Cold Wars 2023 – from my view (& lots of photos!)

Last weekend the Cold Wars 2023 gaming convention was held in Valley Forge, PA at the Valley Forge Casino Resort. I participated as a game master and as a player. I ran three games of Feudal Patrol, played in two games of Wars of Ozz, and participated as a player in an American War of Independence (AWI) game. I really enjoyed the convention – and personally had some special moments as you will soon see in this post. I, a Massachusetts “carpetbagger”, am grateful once again for the welcome, hospitality, and friendship of the HAWKS club, especially Buck Surdu, Greg Priebe, Chris Palmer, Dave Wood, and Eric Schlegel – who all contributed to making my experience a memorable one. I also want to thank the players who chose to play in my games. I also must thank the HMGS staff and volunteers for making the convention work so well.

I thought the best way to share this with my readers was to focus on photographs – with a little bit of description. Some of these photos came from Chris Palmer and others on Facebook, and some are from myself.

AWI Playtest

This was on Thursday night in the HAWKS room and was a playtest of a set of rules being worked on by Buck Surdu, Chris Palmer, and Greg Priebe and other HAWKS. Basically it is taking the Wars of Ozz/Eagles and Empires engine and applying it to the AWI. I needed to set up my first game (The Battle of Centla) so that I could play on Friday morning in a Wars of Ozz game without any concerns. I played on the British side with 3 line regiments and two grenadier regiments. I had nothing but open field in front of me and a mission to take out an American gun battery that was surrounded by colonial infantry in soft cover commanded by Chris Palmer.

I advanced my troops as quickly as possible but got shredded by canister as I git close – though I did do some – but not enough – damage to Chris.

I got trounced but it was not a situation that I think I could have attempted differently, but hey, it’s a game and a playtest at that.

…and a satisfied Chris surveys the battlefield!

Wars if Ozz – Winter of Discontent (Wars of Ozz)

This was a “bring your own brigade” game GM’d by Chris Palmer – and to help I brought both my Winkie and my Munchkin brigades in case they were needed. As it turned out, I commanded the Munchkins, and faced my own Winkies!

Several different factions are shown below.

And here are some more – click on the images for a better view:

The board was fairly open with some hills and woods in a wintery scene.

It was a fun game, though I felt like I was a bit torn fighting my own troops!

Looking across to my fun opponents – here I have moved Colonel Tik-Tik’s regiment on the left into line to optimize missile fire – but the Winkie zilk-riders went into line and smashed into them.

That Winkie cavalry attacking player rolled 5 dice for hits – not a single miss (the roll was amazing) – and those hits would be doubled due to impetus. All 5 hit rolls yielded 10 hits – and that took out fully 50% of Tik-Tok’s regiment in one fell swoop. Tik-Tok routed, but I was able to rally it and keep it in the game.

While successful in their attack, the 20th Winkie Light Cavalry was now disordered – and my Munchkin battery and my own pony riding cavalry took the opportunity to hit the zilks from both the flank and the rear, and sent them into a retreat.

“Avenge our dead” – was the cry of the survivors of Colonel Tik-Tok’s infantry as their brethren close on the hated Winkie zilk riders of the 20th Winkie Light Cavalry.

The Winkies then attacked – buy mainly piecemeal – and the Munchkins were able to hold and repel both charges by the Winkie Sharpshooters and their ally the Lesser Apes. The artillerists did abandon their gun when the apes hit, but short range canister and a round of melee had already sent the Lesser Apes packing.

In the middle of the game was a big scrum between the brigade of Ice Trolls, Elves, Dark Elves, and that of the Teddy Bear Infantry, Teddy Bear Artillery, and the Toy Soldier Cavalry.

The game was a “good guys” victory!

The Battle of Centla (Feudal Patrol)

On Friday afternoon, I ran the Feudal Patrol game of the Battle of Centla – a battle between the Maya and the Conquistadores under Hernan Cortes.

The Spanish needed to reach the Maya city or kill 50% of the Spanish, or kill Tabscoob, the Maya leader. The Maya needed to prevent the Spanish from achieving their victory conditions, kill Cortes, or kill 50% of the Conquistadores. In the game, the Maya do get reinforcements, and the Spanish do not. Time is not on the Spanish players’ side.

I was happy to be able to use some of my new beach-adjacent jungle bases here.

The game set up – the Spanish are on the beach.

Buck Surdu joins the game replacing a departing player – and commands Cortes.

The Spanish were not initially as aggressive as I expected – though as the game progressed they did start to advance.

Unfortunately, the Spanish needed to take some risks – and Buck moved Cortes up and into the fight. This was very appropriate given the state of the game at that point. A Maya warrior got a lucky hit on him and cut off his leg – yielding a victory for the Maya. This game is very cool – I have run it several times and both sides have won in the past.

