If you go down to the woods today-Partizan Livingstone Second Half

Wednesday 28th June.

Blohm and Voss BV141

                                Due to work commitments I arrived slightly late to take part in the second half of Bill's partisan game and the first thing I noticed was that Dave O'Brien had morphed into Dave Paterson which I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
                                    Before I had arrived my on board forces who had beer hanging around on the table for three weeks were taking a bit of a bashing due to Colin's bad dice rolls a 2 being his highest roll.So after being suitably fortified by one of Helena's delicious meals and a glass of rotwein proceeded to bring some Teutonic order to my band of misfits.

Can't leave Mr Ray alone for 5 minutes.

Livingstone at rush hour.

                           Mr Ray's column were still going manno a manno with Donald's partizans who were frolicking about in the woods(he's fed up skulking and now frolics).

Dave and Dave's weapon of choice.

Mr Ray eventually decides to move

                            Dave's anti tank gun was once again sniping at Mr Ray's tank but ended up with a bloody nose itself when all its crew were finally done away with.Dave then turned his attentions towards Colin's forces who were at that time fortifying the railway station and restoring normal service to the railway line.The locals  would be happy with normal service being restored apart from the extortionate fares brought in to pay for the repairs.

Peak hour 

"I've been working on the railroad,All day long"

                                    My plan was to deal with Bill's forces on the outskirts of the wood in order to venture into the woods in the centre of the table in order toclean out this nest of vipers who were plaguing my innocent intentioned lads just out for a pleasant day's drive.

Donald's work picnic

Gatecrashers

                                    Bill had given me some motorised infantry so I dually brought them on to deal with Donald's partisans  leaving the lads already on the table to eliminate the threat from Bill's partisans which they did with overwhelming concentrated firepower forcing the remainder of the group to head for the hills.

Clearing the line.

Skulkers and their not even Donald's

Telegraph pole repair team.

Ma boys

Deploying to deal with the rabble.

                                      I then went into my usual mode of thinking the game was over when Donald's reinforcements came trotting out of a wood in the form of Cossacks with a Tachanka machine gun for support so I had to divide my forces to meet this threat.

Cossack muster

On the move

                                     Meanwhile Mr Ray was getting the upper hand against Donald's forces in the centre wood driving them like pheasants to my waiting Mausers.

Donald's forces hanging on for grim death.

                                         Dave had changed tack and decided to attack Colin's forces who were in the process of repairing the damaged railway but after some toing and froing were eventually heading back to the cave that they had started from.Colin's men went back to their day job of fixing the broken rail.

Dave's rabble moving out.

Come to papa.

Not a bad guy in sight.

                                               We were indulging in special event die rolls and when our roll finally decided to produce an event it came in the form of a Blohm and Voss BV 141 which was an extremely unusual plane noted for its unusual asymmetry as a lot of German planes were towards the end of the w in the woods beside Donald.Obviously a cue for some Soviet paratroopers to arrive on the board.

Our unusual visitor

Weird German engineering.

                               Donald's Cossacks split up with half of his cavalry heading for my supply trucks with the other half charging towards my waiting machine guns and guns.I opened up with everything possible but didn't do enough damage as some of his Cossacks made it through my cordon of fiery steel taking with them 2 of my machine guns and my infantry gun due to rolling some lucky dice.The remainder of the cavalry were subsequently dispatched.The only consolation would be that my surviving men would be dining well on fresh horsemeat that evening.

Charge!( in Russian)

Subsequence

Consequence

                                 The short evening drew to an end with most of the partisans dispatched in true Teutonic fashion but obviously the partisans would still have had a sting in their tale knowing Bill.
                    A great game involving some unusual figures and equipment.
                        All figures,scenery and scenario provided by Bill Gilchrist with the train emanating from Colin's collection.

                  Dave Patterson -Dastardly partisans.
                  Donald Adamson-Frolicking partisans.

                  Colin Jack-All things railway.
                  Me,myself and I-very picked on Germans.

                  Bill Gilchrist-Unbiased adjudicator(huh!)

                     Thanks again to Helena for providing a beautiful repast and the accompanying glass of Vin rouge which went down well after putting up with the travelling public all day.Mostly tourists from the colonies.
                                 See You When I See You.




                                 

Thursday Evening Mishmash!

                        Thursday 15th June.

Since Lady Watson was working late and I found myself bored to tears even with all these figures to paint I decided to pay a visit to the SESWC club to see if there was anything interesting on offer.Not expecting much I was amazed to find that Black Angus was putting on a multiplayer Back of Beyond game involving 8 people around a well padded table.Not wishing to sound rude I consented to play-more like cutting somebody's fingers off to play.

Peter setting up

Black Angus regaling us with nautical tales.

Campbell's train needing to be rerailed.

The bad guys heading for cover.

Bart's armour.

