Ambuscade in Repair Bay Astor

Clearing the Docking Bay access port, the crew of the Belgrave dived deeper into the guts of the space hulk.  An eery silence pervaded the corridors, the only sound coming from the movements of the crew.  After what seemed like hours Shino S spotted a flickering sign indicating that they had arrived at Repair Bay Astor.

A dim light emanating from a fusion reactor lit the repair bay as the crew entered, their eyes struggling to adjust to the gloom.  Wells raised his hand signalling to the rest of the crew to be on their guard, his keen ears picking up the sound of soft padding footsteps.

The bark of Wells` autogun sounded as he located the shape of a deformed mutant trying to sneak up on Shino S.  The high-powered bullets sent the pulped mutant`s body flying, but a few stray rounds fractured the fusion reactor.  Alarms in the bay sounded as the ancient reactor suddenly went into melt down.  The sparking and spluttering from the reactor revealed the presence of three more mutants.

The filth encrusted mutants hissed as they charged towards the crew of the Belgrave.  Okunishi Blue stepped forward opening fire with his las-pistol drawing the mutants away from Shino S and DCL-74 as they tried to stabilise the reactor.

Sweat dripped from DCL-74 as he worked on overriding the safety switches of the reactor, one false move could blow himself and his crewmates to pieces.  The surgeon was so focused on the task at hand that he failed to notice the mutant as it raised its weapon to cut him down until the purple light of YT-75`s laser sword flashed out and the mutant`s head rolled onto the floor.

Okunishi Blue feinted away from the first mutant, twisting on the spot and catching the second mutant with a reverse slice.  Too late, he realised that he was wide open to the first mutant and his luck had finally run out.  A wave of heat spread towards the first mate as he waited for the killing blow that never fell.  Looking up he saw that the Bosun, Hanley had set the mutant alight with his underbarrel flamer.  Okunishi Blue nodded his head to Hanley in appreciation.

With the threat of the mutants finally dealt with the crew were able to turn their attention to the fusion reactor.  The rapidly pulsing reactor was on the brink of detonating when it was finally brought under control by Mandrake.  He was able to locate the emergency cooling valve controls and flooded the reactor with coolant.  Audible sighs of relief could be heard from the crew members as the emergency sirens cut out.  Another danger averted; they could continue with their exploration of the hulk.

Plunder at Peverell

 Plunder at Peverell

Standing outside the Docking Bay access port, YT-75 smiled to herself as she remembered the image of the space hulk appearing on the scanners.  Fresh salvage, probably enough archeotech to clear their debts and see them sitting pretty for the foreseeable future.  Best of all, the Belgrave was the first ship to come across the hulk, and they were not going to waste this opportunity.  YT-75 broke out of her moment of introspection as Shino S opened the internal bulkhead doors, releasing a cloud of hydraulic fluids.

The atmosphere of the Docking Bay access port was thick with ion and the floor crackled with sparks of electricity.  Shino S turned to the rest of the crew and said “watch where you stand, the floor is live.  I should be able to isolate the issue from one of these maintenance ports.”  The engineer set about trying to cut the power from the live conduits but in her efforts, she set off the security system.  The lights in the Docking Bay access port changed to red, and six ancient security droids appeared from lifts in the floor.

The security droids moved slowly forward on their creaking millennia old servos.  YT-75, and Wells, the Master-of-arms, opened fire with their autoguns.  The sounds of the shots  rebounded off of the walls of the chamber but the bullets could not penetrate the armour of those ancient weapons of war. 

Frustrated at their inability to move, the first mate, Okunishi Blue, and the Helmsman, Mandrake tore open other maintenance ports looking for a way to cut the power that was coursing through the floor, only for both of them to be electrocuted for their efforts.  Okunishi Blue slumped to the floor almost losing consciousness.

Whirling and clicking sounds came from the security droids as they tried to fire their malfunctioning guns.  Stepping out from their pointless cover, Wells and YT-75 unleashed a fusillade of bullets at the droids, taking two out of commission. 

On the opposite flank the second group of security bots bounded towards the waiting crew members of the Belgrave.  DCL-74, the ship`s surgeon, ignored the pain of the electricity as he moved to help Okunishi Blue. 

Shino S shouted to her crew mates “I think I`ve got it!”, and the electricity coursing through the floor ceased.  Hanley, the Bosun, let out a roar and charged towards the axe wielding droid, firing his las-gun on full auto.  The beams of light burnt holes through the chassis of the ancient robot and it collapsed, the light in its photosensors dying out.

Being free to move without fear of being electrocuted, the crew members of the Belgrave quickly dealt with the remaining security droids.  The final one`s body collapsed to the floor as a shot from Okunishi Blue`s las-pistol tore through its CPU.

Looking at the display terminal that Shino S had managed to bring back to life, YT-75 sighed, the ship was much bigger than she had first thought.  The only way to deal with a problem this big was through a strategic plundering of the ship.  They would have to choose the highest value areas to loot first.  Turning to her crew YT-75 barked out an order, “we are heading to the repair bay.  We should find some items of value there.  Check your weapons and stay frosty people.”

