In addition to my duties with the Society of Ancients, WD, The Battlefields Trust, the Art Gallery and my local battlefields at Naseby and Northampton, I am an occasional member of the Ad Hoc wargames group.
Mostly I’ve been involved in the ancient and medieval ones, but this year, for Salute, we revived Nick the Tsar … a rescue romp in revolutionary Russia …
54mm with custom components. We played to a full house all day (6 games) … so here’s how it goes …
There are four players … Russians, foreign agents, men of mystery etc. each with a little team and maybe a vehicle entering Yekaterinburg … and you have to get down the road to the Ipatiev House and rescue the Tsar and his family from special captivity … the future of the Romanovs is in your hands.
The house is defended, and there are a number of other problems you might encounter.
… and your exit route is the train that will leave the station at the end of the game (you do not have unlimited time) …
The ‘search’ mechanism involves grabbing and opening up the ‘Faberge’ eggs (each of which contains the name of one of the Romanovs – so is random as you have very little time to effect the rescue) …
And lots of other nuances to entertain (we hope) both players and audience …
… and they’re off …
(if you’re really lucky you might get an armoured car)
(movement by sickle)
… and you have to fight your way in …
… Hopefully, if you haven’t already lost your marbles (you’ll have to play the game to get that reference I’m afraid), lots of very important persons will be found …
By this stage the Reds may well have called up some reinforcements …
… so you will have to get back to the train pretty quick!
Our game was interrupted by several attempts to rescue the Tsar on another table … but all of them came to a sticky end …
Tintin and Captain Haddock fail to rescue the Tsar at Salute 2017 …
They failed, you will have to nick the Tsar!
This has all the hallmarks of a Hockley Heist!
Regards, Chris.
Thanks Chris …
Like the blurb said … meticulously researched and all based on documentary evidence except the bits we made up.
By far the best 20th cent. game at Salute 2017 (I’m sure I heard someone say that … ? Oh, yes, that Graham chap … ) …
Phil