The Post Office Rifles Campaign: Episode 3

[Skrapwelder]

Our group is starting a campaign wherein all the players are Officers and NCOs in a military force garrisoning Fort Duncannon in Ireland. I have always had a fondness for the Post Office Rifles so I have altered their history, and that of England, Ireland and France as well, to create a theater of conflict to set the campaign in.

A short history of the 24th Middlesex Rifle Battalion:  

The Post Office Rifles was first formed in 1868 from volunteers as part of the Volunteer Force. Major J. L. du Plat Taylor, who was the Private Secretary to the Postmaster General, sought permission from the War Office to form such a unit. The War Office granted permission and on 2 March 1868 the 49th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers Corps (Post Office Rifles) was duly raised from the GPO special constables and a Company of Royal Canadian Riflemen transported specifically for the purposes of creating a regiment trained to fight the Fenians. Du Plat Taylor becomes its first commanding officer.
In 1880 the volunteer force was given full Battalion status and renumbered as the 24th Middlesex Rifles (Post Office Rifles). On paper the Battalion numbered 4 Companies of Rifles and one of Engineers.
In 1886 the Battalion was assigned as part of the army sent to Ireland to combat the French supported revolt by the Fenian Brotherhood where they performed postal and telegraph duties under the command of General Garnet Wolseley. Engineers in the Postal Rifles were at the forefront of the developing Aetheric semaphore stations that allow the British commanders in Ireland to detect the large concentrations of electrical and aetheric energy throughout the countryside that indicated the presence of Irish or French “Special” units.

The Rifle Battalion uses the same Company Profile as The Prince of Wales Extraordinary Company. A few characters will be part of a Lance of the Sarmatian Order of Knights, a Company of my own devising detailed here:http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=58154.msg692283#msg692283

I painted up a set of the Prince of Wales Extraordinary Company in the Post Office Rifles undress uniform as best I could research. Some photos follow below:


Here we have one of the company commanders and his Sgt Major. Both have been given the black rifle busby with the red crest.


Another captain along with one of the engineers and a rifleman.


Four more riflemen.

The Rifles have already had their first foray, breaking up a Fenian insurrectionist group working out of  an abandoned mill. Unfortunately no photos were taken but the Riflemen performed well and all insurrectionists were killed or captured and a small trove of enemy intelligence was discovered which will lead them into their next mission.

Thanks,

Mike

[Craig]

Very nice Mike 

I am currently painting up the PoWEC as Royal Marines and I shall share them when they are finished.

[fastolfrus]

Shouldn't the Post Office have red facings?

[wulfgar22]

Very nice! 

[Skrapwelder]

Shouldn't the Post Office have red facings?

http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=9884#p48811

I found this discussion and quote to bring me around to the grey uniform.  They may have gone to red facings in the 90's when they went to a uniform similar to the Royal Rifles.

[matiec]

Great theme and idea looking forward to seeing some engagements.

[Skrapwelder]

Post Office Rifles Episode 2: Capture the Cell leaders

Recap from Episode 1: In our opening game several members of the Rifle Company attacked and destroyed a Fenian Insurrectionist cell. All members of the cell were either apprehended or killed in the fighting.

Intelligence gathered at the site proved to be very valuable: The leader of the cell was carrying an Aetheric communications module, a device that allows for long range communication similar to a telegraph but without the need for wires or physical connections of any kind. The module requires a stationary receiving chamber to function. Chambers like this are rare and to have one unknown of by the military even rarer.

Fortunately, for the Rifles, the cell leader, a bookmaker by trade, was a bit thick and kept his chits from his tavern visits in the same billfold as his transmission dates and codes. By comparing the receipts to the transmission dates in the code book the location has been pin pointed to a roadside inn about 20 miles from Fort Duncannon. Documentation collected at the battle site also indicated that there was to be a meeting of cell commanders at the same location. The Rifles will be attending that meeting as well.

On to Episode 2: Round up the leaders, a night assault.

The site of the meeting was a tavern in a small abandoned village about half a day’s ride from Duncannon. The Rifles planned to make an assault in the dark, hoping to catch the Insurrectionists in the middle of their meeting. The plan was to get in as close as possible before alerting anyone and capture as many of the cell leaders present as possible.

Gamemaster’s Note: There were four Cell leaders present. The meeting had yet to start  so the leaders were in separate buildings with their bodyguards. In addition to the Fenians there was also a wild card present in the form of a Master of the Indulta Rasa, a French Papal group that was there to lend support to the Fenians. The Indulta masters were wielders of great occult powers with special dispensation form the French Pope.

With this being a night action all ranges were halved and all shooting had a minus 1 in addition to any other modifiers.

Back to the game:

Four players were present. Each led his own small force, two of the Rifle Battalion and two of the Sarmatian Knights. The two Rifle captains came in from opposite corners and the Sarmatians both came in from the center of one side. The second Sarmatian knight came on a few turns late.


Captain Alfrik brought his men in quietly from the Northeast looking to secure one of the two larger buildings in the village, the likeliest place to hold a meeting.


One of the guards at his post. Oblivious to nearby activity.


