Please Keep Off the Elephant Grass!

    Do these bases of plastic plants do the job as giving the effect of elephant grass in Vietnam? Or no?

I have been slowly working on terrain for my 28mm Vietnam games. I started with a couple different sizes of jungle scatter, added in rice paddies, and most recently worked on patches of bamboo. Only one type of iconic Vietnam natural vegetation was left -- elephant grass! This can grow in height over a man's head. I looked at how other miniature gamers had done it and also paged through a lot of Google Images. Armed with that knowledge, I headed off to Michaels craft store with my Christmas present of a $50 gift card. 

    The giant mat I found composed of individual circles with long blades of plastic 'grass' attached

Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that jumped out at me at Michaels. Boo! Next, it was off to a nearby Hobby Lobby. There I did find a very interesting square mat of plastic plants that looked like it would work. And yes, I had brought along a 28mm miniature in my pocket to hold up to the various options to see if the sizing would be right. The mat passed the test, and what's more, would supply more than enough pieces for all of the elephant grass that I'm likely to ever create. The mat consists of multiple circular pieces (with long blades of grass) attached to a square plastic mat. It looked like three of the circles would fit on 1.5 " wooden disc. However, the center of each circle of grass was completely bare. 

  'Green bushes' from JTT Scenics that I would apply in the center of each circle to hide the bare area

I would need to find something to fill that bare circle, though the blades of grass did a semi-decent job of covering it up. Still, I kept shopping and found a sheet of small green bushes from JTT Scenics that would fit inside of the plastic grass. They would end up being the more expensive part of the components, as the grass mat and 1.5" wooden circles were incredibly cheap. Now, to get it all home and see if it looked halfway decent once I put them all together!

    One base with the first circle & bush attached and the second one epoxied & tacked into place

I decided to paint the base first with the earth brown ground color I use. I did a light coating, which soaked into the wooden surface, and hopefully would not get in the way of the plants adhering to the surface of the wood. To attach them, I decided to use 5-Minute, two-part epoxy. Knowing the grass blades stuck out pretty far in all directions and might "push" neighboring circles away, I epoxied one circle at a time, waiting for it to cure before attaching the next piece. In fact, I decided to wait about an hour or so rather than the five minutes it normally takes. Plastic can be slippery, and some of these did not sit 100% flat, meaning I could have a tricky bonding situation. My fears proved well-founded, as supposedly cured pieces of epoxy came unstuck once or twice during the process. So, I began using a thumbtack to affix it to the wooden base while the epoxy cured. In the end, all three circles of grass were attached to the bases. At that point, I put the scenic bushes inside the center of the grass circles. Once they dried, flocking was the next step. I brushed my premixed 50/50 white glue and brown paint in the gaps between the circles of grass and along the edges of the base. I sprinkled Woodland Scenics Blended Turf atop the glue-paint mix and set them aside to dry. 

    Ground level look at a squad of my 28mm American infantry advancing through the elephant grass

The next step was to trim the blades of grass. I pulled out some of my Vietnam figs and placed them between the four bases of elephant grass. I trimmed off the "wild hairs" and shortened the longest pieces down. It was an eyeballing thing, of course. Yes, I realize the individual blades of grass are still wildly out of scale for my figures. It is the effect that I am shooting for. Once I was happy with all four bases, the last step was to dry brush them. Many of the photos of elephant grass I had seen showed the stalks yellowing and turning brown. I went back and forth on which color to use, but ended up choosing a yellowish-brown craft paint called "Maple Sugar." I took my widest flat brush and dry brushed the grass here and there to give a more varied effect. I was pretty happy with how that transformed the look of the grass blades and made it look way less "plastic-y." At that point, I decided that I needed some green grass tufts to mask where each pair of circles joined. I chose the largest size and they did a nice job of making the surface of each base look more natural. The only remaining thing to do was the acrylic matte spray coat. And just like that, my first four test bases of elephant grass for Vietnam were done. 

A look from above at my first 4 test bases of elephant grass next to some 28mm miniatures

I let them sit a few days before taking photos of them with some of my 28mm Vietnam miniatures. I am very curious to hear what you think about whether they look good or not. The individual grass blades are wider than what would be 28mm scale, but do they give a good effect? Or does it look like some large jungle plant instead of elephant grass? I won't be offended if you give them a thumbs down. I just wanted to get some feedback before doing any more bases. Thanks!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 6

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 4 

Orc Hosting: Day of Wrath & Ruin - 1st Dragon Rampant Game

    A great hosting occurred during our 1st game of Dragon Rampant -- 8 players & armies clashing

The day had arrived -- our first game of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition. Four orc warbands were hosting, opposed by an alliance of Dwarves, Men, and strange creatures of the bogs. Eight players were gathered, of which six had brought their own armies. Keith and Mike S brought loaners, and the other two players were soon kitted out with an goblin or dwarven army to command. My downstairs table had been expanded from eight feet wide to twelve, allowing six armies to do battle. My old octagonal table was also levied into service for an additional, one-on-one match up.

    The trolls, goblins, and orcs of the Bonefish Band advance towards the enemy, ready for battle!

My Bonefish Band would be fighting their first battle on the octagonal table against Tom's bog creatures -- fishmen, lizard men, and various other beastmen, led by a Lizard Wizard. Over on the big table, Andy dusted off his Games Workshop orcs and goblins, opposed by Queen Freyja's Vikings. Jenny had cobbled together her Saga armies to create a Norse-themed DR! army. In the middle, a monumental hosting of goblins (list created by Keith, but captained by Joel) faced off against "Roman" Dwarves fielded by Mike S. When he had emailed to say that was what he was bringing, I wasn't sure what Roman Dwarves meant. The figures were exactly what he said -- dwarves painted in a very Roman legionary style. He was vastly outnumbered by Keith's micro-armor mentality of putting every goblin he owned onto the table. Joel's list had 123 models in 13 units, while the beleaguered dwarves had only half a dozen units. For himself, Keith fielded his "Mordor" army of orcs, goblins, and trolls against a more standard dwarven army controlled by Allen. Allen was supposed to dust off his Bretonian knight army from long ago (when we briefly played Warhammer), but inexplicably left it at home.

