Post-Apoc 'Bad Guys' - the Barbarozas!

    My final (I swear!) Post-Apoc gang, the Barbarozas -- the classic movie bad guys

A staple of every Post-Apocalyptic movie are the period equivalent of the biker gang. These are the badly-dressed savages who murder and pillage their way through the film until the hero of the movie gives them their comeuppance. That's what I painted this gang up to be. Their bits of improvised armor, raggedy clothes, fur, and flowing hair made them look the part for me. Even their name in the Battle Valor Games catalog, "Space Cannibals" implies that savagery.

    Three of my biker gang-like Barbarozas - the one with the machete/sword and gun may be the leader

These miniatures were part of the line that Battle Valor Games purchased from Sgt. Major Miniatures. My friends and I put together a huge order back in 2021 and these were from that order (see how quickly I paint?). They looked cool on the website and in the ziploc packs when I received them. However, once I began to paint them, I became less enthused with them. The casting was a little rough in some places and it was actually hard to tell where the shirts ended, for example, and the pants began. I repainted portions of about half of these once it became clear what I thought was the pants was actually fringes of a tattered shirt hanging down. I actually gave up on painting these for awhile after I had done the flesh tones. They looked a mess and I was struggling to find the motivation to paint them up.

    I love the improvised bits of armor these 'Space Cannibals' (Battle Valor Games) were sculpted with

Once I finished a few other batches of figures or terrain that apparently I wanted to paint more, I sat down one day and wrote the colors for the shirts and pants on each cardboard base. I painted the base colors for these, then did a dry brush over each. That was when I discovered, as the dry brushing revealed faint details, that I had to go back and fix some of the figures. Still, by this time, working on them had created a momentum of its own. I chose faded clothes of various colors, including jeans, black paints, etc., figuring these disorganized thugs wouldn't have any noticeable uniform.

    The final two gang members with their dirty clothes and long, flowing locks of 'metal band' hair

Next up, I did the various bits of armor they had festooned all over them. Inevitable, I missed a few pieces here and there and had to step back in this stage, too. I did the armor with a metallic gray craft paint, with highlights in pewter and silver. Then I did the various leather bits in a two tone rust color and ruddy leather. I picked out the various pieces of wood next (mainly on the melee weapons), and then finally their flowing hair. By this time, I had come up with the name for the gang, the Barbarozas. I chose this for the sub-conscious sight clue of the word root "barbarian" in there, and for the reference to the medieval German king, Frederick Barbarosa. I mention this because I know the his name technically means Red Hair (Rosa = red, and Barbar = Hair, "Barber Shop"). I thought about painting them all with flowing red or auburn hair, but figured that worked against the disorganized, non-uniform ethos of this gang. So, I used a variety of hair colors, all dry brushed a highlighting color.

The guns were next, and I used Iron Wind Metals Steel as my base coat with Silver or Pewter for highlights. A dirty black wash over all of them made them look like the unwashed savages that their inspiration in the movies would have. In the end, I was happy with how the Barbarozas came out. I know that I said that I was done with painting Post-Apocalyptic gangs earlier this year, but technically I did need one more as we had an additional player over what I'd originally planned. So, NOW I am done painting Post-Apocalyptic gangs...right?? Oh wait...and my friend Jason just emailed to say Battle Valor has another 50% off sale! Uh-oh...

Year in Review: My Lead Legionaries "Bests" of 2022

Best of 2022 was returning to gaming in person! Here is me (maroon) with the Sunday Night Crew

Looking back at this year, it certainly had some gaming high points. From winning my first Saga tournament in January to us returning to in-person gaming on Sunday evenings, 2022 had some winners. This post is a look back at some of my favorite games, miniatures painted, conventions, and more of the year.

My 28mm Mongol army for Saga, using Curteys Miniatures (which are a bit on the small side)

Favorite Miniatures Painted: 28mm Saga Mongol army

The first painting of this army was begun in July of 2021, but they then they sat untouched for almost six months. It wasn't until January of 2022 year that the second batch was finished. So, I am counting it as a 2022 accomplishment! Much like with my Moorish Saga army, I did unique robes and patterns on many of the figures in this 28mm Curteys Miniatures army. As I began cataloging each unit finished over the course of the year, I talked about the great variety of poses in the now (I believe?) discontinued line. I really liked the faces on the figures, too. I decided at the outset to just paint the eyes as black, and not put in the usual black socket, white slit and color dot that I do for most 28mm minis. Budokan's horde (my name for the army - a nod at the classic album by Cheap Trick) has done well so far on the tabletop, going 2-1, I believe.

    Little did we know when we fought over Swingle's Saloon, we'd be using these rules a lot!

