Zomtober 2016, Week 5

<==  Week 4 is this way

Introduction

I can hear you all thinking "Wait a minute - it's still Saturday.  Zomtober posts are traditionally made on each Sunday in the month".  True, but there's nothing in the rules (such as they are) to say that it can't be done earlier than Sunday, as long as it's each week.  Anyway, I've got a Halloween battle report to come on the 31st, so I wanted a bit of a gap between that and this post.

This will be the last of my zombie/survivor duels for 2016, so make the most of it.  After all, it's not every October that has 5 Zomtober Sundays (err, Saturdays) in it!

The Duel

Today's confrontation is between Matt and Big Momma Zombie (BMZ).  As you can see in the picture above, he is creeping up behind her, with a spade raised and ready to strike!

I usually pose my "duels" with both models facing each other.  However, when I took this pair to be varnished, I just happened to place them down on the spray turntable with her facing away from him.  I decided that I liked the way this looked; it gives quite a different angle to the story!

BMZ is from Studio Miniatures' Zombie Mob 002.  There's not really a lot of detail to paint on this model, just flesh and nightgown/slip.  I attempted to make her clothing slightly translucent, just to try out a new technique.  However, I don't think it quite worked out; the nightgown looks like a dirty white instead.  Which is OK for a zombie, but not really what I had intended.

To add a little colour to an otherwise very drab model, I painted a little tattoo on BMZ's right shoulder.  It's possibly a little too bright & solid, though?  I also added quite a bit of detail to the newspaper at her feet.  I wonder if anyone can guess which (UK) publication I used as a pattern?

Matt is one of Offensive Miniatures' street kid/young rioter models.  He's been fixed to a Basius II base, but is otherwise unconverted.  I've tried to decorate his clothing with the various stripes, slogans and logos that such a young thug might well wear in real life; this probably makes him a bit more interesting than if he was dressed in a plain-coloured top and plain trousers.

OK, here's the important bit: who wins?  Matt clearly intends an attack; presumably BMZ is blocking his path or his access to some resource.  Although maybe Matt just feels like shovel practice - you never can tell with barely-educated street kids?  He looks determined enough, but is he strong enough to inflict fatal damage in one blow (and skillful enough?  I think I might use the edge of the blade to hit the zombie, rather than the flat part)?

If Matt doesn't fell BMZ with a single strike then he might be in trouble.  If she turns and grabs for him then he'll have difficulty breaking free - just look at the size of her hands!  And I don't think she'll have any qualms about eating him either; I'm pretty sure that not all the blood on the gown is her own!

Zomtober 2016, Week 3

<==  For week 2, follow this link

Introduction

This is a slightly late posting, but it's still Sunday and therefore within the Zomtober rules.  Phew!  I've been away for the weekend (it was my wife's birthday), so it's just as well that I had prepared these figures earlier last week than usual.

So, as is my custom for these posts, here's another duel between a zombie and a survivor.  What do you think happens next?

The Duel

Tonight's main attraction is a contest between Nadim and Chicken Man Zombie (CMZ).  Nadim is using an unusual anti-zombie weapon: a giant firework rocket ("The Big One").  He is wearing a handkerchief over his face, possibly to protect against sparks or to protect himself from inhaling zombie bits if his planned rocket attack is successful.  That may also explain the hoodie pulled up over his head.

CMZ has been described by the owner of Studio Miniatures (who make the figure) as "the unluckiest man in the zombie apocalypse".  I'm paraphrasing here rather than providing an exact quote, but I expect you get the idea.
After all, having a job that involves dressing up as a giant chicken is fairly unlucky in the first place.  Being bitten by a zombie and therefore infected yourself whilst at work in a job that requires you to dress up as a giant chicken is just stupendously unlucky!
[Hmm, that could be another theme for someone to pursue in Zomtober: "the unluckiest man/woman in the apocalypse".  Please feel free to use this if you wish...]

