreciate that, as well. 

    Expect more Zombie RV AARs in 2025 - more close escapes and characters that don't make it!

A Look Ahead (and some stats)

I mentioned 2024 was my most prolific year. If I get this posted tonight (New Year's Eve), it will be my 86th post of the year. That beats by about 20 my previous high, which was 66 in 2014. December 2024 has been my busiest month ever, too. This will be post #15, eclipsing the previous high pf 13 in October 2013. I actually started Lead Legionaries in September of 2013, though you will see posts dated 2007 through 2009. Those were "re-posts" of After-Action Reports from games played in those years.

    Keith, at right, gets a hankering from time to time for random periods -- like Civil War ironclads!

Why all the productivity this year? Well, it should be obvious - RETIREMENT! When people ask me how retirement is going (I finished teaching in May), I answer, "Every day is a good day." Unless I am out of town, I begin every day by going downstairs into my hobby room and putting in about an hour on whatever I am painting or modeling at the moment. I do get an occasional chance to sneak back downstairs during the day, but this steady one hour a day had done wonders for my output. As you may have seen at the bottom of my posts throughout the year, I have been tracking my Acquired vs. Painted totals. I ended up this year painting 254 miniatures. I took in 227. I hope to make the gap even bigger in 2025 with a full year of being retired.

    My 'Five Parsecs' crew investigates some of the Sci-Fi scatter & buildings I painted up in 2024

What projects will you see posts on in 2025? A number will continue -- my post-apocalyptic campaign and Zombie RV games are both meant to be continuing series. So, my players' characters will improve (though some will likely die -- especially in Zombie RV!), which hopefully means they'll want to keep playing games. I like campaigns, though nowadays this means a continuing series of linked skirmishes rather than the old school Ancients ones where players controlled a kingdom. What else? I will likely finish the story arc of Five Parsecs from Home and then reevaluate whether I want to keep playing solo games. You will see the start of my Star Wars skirmishes, with players controlling factions ranging from the Empire to the Rebel Alliance and all shades of opinion in between. I hope to keep running one-off games of Xenos Rampant, too.

    'A new period...?' Admiral Akbar asks..."It's a trap!!" Mon Calamari 3D-printed figures

 What about new stuff, you ask? Wellll...I enjoyed how Sellswords & Spellslingers worked for my Viking Town Raid. I plan to use that system for a series of linked skirmishes set in Britain during the Viking raids. The players will control a couple characters, seeking to help the inhabitants of Britain survive the fury of the Norsemen. And I plan on tinkering with that system to adapt it to...Vietnam! I have long been tempted to run Vietnam games, but balked at starting a new period (and not having a set of rules I liked). I like the idea of running Vietnam cooperatively, with each player being a sergeant in control of a squad of grunts. Their goal will be get as many of their men to survive their 13 month tour of duty in Vietnam. I will likely test it out solo, first, using my 20mm modern Africa figures. If I like how it works, I will probably invest in a new period in 2025 -- 28mm Vietnam. We'll see, though -- no guarantees!

Thanks for reading my Year in Review! I know it was long, but your readership is appreciated...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254 

One Dice Supers - First Game

    From left, Tom, Allen, and Keith look over the action taking place at our sprawling superhero HQ

Our Sunday evening gaming group has been going steady since the early 1980s. At least four of us -- Allen, Joel, Tom, and myself -- were "charter members" of the unofficial group. So, that means we have been gaming together for four decades! The other day Allen and Tom were reminiscing about how we got our start. Our number one game was Champions superhero roleplaying. Even back then, it was more of a skirmish than RPG, but we played it for a number of years virtually every Sunday. We mixed in board games regularly, too, but Champions was our mainstay.

    Slightly banged up superheros are attended to by the medical staff of the headquarters

Allen told Tom (reportedly - I wasn't present for the conversation) that he'd love to drag out all the old heroes for another game. Tom was intrigued, and began researching a set of rules to play it in  a series of interconnected skirmishes ("...since role playing is forbidden..." he added). That comment was directed at me, likely, as I have no interest in role playing, per se. When anyone has brought up up playing D&D or similar in the last decade or so, I have demurred. Recently, in response to a discussion on the Lead Adventure Forum, I came to the realization that even back then our role playing was really skirmish gaming. The "taking on the role of" was limited. A few players indulged in making speeches (I know I loved my superhero Whaleshark's comic book-like rants at the villains), but for the most part we were rolling dice and fighting on a tabletop.