    Mike S brought 'Roman Dwarves' who faced off against Joel's uncountable horde of goblins

Enough players had said they wanted the big table to be a multiplayer game, so I set it up that way before everyone arrived. Terrain was kept to a minimum since it was our first game with the rules. We've played many other Rampant games, but this would be our intro to DR! Wisely, the players looked at all the 50 (not kidding -- I counted!) units on the tabletop, and quietly ran each matchup as a one-on-one game. No units strayed to the left or right to attack other enemies across the table. Also, this let them proceed at their own pace, which was probably a good thing considering everyone would have to wait for the ponderous 13 units of goblins to complete their moves before continuing on to the Dwarven Alliance's turn!

    Two orc/goblin war bosses with their hosts deployed for battle - Keith (front) brought 3 of 8 armies 

On my own table, the seven units of my Bonefish Band were finally making it to the tabletop. Well, okay...I'm lying. We used many of them when we played Sellswords & Spellslingers a few weeks back. This was their first time hosting together, though, as a warband. My towering Orc war boss deployed his warriors in two lines. In the front, two large masses of goblin archers (Light Missiles, Cowardly, Large Unit) flanked on either side of a unit of armored orcs (Bellicose Foot, Armored). In the second rank, my just clear-coated wolfpack (Lesser Warbeasts) held down the left flank. Next to them was my unit of massive trolls (Greater Warbeasts), squabbling with the wolves over the remains of the warband's breakfast. The warlord and his Elite Foot bodyguard were in the center, with another unit of armored orcs on the right.

    My opponent Tom surveys my approaching horde & ponders how best to respond to our advance

Opposite us were Tom's six units from his Lizard & Beastman army. The army general was near the center of his lines, a Spellcaster fielded as Light Foot. Two units of various types of beastmen -- fishmen, goatmen, and more guarded each flank (Light Foot, Offensive). Tom's own unit of Bellicost Foot, a mob of werewolves, were on his right, as well. In the center, and intended as his strike force, was a unit of Crested Lizards (Elite Foot), and Greater Serpents (Lesser Warbeasts, Venomous). There were small clumps of forest in the center and on each flank of the battlefield. The battle opened with my front line and the armored orcs from my second line moving out a full move towards the enemy. The rest of the second line stalled, as the army commander had to go over and sort out the disagreement between the wolves and trolls (i.e., all three units failed their movement rolls -- hopefully not a bad omen of the things to come!). 

    Andy & Jenny discuss a rules point during their clash between his GW-style orcs & her Norse

I was occasionally called over to the big table to answer rules questions. It was my mistake to not do a quick run-through on the rules. I figured that with six of the players owning or having read a copy of DR 2nd Edition, and everyone having played this series of rules multiple times, that they'd be good. However, as I noticed, there were some very basic rules that weren't being played correctly. I had given each of them a Quick Reference Sheet of my creation, but in our group's best tradition, it was likely not being used...ha, ha! I thought things were progressing smoothly, though, as I was called over less and less as the game went on, and I didn't overhear any back and forth questioning opponent's interpretations of the game mechanics.

    A look at Andy's boar riders and warg riders with green-skinned GW orcs & goblins mouted atop

Tom advanced somewhat tentatively. I would later learn that the werewolves and "Rainbow Coalition" -- as I called his inclusive collection of various beastmen -- were intended as a refused flank. That was good, because my wolfpack failed its roll of 6+ on 2d6 to move on three of the first four turns! However, both they and the trolls moved very fast. Eventually, they were underway to assault Tom's refused flank. In the center, Tom's unease with my large goblin archer units became apparent. Before his Crested Lizards and Greater Serpents moved into our range, his wizard cast "Dragon's Breath" on the nearest unit of archers, preventing them from firing on our next activation. As it turned out, that was one of the only two successful spells the Lizard Wizard cast the entire game. Tom's spell rolls were awful, failing at least three quarters of his rolls of 6+, 7+, or 8+ on 2d6. Afterwards, I told him the wizard was easily his army's "LVP" - Least Valuable Player!

    

    'SO MANY of them!' Mike's Roman Dwarves face off against a horde more than twice their size

Tom cleverly did a head fake on my center unit of armored orcs. They were lurking in the woods, waiting for the Elite Foot to come into my charge range (but outside of his). Tom suddenly shifted them to his left, exposing the much, much faster Greater Serpents. They charged in and caught my armored orcs flat-footed. Bellicose Foot hits on a 3+ on each roll of 12d6 when charging. However, when defending against an enemy charge, they hit only on a "6." What's more, Bellicose Foot can counter-charge only other foot -- not mounted, which is what warbeasts are. This should have been a nasty blow on my center unit, but the Dice Gods decreed otherwise. I rolled FOUR 6's, while Tom's rolls were under average, resulting in each unit suffering one casualty. The orcs passed their Courage test, as did the Serpents, so they had to back off. 

    My orcs on the right watch the approach of the enemy Beastmen through the trees

On the next turn, the emboldened orcs "wild charged" into the Serpents, catching them at a disadvantage. In DR!, certain units must test if within range of enemy, and if they pass, automatically charge home whether the player wants them to do so or not. Bellicose Foot (think "warbands" in ancient games) are one of those. The orcs killed a couple more serpents, knocking them down to half strength. Tom rolled well and passed their courage test, though, while my orcs failed theirs despite inflicting more damage. The orcs fled back to the woods to regroup. Throughout the game, Tom's courage tests tended to be above average, balanced out by his Lizard Wizard's abysmal rolling. My goblins plucked off a few shots, inflicting a few hits here and there, but his troops passed all of their resulting courage tests. On the left, my wolves and trolls were finally in motion, threatening his right. On the opposite flank, my other band of armored orcs had seized the woods, and were awaiting the approach of either his beastman Light Foot or elite Crested Lizards. 

    A lupine clash in the woods - my wolfpack of lesser warbeasts charges Tom's werewolf bellicose foot

With echoing howls, the wolfpack raced across the battlefield and into the woods where their werewolf cousins were sheltering from the arrows of the goblins. Since Tom's werewolves were Bellicose Foot and my wolves were considering mounted, I felt I had turned the tables on him, like he had with me in the center. However, I rolled abysmally for the wolves and he rolled well, sending the pack racing to the rear, missing half of its number. My orcs on the right also did their wild charge, slamming into the Crested Lizards. Once again, my chargers were defeated. The orcs retreated to the woods, where the Crested Lizards would pursue them next turn. My orc warboss was growing concerned. Fights we should be winning we were losing. Time for the trolls, he decided!

