Rosa's Demise-Freikorps in Graustarke

Wednesday 29th January

   
                            Braved the stormy evening to head out to Garvald for a return to the Germanic state of Graustark which is a mythical state situated on the Baltic Sea and as usual populated mainly by women in Colin Jack’s universe.

Venice now becomes Graustark.

Strange bed companions.

"Aufsteigen!"

Waiting to ambush mein junge!

Bill's other machine gun!

                                                      It wasn't the best of evenings for driving and especially as I had just washed my car I decided to drive through various large puddles.So what you say, but the problem with East Lothian is that the earth is mostly red and therefore my car has a new red plimsoll line but it was worth it for a game of Freikorps.Bill Gilchrist had also ventured out to the wilds of Garvald and so we settled down for another struggle between the good guys and the commies circa 1918.

Looking for bad guys.

                                                       

S.M.S Pinguin taking its time in docking-I'm not complaining.

A tete a tete on the steps?

The hidden gun.

Not for long.

  As previously stated Bill took charge of the Spartakists who were vying for control of Graustark aided by the glorious female inhabitants of the town dressed more for a Sunday picnic than a battle.Bill's army had the unusual trait of being commanded by Rosa Luxemburg and Adrian Carton De Wiart,very unusual bed partners but heh hoh it makes a good talking point.The gist of the story was that the Spartakists had taken control of the town and the inhabitants had sent word to the local Freikorps for some assistance and this was duly answered by the arrival of heavily armed,well trained units complemented by an artillery piece.Game on!

"And Rosa's in the canal!Again!"

Running for cover.

My glorious lads.

                                                        The initial forces were set up and I was allowed to set my gun up as deployed and also allowed to bring a unit on at the local railway station.Hopefuly this would get me off to a flier.My first unit arrived at the station and my plan was for them to draw fire and this they did from a sneakily placed machine gun and a hidden bunch of marauding sailors.This caused me a few casualties but did give my gun the chance to come into immediate action.This it did and the result was the demise of the machine gun team.First blow to the Freikorps!

Yip they are all female.

Colin's girl cadets.

Up close and personal.

Love the hats!

                                                           My plan was to move up lock,stock and barrel giving Andrew when he arrived with his Bavarians, plenty of room to bolster our attack.Once again that was the plan.Colin's girls were to be the reinforcements but the stumbling block to their appearance was that they were coming by ship and he had to dice to come on and suitable dice score was long in coming giving me more time to clear Bill's defenders.Well that was the plan but my first squad were caught out in the open and were whittled away albeit slowly.
                                                                  Pizza and ale time arrived so we traipsed over to the pub braving the stormy weather and were joined by Andrew and his lovely wife Lesley.I think the purchase of a pizza by Andrew for Lesley is his 3 hour pass for indulging in toy soldiers.I'm glad mine is 10 miles away and would get lost.
                                                                         Pizza was finished and so we headed back to the games room and a continuation of my good luck-not!Colin's forces finally arrived and were rushing down the gang plank ready for a scrap.Bill's lorried gun opened up on my beleaguered first squad and done a bit of damage but revenge was sweet as my own gun opened up and done away with this mere bee sting.Andrew's forces were coming on in dribs and drabs meaning my junge were taking a few shots.My second squad rushed Bill's sailor infested building and done away with the inhabitants and then continued out the building door and done away with a second sailor squad but the cost was high and my junge had diminished to four me but they still had enough to do away with Bill's command squad Rosa Luxemburg et al!

Andrew's Bavarians go into action.

                                             

And the guys behind them.

More Bavarians.

Flying the flag.

The attack on our right flank was faltering as Bill's remaining defenders entombed in a building were doing away with my approaching forces and my third squad's advances came to a stuttering halt in front of the building and my supporting fourth squad although entering the building and doing away with Bill's last infantry were themselves charged and done away with by one of Colin's girl squads.This squad of girls then followed up and attacked my machine gun squad doing away with them in the process leaving us defenceless on our right flank.

Andrew's machine gun.

And mine's about to come to a sticky end courtesy of more females.

                                                    Andrew moved his Bavarians up but eventually they found themselves plugging gaps with the only notable thing being a rush up our left flank,through the captured side of the town and a shooting match with the girls on the other side.Through the engagement I fell back into bad concentration and didn't some units up quickly enough leaving a machine gun and cannon in our wake.When I finally started moving them it was just about timt for the final whistle.

