Back to The Great Antipodean Adventure for our last gaming session. This time with a difference! We have been playing with A World Aflame rules for these games but this time we are going with an updated version of A World Aflame, we have replaced the activation and morale rules with those from Went the Day Well! there'll be more on that later!
Colonel Gout, commander of the New Guards 13th Shock Company observes the fighting in Fig Lane Park as evening draws near...
The Historical Background
Battle: Strangers in the Night!
Location: Fig Lane Park, Sydney NSW
Date: Sunday 29th May 1932
Sunday May 29 saw the whole of the Sydney city centre engulfed in rioting and flames when all the rival factions vying for power clashed! For the first time since the Constitutional Crisis erupted in New South Wales all the groups contesting for control of the State organised rallies in the city centre simultaneously. It was not long before the peaceful protests turned into vicious street brawls and by Noon it was a brave bystander who ventured out as blood was being spilled in running street battles. The fighting raged all afternoon and as evening drew close the tired survivors began to withdraw to their base Suburbs. During this period clashes continued as these determined groups came across each other!
Fig Lane Park was the scene one of those clashes. Colonel Gout's New Guard Company stumbled into the Brown Jackets of the All for Australia's 101st Peoples Battalion, trapped between these two riotous mobs was Senior Sergeant Roy Turner's Constables standing guard at a checkpoint...
The Forces
The New
Guard - 13th Shock Company
Commander: Colonel Gout
Orders, can’t be changed: ‘’Advance across the park to return to a safe Suburb!”
Unit ID. Name
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Figures
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Morale
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Volleys
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Notes
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Leaders
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3
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5/4/4
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N/A
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Enter Turn 1
Commander/Assistant Commander/Religious
Officer
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Section 1
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10
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3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 2
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10
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3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 3
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10
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3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 4
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10
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3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 5
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10
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3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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LMG Section
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5
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4
|
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Enter Turn 1
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The All for
Australia Faction - 101st Peoples Battalion
Commander: Citizen Captain Lightfoot
Orders, can’t be changed: ‘’Advance across the park to return to a safe Suburb!”
Unit ID. Name
|
Figures
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Morale
|
Volleys
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Notes
|
Leaders
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3
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5/4/4
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N/A
|
Enter Turn 1
Commander/Assistant
Commander/Religious Officer
|
Section 1
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10
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3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 2
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10
|
3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 3
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10
|
3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 4
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10
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3
|
|
Enter Turn 1
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Section 5
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10
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3
|
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Enter Turn 1
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LMG Section
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5
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4
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Enter Turn 1
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Special Rules
Turns: 10
Visibility: Turns 1-5 is 36" and Turns 6-10 is 24"
Victory Conditions
Both sides gain Victory points for exiting the opposite edge of the board to which they start, the side with the most Victory points at the end of the game wins
1st unit to exit the board gains the player 4 VPs
2nd unit to exit the board gains the player 3 VPs
3rd unit to exit the board gains the player 2 VPs
Any other units that exit the board gains the player 4 VPs
The Possible Special Events
These are the events that could occur during the game;
Resolve -
Player who rolls highest on 1D6 retains this card and can play it to
automatically pass a morale test. There are two chances this will occur.
Rascally
Rabbits! - One randomly selected Unit expends a volley of ammunition obtaining
dinner! They can still fire this turn but that expends yet another volley of
ammunition.
Brew up!
One randomly selected Unit can’t perform an action this turn as its members
enjoy a cuppa...
Get a
wriggle on! The Player who rolls highest on 1D6 can select any one of his units
this turn and it can add 3AD to their 6” move when they run. If no unit
wants to run this turn it can be retained for later turns. There are two chances this will occur
Ooo Bruce
brought beers! One randomly selected Unit pauses to imbibe ‘supplies’ it can’t
perform an action this turn.
Smoko! One
randomly selected Unit from either side can’t perform an action this turn as
its members enjoy a Woodbine or two...
Pick a side
randomly, the selected side picks its Unit closest to the Police Barricade.
They choose to taunt the Police who may freely move their figures to face the
Unit taunting them and they open fire (no movement penalty for their moves) and
will continue to do so until the Unit leaves their line of sight or they are
destroyed.
Note - this scenario was adapted from the Men Who Would be Kings rules book.
