2025: Year in Review

    One of my most noteworthy projects this year was my 28mm Vietnam one using the 'Black Sun' figs

I think a good term for this past year (2025) is "Changing of the Guard." Some projects or campaigns that had been going strong were wrapped up and new ones marched front and center. Regular readers of Lead Legionaries are probably well aware of the new ones, so let's talk first about which ones were relieved of their post -- at least for the time being!

    The 'End' has finally come for the Buck Nuts and other post-apocalyptic gangs in my campaign

 Changing of the Guard: Retiring from Duty (Zombie RV and Post-apocalyptic Campaign)

You could consider both of these series of games run for our Sunday Evening group post-apocalyptic, of course. They used two different rules sets and characters, though. Well, for the most part! Some of the figures (and even names) from our long-running post-apocalyptic campaign using Wiley Games rules showed up in our Zombie RV games. We ended up running the Wiley Games rules eight times, if I am counting the After-Action Reports correctly. The final game occurred in March with the Get Your Goat scenario I ran. I felt the action was kind of growing stagnant, with the same gangs of survivors facing off with each other and some growing significantly more powerful. It was a fun series of games, though. My favorite moment in there was when my Planet of the Apes figures made a cameo appearance for the campaign, and the way they caused some alarm in the first game they appeared. 

Will I run the Buck Nuts, Night Stalkers, F Troop and company out onto the tabletop again? Not very likely. One of the cool things about playing a campaign is watching your characters grow and progress. Unfortunately, one of the unbalancing things about campaigns is that, in most cases, different player groups grow at different rates. The longer the campaign, the more "the rich the will get richer," and the more weak the weaker will get. I had an idea how to fix that and am trying it in one of the new campaigns, below. 

    Junior's zombie hunting days are over as I wrapped up the Zombie RV campaign prematurely

The other campaign that took a bow and exited the stage in 2025 was Zombie RV. Sadly, this campaign lasted less time -- only about six games, if you count the two-player games Jenny and I tried to test out the rules set. It avoided the trap of the post-apocalytpic campaign in that it was cooperative. All players were on the same side trying to...well, survive the zombie apocalypse! I don't think it stopped because of player disinterest. One of our regulars asked in the Fall what happened to the game, and wasn't it about time for another Zombie RV game?

I hate to say it, but one of my players caused ME to lose interest in running. Not to point fingers, but he couldn't get out of the habit of questioning zombie physiology and arguing every time the zombies decided to move towards his figures instead of someone else's. Constant questions of how do zombies "see"? Arguing whether they could see his figures on the other side of a vehicle -- things like that. Eventually, I grew tired of it and decided to not run it anymore. Being a GM is stressful enough, at times, and having to constantly deal with arguments about interpreting a very clear set of priorities about where each zombie will go became too much for me. So, my response to the "Isn't it about time for another game of Zombie RV?" explained why I wasn't going to run it anymore. The player in question was surprised, but the others agreed with me that he did indeed to those things. Thankfully, this type of thing doesn't happen very often in our games, though.

    Setup for my 'Viking Town Raid' game with its hexagonal board and cooperative play

2025's Convention Game (Viking Town Raid)

My convention game this year, Viking Town Raid, also inspired one of my 2025 projects (see below). Each year, I typically pick a scenario that I will run at various local or regional conventions, such as Cincycon, DayCon, Drums at the Rapids, and Origins Game Fair. In this cooperative miniatures scenario, the players were all Viking raiders and the enemy were the townsfolk and defenders. The rules used were Ganesha Games Sellswords & Spellslingers (minus the fantasy aspects, of course). To make it more accessible to folks reading the event description in a convention program, I included the heroes from the History Channel's "Vikings" miniseries. I picked up Ragnar Lothbrok, his brother Rollo, wife Lagertha, and more from Brigade Games. The figs looked spot-on AND they were domestically stocked. This is the Year of the Tariff and its wrecking ball course through the gaming industry, after all!

    Ragnar Lothbrok (center) and his friends and family were the player's leaders in the Viking game

I like to make my games good for up to six players, which I was worried would be a bit of a challenge for the rules system. I pared down the number of characters each player controlled to three, and created a hexagon shaped game mat that was roughly 4 feet across in all directions. That gave everyone equal access to the Anglo-Saxon church in the center of the table where the highest value loot would be. Although the game was cooperative, players were competing to amass the most victory points from loot, captives, and livestock.

The game worked out great, and players loved it all 16 times (!) that I ran it over the course of 2025. I figured out a way to keep the game moving quickly so there wouldn't be long waits for players for their turn. Players had a blast, they said, and the scenario really played to the strengths of SS&SS's game mechanics. The dice rolls of the players, or more accurately their failures at dice rolling, activate the enemies. Since dice are random, that meant each game was a bit different. Outcomes ranged from many of the monks inside my scratch-built Anglo-Saxon church being taken captive to no raiders making it that far into the town. It was definitely a success, and actually led to next year's convention game!

