The Case of the Non Disappearing Plot Points.

 Dateline 10th April 198odd.

 Place Dunsapie Town(not far from the Garvald Film Studios)

Junkers W34 forerunner of Tante Ju.

More groovy planes.

Downtown Dunsapie.

Dunsapie Docklands.

             Oot tae sunny Garvald for a rip roaring delve into the realms of 7TV involving British Bobbies,Hispanic gangs,Blade Runner participants and our heroine Gertrude Agnes Winklepicker last seen flying a Gloster Meteor out of the renegade state of Graustark.Once again welcome to the world of El Presidente.

Waiting on a ride.

That film is showing everywhere.

Things to come.

The source of my investigation.

     On arrival I found the table had been set up to the usual high standards of El Presidente with a town supplemented by a harbour and the landing spot for a seaplane that El Presidente had picked up and was itching to get into a game.It was to provide one of the plot points with which  Oor Andrew had to find.Also set up was the gang’s compound from which he was to venture out and purloin some goodies.Oor Andrew was given charge of a Hispanic gang which was to provide backup for his nefarious schemes and these  were to support the actions of their leader who came in the guise of a Samuel L Jackson lookalike.My force for good consisted of the aforementioned Gertrude Agnes Winklepicker backed up by the local forces of law and order complemented by another relation of Dorcas Knight,Starry Knight who proved to be worse than useless.At least she drove the police car and its inhabitants to their ultimate demise.Lurking amongst both of our groups were individuals from Blade Runner.My two were Roy and Zhora who we are led to believe witnessed a raid on a local garage.Oor Andrew’s two misfits were actually categorised as hostages and they came in the form of Pris and Leon.El Presidente had come up with a side story of all four of the miscreants become targets of the Tyrell Corporation and runners backed up by Rachel hunting them down.

The sicarios hideout.

More downtown pre action.

Not a lot doing.

Waiting on the price to rise.

     The game kicked off in the usual way with everybody jumping into their cars and heading for their objectives.Gertrude Agnes Winklepicker had said a sad farewell to her previous companion who went by the name of Jim.His replacement came in the form of Dougie who came with a terrifying snarl but little else as we found out to our dismay.My inhabited police car headed rapidly towards the garage with ?.... driving and Sergeant Pearly White hanging on for grim death as the car hurtled towards its destiny and a lot of bullets in the process.Gertrude tried her hardest to keep up with the police car but the drawing of a countdown card meant that Getrudes’s motor bike had stalled and she couldn’t move for a turn.

Horsing about.

Another short of the Dunsapie airport.

The forces of good and evil meet.

The heroines and heroes answer the call.

     Starry Knight  had arrived at the side of the garage just in time to be met with a hail of bullets from the bad guys.The majority of the bad guys were being driven in a large black Citroen DS straight out of Day of the Jackal and wasted no time in blasting away at my white Ford Granada.Andrew’s driver nicknamed the Chuffer produced a machine gun and proceeded to spray and aerate my my newly valeted car doing away with poor Starry in the process as well as the two members of the public who had reported the disturbance at the garage who just happened to be Roy and Zhora.Sergeant Pearly was not amused and proceeded to shoot back but to no avail.

Bullets and horses**t a flying.

Dougie lurches in.

Here comes the Tyrell Investigative Corporation arrive.

This would have been Mr Ray’s gang if he hadn’t been away on a comeback tour.

      My other three members of the local constabulary had changed tack and instead of following the Granada headed towards the sound of the over revving Peugeot which was in the process of taking Samuel towards his first objective but on seeing the Peugeot reversing back towards the ensuing fracas decided again to change tack and head towards their beleaguered colleagues.It was during this exchange of gunfire a wild accusation was thrown in my direction about how I still had a lot of plot points remaining in my pool and since I wasn’t allowed to debate the point using arm wrestling I duly informed the opposition that I had used my plot points rather candidly but the sounds of derision still echoed round the room.

Dougie is still hanging on but not for long.

  Amidst all this accusation hoohaa Sergeant Pearl had replied with her revolver and scored an immediate hit on one of the sicarios sending him spinning into oblivion.This sound of gunfire and the doing away of a further two replicants who were actually hostages brought the attention of three of the remaining Tyrell Investigative Corporation who proceeded to head for Oor Andrew’s sicarios doing away with one in the process.After this deed was done they just melted into the background their part in the game over.

Bing warbles a song.

     My three remaining very special constables emerged from the side street and headed for the cover of the bullet riddled Granada.This drew them to the attention of the Samuel L Jackson lookalike and the newly arrived Foxy Loxy.Eventually joining  the fracas Gertrude sent the snarling Dougie into biting range of the Chuffer meaning she was pinned.Dougie seemed up to the task even although the evil opposition had already dealt him a wound.Wait till the Garvald S.P.C.A.get to hear about this especially as Oor Andrew is a dog owner! The Chuffer was joined in the fight by another sicario and both of them combined to do away with poor Dougie.Looks like another trip to the Cat and Dog home for Gertrude.

