Running GAGG XXX: After (In)Action Report

 Another Running GAGG is in the books; the 20th since my first visit as a college freshman in 2006, and I think my 18th year in attendance overall. It's no exaggeration when I say that Running GAGG weekend is the best weekend of the year for me; I'm surrounded by friends I get to see only rarely from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, and the Geneseo Area Gaming Group and its alumni really are a second family for me. This year I got to play a couple of RPGs I've been interested in but didn't feel up to the task of running without some experience under my belt, stayed up way too late at night and ate like a college student. Which is why I took Monday off work to physically recuperate from the weekend!

I even had the singular experience of being bought a drink by the current owner of the bar we favored when I was 21; Kelly's Irish Saloon is a salt miner's bar, catering to the guys mining rock salt in nearby Retsof. The drinks are strong and inexpensive - two big perks for college kids. Why pay $8 (in 2009 dollars) for a rum and coke with just enough rum to taste, when I can go to Kelly's and pay $4 for a rum and coke with just enough coke to tint the rum? 

Kelly's burned down a few years ago and was rebuilt, rising like a drunken phoenix from its own ashes. My regular group of rascals at Running GAGG visit Kelly's every year on Saturday night, and the owner recognized us from past years and bought a round to thank us for making Kelly's our watering hole every year. I don't really drink any more but I made an exception for this. 

My table set-up.

The one downside was that my Perilous Tales demo didn't attract any players. I'm not terribly surprised - between the agonizingly bitter cold, the fact that the coffee shop in the student union (where the convention is held) was closed due to a burst pipe, and reduced availability of rooms at the nearest hotels, convention attendance was slightly down this year and general foot traffic through the student union was greatly reduced. Plus, as I've said, it's just not a big wargaming-centric convention at the best of times. 

My friend Boe's "Burrows & Badgers" game, which is usually packed with a wait-list, was similarly unattended this year, though his 8am Bolt Action event was well-attended. There was some Battletech going on about 50 feet away from me, but I think the team of guys who showed up to demo the game were just playing each other to pass the time. 

I did have about a dozen people stop by and ask, "What is this?" - either completely unfamiliar with the concept of wargaming, or only familiar with Warhammer 40K, which my table pretty obviously isn't. I gave my spiel explaining Perilous Tales, and also found myself fielding a lot of questions about the very idea of miniatures agnostic rules and small miniatures companies that aren't Games Workshop. People listened politely, asked follow-up questions and showed interest...but getting them over the hump to trying the game just didn't happen. That's fine. Hopefully I planted some seeds in some minds and next year people will give it a try. 

I'm really grateful to the convention organizers for putting the various wargaming tables in the wide open hall of the student union, putting our visually-appealing tables in full view of the populace passing through. 

All in all, it was a great weekend even if wargaming didn't happen. 

Perilous Tales - Refresher Game

 Next weekend I'll be at Running GAGG, my alma mater's gaming convention. This year is their 30th show, and my 20th since I started attending (I think I've missed it once or twice, so I won't say it's my 20th show). I got involved with the Geneseo Area Gaming Group my first week of freshman year when I was a student there, and held a number of officer positions before graduation, culminating in club treasurer; I probably could have been club president if I'd wanted to, but in my senior year I was really trying to focus on finishing my degree (plus when I was treasurer my signature got forged to a purchase order for Magic cards). I served as club minister for both wargaming and role-playing games. Running GAGG isn't a big wargaming convention, being mostly focused on RPGs and board games, but there's always a few demo tables and they've recently resumed hosting a Warhammer 40K tournament. 

This year, I'm taking a break from running RPGs to do a wargaming demo table; the last time I tried this was with Buck Surdu's G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. in 2006, and the only guy who showed up for that misread the event listing and expected it to be a roleplaying game. This year, I'm showing off Perilous Tales, building off what I learned demoing the game last September at Wargames Among the Warplanes. I'm going to be in the lobby of the student union, so I'll have lots of people passing by my table - hopefully I can entice a few people to stop!

Today I experimented with table set up, focusing on making it eye-catching to attract the passerby, and gave myself a refresher game while I was at it. The villain today was the Demon Butcher, which can inflict some decent damage but is supported by minions that can de-buff the heroes in tricky ways. Our heroes today are Officer Bob (Leader), supported by Billy Ray the mechanic, Cliff the mailman, Larry the Lousy Bum, and Sandra the wilderness tour guide (all Teammates). Their objectives are Collect Evidence (take a picture of the Master Villain and still be holding it when the game ends), Call for Rescue, and Escape (move three figures off the villain's side of the table). 

