Belgians & Cowboys

                   Tuesday 13th November.

Honest we were really chuffed.

                                      Since I have just come back into the possession of my camera after its four week hiatus from its owner due leaving it elsewhere I decided to put together a quick blog about the contents of the disc namely our successful venture up to the Skelp Wargame show in Forfar away back on October 13th.

Wild West Forfar style.

The line up.

Non playing extras.

                                    Our entry this year was Bill's cowboy game using his Playmobil figures combined with The Legend of the West rules.The game went down a treat with the natives so much so that we won first prize in the public participation game category.An unlooked for bonus to end  an excellent game show.This was my first visit to the Angus Wargames show and I must admit it was a fantastic little game show with all the games and traders in the one hall with only the Bring and Buy in another room and what a very cheap Bring and Buy it was.The added attraction of some very nice bacon rolls amongst other goodies provided by the host's field kitchen proved the icing on the cake of a very enjoyable day.

Daddy enjoying the game more than his kids.

All quiet on the Forfar front.

A member of the Hole in the Wall gang.

                                        The culmination of the day came for us in the form of a trophy for first place in the PP category which has helped make the first year of the Gothenburg Gamers existence very rewarding indeed.

"You fill up my senses,
Like a night in a forest"

Bill adjudicating.

He's never moved that fast for a long time.

A happy man.

                                     The second set of photographs were taking at my first figure game in a while as due to family excursions and the playing of board games(Onward To Venus-a great Victorian Sci-Fi game).Dave O'Brien,Bill Gilchrist and myself headed out to the backwoods of Garvald to indulge in a Bolt Action game organised by Colin Jack and lo and behold involved early war Belgians aided by some invisible  Frenchmen trying to hold back the Teutonic hordes in early 1940.

A Belgian coastal ville.

In sunny Garvald.

Belgian mortar slightly blurred.

                                            This gave Colin the chance to bring out some of his dinky Belgian tanks and tankettes to supplement his early war French Somuas.

The less lethal side of a Pz mk1v

Dave rushes up the road.

Frenchman in waiting.

                                                    Dave and myself took on the role of the German invaders whilst the defenders were divvied up between Bill and Colin who I think both realised they were on a hiding to nothing and this proved to be so with the defenders on the back foot for the entire game.

Hunting the French

Meanwhile my men are spread out in a bunch.

A closer look at the blurred Belgians.

                                                           From the outset the Germans charged straight in with Dave's armour heading along the road hoping to beat my infantry into the ville hoping to get to the Stellas before me.I planned to deploy my infantry to try and flush out any hidden defenders and armour.

Waiting for the chance to assault the tank.

The heavy boys move up.

A Teutonic traffic jam.

                                           The first sign of allied resistance came in the form of a Somua tank cowering behind a farmer's shed.It fired at our armour but was as useful as a chocolat fireguard bringing instant retribution in the form of Dave's tank guns who although didn't do it any real damage made it hunker down so my brave infantry could rush in and perform the coup de grace.

Take that you bounder(In German).

Booyah!(In German)

Approaching the town complete with a non playing zeppelin.

At last some Belgian armour.

About to be crept up on.

Only one outcome.

                                                  After the first couple of moves the four of us retired to the local inn for some home cooked pizza watered down by some Orkney ale to give us energy for the second half of our game which tended to go the same way as the first half with Dave and I racing towards the village in order to be the first to reach the coast.

Not a good evening for the Belgian armour.

And the French armour.

"Head for the sea mein Junge"

The armour eventually turns up.

But beaten by the infantry.

                                           Colin and Bill tried mainly in vain to stop the onslaught but apart from a few sporadic successes found themselves trying in vain.
                                              Once again another game played out in the best of spirits.

                                              Hopefully with Christmas over the horizon we will get a few more games under our belt with myself hoping to provide a few festive games with another assault on the North Pole planned as well as a game featuring the Krampus character from central Eirope.
                                            See You All When I See You.

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.