There's gold in them thar hills!

Sunday 25th February

The local rag Dahli Sun with all the news not fit to be printed.

                                 

 Back of  Beyond at our favourite hostelry saw initially 12 of us gathering together at our namesake pub in the town of Prestonpans to indulge in our first game under our new banner of the Gothenburg Gamers.We had invited some of our good friends along to participate in our first outing and a good time was had by one and all.

Early morning in Bukhara 

The impartial journalists appear.

Campbell checking his buddha hasn't been nicked.

Colin's Poles/Ukranians ready for the off.

Some dusty s**thole

                                       Back of Beyond is a game which is never played too seriously and as always was played in a nice light hearted manner even although the feud between myself and chief skulker Donald was not going to be laid to rest especially when windows are mentioned.

Campbell's gallant defenders hiding in a church.

A wee bit crowded

Waiting for a train.

Bill orating his rule adjustments,

                                              We all gathered together in the morning ,indulged in bacon rolls and coffee before divvying out armies and starting points to determine how the day was going to play.
                                   Today's armies ranged from Red and White

Bart poised to kill.

Our Conneticut Confederate weighing his options

Train number 1

Ian's magnificent elephant complete with lewis guns.

Russians,Poles,Chinese,British,Poles/Ukranians,Arabs(complete with elephant) all intending to deprive Campbell's Bukharan's of all his ill gotten gains and also to pick on him for not turning up at our last game.Grievances are never forgotten.

Looks a wee bit like T.E Lawrence there.

Donald's not so skulking Indians.

Dave M's Japanese landing party.

Mr Ray and Bill G having a tete a tete.

Mr Ray;s artillery looking for targets of opportunity.

                                          We had added into the game the chance to hunt for and receive gold in order to boost up winning conditions.The game kicked off at usual at a hectic pace with everybody turning on their neighbour in order to increase their gold hoard in order to have capital o spend in the afternoon's play to bolster their forces.I had gold left over from a pirate game so that came in handy for dishing out to the lucky recipients.

The palace and some of its guardians.

The Japanese land.

A bit of old junk.

Colin's forces hunt for gold.

Whilst his Ukranians head for the hills.

Bill G's cavalry come to an obstacle.

                                                                 Bill Gilchrist's Bolsheveks went straight into action against Bart's Poles engaging them with artillery making Bart's Poles the first victims with the loss of their own artillery piece whilst his infantry headed for the cover of a yurt.Not the best cover around.At the same time Mr Ray's White Russians were sniping at the rear of Bill G's forces although I think that there was some collusion between them.

Peak hour.

Armoured plated yurts-not quite.

Mr Ray's cavalry foraging.

Fisticuffs between Japanese and Arabs.

                                                        Campbell was just standing around waiting for everybody to come to him as he was situated in his palace on the top of a big hill.Dave O'Brien tried to solve this problem but after charging in to the first hand to hand found himself one squad short and no gold to show for it.

Can't get enough boats.

Some of Campbell's colourful artillery.

Mr Ray's cavalry looking for dinosaur bones.

And his nicely coloured infantry.

                         The other end of the table proved to be a bit more competitive as Ian Carter complete with elephant seemed to be doing well in the early skirmishes as you do when an elephant is charging about treading on some unfortunate soul.Dave Mitchell's Japanese had just alighted from their boats and landed straight into a skirmish from all sides with Ian on one side and Bill Miller being the not so nice neighbour on the other.Colin's in his own careful way was moving his forces up to occupy some of the buildings but finding his way due to the cards was rather slow.Donald was being Donald and skulking waiting to see what way the fighting was going before joining in.

Japanese Sopwith Camel.

Polish Albatross

Bill G's air support.

And his burning train

Bart brings on his armour.

                                                  The morning's play consisted of shooting and looting from your neighbour in order to build up funds for the afternoon's bring and buy.

And Campbell brings on his.

Nicola's coffers to pay for the war effort.

Bart's other tank.

Dave O'B's armoured car trying to win him some gold.

Followed by his infantry.

Campbell's philosophy being the bad guy was very simple in that if there was no neighbour to shoot he would turn his attention to shooting at Bart.Obviously a grudge from a previous game or games.
                                                 

Donald's Lanchester complete with skulking driver.

Funny place to put a horse.

Bill M's nifty gun.

My new bridge-all the way from a tropical fish shop.

 As the morning drew on most of the combatants forces were beginning to dwindle so the call for lunch was greeted with relief all around apart from Ian Carter who had to leave due to an arranged lunch date.The remainder of us trooped through to the bar to indulge in a very nice lunch washed down by a few flagons of ale.

Dogfight double.

Campbell's leader leads his men into battle-for the last time!

Looks like she's had too many Tsing-Tao beers.

                                                    Suitably refreshed we headed back through too the games room where I announced that for a price forces could be purchased or brought up to full strength.I also informed everybody that they could add another special weapon to their inventory.This had most people scurrying for aircraft or big tanks.Also I announced that the three trains on display could be commandeered and used.This made Bart's eyes sparkle and straight out of the starting blocks he headed for the nearby train.Bill G was about to commandeer his nearby train when it was hit by gunfire and destroyed.

Hunting for Bart.

About to go home for sushi.

Colin's train trundles out.

Bill gives an audience.

Campbell's hoard  about give way.

                                          Colin commandeered the third train and slowly headed up the line towards the centre of the table.Ian's departure gave Donald space to indulge in a two prong attack against Dave M's invading Japanese and also take pot shots at Campbell's colourfully coated guardians of the imperial palace.Mr Ray was also indulging in a two way struggle against Bill for control of one of the villages and also rampaging through the countryside with his cavalry looking for booty.

The Dahli-Sun's roving reporter.

                                                 With the coming of the afternoon came the coming of the aeroplanes and first on the scene was Bill and his Soviet biplane firing at Bart but not really doing any damage.at the other side of the table a dogfight was developing between Colin's newly arrived plane against Dave M's Japanese crewed Sopwith Camel once again not having much to write home about but it was nice to see these old warbirds on the table.

Bill's plane heads for home.

                                                                       Campbell meanwhile brought on his super weapon in the form of a tank right out of Indiana Jones which proceeded to trundle its way towards Bart's Renault tanks which were going to be cannon fodder.Bill's cavalry were flattering to deceive as were his infantry as although they were entering buildings they weren't coming away with much booty.Talking about booty Dave O'B's Chinese were having a nightmare game in not being in a good position to collect booty which he has only his self to blame as he helped me sat up the game the night before.

Mr Ray's cavalry fossilise.

                                                               Campbell's last bastion of a scoundrel was not looking in any danger apart from mortar fire from Dave O'B and was therefore able to venture out and increase his supply of ill gotten gold especially on the arrival of his super tank.
                                                   The bottom of the table was developing into a fist fight between Dave M and Bill M with Donald sniping at the edges.Colin's train was slowly getting up fool steam whilst his ground forces were slowly making their way behind Dave O'B's Chinese searching for their way up the hill towards Campbell's hidden golden buddha.

Boom!

Kaboom!

The last express.

                                                 The game was heading into the final furlong with everybody searching for the elusive gold that was going to win them the game and the usual backstabbing and shooting at anything that moved was prevailing.The final whistle arrived and all gold coins were totalled up and Campbell was found not only was still the owner of the golden buddha he had also amassed the biggest biggest pile of gold.
                                                  A great game to start our new chapter with and many thanks to all that came to participate in today's proceedings as well as many thanks to the gorgeous Michelle and the rest of the Gothenburg team.
                                                       See you all when I see you.

                    More photos can be found on Bill Gilchrist's Blenheim To Berlin blog.http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/