Mayday: Part Four

Saturday Late Afternoon/Evening: Vimy Ridge

The big event…. Well… MY big event…

(if you start getting bored, just scroll down and read “the Highlights” section or just look at the pictures!)

First a few very important thank-yous… thanks to Bob (again) for organizing this excellent convention, the fantastic players; Don, Dave, John, and Chris, Will for helping me run the game, Gary and John Bertolini for helping with the play-testing, Darrin for helping me make the wire and finally my intensely patient and understanding (not to mention ravishingly beautiful)wife Amanda who has put up with 6 months of me staying up way too late reading and modeling and moulding and casting and painting and building, etc, etc, etc. for this event (It’s all over now, I’ll start coming to bed a bit earlier… well… until I start on my game for Fallcon…)

This was part one in a five-part, ten-year project to play the Canadian Corps assault on Vimy Ridge on the 7 April 1917. The plan is for the 100th anniversary to play the entire Canadian Corps assault. To break this down into nice manageable chunks the plan is to make the terrain and figures for each division’s part of the attack every couple years. This year (for the 90th anniversary) I did the Fourth Division’s.

The journey of the last six month’s or so had been chronicled elsewhere on this blog; form the initial ramblings , to a series of updates (One and Two), to posts on making the terrain and barbed wire (parts one and two), to the final play-tests (first play-test and second play-test). Along the way I dropped a number of ideas in favour of streamlining and making the game play a bit quicker (the random event cards based on actual events).

What follows are some notes I made on the scenario before the game and then a report on the actual game.

THE SCENARIO

Terrain:

The playing area/terrain is made up of four 2’x2’ terrain boards.

Forces:

All forces, German and Canadian, are rated as Tactical 4, Morale 4.

Canadians
4th Canadian Division:

11th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
54th Battalion - Kootenays
75th Battalion - Toronto
87th Battalion – Canadian Grenadier Guards, Montreal
102nd Battalion – North British Columbia

12th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
38th Battalion - Ottawa
72nd Battalion – Seaforth Highlanders of Canada
73rd Battalion – Royal Highland Regiment of Canada
78th Battalion – Winnipeg Grenadiers

85th Battalion, Nova Scotia Highlanders

Each of the regular Canadian infantry battalions will have 13 figures, the 85th will have only 12.

Germans
Groupe Vimy (southern half of the table)
261st Reserve Infantry Regiment,

Groupe Souchez (northern half of the table)
11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Division

The first battalion of each regiment will occupy the front German trench line and consist of 8-10 figures, The second battalion of each regiment will occupy the second trench line and have 12 figures, the third battalion of each will be in reserve and have 13 figures.

Orders:

The Canadians are attacking with two brigades; the 11th and 12th. Each is attacking on a 2’ frontage, which is conveniently defined by the break in the terrain boards.

The Brigade’s front is further divided in two battalion frontages of 12” each. On each of these Battalion frontages there will be a lead/assault/first-wave battalion. This battalion has orders to ADVANCE as per the rules in the main rulebook for a set-piece attack scenario. Their objective is the Black Line (the German second trench line). So they will (attempt to) advance as a battalion, without stopping, until they reach said trench line. Obviously they might be slowed by close combats. They may, as per the rules, HALT when they receive their first morale failure marker. Once they have taken their objective they will consolidate and HOLD the black line.

Following each assault battalion is a second-wave battalion. They will take their place in the front line at the beginning of turn two and may leave the trench on the following turn. Their orders are to FOLLOW (at least 1” behind!) the assault battalions and PASS THROUGH once the assault battalions have either taken their black line objective or have been halted due to morale. Once they pass through they will ADVANCE to their Red Line objective (off the far end of the table!)

An additional battalion (the 85th- Nova Scotia Highlanders- a pioneer battalion) will be available in reserve. Once a battalion has received two morale failure markers or has been wiped out due to casualties the 85th may be requested to reinforce that battalion frontage. Ultimately it will be the Divisional Commander’s decision where the 85th will be committed however. Once the Divisional Commander has committed it, it must be rolled for as regular reserves before the movement step of each turn (under the tactical value, so 1-3). On the turn that it arrives it will be placed in the Canadian front line that turn and may move out of the trenches on the following turn. Their orders will be as per the second-wave battalions.

