Quiggles bares his Bristols

Briefing from Major Raymond, Air Intelligence.

Settle down chaps, light up your cigarettes, I'm on the Albanian Rough Shag this week.  Good for the sinuses.
As you know the Hun Circus over at Vagraines are still making a concerted push on our Artillery observation planes.
High command want us (and by "us" I mean you) to attack their airfield.

We have two flights of the new Bristol Fighters attached to us for this mission.

Shoot them up gentlemen.

Your new Squadron Leader will delegate the operations.
Be brave gentlemen.

Operations Briefing
Squadron Leader James Quigglesworth.

What ho chaps.
What we have always done on this sort of thing, go over in dribs and drabs.  It's a tactic that has served us disastrously in the past, so I see no reason to change anything now.

Algy will lead A flight with Ginger in formation behind.  Maximum ceiling gentlemen but from the look of that cloud it will be 6000.

Bertie and Smithy will go this afternoon, same routine, doesn't do to surprise the Hun.

The Brisfit boys will be sending two flights to try out these new kites.  Old Tudor Davies will be leading them, probably with Donnie Estelle as his second.  A nice bus but not a patch on our Camels.

June 1917, The Brisfits appear
Algy with four Sopwith Camels
Ginger with four Sopwith Camels
Tudor with four F2 Bristol Fighters.
Donnie with four F2 Bristol Fighters.

The Stereotype Hun Briefing.
Jawoll mine Herren,
Pass the sausages and beer steins.  Let us get up there and shoot down the enemy
Get high and drop down on them!

The Pumpernickel Staffel
Six Fokker Triplanes
Two Eight Albatros
Two balloons and six AA batteries supporting.

In the Air...

Quiggles gets his Bristols out. 

Over the lines the Hun ambush

It's one of those swirling dogfights

But by and large the Germans get into position better.

Ginger goes down...

Five Bristols three camels make it home.  Four planes down including Ginger.

And three Hun kites down too.  A narrow win.  I need to brush up on my Bristols...

Bombing Major Raymond's Geraniums.

Briefing from Major Raymond, Air Intelligence.

Settle down chaps, light up your cigarettes, I'm on Raw Turkish rollups this week.  Good for the throat.  Also refill my gin glass, horse's neck if you please.
As you know the Hun have a new Circus moved in over at Vagraines.  Once again it's a mix of Albatros and dirty three wing Fokkers.  They are making a push on our Artillery observation planes.  You gentlemen will stop them.
Your new Squadron Leader will delegate the operations.
Be brave gentlemen.

Operations Briefing
Squadron Leader James Quigglesworth.

What ho chaps.
What we have always done to counter this sort of thing is the old two patrols a day routine.  It's served us disastrously in the past so I see no reason to change anything now.

Dawn Patrol, and Algy will lead A flight with Ginger in formation behind.  Maximum ceiling gentlemen but from the look of that cloud it will be 8000.
Bertie and Smithy will go this afternoon, same routine, doesn't do to surprise the Hun.

The SE5 boys next door will be sending up a single flight to assist.  Old Tudor Davies will be leading them, probably with Donnie Estelle as his second.  A nice kite but not a patch on our Camels.

Remember if the Hun get on your tail, a snap turn will shake them off, but watch out for those damn Fokker Triplanes, they can pull the same trick. If you see any of those damn Rumpler or Halberstadts down them quickly in case they are on bombing runs.  Major Raymond's Geraniums have never been the same.

June 1917, The Dawn Patrol.
Algy with four Camels
Ginger with four Camels
Tudor with four SE5 A
Young Charles FE2B in spotter roll.

The hexless turning circle.  Using the A track may pull your wings off...

The Stereotype Hun Briefing.
Jawoll mine Herren,
Pass the sausages and beer steins.  Let us get up there and shoot down the Englanders (and any other nationalities that may be taking part in their operations).  Swamp them with the scouts on high guard, and pass the two Halberstadts through at lower ceiling to bomb the target.
Major Raymond's Geraniums are doomed!

