The Man With No Shame!

 Wednesday 25th April.

                                      This weeks game saw Dave O'Brien and myself head out to Bill's shack in sunny Bellesquarry to indulge in an evening of Muskets and Tomahawks.Joining us for the evening was our Donald the world famous skulker who decided tonight to become even more devious and odious.Mothers and children beware.

The set up.

                                 

Innocent civilians just minding their own business.

                             

Can't get enough boats

On arrival we had found that Bill had set up yet another excellent scenic board for us to partake in one of my favourite set of rules and periods-The French Indian Wars.The sides were randomly chosen and I took the part of the Indians who were the French allies.Donald took the part of the French irregulars and he played them to the full-dirty and devious,doing anything to gain himself victory.Dave took command of the local militia and civilians whereas Bill played the part of the British irregulars who intended to come on and win the day.
                               

The not-so mighty militia.

                       

Soon to be involved in a fire sale.

Hail to the Redskins

The shifty French.

So the scene was set for an evening of skullduggery and genuine backstabbing from both sides.The French plan was to come on and lay waste to the village with their Indian(Donald says I'm not aloud to call them Redskins)allies attacking from the other side hoping to draw the reinforcements away.

Crossing the river with confidence.

                                     

Ladies looking a bit warm.

           

Ready for the French.

At last.

My Indians slowly made their way out from the cover of the forest and crossed the river only to be fired on from the blockhouse dominating the approaches to the village.First blood to the defenders!The majority of my lads decided that discretion was the better part of valour and decided to head for some cover.My leader who had a distinct resemblance to that great car maker Pontiac kept the other Indian unit moving forward hoping to engage the palefaces without coming to any grief himself as I had been given a sideplot card that informed me that I had to keep him alive and that I intended to do.
                                           

"Wanna buy a car?"

                   

The not-so gallant French.

"Here we go,Here we go,Here we go."

Donald had under his wing Canadian militia and the fancily named Coureurs Des Bois(The Wood Runners) and they arrived on to the field very slowly and cautiously as is Donald's norm.Charging on is not Donald's first choice of movement.He lets his subordinates do that,get wasted and he grabs all the glory.

Redskins getting ready for their fight song.

                                 

Blurred Brits

Redskin landing party.

               Bill's reinforcements as usual took their fine time to come on due to the vagaries of the rules therefore Dave's militia and civilians were hanging on by their finger nails.

Donald burning and looting.

And shooting these innocent women and children in the back.

                                 

And laughing all the way.

          They finally arrived in the shape of British light infantry faced with the quandary of chasing of my Indians or facing Donald's French Canadians.Easy choice as Bill thought that my Indians were the greatest treat.Maybes Aye Maybes No but my intention was to shoot and scoot and and pick of the Brits and disappear which they did to the best of their ability.
                               

My men hiding behind a cotton ball.

                   Donald finally arrived at the edge of town and proceeded to burn anything nearby to which he did with great aplomb.He then,being the great backstabber he is,asked if he could shoot the fleeing women and children in the back to which it was stated he could so with great delight began to mow down the fleeing civilians which even his allies tutted in disgust.He was actually foaming at the mouth.
                           

And so Donald continues his evil ways.

                     

The second landing party.

Civilians heading for the boats.

A day late and a halfpenny short.

To add insult to injury we drew a lucky random card stating that we could bring on a war canoe filled to the brim with bloodthirsty redskins and I don't mean the gallant lads from FedEx Field.They headed towards the town with blood on their mind.It was looking bad for the British especially as Bill's reinforcements were in a quandary about which threat to face.His second set of reinforcements arrived at the same point as the first lot which just helped and added to Donald's blood lust.
                                 

Hunt the scalp.

Down to the last man.

An intelligent man -hiding the rum.

        Dave's civilians were fleeing towards the wharf hoping for a boat to safety with his militia fighting a losing rearguard scrap with Donald's ever approaching French who were willy nilly setting fire to every property they came across.
                                                 

The Rangers-a tad late.

Temporary relief  came in the form of some Rangers coming on to the field in Donald's rear who proceeded to whittle down Donald'd babykillers but it seemed it was too little too late as another random event card saw the introduction of another canoe load of scalp hunting redskins heading straight towards the fleeing civilians.Donald started to drool at the mouth sensing complete victory as in the death throes of the game he annihilated one of Bill's units of reinforcements whilst pushing the Rangers back towards the edge of the table.
               

The new Indian reservation.

                                     Meanwhile my newly arrived Indians  leapt on to the bank of the river and immediately waded into the the defenceless civilians-on Donald's orders of course.The game end arrived with my Indians ensconced in the safety of the woods and most of the village burning.

The non arriving reinforcements.

                               

Says it all.

     A great game played in the usual skulking manner of Donald with the defenders severely depleted and Donald looking for his Legion De honor-C'est La Guerre!