Surprise Aztec Raid on the Spanish Outpost (Feudal Patrol)

After the Friday afternoon game (Centla), I quickly got my next game ( this was held on Friday evening) set up with a lot of help from Buck, Dave Wood, and Greg for Friday night. This is a scenario as described below:

The game went back and forth and it was not clear at all which side would eventually win. There was a lot of action.

The game at the start – the Aztecs needed to cross muddy field to reach the Spanish and the Tlaxcalans. There were also food and gold objectives, and of course VP for inflicting casualties or taking captives.

Greg Priebe advances his Aztec commander, Asupacaci and his warrior priests.

The Spanish used their war dogs and arquebuses to good effect – but the Aztec Elite troops berserked and fought bravely.

Finally, both the Aztecs and the Tlaxcalans started taking prisoners for sacrifice – and gaining victory points in the process. Eric Schlegel successfully fired his falconet again with langridge at a swarm of Aztecs, taking out several of them in the last turn. This was to be pivotal.

I tallied the points – and it was a TIE! 46-46! I call that play-balanced!

I then set up my massive Battle of Lake Texcoco, which would be played on Saturday afternoon. This way I would have all the time I needed to enjoy my next game as a player on Saturday morning – which would be the Wars of Ozz game described next.

War to Save Yule: Battle for the Bauble of Time (Wars of Ozz)

After a short sleep, I played in another Ozz game on Saturday morning. This one was the second of three linked Wars of Ozz scenarios that Chris Palmer and Buck Surdu ran pitting the forces of the Ice Queen, Aurora, versus those of Babbo Natale (really Santa). Aurora wants to seize the Bauble of Time – a magic item that can bend time and lets Babbo deliver all his toys in one night. Of course, Aurora wants it for her own evil purposes. The Bauble was hidden in one of three buildings – and the neither the forces of Yule or Aurora knew which one. The goal of the attacking Ice Queen was to search each of the three areas – which meant that her forces needed to clear defenders from them first. I played on the Yule side in this game, on the Yule’s far left flank.

The game set up. Bruce, Buck, and Chris discuss the scenario.

The three possible search zones were as shown below.

Here is a photo of me by Chris surveying the battlefield:

A view towards my position. Aurora’s forces were attacking from the right here. I think I look tired!

Opposite view as Chris briefs the players earlier.

The forces defending the buildings/search zones on the Yule right and center were overwhelmed. Only the one on the Yule left held.

The odds were in favor of the Ice Queen at this point with 2/3 search zones in her control.

Bruce tries to fight off the Ice Trolls.

In the end we were lucky as the Bauble was in the last search zone and safe from the Ice Queen, so a victory for us. Chris would run a second follow on game later that I will share a few pictures of at the end of this post with others that I did not play in or GM. I did play in the 3rd linked game as well – more on that game in a bit.

The Battle of Lake Texcoco (Feudal Patrol)

I always look forward to running this game – yes it’s massive but more importantly a lot of fun. Basically there are 5 brigantines loaded with conquistadores and primitive cannon (lombards or falconets) that need to cross the tabletop and shell the other side of the table – where the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan is located. Opposing them are 21 war canoes filled with Aztecs hell-bent on boarding the invaders’ ships and stopping them. VP are awarded for shelling the city, boarding a brigantine, sinking canoes, and for casualties on both sides. The Spanish have to try to navigate the uncharted waters to do this too.

The players were excellent!

The Spanish moved out and avoided collisions with each other or the islands. Only one got stuck on an underwater obstacle (El Gregorio) – resulting in the Aztecs getting a “Burst of Exuberance” which allowed it to be boarded first. Eventually, all of the brigantines would be boarded to greater or lesser extent.

The Spanish held on and were able to get three ships to shell the city.

Tenochtitlan takes its first hit of solid shot from *El Marcos*.

A photo from Chris Palmer showing me helping to adjudicate a fight.

Of course, there was even more boarding!

The game was pleasantly and briefly interrupted at this point by the HMGS staff. As it turned out, my game was selected to be honored with a “PELA” award for the time slot. PELA stands for “Pour Encourager Les Autres” which in English translates to “For Encouraging the Others”. These awards are defined by HMGS as going:

“to the games that best embody the positive traits of miniatures gaming, such as well-painted figures, great looking terrain, interesting scenarios, enjoyable rules, good sportsmanship, and an enjoyable time – events that do the most to “encourage others”.”

This was something as a GM that you can really appreciate! I was really honored – and it was nice to get applause from the room and my table too. I think that there were about 30+ games in my time slot – so this was tough to get. The award was a lovely knight figure on a plinth and a voucher for the vendor hall. Thanks HMGS, it has a place of honor at home! Thanks players!

The PELA among Spanish casualties (hey, I was still running the game!).