    Beating wolves is one thing, but facing down angry, mighty trolls was too tall an order for the Weres

The troll lumbered forward and crashed through the trees where the werewolves were panting after their victory over the wolfpack. Outsized and out-muscled by the huge beasts, the werewolves fell back out of the forest. Encouraged by that success, the orc warlord and his bodyguard began to relocate behind the goblins to the right, which was looking more fragile. The orcs had been pursued by the Crested Lizards, who drove them from the trees. Tom's nearby beastmen scented blood and closed in, smashing into the reeling orcs and causing them to retreat further towards the rear. The goblins continued to fire at the Crested Lizards and the Greater Serpents, whittling their numbers down, to the immense frustration of the Lizard Wizard who couldn't get off a spell to block their arrows.

    My battered unit of armored orcs on the right being worn down by fishmen, frogmen, & more

The battle hung in the balance at this point. My orcs on the right were a beaten force, slowly withdrawing. The center orcs had rallied, but had maybe one charge left in them. The wolves, down to half strength, had also rallied and were waiting for one more charge to redeem themselves. The trolls were unbeaten, though, and emerged from the trees bellowing into the cowering beastmen. The indomitable trolls slaughtered many and drove them back, suffering only one casualty themselves. Encouraged by their victory, the rallied orcs in the center charged into the Crested Lizards. Although the enemy were down to half strength, the orcs couldn't maintain the momentum, and fell back towards the goblins, who kept up their fire, and had finally eliminated the Greater Serpents. 

    While engrossed in my own clash, battles raged all across the room as hated enemies struggled

The enemy was reeling at this point, the orc war boss knew. A couple more successful charges and they'd break! With a roar, he led his bodyguard into the beastmen who were pursuing the orcs on the right. They shattered their ranks and drove them backwards. Goblin arrows continued to whittle down the Crested Lizards, to the point they were not an effective fighting force. On the far left, the trolls and even the wolfpack charged again. Both won their engagements, and the enemy began to slink from the field. It had been a mighty battle, with swings that went in favor of both sides. Victory went to the Bonefish Band, as the Lizard Wizard gathered his survivors behind a swamp mist, and the orcs, goblins, and trolls celebrated on the field.

    Charges and counter-charges rolled across the tabletop as the orcs wore down their foes

Tom and I both enjoyed the game, which was a close one. We agreed his wizard's repeated failures to cast spells handicapped his side. At 8 Army Points, he was equal in cost to his two beastman units. We both felt Light Foot (his beastmen) performed well for their cost. We also felt the same about our two units of Bellicose Foot (my armored orcs and his wolfmen). They are an effective striking force, but are very vulnerable to counter-attack, especially from mounted troops. He liked how my purchase of "Armored" made them just a bit more survivable, and said he may do the same next game. We also liked how our Lesser Warbeasts (wolves and serpents) performed. Their speed and ability to dart quickly through terrain make them a potent strike force. The trolls (Great Warbeasts) were true monsters on the tabletop. Although technically vulnerable to counter-attack, their armor of 4 and ability to fight in terrain (which can raise their armor to 5 if defending in there) gives them more staying power. All in all, we were both very pleased with our first game of Dragon Rampant!

    Forces of Mordor close in on stout-hearted dwarves who have sworn to hold back the orc tide

On the big table, the orcs had also won at least two of the three battles. The Mordor vs. Dwarves engagement seemed to have its outcome still in the air, but the "bad guys" were advancing and pressing on the dwarves. The huge goblin host had utterly destroyed the Roman Dwarves. Mike's units were fleeing the tabletop and Joel seemed to have a third of his army still unengaged. Mike blamed it on a crucial "snake eyes" on a Courage test after a melee, which saw one of his tougher units abruptly flee the field. I also think the odds were stacked against him. Thirteen units is too many for this size of a game. The goblins more than doubled Mike's numbers. In all of our games using the Rampant system, we play a variant where failing an activation does not result in your turn ending. Having so many units exploits that rule and makes them more powerful than they should be. There is likely no way a player could activate all 13 units without a turnover if we played the rules as written. I'm thinking in the future we need to put an upper limit on unit numbers. Several of the players had insisted we use 36-point armies, but I think maybe scale back to 30 points (as the rules recommend)? We'll talk it out online, but there were LOTS of units and figures on the tabletop!

    Dwarves wheel a cannon across the battlefield in hopes of putting large numbers of goblins to flight

The next biggest army, Andy's GW-style orcs and goblins, crushed Jenny's Norse. Jenny and Andy said his three units of missile troops were very effective, while Jenny's often failed to activate. Her impetuous berserkers and lesser warbeasts (vicious rabbits, Monty Python style) got overextended with their wild charges and cut down. So, it was an overwhelming victory for the orcs. Truly, it was an hour of wolves and shattered shields...a red day...a sword day! Everyone seemed enthusiastic about the DR! rules, though. After the battle, they were discussing which units they felt performed well, which special or fantasy upgrades seemed effective, and which seemed to cost too much for their effects. Expect to see us playing these rules again soon. Hopefully, NOT with an army of 123 figures on the table, though...ha, ha! 

    Would the alliance of dwarves, men, and bog-people hold off the orcs? Or would it come to ruin??

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 6

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 0 

    The free Norse of Queen Freyja advance in attempt to drive off the marauding hordes of orcs

Pack of Wolves, Dire Wolves, & Warg

    My first painted minis of 2026! Six Reaper Bones wolves, dire wolves, and warg

The first miniatures "Acquired" in 2026 were the first to be finished! I received three packs from Reaper Miniatures so that I could field a unit of wolves with my orc and goblin army for Dragon Rampant. All were from the Reaper Bones line. One was a pack of three wolves, the other two dire wolves, and the final one, a huge, menacing Warg. As you can imagine, they are three different sizes. The warg does tower over the others, but I think they'll still look fine together as a unit. Or perhaps I can substitute the warg out and put in one of the metal wolves I painted up awhile back for my first Devilry Afoot game. Those are closer in size to the pair of dire wolves.

