Hold the Line 2025 Purchases & Pics of Games

    One of the 7 buildings I bought from Jeff at the Hold the Line flea market after its spray primer coat

I didn't go to Hold the Line 2025 expecting to buy a lot of things. The only two vendors I knew that were going to be there ahead of time were Firelands Games themselves (who host the con) and RRB Minis & More. At the last minute, I discovered there would be additional tables for a flea market, too, and attendees were welcome to grab one and set up their items. I typically don't buy much from the flea markets myself, but I do enjoy selling things in them. So, I dragged along my four Snap-tite tubs that I took to World at War the previous weekend.

    These buildings could work for Middle Eastern or desert Southwest, or even fantasy, I thought

In addition to bringing along the same stuff to sell, I lowered the prices on most things a bit. I sold ONE item at World at War, so it's not like I had big hopes of selling everything on my table. Much to my surprise, I did very well in the flea market. I had posted some photos of what I was bringing and even received an interested response from an attendee the day before leaving. Sure enough, once I got there, I started selling things right away. And thanks to my friend Tim P, I finally sold all of the packs of unpainted 15mm Fantasy minis that I'd been hauling around for awhile. Before long, I had a nice wad of cash in my wallet. Time to shop for myself!

    If I can get them painted in time, these will see service at Mos Eisley on Tatooine next Sunday

The first thing I noticed was my friend Jeff G's table he was calling "Shieldwall's Last Gasp." Formerly running a business called Shieldwall Gaming Club, Jeff was trying to sell off the last of his stock. Included in there were seven large 3-D printed buildings. My eyes must have bugged out when I noticed a huge Mesoamerican looking temple priced at only $20. In fact, all of the buildings had the same price. It looked so cool. I can't imagine it going for less than $100 anywhere else. There was also another, slightly smaller temple. The seven other buildings would work for as Middle Eastern, desert Southwest, or even Tatooine. They had flat roofs, adobe type walls, and were all very nice looking. Jeff saw me looking and said, "I'll sell you all seven for $100." Once again, my eyes likely bugged out. Even Jenny seemed startled by how low of a price he was charging for so many buildings. She admonished me that I would regret not buying them and that I'd never find similar ones for the same price.  

        The Mesoamerican temple that first drew my eye to 'Shieldwall's last gasp flea market table

My friend Mike S stopped by and I pointed them out to him, too. His comment sealed my purchase: "Are they going home with you or me?" In other words, if I didn't buy them, he would! I counted out $100 of my flea market sale money and handed it over. Jeff reached under his table, pulled out a large plastic tub, and began packing them into there carefully. He said the tub was included in the price. When I asked him if he was sure, he reminded me he now has LOTS of plastic tubs he doesn't need, having shut down his retail business. I didn't argue. What's more, I didn't have any "buyer's guilt" after forking over the cash. The price was unbeatable, I can easily use the desert buildings for my Star Wars games (in addition to other historical scenarios), and it was "paid for" by the sale of things I wasn't using any more. This is exactly how I like to "roll" on buying new stuff, anymore!

    Slightly smaller Mesoamerican temple Jeff was selling -- could easily also be used for Fantasy

 

Since I've begun painting up 28mm Fantasy, I imagine the temples will actually come in handy someday. To me, they look Mesoamerican -- either Mayan or Aztec. However, as Mike and I were discussing, they don't have the obvious ornamentation that mark them as definitively from this area. They did a good job of sculpting it so you could use it for a Mayan building or equally as a generic fantasy temple. In all honesty, it is much more likely I will use it that way before I eventually get around to that "one day" Mayan project I want to do! At worst, these two purchases are like the Acheson Creations Mesoamerican scatter terrain that I've been collecting for years (and haven't painted any of, yet). At best, I'll get a chance to use them for some games of Sellswords & Spellslingers.

    Another of the 7 'other' buildings that will likely see use in a number of different historical periods

Jeff had printed them in a black filament material, which is honestly the way to go, I think. It means that when you are priming it, anything you miss is in a crevice or shadow, which is likely going to be black anyway. The various levels of the buildings fit together very well, with all the roofs and floors coming off. They are sculpted with prongs that fit nicely into the holes of the on the opposite level. I'm really looking forward to getting some of these on the tabletop quickly. In fact, as you can see from the photos, I've already primed three of them!

    These larger two-story buildings I held off priming -- I will get to them eventually, I'm sure!

Apparently, my purchasing these buildings from Jeff reminded Mike that he had a couple similar desert style 3-D printed buildings that he had decided he wasn't going to paint up. He brought them over on our next Sunday evening gaming session and handed them to me. They were indeed very similar in style to the five desert style ones I had just bought. They were about the size of the three smaller ones, so I went ahead and spray primed them with khaki the next day. I would be really, really happy if I got the three smaller buildings from Jeff and two from Mike painted up and ready for the scenario I am running this coming Sunday. How's that for deadline pressure?