Favorite New Set of Miniatures Rules: Fistful of Lead

On the last Sunday of February, we finally returned to in-person gaming with a bang. We were back at "Wallace's Brewpub" (the basement of my home brewing friend Mike W) after a very long time meeting Sundays online on Boardgame Arena. For the occasion, Andy S ran Fistful of Lead miniatures rules. These are a line of rules that use the same basic "engine," but tweak it for a huge variety of periods. In due course over 2022, we would also play FFOL for periods as far afield as Star Wars spaceship combat to my own Post-Apocalyptic miniatures game. The thing I like most about them is the choices a player is forced to make. They usually receive one playing card for each figure (or starfighter or whatever) under their command. These not only sometimes provide tactical bonuses, but also dictate when it will act. Thus, players must choose which card to use to activate which figure - who's going first, who has the best shot and is the best fit for that card's bonus, and so on. As I said, I liked it so much I chose FFOL for my own Post-Apocalyptic games over a number of other possibilities.

 

    This trailer from Sarissa Precision (HEAVILY modified) is my favorite piece of terrain I built in 2022

Favorite Piece of Terrain I've Built: Post-Apoc (or Abandoned) Trailer

Although it has yet to be used in a game this year, this trailer was my favorite piece of terrain I built in 2022. It took a lot of time as almost all of the surfaces were modified. I used corrugated paper for the main facing of the home, as well as corrugated styrene plastic of various sizes for "patches" and affixed to the roof. I used "Granny Grate" from craft stores as the bars over the windows. The interior is painted, as well (see the link above), though I did scale back my original plans. No shag carpeting or posters on these walls. I think I was suffering from fatigue over the length of time it was taking to build. In fact, there IS a second set that I purchased. After how much work this one was, that second one still sits unbuilt. Oh, I plan to one day (a project for 2023?). It will be a much simpler version, though. Maybe I'll build it as the manufacturer intended (minus the cardboard awnings which are not doable, in my opinion). Look for that in the upcoming year!

    The First Command Wargames crew ran four of our rules sets at Historicon 2022 to great success!

Favorite Convention Roadtrip of the Year: First Command Waragmes Trip to Historicon 2022

It had been awhile since we'd done this, but the First Command Wargames crew packed up our games and headed to Historicon 2022 in downtown Lancaster, PA. I was running two sessions of my gang warfare rules, Mean Streets. I helped Jenny run two sessions of Wars of Insurgency, Mike and Jason S combined and ran Song of Drums and Tomahawks, and Steve V ran the War of Austrian Succession supplement to his Seven Years war big battle rules. We had great turnout for our games. I know that all sessions of Mean Streets and Wars of Insurgency were completely full. For our second game of "To Kill A President" -- the modern skirmish scenario set in a fictional, 20th century African country -- we even showed up on Little Wars TV. One of the hosts was playing the president's faction and enjoyed himself quite a bit. That seemed to be the theme of the weekend. Not only did our players enjoy themselves, all of us loved the venue. The wealth of restaurants and watering holes within walking distance of the convention center made it a great trip. We will definitely be back!

    I attempted to run a Saga campaign for our regular, twice-monthly Saga Ohio gaming group...but no

Biggest Flop of the Year: 'Strongholds' Saga Campaign

I love a campaign! I love running campaigns!! So, it stands to reason that everyone else will love the idea of playing in a campaign that I am running? Ahh, what is they say about hubris and the gods? This was definitely my biggest flop of the year. I misjudged the mood of our local group that gets together at the Guardtower East once a month to play Saga. I figured that since we'd been meeting regularly for more than a year that people would be getting tired of random, one-off matchups. However, I think part of the appeal of Saga is that there are so many different factions or armies to choose from. People like building and trying them out. Most Saga players are always in that, "What's my next army?" pondering, if not actively painting it up. And once it's done, well, they ARE going to want to play it, right? So, a Saga campaign that locks them into the same army for an indeterminate length of time is likely to go over like a lead balloon. Which it did, proving that hindsight is 20/20, and hubris dramatically near-sighted. The campaign lasted all of one turn and died a quiet, unheralded death.

    After being snake-bit in recent tournaments, it all came together in January for my Picts' victory!

Biggest Success on the Tabletop: Tournament Victory at Game Table Adventures Saga Tournament

Not to brag, but I have a better than average win rate at our Saga games on our monthly game days. However, to this point, when I entered a tournament, I fared poorly. If I remember right, I was 1-1-1 and 1-2 in my previous tournies. So, I was feeling a little snake-bit going into Game Table Adventures' Saga Tournament to start off the year in January. I had decided to play the Picts from the relatively new Age of Invasions book. I'd been playing them the last few months and was having a good time with them. They're an aggressive army that requires a fair amount of terrain on the board, so that concerned me. I was kind of waiting till I showed up at the store that day to see what the boards looked like before I decided for sure. I checked with the tourney organizer on how one of the mercenary units that allows you to alter terrain would work out in his tournament. When I arrived, though, I looked around, and felt there was a reasonable amount of terrain on the boards. So, I went with my plan of playing the Picts. Check out the link above to read my account of my three games. Suffice to say, I went 3-0 and scored my first and only Saga tourney victory to this point. So that was definitely a high point of the year (never mind that it occurred in January...ha, ha!).