        The Warg is definitely the largest of the six, towering over the other ones significantly (I felt)

The Reaper figs are plastic, but somehow I feel the detail was a little more crisp than I've seen on some from that line. I based them up first (having to create my own for the "alpha" warg) then primed them with Liquitex White Gesso. Unfortunately, I discovered when I opened the package that one of the tails of the three wolves had snapped off. I tried gluing it with Testors plastic model glue, but that didn't work well. When I began to do its base coat, I noticed the tail separate again. This time, I used poster tack to hold it in place while I did the dry brushing. Once that was done, I tried white glue all around the tail. Hopefully, it will dry as a hard shell, and with the spray matte coat, finally hold in place.

    The Dire Wolves were the in between size and look good alongside either

I pulled up a page full of Google Images of wolves (of course!), and picked out photographs that I would try to match each wolf up with. I wanted variety, so that meant six different colors for base coating. I had enjoyed the way I painted up the five beavers, raccoons, and fox: base coating all of the figures, but then finishing each figure's various dry brushing and details before moving on to the other. I decided to replicate that process with these six wolves. Essentially, they were done as a group up until after the base coating stage, and then again in the flocking stage. Otherwise, I did each one individually before going on to the next. I really like how that allowed me to focus on one particular wolf and do my best job matching his (or her) fur coloring with the photograph I'd picked out.

 

    The pack of three wolves were the smallest -- nice variety of poses among the trio

Wolves tend to have lighter fur around and under their snout, as well as on their undersides and legs. The darker fur tends to be on the middle of the back, running from their head to their tail. There also seems to be a pattern of how it moving irregularly down from the spine to their flanks. Each wolf ended up with two to three dry brushed colors and I really like the effect this gives. For all of the biologists who study wolves out there, yes, yes, I realize I mixed a few different modern breeds of them together in my pack. There are ones that appear to be timber wolves alongside gray wolves. Remember, these are being painted up for a FANTASY miniatures game -- not a museum diorama...ha, ha!

Once the pattern on each wolf's coat was done, I would paint the mouth Blood Red. Then it came for the black details. I did the edges of the ears, the eyes, nose, and their black lips. I also picked out their claws/nails in black. By the time I'd finished all of that, I could use a dull yellow to fill in their eyeballs. I then used a very light tan to pick out their teeth. This was one of the reasons I felt these Reaper figures had above average crispness. I could see the teeth in most cases. Finally, I Googled "Wolf+Eyes" to see how to realistically depict a wolf's eyes. 

    This "above view" probably does a good job of showing the relative sizes of the three packs

I think this "research" really makes the wolves look accurate. Honestly, the extra dry brush stages in different colors to replicate the coloring doesn't add that much time to the painting. I know it the old days I would just do one color base coat and one color dry brush. I would let the miniature say "wolf" rather than actually taking the time accurately depict its real coloring. So, if you want your animals to look a little better on the tabletop, take an extra 10-15 minutes to pull up images and add a few extra steps. 

I did my usual flocking for these six wolves, and they were ready to go! In fact, there is a good chance they will be used with a whiff of matte spray coat wafting about them. We are playing our first game of Dragon Rampant on Sunday. So, there's a very good chance they'll be on the tabletop soon. Also, it looks like the group is excited about playing the game and we will likely have 8 players. Yikes! Worried about eight armies fitting on my 8'x5' table I went out and bought a couple smaller tables of the same height and width aross to add width to my table. So, instead of 8'x5', our gaming area can be 12' wide, now. We will see if that is wide enough, though for 8 players on Sunday!

    The detail on these Bones figures was crisp enough to make dry brushing their fur easy

What else is on my desk? I have my next batch of orcs about halfway done. I've also have four bases of elephant grass terrain for my 28mm Vietnam games that you will see shortly. All they need is a final matte spray coat. So, looks like my blog posts for 2026 are finally underway!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 6

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 0 

Stone Tower & Duncan House Medieval Buildings Finished

    Ferisia Ironhorn Fortress from RRB Minis & More - my first painted project of the new year!

Welcome to my first Lead Legionaries post of 2026! Why not start things off BIG -- as in two very big buildings? I picked up these two 3-D printed, medieval buildings back in September at Battles at the Brewery in Chillicothe, OH. My friend Rich Brown of RRB Minis and More had shown up to sell his products at this game day run by the Chillicothe Area Wargaming Group. I went there expecting to pick up the Duncan House building, but the four story stone Watchtower was an impulse purchase. The price ($29) was simply too good to pass up, so I brought both of them home. They are nice print jobs that fit together easily with notches at the top of each piece that align nicely into a cavity in the level that fits atop it. Each has a door that swings open and closed -- another nice touch. If you like them, Rich does have some in stock, he told me recently. However, supplies are running low, so contact him quickly! He will ramping up production in the new year, though, he promises.

    The 3-D printed Duncan House, also from the Ferisia City line by Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni

The Duncan House looks like a town building from either the late medieval or early Renaissance era. Rich bought the STL from Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni. Check out the link! Both buildings are from their Ferisia City line. The company (an Italian one from Torni, Italy, perhaps??) has an amazing line of incredibly cool buildings. More on that below. The Duncan House has a variety of surfaces textured onto the exterior and interior -- stone, wood, plaster, and a tile roof. On the other hand, the stone tower -- known as the Ferisia Ironhorn Fortress on the site -- looks more like a watchtower in a mountain pass or guarding a frontier, and is perched atop its own small rocky outcrop. Its interior and exterior surfaces are mostly stone, with a pyramidal tile roof. The windows in the Duncan House have diamond shaped panes, while the much narrower windows in the tower are merely gaps in the stone. I was tempted to cut some clear plastic and glue it up against the panes of the interior of the Duncan House. It might look nice on the exterior (especially if colored with transparent markers), but I felt it would look silly on the inside with the panes behind a solid sheet of plastic. So, I left them black.