    The dome helps this look more like a Tatooine building -- given to me by my generous friend Mike S

What else did I buy at Hold the Line? I had actually looked through Firelands Games website the night before the convention and typed in my iPhone notes some things to check out. I had about half a dozen items listed, but as it was, I bought only two of them. Since I will be doing Dragon Rampant fantasy battles soon, I picked up a sprue of the North Star Frostgrave Wizards, which has bodies for four spellcasters and tons of arms, heads, equipment, and ways to customize them. I haven't decided if I'm going to have an evil wizard as the general of my orc and goblin army, ala Saruman, or a big mean orc. Either way, having wizards figures will be useful for Dragon Rampant games.

    I like that so many of these buildings I just obtained have upper stories & roofs figures can fire from

I also picked up two sprues of the Wargames Atlantic Giant Spiders and Victims. I really like how James and Rusty have decided to sell individual sprues to their customers. I may not want a whole box of wizards or spiders, for example, but can certainly use some. Speaking of which, these will more likely see use as monsters in games of Sellswords & Spellslingers than in Dragon Rampant. Although now that I think of it, they could be a unit of Lesser Warbeasts, according to the unit categories in the rules. I went back and forth about a couple other items on Firelands tables at the convention, but ended up buying just those three sprues.

    One of the 2 sprues of Wargames Atlantic giant spiders that I bought from Firelands Games

I dug through the load of items my friend Rich Brown from RRB Minis & More had brought with him. I was tempted by some of the 25mm robots from his Sci-Fi lines, but I wanted to be careful about screwing up my Acquired vs. Painted totals for the year by buying too much! Right now, I am 21 miniatures in the hole, so to speak. With the four wizards, eight giant spiders, and four web-wrapped victims I purchased, that puts me up to 37 figures to paint up before the end of the year. I think I will get that amount done easily, but there is no reason to tempt fate. In fact, that was the reason I did not buy a big bag of Splintered Light Miniatures animals from my friend Dave E at World at War the previous weekend. Just to be sure, he brought them along to tempt me again this weekend...haha! Maybe I will tell him to bring them to Cincycon in 2026 and I'll buy them from him, then. There were a lot of miniatures in there that I could use to flesh out my anthropomorphic animals.

    'A wizards should know better...!' Treebeard says, but who knows whether these will be good or evil?

In the end, I made only a very minor purchase from Rich. I found a bag of eight 28mm tombstones that I could use for Devilry Afoot or other games. I felt bad that I did not buy more from him, but I had already dropped $100 on buildings, so figured I had added my contribution to the convention economy, so to speak. When Rich gets his 3-D printer fixed, I  have at least one building I want him to paint up. So, I'll see him again soon, I'm sure, and be buying more then.

    Some very cool 28mm tombstones that I bought from Rich at RRB Minis & More

Since I am posting about my Hold the Line purchases, I also thought I'd toss in some pictures I took of the games that were being run there. The 28mm Western "Dead Man's Hand" game was one of the most amazing I have ever seen. The work done on the buildings and civilian characters was very atmospheric and worth sharing. So, what else is on my painting desk? I do have a unit of 8 armored orcs that are at least halfway done. And of course, I have a bunch of buildings that I want to get done by Sunday! In addition, I have started work on two 28mm Asian water buffalo from Miniature Building Authority, a 3-D printed hand cart from A Critical Hit, and one more batch of bamboo for my Vietnam games. I have a feeling I'll be saying that a lot for awhile in my posts. Most of the other stuff may be sidelined by those five buildings that I have spray primed, though. Will I finish them in time? Stay tuned to see...!

    One of the beautiful buildings Ivor Evans had on his tabletop for his 'Dead Man's Hand' game

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 269

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212

    Two more buildings from the same 28mm Western game replete with amazing signs

    My friend Abel D ran a Song of Drums & Shakos Big Battle game featuring these 12-13mm figs

    There was a HUGE Bolt Action doubles tournament - a Jungle Board from the tourney

    Close up of miniatures on the jungle board (designed by my friend Tim P, I believe...)

    Some of the Bolt Action players, including Tim P at left

    Okay - one more pic from the amazing 28mm Western board and some of his civilians populating it

Surviving 'Nam at Hold the Line - 'It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times..."

    A squad of Viet Cong stalk towards the players in Friday's "Surviving 'Nam" game at Hold the Line

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" -- for the Americans in my Vietnam game, that is! Same rules, same scenario. Different players, different tactics and dice rolls...and wildly different results! I ran my Surving 'Nam rules this past weekend at Hold the Line convention. Both games were full with four players ready to take on the role of a U.S. platoon sent to search Stone Buddha Market for signs of it being a Viet Cong supply depot. Both games had experienced miniatures players who understood tactics. So, why did the U.S. go down to their worst defeat in my eight play tests on Friday afternoon, yet succeed better than any so far on Saturday?

