VBCW POLICE (2)

Faced with this unexpectedly heavy police presence, the Herefordshire Scallywags paused their armoured forces, recognising that the original plan of "scoot down the main road, beat up the village, then head off for some beers and a singsong" might now have become slightly outdated:

The Scallywags armoured might - at bay.

But it was already too late.....the Herefordshire Constabulary opened up with every heavy weapon to hand (and there were a lot of them) - with inevitable results:

The Scallywags armoured might - burning furiously.

Enemy armour eliminated, Chief Constable Recurrin-Lockdowne ordered his forces, at long last, "forward to victory!":

Police advance - in the background, the HMG armed Rolls-Royce pursuit cars
 of the "Armoured Section (Light)" speed into action.

Gamers Notes

(1) Most of the constabulary figures are plastic Lledo figures (obtained in a cheap joblot from Ebay) armed with metal rifles or Lewis LMGs (available from Colonel Bills). The HQ section (not seen) come from a variety of the usual 28mm manufacturers. The police heavy armour is all based on the "Shoddy Tank" chassis (see blogposts passim), with the addition either of turrets from cheap Revell 1/48 kits or of converted soft plastic "toy soldier" artillery pieces (the "Big Gun"). All of the 'Scallywag' armour was again based on "Shoddy Tanks", this time with minimal conversion (add wire aerials, chop one of the barrels off and argue that 'offset barrels' were quite the thing in the VBCW - actually hardly noticeable as per the photos) and Perry Miniatures tank commanders. The remaining police forces came from Corgi (Rolls Royce Armoured Cars), Matchbox Yesteryear (Rolls Royce Cars converted into HMG carrying 'Pursuit Cars') Matchbox (AT guns, barrels converted) Lledo (trucks, not seen) and Dinky. AT gunners and seated truck passengers all originally came from the Redoubt 28mm Victoriana range, whether "Colonials" or "Home Service" types, again picked up as a cheap Ebay joblot.

(2). All of the terrain, tea and photographs provided by Umpire Roo, to whom many thanks. The village was entirely made from HO/OO scale card (Superquick), which looked fantastic and 'just the job' provided (probably) there was no attempt to mix it with 1/56 scale buildings. Reports are that, apart from 'some fiddly bits', they are indeed quick to build. A special thanks for the photos - characteristically VBCW-ish conduct for Roo happily to volunteer photos of his own tank force "brewing up"...

VBCW POLICE (1)

The Herefordshire Constabulary have not had an easy time during the VBCW. 

First introduced in a vain attempt to 'keep the peace' during the County Golf Challenge, an entire section was 'blown away' at the start of the tournament, even before the factions got down to the truly serious sport (of blowing each other up). Short of officers, the Constabulary then had to endure the intervention in the County's affairs of Superintendant Ronald Bigsworth-Hill and the Wiltshire Police Flying Column, only to find its own newly raised forces (including a solitary anti tank gun) either defeated, destroyed or "defecting" to other factions during the Battle of Mortimer's Cross :

 

A motorised section of Herefordshire Constabulary at the Battle of Mortimers Cross.
It did not seem as if they had won 'the hearts and minds' of the locals....

Faced with these disastrous results, the County Watch Committee decided upon the appointment of a new Chief Constable, the highly experienced Reginald Recurrin-Lockdowne. Within a very short period of time, the "new broom" had raised, trained and uniformed several sections of Auxiliary Constabulary, and from somewhere (it is best not to enquire too closely) obtained a great deal of heavy weaponry.....

These newly raised forces were soon to put to the test in the north west of the County, restoring order and preserving property against an anonymous but free roaming band of "notorious scallywags":

The Herefordshire Constabulary defend a village against a 'scallywag'
armoured attack. Seen here are two Anti Tank Guns, a mortar, and
a marching section of Police Auxiliaries.

Within the village, lying in wait, are two armoured cars of the Constabulary's
 Armoured Section (Light) and a tank of the Armoured Section (Heavy). Further
sections of Auxiliary Constabulary advance in support in the background.

Yet further back, but stoutly advancing, are the remaining elements of the 
Armoured Section (Heavy), including a tracked "Big Gun", supported by
further infantry sections and support weapons....

PUBLIC SCHOOL CIGARETTE CARDS

During the slight hiatus in the Herefordshire VBCW [note 1], the Bishop of Ludlow has been riffling through his collection of cigarette cards - publishing this collection of "Arms of the Public Schools". Not the most strenuous activity, admittedly, but its preferable to the Bishop delivering yet another lengthy sermon. And with a bit of photoshopping, the cigarette cards could make very useful VBCW flags....

When's the next VBCW battle? Old Etonians happily race towards the Cadet Force's armoury....

