The Dalek Invasion Of Barsoom

Catherine and I went to a business entrepreneurs' Christmas party at the University on Thursday night. This left us well-positioned to get to wargaming afterwards, albeit late and nicely plied with free food and drink. Rather than drop into the ongoing Blitzkrieg Commander games, we played HOTT - I had the armies in the crate I use to bring my stuff to wargaming, so was ready to go.

We made use of what was available - armies I'd been using over the last couple of weeks. We options for Daleks On Barsoom - Catherine took the evil pepper-pots, whilst I took the heroic forces of Gathol.

The Daleks defended - obviously the Gatholians were attacking one of their advanced bases.

I am married to this woman ...

Both sides had an aerial contingent - Gathol had two Airboats and a Flier, whilst the Daleks had two Fliers and an Airboat General.

The Gatholian general led his troops around the other flank - the Gatholians were hampered by a huge patch of bad going right in the middle of their deployment area.

Here are the two armies in the early stages of the game. The main Dalek force was in the centre, whilst their aerial troops covered one flank and the human mercenaries moved to occupy the Dark Area Of Bad Going on their left flank.

An aerial battle ensued. I had intended moving my Riders up in support, but lacked the PIPs, mostly because I had foolishly placed my general too far over the other side of the board.

Gathol fared badly, losing a Flier and an Airboat.

The Gatholian infantry entered the Dark Area Of Bad Going, to try and take out the mercenaries. Brisk fire kept them pinned down, and support from the Special Weapons Dalek didn't help either.

This needs to be in a film; Barsoomian Thoat riders fight Daleks - they actually rode one element down.

The Gatholian left came under extreme pressure, as a number of elements were caught in a no-recoil situation. Fortunately they all survived their combats

Dalek fire held off the Gatholians - again.  And it was also starting to cause casualties.

The end - flying Daleks board and overwhelm the last of the Gatholian airforce, to give the Supreme Beings Of The Universe another victory.

Gathol lost two Airboats, a Flier and two Blades. The Dales lost a Shooter, a Blade and a Flier.

I lost this through poor positioning of my general, which left me unable to fight effectively on the flank where I had a numerical advantage.

No More!

Blitzkrieg Commander

We had a good turnout at the club last night, and ran two games of Blitzkrieg Commander using 1/300th models this time - a few members have been on a buying and painting spree.

One game was based around the French counterattack at Stonne in 1940; a French force had eight turns to capture a hastily defended village.

Geoff had some lovely Char-B1 tanks - I love how he's depicted the track marks behind them.

The other game was set in the early days of the German invasion of Russia.

Two German battlegroups were attempting to link up in the face of Russian opposition.

Results - The French burned, defeated by a couple of AT guns, some Pz IVs in the village, and their own poor command rolls.

The Russian game was still ongoing when I left; others will have to provide you with an update as to what happened.

I was late getting there, so didn't take part. I also had Catherine in tow. We played HOTT. But that's to come in another post.

The Bad Day Of The Doctor

"Would you like a jelly-baby?"

Today it's the 50th anniversary of the first transmission of 'Doctor Who'. Of course, in the UK, where the 'real' anniversary is, it's still the day before (or, at least, the early hours of the morning). For those of us in Australia the 'day' will be tomorrow, 24th November.

Confused? Well, it's a day all about time, so you should be.

Tomorrow, on the day, we'll be getting up early to watch the anniversary episode, then we'll be going to see it at the cinema. So that's all good. But what to do on the Day itself? Well, we watched the 20th anniversary episode, 'The Five Doctors'. That was fun. But what else could I do.

Easy. Play HOTT.

I got out my UNIT and Imperial Dalek forces, and played a game. UNIT are mostly Shooters, with the Brigadier a Hero general and the Doctor a Sneaker. The Daleks are mostly Blades, assisted by mercenary human Shooters and The Master (also a Sneaker).

Cue the theme. Themes. Wonderful tunes, all of them ...

The Daleks defended, and set up a suitably alien-looking terrain.

Here's The Master, skulking behind the Dalek lines. really his main role was to prevent The Doctor sneaking through and taking the stronghold.

The human mercenaries move through some alien shrubbery.

The Brigadier and hist trusty Land-Rover deployed out on the flank, ready to make a run for the enemy stronghold whilst the UNIT troopers kept the Dalek line pinned down with gunfire.

The Dalek stronghold - that's Davros as the Dalek Emperor supervising operations.

The Daleks dispatched a considerable force to block The Brigadier, including the Special Weapons Dalek (Artillery).

The battle begins.

The Brigadier soon found himself outflanked, but The Doctor rushed to the rescue.

Meanwhile the Daleks advanced. UNIT's gunfire pushed them back, but didn't really halt the advance.

The Brigadier destroys an element of Daleks.

And the UNIT heavy weapons do the same to some human mercenaries.

The Doctor and The Master meet ...

... and The Master flees.

The Supreme Dalek attacks, exterminating some UNIT troopers. This exposes the end of the UNIT line.

The Daleks exploit their good fortune.

The Brigadier in danger; his recoil is now blocked, although his attackers aren't strong enough to make it count.

On the other flank a fierce gun-battle is underway.

The Brigadier and The Doctor fend off the Dalek attack.

But the Land-Rover is destroyed by the Special Weapons Dalek.

Meanwhile, in the centre, more UNIT troopers are exterminated.

Things are not looking good for UNIT.

The Brigadier now comes under fire from the Special Weapons Dalek. With an enemy to his rear his position is not good; one bad combat die roll and he is finished.

He turns and deals with the Daleks to his rear ...

... then leaving The Doctor to distract the Special Weapons Dalek, he rushes to the aid of his men.

The firefight in the shrubbery has seen casualties on both sides.

The Master distracts The Doctor.

The Daleks move in for the kill, before the Brigadier can oppose them. One element of troopers are destroyed ...

...then the other.

This is enough to defeat UNIT. They lost five elements of Shooters and a Rider.

It was close, though - the Daleks lost three Blades and two Shooters, and were one element away from breaking. UNIT put up a good fight.

Both sides were hampered by PIP rolls of '1' at key moments, which should have benefited UNIT (who can always shoot) but actually stopped The Brigadier from being as effective as he could be.

So, sadly, a loss for The Doctor on his big day. Still, perhaps things will turn out differently in another fifty years.

Let me leave you with this, from the wonderful Dancing Rat: