The Spoiling Attack AAR - Bonus The Russian Are Coming Campaign Game

Well finally an AAR for my 'The Russians are Coming Campaign'! Yes the Great Game continues in the Antipodes with the Russian Empires tentacles attempting to envelope Australia. This is an extra Campaign game to reacquaint myself with the Colony at War Rules, the scenario finds the South Australians on the attack against a weak defending unit that is reinforced. That's about it for my preamble over to the game and I hope you enjoy the AAR for 'The Spoiling Attack!'...

The Russians defend their entrenchments against the rampaging Volunteers of the the Adelaide Rifles!

The History

Wednesday August 27 1879

Captain Beach blew his whistle and the brave lads of the Adelaide Rifles advanced as one from their jump off positions along Taylors Road! Ignoring the random shots of their foes and cheering the red clad Colonials moved rapidly toward their objective Captain Beach urging them on every step of the way!

Meanwhile Captain Mordvichev cursed under his breath, he commanded a few wretched Sailors drawn from from the fleet whom he thought would be lucky to score in a brothel let alone score a hit on one of the Colonials with their rifles! He was worried as he considered his options, withdraw was out of the question yet he doubted his ability to hold, as the bullets whizzed around him he looked about frantically while trying to keep his Sailors in line and firing.

The South Australian Riflemen quickly came upon the Russian's position and so far only Private Earle Page had fallen from their ranks, he was wounded by a lucky shot from one of the Russian Sailors! Beach and his men were ecstatic and quickened their pace to close in for the kill.

Mordvichev damned Satan and feared for his life as the Colonials approached, but Lady Luck smiled on him he spied two sections of Russian infantry in their heavy green tunics marching just to the rear of his position, he promptly summoned them to march to the sound of the fighting and once they were close enough gave them orders to immediately attack the advancing Red Devils!

Beach's Force had reached the Russian entrenchment and he ordered them to move to encircle it! Whilst two sections approached frontally Sergeants Chris Watson and George Reid's men advanced to engage the Russians flanks! The advance then continued and much to the South Australian's surprise Russian Infantry appeared on before them, the attack stalled just as it was about to snatch a victory!

A fierce firefight broke out! The Russian Sailors buoyed by the arrival of the Regulars doubled their efforts. The South Australians were halted by the Russians furious defence! The air was now filled with lead and the screams of the wounded and dying...Sergeant Chris Watson's section suffered heavily and pulled back to be replaced by Sergeant Cook's boys, all along the line the Riflemen were checked!

Ignoring the hail of fire Captain Beach personally intervened, he exclaimed 'For the Queen!" Then he drew his sabre, emptied his revolver into the massed Russians and lunged forward into the their entrenchment! Inspired by their Officer the South Australian Riflemen were drawn irresistibly forward! A desperate melee took place for control of the trench, men fell on both sides and the carnage to the left and right of the melee was fearful as the close range shooting continued. The intense fighting seemed to last but a moment and it was followed by an eerie silence...the Russian's defending the trench broke the Colonials had prevailed! A great hussah rose from the South Australians as the Russians Sailors fled whilst their accompanying Infantry retired alongside them.

Captain Beach was elated and gathered his section commanders together to regale them, it was only moments later after the conflab as everyone calmed down he looked around and was confronted with the horrors of war, the dead and dying of both sides were piled in the entrenchment and its surrounds, Beach under his breath cursed this damnable war and its evil bounty...

The AAR

The Battlefield at the start of play with the South Australian Militia in the foreground deployed along Taylors Road and the Imperial Russians in the distance!

Captain Beach prepares to launch his men forward to GLORY!

Nervous Russian Sailors man their positions in response to the Colonial sortie...

Turns 1, 2, 3 & 4

The South Australians advanced in open order...

...whislt the Russian defender fired but unfortunately for them scored only one effective hit!..

Turn 5

Once the Riflemen were in charging distance of the entrenchment Captain Beach formed his centre troops into line and ordered the left and right sections to continue in skirmish order and flank the Russians!

Unseen by the South Australians Russian Infantry were fast approaching to assist the Sailors in their defence of the entrenchment!

Sergeant Watson's section takes a pounding from the Russian Regulars with half their numbers casualties they retire, luckily for Beach Cook's section was in place to replace them!

