President Fred's Funeral - part 4 - grave news

By now the hearse was entering the churchyard - the latter lined by numerous armed representatives of the various factions.  What could go wrong?  At around this time, Captain D'eath had been making a nuisance of himself by successfully arguing that several parties from LADA deserted.  Tempers within LADA were not improved when their drive to identify Freddist loyalists in the crowd came to nought.  Indeed several mourners later reported being accosted by suspicious gentlemen with heavy Spanish accents asking about their political leanings....

The streets of downtown Ph'tang City were rather crowded!

A late moment of tension occurred when this LADA BTR-152 crashed through the wall of the churchyard.  But still there was no gunfire....
This turn's arguments were as follows:
While Captain D'eath was being interviewed on live TV by Roger Mellie, LADA argued that the interview went badly resulting in a further argument from D'eath where he shot Mellie in the head on live TV!  Oh, the drama!  Meanwhile, Comrade W escorted Mrs F into church - could this be a new power partnership?
The final analysis (it's too scientific to explain) revealed Mrs F to be the overall winner, having achieved all of her objectives.  So no doubt we've not seen the last of her.  And who will take over from Roger Mellie?  Could it be Ph'tang's answer to Jerry Springer - Captain D'eath?
In conclusion - a great game, made so by four imaginative players and their hats.

The none too grief stricken mourners.  From left - Captain D, Mrs F, Comrade W, Colonel Incognito.

President Fred's Funeral - part 3 - enter the hippo (again)

Back to Darkest Africa now.  Above can be seen the funeral cortege underway, accompanied by armed retainers from several factions.

The only ones to bring an AFV to the fiuneral were (of course!) L.A.D.A, whose BTR-152 can be seen bringing up the rear.

Meanwhile by means a matrix argument and clever use of a cue card, Roger Mellie was being mobbed by locals (or are they leftist revolutionaries?) desperate to be on TV.

The cue card in question.  Oh and there's that hippo again...

Not to be outdone, Captain D'eath had some of his men in attendance.

Some?  Well quite a few actually - many hiding in buildings!

The hippo was attracted by the noise of motor vehicles (you may remember it's fondness for such things from before).  Firing soon began - started by the UN(!), with Capt. D'eath soon joining in.  They all missed though and the unfortunate beastie was finished off by the P.O.O.F.S.  And all on live TV....

By now mourners were gathering from all around and the cortege had swollen to epic proportions!  So now that the sound of gunfire has at last been heard, what next?

Part the last coming soon...

President Fred's Funeral - part 2 - a pain in the hearse*

The table set up and ready for ....who knew what?

The four players (all of whom should have know better) were John (Capt. D'eath), Kayte (Mrs Fred), Jerry (Comrade Wrist) and Martin (Col. Incognito).

The funeral cortege trundles along at a respectful pace.

The local emergency services were on standby.

Roger Mellie (for it is he) prepares for a live broadcast at the entrance to the churchyard.  Martin provided the hills and 'old colonial' buildings.  All the other rubbish is mine.

Tension builds as the cortege reaches a corner.  Note the bunch of P.O.O.F.S near the school bus...

Another TV camera crew films the solemn event.  The rather splendid Cadillac hearse is a Hot Wheels model.  The four main mourners were in the dignified Daimler DS420 limo.  Many years ago I used to drive similar (but rather scruffier) Daimlers for a wedding hire firm.

Action at last!  The P.O.O.F.S crewed bus rams the lead UN truck and brings the cortege to a halt.

The shaken P.O.O.F.S tumble out of the bus.  What would happen next?  As Roger Mellie commented in a news bulletin - "Two turns and no gunfire - this is probably the longest period of peace in Ph'tang's recent history."

Stay tuned for the next load of old nonsense....

*saying this is much funnier if you can manage a Dundee accent.

President Fred's Funeral - part 1 - Setting the scene

This game, played on 9 April at Sheffield Wargames Society followed on from our last outing to Darkest Africa.  See the earlier post for an outline of the game mechanisms.  Here are the player briefings.  Next time we'll see the action unfolding.  Or just unravelling......
To recap on what happened last time: 

President Fred was - dead!  After over a decade of surviving various assassination attempts and battlefield fire the great Fred - blessed be his name - was gone.
Captain D'eath made it to the Capital and featured in some very positive news footage.  He hasn't become the new president.  Yet....
The P.O.O.F.S. - Managed to find a few bits of new kit and are well placed to take power (with L.A.D.A. support).
Col. Incognito - Was militarily successful and expects to be able to manipulate the future government of Ph'tang.
Roger Mellie - Got some great footage on prime time TV and took full advantage of Capt. D'eath's well stocked drinks cabinet.
Hertz Van Rental - successfully evacuated the wounded from the airport - but didn't feature in any TV coverage.