As mentioned above, CMZ is from Studio Miniatures, specifically from "Zombie Mob 002".  Like many of my recent urban figures, he's on an Escenorama base.  In this case, CMZ is trampling a sign that had been placed on the grass.  I found a picture on the internet of a suitable admonition, scaled it down, printed it and stuck it to the sign.  In case you cannot read the sign under CMZ's foot, the it reads "Please do not feed the birds".  There is also a small sheet of green paper on the ground nearby; perhaps this is an advertising flyer that has been dropped by CMZ?

Nadim is yet another of the young thugs from Offensive Miniature's "12 Street Kids" pack, in the Near Future, Rioting Mob range.  His base is also from Escenorama, though in this case it's a rather simpler pattern.  There's nothing on the ground here other than a small metal cover and a cigarette butt (visible in the earlier pictures).  Maybe that's what Nadim used to light his firework?

So, here's my reading of the situation: if Nadim hits CMZ with the rocket and if the firework catches on the zombie's costume then I've no doubt that the resulting explosion will do a lot of damage to the zombie.  But there are a lot of "ifs" here:

• A firework is going to be hard to aim, firstly because of its inherent lack of directional stability and secondly because of the uncertainty over when exactly it will ignite.  It might have some value as an area effect weapon, fired into the middle of a mob (note that I wrote might, not should).  However, targeting an individual, even at close range, is going to rely on a lot of luck!
• Even if the firework hits the intended target, the motor will probably still be running for at least a few seconds.  I reckon there's every chance that the rocket will just bounce off and keep going in a semi-random direction, unless of course the target has a lot of nooks and crannies in which the missile might become jammed.
• A firework rocket contains gunpowder (or some close equivalent) as a bursting charge, but it doesn't have a metal case or anything else which might produce a lot of shrapnel.  Whilst blast damage isn't to be taken lightly by a human, a firework, even a big one, won't necessarily destroy a zombie.  If you're lucky (there's that word again) then the zombie will be sufficiently disabled to allow your escape.

No, I think that this is what happens: the rocket ignites but the backblast burns Nadim's face and blinds him.  The firework then skids off CMZ or misses him completely and the zombie attacks immediately and bites the stunned human.  Assuming, of course, that CMZ can bite anything whilst wearing that ridiculous costume rooster head...

Week 4 is here ==>

Zomtober 2016, Week 2

<==  Week 1 is this way

Introduction

Another Sunday in October; here's another Zomtober post.  As ever, the rules are that I have to show at least 1 zombie or 1 survivor.  However, I've made a habit of showing one of each, posed as a duel.  This week, its "B.B." versus "Cocktail Waitress Zombie" (CWZ).

The Duel

I've talked before about the possibility of zombies retaining some form of instinctive need to finish a task, notably with my zombie ballerina.  I imagine that in a few, extreme cases, a fresh zombie may attempt to carry on with some activity in which they were engaged before they were "converted", at least for a short time.  This might be used to explain those rare cases where the living dead wield a weapon including, on rare occasions, a firearm.

Thus it is with Cocktail Waitress Zombie: she's attempting to carry a tray of drinks without spilling them.  This is complicated by the fact that her high heels have caught in a drain cover.  The proximity of the interfering human isn't helping either!

"B.B." is a young hooligan with a catapult.  Some may sneer at this as a weapon, but it has many advantages:

• It's quiet.
• Ammunition is free and readily available.
• A powerful catapult using 1/2" steel ball bearings will do a lot of damage to a target.  Not as much as a powerful handgun, admittedly, but perhaps equal to a .22 rifle?

Of course, there are some disadvantages as well:

• Effective (accurate) range is quite short.
• Once the rubber perishes, you probably can't replace it in an apocalypse.