Turn 6 & 7

Beach's main assault section led by Andrew Fisher come to grips with the defender, this vicious melee would continue for two turns!

To the right of the main assault Cook's fresh section gave the Russian a couple of turns of volleys!

Whilst to the right of the melee for the trenches Reid's section engaged the Russians they faced!

Turn 8

Success for the Colonial Force the trenches were taken after a hard slog!

Captain Mordvichev and his Aide comer face to face with their foes as they occupy the Entrenchments!

The melee lost the final few Russian Sailors break!

Turn 9

Captain Beach in the occupied Russian entrenchment!

An overview of the battlefield at the end of Turn 9...

Victory to the South Australians as they hold the entrenchment and the Russians are on the run!

This scenario played well if the Russians had had a little more luck with the dice they could well have been successful as the close up firefight and the melee were both very evenly balanced. I've got my head around the Rules again, they work well for games like this but the last scenario in this Campaign is going to involve all the available figures I have and that will stretch the them to the limit as each figure on figure fire/melee requires a dice throws with anything from D4s to D12s! It'll work but it will be a long game!

Next time: Background on the Final Campaign Game, 'The Big Show - Assault on the City Of Adelaide'

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

Scratch Fleet Section 10 Sailors fire & melee as Raw, 1 Army NCO fires & melees as Trained

Reinforcements from the 141^st Infantry regiment 3rd Company

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 11 Privates

Adelaide Rifles Section 2 NCO (Sergeant George Reid) and 11 Privates

Adelaide Rifles Section 3 NCO (Lieutenant Andrew Fisher) and 11 Privates

Adelaide Rifles Section 4 NCO (Sergeant Joseph Cook) and 11 Privates

Deployment:

South Australians: All Section deploy along Taylors Road

Russians:

Fleet Section 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!

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!

Captain Darling & the Pig Tickler Tournament!

It is 1892 the height of the Victorian Steam Age and this story finds our hero Captain Darling in residence at his Mayfair home located just off Grosvenor Square, London…

 Pictured on a cricket oval near one of the sight screens in St James Park close to Wellington Barracks Captain Darling 'in uniform' prepares for the upcoming Pig Tickler Tournament!

It was very late on a dark and stormy night when a knock at the door of Captain Darling’s Mayfair residence roused him from his slumber! He leapt from his deep and comfortable burgundy Chesterfield, grabbed his revolver and sidled anxiously down the passageway leading from the smoking room toward the front door. As he approached the ornate portal he thought to himself it was a damn shame he let his Batman off for the day as he could still be lounging! Returning his full to the matter at hand he approached the door slowly, he paused, who would be visiting at such an hour he mused and then with some trepidation he reached out for the handle...he then froze as an envelope slipped though the mailing slot and drifted quietly downward to land softly on the lush hallway runner! Ignoring the letter Darling opened the door to find the step and sidewalk suspiciously empty! He took a second look both ways down the street and convinced no one was nearby cautiously withdrew from the front step. Back in the hallway his interest was piqued by the missive which he picked up after he gently closed the door securing its latch. He studied the letter thoroughly, the envelope was plain white in colour and bore a gold ink inscription ‘for the Attention of Captain Darling Esq.’ with a swift flash of his sword he slit the top edge of the envelope and withdrew the parchment it contained, with care he unfolded it and read the elegant gold script…

Darling me Ol’ Mugger it began and continued, Colonel Hyde-Park Commander of the Grenadier Guards Regiment requests that you represent the Unit at the annual Pig Tickling Tournament to be held on the third Sunday of August, eg in two weeks time. Our Tickling Champion has suffered a severe groin injury whilst scrumming in a game of Rugger against the Horse Guards so we are desperately in need of your skills. When considering your reply please remember your offer to assist the Regiment in anyway after the Turkish Incident in the Crimea, yours Captain Archibald, for Colonel Hyde-Park, the Grenadier Guards Regiment

Darling was taken aback, it was he who had pulled the Grenadier Guards nuts from the fire all those years before during the infamous Turkish Incident in the Crimea, still being a fierce competitor the chance to enter the exclusive and time-honoured Pig Tickler Tournament caught his attention, he fancied himself with a lance on a unicycle even though he had never attempted it before…he decided on the spot he would gird up his loins and accept the Colonel’s offer! He hurried to his writing desk to pen a reply which he would dispatch in the morning!