[Note 1]: By this Autumn, it will be (unbelievably) two years since the last Hereford VBCW Big Game - see the (October 2019) "Battle of Mortimer's Cross" HERE. Such has been one (extremely minor) result of the Covid pandemic and UK Government lockdowns. Happily, the 1/55 Herefordshire VBCW universe operates on a completely different (and often indefinable) timescale, and thus the Bishop, his allies and enemies, may only have experienced a delay of two weeks or so since the last engagement. 1/55th scale Herefordshire, of course, has never experienced a pandemic (unless you count the 1919 'Spanish Flu' pandemic, where HMG's advice to the population seems to have been to "Keep Calm and Carry On", no doubt with the stiffest of upper lips). As "the past is a foreign country", particularly where 'the past' is completely invented, we hope to return to it by way of an October 2021 Big Game....

HM GOVERNMENT CANCELS SUMMER BIG GAME!

No, not the 1/60 scale HM Government with Prime Minister Oswald Mosley at the helm. The 1/1 scale HM Government with Prime Minister Boris Johnson in charge and, as of last Monday, extending the lockdown period past the planned and much anticipated "Freedom Day" (i.e. today) for another month.

Which completely destroys the possibility of Hereford VBCW hosting its Summer Big Game on Saturday 3rd July 2021 as planned.

While thousands of police and hundreds of political journalists/politicians can gather at the recent G7 meeting in Cornwall, and some twenty thousand Scottish football fans can invade London for the England/Scotland football match, partying all night in Leicester Square, it remains illegal for twelve or so wargamers to meet in a Village Hall in Herefordshire - at least for the next month.

An email has gone around the Hereford VBCW Group explaining the situation, but this blogpost is designed to inform anyone we may have missed by mistake. 

If HM Government will let us, we shall be back for the Autumn Big Game 2021 in October !

MODELLING CHALLENGE 2021 - UP YOUR MORALE!

With the Spring Big Game 2021 fast approaching, its time for the Modelling Challenge 2021 - create a model on the chosen theme and the Umpires will allow you to score over your 1938 VBCW enemies and play it at the next Big Game as a free addition to your usual "Went the Day Well?" sized force.

In 2018, we got our feet wet with the Maritime Modelling Challenge. In 2019, we swapped keels for tracks with the Armour Modelling Challenge, which challenge duly expanded (courtesy of "Bearwoodman" of the LAF) from Herefordshire into the 40K Universe. In 2020, we returned to earth (or at least a few thousand feet above it) with the Aircraft and Anti Everything Challenge, with lots of VBCW "air fleets" being created from some "cheep Chinese plastic" toys picked up from Ebay.

Usually, we'd distribute the chosen "cheep Chinese plastic" donor toy at the Spring Big Game for use at the Autumn Big Game, but for some unaccountable reason (after all, precious little else has been going on) this year the Chinese plastics industry has lamentably failed to come up with a new 1930s(ish) war toy in 1/55 scale(ish) at a price of close to zero. Hence, instead of a cheep piece of plastic, this year we give you a high value concept - but still for free! 

Time for some morale boosting bodging in the Modelling Challenge 2021 - "Up your Morale!"

It all started when Umpire Roo, in the depths of last year's lockdown, disclosed that he was building "a 28mm Tea Van". Unarmed, unarmoured, no doubt crewed by WI ladies or similar - how could such a VBCW vehicle be of any use in a Big Game?

A Tea Van - Roo's model may or may not resemble this 1/1 scale VBCW creation.

Not to be outdone, but still at a loss as to how it might prove useful, Umpire Clive announced that he had acquired a suitable vehicle for conversion to "an Ice Cream Van" - while Staff Captain Maynard (Alan) produced the concept of - ahem - "a Coach with a not entirely respectable purpose (and even less respectable crew)". Less said about the precise details, the better, at least for now (this is the 1930s).

Weaponless and lacking any kind of defence, such vehicles could only be useful for one purpose - raising the morale of your own troops. Thus the 2021 Challenge - while the Umpires continue to work on suitable rules (which will undoubtedly involve a D6 and the back of an envelope) - can you produce a morale raising vehicle (or other 28mm model) for your Autumn Big Game 2021 force?

Clearly, the Ledbury BUF have already got in on the act with their Propaganda Van, but the field of potential morale boosters is wide - nobody has mentioned "a beer lorry" as yet, nor a mobile Pulpit (very morale raising if you're an Anglican):

while it may be that your chaps are literary types, whose morale would benefit from some suitable reading material from a travelling library:

Any concept is acceptable for the Challenge as long as it can be plausibly argued to be 'morale raising' for your force. And the wilder the concept, the more likely it is to inspire your troops!

So wild it doesn't even fit in to "the 1938 Universe" - LAF Bearwoodman's 40K take on the 2019
Armour Modelling Challenge - a "Nurgled Super Shoddy" 

Note : the Mobile Pulpit and BUF Travelling Library are the inspirational work of "6MilPhil" whose (sadly no longer updated) blog is HERE.

HEREFORD VBCW PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME

The 1930s was undoubtedly the decade of  massive "public works programmes", whether Hitler's autobahns, Mussolini's draining of the Pontine Marshes, Roosevelt's Public Works Administration and the Hoover Dam, or Stalin's Five Year Plans, huge construction projects and hydro-electric plants. It was in this spirit that Lord de Braose (in a rare moment of lucidity) recently announced:

THE DREDGING OF THE WYE PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME!

