Gangs Taking Over the Streets of CincyCon 2021

    A half-dozen Flippos surround a couple Eastmoor Kings while the Santanas get ready to wade in

Sporting their leather jackets and colors, rival gangs took to the Mean Streets to rumble for control of turf and put a beat-down on their rivals at CincyCon 2021, Oct. 22. The Franklinton Flippos, Indianola Mohawks, Hilltop Highlanders, and other gangs brought clubs, blades, chains, and bare fists to take control of businesses, steal cars, and help themselves to brews on a day of mayhem and urban warfare. Just as often, the gangs ignored their planned missions and threw themselves into spilling blood of their hated rivals when they felt they deserved a little payback.

    The Linden Daos martial arts gang gathers by a building splattered with graffiti by them previously

The last time I had been able to run my new gang warfare rules had been the previous Cincycon, 20 months ago in March of 2020. A long, Covid-induced layoff of cancelled conventions had kept me from taking my rules on the road to promote at gaming shows. I was actually scheduled to run it three weeks earlier at Advance the Colors 2021, but my dad's passing that week led me to cancelling both events. Here I was, though, nearly two years later at the same venue where I had done my final playtest prior to publishing the rules in summer of 2020. 

    I had 5 players for my four slots in the evening game, and six in the afternoon one...scheduling oops!

I planned small, shooting to run it in the afternoon and evening on Friday for four players each time. Cincycon's website and scheduling woes led to both games being oversold. I had six players for the afternoon game and five for the evening. Luckily, I had brought most of my gangs along so had spares that I could toss out on the table. The hardest part was where to place their starting areas, as the table was 4'x4' and each gang was supposed to start in a corner. My players would good sports and understood I was making changes on the fly to keep from turning people who had registered away. 

   Jeffe, El Lobo, and Julio of the Santanas spot rival gang members and get ready to rumble!

It felt good to be running games at a convention, again. I felt bad that the stresses of the last few weeks had caused me to forget that I hadn't done certain things to prepare. Gone were the cards with pictures of the gang member that I'd created but forgot to print out. That meant I had to scrap the Special Abilities for the gang members and ran all figures as "base" Gang Bosses, Warchiefs, or Punks. Also gone were the gang member's names I planned to write with the Micropen on the edge of each miniature's base. Sigh. At least the player's didn't seem to notice or mind that missing touches. Everyone said they had fun and enjoyed the rumble.

Franklinton Flippos stalk past Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner intent upon Friday night mayhem

The planned scenario had each gang -- the Flippos, Highlanders, Santanas, and Mohawks -- starting in their respective corners. They were given a mission to achieve that was diagonally across the table. It might be stealing a car from the Shell station's service department, beating up the owner of Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner to get put on the "take," or similar missions. In addition, each was given two secondary missions. One was to give some payback to a rival gang who'd recently put a beat-down on them. That target gang was the one to each player's left. Gang members were also supposed to "tag" buildings with their gang logo to get the word out on the streets that they were there.

    Patrick and Andrew's gangs mixed it from turn one, both ending bloody and battered

In the first game, most players made an attempt to complete their missions. I doubled up on one mission, and gave the sixth player a different mission. Both had their objectives across the table from their starting points. In the evening game, all but one of the five players abandoned their missions and immediately barrelled into melee with each other. The Hilltop Highlanders ignored the provocations of the Santanas and continued to move through the streets till they arrived at Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner. Poor Benny (or was it Jack?) had no chance as he was mobbed by the street toughs from the west side of Columbus. Josephine, who was playing the Highlanders, scored double the points of her more belligerent fellow players who simply beat the snot out of each other instead.

    The bitter end of Archie of the Eastmoor Kings, encircled by both the Flippos and Santanas

I like to give players some choices when setting up a game. I did leave out the "home turf" element that I sometimes throw in. Often I will task a gang with the secondary mission of protecting their home turf (a designated building near where they start) from being tagged or harassed by rival gangs. This will tend to force players to consider splitting up their gangs. Each gang has a Gang Boss and a Warchief, so players are given the resources for doing so if they desire. Most of the gangs in both games kept themselves in a fairly cohesive group, this time around. So, I will probably add that back in the next time I run it.

