Handbags at dawn-Shogun style

 Wednesday 28th July.

                       There was a big turnout this evening at the Garvald Film Studios for tonight’s presentation of a delve into Japanese history with a seventeenth century battle between a Christian Japanese army complete with Portuguese support against their non Christian fellow countrymen.It sounded very promising and the sight of the table set up made it even more mouth watering.The trouble with such a big gathering in these strange times meant that there was a lot of catching up on all sides therefore the game didn’t start till we had all visited the local hostelery for our standard fare of pizzas and ale and not any sake in sight.

Pre-Togugawa Japan.

Little and large.

Cha time.

                     The pleasantries were all taken care of and the ale was quaffed allowing us to get down to divvying up the forces with Mr Ray jumping in and taking charge of Portuguese aided by some samurai cavalry.Bill Gilchrist took charge of the remainder of the Christian Japanese army.The opposition were handed out to myself and Andrew so I plumped for the Ikko-Ikki army which I have always thought of as fighting monks since reading the Shike novels from the eighties which I still read and refer to when it comes to Japanese history and they are easier to read than Shogun. The rules used were Black Powder which I remembered involved me charging into an open field as I forgot the vagaries of the rules. I didn’t intend to make that mistake again.

My command squad-enough said.

Andrew’s faltering cavalry.

My girls about to go on a nite oot!

Handing out the arrows.

                  The evening’s struggle was going to involve a lot of tooing and froing especially from the cavalry point of view hence the reference in the title to handbags as cavalry charges seemed to be just charging in,a very brief struggle and finishing off with both sets of combatants retiring.Not how I thought Japanese battles would evolve.My plan as always with cavalry was just to charge in and see what happens and as his first move Mr Ray moved forward his Portuguese infantry I sensed victory-how often have I said that.As soon as my cavalry moved in on the infantry they formed square or more to the point a blob meaning my cavalry couldn’t engage one of the units.Mr Ray had also intended to assault the middle building but once again due to the vagaries of Black Powder he couldn’t get there and found himself staring at the outside walls.My samurai infantry made up totally of females had no qualms and headed straight in.Mr Ray huffed and puffed but he couldn’t get past my girls and lost have his unit in the process.The girls were not for moving,and to add insult to injury Ray had attached his leader to this assault and the last we saw of him he was heading for the hills and a date with seppuku.His successor dragged his heels and had to wait for two turns before arriving on to the battlefield.

My demon dice-occasionally called into disrepute.

Here we go,here we go!

The Portuguese squares or blobs!

The girls climbing the walls.

On the other side of the table both sides were trying to get to grips with each other but once again as soon as  they came into contact they would take a swipe at each other and then retire.Both of these sides had more infantry than us so they were taking longer to get to grips with each other and being armed mostly with arabesques took great delight in taking pot shots at each other.

As you can see Andrew’s faltering cavalry.

Getting around the blob.

My girls taking up permanent residence.

Andrew and Bill’s infantry engaging with handbags.

                     My Ikko-Ikki were spoiling for a fight but couldn’t get near the Portuguese squares/blobs and even when they did I couldn’t throw good dice for toffee.I even tried firing a few arrows into them but that was next to useless.Things seemed to be going our way but the fickle finger of fate showed its hand and some of Andrew’s ashigaru disappeared in the middle of the field and it wasn’t Godzilla’s fault just rubbish dice rolling.  

And their cavalry not doing too much as well.

Getting the business done.

               Going into the last quarter I decided to go for broke and moved some of my cavalry round the solid squares in order to get to grips with Mr Ray’s cowering cavalry and move my archer monks up to pick of the Portuguese.This cavalry unit was the only to register any success as they caused the Christian samurai to retreat. The only problem was this brought me into line of sight of the Portuguese cannon but once again their consistency was the norm and didn’t do any telling damage.

Stalemate in the middle.

Even with cavalry support.

                    On the other side of the table the handbags were flying but no real damage was being done and we were left with a score draw slightly leaning on the heathen side as the Christians had taken more hits and my lady samurai were ensconced in their new accommodation taking care of their nails or something like that.

Sitting out the battle.

Heading for a slight victory.

