Operation Parakeet

South Georgia, April 1982. British arctic researchers and naturists are held by Argentine Special Forces at the old coaling station of Penguin Inlet. With all attention on Grytviken, a scratch team of SBS/SAS troopers and a platoon of Royal Marines are tasked to "get the bloody Penguin twitchers out and don't let anyone slot them."

The SAS / SBS land at dusk and observe the settlement; the Marines are delayed by strong currents and engine trouble, with dawn rising and the Marines slogging up the far side of the Glacier, Sgt Chaz tells his 7 lads - "let's just f**cki*ng do it."

Penguin Inlet: South Georgia

They divide into two bricks - Sgt Chaz and troopers Gaz, Daz and Baz going left and Sgt Mike, Jake, Stan and Goffy going right; each brick has M16s, a M203 and a couple of LAWs. The first buildings are empty. The next, to judge by the empty tins and a grimace from Stan, are occupied.....an Argie steps out of the right hand shack, goes to call an alarm and is dropped. It all goes loud as 203 rounds thump into the shacks, followed by M16 fire. The buildings are clear. Mike's brick pushes up to the house adjacent to the slipway and spot a clutch of Argies over the road; they open fire and drop the Argies but Mike goes down. Meanwhile Chaz's brick is up to a small shack on the road, Baz and Gaz break left to move up to the house next to the Church......"Action LEFT" as a squad of Argies bundles out, firing...."ACTION FRONT!" as FNs are poked out of the windows of a house over the track.

 SAS/SBS Firing line working forward

The entire settlement is engulfed as the Brits put out fire. The Argies to the left are grenaded and scatter but a stray round drops Daz; Baz puts some down range but a rife grenade goes off far too close and he's down too.  Mike's brick is under fire now with Goffy put out of action.

Its looking a bit tight for the SAS/SBS but Chaz unlimbers a LAW and fires it at the house across the road - demolishing the chimney; its followed by some 203 rounds that rattle the windows. Doors are slamming and some Argies run towards the church - are they going for the civvies? They get dropped.

 Protagonisti: Chaz, Gaz, Daz and Baz

Mike is cut off from his guys as they are on the other side of the shack putting fire down the road - he slots a couple of Argies across the slipway and ducks back head ringing from a grenade. Shaking his head, he gets the M16 online and drops two more Args. He steps back into a porch and covers the right flank.

While everyone else (about two blokes in all) put out covering fire, Chaz leads Gaz in a looping run around to the side door of the church...."BRITISH ARMY!!".....size tens are applied to the door which is stuck firm. Cheers and singing of Rule Britannia are heard from the church as the door gets another good kicking but succumbs to a pew wielded by some large Arctic Survey lads.

Two brave Argies run out the back of the house

to set up a fire position in cover

Bullets rip into the settlement as an Argie MAG MG up on the hill opens up. Its a long shot but Jake cycles his 203, raises the M16 and plonks a grenade onto the gun team. The civilians pour out of the church and are ushered to cover; its all oddly quiet. The troopers scout around quickly and help their wounded up and away. Sgt Chaz gets on the radio "Penguin One Alpha to Penguin Actual. We have run out of Argies. Out."

Sgt Chaz: unhurt
Troopers
Gaz: unhurt
Daz: torn 'tache
Baz: killed

Sgt Mike: unhurt
Troopers
Jake: demon with the 203
Stan: ripped copy of Penthouse
Goffy: dented tin of Chicken Supreme

Game hosted and run by Mark, played with a liberally interpreted Voyages Extraordinaire from Wessex Games.

Cheers
Maff

The wrong side of the tracks

Its penguin-fart AM and a file of Argies creep towards Moody Brook using the Camber Light Railway sidings as cover.

Meanwhile, the Moody Brook Garrison - aka Marines Dave and Ron - have taken cover by a historic piece of rolling stock.

And, just to their North, Marine Pete and Cpl Baz are adding their own Para insulting graffiti to the seagull guano on the old coalshed.

The Big Picture, the Argie Rupertino is out of shot to the left; barely encouraged, the SF creep forward slowly......but are rumbled by the Booties. Dave drops the lead gaucho and Ron lets fly with his sterling; argie return fire is innefective and Pete takes out an argie on the far side of the tanker - Baz legs it to the tanker and drops another.

