Cowtown Chaos - Fistful of Lead AAR

Carl wanted to get some more Fistful of Lead games in, which also meant I could bring out my newly painted miniature. Russ decided to get in on the action as well, making the game something of a standoff between the three gangs. 

Carl's Cowtown plastic terrain mixed in pretty well with the store's terrain, and covered up a 4x4 table pretty well. We also agreed that our posses were only carrying pistols, so we wouldn't have to worry about rifles reaching across the table.

My gang started out behind a couple of barns.

Russ' gang began behind the cover of a low wall.

And Carl's gang arrived just outside the town's wooden gate.

Half of my gang started towards Carl's starting position. Unfortunately, it meant that my gunslingers had to advance across an open street, while Carl's banditos could safely fire from behind cover.

Meanwhile, the other half of my gang started a fight with Russ' just outside the town saloon.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Carl's and Russ' gangs began having a shootout near the town's entrance.

I did manage to gun down one of Carl's cowboys...

While also fighting off Russ' advance.

Russ was forced to move cautiously forward, outgunned by Carl's gang members.

Fortunately, Russ's attack on my right was blunted - he was down three men, though I had taken some pretty nasty wounds in return.

My mad dash across the street costed me one of my men, while another found a dud in his revolver and was forced to reload.

Russ did manage to force Carl's gang back out through the town's entrance.

A risky charge from my moonshine-wielding delinquent ended poorly, with the man's blood mixing with the potent drink on the dusty ground. Not liking his odds, Russ' lone gunman retreated after being pinned from a hail of fire.

My attack across the street ended in failure, however, when Carl's Red Lady gunned down another of my gang, while the wounded fellow above bled out and died.

Carl's men rallied near the gatehouse, launching another attack on Russ' two remaining gunslingers.

Agreeing to a temporary truce, I tried rushing to Russ' aid. Unfortunately, Carl steamrollered over Russ' last two gang members. We decided that my last two models ran for it, instead of taking a chance of fighting Carl's bloodthirsty band.

Ramming Speed! - Ancient Naval AAR

Since Historicon moved to Virginia, On Military Matters has been running a "Not Going to Historicon" gaming weekend. I got the chance to play a couple games at this year's weekend, one of which was an modified Ancients version of the normally Renaissance based Galleys, Guns and Glory rules, run by Troy. 

The scenario was a pretty simple demolition derby between two Greek navies - the Reds and Yellows. Both had two quinqueremes (one of which held the fleet admiral), five quadrireme, and two triremes.

For the first couple of turns, both fleets moved forward at maximum speed.

Just before the ships impacted, some lowered their oars, slowing down and jockeying for position.

And then, both sides surged forwards, colliding into each other. Wood crunched and groaned as sailors roared and screamed. Both sides lost a ship from the impacts, while one entanglement resulted in both ships catching fire. This turn highlighted one of Troy's changes - ships that moved at full speed in the previous turn kept a "Momentum" token, indicating how quickly they were moving. A ship ramming an enemy from the front was in turned rammed itself, giving the other player a chance to do damage.

The quinquereme under my control managed to clear an enemy quadrireme, but left it empty instead of taking it as a prize. At the same time, the two flagships of the fleets engaged.

The melee continued, with the two burning quadriremes taking enough damage to eventually break apart and sink. Unfortunately, my bid to hold off the green quinquereme in the middle failed, and I lost most of the ship's crew. The two flagships kept fighting, but it seemed like the Yellow's crew had the upper hand.

I managed to clear another of the enemy's triremes, but between my quadrireme and quinquereme, maneuvering became difficult. The crews of the flagships continued their fight.

And then, the Red admiral fell, his ship's crew slaughtered. The sight of the Red's leader falling into the sea was enough to break the fleet, with half the ships beginning to reverse away from the fight, while the other half simply surrendered.

Troy's modifications to the rules made for a great game, and I'm hoping to get more games in some time in the future.

Painting Update - SAGA, Old West, Guild Ball

Today's update sees the completion of a project that started three years ago!

With these Warriors for the Normans (borrowed from Gripping Beasts' Breton range), I've finally finish all of my miniatures for Saga. That's a combined 26 points across the original four factions - Vikings, Anglo-Danes, Welsh, and Normans. And thanks to the somewhat fluid alliances and group movements, most of these models can potentially act as other factions in the game.

This group of gunslingers will be used for Fistful of Lead and other games set in the Wild West. They're a mixture of Knuckleduster Miniatures' Heroes and Bad Men sets from their 28mm Old West line of gunfighters. I may have to grab another set, as there's a distinct lack of rifles and shotguns amongst all those pistols.

I also completed the special "Show" version of Flint for my Masons in Guild Ball, given to me by another local player (thanks Jerry!), who won the mini after placing second at a recent event. Jerry fields the Alchemists and Hunters, however, so he was kind enough to pass the miniature along to me.

Unfortunately, the newer version of Flint highlights a current problem with the Mason miniatures. Back when Guild Ball was first released, the Masons were actually sculpted by a different person compared to now, and were done in 28mm, compared to the larger 32mm used currently. This is pretty obvious as the newer Flint is a giant compared to his older sculpt. Even Chisel, who is by no means a tall person in the game's universe, is larger than the older version of Flint.

What this means, apparently, is that the original Masons - Honor, Harmony, Mallet, Flint, Brick, Marbles and Tower - will be getting resculpts that bring them into scale with the rest of the Guild Ball line. I just hope Steamforged doesn't take too long!

Dead Man Walking - Arena Rex AAR

With freshly painted models, I asked Kevyn if we could get another game of Arena Rex in. We decided to try the Vinculi scenario, where each side has a randomly assigned model that their opponents need to kill. Additionally, this condemned gladiator is chained to another model in the cohort, meaning they cannot move further than 4" away.

Our two cohorts consisted of

Ludus Magnus
Hermes
Otho Mentulus
Micon
Urbicus (condemned)
Iason (chained to Urbicus)

Morituri
Ur-Kek
Zahra
Mago (chained to Noxius)
Noxius (condemned)
Aquila

Both sides spent their first turns cautiously moving in.

Unfortunately, I got a little too close with Otho, and Zahra drew him in with her 3" reach. I tried fighting back, but poor dice rolls meant Otho's attacks were ineffective. Aquila came in and finished the hulking Roman off.

I leapfrogged Urbicus and Iason up, the two chained gladiators moving in and putting down Aquila.

Hermes joined the fight, along with Mago and Noxius. With both condemned gladiators in the middle of the brawl, the game could have ended at any moment.

Micon and Ur-Kuk elected to stand back and watch the chaos unfold. A savage attack from Mago brought Urbicus down to only 4 Vitality left. Iason responded in kind, savagely spearing Noxius.

Unfortunately, Kevyn's earlier attempts to end the game left his cohort exhausted, and he went into the clear turn. That gave Urbicus the chance to launch into a power attack with the last two Favor dice I had. Kevyn had a glut of Favor dice, unfortunately not having had the chance to use them. His attempt to counter-attack failed, and Urbicus' gladius cut down the opposing warrior, ending the game.

Glory to Rome!