AAR - IHMN 28-Jun

Well, it's taken me long enough, but finally, here is an after-action-report on my first game of In Her Majesty's Name, that happened on the 28-Jun at Farnborough Wargames Society against Andy and his Blue Tortoise Tong.

So here goes ... first of all we have group pics of the opposing Companies:

The Blue Tortoise Tong

Her Majesty's Martian Constabulary

As you can see, I included a Steam Carriage in my Company, complete with Machine Gun! Anyway, for the game, I provided the terrain and a sketch of a scenario.

The terrain was foamboard tiles from the WWG Mars Station set, with assorted resin pieces that I've picked up over the years scattered over the tiles. In the corner was the one part of the Maritan fort that I posted about here:  a-mars-day-keeps-you-busy. and here's a pic of it all laid out:

Field of battle ...

The tiles are 7 inch square, giving us a total battlespace of 35" x 35".

The scenario that I came up with was that the fort wall represented the edge of a newly discovered Martian ruin that was believed to hold unspecified ancient technology. The tong and HMMC were the first 2 companies to arrive at the site and whichever held possession of the fort wall at the end of the game was the winner.

Terrain accepted and scenario agreed, we got on with deployment. We agreed that the centre tile of the 2 sides without the wall would be our deployment areas, and, taking it in turns to put out figures, this is how it ended up:

Deployment completed

The dastardly Tong

The Constabulary ready to go!

As you can see in the above pic, Andy had created useful counters that were needed to remember various abilities and movement. I didn't take notes on what happened, so the report that follows is from memory (uh-oh!) prompted by the pictures ...

Turn 1 saw both companies spreading out; mindful of the scenario, I sent my senior company members on a 'left hook' heading for the fort while attempting to evade the tong. Andy picked up on this and did the same thing on the right, while his fanatic swordsmen headed straight towards the constables ...

Turn 2 saw the tong's fanatics closing with the constables ...

although by the end, one of the fanatics was in a precarious position!

Here is the whole board at the end of turn 2; as you can see, my fastest people had reached the fort's walls ...

However, after a couple of turns' worth of combat, things were looking bleak for HMMC. The good doctor was down and the out-numbered fanatic proved more than a match for the constables 

I managed to get more people onto the wall, but unfortunately, so did Andy! I was really trying to get his leader to use a mystical power on Sheldon Cooper-Holmes, just so I could reveal his impervious ability (i.e. immune to mystical powers). Alas, despite manoeuvring to keep him in the firing line, it was not to be :(

Meanwhile, outside the fort, things had gone from bad to worse for HMMC. Only Inspector Corbitt, Sergeant Barker and the carriage driver were still active ... the grenade thrown by one of the tong's masked minions had - thankfully! - failed to hurt the carriage.

Even worse, with the Sergeant now gone as well, Andy managed a 1-in-100 roll for the combat!

(The two masked minions were helping the fanatics, so only 2 dice were rolled)

Now desperate measures were required ... the steam carriage traversed its turret and began firing into the combat, hoping that the heroic inspector did not fall victim ...

(We decided that the MG should roll to hit all the combatants, including the Inspector!)

Meanwhile, on the fort's wall, it seemed that neither side could gain the upper hand ...

The intervention of the steam carriage had the desired effect and soon brought the Inspector's desperate fight to a more level situation ...

But then the Inspector's (or was it the Gunner's?) luck finally ran out, and the Inspector was also brought low by the hail of bullets ...

By the wall, it seemed that the survivors of HMMC had gained a (small!) tactical advantage, but here was where we ended the game.

Due to the steam carriage still being active, and more of the HMMC people in the fort, Andy was generous enough to concede the game to me.

