Fistful of Lead and a Handful of Painted Minis

 

I've taken an interest in Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead rules of late. I've found them flexible, playable, and entertaining. I used a mixed bag of the rules for the Christmas Adventure at the Hamilton Road Gaming Group's Holiday gathering. They cover skirmishes in all periods of history, the Wild West, Heroic fantasy, Sci-fi, both hard science and Flash Gordon-stuff, as well as Horror of many kinds. Space battles and giant Battle Suits games are covered as well, but I have no knowledge of those last two since they don't interest me. What can I say?

So we played two games of Wild West skirmish at the Games Group last week. I served as games master and Glenn, Bear, Rich, and Derrick all pushed lead. I was so wrapped up in the first game, I didn't take any photos! I caught a few of the second.

In the first game, each four-figure team had an identity, although it didn't really matter that they were "Settlers with a grudge", "the Posse", "the Outlaws", or "the Pinkertons." It was a basic shoot-'em-up to get used to the rules. Rich seems to be the guy who wins a lot, with Derrick getting wiped out early.

In the second game, Glenn took the role of a US Cavalry section guarding a pay chest. He had six figures while the other three had four figures each. It got wild and wooly and actually gruesome at times.

Glenn's troopers deploy to defend their pay.
The black bead on the sergeant's stand means he's "Out of ammo."

Further deployment

"It ain't jes' outlaws that'll kill ya, Slim. Mother Nature's nasty too!"
Sad to say, Jake the Snake did not score a hit.
Nobody needed the outhouse!

Fast and furious action? Low blood sugar? A response to Derrick's t-shirt?
Your guess is as good as mine.

Rich's desperados advance. The fellow with the raised pistol actually has one arm
and a pinned-up sleeve. One of his gang (not seen here) is the Man with No Name
and has a blank on the name block on his card!

Derrick's crew advances, but the troopers are ready!

 

"Ah'm waitin' fer them varmints! They's afta mah pay!"
The troopers all had carbines except the young lieutenant.
The rules cover pistols and rifles, but not carbines.
So we agreed to use bow-and-arrow ranges for cavalry carbines,
but they were out of ammo on a roll of 1 OR 2 rather than only a 1.
It actually worked well.

Bear's Southern Style mob takes cover in the arroyo.
It cost extra to enter or leave such a dry creek bed, but
a figure could move up or down the arroyo at full speed and still be in cover.
It was full cover to other figures watching on the normal level,
but partial cover the the sighting figure were on higher ground or 
on the second story of a building.

The Figure With No Name stuns and wounds a trooper,
but wisely doesn't mess with Jake the Snake.
Small ring means a wound.

Bear's mob moves to get a better angle for shooting.

Well, what do you know?
We wondered how Aces showed up so much in the draw.
Rich had added stickers to the deck as the rules recommend.
However, he mistakenly had a full set of extra Aces in the deck.
It was an honest mistake; no cheating suspected and
we pulled out the extras when we went to get the rope.

Rich's gang of desperados won the day. Glenn had one wounded trooper left and he deserted the cavalry and joined the desperados, telling them where the pay chest was hidden. (Glenn told me before the game began and I kept the pay chest under an outhouse for safe keeping. This outing was fast, nasty, and gruesome, as well as a tremendous amount of fun. I'd recommend these Fistful of Lead rules for just about any skirmish setting. I don't know how well they'd work for WWI, WWII, or Modern war, but Rich and I agreed that it might even work for a Silver Bayonet setting! I'm adapting the Galactic Heroes rules for Dune and I intend to play test that game at the Games Group soon.

I've been in a painting mood of late and here are a few things I finished.

20mm Late Roman Auxilia command from Newline Design
A personal project for me.
I have three units done and one to finish. This grouping will be the "brigade" command.

Ultra-modern/Sci-fi infantry in 15mm from RAFM
Camo is not easy in 15mm. I might be trying too hard.

From Old Glory I think.
A Czar painted as the Emperor for Traveller
Long live the Iridium throne!

A 3D printed figure from my friend Ralph.
A pastor or priest (He has a rosary on his belt)
I intend to use him in The Silver Bayonet and/or my Traveller RPG campaign

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I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar

 I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar

A few thoughts have come to mind recently and I wish to "give vent" to them. I'm sure that many have had these same thoughts before me and probably have expressed them better...

But anyway...

I have enjoyed the television show "Firefly" and I re-watch it every so often. As a long time player of the sci-fi RPG Traveller, the show seemed to me to be influenced by the game although it took it's own direction.

