The Mabel Street Mob To The Rescue

If you are expecting Thanda The Grim, sorry she's not here.

Following the intro in the last post.

The Mabel Street Mob start the long drive towards Agua Fria, down towards the fireplace that can be seen in the distance. This is just an atmospheric shot to show off the trucks and trees.

Not so atmospheric but is more useful and also shows how long the table is at Snapcase Hall, that’s a river or the sea in the distance.

The seasonal monsoons had arrived in New Mexico and Arizona as usual, the river Agua was high with 30' of water in the deepest part of the river. Anyone who thinks there are not deep and constant rivers flowing through the deserts of New Mexico has a vivid imagination and not read Higginbottoms Flora, Fauna and River Life in the American South West, published 1863 :)

I lied about the table being able to seat 40, but it’s got to be 20 and it’s the longest table I’ve gamed on in 30 years. When I do these road games I have 1’ square tiles and move them along, at Snapcase Hall we just used the table. I started getting cold feet about now, because most of my road games never get off my initial 3’ square table. I’m hoping this one goes further.

Immediately the lead car gets a puncture, this is going to slow things down, note that Isobelle, Ruth and Mad Patsie are changing the tyre. Random dice roll gave 3 turns before being back on the road. The other two pickups carry on up the road.

Another moody shot when the next encounter turns out to be an escapee from the local insane asylum. He runs across the road and the driver swerves to avoid him.

And ends up in the hedge. The following cars driver is alert enough to brake before ploughing into the back of the lead car. That would have been game over before it had even started.

I was starting to get worried, have I made this too hard, The Mad Lord and Sir Douglas are going to expect something a bit better, after all when I write up my solo games they probably appear to go without a hitch. The power of the re-write button.

We roll for damage and there is none, the driver gets the pickup started again. Phew!!!! A relief for me.

All the other encounters on the road into town turn out to be blanks, I am now thinking I have made it too easy, never thought it would be so stressful laying on a game for other people.

The two pickups park up behind Blonde Edna’s. Pops and Granny were waiting for them and they all start unloading the hooch. Notice how Isobelle, Ruth and Patsie seem to have managed to go from the sedan with the puncture to the pickups. This never happens in my solo game, I can only blame one of the others involved and they know who they are. I was thinking of suing,  you know we live in a blame society.

Any one easily offended by gratuitous sexual images – please look away now.

Just another moody shot of Ruth’s stockings and suspenders, anyone easily offended don’t look.

You've probably already zoomed in on the photo I expect.

Here comes the sedan with the rest of the gang, Lian in the form of Doug was driving and he completely threw me by deciding to block the road into town and stop the State Troopers getting to the jail. I had just assumed we would do the business and get out of Dodge, well Agua Fria as soon as possible.

His move actually made a lot of sense, but don’t tell him I said so.

Doing a 5 point turn in the narrow road, they drop Barbara off with the intention of hotwiring the brown truck and using that to block the road. The rest of the crew are still offloading hooch.

You can just see Barbara's blue beret by the truck.

Lian and Loretta jump out of the sedan so that they can go in through the back door of the jail (the building on the left) at the same time as the others go through the front.

Lian and Loretta had moved to the back door of the jail, and the rest of the mob were at the front. There was some mad plan to hoot like an owl so that they could enter the building at the same time. Don’t ask!!!

This is where it started to get complicated. Barbara who was going to hot wire the truck could hear vehicles coming down the road, she threw the right dice and got the truck engine turning over. The Mad Lord who was controlling Barbara or Babs as he began to call her, started to reverse, his plan apparently was to reverse straight into the lead vehicle, no wonder there are dents all over his Roller.

BANG - the big truck hits the little truck, the little truck goes careering off left, Babs holds it together and doesn’t loose control but keeps going.

BANG - Big Andy who was driving the 2nd truck fails to stop or swerve and ploughs straight into the truck Babs is driving. He loses control and there are injured State Troopers all over the place.

