Who do you think you are kidding Mister Gilchrist.

               Wednesday 14th June,

Nice quiet rural England

Not for long

Vorwarts!

                                  We played last Saturday's postponed Seelion game this evening with Bill Gilchrist substituting for Herr Dave O'Brien.
                                   The game was to be a pretty quick game with only five turns involving a unit of Branderburgers making a commando assault on a coastal gun emplacement somewhere on the east Sussex coast with Warmington on sea coming to mind.

                                           Bill very unusually ended up with the Germans whilst I took the part of the plucky Home Guard supplemented by a unit of Royal Navy sailors.Things didn't look good for me at the start as it was taking place just after Dunkirk and my men were a tad green except for the sailors.Obviously some people havn't heard the old saying of the most dangerous thing in the world is a sailor with a rifle in his hand which survived up to the Falkland's campaign when it was replaced with officer with a map.

The Germans fighting their way through some discarded dice.

"The gallant crew"

                                           The stage was set for Bill's units to come storming ashore in order to disable the coastal gun and head back to Germany with some booty.

To the rescue

                                                 Of course my plucky Home Guard were going to do their utmost best to make sure that didn't happen.As I was only allowed so many figures on the table to start with I put Captain Mannering's platoon in the bunker only to find it didn't have enough openings for my whole squad to shoot so after a few turns of sniping at the Germans albeit with a Lewis gun I brought them out of the bunker in order to get to grips with the evil Hun invaders.

"Charge!"

                                                    Bill's forces didn't have much time to achieve their objectives so they made straight for their objectives hoping to sweep any opposition away but as soon as one of his squads appeared into the line of sight of my carefully placed machine guns they were brought to a sudden halt leaving only one of the small demolition squads scrambling towards the main gun with the intention of putting a charge on the gun. This they did but it turned out to be a bit of a damp squib with more flash than bang.

Just about to cause mayhem

                                               By this time my gallant reinforcements had made their way on to the field with my second Home Guard squad going right into hand to hand with Germans loitering about the gun.I'm afraid my squad ended up with a bloody nose and ran away.

Hands,boots and pistols-all in.

                                                By this time Bill's other demolition team were heading towards the gun but met with some opposition from Mannering's platoon who stalled them but eventually had to run in themselves and indulge in hand to hand combat."They don't like it up them,Sir!"

"Schnell"

                                          Bill's forces seemed to arrive mostly armed with pistols which probably saved a lot of my guys.This was probably the reason why the game turned into a stalemate with the Germans not achieving their full objective.

Ready to mess with some cold British steel

                                            The British held them off albeit at a cost.I'm afraid to say Private Sponge went to meet his maker along with a few more of his gallant fellow countrymen.

Private Sponge R.I.P.-for the moment.

                                                  As I was an early start workwise the following day I left early leaving Bill and Colin to have a refight this time with the Germans being equipped with submachine guns.I'm led to believe that the Germans still didn't make their objectives.Ces't La Vie(don't know it in German I'm afraid).
                                                      A great night with a nice wee unit action.
                   All figures,scenery and scenario from Colin Jack's collection who also provided us with a nice meal supplemented mit einen schonen Rotwein.
                      My apologies for the quality of photographs as the light was bad and I didn't get the hang of the flash.
                                            See You When I See You

Saturday Night Premier

Sat 10th June

               

                         Welcome to the premier episode of TV7 on Hill 107 Blog filmed entirely on location in  the Garvald film studios.

A few pics of the backlot film studio in Garvald.

                            For the first time in a long time I played a game on a Saturday evening involving figures as Lady Watson and her friend the Contessa (they sound like female jewel thieves) had decided on a Thelma and Louise trip to Falkland Palce where some of the scenes for Outlander is filmed,leaving me with two options-watch football or play with toy soldiers-no contest.

Complete with fabby cars

                The original game was meant to be an Operation Sealion game with Dave O'Brien being involved but due to a last minute call off Colin decided on experimenting with the new set of rules from the Crooked Dice stable in the form of TV7.
                            I have played the !st edition rules a few years ago and was very enthusiastic about trying these ones out.I love the concept of the TV7 games as it means I can use figures from tv series that I love especially the ones from the 60's,70's and 80's.It is nice to know that there are game designers who think along the same wavelength as myself.

