Tanks For Nothing.

 Place-Carlisle Airport

Dateline-Sometime in 1938.

          

      Tonight’s game found us back into the times of the Very British Civil War and a confrontation between the combined forces of the Scottish Republican army and the Anglican League facing up to the local B.U.F forces reinforced by local militia which included a squad straight out of Peaky Blinders. The battlefield was the defences of Carlisle airport and it looked like a walk in the park for the fascist defenders until they were faced with a very large tank which came in the form of a French Char 2cwhich although big didn’t have a lot going for it.The problem there though is that if you don’t have anything capable of dealing with it ,it’ll just run over you which it did.

Holding The Line.

An Unused Fiat.

Roadblock.

The Beast In Question.

     The forces were gathered and Herr O’Brien took charge of the Anglican League leaving Oor Andrew in charge of the Scots who came complete with the big tank.El Presidente took charge of the B.U.F. contingent leaving myself in charge of the local militia which consisted of local militia supplemented by some local estate militia shotguns et al.

Obviously The Same Builders As Graustark Flughaven.

My Only Invincible Thing On The Pitch.

They Shall Not Pass.

Peaky Blinders And Co.

          The game kicked off and almost at once the tank made it’s way forward up the flank and it was all we could do to bring all our anti tank rifles to bear on it but chocolate fire guards were words that came to mind-as useless as.We hit it first time but it stood,gave itself a shake and proceeded on its merry little way ploughing its way through field and hedge and because we were concentrating on this adversary the rest of the attackers were being given a free rein manoeuvring wise. The only target of interest were the ladies of the Pankhurst company who had decided to inhabit the building nearest to our trenches.This drew fire from our machine gun team backed up by some rifle fire ensuring they kept their heads down taking a few casualties in doing so.Pizza and beer break arrived so we all trudged across to the local hostelry for some sustenance for the second half.

More Big Guns.

The Non-Christian Anglican Rabble.

“Look At The Size Of That!”

Cannon Fodder.

      Play was resumed and Oor Andrew had arrived to take charge of the Scots and immediately charged forward at 9 miles per hour with his tank surviving not just anti tank rifle fire but also a vain attempt by the female Blackshirt company or should that be the Blackblouse company to storm it.Anyway this group withstood two morale checks and attacked the tank  only being let down at the last minute. by bad dice rolling.An armoured car had been dispatched by B.U.F command to deal with this usurper but kept on missing and eventually was made to retreat itself heading for the safety of the airport.Nothing we were doing was going to stop this juggernaut.Actually this tank achieved more than the tank did in real life.

Here It Comes.

Checking In.

Ready To Follow Up After The Tank.

The Scots Move Forward.

    Herr O’Brien now brought his artillery piece into action,another thing that we did not have an answer for as first it did away with my militia machine gun and then proceeded to whittle away its partner on the hill without any comeback.

Some Familiar Faces.

The Gallant Girls Get Stuck In.

The Lone Piper.

Trying To Stem The Gap.

      My young militia lads tried to bring some equality into the game by rushing the female festooned building in front of them only to have their numbers dwindled but they steadfastly achieved their aim only to be destroyed by the evil Anglican league gun whose crew were laughing at every casualty they were incurring on the innocent militia.The estate militia tried to follow them up moving behind rocks to block line of sight but were informed that line of sight wasn’t blocked so they were cruelly machine gunned by the so called Christians. The third militia squad who closely resembled the gents(and ladies)from Peaky Blinders advanced and wrought havoc amongst the Anglican machine gun cowering behind a hedge.

Another Unused Aircraft.

They Couldn’t Use The Bikes Because Of The Potholes.

Showing How It’s Done.

The Bailiffs Ready To Evict.

     Our biggest and only real problem was the tank on the other side of the playing field which was creating havoc amongst our poor infantry as wave after wave were sent against the tank backed up by some fruitless anti tank rifle shots but alas no success. I don’t want to cast aspersions but the Scottish/Anglican side did seem to have a big advantage in big guns whereas my gallant lads were issued with mere anti tank rifles-just saying.

Nipped Across To Britain For The Day.

The Welcoming Party.

     The game entered the final few minutes as I realised that we were on a hiding to nothing so no side was signalled before the invaders arrived at the meeting place between King Edward and some Austrian corporal.

Teddy And Wallis Oot For The Day-Gin Included.

  “Sorry I Don’t Drink (In German)”

     Not a bad game played in the usual name calling and derogatory comments way but hopefully next time we will have the weapons to seize the day.

       All figures,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente.

          See You All When I See You.

         This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.

        

“Yankee Go Home!”

 Place-Graustark(Garvald Film Studio Backyard)

Date-Sometime in the 1950’s.

Graustark Flughaven.

Tante Ju-Don’t Ask.

Set Dressing.