    American troops from the Big Red One infantry division advance towards a village in Vietnam

I have had some time to analyze the two different games since then. Yes, some of it was due to some seriously bad luck. On the whole, the players rolled much better on Saturday than they did on Friday. However, I don't think more Viet Cong popped up to attack them on Friday, though. It wasn't "How Many?" but rather "Where?" the V.C. showed up. I think it came down to half the American force getting bogged down in a killing field on the tabletop. There is a rice paddy and open area on one side of the board edge where the U.S. soldiers enter. The two right flank squads were unable to press past this area and into the village. Meanwhile, the HQ element and other squad mostly went the other direction and made good progress, separating the two. Unfortunately for those on the right, most of the of the V.C. that arrived on table showed up right across the river from them in the light vegetation along the river. The soldiers themselves had little cover, and all too often failed their rolls to avoid enemy fire. When other soldiers would run to check on the Down soldiers, and try to get them back on their feet or at worst drag them to cover, they were shot and went Down, too.

    On Saturday, one U.S. squad crossed the river and effectively guarded the platoon's flank that way

In my Surviving 'Nam rules, a soldier that is targeted by enemy fire must try to roll above the foe's Danger Level modified by cover. If they roll exactly the Danger Level (or one above or below), they are Pinned. If they roll below that, but more than a "1" (natural one is out of action), they are counted as Down. However, if a friendly soldier spends an action checking on a "Down" soldier, the player rolls on a chart. Results can vary from out of action, disabled, walking wounded, lightly hurt, or unhurt at all (maybe the bullet hit an item of equipment and knocked the force knocked them down and stunned them). The rule rewards historical behavior. Soldiers would check on their friends who had been hit, and help patch them up. 

    Right flank squad led by Sgt. Rogers motioning his men forward, crossing the river into the scrub

In Friday's game, the two squads that advanced across the rice paddy and open ground did so slowly, often failing their activation rolls, which causes the draw of a card from the event deck (which can possibly bring fresh V.C. onto the table). As the left wing disappeared into the jungle or buildings on the left,  those squads on the right began to take casualties and get bogged down. Joe M, playing the far right flank -- and frankly responsible for many of the atrocious dice rolls -- at one point had all five of his soldiers out of action. Jeff G, the next squad in, tried to send guys out to help, but as they ran to their buddies they were shot down, too. Jeff cleverly used smoke grenades to block off the visibility of some of the V.C., but there simply were too many enemy opposed to just one part of the American force.

    Sgt. Summers points his squad towards the village & its market, which they are ordered to search

The other thing that really hurt the Americans on Friday was the HQ element was out of position to spot the bulk of the V.C. Two of their biggest "guns" are in the HQ squad -- the M60 machine gunner and the lieutenant himself and his ability to call in fire missions (off-board artillery) on the enemy. I honestly remember the M60, whose suppressive fire can sometimes effectively pin an entire V.C. squad, firing only ONCE the entire game! And the lieutenant had "gone left" so wasn't in position to see the overwhelming amount of V.C. popping up to attack the American right and call in fire on them. There are two "Fire Mission" event cards that come up in the deck, and there was a significant drought of them being drawn during the Friday game, as well. Because a number of cards call for the event deck to be reshuffled, it can mean that some cards simply never come up, while others come up more often because the reshuffling puts the former on the bottom and the latter near the top. I actually like how this makes each game different. 

    A V.C. machine gun team inside a bunker ambushes the American advance

So, even though the Colonel on the Horn card came up and modified the player's mission on Friday, the players eventually got to a point where they felt there was no hope of collecting their wounded and getting off the table. For the first time in my eight personal play tests, my players cried "Uncle!" and admitted they had lost the mission. They were simply going to have to leave wounded on the field to be able to get the other two squads off the table. I actually have 7-8 other groups play testing the rules in the U.S., U.K, and Italy, and that has happened once or twice to others. However, that was before I made changes and toned down the lethality. This was the first time I witnessed it in action myself, so I was trying to figure out why it happened, and especially when I felt I had the mechanics "bloodiness" tweaked to the right level.

    'Incoming!' V.C. mortar fire begins to impact near the HQ squad - the lieutenant seems unimpressed

Although it may seem I am blaming the HQ squad player for being out of position, it was the group's plan that his squad move to the left. All players tried their hardest to do the tactically correct thing to do. Jeff's smoke grenades were a clever tactic that mitigated the danger of an enemy machine gun bunker and a deadly V.C. sniper. Ultimately, I fee the players were victim of bad luck with most of the enemy showing up concentrated in exactly the wrong place for their plan. And when it came to critical rolls, they seemed to fail them regularly. All of that said, I had some serious soul searching going on that night! 

