First Game of "A Gentleman's War", Using Imagi-Nation Armies

I got to play my first game of "A Gentleman's War" (AGW), by Howard Whitehouse and Danial Foley, this past Saturday under the GMing/tutelage of fellow HAWK Rob Dean; with his son Norman Dean as my opponent.  We used forces drawn from our homecast 40mm 18th Century Imagi-nation armies, normally used with the classic Charge! rules; my North Polenburgers, vs Norman's Wachovians.  We used the random force generation from AGW, which, when rolled up, looked to us to be some sort of pursuit scenario of Whachovians trying to overtake a retreating North Polenburg army, and being met by a North Polenburg delaying force.
     Wachovia had a flying column consisting of: 3 Light Cavalry units, 2 Light Infantry units, and 3 Line Infantry units; while my North Polenburg army had: 3 Line Infantry units, 2 Field Artillery batteries, a Light Cavalry unit, and a Light Infantry unit. So after a brief scenario discussion, we ruled Norman's army needed to exit 4 of his 8 starting units off my table edge, and I had to prevent this with my 8 defending units. It was an exciting battle with the fortunes seesawing back and forth and the outcome undecided until the last turn.

North Polenburg Initial Deployment

     We both sketched out our opening deployment on paper, and then set up our troops as per what we had drawn.  This allowed us to set up simultaneously, though we were locked in our deployment without having any idea of how the enemy was deploying.
     I set up symmetrically with my Line Infantry brigade in the center to block the road, with a Light Infantry Unit and Artillery Battery on each flank; figuring the maneuverability of the Lights, combined with the long range of the cannon, could help deter any attempt to sweep around my flanks. I deployed my Light Cavalry in the center, behind my Line Infantry, where I hoped it would be in position to catch anything that got by the Light Infantry and Artillery.  I had hoped to push forward quickly to give myself more room to delay them farther from where they hd to exit.  This did not happen.

Wachovia Initial Deployment

      Norman set up somewhat similarly, with his Line Infantry straddling the road, with a Light Infantry unit on each side.  He brigaded his Light Cavalry together, and set them up just below a low hill on his right.  It was clear his plan was to punch a hole through my left flank with the mass of cavalry at his disposal.

The brigaded Wachovian Light Cavalry come thundering over the hill towards my Light Infantry and Artillery on my left.

      Things started off ominously for North Polenburg, as Norman's Wachvoian's got the 5 first Activation Cards, allowing his cavalry to come storming over the hill, and smash into my Light Infantry holding the left flank.  My lights repulsed the first unit, leaving both units bloodied and the Cavalry falling back on the field in disorder, but the second fresh unit of enemy cavalry swept them from the field.  This left my Artillery extremely vulnerable.  Luckily, the charge of the third unit of enemy cavalry fell less than an inch short of my cannon, allowing me to let fly with a round of canister at point plank.  While it didn't have as big an effect as I wanted, it did disorder the horsemen.

A swirling battle develops and I turn my left Line Unit to help secure my flank. before my Artillery is overwhelmed. 

      Quickly, I was able to swing around my leftmost Line Infantry unit to face the enemy cavalry and protect my line; but it was an inevitable fate for my guns.  The remaining enemy Light Cavalry swarmed over them.   My Light Cavalry now also moved to protect the flank, as the enemy cavalry found itself all disordered and spread over the field.

Overview of the table about midway through the battle.

      My infantry shot a few rounds at the closed unit of enemy Light Cavalry as my Light Cavalry charged another.  The Wachovian horsemen countercharged and we met over the silent cannon of my battery.  In a fortunate turn of fate, I not only caused a number of casualties on the enemy, but the attached General with them was mortally wounded.

Cavalry vs Cavalry over the silent guns, and the enemy General falls.

      Meanwhile, on my other flank, my Light Infantry unit and Artillery battery had, from the beginning of the battle, been pushing forward while conducting long range harassing fire.  They had finally worked their way onto the flank of the enemy and were close enough that they were becoming a serious threat.  The Wachovian Light Infantry finally felt the need to come forward and discourage me rather than sit as a potential threat in the safety of a nearby woods, and my Lights found themselves split between fending off their enemy counterparts on a low hill forming the enemy right flank, and  sniping at the enemy Line Infantry in a nearby field.

Action on my right flank as I get dangerously close to their line, and their Light Infantry come forward from the security of their woods.

