Starting a New Saga Army - Thracians!

    Thracian mounted warriors from Crusader Miniatures -- my newest Saga project!

I'm a bit behind in posting pictures of my newest Saga army that I am in the process of painting up. In fact, some of these figures already have a couple games under their belt! I was prompted to choose Thracians from the newest Saga world book, Age of Alexander, for several reasons. The first was watching a battle report on Graham's Wargame Vault when his "outrageous" buddy, Wayne, thrashed him in a game using Thracians. They seemed like an interesting army, watching the battle board's abilities he was using and the effects they had on the game. The next reason is because of the sheer color of this army. Thracians are known for their patterned cloaks, so this would give me a chance to create another visually appealing army for the tabletop. Finally, after proxying my Picts as Thracians, I discovered they were very fun and tactically challenging to play.

    One reason painting Thracians is appealing is their famed colorful cloaks with geometric designs

Being a metal miniatures guy, I knew there were quite a few options. The Age of Alexander has been a cornerstone of the 28mm Ancients period for decades. There are LOTS of figure manufacturers who have produced Thracians over the years. Unlike many of my contemporaries playing Saga, I am not really a fan of the plastic sets where you glue the arms, heads, torsos, and such all together. I still prefer the weight and completeness of a metal miniature. For my Thracians, I decided to go with Crusader Miniatures because the wide variety of packs they have in their line. 

    My Thracian mounted figures drawn from their command and mounted tribesmen packs

I ordered them from their website and they arrived VERY quickly -- excellent service. I did screw up a little, though. For some reason, when I was reading the Saga book's description and troop list for the Thracian army, I thought that they could field foot hearthguard armed with the two-handed chopping weapon, the Rhomphaia. I based my purchase on that, only to find that hearthguard can only be mounted in this list. D'oh! Long story short, I didn't order enough figures! Well, I should be able to solve that when I go to Historicon next month. Badger Games carries Crusader Miniatures, so I will pick up some more packs of figures to be able to finish out this warrior heavy, hearthguard-less, force.

    The deadly rhomphaia was a feared and famous Thracian two-handed cutting weapon

When I unpacked the miniatures, I decided that I would first paint up all those rhomphaia armed troops. I could continue proxying my Picts for the javelin-armed troops. I was using a hodge-podge of other miniatures for the heavy weapon rhomphaia men, so this would make the proxy army look a bit nicer and more consistent on the tabletop. Many of my Picts are armed with javelins, and they also have colorful cloaks -- though mostly checks, tartans, and stripes instead of geometric patterns.

    I really like how the shields came out on my 1st batch of Thracian infantry - more micron pen work!

One issue that arose, though, was that I had ordered a variety of Thracian types from Crusader. Thracian tribesmen are known for their wicker crescent shaped shield. However, as they became more established as mercenaries, they began to use the oblong "Greek peltast" shield. I wanted my warriors to have the crescent ones, as that is the period of the Saga list. I swapped some out, though, with the cavalry, who I gave the oblong shields to, instead. Hopefully, this will work out well.

    Thracian warriors are often depicted using a wicker, crescent-shaped shield

I thought the poses for the Thracians armed with rhomphaia were pretty cool. I mixed in some from various packs and painted up a group of eight that you see pictured here on this blog post. I was very happy with how they came out. I borrowed my friend Mike's Osprey book on the Thracians to make sure that I was doing a somewhat historical job of them. We are fortunate with the Thracians that they were regularly depicted in Greek art, whether on vases, frescoes, or in other places. This means we have actual patterns for the Thracians' "geometric designs" on their cloaks. I looked through the Osprey book and picked out a handful that I thought I could reproduce with either a paintbrush or my Micron pens. Yes, this is yet another army that will be using the micron pens!

    Crusader Miniatures makes both Thracian mercenary type figures and 'tribesmen' poses

One thing that I have found with the pens is that you have to be careful to keep them from smearing later  when you apply a wash on the figure. I have begun to apply my first spray clear coat before the wash, and this seems to do a good job of eliminating problems with the ink running. As I may have mentioned before, the pens work best on smoother surfaces. If you have a cloak that has deeply-sculpted folds or ripples, you are going to struggle to get the head of the pen down into the bottom of the folds. In these cases, I go Old School and use a small brush to do my patterns. So, maybe plan out your more complicated decorations on the figures with smoother areas and the simpler ones on the others?