Mean while Isabelle toting a German Smg followed by Ruth burst into the jail and open fire. There are bullets going everywhere. The police fire back. There could have been as many as 5 cops in the jail house but a good roll for us meant there were only 2. No one goes down. Lian is struggling to get the back door open, well at least that’s what she said, could be she was leading from behind as usual. Good middle management technique.

I haven’t made much in the way of furniture for the insides of the buildings so we assumed there was a desk that would give the cops a bit of cover.

Isobelle fires 2 or 3 times and misses with each burst but Ruth is a bit of a crack shot and hits Juanita the young female cop in the leg and Big Jim immediately throws his hands up shouting don’t shoot. What a wimp.

At this point Lian and Loretta finally get through the back door.

Not a good photo but is sort of shows what we had all forgotten. Nicole is in the jail behind the cops.

Yes the cops that Isobelle has been spraying with bullets, yes and missing all the time, where have the bullets gone?

We decided that on a roll of 1,2,3 or 4 seeing Isobelle coming through the door Nicole knowing what a lousy shot she was would hit the deck and fortunately that’s what happened. The bullets went every where but the desk saved Nicole.

In the distance you can see three of the mob still outside the Sheriff’s office.

About this time Major Maddaford in the Tailfeather Saloon across the road had decided to support the local law enforcers and shoot at the Mob. This was a BIG mistake as he was shot to death by one of them but I can’t remember who, and there appears to be no photo of the event.

This led Mary, his woman, who had been hiding, to come out of the saloon firing. She was going to avenge her man like they do in the Country songs. Dorothy waiting in cover behind the police car is a crack shot with her pocket pistol.

She was just in range and shot poor Mary down like a dog on the highway, like they do in the Country songs.

The result of the two collisions, 2 State Troopers down - injured and out of the fight, Big Andy still on his feet and another Trooper hidden by the small van is also active.

Babs continues to go backwards and it looks like she has reversed into the Trooper who was behind the van and killed him, but as they say in Congressional Hearings “I have no memory of that event”

The final truck in the convoy narrowly misses the pile up in front of him, swerves off the road, does not get stuck in the sandy soil and pulls up in front.

Up until that point we had deemed it plausible that the Troopers would just think it was a possible accident, but now it was deliberate and they both rushed towards the cab shouting put your hands where we can see them.

So she did – her hands were on the shotgun - she held it out of the window - and fired at them, missing and running out of ammo. The return fire left her injured, unable to offer resistance when they cuffed her to the wheel.

While the car crashes had been going on Nicole had been released from jail and the 2 cops replaced her in the cell. The next stage of the game is underway. 4 of the gang have gone next door and broken in to the Bank, John and James Watson offered no resistance. Pathetic. It was just going to take a few turns to empty the safe, the money was being transferred into the police car at the front of the sheriffs office.

I’m not sure what that alien thing is in the bank, Doug said it was a counter but it didn’t work, we had to turn it.

You just know that the Mad Lord was not going to leave Babs behind (I think she was his favourite) Patsie and Ruth have moved behind the Mobs sedan.

Isobelle has moved down the road and is hiding behind the green van, and Big Andy has left Babs handcuffed to the van and is starting to move forward towards the Jail to see what he can do. He doesn't see Isobelle.

She sees him though and opens up with her SMG and of course misses, but this is the final straw, shouting “lets get out of here” he takes to his heels, followed a little bit more slowly by his last Trooper.

Loading the loot into the police car.

Leaving Isobelle to uncuff Babs, Ruth and Patsie come back up the street to rob the Wells Fargo Office. Yes we had decided to try and out do the Daltons, going for 2 banks in broad daylight. Well you knew we had to do that.

Patsie jumps into the Office, trades shots with Jack Handsome, he’s too good, fires back and her nerve fails so she ducks back out of the door, the lead from Jacks gun is just too hot for her to handle.

Of course this leaves Ruth with a clear shot from the doorway - that's Ruth the crack shot and poor Jack doesn't stand a chance and goes down OOF.