    Rear of 3-D printed watchtower - my 'impulse purchase' from RRB Minis & More at the game day

I prepared both buildings by spray painting them black with Krylon Fusion acrylic. Next, I went over the paint with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water, doing the insides first, then the exteriors after the insides had dried. This is by far the messiest part of getting them ready for the tabletop, with drips on your working surface being an unavoidable annoyance. Once completely dry, I did the stone surfaces of the two buildings first. I did them in a dark gray followed by light gray dry brush. The doors, wooden floors and ladders on the interior of each level were done in a dark brown, with Camo Brown then Khaki dry brushing. The interior plaster walls were done in a tan with lighter tan dry brush. The exterior ones were done in a light orange color called Terra Cotta, followed up by a tan dry brush. Some of the exterior wooden surfaces of the Duncan House are molded in what looks like wide wooden panels. I did these in a lighter base coat (Autumn Brown) with tan dry brush. So, there is a bit of a two-tone look to the wood on some sections.

    Rear of the Duncan House - I like how the wooden portion overhands the ground level

The metal fittings on the doors and trap doors were done in Iron Wind Steel with bronze accents atop it on the flat parts. The raised bolts were left Steel (or touched up where my brush went astray). The window panes on the Duncan House were done in Moroccan Red with a Salmon dry brush to show some sun bleaching. The tile roofs were done in a red brown base coat with Howard Hues Middle Easter Flesh dry brush. I really like the way all of the colors went together on the Duncan House. I also like how both buildings are not straight up square columns. They bow out in some places and have stone arches supporting the wider levels above. 

    Close up of the stairs, entrance & rocky crag with a 'Dirty Down' moss effect on the boulders

I'm actually kind of strangely sad that I went to the Dadi Dungeon website and looked at the buildings on there. I am now very tempted to pick up more of them for some medieval town skirmishes. They have several different lines. The buildings of the Ferisia line have a very solid, stone look about them. Some are classified as "Dwarven" buildings, which makes sense with the look and name. Silverlake City has a very Lord of the Rings "Lake Town" vibe. Some of the buildings look very hodgepodge and like they've been added to higgledy piggledy to over the years. Many have balconies or rest upon wooden or stone pilings. You will definitely be reminded of the look of Lake Town in the Peter Jackson Hobbit trilogy. 

    Entrance to the Duncan House with lion crest above the door and the stone & plaster surface

Salmystia is VERY much modeled upon Renaissance Venice. In fact, some of the bundles are even labeled "Venezia." To me, Venice is the most architecturally beautiful city in the world I have visited (currently at 104 countries). I would love to have a tabletop Venice to do skirmish games upon. As much as I would like to do it, I am definitely daunted by having enough room to STORE it all...ha, ha! Crazy to even consider, eh? There is also a fourth line called the "Damned City," which looks like a classic medieval ruined city. Peruse the pictures on the website at your peril...!

    Interior floors of the watchtower with their plain stone interior, wood floors, ladder & trap doors

Once the five levels (counting the roof) of the tower and the four levels of the Duncan House were completely done, I stacked them back together and let them sit for a day. It wasn't just to admire them. I was contemplating whether I would do a brown or black wash over the interior or exterior surfaces. I ended up washing the wood sections with my black vehicle wash. The plaster sections were done with the dark brown vehicle wash. Also, for the tower, I used my Dirty Down Moss effect stain for the first time ever on some of the rocky outcrop's surfaces (deciding which side was "north" and doing only those very roughly facing that direction. Once the moss effect was dry, I flocked the lower portions of the rocky outcrop with grass. I wanted it to be mostly stone, but I also felt it would be a more striking look if grass had grown over some portions and moss was on other parts. I added tiny bits of clump foliage, too, to give the crags a more 3-D look. 

    Interior floors & tile roofs of the Duncan House - which I actually won as a prize from RRB!

All in all, I am very happy with how these two very tall medieval buildings turned out. What's more, they are the very first things I have completed in 2026. I am honestly not sure when I will get them on the tabletop, yet. I would love to do some medieval town skirmishes use Sellswords & Spellslingers. Hmm...maybe I should use my Christmas money and purchase a cloth or neoprene cobblestone mat? Speaking of purchases, I have (so far) held off on the temptation to buy any more of these medieval buildings from Rich. I do have two more medieval town buildings that I bought from Sword & Scabbard Games at Advance the Colors last year. I should probably paint those up first, right?

    Zooming in on the 3-d printed stone work which I did in black, dark gray, and light gray dry brush

So, what else is on my tabletop, to start off the new year? I have a batch of nine Gripping Beast armored orcs that are underway. They had arrived already based up and primed black, and some having various stages of armor or other colors on them. I am essentially repainting them so that they match my current orc and goblin horde using the Ragnorak figures. In addition, I have six Reaper wolves of various sizes (Warg, Dire Wolf, Wolf Pack blister packs) that are primed and awaiting their first base coat. I will also begin working on some elephant grass for my Vietnam games soon. I bought the material last week for them and will likely do my first test batch in the next few days. 

I hope everyone had a good set of holidays! Happy New Year!!

    Zooming in on the side of Duncan House building - I will definitely be buying more from this line

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 0

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 0 

2025: Year in Review

    One of my most noteworthy projects this year was my 28mm Vietnam one using the 'Black Sun' figs

I think a good term for this past year (2025) is "Changing of the Guard." Some projects or campaigns that had been going strong were wrapped up and new ones marched front and center. Regular readers of Lead Legionaries are probably well aware of the new ones, so let's talk first about which ones were relieved of their post -- at least for the time being!

    The 'End' has finally come for the Buck Nuts and other post-apocalyptic gangs in my campaign

 Changing of the Guard: Retiring from Duty (Zombie RV and Post-apocalyptic Campaign)

You could consider both of these series of games run for our Sunday Evening group post-apocalyptic, of course. They used two different rules sets and characters, though. Well, for the most part! Some of the figures (and even names) from our long-running post-apocalyptic campaign using Wiley Games rules showed up in our Zombie RV games. We ended up running the Wiley Games rules eight times, if I am counting the After-Action Reports correctly. The final game occurred in March with the Get Your Goat scenario I ran. I felt the action was kind of growing stagnant, with the same gangs of survivors facing off with each other and some growing significantly more powerful. It was a fun series of games, though. My favorite moment in there was when my Planet of the Apes figures made a cameo appearance for the campaign, and the way they caused some alarm in the first game they appeared. 