  V.C. machine gun has downed one G.I. already, and is one of the deadlier enemy weapons in the game

I honestly felt that I had fixed Surviving 'Nam from being too bloody for the Americans. adjusted to the correct level. And then suddenly, I had the worst outcome in all of my play tests! Over dinner and beers, I talked to my friends about it. My friend Jim W, who had played in the previous weekend's play tests in World At War (and had his group win handily), chimed in. He said that is the beauty of a balanced scenario and rules. Things CAN go to Hell if the players meet the "perfect storm" of bad luck and unfortunate tactical choices. He argued that, if the players can't struggle when luck is not going their way and they make bad choices, then the scenario or rules are too easy. Jim felt it was bound to happen if you play a scenario often enough. What he said made sense, and I looked forward hopefully to Saturday's game.

    On Friday, the U.S. soldiers swarmed the bunker and took it out with grenades and M16 fire

So, what went different, Saturday to make the same scenario go so well? As I mentioned earlier, their rolls were better. However, remember that patch of light vegetation across the river? The right flank squad instead crossed the river and occupied those two patches of vegetation. Most of the event cards that place new enemy troops on table stipulate the new enemy be placed in cover NOT occupied by the player's forces. The American right wing moving quickly along the opposite bank of the river cut off any enemy squads from arriving there -- except for isolated individual V.C. soldiers popping up in spider holes. Plus, my friend Mike S (playing Surviving 'Nam for the first time) made it a point to use his M60 machine gun regularly and keep his lieutenant where he could best see patches of cover where enemy troops might spring up. Even though Mike didn't get many fire mission cards (bad luck there), his HQ squad was in better position to support either wing of his platoon. He maneuvered his M60 gunner into position to suppress the enemy bunker and its machine gun when it appeared. Then, he shifted position to hammer the biggest enemy main ambushing force when it finally arrived on the table.

 The players on Saturday also did a better job of keeping their squad leaders near their heavier weapons support (M60 for the HQ and M79 grenade launchers for the other squads). This allowed them to use the squad leader's free action he can hand out each turn and give those weapons a second chance to fire every turn. Between the grenade launchers and M60, effective fire was promptly laid down on enemy immediately after they appeared. More than once, a squad of V.C. would appear, and within short order, grenades fired by the "bloop gunners" would devastate their ranks. In fact, when the Colonel on the Horn card came up on Saturday, the players decided to hold off obeying his directive to break contact and exfiltrate. Instead, they chose to continue with their mission searching the market awhile longer. They felt they had the situation under control, and indeed the results showed that they did.

    Many villagers scattered quickly once the Americans arrived, this poor granny froze on the bridge

Thankfully, even the players who cried "Uncle!" on Friday night said they had a blast with the rules. The rules have been tightened up to the point where, after my play tests, the gamers really don't have any rules changes they would suggest. Instead, they say it worked great and excitedly talk about other periods the mechanics would work for, as well. It is always satisfying as a GM to provide a good time for your players. It was also a thrill for me to see the players gel together as a team and work their hardest to help accomplish the mission. After running my Viking Town Raid earlier this year, and running Surviving 'Nam twice at conventions, I am becoming more and more of a fan of cooperative miniatures games. The players really seem to enjoy reacting together as a team and covering each other's backs. Their smiles when they accomplish their mission or overcome the more dangerous enemies, such as the V.C. machine guns and snipers, is a reward for me as a GM. 

It may be time now to pivot my play testing to designing and test-driving scenarios instead of looking for things in the rules that need changed. I'll shift my own writing from making changes in mechanics to editing the text of the rules so that they are clear and well organized. To be sure, you will read more of my own solo Vietnam games and accounts of my Big Red One platoon as I play test more scenarios. I also want to run through an entire year campaign -- 12 missions -- and see if anything else comes up that I might need to fix in those mechanics. So, stay tuned and see how the platoon fares in its upcoming fourth mission when it is one third of the way through its time "In Country." Hopefully, it will be the best of times for them and not the worst...haha!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 269

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212

Surviving 'Nam at World at War convention

    I ran two play tests of "Surviving 'Nam" at World at War convention this past weekend

I'm lucky in that my games tend to be popular at regional conventions. Whether that is because of setting up a pretty tabletop or reputation for running a fun game, I don't know. So, I would normally feel bad about running a game that could take only four players. However, World at War at Fort Meigs, Perrysburg, OH, is a smaller convention with fewer attendees. So, it seemed a perfect fit to take Surviving 'Nam up there and run a couple more play tests. Each game would have four players --- the most I've had yet. And it was also the first time I have taught the rules in a convention setting. My good fortune continued as the weekend arrived, and I had a full table in each game.

    Villagers arrive at the weekly Stone Buddha Market in Piit Baub village unaware soldiers are coming

Throughout the course of my previous four play tests, and based on feedback from more than half a dozen playtesters in the U.S., U.K., and Italy, I have been steadily scaling back the lethality of the event cards and mechanics. Not only would I see how my rules played out with four live players (not me running solo), I would also get a good feel for how deadly the newest iteration of these cooperative miniatures rules would be. I was very pleased to see that both games played out similarly, and it was not too lethal at all. In fact, both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning's games saw the fewest casualties inflicted on U.S. forces yet in one of my games. I feel I may have adjusted the danger level correctly. Now, it will simply be tightening up things here and there and writing some actual rules for, say, when the Viet Cong have suffered enough casualties and break contact (ending the game). Players could continue taking turns until every U.S. soldier has withdrawn from the table, but I found that there comes a point in the game when the outcome is obvious. Either the U.S. is going to be able to withdraw with no problem, or the V.C. are reduced to so few figures left that realistically they would break off contact and not continue the fight.

