We Will Stand and Fight - A Beginning.

The game was fought using the original rules for BLAM 2015 written by Silent Invader. This required the players to plot their opening dispositions on paper before the game commenced. Once dispositions were plotted the Germans would start on the eastern edge of the board, the British would start occupying the three town tiles to the west.

The German commanders (von Emvier and von Vagabund) were handed their sealed orders by a mounted Uhlan direct from General von Kluck.

The German commanders were given time to discuss their orders and plan their dispositions. During this time, I set up the column of wounded, refugees and stragglers to add a bit of atmosphere and to highlight the confusion of the retreat from Mons.

Here are some random images taken on the day. This post will feature the wounded column and the objectives for the three players. Then I will make another post with the actual game photos and an account of the action as I remember it through a haze of senility and alcohol.

Speckled Jim carries a vital message.

L to R: Captain Kevin Darling, MC, Private S. Baldrick, Driver Bobby Parkhurst, Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh, MC, General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC, KCB, DSO and Captain Edmund Blackadder.

Melchett has just realised that Blackadder has shot and eaten Speckled Jim, his much-loved pet pigeon.

Melchett: Speckly?! AH! YOU SHOT MY SPECKLED JIM!

Darling: You're for it now, Blackadder! Quite frankly, sir, I've suspected this for some time; clearly Captain Blackadder has been ignoring orders with a breath-taking impertinence!

Melchett: I DON'T CARE IF HE'S BEEN ROGERING THE DUKE OF YORK WITH A PRIZE-WINNING LEEK! HE SHOT MY PIGEON!!!

Captain Cecil de Leominster, 2^nd Battalion, The West Borsetshire Foresters giving another demonstration of the most deadly combination known to man, an officer with a map!

General Melchett’s personal supply van from Harrods is flagged through the chaos by the Redcaps.

General von Kluck and staff planning the coming battle.

At 06:00am the Germans begin to shell Le Cateau.

British Objectives (played by myself in the guise of Colour Sergeant Neddy Snapcase)

• ·          The British forces are in hasty defence of the eastern edge of Le Cateau.
• ·          Colour Sergeant Neddy Snapcase’s force is a reduced platoon of the Middlesex Regiment which is acting as rearguard to allow other units to clear the town.
• ·          Support is provided by a single Vickers MG team and a Belgian Minerva armoured car. Also, a British spotter plane is operating in the area.
• ·          All of the British forces are well-trained and highly motivated.
• ·          Le Cateau must be defended until the end of turn 7.
• ·          The Minerva armoured car commanded by 1.eme Lieutenant Charles Henkart will appear at the start of turn 5 in a position determined by the roll of a D6.
• ·          The spotter plane flown by Lord Flashheart will crash at the start of turn 3 in a position determined by the roll of a D6.

German Objectives (played by Doug em4 as Oberleutnant Willi von Emvier and Vagabond as Oberleutnant Helmut von Vagabund)

• ·          The German forces are advancing from the east and need to pass through the town of Le Cateau to take advantage of its road network.
• ·          Oberleutnant Willi von Emvier and Oberleutnant Helmut von Vagabund, your force is 1 and 2 Zug, 26th (1st Magdeburg) Infanterie Regiment "Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau".
• ·          You are supported by one Maxim Maschinengewehr Team each.
• ·          All of the German forces are well-trained and highly motivated.
• ·          Enter in force, each of the three town tiles by the end of turn 7.
• ·          The Maxim teams will appear at the start of turn 2 in a position determined by the roll of a D6.
• ·          An enemy spotter plane is operating in the area and in the event that it is brought down the pilot is to be captured for interrogation.

The next post will feature the game photos and the AAR.

To be continued…

Light Car Patrol

Another inspiration from  the 'Over Open Sights' blog. Luckily this one will not be too expensive as I had a few suitable cars already. I bought some Lewis guns from Colonel Bills' and I am awaiting some Woodbine Designs Australians with a Vickers.

A bit more painting and weathering yet and then some crew figures are needed. More to come on this one but they are going to look good on my SI desert terrain.

Cruel Seas Tanker

I volunteered a filler-game of Cruel Seas for our upcoming long weekend of gaming at AshLAM '19. Then I realised that the tanker was only half-painted. Just managed to finish it this morning ready to go tomorrow for my sojourn in the Peak District National Park. I am expecting to meet a Free Folk guide once I go north of The Wall!

A German prison cell...

