The Battle of Whitby

 A few miles outside of York was the small town of Whitby. Local militia had been formed when news reached them of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) raging across the Isles tormenting anyone who would not give their allegiance to King Edward VII. They didn't have much to fight with, but when the local police threw themselves behind the BUF movement, the militia successfully chased them to hold out in the Police building. Then word arrived that a BUF force was approaching Whitby. A fight was coming.

The community of Whitby. Militia HQ was set up in the tavern Admiral Benbow (large white building nearly center). The Police Building is seen at the top edge of the table, directly above the Benbow. The Fascists are coming from that direction...

Acting Captain (elected by the militia) Smythe is seen flanked by the Militia's Battleflag. He has positioned his heaviest weapon, a Vickers HMG behind the barricade, sighted down the main street through town...

The BUF forces are lead by a Rolls Royce Armored Car (bottom). The Police Building is to the left...

The Rolls Royce opens fire with its own HMG, and takes down one of the Militia's HMG crew. Notice the Buff troops in background...

In the Rail Yards, a Militia squad (l) resists the advancing enemy (r)...

The Fascists (who turn out to be British Auxiliaries) eyeballing the Militia and the station-house which appears to house some more enemies (The will turn out to be members of the Home Guard)...

The Militia spring their ambush, as rifle shots strike down the BUF, and molotov cocktails hit the AC...

As the BUF attempt to outflank the Militia, they are brought under fire and have become 'Jumpy' a drop in morale...

The Militia squad, led by 'ole 'major' Lyemouth, charge the battered auxiliaries and destroy them...

These BUF have become suppressed (yellow cap)...

But for the BUF, it gets worse. a Second molotov finishes off the AC, while more BUF are shot down in the street. The inexperience of their commander shows, as he continues to march his men straight down the street into intense fire...

Finally, the BUF can take no more, and they retreat from Whitby! The ill-trained Militia have held their village...

But the fight is not over and there isn't much time to celebrate, as BUF forces are reorganized and reinforced for a second effort...

On their left flank, are more militia, Police and a unit of Regular Army...

The Defenders at the barricade and in the Church yard. Unfortunately for the defenders, they will pull a random event on the first turn which will restrict the unit with a lack of ammo. They therefore will only fire when fire upon! (As it turns out, they will never shoot in this game!)...

At the barricade, the militia have their HMG (l) one squad, (c) and Captain Smythe himself (r) awaiting the countterattack...

Finally, on the militia's right flank is one squad at the hedge, with a half-squad still in the Station House...

Unfortunately there are no more photos, but the game turned into a very exciting struggle. The BUF forces turned out to be to strong (and it didn't help that 1/3 of the defenders couldn't be utilized) and would succeed in taking Whitby this time around. There was a great finish at the end with Captain Smythe, the Flag bearer, and the HMG with one surviving gunner, and two more militiamen. Just as the Captain asked his gunner to remain and give them cover fire for the others, BUF troops stormed into the Benbow Inn and up the stairs. Smythe was able to gun one of the attackers down as he, the flag bearer and two militiamen escaped down the stairs and into the lower courtyard. The BUF then fired at the retreating militiamen, taking down the bearer of the Militia flag. Smythe bravely recovered the flag and was able to escape! The rear guard HMG gunner stayed at his post till the end. He was eventually attacked in his upstairs room by three enemy troopers. He survived two turns, taking down one until he was finally overwhelmed on the third turn! A game Legend is born!

A Very British Civil War VBCW

 Something a little different. A couple of years ago, I discovered something called the VBCW. Purchased a few figures and many of the booklets that covered this hypothetical campaign. But it didn't go anywhere.  Until now. More will follow but, but here is a small preview. A British Vickers Independent Tank (only one actually manufactured) and some British Home Guard figs...

A squad of Lowland Scots with their Platoon Command behind and a  Rolls Royce Armored Car...

Some Highlander regulars...

One of the intriguing possibilities of this campaign, is the almost unlimited opportunities to bring out those funky vehicles and tanks that abounded between the two Wars. Added to that is the varied units that make up the VBCW. It promises to be a great deal of fun, so we'll see...

Invasion of Malaya, Dec 10, 1941: The Battle of Changlun

 Going to use the Chain of Command rules and their mini-campaign "A Driving Charge: Breaking the Jitra Line, 1941", covering the early days and struggles near Jitra located in northern Malaya.

It is December 10, 1941, remembering the this is west of the International Dateline, so the Pearl Harbor attack took place on Dec 8. Looking south over the Rubber Plantation at the bottom hiding advanced elements of the the Japanese 5th Division's Reconnaisance Regiment commanded by Colonel Saeki. At the top of the photo, are the British/Indian positions (1/14 Punjab under Lt. Colonel Fitzpatrick) behind a flooded river, just south of the village of Changlun. The entire area south (bottom) of the river is jungle (although we've kept it fairly light so as to permit gaming). Engineers are already preparing the bridge for demolition as the game begins. You can just make out advanced Japanese troops in the rice paddy upper right...