    The bad guys break in to our HQ and knock our elderly security guard unconscious

Perhaps Tom realized this, as well, and took Allen's suggestion and ran with it. He created a world forty years later when our superheros are old, slowing down, and hoping to retire. However, the world has gone crazy, and is channeling a scene from the graphic novel, "The Watchmen." The public is becoming more and more anti-masked vigilante. Crowds, demonstrations, and government rules are attacking those trying to defend society from crime. In fact, that was how Tom's opening scenario begins. A crowd has gathered outside the hero's seldom-used headquarters, and is threatening to break in. "Off camera," a group of seven of us respond. The heroes are attacked by a group of super powered anti-heroes, drive them off, but sustain wounds and retreat to our medical facility.

That is where Tom's scenario begins. Well, actually it began a few weeks ago when Tom sent us the rules he'd chosen, One Dice Supers, and instructed us to create a pair of characters. Although all rolls are taken care of with the roll of one six-sided die, don't let that convince you the game (or character creation) is simplistic. There are four stats, which are used to derive other stats, and then you add in "Gifts," "Embellishments," "Flaws," and more. All of us were suitable baffled on what to do and how to do it, but Tom did his best to talk us through the process.

    Captain Steel wades into the goons invading our HQ, protected by his high tech armor and shield

My hero is one I created when I was playtesting a superhero variant of my Mean Streets gang warfare game. He's called Captain Steel, and is essentially a strong, agile man in high tech police riot gear. Well, was...in Tom's world we are past our prime and are slowing down. Instead of gaining experience, we will lose skills and strength over the course of the campaign. It's a very intriguing idea. He said he was inspired by the Wolverine movie where Logan is losing his powers and slowly dying. Not to be too depressing, we were also instructed to create a "young apprentice", who will be introduced as we progress through our games.

The game begins with us gathered in our medical facility in our HQ, when we receive a mysterious hologram message from someone calling himself "V for Vendetta." The hooded man is trying to rally us to fight back against what is happening in society. As his message ends, our alarm system goes off and the anti-hero crowd, spearheaded by the Metropolitan Anti-hero Guardians Alliance (MAGA), breaks into our building and knocks our elderly security guard, Stanislaw Lee, unconscious. We immediately begin heading through the doors and rooms to rush to his aid and stave off the crowd's invasion.

    Keith's hero, Badger (at left) busts into a room full of goons, trying to overwhelm them with his voice

Keith's character, Badger, is the first to arrive as he calculated his movement wrong (lots of calculating and deriving new statistics from previously-generated statistics in One Dice Supers). He does his best "presence attack" to try to scare the crowd off. They back off appreciatively, but then immediately go on the attack the next turn. The figure Keith was using wields an armed tipped with a concrete saw, and immediately splatters two of the crowd. Hmm...with heroes like this, maybe I see why we have a public image problem! Meanwhile, the rest of the red-hatted crowd spills past him into the hallway. 

    Three gun-armed goons fall back into the lobby, ready to ambush Badger when he follows them

They are met by a pell-mell rush of superheros charged up and ready to take out some bad guys. With each blow, MAGA minions go flying unconscious, hopefully, or maybe worse. Meanwhile, Badger is still in the room with the more powerful, gun-armed goons. He takes a couple wounds. Hearing his shouts, Captain Steel heroically busts through the door to his aid. He's immediately fired upon and shocked to see some of their attacks get through his high tech body armor and titanium shield. This was alarming, but don't fear. The rules have a recourse for us in "Stunts." Each hero is granted six stunt points to use throughout each game to affect rolls, attacks, defense, etc.

Both Keith and I had to use some of those points to minimize the damage that Badger and Captain Steel were taking, respectively. Eventually, though, we beat down the goons enough that they surrender. Andy's superhero, named "Lift" for his telekinetic powers, uses his telepathy to probe why the crowd was here. Meanwhile, Badger, brandishing his bloody saw, menaces the prisoners into telling them essentially the same thing. They were paid well (they say they don't know by who) to come here, riot, and attack our facility.