    We had 24 players show up to our ATC 2022 Saga tournament - great turnout, great time!

Best Tournament (that I ran): Advance the Colors 2022 Saga Tournament

A good bit of my hobby time this year was spent preparing for this fall's Advance the Colors Saga Tournament. Last year in our inaugural tourney, we had 16 players. My goal for this year was to hit 24, which weirdly was exactly the number of players I had. At one point, it was in the 30's, but a Covid outbreak amongst the active Fort Wayne, IN, community meant a good handful of guys couldn't come. Still, ATC is a great venue for a Saga tournament. There is a ton of space in the Clark County Fairgrounds venue. We could have fit many, many more players (which means there's room for this to grow...?). Players had a lot of elbow room and could spread out, which was nice. It was a VERY easy tournament to run, too. I had a bare minimum of rules or scenario questions. All of my players were friendly and said they had a great time. There was awesome prize support from Gripping Beast, Father and Son Gaming, Jarls Workshop, Game Table Adventures and Saga Ohio, itself (um...that would be me, painting up six warlord stands to give away!). We ended up having a tie with D.J. Andrews and Daniel Broaddus both going 3-0 to tie for the victory. Great time, and I look forward to next year's tourney, as well. Dare I hope for 30 players this time...?

So, there it is - my bests of 2022. Hope you had a great year of gaming, too!

Assembling Space Station Zero Terrain

Combinations of industrial elements from various sources were used to create my space station terrain

One of the things I like to do is scratch-build terrain on the cheap. I usually assemble it using various items I've found at craft stores, so creating terrain for Space Station Zero was definitely going to involve a scouting visit there. My usual choice is of the various shapes of wooden pieces you can find there, much like my peg and drawer pull droids from last post. In addition, on my last visit to Dragons Guildhall, I'd picked up the Mantic Games "Industrial Accessories" from their Terrain Crate line.

    My second piece of terrain has ruptured pipelines from one of the Mantic Games Terrain Creates

My follow up to last post's 3-D printed piece would be a combination of bits from the Industrial Accessories box mixed with things I'd grabbed from the craft store or my bins of various bits and pieces. I actually sat down a couple weeks ago and assembled five 6"x4" styrene bases using these sources. It was several nights of gluing various things together to fill up the base. I followed that up with spray painting all five, and then going over them with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. There the five sat for about a week or so until winter break from school hit.

Despite a rough start to break (I tested positive for Covid last Friday), the Paxlovid medication had me feeling better within a couple days. I found myself tiring easily, though, so I worked on and off on the terrain for several days. Still, they took much less time to paint up than the 3-D printed power plant. My second terrain piece for this project was a section of burst open pipeline along with some various industrial fans and vents. These pretty much all came from the Mantic Games box.

    Another view of my two terrain pieces with 28mm Sci-Fi figures from my Post-Apocalyptic forces

With the black base coat, I decided to layer my metallic coloring to give the pieces a somewhat run-down look. Metallic Gray would be applied over most of the pipe sections, leaving only small joins in the base black color. I would apply a Pewter color over the top portions of the metallic gray, and then a small line of silver over that to give an effect of light reflection off the pipes. I used a copper/reddish gold as accent color as I did on the power plant. For two upright pipe pieces with fans atop, I used a Metallic green to add a new look. Finally, after it was finished and fully clear coated, I forced cotton ball material down into the burst open sections to look like steam or gas escaping the ruptures.

    A train store electrical transformer is the centerpiece to my second piece of Sci-Fi terrain

The second piece used a Walters electrical transformer made of plastic for model railroad terrain as its centerpiece. Surrounding it are wooden pieces from the craft store - different size wooden barrels with colored gem stones atop them. I followed the same painting scheme with metallic gray and pewter, but this time with a metallic brown to go with the copper accents. Each piece also receives a black wash to give it a more grimy and less pristine appearance. I was really happy with how the orange gem stones look like glowing power sources. It was the effect I was hoping they would create. I did dry brush silver to bring out the coil rings atop the transformer.

So far, I am happy with how these are turning out. They are not show-stopping pieces, but they look the part, I think. They will look passable on the tabletop and give the proper effect, I hope. Look for more of these coming soon, as another one is currently in progress on my painting desk!

