First Play: In Her Majesty's Name

With Lenin having picked up both a copy of In Her Majesty's Name and some troops in home service uniform from Redoubt it seemed like a good opportunity to get both to the table.

We had an impromptu little scenario with Allan Quatermain and Mina Harker accompanied by some soldiers investigating the odd goings on at a nearby manor.

With reports of the owner having mania for Egyptology and having recently passed away under mysterious circumstances it was a mad scramble to recover any artefacts of interest before they fell into the hands of the infamous Baron!

The Quatermain Harker party approach the manor

The Baron and his minions arrive at the rear

Careful now Mrs Harker...

The Egyptian unleashes the mummies

The Cultists move around the other side

Alright men - let them have it!

Fighting over the sarcophagus

Mummy melee

Allan Quatermain enters the manor

The Baron decrypts one of the inscriptions

Turns out that mummies don't like it up them either...

The final showdown for the Baron

As with some of the other Osprey wargames offerings in this series, these rules aren't earth shattering in their novelty but provided an interesting game nonetheless.  At the end we were still undecided as to whether they had enough going for them to be added to our regular rules or whether future games of this type would be better served using the recent releases from Crooked Dice - watch this space...

Wargames Weekend: Mission - The Manor

Our penultimate game was another alternative history outing, this time set in World War 2. Set as part of Operation Sealion, I played a platoon of Fallschirmjaeger intent on capturing The Manor, a British communications centre. Lenin took charge of the small force defending it.

Everything went quite well with me advancing the section on the right flank up to the road followed by the centre section. Then some fool in the left hand section managed to get spotted coming out of the woods and the game was up! So instead of finding the Manor with only light defences the entire defending force was stood to waiting for me.

My first attempt to get an MG34 out of the woods to cover the perimeter was a bit of a fiasco. So I decided on a more co-ordinated approach which did draw plenty of fire but left me with some troops in a position to return fire. My MG34s managed to keep the Brit's heads down and I sent a small party forward to cut the barbed wire fence on the right. After that it was a desperate holding action for the defenders, hoping to give the communications room enough time to destroy the code books, equipment and the like.

Reinforcements from the local Home Guard turned up, better late than never. But had been spotted by one of my men and so came under some heavy fire when they tried to advance and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and withdrew.

So the Manor and what remained of its equipment and documents fell into the hands of the Reich despite the valiant efforts of the defenders.

The Manor itself is my Grand Manner building with the figures mostly from Foundry. We used our favourite WW2 rules, Nuts! from Two Hour Wargames.

Wargames Weekend: The Glencleave Incident

On the Saturday we started off with a little bit of alternative history with the dastardly Hun trying to start the Great War early. The basic premise was a German agent had discovered the secret location of the Committee for National Defence's meeting, at Glencleave castle in Scotland, and the Germans decided this was an excellent opportunity to kill or capture the committee and steal the plans. It was also a chance to try out some of their new fangled landing craft!So dawn breaks and a German torpedo boat and two landing craft appear out of the mist heading for the beach by the castle. The two British sentries don't notice the intruders until the torpedo boat is about to dock at the small jetty and the landing craft have hit the beach behind a small copse. The Germans set up an MG08 on the jetty to cover the castle walls and their infantry advance through the woods. Meanwhile the sentries have raised the alarm but the small castle garrison takes quite a while to react!

Fortunately for the British, whilst the Germans have set up their covering positions, they seem to lack the aggressive spirit for a quick assault. This gives the small garrison the chance to get into a position to cover the main gate. It takes a little while for the Germans to blow the gate and their engineers take a couple of casualties in the process. Then the main assault begins with the first German section streaming through the gate and into rifle fire from the chaps covering the gate. After some brief but bloody close combat the Germans are repulsed.

Eventually the Germans find the initiative to make a second assault and, whilst they inflict quite a few more casualties on the garrison they are thrown back again. Unfortunately for the Brits the third German assault overwhelms the defenders are they are forced back to the castle keep.

Meanwhile the committee have been furiously trying to stuff the defence plans into the furnace in order to stop them falling into enemy hands.

The few remaining castle troops try to hold out in the keep but once the door is blown the superior German numbers eventually wear them down and despite a staunch defence from the committee themselves they are almost all put out of action.

The remainder of the British force, which was based in the nearby village of Glencleave, now arrives but is pinned down by German machine gun fire. A fire fight ensues with the retreating Germans, with their prisoners and what was left of the plans, trying to fall back to the landing craft under British rifle fire whilst being covered by their own machine guns.

An outflanking manoeuvre through the woods by a brave British NCO silenced one of the German guns but not in time to stop the others steaming away.

Fortunately for Britain the whole thing was a complete blind set up by our fledgling intelligence services and the captured committee members turns out to be an actor. With both sides being a little embarrassed by the whole incident it is all hushed up...

All the figures, with the exception of the boat crews and the committee members, were from the Renegade Miniatures WW1 range with the castle from Hudson & Allen.

1938: A Very British Civil War - The Source Book

Having spotted various posts on the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour on a British Civil War in an alternative 1930's and having an interest in the inter-war period this booklet was a must.

Solway Crafts and Miniatures have published the source book by Dr Rob Jones, Steven Mortimore and Simon Douglas and are making it available through their eBay shop. The 48 page booklet is glossy with colour photographs and illustations throughout (although the resolution of some of the images could have been better - a little blurry for my liking).

The source book, which is not rules specific, provides a background for an alternative history where Edward VIII did not abdicate and caused a constitutional crisis leading to a civil war. The run up to the conflict is nicely laid out and then short sections are included on each of the various factions covering their organisation, arms & equipment, uniforms and rule possibilities. These are then followed by 10 scenarios, a couple of pages of just photos, suggestions for figures and a quick "Over to You" section.

This is a fascinating period of history and the booklet provides a background and sufficient information for a few games; however, it clear the intent is to provide a jumping off point for gamers to develop their own specific ideas focussed on their own particular areas of interest.

I did find the sections on each faction are a little repetitive in places but the inclusion of illustations for the various flags and banners was a lovely touch and the photos, which are mainly of painted 28mm figures certainly demonstrate the possibilities.

I really enjoyed the ideas included in the source book and it has certainly got me thinking about gaming in the 1938 world. I found the book provided just enough information for me to make it useable (give me the kick start I would need to actually get a game to the table) but no so much as to constrain any creative ideas of your own.

If you are looking for an alternative to the historical conflicts of the period and would like something closer to home then this may be the book for you. It retails for £10.99 plus £1.50 P&P.