The Lions Did Eat Tonight!

Today the Jackson Gamers met and played two big game hunts with Howard Whitehouse's Mexican Jack Squint Presents The Lion Eats Tonight big game hunting rules.  We had tried Mexican Jack's game back in July and had a blast with it.  This time things turned out a little differently - the lions did eat tonight!

All figures and terrain are owned by Col Campbell who painted all of the men and the metal animals (those on bases).  The plastic animals either came from "animal tubes"  bought at the Jackson Zoo or at Michael's or from the Dollar Tree (the two bull elephants).

The mighty hunters are gathered to go forth and seek fame and glory.

Hunt #1 - Six intrepid hunters venture into the African bush in search of big game.  But the game was also searching for them.

Alan Haggard draws a bead on a charging lioness.  Can he get her before she gets him?

Yes, he does!

Hunter McGinnis is suddenly faced with a charging lion.  His porter has already run away but his faithful gunbearer stands by his side.  The lion is wounded and slinks off into the bush.

Baron Potzdorf is faced with a raging rogue elephant.  Things do not look good for the baron!  Partially concealed in the background, Mr. Enfield is sparring with an enraged lion.

And they weren’t as Potzdorf is stomped into the veldt by the rogue elephant.  And Mr. Enfield is still sparring with the lion

His gunbearer and porter suffer the same fate as the elephant bugles over their mashed bodies.  And Mr. Enfield is still sparring with the lion.  Seems that neither one can do anything but fend off the blows of the other.  How long can this last?

The elephant turns on Alan Haggard who coolly takes his shot and puts a heavy round right between Dumbo’s eyes, avenging Baron Potzdorf.

Finally Mr. Enfield smashes the lion’s skull in with the butt of his rifle, thus ending the long fight between them.

Escaping any damage from the lion a while ago, McGinnis begins to track him, only to encount a lioness in the bush.  He takes careful aim and kills her.

Meanwhile, “Nipper” Atkins gets his moment of fame, nicely potting a charging rhino with a single shot.  Bravo, Nipper!

 Game #2 - After a break for lunch at the local watering hole (actually Quiznos), we began a new hunt.  Three of the players each take a hunting party while three take a pair of game animals each.

The second hunt doesn’t start off well for Wilbur von Huysman.  Although he dodges a maddened elephant, his gunbearer and his porter succumb to the elephant’s mighty hooves.

But as the elephant rushes on past, von Huysman is set upon by both a lion and a cape buffalo!  Can he successfully fend off both of them?

Well, he sends the cape buffalo scurrying back into cover with a well-aimed shot, but the lion does him in.  The bull elephant has turned back but can only bugle his frustration that the lion has taken his toy.

Meanwhile young Mr. Stanley has encountered and dispatched a rather large lion.  Good for you, Mr. Stanley!  Of course what isn’t told is that his gunbearer, Gumby, actually fired the fatal shot.

Poor Wilbur’s body has been dragged off into the bush so that the lion can enjoy his meal in peace.

Suddenly Stanley is set upon by a rhino.  Surely he will do better against such an easy target.

Well, actually he doesn’t.  Leaving Gumby the gunbearer to face the rhino, Stanley and his porter flee into the bush.  Suddenly the porter runs back along side Mr. Stanley.  “Bwana, bwana!  Behind you!!”  A cape buffalo, previously wounded by the ill-fated von Huysman, has charged down on Stanley.

But Stanley keeps his nerve, turns, and kills the buffalo rather quickly with a single shot!

Moving back out to join his gunbearer, Stanley and his party are set upon by a rogue bull elephant.  Stanley and his porter quickly lose their nerve and scurry back into the bush.  The elephant rampages past the gunbearer and disappears into another patch of scrub after Gumby shoots him.

And another rogue elephant charges poor Mr. Frobisher, who earlier had a shot at an elephant cow and her two calves but declined graciously, saying, “ I don’t shoot at mothers and their young.”

Too bad the bull elephant didn’t know that as he mashes Frobisher and the porter into the veldt!