Space Station Zero - a new project begins

    My first Sci-Fi terrain piece sits on my newly-constructed gaming board for Space Station Zero

I had been seeing posts on Facebook about a new miniatures rules set put out by the company that wrote the "Reign in Hell" rules we've played a number of times. This science-fiction game, by Snarling Badger Studios, is called "Space Station Zero." The idea is that there is a derelict space station lost somewhere in the depths of the universe. Starships end up stranded there when their warp drive or hyper-light travel systems fail. Players each take on the role of crew of one of those ships exploring the sprawling, dark, but still functioning, interior of the station. I liked the activation system of Reign in Hell. Its game mechanics played smoothly enough, so I figured I'd spend the less than $20 to give it a look.

    Space Station Zero is a Sci-Fi miniatures rules set by Snarling Badger Studies

The mechanics are different than in Reign in Hell, but seem like they'll work well enough. The same system is used throughout: Roll a certain number of 12-sided dice to pass tests. Even numbers pass, odd numbers fail. Yep - you read that correctly. An "11" is a failure, but a "10" is a success. Some tests toss in target numbers, so you may need to score 6+, for example. That would mean 6, 8, 10, and 12 pass, while lower even numbers and all odds fail. 

    Some of my Post-Apocalyptic forces on the Space Station Zero gaming boards I created

Players determine which type of ship they are from, which will give them a list of types of crewmen (or women or aliens!) to select their force from. The types include medical officers, soldiers, engineers, etc. Players also select how many figures they want in their crew, either 4, 6, or 8. The fewer figures, the better each individual crewman's statistics. The players similarly equip their leader (who does not count towards the 4, 6, or 10). Finally, they select an "Edge," which is a special ability or equipment type that the entire crew possess.

    Close up of the silver, textured paper from Hobby Lobby and my Sharpie grid of plates and rivets

I liked that the game can be played cooperatively or competitively. So many miniatures games we play on Sunday evenings are competitive, that I thought it might be interesting to try something cooperative, for once. However, I think before I spring it on the Sunday night crew, Jenny and I will try out a few games as a two-player cooperative game. In this case, the denizens and dangers of the space station that we will face are controlled by an Artificial Intelligence, essentially a priority list that determines how each droid or crazed alien mutant will act.

    Extreme closeup of applying rivets and grid lines - a functional (if not spectacular) playing surface

Everything seemed to be moving along on this new project, but there WAS a major barrier. I own only a handful of miniatures that could be used in a Sci-Fi game like this, and I own pretty much zero terrain. Well, painted up, that is. And I don't have a playing mat or board that looks like the deck of a space station. Perhaps curiously, that is where I decided to start. I had seen a patterned silver paper at Hobby Lobby when looking for something else awhile back. I went back, checked it out, and felt it would do. The playing area is a weird one (though Snarling Badger says its common??) - 22"x30". Doing the math, that meant if I could produce six tiles of 11"x10" they would cover that area in a 2x3 arrangement. 

    The creases I put in the paper kind of disappeared once I glued the paper to the acrylic tiles

Each piece of silver paper was a foot square, so I cut them to size with scissors easily enough. Then, I decided to crease them to hopefully give the board slight, 3-D look of depth. I reinforced by lining the creases with black Sharpie. I ended up gluing them with spray glue to a smoky, acrylic material which I scored and snapped to the same size. Once attached, I added in a pattern of rivets at each intersection to give the effect of a space station floor made up of rectangular plates. The board is by no means perfect, nor is it the most beautiful playing surface anyone has ever designed. It is functional, and was quick and relatively inexpensive to produce.

    The rear of the power generator - an excellent 3-D printed terrain piece from Jarls Workshop

But what about terrain to put on the boards? "I thought you said you had none?", I hear you ask. Wellll, I did buy one incredibly cool piece of Sci-Fi terrain from Jarl's Workshop owner Rusty Parker at Drums at the Rapids 2022. It would be my first piece to be set down upon my newly-constructed space station floor. As cool as the piece is (Power Generator?), it was an absolute BEAR to paint! I spent more time painting this piece of terrain than nearly every piece of terrain I have ever done. There are just so many recessed grooves, cool lines, and supports, etc., that I think I spent four of five nights on it, several hours each evening! I like how it came out, though. I used metallic craft paints for most of it. I am happy with how the light blue metallic contrasts with the dark gray metallic (and especially the copper accents that make it pop). 

    Side view of this large, 6"x4" terrain piece - it took me LOTS of time to paint all the details

When it was finally done, I was happy with the result. I'm a bit leery of going to such lengths, again, though! Future pieces of terrain are definitely going to have to paint up quicker, or this project will never see its first game. To set up a game, players roll randomly to see how many 5"x5" or 2"x2" pieces are placed on each quarter of the table. So, each board will have a minimum of four pieces and a maximum of 20 (!!!). Now, this power generator WAS one of the big pieces. The smaller ones -- and hopefully subsequent big ones -- will likely take a lot less time to paint up. So, no worries...right??

