The Great Antipodean Adventure - Trouble at Mill, well in the Park Actually! Plus the Sarissa Searchlight Kit...

Men of the 7th Heavy Illumination Company under the leadership of Captain Edison with assistance from the Army and Constabulary deploy their Searchlight along MacQuarie Street near Government House...

May 24th and the NSW Governor Sir Phillip Game announced the formation of several new NSW Government Para Military units which included 10 Heavy Illumination Companies. These were Companies in name only with each one being allocated a single Searchlight and comprising 21 officers and ranks. In fact the 9th and 10th Companies would initially lack their searchlight, they were due to arrive in the City of Sydney in early June! These Heavy Illumination Companies were created to be deployed in open spaces where unruly groups were rampaging in the darkness, it was expected that lighting these areas overnight would cut down on such activities.

Friday May 27 1932 Captain Edison deployed his 7th Heavy Illumination Company along MacQuarie Street near Government House. The Royal Botanic Gardens had from day one of the civil unrest caused by the dismissal of the Lang Government been a hotbed of discontent. There had been clashes between State Government forces and Unionists flying Red Banners, while members of the All for Australia League and the New Guard had made their presence known in scuffles with anyone they didn't like the sight of! Captain Edison's brief was to bring peace back to the Gardens!

Sunset that night the Company's Searchlight glowed and within minutes it was flooding the Royal Botanic Gardens with light, night turned to day! For hour after hour the men toiled sweeping the area they were designated to cover and at daybreak they rejoiced as there had been not a single disturbance in the Gardens. Captain Edison stood down his men and they left their Searchlight under the care of the Constabulary they would stand to again that evening at 5:00pm to repeat their efforts.

Around the Rocks during Saturday the 28th Marxists spruiked their cause against the Capitalist State Government and rallied men and women to them with the aim of storming the Royal Botanic Gardens that night...their work was rewarded and they headed off to the Gardens at the head of an excited and armed mob!

As the sun began to set while Captain Edison and his men prepared their precious Searchlight for another night's work the roar of a mob was heard and a crowd was seen advancing down MacQuarie Street toward their position! Edison promptly used his shiny new field telephone to summon assistance! This was not going to be another quiet night...

The Sarissa Searchlight...

I picked up the Sarissa Searchlight flat pack at Little Wars a couple of years ago for a fiver and finally got around to assembling it. A searchlight has always been 'to build' list and having had good experiences with Sarissa's buildings I picked this up (it was so cheap!). It is a pretty simple affair and I built it as instructed and added a few hex nuts for details and cover some joins. BUT (in my opinion) building the cylinder out of multiple rings didn't work and did not give a good finish! I ended up dumping the kits light and scratch built my own...by the way I toyed with the idea of putting a working light into this but quickly came to the conclusion the effect wouldn't be worth the effort as it would always be used in fully lit games!

Picture from Sarissa Ltd Site

My completed kit...

The diorama set up...

We'll be getting this scenario slotted into our Monday schedule soon so standby for the OOB and AAR!

Tripods and Triplanes - First Play AAR

Posted for Al, our first try at Tripods and Triplanes!

A Desperate Defence!

Two aircraft were all that could be spared to defend the village of Zwiderhof and its vital munitions factory from the unstoppable Martian Tripods. A Fokker Dr1 and an ageing Albatross took to the skies in the early hours before dawn to seek out and, if nothing else, delay the alien invaders.

Armed with machine guns and these new French rockets, the two aircraft gained altitude in order to have the sun behind them as they approached their patrol zone. The pilots waved cheerfully to each other as they crossed the Oder River. Both knew what awaited them.

A plume of smoke rose from the Western horizon, and a glint of sunlight off a metal surface gave the pilots a clear idea where their targets were. They both increased the throttle and darted to the attack.

Two massive machines towered over the landscape, plodding in their unworldly three-legged gait towards the village. The closest was one of the type dubbed the 'Locust' and it definitely had an insect-like appearance. Leutnant Reim of der Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte banked his Fokker left to make an approach, guns blazing. The metal skin on the Martian machine seemed to sparkle as the bullets struck, doing no damage.

The fragile aircraft attacking the Martian Tripods!

The second Martian, a larger machine known as a 'Scarab', turned its attention towards the incoming aircraft. A sudden flare of light and the Dr 1 was engulfed in an intense blast of heat from the alien's forward projector.  Deft manoeuvring on the part of Lt Reim saw him fly through and carry on the fight, but he was severely wounded in the blast.

A Martian Tripod deploys 'Black Smoke'...

The Martians steadily destroyed their objectives, one by one, troubled little by the German flyers. Rockets and machine guns could not seem to penetrate the armour of these mechanical monsters. But then, a lucky shot by Hauptman Kremb in the Albatross caused an explosion in the power plant of the Locust and the Martian machine collapsed in a ball of flame.