While Stanley and his porter are hiding from the rogue elephant, the gallant Gumby is facing a ferocious lioness.

Wounded by Gumby, the lioness scurries by him and jumps on the poor porter, instantly killing him.

But as she drags the body deeper into the bush, Stanley can hear Gumby shouting, “Bwana, bwana!  Come quick!  A large elephant!!”

But Gumby is very unlucky this time.  Mr. Rogue elephant squashes him.

And then continues on to attack young Mr. Stanley.  Inflicting a wound on the elephant, Stanley is able to avoid the charge and the elephant heads deeper into the bush.  We ended the game at this point as two of the three hunters had been mashed by elephants.

Game Results:  The results of the two games, which may carry over to another game in December were:

Atkins – killed a rhino with a single shot, gaining 60 reputation points.

McGinnis – killed a lion (10 points) and heroically does something for which I can’t remember, gaining another 10 points for a total of 20 reputation points.

Graf von Schneider – missed his only shot and ends up with a -10 reputation points.

Alan Haggard – had some trouble with his boots, losing 10 points but regained his aplomb and killed a lion (20 points) and an elephant (40 points), for a total of 50 reputation points.

Mr. Enfield – beat a lion to death with the butt of his rifle after a long fight, gaining 30 reputation points.

Baron Potzdorf – stomped to death by an elephant before he can really do anything; no reputation points but becomes the butt of jokes in the local bar.

“Junior” Stanley – although killing a cape buffalo with a single shot (60 points), he lost his nerve and ran away several times (-30 points), missed an easy shot (-10 points), and finally claimed a kill his gunbearer made (10 points to the gunbearer), resulting in only a gain of 10 reputation points.

Wilbur von Huysman – another hunter stomped to death by an elephant before he could do anything; no reputation points and also became the butt of jokes.

Frobisher – lost 10 points when he missed a shot on the elephant charging him, but his gallantry with the mama elephant and her calves counteracted the miss; no reputation points.

Look forward to more exploits of daring-do by our mighty hunters in four weeks!!

Aerial Engagements

On the Fourth of July, a small group of us met at Jay's to try out Bill's Wings of War WW1 rules and Ed's Wings of War WW2 rules.

We fought three different WW1 engagements.  I flew all three in a Pfalz D3 of the Imperial German Flying Service as Rittmeister von Habenbier.

 

After lunch we tried Ed's WW2 Wings of War rules.  They were an entirely different beast, with higher speeds and better maneuverability.  We kept zooming by each other so fast we couldn't draw a bead on our target most of the time.  In this engagement I flew and RAF Hurricane I as Flight Leftenant Campbell.

Reports with plenty of pictures will be posted on the new Jackson Gamers web site tomorrow.  Jackson Gamers

Memorial Day Musings

As some of you know I've been doing some genealogy research lately. One of the tools I've used is Find A Grave www.findagrave.com . This site has users create lists of cemeteries and then add graves and pictures. One lady here is central Mississippi has visited many cemeteries and created the sites but only added a few graves at each one.

On Memorial Day, Monday May 28th, I had some time and visited Forest Hill Methodist Church Cemetery. Since there were only 45 graves listed I knew there were more to be added. So I took my camera and went there. 3 of the graves really got me thinking about the meaning of Memorial Day.

The first was the grave of Jasper F. Basye. He was a 28 year old who served in the U.S. Army in World War 2. His grave stone reads - Jasper F. Basye, Mississippi, Pvt, 22 Inf, 4 Inf Div, World War II. His date of death was March 2, 1945. A quick search reveals that on that date the 4th Div. was making a river crossing at the time of his death. Not to long before the end of the war.

The next one that caught my attention was the grave of Robert C. Nails. He was a soldier in World War I. His grave stone reads - Robert C. Nails, Mississippi, Pvt, 28 Inf, 1 Div, May 28, 1918, Nobly he fell while fighting for his country.