Private S. Baldrick, Captain Edmund Blackadder and Captain Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, Der Rote Kampfflieger.

[BA is seated.  Baldrick is sitting on the floor.  There is a jangling of
 keys, the cell door opens and the Red Baron enters.]

von Richthoven   So!  I am the Red Baron von Richthoven and you are the two
                 English flying aces responsible for the spilling of the
                 precious German blood of many of my finest and my
                 blondest friends.  I have waited many months to do this.

[von Richthoven kisses BA on both cheeks.]

BA               You may have been right, Balders.  Looks like we're going
                 to get rogered to death after all.

Baldrick         Do you want me to go first, Sir?

[von Richthoven laughs.]

von Richthoven   You English and your sense of humour.  During your brief
                 stay I look forward to learning more of your wit, your
                 punning and your amusing jokes about the breaking of the wind.

BA               Well, Baldrick's the expert there.

Baldrick         I certainly am, Sir.

[von Richthoven laughs.]

von Richthoven   How lucky you English are to find the toilet so amusing.
                 For us, it is a mundane and functional item.  For you, the
                 basis of an entire culture.

[Baldrick laughs, von Richthoven slaps him in the face.]

von Richthoven   I must now tell you of the full horror of what awaits you.

BA               Ah, you see, Balders.  Dress it up in any amount of pompous
                 verbal diarrhoea, and the message is `Squareheads down for
                 the big Boche gang-bang'.

von Richthoven   As an officer and a gentleman, you will be looking forward
                 to a quick and noble death.

BA               Well, obviously.

von Richthoven   But, instead, an even worse fate awaits you.  Tomorrow, you
                 will be taken back to Germany . . .

BA               Here it comes!

von Richthoven   . . . to a convent school, outside Heidelberg, where you will
                 spend the rest of the war teaching the young girls home
                 economics.

BA               Er . . .

von Richthoven   For you, as a man of honour, the humiliation will be
                 unbearable.

BA               Oh, I think you'll find we're tougher than you imagine.

von Richthoven   Ha!  I can tell how much you are suffering by your long
                 faeces.

BA               We're not suffering too much to say `thank you'.  Thank you.
                 Say `thank you', Baldrick.

Baldrick         Thank you, Baldrick.

Capture, torture, escape and then back home in time for tea and medals.

Captain Kevin Darling, MC, Captain Edmund Blackadder, Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh, MC and Wing Commander The Lord Flashheart

[It is the next morning.  Darling's office has been set out with chairs and
 there is a blackboard with a chalk picture of a Sopwith Camel on it.  BA and
 George are in the front row of seats.  There are three other trainees.
 Darling is at his desk at the back.]

George           Crikey!  I'm looking forward to today.  Up-diddly-up,
                 down-diddly-down, whoops-poop, twiddly-dee, a decent scrap
                 with the fiendish Red Baron, a bit of a jolly old crash
                 landing behind enemy lines, capture, torture, escape and
                 then back home in time for tea and medals.

BA               George, who's using the family brain-cell at the moment?
                 This is just the beginning of the training.  The beginning
                 of five long months of very clever, very dull men looking
                 at machinery.

[Flasheart is heard in the corridor.]

Flasheart        Hey, girls!  Look at my machinery!

[The sound of screaming women is heard from the corridor.  Flasheart enters
 Darling's office, zipping up his flys.  He is carrying a stick.  All present
 rise to attention.]

Flasheart        Enter a man who has no underwear.  Ask me why.

All except BA    Why do you have no underwear, Lord Flash?

Flasheart        Because the pants haven't been built yet that'll take the
                 job on.

Tally Ho!

Captain Edmund Blackadder, Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh, MC, Driver Bobby Parkhurst and Wing Commander The Lord Flashheart

[Some time has elapsed.  Flasheart is regaling an enthralled George with

 stories.  BA is reading a copy of `King and Country' at the table,

 uninterested in what Flasheart has to say.]

Flasheart        . . . so I flew straight through her bedroom window,

                 popped a box of chocs on the dressing table,

                 machine-gunned my telephone number into the wall, and

                 then shot off and shagged her sister.

[As George creases up, Bobby Parkhurst enters the dugout.]

Bobby            Ahem.  Driver Parkhurst reporting for duty, my Lord . . .

Flasheart        Well, well, well.  If it isn't little Bobby Parkhurst--

                 saucier than a direct hit on a Heinz factory.

Bobby            I've come to pick you up.

Flasheart        Well, that's how I like my girls--direct and to my point.