 

 

The defence of Saint Augustin

I found myself with a few hours to spare and thought that it would be nice to pit the forces of Volgar against the five Duchies.  Time was limited; though, so I thought that rather than use my usual mash up of the War game, which takes time to prepare, I would turn to another favourite of mine, One-hour Wargames by Neil Thomas.

One-hour Wargames are a very simple, but excellent set of rules that really do play in an hour or under.  Within the pages of the book, you have a set of general rules that are then tweaked to give some period feel.  Are they for everyone?  Probably, not, but they allow me to have a fun game on a 2` by 1.5` table in a very reasonable amount of time.  As well as the rules the book has thirty scenarios in it, so after a roll of my d30, all I had to do was set up my table and get playing.

The Battle

Queen Dragomira Zedwitzové was still fuming over the last defeat that her forces suffered at the hands of the Confederation of the Five Duchies, and she decided that the only way to save face was a punitive raid on the town of Saint Augustin. 

The Queen turned once more to Theodoric Von Martinez, he was ordered to move with all haste and seize the town of Saint Augustin, relieve it of all of its valuables and return to Volgan territory before the Lord Warden of the Five Duchies could respond.  Unknown to queen Dragomira, the Lord Warden, Philippe Le Duff, had already started to mobilise forces in the area.  The only question would be whether Robert du Ouestbourg could hold Saint Augustin long enough for the rest of his forces to arrive.

The army under Robert du Ouestbourg

Initial forces.

General - Robert du Ouestbourg

The Duchess du Burgoyne`s own Fusiliers – Col.

De la Côte D'or

Mont du Château Chasseurs - Col. Van Beorg

Reinforcements

1^st Bn. Ouestbourg Regiment- Col. Wadoux

2^nd Bn. Ouestbourg Regiment -Lt Col. Delforge

Maison Dieu regiment – Col. Bricourt

Capel – le- Ferne battery – Cap. Le Bigot

The army under Theodoric Von Martinez

General – Theodoric Von Martinez

Fouksten Highland regiment – Col. Huss

1^st Bn. Dijl Regiment- Col. Joannou

2^nd Bn. Dijl Regiment -Lt Col. Carras

Feweszem regiment – Col. Chomski

Sytynbon lancers – Col. Dragos

The sound of the approaching, Volgan force spurred Robert du Ouestbourg into action.  He sent the Mont du Château Chasseurs forward, to the orange orchards, to harass the enemy, while the Duchess du Burgoyne`s own Fusiliers fortified the town ready for the upcoming battle.

The first shots of the battle erupted from the orange tree orchard as the Chasseurs peppered the 2^nd Bn of the Dijl Regiment, but Von Martinez wouldn`t be distracted by the Mont du Château Chasseurs.   The general ordered Lt Col. Carras to deal with the skirmishers while the rest of the army matched on Saint Augustin.

Ignoring the protracted firefight on their left the Volgan infantry marched at a steady pace towards the waiting Duchess own Fusiliers in the town.  While, on their right Colonel Dragos, and his lancers swept further south ready to intercept any reinforcements that might appear. 

As if on cue, the Capel – le- Ferne battery, and the 1^st Bn. Ouestbourg Regiment arrived on the battlefield.  The battery quickly unlimbered and started to fire at the approaching infantry.  Col. Wadoux moved his infantry to protect the artillery battery.

Colonel Dragos spurred on the Sytynbon lancers repeatedly slamming them into the waiting infantry, but even the elan of these fierce mounted troopers could not break the iron discipline of the Ouestbourg regiment.  The brave stand of Col. Wadoux`s men allowed the artillery and the fusiliers to pour all their firepower into the Diji regiment.  Col. Joannou encouraged his men through the storm of lead even as they dropped around him.

After a ferocious melee the Sytynbon lancers finally ran down the Ouestbourg regiment, and Von Martinez directed his infantry to concentrate their fire on the fusiliers in the town.  Col. De la Côte D'or stood calmly at the front of his regiment extolling them to stand their ground.  But at this moment of triumph for Von Martinez, the 2^nd Bn. Ouestbourg Regiment, and the Maison Dieu regiment took up their positions.  The Ouestbourg regiment moved to protect the Capel – le- Ferne battery, and the Maison Dieu regiment joined the fusiliers in the town.

The arrival of the reinforcements put pay to any hope that Theodoric Von Martinez had of taking Saint Augustin.  He skilfully screened the retreat of his forces with the Sytynbon lancers, but he wouldn`t be able to hide his defeat and the loss of the 1^st Bn. Dijl regiment from his sovereign.

 After action thoughts

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to play a game against an opponent for the first time in a long time.  My opponent made skilful use of his light cavalry, the Burgoyne Hussars, to tie up two units of my infantry and then took apart my remaining forces piece meal.  It was a good afternoon of play, but I will not be including that battle or the results here.

Why would I ignore the results of an enjoyable game?  There could be a lot of reasons; perhaps I want to keep control of the narrative that is slowly building up here, maybe I am a sore loser, or I may not have kept good notes of what went on.  All of these could have some truth to them, but the real reason comes down to why I play games.

