Tuesday 30 July 2013

Operation Vijay

This was Bob Cordery's game about the Indian invasion of Goa in 1961, played at COW earlier this month.  Bob did all the hard lifting while I provided the toys and helped run the game.  A team of five players represented various elevated personalities in the Indian army, navy and air force while a further three flew the flag for the Portuguese Empire.
Speaking of flags, Bob had provided a couple as a rather atmospheric table covering.

The Indian team hard at work arguing over who was in command.
The Portuguese Governor General (centre) trying to figure out where Goa is.
Plans made, the players assemble for the invasion.
The Indians sent columns from the north and west, and had large naval forces standing by in support.
For the land forces I used the toys I had already prepared for various Indo-Pakistani games.
Given that the Portuguese had only six battalions of light infantry the
 Indian divisional-level assault seemed unstoppable!
Several bridges were blown up in order to slow the attackers.
Sadly the relief flight which finally arrived didn't contain the hoped-for Para brigade!

The Indian Air Force was much in evidence....
...while not to be outdone, the Navy floated up and down bombarding things.
Soon the noose tightened around the capital.
And the Admiral arrived in person to be present for the surrender.  All in all an very interesting game about a little known campaign.  Bob very kindly lent me his maps and briefings (and flags!) after the game so I will be running it at the Sheffield club in a few weeks time.  Book now!

12 comments:

Paul said...

Great looking game here. Good to see the toys in action on a conflict I will have to to google.

Pete. said...

A great looking game- any idea on a date? It could well tempt me down to Sheffield.

Cheers,

Pete.

Unknown said...

Nice one Tim! Map is outstanding and the models add some extra flavor. I will watch this one with intent ... Jeff

Al said...

Cool game and models, highly original

Wg Cdr Luddite said...

Sign me up for the re-run.

Chris Kemp said...

Excellent! Definitely a "Funny Little War", if a century too late, with no matchstick cannons.

Regards, Chris.

Tim Gow said...

Paul
I had to Google it too!

Tim Gow said...

Pete
Possibly towards the end of August? I'll announce it here in good time.

Tim Gow said...

Chasseur
I'll post a report of game 2 in due course...

Tim Gow said...

Al
I confess that I'd barely heard off it until recently.

Tim Gow said...

Wg Cdr Luddite
Indian Air Force CO?

Tim Gow said...

Chris Kemp
There were some interesting events during the game. More when I've run it again...