I was given along with Dougie Trail charge of some White Russian forces(mine were officer cadets) with the object of taking back a village occupied by the dreaded red peril in the form of Peter's bolshevik scum.Our forces were aided and abetted by various forces in the form of a Polish contingent commanded by of all people-Oor Bart whose forces came complete with an Albatross aircraft and an armoured car which had a slight resemblance to a tractor.He spent his evening picking on Bill Gilchrist and using his plane to roam and shoot at anything that moved usually the village garrison and Campbell's reinforcements who were hoping to relieve the village.

Bill's forces came complete with naval support which came in the form of a machine gun armed vessel.

A wee bit too modern I think.

Our favourite skulker or Donald as his wife calls him(on a good day)was in charge of the British intervention forces which also had naval support as well as an armoured car and a field gun.As already stated Campbell's forces were intended as reinforcements but as soon as he entered the field he also entered into the line of sight of my eager cavalry which came with a Renault tank for support.This tank proved to be my best unit of the evening.

H.M.S Skulker with Admiral Adamson in charge.

The game kicked off with everybody heading for the village.Some units were already on the board with the remainder coming on as reinforcements and latecomers.Bart in his usual style headed straight into the flank of Bill's reds,fancy tank and all.Dougie's forces were also quick off the mark but I decided to hang ten as I knew Campbell's cavalry and armoured car would be arriving very shortly and I didn't want them charging into the side of me.

Ma boys

Meanwhile Donald's British as usual were finding it hard to get moving with only his artillery and gunboat progressing.His field gun was taking some very accurate pot shots at the village whilst his gunboat was heading in the direction of Bill's gunboat to prove that Britannia still ruled the waves which on this occasion did with some peppering fire which eventually blew Bill's boat up.

Campbell's artillery and cavalry moved up the road giving my cavalry a chance to attack his cavalry in the rear.which actually didn't do him any damage.The only saving grace being Donald's field gun which engaged the front of Campbell's column and did more damage with one shot than all my cavalry did.

And he is still skulking

The object of my fighting desires

Run away Campbell

No sooner were my cavalry pulling up from their charge when Campbell's armoured car started spraying them with machine gun fire causing multiple casualties.My partner in crime was moving his forces in leaps and bounds towards the buildings on the outskirts of the village hoping to clear them out with cold steel.Peter's defenders weren't giving up without a fight and were picking Dougie's Whites off in order for the hand to hand to be more in his favour.

Devilish Bolsheviks

Dougie's daredevils suitably fortified

Bart's Poles were getting stuck into Bill's Reds but losing a few in the process.Bart decided to bring on his Ace which came in the form of an Albatross aircraft in Polish markings which proceeded to strafe Bill's infantry before heading for the village for a few pot shots at Peter's lads finishing off with a murderous rake on Campbell's second unit of cavalry.This gave an opportunity for my Renault tank to go into action against the rest of them scattering them to the four winds.

A wee bit prep

And we're off

Da da da da da da (in Polish)

Bombs away(in Polish)

Into them

Shot in the back

Meanwhile Donald's forces who were beginning to flatter to deceive finally started advancing.Mind you it needed the destruction of his field gun to motivate them.It was destroyed by a well placed machine gun placed in a church steeple.

I don't know what is worse a burning boat or an empty beer glass.

And he denies skulking

Dougie's forces were very bravely making their way from house to house clearing them as he went.It must have been the beer he was quaffing that was making him so brazen.

Campbell's remaining forceshad finally reached the reasonable safety of the village unlimbering hiscannon in order to fire at my White Russian officer cadets who at the time were just innocently foraging for some mushrooms in the forest with not an evil thought in their minds.Revenge came in the form of my tank which was roving about looking for targets of opportunity which came in the form of Peter's emplaced infantry and the machine gun that had taken out Donald's gun.

My innocent lads foraging for mushrooms.

Donald eventually brought his gunboat into the harbour and started shelling the village taking out Campbell's armoured car in the process.

About f'ng time.

Donald decides to move.

The end of the skirmish was drawing near so we had a last push towards the village.I brought my tank up screened from Campbell's gun by his burning armoured car.Donald's infantry and armoured car started skirmishing on the outskirts of the village and Dougie's infantry fortified by Newcastle Brown were house clearing.Bill and Bart seemed to be having their own personal feud with Bill trying to reach the beleaguered village with Bart sniping him on the side.

About f'ng time 2

About f'ng time 3

Bill's forces having a rest from being picked on by Bart

Cannon fodder for my tank

Ha'way the lads!

I would class the game as a score draw but if here had been more time I'm sure the righteous Whites and their gallant allies would have taken the day.

Advantage taker

A stupendous game enjoyed by one and all as Back of Beyond games usually are.

Most figures,scenery and scenario provided by Black Angus Konstam as well as the copious amounts of ale he drank ably abetted by Dougie Trail.

Bart and Campbell provided their own figs and models.

The remainder of the scenery came from the dark and damp vaults were we keep all the scenery.

Thanks to all for a great game a lot more than I was expecting and also many thanks to Campbell for being able to use his photos.

Black Angus's take on things can be seen on his page.http://www.edinburghwargames.com/assault-on-vozyliuka-1919/