However, I think that Andy played much more in the spirit of the game, than I did, so I think he deserved it more!

deatils of my company - Her Majesty's Martian Constabulary are here

Two Hour Wargames' 'Not-at-Historicon Sale'

As the title of the post says, Two Hour Wargames are running their "Not-at-Historicon sale" which gives 20% off their titles if you enter 'hist20' as a coupon code when checking out. I've taken advantage of it and got myself '5150 Star Navy', '5150 Fighter Command' and 'All Things Zombie - Mass Hysteria' (ATZ-MH)- all titles that I wanted, but wouldn't otherwise have bought ... so I guess the sale worked in pulling me in!

I've read the first few pages of ATZ-MH and am very much liking what I've seen so far! I think it's far more likely to be acceptable at the club that 'normal' ATZ, and it's got me thinking of 6mm Zombie Wars!

That's it for now - just wanted to publicise this sale for those of you not on the 2HW yahoo list

In other news:

• I am very much looking forward to tonight's game game of IHMN vs Andy, even though I'm not ready for it! I've yet to stat up my Company :(  but believe that I can do that in time - here's hoping anyway!
• Finally got Prof Mek-a'nik's Marvellous Mole Machine ready to use in tonght's game finished to an acceptable level last night - woo-hoo!

BUSY!, Tankfest 2013 and First IHMN Game ...

To start with - apologies for the extended gap between posts ... it's been really damn busy at work ... I mean really busy ...

Anyway, in the gap since the last post (just over 3 weeks!) other things have been happening ...

On 29th June I took my dad to the 2013 Tankfest at the Bovington Tank Museum - a cracking day which I would recommend for anyone interested in AFVs. I took a few piccies that I'm going to share with you ...

First up is pic of something I'd not seen before; it's a WW1 vintage Lee-Enfield rifle with a side mounted sniper scope that one of the re-enactors had. I've only ever seen top-mounted scopes before, and this was very intriguing. The re-enactor also told me that the British scopes were the worst among the major combatants, with the Germans being the best ...

Next is the replica British MkIV WW1 tank that the museum had recently acquired (IIRC). Apparently it was made for the (relatively) recent film War Horse and then donated to the museum. Virtually hidden behind it, is the replica German A7V; that has been made out of wood and (IMO) is not really very convincing as a result. Still, I feel bound to say, that it's a damn sight better than I could have done, so kudos to the builders of it!

Although I didn't watch the arena displays - spending nearly all my time inside the museum - I did get this photo of the Mk IV trundling it's way around the arena - very impressive!

Then there was this vehicle (I can't remember waht it was though!). I took this pic, as I'd never seen the RAF roundel used as a recognition sign before ... IIRC it was used in Italy (& perhaps elsewhere).  If I ever get anywhere with WW2 figures, I may well use this on some of my vehicles, just to be a bit different!

Here we have a pic of an information board telling you how armoured trains were used in Britain during WW2. I knew that the Soviets and Nazis used armoured trains, but was unaware they had been used in the UK. I took this to remind me - and to keep the info in it - as a possible addition to my 15mm VBCW project (if it ever progresses beyond the undercoated figure stage!). I thought some of you might find it interesting as well (yes you Clint!).

Finally there are two more pics, both for VBCW. First is the information board to the left describing how in 1940 (at the height of the possible invasion period) trucks were armoured with concrete to try and fill the AFV deficiency. Apparently they were so heavy that they were more (slightly!) mobile pillboxes than 'tanks'.

And to the right is a recreation of the vehicle described in the board. I took this for the camouflage pattern and colours, as I plan to try and make (at least) one of these for VBCW (perhaps sponsored by "Jones' Butchers")

My next post will be an AAR of my first game of IHMN which was on 28th June. It featured my company - Her Majesty's Martian Constabulary:

against Andy's "Blue Tortoise Tong":

More on that next time! (which should be less than 3 weeks ... )

In other news:

• My second game of IHMN is arranged for this coming Friday, and I intend to use a different company -probably "Professor Mek-a'nik and his Metallic Minions", but that may change
• I've been making slow progress on my Martian terrain; more on that after the upcoming AAR (or two!)