    Captain Steel, at right, heroically wades through the crowd of goons to help his teammate Badger

The rest of the group discovers the same thing when they interrogate two attackers in another room. They appeared to be super villains, but had actually stolen and reactivated two powered costumes that were displayed in the museum that is our HQ. I guess we have to do a better job of securing the dangerous weapons in our facility! With all the bad guys in custody or down, the mission was declared over. Tom admitted it was meant to be an easy one to teach us how the system works. Everything is indeed predicated on the roll of a single six-sided die. To hit, you add your ability in question to your skill to the roll of a d6. If you exceed your opponent's Defense, you add in any damage bonuses from your weapon. Subtract the target Defense from that new total number and you have the amount of Health the target loses. Essentially, the roll to hit is combined with the roll to damage in these rules.

For example, Captain Steel adds his Strength of 3 and his skill in his composite material billy club of 2 to a roll of, say, "4". If this "9" is greater than the target's defense, they take hits on their Health. By the way, Captain Steel has a Defense of 9, but also has an Armor of 3, which is subtracted from any hits that exceed the Defense. He also has 11 Health, to give you an idea of how much pounding a superhero can take. Alarmingly, the shotguns the MAGA goons were shooting at him added five hits if their attack roll succeeded. One Dice Supers will likely see players carefully husbanding their Stunts points to survive to the end of the mission (expending one stunt point, for example, causes an attack to automatically miss).

    Big turnout for our last Sunday gaming session of the year, with Anthony & Andy joining us

We had a lot of fun bantering about, razzing each other about what our heroes were doing (or NOT doing). In particular, I razzed Keith about his rather bloodthirsty choice of weapons, and Joel's robotic character on his slowness to the battle. I'm looking forward to seeing the stories that Tom creates. He is a very experienced game master, and has been playing role playing games for many of the decades with other groups. So, he has skill at weaving a compelling tale.

This will likely be my next to last blog post of the year. I will likely do a Year in Review next. I doubt I will get either the scatter terrain I am working on or the batch of miniatures done before Jan. 1.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254 

Sci-Fi Truck & Radar Array (3D Printed)

    Two 3D-printed pieces of scatter terrain -- a Sci-Fi truck and an "Arcane Energy Collector"

I have to confess that I am not incredibly happy with how these two turned out. Am I so displeased that I will repaint them? Definitely not! Will I use them in my Sci-Fi games? Absolutely. I am just sitting back and Monday morning quarterbacking my choice of colors and decisions on painting up these 3D-printed items from Diabolical Terrain and RRB Minis & More.

    Closeup of the models and my attempt to make "glowing" panels with Turquoise & White metallic

The Arcane Energy Collector I picked up as part of my purchases from Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More at ATC 2024. It comes in two pieces, if I remember correctly, and assembles easily. Mine was printed in a black-colored material, which is actually something I would like to see more of in miniatures terrain and scatter. I know it makes it harder to see the details when you're shopping, but having a "pre-printed" black prime could come in handy if you missed a spot in your priming or if there is a scratch. The black will be less visible and blend in. I did my usual spray acrylic black primer followed by a 50/50 mix of black paint and water over it. I did have to be careful in the second step to make sure the holes in the hexagon platform stayed open and weren't sealed over by paint.

    This closeup shows the two-tone Gunmetal Gray & Pewter metallics on the collector's platform

I painted the dish or platform part first, beginning with gun metal gray and doing a Pewter highlight only on the top part. I left the underneath the darker metallic color to represent it being in shadow. I decided to go with my dark blue metallic for the main body, with "glowing" Turquoise panels. The Turquoise does not show up that well, one of my disappointments. I even painted a strip of metallic white in the center of the Turquoise, hoping that would aid the "glow." The trim of the piece were my biggest gripe about how this turned out. The 14K Gold Metallic I chose is not "coppery" enough to look industrial, in my opinion. I also don't like how the blue and gold combo turned out. I should have used my Iron Wind Metals Copper metallic paint, which I do think looks more industrial. 

    No - it is NOT Tesla's next truck! Instead, it is a futuristic take on a truck for my Sci-Fi games

I bought the Sci-Fi truck from Ron Weaver of Diabolical Terrain at ATC 2024, as well. It's a nice little model - nothing fancy, but definitely futuristic looking. It is called a "Pickup Runabout" from their Lunar Kolony range. It costs just $6 printed in 32mm. I decided to go with Ancient Bronze as its body color, with fixtures and accents in Gunmetal Gray. I was excited that it had so many windows because I wanted to finally trying out my bottle of Full Spectrum color shift paint. From the title, and the sticker on the bottle cap, I assumed it produce a glittery mirror-like surface. What a disappointment! It produced a black surface with a few tiny specks of glitter here and there. It looked terrible. So, I decided to just paint the window black and turn them glossy at the end. Once again, somewhat of a disappointment -- not because of the model, but because of paint choices.

