Les Francais Contre Les Viet-Minh avec Tuk Tuks.

Temps- Mercredi 13th Mai 1953

Place-Quelque Part Au Vietnam.

Monsieur O’Brien inspects his troops.

        Mais oui this evening found us in the struggle between the French colonists and the Viet-Minh during the early fifties where the French still wanted to hold on to part of South East Asia but were just whittled away. The numbers were down on our last encounter with Chief Skulker being caught up in his football team’s bid for glory and Comrade Gilchristi was in Beograd.Herr O’Brien and myself were first on the scene so we divvied up the French colonists between us and prepared to be assaulted by an awful lot of Viet-Minh in the capable hands of El Presidente and encore une  fois the late arrival of Oor Andrew.

Sleepy River Scene.

Just in case.

Morning in Vietnam.

Here come the Tuk Tuks.

         The French forces consisted of French para squads backed up by some armour and were confronted by an awful lot of Viet-Minh who would just respawn every time a squad was eliminated.Not so Les Francais.We thought there should’nt be any problems as we had armour and they didn’t.Somebody should have told the Viet-Minh that.So we set our defences in the town and positioned a couple of squads at nearby firebases backed up by the armour to blunt the attack on the town and waited for the onslaught.

Prowling (In French)

Passing the time.

“Spicy Noodles Please.”

Winding her way home after a busy evening.

                It didn’t come as a torrent more a gentle trickle as El Presidente started probing the defences of the fire base on his side and loading another squad onto some Tuk Tuks in order to speed themselves into the attack.A solitary volley was fired at the fire base inflicting one casualty but that was that and with the end of that quick turn we all headed across to the local hostelry for some vittles and beer.No Vietnamese food on the menu though-pity.

Only took one shot.

And they are getting nearer.

Looking for Monsieur O’Brien.

And they are now on my radar.

           Oor Andrew arrived to join us for the second half hoping to waylay the French imperialists but the Paras were having none of it and intended to sell the town dearly. The second half began with a wishful attack on our armour protecting Herr O’Brien’s firebase by a bazooka armed Vietnamese lad hoping for the luck of the Vietnamese gods to help him and they must have been listening because lo and behold he hit it and it disappeared into a flaming load of scrap metal.Not the restart we had envisaged.Fresh from their initial success Oor Andrew attempted to assault my firebase noticing there was a tank situated in it rich for the pickings.As soon as he fired on the firebase my own lads popped up and after gaining a battlefield promotion proceeded to fire back and ready themselves to repel borders.Oor Andrew took his chance and rushed the buildings taking casualties in the process and found themselves in Mano a Mano with my survivors who came out on top and destroyed the attackers.No bad till we realised they would be coming straight back after a quick respawn.

Master of all it surveys.

Machine gun at the ready.

Monsieur O’Brien’s heavy weapons pret.

More cannon fodder for my big rifle.

 El Presidente’s forces had rid themselves of their Tuk Tuk transport and proceeded to leg it up the road towards the town .Time for my recoiless rifle to come to the fore and start clearing the road of these usurpers and combined with Herr O’Brien’s concentrated mortar fire managed to destroy another squad .El Presidente was having similar luck attacking Herr O’Brien’s firebase with bad luck and inaccurate dice rolling preventing his forces from getting anywhere near clearing the firebase.

My men having to leave their bottles of wine.

Deciding wether or not to attack the Sherman.

And they do.

      On the other side of town Oor Andrew was having better luck as he threw everybody lock,stock and barrel at my firebase which was good luck for me as it left the town alone.Another assault  was sent in with this time the squad getting the upper hand albeit with a load of casualties of their own.The only problem was that my Sherman tank was still on the premises but not for long as it engaged reverse gear and quickly left Dodge.Oor Andrew’s lads decided to rapidly follow it and hoped to do away with it and they did suceed to a point as they successfully attacked it but couldn’t damage it apart from setting it on fire but this was instantly doused.This advance to the rear left the Vietnamese-Minh in charge of another firebase but time was running out for them to take over the town.