Many people have bemoaned the end of the show so soon. I'm not sure why it ended; maybe it was too good. But it ended and people who liked it have missed it, the characters in it, and the setting.

What if the show had gone on for a number of seasons? How would it have fared?

I'm guessing here, but I feel it would have been on for a number of years and then cancelled. It might have become stale and cast personalities might have clashed to cause an end. Then it would have been analyzed and picked apart and become a cult show for a small number. It would have been forgotten by many.

As it is, it has become a legend in it's own right and taken on a life of it's own. Personal opinion: It might be better this way. It ended as it began: on a constant high note. Continuing on would have made it "just another TV show." Now it is much more.

What's in this load?

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Rich people can go to space. We ask why they didn't feed the hungry and clothe the naked. The answer might be "What glory is in that for me?" A number of people I know are disgusted by these displays of wealth and refusal to use wealth for the betterment of all. I might be one of them.

However we'd best get used to it. Corporate exploration of space is on the way and is coming. The wealthy and the large corporations will continue to do this. I suppose there's money to be made in space... somehow. I don't think governments can be quite so single-minded.

Didn't science-fiction literature and movies/shows tell us this? Babylon 5 shows many non-governmental corporate bodies exploring the universe. The author, Poul Anderson, wrote an entire series of related books and stories about the Polesotechnic League, a loosely-bound bunch of corporate "traders to the stars" as it were. (Look up "Hanseatic League.") Frank Herbert's Dune has the CHOAM Corporation. Our own histories tell us this, to use the Hudson's Bay Company and the British or Dutch East India Companies as only two examples out of many.

It may be disgusting and aggravating and unjust in a larger sense of justice. And it may be what will happen. We'd best be prepared.

 

                                    

Of course, all this is only my opinion.

Traveller Between Christmas and New Year's

    Since I've a few days off over the time between Christmas and New Year's Day, our gang was able to get a Traveller game in. It had been an unconsciously long since our last session, but that didn't seem to faze the crowd. Some new player joined the gang and some of the old crew made new characters to challenge themselves more.
    The one character everyone enjoyed being around was "Crazy", played by my daughter, Katie. This character was a noble (sort of) but had at least four or five personalities, one of which was a child, another was catatonic, while a third was a berserk fighter. Katie didn't kill her off but put her "on furlough", to return at another date after she travels with some relatives who want to help her.
     Katie introduced a new Darrian character.
     Nia came with a deserter from the Imperial Intelligence service.
    Jesse came up with a noble who squandered his inheritance and had to "disappear" since the family was not at all pleased. I rolled for an out-of-wedlock child somewhere, but the dice said "No."
     Beth continued to play her medical doctor/chemist who might be a Zhodani... but no one is sure.
     Tyler resumed his play as a pirate with a hyper-intelligent monkey (who can't speak) and a constant barrel of rum.
     Tyler's son, Thomas, played a Vargr infantry Trooper. Thomas started very young and this character will be fleshed out by Thomas and his dad now that he's of an age where he can understand RPG's. (He already understands rocket-propelled grenades.)
    Ken plays a home-brewed character called a "Quendi", a sort of "space elf" in the Tolkien-esque tradition rather than the shoe-maker's helper tradition.
     DJ leads the intrepid crew as a retired Imperial Marine Force Commander, all aboard the corsair Dark Iguana.
     The NPC's include Vasil, the engineer, Yogi and Boo-Boo, both Ursa combat veterans, hired to handle heavy weapons, and Karl, the human who transferred his consciousness into the ship's computer system. He can enter an android body if he wishes, but then he's out of contact with the ship's systems. I have to be careful that this doesn't break the game. DJ doesn't really trust Karl.

Beth took all these pictures...

A panoramic view of the kitchen/dining room area where we play our games.
Dinner is usually included since we often play on Sunday afternoon.
This game: sweet-and-sour meatballs over rice. 

Nia holds the good luck charm, Maeve.
Your humble blogger is at the end of the table.

Ken, Thomas, Tyler, and DJ

Maeve is a "dice-goblin" and tries to steal dice of all types.

{"Hey, nobody's lookin'! I can be stealing 20-siders!"}

No! The cat cannot have a character! Not even an Aslan!

The game included hiding from search drones, spitting back at cyberattacks on the ship's computer, disguising part of the crew as EMS and sneaking aboard an opposing ship to lift some computer hardware, and finally recovering a piece of interesting equipment from a derelict battle cruiser and "returning" it to the Imperial Navy - with some decision making help from two platoons of Marines and a atmospheric frigate.

Another panoramic view of the crowd... all but Beth.