      With my left in an uneasy state  and the remnants of three enemy cavalry still on the field, the Wachovians seized the opportunity and were able to push a unit of their cavalry off my table edge, achieving their first victory point.  However, with a bit of luck, I was able to stabilize my left flank enough, to drive off the remaining two enemy cavalry units using my own horsemen and fire from the Line Infantry unit I had turned to face them.
     However, the distraction of dealing with my collapsing flank had allowed the other unit of the enemy Light Infantry, and their brigaded Line Infantry to get very close to my Line Infantry; the Lights pouring fire in the turned flank of my leftmost Infantry unit, and the brigaded enemy infantry firing at my infantry with a numerical advantage.

I prepare to drive off the last of their Cavalry, as their Lights rush forward on their right to stabilize their line.

       At that point a disaster happened on my right flank, as an effective volley from the enemy Light Infantry on the hill caused my lights to fail morale and fall back.  Their path carried them directly into my artillery, effectively blocking its fire.    The enemy Lights then seized thier opportunity, and raced passed my disorganized troops towards my table edge.  My guns were only just able turn in time to issue one round of ineffective fire, before the enemy Lights made the table edge, and were off.   A second victory point achieved for Wachovia.

Disaster hits, as my Lights fall back off the hill into my battery. Everybody's disordered.

      The end came quickly after that.  I was able to drive off the enemy lights on my left, with an effective charge; but the charge took my infantry unit well past the enemy line, and they were never able to get effectively back into action.  This left only two of my Line Infantry, and the remnants of my Light Cavalry, to hold the enemy line of three Regular Infantry units.  While my remaining Artillery and Light infantry were able to issue a few ineffective shots, their pursuit of the fleeing enemy Lights on my right had taken them far enough away from the center that they were't able to play an effective part again.
      With masterful use of the Hold cards, a well timed charge,  and good fire and morale results, the enemy was able to one by one eliminate my two blocking infantry units.  This left them with enough firepower to brush my cavalry aside, and evade my remaining light infantry and artillery; escaping off the table for the 2 remaining victory points and thus winning the game.

The end, as my Cavalry tries to futilely hold the road.

     While the game started off with some bad luck with the activation deck for my North Polenburg forces, things soon swayed in the other direction; and the fortunes of war swayed back and forth throughout.  While initially the enemy felt confident following his destruction of my left, things soon turned my way with the reestablishment of my left and the advance of my cannon and Lights into close range on his right.  It looked like I would be able to overwhelm him with firepower.  Then, with the breaking of my Light infantry on my right, and them falling back into my artillery, things seemed to sway back towards the enemy.   The battle then came down to the desperate fight in the road, and in the end, I think my inexperience with the rules, lost me the day.
     Nonetheless, I had a great time and look forward to having another crack at these fun rules. They really have a great old school feel to them and seem the perfect thing for Imagi-nations and big "toy soldiers".

War of the Roses Playtest for Cold Wars

     At last Friday's club meeting I ran a 6 player War of the Roses game as a playtest for the upcoming Cold Wars Convention in Lancaster, PA.  I used the under-development Feudal Patrol rules, and 28mm figures.

      The scenario featured a trio of Yorkist supply wagons heading toward the main body of the army.  Upon hearing a Lancastrian force pursuing the Yorkist army is speeding up the road, the contracted civilian wagon drivers run off, abandoning the wagons.  The Yorkists have now dispatched a force to head back and retrieve the wagons, as the lead elements of the Lancastrians rush forward to snatch the wagons for themselves.

Lead Lancastrian elements advance towards the closest wagon, as others move off to flank on their left.

The Yorkists move forward, securing the closest wagon, and begin to take long range fire from the enemy archers.

Likewise, the Lancastrians secure their closest wagon, as their most forward elements come under fire from the Yorkist longbows.

After a desperate cavalry skirmish near the middle wagon, the Lancastrians briefly take control of it.  Then a heroic Yorkist knight rushes forward and clears the wagon if it's Lancastrian captors, and begins to drive off with it.  While he eventually falls to enemy longbow fire, he gets the wagon far enough behind the enemy lines to ensure its safety.

     In the end, the game was declared a Yorkist victory, as they had secured two of the three wagons.  Also, in the last turn of the game the Lancastrian commander fell, causing panic to sweep through their force (All units go pinned when an army commander dies), guaranteeing that any attempt at regaining the wagon was doomed.

