Spotlight: The Defence Forces of Ramsbottom End

 The Bwendi Bugle

All the news that's fit to print

24th January 2326

The border town of Ramsbottom End is a town like many others in Bwendi. It sprang up as the Bwendi people expanded across Beltene after Landfall, and soon found itself on the border with the rival forces of Albion. Like any other town, it has its own militia that turns out fortnightly to drill and practise in case of Albion incursions. They are armed with the standard Gladcorp M23 Assault Rifle that all Bwendi forces use. They have a limited number of Gladcorp TAC19 RPGs and Gladcorp M42 Autocannon, just like all the other militia units.

The Ramsbottom End Militia has the usual range of technicals, civilian vehicles that can be rapidly repurposed to form a fast strike force to deploy them to the front. These mount a variety of support weapons and some feature battering rams for helping troops enter buildings quickly and easily, a useful feature during times of Albion-fomented civil unrest.

"Well equipped militia"

Ramsbottom End Militia even has a purpose-built armoured bus to provide transport and supporting fire to the infantry. Only about 55% of militias on Bwendi have one of these. When not in use by the militia, the bus is used for the school run during term time and doubles as an ice cream van during the holidays to ensure cost-effectiveness.

A troop of Ramsbottom End militia deploy in front of the two new Walkers (Infantry are 15mm Laserburn from Alternative armies. Walkers by Rebel Minis)

However, one thing it has that is unique in Bwendi so far is the foresight of Mayor Dame Dora Third. She and her Deputy Mayor Alain B'Net purchased two MkIII Hyloxalus W4R Walkers from Gladwar Systems PLC, and it has now been delivered. Over a cup of tea and a coconut macaroon, Dame Dora explained that  as pilot of the Walker, she will be able to maintain better command of the militia in battle and that her 2IC, the Deputy Mayor will be able to support her in the second Walker. At the same time, the Walkers' pulse cannons and auxiliary Close Defence Systems will provide a significant firepower upgrade for the militia. In a morale-boosting first, the MkIII Hyloxalus features an integrated tea boiler and a separate pink wafer dispenser, guaranteeing that its pilot will remain alert and positive at all times.

"We did consider upgrading to a Jammie Dodger dispenser, but a detailed cost-benefit analysis showed that there was no morale boost commensurate to the increase in cost," shared Dame Dora.

Deputy Mayor Alain B'Net added, "Dame Dora is not a fan of Jammie Dodgers, you know. An Eccles Cake dispenser would have been just the ticket, but there were jamming issues with the pastry, and the Parkin dispenser had a lamentable tendency to crumble at the worst of all possible times. We have looked at the purchase of these Walkers from every angle and done proper due diligence, so we know that this is the best of all possible choices we could have made."

"Is this the end for Albion attacks on Ramsbottom End?"

"Albion will think twice about attacking Ramsbottom End now," declared Dame Dora.

There has been some criticism of this purchase by The Opposition Party, which only numbers one member on the town council. Dame Dora dismissed this criticism.

"Yes, these walkers cost a lot of money, but it will make our town more secure, leading to long-term cost savings in infrastructure repairs. This is a saving not to be sniffed at and will leave more in the budget for the centenary celebration of Landfall next year. Moreover, at the annual fete we can deploy them to give rides to the children for a nominal sum, thus providing much needed relief for the town's donkey, and a boost to the town's coffers."

It is reported that the member of The Opposition Party has grumbled about this expense too, but he was not available for comment before we went to press.

More figures that I have had for a long while, and another story that amused me. In the Brazil*-like environment of the Bwendi nation, this story makes total sense. Change the names and I am fairly sure it could also occur in Steve's Albion nation, but don't tell President for Life Throckmorton P. Gladiolus that. They would strenuously deny any resemblance between Bwendi and Albion despite both claiming to be the true descendents of the British Empire and its customs and culture. But we all know that Albionites break the round end of their boiled eggs and put the milk in after the tea, so clearly they have no culture or manners!

*The film, not the country.

13 Ambyrmont - Entering the temple

Faced by two dozen tribespeople, Broneslav made the decising to retreat back past the rubble that the headhunters themselves seemed to have placed as a defence. He would use their own preparations against them so that they could not overwhelm him. The boldest of the headhunters raced towards him with the others straggling behind. He took up position at the narrowest point of the passage and braced for the impact.

(1) Guard post
(2) Living quarters

The armed headhunters swarmed towards Broneslav, as their children escaped up a rope towards a hole in the ceiling of the temple. The noise was like the worst bedlam as children screamed and warriors howled their rage. Six of them fell in the first rush as Broneslav's sword cleaved through their unarmoured bodies repeatedly, while his own armour and shield protected him to the full. Seeing their tribespeople fall, four of them ran for the rope. Four of the bolder tribespeople fell in the second wave. This was too much for another three tribespeople who routed to the escape rope, which seemed badly overloaded even though all the children had managed to climb out of the top of the room by now. Those that remained in the room were cut down in short order, but as Broneslav stepped into the living quarters over the bloody corpses of the headhunters, doors were suddenly thrown open all around the balcony surrounding the headhunters' living quarters. A new wave of armoured attackers emerged. Broneslav wondered if the emerging warriors would finally be too much for him, but he resolved to try to achieve the quest laid on him by the friendly villagers. He could do no less. Snarling, he lifted his shield and sword once more...