Gertrude hides behind the Land Rover.

       Sergeant Pearl finally gave up the ghost and went down to another cowardly sicario shot.Since Chuffer had been released from Dougie’s snarling fangs she meted out revenge courtesy of her machine gun and done away with two of my constables and inflicting a couple of wounds on poor Gertrude.Due to the vagaries of the game my lot had to perform which was basically a bottle test which they failed and Gertrude was last seen heading towards Seafield Cat and Dog home to replace Dougie.She would probably be better buying a second hand tiger.

And is finally seen heading for the Cat and Dog home.

      Once again another great game played out to the usual cat calling and accusations.All figs,scenery and scenario provided from the vault of El Presidente’s mansion.We’re still a bit underwhelmed by the new rules and we usually refer to the earlier rules for clarifications especially this time concerning more than two characters being involved in fisticuffs.

       See You All When I See You and hopefully with some solo games to bolster up my silly game playing.

      This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.

The Unenthusiastic Skulker.

 Date-28th February 192ish.

Place-Garvald’s Twin Town in the Back of Beyond.

             

Artsakh-Garvald’s Twin Town.

                The first game of the year saw us return to the deserts and backwaters of Artsakh which to some I would imagine would qualify it as Garvald’s twin town.Tonight’s game was to be the last rule tester before a few of the Gothenburg Gamers headed out to Scotland’s backwater of Kirriemuir to do battles with the League of Gentlemen Wargamers in their biannual get together.

Garvald’s Twin Town 

A Picture Postcard view of the local market.

                Four ne’er-do-wells and myself gathered to play out these final run throughs with all the amendments and rule simplifications .Basic forces had been set up and we were ready for the off but we had to delay kickoff as we were waiting on the Mad Baron of North Berwick to arrive.After his grand entrance we got down to the nitty gritty with each unit facing another.Due to a late call of Donald and I were left in charge of three units so I let him have some extra cavalry and an armoured car to help him cut swathes through the Mad Baron’s forces and his partner in crime Comrade Gilchristi.What was I thinking off? I expected to be able to concentrate on removing El Presidente’s Chinese rabble from the playing field and bask in my glory but that wasn’t to be the case. I systematically took the Chinese apart but on glancing to my left found that the chief Skulker’s forces were diminishing with a lot of dead horses lying about and an armoured car that was needing a visit from the local AA.

Donald’s forces given some support.

My Brits about to bestow the British way of life on some Oriental heathens.

         After our usual visit to the local hostelry in Garvald we got down to fighting to the bitter end.In Donald’s case that didn’t last long. I duly got down to business of eradicating the enemy with a combination of cannon fire and a stiff upper lip clearing the Chinese infantry from the field and thoroughly dismantling the enemy’s armour.The Russian allies that I had appropriated were found to be under enthusiastic in moving forward to take the village but eventually one of the units finally arrived at the railway station but found themselves in opposition with their fellow countrymen albeit in the form of Redskis courtesy of Comrade Gilchristi but alas his infantry didn’t want to occupy it as enthusiastically as myself.My lads duly entered the station bought some railway tickets and proceeded to fire at the Comrades’s lads with some good old lead shot.

Corned Beef on the hoof.

Comrade Gilchristi’s infantry looking to see if they have enough money to buy some train tickets.

My Russian conscripts seemed to have lost their way to the village.

         On the other side of the pitch Chief Skulker was not making as much headway as myself and as previously stated was finding his part of the battlefield littered with equine corpses as he struggled to deal with the cavalry onslaught from the Mad Baron and his erstwhile ally as first his lesser cavalry were coming up trumps against Donald’s supposedly better cavalry and as for his armoured car it was coming up second best against what looked like a lorry with some scrap metal on it.

Donald’s Armour looking as proud as a Peacock-For Now!

The Mad Baron’s hastily put together armour.

And his “inferior”cavalry.

        I must have been distracted with events going on in my flank as I lost track of my own advances and found that El Presidente was beginning to cause a few casualties amongst my lads culminating in the destruction of my armoured car.To rub salt into my wounds Comrade Gilchristi had sneaked a machine gun team into an adjoining building to the railway station and was taking aim on my ensconced infantry picking them off and forcing them to vacate the premises and then proceeding to shoot them in their retreating back and that was their fellow countrymen.Their remaining colleagues on seeing this decided to head for cover in the other buildings.Donald was still playing to form as he was whittled down to a squad of Japanese sailors (what they were doing in the middle of a desert I don’t know).They took cover in the village but the vicious two way assault was too much for them and they eventually dissolved into a mass of sushi.

           

The “better cavalry “getting the s**t kicked out of them by the “lesser”cavalry.