The Germans have two regiments defending this area. The regiments, however, are not only from different divisions but different Gruppe/Corps. As mentioned above the first battalion of each regiment will occupy the front German trench line and consist of 8-10 figures ( I used 8 in this game, next time I’ll try 10), the second battalion of each regiment will occupy the second trench line and have 12 figures, the third battalion of each will be in reserve and have 13 figures.
The first and second battalion’s orders are to HOLD. They will not attempt to fall back unless they receive two morale failure markers.

The third battalion will be in reserve. The Germans may dice for the arrival of their reserve battalions starting on turn three. They will arrive on a 1-3 (less than their tactical rating). They will move on from the table edge. Their orders are to counter-attack. They will ADVANCE to the German’s second line. Once this line has been retaken they have the option to hold there or to continue to the front line or even into the Canadian’s front line.

These are some notes on changes I made to the Contemptible Little Armies rule and Game Turn Sequence:

Movement

Until it is actually important who goes first (ie when units get within range to engage in close combat) all movement can be carried out simultaneously to speed things up.

Any units wishing (or forced by morale failure markers) to disengage from close combat will move before all other units go.

Everyone moves at a rate of d6” per turn – everything is bad going! (Oh, except HMGs… they go d6-2)

Shooting

Units that moved may not fire (this is usually and individual figure thing doing it by units is quicker and easier to keep track of).

The area covered by the creeping barrage will be marked by explosion markers.
No one may shoot into, out of, or through the barrage area.
The Barrage moves at the beginning of the shooting step. Roll for each battalions frontage: d6; 1-5 it moves 3” on a 6 it moves d6” (On the first turn the barrage in front of the 87th would lift so as not to destroy the front line trench as historically directed by the commander of the 87th. On turn two it would return in line with the barrage next to it.)
The Barrage then takes effect. Anything within the barrage zone dices;
Trenches and bunkers are destroyed on a 6 (though bunkers get a 4+ saving roll). Anyone in a trench that is destroyed is simply placed on top of the collapsed trench marker and will be diced for as if they were in the open,
Infantry, guns, etc. in trenches are destroyed on a 6.
Infantry, guns, etc. in the open are destroyed on a 5 or 6.

The rest of the shooting phase carries on as per normal.

Close Combat

As per normal rules (with the exception noted under movement about disengaging).

Morale

As per normal rules.

THE GAME

Pre-game

As soon as I was finished Bob’s game I hung around the table where I was going to set up (despite the fact that it was done a bit before the end of the time-slot and I had nearly an hour and a half before the game was to start. Jonathan was still tearing down his John Carter of Mars game. As soon as he we finished I started to set up the terrain and marshal the troops (and chat with and answer questions of all the people wandering by…).

Next I set up the Germans in their start positions along with the MG-bunkers.

Then I set up the explosion markers that marked out the area affected by the creeping barrage.

Once everyone showed up the first thing we had to do was determine which players were playing which Canadian Battalions and briefly explain rules.
Don Wagner played the 102nd and 54th and was designated the 11th Brigade’s commander – incase it ever mattered..), Dave Coltman played the 87thand 75th, John Burt played the 38th and 78th and was designated the Divisional Commander and Chris van Tighem played the two highland battalions; the 72nd and 73rd, and was designated the 12th Brigade’s commander. Mr. Will Bailie helped out as an assistant umpire and ran the Germans from the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment opposite the 12th Brigade, which allowed me to concentrate on the 11th Brigades front and the 261st Reserve Infantry Regiment opposing them.

Mines

The Canadians could use up to 5 of them. Mines could only be detonated in the German forward trench line. Obviously none could be blown in the line opposite the 87th – for the same reasons the barrage would lift over the front line trench mentioned earlier. The mines created a 4” wide crater that was impassible for the rest of the game – any Germans that were in the trench where the mine went off were removed as a casualties. Any wire stand contacted by the mine was also destroyed. After this was explained they determined locations and blew them up – Ka-BOOM! One on each brigades front.

The pre-game barrage took effect in it’s initial location, morale checks for casualties caused by mines and/or pre-game barrage were taken and then regular play began with the Canadians moving out of their trenches!

As expected, on the first turn, the MG bunker and German infantry in the trench opposite the 87th cut a swathe out of the battalion (just as they did historically). By the second turn the 87th was under half strength.

