Showing posts with label Conventions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conventions. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Cincycon 2024 Purchases

    Some of the 3-D 'Scatter Terrain' I bought at Cincycon for my Sci-Fi games
Heading down to Cincycon 2024, I had a pretty good Miniatures Purchased to Miniatures Painted Ratio for this year. I had painted 31 figures so far, while purchasing only 15. I knew that once the convention season arrived my surplus would take a hit. Well, it did in a big way, as you'll see below.

    Not sure what they are supposed to be, but they'll look cool on a Sci-Fi tabletop!
Despite buying from only two stands at the convention, I still dropped about $100. I do feel an obligation to support the vendors at shows I attend. They take time out of their schedule to show up and give us somewhere to browse and shop. Often times it is a money-losing proposition for dealers. They go more as a form of advertising, to get their name out. They hope that, later on, people will remember them and make purchases from them online. Or at least that's my take on it!

    Mounted gorillas for my Planet of the Apes force - these are 3-D printed from JS Wargamer Printing
The first vendor I bought from is one that I've mentioned on here before. Cincinnati area gamer John Leahy started JS Wargamer Printing a year or so back. My Terminators that I painted up where from him. He carries mounted "Planet of the Monkeys" gorillas. I thought they'd be a great troop addition for my Xenos Rampant "Planet of the Apes" detachment. I have three mounted gorilla figures from Battle Valor Games, and I need some more to flesh out a squad of them. There's a troop type called Berserk Infantry (or something like that) in the game, and gorillas charging in to close combat would be perfect for these.

    I am a big fan of 'The Last of Us,' so if I'm purchasing zombies I'll definitely get some infected!
My other purchase from John was part of a new project that I will be working on after I get Xenos Rampant underway. I have finally decided to take the plunge and do a zombie branch-off for my post-apocalyptic games. My idea is it will be a mash-up of Gaslands Refueled and Wiley Games rules. Each of my players will have a vehicle -- pickup truck, SUV, van, whatever. They will have three characters in it and will be road-tripping across the United States. They're heading from the zombie-infected and densely-populated East to the wide open spaces of America's Great Plains and West. Less people means less zombies, so the thought is to make it to the relative safety of "flyover country."

    John from JS Wargamer Printing had three types of zombies -- this was the other type I ordered
The problem is that I own no zombies. Well, I didn't before Cincycon! I sent a message to John asking if he had any zombies he could print up. He did have some files. One is of standard zombie apocalypse folks and the other is the "infected" variety from the great streaming show, "The Last of Us." His prices are hard to beat, so I ordered two packs of 10 each. So, that's 40 zombies plus 4 mounted gorillas. John also gave me some freebies -- 3-D printed figures of Planet of the Apes Dr. Zaius, Cornelius, Zira, and the humans George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and Nova. 

    More of the 3-D printed scatter terrain I purchased at Cincycon - this from A Critical Hit
Since they were free, should I count those as purchased? Well, I guess I could technically call it "Acquired," just in case I trade for miniatures in the future! So, I added in 49 miniatures. That raises my total to 64 acquired for 2024. And no, I haven't finished any other batches, so I've sunk to 31 painted vs. 64 acquired. Oh well...it WAS a good ratio while it lasted!

    Two picnic tables, a phone booth, and Coca-cola machine from A Critical Hit
The other purchases were from a vendor that was new to me. They are called A Critical Hit (Instagram link), or email Blair Oyler at dungeonmaster@acriticalhit.ne. Critical Hit's shelves had quite a bit of 3-D printed scatter and buildings. Much of their printing was done in appropriately colored material so that they wouldn't technically require painting. I would at the minimum do a wash on these, but will likely paint most of them up. I showed my friend Keith their tables and he immediately snapped up even more than I did! Good stuff!!

    A few more from A Critical Hit -- I will likely paint the pipes but do a black wash on the container
Most of these purchases were Sci-Fi related. They'll likely end up on the tabletop for various Xenos Rampant games or Wiley Games skirmishes. It's been awhile since I've painted up a big batch of terrain, so I may likely pop in these pieces and others ones I purchased at Advance the Colors last October from Sailpower and Diabolical Terrain. You can never have too much atmospheric scatter on the tabletop. Now, storing all that terrain is a different thing entirely...!