Will I run the Buck Nuts, Night Stalkers, F Troop and company out onto the tabletop again? Not very likely. One of the cool things about playing a campaign is watching your characters grow and progress. Unfortunately, one of the unbalancing things about campaigns is that, in most cases, different player groups grow at different rates. The longer the campaign, the more "the rich the will get richer," and the more weak the weaker will get. I had an idea how to fix that and am trying it in one of the new campaigns, below. 

    Junior's zombie hunting days are over as I wrapped up the Zombie RV campaign prematurely

The other campaign that took a bow and exited the stage in 2025 was Zombie RV. Sadly, this campaign lasted less time -- only about six games, if you count the two-player games Jenny and I tried to test out the rules set. It avoided the trap of the post-apocalytpic campaign in that it was cooperative. All players were on the same side trying to...well, survive the zombie apocalypse! I don't think it stopped because of player disinterest. One of our regulars asked in the Fall what happened to the game, and wasn't it about time for another Zombie RV game?

I hate to say it, but one of my players caused ME to lose interest in running. Not to point fingers, but he couldn't get out of the habit of questioning zombie physiology and arguing every time the zombies decided to move towards his figures instead of someone else's. Constant questions of how do zombies "see"? Arguing whether they could see his figures on the other side of a vehicle -- things like that. Eventually, I grew tired of it and decided to not run it anymore. Being a GM is stressful enough, at times, and having to constantly deal with arguments about interpreting a very clear set of priorities about where each zombie will go became too much for me. So, my response to the "Isn't it about time for another game of Zombie RV?" explained why I wasn't going to run it anymore. The player in question was surprised, but the others agreed with me that he did indeed to those things. Thankfully, this type of thing doesn't happen very often in our games, though.

    Setup for my 'Viking Town Raid' game with its hexagonal board and cooperative play

2025's Convention Game (Viking Town Raid)

My convention game this year, Viking Town Raid, also inspired one of my 2025 projects (see below). Each year, I typically pick a scenario that I will run at various local or regional conventions, such as Cincycon, DayCon, Drums at the Rapids, and Origins Game Fair. In this cooperative miniatures scenario, the players were all Viking raiders and the enemy were the townsfolk and defenders. The rules used were Ganesha Games Sellswords & Spellslingers (minus the fantasy aspects, of course). To make it more accessible to folks reading the event description in a convention program, I included the heroes from the History Channel's "Vikings" miniseries. I picked up Ragnar Lothbrok, his brother Rollo, wife Lagertha, and more from Brigade Games. The figs looked spot-on AND they were domestically stocked. This is the Year of the Tariff and its wrecking ball course through the gaming industry, after all!

    Ragnar Lothbrok (center) and his friends and family were the player's leaders in the Viking game

I like to make my games good for up to six players, which I was worried would be a bit of a challenge for the rules system. I pared down the number of characters each player controlled to three, and created a hexagon shaped game mat that was roughly 4 feet across in all directions. That gave everyone equal access to the Anglo-Saxon church in the center of the table where the highest value loot would be. Although the game was cooperative, players were competing to amass the most victory points from loot, captives, and livestock.

The game worked out great, and players loved it all 16 times (!) that I ran it over the course of 2025. I figured out a way to keep the game moving quickly so there wouldn't be long waits for players for their turn. Players had a blast, they said, and the scenario really played to the strengths of SS&SS's game mechanics. The dice rolls of the players, or more accurately their failures at dice rolling, activate the enemies. Since dice are random, that meant each game was a bit different. Outcomes ranged from many of the monks inside my scratch-built Anglo-Saxon church being taken captive to no raiders making it that far into the town. It was definitely a success, and actually led to next year's convention game!

    My Orc warlord and his bodyguard - part of my '2026' project of an orc & goblin army

 Changing of the Guard - New Projects (Vietnam War and Dragon Rampant Orc & Goblin army)

At some point while I was running my Viking Town Raid game, a thought entered my head that the mechanics would actually make a great system for gaming the Vietnam War. Not knowing where foes will pop up next in a game of SS&SS, the randomness of things going along fine and then suddenly going to Hell in a hand basket because of a streak of bad player rolls, all screamed Vietnam to me. I reached out to Andrea Sfiligoi of Ganesha Games and pitched my idea to him. He cautioned me that SS&SS is mostly a melee game while Vietnam is pretty much all shooting. He said if I could overcome that to my satisfaction that he would love to publish a Sellswords variant set in Vietnam. And so, 16 Viking Town Raids lead to writing the rules for Surviving 'Nam: An Infantryman's Year "In Country." 

I hit up my friend Jim W for miniature recommendations because he was currently running 28mm Vietnam skirmish for his gaming group in Michigan. I ended up deciding on Crucible Crush's Black Sun range (essentially, Pulp Figures). I ordered the figs which got to me from Canada before our nation's lovely, disruptive tariffs were in place. I began painting them up and fell in love with their personality, animation, and ease of painting. This last fact meant I finished with painting up the project much quicker than I had expected. This accelerated my play testing schedule, which began with solo games. Since it is cooperative, the players take on the role of U.S. or allied soldiers while their Viet Cong foes appear on the table and move and fire based on the event cards and failed dice rolls of the players.

    In my Surviving 'Nam rules, the Viet Cong (above) are controlled by the event cards & players' rolls

My posts about the play test games on here, the Lead Adventure Forum, and Facebook prompted a number of folks to reach out to me interested in helping with the play test. At this point, I have about 10 different groups in the U.S., U.K., and Italy running games of Surviving 'Nam and getting back to me with the results. The most enthusiastic group has been Bob F and Pete S from the U.K. (and Lead Adventure Forum). They have replied after every game and we have had an incredibly productive and helpful back and forth on their comments. I also ran four games of Surviving 'Nam at a couple regional conventions, World at War at Fort Meigs and Hold the Line in Port Clinton, OH. Following those November games, Bob, Pete, and I pronounced ourselves satisfied with the mechanics (there will be tweaks, of course, leading up to publication). Now, it is on to the writing the campaign and background portion of the rules, and playtesting the scenarios which will be included.

