The Spoiling Attack Set Up Details - Bonus The Russian Are Coming Campaign Game

Here are the set up details and special rules for the bonus scenario I've now included in my The Russians Are Coming Campaign. This game will not be play tested as it is simply to reacquaint myself with the Colony At War Rule Set, it should be pretty balanced I've played similar sized games before (famous last words there!). Also it will be good to have the South Australians 'having at' the Russian Invaders again!

The Volunteers of the Adelaide Rifle's under the Leadership of Captain Beach form up to assault the Russians, Hurrah!

The Forces:

Russians Defending with Three Units:

Officer (Captain Mordvichev) fires and melees as Trained

Fleet Sailors fire and melee as Raw, their Army NCO fires and melees as Trained

Reinforcements

Army Section 1 NCO (Sergeant Viktor Sokolov) 9 Privates fire and melee as Trained

Army Section 2 NCO (Sergeant Andrey Pankin) 9 Privates fire and melee as Trained

South Australians Attacking with Four Units:

Officer (Captain Beach) fires and melees as Trained

All the below fire as Trained and melee as Raw

Adelaide Rifles Section 1 NCO (Sergeant Chris Watson) and 7 Privates

Adelaide Rifles Section 2 NCO (Sergeant George Reid) and 7 Privates

Adelaide Rifles Section 3 NCO r (Lieutenant Andrew Fisher) and 7 Privates

Adelaide Rifles Section 4 NCO (Sergeant Joseph Cook) and 7 Privates

Deployment:

South Australians: All Section deploy along Taylors Road

Russians:

Fleet sailors with the Officer Deploy in and around the Entrenchment

Army Section 1 Enters Turn 3 Table Edge behind the Entrenchment

Army Section 2 Enters Turn 5 Table Edge behind the Entrenchment

Game Length:

The game ends after 10 turns then victory conditions are checked unless a sides units are all broken before this time

Victory Conditions:

At the game end if it plays out for a full 10 turns the South Australians MUST have complete control of the Russians Entrenchment with no intact Russian Unit within 15cm of it, any other result is a Russian Victory!

Special Rules:

Note there are no Special rules for this Scenario.

 Next time the Spiling Attack AAR

Bonus Campaign Game Details - The Russian are Coming Campaign

I'm getting ready to play the Seventh Game of my Russians Are Coming Campaign! This game covers a final great assault by the Russians on the South Australians as they attempt a major attack to capture the metropolis of Adelaide, it includes every figure I have in my South Australian Colonial collection. As it’s been so long since I've used my Colonies at War rules I’ve decided to play a small refresher game before going onto the larger one. So yes an extra scenario in The Russians Are Coming Campaign but is won’t yield any Victory Points to either side.

Captain Beach of the Adelaide Rifles considers his option on the morning of August 28 1879...

Background…

The early morning of Thursday August 28 1879 was fine and the day promised to be clear and very hot! Captain Beach of the Adelaide Rifles was surprised to hear gunfire to the south of his position along the Great Taylors Road Defence Line he had been given no information of any offensive action for the day in his orders. As his men eagerly devoured their breakfast he thought hard and used his spy glass to survey the situation, he could see gun smoke on and around Hill 15. He looked pensively at his fob watch and frowned in deep thought. After mulling on the situation he decided to act! On his own initiative he decided to launch his men forward in a spoiling attack to pin the Russians facing him, this would ensure they could not redeploy to assist their brethren who were currently under attack nearby! He hollered summoning his Sergeants he told them they were to assemble their men as soon as their repast was complete and form them up for action, they were going to launch an assault on the Russian line! The excited NCOs moved off quickly to gather the men of the Adelaide Rifles, their chance for glory had arrived and they were eager to take it!

Within half an hour later the massed force of the Adelaide Rifles under Captain Beach's command cheered then rose as one from their entrenchments at the shrill sound of Captain's whistle, they then advanced westward with the Sun at their backs…

Some Stuff!

The OOBs and AAR are to follow soon! On a slightly different topic I’ve realised I never posted the AAR for game Six in The Russians are Coming Campaign 🫨 I’ll need to rectify that as soon an I can find the pictures, they must be on my old phone 😟!

Next Time; Most probably The OOBs and AAR of the Bonus The Russians Are Coming Campaign Scenario, but maybe even the OOB and AAR of Game Six of The Russians Are Coming Campaign, all depends on finding those damn pictures 😀!

Pig Tickler Miniatures - Pick that Regiment!

Just clearing up the Units to which my Pig Tickling contingent are drawn from this time Dear Reader, there has been a bit of confusion as to what Regiments are portrayed! 