                 Woof!

Bobby            Woof!

[Flasheart removes his feet from Baldrick,  grabs Bobby and puts her across

 his lap and begins to snog her.  During the snog BA sarcastically checks

 his watch.]

Flasheart        Ah!  Tally ho, then!  Back to the bar.  You should join

                 the Flying Corps, George.  That's the way to fight a war.

                 Tasty tuck, soft beds and a uniform so smart it's got a

                 PhD from Cambridge.

[Flasheart gestures at Baldrick.]

Flasheart        You could even bring the breath monster here.  Anyone can

                 be a navigator if he can tell his arse from his elbow.

BA               Well, that's Baldrick out, I fear . . .

Flasheart        We're always looking for talented types to join the

                 Twenty Minuters.

BA               . . . and there goes George.

[Flasheart rises from the chair, lifting Bobby in his arms.]

Flasheart        Tally ho, then, Bobby.  Hush, here comes a whizz-bang and I

                 think you know what I'm talking about!  Woof!

Bobby            Woof!

Passenger Car Finished

I've now completed the first passenger car for my Old West train. I think it looks rather good. Just need to finish everything else and buy a station!

"Rat again, is it, Baldrick?"

Captain Edmund Blackadder and Private S. Baldrick

Private Baldrick's hobbies include cookery, his specialities include:

Rat au Van (a rat that's been run over by a van).

Filet Mignon in Sauce Bearnaise (dog turds covered in glue).

Plum Duff (a mole hill decorated in rabbit droppings).

Cream Custard (cat's vomit).

Coffee (hot mud) with milk (saliva) sugar (dandruff) and rather dubious 'chocolate sprinkles' (try and guess what that one is).

Apple Crumble which contains fish.

Rat Sautée, which involves:
taking a freshly shaved rat and marinading it in a puddle for a while. (When Blackadder asks how long it should be 'marinated' for, the reply is 'til it's drowned') stretching it out under a hot lightbulb, getting within dashing distance of a latrine and scoffing it right down!

Rat Fricasée, which is the same as above, but a slightly bigger rat.

"Erm, what is the actual scale of this map, Darling?"

Captain Kevin Darling, MC and General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC, KCB, DSO

Melchett         Course I am.  Now let's talk about something more jolly,

                 shall we?  Look, this is the amount of land we've

                 recaptured since yesterday.

[Melchett and George move over to the map table.]

George           Oh, excellent.

Melchett         Erm, what is the actual scale of this map, Darling?

Darling          Erm, one-to-one, Sir.

Melchett         Come again?

Darling          Er, the map is actually life-size, Sir.  It's superbly

                 detailed.  Look, look, there's a little worm.

Melchett         Oh, yes.  So the actual amount of land retaken is?

[Darling whips out a tape measure and measures the table.]

Darling          Excuse me, Sir.  Seventeen square feet, Sir.

Melchett         Excellent.  So you see, young Blackadder didn't die horribly

                 in vain after all.

George           If he did die, Sir.

Darling          Tch!

Melchett         That's the spirit, George.  If nothing else works, then a

                 total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face

                 will see us through.

Last of the Trinity Tiddlers!

Captain Edmund Blackadder and Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh

George: Well, but this time I’m absolutely pos we’ll break through! It’s

ice cream in Berlin in 15 days.

Edmund: Or ice cold in No Man’s Land in 15 seconds. No, the time has come

to get out of this madness once and for all.

George: What madness is that?

Edmund: For God’s sake, George, how long have you been in the army?

George: Oh me? I joined up straight away, sir. August the 4th, 1914. Gah, what

a day that was: myself and the rest of the fellows leapfrogging down

to the Cambridge recruiting office and then playing tiddlywinks in the

queue. We had hammered Oxford’s tiddlywinkers only the week before,

and there we were, off to hammer the Boche! Crashingly superb bunch of

blokes. Fine, clean-limbed — even their acne had a strange nobility

about it.

Edmund: Yes, and how are all the boys now?

George: Well, er, Jacko and the Badger bought it at the first Ypres front,

unfortunately — quite a shock, that. I remember Bumfluff’s house-

master wrote and told me that Sticky had been out for a duck, and the

Gubber had snitched a parcel sausage-end and gone goose-over-stump

frogside.

Edmund: Meaning…?

George: I don’t know, sir, but I read in the Times that they’d both been

killed.

Edmund: And Bumfluff himself…?