Santanas pay a visit to the kiosks -- are they looking for some smutty magazines or some robbery?

This game also featured the unveiling of my new "streets" for Mean Streets -- vinyl 1' square floor tiles that I'd purchased this summer that conveyed the look of a faded asphalt street. The mottled gray pattern looked good, I thought with all the buildings, scatter terrain, and miniatures on it. I got some nice compliments on the look from players and passers by alike. Yes, vinyl floor tiles are heavy, but I thought they looked better than the charcoal gray felt I'd been using and a lot better than my scratch-built MDF concrete squares I had previously placed buildings atop. The tiles were the "peel and stick" type that Jenny attached black felt to the bottom of to make them sit well on the tabletop and stay in place. All in all, I was pleased with both the look and functionality of the new tabletop.

Flippos check out a cool convertible before sauntering down the street to engage in some mischief

As intended, the rules were taught quickly and questions were at a bare minimum. Mean Streets was written to be a fast-play rules set that is easy to learn for a convention game. The system allows you to tailor your gang how you like and individualize the figures with special abilities. There is a campaign system included in the rules, if players want their gang members to grow in experience and become tougher as the games progress.

Flippos jump a couple of Eastmoor Kings who they suspect of messing with their building 'tags'

I hope to run more Mean Streets games, but likely will not be doing so at any conventions over the next few months. School has been keeping me ridiculously busy (as usual), and my Dad's passing and helping my mom deal with it has been consuming a lot of my free time. So, I would love to hear from anyone who purchases Mean Streets ($20 print, $10 PDF) and how their games are progressing. It might give this stressed gamer a chance to live vicariously through your gaming opportunities. The links to purchase Mean Streets are on the First Command Wargames website.

    The Santanas and the Hilltop Highlanders mix it up when the two gangs bump into each other

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the gangs and their rumbles! Feel free to comment either on my blog or on the Mean Streets: War in Gang-infested Cities facebook group. Hope to hear from people soon!

Mean Streets is back! Demo games ran at Drums

    The Santanas and the Mohawks rumble in the Mean Streets of Columbus at my demo at Drums 2021

Prior to this weekend's Drums at the Rapids convention at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, OH, my last convention I attended was Cincycon 2020. At that con, I ran the final playtest for my Mean Streets rules. It is only fitting that I ran demo games of my gang warfare rules in my first convention after COVID-19. In the ensuring year-plus off, the rules were published and are now available for purchase in print and PDF download.

    The Indianola Mohawks cruise past the graffiti-spattered streets, ready for a fight

Although COVID restrictions are easing, some were still in place - including a 4-player limit to games being run. I set up a game featuring four of my newer gangs that I have painted up -- the Indianola Mohawks, the Santanas, the Franklinton Flippos, and the Eastmoor Kings. Each gang had its own separate primary mission to complete on the opposite side of the board from their starting point. They also had identical secondary missions of "tagging" buildings with their gang logo. I had printed up little foam circles with each gang's logo that they could lean up against the building they were tagging. They were even permitted to come along and tag over a rival gang's logo! And finally, the standard victory points for knocking out rival gang members (plus negative points for those of your own gang knocked out) were in place. 

    A look at the urban tabletop I set up for my demos at Drums at the Rapids

I was running the game on the Friday afternoon session and the Saturday morning session. Normally, Drums features evening sessions, too, but COVID restrictions eliminated those. I like to schedule the final Friday session and first Saturday session when I go to cons to run games to ensure I have to set up my game only once (and can leave it set up overnight on Friday). I had a full table both sessions, along with great, fun-loving players who certainly got into completing their missions. I also normally add a secondary mission of double points for knocking out gang members of a particularly bitter rival on the tabletop. This is to encourage them to "rumble" and not just run around the table tagging buildings and avoiding the other gangs. I'd left that out this time, which I personally think was a mistake. 