In the end, the Spanish narrowly won the game by a score of 367-316. If the Conquistadores had made one less shot into Tenochtitlan, it would have been only a one shot victory.

As this was my last game to GM, I was able to get most of it picked up (thanks again to the HAWKS for all the help) – and get into playing my last game of the convention.

War to Save Yule – Ambush or Fighting Retreat (Wars of Ozz)

This was the third Ozz linked game run by Buck Surdu. In the second game, the forces of Yule held on to the Bauble of Time. Here, the Ice Queen’s forces are ambushing a convoy of Babbo Natale who is trying to get the Bauble to a safe place. I did not get as many pictures of this game – but I played on the side of the Ice Queen this time. We ended up taking the Bauble (Giant Evil Snowmen charged the convoy and stole it). It was a lot of fun.

My Ice Trolls take a beating from the Toy Soldier cavalry.

I was on the far left flank of the Ice Queen’s forces – and I after the Toy soldier cavalry and the Teddy Bear artillery beat up my Ice Trolls and Krampus, I was able to flank the Teddy Bear battery with Dark Elves. This attack sent them fleeing and the rear middle of the battlefield became congested with forces. Meanwhile, Chris Palmer valiantly pursued the Snowmen with the Toy Soldier cavalry. Luckily for our side, the Snowmen escaped into woods where the cavalry would not move as quickly – with the Bauble. Victory!

Snowmen abscond with the captured Bauble!

Other Game Photos

There were of course many other games – and I tried to get some photos of them plus I have included many from Chris Palmer. This is not all of the games at Cold Wars by any means.

For the gamers, please enjoy these here! For the GM’s, kudos on the work you put in on some amazing games, and apologies in advance if I get any descriptions wrong here.

Battle of Hanau, 1813

Dave Wood’s Fate of Battle game in 10mm looked amazing.

The Natives Return to Schlegel’s Ferry

Eric Schlegel had a really cool board for his colonial Chesapeake game of Feudal Patrol.

Let’s Play Combat Patrol – France 1940

Greg Priebe ran a France 1940 scenario for Combat Patrol.

Wars of Orcs and Dwarves (WOOD) Playtest

Dave Wood ran a few WOOD games with amazing set ups.

War to Save Yule – River of Ice (Wars of Ozz)

This was the first of the linked Ozz games. This is the one that I did not play in as I was running my Aztec raid game.

Counterattack Near Dubno (Battleground WW2)

Don Hogge’s always popular WW2 games are so cool. This was a 28mm game set on the Eastern Front on June 28th, 1941.

Forest Encounter (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Gravity Front)

Here’s a look at Kevin Fischer’s game set up.

Got Skogskatter (SAGA)

James McWilliams ran a couple of SAGA games.

Pierce’s Hill, Philippines 22 December 1941 (Combat Patrol)

Buck Surdu ran a very cool looking game set during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941. He worked hard to get the 1941 look right – and he nailed it.

Let’s Play Feudal Patrol! – Viking Raid

Greg ran his introductory Feudal Patrol Viking Raid game and had a full table!

Can the Ratlings save their homeland again from the army of the Necromancer? (Wars of Orcs and Dwarves)

Dave Wood ran yet another visually stunning game – and for fun he used my Winkie Cavalry and Infantry in the game, plus my Lesser Apes. The feedback I got was that they acquitted themselves very well while I was off in Mesoamerica!

Al Capone Comes to Schlegel’s Ferry (Blood & Swash)

Another great use of Eric’s terrain for a 1920’s game.

A truly engaged table deals with smuggling and gangsters in the 1920’s.

Concord to Lexington – Theme

Geoff Graff ran this game of 15mm figures set in my home state in the beginning of the AWI.

Test of Honour – The Last Yamashiro (Test of Honour – Quick Play)

I saw this in the adjoining room to the HAWKS – WOW what a set up! GM was David Hill.

At the other end of this beauty was a harbor and ships too.

Beautiful set up – nice to see young gamers too.

WWI – Battle of Gnila Lipa (Fall of Eagles WWI)

This set up caught my eye as well – GM David Rollins had a huge table for this battle between the Austrians and the Russians in WWI.

Mars Attacks – Beach Head! (Wings of Glory Tripods and Triplanes)

What a concept – Martians in Tripods taking on Spads and Nieuports in the aftermath of a post-WWI meteor shower! GM was Mike Jacobs.

As I said, this is a big post but I hope that it was enjoyable to look at. Sorry if a game you were or that you ran in was not included – but I’m sure somewhere else there are photos for the world (at least I hope so)!

That’s it for now! Feel free to comment!