I can’t really give you much of a play-by-play because it’s really mostly a blur. So the rest of this is mostly some highlights and pictures.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
(this is were the report of things going on during the game really begins…)

The Canadians won. We played the game in a little over two hours and it was clearly all over. It wasn’t a cakewalk or anything, but they had a much better time of it than in either of the play-tests (well, except for Dave on the 87th‘s front, but we knew they were doomed from the get-go).

According to the Victory Conditions Don, John and Chris all chalked up four points each; “Stunning Victories”, three trenches taken, no losses and units exited off the table. VCs all around for those guys. I gave all three the bonus point for having marched troops off the table, as there was NOTHING standing in their way when we called it. There wasn’t a single German figure on the 12th Brigades half of the table! Only six figures (below half strength) of the German reserve battalion, on the 10th brigades front, remained in the German third line trench and they were about to be over-run by the full strength 85th battalion that had just crested the hill.

Dave eked out a draw. He took two trench-lines but then the 75th broke before the Germans in the third trench-line. Both of his initial battalions were essentially wiped out only a single figure remained from the 87th – he had made it back to the Canadian front lines (with his two morale failure markers in tow). Dave had been given the 85th as well. They had followed up behind the 75th, however, rather than on Dave’s initial frontage to avoid the MG bunker that had menaced the 87th and 75th. Had we played a few more turns they surely would have shifted the remaining Germans from the hill, which would have upgraded him to a major victory; surely worth a MC (or MM, whichever one they gave to officers…)

The Division as a whole also scared a “Stunning Victory” with around 18 Victory Points (with only 13 being required for “stunning”)!

Like I said, however, it wasn’t a cakewalk. There was a significant cost to this victory however. As I also mentioned the 75th was wiped out and the 87th suffered 92% casualties (12 out of 13 figures lost!). I can’t remember how many were left in the 102nd or 54th (actually I couldn’t remember any of them but John and Chris did and supplied me with the relevant statistics).

John’s 38th battalion kept up close to the creeping barrage and made their black line objective with the loss of only two figures. The Winnipeg Grenadiers that followed them and pressed on into the counter attack by the 3rd battalion of the 11th Bavarians suffered 6 (46%losses). Most of those were from one of the MG bunkers that started firing on them as they left the trenches. It was the same bunker that had wiped out the 87th. By the time they were through and the barrage had cleared away so the gunners in the bunker could fire on the 12th brigade the 38th had already passed by.

Chris’ highlanders did a bit worse. The 72nd (R.H.R.) made their black line objective with only half their initial fighting strength, but still in good spirits. The Seaforths bore the runt of the German reserve battalions counter attack and were down to 4 or 5 figures (about 70% casualties) and teetering on the brink of collapse (two morale failure markers). The brigadier would have gotten up there eventually and sorted them out… maybe I shouldn’t have given Chris the bonus point for exiting the table as they would have had to wait for him to get up there and really had barely the strength to hold on to the third line trench against any further counter-attacks that might come their way.

Of the three German MG-bunkers; the one atop Hill 145 was destroyed by the creeping barrage –which helped out the 11th Brigades advance significantly. The other two were bypassed and “bombed” by infantrymen. A daring lad from the 38th took out the bunker that had given Dave such a hard time. Chris’ Seaforths took out the last one.

One thing that certainly helped the 12th Brigades advance was that the creeping barrage had caused enough casualties that by the time it had passed the battalion holding the second line had two morale failure markers. Once they were contacted in close combat the whole she-bang (or … what was left of them surrendered en masse).

Here’s the pictures (Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

All of the terrain, wire, ruined buildings, bunkers, etc were made for scratch by myself. All of the figures (with the exception of the two Canadian Staff officers and two Canadian MG teams, which are from Renegade Miniatures but painted by me) were modeled, moulded, cast and painted by myself! How’s that for DIY!?


That’s me in the SD cap setting up stuff and probably nattering to Wil about all the changes I’d mad to the core rules. He took them all in stride and did a fantastic job of keeping things on track and running his half of the table.


The Canadians at zero-hour as the first shells of the barrage came whizzing in.


I think we’re working out the effects of said initial barrage here. From the left that’s Wil’s shoulder and face, me, Don, Dave (seated and looking away) and John.


A Billy Bishop’s-eye-view of the whole division’s front on the hill at zero hour.


Dave; starting to move his guys up.


The Canadians, beginning their advance, can just be made out through the barrage!


