AVBCW: Fighting in the Golden Valley

For once, I was actually a player in a Big Game, as well as part time umpire.

I was playing on Table 3: Longtown.

Sir Gilbert’s dodgy forces (Doug from em-4) had secured support from two sets of opportunistic socialists (Matt, and Mike) who were hoping to make their mark on the Hereford map. I was allied to another LDV (Tym) and we were determined to reign in Sir Gilbert’s egotistical conquest of this section of Hereford.

We were playing end to end, and a quick look at the terrain suggested they’d use an armoured/vehicle column to force the centre of the table next to the farmhouse and castle ruins, with flanking attacks.

That was obviously their plan, Doug deployed loads of vehicles off road, and before the game started in earnest, I joked it was his car park.

Which was prophetic, as in the first turn Doug rolled for a random event, and the event was: Mud, Mud Glorious Mud, all off road movement is counted as “Difficult Terrain”. Now as vehicles in AVBCW are rather prone to random movement, this meant that his cars were going nowehere fast, and for the first turn he moved at most a couple of inches as they ploughed their way through the thick glutinous Hereford clay, before his troops got out and started walking.

As you can see, the cars barely got past the woods, and it was only the steam tanks that got anywhere close to combat. It was amusing to watch Sir Gilbert in his wheelchair along with the nanny and pram struggling to get to us – probably not so much fun for Doug, but we’ll come back to his reaction later.

Tym deployed his ladies of good repute in the castle ruins, and further back a field artillery piece.

Mike’s socialists deployed opposite me.

Whilst Matt’s socialists hogged the road in their busses, charabanks and other contraptions.

Our makeshift barricades halted the socialists’ steam wagon and trailer, whilst we brought up our forces.

Tym’s Ladies of Good Repute had piled into the farmhouse, just as Matt’s socialists piled out of their buses and into the farmhouse and violence ensued. For a couple of turns, the hand to hand continued until the reds won due to sheer numbers and the ladies were broken and fled.

A firefight also ensued down the road between more of the Ladies in the ruins and the reds at the barricades.

More to come (80+ photos edited !)