-ROCKETMAN III-

Last night we played the concluding chapter of -ROCKETMAN III- with Rocketman and his allies launching the last stage of their assault on Korsakov's secret base. This game was planned for a fortnight ago, but we had to bump it back due to real life interference. The game itself was another chaos of smoke and mayhem, with more rules adjustments interupting the ebb and flow of the game but not to the point of utter distraction.

Rocketman and his friends had to meet two of three objectives to win the game. They had to free Audrey Summers and Professor Khalnikov from the detention centre (the wooden buildings), kill Korsakov and/or destroy the death ray tower.

Player One
Rocketman
George McArthur
’Mad Dog’ Mitchell
Lady Carfax.
Lady Carfax’s driver: Meadows
1 armoured car with HMG
(Player 1 had lost his other vehicles in the previous game)

Player Two
The Colonel
Sgt Sternov.
10 x Kazakhstani Bolshevik soldiers (with HMG)
1 truck
1 armoured car with HMG
1 off table mortar + crew

Player Three
Korsakov
Yuri
10 x Iron Guard riflemen
2 x Iron guard machine gunner
1 Light tank with 37mm gun

Player Four
Olga
10 x Kazakh tribesmen.
1 supply truck
1 (damaged) Heavy tank with multiple weapons.

As usual I was player four. This time I had the heavy tank, but it was a precondition of the game that the tank was damaged and had to be repaired before it could move. In order for this to happen, I had to roll a six when it was my turn to move. Typically I never did and my heavy tank remained static in front of the tank workshops through out the entire game.

Rocketman and his closest friends started on the western (far left) edge of the table. The idea was this game took place directly to the east of the previous game, See image, and so Rocketman and his immediete friends began in the shelter of the first tank workshop whilst the Colonel and his men crossed the open ground under the cover of their vehicles towards the detention centre.
This meant that Rocketman began the game very close to the heavy tank and was quickly suppressed by it. I had placed my entire force around the tank and in the surrounidng tank workshops in the hopes of vigorously defending it and sure enough, within a handfull of rounds, Rocketman, the Hero of the Game, had been knocked out as he attempted to attack the heavy tank.

In the meanwhile, The Colonal and his troops made a concerted push towards the detention centre, pouring fire into the guard house door and taking chance pot shots at the Khazakstani tribesmen as they passed by. Korsakov was lurking and Yuri was powering up the death ray. The first half of the game passed by with a lot of grenades being tossed and machine gun fire rattling back and forth as the attackers tried to destroy the death rays manual control platform. Yuri, cunningly switched hats with one of his men so he could not be identified as an officer and this ploy worked wonders since he managed to survive. Unable to disable the death ray, The Colonel and his men assaulted the detention centre guard house, with both armoured cars providing covering fire. They tossed in grenades and entered, litte suspecting they were entering a trap. Korsakov's men were waiting in the courtyard for them to enter the building where upon they would throw in their own grenades. This happened, but fortune held in the Colonel's favour for a short while longer and only one bolshevik soldier was killed.

The death ray became fully operational in round 9 but Yuri held his fire until the last possible moment hoping to sight the distant mortar. Since he failed at this he fired upon the detention centre guard house instead, vaporising half of the building, seriously wounding the Colonel and killing all others within the blast radius. This meant that both of the good guys had lost their commanders, whilst both of the bad guy still had theirs.

The game was far from over however. The loss of a command element only means one's ability to move is impeded (the d6 for movement becomes a d3) In round 10, the mortar opened fire from its new position and this imedietly suppressed Yuri on the death ray's control platform. The light tank (under Korsakov's command) had been lurking behind the detention centre and now came forward to challenge the remaining truck full of bolshevik good guys which was trying to approach the tower. These two vehicles engaged in a close quarters scrum which saw the truck being rammed and a satchel charge going off. The tank won the struggle (miraculously surviving the satchel charge) but the wall of the detention centre was blown in.