To be continued…

Okay on the LAF an opportunity came up to buy a set of Pig Tickler rules and a bunch of updated and extremely well painted miniatures, I thought about it and jumped at the chance! There were the rules, a PORC template (to determine the pig’s movement), 12 lance armed unicyclists, an umpire, two stockers and of course a pig! The excellent thing is I was going to buy some of these Eureka lance armed unicyclists to use in VSF games where the lances would be tipped with explosives and the unicyclists the task was to ride up to a Martian Tripod deliver the charge and then ride to safety as the detonation brought the Martian to the ground, sounds a great idea what could possibly go wrong, anyway this has saved me that purchase and the chore of painting. The other good news is the updates unicyclists include have had their lances replaced with better rigid examples and unicycles reinforced so there’ll be very durable. 

Here's what I picked up from fellow 'LAFfer' Rob...am I happy...YUP!

Original of the top picture...

Next Time: Building some Pig Tickler Tournament Accessories!

The Christmas Pudding Factory Incident AAR

The Xmas FUBAR Game has been played, and prefacing this with a thanks to HG Wells for penning War of the Worlds first published in full in 1898...😊...

Martian Tripods 'Red' and ' Green' on the the Move December 1874!

The Forces

Humanity

8 x Steam Powered Armoured Wagons

1 x Heavy Auto Cannon (no -1 at long range as pre-sighted prior to the battle)

1 x Tesla Gun (no -1 at long range as pre-sighted prior to the battle)

2 x Steam Powered Blimps (One Bomb attack each arriving Turn Two)

The Nasty Martians

2 x Tripod Fighting Machines

The Objective

The Martians have Eight Turns to exit one Tripod from the opposite tabletop edge to the one they start on, the Tripod must have at least one functioning Weapon System.

The Battle Report!

Late December 1874 and Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants formed up the troops of his 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment in advantageous positions to fight advancing Martian Fighting Machines. He selected uneven and marshy ground well to the South of Little Tinkle on Clyde for the battle. This terrain plus a tributary of the Clyde River would help his cause, the battlefield was split by a metalled road running North/South and the tributary was spanned by one of Brunel's wonders!

It was mid morning when the Evil Martian Tripods lurched into view and halted appearing hesitant on the skyline. Using this pause Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants gathered his men and read them a rousing declaration from her most Imperious Highness Empress Victoria! The men were buoyed by the words and prepared for action!

The Tripods known to the British as 'Red' and 'Green' had spent several days trekking across the English countryside to reach their objective, a Human Factory located in Little Tinkle on Clyde. The Martian High Command had methodically calculated that the destruction of the Facility would break the unexpectedly high spirit the Humans were showing when facing their Fighting Machines! The two great machinations halted to survey Human defences located near a stream along a roadway as they came into view. The Humans took this pause as hesitation but it was not, the Martians spent a few minutes to plan their attack, they quickly determined these men and their puny machines could easily be swept aside so they ADVANCED!

The peace and quiet of the English countryside on that serene winters day was shattered by the roar of the Martians Machines powerplants and sounds of their rocket fire!

Reacting to the Martians attack Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants ordered his vehicles and Blimps to deploy with for his artillery to give them covering fire!

The air resounded with the noise of Steam Engines running at full speed, explosions, the Pew-Pew of Lasers, shouting, screams of pain and the clang of hot metal on the cold armour of the Martian Fighting Machines!

The battle played out quickly. Soon the burning wrecks of several Armoured Wagons lay upon the field of battle but the defenders were elated as they appeared to score telling hits on the closing Behemoths!

With the two Fighting Machines virtually upon the defences of the 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment one of Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants Engineers triggered off one of the two mines they had buried in the fields, 'Red' disappeared in a huge fountain of earth generated by several hundred weight of TNT! A huge cheer erupted from the British lines and there was much excitement among the defenders at the sight of the explosion but their high spirits plummeted as the smoke haze cleared and seemingly unhurt the Tripod with its Red Eye glowing fiercely continued to close on them.

Any regular fighting men would have fled at this point but the elite 7th urged on by Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants doubled their efforts and fired at the Martians Machines as the literally 'walked' over them! Again damage was inflicted on them but alas not enough to stop them!