Staff Commander A.D. Mann, as ever, was tasked with relating, to a packed news conference, the "inevitable brilliance" of the Governor of Hereford and Lord Warden of the Marches. Residents of Hereford had become accustomed to the River Wye bursting its banks from time to time, causing "great nuisance and economic hardship". Dredging of the broad but shallow River Wye would put an end to such naturally occurring inundations, whatever the quantity of rainwater draining from the Welsh mountains. Even more urgently, and in the context of the lamentable Civil War, Lord de Braose's administration had recently received "extremely confidential information" and "a highly detailed dossier of secret intelligence" demonstrating that certain Welsh Nationalists, probably in concert with "the Red Ogre, Professor Bill Winters", had been planning a man-made inundation of the City, possibly by extensive pumping operations and the breaching of Welsh reservoirs (shhh! that's classified!). As it was, there was a considerable threat (so considerable that the file had been colour-coded as "Purple" in Lord de Braose's personal filing cabinet - and even given a special star-shaped sticker) that the Welsh Nationalist plot could result in the complete destruction of Hereford without warning and within 45 minutes.

A close up view of the Old Bridge over the River Wye during the floods of 1910

A more distant view of the Old Bridge over the River Wye during the floods of 2020,
the photographer being downriver from his predecessor 110 years earlier.
(It seems that, whatever the progress of  Lord de Braose's
 1938 Dredging Programme, the results have been "washed away with time")

The "huge dredging programme" designed personally by Lord de Braose, was consequently "a purely defensive measure" for the purposes of the Civil War, and the programme would begin immediately. Given "the regrettable presence" of an Anglican garrison (and shore batteries) at Ross on Wye, thereby rendering river navigation to Hereford hazardous, Lord de Braose "had been inspired by certain events in the recent Great War" [note 1] to dis-assemble and transport the required dredging vessel by road from Gloucester. Re-assembly works were to commence immediately at Sully's Garage, Bridge Street, and thereafter dredging of the Wye was to start "with all possible despatch".

The classic view of the Wye Bridge with the Cathedral in the background.
Sully's Garage is the white building with lattice work windows to the left.

Wye Bridge with Sullys Garage on the far bank. This is clearly a photograph from very early in the VBCW, with sheep being driven out of the City.

An Anglican Aerial Reconnaissance Photo of Central Hereford
Sullys Garage is clearly identifiable at the end of the Wye Bridge,
together with the Jetty at which the dredger is being assembled
(suitably camouflaged). The Royalists AA Observation Post
in the Cathedral Tower has also been noted.

A post VBCW shot. Sully's has now been taken over by Mead & Tompkinson, but
the "Dredger Jetty" is still visible (when the water level allows).

Unfortunately for Staff Commander Mann, the assembled journalists at the news conference became diverted from the technical details of river dredging by a more important question : would Lord de Braose emulate "Il Duce" by visiting the public works programme and revealing his manly torso?

Mussolini demonstrates fascist virtue on a visit to the Pontine Marshes.
An early and literal example, perhaps, of  'draining the swamp'.

Staff Commander Mann thought that "stripping off shirt and tunic could not be considered to be the act of an Englishman", adding  - perhaps somewhat hastily - that such was not meant as a criticism of Italians, nor of course, their Leader: "Lord de Braose has always greatly admired Il Duce".

The Staff Commander found the next series of questions rather more difficult. Was it not the case that, far from being a defensive measure, the dredging of the Wye was specifically designed to allow gunboats to pass up and down the river? Had the local fishermen been consulted? What was the attitude of the historic Hereford Rowing Club to this militarisation of a natural resource? Could he deny that the use of gunboats was in contemplation? For once, Staff Commander Mann was forced into an honest answer:

[Note1]: Lord de Braose was clearly inspired by the Great War Battle of Lake Tanganyika, where two RN Naval Launches (HMS Mimi and Toutou) were transported dis-assembled from the UK to the interior of Africa, re-assembled on the shores of the Lake, and thereafter won local naval superiority. See Giles Foden's splendid history, "Mimi and Toutou Go Forth - the Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika".

LEDBURY BUF (5) - PANZER JAGER !

Storm Commander Dastardly's BUF Tank Force has briefly "laagered" somewhere off the A438 Tewkesbury-Ledbury Road, waiting for the rest of his command to catch up with his swiftly moving armoured column:

"Ach, ja, Panzerjager!", Reichsmarshall Goering is reputed to have said
upon being shown a newsreel, in the garden rooms of the Castle Pool 
Hotel, Hereford, of the arrival of these Elstree Industries tracked AT guns.

The tracked AT guns join forces with the tanks of the
"Mailed Fist" Battlegroup....

..and Storm Leader Dastardly's armoured column is now
complete. "Move out!" is now the command...

The armoured column resumes its advance towards Ledbury...

Next time: the SP Artillery elements of the "Mailed Fist" Battlegroup make their appearance....