A Rose by any other name...

 "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)

Why I chose this quote from Shakespeare will be explained shortly.

Suffice it to say, I have been painting figures of a number of types. I'm limited as to where I can go (I can't drive because of my need of an new knee) and as to what I can do. (I fell in my driveway a few weeks ago as I assisted in snow removal. An ambulance crew had to come to help me to my feet on the icy pavement. And I was embarrassed.) I have worked on a number of scattered projects reflecting my interests - The Silver Bayonet, Wiley Games' Galactic Heroes - Grimdark lists, Wild West, Gangsters, etc. 

Basically I have been having fun. Here's a few examples.

A while back, my son and I played a gave set in the Wiley Games version version of The Grimdark of a certain numbered era of another game I hesitate to mention... lest their minions appear with lawyers, guns, and money. It was such fun that I continued to put some other factions together - Space Dwarves, "Quendi" (a Tolkien reference), and other human groups. Lately, it's been troops of the Fleet Landing Force, with of course are NOT Space Marines™. I did them up in the dark green armour of the "chapter" I like the most... which sounds like "Dork Angels." (More on that later.)

Fleet Landing Force Officer with powersword and bolt pistol.
He's decked out in white so his troops can see him better.
It also means that his enemy can see him better as well.
Easy come, easy go!

A FLF NCO with red outlining.
"Watch your butt, Troop!"

Rocket Launcher trooper.
I had a choice of a bazooka or a RPG launcher.
Both seem rather "delicate" but I went with the bazooka.
Who knows what sort of ammunition would be available
in the Grimdark Future?

Flame Thrower trooper.
A bit clumsy but necessary.

Heavy weapon trooper for dealing with heavier targets.
Would this be a heavy bolter? Probably.

Trooper with bold rifle

Another Trooper

One more Trooper

I used Wargames Atlantic's Valkir Heavy Troopers, who appear to be properly armoured with lots of weapons options. I used a bazooka from a WWII American infantry box for the rocket launcher. It may appear a little "frail" but who knows what kind of ammunition would be available and what size it might be? I find the Wargames Atlantic Heavy Troopers to be a bit "fiddly" as to positioning and I like them a lot despite the fiddly-ness. They seem competent and business-like while not infected with skulls.

Also from Wargames Atlantic's fantasy Market scene...

Puppeteer Lady.
I like the puppet.

I call him "the Pilgrim" since he has his staff
and a proper capuche.

 

A Soothsayer in mid-wander.

The Town Butcher.
The axe might be too much, but who knows
what he's about to butcher.

 

A guy who needs a hot meal from NorthStar Minis

Halved Skeleton
The figure arrived broken in two just above the hip.
I think it was a happy accident.

From an unknown source, a Pooka "between" chosen forms.

Pooka - from Irish mythology
It is a mischievous shape-shifter and it's "resting shape"
is still rather shape-less. 

From Victoria Miniatures, a wonderful set of Python-esque characters... that NO-ONE EXPECTS!

Cardinal Biggles

Cardinal Fang

Cardinal Ximenez

 Speaking of Dork Angels...

There are more things I'll be posting shortly. More clergy in particular for The Silver Bayonet - Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox mainly. Figures for Protestant clergy and Jewish Rabbis are a bit harder to find.

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.

Prey and the Birth of a Legend

 

On Saturday, 4 November, I was able to host two games at the Hamilton Road Games Group in London, ON. Both were using the Fistful of Lead rules from Wiley Games. One was a direct play of the "Prey" scenario from Wiley Games. The second used the plain rules on the same tabletop.

In the first game, both "human" players (Aris and Ryan) had teams of 5 First Nations warriors, armed with bow and arrow or spear. Some of the names I put together for their crews were "Hands-to-the Sky", "Head-of-Rock", "Fleet-of-Foot", "Joe Bear-killer", and the ever-popular "Dances-with-Vermin." Bear, the third player had three Alien Hunters in Holo-suits that made them almost invisible (unless you crossed a body of water which shorted out the suit for a turn), carrying lasers, and being big and nasty. The humans started at opposite corners of the field and the Aliens started dead center on the table. I'll try not to reveal too much about the scenario in case someone reading this wanted to surprise their players with it. It really was a lot of fun.

