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! 

Anniversary Acquisitions

 So because my wife Gina and I dated for so long before getting married, we've opted to celebrate two anniversaries a year - our wedding anniversary, on July 28th, and our dating anniversary, on November 18th. This year marks 15 years since we first met, and we've given each other our gifts early.

We both have hobbies that we've been in for a long time, so to take any guess work out of giving each other hobby supplies we both maintain wishlists that the other can pick from for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, etc. 

This year, she got me a few Old West releases from Brigade Games - a chuck wagon, and a set of figures including a cook and two cowboys eating dinner. Perfect for recreating *that* iconic scene from Blazing Saddles!

I'll have to sort out a large enough base to put the wagon, mules, cook and dining cowboys on, and maybe a campfire as well. Then figure out how to assemble the wagon! 

She also picked me up a physical copy of "Wars of Insurgency," the modern conflict ruleset from the man, the myth, the legend, Mike Demana over at Lead Legionaries. I've got the PDF already, but I can only grasp a ruleset so much from reading a PDF. I really do need a physical copy in front of me, and Mike is such a great guy that it's a pleasure to support his game design endeavors. I do have most of a 200-point force for Wars of Insurgency already painted, with only maybe 13 figures left to go. Whether that ever sees the tabletop (I'll probably need to paint an opposition force as well for that!) or not remains to be seen. 

Perilous Tales Refresher Game

 With me running Perilous Tales this coming weekend at Wargames Among the Warplanes, I thought it best I run myself through a refresher game to make sure I knew what I was doing! It's not an endlessly complex game but it never hurts to remind myself how it goes. It also gave me an opportunity to try out the character cards I made for the assortment of heroes I'd selected.

In Perilous Tales, figures are divided into two types: Leaders and Teammates, with the number of each appearing on the table being dependent on how many players are involved. Playing solo, you have one Leader and four Teammates; if two players are playing a co-op game, each of them has one Leader and one Teammate, while with three players everyone has two Teammates and no Leaders. I made eight character cards, each with both a Leader and Teammate version of each character.

My wife supplied the index cards out of her colorful stationary collection, saving me a trip out to the store. I also had her select five characters for me, and decide which one would be Leader. 

So we ended up with:

• Billy Ray, the Mechanic (Leader)
• Lisa, the Veterinarian (Teammate)
• Larry, the Lousy Bum (Teammate)
• Cliff, the Mailman (Teammate)
• Klaus, the Thug (Teammate)

I got the table set up, and selected my villains: the Gargoyles, who are a fun and unusual menace. They operate like the "Weeping Angels" in the modern incarnation of Doctor Who - if two heroes can draw line of sight to a Gargoyle (there's two in the villain roster), it's incapable of moving. If they manage to successfully hit a hero, it's an automatic kill, and they are accompanied by bat swarms that limit heroes' line of sight. The villain roster also includes "Darkness Falls," which once activated limits line of sight to 6" for the remainder of the game. 

The heroic objectives were to Kill the Masters, Flip the Switches and Call for Help. The environmental hazards were Putrid Stench, Utterly Horrible (everyone in 6" takes a Horror Check at reveal) and Earthquake (everyone within 6" falls down automatically at reveal). The Threat Markers (covering both the villains and the environmental hazards) were arranged in the "Aggressive" pattern as determined by a die roll. 

I'm going to cut to the chase.

This game did not go well for the heroes. 

FIVE of the eight Threat Markers revealed at once. Both Gargoyles, a Bat Swarm, "Utterly Horrible" and "Earthquake" all went off at once. 

"Go ahead, Klaus. Try flipping the switch."

Klaus and Billy Ray were taken down by Gargoyles almost immediately. Lisa, Larry and Cliff spent most of the remainder of the game getting swarmed by bats as the Gargoyles crept forward slowly but surely. Cliff, especially, kept getting swarmed by bats, failing Horror Checks, falling down because he was being swarmed, and then getting up, getting a new swarm of bats on him, failing another Horror Check, and falling down again. He was up at down like three times. All three of them were killed "death by a thousand cuts" style by endless bat attacks. 

The heroes were all wiped out and didn't score a single victory point. 

I haven't laughed this hard during a war game since last Wargames Among the Warplanes when the taco truck got weaponized. 

I do think I may have unwittingly penalized the heroes with the big moving truck in the middle of the board. The heroes might have been able to do more against the Gargoyles if that hadn't been protecting the villains from heroic line of sight. I may replace that with the taco truck or leave it off all together. 

All in all, the game took about 45 minutes so I may be able to squeeze in more games on Saturday than I'd originally planned. Or I can wrap up early and finally play that Biplanes vs. King Kong game! 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 158

Figures Painted in 2025: 139

More Modern Figures

After finishing that unit of White Russians, I needed a palate cleanser so I picked out a few of the modern/zombie apocalypse survivor type figures I've got in my primed box.

First up is "Cobra" from Hasslefree Miniatures, but we know exactly who this is. The iconic Snake Plissken from "Escape From New York," played by Kurt Russell. This is the second figure sculpted in Kurt Russell's likeness I have in my collection, because I also have a "wink wink, *not* Jack Burton" that Hasslefree sells. 