The seagull's eye view; with three men down the Argies decide that they don't need the scrap metal that much and call it a day for now. The Booties find a new ambush position and wonder how the lads at the Govt House are doing......

Freshly painted ex Hotspur argies from Stonewall and veteran Pltn20 Bootnecks. I like most of the argie SF / Marines but some of the figs are a bit tired in places; faces seem a bit craggy. I didnt like the GMPG guy then and I dont now - that said the guy with the SMG is ace as are the crouching figures - though the mags on the other SMGs are negligible. Platoon 20s? Good old figs, love 'em, solid castings that do the job.

Cheers

Maff

Whiskey Sierra Three Down: AAR

"Whisky Sierra Three, this is Ground Control; be advised you are veering off course. You are at extreme west of secure airspace over."

"Ground Control; this is Whisky Sierra Three; instrument check - please comfirm course actual vector, over."

"Whisky Sierra Three, you are 15 degrees off course and are now over a known hostile area. Change course; repeat change course."

"Ground Control, this is Whisky Sierra Three, I am losing altitude.....fast.....correcting spin.....negative, we are going in hard.....brace, brace, brace...."

"Whisky Sierra. This is Sector Command. Do you copy? Is your cargo safe?"

"This is Sector Command; scramble Helo QRF to these coordinates....."

"Bit of a drama , Nigel?"

"Drama? Not at all Sir, its only General Kitson's helo crashing into the middle of a Taff Brigade...."

....In the middle of a sheep pen, several miles north of Brecon, General Frank Kitson, his ADC Major Pyke, Parachute Regiment, Corporal Dewhurst and Lt (AAC) Lacey are clambering out of a very bent Westland. Dusting themselves off and checking assets they find radio u/s, one sniper rifle, two Sterlings and two Brownings. Just over the moor to the east, a gaggle of DPM clad Taffs are scattering sheep in all directions as they jog towards the scene, one drops to his knee and gets quick a message off - "Scrum Half 'ere it is, we got a saes chopper down up by Troed y Rhiw Fwrch we ave, so get a ruddy move on bach!".

Whiskey Sierra 3 Down.

Taking stock of situation

A quick look round and it's clear that best bet is to make it to the high ground and go firm there. Kitson takes the lead and heads to the top of a small, knoll with good sized boulders scattered round a small depression at the top.

Lacey is still struggling up the slope with Pyke shouting at him to pull his finger out. Corporal Dewhurst reaches the top first. "Shit!" he mutters as he spots the first Taff shadows advancing out of the mist.

We are not alone

Judging by the kit and dodgy fieldcraft that these are militia unaware of their location, Dewhurst kneels and drops the obvious leader, throwing the Taffs into disarray. A second round and they vanish. Kitson spots another fire team moving in fast from the NW, and yet more pepperpoting in from the SW. Lacey pings at them hopefully with his Sterling only to receive a fusilade of accurate rifle fire in return.

Dewhurst now rushes to the rear of the hillock where he can cover both teams of approaching Taffs - a few rounds of 7.62 ping in a bit too close. Taking cover he jars his scope, losing valuable shots whilst he corrects it.

Free of any fire the Taffs to the NW close in. Dewhurst finally managesto put his weapon to his shoulder, . Two rounds - two fall - the rest throw themselves to the ground. Pyke spots for Dewhurst. Switching targets the Corporal momentarily halts the SW mob, but they scrabble into the maze of stonewalls and sheep pens and begin edging closer.

Kitson takes one in the shoulder

If things weren't tense enough, by now more Taffs appear are reaching the scne. To the South, a mix of militia and regulars - is that a Guards beret? Bootnecks? They use the hedgeline to inch towards the track. Dewhurst is still the only man with a weapon that reaches the Taffs and he works hard to keep them at bay. A flanking party appears to the SW, the Taffs form a gunline and rounds start getting on target - Pyke and Lacey are pinned by near misses. The more proficient Taffs in the hedgeline fling smoke grenades onto the track and try to rush the hillock - Lacey and Pyke fire their Sterlings while Kitson double taps away with his browning; the attack is broken up, but the General is a clear target and somewhere a Taff sniper fires his trusty .303. Lacey drags the wounded Kitson back - its not a life threatening wound but its a gun off the line as the Taffs to the SW now rush forward......