All the players moving their assault battalions up on the first turn (from the left); Don, Dave, John, Chris, and Will (looking to see what Brent is up to at the Aeronef table…)


The Canadians surge forward. It looks like the jocks on the right (of the picture) are already in contact with Germans in the trenches.


Seaforths, on the left, start moving up with a machine-gun battery


This view is from the north west corner up toward the top of hill 145. There’s the machine-gun battery again in the bottom left of the picture. The bulk of the troops in foreground are going to be the Winnipeg Grenadiers. The bunker is the one that shot up the 87th, and others. Further on are the 75th rying to bypass the bunker and the shattered remains of the 87th – the fellow throwing the grenade is one of two left at this point. He would also become a casualty as he retired towards the Canadian lines, before the bunker was taken out by the 38th.


This is the third battalion of the 261st Reserve Infantry Regiment. They made it into the reserve trenches just before the Canadians came over the top of the hill to their right are the 75th and to the left are the 54th. From a mix of fire, on their way in, and close combat casualties the 261st would break the 75th but at a severe cost. The 54th also caused the 261st on their way by and captured the regiments staff officer!


I think this is the 85th moving up on the 11th Brigades front. The thing that looks like a cookie in the center of the picture is a mine crater marker…


In the center of this picture is the Black Line – the German’s second trench line. Men from the 73rd and 38th can be seen occupying it, and the Seaforths are bypassing them and making for their Red Line objective – the far end of the table. Up on the hill beyond the 75th can just be made out as they move in to assault the III/261st.


The confrontation between the counter-attacking III/11th Bavarians and the leap-frogging battalions of the 12th Brigade. The Seaforths ended up with about 5 guys left and two morale failure markers and so were forced to retire. The 78th then moved in and scattered the remaining Germans


The 75th, again, preparing to attack the men of the 261st regiment that had taken position in the German reserve trench.


The 12th Brigade’s area cleared of Germans. Hmmmm… I count about 10 jocks there in the background…. Maybe they were casualties that hadn’t yet been removed…?


The shattered remains of the III/261st in their reserve trench. On the left is the 54th bypassing them and cresting the hill is the fresh 85th battalion. The German staff officer at this point has been captured.


Men from the Kootenays, the 54th battalion, press forward through a communication trench heading for the base of the ridge, their Red Line objective.


There’s the highlanders without kilts, the 85th battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) about to cross the top of Hill 145.


The captured German staff officer. The six remaining members of III/261st Reserve infantry battalion. It looks like one of the Kootenays has been left behind to make sure they don’t try moving up the trench. In the background is the 12th brigade consolidating their gains.

WOOF! I’m TIRED! It was a long weekend; 12+ hours of driving and as many hours of gaming and a couple of late nights getting these reports ready…. I hope you enjoy them; I had fun writing them.

If you made it this far please feel free to leave a comment below. This project isn’t over so I would appreciate any ideas, feedback or other constructive criticism – especially from any of those who actually played in the event. Thanks, tim.

Mayday: Part Three

Saturday Afternoon: Germantown (and other stuff…)

For the afternoon slot I got to just play a game. Bob Barnetson, the convention organizer, ran the game. Just like the convention it was exceedingly well prepared and organized. The scenario was Germantown 1777 using Bob’s own “Two for Tea” rules (which are apparently based on Warmaster and were printed – along with the scenario in Wargames Journal # 6.

I played the British along with my old-time, ex-Saskatonian, gamin’ pal: Cory Loshney. I can’t, or the life of me remember any of the names of the three that played the Americans… I started with Major Smith’s forces at Luken’s Mill (two units of infantry and one of dragoons), Brigadier General Mathews’ forces near the cross-roads (three Grenadier and a cannon) and Major Grant’s forces at the Crossroads (two infantry and a cannon). The latter force I handed off to Cory after his force at Chew House collapsed. Cory also played General Howe and his reinforcement column when it arrived.

Things looked grim to start off. Smith’s force at Luken’s Mill (a victory condition location!) had Major-General Greene breathing down his neck with four units of infantry, a cannon, and some dragoons. On the first they were exchanging volleys.

Mathews’ and Grant’s forces moved out immediately to meet Brigadier Wayne’s force which was steaming up the middle of the table for the crossroads (an even more important victory location!)

I made the mistake of splitting off one of the units of grenadiers to go help out Smith at Luken’s Mill (BIG MISTAKE!). I spent the rest of the game trying to bring them back….

