Missy,Missy let’s get busy!

 Wednesday 18th August.

A half decent PM. 

The Japanese contingent 

RAF base somewhere in Britain.

                  Headed out to the Garvald Film Studios this evening in anticipation of a great evening’s gaming as I got to choose this evening’s game. I plumped for a 7TV game with lots of toys and a silly storyline as always.This evening’s plot was to involve a joint venture between the British government and a Japanese conglomerate to launch twin misses into space to be able to spy on a certain foreign power and of course this power was having none of it so they sent in a team of assassins to solve the problem and of course in Colin’s world they were all female-what a surprise.

Plenty of toys.

And even more toys.

The Brits gather.

                 When I arrived the British and Japanese teams had all been set up so they were placed on the table ready for the off whereas Colin’s femme fatales were all left off the table ready to sneak on and do their worse.By the time this was all done it was pizza and ale time so we trooped of to the pub and partook of said vitals being joined by oor Andrew in the pub.After the repast was done away with we headed back to the film studio fortified and ready for an evening of skullduggery.

Missy and her mob skulk around the hangar..

An assassin appears

And goes down.

Japanese bodyguards.

                  Andrew took charge of the British whilst I took on the role of the Japan business man and his entourage.The game started as usual with both allied teams heading for the victory point stashes with Andrew succeeding straight away with his start on the victory dance.My lads decided to first head for the main objective and hopefully the British prime minister would follow hirsute whilst the remainder would defend the motorcade.This was a fine plan until one of Colin’s females appeared on top of a lorry and proceeded to fire at my unsuspecting bodyguards causing them  to take wounds and dive for cover.They both returned fire and done away with the shooter.

P.C Karen Gillan appears.

Another assassin about to bite the dust.

“Don’t scratch my car!”

                         Colin’s girls all started to appear and a Karen Gillan lookalike kitted out in a police uniform appeared beside a lorry and started to fire on some more of my squad.Andrew’s gang started to return fire with what looked like Disco Stu out of the Simpson’s returning fire on the policewoman having safely stashed the victory points away.Colin had to nip away and attend to the livestock and left his figures  to our honesty.We were that honest that we done away with another one of his gang members.Colin returned just in time for his policewoman figure to do away with not one but two of my figures one of them being my second in charge.His femme fatale figure Missy was edging her way around the hangar supported by one of her minions and was hoping to dash on and do away with both VIPs’before they could push the historic button to launch both rockets.Andrew’s leader/prime minister had arrived at the launch room and was twiddling her thumbs waiting on my boss who had just been catapulted back a few metres due to some mysterious explosion that Colin had conjured up from a random event card so he was going to be slightly delayed.Not your usual Japanese efficiency.    

The P.M arrives.

Shooting past a fire engine.

Disco Stu takes cover.

Missy and the P.M.

                            My other assistants were slowly making their way towards the victory counters and had managed to procure a couple before deciding that helping their boss was actually the main objective.A couple of Andrew’s bodyguards were getting into a firefight with one of Colin’s femme fatales in the hangar and wear making a meal of it with even grenades not providing solving the problem.They actually cancelled each other out.The policewoman advanced towards her boss when she was taken out ignominiously by Disco Stu,not Karen’s finest hour and she didn’t even have her Jumanji respawn.

And she goes down.

Picking up another victory marker.

                My Oyabun had by this time picked himself up and was heading towards the launch building passing Andrew’s sergeant who was in the process of dispatching another beautiful assassin.Colin tried another one of his mysterious explosions but the boss just sneered and entered the building to witness Andrew’s boss going manicured fingernail to manicured fingernail with Colin’s head honcho.

Victory to the good guys.

Now you see her-

Now you don’t!

                What followed was best described as a scrap of attrition with Andrew’s boss and mine trading shots with Missy,the chief assassin who was being protected by an invulnerable trait which was proving to be a pain.She was also equipped with a sidestepping trait meaning every time I wanted to indulge in hand to hand with my sleek katana she avoided it with ease. The only answer was just to stand back and blast away which on the last turn was to prove fruitful eventually doing away with this adversary .

More toys.

Nice police van.

The sight of the the two victorious leaders standing over the temporarily defeated Missy brought a smile to the allies faces but I’m sure she’ll return in one form or another to torment us in the near future.

             Another great game brought to you be the Garvald Film Studios and my thanks to Colin who provided all figures,scenery and scenario.See you all soon as we head into Autumn with two game shows on the horizon with Carronade being a possible and Partizan being very probable.

           This has been a Garvald Film Production.

      

         

The Great Garvald Showdown.

Wednesday 11th August.

       Good turnout this evening at the Garvald Film Studio for an evening of Stargrave where four of us diehards were pitched against each other and giving no quarter.Three of us turned up to find El Presidente for life had set up another fine table to fight over and also four amazing gangs made up of 32mm figures.Bill Gilchrist's gang were made up of western and Mexican characters including Wild Bill Hickock,Calamity Jane and Pancho Villa amongst others.Andrew's gang was made up of Native Americans (injuns to you and I)whilst Colin had taken charge of the crew of the Nautilus-no doubt the spaceship version.My gang brought up the rear in the form of the crew of the Serenity minus the shepherd-Colin couldn't find a figure to represent him so I was given a standard mercenary to bring my gang up to its quota.