A building about to be cleansed.

Sneaking around the dockside.

It's actually a machine gun.

Andrew finally lets rip!

                                   Colin's girls were getting established on the dockside and were even bringing their artillery to the fore but once again not quite quick enough meaning we controlled one side of the port and Bill and Colin the other at the end of the game.A score draw I think although Dave O'Brien would think otherwise and he wasn't even there.A great game as Freikorp games usually are with another chance to get all these beautiful toys on the table.Thanks to Colin for the game and the supply of figures,scenery and scenario.
                                                            See You All when I See You.

                                                         

                                                                       

                                                                       

Venitian Rumble

Mercoledi 15th Gennaio

                                             In true tv studio style we didn't want to waste the wonderful scenery on display so this weeks game found us back in Venice.This time 1920's Venice with an encounter between up and coming Fascisti and one of Colin Jack's fav characters Corto Maltese.

Venice 1940's or 1920's-Never changes.

And they are still chanting!

A non-used female crewed gunboat.

                                          Corto Maltese is an early 20th century adventurer brought to life in the Hugo Pratt graphic novels and in this 7TV episode finds himself with some followers vying with the local "Blackshirts" for the possession of a golden buddha which was meant to bring great wisdom or something like that.Actually the search for the golden buddha was largely forgotten about as the game developed into one big brawl which encompassed most of the game.

Corto arrives.

Showing off his bellissimo compagno.

The black mass.

                                               At the start of the evening Colin and I had a dummy run through game in order to reacquaint ourselves with the rules and gameplay as sadly we haven't played the game for a while and it showed.We didn't take long to get back into the swing of things and by the time pizza break had arrived we were nearly back up to speed.We were joined by Andrew in the Garvald Inn and after the consumption of some not very alcoholic beer and our customary pizza we headed back to the gamesroom and Andrew's initiation into 7TV.Andrew had wanted a gameuse of theses rules to get him up to speed for the Crooked Dice Post Apocalyptic game he bought which has the same basic gameplay.Obviously a game for the future.

Making themselves a bigger target.

Checking the buildings.

A dead shark in the canals of Venice-something you don't see every day.

                                                   Colin took charge of Corto Maltese's gang whilst Andrew took charge of the local Blackshirts.I basically became gamesmaster in order to keep game going but also took charge of the local masons/cult who were looking after the buddha and would only come into play once the buddha was threatened which in this case was never.

Corto having p'd of the Blackshirts finds himself surrounded.

And eventually goes down.

His "burd" tries to avenge.

                                                 The game kicked off with Colin dispersing his gang to search the waterside buildings whereas Andrew's forces used their usual bully boy tactics and spread out in a bunch.He found out that was not the best tactic for as soon as his gang crossed the first bridge he was shot at by Corto himself and immediately two of his minions(or extras as they are called in this game)bit the Venice dust.
                                                This immediately raised the ire of the remainder of the Fascisti and they headed en masse into the building occupied by Corto with a definite vendetta on their minds.I'm afraid this is where the majority of the rest of the action took place with one almighty fisticuff taking place with Corto initially surrounded by the vengeful Blackshirts intent on revenge and although Corto had a martial art trait he gradually got withered down by the remainder of the Blackshirts.Colin had the rest of Corto's followers rushing to his assistance but alas he had eventually succumbed to the physical onslaught.

Corto's gang pile in.

But dwindle.

                                         The remainder of the gang arrived hoping to save the day but found themselves eventually outfought.Corto's female sidekick gave a showing especially with the use of her stunning perfume but Andrew's Countdown card's which are random cards drawn before activations helped him a lot especially when his leader couldn't be attacked for a turn and the reintroduction of one of his lost figures  swayed the fight his way.All but one of Colin's figures succumbed to the attacks of the Fascisti leaving one guy who was still searching buildings blissfully unaware what was happening to his partners in crime.E La Vita!

"Is anybody there?"

A hollow Blackshirt victory-No buddha,

                                                 As always a good game apart from the idea of an objective being thrown out of the window but rules and gameplay were reacquainted with and I hope to use the for a Daphne Du Maurier Rule Britannia game which takes place in a Britain which has left the Common Market and become a vassal state of the United States-sound familiar.This book was written in 1972 but very prophetic.

Guarding the prize.

Looking for a scrap.

                                     All figs and scenery were provided by Colin Jack and the scenario from one of the Corto Maltese graphic novels.
                                                               
                                                       See You All When I See You!