    My Orc warlord and his bodyguard - part of my '2026' project of an orc & goblin army

 Changing of the Guard - New Projects (Vietnam War and Dragon Rampant Orc & Goblin army)

At some point while I was running my Viking Town Raid game, a thought entered my head that the mechanics would actually make a great system for gaming the Vietnam War. Not knowing where foes will pop up next in a game of SS&SS, the randomness of things going along fine and then suddenly going to Hell in a hand basket because of a streak of bad player rolls, all screamed Vietnam to me. I reached out to Andrea Sfiligoi of Ganesha Games and pitched my idea to him. He cautioned me that SS&SS is mostly a melee game while Vietnam is pretty much all shooting. He said if I could overcome that to my satisfaction that he would love to publish a Sellswords variant set in Vietnam. And so, 16 Viking Town Raids lead to writing the rules for Surviving 'Nam: An Infantryman's Year "In Country." 

I hit up my friend Jim W for miniature recommendations because he was currently running 28mm Vietnam skirmish for his gaming group in Michigan. I ended up deciding on Crucible Crush's Black Sun range (essentially, Pulp Figures). I ordered the figs which got to me from Canada before our nation's lovely, disruptive tariffs were in place. I began painting them up and fell in love with their personality, animation, and ease of painting. This last fact meant I finished with painting up the project much quicker than I had expected. This accelerated my play testing schedule, which began with solo games. Since it is cooperative, the players take on the role of U.S. or allied soldiers while their Viet Cong foes appear on the table and move and fire based on the event cards and failed dice rolls of the players.

    In my Surviving 'Nam rules, the Viet Cong (above) are controlled by the event cards & players' rolls

My posts about the play test games on here, the Lead Adventure Forum, and Facebook prompted a number of folks to reach out to me interested in helping with the play test. At this point, I have about 10 different groups in the U.S., U.K., and Italy running games of Surviving 'Nam and getting back to me with the results. The most enthusiastic group has been Bob F and Pete S from the U.K. (and Lead Adventure Forum). They have replied after every game and we have had an incredibly productive and helpful back and forth on their comments. I also ran four games of Surviving 'Nam at a couple regional conventions, World at War at Fort Meigs and Hold the Line in Port Clinton, OH. Following those November games, Bob, Pete, and I pronounced ourselves satisfied with the mechanics (there will be tweaks, of course, leading up to publication). Now, it is on to the writing the campaign and background portion of the rules, and playtesting the scenarios which will be included.

The other "New Guard" this year were orcs and goblins for Daniel Mersey's 2nd Edition of Dragon Rampant. These came out in the Fall and are part of a stable of games using the same basic mechanics. We have used them for a number of periods ourselves, including Ancients/Medieval (Lion Rampant), English Civil War (The Pikeman's Lament), American Revolution (Rebels and Patriots), Colonial (The Men Who Would be Kings) and Sci-Fi games (Xenos Rampant). If it is good for all these periods, why not another one (Fantasy)? Although this was intended to be a 2026 project, my friend Jeff G reached out to me earlier in the year with an offer I couldn't refuse. He wanted to sell of his collection of 28mm Gripping Beast orcs and goblins from the Ragnarok range. The price was unbeatable, but it was way more figures than I needed. I reached out to my friends and Rusty P said he'd be willing to go in on the collection with me. In fact, he bought Jeff's Dwaves, too.

    Some of the Gripping Beast orcs & goblins I painted up this year from the 'Ragnorak' line

When the horde of unpainted orcs and goblins arrived, and I divided them evenly between Rusty and myself, I honestly despaired of having my Miniatures Painted ever attain my Miniatures Acquired numbers. However, the speed with which I finished the Vietnam project allowed me to get a head start on them. As it stands, my "2026 Project" is pretty far along as 2025 draws to a close. My Sunday Evening group is pretty enthusiastic about playing some games of Dragon Rampant, with Mike S, Keith F, and Andy S all having armies lined up for it. I foresee us getting a game in no later than this January, I imagine. I made it a point to paint up my orcs and goblins as "Tolkien like" as possible. No Games Workshop greenies here...ha, ha! Response to how they're turning out on this blog and the Lead Adventure Forum has been very encouraging. I'm happy with them, too!

The final project -- ALSO more of a "2026" one -- was for a series of horror games set in frontier America. Specifically, I wanted to set them in Franklinton, OH, which is now pretty much part of Columbus, where I live. I went back and forth about whether to use Devilry Afoot (created by a Lead Adventure Forum member), Silver Bayonet, or Dracula's America. I envisioned the games to be cooperative, with each player controlling a couple of characters. They'd be battling monsters and enemies summoned by a native American tribal resistance to American settling of Ohio. I ended up selecting Devilry Afoot because it is the only one of the three that is truly cooperative. The other two are meant to be competitive (and one vs. one), with the monsters as non-player dangers in the scenarios. After the post-apocalyptic campaign experience with some player forces outstripping the others in effectiveness, I decided to go with Devilry Afoot. Plus, I am really excited and into cooperative games, nowadays.

    My first batch of 28mm figures for games of 'Devilry Afoot' set on the American frontier

I picked up a bunch of figures at Historicon 2025 (further torpedoing my chance of evening up Painted vs. Acquired, I thought). When the guys asked if I was going to run another Halloween themed game this October, I decided to kick things for Devilry Afoot into high gear so I could do so. This was only possible because, once again, I had finished the painting for the Vietnam project so quickly. I was successful in getting enough figures and monsters ready for the tabletop. So, in honor of Halloween, I ran The Coming Storm -- the debut for my series of games in this fully armed and operational 2026 project...ha, ha!