Dewhurst cops it

Dewhurst halts them, switches back to the next set of targets and stops them too with accurate fire. Then a burst from an Armalite catches him full in the chest and Dewhurst is down.

The Taffs notice the lack of long range firepower and build up for another push - a green berets and black woolly caps obviously marking the cadres; Lacey and Pyke change mags as the Taffs go for it, another hail of smoke grenades, over the hedges, across the track and up the hillock firing mainly from the hip. Shouts of "Mochen Coch!" and "Remember The Guards!" are clearly heard. Pyke and Lacey fire short, accurate bursts from the rocks and chop down a few advancing Taffs; a 9mm barks to Lacey's left - Kitson has dragged himself into the line and is blazing away - dropping the Taff NCO.

They'll be singing in the valleys tonight!

The line surges up the hill

It's almost over, it's the last minutes at Twickenham, the final scrum down.......but.......in the distance there is a faint whirr-thokker of rotors as three heavily laden Pumas and a Westland Scout with a Gympy poking out the door hove into view.

"Bloody, Bloody Hell!" sneers Captain Kinnock under his breath. He blows three long blasts on a whistle and the Taffs melt back into the fog shrouded treelines tracer rounds following them.

Cheers
Maff

THE GAME

15 Game Turns, 45 minutes of ulcer inducing action. Maff piled on the tension with wave after wave of Free Taffs appearing from different points of the compass. There were so many of the buggers that at one point I thought Maff was re-enacting Max Boyce's 'The Incredible Plan'. Cold War: 1983 rules, as per, we played to the dice and they were with me. The Para sniper, Corporal Dawson, proved himself to be in the league of Gordon and Shughart. Very much man of the match.

We had bags of fun AND Maff got to use his newly built Westland Scout!

Cheers
Mark
    

No Stone Unturned: AAR

Man in Suit: "Sit down Corporal Taylor. Now, I've read your after action report but I'd like you to go through the op in your own time".

Taylor: "Right. Er, Yessir.......we was patrolling down the lane from the Lydyard Road, when there was a movement in the barn just off the road to the left. I signalled to the section to halt and scanned the area right to left; when I spotted another flash of DPM in the barn doorway and indicated it to Terry, Ranger Jones, with the r/t. We all crouched, including Paxy".

Suit: Paxy?

Taylor: "Sorry Sir. Mr Paxman of the BBC."

Suit: "And?"

Taylor: "And, then we came under fire from the direction of the farmhouse and the barn; I ordered the gun group to engage the barn while Jones and me took opened fire on the farmhouse, well, the lean to, thats where the firing was from".

Suit: "And the rest of the section?"

Taylor: "I ordered them to move right towards a possible gap in the hedge, but then Ranger Wilson was hit and I decided to concentrate on shooting back".

Suit: "You did not bother to even attempt a flanking move?"

Taylor; "Ermm...I decided to win the initial firefight by means of aimed fire first as we had no idea where the other bad guys were".

Suit: "And You shot the man in the barn?"

Taylor: "Yessir. So then I told the rifle group to get a around wide on the left and head for the front of the farm. Terry and me and the Gympy kept firing at the guy in the lean to - and then he did a runner. Me and Terry legged it for the house while Den and the gympy kept fire up on the lean to. Then we assaulted the house and......

Suit: "How?"

Taylor: "Well, we shouted, "British Army!" and kicked the door in? 

Suit: "And once inside?"

Taylor: "Errr, after a couple of seconds....we cleared the kitchen, hall and front room. No upstairs, just beams. House was empty but we could see three men running down the lane".

Suit: "So?"

Taylor: "One was firing back at us. We opened fire and I dropped him one. Meanwhile, Lt Frisby had arrived in the Westland and apparently had a disagreement with his pilot who didn't want to fly too close, so...

Corporal Taylor with obligatory Tom Selleck moustache

Suit: "You dropped this suspect too? Good. And Meanwhile, Ranger Wilson was.....???"

