The Streets of Glenndon

 The Streets of Glenndon

     On Saturday, I had the opportunity to host a game using Wiley Games' Fist Full of Lead (FFoL). We used the core rules and fielded a Roaring '20s style "gangster" game. FFoL was originally written for Wild West games and since then has branched out to cover all periods of skirmish gaming - Ancients, Horse & Musket, WWI & WWII, Sci-fi, Horror, Post-apocalyptic, and Grimdark. (For that last one, think 40K-ish things.) I like the rules, especially since the mechanics do not change no matter what the period. Things like armour, automatic weapons, Sci-fi equipment and the like are added and/or subtracted as needed. So if you wanted to have a game where Greek hoplites faced Chaos Space Marines, you could do it... although I doubt the game would last long!

     Although I messed up the rules of the game a bit, everybody seemed to have fun. The game took place in storied "Glenndon" since Glenn 3D printed the majority of the buildings and vehicles... which were absolute grand!

Glenn watches over his city... gleefully.

     Glenn ran a gang of bootleggers while Tom led a rival gang bent on robbing the bank. John was engaged in running the city police, with Beth's help until Bear joined in. Beth: "Bear, do you mind handling a group of cops?" Bear: "Not if I can have corrupt ones!" (Oh, yeah, they proved to be less than upright.) Beth then helped Shane who was in charge of a group of Federal agents - either FBI or Prohibition Bureau Treasury agents. John and Shane were not all that familiar with the rules so Bear and Beth assisted. Each group had a mission:

•    Glenn - get a truckload of hooch off the table
•    Tom - rob the bank
•    John - stop the bank robbery
•    Shane - find, stop, and seize the illegal liquor
•    Me, the gamesmaster - run some strange civilians, like street toughs including the famous Gorilla Brothers, a police informant, a lady of easy virtue, and a woman with a baby carriage. 

    The game is card driven with a number of special cards so off we went!

The back streets of Glenndon

The town square

Jimmy's Lunch - almost like a place to eat!
A really nice 3D print from Glenn.
Maisey trolls for "business" on the sidewalk.

The gentrified High-rent district... with the Feds mustering on the left of the photo.
These buildings were mine. The two on the left were bird houses and the one on the right
was a gift to me from Beth one Christmas back.

Looks like a nice place to raise your kids...
if you move fast and duck quick.

    Glenn's gang began to load the liquor immediately while Tom's guys stole a car and headed to the bank. John and Bear local heat piled into their car and head into the square leaving 3 cadets ("grunts" according to the rules) who almost immediately shot the police informant as he approached them. The Feds headed to the bootlegger's stock on foot. The Gorilla Brothers - Eek and Meek, if I recall - joined Tom's gang. (They were armed with baseballs and baseball bats. They could throw the balls and cause shock to any one hit. The bats could do more damage.) A few street toughs decided to stop Glenn's bootleggers to get a cut of the action. One died while the other was still fighting three bootleggers at the end of the game! I'd say "Hire that guy!"

Loading up illegal liquor with street toughs and a street walker watching.

The local Bulls load up their car.

The Cadets, left to walking, begin their advance.

The Cadets meet a stranger and shoot him.
He was Joe N. Fermer, the town's police source.
Accent on "WAS."

The Bootleggers stole a car and started out with their illegal goods.
The horse and wagon - a big hit in the game - held them up some.
Traffic is always a problem!

The Bank Robbing gang in their stolen car are about to meet the Cops
in their car. Joe N. Fermer has yet to meet his fate in this photo.
The gun moll on top of the car meant she was driving.
Gang leader, "Downtown" Brown and his BAR-toting associate are
on the far side of the car.

So John and Bear smashed their car into the robber's car.
That stopped them and started a classic firefight with
pistols, rifles, Tommy guns, shotguns, and at least one BAR.

One of the Gorilla Brothers is down so his brother takes the fight
to the cops since he took all that kind of personal.
(My shape-eyed readers will note that the luncheonette is named "Jerry's"
on the side and "Jimmy's' on the front. We all agreed that they couldn't
afford "Under New Management" signs and put their money into "Good Eats."

The Feds join the fire fight.
Beth took the one building off on the advice of either Tom or Glenn,
leaving the roof there to mark the place and allowing me to see the action.
By the way, THAT was the bank!

The fire fight gets real, the bootleggers move, while the horse-drawn
wagon runs interference. 

The Feds are in the fight.
The beads have a meaning: red indicates a wound, yellow shows shock, and
white means "out of ammo." A burst with a Tommy gun expends the whole magazine.
Each figure could take 3 three wounds unless they are small-ish (2) or big-ish (4).

The bank is saved! The Street is a mess!

