The Cowering at Carentan.

 Place-Carentan(Garvald Film Studios)

 Date June 1944(Thursday 12th June in the real world)

Bill’s figs before the off.

    

     Another afternoon kick off,this time with a return to the battlefields of the Second World War and a visit to the fighting around Carentan with the American paras trying to hold off a counterattack by Ss and German para units.I don’t normally play SS so they were going to be used as sacrificial Gernelen.In attendance today were Comrade Gilchriski fresh from last Saturday’s Seven Years War exploit and he was given charge of the Americans whilst I attempted to change history with a successful counterattack.

Dug in but leaving a gap.

My gallant paras advancing.

In a straight line.

      The Yanks were dug in along the bocage so it looked as though they were going to have to be weeded out so my plan was to make my way around the flanks and do away with the Yankee paras. The SS were to be the spearhead and take the hits.The German paras lined up hoping to get an opportunity to cross the killing zone which I’m sure was covered by enemy infantry and support.

One of my cannon fodder squads.

The Target.

Two easy looking objectives.

         I ran one of my squads up the road covered by the anti tank gun but that still didn’t stop the appearance of a Sherman tank and a squad of infantry in front of the squad.This made my squad dive for cover and start taking hits.Comrade Bill had his tank appear in such a way that my gun couldn’t fire on him and so he cowered behind some rocks and machine gunned my poor squad.Ach well they were only SS but they didn’t waver even although they were taking casualties 

Being hit on the flank.

Waiting for the Sherman to poke his nose out.

Scared to move.

      Meanwhile on the other flank my other SS squad were working their way around the other flank and getting themselves behind the American line and although once again taking casualties managed to do away with  a mortar squad and a machine gun squad so I was halfway to my objective.   My squad was whittled down to just one man but he still refused to go down. This left my second squad of paras to charge in to the next squad who were paras.The American squad were done away with so that meant three quarters of the objective had been achieved.

More Yankee reinforcements 

       These three victories aroused the American ire and therefore saw the arrival of more reinforcements,this time in the form of another Sherman tank.Now both of the tanks had been committed I could now bring on my armour which came in the form of a Stug and now I could go Sherman hunting!This I did and with its first shot done away with this Yankee interloper.

My sniper team looking for targets.

      Another American infantry squad appeared behind the wreck of the Sherman and eventually done away with my para squad squad but still the lone SS officer kept taking potshots at the newly arrived Yankee squad doing away with a couple of them in the process.He eventually died valiantly but I’m sure he had oak leafs added to his Iron Cross (posthumously).

My held back Stug enters the fray.

         On the other side of the pitch the other squad were diminishing rapidly but with the support of a machine gun managed to make the reinforcing infantry squad dive for cover behind a wall giving the diminished squad the chance to attack an American para squad who were ensconced behind some bocage.This hopefully would be the last part of my objective but alas it was to be a squad to far as they retreated towards the safety of the central bocage.

“Booyah!”in German.

            This just meant the rest of the game was going to be a grinding assault on the bocage with little hope of completing my objectives as the American paras had taken themselves out of the front line protected by American infantry who were not counted as an objective.Bill finally committed his other Sherman giving my gun a chance to take it out but alas the only shot resulted in the Sherman losing a coat of paint.This Sherman immediately fired at my Stug causing it to go on fire but my steadfast crew stood their ground,extinguished the fire and got on with their day job.

My last two cannon fodder squads hang on despite the amount of action dice and pin markers.

       Time and nighttime were catching up on us and so the game came to an end with what I would call a stalemate but I’m sure the Yanks would be clamouring for a victory.A nice game played as usual in the best

Bill’s survivors cowering.

way with differences of opinion all roun  My thanks to El Presidente for putting on a nice straightforward game.All figs,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente who also provided a nice repast before kick off.

          See You All When I See You.

     This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.

Seven Year War Imaginations -Garvald Style

Place- Saturday 8th January 

Place- The Dacha of Comrade Gilchristki.

       First game of the year found us on a Garvald Film Studios Outside Broadcast Production in the hamlet of Billsquarry indulging in a spot of imaginary Seven Years War fisticuffs between the states of Lorraine and Wolfenbuttel.Seemingly the scenario came from the mind of Charles S Grant.El Presidente and myself took on the mantle of The Electoral League standing in the way of the ambitions of the Lorraninian upstarts.The invaders were in the hands of John Perkins and in the hinderances of Oor Donald.Our objective was to hang on to the village around the crossroads so it actually looked very achievable as there was a time limit and I expected Donald to drag his heals coming into contact.Actually Donald had decided to charge forward quickly and trample over any opposition but he had neglected to tell his dice this as his first dice roll ended up in a blunder meaning his entrance on to the table was delayed.Well that was a half hour of the game time taken care off.