As two campaigns ended this year, another one took off fairly successfully. I began running a Star Wars skirmish campaign using Space Weirdos rules. Most of the figures were painted in 2024, and I had been planning to start up the campaign at the end of last year. I decided to have each player select a faction on a continuum from Empire to Rebel. Since we normally have six players show up, they included (Empire (Mike S) - Corporate Security (Joel S) - Mercenaries (Keith F) - Criminal Syndicate (Allen S) - Local Rebels (Tom G) - Rebel Alliance (Mike W). On the couple of times that Andy S could show up, I had him take on the role of the Tatooine locals in Mos Eisley. I would design the scenario and tailor each faction's Victory Points to their level of "All In" for their side of the continuum. Or I would give them side missions that intersected with the main opposed mission between the Empire and the Rebels. 

    One of my Star Wars skirmish games using Space Weirdos rules set in Mos Eisley on Tatooine 

Space Weirdos is a great set of rules, and everyone seems to be enjoying them. Each player controls a handful of characters who activate in a spiraling initiative system. When it is a player's turn, he chooses one of his unactivated figures and executes their three actions. Then it is on to the next player in Initiative Order, until everyone has activated all figures. This keeps folks involved, especially since Space Weirdos uses opposed die rolls to resolve shooting, melee, etc. I have another Star Wars game scheduled for January, and hope it continues to be enjoyable for my players throughout 2026. 

    Among the many games at Advance the Colors 2025 were Steve Verdoliva's Napoleonic ones

 

Conventions I attended in 2025

 So, I probably made it to more shows than I ever have before this year. Retirement will give you that opportunity, I guess! In January, I attended Siege of Augusta while visiting my friend Jason M in Columbia, SC. I think this was my third or fourth time at the convention, which Jason uses as a carrot to get me to visit him down south. Next up were three usual Spring-time ones: Cincycon (guess where?), DayCon (ditto), and Drums at the Rapids at Fort Meigs. I added in a new one when I helped organize a series of historical miniatures games at Buckeye Game Fest in late May. A friend had volunteered to do it, but had something else come up. So, I stepped in at the last minute and we did a decent job of collecting GMs to run miniatures games at this mostly board game convention.

Once again, I helped with the HMGS Great Lakes effort at Origins Game Fair in Columbus. This used to be a mainstay of our chapter, and a lucrative one for recruiting new members. However, Origins pivoted in directions it was going a decade or more ago, and we no longer felt welcome. That management has thankfully moved on and the all-genre convention actively sought us out to return and run games. Each year, we've gotten a little larger, I think -- especially in numbers of players signed up. My six runnings of Viking Town Raid were all full, if I remember correctly. If you want to get in on the fun, we need to have your event in PRONTO, ASAP, QUICKLY. Contact me in the comments or if you have my email, reach out, please. We'd love to have your game in our dedicated HMGS Great Lakes area inside the main miniatures hall! 

    A Bolt Action tournament was one of the many historical miniatures games at Origins Game Fair

After Origins, it was our historical miniatures hobby's biggest show in the U.S., Historicon 2025. We had a big group drive over from Columbus, where we met my friend Jason M and his son. I didn't run any games and instead declared it would be a weekend of playing miniatures games. Imagine that! There was a bit of a layoff until our Great Lakes chapter's flagship convention, Advance the Colors in Springfield, OH. We continue to grow every year and just missed my goal of attaining the 250 attendee mark, this year. Next year, for sure! I do administrative duties for this convention, so no running games or playing for me there. I wrapped up the year with the aforementioned November conventions, World at War and Hold the Line. My Surviving 'Nam was full all four times and I received great encouragement and some feedback in those games. I count that as 10 conventions (my friend Mike S would comment that is because that's how many fingers and thumbs I have!), which is almost one a month. Will I attend that many (or add more?) in 2026? We shall see!

    The finale of my 'Five Parsecs from Home' solo campaign features my crew completing their quest

Solo Games

 This was a completely new aspect of gaming for me in 2025. With the good fortune of having a regular weekly gaming group as well as an active local convention scene, I've never felt the need to do solo games. However, I began using solo games to test out a couple cooperative rules sets to see if I felt the mechanics would work with six players and a GM. The first one of these was Five Parsecs from Home. Prior to beginning the Space Weirdos campaign, I was still actively looking for a Sci-Fi rules set. I didn't want to use Wiley Games rules because of their strangely short weapon ranges and the fact it would seem like duplication of the post-apocalyptic campaign. I had read a lot of threads and game report on Lead Adventure Forum about Five Parsecs, so I decided to give it a try.

I created my own crew and began running a series of games using the rules. The campaign mechanics are simply top notch in Five Parsecs (and its fantasy precursor, Five Leagues from the Borderlands). The various charts and die rolls do honestly create a storyline and narrative for your characters. Of course, some of it the player creates in response to the roll, finding a way to rationalize that outcome. I had fun creating the background and story of the crew of the Inconceivable (of course, a nod to The Princess Bride). When my story arc ended, aka we completed our quest, I judged that the rules mechanics really weren't what I wanted for a six-player Sci-Fi game. Still, I had fun with it and encourage anyone interested in solo gaming or cooperative with a much smaller group to look into them.

