My modern streeet gangs (Silent Slumbers Motel added 11/25/23)

[CookAndrewB]

I'm going to be up in Grandview in the next week or so. My wife wants to visit the High School for an open house prior to a renovation. I will definitely keep my eye open for any Gurkhas lurking about!

Now, post those new gangs already! 

[mikedemana]

Keep an eye out, indeed! Those nasty knives of theirs...!

You are correct...I have been negligent in posting more gangs. I will get on that presently!! Thanks for the reminder, and enjoy your time in town. Let me know if you want to have a beer in a local brewpub. 

Mike Demana
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[mikedemana]

The Franklinton Flippos go looking for trouble at the corner shell station

My apologies for being a slacker and not posting another of my gangs for awhile! The end of the school year was "crunch time" as a teacher. Plus, I was getting ready to run the game at a local convention -- post coming on that soon, as well! To make up for the layoff, here's my creepiest gang of them all, the Franklinton Flippos!

Creepy clown facesmare enough to unnevere just about anyone on the streets

The figures come from The Assault Group's two packs, Rioters in Clown Masks (https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product/rioters-in-clown-masks/) and Rioters in Anonymous Masks (https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product/rioters-in-anonymous-masks/). If you prefer guns, they also make a Goons in Clown Masks pack, but my gang warfare is based off of the 1979 cult movie classic, The Warriors. So, guns are frowned upon.

Clown Down! The Flippos mix it up with the Linden Daos on the streets of Columbus

Anyway, the "Franklinton" comes from one of the neighborhoods in my hometown of Columbus. I am basing all my gangs in my city to give it a local feel and storyline for our games. The "Flippos" part comes from a local TV show back when I was a kid -- Flippo the Clown. He was a local celebrity of sorts, and I've painted the gang's colors to be a nod to his clown costume.

Looking to bust some heads, the Flippos prowl the streets

The most noticeable part of the gang is the masks, of course. I did the best I could to make them look like Flippo's clown paint that he wore. His wig was red, so of course the hair sticking off of the masks was painted to match that scheme, as well. Of course, clowns themselves have become part of our culture as "creepy," so all the better for a gang to choose a look that unnerves their opponents and people on the streets!

What would you do if you saw a bunch of these guys headed your way?

The shirts are all painted as blue with white polka dots. Flippos costume was bluel and had white pom-poms on it. So, I figured this gave a good tribute to it. The gang members' pants are a mix - some jeans, shorts, or black pants. The figure with the leather jacket was painted with a clown logo on back.

The Flippos look to steal a car from the Service Department

This gang has actually become one of the ones I field in all of my games I run at conventions. They make quite the splash on the tabletop, and are over-the-top kind of like the "Baseball Furies" in the movie. There's something about a bunch of idiotically grinning group of clowns coming at you that makes you want to either run away or go pound them just to knock that stupid smile off their face! 

Looking to create some mischief near the motel

The pics are all from various games I have run with the Flippos in action. Hope you enjoy them!

Mike Demana
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[Cat]

Yeah, Flippo the Clown works much better as a gang inspiration than the local TV show we had here in Boston — Bozo the Clown!
: 3

[FramFramson]

I wonder if the Flippos are a branch of the Juggalos... 

[mikedemana]

I wonder if the Flippos are a branch of the Juggalos... 

Depending on the game, they have fought like that a time or two...! 

Mike Demana
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[CookAndrewB]

Great new gang. A while back we had a run of "creepy clown" sightings throughout central Ohio. Someone dressed as a creepy clown standing on a street corner at 2am holding balloons and just... standing there. People were getting pretty freaked out by it. Even worse if those clowns started to carry bats and quietly hum nursery rhymes as they swarmed down the street.

[mikedemana]

I had completely forgotten about that...! Now I remember the news reports... 

And yes, carrying baseball bats instead of balloons would make them more menacing. 

Mike Demana
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[Cat]

When clown masks are outlawed, only outlaws will be clowns!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_clown_sightings#Clown_costume_bans_and_withdrawals

[pistolpete]

Clowns are scary no matter what.
Every consider doing a “guardian angels” type gang?
And where are the cops to break this all up? (End of game event?)