    These figures came with the oblong 'peltast' type shield, but I swapped out crescent ones for them

The figures in Crusader's "mercenary peltast" boxes tend not to have cloaks. In this case, I gave them simpler geometric patterns, stripes or borders on their tunics. Y9ou can see that in the figures above, and I think they give a nice effect. Many years ago, I painted Scottish highlanders for the Jacobite Rebellion (in 15mm, no less!). I found when doing that army that you are shooting for a visual effect. You don't need to have every article of clothing in a pattern. One per figure tricks your eye into seeing a consistent, pleasing effect. So, for the tribesmen who do have cloaks, I don't decorate the tunics with anything more than a border.

    This pairs of warriors shows the difference between Crusader's "peltast" and "tribesmen" figures

With me being behind on posting pictures, my last batch of rhomphaia men are actually primed and on my desktop ready to follow. With this batch, I will also be painting up the warlord's stand. Typically, the warlord's stand contain the last figures I paint for an army. I assume that I will be well versed in painting that nationality by then, and have a good idea what color combination will look good after doing the rank and file. My idea for the Thracians, though, is to play them AS I paint the army. So, I think it will add to the effect on the tabletop to have the correct general. Not that there is anything wrong with the Republican Roman general that I have been using (other than he's the wrong figure and the banner is a legionary one!)...

    Two of my mounted warriors for my Thracians -- my most recent Saga army to hit the tabletop

There is going to be only one mounted unit in this army -- at least how I plan to field six points of Thracians for Saga! I decided I should get them done relatively quickly, too. The proxying of Roman cavalry with Dark Age cavalry bugged the historical miniature gamer in me, so I wanted to get these done early. After painting my Mongols last year, doing one batch of eight mounted figures was nothing...ha, ha! Speaking of which, I actually pulled out my Mongols, looked through them, and selected eight horses that I liked best to use for the colors and markings of the mounts. Why do the same job over and over? When I had done my research on Mongol horse colors I found nothing to indicate that their horse colorings were anything unique in the Ancient world. So, it was kind of nice to have a template for the horses and made it go quick, I feel.

    I think the oblong shields look good for the mounted figures, and am pretty happy with how they look

The armor and equipment for the mounted figures was kind of a mixed bag on the Crusader poses. Some had what looked like Linothorax -- the white linen type armor that Alexander the Great is often depicted as wearing. Others looked like they were wearing a bronze cuirass, while others appeared to have no armor protecting their torso at all. Although some parts of Thrace coalesced into a kingdom during the Ancient period, the Saga list intends to represent them mainly during their tribal phase. So, it makes sense that armor is very individual, making the variety work in my favor here.

    I like this cast-on metal standard the left hand figure is carrying - the severed heads are a nice touch!

I decided to put the mounted standard bearer from the command pack in with the unit of 8 warriors.  I like the look of a foot standard bearer next to a mounted general for my warlord stands. That, and I was being cheap -- typical of me! The Crusader mounted packs contain three figures. So, I ordered three packs, giving me nine figures (8 for the warrior unit and one for the warlord stand). Thus, the mounted standard bearer and the horn blower were drafted into the warrior unit! I really like the severed heads handing from the standard, too. In fact, I am tempted to make my custom fatigue markers severed heads, as well. So, if anyone reading my blog has extra heads that come with plastic kits that they're not using, I'd be interested in getting about 10 or so from you. Let me know in the comments, or if you have may email or FB Messenger address, send me a message!

    The standard bearer on left was also given one of the fancier cloaks - I'm happy with how it looks!

All in all, I feel that I am off to a good start with this army. Two batches of eight done and one of those being the army's only mounted makes me feel progress is definitely being made. Once I finish the next batch of 5 rhomphaia men and the warlord's stand, I will have only three more batches to do. My plan is to field the army in the following way:

• Mounted warlord
• 8 mounted warriors
• 13 foot warriors armed with rhomphaia (one unit of 6 and the other of 7 figures)
• 27 foot warriors armed with javelins (three units of 9 figures)

I'll split the 27 foot warriors into three batches of nine, so who knows? Maybe this army will be done much quicker than you might think with all the fancy cloaks. I hope so! Stay tuned and see...!!   

    Many Thracian "tribesmen" type figures have the fox-skin hoods that Thracians were known for

    Some of the mounted figures came with round shields -- once again, more variety is good!

    I try to give each Saga army a consistent look for flocking, too, with the Thracians' including flowers

    With these two batches of miniatures painted, I am about 1/3 of the way done with this army!