Fill her up and check the  tyres(or should that be tires)

                                              The rules are based on a Tv programme with Acts1&2 and finishing off with an exciting finale.If you are playing a campaign it is just like a tv series with cast members being hired or fired.

Redneck heaven

                                       To start our premier we had a scenario or should I say a synopsis with a gang fight between a gang of rednecks and black females.I would have picked the Latino girls but as always were just out of reach.Remember this is a Colin Jack game and female figures are always in abundance.

The Latino Chicas complete with Yorkshire Terrier

Big Mama and the girls.

                              My girls were suitably suited and booted and headed out to do battle with Colin's rednecks.The scene was the Dinogas gas station situated on some forlorn harbour festooned with some beautiful cars in backwater America.
                                       It was the usual encounter game with everybody running about finding the best vantage point with which to shoot or get up close and personal with your opponent.In my case hiding behind a Chevy Bel-Air and taking potshots at Colin's rednecks.
                                         

Gunned down in her prime-complete with broken heart

  One of my girls who was actually my group's doghandler(yes each gang had a dog)dashed towards the corner of a building in order to get round the back of Colin's gang only to be gunned down by an extra(the game has stars,costars and extras)Another one of my gang went hunting for revenge and after successfully evading the extras shot got up close and personal with him ignoring his hot-dog breath in the process.She actually spent most of the evening going hand to hand with him.

I'm gonna get you sucka.

Revenge is perfume scented

                                      Two of my other girls were trading shots with another two extras from the other gang but they could have done with some more target practise as they couldn't get a real telling shot.

Terrier tussle

And he's off

                                 Colin's dog made straight for my terrier and started a dogfight which ended up with my dog being knocked down and eventually running away with its tail between its legs.Colin's dog didn't last long as it decided to make a beeline towards my star Big Bertha,who promptly dispatched it to doggy heaven.

I can think of better places to have a gunfight

                                     In this game before indulging in actions you have to turn over a random action card and my best card came in the form of being able to set some of Colin's gang on fire.The only trouble being that there was a three inch radius of the fire so I couldn't get the benefit of setting anybody else on fire as all his guys were scattered about so there was only one unfortunate victim but even he managed to put the fire out.

Whoa I'm on fire

                                             Colin's gang finally got to grips with Big Mama who at times was fighting off both the star and the co-star's love interest and ended up going down in a hail of kicks and punches.
                         

Big Mama goes down

with broken hearts all around.

Revenge but too late

        The game ended with the introduction of the "scene stealer"which every player can use once throughout the game.This gives a player an extra turn which is good when the momentum is on your side.This ended the episode(game)with a victory for Colin's rednecks.
                                  Tune in next week for another thrilling episode of "Rumble in Garvald".
                            A great game which I intend to elaborate on in my pursuit of a good set of Spi-Fi rules.

                                 See you when I see you.

Partisan Livingstone-1st half

Wednesday 7th June


                             Bill had organised a Rapid Fire WW2 game so the East Lothian contingent headed out to Bill's shack picking up Mr Ray on the way as all his rock and roll touring had dulled his senses and made him get his pick up times slightly mixed up.We met up there with cheif skulker Donald Adamson who regaled us with his archaeological dig stories from his recent trip to Brora.

Four pictures of a nicely set up board.

              Our game for the evening was Operation Gypsy Baron which was a WW2 scenario pitting partisans against various second line units which included some very unusual Slovak infantry which Bill for some unknown reason kept on referring them to them as Romanians.

A dinky period train.

