(Fistful of Lead) Baby Bantha 3 -

Running up to Historicon 2025 last year, I ran a number of small games of Fistful of Lead to ensure we were up to speed.  My two favorites were simple games involving the Gamorreans and a wayward bantha. 

Having recently touched up some banthas I had picked up at the Historicon '26 flea market, and and before that a hint of some horrible burrowing monster, it was time to recreate an episode of the Mandalorian. 

Setting: Death Planet Iota, a "junk world", the end destination for a number of random wormholes.  

When we last left our Gamorreans, the "new" Gamorreans in town, in the employ of Utility Bot Union, as the personal protection and lackeys for Modified Loadmaster 4000EX B3N-G7 ("Benji"). had recovered the machine's favorite pet, a bantha named Nubnub.

Fast forward some time and Nubnub is older, they're not running away.  Even a robot could realize the lifeform was... lonely. 

But this isn't Tatooine,  Nubnub was a rare, if not unique creature on this world. 

Until reports of similar creatures emerging from wormholes reach Benji, and he dispatches his loyal New Gamorreans (NG) to fetch them at any cost.  

They traversed the wastes, acquired three banthas by any means necessary, and now they were returning to the Town of Carf.

But something is following them.  Something under the ground.   While their first thoughs of Krayt Dragons brought fear in their hearts, the realization that an infinite multitude of dimensions could have brought something worse to this world. 

They just needed to get through the mining town of Ogelp, into the hills... perhaps that would be enough to hide and wait out the encroaching beast. 

OBJECTIVE: Get a least one bantha across town, with at least one Gamorrean to guide it to its new home. 

Mechanics: 

#1 "Underground" Zombie Rule:  Whatever is following them is tracking their sound and vibrations through the ground.  The faster the Gamorreans move, the more they attract the monster.  Moving the banthas is doubly troublesome. 

0"-3"   1 token

4"-6"   2 tokens

7"+      3 tokens

Bantha over 5" movement - 3 tokens

#2 The "Great Wurm": The creature preying on them acts at the end of the round, moving  towards the greatest collection of tokens within a 3" diameter.  If the creature reaches a figure, or the target its moving to, everything within 3" will come under a SIX melee attacks at d8 apiece, Armor rolls at -2. Combat is one sided, there is nothing they can do to fight back.   Shock and wounds allow the figures to run away next turn (any and all penalties apply).  Out of Action results in the figure being eaten whole.   Once finished attacking, the creature will remain in that spot the following turn to digest.  

#3 The Banthas are Their Own Worst Enemy:  The Banthas are played on the same initiative
card.  While the Gammoreans look for trouble, the banthas are oversensitive to the burrowing of the Great Wurm, and on an Ace, King, or Joker, all of them panic, moving their full eight inches towards hills.   Gamorreans will need to catch up and gain control of the panicked bathas.

TURN ONE:   The Gammoreans had entered the town of Oglep, the few folks remaining hiding in their  homes.  Everyone but the Gammoreans knew something was coming... and coming fast.   They were all caught unaware when the anxious banthas  felt something coming towards them fast and bolted (King of Spades... highest initiative.).  

They moved full speed 8 inches pulling the rains, scattering the good mornings making the henchman stumble at best the good mornings were catching up to them. Two of them actually managed to subdue and control the rear panther, which might actually be the worst possible

And the Great Wurm was moving in fast...

TURN TWO: Of course it was nothing but chaos, the single-file line collapsing into a three-wide scramble down the street.   The Gamorreans who had actually managed to control a bantha on Turn One took too much time calming the beast, and the Wurm moved far too quickly (A 12 on 2d6 for movement!).

The Gamorreans were amazingly only tossed aside as the Wurm erupted out of the ground, each suffering only one wound.    The bantha actually fought back valiantly, technically fighting off five of six attacks, but that sixth attack was a 10, and the beast was swallowed whole.  

The others had secured the other two banthas, and with the Wurm pre-occupied, it was time to run! 

TURN THREE:  More Chaos, as the plan for a speedy, controlled exit was eradicated by a Joker for the Bantha's initiative.  The beasts burst forwarded in a panic, nearly running over one of the Gammoreans!

All the Gamoreans chased down the banthas, save one tired soul.  Watching the bantha get devoured was too much, so he turned a corner and tried to stay perfectly still hoping not to attract the Wurm.

TURN FOUR:   The Banthas draw another wild card (Ace). Luckily, one of the Gamorreans draws their own Ace and can control one bantha as the other barrels out of control. 

The Great Wurm has another great movement roll, reaching another Bantha and handlers just as they get theirs under control.  Again a Gamorreans is tossed asisde, wounded, but the bantha is surprisingly nimble, only getting stunned in the attack. 

TURN FIVE:  Five Gamorreans scramble to the opposite edge of town, dragging one bantha, leaving the final one to the mercy of the Wurm.   The Wurm gave none, registering three hits in combat, all results "Out of Action"    Only the cowardly Gamorrean hiding along the buildings witness the disgusting carnage of the Wurm devouring the bantha.    

