Send in the Marines - a Play Test

Last Saturday, I ran a play test of my game for Colonial Barracks ( link ).  With the theme being "Two Battalions of Marines" I dusted off my Between the Wars China Marines and constructed a scenario using bits and pieces of several different periods for the figures - 1920s/1930s China Marines, Victorian era civilians and African porters, 1930s Chinese warlord troops, Darkest Africa Belgian askari, 1880s American Apache Indians, and 1700s Caribbean Maroons (escaped slaves).  All together they have a very eclectic and "Hollywood" look.  Just what is needed for a "The Sword and the Flame" based convention.

Our brave Marines have been sent to rescue some missionaries from the clutches of a notoriously unstable warlord in some third (or maybe fourth) world "banana/mango/coconut republic" sometime in the late 1920s/early 1930s.  The scenario, with a few tweaks seems to have worked well so we'll see what happens in November at Colonial Barracks.

And now onto the action:

The battlefield with the trading post in the far corner.  The missionaries must reach this and board the steamer before the notoriously unstable warlord can get his hands on them.

The trading post along a pestilent river.  The steamboat brought the Marines and the seaplane is there, primarily, for set decoration.  It is a 1936 Keystone Loeing amphibious plane model made as a bank.  It is currently available in several guises on eBay.  The bamboo huts are from a posting on Miniature Wargaming (see my blog posting about them).

Hmm, a stranger has mysteriously arrived.  Will he influence the fight or his he just there to sight see?"

The Marines set out to find the missionaries.

They encounter part of the notoriously unstable warlord's army.

While the Marines are fighting off part of the notoriously unstable warlord's army, his mounted contingent attacks the missionary party.

After the Marine command element gets involved, the attack is stopped but at the cost of the Marine Captain Jack Kelly and his bulldog.

 

That's all the pictures I had time to take since I was running the game.  If you're coming to Colonial Barracks in New Orleans in November, I'll be running the game on Saturday morning, the 8th.