Blood on the Streets in 'Troubled Council' Game at Drums at the Rapids

    Town Council ruffians battle monks & citizens loyal to the church in the medieval town of Vespugia 

Would the outspoken Father Leowulf be "priest"-napped by the forces of the Town Council? Or would the controversial priest remain free to criticize the aristocrats of the town for their treatment of the rencnt refugees in Medieval Vesupugia? Each faction in the fight had its own particular way to earn victory points, in addition to capturing Leowulf or helping him remain free. Most would be using the unrest in town to settle old scores or improve their position. Over the course of two games at Drums at the Rapids 2026, the vocal Father remained free in one game and was dragged off to face trial in the other. 

    A band of ruffians with ill intent are led by House Catrine through the muddy streets of Vespugia 

I have been tweaking the rules I used for the game, which are based off of my Mean Streets: War in Gang-infested Cities. I was inspired to do so by one of my internet friends, Cat, who uses them to run an incredibly scenic and popular series of games based off of the same inspiration for my rules -- the 1979 cult movie classic, The Warriors. We are both members of the Lead Adventure Forum, and she responded to my post asking for suggestions for a fast-playing miniatures skirmish game for up to six players. Cat cited Mean Streets as the perfect set, with quick and easy command and control, a simple combat system, and a tiered array of fighters from the toughest to the wimpiest.

    Friday afternoon's players with the Town Council on the left & the church defenders on the right

Inspired by her suggestion, and by the desire to run a cooperative Fantasy skirmish game for my Sunday Evening group, I began tinkering with Mean Streets. After several days down the Fantasy "rabbit hole," I emailed Cat and a couple other friends my ideas. They responded with suggestions and I've been steadily tweaking them after each game. One of the first ideas I discarded was a separate Combat Ratings for figures vs. melee and ranged attacks. Keeping it at one CR made it more streamlined and reduced the "one-shot kills" that were happening in our first play test. From player input, I changed the rules for disengaging from melee and how to calculate range modifiers. I have to say that after three games (which include the two at Drums), I'm fairly happy with the results.

    House Stronghelm's men make a stealthy advance through cover of the market towards the cathedral

It is a bloody game, with characters usually being taken out  after several turns of combat. Occasional "one swing" or "one shot" kills still occur, but that is not the norm. Of the three tiers of characters, the toughest (Heroes) take four wounds, Companions take three, and Followers two. However, if a character's score is doubled or tripled, they take more than one wound (two and three, respectively). I also have steadily increased the number of figures each player controls up to eight per faction in my Drums games. Of course, this game was a two-sided battle rather than a free-for-all, with up to three players per side. On Friday night, I had a full table of six players, while on Saturday morning there were only four of us. It plays very quickly, which I like for a convention game. As I get older, the idea of a six hour game at a con is too much for me. I much prefer games being over in three hours, which includes the rules and scenario explanation. It was even faster on Sunday with only four players. We were easily done in two hours.

    Attackers intent upon "priest-napping" dart past a stable towards the center of town & the church

Friday's game probably took about two and a half hours. An intense scrum broke out at the church wall, with four of the factions involved in it. This was precipitated by the aggressive and immediate charge of the Town Council forces towards the cathedral, attempting to get over its stone walls and onto the church grounds. The Franciscans, loyal to Father Leowulf, and House Duncan, a staunch supporter of the church, tenaciously defended the walls. The Duncans did not even break off when their nearby home was torched and set afire by their bitter rivals, House Catrine. In the end, the defenders held the church walls, though that holy ground was stained by the blood of numerous combatants. 

    Friday's massive scrum as the attackers tried to fight past defenders & get over the church walls

Much as it happened in our Sunday Evening playtest, the Dominicans proved to be the wiliest of the church's forces. They convinced their brother Franciscans to turn over Father Leowulf into their "safekeeping." The black-robed monks immediately dragged the vociferously protesting priest to their corner and off the table. It appears Father Leowulf will now be delivering his sermons from a Dominican church instead of a Franciscan one! Though the Town Council's forces wrong-footed Leowulf's defenders with their quick assault, their dice deserted them early on and remained AWOL nearly all game long. Time after time, their players rolled ones and twos on their 1d8 combat rolls. 