The end result is a minor victory for the Gamorreans, as they return with at least one new friend for Nubnub.  

I would like to try the scenario again, revising the Bantha movement, the noise tokens, and a unit with firearms, shooting blasters from a distance to distract the worm.  Perhaps the Bot Union themselves will assemble a party to fetch the next batch...

(Kickstarter) Ducks of War: 28mm Duck Miniatures

There is never anything wrong with more duck miniatures, and Ducks of War will give you your fill of 15th and 16th century duck warriors.

It's their second Kickstarter, and the figures for The Silver Feather Adventure Guild are also available in this campaign as an add-on.

(Painting) Banthas... in 3-D!!!

 For the new gaming year, I am quite happy with my week one productivity.   The bulk of my Fall-In! project is complete and looking for a way to store it, I'm taking walks regularly, and with one gaping abyss to incompetence, I'm actually enjoying going to work.  So far, so good.

This week, we're pushing back the Fall-In! project reveal until everythng is as close to done as possible, so instead I give you three little banthas.  

To be honest, I picked up these 3-D printed banthas at the flea market (Wally's) during Historicon.   It's only a little touch up and full basing, but they'll immediately go into a Death Planet Iota special scenario just for them.  

Next Up:  I'm counting less than a dozen figures and buildings for Fall-In!   I also have some heroic fantasy 30+mm gnomes that should be individually painted.  The rest is more sci-fi and more fantasy spoils from Historicon this year. 

Project 350:  We start moving forward and that means progress 471  (310-161) is actually up from last week's 470 (313/157) , but I we are current with Gamma World Actual Plays, and I'll have new store reviews every Thursday until Mepacon. 

(Review) Sword in the Stone Games, Wyoming Valley Mall, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

 I was amazed when I wrote a recent review of Sword in the Stone Games' new location in the Laurel Mall, Hazleton, PA.:  Despite writing reviews of the previous locations and iterations of the store, I had never given a review of their most recent move to the flagship store's location in the Wyoming Valley Mall, Wilkes-Barre, PA.

This post should fix that. 

After going through a number of names, owners, and locations throughout the greater Wilkes-Barre area, Sword in the Stone got a sweet deal Post-COVID covering a large amount of area, with different operating hours and use of the rear entrance during after hours events, as well as a series of other impressive things that as a former mall store manager, were pretty much impossible to get in a mall's heyday.  

The tiniest of demerits: The tiniest of signs compared to the frontage.

 Greeting:   This is has been my sore point with a lot of stores, and I need to be honest.  I'm one of many regulars and I did not as much as nod from the multiple, one of which I consider a friend. I've seen foot traffic go unnoticed, wander a few feet, and unless there's a Pokemon kid attached, they wander out.    The entire staff is pleasant as punch and helpful, but... not a good start on this visit. 

I'm at the big entrance and the staff is waaaay over there.

Cleanliness:  I'm not sure why the classic "Piso Mojado" floor sign is there.  While not wet or even recently mopped, the store is clean and well organized.  The far back playroom is subject to the whims of excess inventory and cards, but those stay in their own area. 

One demerit I'll mention is the lighting in certain sections of the store is a bit dark.  I've been told that will be fixed, hopefully before the upcoming holiday season, but we'll see. 

CCGs:  Magic, Pokemon (with singles dominating the cases), with support for Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Lorcana, Gundam, Riftbound, One Piece anda host of others.  Plenty of CCGs supplies and accessories. 

Minor quibble for the casual shopper:  While many of the cards in the cases are labelled for condition (lightly played, moderately played, etc...) There are no prices. Obviously you can load the data into your favorite web site for pricing, but I'm not demographic.

Board Games:  A constant and growing and evolving board game selection, covering the strata classic modern board games, with a fun few surprises. 

RPGs:   D&D and Pathfiner/Starfinder heavy, but they're not afraid of expanding their horizons. 

Miniatures: You're met at the entrance to the store with the long wall of Reaper Bones (and the various stuffed animals).  The back wall of the retail space has  Games Workshop (40k, Sigmar, Blood Bowl), with a small side for Battletech, and a section for Heroclix.

Other:  The one thing I shall say positively about every iteration of the store, up to the present, is that they're always experimenting with new product lines. Many have come and gone, but in the end, it appears they've at least broken even, if not profited outright, and moved on..  Be it coffee, or incenses, different custom RPG bags and satchels, and a host of stuffed animal/toy lines. 

One item that continue to fill a retail footprint, and maintains, is a selection of Gundam models and official accessories. 

Paint-wise, they do stock a solid range of Citadel (ok, "Games Workshop") and The Army Painter. 

Some new gaming bags

And another pet peeve/focus of mine, dice, is fully satiated with a giant table of cheap loose dice, as well as a full variety of inexpensive and pricey dice sets. 