     The game was a lot of fun, and there were a number of heroic actions and see-sawing fortunes.  As a GM, I was able to learn a lot about the scenario to help tweak it for the convention to make it even more enjoyable.

Fall-In Playtest Day: Into the Abandoned Mine...

    This past weekend we playtested a couple of of our games for the upcoming Fall-In convention that we will be running in the HAWKs room on Saturday.  They both used all my, and Buck Surdu's, Tablescapes Dungeon Mines terrain from the recent Kickstarter. (Tablescape Dungeon: Mines)  There were 5 Core Sets and a a bunch of extras in play. 

An overview of the set-up before the first game.

   I ran the first game, using the under-development Feudal Patrol rules.  This was a twist of a regular Dungeon Crawl type of game, with each player controlling a conventional party of adventurers.  Players started with their packs full of treasure at the back of the abandoned mine dungeon, and had to make it out alive; all the while being pursued by a very big monster they have disturbed.   Along the way, each player had a hand of a half dozen cards they could play on their fellow adventuring parties. These cards sprung traps, summoned monsters, and caused other mishaps to occur; all in an attempt to slow the other guys down, and make them drop the treasure they were carrying.  Whoever made it out fastest with the most treasure was the winner.

A Dwarf Cleric prepares to welcome two skeletal interlopers.

A pair of Goblins block the path of the Barbarians.

A group of Humans negotiate a rickety wood walkway.

The second game, run by Buck, was a Weird War II outing featuring GIs investigating a secret Nazi lab hidden in an abandoned mine. The rules used were GASLIGHT.  Each player commanded a squad of American soldiers, while Giant Ants, Robots, , Nazis, and all sorts of other nasties awaited them.   The goal was to retrieve certain lab equipment and get it back out of the mine to safety.  Like the previous game, players had a handful of cards they could play on their fellow players in an attempt to slow them down.   

A group of GIs stumble into a group of Giant Ants

Another group of Soldiers meet a Giant Crab.

A Sergeant and a rescued captive faces off against an evil Robot.

     Both games were a whole lot of fun with much laughter, good natured back-stabbing, and corny movie quotes.  We're really looking forward to running these on the Saturday at the convention in November.    There will also be a third game in this series Saturday night, featuring Doctor Who, and helmed by Greg Priebe.

Fall-In Playtest Game: Doctor Who and the Pirates of the Cyberiad Main

      A few of us got together yesterday to playtest a couple of our games for the upcoming Fall-In convention in Lancaster PA.  I ran a Doctor Who scenario called "Doctor Who and the Pirates of the Cyberiad Main", using GASLIGHT rules.  The set up was that the Doctor was enjoying a trip to a quiet 18th century Caribbean island when it was unexpectedly invaded by pirates who had rescued some Cybermen from their spaceship which had crashed somewhere in the ocean.   The Cybermen had made a deal with the pirates, and the prates had agreed to secure victims captives for the Cyberman.  So the goal of the Cybermen/Pirate players was to capture 6 Townsfolk and/or Garrison troops, and carry them back to their landing boats.  Meanwhile the Doctor had to  travel to three different buildings in the village to collect the equipment he would need to make special ammunition that would penetrate the Cybermen's armor (otherwise they were very hard to disable.)

An overview of the table.

   It was a fun and exciting game that went right down to the wire, with the Cyberman/Pirate alliance coming out on top with 6 captives in the end.

Townsfolk, Pirates and Cybermen scuffle outside the warhouse.

The Garrison takes on its share of Pirates and Cybermen as well.  In the upper right of the photo, a poor trooper is being dragged away by a Cyberman.

    The most exciting part of the game was when the Doctor and his companions (Amy, the Governor of the island, and the Governor's Daughter) attempted to get the last item the Doctor needed.  It was in a warehouse that was overrun with pirates, so the only way the Doctor could get in safely was by an upper story window. So, they ended up hovering in the TARDIS outside the window as the Doctor leapt trough the window into a room full of Pirates.  Amy tried to follow, but fell and was knocked unconscious when she hit the ground.  After the Doctor fought the pirates ineffectually for a couple turns, the Governor decided to jump across too, and a fun multi-turn swashbuckling duel occurred.  Eventually they cleared the upper floor, and the Doctor was able to secure the last item he needed, but it was a little late in the game, and the Cybermen/Pirate team were already near their victory goal.