In the end Smith’s force made a mess of Greene’s. Though, when the game ended, the Americans technically held the mill, it was with a single stand of very brittle dragoons. These had snuck around my force which had moved out to pursue the rest of Greene’s retiring forces but were now facing a full strength Infantry unit and would very quickly have been shifted from the mill had play continued another turn or two.

My Grenadiers gave Wayne’s force a very bloody nose and forced the survivor to retire but weren’t able to effectively pursue as I was trying to bring back the fresh grenadiers I had foolishly sent off towards the mill and then tried to call back a turn later when it became apparent that Smith was holding his own.

On Cory’s side of the table, his force had been over run at Chew house but Howe arrived and was in the process of giving that colonial rabble a rather good thrashing when the game was called.

The game was played with Bob’s very pretty 6mm toys. They were so nice even I briefly considered running out and buying some… then I cam to my senses (for once in my life). Though I won’t be building up any 6mm forces in the near future I am rather looking forward to playing with Bob’s again someday (just look at the pictures below, you’ll see why!)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Mathew’s Grenadiers in the pen with Grant’s Infantry marching up to the crossroads. The mass of British infantry in the far off background isn’t really there… those are Howe’s reinforcements that are off-table and will eventually march up the same road Grant is on.


Some of the Americans.


More Americans. I think this was Washingtons and his force that over-ran Chew House.


The players and an overall view of the table. Off to the left with only haf his head in the picture is my friend Cory. Next to him is Bob. Across the table are the three American players… sorry guys, I forgot your names… In the bottom center of the picture is the Crossroads where Mathews and Grant started. The road heading off to the right from there leads to Luken’s mill at the next crossroads. The other roads that leads to the far corner of the table (between Bob and the American players leads to Chew House).


I think this is Howe bringing up the reinforcements past the crossroads…


At the bottom of this picture are some of Mathews’ Grenadiers, off to the left are Grant’s infantry. Opposing them are the remains of Sullivan’s and Wayne’s forces reeling from the ferocity of the British volleys!

British chasing the colonial rabble from the field.

Both Smith and Mathews were actually killed in the game. For both at one point or another I rolled 12 when trying to issue orders followed by a 6 on the random event table – officer killed! They were replaced by less efficient and capable subordinates which made things more challenging!

It was a great game! Great terrain, fantastic (wee) figures, and a challenging, finger-biter of a scenario that I felt could easily have gone either way. So thanks again to Bob!

Stay tuned for more! Coming up next is Part Four; Saturday Evenings Vimy Ridge game!

Some of the other things that were going on Sturday Afternoon:


A slightly out of focus picture of the Flames of War tournament that raged all day long. In the foreground are fellow Saskatonians Messrs. Tim Miller and Ryan Glover. Mr. Miller took top honours that day with his lend-lease Naval Tank Battalion. (It has to be Naval, right, otherwise why would he have been wearing that hat…?!)


Chris playing in the Disposable Heroes
game put on by Kevin Barrett. I played in a DH game Kevin put on at Fallcon last year. He’s another guy that puts on a great convention game – beautiful terrain, fantastic figures, thoroughly organized and on top of things. You can find a report of this game here.


John Burt running his command and colors game. Again a full report on this will likely be found at his Calgary Boardgame Night Blog… but apparently he’s ”waiting on [me]”

Mayday: Part Two

Saturday Morning: Savage Worlds Pulp Adventure

Games started early Saturday morning at Mayday. Kick off for this event was at 8:30! I did it though; at zero hour I was there and set up – terrain, figures, unit cards, dice, hats…. everything was good to go!

RAID ON KOBANGA

Staring:

Chris van Tighem as Professor Henry Daventhorpe, Charlie Davis, and Sefu
Terry Silverthorn as Col. Jonathan Quincy Gordon and the escaped villagers
Warren Bridgewater as Capitaine Jean Francois Leduc and the Foreign Legionnaires
Kris Hougan as Captain Harold Black and Force Six from Cairo
John Burt (returning in his role) as First Mate Marcus Andres and the crew of the SS Persephone


And, as always, myself, Tim Brown, as the evil Nazi menace!

August 1938

Colonel Jonathan Quincy Gordon of His Majesty’s Secret Service has been following rumors of a secret Nazi research facility somewhere in Africa for months. He has crisscrossed North Africa a half-dozen times and traveled from Cairo to Johannesburg and back at least twice – by separate routes each time! Finally he has located the base, where it is rumored Nazi scientists are working on a secret weapon, in a small village near the coast in Tanzania (which of course, until the end of the Great War, was German East Africa…).