The Pumpernickel Staffel
Six Fokker Triplanes
Six Albatros
Two Halberstadt
Two balloons and six AA batteries supporting.

In the Air

The blinds move forward

The cunning Hun have those bombers at low level.

The grand melee breaks out.  The Fokkers dominate the SE5.

With a single Fokker escorting the Halberstadts close in.  That lone Camel is shot down.

The Hun focus on the mission and bomb the Major's Geraniums.  A win for the Pumpernickel Staffed.

Nausius Wedding Celebration Games

Greetings and felicitations, and welcome back to the Ludus Scutum Quercu, it is I, Dubious, the camp slave, who shall be your guide. Oh yes!
Oh Missus!  Stop messing about...
Oh, suit yourselves. ..

The Prologue

Nausius, sensitive son of Senator Quintus Whitmorus, has wed Lascivia the daughter of Senator Ludicrous Pompous.  As a dedication of the marriage a series of Gladiatorial bouts have been arranged between our Ludus and the Ostian Peakus Blindus Ludus.  Gangsters the lot of them.

The bride to be, Lascivia, personal vetted all of the Gladiators involved.  Even the female ones.  She is keen!

My master, Biggus Brutus has decided to try his luck in Ostia again.  Things have quietened down following the great scandal of a few months ago.  Flouring a chimp and using dwarf gladiators to make it look like a great ape seemed such a good idea at the time.  The Thracian Lanista Fartakiss is still annoyed about the chimp!

On with the games...

My new 20mm Gladiators from Newline Designs

Our "stable."

Thorinus the Thracian, Regius Minimus, Prince of Dwarves.  Our primus gladiator. 
Balinus the Secutor
Sinister the left handed Retarius
Gracia Bibendum, the Ethiope, is that really a woman?


The Ostian Gangsters stable

Brawnius
Condomus
Judah Ben Horse
Swiftus Dikkus.

The Bouts

The first bout Swiftus Dikkus against Grace Jones... sorry Gracia Bibendum, the clash of the Thracians...

Gratzia with three nines!  Ambulance for Swiftus.

It becomes a chase.

And down he goes, no longer so swift

The second bout Retarius Judah ben Horse against Balinus the Secutor

"But I know this man!". Judah gets stuck in.

Balinus is netted and put down.  Not what my Ludus wanted to see!

Third bout, the criminal Maximus Lardus, a former soldier condemned after a drunken brawl.  Condomus of the Blindus Ludis drew the lot to fight the bout.

Lardus was condemned for his bristling moustaches.  Condomus over matches him.

But it goes the distance.  Biggus Brutus makes an offer to buy Maximus Lardus.

Lastly the headline event

The brutal Brawnius the Murmillo against Thorinus the Thracian

Thorinus goes in full steam with a charge.  He takes three hits out of Brawnius.

But this too looks like it will go the distance.

And our winner, Condomus.  Turns out he was well protected.

The Ludus Brutus has lost two won one and bought a criminal with a moustache.

My Beaufighter 633 Squadron scenario.

I am planning to run six Beaufighter scenarios as part of my Desert Air Force Campaign.  252 Squadron sent an detachment to Gibraltar in early 1941 and they will be the focus of the game.  

The first five scenarios will be in random order, and the last will be my 633 Squadron style attack (except with torpedos rather than bombs, and through a harbour at low level rather than a fiord)

1.  Coastal patrol

2.  Attack the convoy

3.  Over Tobruk

4.  Intercepting the Stukas

5.  The ME110 duel.

6.  Palermo harbour and the Giulio Cesare.

The Italian Battle cruiser Giulio Cesare has been escorting convoys to assist the Axis build up in North Africa.  If used aggressively she could become a devastating weapon in the Mediterranean.  She has been damaged in the last 24 hours by a torpedo from a British U class submarine, and limped into Palermo harbour for temporary repairs.

