In the immortal words of the French General Gouraud, whilst dancing on the tomb of Saladin in Damascus in 1920…..”we’re back!”
The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers presents……
The Good, The Mad and The Damned. China 192?The Good
General Lee Fat Sum was unusual by the standards of Warlord China. He was a military leader who cared above all else for the welfare of his people. His benevolent rule of Jilin province in Chinese Manchuria from the beautiful - and strategic - city of Chang-Chun meant that even in the violent and constantly shifting alliances of the time, and no matter what barbarians were at the gate, his was a prosperous and bountiful land. It was therefore inevitable that he should be the object of envy by his many violent neighbours. His end was sudden and unpleasant. Poisoned at breakfast, he lingered on for a few days, his skin turning a hideous green hue, and his once beatific features hideously disfigured by suppurating buboes. There were many suspects, though none came forward to admit the deed. What was important was that Chang Chung was declared an open city, and the vultures began to circle.
The board, running north from Chang Chung
The Mad
Der Baron, recently returned from two seasons of successful campaigning in Darkest Africa, and with the nice lakeside resort of Barongrad and Lake Chuffer added to his domains, was in an expansive mood. The 'Baronberg Corridor', that tenuous spit of land that connected Mongolia with the sea, was in need of expanding, and the 'unfortunate' death of that sanctimonious prig Lee 'pretty boy' Fat Sum presented an opportunity to round off his domains by liberating Manchuria. And the key to Manchuria was the city of Chang-Chun, its armaments factories and its rich store of natural resources, rumoured to include gold, platinum and even uranium. The Black Tent was duly erected on the border and invitations sent to all his key allies: White Russians (Smirnoff), Tibetans (The Dalai Lama), Mad Bob (himself) and his new best friends, the Japanese (Shep), who appeared to be particularly keen to help in all things Manchurian.
The Dalai always travelled in some style
And never hid the fact that he owned a BIG airship
The Damned
General Hu Jjin Wanger was unusual even by the standards of Warlord China. He was a man of unspeakable cruelty and unspeakable personal habits, whose ambition and greed were legend and terrible, even by the morally corrupt and degenerate standards of the period. He claimed to be the lawful heir to the Qing dynasty, though no records could be found to substantiate this. An enemy of everyone who as much as looked in his direction or questioned his methods, he reserved a particular hatred for the French and British, who he had claimed "had burnt down my grandmothers house", a prosaic reference to the sack of the Qing Summer Palaces by French and British armies in 1860. He real obsession was tracking down the descendants of those involved and having them killed, usually in bizarre and humiliating circumstances. When the grandson of French general Montauban was found hanging from the Eiffel Tower in 192?, dressed in womens clothing, Wanger was implicated, though nothing could be proved. High on his list of targets was for example, Harry 'boy' Flashman, whose own grandfather had made off with more than his fair share of the the Summer Palace treasures (c.f. the Flashman papers, 'Flashman and the Dragon', et al). Also, Brigadier Linn, whose own great uncle had made a fortune shipping out the treasures on behalf of the Imperial forces. The list was long and exhaustive. However the death of his great rival Lee Fat Sum presented him with an ideal opportunity to realise his dream of a united China, astride the world stage, and restored to all its Imperial glories. Chang-Chun, with all its wealth and military stores, was to be the springboard to greatness. He therefore assembled an ungodly force of the usual Chinese rabble some battle hardened ex-White Russians, a shady set of German 'advisors', and most damnably off all, an elite Brigade of Bolshevik ChON (Communist special units), whose task it was to hunt down and kill Der Baron. If ever there was one, this was certainly an army of the 'damned'.
Fu Jjin Wanger had a lot of toys....
The Battle for Chang Chung
The Mad Baron and his allies approached Chang Chung from the west, marching on the city by way of the eastern Gobi desert. Hu Jjin Wanger’s army, collected from the most desperate of the scum of the east, advanced north from Meukden. Caught in the middle were the innocent population of Chang Chung, and Texas Ted, who was visiting his new company, the Manchurian Mining Corporation, at a site just north of the city where he was rumoured to have found large deposits of gold and uranium.
Texas Ted was in no mood for goat-ropping interlopers
a shot of the Manchurian Mining company's site during the game
Deployment
Both armies deployed on a north/south axis to the north of Chang Chun, meaning that Texas Ted’s operation was inconveniently caught in the middle.
Both armies could choose to deploy three Brigades where they chose within their deployment area. All the others were deployed on a random dice throw.
Der Baron deployed his forces as follows:
Left wing: Smirnoff’s White Russian Cavalry division
Centre: Tibetan auxiliary Corps, Mad Bob’s ‘Taco’ Brigade
Right wing: Col. Panasonic’s Japanese Brigade of Observation
Reserve: Ungern Von Sternberg’s Asiatic cavalry division.
The Chang Chung Fireworks factory, a model of modern enterprise. No children under 6 years of age were employed, best in class for Warlord China!
The local urchins loved playing pranks with matches at the back of the factory
Whilst opposite him Hu Jjin countered with the following deployment:
Right Wing: Col Kwok’s Chinese Storm Division
Centre: Hu Jjin Wanger’s Bodyguard Corps, Hauptmann Schwartz’s Kommando, V.I.Blackwood’s ChoN
Left wing: Col. Schneiber’s Austro-Hungarian POW’s.
In addition, Hauptmann Schwartz had a special forces unit, the ‘Nacht Shatten’ Special Ops: 10 C2 M2, ferocious & stubborn. Bergmans & bombs. Masters of disguise. Appear on the table as Chinese civilians. Only revealed when engaged or they engage. Once the firing/fighting stops they can (try to) blend in again.
Germans, disguised as Chinamen
At the start of the game, senior commanders must throw for ‘Grand Tactical Ability’. CinC’s and Divisional commanders must do this. Each player character has a different ability, purely based on the umpires bias and, critically, how ‘active’ they have been in previous games. This means, as a broad generalisation, that ‘fireater’ commanders are more likely to become activated than cautious or down-right-dull players. ‘GTA’ ranges from 0 to +3 (high, as always, is good), and influence the final result, which is thrown against a ‘personal’ table. The ‘personal table’ is a subjective matrix of a) what troops you are using (e.g. Napoleon with Chinese irregulars will struggle, whilst Noddy with Potsdam Grenadiers will probably do quite well); and b) how good (or crap) you have been in the past.
The Red Spear Gang had vowed to defend the city to the death, and denied all involvement in organised crime
more soon.....as long as my ruddy IMac wireless connection stops playing up
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January 23, 2012, 08:26:03 AM