08/03/07 - The High Ground: with points awarded to the membership in exactly the same fashion normally used for the club's American Civil War tournament, but this time with a battle set in the middle of the Franco Prussian War.

At right, French infantry and North African Turcos fortify a farmhouse/village, one is never exactly certain of the ground scale in the club's games. Despite its prodigious defenses this feature isn't really worth many victory points to the French commander, as it is deep within his rear area off to the left flank.

At right, congestion in the Prussian center. On the left artillery and heavy cavalry try to squeeze just that extra bit of movement from the main road, represented here by the not so photogenic white masking tape. In the center and on the right, several Prussian infantry brigades maneuver in order to both advance on the French AND stay off of the road. This is shortly before 'All the French Cavalry in the World' erupts onto the scene. Subsequent to which event Haptman von Lewis remarked, "We really do seem to be outnumbered. Why are we attacking here?"

Not shown, just to the left of the previous photograph, Uber Brigade Commandant von Bratwurst (because Bratwurst is German for Weenie - sort of) launches an infantry assault on some French troops cowering in a wood. It is only after the charge begins that a French sub commander informs him that his poor eyesight has caused him to misinterpret the nature of the French troop stands. What Bratwurst thought were decorative command stands turn out to be several units of Miltrailleuse. (That's hand cranked machine guns for wives/girlfriends/civilians.) Needless to say, von Bratwurst's attack did not develop as he had hoped.

At right, more French infantry in another fortified farm/village. However, this geographic feature is on the right flank, and deep within the Prussian deployment area. Consequently it is worth many, many victory points to the French commander. The umpire did not expect a French success on this flank, but after a series of Prussian attacks (in very unexpected formations) and some very impressive dice rolls on the part of the French subcommander, the entire Prussian flank collapsed and fled in disorder. The Prussian subcommander would have received more criticism had not all the Germans in the center and on the right flank been running away with equal speed.

08/10/07 - The Mexican Revolution: An actual bank robbery conducted during the club's excursion into the Wild West. At right, the main street of Agua Prieta. The small brick building on the right is the bank. Behind the bank the large yellow structure, which manages to show up in almost all the club's Wild West games, is the Cowtown Hotel. Beyond the Cowtown Hotel, and in its shadow, is the headquarters of the local police. At the end of the street the large white compound is the Federale barracks.

At right, a closer view of the Federale barracks, revealing that the model was obviously some sort of mission before it was appropriated by the club to serve as decorative terrain. Please take note of the lovely fountain in the center of the courtyard, and the two Federales responding to an alarm from the bank. Actually, the alarm hasn't sounded yet, so at this point perhaps the infantrymen are just out for a stroll with their Mauser 98 rifles in hand?

Below, Joe Hill and Elfeugo Baca across the street from the bank.

The 'Gap Tooth Gang' or maybe the 'Donavan Gang,' perhaps it would be more elegant to say 'Gap Tooth Donavan and his gang' embark upon their plan to loot the bank using the by now traditional diversion of stampeding cattle down mainstreet. Frequent readers may remember at least three past games in which this very same ploy was attempted, frequently with disastrous results for the criminal neredowells. However, this time the plan actually seemed to work, with terrified bovines serving to isolate the bank from the police station, the Federale barracks, and even the saloon across the street. At right, a local citizen (and a non-player character) is trapped in the stampede whilst stunned union organizers look on from the Saloon.

At right, more gang members position themselves on the balcony of the Land Office and blaze away at the lone policeman who has retreated to the roof of the bank. To the right of the office Joe Hill, a local union organizer, is crossing in front of the alley. This position necessitated much discussion on the part of the membership, because one of the gang members was at the end of the alley and he wanted to 'Plug the guy in the overcoat.' After much heated argument it was decided that shooting at Joe would not be a violation of "The Code of the West," because even though the figure was presenting its back to the alley the character's movement indicated that he was not being 'backshot' but only 'sideshot.' (If that is in fact a valid term of western gunplay.) Perhaps this might be a good point at which to explain the dice next to each figure. Members have complained that the rules system, with its use of cards for determining movement turns, often forces characters to remain immobile for the majority of a game. The ingenious umpire thought that if each figure received a dice that was incremented each turn then characters which had not moved on a turn could roll against the dice and if the result was equal or less than that on the dice marker, then the character would be allowed to move even without having turned up the necessary card. This idea merits further experimentation, because early in the game the umpire dropped Joe Hill's movement card on the floor without noticing it, and the only way Mr Hill managed to move for the rest of the game was through use of these dice markers.

At right, half way between the bank and the Federale barracks is the 'Jizumnasium.' Clearly some sort of western entertainment emporium. Lying in the street, partially obscured by the tree, is a wounded Federale whose trip from barracks to bank has been prematurely terminated by one of the American bandits.

Much to the umpire's surprise, the robbery was a howling success with the bandits escaping under the heavy burden of numerous money sacks, and none of them were kilt... On the other hand, one of the members who was supposed to be running a non-player policeman cut a deal with the bandit leader, betrayed law and order south of the border, and began firing at his fellow law enforcement officers while everyone was still inside the police station. The model building was very small, so the numerous players involved were forced to keep track of their movement on a small piece of notebook paper as they spent the entire game blazing away at each other inside a building that was only 3 inches square. And again, no one was kilt.

At right, the lone policeman who defended - heroicly, but unsuccessfully - the bank whilst his compatriots shot it out inside their own police station.

