LeBrock's North African Holiday

                          Tuesday 9th October.

                                                Due to spousal returns and forgotten plays,Wednesday's game was transferred to this evening and due to nobody else being available for selection El Presidente for life Colin Jack and myself indulged in an evening of In Her Majesty's Name but with a difference as the characters involved came from Bryan Talbot's Grandville graphic novel series.

The casino in question.

An oft used harbour.

                                                          This series of novels takes place in an alternate universe where Britain has lost the Napoleonic wars,the royal family at the time were all guillotined and has just been given independence from the French Empire.All sounds very different but what makes it different is that the world is not populated mainly by humans but animals albeit humanoid and humanly dressed.
                                                         

Billie watching the bar.

The steamer tramps in.

LeBrock and his hearties.

 Colin has all the figures courtesy of Crooked Dice but they had never been used until this evening.So the scene was set for a set too in some god forsaken North African port and involved the robbing of the safe from the local casino.

And Angus is still there.

Ratzi waits albeit rather blurred.

The baddies approach.

                                                      The sides were divvied up and I took charge of the main man Det Inspector LeBrock accompanied by his faithful Det Constable Ratzi.Making up the group was LeBrocks sweetheart Billie who was very capable of looking after herself and making up the group was Det Chief Inspector Hawksmoor,LeBrock's mentor.

Hawksmoor chit chats with the camels.

Tiberius Koenig appears.

                                                        The bad guys came in the form of Tiberius Koenig,ably abetted by his cronies Mastock and Apollo with help(or hindrance)from a couple of thugs.
                                                                 The game kicked off with the baddies approaching the casino from two directions with Koenig's two lieutenants arriving off Colin's newly built tramp steamer which didn't auger well for me as my character Ratzi was keeping watch at the casino front door putting him straight into the firing line of the two goons.Billie was set up in the casino in order to watch for any internal shenanigans.My main guy was watching the casino back door whilst Hawksmoor acted as a reserve spending his time chatting up a couple of camels.

The Brits are in town.

"Play it again,Sam"

Billie spots the approaching pachyderm.

                                                                     Koenig's two main henchmen immediately headed straight for Ratzi hoping to dispatch him quickly but soon found that they were not up to the task as Ratzi and his lethal swordstick sent both of them packing out of the game and this was before Hawksmoor came to his assistance.The game had just started and Colin was two down and this was to be the norm for the evening.

Only to be grabbed by Koenig.

Actually Billie put him on the deck not LeBrock.

                               Meanwhile Colin's other goons coming in the forms of an elephant and a crocodile entered the casino with the intention of making a getaway with the contents of the casino safe.They first traded shots with Hawksmoor and Ratzi before splitting up with the pachyderm heading for the managers office and the much sought after safe leaving the croc to hold off the good guys

The gallant clerk goes hand to elephant's foot with the bad guy.

My kind of barmaid.

.
                             Tiberius Koenig then entered the building with the intention of grabbing Billie and using her as a shield to ward off LeBrock's advances.This started okay for Koenig but Billie wasn't giving up without a fight and resisted his advances giving LeBrock a chance to close the distance and defend his lover's honour.

LeBrock goes down in the second.

                             Meanwhile the elephant had made his way into the manager's office only to be confronted by a "doughface(human)"who proceeded to resist the advances of the evil elephant and protect the casino safe throughout the game.

But bounces back up-not bad for a badger.

                                         In the main room Billie had successfully avoided Koenigs advances and had broken his grip giving LeBrock the opportunity to close the gap and engage Koenig in fisticuffs in order to protect his future spouse.Whilst LeBrock and Koenig were knocking five spots out of each other Billie saw the opportunity to head for the office and help protect the safe .

One out of place submarine but it does give me an idea for a Thirty Nine Steps game.

And another lot out of another film.

