Dunbar’s Hidden McGuffin

Wednesday 4th August    

                                      Headed out to the Garvald Film Studios for a rip-roaring tale about a post-apocalyptic skirmish and I don't mean the one about Boris Johnson's knockback in parliament.This one involved a free for all in the post alien invasion aftermath of East Lothian involving outside forces attacking the sleepy town of Dunbar in order to get their greedy hands on some Mcguffin that was going to save the world or something like that.

Dunbar Police Station

The lull before the storm.

Local Shipping.

West Barnes-A sleepy suburb of Dunbar.

                                                                 The synopsis of the story is that aliens have attacked earth and decimated all the major cities and the remnants of the Scottish  government have set up shop in sunny Pitlochry and decided that even although the earth has been devastated the Scottish government has decided that a second independence referendum is more important than the death and destruction facing the country,causing the county of East Lothian to declare independence which was closely followed by Berwickshire.These two counties joined up with Northumberland and formed the Peoples Independent State of Northumbria.On discovering some invention that was going to help the fight against the alien invasion probably an Atari,vultures from other parts of the globe are hovering to see what they could appropriate for themselves and so the scene was set for a tale of skullduggery and backstabbing in the usual gaming way.

Local graveyard complete with Weeping angel.

Colin's Canadian Capers.

And Bill's Russian Rovers.

Girls in command.

                                   Three of us turned up and with the gamer in residence,Colin Jack,we set out to play our game using Necromunda rules which are perfect for a multi player game.I was in charge of the defenders,the Haddington Harriers whilst Bill Gilchrist was in charge of his Gilkristi's Russian Rovers,Donald was put in charge of Nicola's Numptys or as he called them Police Scotland and finally Colin was in charge of his Canadian Capers.Andrew Easson would arrive later and bring his aptly named Berwick Bandits as much needed reinforcements.

Donald's gang just off the bus checking their day-savers.

"Spread out in a bunch please!"

                                            Colin had set up a great table as always and after the forces were divvied out we got on with the game so that we could get a few turns in before our customary ale and pizza break.I had given Colin and Bill some amphibious transport in the forms of a Russian hovercraft and a LVTP in order to bring them ashore whereas Donald had to hike all the way along the A1 to get to Dunbar'

                           
                                            Colin and Bill's forces landed swiftly and were soon making their way through the streets checking out all the buildings in order to find the Mcguffin.Initially they struck out and after coming into line of sight of my militia decided to hunker down.This didn't last long as their returning fire soon started to cause casualties amongst my guys and gals.Donald  was slowly making his way through West Barnes which is a sleepy suburb of Dunbar and was beginning to think it was a dawdle when he noticed some aliens randomly appearing on his flank causing him to  halt his march and concentrate on dealing with this new threat.His initial shots proved rather fruitful as he quickly done away with two of the three creatures which had appeared with a bipod in support.

"Oh woe is me,I'm in the wrong game!"

                                               

"Yes I know they are genestealers and a drednaught but needs must."

  Bill's Russkies had made their way off the harbour and were once again trading shots with my militia causing the first casualty of the evening.Colin was making his way slowly up to the High Street checking all the buildings on the way and finding them rather fruitless.Surely they didn't think I would put the Mcguffin in one of the outside buildings.It would take them a long time to find out.We actually had time for a few turns before we headed for the pub and our pre ordered pizzas wash down with some thirst-quenching ale.Eventually Andrew joined us which I was glad off as my lads were beginning to feel the strain.

Bill's "not commies" come ashore.

Cowering behind a van.

The shot of Andrew's hands tell us that help is at hand.

                      After scoffing the pizzas and quaffing the ale we headed back for the second half of our game with Andrew taking up the reins of the Berwick Bandits and saving the day.His forces appeared in their VAB personnel carrier right behind the bipod which lucky for Andrew had temporarily shut down due to it not having any crawler creatures around to command it.Andrew decided in his infinite wisdom to try and ram it but it still had enough savvy to sidestep him.Andrew then had his infantry get out of the vehicle and head for cover in the bottom part of the building that Colin was frequenting.This set them up for an upcoming firefight.

"Take that you bounder!"

Bill begins to be whittled down.

                     Meanwhile my gang was assailed from all sides with my gang being slowly whittled down. I was keeping Bill’s Russkies heads down but losing figs in the process whilst Donald true to form was skulking in my rear carefully avoiding the graveyard which had been infested by weeping angels,a prop from another Garvald Production.Bill’s gang had eventually manoeuvred into position to rush some of my defenders and give them a good kicking putting them out of the game.A bottle test was next for my gallant crew.To add insult to injury Colin’s Capers had entered my other defended building and was doing away with my other defenders leaving my main building the only one in my hands.Not for the long as I failed my bottle test and headed for the Lammermuir Hills leaving my buildings undefended. I could see the smirk on Donald’s face.

"A little help over here!"

Donald finally strikes paydirt.

                   The skirmish for one of the outbuildings began between the Capers and the Bandits with the Capers setting themselves up in overwatch to try and stem the flood of Andrew’s gang but couldn’t shoot for toffee once Andrew’s men showed their heads.Andrews return fire caused casualties amongst the Capers.Donald was meanwhile trading shots with Bill’s Rovers causing enough casualties for Bill to take a bottle test but he held firm.