There is no one left to interfere with the robbery or the getaway, so they have time to carry out the Mad Lords final scheme. I think it was Doug who said in one post “He is mad you know”

The Mob steal the police car and make their getaway on the Marie Anne that was tied alongside the jetty.

Just for your information the Marie Anne is a scale model of the launch the Mad Lord keeps on the lake in the grounds of Snapcase Hall.

The Mob pose outside the Sheriff’s office with their new ride. The photos were getting more blurred as the game went on.

The ever so slightly out of focus townsfolk. It could have been the beer, or maybe the wine that was causing them to look in focus at the time I took them.

The even more out of focus law enforcement. It could have been the whiskey, I have heard of this phenomena, but I have no recollection of this event.

That's got the 50th post out of the way without too much fuss.

I knew I had a photo of the morning after the first night and this is it.

These were just the tipples Sir Douglas consumed in the evening, but it was hot and thirsty work for him umpiring Frostgrave or Lukewarm Grave as he called it. Maybe we helped out a bit in the creation of this glass mountain.


Well if you are still here - thanks for reading and C and C's are greatly encouraged.
Cheers

The Mabel Street Mob To The Rescue - Preamble

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

Communication between Mad Lord Snapcase, Sir Douglas and myself had been by telegraph, postal service, pigeon, and even on one occasion semaphore, but we had not met in person. Our online communications had been clandestine using a code known to ourselves and the other members of the International Organisation known only as L.A.F.
As our meeting was to take place in the depths of Devon we deemed it prudent to hide the fact by naming the event DevLAM, knowing that this would deflect curiosity from Foreign Agents in another direction and leave us time and space to hatch our plans.

This then is the information I sent to my host The Mad Lord Snapcase at Snapcase Hall and to my fellow guest Sir Douglas D'Emfoure, relating to the game I was to put on.

If this makes no sense, check half way down this post DevLAM    It probably still makes no sense.

PLAYERS BRIEFING

When the dust had finally settled following the Police raid on the Tail Feathers saloon (see previous post)  Lian Su Smith started to consider her future. How had the police known they were there, did she have a traitor in the mob, some one who was looking after their own best interests, an informer, a spy, a dead person when she found out who it was.

Things were getting tougher being a mob boss, there was not as much money coming in from the liquor trade, the Chinese were muscling in on the protection racket and making a big dent in the profits from gambling, and it was only a question of time before they hit her liquor business.

They were an issue, but the more immediate problem was Nicole Boursier, shot in the raid on the roadhouse and taken into custody. Lian was fairly certain that to save her own skin Nicole would rat out the mob. There were only 2 safe solutions, spring her from prison or make sure she never opened her mouth in court.

A prison rescue was going to be difficult, but because of her wounds Nicole had been sent to the local hospital under strong police guard and now she was being transferred to Yuma Prison to await trial. There was a short window of opportunity when the New Mexico authorities would hand her over to the Arizona State Troopers. This would take place in a small town on the border, Agua Fria and Nicole was going to be in the local county sheriffs jail for 1 night only. The Arizona Troopers were collecting the prisoner the following day.

This was damn decent of the authorities because by coincidence the Mabel Street Mob were due to make a delivery of their best bootlegged hooch to Blonde Edna’s Saloon and Brothel that same night in Agua Fria.

Lian whilst of Chinese American parents was an ardent student of American history and she was keen to create her own history. She knew of the Coffeyville bank robbery, when the Daltons tried to out do the James brothers by robbing 2 banks at the same time in broad daylight. Maybe she could do the same. The Daltons had failed spectacularly but Lian knew she was a better man than any of the Daltons or even the James boys.

Agua Fria is a small town but it has a Bank and a Wells Fargo office that holds cash, as well as 2 drinking houses, a Gunsmith and Blacksmith and the local County Sheriffs office and Jail.