Next up is "Monique," also from Hasslefree - wearing nursing scrubs and reloading a revolver. My wife briefly had to wear scrubs for a front desk medical job she held, and I based the colors on a set she had owned. 

"Rihanna" is another Hasslefree figure, described on the site as having waited out the first few weeks of the zombie apocalypse at an airboat tour office, surrounded by increasingly-less-hungry alligators, seemingly immune to the infection. 

Finally, an unnamed cartel soldier from Brigade Games' "Drug War Z" line. I really like the personality to this line of sculpts, and this guy's cringing posture is great. 

And I just realized I didn't paint anybody's belt buckles. Guess I'm going in to fix that later!

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 21

Fistful of Lead: Bring Me The Head of Big Nick!

 Happy New Year, gentle readers! In keeping with my goal of playing at least two games, solo or otherwise, every month in 2025, I got the dining room table cleared off (we never actually eat at the table, so it quickly becomes a catch-all site) and set myself up with a modern game of Fistful of Lead. Here we have two rival gangs - one a Mexican cartel group, and the other a group of Hell's Angels-style bikers - out for each other's blood, using the "Head Hunting" scenario from Wiley Games' "Wasteland Warriors" supplement. Since I had more cartel soldiers than I had bikers, the bikers became the defenders in the scenario, with the cartel's goal being to kill the biker leader "Big Nick." To that end, they've tracked Big Nick's gang to this trailer park...

The Los Lobos gang deployed in cover behind the Taco Truck, and are as follows:

• Carlos (Leader; Leader, Steady, Inspiring, Encouraging), armed with a Pistol
• Javier (Specialist; Eagle-Eyed, Killer), armed with an Automatic Rifle
• Ramon (Regular; Sprinter), armed with a Modern Rifle
• Michael (Regular; Sniper), armed with a Modern Rifle
• Hector (Regular; Observant), armed with a Pistol
• Marcus (Regular; Dodge), armed with a Pistol

L to R: Ramon, Marcus, Javier, Carlos, Hector and Michael

Meanwhile, the Satan's Sadists biker gang deployed spread out, in cover in two trailers and crouching behind the hummer in the car port. They consisted of:

• Big Nick (Leader; Leader, Tough as Nails, Impervious, Cold-Blooded), armed with a Submachine Gun
• Grill (Specialist; Stealthy, Deadeye), armed with a Flamethrower
• Legs (Regular; Quick), armed with a Shotgun
• Hogan (Regular; Loads of Ammo), armed with an Automatic Rifle
• Barbie (Regular; Killer), armed with a Submachine Gun

Big Nick keeps Barbie close by

Grill lurks in the car port

Legs and Hogan watch from cover in the other trailer

Per the scenario, the game goes for a semi-random number of turns, between 6 and 10, before the noise of the fight brings authorities to the scene. I rolled an 8, so we had eight turns for mayhem before the police showed up. 

The Los Lobos began to cautiously move forward, moving from the Taco Truck to the UPS van, while Michael moved towards the fence to get a better vantage point for shooting; Ramon fired a potshot at Grill but missed. 

A nervous Barbie stepped outside for a cigarette, and Grill moved forward to retaliate against Ramon; he sent a gout of flame towards the Los Lobos member, but Ramon managed to avoid being roasted. 

Legs was drawn outside by the noise, and Ramon rolled out of the way, firing off another ineffective shot. Moving forward, Grill got Ramon and Javier in his sites and let loose another spray of flame - wounding Javier and killing Ramon. 

Meanwhile, Michael lined up a shot and put Barbie out of action:

"Enough of this," Hector thought to himself, and jumped into the UPS van. Hotwiring it, he hit the gas as hard as he could and accelerated directly into Grill, pulping the biker under the tires.

In the confusion (and with the UPS van as added cover), Marcus and Carlos moved forward into the trailer park - Marcus to distract and take down Legs and Hogan, while Carlos hightailed it towards the other trailer. A shot from Hogan put a Shock token on Marcus and sent him tumbling for cover among the trash; Legs put a second Shock token on him with a blast from her shotgun. However, Marcus got up, shrugged off both Shock tokens, and shot Legs, putting a Wound on her. 

Meanwhile, Carlos darted and weaved towards the other trailer, leaping over the tire barricade. Unfortunately, as he landed in the yard, Big Nick erupted from the trailer.

"Heard ya was lookin' for me!" the biker roared, his submachine gun spitting lead. Bullets tore into Carlos, sending him out of action!

That could have been the end of things right there; the Los Lobos were leaderless, after all. However, the scenario didn't say anything about the attackers' Leader being killed, just whether or not the defenders' Leader was alive at the end of the game. 

Michael was still behind the fence, 11 1/2 inches away from Big Nick. Taking a deep breath, he aimed, fired, and put a round in the big biker's forehead. 

With Nick's death taking place at such a long range, I decided the surviving gang members would need to get close and verify that the biker leader was dead before they could flee the scene.