The ship is against the Duce wharf, and attacking her will not be easy.  Palermo is very well protected by a variety of anti aircraft batteries, balloons and fighter aircraft from the nearby Boccadifalco Airfield.  The attack run can only be made in a south westerly direction, at a height of 1, and at half speed.

The 12 Beaufighters of Victor Valiant's Squadron will be available for the attack, in three flights of four.  The Italian Fiat fighters will arrive some time after turn 4, when I will begin an EDNA countdown.

Building the Lark, a 15mm Brig of War

The 16 gun Brig Sloop Lark foundered off the Dominican coast in 1809.  She was a Comorant class vessel and had been launched in 1794.  Her first commander was Commander Josias Rowley, but the vessel had a distinguished history, not least under the command of future Frigate Captain John Loring.  His exploits seem to have resemble that of a real life Hornblower.  

My own favourite moment of Lark in this period is the capture of the American Slaver Sally, and rescue of 23 Slaves from the furious Americans.  When Lark capsized in the middle of a Caribbean hurricane Loring managed to right her, and jury rig a sail that brought her into Dominica.  He was so efficient and swift to repair the wrecked Brig that the station Admiral promoted him to Captain a mutinous frigate.

Lark is a name that had been used before for such smaller class ships, and would be honourably used again.  It has a certain ring to it.  Since I'm building my Lark for an earlier period than the Napoleonic I'm only going with 6 guns (it's a wargaming model so less is more) but I will keep the raised poop instead of a single deck.

The Commander will of course be that salty sea dog Josias Farthingdale RN.  

For Blood and Plunder I wanted to give my crew two distinct areas to fight in.  I was quite pleased with the result once I assembled it.

I started with my printed plan, altered for this particular model with doors under the aft deck.  My feeling is that 15mm is about as large as I can go with this type of model, so once again this ship is a little experimental.

Lark will be 18 cm or just about 7+ inches in length, and 6.5 cm or two and a half inches in the beam.  At the scale for conversion I use she would be 75ft gun deck length by 26ft. beam.  That makes her smaller than a Cormorant class brig, but perfectly useable as an earlier version.

With 15mm Minifigs RN Crew.

A Peter Pig light ships cannon.

The stern has not yet been added here and I clipped the bows whilst the glue dries.  Also a really effective way to hold the model whilst I work on it.

The sides are double thickness and come out at a hefty 4mm thick.  That means I need to cap the rail, just for neatness.   This is a sturdy model!

Bearing in mind the height difference between the two decks I also need ladders and a rail across the poop, with swivel guns mounted on the posts at either side. 

My boat building alter ego, Tobias Farthingdale has distinct ideas about how ships should look, and that stern needs more decoration and gold paint. 

 
To neaten those thick sides I capped them with thin card.  This will be painted black- brown to blend in.  The rail has also been added here. Lark has some weight about her already.

Next I wanted to detail the ladders, basically balsa scraps here.  This is all for the look but clearly needs to be painted, as does the lower part of the hull.
The ships wheel as a particularly fiddly bit.

The two masts, bowsprit and spars were next.  I use a variety of tricks to enable these to dismantle for storage.  Loops and thread to thicken the masts at the holding point, wooden traps to hold the spars in place.  The masts here were all bamboo skewers.  Eventually I will use milliput to create some sails furled around the spars.

I will have to get the sail set sorted out, but prior to that there is one last job, getting the armament aboard.

These are Peter Pig light guns.  Lark carries six, but has two more ports below the poop, making five guns on each side..  In action the Captains cabin becomes just another part of the gun deck.  The Brig also has swivel guns mounted above the waist, to fire down into boarders or a mutinous crew!  The HM Brig of War Lark is a tough proposition for the Pirates she will be hunting.

The finished Lark

Ten gunports

The bow and waist

And the albatross eye view.

