AVBCW: 2015 10 17 – Alan & Rita’s Photos

Alan & Rita are two of our new recruits:

‘Dear Sirs,
My lads and I were shocked at the calumnious imputations in certain quarters that we are in any way violent or dishonest. We are a peace-loving local residents association (the razors we carry are purely for personal hygiene), and abhor violence, but feel it our duty to fight for our rightful king, God bless him.

If, in the course of our military duties, we happen upon any trinkets lost, mislaid or abandoned we consider it our Christian duty to take them into our safekeeping until such time as they may be reunited with their rightful owners ( upon payment of a suitable fee for handling, warehousing, administration, etc, naturally). Should this prove impossible in a reasonable time (say 24 hours) we would dispose of said items through certain outlets known to us, and any financial accruals resulting therefrom would be used for charitable works in the Gas Street neighbourhood.

I hope this sets the record straight (else the boys might come knocking !).
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Lightfinger,
Lieutenant, commanding Gas Street Irregulars.

Here are their photos.

They were playing on the same table as myself – in fact it was Rita’s first Wargame.

Alan’s crack 6th Form girls advance through a field.

Whilst Rita’s forces formed a gun line to shoot them down.

Clive’s Anglican forces of the FALSE Bishop of Ludlow. 😉

Having looted the cottage, Alan’s Royalists join the BUF advance on the village.

A close up of the Royalists and BUF, their pockets bulging with looted items, their faces bulging with looted food.

Let loose the dogs of war !
(Hope they come with pooper-scoopers)

Alan’s Royalists cross the river, get shot up by Rita’s Anglicans and end up “Jumpy”.

Run for the trees !
The surviving HQ section and 6th Formers head for the trees.

here’s the point where Captain’ Arrowsmith’s tank, reversing back over the bridge (parapet) was attacked by Anglican infantry, only for the BUF infantry to chuck some grenades to drive them off – one of the few times grenades have been used in a Big Game. Hmmm….

Thanks to Alan for these photos – hopefully he did get an evening meal…we think he did as Rita won the firefight… 😉

AVBCW: 2015 10 17 – And the last but not least table

Random photos from the third table: Dorstone. (NB: Two links to other better write up’s are at the bottom of this post)

Basic layout.

Royalists under the command of Rob come to the rescue of the defenders of the village.

Beseiged as they are by Sir Gilbert’s dodgy underlings including some bent coppers.

The centre of Dostone, apparently there was much running around as the attackers closed in, and it was unclear on which table edge the rescuers were coming from initially.

Fighting intensifies as Sir Gilbert’s mob close in on the hastily erected barricades of the defenders.

Royalists under Rob mass on the edge of the table to move in for the rescue.

Whilst at the other end of the village the Anarchists move in, controlled by Matt.

More detailed and coherent write ups can be found at these well dodgy sites:

JP’s Herefordshire 1938

and

Sir Gilbert’s View from the Hill

AVBCW: 2015 10 17 – And then there’s the rest…

Some random photos of the other two tables – Kington:

Basic layout.

Kington defenders. (Royalists)

Kington attackers – Derek & Mort’s Anglican troops.

And so they advance on the town…

But not just from one side – the defenders are attacked on several fronts. Houses burn under bombardment. (Captain Arrowsmith not involved is the claim)

More improvised armour rolls in to the town.

The Royalists eventually win.

AVBCW: 2015 10 17 – Part Three

Cont’d:

So things were not looking good for the BUF & Royalists – but then a few lucky dice rolls and the tank on the bridge moved forward, the BUF mortar spotter team crossed the river.

And this was supported by:

…the BUF infantry moving up in support along with Captain Arrowsmith’s command.

Whilst my tank also finally moved up along with the third infantry section. My foolish move to send the first unit across the river resulted in predictable failure with the lone LMG gunner left who was Suppressed.

But then, Clive unleashed his surprise weapon:

A pack of trained dogs with explosives attached to them ! And they charged straight for the tank on the bridge…only to be gunned down by crack machine gun fire in one single burst.

We now had the dilemma of which was worse, training dogs to be suicide bombers, or shooting the dogs ??
Call the RSPCA !

For good measure another machine gun wiped out the handlers who were further back by the barn.

The Royalists under Alan, and Rita’s Anglicans were exchanging fire and each was being whittled down. By now Alan had got his HMG across the river and was raking the Anglican lines.

Clive brought up a small armoured vehicle (aka Tin Can).

The BUF decided to take a gamble and push everything forward.So my two sections and HMG crossed the river, wiped out the Anglican advance guard, and waited for my tank to blow up the Anglican tankette.

Unfortunately, at this point, Arrowsmith’s tank crew drove into two road side bombs, shrugged off mortar and artillery fire only to lose their nerve from rifle and LMG fire resulting in them reversing back onto the bridge pushing their own infantry back. On top of this, the other BUF infantry unit got stuck crossing the hedge.

At this point we realise3d we weren’t going to make a strong enough bridgehead.

But at least I got my reWenge, and my tank brewed up the tankette, finally.

My HMG also had the final word, massacring the Rocket Launcher crew who had marched across the board to my side, and literally stood in a nice line for me to shoot them all dead in one burst.

Clive’s Anglican troops surged forward to try and take the bridge only for BUF hand grenades to devastate one section, and combined HMG and mortar fire from both BUF platoons massacre a second section out in the open.