Winkie Light Cavalry Regiment & Winkie Brigade Commander (Wars of Ozz)

With it being my late winter-early spring “wargaming convention season”, I have been working on multiple projects simultaneously. As I mentioned in my last post Jungle Bases from Wargames Terrain Workshop, I’d be sharing a post on my Winkie cavalry which I finished recently – along with the Winkie Brigade Commander on his specially-shaped MDF base.

All are riding Zilks, which are carnivorous huge birds. The SKU# is OZZ305 and can be seen here. The figures come in two pieces (rider torso and a zilk combo rider’s legs combo). I had ordered/selected OZZ304 during the Kickstarter a while back, but got shipped OZZ305. The OZZ304 SKU is for the Winkie Heavy Cavalry – but they are the same price and I had no problem with having them in my brigade. There are 10 figures based on five 2″ square bases, plus the Regimental Commander on his own MDF base.

The Winkie Light Cavalry costs one point less than the Winkie Heavy Cavalry (6 vs 5) – and only loses one point of Melee (8 versus 9) and Elan (8 versus 9), so it’s still a pretty potent unit to have. Plus, I needed a Brigade Commander which came in the Kickstarter, so all is good by me.

According to “The History of Ozz”, after the Madness Bombs fell at the end of the Last Great War, Ozz was founded. East of the Emerald City, Evora the Wicked Witch of the East, conquered and molded the Winkies into her own fighting force. Winkies are believed to be mutated humans, perhaps even descended from genetically-created super soldiers at the end of the Last Great War.

As for the Winkie Cavalry, according to The Wars of Ozz:

After Evora lost her first battle to goat-riding raiders from the Great Endless Desert, she suddenly wanted cavalry. Perhaps inspired by the Madness, she had a vision of zilk-riding lancers sweeping down on her enemies. There were only two problems with this. First, the Winkies were not a mounted people. Second, nobody had ever thought of riding a zilk – – and with good reason. Zilks or “terror birds”, weren’t ridable – they were giant, carnivorous, two-legged birds of the high mountain valleys. Simply getting close to one was risking death.

Of course, after a few executions, nobody wanted to tell Evora it couldn’t be done. An expedition was mounted and a herd of zilks was corralled and broken to saddle. The Winkie survivors had the honour of being the first commanders of the Zilk Squadrons. For the rank and file soldiers being promoted to Zilk trooper is seen as a punishment rather than an honour. Everyone knew a terror bird would find a way to kill its rider sooner or later. Since drilling was almost impossible and the riders could barely get their mounts to cooperate on the field, Zilk regiments were and are poorly trained. Still, if the riders can get them to go in a straight line, the Zilks can land a charge with a powerful impact.
Wars of Ozz, section 2.2.2.3, page 25

I designated this Zilk Regiment the 20th Winkie Light Cavalry Regiment (WLCR). It, and the Brigade Commander, joins Evora, the 21st Winkie Infantry Regiment (WIR), the Winkie Sharpshooters, and the Winkie Light Artillery Battery in my Brigade. Plus the Brigade has available the Lesser Apes and the Great Flying Apes.

As discussed on previous posts, the Winkies (the orcs of the Ozz world) consider melee as their preferred means of combat. No missile weapons here!

I began prepping the unit back on Monday, February 13th by cleaning up and filing off as many mold lines as I could without taking off any details. I then washed the figures with soap and water to remove any oils left over from the casting process. I decided to paint the riders and the mounts separately as I thought that might be easier given the proximity that the Winkie lances would be to the Zilk mounts. After drilling with a pin vise, I carefully put small balls of poster tack into the wells where the riders would be affixed – so as to prevent any primer from compromising future glue adhesion when I was assembling them. I then applied primer with an airbrush, followed by a wash of Citadel “Nuln Oil”. As usual, I will list all the paints I used on this project at the end of this post for those interested in that sort of thing. There were 82 this time!

One different approach that I took on for this project was to have every zilk be painted totally differently from every other zilk in terms of a painting scheme. To accomplish this, I chose a range of pastel craft paints from Michaels and mixed them with Vallejo Thinning Medium. These are shades that I would not normally use – and I used these pastels for the legs and necks, and married those to other paints (mainly contrast and speed paints) on the beaks, claws and feathers. I used a lot of different paints here! For that reason, I definitely needed another Excel spreadsheet – like this one:

Let’s move on to some WIP. Click any picture to get a better view.

WIP shots…

The Winkie Light Cavalry Regiment and the Brigade Commander at the start of the project.

Here the figures are prepped for priming – note I used some ad hoc drilled out popsicle stick jigs (with poster tack in the holes) to hold and work on the riders until their mounts were done and I had painted the lances.

Below is my progress through 2/20:

With TotalCon37 looming, I pushed as far as I could before I needed to pack the car with all my Aztec, Maya, and Conquistador stuff. When I returned, I jumped back into working simultaneously on them and the Jungle Bases.

