AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART EIGHT)

James' South Walians had not given up. Time was running out, but now his Rebel Sailors - his last available offensive troops - hopped over another hedge, and rushed forward in a desperate attempt to grab a last Objective Marker:

Ahoy matey! That's our Objective Marker!

Meanwhile, in LLareggub, the North Walians make a decisive break through.
The Police Mortar is close assaulted as the Police Big Gun burns....

To the south, the Blackshorts (background and left) advance alongside
 the Royal Irish Legion (foreground and right)

The advance of the southern forces doomed the Rebel Sailors attempt to seize a last Objective Marker, beaten off by the equally acquisitive (but numerically far superior) Royal Irish Legion.

The Royal Irish Legion capture the Objective Marker.
South Walian sailors mill around in confusion...

The Royal Irish Legion put on a show of force. Don't even
think of advancing, sailor boys...

As the thoroughly demoralised Police cede the centre of Llareggub,
leading to an inconclusive clash between Blackshorts and North Walians...

And so a full day's gaming drew to a close. To the surprise of some, although they had advanced the furthest and enjoyed the most explosive results of the afternoon, the North Walians had not gained the most Objective Points (this may have been caused by some within their area being too well camouflaged to have been noticed, alternatively hidden by drifting smoke from Big Gun bombardment...). That honour belonged to JP's Blackshorts, who can now start their legendary "Long March Back" to Herefordshire with their morale boosted and more Fascist volunteers goose-stepping forward to join up with Eustace Spode....

Thus ended the Autumn Big Game 2022!

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART SEVEN)

The South Walians were now forced into emergency manoeuvres, retreating their HQ in full "evade mode", rushing forward their reserve infantry to provide some form of cover, and desperately grinding the gears of their tank to dispel all those adverse morale markers:

Go on, crunch those gears again! Maybe we can get this thing going forward!

Meanwhile, the North Walians rushed forward their own reserve troops and HQ, with another melee rolling on into Llarreggub itself as their "causeway flanking force" hit home:

Vorwarts to Victory! The North Walian HQ advances.

Back in the south, it appeared that Roo's Royal Irish Legion and the Blackshorts had composed their nascent differences, and were now confidently "advancing along a parallel axis" without firing on each other: 

Blackshorts emerge from the fields nearest to Llarreggub...

...only to be rapidly shot down by the defending Police. A temporary victory only....

..for there is only one Police section defending against both
the advancing Blackshort and Royal Irish Legion Platoons...

Matters were now getting desperate for the "forces of law and order". Too many policemen were being consumed in the continuing forlorn melee against the North Walians, but while the police still had their "Big Gun", there was always hope...

BOOM! The Police Big Gun explodes after being targeted by the deadly North Walian Big Gun.

Such hope as the Police might have had disintegrated with the explosive loss of their Big Gun, and they now began to take cover and engage in desperate house to house fighting in Llareggub itself - against everyone other than the still dazed South Walians...

Jon's "Victory Salute" for his supremely deadly Big Gun. At least, that's what we think it is...

And so on to Part Eight...

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART SIX)

The Police had won the first round of the rolling melee, forcing the limbered up AT gun (minus a few dead crew) into a retreat. A second round between infantry sections was now in prospect:

South Walians v Police. The South Walian tank cannot move forward
because of adverse morale, and the limbered AT gun has already been
forced into a retreat.

Just as the infantry sections set to for their next round of melee, seemingly out of nowhere, the SMOKING TEMPLATE OF DOOM descended...Someone had fired a Big Gun onto the melee, but who?

The Smoking (Artillery) Template of Doom covers the entirety of the melee,
promising an explosive end for both Police and South Walians!

More evil than Doctor Evil....Jon reveals his North Walian artillery strike, and thus makes
THE MOST EVIL MOVE IN HEREFORD VBCW HISTORY.

The rivalry became North and South Wales had suddenly become an explosive reality, with the North Walians firing on their own side (nominally, anyway) just to grab a few more greasy Objective Markers:

Evil has its reward....

