Kelly's Heroes Scenario

By Steve Cast

Thanks to all of you who turned up on Saturday and I’m glad you enjoyed the game. 

As Dave rightly guessed, but luckily didn’t spill the beans, the scenario was based on the “Kelly’s Hero’s” minefield scene, something I’ve been meaning to do for some time having watched the film some months ago. I thought it would make a nice refreshing change from the usual WWII games that we normally do and one where the players were made to think how to get out of a tight spot.

On the whole the game went very much like the film but unfortunately “Clint Eastwood” played by Mark was killed in the shoot out with the Germans with a film extra being killed on the minefield, but that was going to happen anyway because one of the actors was killed by a mine in the film.

Knowing that the players wouldn’t stick to the Umpires crafted and finely honed plot I added in a film extra called Pierre the onion seller. Pierre was an unidentified marker and he was there to get the umpire out of any holes that I might find myself in.

Whilst the team were making their way inch by inch across the mine field Pierre was on his way to market and on his “joyeux voyage au village” was completely bewildered to see soldiers crawling through what he knew to be a Bosch minefield! Stopping to take a look he was successfully identified by all of the players and with an “Oh la la” he cycled off into the distance.

The point at which I had kittens was when the players all started talking about bringing their troops up to the retaining wall in the field and setting up in wait for any Bosch. If this had happened it would have totally scuppered the plot so I brought Pierre onto the table again.

“Oh la la” he says to Phil and Dave frantically waving his arms in the air “Le bosch descend la route dans trois camions et une voiture” Phil asks me “Which one of our team knows French?”. “No one” says I. With a very French shrug of his shoulders Phil decided to wait for the Bosch anyway.

“Oh la la” thinks I “this isn’t working, sacred Blur”, so I sent Pierre to see Mark and Nigel.

“Oh la la Le bosch descend la route dans trios camions et une voiture” Pierre says again but this time pointing in the General direction of “Le Bosch” whilst also making a “Broom, Broom” noise. Mark cops on and asks, using his fingers, “How many broom broom?” “Trios” repeats Pierre also using his fingers. “and from which direction” says Mark this time using his arms. Pierre frantically points in the direction of “Le Bosch”.

Thankfully this spurred Mark and Nigel into action and they began to send their men towards the dry stone wall. In the mean time Phil was still by the retaining wall and was trying to look down the road to see if he could see “le Bosch” but I said to him that he would need to get to higher ground in order to see any distance. In the film the retaining wall is depicted as crumbling and falling apart with very little protection and by mentioning this to Phil he and Dave eventually moved up to the dry stone wall on the hill where they had a good view of the “terrain” off table. Meanwhile Mark and a film extra with a 30 cal. browning were still at the edge of the minefield and hadn’t made any move to cross it.

It was now the turn of the box heads to appear but before they came on table I said to the players that stealth was needed and it was not necessarily a good idea to shoot it out with them. I did this to give the germs a chance to deploy and not get shot to bits whilst they sat in their trucks like they were in the film.

As in the film the German officer, Hauptmann “Can so anysing!”, looked around with his binoculars to see what was going on. Identifying Mark, the 30 cal, both of who were playing possum, and the dead film extra he became very puzzled and ordered a team of 3 to go and investigate the dead bloke whilst he told the rest of his men to get out of the trucks and deploy. Still very puzzled he ordered his team of 3 to start taking pot shots at the dead bloke whilst the others shot at Mark. This goaded the players into a fire fight, which was what I was looking for, and a jolly good one was to be had by all. As in the film the Germs were given a sound thrashing and apart from poor old Mark and the already dead bloke there were no other casualties.

So a victory for the players. Two dead blokes minus 20 points but two recovered sets of dog tags plus 20 points.

The minefield

So, how did the minefield work? This was not, as some players had suspected, a random number picked out of the Umpires head but worked like this. If the players moved their figures at 1” a go they were always going to be safe. If they rolled a 1 on the turn that the figure moved then the figure would find a mine but find it safely and would then be able to dig it up and put it to one side. If rolling anything more than a 1 it was surmised that because they were moving so slowly they wouldn’t trigger any mines that they may have crawled over and missed.

However, if they moved more than 1”, which happened on more than one occasion, there would be a chance that they could detonate a mine no matter what they rolled on the dice.

The dice roll was there to add some trepidation and anxiety to the situation!

This is how it worked So there you have it.

Now for some pictures and no naughty ones this time.

4 = Major injury - Cannot be moved and loses 4DAV endurance points

5 or 6 = Killed

Roll a D6 to find the extent of its injuries.

Roll 1D4 and cross reference the score with the figures movement to find the Percentage chance of it being Injured

And here's the actual scene from the film....

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=258033112079788

Second Posting in a Week - 28mm Normal Crossbowmen and Menacing Ruffians

So after moaning n Monday that I had taken ages to complete the last batch of figures, I had a 'window of opportunity' to paint-up two batches of eight figures. First batch was of Norman Crossbowmen, the second being Gripping Beast's new 'Hexenjager' models that will be used as some very creepy and scary Border Ruffians.

