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 couple 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 form them up, 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!

Creating Bacon Field the Home of the Pig Tickler Tournament

Well now that I have the miniatures for a Pig Tickler Tournament I will be needing a play field. The rules say you should go with a 60cm diameter 'oval' or 'square' area but anything really goes! Being a 'Pig Stickler' for detail I have decided to go with the 60cm diameter circle for the play field!

A period photograph of Pig Ticklers in 'the thick of it' on the hallowed grounds of Bacon Field!

Okay so first thing I made up a quarter circle template which I though I'd then trace with chalk a circle on my green felt mat but then I had a light bulb moment...I had seen while researching the Pig Tickler rules another player make some cricket sight screens presuming the game would be played on cricket ovals for his games, definitely an idea worthy of using!

I then proceeded to build two sight screens and a cricket looking scoreboard the old fashioned small ground type where the basic writing was intrinsic to the score board and panels would be hung showing players names and scores. Now for the boundary a picket fence would be the go but no matter how much I like scratch building putting together around 1.8 metres of picket fencing that needed to curve was not my idea of fun so over to eBay I went! Soon I had sourced some suitable 'fantasy toy model fencing' that would suit and an order was placed!

First up sight screens; these were easy I cut a rectangular piece of 2mm styrene plastic and scored in panel lines and then with 40 grit sandpaper scratched in a wood grain. Two simple triangular supports with bases were glued to the bottom corners and hey presto they were complete!

Then to the scoreboard; for this I used a similar construction method to my Wild West Town (see the TSOG Blog). I made up two rectangular 'boxes' one slightly larger than the other to be a base and the top one including a raised front for the oval's name. I used 2mm styrene plastic for these components. Edging for the top part was created with 0.5mm styrene plastic strips and the base was scored to give a planking look, the whole lot was sanded to again give a wood grain effect. Stencils were used as a guide to the permanent writing on the score board and the Pig Ticklers names and their scores were printed on thick white paper and then taped on, the brighter colour hopefully makes them look like added panels (not sure that works except for people who have seen such score boards before and know how the freshly painted panels stand out against the old weathered scoreboard itself). The name Bacon Field was selected by Mrs Darling from a selection of five I gave her, maybe it sounds a little more Baseball like than Cricket like (eg the famous Wrigley Field) but it flows and is very relevant to the 'sport' being played! So now the score board was ready to go!

In the meantime my picket fencing had arrived!

Lets put it all together...

Lovely set up even if I do say so myself!

Below a pair of Pig Ticklers ready for Battle!

Next Time: More on the Pig Tickler Tournament or maybe a the Russians are Coming AAR, yes I have one ready to type up!