Katanga Secession Crisis Fights to Stay Alive at Drums 2023

    White mercs employed by Katanga hurry along the road, hoping to deliver their ammo on time

I wanted to run a tweaked version of my Congo civil war game set during the Katanga secession crisis at Drums at the Rapids this past weekend. I was running it both Friday night and Saturday morning at the Fort Meigs visitors center, where Drums is held every year. Luckily, I had a my full complement of six players both games. I felt even more fortunate that my players were all veteran gamers, and picked up the rules very quickly. By the second or third turn, I had little to do but usher the game along, letting players know whose turn it was to move.

    Full table on Friday and the players fought down to the wire, with a narrow Katangan victory

After running "Congo, Bloody Congo" once at Cincycon 2023, I made two main changes. First, I toned down the power of the white mercenary force, giving them fewer figures in the back of the open armored personnel carriers. I also adjusted the terrain of the village where the Katangan militia start the game. I pushed most of the buildings off-table, with only a few left on the table edge mainly for eye candy. I felt the previous setup made that encounter between the militia and the Congolese paratroopers too static. I wanted them to be mixing it up among the jungle and farm fields of the villagers.

    The tabletop before troops deploy, showing where each force will arrive (Katangans in blue)

The main idea remained the same, though. Three APCs crewed by white mercenaries that the Katangans have hired are trying to cross diagonally from one corner of the table to the other. They are carrying crates of ammunition desperately needed by the Katangan forces to keep their revolt alive. Their main allies, a force of Katangan gendarmes, begin at the destination corner. The gendarmes' goal is to push forward and keep the attacking Congolese and UN forces at bay. The further forward they extend their lines, the less dangerous of a gauntlet of fire that the APCs have to run. On the gendarmes' right, a force of Katangan militia advance out of their village to meet the Congolese and UN pincer attack. Their goal is to keep their families safe by preventing any enemy from shooting inside the village. They lose points for each figure killed, so they are likely to be less enthusiastic for victory. However, those points lost are doubled if the loss occurs inside the village. This represents family members being killed by stray rounds. So, the militia are encouraged not to hunker down in the village, and instead advance reluctantly into battle.

    Congolese paratroopers arrive on one corner of the table, intent on crushing the Katangan secession

 

As for the attackers, the Congolese paratroopers deploy opposite the arriving mercenaries and next to the Katangan village. The United Nations force moves on-table diagonally opposite from the paratroopers, with the local Congolese army unit (ANC) on the U.N's left. The ANC is closest to the road edge where the mercenaries arrive and would dearly love to get their hands on one of the APCs and some of that ammunition! The central government and army command has been starving their garrison of supplies. 

    Katangan militia rush through the gates of their village, vowing to protect their family from invaders

As you can probably tell, each faction has their own separate victory conditions, but they activate as two sides. This moves the game along much quicker, but still gives a twist to the game as no player really knows exactly what their allies (or enemies) are trying to accomplish. Both Friday and Saturday's games moved along quickly and finished within their three hour game limit. The Friday night game came down to the wire and was very close on total points. Saturday's was more of a clear victory for the Katangans, as the mercenary player did a great job on tactics, decisions, and (of course) die rolls!

    UN troops, galvanized by the death of the Secretary-General (at the hands of Katanga?), move out

 

I am thinking I may stay with these type of scenario setups for convention games. Much as a I like a multi-faction free-for-all, this increases wait time for players as we cycle through the initiative order. That said, it is usually possible for two of the six players in a game to be moving simultaneous if, for example, the next player in order is far away from the active player and unlikely to affect their units. The command and control system of my Wars of Insurgency rules, keeps the action flowing and it is rare that it bogs down with the other five players waiting too long for one to finish their turn.

    Katangan gendarmes march forward, hoping to clear the way for the arrival of the APCs with ammo

In both games, a steady firefight erupted between the Congolese paratroopers and the Katangan Militia. In the first game, the paratroopers got the better of the militia. However, the villagers held the paratroopers up long enough that the APCs were well on their way to their destination before the paratroopers were free to attack them. The militia spoiling attack was costly, but it did its job. On Saturday, the militia were able to hold out until the end of the game. The paratroopers did fire long range RPG shots at the passing APCs, but were unable to knock any of them out. Once again, the militia had done their job and ensured that the mercenaries were able to cross through their sector of the board.

    Congolese soldiers, UN troopers, Mercs, and Katangans battle across the war-torn Congo

The mercenaries themselves did a great job of wearing down the Congolese army faction in both games. Getting caught out in the open by Professionals armed with heavy machine guns is a deadly prospect. The ANC (Armée Nationale Congolaise) players in both games suffered severe losses at the relentless machine gunning of the APCs. On Friday night, the Congolese player did a good job of sniping away at the gunners themselves, and even blew up one of the APCs. However, the Congolese were unable to stop the progress of the other two Friday, and they reached the opposite table corner with their precious ammunition. On Saturday, two APCs suffered only minor damage, and all three made it off-table.

    Katangan militia cheer as the mercs' APCS roar past them on the road, spitting gravel and mud

 

I may tweak the terrain a bit when I run this scenario at Origins Game Fair next month. I may give a sheltered corridor of bush to allow the ANC to rush closer to the center line and set up ambushes in the jungle near the road. This will certainly make the mercenaries job more challenging. I may also tweak the victory points to encourage the paratroopers to more actively target the mercenaries. As of now, retaking Katanga (i.e., defeating the enemy and taking their village) is more of the goal. We shall see!

    The Belgian-trained paratroopers close in on the Katangan village, taking heavy fire from the militia

Finally, at the destination corner, the Katangan gendarmes did a solid job advancing quickly and spoiling the attack of the United Nations troopers. Both sides inflicted losses on each other throughout the game, with the UN actually eliminating the gendarmes on Saturday. However, the gendarmes constant fire forced the UN to make the APCs second priority. This ensured they would arrive at the table edge in good shape, and score enough points to cement down victory both games. 

    White mercs run the gauntlet across the table, suffering occasional casualties or minor APC damage

Even though the Katangans won both games at Drums, I like this scenario. It forces the players to attack their opponents and mix it up right away. If all six players hunkered down and sniped at each other at extended range, I think it would make for a boring game. Instead, the victory conditions had forces quickly moving to seize cover, taking shots at their enemies, and pushing forward to achieve their objectives. Will I make other tweaks to increase the chances of victory for the Congolese? We shall see. I have some things in mind, but want to ponder them some more.

    Using the thick bush for cover, UN troops from Ghana pour fire into the Katangan gendarmes

If you're interested in playing "Congo, Bloody Congo," I will be running it at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH. It is scheduled for Thursday at 7pm and Friday morning at 9am, June 22-23. Our company, First Command Wargames, will actually be running all of our rules sets at the show. So, in addition to my Wars of Insurgency games, there will be Mean Streets gang warfare, American Frontier action with Song of Drums and Tomahawks, Seven Years War battles with For King or Empress, and Victorian Science-Fiction/Colonials with For Queen or Planet. Come and join us as we dip our toes back in the water of running games at Columbus, Ohio's, biggest multi-genre gaming convention!

    In both games, the Katangan gendarmes actively pushed their lines forward to link up with the APCs

    The militia suffered a worse fate on Friday night than Saturday morning, eliminated to a man

    The Saturday morning players had a great time, as well - quickly picking up the rules and having fun

APCs cross the midpoint of the table, clearning the militia's line and heading towards the gendarmes

A Progression of Bots - Escalating Deployment by the Machines

3-D printed Bots (sourced from Thingiverse and a friend) stalking the streets for human survivors

When I decided to do post-apocalyptic gaming, I settled on a world inspired by the Terminator movies. To be honest, I wasn't 100% sure I'd persevere with the project. Nor was I positive that I or my players would actually enjoy the games. So, I defaulted to my usual mode of "Let's Source the Miniatures on the Cheap!" I'm sure most would agree there's nothing inherently wrong with being thrifty. Those who are painters first, players second, might choose to go with the cooler and more expensive miniatures. Myself, if I can get acceptable miniatures for my games on the cheap, I will!

    The first level of response from the Machines -- rolling Scout Bots, lightly armed and armored

So, I began by visiting Thingiverse and seeing what they had available. I picked out some 3-D models I liked and sent the links off to my friend Joe, who has a printer. He agreed to print them up for me for at an affordable cost. Joe's printer isn't the newest, fanciest, or the highest quality. So, you get what you pay for, which in his case, is VERY affordable. He asked me for some guidelines on size and then went ahead and printed them off. Thanks, Joe!

