Painting 28s. A 2nd Fistful of Lead Lunchtime game.

The Siren Song of all my 1/72 boxes is calling me, but for the past two weeks I've been very slowly working my way through some 28mm Perry metals and plastic figures.

These figures were gifted to me recently, and aside from the assembly process - possibly the only thing about the hobby that I have to muster my enthusiasm for - I'm steadily punching through them. Not quite as quickly as I'd like to add. I've been quite busy with all of my lifes' other entanglements - children, work, the odd bit of band practice, parent-teacher interviews and a very nasty bit of food poisoning thrown in there as well. That wrote me off for three days.

I don't really have a big plan to build a huge 28mm War of the Roses Army. I have about 20 odd figures left to paint. I intend to finish this lot of figures and use them for Fistful of Lead (Bigger Battles) where I can slot them up against my Robin Hood figures as well as a bunch of fantasy figures I have floating around.

The figures are just splendid to paint, and I can see the attraction of this scale. However, my heart belongs to my first love, 1/72... and I'm itching to get back to adding to my larger painted collection of medieval figures.

Yesterday I did manage to facilitate a 4 player Fistful of Lead game for my students in their lunch break. I had a few different students this week, so the word must be getting around. It was similar GIs vs Germans quick-fire tactical scenario, although I scaled it up slightly this week. Each player had a small three-man section.

Using the 'Bigger Battles' rules, a wound result on the chart meant that one of a player's figures had died, with the resulting figure removal. By keeping the scenario simple - one section of Germans held the objective, but the other had to come and reinforce - there was a little tension and possibility in the game that simply a static defence.  

It was a quick & dirty game, the GIs had to assault the farmhouse, but I have to say tactual prowess is not in the average 13 year old playbook. It's shoot, scoot and die.

And die they did.

The two American players tried to use cover and bounding fire, but were too often caught in the open. The GI players ended up losing the encounter. The idea of suppression is something that I will encourage with the players when we have a longer session. There isn't simply enough time for tactical nuance in a 40 min set-it-up-kncok-em-down game.

It was fast and brutal though, and the Germans only had two figure left at the end of the session.

Still the kids had a another great little session and most importantly, weren't glued to their phones and were interacting for the duration. One kid said:

'This is so much fun. Heaps better than RISK'.

Don't get me wrong, I love Axis & Allies, RISK and all sort of things...but something like FFoL is much more interactive, quick & immediate for these screen addicted kids.

They really like the confrontational aspect of these games, and don't mind player elimination at all, in fact, all they want to do is slot each other.

True blue Aussie kids. 

All the best.