    You can see the interesting colors that A Critical Hit print their terrain in with the second piece

What's next? I am almost done with the next batch of five "Blue-Skinned Aliens" squad. At some point, I really do need to come up with a name for that faction! With that squad complete, they will be ready for the tabletop. So, look for that update soon...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 31


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

The Warriors...er, Kings! Came Out to Play at Cincycon 2024!

Streets of downtown Columbus degenerated into a chaotic gang fight on Friday night at Cincycon 2024

With it being the 45th anniversary of the release of the movie "The Warriors" -- which was my inspiration for my Mean Streets rules -- I thought I should host a scenario that is a nod to it. My convention scenarios are often six player free-for-alls. However, I thought I would have two players representing a single gang and the other four being independents. The two player gang, aka the Warriors, would be trying to get from one side table edge to the other. 

    The table at Cincycon 2024 all set up and ready for players to "come out to plaaaaayyy...!"
Perhaps surprisingly, I don't have miniatures for the Warriors themselves. So, I chose one of my larger gangs, the Eastmoor Kings, and have them stand in. As you may know, my gangs are all named after Columbus neighborhoods. The Kings are an African-American gang, while the other four in the scenario would be the Indianola Mohawks (punk rockers), Franklinton Flippos (clown masks), Santanas (Hispanic gang), and the Linden Daos (black martial arts gang). I decided to give each Kings player one extra figure compared to the independent gangs to give them a fighting chance to get all the way across the table.

    Santanas keep watch on their corner of Bridge Street, making sure no one trespasses on their turf
All of the gangs would be given a variety of ways to earn victory points. Simply knocking out a member of a rival gang would be worth points. For the independents, each had one of the other three as worth extra points (you owe them payback for a previous beat-down). In addition, they had a criminal mission to carry out in a rival gang's turf, such as the Linden Daos had to enter Mohawk territory and "steal some smokes" from a cigarette kiosk. Finally, those four gangs also had two buildings to protect from rival gangs "tags." Players always seem to enjoy the "tagging" mission, and this would give a reason for each gang to protect its turf. 

    Just across the street, two of the Linden Daos strike an aggressive pose, marking their turf
The Kings, on the other hand, had the main mission of reaching the bridge that stretched across the table and catching a bus home. Just like with the Warriors, they had been double-crossed after going across town to a gang parley. Seeing how things in my gang warfare games typically devolve into -- shocker -- street fights, I figured the Kings would struggle to make it unscathed across five feet of tabletop. As it turned out, I may have underestimated the redoubtable street thugs and their canniness!

    My 6 players gathered around the table -- you can see the big bridge (King's goal) in the foreground
Scenery-wise, I had a couple new debuts for my Mean Streets games. The big one, so to speak, was the nearly three feet long stone bridge I had recently painted. See my earlier post on assembling and painting this monstrosity. Also new to the tabletop was my 6'x4' fleece city mat. I had picked up this mat with a concrete pattern from Shieldwall Gaming Club at the Hold the Line convention last Fall. I wasn't sure if my asphalt streets I made from cork material would look good on top of the concrete (since a street is lower than the concrete sidewalks). I set it up in my basement and was very happy with how it looked, so took it along instead of my acrylic tiles I'd used previously.

    You can see the back side of the Silent Slumbers motel here, along with Smith's Smoke Shack

Another new appearance on the table was the Silent Slumbers motel, a two-story resin building from Miniature Building Authority. This hefty model looks great on the urban tabletop, especially the back side with the air conditioning units and wires. Although no fighting took place in the motel, it was the scene of a couple big rumbles in front of and behind it. I did another thing to my scatter terrain. More than a year ago, I painted up a dozen or so streetlamps from pieces of bass wood purchased at the craft store. I don't know why I put them in a ziploc back and then forgot about them. I decided to take them along this time and put them on various street corners. I loved how they looked and feel like kicking myself for not debuting them in my games sooner!

    Early in the game, the Kings concentrated and ganged up on the Indianola Mohawks
The Mohawks, Daos, Flippos, and Santanas all deployed in their city block turf. I probably made a mistake in telling the two Kings players -- my friends Derek and Homer -- that they could deploy just off-board anywhere along the edge abutting Flippo and Mohawk territory. Most GMs have learned that miniature gamers can be counted on to their best to "break" a scenario you felt you balanced. What did Derek and Homer do? Well, of course, they came in like a ton of bricks on Michael's poor Mohawks, concentrating on one half of the side edge. They ignored the Flippos, who made things worse by ignoring the Kings entirely the entire game, too! Next time, I think I will be more specific in where they can come in and ensure that one of the independents isn't ganged up on and outnumbered from the outset.