On the far side of the field, Mitchell was attempting to place the remaining satchell charge on the heavy tank, but was unable to due to the many Khazakstani's cluttered about it. He snuck up between the two tank workshops and got into a fist fight with one Khazakstani, only to then be confronted by a high kicking Olga. As the game reached its conclusion (we ran out of time) Mitchell knocked Olga out cold (thus depriving me of my command element).

The bad guys won the battle by virtue of having prevented the good guys from fulfilling their success criteria. Naturally Rocketman later came around and quickly rescued Audrey from the detention centre, since the good guy always wins in the end, but the game itself was a victory for players 3 & 4, though we did lose the death ray tower to a direct hit by the mortar in the last moment so of the game.


...in the end, Korsakov was surrounded and forced to flee. His death ray went up in (green) flames and its secrets were lost. Khalnikov was returned to Moscow by the (some what singed) Colonel, and was never heard from again. It is unclear where Korsakov went. His armoured suit was never found and it is believed the remaining Khazakstani's finally managed to get their tank going and grabbing Olga and Korsakov, made a break for the forests...

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Triffid project

Been working on my first 'green'. A 'green' is a small sculpture from which a matrix for a 28mm figure is made. There are no rules as to what a green can be made of, but they're usually made from a binary modelling medium called green stuff, hence the name. In the 'old days', a similar product called Milliput was used, and thats grey, so maybe they were called 'greys' in those days? The medium works by mixing two sperate components into a maleable clay which gradually hardens over a period of 30 minutes to several hours.
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I used green stuff for the darker parts of the model and a modelling clay called FIMO for the main part. FIMO is a different kind of medium, one which hardens once its been cooked for 30 minutes at 110 degree's C.
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Alas, these greens will never be able to be used to make metal models. The 'mouth' parts are to 'fussy' to be cast.
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The 'green' is a Triffid. A walking, man eating plant from the BBC adaptation of the book 'Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham (an excellent post apocolypse novel). The bottom image is a colour guide for when I paint the models (I'm making three). I'm not sure what its from since I found it on Wikipedia but it looks like a cut out from a TV still.
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For Feld

Here is the original trailer for Donnie Darko

And here is the original video.

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The archaeology of modern music

Ever suddenly discovered a song you thought you knew wasn't what you thought it was? This happens a lot to me, but thanks to the internet, I can now track down the hidden meanings, obscure references and original versions of songs I've been seduced by.

Today I discovered for instance that 'Dazed and Confused' is not a Led Zeppelin song at all. Jimmy Page brought it with him from the Yardbirds (which I never knew he'd been in either) but even then, it was never his song to begin with though aparently he took credit for it. In fact the song was originally written by an American folk singer called Jake Holmes. I haven't come across a version of the original, but here is the Yardbirds:




'Mad World' s another song I assumed I understood. Whats worse about this one is I actually knew the original only to have forgotten it once I encountered the brilliantly depressing version created for the film 'Donnie Darko'. Reading about the film today I rediscovered the original by Tears for Fears on You Tube (another brillinat resource for this sort of thing):

The Blue Max

Dir: John Guillermin. 1966.
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I watched this one last night with my friend and fellow war gamer Palle who came by with a bag of wine gums and I quite liked it. It had its flaws certainly, but it probably deserves its acclaim as the best ww1 dog fight film though I probably need to see 'Aces High' again (its been a long while since) to be certain.
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The story revolves around a young German soldier who signs up to be a pilot and quickly demonstrates utter ruthlessness in his quest for Germany's highest military award, the Blue Max. In his meteoric rise towards the needed twentieth kill he manages to murder and cheat any and every one along the way. Its a pretty hard nosed film, especially given its age, but it delivers some fairly good dogfights, and plenty of leather clad men in goggles and silk scarves.
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George Peppard under plays his character rather well and is supported by several actors who seem to have made careers from playing ruthless Germanic types. My only real complaint about the film was the apparent disconnect between the story and the aerial combat sequences. Only one of these actually tied into the plot and the rest seemed a bit random. Also a lot of the planes weren't from the first world war either, but I can forgive that given the cost of making replica's. 'Fly boys' had the benefit of CGI and had all the right air craft and yet they still managed to ruin their film by having so many red Fokker triplanes.