John and Donald having a chit chat before kick off.

My lads parading before the off.

The village in question.

         Our initial forces had encamped in the village which was also behind a ridge which meant the opposition basically had to see the whites of the defenders bloodshot eyes before engaging.This meant that Donald’s abundance of cavalry had plenty of space and time to manoeuvre around our left flank before actually having to think about it.John took charge of the infantry and as usual with infantry crawled towards the enemy.This gave El Presidente the opportunity to take potshots with his skirmishers from the safety of some woods.First blood to the gallant defenders.

And the band played on!

Priming my useless guns.

El Presidente’s day job.

The “pick a general “slot.

My first shot at the enemy resulted in a few scratched brass buttons on Donald’s heavy cavalry but nothing else meaning his cavalry kept on coming forward which he did until his cavalry crossed the river and came face to face with my Hussars and being me I charged into them and started on the downward spiral of losing my cavalry in kamikaze style.As well as chasing my Hussars Donald done away with my artillery battery so it was going to be a long afternoon.My plan was to use my cavalry as sacrificial prawns giving the infantry time to organise and defend the village.Our grenadiers had dug into the village meaning it was going to be a hard job for the attackers to evict them from the premises therefore everybody else would be asked to give their lives without question and this they did unhesitatingly.Lunch was announced so we trooped through to the Dacha’s lounge for a banquet of Pork Wellingtons and horse meat sandwiches before recommencing the afternoon’s gameplay and the heroic defence of the village.

Donald’s cavalry indulging in a trot.

The rest a wee bit behind.

After they had blundered off course.

My gallant lads imitating the Gallant Six Hundred.

      The afternoon started off the same way as it finished with cavalry battles on one side with the slog of infantry advancing slowly on the other wing.Our plan of holding out until full time looked like it was going to happen for as soon as the Lorraine infantry reached the outskirts of the village it came headlong into the entrenched grenadiers who were definitely not for shifting.

Trying to swat flies.

The Steamroller approaches.

The first hamlet falls.

The first engagement.

           On my side of the battle,reinforcements had arrived so my plan was to charge Donald’s cavalry and chase them from the field but Donald got the better of what should have been a one sided contest in my favour .Donald’s light cavalry chased my Hussars from the field and in the process chased my heavy cavalry reinforcements in the same direction. The defence of my side of the village was definitely going to be down to the infantry.More infantry reinforcements arrived to bolster my beleaguered defenders and although some of them left as quickly as they arrived the remainder dug in and help hinder Donald’s expansion plans for a while.As I said my plans were to interfere with Donald’s cavalry and win time whereas El Presidente’s aims were to prevent John from moving more infantry into position for a village assault.A few of his units were beginning to arrive on to the outskirts of town but all his initial assaults were repulsed. The arrival of cavalry reinforcements helped to hinder the infantry assaults as well as our skirmishers who were proving to be the men of the match as they were preventing some of John’s infantry coming to the aid of the besiegers and also leaving his assaulters being attacked on the flank by El Presidente’s cavalry.I was now a bit more confident about holding on. 

My infantry buying time.

John’s infantry finally reach the village.

The first assault is pushed back.

Trying to hold on till the final whistle.

             The game turned into a stalemate with more of the Lorraine forces edging their way towards the village this time with artillery support but too late to do any real damage to our defenders who were coping well with the infantry attacks and as the cavalry couldn’t enter the village or even take buildings the dye was set and the defenders lived to fight another day although if it had been part of a campaign there wouldn’t have been many defenders to contest another battle.

El Presidente’s cavalry arrive.

Donald’s artillery dragging their heels.

And still they hold on.

An awfy lot of figs in a small space.

         A great game played with the usual aplomb.I like these big games once in a while but I would hate to have to paint all these figs.I’ll stick to my skirmish games.

Endgame.

        My thanks to Comrade Bill for putting on the game and supplying the vittels.All figs and scenery were provided from the collections of Donald,John and Bill himself.

         This has been a Garvald Film Studios Outside Broadcast Production.

