Who can say no to FIVE turrets?!
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
More Copplestone Tanks...
Apparently the next addition to Copplestone's interwar tanks will be a Vickers Independent:
Who can say no to FIVE turrets?!
Who can say no to FIVE turrets?!
Copplestone Medium Mark III
Copplestone Castings have just added an interwar Medium Mark III tank to their site:
Only three were actually built but in our alternative 1938 world who knows?
It is a little on the expensive side but given the size and unusual nature of it possibly not surprisingly so.
Only three were actually built but in our alternative 1938 world who knows?
It is a little on the expensive side but given the size and unusual nature of it possibly not surprisingly so.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Probability eh?
So what are the chances of this?
And no there isn't anything supporting it on the other side!
This was the result of one of my throws during the weekend. Clearly my house is in a high magical field?
And no there isn't anything supporting it on the other side!This was the result of one of my throws during the weekend. Clearly my house is in a high magical field?
Wargames Weekend: The Crystals of Death
Our final game of the weekend saw the return of the Doctor, the Brigadier and UNIT.
For a change I took the part of the good guys and Lenin gave me the following briefing:
To: Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
From: Headquarters, United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, Geneva
Subject: Parasol Chemicals Ltd., London, SW1
Routine monitoring of worldwide chemical purchases has detected a disturbing pattern with regard to the purchases being made by the above named corporation. The combination of chemicals is one that has previously been linked to extraterrestrial life forms.
Undercover surveillance of the chemical plant has raised further concerns, when the plant’s security guards were observed wearing strange helmets and carrying firearms. The UK Home Office has confirmed that the plant does not have the authority for armed guards and thus they are just as keen as UNIT to find out what is going on. Consequently the UK Government has agreed to allow UNIT to continue their investigations and take whatever actions UNIT deems appropriate to resolve the situation.
UNIT (UK) has therefore been tasked with raiding the plant, arresting the workforce and seizing all documents and other materials.
Standard rules of engagement apply, see attached.
Given the possible extraterrestrial link, assistance has been requested from UNIT’s scientific advisor, though his whereabouts are currently not known.
Just to make my life even more difficult here are the rules of engagement:
INSTRUCTIONS TO UNIT PERSONNEL EMPLOYED ON GUARD DUTIES, INTERNAL SECURITY AND DUTIES IN AID OF THE CIVIL POWER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
General
1. Before you use force it is your duty to assess the situation and then use the minimum amount of force necessary to deal with it. If you have done this and you are absolutely satisfied that there is no effective force at your disposal except opening fire, you may do so in the circumstances detailed below.
When to Fire
2. You may fire in the following circumstances:
a. On the lawful orders of your superior officer, by word or through written orders.
b. To protect yourself or other persons from death or grievous bodily harm.
c. To protect property which you have been ordered to guard and which is in the act of being forcibly destroyed or removed.
How to Fire
3. a. Fire only aimed shots.
b. Aim at the target e.g. at the middle of the body.
c. Fire only the minimum number of single shots necessary to achieve your purpose.
So going in all guns blazing wasn't going to be an option!
I decided on a simple direct approach. We drove up in a couple of Land Rovers, blocked the main entrance and challenged the guard at the main gate (who appeared to be holding some soft of weapon - obviously in clear contravention of the firearms regulations!). The guard levelled his weapon so we opened fire (unfortunately to no great effect). Fortunately his firing wasn't terribly effective either but on the next turn we managed to subdue him.
We then advanced into the plant, searched the gatehouse and encountered some more guards. All of them were wearing some sort of strange helmet and moving more like automata than normal people. Having taken a couple of casualties we dealt with them we advanced further in.
It was then we encountered something that can only be described a a green shambling carpet like mound. It violently assaulted one of the men so we opened fire on it. It was clearly pretty tough because it took quite some fire to subdue it. But then others appeared.
Two of the men I'd sent off to reconnoitre the other side of the plan reported finding a container with some strange glowing crystals in it. So I ordered them to secure the container and await further instructions. Meanwhile we had a serious problem on our hands. We couldn't use our heavy weapons for fear of a catastrophic explosion and these creatures were proving difficult to suppress. Fortunately they moved somewhat slower than us and didn't appear to have any ranged weapons so things weren't all in their favour.
Just when we were at a loss as to how to proceed I heard a familiar sound and a blue police box appeared on top of one of the chemical tanks. It was the Doctor and Jo Grant who emerged and seeing our predicament the Doctor withdrew into the Tardis to put together a device which would help us. Eventually he re-emerged and the device identified the location of the alien mind control device. With that eliminated we managed to deal with the last of the aliens and secure the plant.