Shooter.
Dir: Antoine Fuqua. 2007.
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I could say a lot about this film, but can I be bothered? ...It seems to be a film for a new perspective. One that seemingly challenges many of the former hero stereotypes one sees in American films. Ever scowling Mark Whalberg, plays a former US Marine sniper who's been set up by unscrupulous 'contractors' to take the blame for a failed assassination of the American president.
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So far so good. Whalberg's marine sniper, after having been screwed once by his superiors is already filled with a suspicious antipathy towards the establishment and yet still retains his good old fashioned American patriotism. This is demonstrated clearly by his slow motion walk, shades on, in front of a large stars n stripes. Again, I've no problem with that. If I were to make a film about a Danish soldier, I'd throw in a shot or two featuring our beautiful flag too.
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No, my problem is with the assumption that Whalberg is just so shit hot that he can defeat every single agent, cop and soldier sent against him. At one point in the film Whalberg penetrates a trap, interogates his target, then fights his way out, against an entire unit of battle hardened mercenaries ...and a helicopter, all the while running about in the open like so many previous warrior hero's of the silver screen. Its ridiculous. That he is a splendid marksman doesn't faze me, many men and women are good at shooting long ranges, but that bullets seemingly just drop to his feet as he runs is so clichéd it makes me want to turn off the film.
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I'm not a great marksman, but I did complete training courses on sub machine guns, automatc rifles and light machine guns and I did reach a bronze award for marksmanship (not difficult). I guarantee you that you run across my field of vision at 100 metres, even if its only for a few seconds, then you are as good as dead. With an automatic rifle, I couldn't miss unless I closed my eys and just pulled the trigger.
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For all the sceptism, the jaded commentary about post Bush politics, this film is really just Rambo re-vamped. It deserves two stars, but I'm giving it three because there was one or two scenes I really liked.

moif: ramble on

The 'heat rash' seems to have died away now. I'm still getting sudden intense itches that I dare not scratch (they get ten times worse if I do). I'm fairly convinced its hives and not shingles, mostly because the rash caused by shingles is supposed to go crusty and bleed, which mine didn't. Looking back on the whole experience I can conclude that had it not been for the burning hands then I would probably have already forgotten it. The fear of my hands being affected in such a manner for any length of time however, one hears stories of people with chronic allergies, is enough to raise my internal panic to a fevered pitch. So much pain from so little cause defies the mind of its reasoning. It reminds me of a passage in HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds' when the Journalist describes what happens to civilised people deprived of food for several days. Another 24 hours of that pain and I would have been going out of my mind. As it was, the night I went to the night doctor it was all I could do to maintain a polite manner. Cycling through the city I felt every jolt and bump of the road through my handlebars as if I were being tortured.

Now this horror appears to have passed, I've been taking it easy again. I'm back to my normal medical regime taking seven doses of four different medicines per day, but I've still got the fexofenadin hydrochlorid in reserve in case the itching rash returns.

In the meanwhile I've been listening to some good music, painting wargaming miniatures and playing EVE. EVE just updated itself however and I already don't like the updates. I really don't like updates! Never mind, no doubt I'll get used to them. I guess.

I've been saying that a lot of late. I guess. Its a way of saying 'I suppose so. I don't know. Maybe. Yes. Your probably right. what do I know?' I guess so. I guess that this is the way the world is and letting go seems to be the only method of attaining happiness. in this life. You have to let go otherwise your doomed to cling on until your strength fails you. Accept the inevitable so to speak. It sounds Budhistic and I'm an agnostic, but even the teachings of Christ appear to make sense. Religion would be a good idea if there weren't so many wankers running around thinking they had to tell every one else how to live their lives.

Breathing...

Not for any particular reason. I just like Kate Bush.



Outside
Gets inside
Through her skin.
Ive been out before
But this time its much safer in.

Last night in the sky,
Such a bright light.
My radar send me danger
But my instincts tell me to keep

Breathing,
(out, in, out, in, out, in...)
Breathing,
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in.

Weve lost our chance.
Were the first and the last, ooh,
After the blast.
Chips of plutonium
Are twinkling in every lung.