 Taylor: "Receiving first aid from Mr Paxman, Sir. Did a good job too".

Suit: "You then saw the Scout try to land over towards the lane?"

Taylor: "No Sir. I heard the helo come in low, but then there was this long burst of automatic fire from what sounded like a Sterling. Full mag I reckon. The helo climbed, wobbled and clattered back over the house. then I could see the rifle group getting to the top of the mound and firing down into the lane.

"We was linked up with by Den. Sorry, gun group, and  followed the enemy with fire down the lane. This is when the rifle group slotted another guy. Final suspect disappeared into the coppice to the north east and by now Mr Frisby had arrived with his r/t and was told to go firm on the farm while Cordon Force took up the pursuit".

"Within minutes a civvie van, and a couple of Rovers pull up. Some heavily armed, hard bastards with long hair and jeans pile out. We're bundled into the Rovers and brought here 'til you arrived Sir".  

Suit: "Thank you Corporal Taylor. Yes, you can take the Jaffa cakes".

POSTSCRIPT

Alan Tate is on the run. Three members of the Clash Action Front shot and killed. Another body found in the outhouse. Ranger Wilson lightly wounded. Corporal Taylor awarded the Military Medal and promoted to Sergeant. Followed by two further Mentioned in Despatches for 14 Platoon. Section S get's it's "victory".

Army Heroes Turn Tables on Trot Murderers

THE GAME

Classic Platoon 20 Post War 1970's British Infantry vs ex-Hotspur minis playing Clash Action Front this time round. I continue to have a fondness for the original Platoon 20 modern figures. They remind me of the illustrations in Basic Battle Skills - can't get more 70's than that.

I put the table together in 10 minutes and the game took 30 odd minutes to play. Once Maff got his act in gear and stormed Ravensdale Cottage things happened really fast; at which point I lost track of time. Maff's left flank move only just managed to catch the fleeing Trots with the rifle group's SLRs banging out 7.62mm rapid!

Cold War: 1983 were once again the rules for this scenario. Unlike previous games, the dice consistently rolled really poorly with the exception of Corporal Taylor taking out the guy in the corrugated out house with a single aimed shot.

14 Platoon, would in all probability been operating in 4 man bricks - 2 or 3 to each patrol. First brick with Gympy, second with LMG.  I deliberately reverted to the more traditional Gun Group and Rifle Group organisation to give Maff a taster of commanding these elements on the tabletop and still maintain some firepower balance given that the Trots had only recently gone through their first experience of combat and were facing N.I. vets.

Cheers
Mark
    

Bloody Cross: After Action Report

THE SETTING

Never missing a chance for a brew outside of Neville's Cross Garage, run by proprietor Ted Povey. Four of the army's best stand around their Land Rover whilst the second Rover has popped down to the local shop as the 'Corp',  Bob, wants Wagon Wheels.

Turn 1 - Clash Action Front ASU break cover and bimble up road keeping up pretence of being a regular Para patrol. Alan Tate with his Sterling in the lead, uncertain and ready to empty the mag to cover a hasty withdrawal.

Turn 2 - "Get them!" A hail of shots are unleashed at the unsuspecting soldiers lolling around the Land Rover.

Turn 3 - Thick of the action. Return fire from government troops is largely ineffective - one soldier dead, one winged, one taking cover, one seeking a place to hide. Ted Povey is on the phone in the office. He can be heard shouting "They're bloody everywhere! Come quick!" Fingered as a grass by remaining PIRA cadre after Penny Pinch Farm, Alan Tate doesn't hesitate and squeezes the trigger.

Turn 4 - Second and third soldiers shot, fourth gone to ground. Alan "Get the guns and ammo into the jeep!" A flurry of activity is brought to a halt when Gary shouts "There's another Land Rover coming!" Alan calls back "Don't panic. Act normal. Waive them down"

Turn 5 - The Landie slows, Bob "What the bloody 'ell?.... wait one, they ain't Paras!" Another gunfight erupts. Driver and Bob killed instantly. The two soldiers in the back are more on the ball. Jeff , Alan's no. 2 get a bullet in the chest. But it's too little too late and both soldiers are shot dead.