The Great 1911 British Coronation Procession Pig Tickling Tournament

During the 1911 British Coronation Procession for King George V and Queen Mary it was decided to field a Grand Pig Tickling Contest, the largest ever seen! A selection of the best ‘Ticklers’ were drawn from the Yeomanry Regiments and the Guards. A grand playing field was erected in the centre of Hyde Park including a Royal Pavilion. The day after the Procession the Tournament began in earnest, there’ll be more on that later. As an aside the 1911 Pig Tickling Tournament was the last to employ Steam Powered Pigs, after this the porkers as they were affectionately known were converted back to their original clockwork mechanisms, the Stokers were replaced with Master Clock Smiths!

Our Pig Ticking Cast…

Left to right…

The North Irish Horse (Yeomanry)

The Northamptonshire Yeomanry

The Hertfordshire Yeomanry

Left to right…

The Lincolnshire Yeomanry

The Westmorland & Cumberland Yeomanry

The City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders)

Left to right…

The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry

The King’s Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry)

The Foot Guards (given an honorary Yeomanry placement)

Left to right…

The Nottinghamshire Imperial Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers)

The Essex Yeomanry

The Lovat Scouts Yeomanry

Left to right…

Stoker with Coal Bucket, Billy

Umpire on Unicycle, Captain George Flashman (retired)

Steam Powered Pig, Terry

Stoker with Shovel, Gunga

These figures beside being used for Pig Ticking will be employed in my VSF games, in fact they are to used to form a combined Light Unicycled Unit in my next VSF foray where the finest British Redcoasts will engage in some Biffo with a lot of unsavoury Continental Types! 😊

Next Time: An AAR filled with Action and Derring-do…Smashing What!

Intrepid Explorer & Man of Action Captain Darling Spotted!

Well Dear Reader your patience has been rewarded! There is news on Captain Darling and his absence from the Blogosphere may soon end!

It has come to light that recently three glass photographic plates wrapped in period broadsheets and identified as being from Stump & Co have surfaced in Cape Town, South Africa. It was known that a photographer from Stump & Co was in the retinue of Captain Darling’s 1890 foray to Africa. The images on the plates purportedly show the good Captain and members from his infamous ‘Lost Expedition’ of 1890! These plates were quickly dispatched to Adelaide, South Australia where the Antipodean Explorers Club had them printed, what was revealed was amazing and has resulted in a follow up Safari to be organised to retrace his steps and locate him and his loyal band!

It has been quite a time since our intrepid Hero departed South Australia from Port Adelaide accompanied by his good lady, Kathryn and a small group of like minded Explorers aboard the iron hulled steamship Marlborough. He intended to lead his small band on a Safari into the deepest depths of the Dark Continent in search of Adventure, Fame and Treasure (not necessarily in that order). The Expedition was to commence their trek into the impenetrable jungles of Central Africa after disembarking at docks of Mombasa, a native contingent had been arranged to meet them in advance via cable.

Unfortunately since leaving the shores of South Australia there has been no word from Captain Darling nor from the iron hulled steamship the Marlborough. Interestingly though the prearranged native contingent was seen by eye witnesses accompanied by Westeners leaving Mombasa! The identities of these ‘Westeners’ has not been confirmed!

We will wait with baited breath on news from the new Relief Expedition!

This is the second of the photographs developed and this version was included in the South Australian broadsheet, The Adelaide Tribune. It appears to show Captain Darling’s good lady, Kathryn in a perilous situation in the hands of savage natives…

The copy of The Adelaide Tribune featuring this photograph!

Below are the actual photographs commissioned by the Antipodean Explorers Club…

The first photographs in the series includes Captain Darling, Kathryn and a part of the Native Contingent in a campsite dealing with a Native Chieftain, everything appears to be peaceful and there are no signs of any trouble or dangers…or is there!

This photograph is a section of the second plate, the full version was printed by The Adelaide Tribune. This version clearly shows a female resembling Captain Darling’s partner Kathryn along with some decidedly unfriendly looking Savages and their masked Priest!

The last of the three plates when printed revealed an act of derring-do! It portrays Captain Darling leaping into action and dispatching the local savages and rescuing Kathryn from her perilous situation…

Going to try and get back on track with Blogging in 2026, both this and the TSOG Blogs will be brought up to speed so stay tuned! Below are a couple of the original diorama type pictures used in the above narrative!

Can I just finally wish all my Readers a Joyous Festive Season and a Happy start to the Year 2026!

Next Time; Something astounding no doubt!