The result of being too near a rocket firing bipod.

Colin and Andrew square up.

             Meanwhile a few of the Haddington Harriers had reappeared but unfortunately right in front of the alien bipod which had just come back on line and duly fired a rocket at my squad decimating them all bar one-my leader who proceeded in a good leader way by heading for the nearest cover namely the building with the skirmish taking place.

Donald grasps victory from the jaws of defeat.

           Colin and Andrew’s scuffle was turning into last man standing which was enough of a diversion for Donald’s numpties to search the last building and discover the Mcguffin of all Mcguffins.Coin quickly complained that the model hadn’t even been painted ‘Jeez!
                   The end of the game drew near with Donald pleased as punch with his reward,Colin and Andrew going manno eh manno and Bill’s Russkies cowering and whimpering on the streets of Dunbar. I must say admit it was a very fun game with everybody seeming to enjoy themselves.
My thanks to Colin for creating another excellent table. I shall be returning to this type of game again as it’s easy to plan,setup and play and also it gives me a chance to get a dig in at my least favourite people-Politicians!
                      See You All Soon with a report from next weeks game produced from the mind of Colin Jack which could be anything.

Ichiban in Garvald.

Wednesday 7th August.

                                             Tonight's rip roaring one sided game saw us back in the early 20th century with a delve into the Russo-Japanese war with a four sided game and a stack of figures.The Russo-Japanese war is one of Colin Jack's fav periods and he didn't let himself down as he produced yet again another scrumptious table for us to fight over.

Little Korean village.

The two Japanese commanders-One very good,the other not so good.

Russian gun debating what to miss.

"Banzai!"

Typical Russian disorganisation.

Flattering to deceive.

Not as easy as it looked.

                                                                Colin's original plan was for five of us to be scrapping whilst he adjudicated but alas due to flooded roads and other trivial excuses it was down to only four of us but that didn't stop us from having a great evening.The table was set up for our arrival so we got stuck right in with Mr Ray taking up the reins of the Russians with Colin and myself ably guiding the Japanese forces of right.Andrew Easson joined us during our sojourn to the Garvald Inn for our customary pizza washed down by a pint of foaming ale.

The Russian hordes.

Andrew's cavalry mustering.

My second squad also with a samurai clad officer.

The loneliness of leadership.

"Banzai 2"

"Don't I look smart?"(in Japanese)

                                                                          My plan was to charge straight to the top of the Russian garrisoned hilltop and scatter the defenders to the four winds and basically that's how it turned out.We were using the Bonnie Blue Flag rules which are pretty easy to pick up the only original part being that the defender rolls for attacks instead of the attacker with the results coming in the form of percentages.

Backing up the first squad.

Russian squad sneaking up on Colin.

                                            We had first go due to winning the initiative dice roll and headed straight towards the objective in typical Japanese style, samurai clad officers to the fore.Ray's Russians as in the real war weren't exactly the most experienced so began to waver right from the start.
      There was only one route for me up the hill so up my first squad went ably covered by my artillery piece keeping the heads of the Russian gunners down.

"Somewhere My Love!"

With a little help from my friends.

Beat that drum!

Charging up the hill.

"Into them!"(in Japanese)

Colin meanwhile was sending his squads up the other side of the hill even although his machine gun decided to retreat a few metres albeit only for one turn.I did question why his cavalry were hanging back but since he had written the scenario he knew that Cossacks could appear anywhere.
Pizza break was announced and so we trooped off to the local for a refreshing ale and a homemade pizza.We were joined by Andrew Easson and after finishing the pizzas we headed back to continue the game.Andrew took charge of the forces in front of me and was ready to push the invading Japanese back into the sea.Well that idea was immediately shot down as the only consistency Andrew could come up with was bad dice rolls.Colin was making excellent headway on the other flank as he had a Russian unit heading for the hills straight after the restart.

The Cossacks arrive

Pushing my sailors back.

The stramash on the bridge.

The result.

Andrew at last had a piece of luck and was rewarded with the arrival of Cossack cavalry behind the Japanese lines and he was left with a choice of targets.He chose my sailor squad and charged into their rear.Could this be the turning point?Nope!All that happened was that my sailors retreated across the bridge and turned to face the cavalry.His cavalry were now stuck in no mans land with potential attackers on all sides including the newly arrived Japanese cavalry.

Wheeling and dealing.

To add to Andrew’s grief my infantry went charging in to his infantry and sent them reeling and the next turn my lads wheeled into the next Russian squad sending them the same way as the previous squad.To add to his misery my second squad done away with his artillery.The icing on the Japanese cake was provided by the disappearance of his Cossack cavalry .

The end is nigh!

      The game was over as Colin’s lads had reached the top of the hill doing away a Russian squad on the way and the end was nigh for the Russian Empire at least for the evening.
 Great game especially for the Japanese player-not so good for the Russians.
All the figures,scenery and scenario provided from Colin’s vast collection.
Hopefully having a nice silly game next week.Watch this space!