By 3/1 I had the riders mounted and had readied the figures for varnishing.

The varnished (and dried) figures are glued to their bases and ready for flocking.

I chose a variety of tufts and grasses for flocking – plus some small rocks from near my driveway that I washed. After that, all I needed to add was the 20th colors – purple just for Roger!

I finally found a way to glue the guidon close to the pole – with these tweezers as clamps.

Now that you have seen the WIP, how about some…

Eye Candy

Winkie Brigade Commander

This figure had its own mount – and is free to have in your force in the game. The Brigade commander will have attribute tabs (which is why there is a tab well at the back of the figure). Early on I decided to freehand the stripes on all of these zilk-mounted warriors. His colors are unique in the brigade – I went with a red and yellow theme here.

2oth Winkie Light Cavalry Regiment

There are 5 stands of 2 figures each plus a regimental commander – and I tried to pose, paint, and arrange them as differently as possible. As with all zilk-mounted regimental commanders the one here goes on an MDF stand with a removable tab for an attribute tab in the game if needed. All have white hats per The Wars of Ozz.

Regimental Commander Stand

Stand 1

Stand 2

Stand 3

Stand 4

Command Stand

Group Shots

The WLCR in line with the Regimental Commander in front and the Brigade Commander in the rear.

Side view or the WLCR in column with the regimental commander up front.

Angled shot of the group giving an idea as to the color variations when grouped together.

I thought by having these with a lot of color that they would be wonderful attacking the Munchkin Light Cavalry!

This completes (for now) my Winkie Brigade. Next, I will be moving on to the Land of Harvest faction as well as some terrain for Ozz. But first, I am going to Cold Wars – where these Winkies will see battle!

Yes, another spreadsheet showing what I have for Winkies.

And yes, I still have more to come…

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For all of my previous posts on Wars of Ozz games, figures, units, and other related projects – please see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THIS WINKIE LIGHT CAVALRY REGIMENT & THE WINKIE BRIGADE COMMANDER:

Regimental MDF base from Old Glory/Wars of Ozz Miniatures
Mounted Brigade Commander MDF base from Old Glory/Wars of Ozz Miniatures
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Paper clip wire pieces
Gorilla Glue
1 1/4″ x 1″ steel base from Wargames Accessories (#FOW1)
Poster tack
Vallejo Premium Primer “White”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Citadel “Nuln Oil” (wash)
Vallejo Model Color “Glossy White”
Vallejo Model Color “White”
Vallejo “Thinner Medium”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ironjawz Yellow”
Americana “Bubblegum Pink”
Vallejo Mecha Color “SZ Red”
Craftsmart “Natural Buff”
Citadel “Daemonette Hide”
Citadel “Tesseract Glow”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Doomfire Magenta”
Vallejo Game Air “Hot Orange”
Craftsmart “Neon Yellow”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Legion”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Fluorescent Magenta”
P3 “Sulfuric Yellow”
Vallejo Model Color “Light Orange”
Craftsmart “Neon Pink”
Craftsmart “Grape Taffy”
Craftsmart “Lilac”
Craftsmart “Wisteria Blue”
Craftsmart “Robin Egg Blue”
Craftsmart “Beach Glass”
Craftsmart “Bright Mint”
Craftsmart “Light Pistachio”
Craftsmart “Rose”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
Battlefields “Black”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Space Wolves Grey”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Holy White”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Baal Red”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Asurman Blue”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Volupus Pink”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Gryph-Charger Grey”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Shyish Purple”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Sigvald Burgundy”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Terradon Turquoise”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Aethermatic Blue”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Striking Scorpion Green”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Dark Angels Green”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Iyanden Yellow”
Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
Vallejo Model Color “Wood Grain”
Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (wash)
Citadel “Ironbreaker”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ork Skin”
Vallejo Model Air “Armour Brown”
Vallejo Model Air “Steel”
Secret Weapon Washes “Parchment”
Citadel “Lamenters Yellow” (glaze)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash)
Vallejo Game Ink “Black Green”
Vallejo Game Ink “Red”
PS Model Color “British Brown Drab”
P3 “Blazing Ink” (ink)
Army Painter “Purple Tone” (wash/shade)
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Imperial Fist”
Vallejo Model Color “Light Brown”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Skeleton Horde”
2″ square steel base from Wargames Accessories (#21)
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Black Sharpie pen
Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Field Grass” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Dark Forest Red Tufts” (flocking)
Small stones
Army Painter “Battlefields Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
Winkie Flags from Buck Surdu printed on card stock

Again, as you may want to check out the Wars of Ozz figures’ range – there are two places to get them (and I make no money from this btw). The game rules and the figures are available from the following two places:

In the US Old Glory has a site – Wars of Ozz Miniatures.