Amenities/Events:   The large open gaming area is largely for CCG and tournament based games, with Magic, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Lorcana, Star Wars Unlimited, Gundam, Heroclix, Riftbound as events on the calendar.  The far gaming area behind the wall has the wargaming tables and space to run RPG events,  including a "Teen" D&D game.  They're very supportive of their board game clientele, running TWO board game nights each week!  Heck, they've even hosted a CATAN national qualifier! 

And I guess the biggest plus I can provide, I've actually participated in a number of pre-release tournaments, some casual format play, and even an RPG or two, so I can recommend what they sponsor and how it's run! 

Full disclosure: This is my FLGS.  I've been frequenting every version of the store since the girls were wee tykes. This is the store my kids shop at for my birthday.  I try to swing by weekly.  Even if I don't have interest in much of product they put there, I give great respect to a game store with a clearance section.

And even with that, I give them four out of five gnomes.    

A lot of minor demerits, a steady reminder that I vaguely remember my last few purchases, and many were food/snacks.   Nothing I have purchased from the other FLGS I visit and review was also on the shelf here, but then again, I haven't been the demographic of a store for a very long time.   If there's an even they're promoting that you have interest in, I heartily recommend stopping in. 

Sword in the Stone Games is located in the Wyoming Valley Mall, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702.  Use the mall entrance near the old Bon-Ton, and hang the first left.  

(Gamma World) Not a Test #132 - They Remember Things...

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father, Harkonn. After side-quests, distractions, blue surges of strange auras, and beings definitely  not from around Riverbend, they've finally arrived at the Black Reeds of the Wildlands.  But do the Black Reeds take well with strangers?

============================================================== 

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.   Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust.  Recently married to the now-pregnant Thunnelda Haycock.   He had recently received a letter from his long-lost father, and has convinced the others to accompany him to the Wildlands.

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.   Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"

Sonny Helianthus: an over 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.   Sonny may have recently detonated an atomic device in the petrified woods... although no one else knows. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places,  and finding it often.   He  has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.  Recently attacked and kidnapped then left for dead by an unknown group, looking for revenge.  Also pregnant for the third time, and due to deliver badly out of season

Poppy and Speedy: Two of Squiggles' offspring from his first... litter(?) They're now teenagers in worm years, old enough to grab diminutive muskets and help their Manchi and his friends on this epic quest. 

===============================================================

The small pole barge, piloted by the Pritch, and the rowboat captained by his son, Lio, had arrived downriver into a region the called the Black Reeds...  

The De Facto Explorers had arrived. 

Sonny:  What lives around these parts?

Pritch:  Stuff that hides really well... and pretty sturdy.  

Sonny dug through his pack for the documents Ramsey's father had smuggled out of KIA Academy.  Documents that mentioned Harkonn Bracken.

Resource survey... contact assessment... prototype filter masks... volunteered... knows the risks....  loss of contact after animal movements spike... Bracken did not flee when instructed.

Subject chose to stay...

They aren't what you think... they remember things.

Sonny: Pritch are there any buildings out here?  

Pritch:  The ones I barely remember were covered in vines.... they've claimed the building by now.  A lot of the relics and ruins you'll run into are submerged.

The group had traded some flintlocks for the pole barge, the Explorers piled into it and Pritch and Lio turned upriver in their rowboat....   Grabbing the pole, our heroes pushed off in the marshland... the tall dark reeds in the distance.  

The water oddly seemed to flow away from the Big River, deeper into the Black Reeds. The heroes were no river pilots, bone rattling shudders as the barge hit solid land masses, awkward bounces for those time the land mass was actually floating.

Poppy:  Who's piloting this thing?  Aren't you guys from a place called Riverbend, born and raised.

Sonny:  Hey, kid! Do you see me sailing across the river all day long.  Guys trying to fish up the river near us only last a few months before they disappear.... 

The barge continued into the marsh, the reeds poking out of the water growing in height the further they sailed in, reaching heights of 10, 12, even 14 foot tall, so that even Sonny had trouble looking over the plant life to figure their place. 

And the reeds were changing color, closer to a pale charcoal color.  By touch the Reeds were actually glossy to look at and waxy to the touch.   

There was a random bird noise here and there, but not insect noises... again.  

Lathar:  Should we start calling out?

Pete: Oh, no... we shouldn't make noises at all.  

Sonny:  The documents talk about something dangerous here.... not a good idea.

The rotated pole duties...  Pete noticed No-Name was a bit lethargic... The weasel used his telepathy...

Pete:  Hey buddy, what's wrong

No-Name:  Don't like the floating land... tummy hurts...  make the rocking stop... solid land.

Lathar had taken the pole and navigated up front.  While he was preoccupied with navigation, the others focused on the breaks in the twelve-foot tall reed.  The breaks were fairly uniform.    Much of it appeared to land solid land, some of it still dipping below the water as it continued beyond.  The breaks seemed uniform, each side appearing in regular intervals.  