    Derek's Kings swarm the back alley behind the motel, facing off against the Mohawks there
Homer sent his five Kings down the center street and immediately jumped Mohawks gang boss Sid and his main squeeze, Maybel. That turned out to be not the best idea, as Sid knocked out one and then another of the Kings punks who tried to invade Mohawk turf! Things were not off to a good start for the Kings with one player losing two of his five figures! Derek came in on the back corner behind the motel and apartment building. There they were met by Mohawks warchief Iggy, who held them off for a couple turns before succumbing to superior numbers.

    The Santanas cross the street to threaten Daos turf, trying to stare their rivals down
On the opposite end of the table, a dramatic standoff was underway. The Santanas crossed the street from their turf into territory controlled by the Linden Daos. The Daos had set up with their warchief and a punk to guard Wallace's Brewpub, while the Gang Boss and another punk sat poised to raid Smith's Smoke Shack and bag some points with their special mission. Upon seeing the Santanas assembling on the edge of their turf, they raced back to regroup. The two stared each other down for a moment and then the Santanas blinked, and headed back across the street into their territory. Perhaps it had something to do with a lone Flippo racing over and spray painting Sam's Quickie Mart (Santanas turf) with their clown-faced tag!

    Sidney and Dwayne of the Daos chase down Manana of the Santanas, prompting Cruz to come help
Either way, it was a mistake when they turned their back on the Daos. As half of the Santanas raced towards the Quickie Mart and the other two retreated back to the Pot O'Gold motel, the Daos sprang into action. Several of them chased down the two heading for the hotel and jumped them there. Never turn your back on a street gang looking for trouble! 

    Outnumbered, Sid and Maybel fight a valiant battle to defend their turf, but ultimately succumb
Meanwhile, things were heating up in Mohawk turf! Sid battled Eastmoor King after King, with Maybel wading in with their chain to lend a hand. However, once King gang boss Tyrese got in on the action, things got much more difficult. As vicious as he was with his fists, Sid simply couldn't fend off all of Homer's boys. The gang boss went down, and Maybel took that opportunity to scamper away and head for home. She had taken a few blows herself, and knew that if Sid couldn't stop these outsiders, she didn't stand a chance.

    The police arrive seeing a street fight between the Santanas and Daos taking place on the corner
The rest of the Mohawks had also battled stubbornly, but with Michael's whole gang down or off-table, he was the first beneficiary of my "cop rule." If a player is taken out early, I give them a police car and two officers to drive onto the tabletop on any street edge. They can come and get payback at the one who knocked them out, or show up in an entirely different place. Their choice! I began using this mechanic after a running of Mean Streets at Cincycon when two brothers, Steve and Mike Cole, played in my game. They live to pound on each other in miniatures games and one took the other out quickly in that game. I've used it ever since, and many a player has enjoyed the second lease on life in the game and had a blast playing the cops! Michael hammed it up perfectly, finding a police siren sound on his phone and playing it as he brought the patrol car onto the table.

    Police use their billy club on El Lobo after the Daos fled (or were knocked out by the Santanas)
Just before the police arrived, though, a bloodied Manana had scampered away from the furious fists of the black martial arts gang. Warchief Cruz battled on, calling for help. This soon appeared in the form of both Gang Boss Julio and his buddy, El Lobo. Encircling the two Daos, they pounded one into the pavement, ignoring the commands of the police. The Daos soon decided it was time to retreat rather than take on their rivals and the police! The Santanas refused to back down until the second officer stepped out of the patrol car and added his weight to the struggle. Perhaps it was the sight of the cop's drawn revolver, but the Santanas soon fled back down the road and turned into the alley behind the hotel.

    The police chase the Santanas off the streets into the alley ways, calling for them to halt
What were the Flippos doing all this time? Now, that's a good question! Every once in awhile at a game, you have that one player who decides to do things his or her own way. Rich was playing VERY safe with his four Flippos. Most of the time, he spent holed holed up in side one of the apartment blocks in their turf, guarding it. He sent the occasional punk outside to tag the Quickie Mart (Santanas turf). It wasn't until the Mohawks had been taken down and the Santanas and Daos were brutally mixing it up, that the clown faced creeps emerged from their enclave.