This was the briefing for the game. Our aim was to deliver the hooch to Blonde Ednas, break Nicole out of jail, and depending on how daring we want to be – rob either the Bank, the Wells Fargo Office or both.

The Mabel Street Mob – from left to right, background and who was running them in the game.

Amelia Eckhart - a manly sort of a woman, likes fast cars and airplanes, useless in a fist fight but good with a gun. Usually takes the lead driving position. (Vagabond - V)

Barbara Vasseur - a high class French girl, known as the executioner, you can guess her role in the mob. She can shoot the pips out of an apple with that shotgun. Of course there’s not much left of the apple. (Mad Lord Snapcase - MLS)

Dorothy Cadero - she is the book Keeper for the mob, knows her numbers and can shoot and fight with the best of them. Works directly for Ruth Marrot, rumour has it she would like the top job. (V)

Isobelle Deforest - a French girl through and through, not such a good shot but that’s why she likes German SMG’s, they never let you down. (DougEM4 - D)

Lian Su Smith - of Chinese American parents, she leads the mob but not always from the front, she is certainly the brains of the organisation but is aware that there is competition for her place at the top. Of course no one in this mob is going to usurp her position, not while she is alive. (D)

Loretta Salerno - the newest member of the gang and one of the best drivers. She likes to tote a Thompson and not just for show, she is a deadly shot, not been long in the States, originally from Southern Italy, no one seems quite sure where. (D)

Nicole Boursier - the 2nd in command and the front woman for the gang. She was shot in the raid on the Tail Feathers Roadhouse and arrested. Maybe she does not feel too kindly to Loretta and Patsie who left her to face a long stretch in prison. (V)

Patsie Jones - from Brooklyn – mad as the hat she wears, the meanest of the bunch and twice as nasty. (MLS)

Ruth Marrot - a shadowy figure, she runs the finance side of the operation, a deadly shot with her colt automatic. (MLS)

 

This is our transport, 2 pick up trucks able to carry 2/3 people and in the back is the Hooch, plus a fast sedan able to carry 4/5 people. We need to decide who will be in which vehicle, who will drive them, the seating arrangement and what order they will proceed down the road.

Our convoy starts on the far side of the board driving down the road towards the town. I had taken two Subbuteo cloths to Snapcase Hall to play the game on but when I saw the Mad Lords mats and his brilliant motor launch I changed the game to incorporate a river get away, rather than driving off the board in the cars as originally intended.
I do find the pitch markings on the Subbuteo pitches a bit of a distraction, so was quite pleased to have some decent mats.

In the town as we drive in from the left, the 1st building on the far side of the road is R Tilney and Son a gunsmiths run by Mike Daniels, a bit of a drunk, then the Arizona Bank run by John and James Watson, then the Sheriffs office and Jail manned by an unknown number of policemen and the last building is the Wells Fargo office and Bank managed by Jack Handsome. Off the main street and behind the Wells Fargo office is the Blacksmiths, our information indicates it is vacant at the moment.

 

On the opposite side of the road from the right as we drive in the 1st buildings are a couple of vacant sheds, then the Tail Feather Saloon owned by an odd couple Major Henry Maddaford an Englishman and Mary Hoogenveen from Holland and the last building on the ground floor is the Westmoorland Grocery Store and upstairs around the back is Blonde Ednas Saloon and Brothel, we need to make our delivery round the back of this building. Both businesses are run by an old couple Granny and Pops, they will help off load the hooch but will not get involved in any of our other schemes.

The towns inhabitants will probably defend their businesses from our attacks and may help defend other businesses, but then again may just hide and keep out of the way.


You can see from this brief, I had no idea what was going to happen and had allowed room for a number of improvisations including a Chinese Tong, who never actually turned up, as well as betrayal or assassinations by up to 3 of the gang. We played the game cooperatively and in the end I decided not to sow discord between us so dropped the betrayal and assassinations, although I think that would have been fun.

As almost all of my games are solo affairs I wing a lot of the stuff, making up rules to suit the occasion and I wasn't sure how that was going to go down with seasoned wargames which these two gentlemen purported to be.

