Alez Les Paras!

Place-Northern Algeria(backlot of Garvald Film Studios ) Time- 19fiftyodds.

Mr Ray’s Rabble.

       El Presidente had informed us that this week’s participation game would take us back to French Algeria in the fifties.I was frothing at the mouth with the prospect of the game only to find out that we would be using Xenos Rampant rules which took the edge of my anticipation.These are El Presidente’s go to rules at the moment but not mine I’m afraid and especially with a counter-insurgency game but it was El Presidente’s dojo.

       

The Village of Sad Sidi.

 

Les Paras Arrivent.

The Sneaky Mortar Position 

Participators this evening were the Duke of North Berwick Herr O’Brien and our favourite rock star Mr Ray.From what I’ve read about the French in Algeria there was no quarter given especially in house clearances so being in charge of Les Paras my plan was for a systematic search of all houses and use my armoured car against any resistance.The vagaries of these rules where that you can only do one thing for free and the rest you have to command and if they fail it’s turn over.

Creeping up.

Cannon Fodder

Ou -est le Camion?

             I moved up my trucks covered by the armoured car and immediately they took mortar fire from a distant village which managed to waylay one of my trucks.Luckily there was nobody in it as I was just using them to draw fire .My lads were having to “leg”it and the problem with this was they had to be commanded to walk so they had a few naps whilst waiting for a decent die roll as decent die rolls were the prerogative of Herr O’Brien at the start of the evening.My armoured car drew real first blood by decimating the mortar crew.The first two buildings proved to be empty so we carried on heading towards the enemy.

The Object Of Every Frenchman’s Desire.

Pub break was called and we trooped off for some ale and repast which came in the form of pheasant,can’t ask for anything more.

Mr Ray’s Big Hitters.

Merde!

Still taking their time.

         The second half kicked off with my infantry being a bit lethargic in moving up especially as El Presidente’s squad came under fire from a hidden unit stopping them in their tracks and forcing them to cower behind a wall.Mr Ray’s men joined in the fray with a bazooka shot at my armoured car thankfully just fizzling out short of the target.

L’Avion pour Les Paras.

       

Voila!

 

Algerian Traffic Jam.

Time for our reinforcements which came in the form of a para dropped squad on the guerillas flank hoping to dislodge more bad guys.Herr O’Brien had made a side comment about mines which made me wonder where but no out of course explosions were heard but I decided to err on the side of caution and keep away from wide open spaces so the armoured car and the other two trucks trundled up the main road.

Embuscade!

Une Autre Embuscade.

Algerian Armour?

             The guerilla’s armour appeared in front of my newly landed paras in the form of a Land Rover with machine guns peppering my poor defenceless paras but the paras gave us good as they got eventually pushing the vehicle back and giving them space to clear another building with gunfire.

Finally Into Action.

Ditto.

And Moving Up.

           The guerilla bazooka finally made contact with the armoured car and made it dissolve in a puff of smoke which was just as we were getting the upper hand.Luckily full time was called resulting in a score draw.

At Last.

Engaging Les Paras.

Booya!(In Algerian)

        A good game but I still am not happy with the rules.All figs,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente.

      This has been a Garvald Film Studio Production.

Four Nations Get Together

 Time- 1944ish.

Place-Somewhere in Italy.

          Tonight’s skirmish found us in sunny Italy with a get together between 4 nations-3 of them being saccir world cup winners and Canada.Italy were the hosts backed up by their German allies and they were confronted by some Canadian armour with Brazilian infantry in support-only in El Presidentie’s world.

Rural Italy complete with arm!

      Tonight’s attendance was graced by my partner in crime Herr O’Brien with whom I divvied up the allies and batting for the other side were Comrade Gilchristi and Oor Andrew who was a late arrival. The axis of evil players had the benefit of putting their forces into hidden positions in order to hide their shortcomings.Their ‘shortcomings‘included a Tiger tank.

Before.

After!

       Our tactics were basically to flush out the incumbent defenders of the town hoping not to incur too many casualties.My first move was to send up my armoured car to draw fire which it did uncovering a couple of emplaced guns which proceeded to open fire and although the first one missed the second shot struck the vehicle setting it on fire but this was quickly put out by the gallant Brazilian crew.The reason we had Brazilians were due to El Presidente’s love of being different and yes they did partake in WW2 albeit under American command. 

Half tracks and tanks laden with dice.

Moving forward(with care).