A lot has been written by much more eminent people than me about the joys of solo wargaming.  Donald Featherstone expounded the merits of solo wargaming as things like the freedom of ideas, and time that a solo wargamer has on their hands.  These are indeed some of the benefits, but after my game the other week I was struck by the main thing that I get from solo wargaming and wargaming itself.  

I play games to see a story unfold on the table.  This desire for narrative leads me to name units, generals, and regimental officers.  I like to see how a unit`s history develops over the course of play.  If you take away these elements then I lose interest in the game, and I may as well just play a computer game.  Here is where I saw the stark difference between myself and my opponent, for them the game was a tactical challenge.  They wanted to show their skill at out manoeuvring me and winning the game.  Whether or not a regimental officer was killed did not really interest them.  Now, I am not criticising my opponent for their reasons for playing a tabletop game, it is just not the reason that I play.

Does this mean that I won`t ever play games against other people?  Of course not, but I get the most joy out of playing games solo.  If you have not tried it before I recommend that you give it a try, you may be surprised by how much you enjoy it.

 

Forces of the Confederation of the Five Duchies - The Duchess du Burgoyne`s Own Fusiliers

 

The Duchess du Burgoyne`s Own Fusiliers

Commanding officer: Brevet Colonel Christophe de la Côte D'or

Motto: "I serve"

Garrison/HQ: Cerisier

Nickname: The Cherry Blossoms

Origin

The Duchess du Burgoyne's Own Fusiliers were raised in 1668, during the War of Independence, by Duke Henri du Burgoyne to serve as his personal bodyguard. They were originally known as the Duke's Own Bodyguard.

The War of Independence

The regiment served under Duke Henri du Burgoyne throughout the 1669–1671 campaign in Volgar, including the Battle of Hen-Bei in July 1670 and the Battle of Iytstelbel in 1671, which brought the campaign in Volgar to an end. The Burgoyne forces joined those of the other Duchies in fighting in the Nine-Month Campaign at Saufend in August 1672 and took part in the storming of the earthworks there.

On the renewal of hostilities in 1673, the Cherry Blossoms were assigned to protect the artillery of the Duchy of Burgoyne. They were consequently equipped with lightweight muskets, or 'fusils', and became known as the Duke du Burgoyne's Own Fusiliers. The regiment served throughout the various campaigns of the War of Independence, including the battles of Sainte Marguerite, Falaise de l'Abbé and Vallée des Ormes.

In 1688, the Five Duchies finally secured their independence from the Kingdom of Volgar. However, in the final hours of the war, Duke Henri du Burgoyne was killed by a stray shot. The loss of their beloved leader caused consternation throughout the Duchy of Burgoyne, and from that point onwards, the Duchess du Burgoyne's Own Fusiliers would no longer be led into combat by their liege. Instead, command of the regiment in the field was entrusted to a brevet colonel.

Forces of the Confederation of the Five Duchies - The Maison Dieu Regiment

 

The Maison Dieu Regiment

                                                    

Commanding officer: Colonel Petros Bricourt

Motto: "Where duty and glory lead"

Garrison/HQ: Maison Dieu

Nickname: The Resurrectionists

Origin

The Maison Dieu Regiment started out its life as the 2nd Battalion of the Ouestbourg Regiment. As such, it can trace its origins to the Maison Dieu Trained Bands that served in Boleslaus Závětří's Company. The 2nd Battalion of the Ouestbourg Regiment was formed in 1668 during the War of Independence as the war escalated and each side needed to commit more forces to the fight.

The War of Independence

The fight for freedom from the Kingdom of Volgar was a particularly bloody one for the Resurrectionists, as the commander of the young battalion, one Frederick Bricourt, wanted to show that the newly raised unit could hold its own alongside more senior units in the army and threw them in at the bloody end of each fight. This eagerness to show their mettle at the point of a bayonet led to countless displays of glory but horrendous levels of casualties, and the battalion was constantly being rebuilt. The decimation of the battalion did not deter recruits from enlisting, and Frederick Bricourt was always able to field a fighting force. This ability to quickly replenish its losses led to the battalion gaining its nickname of the Resurrectionists.

At the end of the War of Independence, in 1688, the 2nd Battalion of the Ouestbourg Regiment was split from its parent regiment and formed into the Maison Dieu Regiment. In recognition of his sterling leadership and bravery, Frederick Bricourt was awarded the colonelcy of the new regiment, and the Resurrectionists have always been led by a Bricourt since that day.

Commander and Chief of the Five Duchies

 Lord Warden Philippe Le Duff, Duke of Montfort

The Duchy of Montfort long languished as the least influential of the five Duchies until Philippe Le Duff came into his inheritance.  Some of the lesser nobility questioned the sudden death of his four older siblings, but their voices were soon  silenced.  The driving ambition of Le Duff coupled with his willingness to do anything to rise to the top and his utter mercilessness pulled the struggling duchy from out of obscurity into its pre-eminent position, so when the election for the Lord Warden occurred the electors had little choice but to choose Le Duff.  On the field of battle, Le Duff`s bravery is sometimes in questions, but he has dependable tactical knowledge.

A portrait of Philippe Le Duff