Dame Agatha, her squire, Elaine and a warder rushed in from the South attempting to take down a pair of guards quickly and quietly. Dame Agatha took a knock on the head almost immediately upon entering the fray. Elaine and the warder made quick work of the guards and got Agatha into the relative safety of the building which fortunately turned out to be empty.


It was about this time that a shot rang out. It may have been the group of Rifles that barged into a small building on the Southwest corner, beginning an indoor firefight that went the length of the game. Or it may have been the Sarmatian Artificer lending support fire to his Sister knight that was struck down. Who fired it is still in debate but once that shot went off there began a mad rush by a majority of the Fenians exiting the buildings.



Captain Alfrik and his men were taken completely by surprise as a gentleman and his two somewhat incorporeal companions exited the building they were approaching. The unsettling part was that they exited by coming straight through the walls and floating about twenty feet from the ground. This was the Indulta Master and his spectral companions.


One of the Fenian leaders still had some fight in him. He and his Fianna were quick to assault Captain Alfrik and his men who were still recovering from the sight of people passing through solid walls and floating about in the night. A row ensued and after several turns worth of fighting the Rifles managed to lay low the Fenians and actually subdue their leader.



Once exiting the building the Indulta Master and his ghastly charges took a sharp turn in the air and bore down on the Sarmatian Artificer and his squire. The Sarmatian fired his Arc rifle at one of the specters. It discomfited the spirit but did not destroy and on they came. In the ensuing melee the Artificer was made hors de combat by the Indulta Master.


One of the Fenian leaders is seen making good his escape. In all three of the Fenians got away and one was captured. The Indulta Master was also thought to have been subdued but died as a result of his wounds.

The Rifles spend the rest of the night securing the village attempting to glean any kind of intelligence. The Aetheric receiving chamber is located and after sending word to Fort Duncannon of their situation and location they settle in for the night, binding their wounds and going over the spoils of the fight. Both Sarmatians are able to recover from their wounds but the Artificer has a nasty cut on the head that will keep him out of the action for a while.

Episode 3 will most likely involve the unit getting home safely through what could now be a hostile bit of countryside.

Thanks for following.

[wulfgar22]

Great stuff!

[Skrapwelder]

“Is he dead?” Elaine prodded the motionless form laid out on one of the common room’s larger tables. The corpse responded with a slight wheezing noise from somewhere around its midsection and a noxious odor quickly followed.
“What does it matter? His type can be just as dangerous dead as alive. Have you already forgotten the company he was keeping?”  Elaine shuddered at the memory of last night’s melee. Screaming ghostly revenants bearing down on her and her comrades.

Bertram was diligently prizing the corpse’s exquisitely fashioned boots from its unyielding feet. “I heard the Knight Captain talking about these Crapud papist magical bastards to the Rifle’s Sergeant Major. “The French Pope has all his boys convinced they are wizards and such but the Knight Captain says its all done with eeetheric transmu-pudding, or something like that.”

It was at this moment that Dame Agatha, the Lance’s Knight Marshall and Elaine’s knight and mentor as well, chose to enter into the room and the conversation as well. “Bertram, you nincompoop, what do you intend to do with this Necromancer when he starts traipsing about the room, propelled by Necro Aethiric energies from beyond the pale?” Dame Agatha affected a deep, rich baritone that immediately put one in mind of a pit of lost souls. It was best when used to put a shiver down the backs of willful squires and shiftless warders. “Do you think that his bare footedness will give you a lead when he gets up off this table to chase you into the woods and devour your soul?”

“No, Madam, I was thinking they might fit Master O’Reilly once he’s up and about again. He will be up and about again won’t he Ma’am?”

Dame Agatha visibly bristled at the Warder. “He'll be fine, just a nasty bump on the head. Only slightly smaller than that nasty lump on your shoulders Bertram.”

"Bertram! You serve Master Aurelianus. One of the orders most brilliant sparks. The least you can do is to pronounce his name correctly."

“He takes no mind to it Ma’am. Sometimes it even gives him a chuckle.”

“Try standing on his right side and saying it into his good ear. There will be chuckling aplenty, and a bit of thrashing too I would reckon.”

Elaine attempted to circumvent Bertram’s impending doom by drawing Dame Agatha’s attention to the corpse at hand. “My lady, why does this fellow look to have his pocket watch so firmly affixed to his flesh by way of these brass screws?” The squire was pointing to a round mechanical device that was indeed screwed into the chest of the dead Frenchman.

Dame Agatha eyed the strange device and her demeanor changed instantly. “Elaine, hand me that poker by the fire this instant! Bertram, go and rouse Master Aurelianus. Use the smelling salts if you have to. This is serious!”

Elaine handed the poker over. Dame Agatha placed the it's point on the corpse’s chest and instructed her squire to hold it there, centered on the clockwork device affixed there. She then grabbed up a large pewter pitcher sitting on the table while muttering something in Latin that Elaine could not make out. Then, in a single swift motion she brought the pitcher crashing down on the poker, driving it through the bit of clockwork, the corpse and then the table itself.

The corpse’s eyes flew open and it started to snarl and struggle against the spike holding him to the table.

