The Crazy Gang

I turned up at the club last night for the annual Christmas game expecting it to be a large scale Muskets and Tomahawks game, as the terrain was being set up and Stuart and Rob arrived with boxes containing all sorts of stuff Stuart cryptically mentioned that there would be some muskets and some tomahawks but that was it.

Seemingly in a galaxy far far away there was a Star Trek episode where some monster or other put several human leaders from history on a planet to fight it out and see who would win, this was to become the idea behind the game, but this time with a twist. The monster this time only knew of mankind (peoplekind if Canadian) through movies and television and had brought people from both these media outlets to our large table to fight it out for Glory.

Around the table arrayed in no particular order were the 7th Cavalry (They Died With Their Boots On), 19C American sailors (Sand Pebbles), Soldiers of the Raj (Northwest Frontier), Captain Jack (Dr. Who), Decimus Maximus (Gladiator) etc. you get the idea. There were tokens scattered throughout and once contacted these could be either good or very bad for the group.

I took Kenneth More and a group of Sikhs and set off, I picked up Dr. Who's daughter (a surprise to me as well as Ken) and decided to wipe out a nearby bunch of Romans (Julian), thunder sticks vs pilum, how could I lose. I clambered up a hillside and started shooting but there were a lot of Romans, the hill now drew disparate groups and baddies as the body count rose. Vampires, Daleks, Tau and an especially annoying little blue alien all joined the fight. Somehow I managed to survive and twice captured Decimus and then lost him, the Vampires eventually finishing him off, not that there could have been much blood left. Seeing the way the wind was blowing and having lost all my men except Ken I leapt him off the cliff and found a nice little cave to hide in as the clock counted down and the mayhem atop the cliff continued.

We also got to take control of enemy groups roaming the table and we did our best to attack the other players where possible, Simon was on his fourth reincarnation when the game ended, in one corner John Chance (Rio Bravo) and his men were set on Fran, while Fran in his turn sent them away again, so they played the Grand Old Duke of York on a nearby hill. Fran ended up with Audie Murphy (To Hell and Back) but didn't win any medals.

Player cards, mine at the top.

 Rob and Stuart provided the troops for the game, Stuart especially having an impressive array covering Dark Ages to Star Wars and everything in between, although he was taken to task with a play on a line from 'Allo Allo;' 'although I have lots I will play these only once'. I went and forgot my camera so I am happy Simon managed a few before his battery died.

Julian's excellent mince pies and a Topic for me, it is not true I eat them all.

 Several hours of nonsense and a great way to end the year with everyone taking part, who won, who cares, oh and it was me by the way.