New Year's Day, 1920s style

For several years now, I've hosted a New Year's Day game. Taking a cue from our founding Conscript, Curt, my amazing wife Pam also prepares a meal themed to the game. This year I decided to run a 1920s gangster game, so the meal of course had to be "Chicago-style" deep dish pizza! Thanks Pam!

Anyway the scenario was pretty straightforward. I created four gangs with pretty much identical composition - a boss, two toughs, two hitmen, and two mobsters. I placed an objective (the accountant who knows far too much) in the middle of the table, guarded by three cops. They are keeping him safe and awaiting the arrival of police reinforcements (i.e. the end of the game). The mob gangs each start equidistant from the centre - their goals are to pump the accountant for information. Each turn with a model spent in contact with the accountant will gain 1 VP for the mob in question. All VPs count no matter whether your gang is around at the end of the game or not - so no "camping" and waiting till the last turn to swoop in and capture the potato!

Of course, before the game, we first had some lunch! Conscripts Kev, Bill, Greg, Brian, Hugh, Mike F., Dave V., Perry and Frederick made it out - an excellent showing.

Partaking of some excellent food and beverages...

The game begins with the gangs edging towards the centre and the objective. We used the rules mod for "Legends of the Old West" from Wargames Soldiers and Strategies magazine, with weapons ranges standardized and "to hit" rolls improved by one pip, most models hit on a 4+, some on a 3+ (the hitmen).

Gangsters advance cautiously...

Another group gathers by the bank...

Sharp-eyed readers will note that many of the buildings used in this Chicago waterfront table have also appeared in other games - notably our Stalingrad games. I'm all about terrain amortization, but try to make things reasonably accurate too.... hence I printed out a "Chicago Meat Packing Co. Ltd." sign to go over the Russian "Tractor Factory" sign, and some "Missing Lindbergh Baby" posters to cover up the inspirational (but anachronistic) Red Army poster on the side of the building.

(Accountant and police handlers in the foreground)

Gangsters take aim at the police...

...who return fire!

The gangs exchanges fire as they got closer, moving inexorably toward a climactic showdown!

Things are shaping up in the middle as the Southside O'Donnells shake out into a gun line...

While nearby other rival gangs exchange fire through the wire fence.

Some enterprising gangsters snuck along the edge of the pier, hoping to get the drop.

In the middle, one of the Bosses makes the accountant "an offer he can't refuse."

Chaos as the final fight shapes up.

The game ended in a bloodbath, of course, as two gangs bottled out and the two remaining groups went at it until one's morale broke, and they fled.

Had a great time as usual, with fine food, beverages and fellowship. Thanks to the guys for coming out and to those who brought snacks and beverages, an extra thanks. And a very big thank you to Pam for making us all the delicious food! (Dave - I know you took some food pics with your phone - could you post them here if you get a chance?)

Cheers and happy 2013!  

Gangsters! 28mm Skirmish Game

For last night's game I decided to debut the Citadel Gangsters I'd painted a few weeks ago. I'd finally sourced and repainted some excellent Lledo "Days Gone" cars to go with them (one seen at left above) and this was the last element remaining before we could have a game...

Rules used were found in a back issue of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy magazine and based on Warhammer Historical's "Legends of the Old West". I wanted a multi-player game so I came up with a simple scenario set in the seedy dockyards of the Big City. The Italian Mob and a Scottish gang known as the "Sean McSeans" are bitter rivals in the illegal liquor trade. Unbeknownst to each other, each gang receives a tip... there is a cargo truck full of illegal whiskey at the pier. Unfortunately, the truck has broken down, and each gang sends a "delegation" to secure the goods and wait for a commandeered tow vehicle to come pick up the truck. However, the local police precinct is also in on the secret, and a crack unit led by the Commissioner and a Special Agent is also on the way to secure the booty...

 

 Conscript Mike appears unimpressed with his lot as Police commandant...

For the first game, Conscript Mike played the cops, and Dave V. and Brian played the gangsters. We used the WSS rules as written for the first game...

... and they proved somewhat unsatisfactory. What happened was that Brian ran his gang in a very "meta" fashion and sat back, waiting for the other two antagonist gangs to destroy each other. Long-time Conscripts will recognize this as Conscript Sean's favorite tactic for multiplayer games - a tactic which was as successful as it was infuriating ;-)

Therefore Brian's gang became known as the "Sean McSeans".

Here they are, advancing en bloc...

Hiding behind some barrels...

The main problem with the rules, however, had to do with the effect of shooting. Or rather, the lack of effect. Most of the figures had a "Shooting" value of 5+ on a d6, with a few at 4+. When combined with the copious cover provided on the table and the short ranges of the weapons (typically 12"), this resulted in shooting having little effect. Bizarrely for a game so evocative of wild gunfights, "gats" and "Chicago typewriters", the antagonists had to close to knife range in order to effectively engage their rivals. The mental image of gangsters throwing aside their Tommy-guns and pulling out brass knuckles to decide things was jarring, to say the least.

"Don't bother with the guns; let's wade in with nightsticks!!"

The Sean McSeans camped on the objective

Settling things the Chicago Old Testament way

Brian won the first game after Dave V. and Mike's gangs basically stabbed each other to death. However, that game didn't take long, and we identified the problems with the rules, so we decided to play again with a quick fix - shooting values improved by one pip across the board and gun ranges standardized to 12" (24" for the cop rifle).

Brian turned over the McSeans to me for the second game, Mike kept the cops (unwillingly) and Dave played his Italians again. The second game was much improved. Close range firefights abounded and the atmosphere was most evocative of the era. In the picture above, my gang and Dave's get to grips at short range with a gun battle over some crates (literally) - the objective is the green truck at upper left. After a turn of that there were 4 dead gangsters and an impromptu truce called in order to address the coppers... Dave had to go home a bit after that so I took over his gang too. The uncomfortable possibility of me having to fight myself was avoided when the remnants of my own gang failed its bottle check and fled the table, leaving a couple of Italian die-hards to sweat the heat. The forces of law and order prevailed at last as the Italians turned tail.  

The second game was really fun and tense, I think the slight rule mod made a big improvement. Goes to show that when it comes to game design it can be the smallest things (like one pip!) that make the biggest difference.

"You Doity Raaat!"

So, on a whim about a month ago I bought a job lot of old Citadel gangster-era figures from a collector who was selling up his collection. I figured that this would make a nice diverting project (diverting from all the other projects that I should be working on) and would make a fun skirmish-type game for Thursdays. So after about a week's work I have finished 'em.

Here are the "flatfeet", the uniformed cops that strove mightily to defend law and order from rumrunners and criminals. Or alternatively, who profited handsomely by taking bribes from the latter ;-)

There wasn't a huge variety in poses in the lot I received so I had to do my best to differentiate the gangsters with paint jobs.
 

I painted them in a style that in my view, befits these older, smaller castings and appeals to my sense of speed. Block painting, minimal highlighting, and washes. Fast and dirty!

There was one obvious "G-man" in the lot - here he is confronting some ne'er do wells.

I also took the oppotunity to retire some old brushes to the trash can - yikes. A blind man would know better than to paint with those...
 

So now we're pretty much ready for some gang warfare. As the Citadel gangster line is long OOP I'll probably supplement these with Steve Barber figures which I'm told are a similar size and should mix well.

I just have to find some cars - diecast toys should fit the bill. The Lledo "Days Gone By" line has been recommended - anybody have a line on these (other than eBay)?