He was able to pinpoint the location because while he was in Mombassa. There he met five men that had escaped from a village that had been enslaved by the Nazis. SS thugs had forced the villagers to help build a new workshop. Fearing the Nazis meant to murder them all when they were finished their work the five men along with a half-dozen others tried to escape. The five made it; the others did not…. The survivors feared the worst for the remaining villagers. Gordon made a deal with them; if they would lead them to the village Gordon would promise them vengeance! They agreed.

Gordon immediately set about making preparations. He contacted his superiors in His Majesty’s Secret Service and they had Force Six from Cairo dispatched to his immediate aid.

He also contacted his friend Capitaine Jean Francois Leduc with the French Foreign Legion in Algiers who promised to bring a small force of handpicked NCOs. They would be grizzled veterans of the Great War as well as near continuous combat in North Africa for decades before and after.
Next he tracked down his friends Professor Henry Daventhorpe and Charlie Davis. No one knew more about the history and geography, respectively, of Central Africa than the two of them. Davis would also bring along his lifelong friend, and expert tracker, Sefu.

Last he learned that the S.S. Persephone was steaming for Suez bound for China with another load of surplus arms for one faction of Chinese Warlords or another. It would take little convincing for them to provide transportation for the expedition – especially since it was (almost) on the way…

The force assembled in Cairo and boarded the S.S. Persephone and they made their way down the Suez. With the description of the village provided by the natives plans were made for their assault. Unfortunately they could not provide any information about the nature of the weapons being developed there.

Arriving at the nearest point on the coast to the village the Persephone dropped anchor and the force rowed ashore at dusk. They made the trek overland through the night guided by the escaped natives. By dawn they reached Kobanga.

They laid low for the day observing the comings and goings in the village. There were no natives to be seen. The garrison seemed light and the security lax. There was perhaps a squad of German regulars and two small patrols of native Shutztruppen. Either they expected no trouble or were defended by some unknown force. They could not determine the nature of any secret weapons that might be under development from their observations. It was decided they would raid the compound at dawn….

(Here’s where the game began…)
(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The players (from the left); Terry (with his back to the camera), Warren, Kris, Chris, and John. Silly hats were required (all were provided by myself). I need to get a French Kepi, I had to give Warren a black beret (berets are sort of French, right?). I’ve since picked up better hat for John (for the next time he plays Marcus… Fallcon ?); a nice Greek fisherman’s hat.


That’s me with my own silly hat (and John), somewhat later in the game….

In the pre-dawn light of the following morning the force approached the sleepy village. Gordon and the villagers advanced on the right flank, circling around the west of the village. The legionnaires and Force Six took up the center approaching the north end of the village. Davis, Daventhorpe, Sefu, and the landing party from the Persephone were on the left, circling around the east of the village.


The initial set up of the force.


The raiders had a bit of bad luck off the start as a sentry happened to spot one of the Persephone’s crew as he darted from one dune to another. A shot from the Shutztruppen’s Mauser rang out and was followed shortly by the report of the other sentries rifles and the sounds of general commotion and the alarm being raised within the village.

The first to respond were the second patrol of Shutztruppen. They poured from the village hoping to make the excellent cover of some ruined buildings on the outskirts. Unfortunately Force Six was already in position and cut every last one of them down in a hail of automatic weapons fire!


Shutztruppen, cut down as they tried to move out of the village.

A section of German Panzer-Grenadiers stationed in a building on the north end of town sprang into action. The section’s machine-gunner hastily set up his MG34 in the window and brought some fire down on the advancing legionnaires. They quickly ducked into cover behind a building off to the left.

The German machine-gunner then shifted his attention to Force Six who had taken up their position off to his right. Force Six was busy bringing withering covering fire down on the sentries as the heroes on the left advanced into the village. Having more or less silenced the sentries in the vicinity they turned their attention to the machine-gunner. The volume, accuracy and sheer ferocity of their fire cause the German to duck back from the window for a spell, quite shaken. When he had gathered his wits he returned to the window only to get a bullet in his temple for his troubles.

The rest of the panzer-grenadiers had left the building. some were exchanging fire with Sefu, Daventhorpe, and the crew from the Persephone, who were entering the village from the east. Others were engaging the returned villagers, who were entering the village from the other direction, in brutal hand to hand combat.