The game started slowly, with the heroes fanning out and moving up the table. Officer Bob used his "Eyes Peeled" skill to check the first visible threat marker, confirming it was an environmental hazard. And then Sandra triggered an ambush, coming within 6" of a threat marker. In fact, two.

She managed to defeat the cultist (the Demon Butcher villain list includes "Urchins" that prevent heroes from using their skills within a certain radius; I'd previously looked at using imps of some sort for these but the Ill-Gotten Games cultists work just as well!), but the rats proved to be a much harder challenge.

And about the rat swarms - At the start of the villain's turn, as long as there's one rat swarm active on the table, another spawns on an unengaged hero. In this case, one popped up on Officer Bob as Billy Ray was running for the pay phone to Call for Rescue. Officer Bob also failed a Horror Check while in base contact with the rats, which means he fell prone.

Billy Ray failed his initial roll to try and Call for Rescue. A cultist spawned in front of him and another rat swarm attacked Larry. Ultimately, the rats ate Sandra.

Billy Ray bashed the cultist out of his way using his wrench, and successfully called for help - which spawned an additional two cultists on the table! Rats and cultists both swarmed now.

Larry and Cliff both succumbed to the onslaught of opponents, while Billy Ray had enough and bolted off the table (fortunately, the Villainous edge, so a victory point scored there!). With multiple cultists and rat swarms converging on him, and the threat level about to hit its maximum, Officer Bob thought about how he'd only been two days from retirement...

The master villain, the Demon Butcher, never showed up! There was one unrevealed threat marker left on the table, slowly working its way in from the back corner turn by turn, but nobody survived long enough to activate it. Which means there was no scoring the "Collect Evidence" objective. I tried getting more characters off the table, but everyone kept failing their rolls to escape from combat, keeping them stuck in melee and taking wounds.

All in all this was a brutal game, but it gave me a better understanding of how the minions (Urchins and Rat Swarms) under the Demon Butcher work. Sometimes just reading the listing doesn't give you a full sense of how they function as part of the villain's network and you really need to see them in action for it to click. Depending on how spaced out the heroes are, it's potentially possible to end up with 4-5 rat swarms on the table after a few turns, and both rats and Urchins will move around and bolster each other, providing bonuses to hitting the heroes. The Demon Butcher isn't as strong as something like the Wolfman or the Gargoyles, but he doesn't need to be - his henchmen do a lot of heavy lifting for him, as seen here. 

I think I'm in good shape for next weekend - we'll see if I get anyone to stop at my table! 

A Forest of Kings - Warriors with Spears

 Pleased to report I've completed another two units (or "Formations") for wargaming inter-city Maya conflicts using Mana Press' Tribal, both warriors armed with spears or, in the language of the game, "long weapons." 

These are Lucid Eye "Jaguar Tribes" figures, and range from almost totally nude to full body suits that, in bright colors, make them look like enthusiastic Muppets cosplayers. 

I've detailed the two formations in different accent colors to better differentiate them on the table. I'll be doing similar with the next two formations, which are armed with clubs and flint-edged macahuitls. 

I've also completed two Gringo 40s Maya casualty figures, to serve as disordered/panicked tokens in game. I should have painted the figures separately and then glued them to the base after I flocked it!

I'm very pleased to report that these bring me up to 30 figures painted; however, I've also bought some figures - Dragon Bait Miniatures has announced their retirement and closure, so I took advantage of their retirement 15% off sale to stock up on some Egyptian civilians and soldiers from the Dark Fable line - which was one of the miniature lines that brought me back to the hobby in 2014. I've also ordered another 10 Maya warriors from Gringo 40s, all armed with bows and atlatls to give me some ranged options. Fortunately, I have another 16 figures already half-finished on my painting bench, so I'll be back in the green soon.

So, let's update the tracker:

Miniatures Acquired: 44

Miniatures Painted: 30

Terrain Acquired: 0

Terrain Painted: 0

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 0

Latest Figures Painted

 As soon as I saw these "FBI Agents" from Crooked Dice, I knew I had to have them; X-Files scared the tar out of me as a sensitive kid in the 90s, but I've since become a fan of the "Monster of the Week" episodes (the overarching mythology episodes, not so much). Having Mulder and Scully on my table was a must for the demo games of "Perilous Tales" I'm hoping to run on February 1st at a localish gaming convention. 