CWZ is a Wargames Factory "Zombie Vixen", built straight out of the box.  I've added a couple of wine glasses to her tray; these come from Black Cat Bases.
B.B. is one of Offensive Miniatures "Street Kids", from their near-future rioters section.  I made the catapult elastic from a length of plastic rod, but otherwise he is also unmodified.
Both models are mounted on resin urban bases from Escenorama.

Here are the questions in my mind about this encounter:

• Is B.B. trying to fell the zombie, or is he just interested in plinking at the wine glasses as a form of target practice?
• At what point will CWZ give up her balancing act, discard the tray and just go for the human?
• When CPZ finally tries to eat B.B., will she be able to catch him by surprise, or will he be nimble and alert enough to escape her clutches?
• Will B.B be able to kill the zombie with his catapult?  If not, will he keep trying, or will he get bored and run off?

What do you think?  What happens next?

Week 3 is this way ==>

Zomtober 2016, Week 1

Introduction

It's the first Sunday of the 10th month in the year, which means that it's Zomtober!  I've not seen much evidence that anyone else plans to mark this, but I've been presenting articles for the past 3 years (2013, 2014 and 2015); I don't intend to break the pattern now.  So, here is another duel; a pairing of a zombie and a survivor, both recently finished models.  Who will win this one?

Zomtober 2016, Week 1

For the humans, today's contender is "Postie".  He's a teenager or young adult, wearing a leather jacket and crash helmet.  I'd give him points for the level of protection provided by such clothing, though the helmet might reduce his hearing and peripheral vision a bit.  However, his choice of weapon (an unused fence post) is probably sub-optimal and his posture suggests that he's a bit hesitant and afraid.

Facing him is "Mantic Plague Zombie".  I had wanted some zombies in army uniform for a while.  Earlier this year, I saw a box of Mantic's sci-fi infected troopers on sale (for a rock-bottom, bargain price) and I just couldn't resist.

MPZ has full battledress, including helmet and body armour - apart from any boots.  He is (was?) also a large man and therefore looks capable of overpowering Postie quite easily.  However, the zombie seems to be putting most of his effort into thrashing about and roaring, though whether this is an attempt to intimidate his victim or is a reaction to his own pain and anguish isn't entirely clear.

The human figure is from Offensive Miniatures; he's one of their "street kids".  I've mounted the figure on a resin base from Escenorama (I still have many of their bases remaining, even though it's 2 years since I first obtained them: here).

Annoyingly, the paint on the base has "silvered".  In my haste to prepare the figure for today, I haven't let the wash dry completely before varnishing it.  I'll have to re-paint the base.

As mentioned before, the zombie is a model from Mantic Games.  These are hard plastic figures in a variety of contorted, agonised poses.  Most wear uniforms and have body armour, but quite a few are bursting out of their clothing ("hulk-ing") and have spiny bits growing from their flesh.  That's all very well for a science fiction plague, but doesn't really fit in with my world of zombies, so I've removed the spikey bits wherever possible.

Conclusion

If this was a typical, urban zombie then it's possible that Postie might be able to impale the creature and keep it at a distance with his stake while he works out what to do next.  However, I cannot see this working against a large, raging monster that is wearing body armour.

Keep the stakes for vampires, Postie!  Run away, as fast as you can.  If your motorbike is handy then use it instead; that would be even better...

Week 2 is here ==>

Claymore 2016

Introduction

The largest wargames event in Scotland (Claymore) is held in early August.  In other years, we've often been away on holiday at this point, but this year I had arranged for our family vacation to be in the middle of July instead.  The 6th of August was free, so we were able to go to the show!

Although all of my children (and wife) were offered the opportunity, only my younger son ("A.") wanted to come with me.  He's extremely keen on games days such as this, so that made up for the (mild) disappointment from the more general lack of interest.

Our Day

It takes us just under 2 hours to drive from Helensburgh to north-west Edinburgh.  Let's just say that it's a tedious, though not particularly difficult, journey and leave it at that.

We arrived some 10 minutes before the official start time, but the doors were already open and many visitors had entered before us.  It's nice when you don't have to queue!

