The King Weasels Out!

 Wednesday 30th March.

The Royal Usurper with his bit stuff chaperoned by Ace Lister.Actually I think it looks like the Duke and Duchess of Garvald.

                 

                     Out to the Garvald Film Studios this spring evening for a delve into one of our fav games VBCW.I’m saying a spring evening as that just meant 2 inches of snow on the deck.Welcome to a Garvaldian spring.

Where the streets have no name.

Still the same film.

The Duke and archbishop protected by a half naked woman with a Lewis gun.

                           Tonight’s scenario found us in Northumberland with the king and his American floozy doing a little recce in the north to see the lay of the land support wise and as well as finding it was a tad sparce,found even more ignominiously he had been cut off from his Northern Army meaning the G&T had to be quickly put away and a mad dash had to be made to Acklington Aerodrome in order to purloin a plane and escape to safety.He also wasn’t taking any chances as he brought his own fuel and his pilot Ace Lister just in case.As the king said’It’s terrible the price of fuel,2p a litre-I shudder to think what would happen if it ever went up to £2 a litre -no that will never happen!’I took charge of the Royalist troops whereas Bill Gilchristi,commisar of this parish,took charge of the rebels without a clue.Later on Herr O’Brien appeared to bolster the Royalists leaving El Presidente left to succumb to the commisar’s indecision.

The good guys command vehicle.

An unusual WW1 armoured vehicle.

Trying to recruit.

                 The game kicked off with myself sending out the local militia entitled the Weasels to search for bad guys or in reality draw fire and ending up as sacrificial ‘Prawns’.The first gunshots came from the local cricketeers ensconced in their cricket pavilion obviously having run out of cucumber sandwiches.Their target was my Bicycle recce section which was clearing a way for the recruiting van which had come north hoping for a few converts and although they pinned the unit their rifle shooting was as bad as their bowling.Herr O’Brien wasted no time in bringing up our armour and eventually doing away with the cricketers for a duck.

Our means of escape-pilot and fuel providing.

Escorting the propaganda.

The Weasels weaselling their way up the side of a hedge.

The local woman’s darts team-The Winchester Wenches.

                      The Weasels duly entered the Winchester Arms hoping for some libations when lo and behold came across the local local darts team partaking of a few Pimms No 1.The inevitable scuffle took place and of course the Weasels came out on top-just!The cyclists had got as far as I thought without drawing fire so I had them dismount which was a good thing for as soon as they had taken their bicycle clips off machine gun fire erupted from the local cinema doing away with a couple of them.The rest of them legged it towards a nearby row of houses and the cover of brick walls.The Weasels immediately came to their assistance and with the help of our vintage armoured car complete with twin Vickers machine guns done away with these even more female interlopers.

The cricket pavilion about to have some air conditioning.

The air conditioner.

Getting a better view.

The pub in question.

            Obviously Bill hadn’t a clue where the usurper king and his misses were but he wasn’t the only one so Dave and I had a quick confab and decided they would be split amongst the two Mark IV tanks with Ace Lister in the fuel bowser.Well one wouldn’t be worth it without the other as starting a plane could have proved to be a wish to far.

Northumbrian rush hour.

The rebel’s biggest asset.

Machine guns on the prowl.

The Weasels getting wasted.

               Bill’s heavy firepower began to arrive with first an Armadillo truck complete with Lewis gun shortly to be supplemented by  beautiful Lanchester armoured car albeit once again just with machine guns.The Lanchester at once took umbrage with the Weasels partaking of a few ales and proceeded to rake the pub with bullets diminishing the lads even more but still they hung on.

The Guards ready to advance-Busbies to the fore.

The alleged ‘hidden’ Morris Dancers.

           This was the signal for us to pour everything forward bringing up all our infantry hoping to pave way for the King’s great escape.El Presidente then let the cat out of the proverbial bag by accidentally informing us of squad of infantry hidden in the local garage so we done a quick random dice roll to decide if we could see them and lo and behold we did and helped air condition the building with bullets. The inhabitants turned out to be the local Morris dancer troupe.It wasn’t long before it was their last waltz.The old expression’Loose lips sink ships’came to mind.And their was me thinking I was the blether!

You can have any colour you want as long as it’s green!

Waiting for check in.

            The cyclists scooted towards the now empty cinema where they remained for a few turns as they wouldn’t be commanded for love nor money.Must have been a good film.Probably a naughty X.They eventually ended rolling a FUBAR making them head east towards the table edge right into the firing line of the Airfield Alarm company taking a few casualties along the way. I just had to say’Sod It!’and charged  right into them taking five of them with me before evaporation.

The Royal Bodyguard,gas masks and leather coats to the fore.

              Dave and I committed all our forces to try and run interference.The guards left their trucks and proceeded to enter a factory building hoping to use that as a stepping point to glory but in their way was Bill’s Lanchester armoured car guarding the way.The only plus point was since El Presidente had found some random event cards from way back when Bill had a breakdown occur on one of his Armadillos and that basically kept it out of the game as it needed two positive activations to get back into working order.This didn’t stop his second Armadillo entering the field but this one was brought to a standstill by the amorous attentions of one of our tanks.

Northumbrian stand off!

            The game was bogging down into a slugging match and although we moved the royal party up our left flank the airport duty-free was a long way away.My Royal bodyguard were committed along with our last remaining infantry squad but firstly the bodyguard came off second best against the Lanchester with the remaining bodyguards hiding in somebody’s back garden as the other squad had taken shelter in the terraced house.The last entry to the fold was a Ford Model T with twin anti aircraft guns but too late to do any damage.The game ambled into a draw as although the King didn’t get away there was more chance of that happening than Bill’s forces getting the upper hand.

                  Another great Garvald Film Studios production with of toys on display.Many thanks to El Presidente for devising and putting on the game.

                  See You All When I See You!

                         This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production!