Some of the group was caught off guard as something finally appeared in the break they were passing. 

No-Name's mysterious cousin was a bit scary...

Each of the Explorers staring at the random stagon in the reeds got an uneasy feeling.    Pete tried to connect to it with his telepathy, like it usually worked on No-Name, but the beast seemed to turn into the thick reeds and disappeared into them with ease. 

Pete:  How did it do that?  The antlers would've been tangled up in seconds!

Pete was insistent on disembarking from the barge and following the stagon, confident that the paths were back from the ancient times. 

"It's obvious" 

Squiggles: Really?

Eventually, they did decide to tie down the barge around some reeds they could fit a rope through and they started following these breaks, their faithful scouts, Pete and Squiggles leading the way....

The scouts maneuvered on these deceptively straight breaks.  It took a while to realize the break actually curved to the left. 

And then came a break in the reeds going across their path.  It was short, but did connect to the breaks to the left and to the right, but nothing else.  

Pete was able to find hooved animal tracks... 

Pete: No-Name, what animals do you smell?

No-Name: I smell wet... and now some of the yellow powder you just snorted up your nose.  

A bit later, Pete realized he hadn't disconnected his telepathy from Lathar's stagon, when he heard, "Ooooh... salt lick!" in his head. 

Pete turned to find No-Name gnawing on some of the black reeds, licking fervently on the ones he had managed to break open....  Eating, something the group had been unable to provide to the stagon on the river boat launch, seemed to make him happy, with no ill effects. 

The scouts continued to follow the tracks, which seemed all seemed to move in the same directions down the paths, turning left, right, and straight in random intervals.   They sensed they were continuing to further inland  and  continuing a curve of some sort. 

Finally deciding to take a break, Squiggles turned back to check on his kids, Speedy and Poppy.  Poppy was busy asking questions to Sonny.

Speedy was missing.

The mutant worm called out to his kid, told all the others to stay put, and backtracked from where they came from. 

He arrived at a four way intersection.  There was no sign of Speedy in any direction. 

There were no tracks either.  Not of Speedy.  Not of the animals they were following.  Not of the Explorers.

Squiggles quickly shoved his foot in the ground.  The footprint remained.   He walked back towards the group, turning around... to see his own footprints.  They were there, but moving back the group's tracks were gone in the direction heading in... and where he thought he had left the group, near a cross path that was partially submerged a few inches deep?   

It was now a straight and relatively dry pathway now... and no one was there.

He cried out to the group. 

Somewhere within the reeds, the rest of the Explorers were resting, by the submerged path.  

It was Lathar who heard a very muffled "Lathar?  Pete?  Sonny?  Where are you guys?"

Lathar: Did you hear that?  

Sonny didn't even pay attention enough to respond.  Pete, turned, his face covered with his yellow curry powder.  

Lathar cried back Squiggles' name.

Wherever Squiggles was, he heard nothing.  

He pulled out his flintlock, firing it up into the air. 

Lathar heard the shot ring out, unsure whether it was a warning shot, a "come find me" shot, or the worm was in peril.

Lathar: Seriously guys?  You don't hear that?  Squiggles is in trouble. 

Pete's addiction didn't affect his eyes, as they followed the trail.  The others paused as Lathar suggested they tied themselves.  

Pete looked at the others with yellow-faced derision and headed out. 

Lathar: He's the exact reason we need ropes! 

Pete continued on, finding a four way intersection.  Everyone's tracks disappeared.  He tried to reach out to the missing worms with no success.   Pete seemed concerned.  

"I marked this spot with my scent... nothing's here.  They're gone!"   

The group of Explorers, still together, shot more flintlocks into the air.  

Squiggles hears but one of them, muffled and definitely off in the distance.  He reaches into the reeds, pulling the ten foot pieces down one by one, blowing a whistle that no one hears, it was hard going, so he decided to stop.  He turned himself around, to find him entirely encircled with the reeds, where there once was a path.

"Yep, water can't be trusted.  Reed are in water.  Reeds can't be trusted."

Unsure what the fate of their friends were, the collected Explorers made some realizations.

Pete:  They aren't what you think... they remember things.

Next: #133 -

Pink Fohawk, Season 3

 My weekends have been pretty consistent, with either drives down to my Mom's for yardwork and other chores, or much longer trips up to Saratoga to visit my kids  Either way, my entertainment formula has been the same:  The most recent episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff followed by a Spotify playlist full of Darkest of the Hillside Thickets.

Most recently that was augmented with a bonus of episode of Pink Fohawk, followed by the first two episodes of season 3.  

I won't even go so far as say the crass and vulgar Shadowrun 2e actual play podcast is my guilty pleasure, like other Shadowrun podcasts.  It's legitimately great, I've stolen storylines and concepts for my own games, and I have not consistently laughed through a podcast in such a long time.  I had such trouble staying in my lane just listening to Tina on the phone with the other characters.  

The RPG Playstyles Survey by Questing Beast

Proper shout-out to Stargazer's World for mentioning this. 