I love my
Beloved, ooh,
All and everywhere,
Only the fools blew it.
You and me
Knew life itself is

In point of fact it is possible to tell the
(out!)
Difference between a small nuclear explosion and
A large one by a very simple method. the calling
Card of a nuclear bomb is the blinding flash that
Is far more dazzling than any light on earth--brighter
Even than the sun itself--and it is by the duration
Of this flash that we are able to determine the size
(what are we going to do without? )
Of the weapon. after the flash a fireball can be
Seen to rise, sucking up under it the debris, dust
And living things around the area of the explosion,
And as this ascends, it soon becomes recognisable
As the familiar mushroom cloud. as a demonstration
Of the flash duration test lets try and count the
Number of seconds for the flash emitted by a very
Small bomb; then a more substantial, medium-sized
Bomb; and finally, one of our very powerful,
High-yield bombs

What are we going to do without?
Oh please!
What are we going to do without?
Let me breathe!
What are we going to do without?
Oh, quick!
We are all going to die without!
Breathe in deep!
What are we going to die without?
Leave me something to breathe!
We are all going to die without!
Oh, leave me something to breathe!
What are we going to do without?
Oh, god, please leave us something to breathe!
We are all going to die without
Oh, life is--breathing.

Firefox

I finally gave up on IE and installed Firefox, about fifty years behind the rest of the human race. I'm very conservative when it comes to stuff like this. I hate change and detest new software. I don't even like upgrades. Recently I upgraded from Office 2000 to Office 2007 and just the look of the latest Word with its dreamy blue facade and totally new lay out had me spitting brimstone. A couple of months down the line and I'm still trying to figure it out.

Heat rash update

I didn't take any pictures because it was the last thing on my mind, and there wasn't much to see anyway, but from tuesday to early on thursday morning the pain in my hands increased steadily, despite the medication. What started as a slight itch on my palms spread to my fingers which then swelled up until I could only close them half way into a fist. This swelling was bad enough but coupled with the constant itchiness quickly became unbearable. I was forced to go to the night watch doctor at the university hospital and (polite as possible) demand aleviation from the agony. The sensation was some where between a nettle sting and having my hands set on fire, and I wondered just how much more painful it could get. Putting both hands into cold water helped somewhat but increased the pain there after.
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The doctor gave me some hydrocortisone tablets and told me to contact my doctor if the pain was still in effect on friday. I was slightly disapointed since I've been given hydrocortisone in the past with regards to other afflictions and its had zero visible effect. Waking up this morning however I noted the itchiness in my hand had gone and the swelling dissipated. I breathed a long sigh of relief. I don't know if I could have survived another day of such pain and retained my civility to my fellow human beings. It was difficult to not start shouting, even at Mette and Freja.
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It now remains to see if the itchiness and pain stays away. I only have one hydrocortisone pill left...

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Flyboys

Okay, yeah, they don't make that many dog fight films from the first world war so its important to check out the ones they do make. Important that is if you're into first world war dog fight films. I am, so I watched this film yesterday and sad to say was not very impressed. My expectations weren't high, since the film has had some heavy crit from various quarters...
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"The multiple red Dr1s were Pythonesque, solidly backed up by the farcical facial expressions of the German pilots. Here I was reminded of Dick Dastardly. A fair number of scenes in this film must be unintentionally funny, given that it wasn't intended as a comedy, and it seems therefore a shame they didn't change the film and push for success in that area. We are talking Victorian musical hall slapstick, which is at least contemporary. A dog at the controls of another red triplance wouldn't have gone amiss." Link.
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...but as I knew from the trailer the film featured an airship, so I had to watch it! As it was the film is a good TV film, in the vein of Hallmark, but as a cinematic release, its a bit poor. The acting is mediocre and the c.g.i. has a few dodgy moments, but essentially its the whole thing that seems amateurish.
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edited to add:

Here are two video clips from the film 'The Blue Max' as a counter point. I'm not certain, but I think (despite its age) this film is probably the best ww1 dog fight movie yet made.
The Attack.
Dogfight.