Turn 6 - "Let's get out of here!" The triumphant Trots help Jeff into the original Landie and pile in. Alan puts the wellie down. As the Land Rover picks up speed Private Payne emerges from hiding and fires for all he's worth.... Jeff gets a second bullet and is killed instantly but the Landie makes a clean get away.

The Clash Action Front ASU is bloodied but shocked. Alan is shaking but quietly delighted. They've made their first strike against the oppressors and won. Killed soldiers, captured weapons, Jeff has become a martyr. Couldn't have been better.

Behind, Ted Povey and six squaddies lie dead. One is injured. Only Private Payne remains unhurt.

THE GAME

A cracking little game hosted by Maff, played over Skype (all photos are snapshots from Skype) and took 20 minutes to play in total. Rules were mostly Cold War: 1983 and a little bit of make it up on the fly as required (eg situational reactions by participants).

I chose to play the game more Devil's Own than Harry's Game. Alan strafing across the front of the garage firing his Sterling from the hip (is there any other way? Don't answer!). The dice were with  me!

The result was an unexpected bloodbath, which left a taste in the mouth - but we rationalised that if we were playing gallant Marquis ambushing SS in southern France we wouldnt think twice about it. Nevertheless the events set up the next game very nicely. We wondered about playing out the resulting manhunt as a map exercise, but given our commitments will probably jump ahead to the net closing in on an abandoned farmhouse.

Excuse the lack of prose in the batrep, I returned to the office for the first time in 5 months today and am knackered this evening as a result.

Cheers

Mark
   
   

Operation Angel Watch: After Action Report

 
A sunny morning greeted those protesters who had camped out over night at Borchester Abbey. There had been a bit of holiday spirit around the camp fires. Numbers swelled as more protesters turned up in one's and two during the morning, though not as many as expected. Seems the local bus company had a break-in the night before and the Borchester Green Line was cancelled today. Never mind, the mood was one of firm but good natured resistance.

Don Clough felt uneasy about the car tailing him. The day hadn't started well as Brian's missus had phoned to say he was sick. That left him and Ted to meet the bloody army. Now it looked like another firm was in on contract. As the last houses of Borchester were lost from sight he passed a police car and army Land Rover in a lay by - both pulled out as he passed. The Police Car overtook and as it did so the passenger leaned out and shouted at them to pull over.

Price, made sure the transfer took place quickly. The civvies were ushered into the police car whilst Mick and Taff in suitable builders attire took their place. The fact that the third one 'hadnt turned up for work only confirmed that the mission was on. Gaz and Baz took their positions on the floor of the Army Rover, cushioned only by rolled cam nets and hessian.

As they drew up to the Abbey placards could be seen before the people. "Concentrate fellas. Plenty of the unwashed around who we don't want to hurt". Price got out to face a fusillade of shouts "Army Out!", "Save our Abbey!". In true Rupert style he tried to reason with the protesters. Meanwhile Gaz and Baz had got out either side of their Land Rover and did their best to look like builders non-chalantly enjoying the spectacle.

A banner was hurled at Price. Another hit his Rover. The crowd surged. Ginge ghillied up on some high ground shouted on the mike "Gun! Gun! Gun!". Armed men in red tops appeared from the crowd. There were screams. A shot rang out and suddenly the scene had descended into mayhem.

Time for pretence had come to a crushing end. Price shouts "Give up! You're surrounded by armed bastards!" but is winged in response by a bullet. He gets a shot off in return that wounds the Tango. Baz is hit as he emerged from the Rover and falls to the ground. Taff slotted one Tang on the right. Daz opens the drivers door of the Rover and rips into another Tango with a full mag. One of the red tops bottles it and makes a run for it using the crowd as cover. Ginge holds his breath. Squeeze. Tango down.

At this point, two Tangos in the Abbey open fire with automatic weapons Carol Neave (black leather jacket and jeans), a nurse at Borchester Childrens Hospital is hit during the exchange of gunfire. Her boyfriend runs and Price dashes to her aid.

Gaz and Daz go after the shooters. A flurry of shots and the shooters run for it, with Gaz and Daz in hot pursuit through the Abbey. One shooter goes down but the other in green tracksuit seems to be making a clear get away.