To quote the blog directly: 

"Ben Milton—creator of the YouTube channel Questing Beast and the tabletop games Maze Rats and Knave—is currently running an RPG Playstyles Survey."

I love me some gaming surveys, of any kind, and while this one feels a bit OG D&D and OSR focused, I put more than my two cents in when I could.    Following Stargazer's explanation, the larger base a survey has, the better we and analyze and cluster the data. 

ViscountEric's Hottest Flashback Posts for 2025-26

I know I'm the only one that cares about blog stats, but I do love tracking stuff, not only the popular current posts, but also the older ones that still have traction.

**Disclaimer:  Year over year, the bot traffic is evolving from hitting the front page of the blog, to finally hitting more and more individual posts.  Like a lot of the blogs are mentioning, I had over three MILLION hits for the year, and most... are still the front page hits.**

2024-2025

My reviews of game stores like Lazarus Games, The Adventurer's Academy, IGAR, and Mythic Beasts and Brews dominate, plus my paint job on the Dollar General Mummies.

2023-2024

The Games Keep in West Chester and a random Space Dwarf Biker Gang Kickstarter pulled in the most traffic this past year.  Games Keep definitely get bot traffic plus a healthy dose of defenders of the shop from my opinion.

2022-2023 

The game store reviews continue to pull views for Sword in the Stone, Alchemist's Lair (Schuylkill Haven), with Dragon's Den in Honesdale getting a ton of traffic, with the sad little post about my divorce and losing a job rounding out the top picks.

2020-2022

International Gnome Week continues to gain traction based on my original post.  The year with two Historicons (November '21 and July '22 technically). 

I'm still not sure what bot or algorithm picked up on it, but a fairly mid rant about original  Fluxx and Unstable Unicorns being the optimal version their games has garnered enough traffic to become my most popular post... of all time!  The Navuoo Legion (aka The Mormons in the HMGS Gnome Wars games) remains popular, as well as a fluff piece about Gnomes and Fungus.  

Finally, Fourteen Beers at Chili's from my Call of Cthulhu "Curse of Nevoz" game, and a surprising blast from the past "My Paint Scheme for My Marines" seemed to draw in views organically.

2009-2019

These older posts reinforce what I see year-over-year:  Reviews seem to keep things alive.   I also saw a huge uptick in my Ballad of the Pigeon God AD&D campaign, as well as my run of Masks of Nylarathotep.  I was also amsued to find that my main posting about Samoan Riflemen for my Second Samoan Civil War game cracked the Top 20 in its year. 

The biggest gains in this era were for my Texas Roadhouse Massacre Risus-Illuminati University (IOU) game.  This actual play netted the #3 all-time spot, just beating out the Games Keep.

My Top 10 Popular Posts of the Past Year, Beyond the Last Year

1. Fluxx and Unicorns                                 - Rant
2. (Risus) Texas Roadhouse Massacre        - IOU
3. Hellboy Board Game                              - Kickstarter
4. The Games Keep, West Chester             - Reviews          - 2024
5. Dragon's Den Games, Honesdale           - Reviews
6. Tales from the Loop: The Board Game  - Kickstarter
7. Gnome Wars, 2nd Edition                      - Reviews
8. Gnome Vs Dragon Lawn Ornaments    - Gnome News
9. Space Dwarf Biker Gang 2                    - Kickstarter
10. Miniature Building Authority Castle Ex - Kickstarter

My Top 10 Popular Posts of All Time 

1. Fluxx and Unicorns                                                       - Rant
2. Hunting for Wizard of Oz Minis                                   - Wizard of Oz
3. (Risus) Texas Roadhouse Massacre                              - IOU
4. (Review) The Games Keep - West Chester                   - Reviews
5. (Kickstarter) Hellboy: The Board Game Expansions    - Kickstarter
6. Contemptible Little Armies Review                              - Reviews
7. Settlers of Catan 15th Anniversary Edition                   - Retail 
8. Wardlings, Toy Aliens, and Post-Gymnastics Universe - Rant
9. Eureka Minis Release Mice Warriors                            - Mouslings
10. (Kickstarter) Tales from the Loop: The Board Game    - Kickstarter

(Painting) Outrigger Canoes by Diabolical Terrain

I did complete my first unit Hawaiian Gnomes (The Polygnomials) less than a year ago.  They have proven to be a fun nationality, and most of the rules tweaks involve some procedural options with the Spearmen and the making the Pineapple Catapult somewhere that's not useless but not terrorizing the board.  

As we figured out early at Historicon, the Hawaiians needed to accessorize, and I found two items that work well, adding some lore to Hawaiian lore.

First off, the most obvious choice, outrigger canoes from Diabolical Terrain.  Your might want to try the larger 30mm scale, but with the 25mm canoes, your definitely need five of them to traverse the sea and conquer the surrounding islands.  