    The Splintered Band escorts a wagon full of supplies in my first 'Sellswords' solo adventure

My other solo venture was using Sellswords & Spellslingers. I was thinking of running a semi-historical (or semi-fantasy?) campaign for the Sunday Evening gamers set in Dark Age Britain during the time of the Viking invasions. The players would be the heroes of Britain -- Saxons, Picts, Scots, Britons, etc. -- fighting off the Viking incursions. Think of it as a reverse of the Viking Town Raid game that I ran in 2025. Once again, I wasn't 100% sure of the mechanics fitting such a big group. So, I decided to run my own solo series of fantasy games using the rules to test them out.

I love my Splintered Light Miniatures anthropomorphic animals, so used that as an excuse to bring them onto the tabletop again. They had not seen light of day since our short delve into Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago seven (!) years ago. Thus began the Tales of the Splintered Band (see what I did there?).  I managed only two or three games, but I would like to go back this coming year and continue the adventures of Badger mage Jemmy Tar and his animal kingdom friends fighting against the incursion of the rat hordes. 

    Two Acheson Creations Vietnam buildings from Miniature Building Authority that I painted up

 My Painting Goals

In 2024, I tracked Painted "Stuff" vs. Acquired "Stuff", lumping in both terrain and scatter. That made for a weird mix, so I decided this year to split that into Miniatures, Terrain, and Scatter. I decided that the difference between "terrain" and "scatter" is mainly size and made an arbitrary call for each piece completed. A resin or 3-D printed building is definitely terrain. A 3-D printed basket of fish is scatter. Scratch building a rice paddy is terrain. Creating flocked markers to track which figures have moved in Space Weirdos is scatter. Yes, it is still a judgement call. However, I am very happy with how this division worked out in 2025. Here are my results, reproduced here:

• Miniatures: 306 Acquired, 307 Painted
• Terrain: 62 Acquired, 80 Painted
• Scatter: 144 Acquired, 213 Painted 

    Three new Mos Eisley buildings from Diabolical Terrain for my Star Wars skirmish games

I consider these numbers a whopping success! Remember my despair a couple times this year that I would ever get my Miniatures Painted above the lofty number my "Ooh, shiny!" tendency had set for me. So, what were some highlights of the terrain and scatter that I painted up this year? I would have to say finishing so much Vietnam terrain was very heartening. My favorites were the formerly Acheson Creations resin buildings that I picked up from Miniature Building Authority. What's more, I still have more to do in 2026. I have the Diabolical Terrain 3-D printed huts on stilts to do for buildings. I also want to do something for elephant grass, which I read about regularly in the historical accounts of the conflict that I've been devouring in 2025.

I also churned out more trailer park buildings and scatter for my post-apocalyptic and zombie games. Many of these were from one of my new favorites in 3-D printed terrain -- Bad Goblin Games. Sadly, with me pulling the plug on both post-apoc campaigns, all of that is sitting unused on the display shelves of my downstairs closet right now. However, I'm sure I'll find a use for them in 2026, as well. There's that idea I have for a modern-day trailer park battle sparked by a federal raid on an illegal moonshine still. There's simply too much good stuff from Bad Goblin and MBA completed and on the shelves to sit unused!

    I painted up 213 pieces of scatter terrain in 2025, including these clothes lines from MBA

There was also a nice output of buildings and things for my Star Wars campaigns in 2015. I painted up a number of 3-D printed "Tatooie" buildings from Diabolical Terrain for my take on Mos Eisley. I also scratch-built a squadron of TIE fighters that appeared in two scenarios. There was another influx of adobe buildings that I could use in my Star Wars games bought off my friend Jeff G at Hold the Line. So, I think I finally have enough buildings for my city games set on Tatooine in the Star Wars universe!

All in all, I would say that I had a VERY successful year of gaming in 2025. One indicator is this blog itself. This should be post #130. That is a more than 50% increase over last year's 86 -- previously the most ever in the 13 years I've been recording my gaming on Lead Legionaries. Doing the math, that means I am uploading a new post on an average of once every three days (actually more -- 2.8!). I thank all of my regular and occasional readers -- Bill, Donnie, Jason, Simon, Graham, Shaun, Neil, Ray, Richard, Johan, and anyone else I forgot to mention. And of course, Sunday Evening Gamer "Anonymous" (who will hopefully figure out how to create a Google ID in 2026...ha, ha!). Thank you all -- and see you in 2026!!

More 'Spirit Animals' & Diminutive Nasty Redcaps

    My last batch of minis in 2025 might be the smallest -- diminutive Redcaps, most converted Conquest

There is a good chance this may be my final batch of miniatures finished in 2025. Actually, it is two batches. I started the five 28mm scale animals way back when I was hurrying to get things together for a Halloween game of Devilry Afoot. I left these five with just their base coats completed, and there they say for weeks and weeks as other batches were started and finished. Last week, though, I sat down and planned out how to reach my goal of having my Painted Miniatures total exceed my Acquired for the year. I knew these five would not take long to finish and time was of the essence.