    I had two full tables of players over the weekend -- here is the Saturday group moving troops

The mission for these two games was my version of a "Market Day" scenario my U.K. play testers, Bob F and Pete S,  ran a few weeks ago. My game -- "Stone Buddha Market" -- would have the U.S. enter from one of the short edges of a 3'x4' board. They would move to the center of the table where a small village was hosting a weekly market in its center, alongside the river (one of the long edges) and where a wooden bridge crosses the water. The four U.S. squads (Fire Teams, actually, in size) had to search two designated larger hooches, the market itself, and both sampans tied up beneath the bridge. Once they had done that, the whole platoon could exit on their choice of three board edges. 

    Sgt. Rogers motions the platoon forward as the Big Red One soldiers arrive on the table edge

My games feature a pre-battle portion of the game called "Countdown to Contact." During this phase, players do not roll for activations. Each soldier receives one and they move onto the table and can make progress towards their objectives before the V.C. launch their ambush. At the end of each turn, a die is rolled to see if Countdown to Contact ends and the V.C. arrive. At that point, I deploy a number of enemy soldiers, dictated by the size of the U.S. force for balance purposes. There was a mosquito in the ointment in this game, though. The game begins with 12 Vietnamese civilians scattered across the table, but mostly in the market near the riverside. At the end of each turn, the players roll on a chart to see what each villager does. They could be freeze in fear, move away from the U.S. troops (or V.C., if present), panic and sprint towards a board edge, or are revealed as a V.C. If they are V.C., they immediately move into cover and fire on the U.S. soldiers.

    1st Lt. Xavier 's column heads towards the first hooch in Piit Baub while a farmer is in the rice paddy

Both games saw more villagers than expected turning out to V.C. and opening fire. This automatically brings a halt to the Countdown to Contact type of movement. From this turn forward, players do the normal movement turn sequence -- rolling one or two 20-sided dice to activate each of their men. However, I decided that I would not deploy the ambushing V.C. until the end of the turn when players rolled a single d6 score high (as would normally end Countdown to Contact). That would spring the ambush. On Friday, this happened at the end of the third turn. However, on Saturday, it did not occur until the end of the sixth turn. This gave the U.S. forces time to deal with the locals turned V.C. and any enemy that arrived via the event cards (which are turned over, one-for-one, when players fail their activation rolls). I think this helped the U.S. players survive the initial V.C. attack. In effect, it simulated the V.C. committing themselves piecemeal rather than in one massive hammer blow.

    Two squads of the platoon march along the river, while the rest move in from the jungle fringes

Both games progressed similarly, with the soldiers of the Big Red One (U.S. First Infantry Division) taking surprisingly few casualties. One scary moment occurred in Saturday's morning's game. Just as 1st Lt. Xavier's column of five men took shelter behind a small hut on stilts, someone's failed die roll resulted in the placement of an enemy bunker with a machine gun team inside. Random roll had it show up directly behind Xavier and his men! They were bunched up close enough that all five were pinned by the fire, with Xavier going "Down." My Saturday players got VERY lucky, as the machine gun's fire seemed to have rejuvenated their dice rolling abillty. There were no failures of consequence by players on their activation rolls until after they had managed to take out all three members of the machine gun team. The medic was right there, too, and checked on Xavier. He discovered that the C.O. was only lightly wounded. Apparently, he was also pissed off at the Vietnamese! He and his men sprinted towards the market.

    Bad place for a bunker to show up! As the lieutenant's group passes by, it opens up on the soldiers

Once there, Lt. Xavier managed to get on the radio and call in a series of Fire Missions on the growing number of V.C. all around the board. Squad after squad was decimated by mortar and helicopter gunship fire. From looking very bad, suddenly the board began to open up. The only V.C. remaining were in remote corners of the board where their fire was relatively ineffectual because of long range and cover. The battalion's lieutenant-colonel chimed in on the radio calls and ordered the platoon to abandon the search mission and simply rack up the body count, then exit the battlefield. There is an Event Card in the deck called "Colonel on the Horn" which can cause various things to happen. It is shuffled into the deck on the first reshuffle, and actually came up and both days, helping players each time. Potentially, it can make a mission harder or easier, or simply waste the platoon commander's actions as he gives "sitreps" to the micro-managing senior officer.

    "The L-T is down!" Members of his platoon cluster around to check on their C.O.