Dame Agatha looked to her Squire. “Get your weapons; help Bertram get Master Aurelianus to the wagon, then get the rest of your Lance and the Riflemen up and moving. We have to leave now! This one’s awake now and his friends will be coming.” The last thing Elaine saw was her Knight taking one of the incendiary grenades from her belt, twisting the timer all the way to one side and then jamming it down into the babbling maw of the animated corpse.

The small company made its way to their vehicles on the outskirts of the town. As they were climbing aboard their coaches a baying of hounds could be heard in the distance, followed by what sounded like the tolling of a great bell.

"The Weavers are coming!"

On Weavers:
Legends say that when the first Gaels, the sons of Mil, arrived in Ireland, they found that the Tuatha De Danaan, the people of the goddess Dana, already had control of the land. The sons of Mil fought them in battle and defeated them, driving them 'underground' where it is said they remain to this day in the hollow hills or sidhe mounds.

There were many septs among the Tuatha de Danaan. One such sept were known for their great ability as weavers. Rather than be forced underground to escape the wrath of the sons of Mil, the weavers made a large tapestry and worked a great magic into it. All the people and sacred places of the sept were woven into the tapestry and locked there, ready to be released at a time when the sons of Mil were more complacent and lax in their defenses. A small group of the weavers elected to stay in the land of men and protect the tapestry and judge when the time was right for the great unmaking that would release the sept and its world back into the land of men. When the guardians needed reinforcing they had the option of pulling small parts of the tapestry out along the outer edges thereby releasing more weavers into the world of men.

When the Mutiny began the Weavers believed that the great unmaking was at hand and lent their aid to the rebels. They became the Bogeymen of the Mutiny. Witches and Barghests were two of the myths made manifest with the coming of the Weavers.

[Skrapwelder]

After the night battle in the village the company tended their wounded and scoured the buildings for any scraps of information left behind by the fleeing cell leaders. They had managed to take one of the leaders alive and would be taking him back to Fort Duncannon for questioning.

Using the Aethegraphic Cabinet in the tavern, they made contact with the fort apprising them of the situation. As the sun began to rise the steam carriages they had used to get there arrived to take them back. It is at this time that the events detailed in the preface unfold and we find our heroes setting out as fast as they can back to Fort Duncannon, the enemy hot on their heels.

The objective of the heroes was to get across the table via the road. I placed five markers around the table representing possible points of ambush. Each turn the ambushers would roll a random die to determine which location and which group from the pool of enemies I had set up would be revealed and given an opportunity to act.

 

The lay of the land. Teased out cotton batting stands in for thick fog.


“Full steam ahead!” The company’s steam coaches move away from the town. The characters in the foreground are inside and on the coach.


A ghostly form appears in the fog near the leading carriage. The driver is gripped by an unnerving fear. He manages to muster his courage and carry on. 


The second coach driver is not as hardy. Throwing his hands over his face and cowering in the driver’s seat he loses control of his coach and it goes careening off of the road ejecting its occupants. 


More terrors erupt from the fog. A wild man-beast bears down on the lead carriage. 


The driver is torn limb from limb. 


More ambushers appear in the fog.


The beast spends a turn feeding on his victim. Dame Agatha, the Sarmatian’s Knight Marshall take the opportunity to blaze away with her machinegun through the driver’s window.


The beast is slain.


Without a driver the lead carriage flies off the road coming to a shaky halt as its wheels become mired in the bog. 


Reinforcements arrive in the form of a pair of Withall Mk IIs piloted by a members of the Rifle Battalion’s Engineering Company. 


More Weavers rise from the fog to meet them.


Dame Agatha opens fire on the line of ambushers with her machine gun. Two are knocked down, only to get right back up and move forward with an even greater rage. Berserkers.


The leader of the Weaver band charges one of the Withalls and manages to send it crashing to the ground. The operator escapes and uses the now useless hulk ofr cover while his brother carries on the assault.


Supported by some grenade work by the dismounted Engineer the remaining Withall carries the fight to the Weavers. Knocking down the leader and killing another. A well aimed grenade finishes off this lot.


Dame Agatha and her Squire take the fight to the Berserkers. After a fierce melee they lay the brutes down.

One of the carriages is a shamble but after some field repairs by the engineers the remaining carriage is underway.

The company managed to return to Fort Duncannon without further incident and deliver their prisoner as well as a sizable packet of enemy communications and reports. Once parsed the information pointed to locations where large forces of mutineers would be assembling to strike the town of Duncannon. This early warning gave the Battalion a chance to deal a decisive blow to the mutineers.

[wulfgar22]

Lovely figures...especially the steam coaches and Withall Mk IIs! 

[Blofeld]

Fantastic campaign series so far, love the models across the board. Are the steam claw wielding thugs conversion or are they available from a manufacturer?

[Skrapwelder]

Thanks.

Blofeld, the claws are from the Mantic Ghoul set added on to West Wind London Mob figures

[Blofeld]

Blofeld, the claws are from the Mantic Ghoul set added on to West Wind London Mob figures

Cheers, great idea for a conversion.