These are another two from Crooked Dice, though maybe less familiar; the armed cheerleader is a dead ringer for Kelli Maroney's character in the 1984 cult classic NIGHT OF THE COMET, while the teenage metalhead is just as clearly intended to be the character Eddie Munson from Netflix's "Stranger Things" series. I even freehanded the partial skull and crossbones on the bandanna he's wearing around his head. 

Finally, I needed multiple rat swarms to represent the lowest grade of minion serving the master demon; these are 3D resin prints from GreenStuffWorld that I found on a spinner rack at Harlequin Hobbies. I like the little extras on these; the king rat directing his fellows, the wedge of cheese, the stack of newspapers. It gives each base personality. Each one is glued to a 25mm Renedra round base. Hopefully half a dozen will be enough for my demo games; I think the Perilous Tales rules actually have Rat Swarms appearing on the table two at a time. 

And this brings me up to current; everything I've finished painting to date has been posted on both the AHPC blog and here.

Miniatures Acquired: 4

Miniatures Painted: 18

Terrain Acquired: 0

Terrain Painted: 0

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 0

The King and Queen of Yaxchilan

The first "Bonus Round" of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has gone live, and I can now re-share my entry here. These are the figures that started me on this Maya miniatures journey - the limited edition Maya King and Queen figures from my friend Chris. As far as he or I are aware, this is only the fifth painted set of these figures in the world. 

These figures represent King Itzamnaaj Balaam III, "Shield Jaguar," and his aunt/wife Lady Xoc of the city-state of Yaxchilan. Shield Jaguar was born sometime in 647 CE, and assumed the throne on the 23rd of October, 681, reigning until his death on June 15th, 742 - dying at the age of 94-95, and reportedly having still led troops into battle into his 80s. His marriage to his aunt was likely done for political reasons, to cement support for his reign among the nobility. His named heir, Bird Jaguar IV, was born to his second wife, Lady Eveningstar, and a ten-year succession struggle took place following Shield Jaguar's death between the families of Lady Xoc and Lady Eveningstar before Bird Jaguar eventually took the throne.

These figures are specifically sculpted based on the image of Shield Jaguar and Lady Xoc that appears on Lintel 24, a spectacular piece of carved limestone commissioned by Lady Xoc for a building that was probably her private home; the Lintel currently resides in the British Museum, and is considered one of the best examples of Mayan art, showcasing the king and queen with minimal abstraction and a high degree of realism. 

Lady Xoc is depicted kneeling in the midst of a sacred bloodletting ritual - having pierced her tongue with a stingray spine, she now draws a thorn-studded cotton rope through the opening. The rope absorbs the blood and channels it down to a box of paper sheets on the ground in front of her. The bloody paper will be burned and the will of the gods divined from their smoke. This sort of ritual was normally restricted to the king himself, so her being shown performing it shows just how much political and religious power she wielded. King Shield Jaguar holds high a torch, illuminating his wife as she performs this ritual. 

King Shield Jaguar is on a 40mm base per "Tribal"'s suggestion for placing a warband's leader on a larger base, while Lady Xoc is on one for her to serve as an objective token for the game's scenario generator. I've built Shield Jaguar's base up with a few layers of cork and also added a bit of plastic foliage, tying him in to the jungle terrain I built last year. Speaking of which, I've been collecting supplies to double my collection of jungle terrain this year. 

Miniatures Acquired: 4

Miniatures Painted: 8

Terrain Acquired: 0

Terrain Painted: 0

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 0

Return to Dracula's America

 It's been a long time since my posse, "The Speakers for the Land," got on the table - injuring my knee and bad weather, coupled with the various holidays, kept me from taking part in Dracula's America for a few months. Fortunately, the campaign hasn't progressed much in my absence, so I wasn't hindered beyond needing a few extra reminders of some of the rules.

I played a quick game against Phil, a member of the campaign I hadn't faced off against before, pitting my Skinwalker Tribes posse against his Twilight Order posse - members of a secret society of monster hunters, armed with silver bullets, medieval armor and the possibility of summoning a sixgun-toting angel to the battlefield. 