    Wooden pegs, drawer pulls, brass wire, and beads are the genesis of a force of space station droids

The skeptical second-guessers among you are probably smirking, now. You're just waiting to say, "But what about figures?" Well, I likely have enough figures in my Post-Apocalyptic forces to represent the player crews. So, I'll be set for Jenny and I to test it out. I know, I know...I see your grin! "Enemies?", you ask. Yes, yes, yes, I know. So, I went through the dozens of scenarios in the rulebook and catalogued the enemy creatures or mechanical forces that the players have to defeat. I'm happy to report they break down into essentially two categories: mechanical "drone sentries" (Laser-armed, Medical, Guard, Repair, Worker, etc.) and "mutants" (Starving, Deranged, Experimental, Drunken, etc.). 

    "Intruder Alert!" the space station's droids whir towards a crew investigating the power plant

So, that led me to my first scratch-build - generic drones for Space Station Zero! I modeled them on the only vaguely humanoid worker ones from Star Wars. I used two pieces of craft wood as the body -- the upper body is a wooden peg and the lower is a "drawer pull." Think BB3 with arms. For said arms, I drilled through the upper body with my pin vice and ran brass wire through. I slid beads onto the wire, bent the arms at various angles, then glued aluminum tube over the brass to be a gun barrel or holder for a melee weapon. Parts of this were more fiddly than I expected (particularly using pliers to re-open the crimp caused by cutting a length of aluminum tube). I also used styrene tube as an outer barrel for the gun weapon. It came out better on some of the droids than on others. Same with the weapons. I kind of like how the lengths of dangling chain look for a melee weapon. I'm less happy with the hammers. Oh well. This IS to test out the game and see if I like before I go out and buy commercial models, right?

    Although not originally designed as armed sentries, the droids have repurposed tools for defense

Once the bodies and arms were completed, it was time to paint them. I decided to go with a pearly white body (once again, ala Star Wars) with metallic gray arms and weapons. I also made the lower part of the peg's head a bright steel to give the suggestion of a head and sensors. I painted stripes in bright colors, making each different for ease of identification during game play. Finally, I added tiny gemstones along the centeral torso to represent glowing panels. How do they look? Passable, I say. Hopefully, they look better once they are battling it out with investigating crews amidst the background of laboriously-painted Sci-Fi terrain! Ha, ha!

    Hopefully, these 8 scratch-built droids can cover me for a couple missions of Space Station Zero!

Anyway, more Space Station Zero stuff is on the way, so stay tuned!

    I bought these smaller Sci-Fit terrain pieces from RRB Miniatures at Shore Wars 2022

Demo Day at Dragons Lair in Polaris area (Columbus, OH)

Indianola Mohawks check out O'Brian's Pot O' Gold motel at our recent game day at Dragons Lair

Our marketing specialist Jason Stelzer arranged a day at the Dragons Lair Comics & Fantasy game store in the Polaris area in Lewis Center, OH. We ran two of our rules sets, the ever-popular Song of Drums and Tomahawks and our most recent rules set, Mean Streets. There was quite the crowd in the store with lots of traffic, especially around our 1pm start time. 

    Jason teachers Song of Drums & Tomahawks to two store customers who said they had a great time

Jason kicked things off running the "Wagon Train Through Peril" scenario for Song of Drums and Tomahawks. This game features two or more families loaded up into wagons and trying to make the safety of a frontier block house across the river before being ambushed by rampaging frontier tribesmen. Jason had a number of players and ran through parts of the scenario three times over the course of two hours. Tim P and Jeff G, local historical miniatures enthusiasts, also showed up to join in on the fun. They played out one vignette while Jason walked two new players through on the other half of the board.

    A family seeks to escort a wagon with women & children through woods full of raiding tribesmen

The new players seemed to enjoy themselves, and at least one of them purchased the rules (which hopefully Dragons Lair will be carrying soon). There were a lot of swings in action with the women in children in the wagons getting in their swings against attacking Indians, as well. Cheers rang out through the store as crucial rolls saw a frontier family scoring successes or falling captive.

    Local gamers Tim P and Jeff P showed up to play the scenario and join in on the fun

Kirk, one of the new players, wanted to try another scenario so he staged a bloody attack on the blockhouse as a second game. It looked like his tribe's warriors couldn't summon up the courage to sprint across the open area into the blockhouse to attack, at first. However, overconfidence and aggression at leaving the door open and taking the attack to the Indians proved to be the downfall of the blockhouse defenders. Eventually, Kirk's warriors summoned up the courage (and activation rolls) to make a push through the door and into the blockhouse itself.

    Indian raiders hidden behind stumps open fire on a family wagon, seeking captives and mayhem

It was a bitter struggle inside the thick, wooden walls, but eventually the frontier fortification fell as the final Indian warrior took control of the upper levels. It was a good time and Jason did a great job teaching the game to new players.