The Doctor fights off Pirates in the upper floor of the warehouse.

   I'm really looking forward to running this again at the convention in November!

"Combat Patrol" Supplement Playtest Day.

  This past Saturday I got to take part in a playtest day for two upcoming supplements for the "Combat Patrol" WWII Skirmish rules: Colonial, and Napoleonic.
    First up was a Colonial period game, testing both Boer and Zulu vs British.  Though ahistorical, it allowed us to look a two different kinds of Colonial period combat: elite marksmen and mass melee vs British steadfastness and firepower.  The set up featured a British column which stretched almost the length of the table, and the two attackers were divided by a river that ran down the center.

      I got to command one of the Zulu units, and had a great time.  The rules really recreated the slow disintegration of the British lines caught in the open as wave after wave of Zulus hit them, while the British units that were able to find cover were almost impossible to pry out without sustaining massive casualties.

     The Brits didn't fare much better on the Boer side of the table, where the Boer firepower was able to take it's toll on the redcoats before the Brits could dislodge the more fragile Boer units.

     After the Colonial game, we set up a very similar Napoleonic game with a British column being attacked by a French force.  I commanded the French cavalry, and thought the cavalry rules really gave a good feel for the furball nature of a swirling cavalry skirmish.

      I had a blast in both games, and the supplement authors got to try out some new ideas, and gain some valuable insights.

HAWKS Hold Fall-In City Fight Playtest Day

      One of the special slates of games the HAWKs will be hosting at Fall-In is a series of  5 battles all taking place on the same city terrain set up.  Some of the members got together this past Saturday to run a couple of playtest games to test the city layout and a pair of the scenarios.
     The first was a WWII game using GAMER rules, run by Eric, that had Canadians trying to take a German held town in Holland in January '44.

An over-view of the table.

Canadian tanks and troops gain a foothold in the town.

A hidden German AT gun takes aim from a nearby woods.

   
    The second game had a more fanciful setting; this scenario involved forces of evil goblins trying to take control of Santa's village while the big guy was away, using GASLIGHT rules, and run by Kurt.

A lone Teddy Bear cannon, assisted by the Bumble, tries to stop the onrushing Goblin hordes.

Evil Penguins take on a squad of Toy Soldiers defending the town square.

Heroic Elf workers from the toy factory defuse a bombing attempt on the bridge the hard way.

    Both games were enjoyable for the players, and the GMs got to see what tweaks they need to make to their scenarios.

"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Fantasy Battle Report

     Last Friday night, we were short a game for our club's meeting, so I volunteered on Thursday to run a scenario using our under-development Fantasy, Ancients & Medieval  mass combat rules, "Bear Yourselves Valiantly".  So, to come up with a quick scenario for the game, I relied on an old idea that we had had success with in the past: using a scenario from one period for a game set in another.  And in this case, using a historic scenario for a fantasy battle.  So I grabbed my copy of Skirmish Campaigns' "Russia '41 - Into the Ukraine", and leafed through it.  I decided on the "Supply Line" scenario, which I had run before in it's intended WWII version, (though at a higher level, where bases equaled platoons) so I knew I had all the necessary terrain.   This scenario features a convoy of German trucks that needs to travel down a road and exit the table while a force of Russians is pressing in to try and destroy them.
    So, for my version, I decided I would replace the German convoy of trucks with some Elven treasure wagons and refugees, fleeing some catastrophe that has happened far off table.  They would be defended by Elven forces.  The Goblins would take the place of the Russians, entering on the table and trying to capture the treasure and refugees. Once again, I was going to raise the level of the troops represented from the original Skirmish Campaigns scenario (which was written for individual figures), to one where each base equals several hundred men. (In "Bear Yourselves Valiantly", each base of infantry equals roughly 400-500 men, and each base of cavalry equals 200-250 mounted troops)  In fact I used the OOB from the scenario only as a loose guide, and relied more on what figures I had at hand. The map, victory conditions, and deployment I kept the same.
  The forces I selected were organized like this:

  Elf Force 1                                            Elf Force 2
Overall Commander                                 Overall Commander
Elven Wizard                                            Elven Wizard

1st Brigade                                             1st Brigade
Brigade Commander                                 Brigade Commander
3 stands of Elven Spearmen                     3 stands of Elven Spearmen

2nd Brigade                                             Cavalry Brigade
Brigade Commander                                  2 stands Elven Knights
3 stands of Elven Archers                                    