Der Ubersturmfuhrer had already charged out of the SS headquarter building and had run into the returned villagers.


Der Ubersturmfuhrer fighting with a pair of the escaped villagers. A panzer-grenadier is moving up to help.


Gordon and the Foreign Legionnaires maneuver around the west end of the village.


At the top left you can see Force Six in position giving covering fire as Daventhorpe, Sefu, Davis (trailing behind – hobbling as fast as he can on his ruined leg which had been shattered by a Russian bullet in that Ambush in Timbogo), and some of the Persephone’s crewmen.

First Mate Marcus Andres and some of his crew had flanked further around the east end of the village. Andres peered in one of the windows of a newer looking building. Casting his eyes about the room he recognized many of the mechanical tools and parts in this machine shop… others he did not. Then he spotted some movement. Through a doorway in a room beyond he spotted a man in a lab coat briskly pacing back and forth while wringing his hands and looking frightfully worried.


First Mate Marcus Andres leads his men around the newly built workshop.

Andres, being a cold, efficient man with no love for the Nazis nor their sympathizers or collaborators, leveled his automatic at the man, took aim and executed him on the spot with a bullet through his head. The scientist probably never knew what hit him. Andres and his men then continued on their way around the east end of the village.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Legionnaires, rounding the corner of the village took down a sentry on top of a building only to start taking sub-machinegun fire from within. They took cove from the window and fired into the growing melee between the villagers and the Nazis.


Legionairres firing into the melee. The compound’s commandant Colonel-Doctor Dietrich von Ravenhoff has joined the melee.


Same melee from the other side.

Sefu and Daventhorpe had taken down the Panzer-grenadiers firing at them only to start taking fire from the schmisser-toting She-Wolves hiding in the entrance to the headquarter building. Daventhorpe caught a stray bullet in the arm taking him out of the action for the rest of the game. (it’s not the bullet with your name on it you need to worry about… it’s all those labeled “to whom it may concern”… if you throw enough bullets at someone in this game you’ll hit them eventually….)


The action at the East end of the village with Davnethorpe on the ground!


Andres enters the village from the Southeast.

Gordon had made his way to the Southwest corner of town only to finder Karl von Kindershisse waiting there in ambush. The two exchanged some close range shots and then backed off to cover around the corners of the headquarters building.

Ilsa, the Uber-She-Wolf, came running around the corner to von Kindershisse’s aid. Andres, who had, meanwhile, entered the town from the Southeast, had a clear shot at her down the street and took it. His shot clipped her arm. As Ilsa reeled around to see where the shot had come from, Gordon shot her in the back and she collapsed to the ground in a heap.


Karl von Kindershisse hides in cover while Ilsa, the Ubershe-wolf, lies bleeding in the street. Gordon, barely visible, hides around the opposite corner.

Then things really started to go bad for the Nazis. First Von Ravenhoff, the panzer-grenadiers, and Der Ubersturmfuhrer were taken down by a combination of the villagers furious close combat fighting and shots from both the Legionnaires at one end and Sefu and some of the Persephone crew at the other. Then the She-wolves, who had been blazing away for a number of turns(all the while being dealt a series of deuces), ran out of bullets. CLICK! They may be hot but they don’t know sweet tweet about fire control.

Sefu and Davis rushed them seeking vengeance for their comrade Daventhorpe. The Legionnaires joined them and took down the she-wolves in a short sharp melee, during which Sefu himself was seriously wounded.


The melee with the She-wolves.


Enraged by the loss of Ilsa, von Kindershisse rushed Gordon and tried shooting him pointblank. Gordon shrugged off the first shots and tried to box the Gestapo agent. The natives rushed to Gordon’s aid, and together they took down the Nazi.

Meanwhile the crew of the Persephone had begn searching the buildings. Where were the secret weapons? It didn’t take them long to find out. As one group rounded the corner into the front of the workshop the found themselves toe-to-tow with a metal behemoth! The giant robot singed all the hair off one of the crew and turned all his clothes to ash with it’s heat ray but left him otherwise unscathed. The crewmen unleashed a torrent of fire at the metal monster but bullets bounced off like they were made of rubber. Before they could turn to flee another crewman was stomped on and crushed under he giant feet of the hulk.