As always, what follows is a record of what A. and I did on the day.  It is not a comprehensive record of the games, traders or people present at Claymore, but rather just a description of our experiences.

SSFSA Tombola

Very near to the entrance, there was a tombola stall being run by the SSFSA (the armed forces charity).  We decided to spend some money on this and were surprised to find that both of us had won a prize.  I received a book on U.S. Rangers, whilst A.'s ticket matched a 28mm officer of Australian Light Horse!  I'm not sure what either of us will do with such items, as they're both quite a long way from any games or periods that we play...

Game 1: Wings of Glory

There were players needed in the first participation game that we came across, so we sat down to play some of the very popular Wings of Glory.  We were using 1916 aircraft; A. and I took a pair of French Morane Saulnier N monoplanes, whilst a couple of other young boys took some British clunkers to our right.  Opposing us were a mixture of German 2-seaters, eindeckers, observation balloons and the like.

I had enormous difficulty in working out the effects of the manoeuvre cards for most of the game.  I understood the mechanics easily enough, but found that my predictions of where my plane would end up were hopelessly adrift.  Consequently, I spent most of the game flying about pointlessly on the extreme left hand edge of the table.

Meanwhile, A's Morane was set on fire and eventually crashed.  He was given another, identical aircraft, but after tangling with the German 2-seaters, this was also set on fire.  A. flew off the table before burning to cinders, so perhaps his second plane survived?

Just as I had (almost) figured out how to manoeuvre and had lined up a good, tailing shot on an eindecker, I was hit by flak and killed.  Bah!

Game 2: Pancho Villa

The next game we encountered was a Bolt Action skirmish set during the Mexican civil war and presented by the Glasgow and District Wargames Club.  We took a bunch of Villistas (?) whose goal was to overpower the Federales in a small town and rob the about-to-depart gold train.  Sounds straightforward enough; we were told that we had about a 2:1 advantage in forces.

The game started well enough, as our American mercenary flier dropped a 75mm artillery shell onto one of the government machine gun positions.  He didn't hurt any of the crew, but he scared the cr*p out of them!

Our opponent in this game was a very young girl, with her dad and even younger brother watching from the sidelines.  She seemed to have a particular antipathy to my cavalry and shot at the horses on all possible occasions.  I thought that little girls were supposed to like ponies?

A. and I quickly found out that it was very difficult to advance with units that had PIN markers on them.  This led to our attacks going in piecemeal as each unpinned unit would charge forwards on its own, only to be gunned down by the defenders.  My glorious, flanking cavalry charge that was supposed to take us over the walls on the left was met by some particularly stubborn resistance; even though I inflicted 6 hits on the defending unit of 7 men, they all hit in return and routed my force.

At the end of the 6th turn, when the gold train departed, we hadn't managed to get even one figure over the sandbag wall...

Lunch

I'd taken a packed lunch with us, since I've been dismayed at the quality (and price!) of the food offered at this and some other shows before.  The sun was shining and we were able to sit outside in the courtyard; it was good.

Game 3: Operation Retribution

Blue dice for low-medium altitude, white dice for medium-high.

The Blue Bears put on a massed WWII aircraft battle, based on Operation Retribution (the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941) and using their own rules.  Each of the 6 players took a flight of 3 Yugoslav fighters, which were a mixture of Bf-109s, Hurricanes and their own, homebuilt IK-Z.  The goal was to shoot down as many Luftwaffe bombers as possible.

A rather cluttered table near the end of the game, with altitude and damage dice all over the place.

This we proceeded to do in style; it was something of a "turkey shoot".  The game was enlivened by small amounts of karaoke and the occasional group chant ("On, no!  Not the purple dice of doom!").  Luftwaffe fighters flew overhead, but too high to see what was happening, so we rampaged through the bomber formations and devastated them.

I have to admit that I felt somewhat uncomfortable with the resulting massacre; it was very one-sided and quite a long way from what really happened in 1941.

