Belgians & Cowboys

                   Tuesday 13th November.

Honest we were really chuffed.

                                      Since I have just come back into the possession of my camera after its four week hiatus from its owner due leaving it elsewhere I decided to put together a quick blog about the contents of the disc namely our successful venture up to the Skelp Wargame show in Forfar away back on October 13th.

Wild West Forfar style.

The line up.

Non playing extras.

                                    Our entry this year was Bill's cowboy game using his Playmobil figures combined with The Legend of the West rules.The game went down a treat with the natives so much so that we won first prize in the public participation game category.An unlooked for bonus to end  an excellent game show.This was my first visit to the Angus Wargames show and I must admit it was a fantastic little game show with all the games and traders in the one hall with only the Bring and Buy in another room and what a very cheap Bring and Buy it was.The added attraction of some very nice bacon rolls amongst other goodies provided by the host's field kitchen proved the icing on the cake of a very enjoyable day.

Daddy enjoying the game more than his kids.

All quiet on the Forfar front.

A member of the Hole in the Wall gang.

                                        The culmination of the day came for us in the form of a trophy for first place in the PP category which has helped make the first year of the Gothenburg Gamers existence very rewarding indeed.

"You fill up my senses,
Like a night in a forest"

Bill adjudicating.

He's never moved that fast for a long time.

A happy man.

                                     The second set of photographs were taking at my first figure game in a while as due to family excursions and the playing of board games(Onward To Venus-a great Victorian Sci-Fi game).Dave O'Brien,Bill Gilchrist and myself headed out to the backwoods of Garvald to indulge in a Bolt Action game organised by Colin Jack and lo and behold involved early war Belgians aided by some invisible  Frenchmen trying to hold back the Teutonic hordes in early 1940.

A Belgian coastal ville.

In sunny Garvald.

Belgian mortar slightly blurred.

                                            This gave Colin the chance to bring out some of his dinky Belgian tanks and tankettes to supplement his early war French Somuas.

The less lethal side of a Pz mk1v

Dave rushes up the road.

Frenchman in waiting.

                                                    Dave and myself took on the role of the German invaders whilst the defenders were divvied up between Bill and Colin who I think both realised they were on a hiding to nothing and this proved to be so with the defenders on the back foot for the entire game.

Hunting the French

Meanwhile my men are spread out in a bunch.

A closer look at the blurred Belgians.

                                                           From the outset the Germans charged straight in with Dave's armour heading along the road hoping to beat my infantry into the ville hoping to get to the Stellas before me.I planned to deploy my infantry to try and flush out any hidden defenders and armour.

Waiting for the chance to assault the tank.

The heavy boys move up.

A Teutonic traffic jam.

                                           The first sign of allied resistance came in the form of a Somua tank cowering behind a farmer's shed.It fired at our armour but was as useful as a chocolat fireguard bringing instant retribution in the form of Dave's tank guns who although didn't do it any real damage made it hunker down so my brave infantry could rush in and perform the coup de grace.

Take that you bounder(In German).

Booyah!(In German)

Approaching the town complete with a non playing zeppelin.

At last some Belgian armour.

About to be crept up on.

Only one outcome.

                                                  After the first couple of moves the four of us retired to the local inn for some home cooked pizza watered down by some Orkney ale to give us energy for the second half of our game which tended to go the same way as the first half with Dave and I racing towards the village in order to be the first to reach the coast.

Not a good evening for the Belgian armour.

And the French armour.

"Head for the sea mein Junge"

The armour eventually turns up.

But beaten by the infantry.

                                           Colin and Bill tried mainly in vain to stop the onslaught but apart from a few sporadic successes found themselves trying in vain.
                                              Once again another game played out in the best of spirits.

                                              Hopefully with Christmas over the horizon we will get a few more games under our belt with myself hoping to provide a few festive games with another assault on the North Pole planned as well as a game featuring the Krampus character from central Eirope.
                                            See You All When I See You.