                                                                Ratzi meanwhile vaulted the bar and proceeded to follow Billie albeit crossing Hawksmoor's firing line in the process.This didn't hinder Hawkswood for long as he finally drew a bead on the hiding crocodile and dispatched him without even a thought.Ratzi followed Billie into the office to be confronted by the sight of the pachyderm lying on the flower after being incapacitated by the human clerk.Ces't la vie!

                                                                   Meanwhile the titanic struggle in the casino main room was swaying from side to side with no quarter given and none taken.Hawkswood came into the fight to help his protege and with this Koenig thought that it was time to leave the premises and disappeared into the night air.

The local ruins.

                                  A great game played with In Her Majesty's Name rules which are good except for the fight at the end between the two protagonists which just turned into a slugging match due to the similarity of their statistics.
                                             All figures supplied,scenery and scenario provided by Colin who once again provided us with a repast before the game.
                                                                 See You All when I See You.
                                                       

Last Stand at Bacon Roll Hill.

                                                       

                      Saturday 8th September.

                             

Our new temporary venue.

Donald advising Chris how to cook the books in skulking.

                                                          We all headed out to the Gifford Village Hall as our original venue had decided that a paper game display of the Battle of Prestonpans was more important than our Korean War game and the large amount of money we would have spent in the Gothenburg pub,our usual howf in Prestonpans.
                         

Mr Ray asking if he can sing the national anthem.

The red hordes on the move.

                           

My gallant Korean defenders with their biggest gun.

   Any way that's the pettiness out of the way apart from some later on rule queries and dodgy dice rolls.We all turned up at the Gifford Hall and proceeded to set up our game, divvy up the sides and indulge in bacon rolls and coffee before starting our Korean War game.

The barrage of doom.

Dave P conducting business whilst his men march on,

Mr Ray's only big gun.

Here come the British.

 Dave Paterson,Dave O'Brien.Chris Henry and chief skulker Donald Adamson took on the role of the Chinese and North Korean hordes indulging in an overwhelming invasion of the peace loving South Korea..

Our unused Wyverns.

A s**t load of paraphernalia.

Mr Ray on the end of Chris's Katyusha barrage.

Chris's second surprise.

              Bill Gilchrist.Mr Ray Neil,Rob Anderson and myself took the side of the gallant defenders of kimchi and apple pie.Mr Ray took charge of the American defenders who had been scraped up from clerks and chefs and showed it in their defending.I took charge of the South Koreans who were about as competent as their allies across the valley.
                                   

About to unload on my poor defenders.

Here comes our reply,

           

The intended target

  The game started with the hordes moving en masse down the table with Dave O'Brien in the vanguard in his usual style T34 tanks to the fore.All the initial defenders were poorly armed and spent the initial turns literally swatting at flies.Chris Henry added fuel to the fire by hitting Mr Ray's lads with a salvo from a Katyusha rocket launcher which proceeded to decimate the defenders.The game gave the impression of being over in the first half hour.
                                                         

And Rob's final target.

Chinese intruders.

Backed up by Chinese cavalry.

This is how the Brits deal with them.

My lads held of for a bit longer but were embarrassed by the arrival of a North Korean biplane which proceeded to attack my lads and cause damage amongst my men and make them hunker down allowing Dave O'Brien to close the gap and proceed to take apart my defenders with the only consolation being the loss of a few of Dave's men and  one of his T34s needing a paint job.

General Ying Tong Ying Tong confers with his lackeys.

Before he rumbles on.

Mr Ray's tank bites the dust.

Bill's Cromwell's ironsides didn't help it.

                                             Bill was proceeding to bring up some reinforcements but was waylaid by the arrival of some Chinese forces in his flank which also included some cavalry.We answered the bad guys with an air attack of our own but this turned out to be useless which was actually a harbinger of the air attacks to come where Rob Anderson couldn't throw a decent dice to save himself and he was C in C.

Colonel Ying Tong  moves forward.

And reaches the top of Bacon Roll Hill.

No wonder the red's supplies are slow.

