Rocky Mountain High.

                                                                 

                Wednesday 5th December.


                                           Tonight's Garvald Film Studio outing once again was an unusual production and that is saying something-must be the season.Colin emailed us all to say that their was a game at his house and it would be a Bolt Action game taking place in 1962 which got us all thinking of military incidents taking place in 1962.My suggestion was Algeria as Colin had plenty of French paras and Arab opposition.Nope,even more bizarre than that -The Man In The High Castle.Probably the first time the rules have been used for this Philip K Dick story.I wonder whwt will be next-Blade Runner?

The Rocky Mountain Line

Mr Ray's Diner

"Thar's Oil in them hills!"

"Fill her up!"

                                                 For all you people who havn't heard of the story cum Amazon Prime series,it involves a world where the axis have won the Second World War and have partitioned up America with the Greater German Reich situated on the American East coast with the Japanese Pacific States situated on the west coast with a neutral buffer zone between them basically to keep the two mistrusting powers apart.The game involved an attack on partisans ensconced in the Rockies with the evil Japanese Empire coming under the command of Dave O'Brien san whilst I took over charge of the law abiding Nazis.Mr Ray took on the guise of his fellow Americans giving him the chance to shout "Bobcats" throughout the evening as Wolverines has already been used-twice!

The Japanese strike out.

My noble mountaineers.

My home grown militia out to show the American way.

                                                   The game kicked off in the usual BA style with units coming onto the board hoping to flush out the local resistance or in Dave's case,rushing on and charging toward the hidden enemy wherever they may be.Dave's Japanese came under fire from ambushing partisans and began to take casualties amongst his inexperienced infantry giving Mr Ray some hope albeit very small.

The first American resistance albeit with a Soviet machine gun.

Never run up a hill!

The usual consequences.

                                       Meine Junge after coming on to the board very cagely decided to go full pelt up the nearest hill looking to get their first objective. This squad of homegrown Americans decked out in German uniforms reached the summit fence and thought that their job was done but were met by a hail of machine gun bullets from Mr Ray's gutless squad who were hiding in the nearby wood and ended up just evaporating into thin air.First blood to the Bobcats.

Nonchalantly looking for targets.

The best way to deal with snipers.

                                                In true Teutonic fashion revenge was exacted in the form of mortar fire which found its target and pinned them down allowing my mountain troops time to take aim and decimate the cowardly partisans.In the aftermath of this temporary victory my mountain troops charged  up the same hill only for victory to be taken from them by the appearance of what could only be described as unwashed mountain men-an awful lot of them.Even although my men were hiding behind a fence they were mercilessly mowed down by the sheer weight of evil numbers.Things weren't looking good for the brave Germans.

How many Japanese can you get in a motorhome?

The Japanese finally get across thr bridge.

Right into the sights of the Bobcats.

                                                       Meanwhile across the other side of the Rockies Dave's Japanese weren't haven't all their own way as first his squad of Japanese/Americans were mown down and eventually a second infantry squad went the same way even with the help of a dinky light howitzer.Dave's Japanese finally made it too the top of the hill albeit with an awful lot of casualties.
                                         

The mountaineers ably led by Clint Eastwood don't learn their lesson and make it to the top of that hill.

Only to be confronted by a s******d of mountain men.

 Our Gothenburg Gamers Garvald splinter group were joined by another gamer midway through the evening,Andrew Easson who has just moved into the sleepy hamlet of Garvald.Andrew is like us an ex member of South East Scotland Wargames Club who finds himself a wee bit far out of town.Andrew came along and was immediately given charge of some of Mr Ray's hard pressed resistance as looking on in these games is not allowed.Andrew's first task was to rally some troops but his first roll was a double six and a FUBAR which resulted in his squad retreating away from the Japanese straight towards my Germans.Not the best of baptisms.

The result of Andrew's first ever Bolt Action dice roll.

Right into my sights -only to be wasted.

                                               

The mountain men consolidate.

The Japanese reach the top of the hill.

  My last remaining squad must have thought that Christmas had come early but no Christmas had long gone as my remaining squad of German infantry quickly went the way of their fellow countrymen and headed for a sharp exit.My remaining forces decided to dig in and consolidate their meagre gains.

My remaining men's turn to consolidate.

                                                   The game was coming to an early bath as Dave's men had cleared the top of his hill objective and the American partisans melted away into the safety of the Rockies.
                                                 

More Americana.

Live rock music every night.

My HQ picking a new car.

"You can have any colour you want as long as it's pink!"

Waiting for a signal.