                                                       

Ritorno a Venezia.

Wednesday 8th January

Dave's heavily protected tower sans choir boys.

                                           First game of the year not only found us returning out to sunny Garvald but also returning to the streets and waterways of Venice.this time with another fantasy angle albeit the struggle between post Mussolini Italian forces against vengeful German forces commanded by Herr O' Brien who in his usual customary manner wanted total annihilation of any Italian resistance.The Italian forces were commanded by myself and also found ourselves not only confronted by German soldiers but also some unseen subterfuge in the form of some dodgy dice pulling by the enemy.I couldn't even physically blame the actual dice as they were mine.

Colin's Venice is getting crowded.

With a few more added buildings.

And another big gun purchased on Ebay.

                                                 I was on a strict schedule due to an early work start on the Thursday morning so we wasted no time in commencing hostilities.The object was possession of three game markers which had been placed on the table so as always we headed for the nearest marker,take possession and fight for the remaining marker which Colin Jack had placed right in the middle of a bridge in the middle of a helluva big killing ground.

Non participating Italian gunboat crewed by females-surprise surprise!

My gallant first squad heading for their inevitable doom!

Dave's German sailors about to get wasted.

                                                        We both rushed on towards the nearest marker but Herr O'Brien decided to deviate with his Kriegsmarine squad and charged into the building where I had placed a marker.Only problem from Dave's point of view was that it was already occupied by my first Italian infantry squad.A ruckus ensued and lo and behold the German squad was given a kicking by my patriotic Italians.1-0 to Italy but I'm afraid that was to be the major Italian victory of the evening as a combination of Dave's Teutonic hordes and the aforementioned dice appropriation.

Herr O'Brien's ghastly Germans.

And the choirboys are still chanting away.

"Spread out in a bunch!"in German.

                                                             My meagre forces apart from the victorious first squad slowly made their way on to the field with my sniper taking up residence in a canal side house with a great view down the canal and waited for some pickings which proved to be rather slim.I tried to get my mortar squad on the table but on their initial dice roll rolled a double 6 meaning they about turned and headed off the board and there they remained for a few turns before plucking up some courage to return to the fight.

Nasty Nazi's.

An evil machine gun team.

About to have a few artillery shells dropped on them.

                                        Dave's Germans were slowly making their way down his side of the canal aided and abetted by the lack of Italian dice being drawn giving a very safe passage to their defensive points.We actually played a few turns before heading for our usual pizza and ale break were we were joined by Andrew Easson and his lovely wife Lesley.She had joined us on the promise of a pizza paid for by her husband    

The paras arrive.

And ready to make a last gasp dash to the bridge.

 
                                    We consumed our delicious pizzas and headed back to the struggle going on in the games room.No sooner had we arrived back when the dastardly Herr O'Brien decided to divebomb our entrenched first squad.the problem was that they were not entrenched enough and were annihilated.Revenge would come but not as drastic as we hoped.Andrew was given charge of the Italian paratroop reinforcements and also an artillery observer giving us a chance to decimate Dave's dodgy defenders.

"There's that b*****d calling for Stukas!"(In Italian)

                              Dave had changed his fire towards the neighbouring building of the now rubbled building and pinning my second squad and since we weren't getting any dice luck they remained there for the rest of the game but at least they held out.Our plan was to wait for the end of the evening and charge the contested bridge.Our mortar had a change of luck and zeroed in on one of Dave's buildings and started to pick off some of the defenders.This combined with our artillery finally doing some damage albeit not catastrophic for the Germans.It basically made them just duck their heads.

Andrew's paras heading for the bridge.

                                   Most of the rest of the evening was taken up with both sides taking pot shots at each other but the only real damage was the destruction of my sniper team.We were maneuvering the paratroop squad up for a last minute dash on to the bridge when the last teatime dice was drawn-bummer!I called it a day as I had a 4.50 work start the following day but the remaining combatants decided to play another turn but I am led to believe the Italian paratroops made it so near but yet so far-Questa e Vita!

                                       A great game to start our gaming year albeit a scrap that never happened at least not in Venice.
                                      All figures,scenery and scenario provided by Colin Jack as well as being guilty of some of the dodgy dice appearances and Donald wasn't even there!
                                            See you all next week when we are revisiting 7TV as a precursor to Andrew's recently aquired Apocalypse game being tried out.