Comrade Gilchristi’s sneaky machine gun.

Japanese sailors passing their useless armoured car whilst heading for the local Premier Inn.

        With the destruction of our left flank and the wrath of the Mad Baron and the Comrade’s coalition about to descend on me the full time whistle was blown .My only bit of luck in the evening.

Comrade Gilchristi’s infantry coming to the market to buy some apples.

Whilst the Mad Baron’s forces devour the rest of the village.

And the suburbs.

      An interesting game played in order to check out the final draft of the rules.An ok set of rules based on Men Who Would Be Kings with a few added rules (and bad spelling).Hopefully they will go down well on the day.All figs and scenario came courtesy of The Three Stooges-El Presidente,Cheif Skulker and Comrade Gilchristi.

The Mad Baron/Comrade Gilchristi’s coalition forces basking in their victory.

       See You All When I See You.

     This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.

Manchurian Rule Candidate

 Wednesday 6th December 192ish.

Place-Manchuria (Backlot of Garvald Film Studios)

       Tonight’s get together found us with a little skirmish in the Back of Beyond.El Presidente wanted to try out another set of rules for this period as the chief Skulker had asked for them to be tried out and an opinion given but of course he wasn’t there.

The not needed command unit bellowing out orders.

My army in full swing.

The Japanese pile of the train from standard class.

       The skirmish involved Imperial Japanese against Imperial Chinese.The Japanese were regarded as superior to the Chinese rabble but sometimes appearances can be deceptive. I took charge of the Chinese “rabble “reinforced by a troop of White Russian cavalry who were to prove to be the saviours of the Chinese Empire albeit very temporary.

The Manchurian Choo Choo.

The Japanese Horse Soldiers.

A little village somewhere in Manchuria.

      The object of our desires was some forsaken crossroad with a few buildings huddled around it and only one peasant to be seen.The game kicked off with everybody converging on the crossroads some a bit more faster than others.One of the traits of the game was dicing to see if you could perform an action which is a bit of a bummer when your units can’t even be bothered moving-repeatedly especially cavalry and assault units.El Presidente moved straight in to town with his cavalry,unhorsed them and set them up in the local church ready to repel all boarders. The only forces of mine was a unit of infantry who started trading shots with the Japanese cavalry.

Now the first class passengers get off.

My lads digging in.

The forces of evil arrive.

             One of El Presidente’s units had a “drunken “leader and this hindered them from moving forward and even El Presidente stated that he hoped the unit leader would get killed in order for the remainder of the unit to be able to function better-no such luck.His other infantry arrived at the crossroads and decided to stay in the open.This gave my assault unit a chance to charge in and scatter the Japanese peasants to the four winds.No such luck as my infantry were sent scurrying away into cover by their enemy.Things were not looking good for the Chinese.

The machine gun team welcoming the drunkards.

My lads advance to the rear.

Crossroads brawl.

            My other infantry came up on the other flank and proceeded to take cover in some peasant’s garden trampling over the Pak Choi in the process.They readied themselves for an attack by the saki sodden infantry facing them and they traded shots with each other for a few turns before lo and behold the Japanese were dislodged from the premises and were last seen heading back to the nearest saki bar not to take any further part in the proceedings.My victory was short lived as El Presidente moved up a machine gun and proceeded to rake my poor ensconced infantry disastrously meaning my lads had to retire ungracefully from the now well trodden cabbage patch.My only real success I was having was with my mortar which was chipping away at the cavalry in the church.

The Japanese best unit.

The Whites charge in.

And keep on charging!

          The game turner came when I finally got the White cavalry moving away from the main road and around the side of the village.Once they made their way around the Japanese infantry on the crossroads came into view so it was a matter of lances out and charge in which they did with instant success.El Presidente did make a comment about the lances being very powerful but he did divvy up the forces.His church ensconced cavalry tried to take some pot shots at my victorious lads but couldn’t land a shot on target..My mortar and my only viable infantry unit kept up fire on the church eventually causing the unmounted Japanese cavalry to leave the church by the back door putting them straight into the sights of my White cavalry.Tally Ho!(in Russian)was heard to be uttered by my cavalry as they ploughed into the pitiless Japanese.Game,Set and Match to the Chinese although it was the foreigners who done the deed.

My mortar wi a wee lad at the back sitting eating his rice.

“I haven’t a clue where you’re army went?”

        A quick game played out without any bickering apart from a few words about the lethality of the lances.The rules we used were “Men Who Would Be Kings”Ok but I can think of a couple of preferred sets.I didn’t realise that the rules come from the same stable as Lion and Dragon Rampant as well as Xenos Rampant although I did notice a few similarities I.e dicing for activation.

      All figures,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente.Hopefully I’ll get in another game before Hogswatch and a chance to regale you with our escapades.

     

    This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.