08/17/07 - AK-47: For those new to this rules set it appears to be a simple and quick way to recreate Third World conflicts specializing in Africa of the post colonial 1960's. Players spend points on building their combat force, then save some points to spend on a sort of flow chart that lets them improve their troops, or inconvenience their opponents. Then the game is played for a number of turns mandated by more dice rolls by the defender. Then any points left over from the beginning of the game are used to buy more dice rolls which are added to the victory points won by seizing terrain features. Got that! Good. On to the game.

At right, an actual 'Helicopter Shot.' Well, at least for the very first time there is a helicopter in the shot. To the left 'US Backed, Military Totalitarian' warlord troops move forward against 'Religious Fanatic Anarcho-Syndicalist' rebels. At least that's how the editor remembers the titles of the various sides in the game. Perhaps from now on we'll just refer to them as Warlord and Rebel troops. In the oasis behind the hill, and partially hidden by that helicopter, the most aggressive of the rebel troops have already suffered casualties. Mostly from the detestable helicopter.

At right, rebel infantry shuffle sideways across the front of a built up area after pummeling Warlord infantry with small arms fire. The inverted stands to the left are the unfortunate Warlord troops who are either dead, wounded, or just very frightened. I forget which. Meanwhile, Rebel tanks maneuver around the north side of the skyscrapers. The Rebels are feeling pretty cocky, as all the terrain features with victory points are way off to the right of the photo, and the Warlord units are all coming in from the left. At this point one should describe the mounting disbelief on the part of the umpire. It was his opinion that the game would only last a few turns, but the Rebel commander kept rolling 1's on his 'End the Game Now' test. So the game just kept going, and getting better and better for the Warlord troops. Did I mention that the Rebels kept failing their reinforcement dice rolls?

At right, now follow me here, from top to bottom; somebody's drink, the oasis from the very first photo now containing only the few survivors of the Rebels most aggressive unit, the Rebel's most magical and exotic unit (which received all sorts of combat bonuses from the pre-game dice rolls) rushing towards the middle oasis, a Warlord infantry and tank unit blasting the aforementioned Rebels with long range fire, an empty bowl that previously contained salty and unhealthy snack foods.

Shortly after this photo was taken the Rebel commander, in a sportsmanlike gesture, reminded one of the Warlord subcommanders that if he only moved his helicopter over that hill to the right, then the rebels could not claim the hill as an uncontested victory condition. The helicopter promptly moved over the hill, and into point blank range of the Rebel tanks from photo #2, which where hidden from the 'Helicopter Player' because of the location of the built up area. The Rebels were still down some 20 points, but they rolled so well in the 'Post Game Dice Roll, None of the Members Really Quite Understood What Was Going On Phase,' that they won the game.

08/24/07 - Colonel Winky's Colonial Campaign: Now famed in both story and song, at least within our club's colonial campaign, 'The Ashanti Game.' At right, from the British side of the table, her majesty's forces in Ashantiland move forward in a formation guaranteed to prevent the nefarious natives from slipping around one of the flanks. The Grenadier Guards, strangely, are on the left with many sailors and Royal Marines in the center.

Now keep in mind that according to the rules the Ashantis shoot poorly, because they tended to load their muskets with buckshot for hunting monkeys, and fight in close combat with something like a wooden soup spoon. (Actually, I think that they must not have even had the spoon, based upon their abysmal hand to hand combat rating.) So the King of the Ashantis decided to concentrate on the British left flank in the hopes that the British commander might misinterpret this as only part of the native host when it was in fact almost the entire male population of Ashantiland. At right, the intended targets of the native attack, the Grenadier Guards.

Below, the natives wait until the Guards march into a clearing, discharge their muskets using the 'not quite so awful first time shooting column' on the muketry chart, and then rush them from all sides. With each passing turn more Ashanti appear as the native players whisper not to quietly about their enourmous quantitiy of units in reserve. Below right, member states in disbelief at the Ashanti assault.

At right, 80% of the Ashanti army press the survivors of the Guards back towards... the beer bottle, um... towards their own camp. Meanwhile, far to the left of the photo, and industrious Ashanti subchief is spending enormous amounts of time and effort making many off table moves and tracking many units on his hidden movement map. There is, in fact, only one more native unit remaining and it is just to he left of the photo. However, through the use of just 2 skirmishers and some very theatrical bookkeeping he has convinced the British commander that he is maneuvering forces in excess of several Soviet tank divisions.

No photo available, a succession of native survivors from the Ashanti's first assault nip around the British left flank and seize the decorative bell tents (to bad we don't have a photo, they really are lovely models) representing the British base camp. There's not really very much that they can do with their depleted numbers, but they're hoping that British fire will accident;y ignite their own ammunition reserves. This most cunning of natives ploys did not quite pan out, but they came very close on some of the dice rolls.

At right, to the left of the photo 3/4 of the Grenadier Guards colonel as he pulls back the left flank under continued, but flagging, Ashanti pressure. In the center the, obviously stunned at his own unexpected success, King of the Ashanti contemplates his good fortune. Off the bottom of the photo the British right flank has pulled back to defend the camp. Shortly after this the British commander withdrew back down his line of supply, convinced that he was facing vastly superior forces. However, there were only 19 more natives on the table than imperial troopers. Clearly an engagement won through luck, guile, and theatrical off table map movement.