    If the Scout Bots confirm human activity, these retro-looking Sentry Bots are dispatched to the scene

My idea is that the Machines artificial intelligence has both visual and audio surveillance going on all the time. Sounds of gunfire or what looks like muzzle flashes on video will lead them to dispatch a Scout Bot. These one-wheeled automatons are lightly armored and armed. Their optics on the scene are instantaneously relayed back to the Machines AI, though, who then will usually order forward the next level of response if necessary. I painted the bodies of the Bots in metallic colors, also giving them a company logo. My rationale is the Scout Bots were designed by human companies before the machines went sentient and took over control of them. In "pre-apocalypse" times, they were meant to be deployed in dangerous sections of human cities, rolling along the asphalt roads on their solid rubber tires.

    The Sentry Bots have been fitted by the Machines AI with light machine guns and prowl the cities

The next level of response sent in by the machines are the Sentry Bots. These vaguely humanoid -- and very retro looking -- mechanical sentries are better armed and armored. I saw these prints on Thingiverse and loved them! I painted them in gleaming metallics, hoping to evoke the essence of the shining, metal-skinned Terminators in the movies. Each carries a light machine gun, and I envision them as being modular sentry robots built by human companies pre-apocalypse to be equipped in various ways. The Machines AI has converted them all to the heaviest armament available on their frame. They are meant to scour the streets, or patrol the perimeters of Machine bases. Sometimes, the mere presence of these gleaming bots arriving on the scene will cause human survivors to scatter. Besides, no one wants to be around if the next level of response is triggered!

    The Military Bots are next to appear on a scene, and have machine guns in each mechanical arm

That third level is the Military Bot. Vaguely "BattleTech looking," these machines are capable of wiping out multiple figures at one time with their burst fire machine guns housed inside their arms. In our first three games, they've appeared only once. Usually, the player gangs have high-tailed it off the table by that time. I envision these as being designed for the military pre-apocalypse. Little modifications were needed by the Machines, as they were already meant to be ambulatory hunter-killers to assist the firepower of conventional forces. 

    Woe betide the character caught still on the tabletop when a Destroyer Bot stomps onto the table!

And finally, the highest level of response is the Destroyer Bot. This is definitely in the "big stompy robot" category of weapons. For my games, these are designed to be able to target and destroy any stubborn characters who are unwilling to sensibly flee the table when the Machines bots begin arriving. So far, I have painted only one of these, as I can't envision a need for more than one in my skirmish, post-apoc games. I imagine that one day one of these will actually show up on the battlefield. However, it has yet to happen. It was probably the cleanest of the 3-D prints and I really like how it painted up. That metallic dark red is a really cool color of craft paint from Hobby Lobby. I wish I'd picked it up earlier when I first began painting up these bots!

    I really like the dark metallic red and pewter/gun metal color scheme on this big stompy robot!

One thing I haven't mentioned in this post is I actually give control of each Bot that appears to a player. It is typically given to the player who has lost the most figures, so far, in the scenario. I trigger the arrival of the Bots based on the losses the players have collectively suffered, so far. At 10%, a Scout Bot appears. At 20%, a Sentry Bot. At 30%, one Military Bot shows up. If we ever get to 40% losses suffered in a game, then a Destroyer Bot will lumber onto the table. Players begin the game controlling four of their own figures from their gang. So, if there are 6 players (24 total), the first Scout Bot rolls onto the table edge at the end of the turn in which three casualties have been suffered. 

    I staged all of my Bots I've painted onto the urban tabletop terrain I used for our third scenario

I like giving control of the Bots to players as that gives them a chance to inflict "payback," or clip the wings of a faction that is flying high in a scenario. To encourage even more bloodthirstiness, they receive victory points for any casualties inflicted by "their" Bot! I make it clear, though, they will target the closest human figure. Of course, taking out Bots themselves are also worth victory points for players. What's more, a downed bot becomes a scavenge point where figures can pry off ammunition, weapons, or even optics. All in all, I think the Bots add a nice flavor to my post-apocalyptic games. The players have fun controlling them, and there's always laughter and good-natured ribbing when a Bot appears behind an opponent's troops, stalking them.

Dog Day Afternoon - 3rd Post-apocalyptic Game

Green Dragons take cover in the ruined city block, watching the approach of the Blood Brotherhood

I had decided to do an urban scenario for my third game with my Sunday night gaming group. For the last several months, I've been furiously painting ruined buildings, street sections, and scatter terrain. After the latest batch, I crossed my fingers and set out a 5'x3' board using my "concrete" floor tiles and my cork road sections. I cluttered up the streets with my burnt out vehicles and vegetation scatter, and placed my ruined buildings atop the floor tiles that I use as sidewalks for my Mean Streets games. Tossing in my 28mm graveyard on one 12"x12" tile, my terrain filled up the table nicely!