     

The Great Garvaldian Christmas Pudding Hunt.

Time- Monday-Sometime in Late December.

Place-St Garvald’s School for Promiscuous Girls/Santa’s Garvald Airbnb Mansion.

Santa’s Airbnb.

Santa’s Cousin Ernie getting mugged.

An innocent snowman with all seeing eyes.

           In the senior common room of St Garvald’s School for Promiscuous Girls,the chatter turned towards the lack of Christmas Pudding on the menu in the canteen.The Japanese exchange teacher Yunomi Yudai was asking “ What is this Chlistmas Pudding and also these Mandolin Olanges that you talk about?”Head girl Aneed Morehead turned quickly around and informed her teacher that it was “A mixture of fruit,spices and cake boiled for a long time and served with custard-very healthy!The mandalins as you say are oranges but in here usually they come in tins”.Yunomi ponders and says “Where can we get some of these Chlistmas Puddings and Mandolin Olanges?”Tahra Dactyl piped up and stated “I’ve seen crates of both being taken into the Airbnb on the other side of the village.Not that I’m nosey but I’ve heard that Santa has taken up residence with his entourage of scantily dressed elfs and pantomime characters in order to have a rest before his annual big night”.Yunomi exclaims “I have a pran!We go and steal some of these Chlistmas puddings and also steal any boxes of mandolin olanges”.Anita Cox agreed and said “I’ll bribe some of the lower form with the promise of a mandarin orange or two and I’m sure we’ll have some volunteers.They can do the donkey work and also take the blame if it goes pear shaped.””I’ll get my two exchange students Chelly Brossom and Kiwi Gross to help porish  off Santa’s erfs.”quipped Yunomi.She then turned towards the other sixth former in attendance Petra Fried and said “Make sure the hockey sticks are very sharp and the catapults are plimed and leady.”Petra headed off.   

The Sixth Formers head out.

Around the graveyard.

Younomi,Cherry and Kiwi.

 So the scene was set for this year’s Christmas game which has been in the planning for a couple of years but plagues and people being otherwise engaged have got in the way of this game being played. I headed out on what was a balmy evening towards the Garvald Film Studios in order to indulge in some seasonal nonsense involving Santa and some local schoolgirls,which is probably a normal day in Garvald.

The lower formers charge in.

Little John chats with a snowman.

      The synopsis of the story is explained in the above preface and as it says the game involves raiding Santa’s Christmas Pudding supply. I used Black Ops rules mainly for the stealth and sentry rules and they were to prove a handful from the start or as in our case flipper-full.The sentries were all put out with the lovely Santa’s helpers doing the hard work.Little John(and I mean little)was co-opted into guard work as I didn’t have any more guards.Also to help the defence were the snowmen who came complete with sensors.

Another innocent looking snowman.

Ivy evaporates.

Swinging their way around the woods.

         El Presidente took charge of the St Garvald’s Girls School and had planned his attack on three fronts with the sixth formers making their way around the edges of the graveyard whilst the lower form schoolgirls crept through a local wood.Yunomi Yudai took  the direct route and headed for the side door with her two disciples in tow hoping to do away with Santa as an extra bonus.Obviously they don’t have Santa in Japan.

Mrs Claus entertains the troops.

Little John taking care of Cherry and Kiwi.

Younomi dispatches Holly.

    I had introduced random appearance cards introducing various Christmas Carol characters interspersed with pantomime characters and lo and behold on the first arrival of a deuce card an explosive penguin appeared right beside one of guards who went by the name of Ivy and immediately headed for her before detonating and wiping Ivy from the board-a rather ignominious start for Santa but since he was snoring away at the time he didn’t hear any noise.

Younomi now tries to do away with Santa.

Ali Baba and an exploding penguin chewing the fat.

If you are ever lost.

     Yunomi,Cherry and Kiwi headed towards the side door of the mansion hoping for a quick entry but standing in their way was the gallant figure of Little John-all three feet of him-standing firm with his big stick waiting to waylay all intruders.Cherry and Kiwi attacked poor Little John but he held his own and eventually dispatched both of his assailants before resuming his guard duties.The fracas did incur a couple of noise markers but still not enough to rouse Santa.Must have been all the egg nog consumed.

Younomi goes down in the third.

The Sixth Formers finally arrive.

How Mona Lot doesn’t disturb the racoons I don’t know.