To that end I decided I had better have something prepared and so this is what I came up with, you don't need to read it because basically it's boring, but it pads out this post so that I can use the next one which is my 50th post, for the game report.

As I am a grumpy old bugger I shall not be having cake and candles as the headline picture, there will not be a big 50th POST heading, I do not want any cards or other acknowledgements, although money would be acceptable, postal orders, cheques or best would be cash in used notes.

Background Notes and Encounters for - JAIL BREAK

Mabel Street Mob - Arrive in the Yellow and the Red Pickup 2/3 occupants with the hooch plus the cream sedan with 4/5 occupants. 9 Barrels of hooch per Pickup. Time 2:00am 1 turn per 1/2 hour.

Sedans and pick ups move 18” on the road and 9” off road. Trucks 12” and 6”

If off road roll 2 dice on a score of doubles they become bogged down for 1 move, if on next move they roll another double they are stuck and cannot be moved without a truck, trucks if bogged down can not be moved.

Time to Unload Hooch Rob Bank etc. Active turns.

Hooch 1 person per barrel per turn. Pops and Granny will help.

Rob Bank = 1/2D6 +2 turns

Rob Wells Fargo = 1/2D6 +1

Transfer Prisoner from Jail to van 1DAv

Encounters on the road, use 1 marker for each of the first 5 road sections going into town and the same for the last 5 going out. Reveal as normal. For each encounter take a card from a shuffled 1 suit deck.

Ace = Police Road Block -1D6 1,2,3 = 2 police and 1 car, 4,5 = 4 Police and 2 cars. 6 = 4 State Troopers and 1 van. Police aim is to stop and search for liquor.

King = Rival Gang Road Block -1D6+2 members of the White Hyacinth Tong – there are 18 figures, dice to see who is in the ambush. Gangs aim is to kill Mob and take liquor.

Queen = Young Boy runs across the road.

Jack = Dog runs across the road.

10 = Pheasant runs across the road.

9 = 1,2,or 3 one 4,5,or 6 two Asylum inmates run across the road.

8 = Puncture 1,2,3 = 2 active turns to repair, 4,5,6 = 3 active turns to repair.

7-2 = Nothing

Queen, Jack, 10, 9 = 1D6 encounter runs 1,2 run left to right, 3,4 right to left, 5,6 stop in the middle of the road. If Inmates stop in road they will attack the mobs cars.

Take reaction test for obstacle in the road. If hit encounter, then driver and encounter roll 1D6 +Rep or 3 for encounter, if driver gets higher – target rolls 1,2 ok 3,4 OOF 5,6 dead. There were a series of reaction tests for various eventualities additional to the normal ones in the rules.

Awareness in the Jail. There is 1 sentry and any other guards are asleep. They may wake if there is shooting out of town. Use awareness of Andy Donovan even if he is not there until it is determined who is in the jail.

When Mobsters enter Jail if the Police are alert then they have guns in hand and take an insight test as normal. If Police not alert they are taken by surprise. Check Taken by surprise test.

How many are there.

Police Guards 1D6 1= 2, 2 = 2, 3 = 3, 4 = 4, 5,6 = 5 only roll for no of police when mob enters Jail.

State Troopers 1D6 1,2 = 2 in 1 van, 3 = 3(2 in 1 van 1 in a truck) 4 = 4(2 in 1 van 2 in 1 truck), 5 = 5(2 in 1 van 3 in 1 truck), 6 = 5(2 in 1 van 2 in 1 truck 1 in 1 truck) Bring 3 vehicles onto table and roll when they reach the jail or dismount, removing any surplus vehicles.

In each building the occupants are asleep until wakened by a noise or 8:00 oclock i.e. turn 12.

Arizona State Troopers arrive on the board roll 2D6 on turn 7 need 12, turn 8 - 11, Turn 9 -10, turn 10 – 9, turn 11 – 8, turn 12 – 7, turn 13 – 6, turn 14 – 5, turn 15 – 4, turn 16 – 3.