    The Franklinton Flippos spy a Mustang that looks ripe for ripping off from the Shell Station!

In both sessions there were gangs who minimized the fighting and instead focused on stealing the car, going on the beer run, or roughing up the restaurant owner (to get put on the "protection money" take). So, next time, the rivalries will be back in play. Of course, if this were a campaign game between players in a regular club, those rivalries will come about naturally. You will want revenge to beat down those low lifes who roughed up your gang members last time! So, next time I run it at a convention (currently scheduled for Advance the Colors and Cincycon in October of 2021) I will put those rivalry bonus points back in place for knocking out members of certain other gangs. 

    Julio, Gang Boss of the Santanas, leads Ramona and El Lobo (two Punks) down the street

I was pleased to see how quickly rules explanation went. Mean Streets is meant to be a fast, easy-to-learn system that lets you get started playing at the convention or club game right away. I gave each player six gang members, a Gang Boss, Warchief (second in command), and four "Punks" (normal rank-in-file). There are a number of Skills they can be customized with, so I gave each Gang Boss, Warchief, and one Punk a skill. The other three had none to minimize the learning curve in what would be most players' first games, I assumed. Once you've played the rules, you could easily handle more than six member gangs. However, I have found in convention games, it is better to err on the side of simplicity and small than go too big.

    Kira, Julius, and Iggy jump a member of the Eastmoor Kings as he trespasses on their turf

The games were, in the words of one of my players, a "hoot" and there was a lot of laughter and ribbing as one gang put the beat down on another. My favorite moment of the two games was when a husband and wife team played in the same session. The hubby sent one gang member across the board by himself into his the territory of his wife's gang. He confessed they had discussed a "truce" beforehand, knowing I love to run free-for-all type gangs. However, when his wife saw this gang member show up in her turf, she had her gang jump the poor Punk and he was quickly knocked out of action. This started a gang war as Wifey put the beat-down on Hubby. A third gang joined in, and it was a wild and woolly melee that raged across one street corner for most of the game.

    The Franklinton Flippos move out from their turf near O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel

 

I was really happy with how the miniatures and buildings and other terrain looked on the tabletop. I still have tweaks that I want to do to my urban battlefield, but I really like my Sarissa Precision 28mm MDF buildings. They look perfect, and provide a variety of settings for missions, such as Wallace's Brewpub lets gangs go on "Beer Runs" or Sams Quickie Mart lets another initiate a gang member by having them steal something from the shelves. Lately, I have been buying Terrain Crate plastic/resin terrain from the local game stores to stock the interiors of the buildings. This will only give me more ideas and options for gang missions to perform.

    The Eastmoor Kings move past the kiosks on the roadside, looking for some rivals' heads to beat in

On Friday night, the Eastmoor Kings (controlled by Jim W from our HMGS Great Lakes group) narrowly won the session, scoring 24 points (edging out the Indianola Mohawks and their 23 points). Saturday, the Franklinton Flippos (controlled by Mike S from our Sunday night gaming group) parlayed their intimidating looking creepy clown masks into a comfortable victory with 22 points. It was really fun to see the miniatures that I had spent so much time on and tried to breathe so much personality into interacting on the tabletop. I have named each miniature. Players were given a roster with pictures so they knew who was Sid, Iggy, or Julius from the Mohawks, or Julio or Cruz from the Santanas. I am contemplating attaching something to the base of the figure itself to help identify them, but still not sure about that. I normally don't like figures running around the tabletop with labels on them. So, it needs to be somewhat unobtrusive if I decide to do it.