      Younomi had made her way around the mansion and had cruelly done away with Holly,another young lady just passing the time of day.After doing away with Holly,Younomi headed for the side door only to find that it was locked and her entrance was delayed due to her lack of lock picking skills.This slightly delayed her entrance to the house but after this was achieved she made her way quickly to the first floor to take possession of the box of Christmas puddings.Once again Santa didn’t budge.

Charity Case takes a one in a million shot at Santa.

The Panto Horse appears.

Hauling away the booty.

        A few panto and Christmas Carol characters did randomly appear but never where they could do any damage to the usurpers.The lower formers made their way towards the back door of the mansion avoiding the racoons who had taken up residence in some rubbish bins.Their luck continued with them finding the back door unlocked so three of them headed in whilst Mona Lot stayed at the door looking for any interfering sentries or panto characters.

The Snowmen Cometh!

Mrs Claus brings up the rear.

“They made me steal them Santa!”

        The game changed albeit maybe a bit too late as Younomi decided after dropping off the pudding laden box with the sixth formers who had finally made their way into the ground floor,headed towards the sleeping form that was Santa.On the way she  spied the crates of Mandarin oranges and beckoned Charity Case,one of the lower formers,to grab one of the crates and head for home.Younomi continued into Santa’s sleeping quarters and tried to attack Santa mid snore but alas she wasn’t quick enough as Santa sensed her presence and quickly sprang into action.A scrap ensued and after a few blows from both sides Santa prevailed and Younomi Yudai was out of the game.No Chlistmas pudding for her.

The Panto Horse wades in to help Santa.

Scrooge arrives next to a post box feet away from the action.

     Unbeknownst to the sixth formers of their teacher’s demise ,the girls continued to set about their task of ferrying the Christmas Puddings back to the safety of their school.Petra Fried and Thara picked up the case and headed out of the building.Santa heard the noise and headed downstairs only to be confronted by Ariadne Tempestuous complete with catapult.She took a quick shot and when she realised it hadn’t done any damage legged it back downstairs.

Santa goes down.

Charity celebrates after downing Mistletoe.

Petra Fried hands a crate of Mandarins to Ariadne.

        The attack on Santa had finally raised the alarm giving Mrs Claus ,who had been pandering to the whims of the snowmen reinforcements elsewhere ,the chance to enter the fray with her trusty snowmen by her side.This she did but had to put up with a little hesitation from herself and the snowmen on trying to cross the river.This delayed the reinforcements a bit longer giving the girls more time to lug the puddings towards the safety of their school.Santa meanwhile had made it to the bottom of the stairs only to be confronted by the two sixth formers Anita and Aneed who were in the process of getting a mandarin filled crate on to the back of poor Ariadne.Ariadne was definitely earning her reward. The two sixth formers stood their ground and waylaid Santa even after first doing away with a marauding  panto horse in the process.  This was revenge for the demise of of Younomi.Charity Case had meanwhile crept around the side of the mansion and had taken Mistletoe , the last of Santa’s guards out with a single shot!”Booyah!”exclaimed Charity.

The useless snowmen about to become snowflakes.

Daffy Smellie finally arrives to pick up the second Mandarin Orange crate but a bit too late.

        This left the saviour of the puddings down to Mrs Claus and her cronies, planning how she was going to spend her husband’s inheritance in the process.The puddings had reached the safety of the school dinner ladies and was in the process of being divvied up amongst the remainder of the school girls who had been clammering around the windows cheering on their comrades.Petra Fried had returned to the fray as Ariadne was being detained by the snowmen.She charge into the snowmen and waylaid two of them before they could fight back.This took Mrs Claus and the remaining snowman by surprise giving Petra the chance to decapitate the remaining snowman.This caused Mrs Claus to shriek and throw caution to the wind giving Petra the opportunity for a  coup de gras which she took and ended the game there and then.

            Victory to the Girls of St Garvald’s .

Santa has his getaway planned.

Uncle Ernie returns with a rocket launcher looking for the goblin muggers.

      A great game played in the usual spirit of Christmas games with reality thrown out the window.

            For once the figures,scenery and scenario came from my own collection although El Presidente supplied the schoolgirls (of course)and the graveyard this time without any Weeping Angels.Also my thanks to the Duchess of Garvald for providing an excellent steak pie.More fool you all for missing it!

  Wishing you all a great Christmas and a very happy New Year.

See You All In The New Year!