                 Even although the game seemed to be a bit slow probably due to our rustiness of the gameplay I thoroughly enjoyed it.Who wouldn’t with all these beautiful toys on display and the company was great.My thanks to Colin for setting up a great table.I’ll see you all when I see you.

                 This has been a Garvald Film Studio production.

Painful Poles

 Wednesday 14th July,

                      Back to basics tonight with a Garvald Film Production of a Bolt Action game set in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.This was actually a last minute call up as the intended players were all waylaid by maladies,rearranged games and forgetfulness so the tracksuit was taken off and I was straight off the bench into war torn Warsaw and what a game it was.

The gathering.

Getting down to business.

      El Presidente for life had set up a very nice table festooned with buildings and rubble ready for an exciting game of tooing and froing throughout the evening especially when myself being the German thought we had it all tied up only to be shot in the back-literally .

House party-Polish style.

Polish flamethrower team.

              The forces were divvied out and I found myself in charge of German police units and some unenthusiastic Ostfront troops who were to prove that they would rather have been somewhere else.Their job was to hold the fort to give time for my bit more motivated reinforcements time to muster and counterattack.The Polish resistance had the ability to basically appear anywhere as they had the benefit of the sewer system to help them with hidden movement.They also had traps and other sneaky tricks up their sleeves as I found out to my cost later on.I imbedded my men behind cover in various buildings and awaited the vengeful hordes which weren’t to long in coming.

Reinforcements arrive.

Colonel Radl wishing he was back in Alderney.

Fisticuffs at close quarters.

                                                             It was mostly hordes of infantry who threatened to overcome my mere garrison so I made sure that they were well behind cover and this proved to be fruitful as my two German police units were doing most of the spadework and holding the Polish resistance off but this would only be for so long as Colin started to pour infantry backed up by a flamethrower into the first building losing a lot of attackers in the process.Even when he finally got the flamethrower into the firing line,the damage was minimal with the indignity at the end of the attack of running out of fuel.My first police squad rallied and done away with these usurpers.The only problem was that force of Polish numbers was doing away with this squad.I  moved a squad of Ostfront infantry towards them to give them some support but this squad was ambushed by insurgents coming out of the sewers in front of them making them hit the dirt.This squad began to take fire from all sides and even the presence of Colonel Radl straight out of Eagle Has Landed didn't help them as firstly he was taken out by a sniper and the rest of the squad just disintegrated.A bit of irony for Radl,escaping a firing squad on Alderney to get shot by a sniper in Warsaw.

“Get oot ma way!”

Shot in the back.

Coming out the sewer.

                                                  The Poles were getting the upperhand in the early skirmishes due to El Presidente getting lucky when it came to drawing his activation dice so it was no surprise when another of his squads appeared out of a sewer in front of the townhall and proceeded to do away with my other Ostfront squad who were moving to support the German HQ and mortar team who were being isolated in the townhall.Time for some reinforcements from the German side which came in the form of a proper army squad backed up by a Brummbar.Time to make these Poles pay-wrong!

A great combination.

Not a very good ambush.

Trying to take care of business.

                                                   As soon as my first reinforcement squad arrived on to the table they were met by a resistance squad who were hiding in one of the first buildings ready to gun down my poor lads.Luckily the Poles couldn't shoot for toffee and even the PIAT they had been given was useless so I turned my lads towards this enemy and eventually cleared this nest of vipers,leaving my Brummbar without any real opposition and a chance to mop up.As I said one was getting overconfident.I drove the Brummbar straight up the mainstreet straight into Colin's trap!

Plotting revenge.

Pioneer transport.

Rache-Revenge.

                                                       Maybe if I had read a wee bit about the uprising I would have read about some of the Polish ruses.As my Brummbar passed the so called wreck of a Panther tank covered in oily rags and spewing smoke it suddenly sprang into action and turned its turret towards the rear end of my Brummbar and opened fire turning it into a lot of scrap metal-bummer!This is what you get for being overconfident and sending armour up a street that hasn't been cleared by infantry first.

Ready for a scrap.