The men of Force Six had rushed forward. Corporal McLeod, the demolitions expert, had a rucksack crammed with explosives. Head readied a short detonator, stormed into the workshop, lobbed the pack at the beast, turned on his heals and bolted.


Corporal McLeod faces the Giant Nazi Robot.

The explosion rocked the compound and threw debris everywhere sending everyone diving for cover. When the dust settled the workshop was gone, only a pile of rubble remained in it’s place. Everyone looked on to see if there was anything left of the Giant Robot. To their horror the rubble shifted and the robot struggled to sit up.

Quick-thinking Andres announced that his men had just found the ammunition dump and told everyone else to run! They did. The wounded were quickly gathered up and carried or dragged away.

“Find some way to make that dump blow sky high, boys” Marcus called to his crewmen, “but not before we can get clear. I’m going to try and bring it over…”

He then proceeded to shout and fire shots at the robot to gets it’s attention as is struggled to get to its feet. It was damaged so it took some time and it lumbered slowly over the broken ground of the ruined workshop, but this all gave time for the crew to jury-rig a fuse of sorts and make their escape out the back window. Marcus kept firing and leading the robot in the direction of the ammo dump, dodging the heat rays all the while. When he figured it was close enough he ducked into the building, dashed to the back, flew through the window and fled after his men towards the hills.

When the explosion went off the shock knocked everyone to the ground and threw debris for hundreds of yards in every direction. The town was completely flattened.

When they later searched the ruins a few parts of the robot were recovered. These were collected together to be brought back to England. All files about the research were apparently destroyed. Any human remains they came across were buried but there wasn’t many. When they were done they began their trek back to the coast and to the Persephone who would take them back to Cairo…

okay so the game ended with the first explosion – I made up the rest to give the tale some closure…. The damage from the blast gave the robot two wounds. The crewmen had found the ammo dump and we decided that’s how it would have ended, we just didn’t bother playing it out as the pizza had arrived early and players had been wandering away from the table to get theirs and the time was just about up anyway…

Thanks to all those who took part in the game.

Next up is Mayday: Part Three – Saturday Afternoon.

(hey if you got this far why not leave a comment below!)

Mayday: Part One

Friday Night: Canvas Eagles

This past Friday I rented a car and drove up to Edmonton (Alberta, Canada; ~500km Northwestish of the gaming center of the universe: Saskatoon) for Mayday. First off I have to give a big thanks to Mr. Bob Barnetson for putting on a spectacular convention. It was overall very well organized and a whole lot of FUN!

Anyway I got into town just in time for Supper and toodled on over to the War Room (the one in Edmonton, not the one in my basement) for some Canvas Eagles .

The game was a maniac ongoing mega air battle with up to a dozen players or so at any given time. As planes got shot down you just brought on a new plane or new players rotated in. The winner was to be the first player to shoot down three planes – or whoever was still alive and had the most kills when the game wrapped up.

On turn two my first pilot in an SE5a got shot down. Bob, who was running it, just told me to start again at the edge of the table. So, on turn three I flew on again…. Straight into a hail of bullets and watched my second pilot go down. One of them was a pilot kill – in addition to other damage… I can’t remember what exactly brought the other one down.

Twenty-minuters…?! Hell, I’m more like a twenty-seconder!?

I was out of the game for a bit as it was getting popular and other people cycled in. A number of turns later I flew in again. This time I was flying for the Fatherland in some version of an Albatross. I had this miraculous ability to, no matter what I did or where I went, I always ended up in SOMEONE’S sites… every damn turn! After about four turns every one of the square boxes on my engine, fuselage, wings, AND tail were all crossed off (i.e. just shy of critical damage on all of them!)! Must have looked like a flying block of Swiss cheese! Then someone, Tom I think, shot me up again and set me aflame! I spent three futile turns trying to put the flames out (and, of course being shot at by others!) before bursting into a ball of flame and smoke.

I was certainly the first to have three planes shot down… that’s got to count for something!

Tom of Red Claw Gaming was the victor shooting down three huns! BOO-YAH TOM! (…and a little plug-ola for you brother!)


Mr. Chris Van Tighem eyeing me suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. CVT started out with a DR.1 and hung in there for quite a while. Eventually he was shot down and came back on as a Zeppelin and made a mess of the RFC!


More of CVT and Bob’s wee planes.

Stay tuned for more! Coming up next is Part Two; Saturday morning's Savage Worlds Pulp Adventure game!