Legs struggled to her feet, and Marcus decided he wasn't having any of that; he leapt forward and pistol-whipped her back to the ground. Meanwhile, Hector made his way to the trailer to take a better look at both Big Nick and Carlos, undeterred by Hogan's ineffectual shots in his direction. 

With the deaths confirmed, Hector, Marcus and Michael loaded the wounded Javier into the UPS van and sped away, minutes ahead of the approaching police sirens. 

***

That was some spectacular carnage and mayhem, and the perfect start to 2025. When Grill hit both Ramon and Javier with the flamethrower I thought this game might swing towards the defenders, especially with Hogan in cover firing through a window at the attackers and Big Nick hidden deep in the second trailer. I gave the Los Lobos an extra guy since so many of them only had pistols. I think having the extra figure made a difference, especially since Javier spent the entire game on his back, too wounded to get up but not enough so to bleed out. And clearly, Hector was an MVP with that vehicular assault!

I've never used the vehicle rules for Fistful of Lead (found in Galactic Heroes 2nd edition) before, but it occurred to me that I have vehicles now, and that they can do more than just be scatter terrain. Plus, in moving it, Hector provided better cover for his teammates - it was a brief thing, but very useful and game-changing. 

I decided to roll on the recovery table under the campaign rules in Wasteland Warriors for Carlos and Ramon, since this may become a campaign this year, with different gangs fighting for control of Anytown, USA, police trying to maintain/restore order, and other events going on.

Carlos was "just winged," and so makes a full recovery and will be available to partake in the next game the Los Lobos take part in. 

Ramon needs more intensive healing; he'll miss the next game, and upon his return in the following game he'll start with a Wound. 

As for Satan's Sadists...

• Big Nick and Grill are pushing up daisies. There's no coming back for them.
• Legs and Barbie will recover, but will need to miss the next game. 

The Los Lobos receive 5 Renown Points, and the Sadists receive 0. 

***

And finally, I'm adding this to my blog posts this year - an accountability tracker for figures and terrain purchased and painted.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 0

Figures Painted in 2025: 0

Perilous Tales: Wolves in the Streets

 I'd left my set-up from last night's game in place on the table, and was able to have a second game of Perilous Tales tonight. I removed the ponds and added a bit more scatter; I kept my crew of heroes largely unchanged as well. After selecting the Wolf Man as tonight's villain, I used the recommended method of selecting my objectives, by drawing cards.

The results that came up were "Set the Explosives," "Call for Help," and "Destroy the Idol." A narrative began to suggest itself...

The Las Lobos used to be just another street gang. Then they stole the Cursed Idol of Ish-Kabibble, and things got...hairier. The Las Lobos were soon living up to their name, possessed by wolf spirits and terrorizing anyone who approached the blocks they claimed as their territory. A group of concerned citizens have taken it on themselves to deal with the Las Lobos once and for all - destroying the Idol, dynamiting their hideout and calling the police to clean up the mess. 

Our heroes began to advance across the board cautiously, with Maria moving ahead to trigger the nearest threat marker - a wolf darting out in front of the bingo hall and lunging at her. 

Maria disengaged and stepped back, shooting at the wolf before Jean-Baptiste finished it off. Moving forward, Larry triggered the next threat marker - another wolf, quickly dispatched.

Maria continued towards the pay phone to begin calling for help, while Billy Ray hefted his wrench with an eye towards smashing the Cursed Idol. Unfortunately, Maria triggered three threat markers at once - all three of which were Perils instead of Villains. I drew three cards to see what they would be; "Unsteady Underfoot" (revealer has to make a skill check or be knocked prone), "A Thousand Cuts" (revealer takes a skill 3 attack), and "Creeping Horror" (skill checks at disadvantage). All three of these are persistent Perils, creating a zone surrounding the payphone AND the Cursed Idol where anyone entering has to check against being knocked prone and has disadvantage on that check, AND potentially takes damage. 

Let's call that a ruptured sewer line to cover all three Perils. 

Larry and Cliff both failed Horror checks and started to retreat towards the starting board edge, while Maria advanced towards the pay phone and Billy Ray approached the Idol. Jean-Baptiste approached the taco truck to plant explosives but failed to do so before another wolf lunged at him. 

Meanwhile, Cliff quickly ran afoul of a Young Werewolf, quickly getting bitten:

Billy Ray took a swing at the Cursed Idol, but in so doing drew the attention of the Master Werewolf.

The Master Werewolf swung ineffectively at Billy Ray; meanwhile Maria and Larry managed to plant batches of explosives. 

Cliff, stumbling back from the Young Werewolf, managed to shoot it enough times to kill it. 

Larry ducked around the fight against the Master Werewolf to try and plant the final set of explosives, but failed to do so before time ran out. 

So let's tally up points! One point for all of my team members surviving, another for my leader surviving, another for the "Thrown Together" template. Two points for the two bundles of explosives planted. And another three points for team members alive after the successful Call for Help. That's 8 points! That qualifies as "A Tale Fit for the Telling," and I'm pretty happy with that. 

I might manage another game on Saturday, but we'll see how things go.