The Warlord Fish's Hobby Aquarium

 A Fistful of Lead Game.  Missionary Troubles. The province of Xiao Yu has been experiencing increased instability over the past few weeks, warlord government troops have been busy clashing with the KMT expeditionary force in the region, drawing away much needed soldiers from local anti-bandit patrols. Bandit gangs have quickly taken advantage of this lax security and are making the best of the opportunity presented while it lasts. The Americans are not oblivious to the instability in the region. Orders have come out from China Station HQ for all American expats to seek refuge in the large, well protected treaty ports and cities. That being said not all American's have willingly agreed to these orders. Several groups of erstwhile missionaries have held up in their mission stations, refusing to budge, believing that their faith in the people will protect them better than any gunboat. As a result US Navy China Station sailors have been dispatched to recover these hold outs and b...

I've been working on all this in earnest since last August, terrain, lore, armies, everything organized for Fistful of Lead, and Beyond the Empire. Some day.. some day I'll have enough army men for Setting the East Ablaze.  Anyways, an introduction. The province of Xiao Yú, a microcosm of the struggles of Greater China, is a small forgotten land, tucked away somewhere north of Beijing, near the Mongolian Border, neighbor enough to Manchuria, somewhere in the lands of Rehe and inner Mongolia. The province takes it's name from the Xiao Yú River, an equally forgotten tributary that snakes off the northern hump of the Yellow River, past Shanxi and into the lands beyond.  It's quite alright if you've never seen Xiao Yú on any map, the residents prefer it that way. Some say that it was the Germans who originally erased it from the maps around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, not in the typical Germanic fashion mind you - nothing was burned down - but rather, that their in...

The Revolutionary Army of the Frontier is the Nationalist KMT aligned army operating in  Xiǎo Yú. Their  goals are simple, to drive out the local warlord, to suppress the local banditry, to defeat the local communists, and to bring the province under the control of the fledgling KMT Government in the south.  An over view of the infantry element of the KMT RAF, organized for Fistful of Lead with several options available. In base FFoL not all these infantry would be on the table at once. The squad leader with Pistol, two specialists, four regulars, and a 4 man grunt group.  The Leader in the center, armed with a pistol is currently unnamed, to his left is a melee specialist (I mean look at that beef) and to his right an SMG specialist with MP20 The basic regulars. In a FFoL skirmish game you typically have 3 regulars in your 5 man squad (1 leader, 1 specialist, and 3 regulars) here are four options, as certain leader traits can let you bring more men, o...

The Xiǎo Yú Municipal Police are inspired by the Shanghai Municipal Police and function with much the same role and responsibilities. The International Concessions in Xiǎo Yú are small but no less important than any other in China, and in accordance with treaty arrangements it is the responsibility of the British to maintain a capable and competent police force there in.   An over view of the police forces, organized for Fistful of Lead. Available is our Police Lieutenant, Lt Louden Hurst, looking quite bored as Police Sargent Sanjeev lectures at him. Sgt Sanjeev is armed with an Ishapore, while the remaining squad is armed with Lee Enfield Rifles. They are supported by a Rolls Royce Armored Car.  Being a skirmish game, the basic squad in Fistful of Lead is 5 men. A leader, Lt Hurst, a specialist with specialist weapon, Sgt Sanjeev, and three regulars with rifles.  An alternative for these lads is running them as a "Heroes All" squad, which nixes the leader...

 So I got a light box, and I'm still dialing in how to use it most efficiently.    I've painted up a Chinese Militia and a few heroes or officers. The militia is for Fistful of Lead and is organized around one leader, and four groups of grunts - consisting of 3 grunts per group. The idea is that this could be a poorly trained and armed swarm or hoard. Fistful of Lead focuses around squad based skirmish combat, and your typical squad has 5 models. The leader, specialist, and three regulars and you can swap out one regular for a group of grunts. However there are several squad variants allowing things like a exchanging all five of your guys for four specialists, or in this case, for four groups of grunts and one leader. It's a great system, if you've never played it check it out. (7$ pdf!)  Here are the three heroes or leaders, my apologies as they're a bit washed out. Two Chinese on either end and a European Mercenary in the center. He's not terribly thrilled wit...