For a change I took the part of the good guys and Lenin gave me the following briefing:
To: Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
From: Headquarters, United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, Geneva
Subject: Parasol Chemicals Ltd., London, SW1
Routine monitoring of worldwide chemical purchases has detected a disturbing pattern with regard to the purchases being made by the above named corporation. The combination of chemicals is one that has previously been linked to extraterrestrial life forms.
Undercover surveillance of the chemical plant has raised further concerns, when the plant’s security guards were observed wearing strange helmets and carrying firearms. The UK Home Office has confirmed that the plant does not have the authority for armed guards and thus they are just as keen as UNIT to find out what is going on. Consequently the UK Government has agreed to allow UNIT to continue their investigations and take whatever actions UNIT deems appropriate to resolve the situation.
UNIT (UK) has therefore been tasked with raiding the plant, arresting the workforce and seizing all documents and other materials.
Standard rules of engagement apply, see attached.
Given the possible extraterrestrial link, assistance has been requested from UNIT’s scientific advisor, though his whereabouts are currently not known.
Just to make my life even more difficult here are the rules of engagement:
INSTRUCTIONS TO UNIT PERSONNEL EMPLOYED ON GUARD DUTIES, INTERNAL SECURITY AND DUTIES IN AID OF THE CIVIL POWER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
General
1. Before you use force it is your duty to assess the situation and then use the minimum amount of force necessary to deal with it. If you have done this and you are absolutely satisfied that there is no effective force at your disposal except opening fire, you may do so in the circumstances detailed below.
When to Fire
2. You may fire in the following circumstances:
a. On the lawful orders of your superior officer, by word or through written orders.
b. To protect yourself or other persons from death or grievous bodily harm.
c. To protect property which you have been ordered to guard and which is in the act of being forcibly destroyed or removed.
How to Fire
3. a. Fire only aimed shots.
b. Aim at the target e.g. at the middle of the body.
c. Fire only the minimum number of single shots necessary to achieve your purpose.
So going in all guns blazing wasn't going to be an option!
I decided on a simple direct approach. We drove up in a couple of Land Rovers, blocked the main entrance and challenged the guard at the main gate (who appeared to be holding some soft of weapon - obviously in clear contravention of the firearms regulations!). The guard levelled his weapon so we opened fire (unfortunately to no great effect). Fortunately his firing wasn't terribly effective either but on the next turn we managed to subdue him.We then advanced into the plant, searched the gatehouse and encountered some more guards. All of them were wearing some sort of strange helmet and moving more like automata than normal people. Having taken a couple of casualties we dealt with them we advanced further in.
It was then we encountered something that can only be described a a green shambling carpet like mound. It violently assaulted one of the men so we opened fire on it. It was clearly pretty tough because it took quite some fire to subdue it. But then others appeared.
Two of the men I'd sent off to reconnoitre the other side of the plan reported finding a container with some strange glowing crystals in it. So I ordered them to secure the container and await further instructions. Meanwhile we had a serious problem on our hands. We couldn't use our heavy weapons for fear of a catastrophic explosion and these creatures were proving difficult to suppress. Fortunately they moved somewhat slower than us and didn't appear to have any ranged weapons so things weren't all in their favour.
Just when we were at a loss as to how to proceed I heard a familiar sound and a blue police box appeared on top of one of the chemical tanks. It was the Doctor and Jo Grant who emerged and seeing our predicament the Doctor withdrew into the Tardis to put together a device which would help us. Eventually he re-emerged and the device identified the location of the alien mind control device. With that eliminated we managed to deal with the last of the aliens and secure the plant.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Wargames Weekend: Mission - The Manor
Our penultimate game was another alternative history outing, this time set in World War 2. Set as part of Operation Sealion, I played a platoon of Fallschirmjaeger intent on capturing The Manor, a British communications centre. Lenin took charge of the small force defending it.
Everything went quite well with me advancing the section on the right flank up to the road followed by the centre section. Then some fool in the left hand section managed to get spotted coming out of the woods and the game was up! So instead of finding the Manor with only light defences the entire defending force was stood to waiting for me.
My first attempt to get an MG34 out of the woods to cover the perimeter was a bit of a fiasco. So I decided on a more co-ordinated approach which did draw plenty of fire but left me with some troops in a position to return fire. My MG34s managed to keep the Brit's heads down and I sent a small party forward to cut the barbed wire fence on the right. After that it was a desperate holding action for the defenders, hoping to give the communications room enough time to destroy the code books, equipment and the like.