EC3D-DY: Dugout Outrigger

During the summer closeouts at the Dollar Tree, I picked up some "Candy Holders," clear red plastic in the shape of pineapples.  In my two lines of thinking, I painted half up as giant pineapples, and the other four as carved pineapple rocks, perfect for a fire inside the crown.  

The final item to complete the Hawaiian "base?"   A small ziggurat structure, perhaps one level, that would be perfect for a the pineapple sculptures and perhaps an appropriate altar? I will have time to scour the dealer's hall and flea market sessions this year. 

Next Up:  I do have a massive project with sixty (60!) figures that I'm already in the midst of, for Fall-In!  I might have even more, but the first sixty should be enough.  After that, there's nothing specific on the painting bench, so I might wander between Gnomish Space Marine stuff, and more of the 3-D fantasy stuff I picked up at Historicon.

Project 350:  We just mentioned this yesterday, but we're at  470 (313/157) from 471 (313/158).  October is NOT as pre-packed full of posts as prior years, so I don't see perhaps a handful of games plus working on the placeholders for the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January.

My Gaming Plans for 2026-27

Another year, another 20% of plans actually achieving. 

To be honest, I hit six out of seven (83%) of the core goals last year, with close to zero success from the pie-in-the-sky projects. 

Keeping it real, like last year, I need to recognize two big things: 

• The era is ending.....  Maja driving has given her freedom, and has resulted in less time both girls have with dear old dad.   And to make matters worse, the whole boyfriend thing is a whole lot more serious than the last foray, and I foresee her coming down for Historicon only (He is a gamer, so there is still a chance...)  Millie can still get excited from games, but she's definitely an engaged casual player.
• Enjoy what everyone enjoys:  Essentially copying word-for-word from last year.  I enjoy all the online community projects and there are certain things I'll do, even if no one else ever reads them, no matter how foolish.  The biggest posts of the year for me are (1) convention AARs, (2) game store reviews, (3) Pulp Game AARs, and (4) my painting.  I'm not monetizing the blog, but engagement matters, both practically, and selfishly.

With my "Mission Statement" out of the way, let's get into my plans, from immediate projects to fewer pipe dreams.

1. The last guaranteed Historicon with Maja - Maja will have graduated high school, weeks away from attending college, probably somewhere in New York State.  Although she'll try, Historicon 2027 might be the last be hurrah for Maja... or maybe not.  She's basically independent of us outside of Next Gen activities, so like this past year, I'm going to enjoy it.
2. Death Planet Iota Ongoing -  My Fistful of Lead sci-fi campaign using anything and everything I can get my hands on.  This includes painting up anymore figures, vehicles, and scenery. 
3. Mousling Fantasy, Take Three - Still tinkering, using the mouslings, fantasy figures in general.   System still seems to elude me.  
4. Pulp! - I'd like to finish Tomb of the Serpent with the girls, or just solo.  
5. Gamma World Alternatives -What started as joke that worried all my players, we do need an alternative or low attendance friendly game for Monday nights.  Something like Nations and Cannons is great, but with a group of history freaks, that might require more GMing output than I'm ready for.   
6. Painting - Yet another reorganization of the queue, and restock, replenish, and retool my paint shelves for colors I need to replace.   Gotta find a project after all the Death Planet Iota gets finished… Who am I kidding… I just found another bag of West End Games Star Wars figures last night. 

And the pipe dreams:

    7.  Toon - "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Kodos"  After years of running the "Cthulhu Comes to Springfield" Toon game, and dusting it off for Mepacon 50, I had been tempted to run a Simpsons game of "episodes" that fit the con's alien theme, but withdrew.  It might still be a thing for Mepacon 52 in April.

    8.  What's next for Gnome Wars?  Of course there will be Gnome Wars games at HMGS cons, but I wonder if it's not high time for Gnome Wars 3.0, with expanded campaign data straight from this blog.

    9.  Local Next Gen: With the girls leaving school soon, it might be a good time to get a Next Gen grant and set up a Viking, or AWI, or something better for Next Gen sessions at local libraries.

Gaming Year in Review 2025-26

 I've always tracked my gaming progress like the US Federal fiscal calendar (October through September). Don't ask why, it's always been like that, I'm not going to change now.

Over the course, I happened upon my review of my 2015-16 gaming year.  Full of hope, plans, and failed projects.  It was Maja's first overnight con, my first full weekend con (Mepcaon),  we had three gaming stores, and lots of people read my posts on conventions and pulp gaming. 

Ten years later, Maja likes to run games at HMGS conventions, all the stores shuttered (one has evolved to Sword in the Stone at the mall), and people still like my convention posts, my pulp posts, and my painting posts don't send people screaming. 