    A very busy street corner in the Saturday session saw three gangs rumbling in front of the brewpub

In evaluating the missions, I think I made the Flippo's "Steal a Car" too easy with my tabletop setup. Both players succeeded. The other three missions succeeded at about a 50% rate. So, in my opinion, they were "just right" -- not too easy. I will adjust for future missions. Other tweaks that I would like to make with future runnings of Mean Streets demos include jazzing up my streets themselves. I have an asphalt-looking gray-black felt groundcloth I use for my games. However, I may purchase additional lengths of it and paint on yellow road stripes. My center medians with flowers look okay, but can't carry the street look themselves, I feel. I certainly need more of my sidewalks, made from gray ballast flocked MDF boards. I should have a good variety of them in more standardized sizes so that building blocks line up to create streets better.

    In their first rumble on the tabletop, the Indianola Mohawks proved they were up for the fight!

I know I am probably being too picky, but part of any miniatures game is the "Wow!" factor of an excellently staged tabletop. I think I am partway there, especially with the Sarissa buildings and their graffiti-splashed walls. I also need some more scatter. The dumpsters and the gas pumps and various WizKids pieces look great. I need more, though. I created some street lights that I forgot to pack in my boxes, and also need to paint up those electrical poles I have obtained from the local train store. Plus, my friend Tim P sold me a bunch of cool resin pieces like newspaper vending machines, trash bins, and more that need to be finished and added to the tabletop scenery.

Close up of one of the foam circles I created to mark spots gang members (like Ramona) had "tagged"

Despite all of this to do, I was very pleased with how the game looked on the tabletop. I was even  more pleased with how it ran. Both games flowed quickly and smoothly and finished in a reasonable amount of time. No one seemed to feel cheated that it finished too early, and no one looked like it was dragging on and on. Good sign! So, if you are interested in recreating wars in the streets between rival gangs, I encourage you to check out my rules. They're only $20 print, or $10 PDF, and include LOTS of background information. 

    Jenny, playing the Santanas, sends a gang member into Wallace's Brewpub to steal some beer

I hope you enjoy the photos, and feel free to comment on here with questions. If you are on Facebook, join the page I created for the rules, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/403568800749744

   Manana of the Santanas shows no fear taking on Julius and Iggy of the Mohawks

Warchief Archie leads a contingent of the Eastmoor Kings, tagging buildings at they roam the streets

    

All caught up on the news, the Frankinton Flippos set out to bust some heads on the streets

    And it looks like the Flippos have found a fight with the Eastmoor Kings behind Wallace's brewpub!

    Manana, Jeffe, and Cruz of the Santanas prowl the streets looking for a fight

    Mike ran the Flippos on Saturday, while Heidi in purple ran the Mohawks, and Jenny the Santanas

    Close up of one of the biggest rumbles of the weekend with the Mohawks, Santanas & Kings

New Gang: The Santanas

The leader of my Hispanic street gang, Julio, proudly sporting his gang jacket emblazoned with The Santanas' logo

Even though I had painted up nine street gangs as part of my Mean Streets project, something was missing. I'd recently done punk rockers (Indianola Mohawks). I had a martial arts gang (Linden Daos), an African-American gang (Eastmoor Kings), motorcycle gang (Sons of Thor), and a West-side working class white gang (Hilltop Highlanders). However, I had no Italian or Hispanic, leather jacket wearing, "classic" TV gang.

Cruz has tattooed the gang's "S" onto his ample beer belly and keeps his leather jacket unzipped to show it off

So, as I sat looking at the remaining eight figs from my purchase from Casting Room Miniatures, I noticed most had obvious leather jackets. My original plan had been for them to be a heavy metal gang and call them the Head Bangers. However, the chance to do a classic gang with their logo emblazoned on the backs of their brown leather jacket was too good to pass up. I decided to go with a Hispanic theme, and remembering my high school days that rock guitarist Carlos Santana was popular, I decided to go with the gang name, The Santanas!

