SPRING BIG GAME 2017 - THE COUNTY CUP (PART 10)

Neither Crapaud Force nor the "Not those Carlists" LDV had the forces to outdistance J and his mounted troops, nor RDR-2's frantically running (and charioteering) Lew Wallace Memorial boys. After a brief exchange of fire between their forces, differing tactics became clear. Crapaud Force advanced warily behind J's politically confused Spaniards, hoping that the "initial wave" of attacks would be broken by the Committee's firepower. Carl and his "Not those Carlists" LDV, however, possibly driven mad by their long-running battle with the Lower Course tank and benefiting from some long range weapons, took to bombarding the "front runners" from behind with great glee - particularly Carl's old friend, RDR-2. Whatever the tactical thinking, perhaps not so tactful in relation to a man who was due to give you a lift home later....

The "second wave" of arrivals on the 18th Fairway. To the left, the Not Those Carlists Armoured Cars pour fire
into the Lew Wallace Memorial Assault Group (just visible on the flank), while on the right, the Spanish Mounted Troops easily outpace the Crapaud Force (and everyone else).

Gee-up! Whipcrack away! RDR-2's 28mm commander, juddering along on his artillery limber, well saw that he was being outpaced by the faster moving mounted troops of J's force, and knew that he could expect no mercy from behind. Forward! Faster! Into the teeth of fire from the defending Committee! Onwards on the Fairway of Death!

Whipcrackaway! RDR-2's brave 28mm commander on top of his fast travelling
limber. On the flank, a depleted section of miners is all that is now left of the
Lew Wallace Memorial Assault Group. Thanks, Carl (and Nick and J)

The lead horse of the artillery team went down; then another. The remainder stumbled, recovered, gathered themselves for the final gallop and.....

An artillery shell landed slap bang on top of them.

The brave 28mm commander was obliterated in an instant; in a tangle of leather straps and drivers and mangled horseflesh, in that but one explosive instant, both the leader and the dreams of the Lew Wallace Memorial Assault Group died.

But did they?

On their left, J's fast movement had put him into the teeth of the Committee's fire. Spaniards fell left and right, with J's forces rapidly being whittled down. RDR-2 still had one (reduced) section of grim-faced miners to make one last close assault...

The respective (1/1 scale) Commanders saluted. It was to be now or never. After a long day of grinding battle, it had come down to one last, great charge....

SPRING BIG GAME 2017 - THE COUNTY CUP (PART 9)

As RDR-2 and the wily J set up their forces on the 18th Fairway, news filtered through from the Lower Course - the will of the Herefordshire Watch Committee had finally been broken, and the defending tank destroyed....

The sadly depleted forces of the Lew Wallace Memorial Assault Group assemble on the 18th Fairway.
Their brave commander can be seen mounted on his chariot-style artillery limber. 

J's Politically Confused Spaniards assemble in the other corner. Will his mounted troops give him an advantage?

There was not a moment to lose! After the briefest exchange of fire to confirm that their "Golf Buddy" alliance was well and truly over, RDR-2 and J raced off up the Fairway towards the Clubhouse, the waiting Committee, some chilled Behemoths of champagne, and the Cup!

A good impression of the Clubhouse and the waiting Committee, Cup and Champagne.
The wide, green acreage of the 18th Fairway is clearly visible.

It soon became apparent, however, that the Committee had arranged both chilled champagne and a hot reception for our contenders, forming up the Club staff behind a field gun, a machine gun, and as the remarkably well mannered servants of two mortars. The Chairman of the Club, Sir Alan McGuffin, had let it be known that the Cup was only to be wrested from his cold, dead hands....while behind J and RDR-2, the victors from the Lower Course, Nick and his "Crapaud Force" and Carl and his "Not those Carlists" LDV entered the assembly areas of the 18th Fairway....

Who would triumph?

Fighting slowly petered out on the Upper and Lower Courses as the players gathered round the 18th Fairway. Later qualifiers - Lady Rita, the lumbering Lichemaster of the Upper Course (Craig), and (remarkably) the heavily battered Bishop of Lichfield (Tim) - gracefully accepted that their role was now likely to be academic, as they were already behind the earlier four top table qualifiers. It appears that a late change of "Golf Buddy" cards on the Upper Course, together with the physical exhaustion and/or sudden onset of claustrophobia by Captain Straitt-Jackett, had allowed the good Bishop to qualify.

But which of our four early qualifiers would claim the Cup?