As usual, I sourced the Norman figures from eBay and I believe that they are Conquest Games figures but not 100% certain!

Right Hand view of four Crossbowmen firing

There are two basic poses for the firing figures, one in a padded leather or cloth jacket and one in woollen tunics. Both figures come with separate crossbows, both are nicely sculpted and very easy to paint.

Left Hand view of four Crossbowmen firing

Again, there are two basic poses for the re-loading figures, and again one in a padded leather or cloth jacket and one in woollen tunics. One figures come with separate crossbow, the other where the figure is using his foot to stretch the crossbow string, has the weapon moulded onto the figure. Again both are nicely sculpted.

Left Hand view of four Crossbowmen re-loading

Right Hand view of four Crossbowmen re-loading

Figures were undercoated in an off-white and then painted with acrylic paints, varnished using Army Painter Dark Tone Dip and then coated with Widsor and Newton Matt Varnish.

The next batch were Gripping Beast's 'Hexenjager' band which will be used as Border Rievers working for one or other of the main flavours of church to be found in the region during this period!

As can be seen, these little chaps have something of the night about them and each is sporting a fiery torch to cleanse the non-conformists.

A very scary band of Border Ruffians

And another view...

Two of the Gripping Beast characters, one wearing a mask typical of the time,
the other sporting the Bishop's Purple Sash.

Two more figures, on the left a hairy Ruffian in skillet helmet,
on the right an older guy in leather cap.

Another two characters, ion the left wearing a buff leather jerkin,
on the right wearing some old chainmail.

The final two guys, both with pistols tucked into their Purple sashes,
each wearing breastplates and helmets

Painting was addressed in the same way as the Normans above, the flames in the torches was layered white, yellow, orange, red to give a flame effect, a wash of light brown ink and a light dry brush of black to suggest soot and smoke...

That's all for now, the Campaign beckons again so it may be a few weeks before I get time to paint again!

Border Artillery and more...

Its been a while since my last Border Ruffian Post, these guys have been floundering on my workbench for a couple of weeks, waiting for me to have the time to complete them.

So what we have in this post are some Foundry Elizabethans I sourced from eBay plus a gun, crew and various foot men I got from Dixon Miniatures to see how compatible they would be both in dress and style as well as size and sculpt with the Foundry guys.

First up is the gun and crew from Dixon Miniatures, from their Flodden Range. Flodden is a little early for the peak Border Reiver era as it was fought in 1513 and as such was fought during the reign of Henry VIII, albeit he was off gallivanting in France at the time.

Light Field Gun with two crew

Business end of the gun!

And a final view of the other side of the gun and crew.

I left the gun carriage as natural wood, with all metal work painted black to avoid rust. The model was washed with a watered down Army Painter Dark Tone wash.

The crew were two very nice models based, separately from the gun but able to be placed upon the gun's base during games. Dress wise, I think these will get away with being placed in the later Elizabethan period, although their leggings might 'age' them somewhat.

Two halbardiers, ready to receive attacking horse.

The two halbardiers, were again nice figures to paint, one with thigh high leather riding boots and a steel helmet whilst the other is bareheaded and in a quilted jacket and knee length boots. Both these figures can be used OK for Elizabethan period, the helmet style is somewhat early but can be argued to be a family hand me down for the later period

Three pike men again ready to receive...

The three pike men are from lower stock, each wearing a nicely moulded leather jack, two with steel helmets and one with a soft cap. Again I think it is the leggings that might be a little suspect in the Elizabethan period but I will take other's views on this.

Final Dixon's figures - two Highlanders

And here are two Dixon Highlanders who are dressed and styled in a manner compatible with other figures of the Elizabethan period.

The big (forgive the pun!) issue with all the Dixon's figures is that whilst fantastic figures in themselves they are sculpted in a very different style to the rest of the collection. Although retailed as 28mm figures, they are, in my opinion re-badged 25mm figures, and are noticeably shorter than other Borderers in my collection.

That and the difference in anatomical style makes the two sets of figures very different, Dixon's figures are much more anatomically proportioned, whilst the Foundry figures are much more chunky. See the picture below...

Left a Foundry Calivar Man, Right Dixon's Highlander

... That said, some figures will fit in better than others.

Two Calivar men

So the two Calivar men were both from Foundry, one from the Garrison range and one from the Sea Dogs range, both painted up nicely.

Four Halbardiers from Foundry and a Warlords Games plastic Pike Bill men 

A selection of Halbadiers plus a Warlords Plastic pike man that has already been converted (since this photo) to a bill man. The Warlords Games figure has a Gripping Beast head from an the Dark Ages archers box added to the basic figure to give it a less Civil War look.

Halibardier & Drummer from Foundry

And finally (really this time) a Sea Dog with a Halibard and a Drummer, both nice foundry models.

Next up on the painting Workbench 7 x Norman Crossbow men and 8 x Fanatics for the Borders - nocturnal raiders armed with the cross, flame and an inappropriate amount of religious bigotry!