    I was happy with how the table looked with the medieval buildings I've been painting up recently

Eventually, after repeated losses, two of the Town Council's forces had dropped below half strength and had to take morale checks. Since this occurred on the same turn that the Dominicans absconded with Father Leowulf, the demoralized forces of the nobles decided to call off their attack. They realized they had no chance of success at one of their objectives with the priest off the table. Jenny, as the Dominicans, was the highest scoring player on the winning side. I felt bad for the attackers as their rolls just never seemed to improve. But hey! That's miniature wargaming for you!

    House Stronghelm dashes up to the walls intent on grabbing Father Leowulf, seen here at the doors

In the morning, the game took a decidedly different turn. Ted and I, as the Town Council forces, made a steady but stealthy advance. The Dominicans marched forward quickly, singing hymns and swinging their clubs, crosses, and cudgels. The Franciscans were a bit more slow, though. So slow, in fact, that my forces -- when presented with a turn of great command & control activation rolls -- darted forward, leapt the walls or opened the church gate. House Stronghelm's ruffians grabbed Father Leowulf, and dragged him around the opposite side of the church from where the Franciscans were advancing. Meanwhile, a companion and Follower from my force formed a wall and blocked the rescue force from chasing after the "priest-napper", holding double their number for several rounds of combat. 

    Once the priest was grabbed, 2 ruffians blocked the Franciscans from quickly chasing after him

Rather than wade into combat, my Hero stayed near the middle of my forces, controlling the action. In Malevolent Streets -- as I'm calling this variant -- you combine the command dice you roll for each figure that is within 6" of the leader. That way, you can select the higher rolling dice and assign them to those who need more actions, while giving the lower ones to figures for less important actions. This allowed me to assign the maximum 3 action "6's" to the Companion who had Father Leowulf in his grasp and he steadily moved further and further away from the Franciscans. Meanwhile, the rest of my forces were blocking them from mounting a rescue attempt. 

    Meanwhile, House Faroli exacts revenge upon the turncoat soldier leading the Dominican forces

Meanwhile, Ted, as House Faroli, was exacting a bitter revenge on the captain of the Dominican force. This veteran soldier was formerly an employee of House Faroli. However, the noble house claims the soldier absconded with some of their funds and defected. Their secret objective was to cut down the turncoat. Ted's opponent, Steve, was the unfortunate "balancing" effect for the Town Council's poor dice rolls the previous evening. His ones and twos were making up for all those rolled by the opposite side in the previous game -- or at least that's the way it seemed! Soon, the Dominican force was in disarray, their leader cut down, and the monks and soldiers hired by them were fleeing from the table. The forces of the Town Council scored their first victory in three games! Ted, with both his secret and open victory conditions satisfied (the captain cut down and Father Leowulf in our hands), AND lots of kills (+1 Victory Point per enemy figure killed), was the clear winner of our game. 

    Father Leowulf howls mightily as he is 'priest-napped', urging the Franciscans to come rescue him

Even though they lost, both Heidi (Franciscans) and Steve (Dominicans) praised the game. They liked the simple rules and felt the game flowed very quickly. I received lots of praise from my players on both days about how my medieval town looked, as well as from passers by. So, I chalked up my first two medieval town skirmishes up as a double success -- the players had fun and the Mean Streets tweaks provided for an enjoyable and fast-moving game. I'm not sure when I will run the rules next, though. The next convention I am scheduled to run games at is Origins Game Fair, June 17-21. I'll be running my Surviving 'Nam game there six times at the Columbus Convention Center. In the meantime, I will keep working on the fantasy aspects of the rules in anticipation of using them again soon!

        Poor Father Leowulf - have the nobles found someone to 'rid' them of 'this meddlesome priest'?

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 99

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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