Again I went to the internet (I don't keep all these facts in my head) and found that on that date the 1st Infantry Division made its attack (led by the 28th Infantry) on Cantigny, France. It took me a minute to realize that the attack and his death had happened exactly 94 years prior. His grave did not have his date of birth so I went to the MDAH website and looked up is Service Record. It had his age at enlistment as 17 years and 8 months. An awesome responsibility for one so young.

The last grave I noticed was right next to Robert's, it was his mother's. The inscription on Sarah Lenora Nails' grave reads - Hinds County's First Gold Star Mother. It reminded me that those who serve and pay the ultimate price leave loved ones back home.

I did not know any of these people or their families. On this Memorial Day their graves caused me to think more clearly on the sacrifice of the military. I served 23 years in the Army and National Guard and never had to fire a shot in anger. I believe it was because of men and women like these.

I hope you had a happy, and thoughtful, Memorial Day.

Ed Sansing, Maj. USAR, Retired Reserve

Raid on Hyalite, Mar. 31, 2012/3049

For centuries, the Taurian Concordat and the Federated Suns have been at each others throats.  Ever since the Reunification War in the 26th century, the Federated Suns (FedSuns) have held onto choice worlds that the Concordat claims, and every so often a Taurian general gets the idea to raid these worlds to remind house Davion, rulers of the Federated Suns, that the Taurians have not forgotten these age-old grudges.

This game was a short raid featuring a lance of the Taurian Guards taking on two 'Mechs of the 1st Argyle Lancers supported by the local militia of the planet Hyalite. 

A CP-10Z Cyclops and an EXC-B2 Excalibur of the Taurian Guards begin their attack.

A VTR-9D Victor of the 1st Argyle Lancers and a militia ENF-5D Enforcer advance toward the enemy.

The forces and commanders of this mission for the Federated Suns are:

• VTR-9D Victor (Leftenant Vernon E. Harris, 1st Argyle Lancers 3/4) run by Jim Pitts
• JVN-10P Javelin (PFC Victoria Lanchard, 1st Argyle Lancers 3/4) run by Jim Pitts
• BL-6-KNT Black Knight (Sgt. Maj. Rachel Richards-Tyrone-Davion, countess of Hyalite and commander of the Hyalite Militia 3/5) run by Jay Stribling
• ENF-5D Enforcer (Pvt. Milagro Rosamaria Naderman, Hyalite Milita 4/5) run by Ed Sansing
• CN9-D Centurion (Pvt. Kenneth Ramiro Fadel, Hyalite Militia 4/5) run by Phil Young

 On the Taurian Concordat side:

• CP-10Z Cyclops (Subaltern Baruch Ioannides 3/4) run by Sean Pitts, gamemaster
• EXC-B2 Excalibur (Cornet Arthur Calderon 3/4) run by Sean Pitts
• TDR-5S Thunderbolt (Cornet Jordan af Gniphalan 3/4) run by Fred Diamond
• GRF-2N Griffin (Cornet Gilda Grimfether 4/5) run by Fred Diamond

The Hyalite militia's Enforcer showing off its new Mountain camo.

 The battle began on the open field of Hyalite with the Taurian Guards, haven broken up into two groups, first detected the garrison forces.  Both sides advanced into battle quickly.

Combat begins on both sides of the table.

The Taurians quickly learned that, even though their 'Mechs were heavier, they stood no chance against the fully upgraded might of the Federated Suns.  Things decidedly took a turn for the worse when the Taurians Star League-era Excalibur was destroyed when a lucky punch to the Center Torso (rear) ignited the AMS ammo stored there, destroying the Fusion Engine.

A 400-year-old Excalibur is beaten on by two 'Mechs less than 5 years old.

And then explodes.

Then their commander was killed when his Cyclops was destroyed by fire.

After a few turns of fire, stripping most of the armor from the milita 'Mechs, the remaining two attackers signal their intent to leave the field, retreating back to their dropship and leaving the planet.

Faced with five 'Mechs, the last two attackers begin to flee the field.

(Terrain provided by Jay Stribling. Game run and figures provided by Sean Pitts. Pictures taken by Jim Pitts and Ed Sansing.)