Margarita looks like she's been around the block once or twice, and "packs heat" to deal with those who give her grief

Once that decision was made, I realized I had a problem. Back when I began painting the Indianola Mohawks, I decided to be efficient and do the flesh tone on both gangs. I did them in a mix of Caucasian, African-American, and Hispanic. Oops. They needed to be ALL Hispanic. So, the first project was to darken up the Caucasians and lighten up the African-Americans. There are a range of skin tones with Hispanic people in the United States, of course, just like any other ethnicity. So, I actually liked how the skin palette, so to speak, turned out.

Intimidating-looking El Lobo carries his bat with him everywhere, always ready for a rumble

Next up, I made the decision to go with brown leather jackets over black ones. The Warriors in the movie of that name have brown ones, as (I believe) do the The Wanderers in the more light-hearted movie of the same name. What symbol, though? I Googled Carlos+Santana+symbol and scanned through the hits. There was the musician's trademark, swirly capital "S." There was also a few Hippie-trippy wings in the drawings, too. So, I sketched out Santana's swirly S with wings on it, and liked how it looked. Even more importantly, I was really pleased with how it came out on the back of the jackets!

Ramona takes no crap from anybody, and needs no weapons. She'll wallop you upside your head with her meaty fists!

I had an epiphany, of sorts, while painting The Santanas. And that is I HAVE to use my lighted magnifier when I paint details. I'd always been irked with how the tops of my paint brushed clanked against the mirror as I was painting. In a fit of anger, I snapped off the top half of my tiny, detail brush and was like..."Heyyyy...this works!" So, I think the logo turned out as good as it did because I am using my magnifier religiously on detail work, now.

Mańana's figure began life as a hippie protestor, but I turned him into something more menacing with jewelry chain

Two of the seven figures I was painting did not have leather jackets, though. One of them appeared to have a sleeveless "wife beater" -- sometimes called a muscle shirt. I used paint to turn that into a leather vest, instead. The other was too obviously a t-shirt to do anything with. So, on of the gang members isn't wearing his leather jacket. So, I painted the logo on the back of the shirt, instead. I was tempted, for a moment, to paint Santanas on the front. Then I realized that I am not that skilled to do so. Not even close! The figure has a Rastafarian style haircut, headband, and actually turned out to be one of my favorites from the gang.

Jeffe's sleeveless t-shirt was morphed into a leather vets, and I added a knife to turn the peace sign into V for Victory!

I haven't talked about the actual REAL first step, yet -- silly me! Modifying the figures from Tedious Hippie Scum (one of the packs I bought) or Leather Gals and Boys (the other) into a mostly-armed street gang. The Leather dudes I didn't have to do anything to at all -- bare-bellied Cruz already had a chain, El Lobo carried a baseball bat, Margarita concealed her pistol, and Ramona and Julio brandished their fists. The two hippies needed modification, though. Jeffe was given a knife in his right hand (I guess the two fingers doesn't mean peace, it is "V" for Victory!). I modified Mańana by giving him a length of jewelry chain between his outstretched hands. I was very happy with how it turned out.

In fact, I was incredibly happy with how The Santanas turned out. This will be my last gang for awhile. I now have ten, which is more than enough for the games I'll be running (whenever we get to meet in person to run games again!). Hope you enjoyed The Santanas!

Two Kiosks for my 28mm Cityscape

Smith's Smoke Shack, my latest 28mm MDF building...and there's Mr. Smith in his Notre Dame shirt behind the counter

I often like to modify my 28m MDF Sarissa Precision buildings, but on my latest two constructions, I took that to extremes. I had purchased two of Sarissa's Victorian Newstand/Market Stalls awhile back, and finally got around to building them. One of them I planned to keep as a newstand or bookseller. But what to do with the other one, to add variety? Why not a tobacconist (or as we'd say in modern day America, a "Smoke Shack"?). I liked the idea -- it seemed like something you'd see on the streets of an inner city.

The Morning Crower and its newspapers and magazines (weighted down with resin bricks, of course!)