    Lurking on my painting desk for weeks, the final 5 'Spirit Animals' got finished up in one day

In the end, I finished the painting of all five in one session. Pulling up Google Images of Fox, Badger, and Raccoon on the laptop next to my painting desk, I began with the fox. I did a light dry brush of terra cotta over the red brown base coat. Next, I took a fine point brush and applied the white patches to where the photos said they belonged on a fox. Finally, I did the same with the black. Other than the flocking, the fox was done.

    'Which way did the fox go?' Well, he (or she) lurked on the corner of my desk with its base coat done

I followed up with the two badgers. Over the gray base coat, I did a black dry brush. Although I think the coat of a badger is more complex than that, and also contains lighter colored hairs, I couldn't figure out a way to do it effectively. Next, I took the white and did it on their faces. Next, it was the black patterns. Not all badgers have identical markings, but I took the ones that seemed to be most common.

    Thanks to a music video Andy S sent me, I will always say, 'Badger, badgers, badgers...!'

Finally, it was on to the raccoons. Same thing as with the badgers, a black dry brush, followed by the white patches and then the black ones. I also did the rings on the tail. I think the raccoons are my favorite as their coloring is so iconic they seemed the easiest to duplicate. Next, I did my standard flocking on all five bases. I went with just two tufts on their bases as I didn't want these low-to-the-ground figures to be overwhelmed by all the grass.

    The 2 raccoons were my favorite of this batch of 5 spirit animals with their distinctive markings

Part Two of the plan to finish in the green on Miniatures Painted involved Redcaps. What are redcaps? Well, they're malevolent little goblins of Celtic mythology. They wear hats that are dyed red by soaking them in the blood of the people they have murdered. Vicious little buggers! I would have to paint 10 of them to exceed my Miniatures Acquired by one, which was likely more than I will ever need for a game of Devilry Afoot or Sellswords & Spellslingers. 

    The redcaps with the sickle sword and halberd were the ones from Nolzur's Marvelous Minis

Two of the figures are actually sculpted as redcaps -- from the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line. The rest come from a very cool company, Conquest Games, and their Myths of Albion Line. These inspired looking figures include a batch of little guys called Svartalfars. I had bought several packs of them earlier this year, thinking they would make good goblins when I started painting my 28mm Dragon Rampant army. When the figures arrived, I was shocked at how tiny they are. Jenny looked at them and said they were 15mm scale. They're technically not, but they are pretty much that size. They were too tiny for goblins, I felt

    I took 8 of my Conquest Games tiny little 'Svartalfar' and gave them caps made of green stuff

However, they could be modified as redcaps! It would involve me going outside my comfort zone and sculpting their caps with green stuff. I am not very well practiced or skilled at it, and I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do that. I considered just painting them "as is" with their little bald heads. However, in the end, I decided to give it a go. After reviewing some "How To's", I sat down one afternoon and pulled out my ribbon of green stuff. I snipped off a small piece with an X-acto knife and began kneading the blue and yellow sections together. I liberally watered it down, dunking it in water every few minutes. I don't know if I purchased a bad batch of it a few years ago, but I regularly get hard shards that don't mix. I've learned to cut those out and throw them away until all that I'm left with is soft, pliable, and thoroughly green.

    These were probably 3 of my favorite sculpted green stuff caps of the batch

Next, I shaped a tiny little cone with it and pressed it down on the head of one of the Svartalfar. I would say that, for the first one, I had to retry it about a dozen times. As I finished each one and set the figure down so it's cap would dry, I went on to the next. By the eighth and final miniature, I had to retry and start over on the cone only a few times. In my opinion, some turned out much better than others. It was hard to blend the brim of the cap onto the head, which is the reason I had to redo each little hat so many times. In the end, I'm fairly happy with how they turned out. Not ecstatic, but for such tiny little figures, I think they look okay. They're certainly not as good as the purchased redcap hats. They'll do for minis I likely won't use all that often.

    Close up of 5 of the redcaps -- I think they have very expressive (and nasty looking) faces

Still, I was worried that the greenstuff wouldn't adhere to the heads. So, the next morning, I mixed up a batch of two-part, 5-Minute Epoxy. I took a tiny paint brush I didn't really need anymore and painted it onto the join between the cap and the head. I hoped this would seal it onto the figure and prevent the caps from being knocked off if the figure were dropped. Next, I primed them with brush on, Liquitex White Gesso. The next day I began painting.

    More murderous little buggers - you can clearly see the better detail in the center Nolzur's redcap

For the skin, I did a base coat of Raw Sienna. The next day, I dry brushed their skin a bright tan color called Maple Sugar. In addition to being very small, the miniatures don't really have a lot of equipment. Each figure has a tunic or loin cloth, which I painted in a variety of colors, dry brushing them a lighter highlight color the next morning. Most have shields and clubs, a few stone axes, and the Nolzur's figures have a sickle-shaped sword and a halberd. I made sure to do all metals in bronze, as a common theme in Celtic myth is a Faerie vulnerability to cold iron. 