Meanwhile in the luncheonette...
10¢ for a slice of pie! I'm in!!
I am in awe of the detail Glenn put into his buildings.
The bartender is from the Beth/John collection and he seems right at home!

Car crashes, rampant gangsters, less-than-honest cops,
a horse-drawn supply wagon, stolen cars!
Just like the movies! Better in fact!

      

At the end of the game, Shane had a Fed agent at loose ends.
We told him to go in the cafe and get a cup of coffee...and a slice of pie for 10¢!

    We closed up because both John and Bear had to leave with Tom soon after. Glenn actually fulfilled his mission. We all seemed to enjoy ourselves. I need to get a better handle on the rules but I'm learning. The main point is we all had fun. Cudos again to Glenn for his great buildings and cars. Thanks to all who played... and as always to my great wife, Beth.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

 

It's Canadian Flag Day. 

It's snowing.

It's cold...

  ... and I'm not going outside if I can help it.

   It's Winter in Canada and as the man said "What else is new?" 

   Well a few things. Since I'm now retired from the ministry (save a few agreed-upon services at my old parish and some supply work) and I've been painting miniatures and building scale buildings. Here are a few examples.

For The Silver Bayonet, a supernatural investigator 

from the American listing.

A very useful figure... the Coachman from the Austrian listing for The Silver

Bayonet. This appears to be a really useful figure in a number of ways. I like him!

 

A very nautical ghostly figure. A gift from my eldest's partner, I attempted to make him very ghostly and almost glowing. The different shades of green with dry brushings in yellows gives the figure character. The tentacle rising from the sea just gives goosebumps. 

From Trent Miniatures' Wars of the Vendee range, a character I'm calling

a female demon hunter. Trent minis make some wonderful figures usable 

for The Silver Bayonet, well worth looking into. 

A fire wizard from Reaper Bones. I often use inks for final detailings. To the eye, they 

                              look fine, but on camera they make things look dirty.

                                                        I need to work this out. 

A Zombie master or a necromancer from North Star's Horror range. He has a "Baron Samedi" vibe of sorts. He might be quite handy for any number of evil plots in The Silver Bayonet.

"Kein Kreuzer, Kein Schweizer"

"No money, no Swiss" is the old saying. Here is a Swiss Guardsman for my Vatican team for The Silver Bayonet. I realized I had bought a pack of Landsknecht pikemen and had some left. I dug up the figure, added a musket from the "bits box", and had another Swiss guard for the team.

 

North Star Miniatures offering of an "occultist" for the Prussian unit in The Silver Bayonet. I liked idea of another female character for the use of any group, especially on in civilian clothes.

 

The Cardinal

I think this is a Essex figure I've had for years and years. I'll find a use for him. 

Toxic stuff in barrels. Available at your local tavern.

Meanwhile, my wonderful wife had begun to paint again. She had been painting for a long time but took a hiatus for a long number of years. I turned over to her all my "Wild West" Saloon figures and she had a few of her own to paint as well. With her permission, I'm posting them. 

"Don't shoot me! I'm only the piano player!"

Not ready for the San Francisco Symphony,

but good enough for Deadwood!

Beth does the best painting of faces!

"Who's light? Ante up!"

 The cards were small pieces of paper added to the table and the coins were dabs of glue. 

"Who dealt this mess?"

The Saloon Band

The red vested banjo player came with the set. The other three are "Wild-Westernized" version of ZZ Top and "Girls go crazy for a sharp dressed man!" 

Live and in person

The backside of the music business

The Saloonkeeper

The Saloonkeeper - "Time to lean? Time to clean!"

The Saloon Girl

The Saloon girl - delivering the goods.

The caption card for the Saloon figures

The other side of the caption card

I've been building buildings. Often it's a creative paint job on Christmas village buildings from places like Michael's craft stores. The most fun has been building log cabins found at Dollarama and building onto them in some way or another. I posted the blockhouse I made from two log cabin kits before, but here it is again.

Rather crude, but workable for some scenarios in North America

I've since touched up the places I'd missed.

   I saw what was called a "grain barn" in a recent Skytrex track-side building advert. I said to myself "I think I could do something like that from left-over cabin parts and other things in my parts box." Here we go!

The Grain Barn with a sandy floor and hand-made shingles, done in strips

There's a little shed at the back of the building to cover whatever needs covering.

I can see this as a stand-alone structure or as a covered walkway with a cabin on either side. If we do another gangster scenario with the Wiley Games rules, this might be the shipping/loading area of the brewery.

Last but not least, Beth's offering on a small dragon with lots of dry-brush work.

Beth has really taken to many "advanced" techniques. More than I really.

More to come later... 'cause I'm still painting!