George: Copped a packet at Galipoli with the Aussies — so had Drippy and

Strangely Brown. I remember we heard on the first morning of the

Somme when Titch and Mr Floppy got gassed back to Blighty.

Edmund: Which leaves…?

George: Gosh, yes, I, I suppose I’m the only one of the Trinity Tiddlers

still alive. Lumme, there’s a thought — and not a jolly one.

Edmund: My point exactly, George.

George: A chap might get a bit mizz — if it wasn’t the thought of going

over the top tomorrow! Right, sir: Permission to get weaving…

Edmund: Permission granted.

George: Thank you, sir.

The 3:10 from Much-Piddling!

I've painted all my extra WWI figures ready for next week at the Festival of Fun, AshLAM '19. As a change to painting I decided to start work on my 4Ground Old West train. A passenger coach first. The seats are bloody fiddly to put together but it's looking good. More to come on this.

Avatars for Le Cateau

Just so we senile old gits remember who we are supposed to be, I have found some photos which I rather like. These are to act as avatars for the players.

Oberleutnant Willi von Emvier, 1 Zug Kommandant, 26th (1st Magdeburg) Infanterie Regiment 'Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau'

Oberleutnant Helmut von Vagabund, 2 Zug Kommandant, 26th (1st Magdeburg) Infanterie Regiment 'Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau'

Colour Sergeant Neddy Snapcase, 1 Platoon, 'C' Company, 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment

Oberleutnant Willi von Emvier commands 38 infantry soldiers in 1 Zug and has a four-man Maxim machine gun team. Oberleutnant Helmut von Vagabund commands 37 infantry soldiers in 2 Zug and has a four-man Maxim machine gun team. Colour Sergeant Neddy Snapcase commands 28 infantry soldiers in 1 Platoon and has a four-man Vickers machine gun team. There are also a couple of surprise events which will remain 'under-wraps' until the day. The fighting forces are the figures painted by Silent Invader and the rules are written by the same rather talented individual.

“Gentlemen, We Will Stand and Fight.”

Le Cateau, August 26th, 1914

Original WW1 Wargaming Rules by Silent Invader for BLAM 2015

Shamelessly butchered and buggered about with by Mad Lord Snapcase for AshLAM ‘19

Walking Wounded Coming In.

So it’s been very quiet here on the blogging front recently. This does not mean I haven’t been busy painting. I just wanted to photograph what I’ve been doing on the scenery (beautifully designed and constructed by Silent Invader of the LAF) we are using for my game at AshLAM ’19 (see my previous post, "Gentlemen, we will stand and fight").

My inspiration for the following is from a game put together for Partizan 2018, La Gorgue Airfield 1918. I absolutely loved not only the main game but all the superb vignettes all over the lay out. I just had to steal all these lovely ideas. If you have a look through the following three links you will see where all the original ideas came from.

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=107318.0

https://over-open-sights.blogspot.com/search?q=la+gorgue

https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2018/05/partizan-2018-at-show.html

The following photos are to set the scene for the game and to show some of the confusion on that fateful August morning. Oddly enough, they will not affect the game and will move off the table as the German forces move onto the table. Just a bit of whimsy really!

General Alexander Heinrich Rudolph von Kluck and his staff survey the approaches to Le Cateau. Attached to the staff is a scout pilot who will later make his name as Germany's greatest air-ace.

Casualties waiting to be evacuated from Le Cateau.

A column of mainly walking-wounded enter the town.

Hopefully they can get clear before the German attack reaches the town.

Some of the men are assisting their mates...

The chaps keep their spirits up with a quick fag!

Keep moving, boys, not far now.

Trying to find some wagons for the stretcher cases.



A refugee wagon causing problems for the BEF traffic, blocking the roads. The art connoisseurs amongst you may recognise the Fallen Madonna with the big boobies!



A view from the other side of the refugee wagon.



Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart and his good lady happen to be passing through.



Sergeant Neddy Snapcase (centre) and lance Corporal Spankhurst (right) start to position the men of 1 Platoon. Meanwhile a carrier pigeon is dispatched to let Captain Kenwood-Chef know that the Germans are in sight.



Bloody Redcaps! Now there's bound to be a traffic balls-up.



In the front of the motor can be seen the most dangerous combination known to man, an officer with a map. General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC, KCB, DSO is trying to reach GHQ with his passengers. Not much chance of that with Private Baldrick driving.





The General's French liaison officer from General Lanzerac's staff, Capitaine Bertrand le Cassercas is hitching a lift with Melchett.