SPRING BIG GAME 2017 - THE COUNTY CUP (PART 8)

Not just speed, however, but speed allied with firepower.

After the near extinction, by massed artillery fire, of both the Ben Hogan Friends of Herefordshire Golf (on the Upper Course) and the Herefordshire Watch Committee (on the Lower Course), the defenders of the "central objective" on each table were seriously undermanned.

The situation on the Upper Course has already been described. On the Lower Course, due to the three way (and still continuing) melee, the non-participants had been making slow but steady progress towards the centre of the table : a newly cautious Spode, the wheel-spinning Commander Carl of the "Not those Carlists" LDV, and the seriously undermanned Monsewer Crapaud. On both courses, any assault on the "central objective" would be practically bound to succeed.

Before the lunch adjournment, Umpire Clive had ordered a change of "Golf Buddy" cards. Perhaps a re-shaping of alliances could save the "central objective"? To no avail. The fall of the cards resulted in little change, and just as much danger to the "central objectives" as ever.

Over lunch, RDR-2 hastily re-frocked himself, and the Umpires now fell into discussion. A solution was found. Upon resumption of play in the afternoon, the players on both courses stared aghast at the HUGE TANK that now defended each "central objective"....(apart from the Bishop and the Captain, of course, whose heavily blackened eyes made sight difficult, and who soon fell again into their mutually enjoyable and entirely private bunfight, taking turns to bludgeon each other -See Rule 2A(iii) of the "Close Quarter Assault" April Supplement to the Rules).

The Lower Course after lunch. The two remaining members of the Herefordshire Watch Committee have received
substantial re-inforcements. The Hero's Grave Special Objective remains as yet unclaimed. The tank defending the
Central Objective on the Upper Course was even larger.

On the Lower Course, the tank proved a serious obstacle. Vast amounts of firepower poured over the behemoth and its two sheltering policemen (who were nerveless, and apparently indestructible) to no effect. The three non-meleeing parties were seriously held up, particularly the teeth-grinding Commander Carl : would no-body free him from this turbulent tank?

On the Upper Course, the tank seemed to interfere seriously with the previously steady advance of Captain Chang's Chinese Christian Mililtia. J's "politically confused" Spanish Force seemed more sanguine, however, having some means of taking on the Behemoth, while the newly defrocked (again) RDR-2 decided that the time had come for desperate measures. He mounted his 28mm commander figure in unorthdox seat on a spare artillery limber, whipped up the horses, and heedless of danger and in imitation of Charlton Heston's famous Ben-Hur, set off at a frantic gallop towards the "Central Objective"!

Fortune favoured the immensely brave.

A planned change of "Golf Buddy" cards swapped RDR-2 into alliance with J's Spaniards. A lucky short destroyed the Behemoth.....

The burning tank at the centre of the Upper Course. Ben Hogan's Friends of Herefordshire Golf have been wiped out.
To the right lies burning one of Captain Shang's amoured vehicles : it was not his lucky day. Just in sight at the foot are the Spanish Horse, just out of sight (but, boy, can he race!) is the Commander of the Lew Wallace Group.

and the Central Objective of the Upper Course fell into the hands of the swift moving 28mm Commander of the Lew Wallace Memorial Assault Group and the mounted troops of his new (and very temporary) ally, J's Spanish!

The first "team" to be translated to the hitherto untouched 18th Fairway (the Central Table) and to hazard an assault against Sir Alan McGuffin's defending Club Committee! But who will take the Cup (there can only be one!) and will not the Lower Course contribute some competitors ?

SPRING BIG GAME 2017 - THE COUNTY CUP (PART 7)

Not to be outdone, the Lower Course descended into a more measured, if equally desperate, bout of chaos : the first three sided melee in recorded Hereford VBCW history. Determined to capture a vital "red flag" from the upper green (or at least deny it to the enemy), the forces of the Blessed Lady Rita, the Rorke's Drift Re-Enactment Society and THE Rural LDV fought a long-running, bloody and somewhat indecisive engagement through and over the bunkers: 

"The trouble with the Bishop - and the Captain - is that they do things on such a small scale, m'dear." -
Lady Rita Talbot-Ponsonby in the course of the vast three way melee on the Lower Course.

An aerial shot of the Lower Course. The three sided melee continues in the
foreground. In the centre, two Special Objectives remains to be
captured - a "Hero's Grave" and a "Chemical Works".
In the background, Spode's black tank can be seen idling,
anxious not to enter another Minefield.