I chose three shades of red for their caps -- red-brown, Blood Red, and Cardinal Red. Each got a highlight in a lighter tone, as well. The shields were done a dark brown on the inside and I tried to give them a wicker look on the outside, with Autumn Brown base coat and Khaki dry brush. I painted leather for all the straps, belts, sheaths, and such. Their faces I did similarly to my Orcs. I used a pale yellow for the eye "whites" with a dark brown pupil. The mouths I painted Blood Red, picking out tiny teeth with the same pale yellow. With a final brown wash over the skin, leather, and tans or yellows, and a black wash over the grays and caps, I was done with all 10 of these guys. 

    Looking down at a band of redcaps lurking in a rocky area, hoping to waylay and murder a traveler

I added some tiny rocks to their bases before flocking, as the legends refer to them inhabiting rocky or craggy areas. I also toned down the green grass, using less of it than I normally do on a figure base. The tufts were all ones with brownish grass, as well. Redcaps are supposed to haunt desolate places -- not fertile fields, if I am remembering the legends correctly! 

And with that, my likely final batch of miniatures for the year was complete! It had been a near thing, but I ended up painting more miniatures than I bought this year. Of course, purchasing figures for two new projects this year (orc and goblin army and Devilry Rampant) had made it more difficult. I did it, though. I think before I make any figure purchases in 2026, I'm going to thoroughly review what's in my unpainted lead pile. Surely there is something in there that I want to paint, right?

SUCCESS!!! All three categories ended up with more painted than acquired!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 307

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 80

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 213 

Trying Out Sellswords on Sunday Night

    10 goblins charge towards Keith's two characters at the start of a game of Sellswords & Spellslingers

I'd been wanting to see if the Sunday night gang would enjoy playing Sellswords & Spellslingers. I knew we would be pushing the envelope on size for this cooperative miniatures game. We typically have six players with the GM making seven. Still, I was eager to try and they agreed to give it a go. I gave each player the option to create 50 points (instead of the standard 60) points worth of characters, or use one of the samples I'd created. This would mean 300 points of player characters against the enemies, which would be controlled by the game mechanics. The slightly reduced points I gave my six players actually equaled five player's worth of enemies. A small difference, I know. But I hoped it might make the numbers of figures on the table more manageable?

    Look at the table with its rain-drenched, slippery, rocky areas infested by hordes of orcs & goblins

I chose the "Orcs and Slippery Stones" scenario from the base rules. I increased the table size to 4'x3', though. However, I think I will shrink it back down to 3'x3' for our next game. I was worried about the table being too crowded, but I don't think that was the case. Populating the board with the Foes to equal 300 points of player characters meant I placed five Orc Brutes, five Goblin Warriors, and five Hordes of 3 Goblin warriors each. A dozen player characters against 25 Foes -- at least initially. More Foes would come on table as a result of the event cards. I decided to let the players, who were sitting spaced out around the table, deploy where they chose and not all on the same edge. They ended up deploying on all four edges. This meant they were not really in support range of each other, except for Keith and Tom, who quickly moved closer together as they were facing the bulk of the orc and goblin horde.

    An orc brute followed by four goblins barrel towards Mike W's two characters on the board edge

After a quick rules explanation (some had played it once or twice before), we began. The players started off awfully with their activation rolls. They failed to roll an 8+ on a 1d20 on the first five rolls. It didn't get better as turns went around the table. The typical roll was one success and two failures. Several of us were shaking our heads in disbelief. Each activation rolls has essentially a 65% chance of success. As an event card is flipped for each failure, new Foes swelled the orcs and goblins ranks on the tabletop. One player said they weren't being paid enough to face this many orcs and goblins! I tried to keep their morale up, pointing out each success they had shooting down or slaying an orc or goblin in melee. See, I would say --it's easy!

    Five of the six players as they contemplate how to drive off the horde of orcs & goblins

A massive horde of orcs and goblins charged towards Keith and Tom, who formed up, shoulder to shoulder. They were a wall of steel and began cutting down hordes of goblins. Tom's archer stood behind the other three characters and picked off ones at range. The orcs and goblins were funneled against the three other fighters, who stood together to keep any from being overwhelmed. Slowly, they began to whittle down the number of attackers. Meanwhile, the Sams brothers, Allen and Joel in opposite corners, cut down the first group of orcs and goblins that charged them. They were left with few enemies to fight, so had to begin moving across the expanse of the table to aid their companions. Mike S, who'd created a mage and a fighter, was swarmed by a pincer movement of orcs and goblins. His mage was contacted in hand to hand and was soon down to one wound left. By a heroic effort, he killed the goblin in contact with him and then fled the off-table to safety. The fighter was nearly surrounded, but kept swinging and orcs and goblins kept falling.

    Mike S's two characters stand their ground against an incoming mass of orcs & goblins 

Mike W had deployed near a horde of goblins and was beset almost immediately. Although he killed many, one of his fighters was also down to one wound. The goal of the game is for the players to kill enough foes so that they outnumber the enemy. It was a steep order, with the event cards constantly replacing the slain. Eventually, the worm turned, though, on their activation die rolls. The players went from failing repeatedly to succeeding most of the time. As the activation die rolls evened out, more and more foes were cut down. I know that technically the game wasn't supposed to end until all enemies leave the table. However, it was such a heroic effort to whittle down the vast numbers of orcs and goblins, that I called the game when they finally outnumbered them. I said the orc's and goblin's morale broke and they ran from the field. 