Gaz catches his breath and calls out "Army. Stop!" The runner keeps going flat out. He makes it to the gorse. Bang! Bang! Tango down.

THE GAME

20 minutes of adrenalin and quick fire decision making. Personally, I loathe skirmish games that are supposed to be no more than 10 minutes in real time but take 2 hours to play. I degraded the shooting abilities of the SAS but there were still some cracking dice rolls that saw several single shot kills. Rules, once again COLD WAR: 1983. Figures in play are all ex-Hotspur. If you haven't viewed it already, take a look at the mission briefing in the previous post.  

POSTSCRIPT

Brian Wright is arrested at his home. He is the brother in law of Michael Benson, one of the bodies identified following the action. Price and Ms Neave go out for a curry at The Bombay Nights Restaurant in Borchester.

Cheers
Mark

More Facts Than He Bargained For

 
A visiting 'Minister' has insisted on undertaking a fact finding tour on the ' front-lines' of rural Borsetshire. Colonel Streatham decided that a small unarmoured Land Rover convoy would not draw any undue attention and give the Minister the photo opportunity he was inevitably seeking.

A wrong turn and the Minister gets more 'facts' than he bargained for as the small convoy enters a country area being looted by armed men.

The photo above shows the crisis point of the game. The Minister, his PR Assistant and a local council dignitary all shelter between the two Land Rovers as an Army driver and armed Special Branch close protection officers return fire.

Above, an overview of the table as the action kicks off. The rear Land Rover has got itself entangled with the tractor trailer, whist trying to reverse out of danger. The driver is just mashing gears but can't free. A petrol bomb suddenly sets the Land Rover aflame - luckily preventing the looters from the house on the right from overwhelming the Ministers party.

The driver from the rear Land Rover and Special Branch officers manage to take down three of the armed looters in a quick but bloody firefight. One officer bites the dust another is injured. Under covering fire everyone who can is loaded into the first Land Rover and in a moment of desperation it crashes past the car blocking the road. The two remaining Special Branch officer run/limp behind the Rover and in the final exchange of gunfire the local councillor is shot in the back of the Rover.

Overhead, the bee-like whine of Westland Scouts can be heard as they bring in two bricks from the on-call rapid reaction force.... but that's next week's game.

The action took 30 minutes to play out and was conducted in as near real time as possible with Maff taking on the mantle of the Minister's party. In true game master fashion I bombarded him with events and fast fire decisions which needed to be made on the spot to replicate the urgency of the situation.

Rules were once again Cold War:1983 with factors being assigned to groups rather than individuals for speed of play.

Turned out to be a cracking little game that we both really enjoyed. Played on an extended 2'x3' card table, it proved that you don't need a lot to play a fun and fulfilling wargame.

And Maff's take on the game?

"I knew it was going to be messy when I saw the terrain; oddly I'd been reading Major Richard Winters memoirs and was thinking about ambushes in hedgerow country. It looked nasty, boxed in at both ends and for moment I thought of the way the DEA got hammered in Clear & Present Danger! Still, my limited anti ambush knowledge is too fire back and keep at it; with a few trots being dropped things looked a bit better. Then a Special Branch went down and landy two went up. And the QRF was 10 mins away (I wasn't really sure there was one). Time to collapse my perimeter, throw the suits onto landy one, put boot to accelerator and ram past the car block. The surviving Special Branch did a running jump into the back of the moving vehicle (one of the very few exciting things I've done myself) and we were off.

Borset: as hot as the Radfan but with more turnips! I fully expect the next game to feature the maroon machine bringing law and order to rural borset..."


Cheers
Mark
 

Operation Dragon Fire: The Batrep

Penny Pinch Farm: Borset

Some time back of crow fart

There's no way to hide the tell tale sound of the rotors as the three Scouts turned into the valley. Pearce, from Lough Erne was the first to wake. It was almost too late.

Mac and team one rapelled  into the field behind the Dutch barn. With rotors clear, the Scout carrying team 2 moved in and hovered in front of the barn. Team two rappelled here - but a catastrophic roll - Chas's line snags and in trying to free it he crashes 30 feet to the ground.