The Equalisers versus the Terrible Trio (Slugfest)

 I got Slugfest for Christmas. Yay! If you've not encountered it before, Slugfest is a solo or cooperative super gaming system from Four Color Studios. It is d20 based and has a lot in common with Rangers of Shadow Deep. The actual rules run to a little over 20 pages, while the rest of the 181-page book details super team creation, scenarios, campaigning, etc. I have had some 15mm superheroes from Rebel Minis painted for quite some time, so I was keen to get the rules to the table as soon as possible.

We open on a city street. A car is parked untidily on the pavement outside the Trust Us Savings and Loan  Inc. in Landfall City. Peaceforcers lie scattered around, unconscious or groggily trying to recover. Ace reporter Kit Kilarney and a gaggle of bystanders stand stunned in the street.

A call comes in on the emergency hotline to the Equalisers' HQ. It is the Peace Commissioner.

"Help us, Equalisers! The Terrible Trio is raiding the Trust Us Savings and Loan. Our Peace Force has been defeated by them and Dr Bedlam's Deathbots."

The Equalisers race to the scene of the crime to aid the city authorities. The alarm at the bank is blaring out and two deathbots are rolling as fast as their little treads can carry them towards the heroes. As they race onto the street outside the bank, the heroes start trying to get the civilians clear. As they do so, Bruiser Benning emerges from the bank. He growls at the heroes. Elasti-Ape charges towards him, snagging up a concrete bench as he goes. He launches the bench at the big bruiser and hammers him with it. The others attempt to blast their foe but his thick hide seems impervious to their attacks, and Dream Lady's mental attacks seem to have nowhere to land in the bruisers tiny mind.

"Take a load off, Bruiser!"

Elasti-Ape charges Benning and is promptly knocked on his arse for his pains after flying thirty feet through the air. Captain Phoenix races in and flattens the goon as the Deathbots get close enough to start blasting.

Then the Sinister Spinner races out of the bank. He is carrying the object of the raid. Captain Phoenix charges him but is blasted backwards away as the Spinner charges up and flees the scene. It took only seconds for the villains to achieve their goal. The other villains start retreating as Tonalli emerges from a building up the road, only to flee ahead of the remaining Deathbots.

"You'll never catch me!"

With the villains fled and no way to catch up, the heroes attempt to bring round the fallen Peace Officers and escort ace reporter Kit Kilarney to safety. They are starting to bring order to the place when a gas main explodes under a parked car. The car is obliterated and Captain Phoenix is singed, but all the civilians and Peace Officers are safe. The peace that follows the explosion seems unnaturally quiet, but the Equalisers are kept busy tidying up after Dr Bedlam's crew.

Later that night the phone rings at Equalisers HQ.

"It's Kit Kilarney. I wasn't there just at random you know. I was following a lead on a story. You saved me so I'll share it with you..."

Well, that was fun. I might even have got some of the rules right. Not bad for a first play through. I used the Revengers from the book, but renamed them because I am like that, and I followed the first scenario from the rules. As expected, the d20s were wild. Picking up the street furniture and chucking it around was great. I need to do more of that. The scenario was also interesting because I knew there would b a gas explosion but not when, which made saving the civilians and the cops a priority. Still, if the Spinner had not knocked Captain Phoenix flat on his arse, the team might have got the macguffin too. Dice, eh!

Pointers for my next game include making power cards for the heroes and printing out the reference sheet to make it easier to keep track of things. I shall also design my own team so that I have a clearer idea of who they are and what they can do from the outset. No idea when I shall have time for that, but there will definitely be more of this type of thing in my future.

2025 in Review

 It's that time again: time for a retrospective on my gaming in 2025. I started this year with a list of games I was interested in playing. I also started tracking figures painted versus figures bought. So, how have I done?

On the figures front, I managed to achieve my goal. I painted 336 figures and bought 291. My method of calculation was crude here. I only counted castings and did not differentiate between scales or size of figures, so a single mech counted the same as a 6mm infantryman. I'll do the same in 2026. Although a crude calculation, it functions well enough for my purposes.