    A final look at the Arcane Energy Collector and the Runabout Pickup Sci-Fi scatter pieces

The models themselves were nice and inexpensive, so I definitely recommend them to others looking for scatter for their Sci-Fi games. Maybe use my examples as how NOT to paint them...ha, ha! What's up next? Well, I am only working on one scatter terrain piece. It is Miniature Building Authority's "Refugee Car," comically piled high with everything but the kitchen sink. There's a LOT of detail to paint on it, so it will take awhile. I've also begun another group of four apocalypse survivors or modern figures. These will likely be the final things I finish in 2024. Which means I also need to do a retrospective post, too, looking back on the year in modeling and gaming. Look for that, too!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254 

My Hurried Week of Dark Age Town Additions

    Much to my amazement, I got all of this prepped and ready for the tabletop in one week!

Knowing that I was going to be running my playtest of my Viking Town Raid using Sellswords & Spellslingers this past Sunday, I spent the week leading up to it hurriedly getting some more stuff ready. I wasn't 100% sure I actually needed any of it, but figured it would be nice to have them. I readied two Dark Age buildings for the table, painted up nine more armed peasants, added four highland cattle, two oxen, and a burning fire pit with flickering LED light. 

    This Dark Age hut by Tim Peaslee needed only a minor fix to become part of my Anglo-Saxon town

Amazingly, I ended up getting all of it finished, which honestly surprised me. When I first set up the raid's terrain on my hexagonal gaming mat, I felt it could use a few more buildings. I glanced through my unpainted terrain list that I keep in the Notes section of my phone and saw a couple items I likely could get finished in time. One was a gift from master terrain maker and friend Tim Peaslee. A year or so ago, he had handed me a Dark Age/Medieval looking home that he'd created out of insulation foam and wood. He does the thatch, I believe, by running a wire brush through the insulation foam to give the pattern. Tim then paints the thatch and you would never know it was originally pink foam -- except the one he'd given me you could barely see glimmerings of the pink beneath the thatch color. Being anal, I wanted to get rid of that before I used the building, of course! So, I watered down Walnut brown acrylic paint by about a third and brushed it on thickly. It soaked through, covering any pink. A tan dry brush brought the thatch highlights back, and voila -- one more building was ready for the tabletop!

    My "Made in China" rustic stable needed only a black wash and flocking to be ready, as well

The next building is a rustic-looking stable that originally came from Michaels or similar craft store. I bought this resin piece years ago at a flea market and it still has the "Made in China" sticker on the bottom! It had been obviously mass produced in China, but needed only a little more work. I did a black vehicle wash on the wooden timbers and wattle walls. Next, I painted the green base with my usual earth brown that I use for bases. I flocked it with fine brown ballast and then Woodland Scenics Blended Earth flocking. A second building was ready for the table!

    The Reaper Bones oxen in their stable, happy to be finally painted up and part of a game!

Now, I needed more animals for the stable, right? The stable is rather large, scale-wise, and my current collection of 28mm animals would look diminutive inside of it. Luckily, already based but not painted up, were two large Reaper Bones oxen. I primed them with gesso white, even though I know you supposedly don't need to prime Reaper Bones figs. They got a quick paint job as they were the last things I was working on. I did a base coat of acrylic Bambi Brown and dry brushed them Wild Rice. Next, I painted the thatch of hair on their shoulders Autumn Brown, their horns ivory, and their eye sockets, nostrils, and mouth black. A brown vehicle wash over them and they look very passable for a quick, two-day (?) paint job!

    Four 28mm Gripping Beast (I believe) highland cattle wondering what all the noise of the raid is...

Also already epoxied onto bases were a family of four 28mm highland cattle from Gripping Beast. I had put one adult and one calf on each round base back when I was basing them up as objective markers for Saga (that never got painted). They also received a gesso primer, then a "Georgia Clay" acrylic color base coat. I did a tan dry brush, and picked out their eye sockets, and facial features in black. I did their horns ivory, as well. Once they were dry, I did a brown wash on them, as well. At first, I wasn't too happy with how they looked. Now that they are all flocked and based up, I'm much happier. More animals were in place for my Viking players to steal!