                                          Many thanks to Bill for putting on a great game and also to his lovely wife Helena for once again thinking we all need a good feed and putting on a great feast.
                                          All the scenery,scenario and most of the figs were provided from Bill's vast collection with Dave and Colin Jack providing the remainder even although was away on family duties.
                                 My apologies for the s**t photos as I had to use my mobile phone due to leaving my camera at home.
                                              See You When I See You.

What a TWanker!

Wednesday 18th April

The rules are nice eye candy.

                                            We just about had a full house out at sunny garvald this evening with six of the seven Gothenburg Gamers turning up for a no holds barred game of What A Tanker from the Two Fat Lardies stable.

Another village in another war.

Bill's hiding place.

My beautiful Stug.

                                           The game is a straight forward tank against tank game which involves rollin six dice and trying to get your tank to take out the other guy before he does the same to you.Every dice roll gives you a chance to do a certain action.I.e to move you need roll a one,to acquire a target you need to roll a two,to aim you need to roll a three,to shoot you need to roll a four and to reload you need to roll a five.Finally a six gives you the chance to do anyone of the moves.
What could be more simple.In fact it is simple.

Mr Ray's chariot.

The accoutrements of the game.

                                                     The tanks were divvied up between four of us with Dave O'Brien and myself taking the role of German tank commanders whilst Mr Ray and Bill Gilchrist were encumbered with British Shermans.Chief skulker Donald took the part of the umpire as Colin had to dash away to deal with a minor problem.Both of them would become involved in the game later on much to everybody else's despair.

Mr Ray's tanking surveying the scene.

                                                           

Dave's chosen weapon of war.

Donald's black Panzer.I think he would have preferred black and white stripes.

 As luck would have it I started the game off thanks to the highest roll on the initial activation dice roll but only rolled decent  one dice to help me move so I slowly crawled towards the enemy.And so the game began as usual very cagey with everyone trying to get into a spot where they could take a potshot without getting potted themselves.

Bill's Sherman about to do or die.

Mr Ray ducking and driving.

Watch this Bill.

Another view of Donald's tank.

                                                             Bill deciding against the norm decided to move into the open and attempt to deal with Dave's Panzer which was lurking behind a wood due to a lack of movement dice.He finally made it out into the open giving Bill a clear shot but he missed the barn door.This just ruffled Dave's feathers and so when he replied Bill's tank went up in a puff of smoke.

And Bill's off!

"Catch this"

"Booyah!"(in German)

                                                                  Mr Ray decided in his infinite wisdom to hide behind the cover of the village but that wasn't going to stop me flushing him out and perform the coup de grace.
   That's when my dice roll started to play up for although I rolled perfect activation dice when I tried to destroy him luck wasn't having it.

Not a mark in sight.

Mr Ray backing up.

Not letting him get away even although I couldn't hit him for toffee.

So he hides behind the hedge.

"

Dave edges up.

                                                                Colin arrived back home,his good deed done and immediately took possession of a Sherman Firefly which has a big gun and was going to prove fatal to the three German tanks as Donald was about to find out as he was the first German tank to come into Colin's sights.I think Donald should have stuck to umpiring.

Colin's tank arrives to deal out some trouble.

"Now you see him"

Bang!

"Now you don't!"

                                                                Sure enough after a few targeting rounds Colin fired for effect Donald's tank was the next on the casualty list with a plume of black smoke billowing from his Panzer.Poor Donald couldn't find anywhere to hide never mind skulk.

Dave about to waste Mr Ray's Sherman.

And he does!

                                                                      Dave and I decided to flush Mr Ray's tank out but he kept reversing eventually ending up in a field using a hedge for cover.I fired a few shots at him but it didn't cause him anything more than a scratch.This was playing into Dave's hands as he crawl ever so nearer in order to catch Mr Ray in the side.This he did eventually causing Mr Ray's tank to erupt  into smoke and flame.

Colin moves out.

And creeps into town.

Much to my annoyance.

                                     After Colin had dispatched Donald's tank he edged ever so near to our tanks so I decided to try and hit him from long distance giving Dave ample opportunity  to move up and hopefully end the arrogance of this interloper.Great plan but alas Colin had other ideas.I managed to hit him but it was just a flesh wound to quote Monty Python.After warding off that hit he decided to fire back turning my tank into a mass of molten metal.

Looking to finish the game.

Dave hangs on.

                                                      Dave was trying to edge his way nearer Colin's tank and the both of them danced their way around each other firing off shots at each other before Dave's luck took a tumble and eventually went the same way as the rest of the German tanks.

High noon in a French village.

The inevitable happens

And it's home for tea.

                                                          Homefield victory for Colin and well worth it.
                                      A great game played to the Gothenburg Gamers' high standards which mean not too seriously.The rules were easy to follow and I think they are good for a quick fill in game.Once again all figures,scenery and scenario provided by Colin Jack who once again surpassed himself with the provision of a delicious repast.
                                                   Hopefully see you all next week when we head out to wilds of Bellesquarry for a Musket and Tomahawk venture.Can't wait.