Cavalry Brigade                                      Treasure and Refugees          
1 stand Elven Knights                                 2 stands Treasure Wagons
1 stand Elven Mounted Archers                  4 stands Refugees



Goblin Force 1                                         Goblin Force 2
Overall Commander                                   Overall Commander
Goblin Shaman                                           Attached stand of Bats
Attached Stand of Bats                                    
                                                                  1st Clan
1st Pack                                                   Clan Leader
Pack Leader                                              5 stands of Goblin Warriors
4 stands of Warg Riders                    
                                                                 2nd Clan 
2nd Pack                                                  Clan Leader
Pack Leader                                              5 stands of Goblin Warriors
4 stands of Warg Riders                         
                                                                Opportunistic Bad Guys    
                                                              1 stand Giant Spider
                                                              1 stand of her children    
                                                              1 stands Giants
                                                              1 stand  Minotaurs


     The game begins with Elven Force 1 deployed on the table about 24" in on the western half of the table, and Goblin Force 1 set up about 30" in on the western half.  The Elves would get their Force 2 on subsequent turns, entering about a foot in along the northern (long) edge of the table; the Spearmen entering on turn 2, the Cavalry on turn 3, and the Refugees and Wagons would enter on turn 4.  The remainder of the Goblin forces would enter from the western half of the southern (long) table edge on the first turn.
  There were a number of main features on the 6'x 7.5' table.  The first is the road which runs straight about a foot from the edge along the northern (long) edge of the table, with a "Y" about half way along.   There is also a large marsh which roughly splits the table along the southern (long) edge; and from this marsh runs a mostly dry stream bed that angles along and exits off  the western (short) table edge, and is treated as heavy rough for movement across it.  South of this dry bed is a hill.  At the "Y" in the road is a small Elven town, and between the two branches of the road are several fields which count as light rough for movement.
To win, the Elves need to exit the wagons and refugees off the eastern end of the straight road. The Goblins need to prevent this.
    Due to an unexpected shortage of players at the meeting, I took over command of the Elven Force 1, with Jamie Davis commanding Elven Force 2.  Across the table, Chris Davis took Goblin Force 1, and Eric Schlegel took command of Goblin Force 2.  Both Jamie and Chris were new to the rules.  Eric had played before.
    I set up my spearmen in line as close to the center of the length of the road as I could, with my archers stationed behind my spear line on my left and the knights and mounted archers behind and to my right.  The Wargs set up across from me in two columns, and immediately charged forward.

Wargs and bats surge forward across the dry stream bed, as my stoic Elves await. (Note, the brown areas of cloth are woods.  I forgot my box of trees for the game to put on them.)

     As the dry stream bed slowed the Wargs down, I thought I had time to try and maneuver my archers forward on the left, and my wizard moved up to offer support on the right. My cavalry were slow to activate, so were not at first able to move forward and throw themselves out into a line.

The first column of Wargs veers towards the Elven archers, who are still trying to shake themselves out int a firing line.  The Goblin infantry can  be seen slogging through the stream bed at the top right of the photo.

     The first column of Wargs bypassed my solid line of spears, and instead headed straight for the weaker archers who where trying to maneuver into a line on my left.  My wizard cast a spell on one of the Warg stands that caused it to immediately take 2 morale checks , with the result being the Wargs ended up going to Pinned condition. The rest of the Wargs got to the archers quickly, and were able to badly maul one unit, before a hail of Elven arrows drove them back, causing morale checks which they subsequently failed, and they routed back to the safety of the stream bed.

The Wargs fall upon the lead archer unit.

   Meanwhile, the unit of bats that was flying with the Wargs, made a beeline for my Wizard.  They exchanged melee and eventually my Wizard became bat-chow, but not before doing two hits on the bats (Full stands take 3 hits before being removed, small stands like Leaders, Heroes, and Wizards only take 2).  My mounted archers were subsequently able to eliminate the bats.
   While this was going on, the Goblin infantry was slowly slogging across the stream bed, and moving up on the Wargs' right.  On the Elven side, the reinforcements started to reach the battle, with the line of Eleven spears from Jamie's force moving up on my right.  His knights, he send down the road to our left, as the Opportunistic Evil guys were making good headway up to cut the road.

A larger view, about midway through the battle.  Jamie's spearmen are moving up on my right, as my cavalry begins to spar with the Wargs crossing the river.  The remnants of the other force of Wargs can  be seen fleeing into the stream bed to regroup.