He seems to be accompanied by wine and women and is no doubt (under the influence of Pernod) about to burst into song.



Vive la France!

"Gentlemen, we will stand and fight".

The following starts to set the scene for my game at AshLAM '19 entitled 'Gentlemen, We Will Stand and Fight'.

My apologies for the shameless plagiarism from first Antony Hope's excellent book 'Gentlemen, We Will Stand and Fight' and secondly from the Middlesex Regiment's War Diary. The uncomfortable night spent in the railwayman's tool shed was in fact the story of Captain Cunningham, commander of 'C' Company and his batman, Private McDonald. My rather silly names for characters is in no way intended to be derogatory to the men who fought that day in August 1914. As this game will take place over the Remembrance Sunday weekend it will be a poignant reminder of the horrors of the Great War.

“Gentlemen, we will stand and fight.”

General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, 25th August, 1914

General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien

General Alexander Heinrich Rudolph von Kluck

In the early hours of 26th August 1914, as the British Expeditionary Force (the Old Contemptibles, as they liked to refer to themselves) retreated in the aftermath of the Battle of Mons, Lieutenant General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien’s Second Corps was facing the most extreme danger. It’s 60,000 fighting troops, exhausted and scattered, were spread out to the north and west of the town of Le Cateau. BEF C-in-C Sir John French’s orders were to continue the Retreat at all costs, while von Kluck was desperate to bring the British to battle.

Sir Horace decided to stand and fight, trusting to the skill, courage and marksmanship of the men who had already proved themselves at Mons three days before, reckoning this preferable ‘than to turn our backs on the enemy in daylight’. He was outnumbered three to one, and some of his fighting battalions and field artillery batteries had only an hour or two to dig in and prepare for battle. And yet by the end of that day the men and officers of Second Corps, with only 1,200 of their own killed, had inflicted casualties on the enemy of nearly 9,000 and delivered him such a blow that the BEF was able to continue the Retreat almost unmolested for the next ten days. It has been called ‘one of the most remarkable British feats of arms of the whole war’. Yet while two brigades of infantry and two brigades of artillery were fighting for their lives on a hill by Le Cateau, only ten miles away the rest of the BEF – Haig’s First Corps – was marching steadily away from them.

Le Cateau, 04.00am, 26^th August 1914

In Le Cateau the 19th Brigade were having the devil of a time even before the first shots were fired. The four battalions of the 19th Brigade had come to France to man the lines of communication and they had been hastily pressed into fighting service at Mons. Now, although they came nominally under the orders of the Second Corps under General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, like many other units they had received no orders cancelling the retreat. No one had been able to find them. They had reached Le Cateau very late and had bivouacked near the railway station. Captain Kenwood-Chef, in command of ‘C’ Company, the 1st Middlesex was fortunate in having Lance-Corporal Spankhurst as his batman and Spankhurst was a very resourceful soldier. Nothing got him down and the news from home that his wife was with child gave him an even sunnier disposition. His cheerful demeanour had been a distinct comfort to Kenwood-Chef on the long retreat from Mons. When the company had settled down in the station yard for the night, Spankhurst had taken it upon himself to find a billet for the Captain. It was no palace, merely a railwayman’s shed between the points a little way along the tracks. It was impossible to stand upright and since the hut was a dumping ground for tools it was not too easy to lie down, but Kenwood-Chef had been grateful. Spankhurst had even managed to produce a mug of hottish tea (and a dash of ration rum) when he poked his head into the shed with the unwelcome news that it was time for Kenwood-Chef to arise from his slumbers. It was a quarter to four in the grey dawn of Wednesday, 26th August and already the exhausted and sleepy Battalion was rousing reluctantly to move off before full daylight. The 1st Middlesex would be the last of the four battalions to move, for this morning they were to be the rear guard to the Brigade and, as rear guard to the Battalion itself, the men of ‘C’ Company were to be the last out of Le Cateau.

Captain Kenwood-Chef summoned the acting commander of 1 Platoon, Colour Sergeant ‘Neddy’ Snapcase, to his tool shed. Neddy had taken over the platoon after the death of Lieutenant Strangely-Brown at Mons. The platoon was now understrength with no hope of replacements at present. The only consolation Neddy thought, as he saluted Kenwood-Chef was that he had a 4-man Vickers machine gun team, attached to his platoon. Including himself, a total of 31 men fit to fight.

“Now then, Snapcase, good man, good man. 1 Platoon have fought bravely and now I have a very important job for your lads”.