The other "New Guard" this year were orcs and goblins for Daniel Mersey's 2nd Edition of Dragon Rampant. These came out in the Fall and are part of a stable of games using the same basic mechanics. We have used them for a number of periods ourselves, including Ancients/Medieval (Lion Rampant), English Civil War (The Pikeman's Lament), American Revolution (Rebels and Patriots), Colonial (The Men Who Would be Kings) and Sci-Fi games (Xenos Rampant). If it is good for all these periods, why not another one (Fantasy)? Although this was intended to be a 2026 project, my friend Jeff G reached out to me earlier in the year with an offer I couldn't refuse. He wanted to sell of his collection of 28mm Gripping Beast orcs and goblins from the Ragnarok range. The price was unbeatable, but it was way more figures than I needed. I reached out to my friends and Rusty P said he'd be willing to go in on the collection with me. In fact, he bought Jeff's Dwaves, too.

    Some of the Gripping Beast orcs & goblins I painted up this year from the 'Ragnorak' line

When the horde of unpainted orcs and goblins arrived, and I divided them evenly between Rusty and myself, I honestly despaired of having my Miniatures Painted ever attain my Miniatures Acquired numbers. However, the speed with which I finished the Vietnam project allowed me to get a head start on them. As it stands, my "2026 Project" is pretty far along as 2025 draws to a close. My Sunday Evening group is pretty enthusiastic about playing some games of Dragon Rampant, with Mike S, Keith F, and Andy S all having armies lined up for it. I foresee us getting a game in no later than this January, I imagine. I made it a point to paint up my orcs and goblins as "Tolkien like" as possible. No Games Workshop greenies here...ha, ha! Response to how they're turning out on this blog and the Lead Adventure Forum has been very encouraging. I'm happy with them, too!

The final project -- ALSO more of a "2026" one -- was for a series of horror games set in frontier America. Specifically, I wanted to set them in Franklinton, OH, which is now pretty much part of Columbus, where I live. I went back and forth about whether to use Devilry Afoot (created by a Lead Adventure Forum member), Silver Bayonet, or Dracula's America. I envisioned the games to be cooperative, with each player controlling a couple of characters. They'd be battling monsters and enemies summoned by a native American tribal resistance to American settling of Ohio. I ended up selecting Devilry Afoot because it is the only one of the three that is truly cooperative. The other two are meant to be competitive (and one vs. one), with the monsters as non-player dangers in the scenarios. After the post-apocalyptic campaign experience with some player forces outstripping the others in effectiveness, I decided to go with Devilry Afoot. Plus, I am really excited and into cooperative games, nowadays.

    My first batch of 28mm figures for games of 'Devilry Afoot' set on the American frontier

I picked up a bunch of figures at Historicon 2025 (further torpedoing my chance of evening up Painted vs. Acquired, I thought). When the guys asked if I was going to run another Halloween themed game this October, I decided to kick things for Devilry Afoot into high gear so I could do so. This was only possible because, once again, I had finished the painting for the Vietnam project so quickly. I was successful in getting enough figures and monsters ready for the tabletop. So, in honor of Halloween, I ran The Coming Storm -- the debut for my series of games in this fully armed and operational 2026 project...ha, ha!

As two campaigns ended this year, another one took off fairly successfully. I began running a Star Wars skirmish campaign using Space Weirdos rules. Most of the figures were painted in 2024, and I had been planning to start up the campaign at the end of last year. I decided to have each player select a faction on a continuum from Empire to Rebel. Since we normally have six players show up, they included (Empire (Mike S) - Corporate Security (Joel S) - Mercenaries (Keith F) - Criminal Syndicate (Allen S) - Local Rebels (Tom G) - Rebel Alliance (Mike W). On the couple of times that Andy S could show up, I had him take on the role of the Tatooine locals in Mos Eisley. I would design the scenario and tailor each faction's Victory Points to their level of "All In" for their side of the continuum. Or I would give them side missions that intersected with the main opposed mission between the Empire and the Rebels. 

    One of my Star Wars skirmish games using Space Weirdos rules set in Mos Eisley on Tatooine 

Space Weirdos is a great set of rules, and everyone seems to be enjoying them. Each player controls a handful of characters who activate in a spiraling initiative system. When it is a player's turn, he chooses one of his unactivated figures and executes their three actions. Then it is on to the next player in Initiative Order, until everyone has activated all figures. This keeps folks involved, especially since Space Weirdos uses opposed die rolls to resolve shooting, melee, etc. I have another Star Wars game scheduled for January, and hope it continues to be enjoyable for my players throughout 2026. 

    Among the many games at Advance the Colors 2025 were Steve Verdoliva's Napoleonic ones

 

Conventions I attended in 2025

 So, I probably made it to more shows than I ever have before this year. Retirement will give you that opportunity, I guess! In January, I attended Siege of Augusta while visiting my friend Jason M in Columbia, SC. I think this was my third or fourth time at the convention, which Jason uses as a carrot to get me to visit him down south. Next up were three usual Spring-time ones: Cincycon (guess where?), DayCon (ditto), and Drums at the Rapids at Fort Meigs. I added in a new one when I helped organize a series of historical miniatures games at Buckeye Game Fest in late May. A friend had volunteered to do it, but had something else come up. So, I stepped in at the last minute and we did a decent job of collecting GMs to run miniatures games at this mostly board game convention.

Once again, I helped with the HMGS Great Lakes effort at Origins Game Fair in Columbus. This used to be a mainstay of our chapter, and a lucrative one for recruiting new members. However, Origins pivoted in directions it was going a decade or more ago, and we no longer felt welcome. That management has thankfully moved on and the all-genre convention actively sought us out to return and run games. Each year, we've gotten a little larger, I think -- especially in numbers of players signed up. My six runnings of Viking Town Raid were all full, if I remember correctly. If you want to get in on the fun, we need to have your event in PRONTO, ASAP, QUICKLY. Contact me in the comments or if you have my email, reach out, please. We'd love to have your game in our dedicated HMGS Great Lakes area inside the main miniatures hall! 

    A Bolt Action tournament was one of the many historical miniatures games at Origins Game Fair

After Origins, it was our historical miniatures hobby's biggest show in the U.S., Historicon 2025. We had a big group drive over from Columbus, where we met my friend Jason M and his son. I didn't run any games and instead declared it would be a weekend of playing miniatures games. Imagine that! There was a bit of a layoff until our Great Lakes chapter's flagship convention, Advance the Colors in Springfield, OH. We continue to grow every year and just missed my goal of attaining the 250 attendee mark, this year. Next year, for sure! I do administrative duties for this convention, so no running games or playing for me there. I wrapped up the year with the aforementioned November conventions, World at War and Hold the Line. My Surviving 'Nam was full all four times and I received great encouragement and some feedback in those games. I count that as 10 conventions (my friend Mike S would comment that is because that's how many fingers and thumbs I have!), which is almost one a month. Will I attend that many (or add more?) in 2026? We shall see!