    Three of the 28mm peasants I added "just in case" cluster near the Bad Goblin Games firepit

You have also likely noticed, by this point, the flickering fire pit. This is one of the three 3-D printed LED fires that I bought at Historicon from Bad Goblin Games. This one was the most "Medieval" of the three, so I snatched it out from its brethren to add to the atmosphere of the tabletop. The piece comes with the LED light and the watch battery you slide into the slot ready-made for it. The fire pit itself comes in four pieces. There is the cylindrical, stone base, which I painted black with shades of dry-brushed grays. The orange plastic flames and wood pieces are the second piece. I painted the pieces of wood rather than leave them brown, but left the flames, "as is." I have heard some add a reddish wash over the orange flames. Maybe I will try that on the dumpster and garbage can fire from Bad Goblin Games that I still have to paint? There is also a bronze colored ring that goes atop the pit, which I just gave a clear gloss.  Finally, if you want the fire to be "out," they include a circular disc of "ashes," which I once again did in black and grays. I really like these flickering LED scatter pieces. They are incredibly affordable -- just $5 or less. Bad Goblin will be at Siege of Augusta this January, and I will be sore tempted to pick up more of their incredible terrain!!  

    Next batch of three peasants take their turn faithfully defending the oxen, who watch with interest

Last but not least, I spent most of the week working on nine more 28mm peasants I can use for Dark Age or Medieval games -- especially the raid! Some of them are Ancient Germans from Foundry, while others are Scots/Irish (or Welsh, I forget...) from Old Glory. I needed to put weapons in the hands of some of them, so used some of my spare axes or short swords from my unpainted weapons stash. Other than that, I wanted these to look as poor and simple as possible. So, no patterns or checks or stripes or anything, even though I knew it would make them look nicer. Also, I was in a hurry...ha, ha! I used earth tones -- tans, browns, grays, and some grayish greens or blues. I think they turned out pretty good for a quickie rush job. Did I end up needing them for the game to reinforce the peasants I already had? Well, not really! But hey -- I was prepared! 

    The final group of three Anglo-Saxon peasants ready to heroically chase off the Viking raiders

What's next? I have a couple Sci-Fi pieces of scatter on the paint desk right now. No miniatures, as I'm taking a breath after this hurried week of painting! After that, I am thinking of working on some of the MDF scatter that I bought from Dad's Armies at Advance the Colors...

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254 

Viking Town Raid With Sellswords & Spellslingers

    Anglo-Saxon defenders rally to try to fight off fierce Viking raiders who have come to loot their town

With my playtest of the Viking Town Raid using Saga not being a smashing success, I veered from armies to the other extreme. I would give each player command of three Viking raiders and they would be trying to gather the most loot, captives, and animals to win. It would be a cooperative game using Ganesha Games' Sellswords & Spellslingers fantasy miniatures rules, but with only one winning Viking player. Under these rules, the foes (Anglo-Saxon townspeople and defending soldiers) are controlled by the AI and a deck of cards.

    A good view of the Anglo-Saxon town as Allen, Mike W, and Joel laugh about how the raid is going

So, instead of commanding four units, my players were down to just three guys each. I had read reviews of SS & SS rules and was intrigued. I especially like how it neatly encapsulated the actions of enemies in its activation rolls and card deck system. When it is a player's turn, they select one of their characters and choose to roll for either one, two, or three potential actions. Rolls of "8" or higher on a 20-sided die are successful, 7 and below failures. For each failure, a card is drawn from the event deck. This could activate either a single foe, a horde of them, or even every foe on the board. It can also bring on reinforcements for the bad guys, have an enemy pop out of ambush, or a myriad of other events. 

    Joel's leader, Olaf the Wise, is under attack by a Saxon axeman while his companions rush to his aid

People are encouraged to tailor the event deck to their scenario. For example, whenever the "Trap" card was drawn, I ruled that a village dog would spring out and charge the Viking character who failed their roll. Another neat mechanic is that when a player character (PC) attacks a foe, or an event card determines one attacks the PC, only one die is rolled. The player rolls and if he equals or exceeds the "Danger Level" of the foe, they inflict damage on it (usually killing it -- except for tougher foes). If the player rolls less, they are struck by the foe and possibly take damage if they fail any armor or shield rolls.