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Maia & Mercury

There is a principle in aviation where by an aeroplane can carry more in flight than in take off. Getting around this problem was one of the many challenges to the first aeroplane's carrying mail across the Atlantic and in true 1930's style, the design chosen by Short Brothers for Imperial Airways in 1935 was as ambitious as it was unique. It was called the Composite Aircraft and it was basically one four engined seaplane mounted piggy back onto a larger aircraft known as a flying boat. The difference between these two lies in the nature of the air craft's hull; as you can see on the images, a sea plane has floats, or 'pontoons' attached by pylons to its hull where as a flying boat sits hull down in the water.

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Seaplanes were big news in Europe and the United States between the world wars. The wedding of air and sea vehicles into one 'go anywhere' design seems to have really caught the public imagination after the first world war, not least thanks to a series of sporadic races which were held between 1913 and 1931 known as the Schneider Trophy. There was a real sense of technical achievement 'pushing the envolope' in those days and the races were followed by thousands of enthusiasts. Short Brothers, the first true aviation company in the world was a leading manufacturer of sea planes and flying boats in the 1920's and 1930's and was naturally also involved in the Schneider Trophy.
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Amongst other interesting designs they developed as a consequence of the races were the worlds first all-metal, multiple engined flying boats, the Singapore series. The S.19 Singapore III variant of which was the RAF's main long range biplane maritime patrol in the 1930's. This series, amongst others, was a direct percursor to the Composite Aircraft design. Short Brothers had previously attempted to create a more powerful engine configerations with the prototype S.12 Singapore II which mounted 4 engines, mounted in tractor/pusher pairs (push-pull configuration). This didn't work as well as might have been desired and this is where the Composite Aircraft design came to the fore.
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Maia was a variant of the "C-Class" Empire boat with extensive modifications, in particular her wings were redesigned to allow room for Mercury's floats and to provide more lift. Earlier C-class flying boats had been contemplated for trans Atlantic mail flights, but it was found that the aircraft could only make the trip if its entire cargo capacity consisted of fuel leaving no room for the mail bags!
Maia, named after the Greek goddess and mother to Mercury (messenger of the gods) had a crew of three and boasted four Bristol Pegasus XC radial engines yielding 919 hp (686 kW) each.
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Mercury was a prototype sea plane variant designated Short S.20. She had a mail capacity of 1,000lb (456kg) and with the help of Maya could cross the Atlantic with ease. By herself however Mercury could not even get off the water with the amount of fuel needed for the full trip. The first successful trans Atlantic flight was made in 1938 and two years later, on 6th October 1938 Mercury established an as yet unbroken non stop international seaplane distance record of 5,997.5 miles (9,652 km) from Dundee to the Orange River, South Africa.
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Maya & Mercury were the first ever non stop trans Atlantic service by a heavier than air aircraft (the Zeppelins had already been at it before them). Mercury could cross the Atlantic in 20 hours 21 minutes, at an average speed of 137 mph (220 km/h) so she could deliver the mail much faster then the slower airships. Later she was also sent to Alexandra in Egypt.
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Only one Composite Aircraft was ever built, and I'm not sure how the return journeys were made. Presumably the need for a mothership to lift Mercury into the air meant a second aircraft had to be stationed at the other end, but I see no evidence of this. Its a mystery to me how the Mercury was ever able to return with the mail... However it was managed, the Composite Aircraft was soon rendered obsolete by the introduction of the "G-Class" Empire boat and ended its days in the war when Maia was bombed during a German air raid and Mercury was cannibalized for her parts.

Contemporay articles from Time magazine:

Composite airplane.

Air Papoose

Heat rash

Apparently, heat rash is quite normal, but despite this, I'd never had it, nor even heard of it until today. I noticed last night that my skin was itching a lot. We'd been at the beach so I assumed it was just the usually itchiness that comes when the summer begins, but by the time I went to bed last night I had a strange bubbly rash all over my arms and torso. It seemd to be concentrated where ever my skin was touching, like between my arms, or in the folds of flesh about my belly (good ol' middle aged spread)

Today it really let rip so I went over to the doc to get some meds. By 5pm (see above image) however, I looked like a plague carrier and the itch was just unbelievable. Thankfully the meds kicked in and now its died away to a sullen blush.