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

Jungle Bases from Wargames Terrain Workshop

As you saw in my Sculpting Jungle Bases for the Maya post, I have been putting together jungle terrain for the coastal area of the Yucatan. These are for my Feudal Patrol^TM game of the Battle of Centla using my Civilizations Collide supplement. To recap the battle history:

The scenario involves a beach area with a jungle nearby and a Maya city. The Conquistadors start on the beach and try to move inland. You can see a description of the game in my recent TotalCon 37 recap post. Below is a set up of the battle – note the seven printed green card stock areas at the juncture between the jungle and the beach near the ends of the jungle paths. These areas I described as being easy to cross (no movement penalty) but providing a degree of concealment and cover – basically a scrub-type area.

I used these card stock pieces in lieu of the 7 scatter terrain jungle bases that I ordered from our blogger friend Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop in the UK back at the turn of the year. I even sized my card stock pieces to match the ones that I ordered from Dave.

Dave built them post-haste – and sent them to me via the Royal Mail on January 11th – so we both thought I’d get them in time to prepare for the February 23rd TotalCon37 convention. Unfortunately, a combination of a cyber attack on the Royal Mail and labor strikes in the UK combined and conspired to keep them from arriving at my home until Wednesday February 22nd – one day before the convention. As I wanted to detail them for the game, and I did not have enough time to give them the justice I wanted with less than a day’s preparation, I decided to work on them after TotalCon 37 so that they’d be ready for Cold Wars. I want to say that Dave was great in following up with me and this situation was definitely not his fault. The seven bases that I bought were as follows:

2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (large), Dimensions: 11.25″ Length x 5.9″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 285mm L x 150mm W x 5mm D
2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Medium), Dimensions: 7.9″ Length x 6.3″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 200mm L x 160mm W x 5mm D
3 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Small), Dimensions: 6.5″ Length x 5.33″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 165mm L x 135mm W x 5mm D

I started them on February 27th and worked on them alongside some Winkie cavalry (that I will post about next). All of the 7 bases came unpainted with a very generous supply of different plastic foliage on sprues – which allowed me to customize them. The bases themselves were resin with multiple small conical prongs with which to attach the plants. Dave recommended attaching them with green stuff – but I went with Apoxie Sculpt as I had some mixed already for a box handle I needed to repair.

The first steps were to wash the resin and the foliage so that paints and washes would adhere properly.

Washing the plastic foliage and the bases.

Two of the washed resin bases showing the prongs, right before priming – on the right!

I primed the bases green-brown and let them dry overnight. I list all the paints and other materials at the end of the blog for those interested in that type of information.

Five of the seven bases primed and drying.

Then, I then mocked out where I would apply the foliage with 1.25″ washers. When I was happy, I applied the foliage with Apoxie Sculpt to 5 of the bases and let that cure overnight. Why five and not seven? Well, as I said, I was also working on Winkie cavalry, and two of the primed bases were hiding under a paper towel and I missed them.

Small base with foliage affixed with Apoxie Sculpt.

The 5 non-missing bases with the foliage attached as above – plus the extra prongs have been removed down to the base level.

The next day, the Apoxie Sculpt had cured, I did a quick inventory and I was concerned that I did not buy enough bases! After finding the hidden two, I decided that I did not have the luxury of time to wait another day to wait for Apoxie Sculpt to cure on these last two – so I went with hot glue – which worked great and instantly. I then painted over the Apoxie Sculpt and glue with a couple of green craft paints. Next, I applied three successive green hobby washes to the foliage, and let that dry. Then I cut off the remaining prongs, and applied brown texture paint over the places where the prongs had been removed.

The 7 bases are shown here after I added the brown texture paint over the removed prong locations. These are shown over the card stock stand-ins I used at TotalCon 37 – so size-wise I was pretty close. Note that the washes on the foliage have lessened the plastic look significantly.

At this point I moved on to adding multiple pigments (like 7!). My goal was to blend the edges to look as if they bordered a beach, with a more jungle-like ground surface towards the centers of the bases. I added the 7 pigments, and fixed them with Vallejo thinner and let them dry.

I was not satisfied with the first go with the pigments. I felt that the blends could be better – especially the transition from the beach areas inward. I also was not happy with the beach-bordering areas themselves. With that, I gave it a second attempt to address the shortcomings. That did address the issues – and then I added some scatter leaves and some laser cut low lying Gamers Grass plants that I bought from Things from the Basement at TotalCon – plus some Shadow’s Edge Miniatures jungle tufts.

I was pretty happy with the final products seen below.

The seven bases completed. Note the added low-lying plants and tufts.

Close up of a medium base with a conquistador halberdier and an “underdressed” Maya novice for scale. For the Maya’s sake, let’s hope there are very few thorns.