Lt Kremb soars passed the remains of a Martian Fighting Machine...

Emboldened by this success, the German pilots renewed their attacks, but the wounds suffered by Lt Reim, together with a choking lung full of Black Smoke from the remaining Martian saw him spiral into the ground. Posthumously awarded the Iron Cross with oak leaves, Lt Reim was survived by his wife Greta and six children.

Never giving up the fight, Kremb struck again and again, but to no avail. The remaining Martian, despite once tumbling to the ground, destroyed all its objectives and marched relentlessly towards the German lines, pursued by the single remaining German aircraft.

Lt Kremb was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class and a Wound Badge in recognition of his efforts at the time...

The game ends with the surviving Martian Tripod advances remorselessly...

This was our first foray into Tripods and Triplanes, the War of the Worlds expansion to Ares Games' Wings of Glory. Dave and Pete controlled the tripods and George defended humanity as the German player. Al acted as referee while we learned the rules. It was a fun game and we mostly played it correctly. Some confusion was had over how rockets work but our interpretation turned out to be correct. Next time, the game play will flow faster as we will be a bit more familiar with the new rules covering Martians

Certainly a worthwhile investment and a fun expansion to an already-excellent game

Chain of Command AAR Aussies vs Japs

Aussies crewing a Vickers cover the crossroads...

On the Monday public holiday, we gathered for some CoC action, not really a game but a rules play through. Before hitting the tabletop in reverence of Australia Day we partook some Chicko Rolls which were cooked to perfection!

The idea of this catchup was to refresh ourselves with the CoC rules before commencing our Malaya 1942 Campaign. We naturally pitted Aussies against Japs using the Probe scenario. Dave went on the offensive with the Japs; they had a Force Morale of 11 and a Type 94 Tank and a Flamethrower Team in support. George took up the defensive with the Aussies; they had a Force Morale of 8 and a Vickers and a 2” Mortar Team in support.

Our battlefield, I'm slowly getting the jungle terrain organised...

Both sides deployed their sections quickly aided by slick rolling of multiple 2s and 3s. The Japs putting their support in on their right while trying a ‘Coup de main’ in the centre with a section going hell for leather through the village. The Australians deployed their three sections evenly using the rice paddies ‘walls’ for protection and using the Vickers Team to virtually wipe out the Japs central thrust. The battle then pivoted around the Japs right. They advanced under a thick pall of smoke and launching a well-coordinated attack; a Flamethrower attack followed up with a charge into close combat saw the Japs smash the Aussie Section guarding the flank. But in their moment of glory a double phase allowed the central Section of Australians to redeploy push back the attackers with heavy losses and restore the situation. Excited with their success the Aussies pushed forward and were defeated the broken survivors retiring allowing a much-reduced Jap Section and their Ha Go Tank (!?) to achieve victory for them.

Some Pictures...

The battlefield at games end...in the foreground is the remnants of the Japanese right flank Section...

The Jap Flamethrower Team advance cautiously...

The mighty Japanese Type 94 Ha Go Tank, the Aussies ATR Team fired several shots at it but failed to score a hit!

The quiet flank...

An enjoyable afternoon was had and we feel confident we can move onto the Malaya 1942 Campaign soon.

A couple of points;

1. Jap Sections can take a lot of punishment and keep moving on, in this game they started with 57 men and 31 became casualties but their Force Morale only drooped 3 from 11 to 8 (mind you their leaders seemed to lead a charmed life suffering only 2 light wounds despite the carnage around them).

2. We had an issue with working out how a Flamethrower Team defends itself in close combat and could find nothing quickly with a search online to resolve it grrrr...George did some research after the event and we’ll probably go with one of these two options next time;

The support crew fight and The flamethrower guy hides. He surrenders if his friends lose the fight.

Or

The whole team buggers off 3D6 and take 8 points of shock.

The next game we'll play is Tripods & Triplanes!

TSOGers Escape from Colditz (Again)!

Last Monday we played ‘Escape from Colditz’ (original version) and enjoyed a rollicking night featuring multiple escape attempts, a dead British Lieutenant, four successful 'home runs' and the transfer of several German Guards to the Eastern Front. Here’s how it panned out over two and a half hours...

Picture thanks to Boardgamegeek!

Autumn 1944; as the days began to draw shorter and the temperature grew colder Oberst Neudegg’s tyrannical reign as Commandant of Colditz Castle reached it’s zenith. He boasted not even a mouse could get out of his Camp! The Castle Escape Officers from the British and French contingents, Captain Copley and Sous-lieutenant Gauloises respectively disagreed with the arrogant Commandant and inspired their men to engage in the spirit of what they announced as Super September. It was every mans duty to score a ‘home run’ and thumb their nose at Hitler in the process!