Regrouping after setting it on fire.

Monsieur O’Briens infantry showing face.

My militia giving the Viet-Minh a bloody nose.

    On the other side of town El Presidente wasn’t having much luck both against Herr O’Brien’s firebase and also his lads who had foresaken the Tuk Tuks headed up the road to meet their fate which came in the form of a recoiless rifle perched on a building to give it more of a view of the surrounding countryside. The rifle was very successful in ridding us of another Vietnamese-Minh squad which came with the help of my mortar and some gunfire from Herr O’Brien’s infantry.Another squad was trying to creep around the town but even although it was being pruned I brought out another squad from hiding-just in case.My tank had actually retired enough to help in hindering the Vietnamese-Minh squad from capturing any real estate.      

El Presidente’s forces nearing the edge of town.

Another Viet-Minh squad dwindles.

Oor Andrew’s semi victorious squad had retired to the relative safety of my abandoned firebase and had met up with some reinforcing squads complete with a bazooka firer who after missing the tank found himself the subject of some machine gun gun fire which destroyed the whole team.Oor Andrew knew that the final whistle was drawing near so just decided to set up camp in the firebase as crossing the open ground would be impossible in the remaining time.El Presidente was off the same ilk a even though their forces could be replaced there was not enough time left.A “close”victory for the French colonists who although took a few hits in the suburbs they survived long enough to fight another day but not for long.

Still at the edge of town.

Still prowling

       A great and different game and for once played very amicably.All figures,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente.

       See You All When I See You.

     This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.

Shanghaied in Garvald

 Place-Somewhere in the Far East(Backlot of the Garvald Film Studios)

Time-Sometime in the 1920’s(About Half past Seven)

Herr O’Brien on a good day.

       First game in a wee while saw me venturing into the realms of Back of Beyond and a six man skirmish between various factions as we had a full house at the dacha of El Presidente with people attending from as far away as Billsquarry in West Lothian which really is Back of Beyond country.

The Turks Turn Up.

Oor Andrew’s late arriving Tibetans.

My Chinese Carry Oots.

In attendance were of course El Presidente,myself and various miscreants including Chief Skulker Donald,Comrade Gilchrist and Herr O’Brien.As usual Oor Andrew was at the coo’s tail meaning he was left with the last remaining army whether he liked it or not.On a first come first served basis I chose the Chinese faction and for some reason Donald picked the Red Russians and Comrade Gilchristi chose the White Russians.Very much against the grain.El Presidente chose the Turks before Herr O’Brien proved true to form and picked the Mad Baron leaving Andrew with the Tibetans.Each faction came complete with its own building which were secondary objectives with the 2 religious buildings in the middle of the table being the main objectives.Rules used for all you serious gamers was The Men Who Would Be Kings with a few variations. 

The Tibetan Yurt.

My wee home from home.

The Mosque In Question.

                  We played a turn before heading to the pub for our customary beer and pizza break and immediately I was assailed in the flank by Comrade Gilchristi due to him randomly being dealt the first turn card. The object of his desires were my Chow Mein squad who found themselves literally with their backs to the wall being waylaid by a squad of White Russian infantry and after they took a few casualties insult was added to injury by the Russian machine gun taking a few more.My plan had been to indulge in a 3 way plan with defending against the said White Russians,sprinting to capture the mosque whilst assaulting Andrew’s Tibetan stronghold with my Borscht Russian mercenary cavalry but once again my fantastic battle plan lasted to the first shot.

You don’t see many horses on the fourth floor.

My Russian resisters.

“Who needs a vest on!”