     As the second column of Wargs moved up to cross the dry stream bed, they were met with charges from my cavalry, and Jamie's spears, and a viscous melee developed in and around the stream bed.  The elves badly hurt the Wargs, but did not eliminate them.  Our trouble now was we, especially my cavalry, had taken several hits and were badly weakened.  When the Wargs finally routed back to the cover of the hill, both my cavalry stands had two hits on them, so teetered on the edge of being eliminated.
  By this time the wagons and refugees had entered the table and were making their way down the road.

The Battle of the Stream Bed, as it became known. A swirling melee of Wargs and  Elves.  The Elves eventually drive the Wargs off, but have been critically weakened 

     Meanwhile on our left flank, the Giants had made it to the road to block it, just as Jamie's knights got there and charged forward.  The Giants rolled a "Fire Twice" on their "To Stand" dice roll, and so were able to launch a hail of boulders at the knights as they closed, doing two hits on them.  The remaining knights, however, joined by their brigade leader, on the Giants' flank, were in turn able to hit the Giants back twice.

While on the Elven left, The Elf Knights try to drive the Giants off the road.

     The Goblin infantry had now moved up and were trying their best to move around our flank just out of short range bow fire (long range fire only does morale checks, not kills). One clan broke and ran for cover of the creek bed, but the other still pressed on. The Goblin Shaman cast a spell in front of one of the units of Elven archers which caused a magic wall of giant thorn bushes to grow to the sky, effectively blocking the fire from that unit.

A view near the end of the game. The convoy has made it about half way, but the Goblins and a unit of Minotaurs have almost made it to the road to cut them off.  

    About this point in the battle we had to end due to the lateness of the hour.  The Elven wagons and refugees had got about half way across the table.  While the Elves' infantry was still in relatively good shape our cavalry had been badly mauled, and were just a hit or two from disintegrating.  The Wargs however, while they had taken hits and routed, still had enough good stands left that they would surely be able to cause a serious threat to the wagons and refugees when they recovered.  Without our cavalry, the remaining infantry would be too slow to respond to any penetration through our lines or around our flanks by the fast Wargs.  I therefore called the game a Goblin victory.
   Both sides had a good time, and there were a number of desperate melees that happened in the game that kept things exciting and the balance of the outcome up in the air until the end.

"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Rules Development Session

Last Saturday, the "Bear Yourselves Valiantly"(Look, Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients, and Medieval)  author team, Buck Surdu, Dave Wood, James, Nickle, and myself, along with Duncan Adams from the HAWKs, got together for a day dedicated to ironing out some of the issues that have been occuring with the rules over the past few playtest sessions we've run.  These issues mainly dealt with clarifying allowable movement, participant's roles in melee, and the exact roles of leaders.

We played two games, first a War of the Roses battle, then a Rome vs Carthage one. Since playing the games to actually determine a winner wasn't the real goal, we were able to go real slow, stopping several times during the games to discuss aspects of the rules, and try different things out. It turned out to be a very productive session, and we believe we have most of the major issues ironed out.

I'm looking forward to now trying out our new modifications in a public playtest coming up at Barrage, the HAWKs one day con in September.

Recent GASLIGHT Nashcon Game Playtest: Jasper Flint Saves the Queen

At last Friday's HAWKs meeting, I had a chance to playtest  one of the GASLIGHT games that I plan to run at the upcoming Nashcon convention in Franklin, TN, and again later in the Summer at Historicon. The scenario is entitled, "Jasper Flint Saves the Queen". It involves an attempt by the combined forces of Marshal Jasper Flint and his Posse with Victoria Hawkes along for the ride, along with a unit of U.S. Marines, and British Guards, to rescue Queen Victoria from the clutches of evil Prussian agents and their hired Mercenary Gunslingers.  The Queen has been kidnapped during a goodwill visit to the United States, and the Prussians are now holed up in a deserted Texas town, awaiting a zeppelin to fly in from Mexico and take the Queen out of the county.  The allied forces must stop them before the zeppelin arrives in 12 turns.
  Unfortunately, my trusty digital camera, which I've had for over 10 years, chose this night to die.  So most of the pictures were grainy and over-exposed, and tinged red. I was however able to salvage some of these by using a sepia tone and exposure fixes on them. In they end I think they give a good vintage look.