Both Friday and Saturday's players ended up having to carry only one comrade off the table -- not counting any Lightly Wounded who could walk off on their own. Sitting back after the game was concluded, we judged both times taht the platoon had completed their mission. One of the players commented that, having read all my previous posts with after-action reports, these two missions at World at War were probably the two most successful, so far. I definitely agree! Even more heartening was the fact that the game flowed very smoothly and did not bog down at all with four players. In the beginning, I admit that I would play "border collie." I would urge the next player in turn order to select his figure to activate and roll immediately after we had resolved any event cards for the previous player (while that player was resolving movement or firing). The players got in the habit of anticipating their turn and being ready to go. With only a three hour time slot for the games, I was happy to see both games easily finished in time.

    Incoming V.C. mortar fire lands amongst members of the platoon as they dash towards the ville

Speaking of happy, all of the players said they had a lot of fun. A number of them are also regular players of a different Vietnam rules set, so I wondered if they might be predisposed to question the rules mechanics when they differed from what they were used to playing. However, they all internalized the rules quickly and figured out tactics to take advantage of the mechanisms. Everyone said they enjoyed themselves. At the end, when I asked for feedback or suggestions for the rules at the end, there were no real rules quibbles. The one or two comments were more cosmetic, like perhaps have linear templates for a gunship's fire mission, or maybe wrapping their heads around the scale of visibility and shooting. They felt that the ranges I was using were a good compromise and "looked right" for 28mm figures shooting.

    Viet Cong guerrillas lurk at the edges of the rice paddy ready to open up on the platoon

The next two play tests are less than a week away. I'll be headed up to the third annual Hold the Line convention in norther Ohio, run by the Firelands Game Group. I'll do the same thing (once each on Friday and Saturday) and same scenario. I'll be curious with a larger sampling pool (four games as opposed to two), will I see worse activations rolls and thus more struggles for the Americans? Or will the scenario play out like the previous games and see the U.S. handle the V.C. at Stone Buddha Market? Stay tuned to see!

    U.S. soldiers begin to enter the market place, ready to begin searching for V.C. & contraband

So, what else am I working on, in the meantime? I probably will continue to create more bamboo stands. I have another 15 bamboo trees finished and ready to glue onto their base. My two larger rice paddies are ready for the edging strips to represent the rice plants. Figure-wise, I also have eight 28mm goblin archers that are in the flocking stage. Just this morning, I pulled out three of the Gripping Beast trolls I bought earlier this year, and epoxied their weapons and shields onto them. They also received their White Gesso primer, and will be started on tomorrow. Oh, and James from Fireland Games was at World at War on Saturday and hand-delivered my copy of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition rules. Woo-hoo! I'm looking forward to reading over it this week.

V.C. reinforcements appear near the bridge, ready to ambush the American soldiers

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 258

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212

    U.S. troops enter the market place, driving off the V.C. so they can begin to search 

 

    A lightly wounded Lt. Xavier calls in fire missions to clear the way for the platoon to extricate

Advance the Colors 2025 Purchases

 

    This was a landmark year for our chapter's flagship con -- the 30th year of Advance the Colors!

I went into Advance the Colors expecting to spend some money with the vendors we had coming. The fact that I am also the Vendor Coordinator at the convention meant I would also be purchasing items as a "thank you!" to them for attending and supporting our convention. Some of my favorites had booked their dealer tables, too -- at least when it comes to buildings and terrain. And when I received my quarterly profits from sales of our First Command Wargames sales the night before the convention (as well as being paid back by some of the Board members for their polo shirts), it was just like making money in a flea market. I would turn around and spend it in the dealer area...ha, ha!

    A gift from Graham of Graham's Wargame Vault who was visiting from England to attend ATC

My first stop was with one of my favorites, Miniature Building Authority. This was actually my fourth time seeing him at a convention this year. Kirk is such a nice guy and is always so positive about attending conventions that you can't help but want to spend money on his excellent products. I had noticed that his stock of MBA's trademark resin buildings had been going down, and the proportion of 3-D printed ones was going up. I asked him about it and he admitted that it is difficult nowadays to keep the resin ones in stock from his manufacturers overseas and domestic. Since I like both 3-D printed and resin terrain, that is not a problem for me. I would happily buy either!

    One of Miniature Building Authority's newer, 3-D printed buildings that I bought at ATC 2025 

In fact, I picked up three of his newer, 3-D printed buildings at the show. They are modern-style buildings that look like they could be used for just about any place in the world and at anytime in the last century or so. The first one I picked up is called Large Concrete Building. It comes in three pieces -- the ground level with its walls & floors. The second piece includes the ceiling or roof of the first level. It also has one much smaller room, along with the a large floor/balcony. You could put all kinds of things on this balcony from a rooftop garden to clothes lines for laundry, to a little cafe.The third piece is the roof of the 2nd story room. 

    These buildings are modern ones that can be used in a wide variety of locations and settings

The next building I picked up from MBA is called Long Metal Building. This is divided into three rooms, each of which has windows to the outside. There is one door and the building has a detachable roof. Although the vertical panels on the outside face of the building are probably meant to be painted as metal (considering the name), I don't see anything that would keep you from painting them as wood or some other material. It has a flat roof that would be ideal for various scatter, such as air conditioners, vent fans, billboards -- whatever. 