    The finale of my 'Five Parsecs from Home' solo campaign features my crew completing their quest

Solo Games

 This was a completely new aspect of gaming for me in 2025. With the good fortune of having a regular weekly gaming group as well as an active local convention scene, I've never felt the need to do solo games. However, I began using solo games to test out a couple cooperative rules sets to see if I felt the mechanics would work with six players and a GM. The first one of these was Five Parsecs from Home. Prior to beginning the Space Weirdos campaign, I was still actively looking for a Sci-Fi rules set. I didn't want to use Wiley Games rules because of their strangely short weapon ranges and the fact it would seem like duplication of the post-apocalyptic campaign. I had read a lot of threads and game report on Lead Adventure Forum about Five Parsecs, so I decided to give it a try.

I created my own crew and began running a series of games using the rules. The campaign mechanics are simply top notch in Five Parsecs (and its fantasy precursor, Five Leagues from the Borderlands). The various charts and die rolls do honestly create a storyline and narrative for your characters. Of course, some of it the player creates in response to the roll, finding a way to rationalize that outcome. I had fun creating the background and story of the crew of the Inconceivable (of course, a nod to The Princess Bride). When my story arc ended, aka we completed our quest, I judged that the rules mechanics really weren't what I wanted for a six-player Sci-Fi game. Still, I had fun with it and encourage anyone interested in solo gaming or cooperative with a much smaller group to look into them.

    The Splintered Band escorts a wagon full of supplies in my first 'Sellswords' solo adventure

My other solo venture was using Sellswords & Spellslingers. I was thinking of running a semi-historical (or semi-fantasy?) campaign for the Sunday Evening gamers set in Dark Age Britain during the time of the Viking invasions. The players would be the heroes of Britain -- Saxons, Picts, Scots, Britons, etc. -- fighting off the Viking incursions. Think of it as a reverse of the Viking Town Raid game that I ran in 2025. Once again, I wasn't 100% sure of the mechanics fitting such a big group. So, I decided to run my own solo series of fantasy games using the rules to test them out.

I love my Splintered Light Miniatures anthropomorphic animals, so used that as an excuse to bring them onto the tabletop again. They had not seen light of day since our short delve into Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago seven (!) years ago. Thus began the Tales of the Splintered Band (see what I did there?).  I managed only two or three games, but I would like to go back this coming year and continue the adventures of Badger mage Jemmy Tar and his animal kingdom friends fighting against the incursion of the rat hordes. 

    Two Acheson Creations Vietnam buildings from Miniature Building Authority that I painted up

 My Painting Goals

In 2024, I tracked Painted "Stuff" vs. Acquired "Stuff", lumping in both terrain and scatter. That made for a weird mix, so I decided this year to split that into Miniatures, Terrain, and Scatter. I decided that the difference between "terrain" and "scatter" is mainly size and made an arbitrary call for each piece completed. A resin or 3-D printed building is definitely terrain. A 3-D printed basket of fish is scatter. Scratch building a rice paddy is terrain. Creating flocked markers to track which figures have moved in Space Weirdos is scatter. Yes, it is still a judgement call. However, I am very happy with how this division worked out in 2025. Here are my results, reproduced here:

• Miniatures: 306 Acquired, 307 Painted
• Terrain: 62 Acquired, 80 Painted
• Scatter: 144 Acquired, 213 Painted 

    Three new Mos Eisley buildings from Diabolical Terrain for my Star Wars skirmish games

I consider these numbers a whopping success! Remember my despair a couple times this year that I would ever get my Miniatures Painted above the lofty number my "Ooh, shiny!" tendency had set for me. So, what were some highlights of the terrain and scatter that I painted up this year? I would have to say finishing so much Vietnam terrain was very heartening. My favorites were the formerly Acheson Creations resin buildings that I picked up from Miniature Building Authority. What's more, I still have more to do in 2026. I have the Diabolical Terrain 3-D printed huts on stilts to do for buildings. I also want to do something for elephant grass, which I read about regularly in the historical accounts of the conflict that I've been devouring in 2025.

I also churned out more trailer park buildings and scatter for my post-apocalyptic and zombie games. Many of these were from one of my new favorites in 3-D printed terrain -- Bad Goblin Games. Sadly, with me pulling the plug on both post-apoc campaigns, all of that is sitting unused on the display shelves of my downstairs closet right now. However, I'm sure I'll find a use for them in 2026, as well. There's that idea I have for a modern-day trailer park battle sparked by a federal raid on an illegal moonshine still. There's simply too much good stuff from Bad Goblin and MBA completed and on the shelves to sit unused!

    I painted up 213 pieces of scatter terrain in 2025, including these clothes lines from MBA

There was also a nice output of buildings and things for my Star Wars campaigns in 2015. I painted up a number of 3-D printed "Tatooie" buildings from Diabolical Terrain for my take on Mos Eisley. I also scratch-built a squadron of TIE fighters that appeared in two scenarios. There was another influx of adobe buildings that I could use in my Star Wars games bought off my friend Jeff G at Hold the Line. So, I think I finally have enough buildings for my city games set on Tatooine in the Star Wars universe!

All in all, I would say that I had a VERY successful year of gaming in 2025. One indicator is this blog itself. This should be post #130. That is a more than 50% increase over last year's 86 -- previously the most ever in the 13 years I've been recording my gaming on Lead Legionaries. Doing the math, that means I am uploading a new post on an average of once every three days (actually more -- 2.8!). I thank all of my regular and occasional readers -- Bill, Donnie, Jason, Simon, Graham, Shaun, Neil, Ray, Richard, Johan, and anyone else I forgot to mention. And of course, Sunday Evening Gamer "Anonymous" (who will hopefully figure out how to create a Google ID in 2026...ha, ha!). Thank you all -- and see you in 2026!!