Friday 17 November 2017

Winter War 192......? Part 9 - Bootleggers!

It's been a while since I did anything with this project, so I thought it time to get the figures on the table again. It's a three-player scenario with American and Canadian patrols encountering each other whilst a gang of bootleggers try to get a lorry loaded with booze across the table. The rules are The Men Who Would Be Kings using the skirmish scale (half sized units).

I played this a couple of days ago with Jim and Martin, we played the scenario twice in an evening  and we had a hoot!

                                                              The table layout.
A road runs North to South, crossing a stream that marks the Canadian/US border. The bootleg convoy enters from the North and their objective is to get the lorry across the bridge. The Americans enter from the West and the Canadians from the East.

                                                           The Americans
                                                        View from the US side of the table
The US forces consist of a unit of regular army infantry and a BAR team, a unit of naval ratings and a unit of  volunteer militia (trappers and loggers).

                                                                  The Canadians
                                                    View from the Canadian side of the table.
On the Canadian side are two units of army infantry and a lewis gun team, backed up by a unit of Mounties.

                                                             The bootleg convoy

The bootleggers have 3 units of gangsters, one in each of the vehicles, plus a unit of corrupt cops who are meeting them on the bridge.
                                                                 Cops on the bridge
                                                       View from the bridge

Rules for the vehicles were simple.
If they were carrying a unit the vehicle was activated by the unit's leader, if empty the driver activated on a 7+. A unit used a move action to enter or leave a vehicle. Vehicles could only move along the road, but could be deliberately driven (or pushed) off the road. Once it had left the road it was bogged down in the snow and immobilised.
If fired at, units inside a vehicle were treated as being n cover. Any kills removed figures, but the pin test was taken by the vehicle (using the unit leaders Leadership or 7+ if empty). A fail pinned the vehicle (which would automatically rally in the next turn, but could not move), if the adjusted die roll was 2 or less the vehicle was permanently immobilised and blocked the road (but could be pushed off the road).

The first game was very much a two horse race. As the Bootleg player my dice rolling was awful! The booze lorry only moved twice in the entire game! The one car I did get moving was quickly immobilised, blocking the road. The police on the bridge were caught in a crossfire between a unit of US army and a unit of Canadians and quickly cut down. The gangsters managed to debus their vehicles but never got a chance to take cover and were wiped out when the Americans and Canadians both still had 3 units apiece left. It turned into a punch up over the booze, first a unit of Canadians seized the lorry, but they were charged by the American militia, who saw them off and managed to set fire to the lorry, destroying the contents. US victory!

The second game was very different, or at least my dice rolling was much better. I held the cops off table for 3 turns, which meant everyone was already engaged when they arrived and they never took the devastating fire they had suffered in the previous game. The vehicles moved quickly, I managed to get the two cars down the road and debus in a position to hold the road open for the booze wagon. My shooting was better and I decimated the Canadians and held back the Americans long enough to get the hooch on it's way.

                                                                Gangsters in position
                                                  The Mounties rush forward
                                        Gangsters in the trees cut down the Canadian soldiers
                                     Americans move forward under covering fire from the BAR
                                                The militia rush the booze wagon
                                      Canadians move out into the open (never a good idea!)
                                                             The Navy!
                                             

6 comments:

  1. Great looking game and something very different from the norm. Nice to see your ideas on handling vehicles, as I have some ideas for games with them in too.

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  2. What a fun little scenario with a great setting. Very much enjoyed it!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, I'm working on more ideas for scenarios already.

      I'm planning to take this game out as one of the Tring Club demos to shows next year.

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    2. Well, I shall have to keep an eye out for that, seeing as I'm only in sunny Chesham!

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    3. So far I'm taking this to the Bourne End show on 27th May. We are still deciding which games to take to other shows.

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