Nick the Tsar II

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!

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A Day Out at Warfare …

I went to Warfare for a day out with the Society of Ancients, and in amongst the usual duties, I got to do some shopping and play some games …

There were a good number of 20th Century games … I particularly liked …

This wintry landscape was a compelling demo of Chain of Command inspired by the Band of Brothers Foy episode.

I don’t do 28mm skirmish games but this one was worth the hype.  We had a long chat … one of the passers-by had even worked on the original programme (and he was impressed too) – well done everyone!

So … Schweinfurt … well this was a Staines game and this time you get to play the heroic fighters who sortie out to repel the American bombers.   Nicely done – but it is futile … everyone is shooting your way, flak and Fortress 50cals …

(Schweinfurt: flying into the bomber stream)

So, you are taking damage all over and, realistically you need to get lucky with your limited gunnery to do much damage to the big beasts … I set a couple of them on fire before all my ammunition was spent (and as you can see only just got out in one piece …) …

So, some traditional stuff and some good ideas … in all, I enjoyed this German take on the bombing war.

The shopping is also worth reporting …

In amongst a bundle of Zvezda boxes, I got a couple of Russian trucks (actually Katyushas, but that’s because I’m adapting them so opted for the extra wheels).

Anyway … hurrah!  When I got them home and started a build, it turns out to be a new sprue … and gone is the lousy bend and clip engine cover!  Now you get 3 pieces, top and side panels, that pop onto lugs on the engine!  Yes they have listened to our moans.  This is the sprue …

… and, ‘work in progress’ …

… a nice neat front with none of the frustration that used to be part of this package.

Given the Zis 5 model shares a sprue with  Katyusha, I’d assume Zis 5s have got or will get the same improvement.

worth sharing I think.  I was very pleased with this chance discovery!

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Spring distractions …

Apologies to everyone who has been missing their regular dose of P.B.Eye candy.  It has been a very busy spring for me … Everything from working on the big ECW reenactment event at Naseby in the Summer (Naseby 370) to running my Harfleur game at Salute (SoA at Salute) …

But I have been taking an interest, and here are some splendid 20th Century exhibits from the big show …

(Salute: the Battle of St Vith)

(Paul T running a Bolt Action Pegasus Bridge game)

(Rob running the new PBI game ‘PBI Company Commander’)

(detail)

(20mm action from Batlegroup Blitzkrieg)

(Peterborough’s elaborate Dambusters challenge)

(Great War: the Turkish lines at Gaza)

I also saw this eye-catching use of screens at Hammerhead …

And an intriguing historical scenario from the Great War featuring an impromptu attack on an airfield by a scouting cavalry patrol …

(1914: French cavalry behind the lines at the Battle of the Marne)

Some good ideas, there …

Things to come?  We’ll be back with Operational games on squares shortly, and I’m giving a talk on war art later this month.  At CoW my simple naval rules will get a run out using some components of the Battle of the Denmark Strait.

Meanwhile, out of period perhaps, but don’t forget you are invited to the Naseby 370 event on 13/14 June.

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