  Once again a great game put on with the excuse to show off some of Colin's Americana combined with old fashioned WW2 figs.
                                                All figs scenery and scenario provided by our host Colin Jack who also provided us with some delicious Christmas fare-Chilli!
                                                   See You All When I See You,hopefully before Christmas.
                                                     

Venitian Who-dunnit!

                             Wednesday 14th November

                                         As a few of you will remember we have partaken in a few games that have taken place in Venice ranging from WW2 through Victorian capers,stopping off with Blake's 7 and even a St Trinian's type bus tour.Well tonight found as back in the city of Carneval but this time in the company of Doctor Who.

Some snapshots of Venice.

                                                This was a game that Colin Jack had picked up on one our forays to Partizan and after painting up all the figures for it ,decided it was time to play through the rules and Dave O'Brien and myself were to help with the playtesting as nobody else in the Gothenburg Gamers was available for selection.

My travelling companions.

And their attributes.

"Don't kick my dog"

                                                The arrangements for the evening were coming to be a bit of a norm at the moment with a couple of turns played before a little excursion to the local inn for a pizza and a foaming ale.The sides were divvied up and I ended up in charge of the fourth doctor who bore a strong resemblance to Tom Baker.He was ably assisted by two glamorous companions,mainly Leela and another Time Lord Romana.Dave O'Brien found himself in charge of the Ice Warriors complete with their Empress of Mars

A female crewed steamboat-only in Colin's world.

Lying at anchor.

And they are still chirping away.

                                               Colin's gang came in the form of the Papal Mainframe complete with Mother Superior Tasha Lem and her headless monks assisted by some Judoon mercenary police.
The object of the game apart from playtesting the rules was the collection of vortex spheres that were scattered around the board so as soon as the whistle blew we all headed off in search of the spheres.
                                 

Colin's headless monks backed up by the Judoon.

Dave's all conquering Ice Warriors.

Coming off a boat -never a Tardis when you want one.

Sneaking down an alley.

"All present and correct ma'am!"

  As usual Dave had malice in mind and proceeded to cover Venice in ice before destroying one of Venice's beautiful bridges with a blast from his mothership due to the use of an event type card hampering my efforts to collect some more spheres. The subject of his advances were Colin's headless monks whom three of his Ice Warriors came into contact with in a Venitian building.These monks were duly done away with giving Dave the opportunity to smirk.In the meantime the rest of Colin's force were sweeping up the spheres on his side of the board and hoping for the opportunity to enact some revenge on the Ice Warriors.They dutifully headed back to their own side of the canal with Colin's Judoon in hot pursuit.

The source of victory.

Rummaging around the docks.

Ambing towards the monks.

"Shall we dance!"

                                                        My Time lord duo were moving around the nearby buildings sweeping up the spheres and visiting some tourist hotspots along the way.Leela had taken advantage of her ambush card and lay hidden hoping to jump out on some unsuspecting lone victim but this was proving hard as all the bad guys and girls were going around in groups,except one-The mother Superior and this one was to be the target of my attention.

"Ha Ha-No one expects the headless monk inquisition!"

The Doc finds success in the San Marco Bell Tower.

The first fisticuff about to start.

Without any success for the monks.

                                                              Colin had delegated his Judoon to follow and waylay the Ice Warriors whilst she left the building of the headless monk debacle and proceeded to claim all the vortex spheres on her side of the river hoping to hold on to them until the end of the game.I had other ideas and as the Doctor and Romana headed over the canal bridge to follow her,she ran away straight into Leela who was waiting in ambush and after a consultation with the rules Leela started to grapple with her albeit to no success.

The ultimate confrontation-or so we thought.

"Oi!Watch you don't stand on my scarf!"

"Surprise!"

                                                      Meanwhile across the canal Colin's Judoon were on a fools errand as one by one they were done away with by Dave's Ice Warriors with even the Empress performing a coup de grace on one of the downed Judoon.Dave duly dispatched all the Judoon with hardly a scratch to himself leaving the Mother Superior left to fend for herself.She disengage from Leela's embrace but couldn't retreat far enough as Leela took aim with her trusty knife and duly brought down her target ending the game there and then.

The beginning!

The end!

Never get in the way of a flying knife.

                                                                 Victory to the Doctor and his companions with Dave sulking in his ice.A good game but another read of the rules is required before the next game which should be next week Napoleonics or Onward to Venus providing.
                                                        All the game parts and figures provided by Colin Jack.
                                                                   

Congratulations to our titanic trio for coming second in the last show of our year.Beaten by the dastardly Leuchers bounders.Revenge will be swift.