The result was bad for the Police, but terrible for the South Walians. Almost their entire infantry section and their much prized "Mechanical Man" instantaneously disintegrated in front of James' disbelieving eyes, leaving the South Walian HQ unsupported and at risk of capture!

And so on to Part Seven...

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART FIVE)

The North Walians advanced rapidly (with a lorry bound Tchanka doing an F1 impression) along a causeway on the North East flank, reserving only their own Big Gun in a central position:

North Walian advance

South Walian advance - Tank and Mechanical Man to the rear, towed AT gun to the fore.

while the South Walians, hemmed in by high hedges and with their tank attracting most of the fire from the Police Big Gun, equally raced forward, pushing their rebel sailors along the opposite flank:

South Walian Rebel sailors

The Police Big Gun was rolling high. The South Walian tank was repeatedly hit, but suffered only adverse morale effects - going from "Jumpy" to "Suppressed" to "Running Away" in successive moves. The South Walian advance having consequently become disjointed, a Police Section stormed into a sudden charge:

Police Section, supported by AT Party, storm the "limbered up" South Walian AT gun.
The South Walian Mechanical Man clanks in to the melee, soon to be joined by a
South Walian section of infantry...

...but not the South Walian sailors. The terrain is against them 
and the hedge "too high for jumping". 

With the furious Police/South Walian melee swaying to and fro, the stage was now set for THE MOST EVIL MOVE IN HEREFORD VBCW HISTORY....

And on to Part Six...

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART FOUR)

In the south of the battlefield, Eustace Spode's Blackshorts and Roo's Royal Irish Legion eyed each other warily, neither making much progress but neither quite firing upon each other.

Blackshorts Advance ! Even if only sideways....

Blackshorts take the Church Tower. Royal Irish Legion in the wheatfield.

Blackshort Armour at a crucial turning point....

But it was a different story in the north of the battlefield, where Jon's North Walians and Jim's South Walians happily exchanged shots, but equally set a cracking pace towards Llareggub itself. The defending police therefore redeployed their fearsome Big Gun towards the northern direction....

The Police Big Gun prepares to fire on the Walians (North or South)

And so on to Part Five....

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART THREE)

 The sleepy Welsh village of Llareggub, defended by the Aberavon Police force:

All quiet at the start of the day. Two sections of police (Lledo plastic figures) to the west of
Llareggub, facing off against the Walians (North and South).

A closer view of the Aberavon Police. In the foreground, a fearsome Self Propelled "Big Gun"
(one of a number of variants built on the infamous "Shoddy Chassis") together with the HQ
gathered around the Police Box. Two sections of Police (one Lledo plastics, one very old
Citadel 'Gothic Horror' types) ready to defend themselves from the Blackshorts and Royal Irish.

The South Walians (James) in their starting position in the North West corner.
Strange standard, but historically accurate vehicles. Just don't ask about
the "Mechanical Man"...

The North Walian HQ and supports (Jon) emerge from the North East corner.
Apparently uniformed from a leftover joblot of Freikorps kit, but with fantastic flags..

In the south, Spode's Blackshorts (JP) advance with their armour. Deep in the background,
the Royal Irish Legion (Roo) sneak past the "First Barn"....

Badly outnumbered, the Aberavon Police (Clive) could only hope that the various Factions
would resort to fighting each other. Or that his ever hopeful "Police - Slow" signs
 might actually be obeyed....

And on to Part Four....

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART TWO)

With the Platoon Commands organised, all that remained was to lay out the battlefield (with many thanks to Umpire Roo).....

An east - west view of the village of LLareggub, 1938 (or around 10am, 01.10.2022)

Eustace Spode and his Blackshorts were positioned in the south-east corner of the battlefield (to the left of the foreground Church), while Roo's Royal Irish Legion were in the south-west corner. At the other end of the table, Jon and his North Walians advanced from the north-east corner, while James and his South Walians advanced from the north-west corner. The Aberaron Police defended the village of Llareggub itself, bang in the centre of the table. The "Game Objectives" were suitably and randomly scattered all over the place...

