$100 Buck Fucksley: Dead or alive

 Rod Trotter, Pea Freely and Chico Tiempo are trying for the new bounty on Buck Fucksley.  Buck's compadre Grumpy Jed has come to town to help his mate in the coming fight.28mm 

Grumpy Jed gets his back to the wall as Rod Trotter and Pea Freely try to work out how to get to him 

But Buck spots Rod behind the batwing saloon doors and does some of his trademark fanning.

Rod goes down and Jed finishes him off.

Pea rolls a low reaction.  Discretion prevails and he goes back to his drink.

But it's Chico time, as he rolls a crazy charge, and runs into the street shouting in Spanish.

Only to end up in a Crossfire.

Chico Tiempo goes down.  This time Buck finishes him.

Pea, last bounty hunter standing, rolls a 1 and rides out.

Bounty on Buck is now $200!

The Ballad of Buck Fucksley

The town of Armadillo, Texas has an infamous Gamblin' man, Buck Fucksley, of the Houston Fucksleys.  Some call him a coward and a backstabber.  Fair comment!

6 spawn points on my town map disguised as barrels.  I use a 2d battle map to save on terrain.

Armadillo

Durk Slicklicker comes looking for Buck.  A gamblin' debt is owed.

Durk gives it both barrels.  A hit, but Buck is down not out.  Still with us he manages to get into cover and regain his feet.

And Buck rolls a perfect "catchmole."  Too much choice for me!

Buck is a notorious fanner.  He puts poor old "snake eyes" Durk down.  Its looking like my warm up game is done.

The Pigourdy Chevauchée Game One: Raid on St Poupé

 

The raid

Sir Phallus leads his mounted men at arms to raid the village of St Poupé.

The opposition is a small local garrison.

Phallus and his lads appear.

And the opposition is thin on the ground

But wait a moment, those are longbowmen we are charging!

Phallus has his jupons handed to him

It's a brutal fight where the English roll terrible dice.

Even the French spears prevail

Not going well

And my Captain barely escapes with his life.

My medieval buildings store inside each other.

With the unfinished roofing on top.  I'm adopting the Russian doll terrain system for all my buildings in future.  It saves space and makes them robust.

A loss for the English but the campaign continues.

Fire in the Sky, 1917

 WW1 Air 1917

Major "Piggy" Camerun

"Tally ho fellows?  Settle down there.  The Brass have decided that we need to get some crates over sausage side and give the bally old Hun a damned good taste of British spank. 

The Hun will expect us at 8am sharp and we don't want to surprise them or anything.  Not cricket what?
Carry on..."

Die Deutschen

Oberst Boris von Piffel

"By Jove chaps. We have an oven ready mission for you, and forty new airfields.  I'll be right there beside you from my HQ in the Hamburg Red light district."

Jasta 27 Fokker Triplanes 
Hauptmann The Baron Manfred von Pumphosen
Jasta 7 Albatros
Hauptmann Max Todtraum
Rumpler bomber Jasta
OberLeutnant Fitz Sexpest 

The Jolly old Brits

143 Camel Squadron
Major "Piggy" Camerun
235 SE5a Squadron 

Capt "Lucy" Knobson-Gove
DH4 Bristol Bomber squadron
Major "Not quite Bullingden enough" Javid.  

Fokker triplanes

Did a small game of WW1 aerial but forgot to take photos.  I will come back to it.

Up the Tigris: The Basra Oil Works

 The Commonwealth forces have sent their gunboat Flotilla up the Shatt Al Arab towards Basra.  The target is the Barain Oil Works buildings and to secure the pipe.  A Royal Marine battalion is supporting.

The Turks will be handled as a random force, although the Cavalry from game one and the attack and landings at Fao are shadowing the gunboats.

Odin leads the flotilla up the Shatt al Arab waterway

Zero encounters!  The Turkish cavalry shadows,

Hidden battery.  Odin replies with excellent dice.

And I land the Royal Marine battalion to drive off the Turks

Easy game for the Empire!  We take the oil works for no losses,  The dice were kind.

Tigris 1914

A naval wargame set on the Tigris River during 1914

1. The Battle of Basra: The Ottoman and British naval forces face off on the Tigris River near Basra. The Ottomans aim to defend Basra and prevent the British from advancing further inland, while the British seek to establish control over the river to secure their position in the region.

The Ottoman fleet is positioned strategically to defend Basra, while the British forces approach from the Persian Gulf. As the player I need to manage the fleets effectively, utilizing a combination of gunboats, river monitors, and possibly even armed dhows or other local vessels. The Ottomans might have shore batteries to bolster their defenses, while the British can call upon air support from seaplanes or dirigibles for reconnaissance.

The Start

Friday 6 November 1914 British/Indian forces started to land in Mesopotamia from the Persian Gulf supported by old battleship Ocean (Capt Hayes-Sadler), sloops Odin, Espiegle, and including Government yacht Lewis Pelly, launch-tugs Garmsir, Sirdar-I-Naphti, Mashona, Miner, all manned, armed and commissioned by HMS Ocean.

 

HMS Espiegle

 

Odin, sloop, Epiegle-class, 1,070t, 6-4in/4-3pdr, Capt Hayes-Sadler in command and crewed by Espiegle, with convoy carrying Anglo-Indian expeditionary force, entered Shatt-el-Arab and came under Turkish fire. Odin in 40-minute duel silenced a 4-gun battery at Fort Fao or Al Faw guarding the Shatt-el-Arab entrance, hit twice and later fired on by riflemen from trenches. Espiegle hit entrenchments further upstream opposite Abadan (Rn/D/gb)

 

 

Game one, the Fao Landings

The fort on an outcrop dominating the river

Odin creeps inshore and starts to batter the firt

This Cadmus class tugboat is in 1:600.  Still needs some work.

Good shooting

The RN brings a wall down

Unseen shore battery.  Odin takes damage

But the salvo in return is stunning.  Three Turkish guns are wrecked.

The Naval flotilla takes on the battery.  Wiping it out.

And Odin turns back on the fort.

And Fao is looking shaky.

The Marine battalion begins its row ashore

The Marines lose a boat but three companies get ashore.

And the fort is pretty much done.

The Marines attack the Turkish reserves.

And finally the Phoona Brigade begins to land

The Turkish cavalry in reserve

The fort falls.

And the Turkish cavalry retreats.