Little Wars Melbourne - 2014

Yesterday I ventured way down south to Moorabbin  (with a slight diversion through the wilds of Caulfield while I got my bearings!) to attend Little Wars, Melbourne. I managed to get La Petite Rosbif #2 to accompany me, which was surprising, but as Mrs. R. was working and La Petite Rosbif #1 was swotting for exams I think she thought that as there was nothing else on offer, she might as well indulge her old man and come along for the ride!

Besides our annual NWA Open Day I hadn't actually been to a proper, grown-up convention, so I was looking forward to it. While not as spectacular as some of the northern hemisphere shows like Salute, or Crisis, the floor was still busy by the time we finally got there in the mid-afternoon. NWA membership was conspicuous by the number of club members wearing the club t-shirts and the number of games and stalls they ran, which could only be a good thing for recruitment. Well done, chaps!

I had an ulterior motive to being there, as I was going to pick up my Eureka Anglo-Saxon archers for my SAGA project from Nic, who was doing a roaring trade and chatting to all and sundry. Very nice they are, too. They'll be added to the painting queue on the workbench to pad out my missile-weapon fyrd.

54mm Napoleonics (When my eyesight finally goes, I'll take up painting these!)

More 54mm Napolronics. So few units on such a big board!

Muskets & Tomahawks

Injuns!

YAAARRRRR! Legends of the High Seas game put on by NWA members Fly, Pete E and John W.

Beware the Kraken!

Chain of Command in Darkest Africa

Wagram in 6mm

The busy floor at 2pm, full of games and traders

Vietnam

Zooommmmbiieeess!  Ian KH, from NWA, ran this game

Weird WWII, another NWA game, put on by James W and Brendan D

Capt. America

Soviet infatnry

Soviet Spider Tank

Capt. Britain

Red Skull!

Not one, but 2 Dr. Evils!

US walking tank

Command and Colours Ancients

Walking around the tables, admiring the games on display and taking happy snaps, we were bailed up by Tony F. from the club to join in with Neil G. and Neil H. and in their WWI dogfight game, using the Canvas Eagles rules. I've seen this played at the club and it always seems to be a ton of fun. This time, they'd organised a scenario where the Allies had to down the zeppelin and the Germans had to defend it. La Petite Rosbif #2 and I decided to join the Allied side and see if we couldn't bag the Hun! We were going to share a plane, but she decided that she'd go it alone a pilot one all by herself. You should have seen my fatherly pride! We both took a DH2 fighter each, and faced off against a gaggle of Fokker Eindecker escort fighters. Tony took a Nieuport 24 (I think; WWI aircraft aren't my strong point!). Neil took another DH2 as well.

I decided that we would concentrate on the fighter escort first, then see what happened. La Petite Rosbif #2 followed in my wake, like a good little wing-man (wing-girl?), directly at the despicable Hun! In my first and only combat I managed a long burst which slightly wounded the enemy pilot, while he landed some damage on me which set the engine smoking. Both of us managed to jam our guns as well! I spent the rest of the game desperately hoping I wouldn't burst into flames, as the smoke proved to be persistent, and trying and failing to unjam my guns. PR#2 then gave the Hun a squirt with her guns, landed a couple of hits and managed to fly on intact, without jamming her guns!

Now the fun began as the German escort had flown past, we had a clear shot on the giant sausage! I had to fly straight and level to attempt to clear the guns (failing each attempt!), while she straightened up and went in on the attack! She got within almost point blank range and...missed! On the other side, Neil had a lot more success and with a close range burst blew the whole thing up! No-one was shot down or crashed, but there was a lot of fun had in a very quick game.

Thanks to Tony and both Neils for hosting the game and stepping us through it.

"Crikey, sir. I'm looking forward to today. Up diddly up, down diddly down, whoops, poop, twiddly dee - decent scrap with the fiendish Red Baron - bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines - capture, torture, escape, and then back home in time for tea and medals." - George, Blackadder Goes Forth.

Gentlemen, your target for today!

The jolly spiffing Allies

The dastardly Huns!

Me and la PR #2 head off into the wild blue yonder

La PR#2 at the controls! Roger, wilco!

Off we go!

Beware the Hun in the sun!

Contact!

Daka-daka-daka-daka!

Crumbs, Biggles!

Don't worry, Dad! Here I come! Daka-daka-daka!

Nnneeeeeeeeeooowwwwrrrr!

Daka-daka-daka-daka!

Bbbrrrrrrr-pop-pop-bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Daka-daka-daka! Missed!

La PR#2 goes in followed by Tony, while I limp along behind hoping to clear my guns in time to join the fun!

Dakk-daka-daka! Missed!

Daka-daka-daka...BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!

For those of you in South Australia, mark this date in your calendar!