Game 4: Kings of War

One set of rules which has been on my radar for a while is Kings of War.  This seems to be gaining a great deal of popularity, indeed it is perhaps the "go to" set for large, fantasy battles these days.  We had the opportunity to learn some of the mechanics in a little demonstration game, umpired by a very helpful and friendly representative (thanks!).

So, A. took a small force of dwarves, whilst I attacked him with an undead warband.

The Necromancer steps in to prevent the large unit of Dwarves from attacking the zombies in the flank.  Amazingly, he survives, at least for now!

The dwarves' cannon proved to be spectacularly useless and I don't think it hit anything in the entire game.  However, the stunty warriors proved to be very effective; they carved their way through my ghouls and skeletons in short order (groan!).

My leader, the necromancer, was forced to get involved personally in a messy melee to try to prevent the Dwarven rampage.  Although he eventually succumbed, he did allow the zombies time to fight back.

One after another, the Dwarven units fell to the all-conquering, but heavily beaten-up, zombies.  This was a complete surprise to all of us; when we called time on the game they were facing just the Dwarven warsmith and their cannon.  I'd say that it could have gone either way after that...

Game 5: Custer's Last Stand

In the dying 30 minutes of the show, just as we were tiring and wondering whether to depart, we came across the Leuchars Veterans' game: Custer's Last Stand.  I've taken part in some of their games before and they are always great fun: short, simple, effective and usually with excellent props as well.

I took chief Gall of the HunkPapa Sioux.  My son A. had Hollow Horn Bear of the Brule Sioux.

Each of the 5 (or was it 6?) players took a band of Indians - and yes, we did all wear headdresses with feathers in them.  The measuring sticks were modelled as arrows and our goal was to be the one to scalp Custer.  Note that there wasn't a whole lot of doubt that this would happen as the Indian forces were considerably larger than the remnants of the cavalry!

Between us, A. and I were first up onto the hill.  I may just have positioned my warriors to block some of the other players ("Oh, sorry, Crazy Horse!  Am I in your way - I hadn't realised?"), but all's fair in love and war...

Despite being the first to attack Custer, Hollow Horn Bear (A.'s chieftain) just couldn't kill the general.  Indeed, Custer managed to kill A's horse and thus dismount him!  My leader (chief Gall) was also in early, but failed to make any impression.

At the end, Custer was surrounded by no less than 5 chieftains.  It became a lottery as to who would strike the killing blow; many dice were rolled only for the owner to sigh in disgust at the lack of any of the requisite 6s.  Eventually, the flag-bearer was slain by someone and the very next Sioux chieftain killed Custer.  Suffice it to say that it wasn't either A. or myself who took the honour!

Return Journey

Another tedious trip in the car, this time with the driver (me) somewhat fatigued.  I really wish that public transport was a plausible alternative, but the Granton venue is just not suitable for this if you're coming from outside of Edinburgh!

Loot

Between games, we did a fair amount of shopping.  I say "we", but in reality it was just I that bought things.  We did have a few casual looks at the bring-and-buy, but it seemed especially crowded this year.  The bring-and-buy tables also looked to be stacked high with items, thus making it hard to see what was on offer.

So, just traders, then.  Here's what we came home with:

• The newly-published (and much anticipated, at least by me) Congo rules.
• Several packets of Darkest Africa figures: Ascaris and Tribal warriors.
• Into the Breeding Pits (the latest expansion for Frostgrave)
• Matt varnish.  Always useful, especially as some mail services either won't accept aerosols any more or charge an arm and a leg.
• 2 x MDF Land Rovers.  28mm-compatible Land Rovers have been something of a Holy Grail for me, so I was delighted to see that Warbases are now producing some kits.  I'll report on these more another time.
• Operation Retribution rules, handed out to participants in the game.  Whilst of casual interest, I don't think I'll be investing anything into WW2 air combat games.
• US Rangers and Australian Light Horse officer; winnings from the SSFSA tombola.  I still don't know what to do with these, as they don't fit into any period or genre that I play.