    My Green Dragons begin to spread out, hunkering down behind walls and burnt out vehicles

I was worried that I'd come up short and have to paint up more ruined buildings. Thankfully, that did not happen. Critiquing the setup, I think my mottled gray floor tiles are just too uniform looking. I will be brainstorming some way to make sections look more realistic with a mixture of asphalt, earth, and sparse grass. Originally, I was thinking of creating irregular shaped pieces of styrene flocked appropriately to place here and there. However, now I am thinking of simply making a 12"x12" piece to either lay over the tile or replace it. I do have some foot square cork sections left over from my streets. I could try it out with them and see what it looks like. Of course, that means storing more 12" square terrain tiles, though!

    The Bucknuts stalk stealthily through the rubble of blasted buildings -- too close to me for comfort!

Anyway, stay tuned to see what I come up with. I had five players coming that night, so that meant my Green Dragon gang was tapped to make an even number. Four gangs would deploy within 6" of each corner, and the remaining two opposite each other at the midpoint of the long table. When my players arrived Sunday night, I had the starting locations set up with dice, tape measures, quick reference sheets for the Fistful of Lead Core Rules we use, and markers to denote which figures have already acted that turn. I let the players pick out which four members of their gang they would use tonight and select their starting locations. I took the remaining spot on the board.

    To the Dragon's right, Keith's Nightstalkers arrive on table and immediately enter the graveyard

The table was five feet wide with a 12" width street running across most of the center of the board. The final foot had a ruined church in the center, flanked by a graveyard on one side and dilapidated playground on the other. I used my new 6"x12" street sections to break up the four feet of city block, two sections per side. I did my best to evenly distribute cover so that no player had a disadvantage in their starting position. I also wanted to break up the sight lines of the streets and gaps between buildings as much as possible. Finally, across the center of the table, I evenly spaced out five pieces of urban scatter with a crate on it. The crate represents the chance to find some medical equipment or food. Even though the opposing players are "objectives" in themselves in my games, I also like to place physical things for them to scavenge for. 

    The menacing, red-robed forms of the Blood Brotherhood are never a welcome sight across the table

My Green Dragons "luckily" drew the center point of one board edge and deployed behind a burnt out vehicle and the shattered remains of a couple buildings. To our right, in the graveyard, were the Nightstalkers run by Keith. To the Green Dragons' left were the Bucknuts, run by Mike S. "Greeeaat," I thought! My two sniper friends are on either side of me! Chen was sent off to the left to grab some hard cover and keep an eye on the Bucknuts. Mike S is an aggressive player and enjoys attacking his rival players openly and forcefully. On my left it as no better. In Keith's previous game, he grabbed firing positions and blazed away happily all game long at enemy gangs. And across from me was the Blood Brotherhood -- Jenny's gang. They were the current leader in Renown Points after two scenarios. Jenny loves to mix it up on the tabletop, too! Yikes -- my Green Dragons were in for a hot night, it appeared.

    F Troop, our nemesis last scenario, was back -- but likely too far away for us to inflict some payback

To the Brotherhood's left, and deployed in the dilapidated playground was Joel's F Troop gang. Joel tends to be a little less aggressive, but incidentally, his was also the gang who the Dragons wanted "payback" against. We would receive bonus points for knocking any of their gang members out of action (they took out one of ours in the last game, "I Smell a Rat!"). As it was, we never got close enough to them to take any shots at F Troop. To the Brotherhood's right was Joel's brother Allen and his Followers of the Dark Prophet. That meant Jenny was tonight's designated "Sams-wich" -- something I have experienced more than once in the past. Allen's wife always admonishes the brothers not to kill each other every week, so being stuck between them can be a bad thing!

Followers of the Dark Prophet move out into the streets, hoping to scavenge some food or equipment

On our first turn, the Green Dragons four members moved out. Chen was sent to keep an eye on the Bucknuts. He took a position in heavy cover and watched as the other gang moved up stealthily. Quon and Ting darted forward and crouched behind a burnt out sports car, while Feng raced up to the window of a crumbling stone building overlooking the wide street. From all corners of the board, the rival gangs moved up. To our left, three of the Nightstalkers lined a wall overlooking the ruined church. Specialist Cypher raced to the corner of the wall and focused his optics on a crate semi-hidden amidst the ruins of the church. It looked promising, and on the next turn, he darted out towards it. He was able to recover some medical supplies stashed inside. Meanwhile, his teammates scanned the ruins beyond him, ready to pour in covering fire at the first sign of trouble.