Personal briefing – Mrs Fred

You are the widow of the late President Fred (blessed be his name), the democratically elected and benign ruler of the small African state of Ph’tang, his party P.O.N.G. (the Ph’tangi Organisation for National Glorification) having swept to victory at the last election.  And the one before that.  

Under your direct command is your devoted (and well remunerated) bodyguard, The Purple Helmets.

Objectives:

1. Ensure Fred has an honourable and dignified send off.
2. Position yourself as his successor.
3. Use the advantages that nature has conferred to advance your cause.

Personal briefing – Captain D’eath

            You were until recently are the loyal and trusted sidekick to President Fred of Ph’tang.  In the aftermath of Fred’s death you featured in some very positive TV news coverage, having saved the life (or so you say) of ace reporter, the rather tipsy Roger Mellie.

Objectives:

1. Develop your media career.
2. Emerge as a lifelong supporter of whichever faction looks most likely to control Ph’tang.
3. Quietly commit an atrocity, preferable one involving an endangered species of wildlife.

Personal briefing – The Limp Wrist

            You are the shadowy and mysterious leader of a popular (well not that popular) uprising against the evil dictatorship of President Fred. Your organisation, The Peoples Organisation For Socialism (P.O.O.F.S.) is covertly backed by the Cuban sponsored Leftist Army of Darkest Africa (L.A.D.A.) which has invaded Ph’tang in support of your cause.

Objectives:

1. Position yourself as Fred’s successor.
2. Include a load of Marxist claptrap in every argument.
3. Retain the support of L.A.D.A.

Personal briefing – Colonel Incognito

            You are the Cuban ‘adviser’ to and thus de facto commander of L.A.D.A. (the Leftist Army of Darkest Africa). Having assembled your forces in nearby Zoone, you have invaded Ph’tang and put the country to the fire and sword in the interests of peace and stability.  You have orders ‘from the highest level’ that the P.O.O.F.S. must not gain power in Ph’tang.

Objectives:

1. Keep the peace during the funeral.
2. Give the P.O.O.F.S. plenty of verbal support but no material help at all.
3. Eliminate any remaining Fredist support.
4. Include a load of Marxist claptrap in every argument.

We also had two 'non player' roles:

Personal briefing – Roger Mellie (the man on the telly…)

            You are a hard-drinking veteran journalist and were in Ph’tang a few months ago to cover the election (and the subsequent unrest).  You have recenty flown back to cover the expected invasion of the country by the Cuban-backed Leftist Army of Darkest Africa.  Then you got a bit pissed.  In the aftermath of President Fred’s death you were ‘rescued’ by Captain D’eath and said a load of nice stuff about him on TV.  But you really can’t remember what happened…

Objectives:

1. Secure an exclusive interview with Mrs Fred, the late President’s grieving widow.
2. Present a dramatic 30-60 second report each turn.
3. Avoid Captain D’eath.
4. Emerge alive (and preferably drunk) with your reputation enhanced.

Personal briefing – Captain Hertz Van Rental

            You are a young officer of the Royal Dutch Marines currently on UN peacekeeping duty in Ph’tang.   

Objectives:

1. Keep the peace during the late President’s funeral.
2. Avoid becoming involved in any factional fighting in Ph’tang.
3. Ensure you feature prominently and positively in any TV coverage.

Another load of (s)crap

This is a recreation of the post which Blogger spontaneously deleted on Saturday.

Followers of President Fred of Phtang (http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/president-fred.html) will be pleased to know that the said gentleman has received a package of ‘scrap metal’* and ‘agricultural machinery’ from a dubious source in the southern hemisphere.  UN arms limitation inspectors may like to continue their investigations here: (http://20thcenturywargames.blogspot.co.uk/ and http://plasticwarriors.blogspot.co.uk/)**

Here we see the President arriving in his bullet-proof limo to view the goods.

Contractors to the Phtangi Army Farmers Union begin sorting things out.

*  well OK scrap plastic but you know what I mean.

**  My thanks to Al and Paul for their generosity – splendid chaps!