A word on Eustace Spode: absolutely nobody at all has asked how it can be that Eustace Spode, last seen as a "Prominente" (and none too sober) prisoner of the Communists following the Fall of Leominster (Spring Big Game 2022), suddenly came to be leading a Platoon of Blackshorts in deepest, darkest Wales. Well, mumble, mumble - anyway - after capture at Leominster, Eustace and his few surviving Blackshorts were transported to West Wales by secret train, courtesy of Comrade Colonel Professor Winters, and there "set at liberty". Given the considerable tension between the Welsh Nationalists and the Communists, this was compared by Winters to "injecting a bacillus" into the Welsh VBCW, designed to "mop up any Welsh Fascists" by recruitment to Spode's cause, and cause acute problems for the Welsh Republic. When it was suggested to Winters that Eustace Spode might later return to Herefordshire with a strengthened Blackshort presence, Winters patiently explained that, in that event, "there would simply be more Fascists to massacre", clinching his argument with but two words:

Now that being explained away, on to Part Three...

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 (PART ONE)

Sometimes, and almost unbelievably, real life gets in the way of 'playing with toy soldiers'. Having originally cancelled the "Assault on Newquay" Big Game back in 2020 by reason of the onset of the Covid pandemic, the Campaign Umpires rescheduled the event for the Autumn Big Game 2022, only to find that a combination of family obligations, illness, house moves, etc. left us critically short of the air commanders and sea captains necessary for such a Big Game. With a heavy heart (and much swearing under the breath), the Campaign Umpires therefore sent the "Bristol Fleet" back out to sea (again) and substituted a smaller scenario for the five VBCW Stalwarts able to make the Autumn Big Game 2022. The substituted scenario - sent out a few days beforehand - read:

"ALARM AT LLAREGGUB !

(A REDUCED SCENARIO FOR THE AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022)

Those seeking the hamlet of Llareggub [1] upon even a modern map of the Welsh coastline are doomed to frustration. The place is so tiny that it has been habitually overlooked not only by cartographers, but also commercial travellers, tourists, roadbuilders, restaurant critics, divines of all or any religion, even newspapermen and all of their ilk; it is, in short, something of a place of mystery. [2] And as for the maps of 1938, well……

Quite how a landing party from HMS Cockchafer [3], came to be in the vicinity of Llareggub back in 1938, in the middle of the Very British Civil War, is equally mysterious. Detached from the “Bristol Fleet” heading towards Newquay, some say that the landing party was in search of “wood and water” - although that explanation sounds more Napoleonic [4] than modern. Others tell tales of lost Welsh Gold, or simply ‘hosts of golden daffodils’ [5] in the vicinity of Llareggub, while serious minded historians scoff and insist upon the straightforward explanation of a “special military operation”.

Whatever may have been their orders, the landing party undoubtedly blundered into the defending forces of the Welsh Republic and their allies, said to have been a rather ‘motley but well-armed crew”, and battle was joined…..

Notes 

(1). “Llareggub” was the near contemporaneous invention of Dylan Thomas, a fictional place name used in “Under Milk Wood” to disguise his real stay at Newquay. It is best not read backwards.

(2).  A place of mystery because we have at this stage no idea of how the table will look once we’ve set up the terrain, or even quite what terrain will arrive on the day (i.e. what can be picked out of Roo’s garage/man cave). But hey…

(3). We’re not being silly or gratuitously rude. There really was an HMS Cockchafer in 1938, an Insect Class gunboat that had clearly, for the purposes of the VBCW, been recalled from the River Yangtze to the River Severn. See HMS Cockchafer (1915) - Wikipedia

(4). particularly to those brought up on “Hornblower” stories. Searching for “diesel and metal plate” does not quite have the same ring about it.

(5). with apologies to Wordsworth.