Reinforcements from the local Home Guard turned up, better late than never. But had been spotted by one of my men and so came under some heavy fire when they tried to advance and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and withdrew.
So the Manor and what remained of its equipment and documents fell into the hands of the Reich despite the valiant efforts of the defenders.
The Manor itself is my Grand Manner building with the figures mostly from Foundry. We used our favourite WW2 rules, Nuts! from Two Hour Wargames.
Everything went quite well with me advancing the section on the right flank up to the road followed by the centre section. Then some fool in the left hand section managed to get spotted coming out of the woods and the game was up! So instead of finding the Manor with only light defences the entire defending force was stood to waiting for me.My first attempt to get an MG34 out of the woods to cover the perimeter was a bit of a fiasco. So I decided on a more co-ordinated approach which did draw plenty of fire but left me with some troops in a position to return fire. My MG34s managed to keep the Brit's heads down and I sent a small party forward to cut the barbed wire fence on the right. After that it was a desperate holding action for the defenders, hoping to give the communications room enough time to destroy the code books, equipment and the like.
Reinforcements from the local Home Guard turned up, better late than never. But had been spotted by one of my men and so came under some heavy fire when they tried to advance and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and withdrew.
So the Manor and what remained of its equipment and documents fell into the hands of the Reich despite the valiant efforts of the defenders.
The Manor itself is my Grand Manner building with the figures mostly from Foundry. We used our favourite WW2 rules, Nuts! from Two Hour Wargames.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Wargames Weekend: Operation Argos IV
Next up Lenin put on a science fiction game using his extensive collection of AT-43 kit but with the Two Hour Wargames' 5150 rules.
I was cast as an officer in Faulkner Consulting, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Parasol Corporation, which is one of the biggest corporate entities in known space. Faulkner Consulting was, in reality, a private military corporation that acts as enforcers and trouble-shooters for Parasol.
My mission was to proceed to the planet Argos IV and extract a three-person biomedical
science team from the Kildare Foundation, another Parasol subsidiary, that has been carrying out a planetary survey. The science team had reported some sort of difficulty, the exact nature of
which was unclear, and had requested an immediate extraction.
I was briefed that Argos IV was a primeval world with surface conditions not unlike Earth millions of years ago when the most sophisticated forms of life were plants and insects. I was informed that it was doubtful that the science team had encountered any hostile life forms, but it is possible that they are having problems with a rival corporation.
The only suitable landing area for my dropship was some distance from the scientistsʼ camp, so
my team needed to approach it on foot, through the primeval forest. I started with one squad of
light infantry, but each time that the activation dice totalled seven and my side had the higher die score I got a chance to roll on the reinforcement table to determine whether additional forces were available.
Perhaps unsurprisingly it turned out not to be a walk in the park! No sooner had we advanced a little towards the camp than some rather strange aliens appeared along with a rather nasty looking walker. Fortunately the walker appeared to be crewed by a graduate of the stormtrooper school of accuracy and its first two shots were close enough to tip me off but not to do any damage. Fortunately my missile launcher team got a lucky first shot and knocked it out.
Even after taking out the walker it was pretty hard going as the aliens just kept appearing and not only from in front. My first squad took quite a few casualties but reinforcements including a Fire Toad and a second squad meant I eventually managed to knock out the strange devices the aliens were using to transport in and after that it was a lot easier!
I was cast as an officer in Faulkner Consulting, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Parasol Corporation, which is one of the biggest corporate entities in known space. Faulkner Consulting was, in reality, a private military corporation that acts as enforcers and trouble-shooters for Parasol.
My mission was to proceed to the planet Argos IV and extract a three-person biomedical
science team from the Kildare Foundation, another Parasol subsidiary, that has been carrying out a planetary survey. The science team had reported some sort of difficulty, the exact nature of
which was unclear, and had requested an immediate extraction.
I was briefed that Argos IV was a primeval world with surface conditions not unlike Earth millions of years ago when the most sophisticated forms of life were plants and insects. I was informed that it was doubtful that the science team had encountered any hostile life forms, but it is possible that they are having problems with a rival corporation.The only suitable landing area for my dropship was some distance from the scientistsʼ camp, so
my team needed to approach it on foot, through the primeval forest. I started with one squad of
light infantry, but each time that the activation dice totalled seven and my side had the higher die score I got a chance to roll on the reinforcement table to determine whether additional forces were available.
Perhaps unsurprisingly it turned out not to be a walk in the park! No sooner had we advanced a little towards the camp than some rather strange aliens appeared along with a rather nasty looking walker. Fortunately the walker appeared to be crewed by a graduate of the stormtrooper school of accuracy and its first two shots were close enough to tip me off but not to do any damage. Fortunately my missile launcher team got a lucky first shot and knocked it out.