The buildings went together fairly easily, as most Sarissa products do. Unlike most of its buildings, though, it does not come with a base that the walls slot into. That actually made it a bit trickier, but I managed with no significant difficulties. Later, I would add a styrene base of my own, but not right away. I wanted to keep the bottom open to make it easier to add inside decoration.

Smith's Smoke Shack is a popular stop for inner city denizens, as Ramona of the Santanas eyes the candy jar

Before any decoration, though, was painting. I have to admit, I do dislike Sarissa's tendency to put incised lines as decoration on its products. As I get older, my eyes and hands get less dependable. I often have a hard time painting all those straight lines! I've decided to go back to using my magnifier attached to my painting desk, and took my tiniest brush and snapped off half of its length (it kept banging into the magnifier). My golf pencil sized brush is SO much easier to use with the magnifier, now. And, I am happier with my straight lines now that I am using the magnifier.

The Morning Crower's tacky 3-D 1970s sign features a rooster reading a giant book

I went with a dark red and cream for the smoke shack (thinking Marlboro colors), and for a change, an orange and green for the newstand. After my usual spray priming with Krylon black, and going over it with 50/50 acrylic black paint and water, I painted the two colors on each of the buildings. At this stage, I decided to replace the boring roofs Sarissa provides, and use some corrugated bass wood. On top of that, literally, I decided to do a 3-dimensional sign. These were big in the 70s and 80s (think the Frisch's Big Boy statue). For the Smoke Shack, obviously, it would be a pack of cigarettes emblazoned with the logo. For the newstand, I searched through my plastic, wood, and bead bits, but nothing jumped out at me. I decided since people read newspapers in the morning, and roosters are the symbols of mornings, I would put a rooster on the roof.

Margarita of the Santanas hangs out next to the side door...eyeing the large cans of cola to quench her thirst

Ah, you say, the modifications to the newstands have begun! I also decided that I wanted counters for my newstands. Actually, I added these before I began painting. I used triangular wooden molding as the support for the counters. I'd have a long one in front and two smaller ones at each side window. The counters themselves would be leftover bits of MDF from previous constructions (I always save leftover, "popped out" bits, no matter how small). I trimmed the counters with an X-acto knife to make them angled on each end. With the fancy roofs and the scratch-build counters, I was pretty happy with how the kiosks were looking.

Cruz is a little upset that the Crower doesn't show his favorite comic books in its list of items for sale

But was I satisfied? Of course not! I needed things to put ON the counters! So, I headed off to Hobby Lobby one afternoon. I knew their dollhouse accessories had sodas and various other things, so hopefully some would size out all right. The main thing I was looking for was something small and rectangular for packs of cigarettes to be placed on the Smoke Shop counter. I can wander the aisles of Hobby Lobby for hours, and I threaded my way through the building gathering things and wishing I had snagged one of the plastic baskets. After more than $30 worth of purchases, I had stuff to use as my accessories for the kiosks (and other ideas I had for my 28mm modern city).

 

In addition to the Hobby Lobby accessories, I went online and downloaded images of newspaper front pages and magazine covers from the 1970s. I resized them in Photoshop and printed them off at my local Office Max. I also made several signs for the kiosks themselves. I decided to call the newstand "The Morning Crower" and the tobbaconist "Smith's Smoke Shack." I have been naming my buildings after gaming friends of mine, so it was a no-brainer to name the tobacconist after my longtime (smoker) friend, Steve Smith.

El Lobo is feeling lucky and is planning on picking up some lottery tickets from Smith's Smoke Shack

The newspaper front pages were folded in half, and 4-5 copies of each were stacked up on the counters. Most of the magazine covers were glued directly to walls of the structure (including four on the interior back wall), but I glued copies of Rolling Stone and Time on one of the side counters. As a final touch, I glued a resin brick from a pack I'd purchased at a hobby store atop each pile of newspapers or magazines to keep them from "blowing away." One of my Hobby Lobby purchases was a pack of books from their doll house line. Pretty much everything in the line was oversized, but I glued a row of them to a scratch-built bench and attached it against the far wall.