[mikedemana]

I actually have an idea for conventions when a player is knocked out early in the game (usually doesn't happen, but players do strange things sometimes at conventions). They will be given two police cars and 4 cops to show up on the table edge of their choice. They'll use their billy clubs until one of the officers is knocked out or down. Then, they are allowed to pull out their pistols. 

One of my regular players actually suggested that as a randomized end of game -- everybody scatters when the cops arrive. I may still do that, but hate to cut a game short if everyone is having fun...

Mike Demana
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[Cat]

I've been pondering something to do with cop cars, I've got some nice NYC ones and light bars to swap in to make them perfect for The Warriors.  At the very least, they could be a real clock time the game will end next turn because the session will be ending thing to bring on.
 
I like the billy clubs until knocked down idea too.
 
I've also pondered Guardian Angels — they could arrive at the nearest train station.  Corvus Games Terrain has beautiful STL files for subway and elevated stations with track and cars!

[Cat]

Ooh, and Crooked Dice just posted some photos on the 7TV FB group of some lovely cops.  They have a pack of 4 with clubs, and then a pack of 4 with pistols to swap in when needed:
https://crooked-dice.co.uk/product/lawmen/

They have some other figures I've been looking at recently, time to go browsing through their shop... There are some entertaining gang options, and nice heads for making custom gangs, including male and female heads with berets for Guardian Angels.

[mikedemana]

My police officers are from Ral Partha / Iron Wind Metals, I believe. They usually come to conventions in our area and bring bins of loose lead to sort through. That's where I have picked up a number of my Pulp type figures.



I know some of them are a tad smaller than current 28mm figs, but not ridiculously so, I think.

Mike Demana
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[mikedemana]

The Eastmoor Kings, on left, rumble with one of the previous gangs I posted here, the Hilltop Highlanders

Time for another gang to be posted here -- it has been a couple weeks since I put up pictures of the Flippos. So, here is the gang I usually end up playing in our games on Sunday nights - the Eastmoor Kings!


The gang gathers on a street corner, ready to go out and look for some action!

I purchased figures from The Assault Group from their Ultra Modern line (https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product-category/ultra-modern/) in their "rioters" packs, and they are perfect for this period. I tossed in a couple figures I had already to supplement what I purchased, but most of these figures are straight out of the pack, unmodified.


Some brews sound like the perfect thing to relax with after bashing in the heads of rival gang members

When I was going to high school in Columbus, Eastmoor was always a "scary" school. It was largely an African-American school (two-time Heisman trophy winner Archie Griffin went there!). So, it seemed a natural to name an African-American gang like the Kings after that school. Why the Kings? I did a Google search on gang logos and symbols, and The Kings kept coming up. It seemed like an appropriate gang name. Plus, I felt I could handle painting a crown with an "E" inside of it on their gang apparel.


No need to go in through the front door, let's just slip in the back and grab a few six-packs!

I gave most of the gang members jeans or gym shorts. I really like how the leader with the pistol came out, though, with the purple sweat pants. I am basing my games on the world of the Hollywood movie, The Warriors (except set in Columbus instead of New York City). Like in the movie, the gangs will prefer melee weapons rather than firearms. However, the figures was too good to not use, so he will make it onto the tabletop.


"Somewhere out on that horizon...I know there must be something better" - kicking back and looking out over the city after a night on the streets

I also like how the gang logo came out, with a stylized light green crown with a black "E" on it. This is definitely a gang I will need to test out writing the gang members names on the edges of the bases. A couple of the figures look very similar, so the last thing I want my players at a convention to get confused about is who's who. I usually give the players cards for each gang member or a printout of their list with pictures pasted in of the figure next to it.


Looking to get lucky at the motel...

I wasn't crazy about the molotov cocktails that some of the figures came with, but they are such cool sculpts that I painted them up for the gang. I thought about snipping off what looks like the fuse, but figured that one day I may want to include molotov cocktails in the game! So, instead I painted them up as beer bottles. I rationalize in the game that they are a beer  the gang member is carrying around and drinking. When it comes time to rumble, they break the bottle and it becomes a handy knife!


A close up of the two figures I use most often for the Gang Boss of the Eastmoor Kings

Hope you guys enjoy the gang! Keep the great comments coming, and stay tuned for more of my gangs!

Mike Demana
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/