Locations - Bank – James and John Watson, Wells Fargo – Jack Handsome, Saloon – Major Maddaford and Mary Hoogenveen, Blonde Ednas and Store – Pops and Granny, Gunsmith – Mike Daniels.



This is the sort of thing I put together for many of my games and most this guff I proceeded to forget or ignore but I think it impressed the hell out of my fellow gamers ;) :) :) Maybe.

The White Hyacinth Tong



Lian Su Smith had been concerned about the influence of the Chinese Tongs interfering with her organisations operations and she had commissioned a P.I. to gather some information on them so she could see what she was up against. The Tong had only been in the USA for a short time and appear to have come from the back of beyond, Lian had been gathering information on them for a while to see what sort of competition they would be.

This is the report and photographs she had from her agent in Urumqi, where the hell was Urumqi, not Chicago – she knew that for a fact.

The inscrutable Yu Lon Chi was the head man of the White Hyacinth Tong who had been based in Ürümqi - capital of Xinjiang Province in North West China, pictured here in the Tianshan Mountains 1926.

Urumqi was ruled by the warlord Yang Zengxin from 1911 to 1928, it was a wild and dangerous place. It grew to prominence due to its position on the Silk Road and every bandit, con man, bully boy, and lowlife was attracted by its easy money and fast living.

The White Hyacinth Tong were the top of the pile, they say scum rises. They were bad men and none badder than Yu, he ran protection and prostitution in the downtown area, and also ran the cities most influential bank in the uptown area, he had fingers in many pies.

The Tong could easily be recognised by the White Hyacinth embroidered on their clothing. Recognised and then avoided - unless they came up behind you, in which case you were normally washed up on the banks of the Urumqi River or left to rot in some remote corner of the Tianshan Mountains.

This is a photograph of Chang - bodyguard and general enforcer to the inscrutable Yu Lon Chi taken here in the Tianshan Mountains 1926.

Changs mother died of typhus when he was 6 months old and his father of an equally deadly virus, an unpaid gambling debt to the Rickshaw Drivers Union who ran gambling and racetracks on the north side of town. Rickshaw racing was the hottest sport in Xinjiang Province in the 1920’s.

Chang wandered the streets stealing and fighting until he was spotted by Yu Lon Chi one day when he had just beaten a boy twice his age in a fist fight for a stale loaf of bread.
Chi took him in, fed and clothed him and now Chang reveres Chi as the father figure he never really knew.
Everyone knows that to get to Chi, you have to go through Chang, and no one goes through Chang.

The deadly but beautiful Mai Ling the second most powerful person in the White Hyacinth Tong, pictured here in the Tianshan Mountains 1926.
The triumvirate of Yu Lon Chi, Chang and Mai Ling maintain a grip of iron on the White Hyacinth Tong and through the Tong a stranglehold on all the vice and crime in Xinjiang Province, North West China.
The silk road may no longer carry silk but there are darker goods traded along the road in the 1920’s and the White Hyacinth is in the trade up to their necks, with Mai Ling masterminding most of it.

No one knows for sure where Mai Ling came from – she drifted into town and naturally gravitated to the centre of power, rising quickly to the top, leaving a trail of broken men behind her.

If these were the sort of people that had migrated to the US of A and Lian was up against them, then tough decisions were going to have to be made, bones were going to have to be broken and some would die. She was not going to have some backwoods Chinese Tong break into her markets, even if they did wear fancy clothes.

The White Hyacinth Tong never saw the light of day in this game, but those with a keen memory, may have seen them get on the plane with Becky in her last adventure, where I'm sure they will play some part in the future, so I thought I would get that out of the way now.

Bit of a ramble I'm afraid - but if you're still here - thanks for reading and your thoughts and comments usually cheer me up.
Cheers

Palaeo Diet – The Interlopers and DevLAM the Meeting

The year was growing older and the climate was getting colder so the Shell Clan were making their annual journey south to follow the sun, a ritual we still follow today. I guess if they had learned to sew, they could have made a better fist of clothing themselves to keep warm and saved on the leg miles.