The one recipient of vast fortune - and an equally vast number of re-inforcements - via capturing "Special Objectives" (which varied from Minefields through Mommet Groves and Mommet Tunnels, to an abandoned Champagne Smuggler's Cart, the Herefordshire Cider Makers' Secret Stash and a herd of a Herefordshire's famous cattle) was none other than the Captain Percy Fitzneatly and the North Herefordshire Parishioners Milita. It seemed that Captain Percy (Craig) could not help but throw his D6 for the "more men/double more men" options every time he encountered a Special Objective, and soon the plucky Milita had grown to Divisional size, and the "Spare Units" table was looking denuded:

The patriotically covered "Special Units" table, originally filled with units, is quickly reduced to
a random smatter by the re-animating good fortune of Craig the Lichemaster. The units shown
here will soon be on their way to join the Burghill & Tillington Infantry Corps

While rendering Captain Fitzneatly's force even more formidable than anticipated, such was the vast scale of the re-inforcement that it seems to have slowed down his advance to a crawl. With the Bishop and the Captain still engaged in their never ending bitch - fight in the southern corner of the Upper Course ("I take this pen-knife...I see your pen-knife and raise you a rusty fork - take that, you bounder!), the remaining players (Captain Shang's Christians, the Lew Wallace Memorial Assault Group, and J's Spanish-Monarchist-Nationalist-Catholic Militia) would have to rely upon speed to claim their victory.

SPRING BIG GAME 2017 - THE COUNTY CUP (PART 6)

Spode's self-confessed reasoning seems to have gone something like this : a minefield looks threatening. However, it is a special objective set by those too-clever Umpires, and is therefore almost certainly not a minefield and no threat whatsoever. Confidently, he strode into the minefield, received and then opened his "Luxurious Sealed Envelope" only to discover that his Special Objective was - a Minefield ! (in fact, of all the minefields scattered across the course, this was the very worst). Only a throw of "6" on a D6 could now save Spode from disaster - and he duly threw - a 6!

Others were not so lucky. Captain Straitt-Jackett, leading his BUF Alarm Company towards the south centre of the Upper Course, wandered into another kind of Special Objective : a strange tunnel entrance. Upon opening his "Luxurious Sealed Envelope", he read the following: 

SPECIAL OBJECT NINE

“THE TUNNEL ENTRANCE”

"Congratulations (we think)! You have discovered the entrance to a large tunnel belong to the “Herefordshire Molemen”, the “underground” faction of Herefordshire Mommetry. These mysterious sappers and miners are in training to assist an attacking faction at any VBCW siege within the County (or perhaps to relieve the defenders of any such siege).

Roll 1D6 and implement the result below:

[1]. NO RESULT! Nada. Nothing. Zilch. This is a long abandoned training tunnel that does not lead very far. Move on. Yawn!

[2]. SECRET EXIT! You and your entire force (as surviving and wherever they may be) follow the abandoned tunnel to a secret exit 12 inches (in any direction) from the centre of this Special Object. Choose your direction, mark your point of exit, and then re-set up your entire force (as surviving) within a radius of 12 inches of your exit point.

[3]. REINFORCEMENTS! The Tunnel Entrance is guarded. The Herefordshire Molemen emerge from the stygian gloom and resolve to join your force. Now choose ONE UNIT (if available) from the “Spare Units” Table and add it to your force - by grouping it immediately around your Command Figure (or senior surviving Command Figure). You can claim an Extra Movement Card for your force at the beginning of each succeeding turn.

[4]. DOUBLE REINFORCEMENTS! The Tunnel Entrance is guarded. The Herefordshire Molemen emerge from their hiding places and resolve to join your force. Now choose TWO UNITS (if available) from the “Spare Units” Table and add it to your force - by placing them within a radius of 12 inches of your home Tee. You can claim two Extra Movement Card for your force at the beginning of each succeeding turn.

[5]. GOLF FLAG! The Herefordshire Molemen have previously stolen a Golf Flag from the Club, and hidden it here. Well done! Now all you have to do is keep hold of it and get to the Tee (18 or 18A) at the centre of the table….

[6]. YIKES! There’s a strange tick-tocking noise coming from the end of the tunnel. The Herefordshire Molemen have booby trapped their diggings. There might just be time to get away before…BOOM!"