The doctor told me to stay cool but this has been difficult given the ambient temperature in my room was 32'C today. Needless to say it, but I am grateful I live in a cool country where cool water is always at hand!

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Freja: 30'C and lifes a bitch

It was so hot today that we went to the beach to cool off in the sea. The weather report had actually promised rain all week but I've not seen any sign of it. Rather we've had a gradual build up until this week ends sweltering temperature and humidity. Alas I forgot to bring the camera, so here is a two week old picture to give you some idea of what the Snoos looks like now. She's come a long way but still has a while to go. Her language skills are improving but slowly. Most of what she says is either Danish or made up.

Its been a weird week. On Thursday I learned my Mother has cancer and has probably had it for over six months. It seems to be centered in her neck and she is due for thirty three daily radiological treatments starting tomorrow (monday). Usually cancer freaks me out but its as if I've known this was coming for a while and its not affected me as I thought it would. Either that or I've not come to terms with it. Either way, its an appalling case of bad luck given she has only just become a grandmother after so long and patient a wait. Her own mother died of cancer also, but she was in her seventies. Naturally I'm hoping she will not die of this, but in the event that she does, I want to give her every opportunity to be with her granddaughter.

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Vi var på stranden i dag for at slip for varmen ved at svømme i havet. Det var rigtig sjovt og vi havde Snoosen ud i vandet flere gang. Hun syntes det var hyllende morsom og sparket og plasket som en rigtig vand hund. De var mange menneske op stranden og det er sandt at Danskerne er ved at blive et tyk folk! Jeg har aldrig set så mange stor bagdel!

Jeg havde ikke min kamera med så billedet for oven er fra et par uger siden.

Desværre har jeg haft en lorte nyhede i sidste uge. Min mor har kræft og allerede i morgen (mandag) skal hun begynde på stålebehandling. Jeg ved ikke rigtig hvad jeg syntes, men et er klart; Der er noget møj at hun kun har været bedstemor i to sølle år. Vi menneske er så dårligt til at forstå hvad livet egentlig handler om så vi går og spilder vores liv på jagt efter ting som giver ingen dybe mening. Jeg har måtte opgivet så mange drøm bar for at kunne har det godt fordi de træk mig ned hele tiden. Hvis bar jeg kunnet havde forståde hvad det hele gik ud på noget tidliger.

For helvede!

Havhingsten fra Glendalough update

Only 24 days to go before the big ship leaves Roskilde Fjord for its epic jouney now. In the last few weeks the ship has been on several test voyages and the crew have been practising emergency routines in case the ship should sink. Its no easy voyage even in the summer. 1,666km across the North Sea round Scotland and on to Dublin. I wouldn't do it for love or money! ...well, maybe I would.... secretly I think I wish I could go too.

The BBC are going to make a documentry about it but in the mean time, here is a preview from You Tube:

Here is another film, from the official Roskilde Viking Ship Musem site. Circa 15 mins. In English.

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Constitution Day

Today is Denmarks Constitution day. The day when we Danes celebrate our freedom by doing as little as possible. Its also my friends Malene's birthday bash but I'm so under the weather today that I'm not up for being social (...when am I ever?). Mette's brother Kristian has been hanging around the last week or so and I've been up to my eye balls in various small projects that need to be finished. In fact I'm drowning in myriad small inconsequential idea's and projects that require completion as soon as possible.

Whats worse is I have half a dozen idea's clamouring for attention at the back of my mind as well, none of which are remotely practical to the question of existance, nor likely to generate any funds either. I did have the idea of making and selling small traction engine models for 28mm gaming, specifially to people interesting in the Boer to first world war period, but I don't really have the first idea as to how to go about mass producing white metal models.