An overview of the table. A sleepy Texas ghost town, soon to erupt in battle

  The set up for the game begins with the Prussians setting up anywhere they want in the town, and placing the captive Queen in a hidden position, while the Allied players are away from the table.  When they are done, the Allied players return to the table, and set up their forces, with the restriction that each force (US, British, and Law Enforcement) must enter from a different side of the table.

The Marines advance, with their Captain leading the way.

   The Prussian players were sneaky and chose to hide the Queen in one of the less conspicuous smaller outbuildings, in hopes that the allies would search for her first in the bigger buildings .  The Allies entered with the Marines and their Steam-walker on one of the narrow ends of the table, and the British and Law Officials opposite each other on the long sides.

The Prussian Kreighosen tries to get the drop on Jasper Flint, but is forced to withdraw and help his companion, the disabled Armored Penny-Farthing.

    Jasper Flint and his Posse, and Victoria Hawkes, along with their Gatling Steam-wagon, came under immediate fire from a Prussian squad holed up in the old sheriff's office.  This fire scored a number of hits on the posse, including the gunner on the Steam-wagon. The posse broke and ran for cover, but was quick to regain itself, and the driver of the Steam-wagon moved over to operate the Gatling gun.
Meanwhile the British Guards and their officer, Captain Harland-White, and an Impervious Suit, made their way into town.  Captain H-W, climbed through a back window of a near-by blacksmith's on to a workbench  directly behind a Gatling gun and it's crew. the Captain quickly engaged the crew in hand to hand combat, but managed to fall off the workbench.  He quickly got up again, and was able to dispatch the crew in good order.  Meanwhile his unit moved towards the back of the Assayer's office but found the building to be occupied by a unit of mercenary gunslingers.

A view of the battle as the Brits (lower right) try to force an entry into the Assayor's Office.  In the distance the shot-up Posse tries to hold it's ground. And on the left, the Marines move up.

   The Americans, slowly made their way up, and had some difficulty trying to maneuver their Steam-walker over a fence that lay in it's path.  The Marine unit however, was able to eventually maneuver into a position to fire  on the Mercenary Gunslingers in the Assayer's office. These Gunslingers broke and ended up routing out the back door where the British Guard unit was, and the Brits were able to quickly dispatch the fleeing survivors.

The Krieghosen peers around the corner of the Hotel, before moving to help the disabled Penny-Farthing.

   As these firefights were blazing away, the Prussian Armored Penny-Farthing  and Krieghosen armored suit patrolled the streets looking for targets of opportunity.  The Armored Penny-Farthing soon, broke down, and the British Impervious suit moved to fire upon it while it was disabled.  The Krieghosen armored suit, moved to offer aid to it's disabled comrade.  A long and ultimately inconclusive battle took place over several turns with the Impervious Suit (which lived up to its name!) and the Krieghosen engaged in a melee of metal.

Major Edelweiss moves to fight Jasper Flint.  After a short melee, Jasper eliminates the Prussian officer.

  As the turns passed, the Allies still had not found the Queen.  The battle see-sawed back and forth with neither side gaining an advantage, but the Allies were running out of time.  On turn 10, the Prussians, by the scenario rules, had to bring the Queen out into the open, to await the now nearby Zeppelin to come and lower a basket for her.  On turn twelve the Queen would be assumed to be out of reach of the Allies.

Some of the carnage outside the Assayor's office.  Just out of the lower frame the Impervious Suit advances to take on the disabled penny Farthing. (photo by Buck Surdu)

As the Prussians brought the Queen out, Jasper Flint, and the rest of his force, raced towards where she was.  Jasper got perfect activation cards, and was able to run up and engage the Prussian officer escorting the Queen. It proved to be a battle to the death for both of them;  the Prussian officer was able to fire his pistol hitting Jasper, just as the Marshal lunged at him with his hunting knife. Both fell dead. With the Queen now unescorted it was a race to see who could get to her first.  On the last turn, the British Guards made it to her and formed a defensive perimeter and the Marines moved up to support them, just beating out a nearby Prussian unit

The final moments.  With Jasper Flint, and the Prussian officer down, the Allies rush to protect the Queen; as a unit of Prussians, at the fence, are a few inchs too late. (photo by Buck Surdu) 

The game was called as an Allied victory.  It was a close run thing throughout, and all the players said they had a great time.  I'm really looking forward to running this now at Nashcon, and again at Historicon.