                                                 This made the rest of my reinforcements spring into action firstly with the arrival of A Stug all guns blazing but alas it couldn't hit a barn door.I brought another infantry squad on this time armed with a Panzerfaust but it had been taking lessons from the Stug and it also missed but that wouldn't last forever and third time lucky a squad of Pioneers decided to rush the tank and luckily overwhelm it rendering it useless.Hurrah!

My mortar boys.

This was my HQ but I don’t think the horse would have went down well in the townhall.

                                    By this time the Polish resistance were taking a toll on my beleaguered defenders as firstly the Ostfront squad lying in the middle of the street were done away with,the townhall was cleared of Germans and finally the Poles had swarmed through the first Police garrisoned building doing away with my first squad in the process leaving only my second police squad holding on for dear life.This now drew fire from all quarters but they hung on behind the thick Polish walls only vacating the premises once due to a terrible rally dice roll but they quickly regrouped and headed back into their original building depriving the Poles of some victory points.

Cossacks moving up-only in the Garvald Film Studios.

Meine Junge holding on.

                                                       The game was heading for full time so I started moving my forces up to try and retake some buildings and victory locations.I proceeded to move one of my squads into the townhall but they were thwarted by resistance fighters holding on for dear life and this was to be the last piece of action as the game fizzled out to a score draw.If the game had gone on longer I'm sure due to my reinforcements arriving,both armour and infantry,a German victory would have been assured or something along these lines.

The final scene!

                                             Once again a great game played as always fair square by gentlemen as all our ruffian members were all away doing trivial things.My thanks to Colin for putting on a great table to fight over and also provide all the figures a lot of whom had their first outing.

                                          I'll see you all when I see you.

                                   This has been a Garvald Film Studio presentation. 

       I

             

Swedish Damp Squib!

Wednesday 7th July.

        Tonight’s Garvald Film Production was a project that I have been planning for nearly three years and just when you think you have everything prepared and raring to go Murphy’s law kicks in. I always say that sometimes expectation far exceeds the event and tonight was to prove no exception,drove out to sunny Garvald only to realise that I had left behind some of the important ingredients for the game-bummer!Although we improvised it still cast a gloom over the game.

Auntie Aggie’s pad!

Sven arrives for a quiet holiday in the country.

Soviet submarine.

                     Anyhoo,tonight’s game was a retelling of the Whisky on the Rocks incident from away back in 1981 when a Russian submarine was grounded on rocks near a Swedish naval base.Since then many theories have been banded about ranging from drunken crews to the attempted placement of a nuclear mine.Whether you believe them or not it does make for a good story and likewise an interesting game.I took a liking to the game idea a few years ago and have gradually built up a lot of ingredients for the game coming in the form of figures,model cars and of course a submarine which was actually built by our dear departed friend Shug Wilson from a Mousetrap game.

Auntie Aggie and Uncle Iggie greet their nephew complete with loaded shotguns.

A towing boat complete with Captain Haddock’s Swedish cousin.

Swedish navy on the hunt.

                   The game was played using the 7TV rules and involved Swedish Intelligence whom I believe go under the acronym of SAPPO which I’m sure means something to someone.Tonight’s episode concerned their top agent Sven who was taking a short break with his fellow agent Anna  visiting his Aunt Aggie and Uncle Iggie at their research centre out in the sticks.They have been instructed to investigate the sighting of a Soviet submarine which is believed to have run aground near to Aunt Aggie’s residence.Also strangers in strange uniforms have been seen acting suspiciously in the area.Sven and Anna decided to investigate the submarine whilst his aunt and uncle would look for the strangers.

Invading Sweden.

Sleeper cell lines up for a photo shoot.

“Nobody will see us in this orange boat!”

          Sven and Anna jumped into Sven’s chic 1970’s Volvo and headed towards the shore  where upon arrival were met by the sight of the Bourbonski submarine stuck fast on some submerged rocks going nowhere.Sven stopped the car and both of the occupants headed for cover behind the car- well it was a Volvo,as some Soviet sailors had come ashore and were defending their boat with all guns blazing.

Four men and a bomb.

Sven drives his Volvo into action.

Auntie Aggie and Uncle Iggie.