On September 2nd while news was picked up on the prisoners Crystal Set that Jerry was getting his butt kicked at the front the British and French inmates of Colditz Castle furtively moved around the grounds under the eyes of their inquisitive captors. They were secretly hatching plots to get over the walls and through the wire to freedom! The British quickly assembled all the gear required to make up an Escape Kit for their men while the French wasted no time and started acquiring Escape Equipment. The Guards watched on concerned with how often the prisoners were visiting the Water Closet and other rooms around the compound, was there an escape attempt afoot?

They didn’t have long to wait to find out! The very next day alerts rang out in the depths of the night, a prisoner was outside the walls! Jean-Claude had emerged from a tunnel near the Canteen and was making a dash for freedom via the bridge…a short time later he was in the cells a Guard caught him whilst he was still on the bridge.

 Jean-Claude heading for freedom...

Jean-Claude in the Cells!

This did not deter the inmates!

Two nights later exiting the vestibule near the Guards room thanks to the 90 feet of ‘rope’ he had hidden in his trousers Frenchman Captaine Dejavu found himself outside of the wire with Feldwebel Schultz in hot pursuit! Unfortunately he was apprehended only yards from safety! This was expected by the Escape Officers though as he had tried this very same escape just a week earlier and then just a week before that! But there was no rest for the Germans that night as while Dejavu was being escorted to the cells Lieutenant Carothers had left the Castle from a window in the Dentist's Room and was soon outside the wire sprinting towards the woods…he was dead moments later with a German bullet in his back!

Lieutenant Carothers meets a sticky end!

The prisoners were riled up! They were determined to score a ‘home run’! On September 10th Dejavu made another French escape attempt once again emanating from Sick Bay and he was again foiled! Jerry was certainly running a tight ship…err…Castle!

Then there was a quite literally a break for the Allies! on the 15th Captain Smithers donned a German tunic and made a dash from the Orderlies Quarters to the German Car Pool, there he hot-wired a Mercedes-Benz 770 and cruised through the main gates and to safety! Days later he was sipping wine in Switzerland and the two gate Guards were on a train to the Eastern Front. Success to the Allies!

Captain Smithers escapes, you can hear the champagne corks pop (in Switzerland!)

This initiated a flood of escape attempts, on the 21st and the 22nd Frenchmen Yves and Charles both scored ‘home runs’! Yves used a tunnel emanating from the Chapel and Charles using rope made from his hair trimmings and wire cutters fashioned MacGyver style from two old forks from the Dentist’s Room!

French Escapees stacking up!

Annoyed by the escapes, unrest amongst the prisoners and roll calls drawing fewer attendees each time the Germans cracked down. Soon there were more inmates in the cells than in the Castle courtyard!

The Escape Officers were not discouraged by this and on the 29th Captain ‘Biffo’ Babbage successfully decamped from the Castle via a tunnel he dug with a tea spoon located under the stage of the Theatre. A final September attempt to escape came on the 30th. A French NCO, Hugo fled through one of the windows in the Dentist's Room but he was quickly apprehended by several Germans, as he was escorted to the cells while being given an earful of guttural German expletives!

French Captaine 'Hugo' made a dash for the wire he was nabbed by a swarm of Jerries!

Results

Germans; stopped six escape attempts

British; two successful ‘home runs’

French; two successful ‘home runs’

A win for all sides I’d say!

Once again a great time was had by all, so much so we decided we should revisit Escape from Colditz again in June rather than wait until January next year!

CoC Malaya PSC Terrain - Jungle Huts

Captain Albert Ross and Sergeant Holt over watch supplies being moved into their new Jungle Outpost...

I'm continuing to prepare for the TFL's Malaya 1942 campaign and some Jungle Huts are required. Keeping to my limited budget I decided to build my own and loosely based them on the old Airfix Jungle Outpost kit!

My huts were to be made from card, ice-cream sticks and kebab skewers all held together with PVA glue. I cut floors, rooves and the walls out of card. The four wall were all in one long piece and I cut the windows and doorway into them before folding them into a square (scored the bends). To this structure I added some thinly sliced ice-cream stick 'beams'. The rooves were covered in roughly cut ice-cream sticks then the dried walls were fixed to the base which was reinforced with a piece of balsa wood. Where required I added wooden kebab skewers to hold up roof overhangs. Some plastic tube was used to represent the huts support poles. The rooves just rest in place.

Here's how the cut out walls, rooves and floors look for the first two huts...

All four huts assembled, they are actually very sturdy (I still wouldn't like to step on one!)...

A couple of Airfix 1/72 scale Aussie Diggers included...

A lick of paint added...

...and put in a 'jungle' setting...

Hope you like them and you can see how easy it is to build Jungle Huts!