The previous two stories showing the exploits of the Shell Clan are Here Game 1 and Here Game 2

It was late in the day and they were searching for somewhere safe to stay the night, when they came upon another group of upright bipeds, similar to themselves, but also quite different.

In game terms I treated the pygmies as pack predators so that the A.I. system would work.

The Shell Clan has adopted what was becoming their usual formation when facing danger, the females with the slings on the outside of the line and the men with the brawn and better close quarters weapons in the centre. The one thing they seem to have learned from the 1st encounter with the Grazers is to stick together when faced with danger.

Luana fails an activation but the Pygmies remain calm, watching to see what these strangely coloured people will do. She lopes forward and this also elicits no aggressive response. She then did what most peoples do when faced with an unknown race or culture. She tried to kill it.

Her sling shot was deadly accurate and she caused 2 wounds on Agume, he promptly dropped down dead.

The little guys were obviously not expecting this and two of them took to their heels and ran away. One is made of sterner stuff and moves forward to attack Luana.

Zanga the brave has moved close to Luana but could not make contact and then when Ayah makes her move towards him he responds by running away to join the rest of his tribe. Tohana and Kee’Ak move up along side the females.

A quick shot showing the poor Pygmies all in flight from these aggressive incomers.

The Pygmies have reacted to the hunters with Zanga going back onto the attack and you can see here he has been shot dead, again by Luana. To do this she rolls a 6 to hit and then a further 5 to hit again, causing 2 wounds which is a kill. Twice in 2 turns she has rolled a 6 followed by a 5, what a woman.

Tohana now runs forward and in a ferocious fight bashes the little fellows brains out with that dam big axe of his. He didn’t have it all his own way and took a blow to the head wounding him sorely.

The last man standing decides to leave before something nasty happens to him. Maybe he has friends nearby?

Another successful encounter for the Shell Clan.

Ayah’s leg has now healed and she can move normally.

Tohana suffered a blow to the head this leaves him slightly deaf and he ceases to be alert.

Kee’Ak no change and is still Alert.

Luana with her accurate shooting gains a trait and with a good die roll becomes a Hunter.

They also gain 6 bulk of food. Although I’m not too sure of the ethics of this decision on my part, but hey ho - it's only a game ;-)

DevLAM

You may have noticed the post on my Blog list from The Mad Lord Snapcase entitled Much-Piddling Naval Visitors and relating to Devlam 18.

Well - a year ago I was enjoying the late summer down in the south of France, staying with the Rothschild’s in their villa on Cap Ferrat when I received this telegram.

What ho Vagabond, what are you doing on the Bonfire night weekend, burning that bounder Fawkes or are you still enjoying the gaming tables on the Cote D’Azure STOP I am thinking of having a couple of chums around to the old pile and conducting a refined weekend of Wargaming STOP What do you think STOP The old Gal, Lady Snapcase is visiting relatives and we will have the place to ourselves STOP Sir Douglas is coming with something called Luke Warm Grave, doesn’t have a snowy table he says, well which of us do at this time of year STOP I shall be doing Pulp Alley, Gothic Horror don’t you know STOP You can bring that Mabel Street Mob lot down if they can get exit visas from the States STOP Reply soonest STOP

When I told the Rothschild’s that I would be leaving on the next boat train to London and then driving down to deepest darkest Devon the following day they were bitterly disappointed, as you would expect but they quite understood that the chance to wargame in the sanctity of Snapcase Hall was an offer no insane sane man would refuse.

The weekend went well, Lord Snapcase was a most attentive host and even had the local Constable stop the traffic in the main street outside the Hall, just so I could more easily get my Austin 7 between the gate pillars and up the long tree lined drive, to park in the stable yard round the back of the main house.