The Blog in General:  
The Top Ten Blog Posts Over the Past Twelve Months

1. The Historicon Mega-Game is Back! (Gnome Wars)
2. Historicon 2026 AAR (Conventions)
3. The Complete Strategist is Closing?  (Retail)
4. Zombie Planet Comics and Games, Albany (Reviews)
5. The Event List for Historicon 2026 (Conventions)
6. FlipSide Gaming, Clifton Park (Reviews)
7. Hawaiian Gnome Playtest Rules (Gnome Wars) 
8. Flights 2 Game Store and Hobbies (Reviews)
9. #RPGaDay Day 27 - Hunger (#RPGaDay)
10. #Star Wars Day - Mos Eisley Cantina Adventure Set (Painting)
11. Savage #4.2 - The Craft Fair of Chaos (Pulp)

I'm definitely spoiling my review of the goals I set for this year, but my trip to visit the girls in Albany got a lot of positive response, and a lot of organic page views. Gnome Wars and Painting tend to bring folks in repeatedly.  The reviews, local and abroad, have helped replaced my normal traffic from the HMGS Conventions I missed this year.

#RPGaDay2026:  The annual RPG community event was lackluster, and that could be more on this participant than anything else. The only true positive of the one word prompts is that I spent an evening with the Monday night online crew and brainstormed over the dozen or so that had left me puzzled... or underwhelmed with ideas.  

#CharacterCreationChallenge:  Overall a fun project that nets me about the same number of views as my wargaming stuff.  A LOT of positive engagement over at Bluesky, but most of the views still come from limited Facebook use and lukewarm Twitter posting.   Threads is either not recording at all, or hot garbage.  

The most popular post for the month, Captain Guy N Pygmalion for Gamma World.

#ZineQuest:  For the last four years, I have love the concept of promoting zines on Kickstarter. In that time frame, my posts for the month went from lowest productivity for the years (20-25) to 45-60 for the month.   This year, though, between the solid split between Kickstarter #ZineQuest and BackerKit's #ZineTopia, plus the underwhelming types of zines compared to my taste, I only highlighted a handful of zines, and signed up for zero.  I was easily more pre-occupied with...

#RPGCampaignTour:  A 28-day challenge for February to answer prompts about your RPG campaign.  Simple, fun, and a good way to review 130 episodes of Gamma World.  Twenty-six of the prompts were answered, with me using AI to figure out topics I more preferred to write about.  I chalk it up as a success.

Perhaps my favorite AI-generated artwork, Lady Vespara from the #CharacterCreationChallenge

#Project 350:  For my neverending tracking of blog draft posts behind the scenes, and posts scheduled for the future, I end the gaming year at 472 (314 blog draft and 158 scheduled post), definitely up from  453 (281/172) this time last year.   It's largely consistent, the big increase in drafts chalked up to my pre-gaming for January's #CharacterCreationChallenge. I'll admit that I've finished and schedule the post for four concepts I statted out, but I've plugged away about 25 placeholders for the event, everything from a name (ex: Rip Shenanigans), a concept (Christmas Tree farmers), or a whole crew of Delta crew characters with unique situations.   I still need to play more games to reduce my standing list of concepts that I need to put into action.

TRIUMPHS:

Mahalo to Our Hawaiian Gnome Overlords! - I received the Hawaiian Gnomes from Brigade Games in July 2025, and by December 2025, they were painted up, a near speed record for me!  

The playtest rules are out, and in a Great War focused Gnome Wars setting, melee troops need good balance, but also tactical skill to be successful.  

The Hawaiian Gnomes

Mepacon 49!  - Skipping Fall-In! allowed me a full weekend at Mepacon.  I love the new location, the attendees bring a lot of energy, and we had a quorum of the old group at dinner Sunday night!

A buncha old-timers playing Battletech

The Pulp Game Returneth!  We officially started Pulp Alley's Tomb of the Serpent and it's... fair.  Knowing what the girls normally expect from pulp-style games, it's a little underwhelming, but we're going to slowly work our way through, when we have the time.

Mepacon 50!  I made it to both cons within the years, and celebrated the con's big 5-0 by running a nostalgia-fueled series of events.  Talislanta and My Little Pony didn't fare to well, but I got plenty of players for the return of Burning Plastic and my Cthulhu Comes to Springfield TOON Games.  

Historicon 2026 - With a full crew, we commandeered the Commonwealth Foyer for a series of games properly showcasing the Hawaiian Gnomes, as well as some sweet outrigger canoes by Diabolical Terrain. 

The Hawaiians learned they were a melee army...

Volcano! 

Millie's Black Cat Transformation

The Women of Sisu

It only took well over a dozen years to get these gals painted up.

CATASTROPHES:

No Fall-In, No Gnome Wars, No Cold Wars, No Gnome Wars:   Funds and schedules didn't work out.  Unfortunately the rest of the Stout Gnomes were also quite sparse. 