I can see using these bases for many other games – and I believe that they work well with my jungle bases with the palm trees. As to now storing and transporting them – I modified a 32-liter Really Useful Box with hot glue and posterboard/foam board into a three-level “apartment” Jungle Box. The bottom level is lined with adhesive magnetic sheets (my jungle bases with the palm trees have steel washers embedded underneath). The jungle paths also fit in here rolled up with the trees being upright. The next two levels fit the seven bases described here – four on one, and three on another. Both levels are made of posterboard and are resting on posterboard pieces that I hot-glued to the walls of the box. I did need to make the level that is immediately above the trees into three pieces so that I could get it by the supports of the top level (which is in one piece). No levels will crush any foliage (thankfully). Voila – a Jungle Box ready for Cold Wars transport!

The top level – rests on one solid piece of foam board.

Side view of the Jungle Box showing the three levels.

I hope this was useful to those of you considering similar projects. I do highly recommend Dave Stone’s stuff – I also previously shared his Aztec Style Serpent Statues that have been very popular at my games. Check him out!

My next post will be coming (hopefully) somewhat quickly as I need to finish preparations and packing up for Cold Wars. It will show my Winkie Zilk-riding cavalry – stay tuned! For my fellow bloggers, I’m trying to keep up with you, and know that I always read your posts and try to give you feedback. This month is, however, nuts, so I might be a bit tardy, mea culpa. As always, much thanks for taking a look – and let me know what you think!

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For all of my previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” – please see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE JUNGLE BASES:

2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (large), Dimensions: 11.25″ Length x 5.9″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 285mm L x 150mm W x 5mm D
2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Medium), Dimensions: 7.9″ Length x 6.3″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 200mm L x 160mm W x 5mm D
3 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Small), Dimensions: 6.5″ Length x 5.33″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 165mm L x 135mm W x 5mm D
Vallejo Primer “German Green Brown”
Apoxie Sculpt
Hot Glue
Americana “Apple Green Satin”
Americana “Hauser Light Green”
Coelia Greenshade (wash)
Poster tack
Biel-Tan Green (wash)
Hexwraith Flame (as a wash)
Vallejo “Earth Texture Acrylics”
Vallejo “Desert Dust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Natural Umber” (pigment)
Vallejo “Burnt Umber” (pigment)
Vallejo “Faded Olive Green” (pigment)
Vallejo “Green Earth” (pigment)
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “12mm Jungle Tufts”
Gamers Grass “Laser cut plants – Elephant’s Ear”
Gamers Grass “Laser cut plants – Black Magic Taro”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
4-Ground TSW23 “Loose Foliage – Brown Leaves”
4-Ground TSW22 “Loose Foliage – Green Leaves”

My TotalCon 37 wrap up – 5 games of Feudal Patrol in 4 days! Lots of pics too!

This was a fun convention. I promised that I’d share some photos and some descriptions of the 5 games that I ran here at TotalCon 37. The five games were all Feudal Patrol^TM games using my Civilizations Collide supplement. Check out the photos to see what it was all about – and if you played you might just recognize yourself! There are a LOT of photos – hell I ran 5 games!

It’s not easy to both run a game and take pictures. Let me add a caveat – it’s not easy to do both and do justice to the game and to the players’ needs. I was fortunate this time that a lot of the players had experience with Feudal Patrol^TM and were very helpful to the new players. It’s been a week since the end of TotalCon 37 – so without further ado, let me get into the games that I ran.

Raid to Satisfy Huitzilopochtli

This game took place on Thursday the 24th at 1 PM. It pits the Aztecs against the Tlaxcalans before the Spanish Conquest. I have run this game many times – and it has won awards at both HUZZAH! and Fall In in 2022. I had not run it at TotalCon, so I thought it appropriate to do so.

I had 8 players for the game.

Happy gamers ready for battle. The Aztec players are on the right, the Tlaxcalan players are on the left.

The Aztecs assault in the middle faltered due to accurate bow shots of the Tlaxcalans. On the Aztec left, a force of Arrow Knights and Jaguar Warriors took the long way around hoping to flank the defenders. On the Aztec right, a veteran/novice force moved up – reinforces by the elite Shorn Ones – and also took some casualties before making it to the very gates of the Temple and the Tlaxcalan leader Xayacamach.

Despite the Tlaxcalan bows, melee finally happens.

At this point, the Tlaxcalan leader Xayacamach sortied with his signaler, put himself at personal risk, and engaged the Aztecs. His actions reversed the Aztec elites’ attack. The Tlaxcalans also held off the Aztec veterans who were on their left flank and threatening a food resource. back on the Aztec left, the long march of the Arrow Knights and the Jaguar Warriors reached a critical juncture with a threat to the Tlaxcalan corn supply and the rear of their bowmen. With the middle assault no longer a threat, the Tlaxcalan bows redeployed to face the new threat. Loosing a deadly barrage, they killed the Aztec Warband Leader and scattered the remaining attackers.