    I put our host, Mike W in the blue shirt, in charge of drawing the event cards and reading the results

Designed as a cooperative or solo game, SS & SS essentially "runs itself." I stood by as GM and directed the action for our first game, but I can easily see in the future we can run it as fully cooperative and I can play, as well. Not for the Viking raid, of course, but for our own skirmishes (which, I am sure you are SHOCKED to learn I have an idea for...!). The game flowed easily with the players understanding the sequence and system by the second turn. I could step away for a bathroom break or refill my beer and come back to find the action continuing unabated.

    Tostig, at right, engages an Anglo-Saxon archer while his leader Krumm takes a breather

I used my new hexagon game mat and had each of my five players select an edge to start with their three Viking raiders. In the center of the board was my scratch-built stone church (with flickering LED lights inside tonight!). Guarding the front were the Anglo-Saxon captain in charge of the town defenses and his hearthguard. Their numbers would swell by one whenever the "Scenario Event" or "Mana Flux" cards were drawn. On subsequent runnings of this scenario, I will probably reduce that down to just one of those two cards. By the end of the game, there were far too many hearthguards for the Vikings to risk trying to break through.

    Viking chief Halfdan, left, and his swordsman Fafnir fight off a horde of Anglo-Saxon fyrd

In fact, I will likely reduce the number of foes that begin on the table at the start of the scenario, too. Only two buildings were entered, and only the crew of Mike W's Hakon the Skald took any captives. No one bothered to snag any of the town animals in their pens, either. I will likely make both captives and animals worth more loot in future games to encourage such raider-like behavior! As it was, most of the "silver pieces" worth of loot was taken from the bodies of the slain defenders. 

    Each of the "blood spots" marks where a defender was slain by the deadly Yvgni and his Viking crew

Still, all the players knew it was a playtest and understood their goal. Even if they didn't reach the church, they had fun slaughtering townsfolk and avoiding their counter-attacks. The deadliest defenders were the "Wandering Monsters" of a mounted Anglo-Saxon hearthguard who would show up on the table edge and charge into the closest raider. The town dogs performed particularly badly, though, being driven off without causing any hits in all but one occasion. The most spirited defender was a town boy who, after watching his mom and older sister being knocked unconscious by a Viking, fought off that same Viking for several rounds before finally being subdued. 

    Ulfgar the archer is ridden down by an angry mounted hearthguard, while Tostig tries to aid him

Still, the Anglo-Saxons inflicted some losses. Mike S, despite it being his birthday, received the unhappy present of terrible combat die rolls. Two of his three Vikings were knocked out of action by the defenders. Allen lost one, as well, and probably had the worst luck at activation rolls of any. Otherwise, all forces were able to withdraw off-table when we called the game for time. Mike W barely edge out Tom 36-35 victory points as we "kibbitzed" what would happen in the next turn and counted up the points. Allen scored 31, Joel 25, and birthday boy brought up the rear with only 14 points. Hard luck for Mike S two weeks in a row!

    Mike S, left, smiles in the early going of the game, not knowing the ill luck that awaits him in town!

Unlike last game, I am calling the Viking Town Raid using SS & SS a success. It will likely be my game that I run at conventions in 2025 -- well, at least for the first half of the year. In fact, I plan on giving the game a "Hollywood" hook and purchasing figures for "Vikings" stars Ragnar Lothbrok, his wife Lagertha, and their sons and painting them up for my convention games. I asked my players what they thought of the scenario and rules and their comments were very positive and encouraging. The only suggestions were on how to balance the scenario out a bit more. So, I would say look for more semi-historical skirmishes in 2025 using SS &SS!

    Young Viking chieftain Krumm falls to a horde of defenders just as he was in sight of the church!

What's next? Well, I took the week to hurriedly bring two more buildings into play, nine town defenders, and six farm animals. Amazingly, they were done in time and used in the game. So, it will be just a matter of taking pictures and writing up the blog post to show you those. Looks for that in the next couple days!

    It is dawn and a pit fire burns in front of the church before word of the Viking raid awakes the town

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254 

    The monks are awake, though, and singing praises in the church by the flickering candlelight

    An overhead look at the raid's progress towards the end of the game