The Guns of Toblerone

At Sheffield Wargames Society's games day on 28 December, I ran a slightly silly game which rendered the great public service of keeping ten wargamers off the streets and away from polite society for a couple of hours.
The Guns of Toblerone was originally presented by Ian Drury at the Wargame Developments Conference of Wargamers in 2005 and took the form of a sort of role-playing game in the style of a 1970s war movie.  Was it based on any particular film(s)?  Well, you must decide for yourselves.  I shall say only that in addition to the crack team of stereotypes (dropped by parachute from a captured Ju-52 dressed as Germans), the game also featured Greek partisans, coastal gun batteries, cable cars and of course some very postwar vehicles disguised with very large black crosses. 
I had made a few minor tweaks to Ian's original version of the the game and written parts for additional players.

Above - the island of Toblerone.  The big-budget terrain was drawn and written on A4 sheets of thin card.  And yes - there are three Airfix coastal defence forts present! 

 The cast aboard their Ju-52 for the outbound flight.

The cast were as follows:

Martin R as Major Smith - a ruthless British spy

Steve R as Captain Jim Ryan - a US Army Ranger

Lloyd P as Lt. Myles Fitzbohun of the Welsh Guards - lending tone to the proceedings

Mark H as George Psychoundakis - a Greek Army officer attached to Special Operations

John A as Sgt. Jock McTavish - a hard drinking Glaswegian demolitions expert

Steve T as Cpl. Johnny Walker - the inevitable (and frankly irritating) irrepressible Cockney

Paul L as Cpl Andy Morant of 2/4 Australian Regt - hanging his bush hat where it's not wanted

Kayte H as Heidi Van Rentle - glamorous female secret agent

Paul B as L.Cpl. Frant Paget - an obnoxious and outspoken Yorkshireman

Dave R as Caporal Jean-Pierre Le Croix of the French Legion Etranger - musclebound continental glamour (but scarce a word of English...)



 Steve T and Martin R wearing appropriate silly hats.

Another view of the three Airfix Coastal Defence forts.

After landing safely in the woods (except for the dead Major Smith), the party linked up with some Greek partisans (played by the swiftly re-cast Martin R) and after retrieving a drunken Cpl Morant who was getting friendly with a taverna waitress were soon bound for the lower cable car station in a stolen truck.  On arrival they were delayed by a German patrol searching for saboteurs.  Little did our heroes know that Fritz had been tipped off by the Communist Partisans!

When they eventually reached the battery the German speakers tried to talk their way into the three emplacements.  Cpt. Ryan did so successfully and soon overcame the unsuspecting gunners.  Meanwhile Cpl Walker was in discussion with a German sentry on the subject of crap officers but had got no further.  L.Cpl Paget was welcomed into 'his' battery - where unknown to his erstwhile comrades he had gone to surrender and betray his team!  The alarm was soon sounding as confused Germans ran back and forth.  Taking advantage of the chaos our heroes soon silenced the German flak gunners (with the aid - it being a film - of 'nuclear' hand grenades).  Spirited resistance from the emplacement where the traitor Paget had taken refuge was soon brought to a fitting end by Ryan and Fitzbohun firing their captured '88' through the back door!

By then we were out of time so the full story of how our brave lads escaped will have to wait for the sequel...

Where Seagulls Dare

 This was a game in the style of a dodgy war film and owes much to Ian Drury's 2005 game The Guns Of Toblerone (I ran it again in 2012 - link) .  WSD was set on a small island off the coast of southern France but filmed for reasons of economy on the Yorkshire coast - hence the name!  I'll not say too much at this point as I've been asked to run it at COW.

The mission involved sabotaging some German secret weapons. The cast er, I mean players were all given individual briefings and then had to select their equipment before being parachuted onto the island.  Meanwhile I set out the high quality terrain and elements of the garrison.

Being a properly rubbish old film, there was of course a Gestapo presence.

entertainingly the players spent several minutes speculating about the location of the
German secret weapons facility.  Then someone
took the time to look properly at the table...

a further cliche was the mountain-top castle.  I built the 'mountain' by draping a sheet over a table...

the German airfield soon attracted the team's attention

the garrison  - of course - included an obviously American postwar tank wearing big black crosses

One of many exciting incidents was the ambush on a mountain road next to the scary ravine.

A most entertaining game which the players entered into with good grace, and which produced several incidents and outcomes beyond my wildest imaginings!

Games Played in 2012

This list began life on the sidebar of the blog but with the end of the year it seems reasonable to give it a post of it's own.  I started the list in January 2012 to serve as a reminder that I'd actally played quite a few games!  I'll do the same for 2013...