The AAR!
Both sides entered the fray advancing along board fronts, getting around any flanks was going to be difficult as both sides were required to exit units from the battlefield. the first three turns everyone efforts were directed at gaining as much ground on the opposition as possible.
Turn 3 and the extent of the New Guard advance...
At the same time the All for Australia Force had gained much more ground!
First blood went to the New Guard on Turn 4 as one of their leading units let loose a viscous storm of fire taking down half of the leading All for Australia sides unit!
The first shots are fired! the New Guard are in the foreground, the exchange of fire saw 2 New Guard casualties to 5 for the All for Australia League!
Senior Sergeant Turners 'outpost' totally surrounded by mobs of revolutionaries with strict orders not to engage except in self defence. The results of the New Guard's first volley can be seen in this picture, the bodies of several members of the All for Australia League are clearly visible...
Turn 5 saw a few casualties on each side as they traded long shots. Also during this turn both sides drew men up to Senior Sergeant Turner's position effectively using them as a barrier!
All for Australia volunteers led by a hard core Brown Jacket advancing...
Turn 6 saw Fig Lane Park turn into a charnel house! To start the bloodletting several members of the New Guard taunted the Constabulary and once they became physically aggressive Turner and his men took action! Their defensive fore downed several members of the New Guard and they hesitate returning fire forgetting about their real opponents! Citizen Captain Lightfoot's boys took advantage of the New Guards setback and fired like mad inflicting heavy casualties!
Senior Sergeant Turner's men open fire on the New Guard in self defence the result is devastating for the new guard!
This view of the Constabulary defending themselves shows how close both factions were to Turner's checkpoint before tempers boiled over!
Distracted from their real enemy the New Guard kill all of Turners Constables!
Turner was saved as the All for Australia unit ran passed him to engage the disorganised New Guard in hand to hand the next turn!
Turn 7 and New Guard section leader Corporal Bruce Smith urge his unit forward and they sprinted for all their worth on the extreme right of the New Guard line. Suddenly they found themselves behind their enemy's lines and looking like reaching their objective!
The overall view of the battlefield at the end of Turn 7. The only intact New Guard unit not retiring out of view to the left is in the foreground between the two groups of trees. Top right of the picture Corporal Smith's New Guard unit can be seen only inches from their objective the edge of the table, All for Australia units can be seen in hot pursuit! Smith had benefited from a random event giving them an extra burst of speed...
Turns 8 though 9 saw the New Guard on the back foot with their rush to the table edge being defeated and the rest of their units withdrawing before the All for Australia storm! They still managed to inflict losses on the Lightfoots advancing force. Both sides men continued to pass morale checks despite taking appalling losses (mental note to me next game don't give these militia forces regular troops morale!)
The fight wasn't going entirely in favour for the All for Australia League, Turn 8 their end run along the table edge was halted by effective fire from the New Guard, the bodies can be seen piling up on the right of this picture!
The New Guards final stand, the last organised men formed up along Fig Lane Park's fence!
Turn 10 and the New Guard were holding a defensive line along the Park's fence line, in fact they did not have a right flank and Colonel Gout himself was moving his command to cover this spot! The All for Australia 101st battalion was at this point spent itself with several of Lightfoot's units completely dispersed. Only one relatively intact unit made a lung for the table edge but fell short and Lightfoot himself fell to the ground after being hit, he was dead instantly!
The six figures in the foreground of this picture are troops from the All for Australia side just falling short of exiting the table at the end of turn 10, the six figures behind them are from the New Guard trying to stop them!
Overall view of the battlefield at the end of the game!
Citizen Captain Lightfoot is hit while crossing the fence to exit Fig Lane Park in one of the last actions of the 'battle'!
Okay a very bloody draw! The game ended with no winner, not a single Victory Point was scored. Despite both sides advancing aggressively early on and each losing over two thirds of their strength neither was able to exit a unit.
So how did the updated rules work? Very well! Activations ran smoothly creating interesting actions and reactions and some tension! The new morale system tested well but still needed tweaking to suit. We discussed these further refinements to the morale and they will be in place for our next Great Antipodean Adventure game. I'll go through our new Frankenstein set of rules in a separate post and the reasoning behind the changes! Suffice to say now these revised rules are looking good for our future Great Antipodean Adventure games!