    This Small Metal Garage will be a great addition to my modern or post-apocalyptic games

The last building is the smallest and is called Small Metal Garage Building. It has the same vertical panels that the Long building has, and of course, a wide garage door in addition to a standard door entrance. The garage door is a removable flat piece, as is the roof of the building. Once again, this is a flat topped roof, so there are possibilities of putting scatter on it that will personalize and bring it to life. I really look forward to getting these painted up. I could see them being used in both "first world" and "third world" locations. There are lots of opportunities to modify or jazz up these buildings with paint, scatter, or other items.

    The four Pacific Huts on stilts that were a perfect find at ATC 2025 for my 28mm Vietnam project 

My next stop was at Diabolical Terrain. I am a regular customer of Ron Weaver's, having bought quite a few of his 3-D printed products over the years. So, his stuff is definitely another of my favorites. I had picked up the rest of his Tatooine buildings for my Star Wars games at Historicon, so I was kind of curious what he would bring to Advance the Colors to tempt me. One quick walk through his space and I knew what I was going to buy! Something I had never seen before at his stand at previous shows, were his Pacific Huts on stilts. These look a LOT like my own scratch-built Jungle Huts, though a bit smaller. I virtually let out a whoop when I saw them -- they would be perfect for my Vietnam games! They come disassembled with the stilts needing to be attached to the underside of the buildings. I guess that means you could make a base with the stilts on it, but not attach the building itself to it for flexibility of use. Then you could set the building down onto the stilts or onto your gaming mat for without stilts. I'll glue mine all together, though (except for the detachable roof). The sides of the building are modeled to look like they are woven from cloth or vegetation. All have airy windows and porches, so look perfect for a hot climate. The roof is designed to look like thatch. I picked up W2-PT Pacific Hut #3, W2-PT Pacifi Hut #4, W2-PT Pacific Hut #5, and W2-PT Pacific Hut #6. Essentially, I grabbed all the ones without the railings or screens on the porch. Being for my Vietnam project, these will probably be the first of my purchases that I paint up.

    Huge time-saver over my laborious dowel post and wire weaving method of making a wattle fence!

My final purchase from Diabolical Terrain were some wattle fence sections. Although labeled as Wooden Fence and Wooden Fence (Gate) on the website, these are proper woven wattle fences common in Dark Ages and Medieval Europe. In fact, I scratch built one of these for a small field awhile back. Once I saw these fence sections, I picked one up and walked it over to Ron. I asked him if he knew how much time he saved me by selling these. He chuckled. I plan to paint these up soon, too, as there's nothing keeping me from using these in my Vietnam (or Dark Age, Medieval, or Fantasy) games. Each section is about six inches long and you can use them in a number of configurations -- small pens, large ones, fences abutting a home, etc. 

    I really like the dilapidated and tumbled-down look of this ruined corner of a fortress or walls

Keeping things on the building theme, another of my up and coming favorites to buy 3-D printed buildings or terrain from is Scott Gray of Sword & Scabbard Games. This is the fourth time I have seen his booth at a convention this year. Hailing from nearby Indiana, Scott stocks various 3-D printed items and can always be depended upon to be selling painted armies, as well. I bought a number of things at his booth at ATC because I don't think I did at Historicon. He always carries interesting looking ruins, and I made it a point to get two that caught my eye. The first appears to be the corner of a ruined fortress made of stone or brick. I really like how the pile looks like it is in the process of tumbling down. This will likely see use in my 28mm Fantasy or Dark Age/Medieval battles or skirmishes. 

    The arches give this corner ruin from Sword & Scabbard Games the look of a religious building look

The other ruin looks a little more pristine, as if it has been weathered or possibly even pilfered for stones by residents. The arches give it either a classical era look, or perhaps from a religious building in the Middle Ages. Either way, it is generic enough that it can be used in a variety of settings. Hmm...seems to be a theme of my purchases this year! I like how it is a multi-level piece that figures can climb and use in a skirmish. I realized awhile back that I have a definite lack of these type of pieces, so have been trying to pick up more that have multiple levels that can be climbed by figures in a game.

    2 Medieval looking town buildings that could be used in either fantasy or historical skirmishes

I was intrigued by these next two buildings I picked up from Sword & Scabbard. They look to be a great fit for either a Fantasy, Medieval or Renaissance era town. They have that slightly ramshackle fantasy look, but also the stone and timber of the Middle Ages. Their tiled roofs and steep gables have the proper Middle Ages vibe, and I love the screened windows! I especially like how the one on the left has part of the building set up on pillars overhanging the entrance way. These can join the Duncan House I got from RRB Minis & More for a great start to a medieval or fantasy town setting for skirmishes. The roofs all come off, which is something I insist upon in my purchases anymore. I don't really see the need to buy solid buildings, considering how much of my miniature gaming nowadays is skirmish.  