              

                Tonight’s escapade found us back in the Baltic State of Graustark in the aftermath of the Second World War after finding herself having to fight alongside the Germans due to being annexed along the  same time as the Sudetenland. The Graustarkian Royal Family found themselves incarcerated in their own palace but two of the princesses had managed to escape-one to the west and the other to the Soviet side.Graustark’s war was much the same as the rest of Germany but with rather less destruction.After the surrender Graustark became part of the American occupation zone albeit a part which closely bordered the Soviet zone.Victors and vanquished settled down to the new order in Germany

Here Come The Soviets.

The Yanks Having A Pre Match Huddle.

The Parking Lot.

          The story finds us in the main Graustarkian Flughaven which is the main source of interest to the Americans.The Soviets as always like to make a nuisance of themselves and saw a chance to evict the Americans from the premises.Also the Americans were holding a German rocket scientist which the Soviets would like to get their hands on and whisk him back to the motherland.Actually one of the scientist’s guards is one the Graustarkian princesses. So the scene is set for an evening of 7TV and a lot of toys on display.

Airport Interior.

Hopefully Not Too Many Bullets Around This.

Yana Tsists Arrives In A Taxi-As You Do.

                   El Presidente took charge of the American defenders whilst I was in charge of the Soviet raiders.The game was intended for four participants but due to various reasons everybody else fell by the wayside.My plan was to charge in kick ass and kidnap the scientist but alas.One day that plan will work.

Yana Tsist Looking For A Parking Meter.

Princess Yasha Lara Announces Her Arrival.

Thrown Off The Bus For Not Having A Ticket.

Princess Petra Fried Watches Over The Scientist.

“Stop The Bus I Need A WeeWee”

Percival Patton Wearing His Brother’s Hand Me Downs.

              I drove my vehicles straight through the front gate and within sight of the control tower building I got everybody out of the vehicles and deployed to attack the building only to take fire from the cowardly Americans who were ensconced in the control tower causing one of my men to fall by the wayside.

Flanking The Building.

Another View Of The Parking Lot.

Taking Cover.

     Major Rulon Oboev and his glamorous sergeant Yasha Lara planned to exit their vehicle and make their way round the back of the building in order to distract the guards but weren’t quite stealthy enough as they  drew fire from Sergeant Rock who was standing at the back door smoking a Marlboro .The cigarette dropped from his mouth and before it had hit the ground he was emptying his machine gun clip in the direction of the major .Both Obeov and  Yasha simultaneously hit the dirt.Obeov returned fire but Rock was safe and secure behind the revolving doors.

Typical Sneaky Yank.

Ah!

Ah!Again.

     The only American guard who wasn’t in the building saw the Soviets driving in and decided to hide behind a generator truck before successfully shooting down one of my poor lads.Bossman decided enough was enough and if he didn’t want to end up in a gulag was going to have to think fast.He called for the two nearest riflemen to follow him and he would lead them to glory.This utterance was answered by a grunt from one of the the rifleman as he went down from another sneaky shot from the control tower.

Sergeant Rock Goes Down 

         In charge of the Soviet raiders was all round badass Yana Tsist-hero of the Soviet Union but could have easily turned up for the other side during the war.  Yana Tsist immediately recognised the figure of Percival Patton,,General Patton’s black sheep brother,standing in the doorway of an office room and immediately charged into him armed with his deadly Cossack sword but Percival was ready for him and parried the sword with his riding crop.Stalemate!

Yana Executed.

       A typical sneaky Yank was hiding in an adjoining room and when he saw  the back of Yana Tsist’s assistant jumped out and shot him in the back.Once again very cowardly.To add to even more bad luck El Presidente drew an event card which done away instantly with the princess Yasha Lara and  the last rifleman.The two sisters weren’t fated to meet.

Final Standoff.

After disengaging from their scuffle Yana Tsist retreated slightly into cover snapping a shot of at sergeant Rock in the process with no luck. The noise brought out both of the scientist’s guards ,one of them being the other Graustarkian princess Petra Fried, pistol at the ready clamouring to get into the fight. Yana Tsist was facing fire from all sides whilst Oboev  was slowly making his way through the building firstly doing away with one of the American guards and working his way around sergeant Rock’s defences.It was all too much for Yana Tsist  as in retreating from the fire coming out of the office he came into full view of the guard who had just despatched the last Soviet private.Yana was Borscht 

From Another Angle.

  On seeing this Obeov  flew into a rage and after dispatching sergeant Rock headed straight for the approaching Percival Patton and proceeded to trade shots with him wounding Patton but  taking a hit himself.El Presidente then drew an event card which brought the proceedings to a halt.El Presidente had won on points but no knockout 

Patton’s Getaway Plane Being Readied-Just In Case.

    A great game giving El Presidente a chance to get a lot of his toys into play including the two aircraft which I didn’t know he had.

         See You All When I See You.

    This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.