And now I can start painting the crew!

Sid at the Benidorm Plaza

King Alonso the Twisted of Aragon has granted the title Count of Benidorm to one of his old mates, Sid, marrying him off to the Dowager Aunt Joan.  

With less than a dozen men the Sid must conquer the Benidorm resort before his wedding, one bar at a time. 

Having fought and defeated the Moors twice Sid is ready for his final challenge... The Plaza...

The Benidorm Plaza is one of the finest venues in Benidorm.  Emir Alanus Rickmanus has defended it solidly with the best men he has remaining.   He intends to let the Spaniards focus on the building, whist he turns up later with his horsemen.  It is the final battle for Benidorm.


I used Outremer Faith and Blood for these rules.  They employ a series of different dice from d4 up to d20.  The better your chances the larger dice you throw.  It's an interesting idea,  but nothing Gary Gygax didn't use in the seventies.  To be honest I'm not sure it works as I would want,  but I've done some fun games with this.

The Plaza, 1080 AD. 

The Spaniards attack goes in.

Sid's men are keen to get to the Plaza Rooftop Terrace Bar...

Big Bernardo, best man, smashes his way through the Moorish Foot.

And on the roof the Spaniards cut down the archers, but not without casualties.

And Bernardo bursts through, defeating the last of the Moors.  The Sid's horse seems to be being lead forward behind.  No word from the great man?

And it's victory to the Sid, as Big Bernardo leads the victory cheers.

A great and famous victory for the Spaniards.  Soon after these events however the rumours started.  Was the Sid really in the grips of a huge hangover?  Did Bernardo have our hero tied unconcious in place on his horse and lead about by a foot soldier?

And what of Bernardo himself?  Had he been imbibing the local firewater so much that his extraordinary strength and valour was merely the result of a pub crawl around Benidorm?

In any event the Sid must now return for his wedding to the Countess Joan, a daunting prospect.  He must also face Bernardo's Best Man's Speech, perhaps even more daunting.  After all, what happens in Benidorm should stay... in Benidorm.

Sid and the Benidorm Pelicanos Lounge

King Alonso the Twisted of Aragon has granted the title Count of Benidorm to one of his old mates, Sid, marrying him off to the Dowager Aunt Joan.  Before his wedding Sid and his mates have gone off to conquer the resort.

With less than a dozen men the Sid has already beaten the bar at the Palm Beach.  The Umayyad Prince has fled back to the House of the Pelicans.  His men have fortified the building there and Sid must work hard to conquer this part of the Benidorm resort on his Outremer Faith and Blood stag do.  

Scenario Two
Sol Pelicanos 

The figures, Mounted
Sid Count of Benidorm
Big Bernardo his Squire and Best man
Jim of Dale, Soldier

The Peasants Foot
Hawtrey, Williams, Howerd, Cribbins, Pertwee, 
Butterworth, Monkhouse, Clary, Old Hartnell

The Moors  Mounted

Al Alanus Rickmanus Emir of Benidorm
Kenni, The Khasi of the Solana.
Yousef Ben Lom
Salman Rushed-it
Ali the extra guy

The Moorish Foot, 
Gimp the archer, Atiq the arrow, Ali short bow, Hamid the spear, Shiraj the scimitar, Jabir the jabber.

The Pelicanos,  reasonable rates and all inclusive! 

The Sid sends in his foot, with a ladder, and screens the bows from the Moorish horsemen

The Spaniards assault the building, but the defence is tough.

Yet the Emir is in effective against those javelin men.

Big Bernardo has a moment of madness.  Charging his horse up the steps.  I give him a load of negative modifiers for this, he should be rolling D10!   Still the madman kills his opponent, and leaps from his horse onto the roof. 

The example inspires the Christians who renew the attack and clear the roof. 

The Emir flees as the Sid's banner flies over the Pelicanos Lounge Bar, the second of his stag weekend's conquests.