The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers presents........

[Ignatieff]

You could do. However Great War Miniatures do a range of German snipers (who this guy is), so you can have a choice

[Ignatieff]

Now where was I….ah yes, the campaign…..apologies fellow LAFers, that siren temptress ‘Real Life’ has gotten in the way these last few weeks…..

For this campaign I doubled up the players.  This kept the amount of orders I was processing to manageable size.  Gone for ever are the days of 14 sets having to be juggled and made sense of.  I’ve lost too many brain cells over the years doing that!

First out the traps was the unlikely combo of Count Pierre Smirnoff and his White Russians and the degenerate Chinese Warlord Hu Jjin Wanger.  They had tasted victory at Chang Chun and now decided to play ‘winner takes all’ by assembling a huge army for a march on Urga to kick the wounded beast of Der Baron whilst he was down.  They argued constantly on strategy and the smallest detail of tactics.  Once, when Smirnoff protested that the army hadn’t put out flank guards, Wanger leaned across to him, his eyes glazed with the effects of Opium and grunted….’no point…Mongolian Death Worm munch coolies…’


The Mongolian Death worm was rarely seen, but widely believed to exist on a healthy diet of Chinese Coolie....

They opted for a direct route, via the desolate frontier town of Bogdy ola.  So did the British, under Brigadier Linn and Lord Gordon Grey, who had landed their small, but perfectly formed force, at the ruins of the former Imperial forts at Taku.  Der Baron had garrisoned the town, but on the approach of two massively superior forces, had wisely decided to fall back.  He had also concluded a secret treaty with the Tibetans, who were double crossing the Chinese, who in turn thought that the Tibetans were going to bomb the town from high altitude with their zeppelins.  The Chinese thought this faked attack a great success and thought they had Der Baron on the run.  Little did they know….


Perhaps the greatest deception of the campaign was however Red Ted’s ‘March of the Tashkent Soviet’.  This convinced all the other players that a massive Bolshevik flanking movement was taking place across the Taklakaman Desert, when in fact the Red hordes were speeding by armoured train across the Trans Siberian, ready to take up position just over the Mongolian border, due north of Urga.

They in turn were preceded by the adventurers Cappone and Major Duncan Fletcher, on a secret mission to Urga, bankrolled by Lenin himself….

The scene was set for the final act of Der Baron’s Bloody Reign: Durchfall in Urga!

[Ignatieff]

The Battle of Naylah Valley

At which the Chinese Warlords conducted a 'fox hunt' against the retreating Mongolians...


The Mongolians desperately trying to get their national gold reserves away from the advancing Chinese...


British, Bolshevik and Japanese (Der Baron's staunchest allies in the end) fight it out in the valley west of Urga....


The Chinese sported an impressive array of football banners....


The Mongol convoy approaches safety, watched by a British recon plane.

The game ended in a Mongolian victory, for despite suffering horrendous casualties, the state gold reserves were safely whisked away into the bowels of Urga...

[doowopapocalypse]

Absolutely spiffy

[Ignatieff]

The Battle of Selenga Valley, 192?

Meanwhile far to the north, in a heavily wooded valley running up from the shores of Lake Baikal, Cappone's and Fletcher's small elite force had infiltrated behind the White Russian lines.  Lenin had alerted them to the presence of lightly guarded White armoured depot, from which they could acquire some much needed support for their push into Mongolia...


The terrain was dense and difficult to navigate, and the maps provided by Lenin's general staff 'not worth wiping your arse on' according to the veteran Freikorps commander Fletcher.


The White Russian defenders also got a lucky spotting throw and started picking off the advancing German vehicle column


Cappone deploys his elite askaris into the unfolding chaos...


the woods were dark, and units soon began to lose their way...


The Alpini were reminded of the foothills of their beloved Aosta valley...


Cappone soon realised that a white linen suit was probably not the best outfit for this kind of operation.  But the man had style!

[Ignatieff]

I love the planes but the Brisfit with invisible crew is clearly a nefarious plot to bamboozle the opponents

Invisible crew?!?  They were working the box brownie camera fitted in the bottom of the fuselage!  The control stick was held by a piece of gum and string meantimes......

[Ignatieff]

Thanks Ignatieff - that is tonight's nightmare sorted!

Lovely paint job but when I wake exhausted and bleary eyed I will curse you  

Just you wait to see what's coming in a few posts from now!!!!  

[Ignatieff]

The battle of The Selenga Valley, contd....


As the exhausted Italian/German forces reached the river line surrounding the White depot, they were gladdened to see the welcome sight of some Red air support


Elite Freikorps assault grenadiers attempt to outflank the heavily dug-in whites


Whilst with the sound of bugles, the cries of 'Avanti!' and singing of the wonderful Italian national anthem, the Askaris storm across the river into the thinly held White lines

[Ignatieff]

The battle of Selenga Valley, Part III

The high tide of the German Italian advance had been reached.  There were no more troops, no more guns, no more help from their Bolshevik paymasters...


The Whites sensed victory, and in the failing light poured redoubled fire onto the allies


Fletcher orders the retreat, and the stormtroopers fall back....


The Askaris form a firing line to cover the retreat


...and the recriminations begin....


Next time......Durchfall - The battle for Urga!


Hu Jjin Wanger's desperate hordes storm forward....


Count Smirnoff's elite armoured formations, under the command of Von Ravenstein, advance into the cauldron that is Urga

More soon!.......

[marianas_gamer]

Can't wait to see more!  Will the Dali Soapy pull the Baron's fat out of the fire?!? Or at least his gold?
LB

[coggon]

Can't wait to see how this turns out. 

In the photo captioned "Hu Jjin Wanger's desperate hordes storm forward...." I think I see cavalry from Foundry, but I am stumped as to where you sourced those guys in conical hats.  Care to share where you got them?
 

[Remington]

Not impressed in the slightest...

Gnihihihihi...

Love it!

[OSHIROmodels]

Splendid, top hole, spiffing 

cheers

James

[Ignatieff]

Can't wait to see how this turns out. 

In the photo captioned "Hu Jjin Wanger's desperate hordes storm forward...." I think I see cavalry from Foundry, but I am stumped as to where you sourced those guys in conical hats.  Care to share where you got them?
 

I think the guys in the traditional Chinese hats are from Dave Ryan's range (they're his figures in the game). Can't find them on the Caliver books website however....sorry.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Cappone was robbed I tell you ROBBED!!!!