The final score was 95-41 in favor of the defending Tlaxcalans.

La Noche Triste – Bloodbath on the Tacuba Causeway

I had 7 players for this game which took place on Friday the 24th in the morning.

The Tlaxcalans on the mainland managed to drive the Shorn Ones away from the causeway entrance. Meanwhile, the Spanish took a long time to get the bridge installed – and by that time the war canoes were hitting them with missile fire from two sides. The rear guard lost a couple of cavalrymen, but managed to perform their role well against a surge of Jaguar Warriors.

The Tlaxcalans engage the Shorn Ones with missile fire – and eventually drive them away.

The war canoes made an effort to harry the Conquistadores.

After Turn 4 the bridge is automatically installed and the Spanish get a “Burst of Exuberance” move as they try to make it to the mainland! This was an important objective as getting as few as 1 figure to the mainland would negate a 100 VP for the Aztecs.

On the last card of the last turn, the Spanish had one chance to get at least one figure to the mainland – Cortes’ Catholic priest. The priest had 11″ to sprint – and made 14″! (Good thing he had no armor to weigh him down!).

That effectively took away 100 free points for the Aztecs and won the game for the Conquistadores at the last possible moment. The final score was 71-22. Had the Spanish failed, the score would have been 122-71.

The Battle of Lake Texcoco

On Saturday the 25th, I ran two massive games of the Battle of Lake Texcoco, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon.

Morning Game

The morning game was all mayhem – lots of boarding, canoe ramming, and cannon fire. I had seven players.

Close up of El Dolar and the dashboard for this brigantine.

El Dolar ran aground and was swarmed by Aztec boarders. The other vessels continued towards their goal of shelling the Aztec capital (at the end of the mat where the Aztec players were).

El Gregorio, El Marcos, and El Perro de Guerra moved up to the city (well El Gregorio slammed into it at full speed but got lucky on damage). Cannon fire from El Marcos and El Gregorio rocked Tenochtitlan for 50 points apiece.

The battle was cinematic to be sure. In the end, the Spanish won 383-269 – with their successful artillery fire gaining the win.

Afternoon Game

I then reset and ran this game again with 8 players – unfortunately with fewer photos.

I brief the gamers for game two (photo by Peter Bostwick).

In this game, there was a lot less boarding by the Aztecs and a lot more ramming of war canoes – sinking a lot of them. As a result, it was a bigger Spanish victory – 391-145. The brigantines El Conquistador, El Perro de Guerra, and El Marcos all hit Tenochtitlan with solid shot for 150 VP.

Arofan Gregory took a very nice photograph of El Marcos (thank you sir) and put it on Facebook – and I’ll share it below:

The Battle of Centla

This was a very full game – 12 players on Sunday!

The Maya were fighting a delaying action – they needed to keep the Spanish from reaching the city or incapacitate half of them. The Spanish needed to incapacitate half of the Maya or reach the city. The Maya can randomly get reinforcements from the dead pile – making it harder for the Spanish to reach that 50% Maya killed level. The Spanish get no reinforcements.

Meanwhile, Tabscoob’s (the Maya chieftain) leadership held his forces together – but taking on the Spanish directly in melee did not go their way.

In the end the Maya were unlucky with reinforcements and the Spanish were effective in their onslaught – resulting in a historical repeat – a Conquistador win.

I really want to thank all the players and especially Leif Magnuson, Brad Gosselin, and Chris Comeau who went above and beyond. I also want thank the whole staff – its a big convention and takes a lot of work. I want to highlight the work of Steven Parenteau and all his staff. Lastly, a big thanks to the incredibly helpful Bryan Clauss who headed up the miniatures section and who assisted in getting me the right table sizes.

Painting Contest

Finally, like last year, there was a painting contest. This year, I entered my Conquistador cavalry in the unit category – and won! Yay!

That’s it for TotalCon 37!

Going forward, I’ll be bringing “The Battle of Lake Texcoco” and “The Battle of Centla” to HMGS Cold Wars next week, plus “The Surprise Raid on the Spanish Outpost”. At the end of March, at HAVOC, I’ll be bringing “The Battle of Lake Texcoco” and “The Battle of Centla” as well as two “Wars of Ozz” games. I need to submit my games for HUZZAH! in May – and I’ll be doing that shortly.

I hope that you enjoyed this post – it’s been hectic with preparing for these conventions all so closely spaced together – but in the end I was very happy with how TotalCon 37 went – and I hope to repeat this at the other two planned gaming conventions.

	Pete S/ SP on Wars of Ozz at MAYHEM 202…
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	Dave Stone on Wars of Ozz at MAYHEM 202…
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