Date, Game, Scale, Rules, Players

28 December, Aces High, 4(card game- played four times!)
28 December, Doodlebuggers, 1/72 (three games)
28 December, Ten Rounds Rapid, 15mm, 2 (twice)
28 December, the Guns of Toblerone, 10
19 December, Lightning North Africa (card game), 2
12 December, Doodlebuggers, 1/72, 3
6 December, WW1 Naval Game, 1/3000, 8
28 November, Gaza 1917, Op14, 6mm, 3
18 November, One Hell of a Gamble (Cuban Missile Crisis), 21
14 November, Tigranocerta 69BC, CCA, 25mm, 3
7 November, Ponyri 1943, Memoir'44, 15mm, 2
31 October, Harbour Raid, Fletcher Pratt, 1/1200, 8
10 October, Belbeck Valley, NBC, 6mm, 2
3 October, Border bother, Little Wars, 54mm, 6
26 September, Trouble in Ph'tang, PBOM, 15mm, 5
12 September, Crocus Plains, CCA, 25mm, 3
6 September, Tibbermore 1644, C&C, 1
5 September, Bussaco 1810, CCN, 15mm, 3
30 August, Tigranocerta 69BC, CCA, 25mm, 1
29 August, Shut It!, 4
28 August, Tigranocerta 69BC, CCA, 25mm, 1
27 August, Gumbinnen 1914, Op14, 6mm, 3
26 August, Crocus Plains, CCA, 25mm, 1
15 August, Square Bashing, 15mm, 3
8 August, Gibraltar Straits, Fletcher Pratt, 1/1200, 8
25 July, Operation Cold Feet, 11
18 July, Goodwood, Memoir44, 15mm, 3
6-8 July, 10+ sessions at COW 2012
4 July, Solferino, 6mm, 3
30 June, Assal Uttar, NBC, 6mm, 2
27 June, Bagradas, CCA, 25mm, 3
25 June, First Bull Run, Battle Cry, 2mm, 1
23 June, Bagradas, CCA, 25mm, 2
9 June, Krisis at Kharkov, Megablitz, 20mm, 18
6 June, Funny Little Wars, 54mm, 8
4 June, Carrhae (twice), CCA, 4
4 June, Rollbahn Ost, 3
30 May, Carrhae, CCA, 25mm, 3
23 May, Memoir 44, 15mm, 3
19 & 20 May, Rollbahn Ost (about 20 games, 3 players each)
16 May, Agrigentum 261BC, 25mm, CCA, 3
9 May, Rollbahn Ost, 15&20mm, 4
2 May, Le Cateau, 15mm, Op14, 2
25 April, Khafji 1991, 6mm, NBC, 4
23 April, Call it Qids (SoA game about Kadesh), 2 & Send Not to Know,15mm SCW, 5
18 April, Ten Rounds Rapid & Airfix Fighter Command, 3
4 April, Airfix Air Traffic Control, 3
28 March, North Cape, Fletcher Pratt, 9
23 March, Battling the beastly Boers, Funny Little Wars, 2
21 March, An Inconclusive Scrap, Funny Little Wars, 6
14 March, Fire & Movement, 2
7 March, Guise 1914, Op14, 3
29 Feb, Far East troop convoy, Fletcher Pratt, 1/1200, 16
25 Feb, Memphis Mangler IV, Vietnam btl/rgt level game, 20
13-16 Feb, Guise 1914, 6mm, Op14, solo
15 February, Jarama (SCW), 15mm, Memoir of Modern Battle, 2
8 February, Quatre Bras, 15mm, Command & Colours, 3
1 February, Border Clash, 54mm, Wars of Empire, 2
25 January, Convoy PQ-19, Fletcher Pratt, 1/1200, 12
19 January, Portable Wargame (twice!), 15mm, 2
11 January, Mons 1914, 15mm, Op14, 3
4 January, Ligny 1815, 15mm, Brown Bess, 3

Drachenzähne

Drachenzähne  or Dragons' Teeth formed part of several fortified lines in WW2 and later - most notably the Maginot and Siegfried lines and the East German border.  I understand that Switzerland still maintains several stretches of such obstacles, where they are entertainingly known as 'Toblerone lines.'  Perhaps there is scope for a game where the assault engineers have to eat their way through the defence lines?

 Mine started off life as a seedling tray but I soon spotted it's military potential!  Cut into individual 'teeth', based and painted concrete-ish grey, I now have a two and a half foot (75cm) stretch to protect Forbodia's frontier.  The Dinky Chieftain is present in the photos to lend tone to the proceedings...

Mossie flies again!

My previously mentioned Winter Aircraft Project has produced it's first result!  This old Airfix 1/72 Mosquito which was unpainted and rather sorry looking is now painted and ready for action.  But still a bit sorry looking...

Sadly the Mossie wasn't complete in time for it's proposed walk-on part in The Guns Of Toblerone but while only a few of the best films have sequels, nearly all of the bad ones do....

 After effecting some basic repair work and cutting off the few remaining prop blades it was treated to a basic paint job.  The green tuned out a bit darker than I expected but I think it looks OK.  The canopy was a sea of glue so painting over it easy the only real option.  I found a set of original decals (possibly even the set supplied with this very kit) and slapped them on.  The ensemble was then finished with a coat of Vallejo matt varnish.  This gave a slight sheen which I rather like on this size of model.

Awaiting varnish.  The difference is quite astonishing.

Knowing I was painting the canopy certainly made the camo painting easier!

 

Don't forget to vote for the next 1/72 'plane to be rescued from oblivion!

Extending the Atlantikwall

Regular readers may recall me mentioning that I was rebuilding one of these for a game.  The more observant among you will have spotted no fewer than three of them in use during the Guns of Toblerone game.  So here they all are.
Above is one I've had for a while but only recently painted, while below is the more battle-weary example I restored - complete with different calibre guns etc.  Incidentally, this is a good time to mention those less fortunate - it recently came to my notice that even the usually well equipped Don M doesn't have one of these forts.  Yet.

All of these have been spray painted - in up to four colours - with each successive colour applied while the earlier paint was still wet.

Above is my oldest example - painted about 10 years ago.  At the time I needed a second fort for a game so the monstrosity below was lovingly hand carved from a block of insulation foam.  The 20mm Kubel is there for scale.  And to raise the tone of things a bit.