Dog Wizard (Sculpted by Mike Lung)

The Death of Game Trade: The death of Diamond Comics distributors and the subsequent spin-off of Alliance Game Distributors to Universal Distribution forced my faithful Game Trade Magazine into obsolescence after the ignominy of being stuck behind an overpriced paywall at DriveThruRPG.   No free access to gaming solicitations any moron would want customers looking at and driving FLGS business is ridiculous.  I've reverted to looking at ADC Game Distributors Meeple Monthly, which has been passable for something I've done for years prior to GTM's 300+ issue monthly run.   My verdict:  Meeple Monthly is such a horribly crafted magazine, it would make the colored paper and stapled solicitations of 30 years ago laugh at them. 

Ronaldus Iaworski, Holy Gnoman

The Death of the Complete Strategist (King of Prussia): The announcement of the closing of the Complete Strategist in KoP came out of left field.  I wasn't able to get down there, but part of the greater OG gamer contingent did.  It could be argued that it was well past its former glories, but I repeatedly wanted to make visits down there, even after my kids stopped playing local AAU right down the street. 

GENERAL MUCKERY:

The Death of Meticulousness - Overuse of AI, so much so, I actually gave up most functionality for lent.  That barely worked.  I did find it amusing that I'm nearing a 1,000 day streak on Nightcafe, yet Gemini has been producing my weird Gamma World art on the first or second attempt, at a much higher quality. 

Cascadia

After a year and a half, we got another installment of the Mike Lung Gallery

A Review of My Plans from last October

1. My Back-Up Game, D.A.M.N.I.T. -  Even with the successful and completed Kickstarter for the Savage Worlds version (Space Beards!), I didn't get to implement.
2. Pulp (Savage Showdown) -   4.2, 4.3. 4.4, 4.5
3. Death Planet Iota Ongoing -  Games continue to be played.  I'm trying to use the characters on a spreadsheet to keep track of faction.  The high point, of course was the Mos Eisley comes to Death Planet Iota game. 
4. Mousling Fantasy - The Brutal Quest dive wasn't what I really wanted, and per my daughters, a return to Savage Worlds/Showdown is what is needed for next year.
5. Painting - Cleared all available gnomes, worked on sci-fi, embellished with fantasy/pulp when needed.  I could always paint more, but I'm satisfied. 
6. Reviews -  Gold Star!  I was satisfied with the number of reviews halfway through the year, and even after I started my new job, they seemed to keep coming in.  It's been fun visiting new game stores, and giving my old man opinions on the handful of items I purchase... and they usually produce good initial and perpetual views.  
7. RPG - Gamma World is the slow and perpetual monster that doesn't appear to be going anywhere, although we've had moments where players were revisiting the Roll20 page to prep for next weekend when combat went dark.  No direction on what people want after the campaign. 
8. Mini-Purge - We are at capacity ... but nothing purged quite yet. 
9. Wargaming at Steve's - Outside a game of Thunder Road, nada, although all his youth baseball stories with his kids definitely made Monday night sessions amusing.
10. Burning Trogs Redux -  Ha!  The eternal dream still lies dormant, but the 25th Anniversary Edition of Hackmaster stokes a few memories.
11. Cthulhu New York, Ia! Ia! -  Ha!
12. The Wikis -  Ha!

Star Wars (WEG) Rebel Commandos

Kickstarter Status:  

BK: Toon 2nd Edition  - 2027 

KS:  d6 System, 2nd Edition  - February 2025 - Beta PDF ARRIVED 

KS: Gone Foragin' - PDF ARRIVED

KS: Gone Scarin' - PDF ARRIVED

KS: Hackmaster 25th Anniversary - August 2027

KS: Monsters and Hunters by Macrocosm - ARRIVED

KS: Space Beards - PDF ARRIVED

KS: Space Dwarves - November 2027

KS: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG  - ARRIVED 

Painting -   117 this year, after a monster 182 last year... looking at the pictures, I forgot that I painted many of these in the last 12 months! 

Reaper Bones Ankheg

The first few of the Hawaiians...

More cultists from Pulp Figures

Even more cultists from Pulp Figures

These two random Prussians drew a lot of page views

Not the Gnomes, just the Reaper road cones...

Brigade Games Goblins

2025-26  Gaming with the Gnomies Awards

Best Kickstarter:    Macrocosm Monsters and Hunters

Worst Kickstarter:  TMNT - Compared to Palladium's Robotech, it's a dream come true, but $25 for shipping one book in-country?   I think I understood how my simple order got to the tail end of US Shipments, but I tend to avoid campaigns with 8 month delays... so it still winces. 

Best Game:  39th Annual Cat Wrangle

Best RPG Purchase:  Mutant Crawl Classics - a big chunky book for the shelf, and a host of gonzo charts for Gamma World.  Best $10 con purchase in a loooong time. 

Best Minis:   Island Gnomes! ... and an appropriate runner-up with the Diabolical outriggers

Best Other Purchase:  Not my purchases, but my money.  I'm pretty systematic with my convention going: same vendors, same eating establishments, and Maja has always tagged along willingly, but with Mepacon 50, I can admit that she's the target demographic for a lot of the craft and peripheral vendors that attend our local con, and god help both of our wallets. 

Next: My Plans for 2026-27