    The Flippos spent half the game guarding their apartment complext from interlopers in this game
They raced in a tight mass towards the back door of the Quickie Mart. Their mission had been to duck inside their and steal some food for tonight's party. Gang Boss Marvin shouted out orders and the four clown-faced gang members efficiently slid inside and began grabbing food off the shelves. Once their pockets were stuffed, they exited out the front door, considering even more mayhem.

   Santanas, having a rough night, beat feet down an alley way to avoid the pursuit of the police
Meanwhile, the game was winding down. Gang boss Juanita was the last one left in the Daos, and she headed off to tag a few buildings to rack up some victory points. The Santanas took a right turn into the alley between the motel and the Quickie Mart. With a couple of their guys beat up pretty well, they were ready to call it a night, too. They certainly were wondering why the Flippos, Daos, and cops all had decided to pick on them. It had made things difficult, and they'd never got a chance to hit up Wallace's Brewpub for some beers for the party planned tonight!

    The Eastmoor Kings cross the halfway point of the table -- which I was really happy with!
Meanwhile, things were going very much like their inspiration film for the Kings. They'd taken a few hits and losses along the way, but they were steadily progressing towards their goal: getting home. After the fight with the Mohawks, Derek's contingent did manage to knock out one of the Daos who was a little less slippery than he should have been stealing smokes from the kiosk. Otherwise, they stay "on mission" and stealthily made their way through the streets of Columbus to the bridge.

    We almost had another dust up at the 11th hour when the Flippos and Santanas met on Bridge Street
The 3-hour time I'd given the game was winding down and most of the players seemed content to get off table and tally up their points. The Flippos briefly considered having a go at the nearby Santanas. With their clown pockets full of food, though (and all four gang members healthy), they decided to head back to their base and celebrate the night's success. They could always claim the Kings kept running because they were too scared to mess with the Flippos, right? The Santanas had come very close to getting two of their ranks knocked out of action, so, as much as they wanted that beer at Wallace's to cool off, the sight of 7 black-clad Kings in the vicinity dissuaded them. Besides, the cops were out looking to bust people, so better to lay low.

    Eastmoor Kings arrive on table near Swingle's Shawarma, whose customer is obviously oblivious
When we counted it up, the Kings had won on victory points. I averaged Derek and Homer's scores and they racked up 13 points. The Flippos were next with 10, on the strength of their tagging and food hoarding. The Daos, despite having only one member left, took third place with 7 points. The Santanas were close behind, and the poor Mohawks took it on the chin having to face both Derek and Homer's gangs simultaneously and unaided. In retrospect, I will probably keep the missions for the independent gangs. However, I will get rid of the "target" points for knocking out one of the other four you owe payback on. I may keep the extra points for the Kings, though, to encourage them to make it tougher on their march through town. 

    No such thing as a fair fight in a street battle -- even with the cops looking on!
All in all, the players had a blast, they said. I thought the scenario ran well, and is certainly a keeper. Look for it at both Drums at the Rapids, May 17-18, at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, OH. I will also run it Thursday through Saturday at Origins Game Fair, June 19-23, Columbus, OH.

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Clifftop Battle - Song of Drums and Tomahawks at Historicon 2023

Huron raiders lead women and children captives north to Canada after their attack on a Seneca village
Most people remember the climactic skirmish on the clifftops in the movie The Last of the Mohicans. So, it was only natural that when I first got into the French & Indian War, that I'd want to re-stage that fight. I created a scenario actually using Magua, Hawkeye, and their companions and ran it years ago for Cold Wars 2015. When deciding which scenario to run at Historicon 2023, I decided to bring that one back out. Well, a version of it, that is! I didn't include the heroes, but instead players represented either Huron raiders leading away captives or their Seneca men attempting to rescue them. In fact, this scenario, Clifftop Battle, will be in our upcoming scenario book which is entering its final editing stages.