 

Which reminds me, prior to placing all of these accessories, I wall papered the interior walls. Another of my purchases was half a dozen styles of patterned paper to use as either wall paper or floors for my buildings. I measured and cut each to size, then traced through the outline of the windows while holding them in place inside. This made them very easy to attach by simply painting the inside wall with white glue and placing the trimmed and sized patterned paper in place.

Another of my purchases were tiny glass jars with cork stoppers. I thought they'd make great candy jars. I found a bottle of incredibly tiny, colorful pareils -- used to decorate cupcakes, but looking for all the world like colorful gumballs or jaw breaker candies. I filled two jars up with these, sealing them with a blob of white glue. Another couple jars were filled with the tiniest pop-outs of laser-cut MDF that I had saved. Their dark brown color and rectangular shape made them look like chocolates, in my opinion. See! Don't throw anything away...haha!

Jeffe asks for a copy of the Columbus Dispatch to see if his gang, the Santanas, is mentioned in its pages

While sorting through my MDF pieces, I found lots of slightly larger rectangles that were perfect for packs of cigarettes. That meant I didn't need the beads I'd bought, but oh well. I placed the rectangles in rows on "trays" (also MDF) and then painted them in white and green and red  to resemble cigarette packs. At this point, I decided to add a kiosk patron. I have a handful of 1/72 white plastic civilians used (I think) for architectural models. I took two of the seated ones and created a chair or stool for each using wood or MDF bits. I couldn't resist painting the tobacconist to look like my friend Steve -- down to his dark blue shirt with "ND" Notre Dame logo. Yes, in addition to his bad habit of smoking, he is also a Fighting Irish fan. Tusk-tusk!

Bit by bit, I began gluing down the accessories with white glue. Once I had my miniature Steve sitting inside his kiosk, looking out over his packs of cigarettes, candy, and soda cans, I decided he looked a little lonely in the interior. I put an MDF shelf I had constructed and primed, but never used in a store model, up against the back wall. On the shelves were cigarette cartons -- once again, rectangular MDF pieces painted and covered with printed images I'd downloaded.

Cruz agrees that Smith is one of the smoothest kiosk operators he's run into in Columbus

I am really happy with how these kiosks turned out! I probably spent more than twice as much time on the accessories to trick them out and make them more colorful, but these are the kind of details I think my players really enjoy. Although these buildings won't cover much space on the tabletop (as you can see by the 28mm figures for scale, they will go a long way towards bringing my cityscape to life!

It's done! Mean Streets ready for the printers!

The cover for my upcoming release of my gang warfare skirmish rules

A major reason why I have not been posting pictures of what I've been painting or constructing over these last few months has been my focus on getting my gang warfare rules ready for print. Well, as of today, the proofreading is complete - and the rules are ready for the printer! I will upload them to the Lulu website Friday, and order a proof copy to check over for needed corrections. After that, I'll upload any needed changes and they will be ready for sale!

Back cover with one of Jenny's photos of my miniatures and terrain

The project began in October of 2018, and saw playtesting from August of 2019 to March, 2020. I've had a LOT of fun painting the gangs, creating terrain for my 28mm cityscape, and writing the rules. They are about two months behind schedule -- I had planned on having them available in early April. Still, with the increased school workload during the "distance learning," I'm not that upset about their tardiness.

One of my students created both this inside front cover illustration and the cover art for me

The front cover and inside front cover were created by one of my students -- she is one of the most talented artists I have taught. The back cover, along with lots of interior photos, was photographed by my friend Jenny using my figures and terrain. I thought I'd post a couple pictures of them for a quick update so you can enjoy them. I will post again on here when the rules are available for purchase.

My signature banner image in Lead Adventure Forum advertising our rules

My signature banner image in Lead Adventure Forum advertising our rules