One hunter advances toward Ryan's crew. Head-of-Rock kneels in wait.
The whole table was considered forested (light cover) except the areas like the light green
one, which was considered to be a clearing.

Aris's team advances toward the creek, coming up behind Bear's alien hunters.
(Figures by RAFM)

Head-of-Rock keeps waiting.

Alien Hunter #2 ("Frazzi" I think) shows one wound (red bead), one shock (yellow bead),
and a working holo-suit. (white ring) Tau Stealth Suit troops seemed fine for this use.

All three Alien Hunters face down Ryan's warband. Dances-with-Vermin is in front with one wound and one shock.

Aris' band keeps sneaking up on the Hunters.

One Alien Hunter takes on a spear-armed warrior with claws. The warrior didn't win.

Another view of that desperate fight!

In the end, Ryan killed two Hunters (10 renown points) and had 4 braves surviving (4 points) for resounding 14 point win. Aris had 4 points and Bear lost two hunters to the Native Braves while taking one out hand to hand. The third Hunter blew himself up when the situation got too desperate and no  rescue was forthcoming. It really was closer than it looked. A Joker in the deck caused a hunter to fall into a pit with sharpened stakes at the bottom. Jokers are fun!

After a brief and satisfying lunch of cherubim and seraphim with iced tea, the same crowd went at it again, using new teams and no Alien Hunters. 2 Jokers were in the mix, which allowed the player to use it as a wild card, but it also caused a downpour of rain which forbid long range shooting. Aris and Bear both had teams of 5 cowboys while Ryan fielded a patrol of the RCMP - an inspector, a veteran sergeant, two constables, and a dog... a dog of legend whose story will be told over campfires for years.

Bear's team entered the field at 12 o'clock level, Aris' at 9 o'clock, and Ryan's at about 4:30 level. Lots of shots were exchanged. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one shoot-'em-out between the survivor of Bear's crew and the last man of Aris' crew, Ryan's all having been gunned down but not without giving almost as good as they got!

Three of Aris' gun-slingers advance over rough ground
(Figures from various manufacturers)

Long range shots between Aris and Bear.

Bear's boys come over the creek.

'Tis the Law north of the border!
(Figures by Pulp Miniatures)

Ryan's Mounties engage Aris' crew.

More shots ring out.

THE LEGEND!
Dog Constable Nova did a high speed sneak around the Mountie left and attacked one of Aris'
boys in the creek. Nova took the gunman out in short order to the cheers of all players and the
games master. (Me!) We were all cheering for Nova to take out ALL of Aris' crew. Nova was
armed with teeth and claws and was "stealthy." (Since the dog couldn't shoot, he got an extra
trait and I gave him "stealth" with it -1 to any shooting attacks on him. It was worth it!)
I think I like dogs as part of a crew for this sort of game.

More shot exchanged.

Sad to say, one of Aris' gang got the initiative on Nova and laid the legendary
dog low. We all held a brief moment of silence in the dog's memory.
(Silence... 1... 2... that's enough.)
Aris is to be known as "Dog-killer" from now on.

 In the end, all of the RCMP patrol were out of action and only one shootist in the gangs of Bear and Aris remained. The exchanged a few shots and then retired to the saloon for some libations since Bear's ride came and he had to leave.

I like the Wiley Games because the same mechanics apply to any game of any period or style you might play using the rules. My son and I played a Grimdark game of Chaos-type nastys vs. Tau-ish aliens and the rules worked great. Our last Christmas party game used the rules in a mixed way, with magic users, modern Canadian army troops, sci-fi heroes, pirates, pulp heroes, and others all in the same team, all trying to save Santa from the Krampus and the Grinch... and it worked great. (See the photos below.) For what it's worth, I'd recommend the entire range of rules - Wild West, historical, horror, Sci-fi, fantasy. It's all just plain fun.

Company Sergeant Major Vanier of the Van doos faces down the Martian ape.

Santa, Krampus, the Grinch, and some mercenary gunmen.

Goblins! Flash Borden! The Phantom! Professor Fate, Master of Magic!
RCMP Sergeant Steele! The Pirate Queen! Weird mushrooms!
All in one game!

So when you play again, I hope the fighting spirit of the legendary Canine Constable Nova, and crazy fun of the First Nation's sniper, Dances-with-Vermin will be celebrated on your table.

More to come soon.