Wild Bill Gilchrist’s Travelin Show

Andrew’s Vittorio crew.

My Serenity gang sans shepherd.

 The usual game of shooting and looting was on the agenda with the added bonus or hindrance of the appearance of some big creature in the middle of the board which no doubt would cause some mayhem later on.

The playing field.

The mysterious creature.

The other half of the table had a game set up for a future game show.

The game started late this evening due to the usual pre game chit chat taking a wee bit longer than usual and with the customary visit to the local hostelry for pizza and ale thrown in the game kicked off pretty late. As I said there were four of us playing so the turns did drag a wee bit but that doesn't mean to say there was a lack of action as we all took turns to do away with each other rather than look for the goodies.

                                     

Andrew’s gang creeping around a building in leaps and bounds by the look of it.

Colin’s crew of the Nautilus-a tad dark I’m afraid as I was more interested in my upcoming  pizza.

Colin’s gang heading for a tete a tete with Bill’s gang.

The game started as usual by everybody charging towards the loot hoards and straight  from the start I was picked on from two sides with Andrew and his force straight off the Starship Vittorio shooting at my poor innocent Serenity crew who weren't even misbehaving at that point.Bill's gang came off his ship the San Antonio and split his force with half of them picking on me and the other half heading for a confrontation with Colin's Nautilus crew complete with Captain Nemo in a wheelchair.

The other part of Bill’s gang coming to shoot my lot in the back.

Colin hunting for loot.

Kayleigh on top of the world.

                                           My plan was to split my force with half of them shooting and the other half looting with Zoe doing the interference and Mal doing the procuring.Zoe complete with her husband Wash and the doc knuckled down behind some cover and proceeded to trade shots with Andrew's leader Walks Landing backed up by Kaga who just happened to be armed with a grenade launcher,this was going to hurt and it did when a grenade was lobbed behind Zoe causing her to take a few hits.Mal's group headed in the other direction but due to my usual lack of foresight I let them get split up and due to the vagries of the rules they were all isolated meaning they had to wait till everybody else had moved which was to prove costly for poor Jayne who ended up being isolated and the object of one of  Bill's squads desires drawing fire from the whole squad and  once again it involved another deadly rocket launcher causing Jayne to take a s**tload of wounds and making him stunned.Kayleigh was meanwhile climbing the side of a building hoping to get some tech data but I think it was a wall to far.

Inara goes down.

Laughing at Inara’s downfall.

The creature awakens.

                                       Colin's Nautilus crew had also split up with one group heading for the centre of the board to grab some loot boxes but he was venturing ever near the caged beast meaning if it was to be released shortly he was going to be its number one target.The remainder of Colin's gang began to trade shots with Bill's leader and his group causing casualties on Bill's side.Things were looking good for Colin but things were about to change.Firstly Colin had to leave for a few minutes and deal with some of his menagerie and on return Andrew had rolled a dice and ended up releasing the caged robot/monster which after growling proceeded to fire at the three nearest targets two of which were Colin's figures but lucky for him they both missed.The third target was one of Andrew's runners who was about to open up a loot case but once again no hits.

Grey Wolf goes for the Psionic power and missed the barn door.

                                                          Andrew's other group were outflanking Zoe and her guys and this gave him the chance to have his Grey Wolf character use his Psionic fire on my imbedded defenders but alas it ended up as a damp squib with the only damage coming to himself as he had to forfeit health points to use this power.He resorted to the grenade launcher which was to prove more deadly.Meanwhile I had my Inara character move around the side of a building to try and help Jayne but in doing so drew fire from Bill's group and this proved to be fatal for after two lucky shots Inara was potted.First blood to Wild BIll Gilchrist's gang.My River character was dragging her heels and in the process of follwing her brother the doc took fire from Andrew's injuns and went down.

Calamity Jane wards of both her suitors.

                                                                                     Colin was patiently trying to flank the creature but only drew more fire from it causing a few wounds.The Nautilus crew sought to get nearer to Bill's gang and indulge in hand to hand .Their plan was to do away with  Calamity Jane who was hiding behind some cover partaking of a bottle of gin.It didn't  prove to be as easy as Colin had hoped as first one of the suitors was done away with before the gin bottle was turned toward the other one,dispatching him with the same severity.Two down for Colin.

Lull before the grenade storm.

                                                                       Malcom Reynolds had opened the loot case and in his usual manner was high tailing it towards the Serenity and safety.His gang meanwhile were holding on for grim life with both the doc and the hired mercenary crawling about in the dust looking for cover.This was to prove to be pointless as Andrew fired another grenade detonating right in the middle of the ensconced group causing the doc and the merc to head for the showers and keep Inara company.

Colin trying to circumvent the beast.