    Fearghall prepares to strike down the last of a goblin trio who had charged him (& wounded him)

It was our first game and I didn't want it to degenerate into tediously chasing off every last figure. In the two-plus hours, they got a good taste of how Sellswords worked. I wasn't sure how they liked it, but when I asked if they were interested in playing it again, all were positive and said yes. So, I will give them a chance to create their own characters. Then, I think I will likely run the Last Stand at Mistham campaign for them. I was happy they enjoyed a game of cooperative fantasy miniatures skirmish. I really like the Sellswords system, and think the ebb and flow of dice rolls really add to the game. Things looked bleak as the players failed their rolls more than average, and then momentum changed, and they struck back and began to win. 

    Litko blood spot markers show where goblins have fallen to Keith & Tom's trio of heroes

So, hopefully we'll play again soon. If you haven't tried out the Sellswords system, I highly recommend it. It's a great cooperative (and solo) game. 

    Down 2 of his 3 wounds, Mike S's mage at left tries to fight off an armored goblin in contact

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 292

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 80

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 213 

They have TWO Cave Trolls...!

    Need to paint miniatures fast? Pick ones that are nearly naked! More 28mm goblins and trolls

I am in all-out mode to attain my mark of painted miniatures for the year. With the completion of this batch, I am 14 figures away from having my number of painted miniatures equal my "Acquired Minis" (purchased or given to me). In fact, I specifically chose these six figures to paint because I knew they'd go quickly. I believe all of my remaining unpainted orcs, goblins, and trolls I have are armored. More armor and equipment means more things to paint, and more time spent. As you can see, these six figures are almost naked. And not surprisingly, they did paint up VERY quickly, especially following on the heels of the more involved and detailed orc commander and his bodyguard batch I just finished.

    I love the expressions and faces -- I think the skin tone still looks great on a nearly naked goblin

I'm calling these four figures "goblins," but on the Gripping Beast site they are labeled as Uruk Trackers. In the Ragnarok line, as far as I can tell, "Uruk" is their name for orc and "Snaga" is for goblin. Not that it really matters. Lots of Tolkien fans have debated whether these are two different breeds or just two different names for the same thing. In my mind, I'm working on the assumption that goblins are the smaller, less well-equipped ones, while orcs are a bit larger and usually having better equipment or armor. So, four nearly naked dudes are goblins in my book!

    Although it was a small batch of figures, it went very quickly and took only a few sessions to finish

I gave two of the goblins swords and an axe for another and spear for the fourth one. That's been my normal proportion, trying to give a variety of armament. I also used my normal color scheme for the skin and the paler or darker tones for their loin cloth. The shields in the pack looked to me like they were leather, so I painted them up that way. I picked out some "tribal" type patterns for their shields, which I did with my dark brown micron pen. I think the faces and expressions look great on these guys and am really happy with how they turned out.

    These 28mm cave trolls from the 28mm Gripping Beast line look like ugly brutes they should be

If I was really concerned about making my numbers of figures match Dragon Rampant unit sizes, I should have painted three trolls in this batch instead of two. However, these were the last two unarmored ones that I had. Well, I take that back. There are a couple very weird looking trolls included in the figures I bought. They look nothing like these cave trolls I've painted up, so far. They have long, sweeping ears and appear more hairy and animal-like. I'm saving those for something else, though, and won't paint them up to mix in with these bald, bloated cave troll types. The three reaming armored ones I will paint up as a separate batch. So, that's why two trolls instead of three to make a unit of six!

    I think my favorite part of these trolls is the flab on their bodies -- that and their snarling faces!

Otherwise, I painted these two cave trolls up exactly like the previous three that I did. To me, these are a spitting image of the troll that the Fellowship of the Ring encounters in the mines of Moria. The gray skin with a slight green tint works well for them, I think. These are big, honking heavy metal miniatures, too. So, I based them on pill shaped bases to hopefully give them more stability on the table. I love the faces and the obese bellies and wrinkles. They are great sculpts all around and fun to paint. And quick, right?

What's left on my painting desk for 2025? I made good progress on the five remaining "spirit animals" that I'd done the base coat on earlier. And the 10 redcaps have their base coat of skin completed. So, seeing how I have 13 days left in the year, I don't anticipate any problems getting all of these done. Once I do, I will have painted ONE more miniature this year than I acquired. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I squeeze in yet another batch of miniatures before January 1st. Nothing wrong with having some cushion. I mean, what happens if I open my presents on Christmas Day and there's miniatures in there?? NOOOOO!!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 292

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 80

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 213 

Big Boss & Bodyguards of the Bonefish Band

    Warlord & standard bearer for my 28mm orc horde surrounded by his heavily armored bodyguards

My regular gaming group appears to be getting excited and geared up for playing games of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition. Four of us have purchased the rules and have several forces we can field, which will be more than enough to lend troops to the others who don't. To me, that means our first game will likely be soon. So, I figured it was time to paint my horde commander and his bodyguard unit. I decided to go with a 6-man "unit", but decided to paint a standard bearer as well as the 7th man. I know that doesn't jive with the rules, but I figure I can farm out one of the bodyguard figures as a leader in another unit of orcs.