                     The board was already set up and looked very impressive being densely populated by trees and a rather snazzy railway line crossing the table stopping off at a dinky little railway station on the way.
                              I havn't played Rapid Fire for a wee while so it was yet another learning curve as I have a few sets of rules buzzing about my head and trying to remember them can be a bit tricky.As I always say rules should fit the side of an A4 sheet of paper.
                              Forces were divvied up and I  took the part of a German recce squadron equipped with motorbikes and support.Brilliant I thought until I went into action and found that my forces flattered to deceive as although my sidecars were armed with machine guns in reality this was not the case.The figures were just cosmetic.Colin Jack took care of the Slovaks who were guarding the railway station and were also ensconsed in the fantastic looking prewar train.Mr Ray for failing to be where he should have been was appointed the army's oppengruppenfuhrer.
                                      Bill,Donald and Dave O'Brien took charge of the dastardly partisans out for anything they could lay their hands on.As usual with partisans games they were all deemed as hidden and only came to light when you all but stand on them.

We had a few side plots.These were supply trucks meant as cannon fodder for the despicable ruffians.

                                          Partisan games usually take the form of regular forces plodding on to the field and walking into carefully planned ambushes and tonight was to be no exception.
                                           

Donald's all out assault

The game kicked off with the skulking Donald lobbing mortar rounds on to the railway station from the safety of hidden positions in a nearby wood.This was done in unison with an attack by more of his partisans on the railway station as he was hoping for a quick coup de grace and home for 9o'clock.Colin's partisans had other ideas and fought them off giving his reinforcements time to arrive by train.

Who'll get there first?

                                                My forces arrived on the board in a true Teutonic organised fashion looking to sweep the partisan scum before me.After spotting the attack on the station I decided to head towards the action point incurring the wrath of Bill's deluded partisans hiding on the edge of the wood waiting for an opportunity to ply his trade and fire on my lads who were just minding their own business causing some casualties amongst my innocent junge.This was the pointwhere I found out that my forces were cosmetically attired and didn't have much firepower to fight back with.

Mein Junge

                          Our glorious fuhrer's forces came onto the board in Ray's usual charging manner-not!His forces had the benefit of some armour albeit early war French tanks giving hin an air of invincibility but were soon stopped in their tracks by a lone anti tank gun well placed by Dave O'Brien which were actually the only forces he used throughout the whole evening as Ray's forces came to a sudden halt and wallowed in the same area for the rest of the evening.In conjunction with Dave's accurate fire more of Donald's forces began to trade fire with Ray's infantry.

Dave's solitary forces(for the moment)

Mr Ray assaulted on all sides and not by groupies!

Some of Donald's forces on parade

                                        Colin's gallant defenders were holding on awaiting the remainder of his forces arriving by train.Donald changed the direction of his mortar fire towards the approaching train which had just struck some explosives which had been planted on a river bridge but only caused light damage.Donald's assaulting forces were dwindling turn by turn.

Bit of a minor hiccup

                                     

Bill's vandals up to no good.

 My forces weren't doing well trading fire with Bill's misguided partisans the only up side being my armoured car which was kept out of molotov cocktail range.Bill tried to rectify this problem with the use of an anti tank rifle which caused minimal damage.Throughout this time Bill had a couple of vandals place explosives on a telegraph pole which was duly knocked down but no other damage.

Ready to thwart Bill's plans.

Bill's doing a Donald(skulking)

Untouchable!

It's just a flesh wound.

                                            Ray's forces at the other side of the table were stagnating with his armoured forces dwindling due to some of them being forced back off the table as Dave's gunfire was still proving to be very accurate.

Donald finally hits pay dirt or the water tower in this case.C

Colin's forces out the train,tickets checked and raring to go!

In the starting stalls

                                                    Near the end of the game Colin's train finally arrived near enough to unload his force which came in the form of cavalry and complemented by the arrival of more Slovak infantry in trucks.They readied themselves for a quick counterattack on Donald's partisans just as the final whistle went.                
                                              We then decided that since the game had only started to continue the game in three weeks time.Watch this space.
                More photos on Bill's Flicker page.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157681838909644/
                                             


                          Scenery,figs and scenario were all supplied by Bill himself with Colin supplying the steam train.
                           Thanks also to Helena for once again surpassing herself with an amazing repast washed down by some local beer and I don't mean Tenants.
                                           
                               See you when I see you!
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