VBCW: Assault on Wigmore Hall

This weekend saw many brave, intrepid VBCW players brave the winter elements to head off to Herefordshire to partake in a VBCW game. The Herefordshire VBCW games are something of a highlight in the gaming calendar for me, so of course I had to wheel out Commissar-Professor Winters once more. 

This is the third game organised and umpired by Clive and Roo and the plots are starting to get a little bit complicated and convoluted. I will attempt to summaries the plot, and a number of sub plots, in a single paragraph.

Last game the 'un-holy' alliance of Socialists and Anglicans broke down when Professor Winters (socialist) attacked the forces of the Bishop of Hereford. Since then the  Communist Party of Great Britain continues its work to radicalize the broad leftist forces into a fanatical fighting force inspired by Communist re-education programs organised by the CPGB commissars. This new elite fighting force is in need of resources (namely fresh food and man-power) and fixed their sights on the area of Herefordshire known as Mortimer Country. This area has managed to remain relatively un-touched by the VBCW, until now. The Socialists want to take Mortimer Country, and to do that must first take the ancestral home of the Mortimer family, Wigmore Hall. The Government forces (British Union of Fascists and Royalists) also covet Mortimer Country, as the collapse of the Bank of England has left them impoverished and unable to feed their armies. The Anglicans also want to take Wigmore Hall, presumably to stop the Communist and Facists from having it. 

The game took place on four tables, one for each of the attacking forces, and one for Wigmore Hall itself. As the attacking forces pushed through towards the hall the tables were brought together to allow the attackers to more onto the central table with the Hall itself. There was also secondary objectives on each table, along with some farm animals that could be 'liberated' by either side. 

Wigmore Hall and its household staff ready for its defense. 

Some of the stranger contraptions the defenders have prepared

Wigmore Hall was well protected by Minefields, roadside bombs, bunkers and barbed wire. 

For the Reds the game kicked off with a relatively simple plan. We would use our mobility from our trucks to push as far up the lane towards Wigmore Hall as we could, while Roo's more pedestrian force would take the secondary objectives (the Cricket Pavilion).  This great plan was fouled up from the beginning when the single lane towards Wigmore Hall became a congested mess of trucks and cars. 

While the truck-borne infantry make its hellishly slow progress the Communists artillery (three field guns!) began pounding the militias defending the cricket pavilion and the lane.

The Defenders brought up these strange devices. We were not sure what they were but, judging by the way his own troops were moving rapidly AWAY from them we assumed they were some kind of mobile bomb. 

 At this point my Armored Hedgerow Breaching Vehicle (AHBV) was boarded by some old toff who began pocking the crew with his pistol and busting about 'my land'. The crew, who were engineers and armed only with spanners and wrenches got quite irate, at which point the lovely Gracie Fields clambered aboard and calmed the whole situation down. It was agreed that the AHBV would exit the woodland, as long as the old duffer got off their tank. The situation thus amicably agreed the battle continued. 

The AHBW managed to plow through the barbed wire, opening a breach for Roos communists to march through. The defenders began to fall back before Roo's advance. The AHBV then went on to plow up most of the cricket green. 

The defenders deployed their mobile bombs destroying a mortar-truck and immobilizing several vehicles. 

After this the driver of one of the immobilized trucks got out and arrested the scientist responsible to the bomb (the other one was killed in the blast- ha!) 

The AHBV continued its unstoppable rolling through the defenses, until in crashed through the front of the cricket pavilion. Unfortunately at this point it was accidentally shelled by Roo's field gun (about the only thing on the table capable of stopping it) and it was destroyed. Luckily the crew debussed and 'claimed' the now ruined objective building. 

Now at this point one of those VBCW moments happened, as somewhere on another table the commanders of the Fascists and  the Lord of the Manor at Wigmore hall came to an agreement. The defenders stopped their fighting and surrendered the hall and its farms to the Fascists. This meant the hall was now defended by four platoons of militia and two platoons of Fascists! 
We pressed on with our plan, hoping that the Anglicans might break through and draw some of the defenders away, but it soon became apparent the the Anglican attack had failed to make much progress towards Wigmore Hall, and to attack the Hall with the men we had left would be futile. 
Emboldened by the influx of reserves from the Hall the defenders began a spirited counter attack, aided by the Police Motorcycle Corp and a Police Light Tank. At this point Commissar Professor Winters gave the order to halt the advance consolidate our positions. The attack on Wigmore Hall had failed, and Mortimer County was now under the ruthless thumb of Oswald Moseley's fascist bully-boys. 

That said, the attack was not a complete failure, as the communists had succeed in capturing the important strategic objectives, as well as a good number of succulent farmyard animals. Our Commissars also arrested a large number of 'unarmed enemy combatants' (read 'civilians'), who will be carted away and put to good use serving the people. We even captured a mad scientist, who will no doubt be a useful asset when he has chance to visit  one of our 'mind-cleansing' holiday resorts.