Team three are the last team in and drop into the field behind the farm whilst Mac in clearing the Dutch Barn. 'Badger One', the sniper OP (off table) reports lights on and quickly off in the house. "Shit!" mission is going loud!

AR15's and an FN FAL open fire from the upper story of the farmhouse. Two Free Taff's (Jones No.1 and Jones No.2) leave their quarters in the upper storey of the bothy and undecided get caught in a firefight with Mac's team.

Scotty leads the remainder of team two in the equipment shed on the ground floor of the bothy. All clear. Plenty of noise upstairs. There's a door. Sponge bursts through it and rakes Jones 1 and Jones 2 with his MP5, only to be hit in return by Dermond.

The IRA guys upstairs in the farmhouse start scoring hits on the SAS. Greaser goes down in team one, Mick, Doggo and Banger in team three are all hit. Sprouts is killed. Banger manages to wing Pearce. As Pearce stumbles into the front bedroom, Badger One takes him out. At this point things are seriously going Pete Tong for the SAS.

Mac leads Rollo and Suds in a rush on the corner of the farmhouse, where they take out Dermond in a fusilade of machine-pistol fire.

Team two make as much noise as they can to distract the occupants of the house. A long haired Taff appears at the top of the steps and fires an Armalite into the shadowy figures in the yard. this only results in him being instantly killed by Mac and co. Someone shouts "Owen! Got the bastard!" over the channel.

An Armalite fired from the house kills Mick in team three just as Mac, Rollo and Spud make a forced entry through the front door. The flash bang stuns McElhinney in the kitchen doorway and he is double-tapped. At this point the dice roll poorly resulting in an Armalite being thrown down the stairs and an Irish voice calls for surrender.

Mac shouts out for all weapons to be thrown down. A shotgun and another Armalite skid down the stairs. As Mac and Rollo reach the top of the stairs a shot rings out, a wounded IRA man fires with his pistol but misses. His last mistake. McIlroy survives - just - is hooded, cuffed and taken downstairs.

A handkerchief appears behind the door of the Bothy - the last of the Free Taffs gives himself up......

Final words from Mac.... "Target neutralised. One taff, one paddy secured. Someone tell the Paras to get over here and leave a note for the milkman! Out."

Cracking game. We both had a real laugh. Just under an hour to play on a 'school night' using Cold War: 1983. I made it tougher on the SAS (Maff) as it's about the game, the theatre and meant to be a bit of a challenge without spoiling the fun. We both agreed over a wet following the endgame, that the balance was right.


Cheers
Mark
  

Arms And The Woman

Cymthallen Farm, Inner Welsh Border

Teatime. They're Having 'oops:

Captain Masters and Sgt McMillan RM are overseeing the caching of 'liberated' firearms at Cymthallen Farm, home of Alan Cadwgan, 21 SAS (V) Retired. Alan's 21 year old daughter Imogen is cooking 'oops.

An Emergency Government Army Air Corps Scout helicopter radios HQ with a report of suspicious activity in the area based on Cymthallen Farm. Lieutenat Cornwell, 5 Para leads his QRF to the map reference. One Scimitar is destroyed by a mined culvert which alerts the men in the house.

Cornwell pushes on with the intention of stopping any vehicles leaving the farm but is in for a hot reception. McMillan is left to save as much as he can whilst Cadwgan, Masters and Imogen (wearing a Free Wales Green Beret), try to hold off the Paras.

Masters is wounded but Imogen picks up the LAW and steadied by Masters puts a big dent into the Scimitar, shocking the crew and Paras into cover behind the Beech hedgerow banks.

McMillan (green base) breaks for freedom in the Land Rover but is gunned down by Corporal Smollet.

Cadwgan makes it to the Land Rover and pushes the bleeding McMillan to one side. 'Wellie' down he drives them both to safety. Masters and Imogen surrender.

Cornwell surveys the scene. One man down, two tanks out of action, suspect vehicle gone. But on the bright side a Marine Captain and a future Miss Wales in custody, plus there's plenty of 'oops. With that balance sheet he'd be lucky if he wasn't on penguin patrol in the South Atlantic in two months time!

Rules for this short sharp rake were Cold War: 1983 with a few fast play house mods.

Cheers
Mark