Even after taking out the walker it was pretty hard going as the aliens just kept appearing and not only from in front. My first squad took quite a few casualties but reinforcements including a Fire Toad and a second squad meant I eventually managed to knock out the strange devices the aliens were using to transport in and after that it was a lot easier!
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Wargames Weekend: The Glencleave Incident
On the Saturday we started off with a little bit of alternative history with the dastardly Hun trying to start the Great War early. The basic premise was a German agent had discovered the secret location of the Committee for National Defence's meeting, at Glencleave castle in Scotland, and the Germans decided this was an excellent opportunity to kill or capture the committee and steal the plans. It was also a chance to try out some of their new fangled landing craft!
So dawn breaks and a German torpedo boat and two landing craft appear out of the mist heading for the beach by the castle. The two British sentries don't notice the intruders until the torpedo boat is about to dock at the small jetty and the landing craft have hit the beach behind a small copse. The Germans set up an MG08 on the jetty to cover the castle walls and their infantry advance through the woods. Meanwhile the sentries have raised the alarm but the small castle garrison takes quite a while to react!
Fortunately for the British, whilst the Germans have set up their covering positions, they seem to lack the aggressive spirit for a quick assault. This gives the small garrison the chance to get into a position to cover the main gate. It takes a little while for the Germans to blow the gate and their engineers take a couple of casualties in the process. Then the main assault begins with the first German section streaming through the gate and into rifle fire from the chaps covering the gate. After some brief but bloody close combat the Germans are repulsed.
Eventually the Germans find the initiative to make a second assault and, whilst they inflict quite a few more casualties on the garrison they are thrown back again. Unfortunately for the Brits the third German assault overwhelms the defenders are they are forced back to the castle keep.
Meanwhile the committee have been furiously trying to stuff the defence plans into the furnace in order to stop them falling into enemy hands.
The few remaining castle troops try to hold out in the keep but once the door is blown the superior German numbers eventually wear them down and despite a staunch defence from the committee themselves they are almost all put out of action.
The remainder of the British force, which was based in the nearby village of Glencleave, now arrives but is pinned down by German machine gun fire. A fire fight ensues with the retreating Germans, with their prisoners and what was left of the plans, trying to fall back to the landing craft under British rifle fire whilst being covered by their own machine guns.
An outflanking manoeuvre through the woods by a brave British NCO silenced one of the German guns but not in time to stop the others steaming away.
Fortunately for Britain the whole thing was a complete blind set up by our fledgling intelligence services and the captured committee members turns out to be an actor. With both sides being a little embarrassed by the whole incident it is all hushed up...
All the figures, with the exception of the boat crews and the committee members, were from the Renegade Miniatures WW1 range with the castle from Hudson & Allen.
So dawn breaks and a German torpedo boat and two landing craft appear out of the mist heading for the beach by the castle. The two British sentries don't notice the intruders until the torpedo boat is about to dock at the small jetty and the landing craft have hit the beach behind a small copse. The Germans set up an MG08 on the jetty to cover the castle walls and their infantry advance through the woods. Meanwhile the sentries have raised the alarm but the small castle garrison takes quite a while to react!Fortunately for the British, whilst the Germans have set up their covering positions, they seem to lack the aggressive spirit for a quick assault. This gives the small garrison the chance to get into a position to cover the main gate. It takes a little while for the Germans to blow the gate and their engineers take a couple of casualties in the process. Then the main assault begins with the first German section streaming through the gate and into rifle fire from the chaps covering the gate. After some brief but bloody close combat the Germans are repulsed.
Eventually the Germans find the initiative to make a second assault and, whilst they inflict quite a few more casualties on the garrison they are thrown back again. Unfortunately for the Brits the third German assault overwhelms the defenders are they are forced back to the castle keep.
Meanwhile the committee have been furiously trying to stuff the defence plans into the furnace in order to stop them falling into enemy hands.
The few remaining castle troops try to hold out in the keep but once the door is blown the superior German numbers eventually wear them down and despite a staunch defence from the committee themselves they are almost all put out of action.
The remainder of the British force, which was based in the nearby village of Glencleave, now arrives but is pinned down by German machine gun fire. A fire fight ensues with the retreating Germans, with their prisoners and what was left of the plans, trying to fall back to the landing craft under British rifle fire whilst being covered by their own machine guns.
An outflanking manoeuvre through the woods by a brave British NCO silenced one of the German guns but not in time to stop the others steaming away.