The BUF's fateful decision to enter the tunnel entrance of the Herefordshire Molemen

Rolling a 2 on his D6, Captain Straitt-Jackett (Alan) had no option but to transport the entirety of his Alarm Company bang into the centre of the advancing forces of the very surprised Bishop of Lichfield (Tim):

Underground attack! Alan's BUF emerge from the Momett Molemen's old workings into the centre of Tim's forces.

The apparently confident attack (although actually forced on Alan by the rules of the "Luxurious Sealed Envelope") had fateful consequences at southern end of the Upper Course. Captain Straitt- Jackett and the Bishop of Lichfield, both highly experienced commanders, promptly forgot the "Rules of Golf" entirely, and indeed even the vast acreage of the Herefordshire Course itself, preferring to spend the remainder of the day in one vast, swirling, hard punching melee confined within an area of about 12 inches square....

Two stoats in a hessian sack. "It says here - Section B(1) - ancillary rules for kneeing in the groin...."
Captain Straitt-Jackett (left) seeks advantage in his never-ending melee with the Bishop (Tim).
In the foreground, the North Herefordshire Parishioners Militia and the Lew Wallace Memorial
Assault Group quietly get on with trying to win the Hereford Golf Cup.
In the background, the six players on the Lower Course do the same.

"Section 8, Supplement D2 - Rules for Throttling and Eye Gouging. Only allowable in a space less than the square area of a telephone box (1938)." - Captain Straitt-Jackett. "Well, that seems fair enough. Shall we spend all of the next round trying that out then?" - the Bishop of Lichfield - "before we get down to 'Combat with Newly Sharpened Sticks'"?
Everyone else has advanced just a little further towards the central objective of winning the game.

SPRING BIG GAME 2017 - THE COUNTY CUP (PART 5)

Completing the crew of "mostly LDVs" - in contrast to previous "Big Games", dominated by the ideological factions of Royalists, Anglicans, Mosleyites, Albertines, Socialists, etc - were two native sons of Herefordshire on their "first outings" : "THE Rural LDV" (Stephen) and "The Rorke's Drift Re-Enactment Society (on Field Exercises)" LDV (Neil), both in the north of the Lower Course:

The Rorke's Drift Re-Enactment Society (on Field Exercises) set off from Tee 3. The redcoats seem to be
at the rear as the Force's scouts recce a very strange obstacle to their front....

THE Rural LDV advance confidently, ready to take on all comers (and they will).

Scattered about the Golf Course itself are a wide variety of "Special Objectives", each (once captured) giving possession of a new invention by the AVBCW-TNG crew - "the Luxurious Sealed Envelope" (thank you, J.) - and the opportunity of significant reward (or significant disaster). Who will be the first to bold enough (or foolhardy enough) to take on a "Special Objective" and discover the secrets therein?

One of the less imaginative "Special Objectives" - A Minefield. Or is it?

Step forward - Eustace Spode!!

SPRING BIG GAME 2017 - THE COUNTY CUP (PART 4)

Some very irregular forces, and a few very hastily put together. In the far north of the "Upper Course" lurked "Recently Defrocked Referee Roo" (RDR-2) with whatever motley forces he could scramble together from his reserve boxes - and loans from friends - on 15 minutes notice (a scheduled player had failed to turn up without warning). For reasons that will become apparent - read on, read on - RDR-2's unititled scratch assembly rapidly became known as "The Lew Wallace Memorial Assault Group".

Flanking RDR-2 were, to his left and centre, a formidable new entry from the North Hereford Parishioner's Militia, under the command of Captain Percy Fitzneatly (Craig), otherwise and shortly to become known as "The Lichemaster" (read on, read on); and to his right flank the highly experienced Captain Shang (Steve A) and his "Chinese Christian Column".

The North Herefordshire Parishioners Militia. The Burghill & Tillington Cricket Club flank the HQ Section

Captain Shang's well prepared Chinese Christians. Dice cup - check. Tape Measure - check. Rulebook - check.
One of the day's Special Objectives - an Ammunition Dump - can be seen in the foreground.

While in the deep south of the Lower Course, an equally hastily assembled scratch force under Monsewer Crapaud (Nick) faced off against Spode's Blackshorts opposite, and flanked by yet another scratch LDV commanded by Carl:

"Crapaud Force", sadly depleted by a hasty error on the part of Umpire Clive in the course of "the morning rush".

"Not-those-Carlists another-kind-of-Carlists-altogether-chap" LDV. Carl's formidable Armoured Cars would
spend most of their time wheel spinning as the soft ground of the Golf Course exposed their off road limitations.