                                                        The game was nearing the end and casualties were occurring on all sides with one of Bill's guys biting the dust from a vengeful Jayne who had just got back on his feet..The only one who hadn't any real casualties was Andrew and although he hadn't any casualties his lads were carrying a few wounds but he was classed as the close winner.

                                                  A good game played in the usual flying accusations way but well worth the venture out to a very showery Garvald.My thanks to El Presidente for life for setting up a good table which actually had a WW2 game set up in the other half which I believe is heading for Carronnade if it takes place.

                                                        See you all soon with a report on the Gothenburg Gamers first outing in nearly two years as we put on a Boxer Rebellion game courtesy of Jim Conquer and Donald "Skulker"Adamson.

                                          This has been a Garvald Film Studio Production.

Handbags at dawn-Shogun style

 Wednesday 28th July.

                       There was a big turnout this evening at the Garvald Film Studios for tonight’s presentation of a delve into Japanese history with a seventeenth century battle between a Christian Japanese army complete with Portuguese support against their non Christian fellow countrymen.It sounded very promising and the sight of the table set up made it even more mouth watering.The trouble with such a big gathering in these strange times meant that there was a lot of catching up on all sides therefore the game didn’t start till we had all visited the local hostelery for our standard fare of pizzas and ale and not any sake in sight.

Pre-Togugawa Japan.

Little and large.

Cha time.

                     The pleasantries were all taken care of and the ale was quaffed allowing us to get down to divvying up the forces with Mr Ray jumping in and taking charge of Portuguese aided by some samurai cavalry.Bill Gilchrist took charge of the remainder of the Christian Japanese army.The opposition were handed out to myself and Andrew so I plumped for the Ikko-Ikki army which I have always thought of as fighting monks since reading the Shike novels from the eighties which I still read and refer to when it comes to Japanese history and they are easier to read than Shogun. The rules used were Black Powder which I remembered involved me charging into an open field as I forgot the vagaries of the rules. I didn’t intend to make that mistake again.

My command squad-enough said.

Andrew’s faltering cavalry.

My girls about to go on a nite oot!

Handing out the arrows.

                  The evening’s struggle was going to involve a lot of tooing and froing especially from the cavalry point of view hence the reference in the title to handbags as cavalry charges seemed to be just charging in,a very brief struggle and finishing off with both sets of combatants retiring.Not how I thought Japanese battles would evolve.My plan as always with cavalry was just to charge in and see what happens and as his first move Mr Ray moved forward his Portuguese infantry I sensed victory-how often have I said that.As soon as my cavalry moved in on the infantry they formed square or more to the point a blob meaning my cavalry couldn’t engage one of the units.Mr Ray had also intended to assault the middle building but once again due to the vagaries of Black Powder he couldn’t get there and found himself staring at the outside walls.My samurai infantry made up totally of females had no qualms and headed straight in.Mr Ray huffed and puffed but he couldn’t get past my girls and lost have his unit in the process.The girls were not for moving,and to add insult to injury Ray had attached his leader to this assault and the last we saw of him he was heading for the hills and a date with seppuku.His successor dragged his heels and had to wait for two turns before arriving on to the battlefield.

My demon dice-occasionally called into disrepute.

Here we go,here we go!

The Portuguese squares or blobs!

The girls climbing the walls.

On the other side of the table both sides were trying to get to grips with each other but once again as soon as  they came into contact they would take a swipe at each other and then retire.Both of these sides had more infantry than us so they were taking longer to get to grips with each other and being armed mostly with arabesques took great delight in taking pot shots at each other.

As you can see Andrew’s faltering cavalry.

Getting around the blob.

My girls taking up permanent residence.

Andrew and Bill’s infantry engaging with handbags.

                     My Ikko-Ikki were spoiling for a fight but couldn’t get near the Portuguese squares/blobs and even when they did I couldn’t throw good dice for toffee.I even tried firing a few arrows into them but that was next to useless.Things seemed to be going our way but the fickle finger of fate showed its hand and some of Andrew’s ashigaru disappeared in the middle of the field and it wasn’t Godzilla’s fault just rubbish dice rolling.  

And their cavalry not doing too much as well.

Getting the business done.

               Going into the last quarter I decided to go for broke and moved some of my cavalry round the solid squares in order to get to grips with Mr Ray’s cowering cavalry and move my archer monks up to pick of the Portuguese.This cavalry unit was the only to register any success as they caused the Christian samurai to retreat. The only problem was this brought me into line of sight of the Portuguese cannon but once again their consistency was the norm and didn’t do any telling damage.

Stalemate in the middle.

Even with cavalry support.

                    On the other side of the table the handbags were flying but no real damage was being done and we were left with a score draw slightly leaning on the heathen side as the Christians had taken more hits and my lady samurai were ensconced in their new accommodation taking care of their nails or something like that.

Sitting out the battle.

Heading for a slight victory.

                 Even although the game seemed to be a bit slow probably due to our rustiness of the gameplay I thoroughly enjoyed it.Who wouldn’t with all these beautiful toys on display and the company was great.My thanks to Colin for setting up a great table.I’ll see you all when I see you.

                 This has been a Garvald Film Studio production.