    Closeup of two members of the orc bodyguard -- 28mm Gripping Beast from the Ragnorak range

From the unpainted lead I bought earlier this year, I picked out six of the most heavily-armored figures that I have remaining. One of them kind of looked like he could be the general himself, but honestly, none of the six really stood out that much more than the others. So, I looked through my other unpainted 28mm figures (humans) to see if there was one that looked imposing and orcish enough at the same time. I found a figure that I hadn't painted up from my Saga Mongol army. It was a foot figure of Genghis Khan and is freaking huge! I would estimate it towers at least head and shoulders above normal 28mm figures. What's more, he looked really cool. I liked him. Plus, many Tolkien fans have remarked that his descriptions of orcs jives with the way Mongols or Huns were often described by Europeans. Perfect!

    Orc bodyguards of the 'Bonefish Band' form a shieldwall to protect their boss, the horde commander

Next, I had to decide on a color scheme. The rest of the army had been painted up irregularly, with no figures identical to each other. However, I wanted the commander's bodyguard to be somewhat uniform. I decided to mimic, to a degree, the color scheme of late Republican Roman legionaries. Tunics would be painted a dark blood red. Their chainmail would be silver, but their leg greaves, arm guards, helmets, and any other plate armor would be bronze. I have always felt that color scheme is a really effective . 

    Originally a huge Genghis Khan figure, I think the mini makes a mean-looking orc warlord

However, the Genghis Khan commander figure had completely different equipment and armor from the rest of the orcs. He holds a bow in one hand and a long curved sword in the other. His armor looks almost like samurai armor, with intricate designs that evoke lamellar. I wanted it to really stand out, so decided to go with several metallic colors for the armor. I wanted the tones to complement the blood red of his tunic. First, I painted the armor an Iron Wind Metals Steel base coat. Next, I did the horizontal banding on the armor a reddish gold color. Between each horizontal band, the armor looks like it is composed of tiny vertical plates. I decided to do these in alternating colors. My first thought was three separate colors in a pattern, but in the end decided to go with two. I chose an Iron Wind Metals Cooper (to stay with the reddish theme) and a more yellow golden color. 

    Closeup of the other three members of the warlord's bodyguard - I'm happy with their color scheme

Once I finished all of this detailing, which took almost an entire one hour painting session it itself, I was very happy with how the orc boss came out. I like to blurt out Orc quotes from the Lord of the Rings movies sometimes when I'm painting my horde. It gets me in the mood, makes me giggle a little, and breaks up the routine. If I remember correctly, when orcs in the tower in Mordor discover Frodo's mithril silver shirt, one barks at the other, "Hands off my shiny shirt!", sparking a fight. Of course, I had to say that and repeat it several more times during the painting process. This orc commander does indeed have a very shiny shirt!

    Couple angles of the orc boss and his standard bearer on their large, hexagonal 'Saga style' base

I also brightened up the bronze armor of his bodyguard a bit with highlights of gold here and there. I figure these guys might have some weaker servants who they force to burnish up their equipment a bit more than the average orc or goblin. I also decided to go with a "unit" shield design. My thread on the Lead Adventure Forum where I publish photos of each batch of figures uses an orc quote, too, "Gut you like a bonefish!" So, I have been putting fish skeletons here and there on the shields of the orcs and goblins that I've been painting up. I decided the bodyguard would have two bonefish skeletons around their central iron boss. I wanted the shield color to be lighter so that I could use my black micron pens for the design. I decided to go with a faded reddish, salmon color. Of course, I know someone will quip, "Your orc bodyguards have pink shields? Haha!" I've used this color in the warband from time to time, and I like its faded look for cloth. So, I went with it!

    Warlord and his bodyguard form up after looting and burning a human settlement

I also decided to base the orc commander and his bodyguard on the same stand, one of my larger hexagonal ones. This is much like I did with my Saga armies. It makes the big man (or orc) stand out from the crowd of individually based figures. I almost put a wolf on the base, too. I didn't have one the right size, though. All of them were either too small or too big. The flag that the standard bearer carries was designed in Photoshop, as usual, and printed out on a laser printer at the local Office Max store. I'm really happy with how the bodyguards came out, and look forward to the Bonefish Band making it to the tabletop soon.

    Close up of the standard bearer - or the figure I converted into one!

What's on my painting desk now? Well, everything I need to exceed the number of figures I purchased or acquired this year! There is a batch of four goblins and two trolls that are in the flocking stages. Look for a post on them very soon. There are also the five 28mm animals I never got around to finishing when I was getting my Devilry Afoot spirit animals ready. And finally, there is a batch of Redcaps -- those bloody malevolent goblins of Scottish myth. Two of the figures are 3-D printed 28mm Redcaps from Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures. The other eight are an impulse purchase earlier this year from Conquest Games. I picked up a few packs of their Svartalfar -- goblinoid figures that had no idea were as tiny as they were! Honestly, they look to be almost 15mm scale, but are very cool, as is all of their Myths of Albion range. They have no caps on their head, though, so I am sculpting those out of green stuff. I've never really been that proficient with it, so this will definitely be a learning experience. Stay tuned to see how they come out!

    With the way I 'ripple' my banners with white glue, I can't take a good shot of it - so here it is!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 286

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 80

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 213 

    A final look at this batch of 28mm Gripping Beast orcs -- 20 figures away from my goal...!