"And when they were only half way up"

                                        Dave Paterson and Donald where slowly making their way up the table but
thankfully for us not fast enough.We thought the tables were about to be turned and the allies were about to walk away as winners but as usual the fickle finger of fate was about to play its hand as when Rob called down another airstrike it ended up being delivered due to a FUBAR dice roll on our hard pressed defenders who were digging in on the south side of the river.This caused untold damage even destroying one unit totally.
                       

The Thin Green Line.

              We were sitting about licking our wounds and feeling sorry for ourselves when we were told it was lunch break time so it was time to head for the Tweedale Arms across the road from the hall for some liquid sustenance and some well earned lunch.

Our watering hole for the day with the village hall in the background.

                                                        Lunch was consumed ravenously and was watered down at least from my point of view with a very hoppy Summer Lightning ale to set us up for an afternoon  of gentlemanly gaming -Hah!Colin had decided that since the Commies(sorry Donald) weren't moving fast enough he allowed them to run and shoot and therefore move up the speed of the game.Dave O'B started to drool as this gave him the opportunity to clear my side of the river leaving my HQ squad to just dissolve.

My two unreligious Priests ready to bring down some Holy Fire on the heathens.

                           

Rob's Chaffee looking good for a whole two minutes.

"Here comes that b****r again"

 The afternoon was to develop from our point of view into filling the gaps with the intention of damage limitation and saving South Korea for the American way.After Dave O'B had cleared out my heroic resistance he headed for the nearby heights of Bacon Roll Hill where his advance would turn into a bit of a quagmire as my Canadian reinforcements were prepared to sell their lives and their Shermans dearly  for the Korean cause.The scrap was turning into a who draws first game with Dave having the advantage due to more commie random dice being in the drawbag.Never the less my lads gave a good show by taking out a few of the bad guys' T34s as well as saving the M.A.S.H tent from serious damage from the marauding Chinese cavalry.Meanwhile Donald's forces had taken over Seoul(which consisted of three wooden buildings)and proceeded to dig himself in and skulk for the remainder of the game(or is that sulk?)taking occasional pot shots from the safety of cover.Dave Patterson was been cagey,that cagey that he didn't lose a unit all day.That gave him more time to wheel and deal on E-bay.Somethings never change.
                             

Dave O'B's tank percolating well.

           

"Booyah!"

Ying Tong winning the draw.

But just about to say bye bye.

   Chris Henry had decided since his first air attack proved successful he would repeat it again  this time against my Canadian infantry.It took him a few attempts to attack my lads giving most of them time to evade and head for Bacon Roll Hill and support the Shermans who were involved in a nose to nose gunfight with no quarter given on either side.My two Priests arrived to lend a hand and I don't mean religious Priests.This they did helping to keep the red's heads down whilst my forces of freedom slowly advanced towards the enemy.Chris's vintage aircraft finally lobbed their bombs but done minimal damage to my Canadians.Our gallant CinC decided, that what is good for the goose,to bring down an airstrike to alleviate the pressure and just to prove he is consistent rolled another F.U.B.A.R brought the airstrike down on our own lads.Obviously it was the same pilot.
                             

   

Dave O'B's assailant 

Chinese cavalry about to get mown down.

This action was to bring the curtain down on our game as full-time was nearing and the evil North Korean and Chinese forces were running out of steam.Well it saved us nuking them!
                             

Rob's rookie pilot about to f**k up again!

     A great game played in the best manner apart from one difference of opinion which had two of us looking for someone to hold our coats and it wasn't even Donald and I.

Saving the M.A.S.H tent.

Last gasp fight at Bacon Roll Hill.

                                Many thanks to Colin for putting on a great game especially as we had to change the venue.This is one of Colin's fav periods and he supplied most of the figs,armour and scenery to back this up.The bacon rolls were supplied by the local cafe and very nice they were.Rob Anderson and Chris Henry our visitors for the day supplied some of their own crafted figures.
                                                          See You All When I See You!