    A 4-gang game of Mean Streets followed as our second event at the Dragons Lair

After a quick tear-down and set up, we ran Mean Streets for four players. I got a chance to play in this game and it proved that just because you wrote the rules doesn't mean you're the best at playing them! I controlled my Hispanic street gang, the Santanas, whose objective was to make it to the far corner of the table and steal a car from the Shell Service Station. Also vying for ownership of the streets were the Franklinton Flippos in their creepy clown masks, the Hilltop Highlanders, and our nemesis this game, the Indianola Mohawks.

    Jason's Mohawks were out for blood (and a little revenge against my gang, The Santanas)

Jason took on the role of the Mohawks and came after my gang right away once we made it out onto the main street intersection. He may have regretted picking a fight with my leather-jacketed thugs as our counter-punch knocked two of his gang members out of action. One of them was his Warchief, so I was feeling pretty pleased! I was also a bit overconfident, as I sent El Lobo, one of the Santantas' punks, away on an "end around" to complete our mission. Thinking my four Santanas could easily take out his three remaining Mohawks, I misjudged the situation.

    The Franklinton Flippos took the scenic route to their eventual goal of stealing some brews

While the Franklinton Flippos feinted at the diner and then headed for their true destination, Wallace's Brew Pub, the battle raged between Mohawk and Santana. Meanwhile, the Highlanders chased the clowns to no avail, eventually busting into the diner to fulfill their own mission of convincing the owner to put their gang on the "take." Four West Side gang members have a way of doing that when surrounding and putting a beat-down on an elderly restaurant owner!

    El Lobo, Manana, and Julio check out the action in front of the O'Brian Motel early in the game

Things slowly deteriorated in my battle with the Mohawks. Maybe, with her length of chain knocked out one of my Warchief Cruz and then another one of my gang members. Pretty soon, Julio was battling it out with three Mohawks who had him surrounded. He gave as well as he got, but pretty soon succumbed to overwhelming numbers. 

    

    Suddenly, our gang boss Julio is bum-rushed by a horde of freakish Mohawks out for blood!

Still, it was fun to get the gangs on the Mean Streets of Columbus, again. Dragons Lair is a nice, clean, well-lit shop and had a lot of customers of all ages roaming the aisles and playing games. The managers encourage folks to reserve a table and run a game, so the First Command Wargames crew will certainly be back -- probably in January! If you haven't already, check out this game store on the north side of Columbus.

        

   The Santanas rally to their gang boss's side and soon begin to knock out a couple punk rockers

    Meanwhile, the Highlanders follow the Flippos to their target: Jack & Benny's Old Time Diner

    Initially, things are looking good for the Santanas, as we knock out two Mohawks

    The tide turns and soon Julio is on his own fighting Mohawk gang boss Sid and Ian and Maybel

    While the Mohawks and Santanas were rumbling, the Flippos were crashing the brew pub for beers

    Early in the game, the Mohawks investigate O'Brian's Pot O' Gold Motel

Shore Wars 2022 Saga Tournament - what a birthday present!

    Mark B's Teutonic Knights charge Jenny T's Eastern Princes and their War Wagon at Shore Wars

How about a Saga tournament victory for a birthday present? That's what Dan Neal received this past Saturday at the inaugural Shore Wars convention in Mentor, OH. Dan's Baltic Crusaders scored two victories and one tie, beating out fellow Saga Ohio player Jim Randall on points for first place. Ten players battled it out in three rounds, bringing armies from Age of Alexander, Invasions, Vikings, and Crusades. Seven attendees were from our Saga Ohio group in Central Ohio. They were joined by a trio from Ft. Wayne, IN, making the very long drive there in back in one day. 

    Most of our 10 players who attended the Shore Wars 2022 Saga tournament in Mentor, OH

In the final round, Dan defeated Bob Boggs' Byzantine army to clinch the victory. It was a hard-fought game using the Clash of Warlords scenario, and spoiled Bob's 2-0 record going into the final round. In fact, a number of players had a chance at winning the tournament going into the final round (including me!). The final round was the only strictly "Swiss Chess" style round. I was trying to make sure people who showed up played new opponents. In particular, the last thing I wanted was for our Ft. Wayne friends  to have to play each other! 

    Dan N, left, knocks off Bob B in the final round to win the tournament - on his birthday, no less!

Since the seven Saga Ohio folks play each other fairly regularly, it wasn't always possible. Originally, I wasn't planning on playing. Jenny had volunteered to be my "odd person out," or ringer, as the tourney community is calling them, nowadays. However, she didn't see any events she wanted to enter and the others encouraged us to participate and join in on the fun. There was just enough table space to squeeze in one more game. Shore Wars was held at the rooms above a community ice rink, and it was a bit cramped quarters, at times. The good news is there was a lot of attendees for this inaugural convention. The bad news is it was a bit of a squeeze -- especially compared to the ample space we had at Advance the Colors!