    Overhead view of the board for the 'Clifftop Battle' featuring my scratch-built cliff sections
Another reason that I wanted to bring this battle back is because the scenery is gorgeous. I feel it is perhaps some of the best that I have ever scratch-built. I created my three cliff pieces by using two different sizes of wooden boxes turned upside down and glued to styrene plastic. The cliffs were covered with pine bark which actually looks very realistic depicting a rocky cliff. For anyone interested in doing the same, I followed this series of steps:

  • Dry out the pine bark in the sun thoroughly
  • Glue it to the surface (I used Tacky Glue) and fill in whatever gaps between the pieces with Woodland Scenics ballast
  • Thoroughly spray paint it black
  • Brush paint it with a mix of 50/50 acrylic black paint and water, so it seeps into crevices
  • Dry brush it in 2-3 shades of either gray or bleached brown
  • Seal it thoroughly with clear coat

    Huron warriors leader their captives along the clifftops back towards their villages in Canada
I looked for my blog post on creating the cliffs, but I must have done them before I began this (relatively) newer Google Blog. So, don't bother searching Lead Legionaries for it -- sorry! Anyway, I really like how these cliffs turned out and they are always nice eye candy when you're trying to attract people to your table. And since getting people's attention was kind of the whole point of our First Command Wargames visit to Historicon, the Clifftop Battle was on!

    The way was long, rocky, and hard for the captives, who were suffering and exhaused
In this version, Huron warriors have raided a Seneca village while most of the men were out hunting. They captured a number of women and children and headed north across the mountains towards Canada. They plan to adopt them into their tribe to replace losses from the unending tribal warfare. The returning Seneca hunters discover what has happened and race to catch them. Using pathways unfamiliar to the Huron, they send one party ahead to cut off their march while pursuing with the rest of their force. When the battle begins, one Huron party including four captives is on the tall, center clifftop section and the other is behind it. Their goal is to make it off the opposite corner edge and off-table. The mission of the Seneca is simple -- rescue their women and children!

    Shots ring out, echoing from hillsides -- the Seneca rescuers have arrived and are attacking!
As I mentioned in the previous post, all four of our events were completely full with 8 players (four each in Clifftop Battle and four in Attack on Fort Michilimackinac). Since I was running the fort scenario, I didn't get to see much of the action in the four runnings of this skirmish. I heard everyone had fun -- which is the main point, of course. Also, the running score was fairly close. The Huron won twice, Seneca once, and they tied the fourth time. The only tweak we made over the course of the games was to allow Seneca Player One to move first before Huron One (followed by Seneca Two and finally Huron Two). Jenny said this really tightened the scenario up even more. I'll be sure to make that change in the scenario book, too -- although we have played this one a number of times, already. 

    Seneca rescuers have freed two of their women from their ropes and prepare to lead them to safety
Both sides have important tactical decisions to make. Once the Seneca catch up and force battle, they need to decide whether to focus on freeing captives or killing Huron. On the other hand, the Huron need to decide how big of a rearguard to leave to delay the Seneca and how big of an escort to send ahead with the captives. Too small of a rearguard and they will be overwhelmed. Too big and Seneca can race ahead and steal away women and children from their string of prisoners.

    The steep terrain hampered both the Huron raiders and the Seneca rescuers
The game had a suitable climactic finish in our final running. Four friends signed up to play and they were quickly lubricated with the white man's "fire water." War whoops were let out and dice rolls were celebrated -- exchanging historical Indian high fives...ha, ha! It was obvious they were having an absolute blast. Poor Phil Viverito's players gaming his World War I trench game did not seem as thrilled as the volume steadily escalated during the evening! Still, sitting down with friends, rolling dice and having fun, is the core of what we do as wargamers. It warmed our hearts to provide the opportunity for fellow gamers who would obviously go to their rooms razzing each other about each other's successes and failures.

    A string of captives descend the cliff path nearing the board edge -- their hopes of rescue dashed!
All in all, Jenny and I had a great time running Song of Drums and Tomahawks at Historicon. If you are interested in a quick, fast-moving set of skirmish rules that are easy to pick up...and ahem, obviously fun...I recommend them highly. Of course, the fact that I wrote them along with my friends Keith and Mike has NOTHING to do with that at all! At only $15 a print copy, how can you go wrong?

    A close up of my native women figures with one brave escorting them along the path

Some photos taken by one of our players at Historicon, Charles Sherrange

    Seneca warriors race to catch up with the Huron rearguard and exact their vengeance



    High above the forests below, Huron raiders lead their captives along the cliffs
    A desperate struggle ensues at the exit from the cliffs between Seneca and Huron warriors

    Massed on the cliffs, the Huron warparty readies itself to repel the Seneca attack

Friday, June 30, 2023

Serving up 'Bloody Congo' for Four

      Heroes of the encounter, the Katangan gendarmes, move out through town to engage the enemy
The Katangan Secession crisis was waged again at Origins Game Fair 2023 in Columbus, this weekend. Although I had it set up for six players, I ended up with four in my Friday morning session. This scenario pitting the newly-independent Congolese forces, augmented by a UN contingent, against Katangan Gendarmes and hired European Mercenaries. As with my six-player version I ran at CincyCon 2023, the mercenaries are bringing vitally-needed ammunition in their armored personnel carriers (APCs) to the Katangan forces.