Carronade 2016: Quality time

Introduction

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  No, I've not been away or been seriously ill.  I haven't had any computer disasters or anything like that.  The truth of it is that I've just not felt like putting the effort in to writing anything for my blog.  Indeed, I've not spent much energy on reading other blogs either.  I have no idea what has caused this malaise, but this post is an attempt to pull myself out of it and resume normal service.

Carronade

It's show season again, at least for me.  There are not many games shows that I can attend, but Carronade (Falkirk and District Wargames Club) is an excellent event and after enjoying it so much last year (here) I was determined to attend again.  Indeed, my younger son (A.) was very much of the same mind; he had been looking forward to the show for some time.

Due to ongoing engineering works at Glasgow Queen Street railway station, A. & I decided to drive to Falkirk this year.  We could have taken the train, but with restricted services and poor connections, it would have taken much longer than normal.  As it turned out, it's a very easy drive from Helensburgh, taking perhaps 1 hour and 15 minutes.

As before, there were no queues for entrance and the doors were open even before the official start time - very nice!  An interesting touch: the entrance tickets were MDF tokens, rather than paper tickets or stamps on the hand.  These will certainly find a second use as bases for some models, rather than being discarded after the event as paper would have been.

The Hobbit

Once inside the Graeme High School buildings, we searched for some games to play.  First up, we were introduced to The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game, one of Games Workshop's better rules offerings.  This game was run by (I think) the Stirling Wargamers.

My son and I each took 2 dwarves (Fili & Kili, Gloin & Oin - if I remember correctly).  Our goal was to carve our way through goblins and across platforms within Goblin Town until we could reach the far side.

We started well (mostly; Gloin struggled to kill his first goblin) and advanced half-way across the bridge quite easily.  There we stalled for a number of turns; no matter how many goblins we killed, there were always more arriving.  Kili was wounded and for a moment it looked as if we might fail in our escape.  Then Fili and Gloin changed up a gear and started to kill multiple goblins each turn.  By the last turn of the game there were no more enemies left and our 4 dwarves simply strolled forwards to the victory area and escape!  It had been close up to that point, though...

For our participation, we were each given a goblin model; A. also gained a Hobbit badge.  Nice!

Dropzone Commander

After the Hobbit, we played a small game of Dropzone Commander from Hawk Wargames, put on by the Glasgow Gaming Group.  Our PHR enhanced humans force (tan, lower half of the picture) took on the demonstrator's Shaltari aliens (red, upper part of picture).  We shot down most of his ships and took apart one alien infantry squad and all his flak tanks.  This left us in total control of one of the buildings, although it took us a couple of turns of searching for us to actually find the objective.  In the meantime, his tanks took up position on the central high ground and his other infantry squad started to search for the other objective.

Fortunately for us, the game ended before the aliens found the item for which they were searching, so it was a draw (the Shaltari scored 1 point for the "focal point" high ground; we scored 1 point for the objective that we had found).  Perhaps we spent too much effort on (successfully!) destroying material?

From the little I've seen, Dropzone Commander seems like a capable, larger scale sci-fi wargame.  I'm not totally convinced by the premise that both sides would be airlifting forces into the battlefield at the same time, as opposed to a mobile attack on fixed defences.  Maybe that's just this scenario, though?  I was taken by the aliens' heavy dependence on teleport gates; it had the potential to make their force play very differently from the humans.

Shopping

Before and after lunch (and thank goodness that I remembered to pack some sandwiches this time, rather than relying on the typical show's overpriced, under-nutritious, crowded canteen!), A. and I cruised the traders and Bring & Buy stalls looking for stuff.