    My Carolingians, at bottom, deploy against Jenny's Eastern Princes in Battle of Heroes, round 1

The first round was Battle of Heroes from the Book of Battles. It is one of our Columbus group's favorite scenarios to play on our monthly Sundays at the Guardtower East. There are six options for five different areas -- Scenery, Deployment, Special Rule, Game Length, and Victory Conditions. So, there are a countless number of options, making it a new challenge every game. I faced Jenny's Eastern Princes in the first round with my Carolingians. Our scenario rules we rolled up featured all uneven terrain counting as "dangerous," a diagonal deployment, and victory conditions that gave a bonus point to each unit which ended the game more than a Long from your base edge. Early on, I thought Jenny had me on the ropes. Her levy crossbowmen ensconced in the ruins were out-shooting my two units of Carolingian warrior bow. That's quite the feat, as the Carolingians have a lot of firepower. They can take multiple (and usually fatigue-free) shots each round. 

    My Frankish warband makes a concerted attack on the right vs. the more static Eastern Princes lines

Jenny sent her war-wagon to guard her left, and I targeted it as my first victim. It took a couple turns of shooting, but we eventually eliminated it. Meanwhile, she was whittling down my bowmen, reducing one of my big units to just four figures. My plan  was an aggressive advance on my right, circling around her weaker left wing. My hope was I would eke out a couple more bonus points being further from my base line and I could hopefully concentrate both bow units on one victim. Jenny had other ideas, and pretty soon I was left with just one effective bow unit.

    My Carolingian nobles charge into a line of Eastern Princes warriors, eliminating them

In the end, it was a very close game, but I received +5 points for having all but one of my units outside of a Long of my edge. Jenny had forgotten about the Victory Condition, and had only one unit advanced far enough to score that bonus. As the rounded ended and I scanned the score sheets, I noted to my dismay that all the Ft. Wayne guys came out on the losing end in Round 1. This would complicate my goal of matching players up against folks they usually don't play against. Still, I was able to cobble together the 2nd Round matchups while making a quick dash to Wendys for lunch. I usually try to schedule a 45-minute break between Round 1 and 2 so folks can have enough time to eat.

    Bob's Byzantine army certainly was gorgeous enough to win - here they take on the Ordenstaat

Our second round was a repeat from the Advance the Colors tournament: Wrath of the Gods. In this scenario designed by Joe from the Northern Tempest Saga Podcast, there are three objective markers across the rough center of the table. Players controlling markers at the start of their turn can force their opponent to discard a casualty of their choice. I had matched myself up against Mark Bishop, one of the main organizers of the Saga Indiana group. I was looking forward to chatting with him as we had never played each other before. Mark fielded his recently-painted Ordenstaat army. This was my first match against the Teutonic Knights in Saga, so figured it would be an interesting experience. 

    Round 2 'Wrath of the Gods' - my Carolingians take on the Ordenstaat (Mark B who drove 3+ hours)

Knowing the Carolingian's shooting prowess, Mark dismounted all his knights as foot hearthguard. I was surprised by the number of javelin-armed levy he brought to the table. I assumed he was planning on sacrificing them for the numerous battle board abilities that require the Ordenstaat player to remove his own figures as casualties. Instead, Mark also liked to use them aggressively, charging often with them. His favorite tactic was to use the "Slay the Pagans" ("Hey! Carolingians are Christians!") ability which activated two units to charge. He would charge in first with a levy unit, then follow up the charge with the knights (who would use the enemy fatigue to raise their armor and take fewer casualties.

    Mark's foot knights prepare to charge my bowmen in the ruins - and are in for a nasty surprise!

This caught me by surprise. I fully expected him to sacrifice some of the javelin men, as well as shoot with them, but not charge! Mark also had a nasty surprise when he sent in one of his 6-man foot knight units to charge my Warrior Bowmen, who were defending in the ruins. With 12 attack dice -- Warriors rolls one for one, unlike Levy Bowmen, our attacks destroyed the enemy hearthguard unit to a man. True, there was only one bowman left, but I felt this blunted his attack.

    My Frankish foot keep an eye on Mark's Turcopoles - who I wanted to charge, but miscalculated

Not to make excuses, but I was beginning to suffer the headache of both playing and running the tournament, and made several mistakes. The most important one was when I planned to use my own 6-man mounted hearthguard unit to take out his mercenary Turcopoles who had ended his turn isolated on the flank and within two moves of my nobles. My plan was to move them forward with one activation and then charge them with the "Illusio" abilitly (which generates a charge with no fatigue). However, I had completely forgotten that I had not rolled any Rares yet this game, so my Proelium was stocked with only two dice, instead of three! That meant Illusio would enable only a 4-man unit to charge (2x dice in Proelium). 