    White investigating a crate, Jackie of the Bucknuts dispatches a feral dog that raced to attack her

The Bucknuts sent Jackie racing forward to a investigate a crate next to an abandoned van. Before she could get a chance to check it out, furious barking made her freeze in her tracks. A feral dog had sprung from beneath a nearby burnt out pickup truck and was charging towards her. With remarkable coolness, she spun and fired a single shot into its skull. The huge dog slid into the crate and lay motionless. I created a new mechanic this time to encourage players to venture into the wide street area to investigate the crates. When a player first takes an action to solve the task of scavenging equipment in one of the crates, they are given control of a feral dog and an additional card to activate it. It is placed immediately anywhere on the board outside of 5" from a player character. The player can either use that card to activate the dog or any other in its hand. Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet had beaten Mike S's Bucknuts to the roll, and investigated their own crate. Allen placed the dog in the burnt out pickup and used his next card to send it charging in to attack Jackie. Alas for Allen (and the dog), he rolled poorly for the pooch and it was quickly put out of action in melee.

    A bullet flies in from somewhere and Chen is struck. Was the shooter aiming at him or the dog?

Shortly thereafter, Jenny's Blood Brotherhood also made a task roll on a crate (although failing). She placed a second feral dog in the exact same spot. Unfortunately, she chose to send it racing to attack my Chen, who thought he had done a good job of hiding. Chen jabbed the butt of his rifle into the feral dog's jaw, eliciting a yelp. The beast shook it off, though, and stayed in place, growling furiously. One of the Bucknuts saw the struggle taking place and fired a shot. Was he aiming for the feral dog or Chen? The shot struck Chen, who dropped to the pavement, bleeding and out of action. When firing into a melee, Fistful of Lead rules dictate a random roll to see who is targeted. My Green Dragons weren't actually having a lot of luck tonight, and Chen's misfortune was symptomatic of how things would go for my gang.

    While Jackie checks to make sure the dog is dead, Efron races up and snatches away the supplies!

Meanwhile, Allen was being fairly bold with his advance. Two Followers of the Dark Prophet moved towards the van where Jackie had paused after downing the dog. One raced up and snatched up the crate, rolling successfully to loot some valuable equipment. He smiled at Jackie as he did so. This allowed Allen to place yet another feral dog. This one was in another pickup truck within striking distance of Mike's Bucknuts. Annoyed at losing the equipment, Coach Coop (the Bucknuts leader) sighted along his sniper scope and squeezed off a single shot. The bulldog fell to the asphalt with a whimper. If I thought my Green Dragons were having a tough night, the dogs were truly have a dog day afternoon. Every single shot fired at them took one out of action. What's more, despite being +1 in melee over the characters they engaged, they also lost every melee.

    When the machines send a Scout Bot to investigate the gunfire, the Bucknuts blast away, disabling it

With three total casualties so far, that triggered the arrival of a Scout Bot at the end of turn 2. Since I'd lost Chen, I was given control of it. I placed it in the corner the Bucknuts had arrived ontable from, hoping to distract them and give them something to think about. I looked at my four cards (which dictate the order of activation), and sighed. Nothing above a five! Apparently, this Scout Bot rolled ontable through a pile of rubbish, clearly announcing its arrival. The Bucknuts turned at the noise, and one of them fired a burst from their automatic weapon. Sparks and chunks flew from the glass, plastic, and metal. The Scout Bot crashed into a pillar, its sole wheel spinning wildly. Mike was definitely making up for my poor rolling. In his four rolls to wound this game, he had rolled ALL 9's or 10's on a ten-sided die. Everything he shot seemed to go out of action -- don't mess with the Bucknuts!!

Brave Quon spies a crate, aware that four Blood Brotherhood members are also advancing towards it

In my sector, Quon had crept up to within a move of where two members of the Blood Brotherhood were poring over a crate in the center of the street. Shots rang out, and both of the hooded cult members fell to the ground writhing in pain. Quon judged his time was right and sprinted to the crate. He quickly figured out how to open it and snatched up the supplies that had been hidden inside. I had tried to do this as cleverly as possibly. I moved Quon up on my last activation card, and planned to move him back on my first one on the next turn. Once again, my cards were terrible, though. My highest was a six! Jenny's cultists recovered and fired at Quon, hitting him and knocking him out of action. The Green Dragons were definitely having "dog luck!" Everyone who hit one of my figures rolled a 9-10 on 1d10, too, taking them out!