Fortunately for Britain the whole thing was a complete blind set up by our fledgling intelligence services and the captured committee members turns out to be an actor. With both sides being a little embarrassed by the whole incident it is all hushed up...
All the figures, with the exception of the boat crews and the committee members, were from the Renegade Miniatures WW1 range with the castle from Hudson & Allen.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Artizan - More Armed Bobbies
Artizan Designs have added some more armed police to their Thrilling Tales range:
Since I picked up a set of their rifle armed chaps I must add these...
Since I picked up a set of their rifle armed chaps I must add these...
Wargames Weekend: The Men of Company B
Our next game of the weekend was a playtest of The Men of Company B rules from Peter Pig. As with their other RFCM publications these are template based and share a number of mechanics with AK47 Republic.
We used the terrain set up tables in the rules to arrange things and I put together a US force using the points system. I decided on a search and destroy mission and divided my troops into two units which I had choppered into position on either side of the only village on the table.
With one unit covering the other went into the village and stumbled onto a booby trap. Fortunately I managed to disarm it before it did any serious damage. I then had the men advance up the valley to check out a nearby section of jungle. Unfortunately this proved to be home to charlie and we took a bit of a pasting. Eventually I managed to get the other unit onto their flank and called in some air support in the form of a huey gunship but, whilst I managed to eliminate the VC, my first unit was virtually wiped out.
To add insult to injury Lenin had played one of his cards and the VC turned into civilian casualties!
With the game end point having been reached we totted up my victory points and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a bit of a catastrophic failure for the US.
We used the terrain set up tables in the rules to arrange things and I put together a US force using the points system. I decided on a search and destroy mission and divided my troops into two units which I had choppered into position on either side of the only village on the table.
With one unit covering the other went into the village and stumbled onto a booby trap. Fortunately I managed to disarm it before it did any serious damage. I then had the men advance up the valley to check out a nearby section of jungle. Unfortunately this proved to be home to charlie and we took a bit of a pasting. Eventually I managed to get the other unit onto their flank and called in some air support in the form of a huey gunship but, whilst I managed to eliminate the VC, my first unit was virtually wiped out.
To add insult to injury Lenin had played one of his cards and the VC turned into civilian casualties!
With the game end point having been reached we totted up my victory points and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a bit of a catastrophic failure for the US.
Wargames Weekend: Blunte's Captain
Last weekend Lenin popped over for another visit and we managed to get a few games in. The first was a 28mm Peninsular game using my expanded Front Rank figure collection and the Too Fat Lardies' Sharp Practice rules.
The scenario was adapted from the Lardies' scenario booklet, the Compleat Fondler both to cope with the smaller number of figures available and my need to move it into my own pseudo Sharpe world.
This was a purely light infantry action with the French advancing across the table and hoping to push through the British force. The British were handicapped with the somewhat inept senior officer and whilst he was in command the French managed to make some headway. A small French unit managed to keep Lt. Blunte and the 95th Rifles occupied on one flank whilst the main French force advanced on the other.
Fortunately for the Brits Captain Smalls managed to catch a French volley and was badly wounded allowing Lt. Blunte to take command. He leapt into action and the British fortunes were transformed with the French advance petering out.
Once again Sharp Practice proved to be an entertaining set of rules and gave an excellent game.
The scenario was adapted from the Lardies' scenario booklet, the Compleat Fondler both to cope with the smaller number of figures available and my need to move it into my own pseudo Sharpe world.
This was a purely light infantry action with the French advancing across the table and hoping to push through the British force. The British were handicapped with the somewhat inept senior officer and whilst he was in command the French managed to make some headway. A small French unit managed to keep Lt. Blunte and the 95th Rifles occupied on one flank whilst the main French force advanced on the other.
Fortunately for the Brits Captain Smalls managed to catch a French volley and was badly wounded allowing Lt. Blunte to take command. He leapt into action and the British fortunes were transformed with the French advance petering out.Once again Sharp Practice proved to be an entertaining set of rules and gave an excellent game.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Richard III: Wars of the Roses
I just picked up my copy of Richard III, the new block game from Columbia Games, from the sorting office this afternoon. It has been a while in coming since I pre-ordered it and getting clobbered for £4 VAT (plus the outrageous £8 Royal Mail handling fee!) was a pain.Anyway, I popped the sixty odd stickers onto the blocks and read through the rules earlier and it looks very interesting. The board is the usual card type but it doesn't detract from the overall excellent presentation.
The combat system is based on the traditional Columbia and the card action/event system is similar to that used in Hammer of the Scots amongst others.
Once I have had a chance to give it a go I'll post my thoughts.
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