    Mark's faithful javelin levy are never far from his Teutonic foot knights, ready to support them

I had placed my Saga dice and made my plans centered on that charge. My a lack of concentration put my troops in danger. If I left the noble cavalry in place, the Turcopoles would dash over and shoot them. If I ran them away, they'd be out of the battle for awhile. I finally decided that since I had melee abilities loaded up and ready to go, why not pick another target? I decided to charge his other foot knight unit, which was within range of one movement and didn't need Illusio. I knew my surviving cavalry would then die on Mark's next turn to concentrated javelin fire. But it was better than accomplishing nothing. Think of it as akin to a chess player trading pieces. He would be left with only his warlord and levy to try to win the game, and I felt like my position would be ever so slightly stronger. 

    Round 1 (Battle of Heroes) - Joe D (right) and Mark moving troops while Andy and Bob watch

My prediction proved true. My noble cavalry wiped out his foot knights, then the two survivors died the next turn to his levy javelin men. At this point, neither Mark nor I had much punch left. However, Mark got very aggressive (he warned me he errs on the side of aggression in Saga). He charged his warlord into one of my warrior units, which left him heavily fatigued. I followed that up with a charge by mounted warlord against his weakened warlord, taking him out. In the end, that was what saved my Franks from defeat. Mark had won heavily on the "Wrath of the Gods" exchange, taking out more of my warriors than I had of his levy. The game ended up in a tie - a bruising, hard-fought draw, but a fun game for sure!

    Age of Alexander is already popular in Saga Ohio - here, Andy's Macedonians advance

At this stage, we had one 2-0 player (Bob and his Byzantines), and quite a few with a 1-0-1 record. Dan had the highest points of those and I matched him up with Bob (even though they had driven up to Mentor together!). I was up against the ever-dangerous Jim Randall, who was playing his Last Romans. I admonished Jim that he had to beat me. There was no way I wanted to win my own tournament. That is bad form, in my opinion. Jim said he approved of my sentiment, though I doubt he needed much encouragement to play his best against me. 

    Bob and Andy (left) maneuver their troops at Shore Wars, which was packed with 230+ attendees

I consider Jim one of the best players in Saga Ohio, so I'd given myself a hard matchup. My mind was not fully focused, with being called away to referee occasionally. I continued to make mistakes, including the same Illusio one! Jim's dice were hot and mine were not, so he was off to a good start in fulfilling my wishes and ensuring that I didn't win the tournament. 

    Jarl Sigvaldi & his mercs don't receive a casualty after eliminating a 12-man warrior unit in ruins!

I definitely didn't "lay down" in this game. I gave it my all, but was totally blind-sided by the hitting power of his mercenary unit, Jarl Sigvaldi. He charged my 12-man warrior bow unit (which had one fatigue) with Sigvaldi (who had two fatigues). I used those fatigues to lower his defense. I figured that I would do the same thing to Jim that I did to Mark in the last game and take out his unit, too. What I didn't count on was the 8 bonus defense dice Jim accumulated from his Last Roman battle board. That, and a high number of 5's and 6's meant he took zero casualties and wiped out the bowmen to a man (despite the fact we had a 50% chance on our saves). 

    The stubborn Carolingians pull back after the disaster in the ruins, hoping for bowfire to help

That set the tone for the game. Jim rolled about 2/3's "5's" and "6's" regularly throughout the game, while my defenders needing 4-6 rolled less than 1/3, typically. My mind was too frazzled, and on my final turn couldn't even count up the number of activations I needed for my mounted hearthguard to charge his general to take him out. Jim said that I did well, but tactically, it was one of the worst games I've played in ages. Mistakes, bad rolls, and not anticipating my opponent's moves did me in. But hey! The good news is I didn't win my own tournament....ha, ha!

    'Where's my chicken dinner??' - Tourney winner Dan N sets up his Baltic Crusader battle board

Here are the standings after three rounds of action at Shore Wars 2022:

Dan Neal, Baltic Crusaders, 2-0-1, 67 points

Jim Randall, Last Romans, 2-0-1, 55 points

Jenny Torbett, Eastern Princes, 2-1, 84 points

Bob Boggs, Byzantines, 2-1, 56 points

Mike Demana, Carolingians, 1-1-1, 74 points

Joe Dihrkop, Saxons,  1-1-1, 61 points

Eric Morrow, Normans, 1-1-1, 53 points

Andy Swingle, Macedonians, 1-2, 43 points

Mark Bishop, Ordenstaat, 0-2-1, 55 points

Phil Keifer, Mongols, 0-3, 32 points

   Phil K tried out my Mongols, showing no fear in playing a brand new army at a tournament!

Thanks to Shieldwall Gaming Club for the prize support and staging the convention. They had a phenomenal 230 attendees, including dealers. It was a fun way to close out this year's Saga tournaments and I am glad my players talked me into joining them!