    The Congolese players, Sam & Kyle, move up their forces while Jenny brings on her APCs
With only four players, I decided to leave out out the Congolese paratroopers and the Katangan militia. In my previous runnings of the scenario, those two factions tended to slug it out with each other and not interact as much with the other four forces. I felt the game worked out just as nicely without those two and was a good solution to having fewer players than I'd hoped. Origins is an all-genre convention, but historical miniatures are definitely under-represented there. So, I wasn't exactly surprised that a "hard historical" game ended up not filling up. In general, of the games our First Command Wargames crew ran at Origins, the less historical games filled up better than the more hardcore historical miniatures ones.

    Three squads of Ghanaian UN troopers hurry towards the road to cut off the vehicles' passage
Three of my players were brand-new to my Wars of Insurgency rules, but picked them up quickly and seemed to enjoy them. One of them purchased the rules after the game, which is always a bonus! Another reason I really enjoy this scenario is, being a two-sided scenario (but with each faction having its own goals), it plays quickly. That, and the board is super quick and easy to set up, but still looks nice, I think. I think the billboards with the propaganda posters makes it "pop," and shantytown shacks give it a third world feel.

    Carrying sorely-needed ammunition, European mercenaries roll ontable in their armored vehicles
Action on the table proceeded similarly to my previous times running the scenario. Perhaps the European mercenaries in their three APCs were a little less aggressive than they have been before. Jenny played them and focused on using the terrain to prevent the Congolese getting off RPG shots at her vehicles more than using the heavy machine guns (HMGs) mounted on the APCs to hammer the enemy. As before, the UN troopers and Katangan gendarmes began skirmishing at long range and quickly intensified into a full-blown firefight. In this game, Sam (who played the UN), aggressively charged into extremely close range in an attempt to clear the Katangans from the town they had occupied. Both wore each other down, with the Katangans likely getting the better of the exchange.

    Katangan gendarmes begin to occupy the buildings of town as a fire base to engage the UN
The ANC (Congolese National Army) concentrated most of their firepower on the mercenaries and their vehicles. They did respond to spoiling attacks by the gendarmes, but did their best to set up shots with their RPGs on the mercenaries, and succeeded in taking out the lead APC. However, Jenny restricted their line of sight with the patches of brush effectively, and neither of the other two took damage. When the APCs arrived at the bottleneck close to where the UN and ANC were occupying the brush, the gendarmes stepped up their attacks and drew the Congolese return fire. This action protected the APCs and enabled the two vehicles to dart past the "kill zone" with minimal shots. Once past that, the vehicles would be able to use the patches of jungle and the buildings as cover to reach the table edge. 

    The UN advance into the teeth of the gendarmes' fire, hugging cover and moving up
It was at that point that we decided to go ahead and count up points. For the first time, the ANC were able to fulfill their primary mission of grabbing ahold of one of the disabled APCs and restocking their own depleted ammunition. Although their mission includes being part of the attempt to put down the secession, the central government has kept this local garrison under-supplied and they were also short on ammo. However, even that was not enough to make up for the casualties that the gendarmes had racked up. In previous games, the APCs accounted for most of the Congolese losses. However, in this game, the gendarmes held their own and killed many of the UN and ANC troops.

    Cleverly using the bush to restrict Congolese line of sight, the APCs advance across the table
All four players had a good time, they said. They picked up the rules and how to calculate their own shots, adjudicate hits, and roll for saves without me having to actively manage the process. I think the rules make for a good convention miniatures game: easy-to-explain, quick-to-learn, and the players feel like their decisions are having an impact on how the game proceeds. This may be the final time I run this scenario this year, though. For Historicon next month, I am switching off and running my French & Indian War rule, Song of Drums and Tomahawks. So, stay tuned next month for reports from those games! And if you feel like channeling Magua and killing "Gray Hair," sign up to play!

    BOOM! An RPG strikes a damaged disabling it completely, killing the last of the mercenary crew

Close assault by the UN attempts to drive the gendarmes from the town and cut off the vehicles' escape

    The heroic Katangan gendarmes seem to be everywhere, though, and distract the Congolese focus