Sir Douglas and I arrived promptly at the designated time, his racing green Bentley cut quite a dash in the village, it’s a shame the aged braking system couldn't cope with the nasty turn by the duck pond, but we had him out of there in two shakes of a lambs tail. What’s a bit of water to a man on his calibre.

We had a quick tour of the ancestral home, the oldest, central section 1650’s I believe and both the east and west wings, it only took a couple of hours, obviously avoiding the servants quarters, kitchens and other less interesting rooms.

Of note was the 2nd Library, the one with all the historical and military books, 1st editions most of them, smaller than the main Library but indubitably more interesting.

The gun room collection has more Brown Bess muskets than the Royal Armouries, and the best selection of 17C German Sporting guns I have ever seen, including the Baron Munchausen’s collection in Bavaria. There were antique firearms through to light machine guns from the 2nd WW, as well as a nice collection of American revolvers and Carbines from the 19C. The shooting range took up the length of the 2nd floor of the West wing, probably only 100yds long but impressive all the same.

The heavy machine guns and artillery were apparently in storage a few miles away on the estate and we did not have the time to visit, mores the pity.

The painting and modelling room was a picture of efficiency and industry, indeed the three fellows and one young gal were painting a hard and as fast as they could, quality control was excellent although his Lordship gave them quite a wigging over the eyes, they looked good to me but to a perfectionist like Snappy they were just not up to snuff. Figures were going on to a conveyer belt down to the far end of the room where the bases were attended to, then straight onto the racks in the purpose built computer controlled storage facility which took up most of one floor in the East Wing.

This man does not have a lead mountain, it’s more like the Himalayas.

The games were played out in the main Dining Room of Snapcase Hall, where there was more space than in the Games Room or the rather cramped 30’ x 30’ Billiard Room. The dining table probably seats 40 but I could never count all the chairs, there was so much else going on. Royalty has eaten there, although I believe they were aghast at the size of the Bill the 3rd Lord presented them with and I don't believe they ever returned.

Old Scrotum - Snappy’s aged but wrinkly retainer plied us with food and alcohol at regular intervals during the two and a half days we were ensconced there, games started promptly at when ever we could get ourselves up and went on to the early hours of the morning.

There are some scurrilous rumours about the amount of alcohol drunk and a photograph appeared in the local paper purporting to show one nights consumption, if I can get a copy I will post it here so you can see for yourselves how they exaggerated. No three men could possibly drink that amount, although to be fair the under maid did reveal to me that the staff had to commandeer the local undertaker and his hearse to keep up with the flow of bottles from the room.

On Saturday night the uniformed Chauffeur drove us down to the local hostelry in the lime green Roller, the local peasantry doffed their caps as we drove by. The whole Restaurant had been taken over by Lord Snapcase and all the riff raff, who were standing outside in the pouring rain, could do was gaze longingly through the window at their local Lord and Master. The menu had been prepared especially for us, the suckling pig was excellent, although the quails eggs I thought were a little over done, but all in all, a splendid meal, Missis Miggins deserves her 3 stars.

As we were leaving there was some discussion about Manorial rights with the local peasants. Apparently it is still customary in this part of Devon that prior to their wedding night … virgins…. marriage… Lord of the Manor…. It all got a bit complicated but Lord Snapcase seemed happy with the way the discussions went.

Well the reason for all this reminiscing is that I have been invited down to deepest darkest Devon again this coming November. An invitation I am a little surprised at, he obviously hasn't missed the family silver yet, nor the lime green Rolls Royce, although there were a lot of cars in the stable block 3 or 4 Rollers, a couple of Bentley's and too many of those fancy foreign cars to shake a big stick at, so I've probably got away with it.

I want to post up some of the games we played last year before this coming crop make me forget them, or maybe the alcohol will do that, there were some reports circulated at the time but they were written by unreliable sources and I believe I should make sure that the truthful accounts are reported here, sooner rather than later.

Well if you are still here - thanks for reading and your thoughts and comments "make my day"

"Punk" :)

Cheers