Dry stone wall sections (& animal pen?) that I couldn't resist picking up from Sword & Scabbard

The final things I got from Sword & Scabbard were some dry stone wall sections that Scott says were meant for Dark Ages or Medieval Scotland. They do have that Celtic look about them, but I think they could be used for 28mm Fantasy, as well. I bought one angled section, as well as one that includes a rounded pen (for sheep?). If I use it as ruins, I don't need to find a gate for the pen. Otherwise, I'll need to find or build something to keep all the sheep from getting out! These will paint up ridiculously quickly, I think, and are generic enough they will doubtless find their way onto many an upcoming battlefield.

    Griffon's Lair carries 6' long 'Scenery Stripes' in a variety of patterns, including these cobblestones

Speaking of stone and towns, I had been eye-balling this purchase the last two conventions! It is a roll of neoprene material printed with a cobblestone street pattern, which I picked up from Griffon's Lair. I finally pulled the trigger at ATC and bought it from them. It is from Deep Cut Studios and includes six feet of cobblestone street pattern, 3.5" wide (9cm) and 2mm thick. It also includes two rounded, half circle sections. Griffon's Lair carries a variety of these "Scenery Stripes," including dirt or tarmac roads, and rivers. The only thing that worries me about them is cutting them to size to use in a game will be permanent. Sure, I can shove the cut sections back together again, but I want to be careful about how I chop up this six foot roll of material!

    After liking how the Dirty Down Rust worked, I look forward to trying out this Moss effect

I was so excited to see Griffon's Lair still had one of their cobblestone rolls left that I forgot to look around at the rest of their booth. While owner Steven Holowienko was ringing me up, I noticed that he also carries the "Dirty Down" line of specialty paint effects. I have a bottle of the rust effect and like it. I noticed that he carried the Moss effect, and since that is something I really don't have a handle on how to paint on my buildings or scenery, I thought I'd pick it up. Maybe I will try it out on some of those dry stone walls that I picked up from Sword & Scabbard? I am sure there are many YouTube videos out about it that give suggestions on how to use it, so I'll likely watch some of them for ideas first. 

    Various metal scatter I picked up from RRB Minis & More (and ONE miniature...)

Last but not least was my visit to my friend Rich Brown and his RRB Minis & More booth. Unfortunately, Rich had been unable to 3-D print the main item I was going to buy from him at ATC. It is another medieval building in the "Duncan House" line that he gave me at Battles at the Brewery. I liked how his photos of it looked and asked him to print it up for me. However, problems with his 3-D printer kep him from getting it done in time. Hopefully, he will have it fixed and readied for me before I see him at Hold the Line convention at Camp Perry, OH, Nov. 14-15. In the meantime, though, I sorted through his scatter metal pieces from the venerable Reviresco line. I have picked up numerous computer monitors and other things for Sci-Fi buildings from him before. This time, I grabbed some things to glue onto various buildings, including vent vans, metal doors, and tube ventilators (pictured above). I did break my vow to buy no more miniatures until after the end of the year when I saw the HWV-24 Power Loader, aka Walking Forklift. This would be perfect for an Aliens scenario, right? Hopefully, the miniature inside looks sufficiently like Sigourney Weaver...ha, ha!

    2 crag pieces that I picked up from RRB Minis & More at the last minute as Rich was ringing me up

As Rich was beginning to ring me up, I looked over and saw some 3-D printed crags on his shelves. I snagged a couple of them to add to my Canyon Rocks and Stacks that I painted earlier this year. Rich hadn't brought most of his 3-D printed stuff because he rented only two tables. He admitted to me later in the show he should have gotten a third table! 

    Tufts I use on my bases -- Dad's Armies carried my favorites, so ATC was a perfect place to restock!

Okay, so I lied. My purchases at RRB Minis & More were not the last! One of the things I did this year as Vendor Coordinator for ATC 2025 was wheel around a rolling cart filled with cold water and snacks every 2-3 hours to the dealers. All of the vendors said they really appreciated the service. It also let me check in with them regularly throughout the weekend. Even if I did not buy something from one of the vendors (we had 12), they knew I appreciated them by my regular visits to their booth. While stopping by Dad's Armies booth, though, I noticed that John carried my favorite type of tufts for miniature bases. I picked up one each of the ones I use the most. 

I'm sure that preparing for Advance the Colors put my painting and terrain making schedule behind. Hopefully, now that it is past, I will get back into the swing of things quickly. I'll do another post with photos from the various games at ATC, but after that, expect to see some more Devilry Afoot figures! Oh, and I have updated my Acquired vs. Painted lists below. I'm sure that the fact that I was significantly ahead in Terrain and Scatter had nothing to do with the fact that most of my purchases at ATC were in those categories! Nothing at all...move along, nothing to see here...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 289
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 231

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 61

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 201