Yangtze or Severn? An Insect class gunboat under air attack

Player Notes: The VBCW Stalwarts produced the following Platoons on the Big Day - for the landing party from His Majesty's Bristol Fleet, the Royal Irish Legion (Roo) and Eustace Spode's Blackshorts (JP - with Koestlerian synchronicity, given recent blogposts); for the Welsh Republic, platoons of North Walians (Jon) and South Walians (James). All Platoons (even those on the same side) thoroughly distrusted and were to be in competition with each other for the much prized "Scenario Objectives", while a Platoon of Aberavon Police (Clive) was charged generally with "keeping law and order" (i.e. fighting against everyone, as all were automatically deemed 'armed lawbreakers in breach of the peace'). And so on to Part Two.......

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 ("NEWQUAY RELOADED") - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

This year's Autumn Big Game 2022 ("Newquay Reloaded") will take place at the Burley Gate Village Hall, Herefordshire on Saturday 1st October 2022 from 10am - 5pm (doors open c. 9.30am).

"Newquay Reloaded", as the name suggests, is the eventual production of the Covid cancelled Spring Big Game 2020 ("Assault on Newquay"). Where have those two and a half years gone? Anyway, this post contains all you need to know about "Newquay Reloaded":

For the geographical background ("The Sleepy Port of Newquay"), SEE HERE

For the scenario and special rules, SEE HERE

For biographies of the "Officers Commanding" the Invasion Fleet, SEE HERE

For your "Platoon Generator", SEE HERE

For news of the 2022 Modelling Challenge, SEE HERE

For the "Shoddy Tanks" playable in "Newquay Reloaded" and the 2019 Modelling Challenge, SEE HERE

And now for some UPDATED practicalities:

"For those who have not previously attended a Hereford 1938 "Big Game", the Burley Gate Village Hall is located on the A465 between Burley Gate Roundabout and the village of Stoke Lacy. The Village Hall is adjacent to the Burley Gate Primary School. Full information and a helpful PDF may may be found here. 

For the Autumn Big Game 2022, the cost for the day is back to the old rate of £10, payable on the BIG DAY itself. We have been able to return to our traditional game rate by reason of the Hall halving their rental (a concession only applicable to the end of the year, unfortunately) as negotiated by Giles, to whom many thanks.

In addition to a crisp £10 note, please remember to bring:

(a). your lunch. We provide coffee, tea and biscuits. If you want something more substantial during the course of the day, pack it with your troops! (Usually, the adjacent Burley Gate Community Shop is open on a Saturday morning, so any emergency food needs can be met - note, however that the Community Shop is still a 'Covid mask zone' so bring one along just in case).

(b). your troops. Goes without saying, really. Your troops as per the VBCW Platoon Generator above. Note that we allocate experience ratings to sections on the morning of the BIG GAME as per the Platoon Generator rules, so it's helpful to have brought along a pencil and piece of paper to note down the results.

(c). your camera. If you intend taking pictures of the inevitable triumph of your troops, and the destruction of the enemy. The Umpires really like photographs of the action to illustrate the After Action Report.

(d). your paraphenalia. Dice, rules, measuring tapes, scatter terrain - all the "small stuff" that you usually use. The Umpires are always grateful for telephone poles, road signs, hedges, gates, bushes, sandbag emplacements etc. etc. - any small items of VBCW scenery that add to the overall effect."

And that's all there is to it ! Any questions to the Umpires via the Email Group, alternatively, in case that fails, via the LAF thread.  

AUTUMN BIG GAME 2022 - EARLY NOTICE !

The Hereford VBCW Autumn Big Game ("Newquay Reloaded") will take place at:

BURLEY GATE VILLAGE HALL

on

SATURDAY 1st OCTOBER 2022

10.00am - 5.00pm (doors open c. 9.30am)

As our jazzy game title ("Newquay Reloaded") suggests, the Autumn Big Game 2022 will finally bring to our (very large) tabletop the previously Covid cancelled Spring Big Game 2020 ("Assault on Newquay") - including aircraft carriers, battleships, landing fleets, air wings, shore batteries, etc. etc. Click on the "Spring Big Game 2020" label to the right for the complete scenario (including the habitually drunken Dylan Thomas) and rules. Updates to come as we get nearer the Big Day itself !