The battle was over and it resulted in a victory to the Martian Invaders. Even though Human losses were comparatively light they had not been able to stop the advance of the Fighting Machines which continued on Northward in the direction of the Puddin' Lady's Christmas Pudding Manufacturing Co Factory!

Post Script...

Although the battle was lost the campaign was saved thanks to the ingenuity of our Hero, Captain Darling. Yes the Christmas Pudding Factory was saved! On hearing of the defeat of Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants Force Darling engaged the services of well known landscape artist Edward Wilkins Waite who quickly whipped up a full size and totally realistic painting of the Puddin' Lady's Christmas Pudding Manufacturing Co Factory which Darling cunningly used in a clever ruse to fool the Martians! The full size painting was put in place a mile south of the real factory and the Martians on seeing it blew it to smithereens! Convinced they had completed their mission successfully they reported the details to their Leaders. 'Red' and 'Green' believing their work was done withdrew albeit leaving the real Factory in tact and producing its precious wares! A huge well done and pat on the back to Captain Darling, yet again he had pulled the Empires bits out of the fire!

Some Pictures...

 Artillerymen of the 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment zero their Heavy Auto Cannon in  on the approaching Martian Tripods!

The Crew of the Detachments Tesla Gun too laid in their sights on the looming Martian Machines...

End of Turn One Picture

The Martian Tripods advanced firing their rockets at their Human foes without achieving any successes, the outranged Humans advanced their Steam Powered Armoured Wagons!

End of Turn Two Picture

The Martians continue to advance, they destroy one of the Armoured Wagons on the road with rockets, the men of the 7th fire their first shots scoring no damage on the Fighting Machines!

End of Turn Three Picture

The Martians draw level with Brunel's bridge and using their Lasers they knock out another Armoured Wagon on the Human's right flank. The British Blimps launch their Bombs at the Tripods but inflict no damage, the Artillery on the other hand scored hits and the Martians took damage, nothing significant though!

Even through the Martians were advancing remorselessly and inflicting casualties on the 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment the remaining Humans continued too put up a stout defence!  Here four active Armoured Wagons continue to engage the Tripods!

During Turn Four the Human triggered a mine consisting of several hundred weight of TNT, it created a large crater but barely scratched the Martian Machine, it scored a single 'Speed' hit...also in the picture a Steam Powered Blimp engaging the Tripod with its Rapid Fire Gun (eg Machine Gun)...

Turn Four

This picture is mid turn just before the Mine Attack on 'Red'. The second Armoured Wagon on the Human left is destroyed and 'Green' now has an open run to get passed the defenders! 'Red' engages the Heavy Auto Cannon...

'Green' having destroyed both of the Armoured Steam Wagons on the British right simply 'strolled' over them in Turn Five!

Turn Five and the Tesla Gun Crew fired at point blank range at 'Green' but were unable to disable it, it swept passed them and out of camera shot!

During Turn Five the Martians were passed the British line of defence but still attracted fire, several hits were scored on the behemoths inflicting more damage but still they soldiered on! 

Tally Ho!

Turn Six and 'Green' reached the Martian objective, eg exiting the tabletop, a Victory to the Martians!

The situation at the end of Turn Six and the game!

The Martian Tripods seemed to win an easy victory but they took a bit of damage despite having a 2+ saving throw on a D6 for any hit; 'Green' was only one speed hit away from being immobilised taking three of the four allowed and 'Red' had taken half of its allowed Speed and Steering Hits

Summary Stuff!

Okay we've played a smaller version of this scenario before but never had both of my Big Martian Fighting Machines on the table at once! I'd like to play this again sometime mid year as I think it is pretty well balanced. This was not an easy win for the Martians both Tripods were damaged  and they were very lucky as they had to consult the Breakdown Table three times and each time luckily rolled the 'power surge' result so neither one was handicapped by the 'Breakdown' results! Plus there were plenty of Human assets still in action, only three out of eight of the Armoured Wagons were destroyed, both the Blimps were still in action and only three out of a total of eight Artillery Crewmen had become casualties, the British still had a lot of firepower at games end! Be ready to read about a rematch later in 2024...

Next Time: Captain Darling's Grand Tour Review or a way overdue AAR or two!