The Punjabi have constructed some slit trenches facing the river at the bridge for one squad (upper left), while a second squad (lower left) has taken some fire from advancing Japanese across the river (out of view to left, but mentioned previously)...

The Japanese previously mentioned...

A second Japanese squad emerges from the Rubber trees and rushes across the cleared ground towards the bridge (hidden behind the small patch of jungle at top) They take the first loss from the Punjabi fire...

The Punjabi take the Japanese HMG under fire...successfully...

To the nw of the bridge, fire is exchanged between the Japanese and Punjabi with casualties on both sides. A Japanese mortar barrage is falling on the Punjabi near the bridge (note cotton ball)...

Indian casualties are beginning to mount...

The Japanese make their first assault on the bridge and inflict some casualties but are driven back 9hidden in jungle patch at bottom)...

The Punjabi mortar causes some loss among the Japanese HMG located at the edge of the Rubber trees...

But the squad of Punjabi to the west of the bridge are being chopped up!...

The Engineers had now completed their preparations (but according to the rules, the British commander now had to roll x5 5s on the Command dice! That was going to be very difficult as the Japanese had already stormed the Punjabi position at the bridge. They were driven back, and took further losses from cover fire...

View of the Japanese following their second retreat...

The Punjabi troops to the west of the bridge were now broken and forced to retreat...

With the Japanese preparing to attack again, and casualties mounting, the British commander had to order his men to retire before they were overrun! The bridge will not be destroyed! So close...

the campaign continues...

The Struggle begins on Skyren

 Planet Skyren is host to extremely various climates, from thick jungle on its equator belt to deserts and Ice Polar regions. It has been unaware of a small Chaos presence hiding in the jungle regions. In fact, a squad-sized Krieg patrol has disappeared. A search team consisting of four squads is dispatched to locate the men. It will contain one squad each of Catachan, local PDF, and two squads of Cadians... 

A view of the battlefield, looking over the Chaos positions towards the Imperials opposite. The ruins at bottom represent the Chaos staging area. The jungle is extremely thick Moving off trail one must roll 6d for a movement of 1-6")..

The Cultists are discovered asone scout tears into some mutants...

The second column of Catachan warriors locates the missing Krieg men...theyve been turn into walking nightmares...the dead! The scout here dispatches numerous monstrosities before he too is wounded...

His fellow Catachan wade into the former Krieg, destroying them utterly...

Returning to the first group, the scout here finishes off the mutants but has taken two of his three wounds...

Cultists appear before the Catachans but are swiftly dealt with...

With the other column, more cultists take down the wounded scout, but an Imperial Psycher, in turn dispatched them...

The Catachans are attacked by a band of Chaos Marines and they take serious losses! They do eliminate numerous Marines in a hard fight...

With intelligence gained of the loss of Krieg but the discovery of a serious Chaos presence, the remaining Catachan sell their lives dearly, enabling the rest of the column to withdrawal successfully back to Imperial lines...

The fight for Skyren will continue!

The Orks Evacuate the Hulk

Da Big Boss decided that it was better to move off the Hulk and locate better Warrrg grounds. Three different Clans held two Roks each with a small number of escorts would attempt to fight their way out...

 On the right sector, a Kill Kroozer with three Onslaught Attack ships face off against two Nyd Cruisers, six Kraken in order to screen their Roks (off photo to left)

The Greenskins strike first and destroy one Kraken...

On the left sector, the Orks take down another Kraken...

But then one of the Onslaughts on the left is vaporized Note the Rok on right....

Staying on the left sector, the Tyranids press through the Greenskins escorts to bring the Roks under fire...

The Orks lose all their escorts on the left! The Roks are seen in the upper right...

Back to the right sector, a torpedo attack will take down a second Kraken. while six Brut Ram (l) ships move in to attack...

The torpedo strikes home...

Still on the right sector, the Kill Kroozer and Ram ships try desperately to screen their Roks. One Nid Kraken is destroyed (l-Kraken sits on top off Burst marker)as a Ram ship makes contact...

The Orks Ram ships succeed in destroying two Kraken, but they lose their Kill Krooser and three other Ram  ships!

On the right sector, the Tyranids close in on a Rok (its doomed)and the remaining Kill Krooser...

The Tyranids swarming all around a second Rok...

As the Kill Krooser attempts to fight off its tormentors, The Roks (which are the slowest moving unit on the table) are trying to escape while one takes numerous strikes...

Two Roks left now; can any make it! The Kill Krooser has been slowed so much it can't even escape the blast markers...

Closing in on one Rok...

The three remaining Ram ships have circled around in an attempt to save the Roks, but although they make a strike, another Rok is lost. one remains...

Despite the close approach and attack by a Nyd Cruiser, the remaining Rok escapes! Note the heavily damage Kill cruiser (t) is limping away...

So only one Rok escaped the carnage! It will steer towards the planet Skyren and try to land the surviving Evil Sunz Boyz...