Manchurian Rule Candidate

 Wednesday 6th December 192ish.

Place-Manchuria (Backlot of Garvald Film Studios)

       Tonight’s get together found us with a little skirmish in the Back of Beyond.El Presidente wanted to try out another set of rules for this period as the chief Skulker had asked for them to be tried out and an opinion given but of course he wasn’t there.

The not needed command unit bellowing out orders.

My army in full swing.

The Japanese pile of the train from standard class.

       The skirmish involved Imperial Japanese against Imperial Chinese.The Japanese were regarded as superior to the Chinese rabble but sometimes appearances can be deceptive. I took charge of the Chinese “rabble “reinforced by a troop of White Russian cavalry who were to prove to be the saviours of the Chinese Empire albeit very temporary.

The Manchurian Choo Choo.

The Japanese Horse Soldiers.

A little village somewhere in Manchuria.

      The object of our desires was some forsaken crossroad with a few buildings huddled around it and only one peasant to be seen.The game kicked off with everybody converging on the crossroads some a bit more faster than others.One of the traits of the game was dicing to see if you could perform an action which is a bit of a bummer when your units can’t even be bothered moving-repeatedly especially cavalry and assault units.El Presidente moved straight in to town with his cavalry,unhorsed them and set them up in the local church ready to repel all boarders. The only forces of mine was a unit of infantry who started trading shots with the Japanese cavalry.

Now the first class passengers get off.

My lads digging in.

The forces of evil arrive.

             One of El Presidente’s units had a “drunken “leader and this hindered them from moving forward and even El Presidente stated that he hoped the unit leader would get killed in order for the remainder of the unit to be able to function better-no such luck.His other infantry arrived at the crossroads and decided to stay in the open.This gave my assault unit a chance to charge in and scatter the Japanese peasants to the four winds.No such luck as my infantry were sent scurrying away into cover by their enemy.Things were not looking good for the Chinese.

The machine gun team welcoming the drunkards.

My lads advance to the rear.

Crossroads brawl.

            My other infantry came up on the other flank and proceeded to take cover in some peasant’s garden trampling over the Pak Choi in the process.They readied themselves for an attack by the saki sodden infantry facing them and they traded shots with each other for a few turns before lo and behold the Japanese were dislodged from the premises and were last seen heading back to the nearest saki bar not to take any further part in the proceedings.My victory was short lived as El Presidente moved up a machine gun and proceeded to rake my poor ensconced infantry disastrously meaning my lads had to retire ungracefully from the now well trodden cabbage patch.My only real success I was having was with my mortar which was chipping away at the cavalry in the church.

The Japanese best unit.

The Whites charge in.

And keep on charging!

          The game turner came when I finally got the White cavalry moving away from the main road and around the side of the village.Once they made their way around the Japanese infantry on the crossroads came into view so it was a matter of lances out and charge in which they did with instant success.El Presidente did make a comment about the lances being very powerful but he did divvy up the forces.His church ensconced cavalry tried to take some pot shots at my victorious lads but couldn’t land a shot on target..My mortar and my only viable infantry unit kept up fire on the church eventually causing the unmounted Japanese cavalry to leave the church by the back door putting them straight into the sights of my White cavalry.Tally Ho!(in Russian)was heard to be uttered by my cavalry as they ploughed into the pitiless Japanese.Game,Set and Match to the Chinese although it was the foreigners who done the deed.

My mortar wi a wee lad at the back sitting eating his rice.

“I haven’t a clue where you’re army went?”

        A quick game played out without any bickering apart from a few words about the lethality of the lances.The rules we used were “Men Who Would Be Kings”Ok but I can think of a couple of preferred sets.I didn’t realise that the rules come from the same stable as Lion and Dragon Rampant as well as Xenos Rampant although I did notice a few similarities I.e dicing for activation.

      All figures,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente.Hopefully I’ll get in another game before Hogswatch and a chance to regale you with our escapades.

     

    This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.