Wednesday 29th January
Braved the stormy evening to head out to Garvald for a return to the Germanic state of Graustark which is a mythical state situated on the Baltic Sea and as usual populated mainly by women in Colin Jack’s universe.
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| Venice now becomes Graustark. |
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| Strange bed companions. |
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| "Aufsteigen!" |
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| Waiting to ambush mein junge! |
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| Bill's other machine gun! |
It wasn't the best of evenings for driving and especially as I had just washed my car I decided to drive through various large puddles.So what you say, but the problem with East Lothian is that the earth is mostly red and therefore my car has a new red plimsoll line but it was worth it for a game of Freikorps.Bill Gilchrist had also ventured out to the wilds of Garvald and so we settled down for another struggle between the good guys and the commies circa 1918.
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| Looking for bad guys. |
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| S.M.S Pinguin taking its time in docking-I'm not complaining. |
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| A tete a tete on the steps? |
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| The hidden gun. |
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| Not for long. |
As previously stated Bill took charge of the Spartakists who were vying for control of Graustark aided by the glorious female inhabitants of the town dressed more for a Sunday picnic than a battle.Bill's army had the unusual trait of being commanded by Rosa Luxemburg and Adrian Carton De Wiart,very unusual bed partners but heh hoh it makes a good talking point.The gist of the story was that the Spartakists had taken control of the town and the inhabitants had sent word to the local Freikorps for some assistance and this was duly answered by the arrival of heavily armed,well trained units complemented by an artillery piece.Game on!
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| "And Rosa's in the canal!Again!" |
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| Running for cover. |
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| My glorious lads. |
The initial forces were set up and I was allowed to set my gun up as deployed and also allowed to bring a unit on at the local railway station.Hopefuly this would get me off to a flier.My first unit arrived at the station and my plan was for them to draw fire and this they did from a sneakily placed machine gun and a hidden bunch of marauding sailors.This caused me a few casualties but did give my gun the chance to come into immediate action.This it did and the result was the demise of the machine gun team.First blow to the Freikorps!
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| Yip they are all female. |
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| Colin's girl cadets. |
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| Up close and personal. |
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| Love the hats! |
My plan was to move up lock,stock and barrel giving Andrew when he arrived with his Bavarians, plenty of room to bolster our attack.Once again that was the plan.Colin's girls were to be the reinforcements but the stumbling block to their appearance was that they were coming by ship and he had to dice to come on and suitable dice score was long in coming giving me more time to clear Bill's defenders.Well that was the plan but my first squad were caught out in the open and were whittled away albeit slowly.
Pizza and ale time arrived so we traipsed over to the pub braving the stormy weather and were joined by Andrew and his lovely wife Lesley.I think the purchase of a pizza by Andrew for Lesley is his 3 hour pass for indulging in toy soldiers.I'm glad mine is 10 miles away and would get lost.
Pizza was finished and so we headed back to the games room and a continuation of my good luck-not!Colin's forces finally arrived and were rushing down the gang plank ready for a scrap.Bill's lorried gun opened up on my beleaguered first squad and done a bit of damage but revenge was sweet as my own gun opened up and done away with this mere bee sting.Andrew's forces were coming on in dribs and drabs meaning my junge were taking a few shots.My second squad rushed Bill's sailor infested building and done away with the inhabitants and then continued out the building door and done away with a second sailor squad but the cost was high and my junge had diminished to four me but they still had enough to do away with Bill's command squad Rosa Luxemburg et al!
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| Andrew's Bavarians go into action. |
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| And the guys behind them. |
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| More Bavarians. |
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| Flying the flag. |
The attack on our right flank was faltering as Bill's remaining defenders entombed in a building were doing away with my approaching forces and my third squad's advances came to a stuttering halt in front of the building and my supporting fourth squad although entering the building and doing away with Bill's last infantry were themselves charged and done away with by one of Colin's girl squads.This squad of girls then followed up and attacked my machine gun squad doing away with them in the process leaving us defenceless on our right flank.
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| Andrew's machine gun. |
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| And mine's about to come to a sticky end courtesy of more females. |
Andrew moved his Bavarians up but eventually they found themselves plugging gaps with the only notable thing being a rush up our left flank,through the captured side of the town and a shooting match with the girls on the other side.Through the engagement I fell back into bad concentration and didn't some units up quickly enough leaving a machine gun and cannon in our wake.When I finally started moving them it was just about timt for the final whistle.
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| A building about to be cleansed. |
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| Sneaking around the dockside. |
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| It's actually a machine gun. |
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| Andrew finally lets rip! |
Colin's girls were getting established on the dockside and were even bringing their artillery to the fore but once again not quite quick enough meaning we controlled one side of the port and Bill and Colin the other at the end of the game.A score draw I think although Dave O'Brien would think otherwise and he wasn't even there.A great game as Freikorp games usually are with another chance to get all these beautiful toys on the table.Thanks to Colin for the game and the supply of figures,scenery and scenario.
See You All when I See You.
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