    The Nightstalkers man the graveyard wall, pouring covering fire into F Troop for Spec. Cypher

Back on my right, F Troop had reached the playground wall and saw Specialist Cypher standing with the supplies in his hand. They poured fire into him, giving him several shock markers but no wounds. Luckily for Cypher, one of Keith's activation cards was a special one allowing the figure activated to clear all shock for free. Cypher sprinted away through the ruins and dove over the graveyard wall, not stopping until he plummeted into a grave that had been dug, but not filled. Cypher checked himself over, found he was unhurt, and rose to his knees waving the supplies at his fellow Nightstalkers. The soldiers let out a cheer for their brave specialist. Keith was having a "Bucknuts" kind of night, too. His return fire on F Troop also took out one of their soldiers.

    Drawn by the heavy gunfire, a military bot clanks forward to investigate, spotting the Nightstalkers

Keith's luck was about to change, though (or was it?). I totaled up the figures that had been taken out, and the carnage tripped us up to the third level. This meant we skipped the Sentry Bot arrival stage and went straight to a Military Bot. Joel was given this card to control and he placed it in the street next to the graveyard. The Nightstalkers heard the ominous metal clanking at the giant, man-like robot strode purposefully towards the wall. Unlike me, Joel had pulled a King (or Ace), which allowed him to act first. Keith's troopers were helpfully bunched close together, which allowed Joel to target three of them with burst fire from its machine gun. His wound rolls were not nearly as deadly and resulted in a miss, shock, and a wound on the three Nightstalkers. On his turn, though, Keith was able to have three of his guys vault the wall and escape off-table. The fourth ducked behind the wall and prayed, but was also able to escape on the following turn.

    With both cultists down and bleeding, Ting creeps forward, eyes on the supplies won and lost

Meanwhile, the Blood Brotherhood was feeling the ill effects of being out in the middle of the street. Both the Green Dragons and Followers of the Dark Prophet poured fire into their exposed position. One hooded cultist fell dead while another was wounded. This encouraged my leader Ting to try to regain the supplies that brave Quon had paid the ultimate price for scavenging. He raced to the cover of some scrub growing out of the split pavement. Unfortunately, the round ended and once again my cards were all low, meaning I would not activate until later in the turn. Another Military Bot stomped onto the table, though, and I was awarded control of it. I brought it in on the edge of the center street, hidden by a wall from the Bucknuts.

    Grand Master of the Blood Brotherhood finds a good firing position in the burnt out pickup truck

Jenny's leader had taken cover in the bed of a burned out pickup. Grand Master blazed away at Ting, once again hitting and scoring a 9-10! Luckily (finally?), I had the foresight to give leaders in my campaign the "9 Lives" trait. This reduces the first "Out of Action" result on the figure to a wound. Another cultist fired at Ting and he received a second wound. My guys just could not win for losing, tonight!

    Jenny's cultists just won't stay down! Despite their wounds, they gun down Ting hiding in the bushes

Meanwhile, with both F Troop and the Nightstalkers scattering for the board edge, the military bot began to march back towards the center of the table. The new bot rounded the corner and fired burst fire from his machine gun. Three of the four Bucknuts were inside the "blast radius." I rolled and, in true Hollywood fashion, the bad guy machine missed all of the heroes. Knowing enough was enough, Mike had all of his troopers sprint off table. He'd garnered enough points, he figured. In addition, Brutus and Jackie had removed portions of the Sentry Bot, taking valuable optics and ammunition with them off-table.

    Ting limps off-table, heavily wounded and rethinking the commands he'd given this day

At this point, all six factions were heading for the table edges. Two military bots were roaming the table, blasting away on full auto at anything that moved. I was actually very happy with how my post-apocalyptic games were ending. As more and more bots arrive, the surviving gang members decide it is time to run and live to fight for another day. It gives a very cinematic and almost realistic feel. Four of the gangs had taken casualties in this scenario, though, with my Green Dragons taking two. Only the Bucknuts and Nightstalkers got off the table unscathed. 

    Just before escaping off-table in a hail of bot machine gunfire, Jackie and Brutus pry off some parts from the Scout Bot they'd downed

Despite my bad luck, it was a good time. I felt the game flowed well and terrain on the table looked nice. Now, it is time to figure out what Scenario 4 will be! Hopefully, with my school year ending soon, it won't take as long to get this one played. Stay tuned!