We rolled "Escalation" for our mission - each of us would start with half our posse, rounding down, deploying on the table and in subsequent rounds could use our activations to bring the remainder on to the battlefield. For side agendas, I rolled that one of my posse members would be carrying an important letter and would receipt 1 bonus victory point if I still held it at the end of the game, while Phil had a VIP/hostage with his posse that he needed to maintain possession of to score 2 bonus victory points. 

With half-sized posses, the first few turns went quickly, with both of us leaving our corner deployment zones and starting to fan out towards the center of the table. Beyond the agendas, our only goal was to either kill or force a withdrawal of the opposing posse. 

Phil drew first blood, injuring Growing Thunder, a Crow tribe woman armed with a rifle and loosely considered second in command of my posse; one of my new recruits, Zeke Freeman, managed to immediately shoot the varmint what done it in the back.

Midgame, we both played the same card when testing for turn order, triggering an event - the occupants of a randomly determined building would shoot at everyone within 6". And wouldn't you know it, the dice came up that the green building - a dentist's office - that almost my entire posse was clustered around was the one that started shooting!

Six out of eight figures I had on the table were within 6". It was brutal. 

My two lycanthropes transformed, the chief into a bear and the other into a wolf. The bear unfortunately got gunned down almost immediately (he's a big and tempting target), but the wolf chewed through two members of Phil's posse.

The game ended with me still in possession of my letter and Phil's hostage secure (she, and the figure guarding her, never left Phil's deployment zone), so it came down to who scored the most victory points off of casualties. And when all was said and done, Phil beat me by a single victory point. 

Going into the post-game advancement, Growing Thunder sadly succumbed to her wounds and died; Chief Kicking Bird developed a second lasting injury (he'd previously lost an eye, and now has a lingering ache) but everyone else fared pretty well. Zeke's older brother Josiah gained the skill "Lead-Belly," which means his abilities don't deteriorate when he's Shaken, and White Hawk, one of my pistoleers, advanced from Novice to Veteran status, improving his combat abilities. 

All in all, a good game, and Chris gifted me a couple of Native American figures that had been in his leadpile.

Miniatures Acquired: 4

Miniatures Painted: 6

Terrain Acquired: 0

Terrain Painted: 0

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 0

Maya Ajaw and Ah'kin

First post of the year! The one downside of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is that I can't show my painted figures anywhere else until they've gone live on the Challenge blog. I've done quite a bit of painting already this year, but it's going to be spread across three Challenge blog posts (so far), so it takes some time for me to be able to share them here. 

One of my big goals for this year is to knock out my backlog of Maya figures so I can start gaming with them. So, while the first finished figures off my table were the Boomstick Cultists, I did start immediately in on the first of the Maya on the 21st, choosing some of the more richly dressed and ornamented figures from the Lucid Eye range; these five I'm treating as ajaw, members of the noble class in a Mayan city-state, fighting for personal glory and social status.

I misplaced the shields for this group; if I find them or buy more (or more likely, buy more and then find them), I'll get them painted and glued on. 

I also picked up some 28mm Maya figures from Gringo 40s to accompany my Lucid Eye figures and fill in some gaps. One such is this priest, or ah'kin; He wears a Chaac mask, putting on the persona of the god of rain, agriculture and (sometimes) warfare, with a plume of quetzal feathers. 

This is one of two copies of Gringo 40s' priest figure I bought, so you'll see another one in different colors later on in the challenge. 

While I'm going to work extra hard to paint more than I buy in 2026, I did pick up two figures at my LGS when I went in for paint the other day; this particular store, Casual Dragon Amherst, used to be under different ownership under the name Dragon Snack; when the owner of Dragon Snack took ill, his family shut down the shop, with all merchandise still inside, and the owners of Casual Dragon Lockport stepped and made Dragon Snack a satellite location of their own store. 

There is quite a bit of *old* merchandise still on the shelves that they don't quite know what to do with, including a couple of blisters of "Legend of the Five Rings" samurai fantasy figures dating back to when Reaper Miniatures briefly held the license around 20 years ago. These have been marked down dramatically (well below MSRP as it was two decades ago!) so I grabbed a few. I may go back and grab the rest; Casual Dragon has, unfortunately, jacked their paint prices through the roof in the last month so I can't afford to continue to buy my paints there. 

And, with a new year, we start the tracker afresh, and add some new categories:

Miniatures Purchased: 2

Miniatures Painted: 6

Terrain Purchased: 0

Terrain Painted: 0

Scatter Purchased: 0

Scatter Painted: 0