As a result of this, and with the skies beginning to bruise as night fell, both sides conceeded it was a bloody stalemate.

The BUF and Royalists had not been able to focus their forces to make a viable bridgehad, but the Anglicans were in no fit state to take the bridge.

Another draw – the BUF and Royalists will have to stage a different gambit if they are to eveer take this bridge.

But most importantly of all, all five players had had fun.

AVBCW: 2015 10 17 – Part Two

Cont’d:

Just when I didn’t want to get bogged down again, my tank bogged down again – right in the flipping gateway – delaying for another round the accompanying infantry. The command section hopped over the hedge, but the HMG unit failed their Jump test asnd kicked their heels for the round.

So two infantry sections and one HMG had reached the river at last – minus the tank and the third section and second HMG (actually, it was compromised – a random event card had resulted in them only being able to fire every other round).

Richard’s tank was now on the bridge, but under fire from everything Rita & Clive’s Anglicans could throw at it…which was quite a lot and the crew had failed their nerve test and become JUmpy. More BUF infantry were also lost as the last rockets were fired.

But that did allow the cavalry room to come on without for of being obliterated immediately.

As a result, the two BUF platoons were being fed in piecemeal against the enemy, so after lunch things were not looking good as we had failed to establish a bridgehead on the other side of the river, and there was a feeling of deja vu.

To make matters worse, Clive pushed a section forward opposite me and started shooting.

The massed Anglican firepower, which was out of range of our mortars, HMGs and tank guns.

this left Alan in the lurch as Rita’s Anglican firing poured their undivided fire into his school girls. There were mentions of who was driving home, that were countered by mention of who was cooking tea that evening !

All in good fun.

And then the BUF got a bit of luck and…

AVBCW: 2015 10 17 – Part One

Ok, here is the table I was playhing on – there were two other tables but I had little time to understand their dynamics so will post on those later – the actions of 15 players is rather complex !

the all important bridge over the Wye – we (BUF & Royalists) need to capture this or at least prevent the rebel scum from securing it.

Rich was playing his infamous Captain Arrowsmith BUF, I was playing BUF, and newcomer Alan was playing allied Royalists & BUF (Major Miles Strait-Jacket). Our plan was to assault across the river (low because it was summer) whilst pushing Capatain Arrowsmith’s pride and joy across the river. That’s a tank !

By remarkable c0-incidence, Alan’s wife, Rita, in her first wargame, faced off against him, with a load of Anglicans. I’d already tried charming her by lending her a mortar from my figure collection – to no avail. 😉

Alan deployed the 6th Form hockey team, which he later admitted to having mostly named each model – Rita I don’t think was best impressed. The hockey team did however end up particularly stubborn in the game.

The BUF & Allies moved forward, or rather most of them, typically I rolled a 1 for my tank and as it was off road, it bogged down. Naturally. And it also held up the unit of infantry assigned to support it.

Meanwhile Captain Arrowsmith’s forces surged forward along with Alan’s thugs who decided to loot the cottage as they were….thugs…wasting a round for that unit.

Rita’s Anglicans, in the face of this awesome military advance, awaited behind a hedge line in a sensible firing line.

Whilst Clive’s Anglican’s under the Bishop of Ludlow, loitered behind the barn, and readied their awesome rocket launchers, hoping for a better outcome than in the last game.

(NB: Clive admitted that the Bishop of Ludlow had not been created as a See in 1938, but as it was an alternate reality we can bend the truth…but that won’t stop certain commentators decrying his authority and position will it ? 😉 )

The Anglican line facing the BUF. As Genial Jim had had to drop out at short notice JP provided some extras to the Anglicans, and we decided to treat them all as “Trained”.

Woosh !

The first blood was to the Bishop of Ludlow’s rockets as they hit the advancing BUF infantry of Captain Arrowsmith, and tyook out about 8 troops. That was the first salvo.

Meanwhile, Alan’s forces on the Fascist right wing (!), advanced across the fields to the river.

By now some of my troops were reaching the river bank.

More to follow.

AVBCW: 2015 10 17 – A Quarter of a Grand Later

The day after the day before…yes another Big Game with 15 people attending (two dropped out sadly) in the village hall, so we’re busy editting photos to show the progress. Whilst they’re uploading (I’ve got 50+), a few thoughts. And photos.

The Bredwardine Bridge table, complete with new river sections by Roo. This was the table I played on, and the one that will feature most heavily in the upcoming posts. I’ll post link to inferior propoganda outlets regarding the other tables as well.

At the other end of the hall, was the battle for Dorstone.
Again all three tables were 8×6′ tables, with OOP GW grass mats covered in a lot of scenery, mostly mine, but for Dorstone JP provided most of it.

So with 15 people booked for a full day’s session, we needed catering as usual. At £6.50 per head that was £91 straight off.

In kingston the middle table, the Anglicans set up.
The hall cost was £35 per day, which is really good.

More hidden deployment in Kingston.

And then there was the curry afterwards, with 6 of us racking up another bill of £92.
Add in the costs of Roo’s efforts with the river, and a river I did that didn’t in the end get deployed and we’re talking about £250 invested in this one event, ignoring sunk costs in scenery, and the figures themselves.

I’d pinned the invoices to my calendar, and when looking at them made me think how much we spend on our hobby collectively.

Next up, the actual games pictures.