In the mean time I am quite content for being 'under the weather' in this case means enjoying the summer weather regardless of a pounding headache. Today has hinted at a really nice hot long summer and hopefully, if this weather holds, I can take Mette and Freja to the beach in the week end and go swimming in the sea.
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edited to add image

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The Prestige

I almost forgot about this film but caught sight of it on the shelf in my local kiosk. I'd intended to watch it just after 'The Illusionist' but got side tracked (story of my life).

This film has a lot going for it. A great cast, an interesting story, a fairly good director and Nikola Tesla!!! You can't really go wrong with Nikola Tesla, unless you cast David Bowie to play him, and then alas, things start to slide.
The trouble is, I really want to like this film, but as a work intended to fool the audience, it failed. Not only did I see through Angier's secret plan, I also figured out Borden's 'big secret' too. It was just too obvious. 'He lived his act'. 'Tesla's machine'. Ta da.

If you haven't seen this film, then don't be put off though. Its a good enough experience, its just not quite as well done as 'The Illusionist'.

I really wish they'd make a film about the life of Tesla. He's far more interesting than Howard Hughes!

-ROCKETMAN III-

And so we reached the penultimate chapter of Rocketman III with our hero's and their allies attacking Korsakov's secret base in the depths of Kazakhstan. Having very little idea as to what its actually like in Kazakhstan, I envisoned a large pine forest surrounding a secret airfield and judging by this picture, thats probably not completely impossible.


Player One
Rocketman
George McArthur
’Mad Dog’ Mitchell
Lady Carfax.
Lady Carfax’s driver: Meadows
1 touring car
1 truck
1 armoured car with HMG
1 Ilyushin DB-3 long range bomber

Player Two
The Colonel
Sgt Sternov.
10 x Kazakhstani Bolshevik soldiers (with HMG)
1 truck
1 armoured car with HMG
1 off table mortar crew (requires spotter)

Player Three
Korsakov
Yuri
10 x Iron Guard riflemen
2 x Iron guard machine gunner
1 staff car
1 International Mark 7 Heavy tank with multiple weapons.

Player Four
Olga
10 x Kazakh tribesmen.
1 supply truck
1 Renault FT-17 Light tank with 37mm gun

Chapter four was another successful game, though I didn't fair to well in the beginning. I was player four, so I had the lightest weapons of all. I did have my FT-17 tank, but this only managed to trundle out into the open before it was taken out by the enemy mortar supported by both armoured cars. This was bad enough, but alas, my truck was then trapped inside the tank workshop behind it and couldn't get out. Thus by round three I was reduced to rifles and genades whilst every one else was still intact.

The good guys were attacking from the tree line to the west and had to break through the perimeter fence (easy enough with trucks and armoured cars). Due to the rest of the airfield (off table) being attacked by air craft, the people at the base were already in cover so Oleg and I had hidden just about everything we could. Korsakov, in his armoured suit was in the guard house opposite the tanks which were in their sheds. The idea was we'd lure them out into the open and hit them from all sides once they'd penetrated the base.

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Alas, the game was a complete bloodbath. I jumped the gun and charged out with my light tank, only to have it blown to pieces. The aeroplane was shot down as it made a run against the heavy tank, the heavy tank took out one armoured car before also being hit by the mortar and the last armoured car was taken out by a volley of granades thrown by my Kazahkstani tribes men (their first successful attack in three games). We had a fine time with cotton wool smoke and a good few laughs, but the end result was some what inconclusive, The good guys won a technical victory though neither side managed to meet their victory conditions. Alas, these large scale skirmish games are taking longer then usual because we've been trying out new rules and elements and the complexity tends to slow things down. We could use the chess clock to keep things brisk, but its a bit redundent when so many rules questions need to be clarified.

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This time round, every one managed to hold their own to some degree, hough we all lost our heavier elements as these were the obvious priority targets. A lot of the rules really needed to be tested because they didn't work as well as we'd anticipated. Vehicles carrying deployable elements are a problem and the rules needed to be stream lined. This took up a while as we debatted back and forth and some of the weapons are imbalanced. The 60mm mortar for example was way over powered. I think we do need to consider war head types and qualifiers, but thats for the future. For now I'm preparing chapter five, and hopefully it will be as much fun as chpater four was. Practice will no doubt make perfect.