        Meanwhile Auntie and Uncle had come across a group of four soldiers who were dragging along what Aggie believed to be a bomb and one that could cause an artificial sunrise,I.e Nuclear but for some reason decided to open fire on the Soviet sailors that had come ashore leaving the four soldiers with peace and quiet to let them get on with their nefarious deed.

           The Soviet original plan was to land the four Speznatz soldiers and wait for their return after planting the bomb and head back for the safety of Russian waters.We can only assume that extraordinary amounts of alcohol was consumed as the submarine found itself high and dry.After the Spetznaz were landed the plan was for members of the crew to take a small boat and look for a bigger boat in order to drag the submarine off the rocks. The captain actually took it on himself to lead the dinghy crew leaving the submarine in the hands of the ship’s commissar .The commissar’s own mission was to make sure the submarine didn’t fall into enemy hands.

           

Taking cover .

Rushing the sub,stupid boy!

 After trading shots with the Russian sailors leaving Anna with a flesh wound,Sven decided to take the bull by the scruff of the neck and make a beeline for the sub leaving Anna to lick her wounds.Some boyfriend!Being the untypical Swede he charged across open ground taking two hits along the way but still reached the stranded sub..His aunt and uncle gave him covering fire and done away with all but one of the sailors and the commissar. This dash towards the sub by SAPPO Sven inflicted on him two wounds and he seemed to be heading for his demise when he suddenly made a bold jump towards the submarine and succeeded to board and make his way to the conning tower ready to do battle with Commissar Romanova.

Swedish reinforcements arrive.

So does a Soviet sleeper cell.

            Meanwhile Bill’s Speznatz squad had a change of plan and had decided to head back to the sub nuclear device in tow-why I don’t know.Colin who was in charge of Sven decided to have him go into hand to hand with Romanova which initially proved successful but alas he was eventually worn down culminating in his demise which doesn’t fare well for a second episode of SAPPO Sven.Adding insult to injury the returning Spetznatz squad had a lucky shot and done away with Auntie Aggie-bounders!Obviously reinforcements were required and this came in the form of my newly painted Marines who motored in on their patrol vessel ready to do away with the invaders.

Getting oot the car.

         By this time Bill’s returning saboteurs had just about reached the sub when they were informed by Captain Gilkristi that they would be going down with the ship when the scuttle charges were detonated.Well his captain was a Jack-booted sadist.

            To try and help Bill capture the boat in order to tow the submarine I gave him the benefit of the local Soviet sleeper cell which came in the form of three agents arriving in their Lada/Polska Fiat.Their job was to capture a boat which belonged to Captain Haddock’s Swedish cousin but they couldn’t even do away with the other boat crew member never mind the captain.Sven’s girlfriend not even batting an eyelid over Sven’s demise joined forces with a vengeful Uncle Iggie and attacked the late arrivals in the rear.

Marines heading the wrong way.

            The Marines eventually arrived and even although they were hit by some mysterious fire bolt courtesy of a random event card drawn by comrade Bill causing casualties,managed to hit the Lada with rocket fire albeit only scratching the paintwork which must be tantamount to great Soviet engineering-whatever.

Anna and Uncle Iggie taking on the bad guys.

               Bill as I said had decided to place self survival before valour and had his commissar and captain embark onto the zodiac boat and head for the safety of Soviet waters leaving his commando squad and their mine to their own devices.Loyal to the end!Meanwhile on the other side of the peninsula Colin’s marines were taking care of the other Soviet interlopers leaving Anna to care of the third member courtesy of a roundhouse kick!The result of the game was an exploding submarine complete with nuclear weapon polluting the local water.

Anna goes hand to hand with Soviet baddie whilst the car takes a hit from a rocket launcher.

           An unusual game that would have played out better if someone hadn’t forgotten some of the main bits.My thanks to Colin for providing most of the scenery at short notice and also Bill for his usual forthrightness.

            I’ll speak to you all soon as I intend to indulge in a few games of Pulp Alley as I intend to use the rules in a game I hope to put on for this year’s personal significant birthday.

     

          This has been a Garvald Film Presentation albeit the SAPPO Sven series plan has been shot down in flames as he was potted in the first episode.