       This flushed out some of the defences so the next phase was to flush out the Tiger so we sent in our Shermans as cannon fodder hoping to pinpoint its lair.This led to the usual traffic jam that occurs at the start of a Bolt Action game with unit arrival but it did bring the Tiger out of its lair as it was soon spotted lumbering down the strada princepale hunting for its prey.Also making its presence known was an Autoblinda armoured car which proceeded to take potshots at my stranded armoured car hindering my crew from restarting it.

Start of a traffic jam.

Watching and waiting (in Italian).

        Pizza and beer break arrived so we all trudge out towards the local taverna looking for sustenance to see us through the second half.

Aircraft fodder.

Trying to get passed some petulant Italians.

       The second half kicked off the same as the first half ended with a tit for tat shooting match between the Tiger and two Shermans.I was hoping to move up the flank of the Axis defenders but the threat of the Italian guns up ahead slowed my actions. Time for a bit leverage which came in the form of an air strike.After some deliberation I decided on pinpointing the Italian field gun as it was not only adjacent to the armoured car but also an Italian mortar that had been waylaying my poor advancing Brazilian infantry which had already had drew the attention of some hidden Italian infantry ensconced in some fallow field.

“We’re on our way “

Sneaky!

      The air support duly arrived and done away with the gun crew as well as pinning the mortar and the armoured car therefore time to move forward and waylay the enemy successfully doing away with the German anti tank gun in the process.The problem with that was being that it was just about time for the final whistle which duly arrived resulting in another score draw and a humongous traffic jam at the allied rear.

Moving up on mass.

      Another great game played out in the usual cantankerous way.All toys,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente.

The Brazilians move up.

             See You All When I See You.

       This has been a Garvald Film Studio Production.

  

Squashing The Satsumas.

1月8日水曜日

日Place Somewhere In Japan

        New Year and hopefully the start of a busy gaming year.Drove out to a very frosty Garvald for a delve back into the realms of the Boshin Wars with a skirmish involving an awful lot of colourfully painted Japanese soldiers from a not very gamed era the end of the Shogunate.

One Little Maid From School.

“How Much!(in Japanese)

The lull before the storm.

         El Presidente took command of the Imperial forces whilst I took command of the Shogunate forces hoping to stall the advancing enemy after the historical battle of Toba-Fushimi.The rules used were Men Who Would Be Kings and the stage was set for a short but albeit bloody game so after our usual visit to the local sake bar for beer and pizza we got down to the Japanese nitty gritty.

Bang a Gong!

“Pass the Sake.”

       My plan was just to sit and wait for the enemy to come to me which they did complete with El Presidente’s continual throwing of bad dice in fact he even swore at one stage something I’ve never heard him utter. 

Defending their honour.

My gallant men.

     The first attack came from the Satsuma infantry trying to have their way with my Onna Bugeisha which were a female unit(welcome to El Presidente’s world) but the initial sparring went the ladies way forcing the Satsumas to retreat with casualties .After their bloody nose themselves and the second Satsuma unit just peppered the girls with rifle fire in order to reduce the girls’ numbers forcing them to retreat more into their enclave and eventually disappear.

My Samurai cavalry biding their time.

The Cannon fodder approaches.

        El Presidente’s other flank wasn’t doing so well for after inflicting an initial casualty on my Aizu infantry his remaining forces tended to falter in their attempts to move forward.The Imperial cavalry moved forward with all their pomp intending to do away with my forces only to be stopped in their tracks by a a fusillade of cannon shot.Cavalry casualties were incurred and their advance faltered and eventually due to the vagaries of the rules the cavalry disappeared. 

The local police unit.

Setting their sights.

Relief arriving too late.

      My forces started to gather momentum so I decided that attack was the best form of defence my lads moved forward with my Fukushima infantry trying to relieve the pressure on the Bugeisha but alas too late.They took their revenge on the initial Satsuma unit causing them to flee.

El Presidente’s left flank diminishes.

Waiting for the advance party’s report.

   My only real mistake was moving a unit of Aiza infantry in order to attack El Presidente’s Chosu infantry in the rear only to realise their path to glory was through the field of fire of El Presidente’s artillery.The first of my units to disappear followed shortly by their sister unit.My victory was going to come at a cost.El Presidente’s Chosu unit now found that they were being isolated as the Hiroshima unit had retreated and disappeared without even losing a casualty.

Advancing to the cannon’s glory.

           I think El Presidente was realising that the Kanji was on the wall and conceded the field planning future revenge.A great game played in one of my favourite types of game involving Samurai.All figures,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente and hopefully the beginnings of a fruitful gaming year..

El Presidente’s cavalry wondering where they went wrong.

        This has been a Garvald Studio Film Production.