“Sah!” replied Snapcase, always a good answer when replying to an officer.

“Our orders are to be clear of the town by 05.30am this morning. It’s now 04.00am and I see no way that 1st Middlesex as rear guard will be able to quit Le Cateau until about 06.30am”.

Neddy glanced about at the chaos in the railway yard and further afield and could only agree. The RAMC boys were still trying to evacuate the last of the wounded by stretcher and ambulance. The roads were blocked by BEF General Service wagons as the other companies of the 1st Middlesex tried to leave nothing behind for the enemy. Civilian carts with panicked drivers interfered with the process and there were abandoned stores, ammunition and battalion transport everywhere.

“As you know Snapcase, ‘C’ Company are to be the rear guard to protect 1st Middlesex, I want Number 1 Platoon to be ‘C’ Company’s rear guard. You are to defend the eastern edge of Le Cateau, specifically the following buildings; L’Oeuf de Canard, the bicycle repair shop, the church, the Boulangerie de L’Eglise and of course, the vital crossroads they command. All clear so far?”

“Sah!” replied Neddy.

“Good show, Colour Sergeant. I want you to deny the enemy those buildings and the crossroads until you are sure the Brigade has cleared the town. Once you are sure the Brigade is clear, you may effect a fighting retreat and re-join ‘C’ Company as soon as possible. I want you to take Lance Corporal Spankhurst with you to act as your runner. Pip, pip.”

“Sah!” replied Neddy, as he saluted and about-faced. At the double, he ran back to 1 Platoon, closely followed by Spankhurst clutching his .303 Lee Enfield and a snap-sack with all his worldly goods.

So there we have to leave the brave lads of 1 Platoon for the moment as they assess how they will defend their sector of Le Cateau to give the rest of the battalion a chance to establish their battle lines in the open country behind Le Cateau.

These are the buildings and crossroads which Colour Sergeant Snapcase and his under-strength platoon, must defend.

AshLAM '19

It is nearly time for myself, Porthos Snapcase to travel north for the annual meeting of the three musketeers. A meeting with Athos and Aramis and three full days of gaming. There will be copious amounts of sinew-stiffening liquor and no doubt a few pies! For the past two years the event has been held at Snapcase Hall, Much-Piddling, Deepest Devon (see DevLAM ’17 and DevLAM ’18). However, this year we are meeting in the lovely Derbyshire Dales for AshLAM ’19. This will take place at Vagabond Towers, the home of Aramis.

The Three Musketeers

My fellow musketeers have stolen a march on me by already blogging their preparations, as we put on one game each over the three days. Aramis Vagabond has posted an entire prequel game which sets the scene for the game we will be playing. Have a look here at The Little Whiskey Bath House and Brothel War of 1875 – Prequel.

http://vagabondswargamingblog.blogspot.com/

My other fellow musketeer, Athos, Comte d’Emforé has completed a trial game of Kill Zone in preparation for a bigger game at AshLAM ’19. Check it out here:

https://velodoug.wordpress.com/

I will be presenting a game called ‘Gentlemen, We Will Stand and Fight’ set in August 1914 at Le Cateau.

My next action needs to be a trial run-through of my game now I’m lagging behind. My next post should contain the introduction that sets the scene for my game.

Black Seas Arrives!

Much excitement here at Snapcase Hall today. Old Scrotum (the wrinkled and ancient family retainer) came into the library struggling under the weight  of a large packet dispatched from Warlord Games. Inside was my pre-order of this golden age of sail game set between 1770 and 1830, 'Black Seas'.

Roman Supply Cart

I've been away on holiday for a couple of weeks and hence, no painting. I ordered this little cart from Colonel Bill's Wargames Depot whilst I was away and have just finished it. I'm quite pleased with it.

There will be a small Roman supply column for the Celts to attack. Possibly an attempt to kidnap an important hostage, we shall see.

Gaslands Trial Run

I am just running a test game of Gaslands ready for the big game next Saturday, as mentioned in the previous post.

My Slackside WMC Tour Bus is wiping the floor with the Curry Cottage Drop Kick Bus (remains unpainted, I’m sorry to say).

Here, they are both racing to go through Gate 2 and the Curry Cottage hit that tree, lost two hull points and demolished the tree!

Slackside take advantage of the Curry Cottage cock-up and power-slides through the gate first with tyres burning!

In a fit of pique, the Curry Cottage mob rams the Slackside Tour Bus!