        Comrade Gilchristi’s other forces headed towards Donald’s Reds ensconced in the corner of the table hoping for a two way victory but Donald was having nothing of it.Herr O’Brien started his assault on El Presidente who was situated like myself in the middle of the table so he would be involved in a 2 way struggle with Donald and Herr O’Brien so again like myself he would be assaulted quickly on both sides.After the first round of sparring we all traipsed off to the hostelry where we were joined by some of our erstwhile spouses and also Oor Andrew.

Here come the Russians.

Chief Skulkers Leather Clad Railway Workers.

El Presidente pondering.

        After being suitably refreshed we plonked ourselves back around the table and began our usual evening of bickering,name calling and the usual terrible dice rolling.Andrew assumed command of the Tibetans and immediately placed one of his cavalry units within charging range of my Borscht cavalry and with usual niaveness charged in to them  making them retreat only to find myself within range of his infantry which he had placed in his home building.Lo and behold one took a few hits depleting them even more giving Andrew’s cavalry to charge back into my Borscht cavalry who instantly turned into Borscht. The only saving grace was that El Presidente had introduced a rule which meant that we could bring back the first unit that was eliminated..Voila!Another unit of Borscht cavalry .

In we go!

The Tibetan Command Squad.

Trying to do away with the Tibetan Cavalry-Part 2.

    My machine gun gun deployed and was given the task of protecting my left flank from the incursions of the White Russians but it was looking like a Forlorn Hope but it would keep the Russian wolf from my back door and give me the chance to have my Hoisin squad leg it towards the Mosque objective and the chance of some much needed victory points.On the other side of the playing field El Presidente was indulging in a two way struggle between the evil Red Russians led by Chief Skulker and Herr O’Brien with his Mongol festooned cavalry supplemented by some Japanese and Chinese infantry infantry-obviously the unrighteous Chinese.

The Turks rushing to the church service.

Japanese sailors being used as cannon fodder.

Bringing some religion to the fight.

         My Russian cavalry lasted about as long as their predecessors which was about thirty seconds as once again my cavalry were decimated by Oor Andrew’s infantry and cavalry combination.My Hoisin squad had eventually reached the semi safety of the Mosque but no sooner had they dug in when they were attacked by the cowardly Tibetans who in turn were being used as cannon fodder by the evil Mad Baron’s army. The remainder of Oor Andrew’s army after waylaying my innocent lads turned his attention towards the Mad Baron’s forces who didn’t seem to be doing a lot apert from his cannon which seemed to be sniping away rather successfully against the Tibetans who came complete with their own squad of warrior monks who after squaring up against the Mongol cavalry decided to change tack and head for the already occupied mosque hoping to dislodge my Hoisin squad.

Mongols against Tibetans with a load of horses.

Now monks against Mongols.

Shooting at the reds.

     My Chinese Chow Mein squad meanwhile had been trading shots with the Tibetans shooting from the comfort of their own yurt.My Chow Mein squad decided that discretion was the best part of valour and advanced to the rear towards their own howf hopefully to receive the benefit of some defence.That they did but it just started a tit for tat shooting match with the ensconced Tibetans and my casualties were rising a bit more than the Tibetans.

The monks trying to get into the mosque.

The railway workers advance.

Russians and Russians.

        After an initial rebuff of the Tibetans from their assault on the mosque,they found themselves to being assaulted in the rear by Mad Baron’s Chinese infantry who after successfully chasing off the Tibetans turned their rifles on my Chinese church goers making them leave the premises and their last show of defiance was to stick the finger up at the the new inhabitants.

The remnants of the Hoisin squad being evicted from the mosque.

Comrade Gilchristi’s White Cavalry oot for a trot.

The traitorous Chinese entering the mosque.

     On the other side of the pitch El Presidente had made a mad dash towards the christian church in the middle of the playing field in order to bag a few late points.That was the game over and after divvying up the points Herr O’Brien was found to be the winner of the.A good game played by one and all even allowing for the backstabbing but where would a Wednesday Garvald evening without it.All scenery,scenario and figures were provided from the collection of El Presidente.

       See You All When I See You.