A. found the following:

• 2 packs of Perry Crusader knights (6 figures), for his incipient Crescent and Cross warband.
• 1 second-hand Tau APC/tank.  This has been built to a moderate (not great, but not totally botched) standard and then undercoated white.  A. is very keen to expand his small Tau force for Warhammer 40K, but I jib at Games Workshop's new prices (and at many second-hand prices too!).  So far, I've managed to prevent him from spending his inheritance before he has received it...

I bought these items, most of which were on my shopping list even before the show:

• Some matt varnish.  I had accumulated quite a backlog of models that needed to be sealed after I finished off my last can of varnish.  Postage cost for aerosols is silly these days, so I had waited for the show to make this important purchase.
• 1 pack of Nightfolk, from Northumbrian Tin Soldier.  These are very whimsical and I'm looking forward to painting them.
• More zombies, from Studio Miniatures.  Everyone needs a zombie in a chicken suit, right?
• A 7TV cameraman from Crooked Dice.  Actually, I also bought a "not Captain Jack Harkness" model as well, but we couldn't find it in the bag when we returned home.  I'm pretty annoyed about losing this!  It's not so much the money, but rather that I think of myself as very careful & aware of my surroundings.  For this purchase to simply vanish without trace hurts my self esteem.
• We saw an expansion for Zombie Dice (Steve Jackson Games).  This seemed like an appropriate gift for my other son, J. , who owns the base game.

Mad Max

The final game of the day that we managed to join was a Mad Max-style game hosted by Greenock Wargames Club.  We were warned before starting that the game might take a couple of hours.  This was about right, but even though that ate up almost all the remaining time of the show, it was well worth it!

There's a tanker truck full of fuel in the middle of the wasteland.  Victory goes to the person who manages to drive it off the table, so that's nice and straightforward, isn't it?

5 gangs started from different edges of the table.  Each had 5 or 6 vehicles with (usually) a variety of crew, weaponry and toughnesses, as well as 3 or 4 motorbikes.

A. and I took control of the "Buzzards"; 6 custom hot rods with spiky armour welded all over them.  We had very little in the way of ranged weaponry but some advantage in a collision.  So we decided we'd just accelerate as hard as we could and blitz our way across the table ("we're going that way").  This tactic resulted in a diagonal line of smoking wrecks from our edge to the far side of the table.  Some of our drivers even got up to 6th gear (or was it 5th gear + nitro?) and were throwing a d30 for movement each turn.  You cannot change course at that speed!

At the climax of the game, the truck was taken over by one of the players and it started to move towards the far table edge.  As it picked up speed, 3 of our Buzzard gang vehicles arrived alongside the tanker and we made a number of boarding attempts.  Each time, our crewman would manage to jump onto the enemy vehicle, only to be fought off by the defender.

One other player also closed with the tanker, with a large car that had 4 crew and a boarding gantry (so his odds would have been good!)  However, before he could proceed, a lone biker from the defender's side jumped onto the attacking automobile and fought his way through the entire crew to take control of the vehicle.

This seemed to seal victory for the current defender (a  grown-up who was currently in charge of both the tanker and the "gantry" car).  However, in the very last move of the game, a kid on the other side of the table used his last vehicle to tail-end the truck.  The car was destroyed, but the driver leaped onto the tanker and proceeded to fight his way into the cab before driving off into the sunset.  An unexpected, but well-deserved victory for the boy!

This was a thrilling game with a massive amount of carnage (though the monster truck was a bit disappointing) and it could have gone any of 3 or 4 ways at the end.  A. came home with a set of the Greenock club's home-brew Mad Max rules, with visions of using his Hot Wheels collection in new and exciting ways!

Home

The return journey was uneventful.  We stopped briefly on the outskirts of Falkirk so that I could have a coffee (I've sometimes felt very tired when facing a long drive at the end of the day).  A. slept for most of the way back; this is not unusual for 13 year old boys.  However, before drifting off, he did ask me if we could go to Claymore (Edinburgh) in August.  I think he must have enjoyed the show!