On the games front, here are all the games I logged on BoardGameGeek:

Game	Qty
Dorfromantik: The Board Game	29
BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat	11
Everdell	11
Forgotten Ruin: The Adventure Wargame	8
Calico	6
Wingspan Asia	6
Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition	5
5150: No Quarter – Mecha Combat	4
Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age	3
Robo Rally	3
BattleTech: Alpha Strike Box Set	2
Lion Rampant: Medieval Wargaming Rules Second Edition	2
Sellswords & Spellslingers	2
Advanced Squad Leader	1
Arkham Horror (Third Edition)	1
ASL: Journal – Issue Two	1
Beyond Valor: ASL Module 1	1
Fistful of Lead: Battlesuit Alpha	1
Fit to Print	1
Kinfire Delve: Scorn's Stockade	1
Reload	1
Space Empires 4X	1
Warfighter: Modern Expansion #17 – North Korean Adversaries	1
Warfighter: Modern Expansion #53 – South Korea	1
Warfighter: The Tactical Special Forces Card Game	1

Sadly, as the table shows, my boardgaming ambitions were mostly unrealised. Bah! Not that I played no boardgames, but rather I played mostly different games to those I had planned to play in 2025. I did play ASL against my brother, so that was cool but most of the games I played were Euro-style games, because I now have a friend and they enjoy that sort of game. I'm not complaining. We have played a bunch of different boardgames this year, and it is nice not to play everything solo! Calico, Dorfromantik, Wingspan: Asia, Everdell and others have seen play. Everdell, in particular, has turned out to be a favourite, with Wingspan: Asia close behind.

I returned to my Scarlet Heroes solo adventures, which were not on the list and I aimed to post those fortnightly as Broneslav Torenescu explored The Isle of Dread. This went ok for a while, but I ran out of steam when I hit a particular point with the mapping. I should have just copied and pasted the map from the module straight into the post, but I have wanted to do my own mapping for Broneslav's adventures. Anyway, I got over that mental hurdle and carried on. How long until the next mental hurdle? Hopefully, I shall finish the whole module in 2026 and then decide where to go next.

On the figure gaming front, I have been more successful. My mercenary company The Full Throttle Lemmings saw outings using 5150: Mecha Warfare, Battle Suit Alpha and Alpha Strike. I have also painted a fair few mechs for Battletech and fitted in a few games of that too, although only using the rules from A Game of Armored Combat. I still need to read the Total Warfare rules. That said, the AGoAC rules give a great game with intro tech mechs, and there is still a lot of mileage in them. Also, a friend enjoyed it when visiting, so I should get more games played next time he is in town. Nice!

I finally played Sellswords and Spellslingers. It did not really do it for me, but at least I have tried the rules. If I change my mind, I can always come back to them.

Oathmark, on the other hand, is perfect for what I want at the moment and I have started a pbem campaign with my brother and the long-suffering Steve. The goal of the campaign is to build kingdoms based on the figures I can field. Each kingdom started with three territories, including its capital. The winner of each battle gets first choice of the next territory for their kingdom, and each territory added ups the size of the next battle by 250 points. The players design their armies and tell me their preferred tactics for the game. I then play the game solo and report the results to them. Rinse and repeat until there are two fully-formed kingdoms. If we get that far, I have plans to add the supplements to the game and to try a standard campaign per the rules.

A couple of games of Lion Rampant 2nd Edition told me that the rules worked for me. I'm looking forward to getting Dragon Rampant 2nd Edition now and plan to play that in 2026. The best part about Lion Rampant was how well it worked as a solo game, so I hope to get it to the table in 2026. The Rampant series is the type of game that should work well for the rare occasions I manage to get a figure game in with my long-suffering human opponent.

I have also started a Forgotten Ruin campaign that is quite fun. It is set in a version of the area where I live and my team are doing well... so far. I hope that success continues into 2026. The campaign is about half-way through now.

While I did manage to play about half the rules I aimed for in 2025, I failed to play several of them and shall be adding the following to my wishlist for 2026, as well as trying to play more games of the stuff I have already done:

• AD&D Battlesystem 2E
• Frostgrave
• FutureWarCommander
• Hardwar
• Horizon Wars

On the figure gaming front, I managed to paint more figures than I bought. Huzzah! Long may this trend continue. I also rebased my 6mm Elves for Fantastic Battles, and plan to rebase my 6mm Goblins to provide an opposing force, so that I can try those rules. I have various odds and ends of 6mm armies lying around that could also make small Fantastic Battles forces, so I shall see if I can sort something out with them if I find I enjoy the rules enough.

The boardgames listed below remain on the list, unplayed this year despite me pawing the rulebooks and clipping the counters for them.

• Barbarossa to Berlin
• Space Empires 4X
• Terraforming Mars (especially with the new solo Automa expansion)
• The Dark Valley

To them should be added the Struggle for Europe series from Clash of Arms. I now have a table large enough to set up the whole thing, so it really comes down to reading and learning the rules before wading in and refighting WW2. Of course, I do not doubt that I shall get distracted at some point, but I really must try to use what I have and not buy new shinies.

A game I picked up this year largely because of nostalgia was Air & Armor: Würzburg, Operational Armored Warfare in Europe, Designer Signature Edition. I used to own the original version of this game a lot of years ago and had a sudden yearning to return to it. This new version has a solo mode, so all I have to do is read the massive rulebook, set the game up and start playing. Yup, it's that easy! Let's see if I can get it to the table in 2026.

That's it really, my gaming plans for 2026, which I broadly hope to stick to, are, in a nutshell: play what I have; paint more figures than I buy; and keep my focus on rules that can be used with what I have and that do not require me to buy into different periods, scales or ranges of miniatures (or to buy whole new armies unless I really, really want to!). Wish me luck!