Off to the Desert - in WI Dec 2020 "Quick Fire !"

 A summary of what I did for my desert scenics found its way into the 2020 December issue of Wargames Illustrated "Quick Fire !" section

Nice to get something published,  "Quick Fire !" is great way for small submissions on projects to be shared.

Travelling in Europe ...

 The Sterling Brothers are travelling through Europe investigating the sudden departures and disappearances of philological academics; they have arrived in Wittenberg in Germany they are on their way to the university ....

[ New items - front two buildings - card buildings made by Keranova;  street lamp - is a model railway one - shortened somewhat and fixed to a metal washer for stability]

Chaos in Cairo.

Its not my normal approach to post wips,

"Fools and Bairns"and all that.

 But apparently these are "unprecedented times" and one person at least likes to know what goes on behind the scenes.

             Really its just a pot boiler to excuse my tardiness and the fact that gaming is not deemed an "Organised Sporting event"

The Director had thought it would be a good idea.

So the Scriptwriters had rewritten the script.

Now the entire production team was in chaos.

Cairo was only half built, the catacombs barely started, although the necessary materials had arrived.

Now the production manager was demanding a backscene of a town square somewhere in France, A sleeping car travelling south through France, and an entire Desert railway.

The costume department was in a tizz. A whole wardrobe needed for this new character, apparently a wizard at disguise.

Casting was working overtime to find French extras, and cameo roles for the travel scenes.

Utter chaos!!!

And now it seemed that the "Evil Mastermind" and his minions were held up in quarantine for an unknown period.

 

The road goes ever on!

It was early evening before Clara and Darcy Fitz-Windsor left the hospital.   Roger Cuddlesworth and the Colonel had been strapped, bandaged and plastered.  It would be a few months before they were fit again, The Colonel would most probably add a permanent limp to the scars already earned in the service of King and Empire.  Greaves was only slightly more fortunate, his arm strapped up, it would only be a matter of weeks before he was fit for duty again, he along with the young officer, whose concussion and amnesia was cause for concern would be kept in hospital overnight.  Clara and Darcy were battered, bruised and dispirited, but determined.

They were discussing their options as they left the hospital and entered a nearby Cafe.

Ordering coffees and brandies, they were about to sit down when the mysterious lady from the beach joined them.

"May I join you" she said, sitting down before the pair could respond.

"My name is Giselle, Madam Giselle Givenchy. I could not help but overhear your predicament.

I too have my own reasons for travelling to Cairo.

Indeed I have a sleeping car booked for Paris and then Gibraltar, thence along the coast.

It leaves tomorrow at 08.21.

Perhaps you might wish to accompany me?"

She stood and left, just as a tall Gendarme entered.

The pair sat and discussed the matter, over and over, round and round went the arguments.

But in the end they decided;  Why not?

8.25 the next morning saw the now trio, leaving Nouvion.

Whither next they could not say.

A Needle in a Haystack ??

An off-shoot solo game ......

Lord Fisher had been abducted after the Colonel and his party had left on their flight (see here ).  Kit Campion had found out about the abduction when he went to the airport .. he informed his contacts in the intelligence service - Sterling and Stirling.

A few days later Kit received a telegram ....

Kit -   

Possible whereabouts of Fisher - location Gigglesrick  - contact Inspector Watkins - 

- Sterling & Stirling

he packed his rucksack (including his trusty revolver). Then he phoned Watkins to let him know when he would arrive; another phone call for a taxi to take him the station- then he was off accompanied by his dog Ruffles....

---  At Gigglesrick ---

He arrived at Gigglesrick on time - Watkins met him at the station. 

They had a brief chat in the station cafe; Watkins said he would take Kit to see the two places where it was thought they may be holding Fisher. Both places were owned by Misox Needle Co Ltd, a subsiduary of the Oriental Trading Company. They left the station and headed into the town ....

The first place was a run down building on the edge of town ....

they crossed the street, and headed for an alleyway ....

coming out into they next street they turned left, at the end of the road they stopped - someways down by the railway line they could see the second place - a factory

They headed to the police station to make a plan of action....

--- The Plan Unfolds ---

While the commuters and shoppers waited for the evening train ...

The local police slowly converged on the run down building at the edge of town...

and a special unit of armed police has took up position to watch the road to the factory ....

Watkins and his assistant Pitkin, accompanied by Kit Campion waited for the evening goods train to pass by before crossing the railway line ...

As the goods train clanked past the Police started their raid on the building at the edge of town ...

The premises were soon secured and two men were arrested ...  a quantity of stolen goods was found ...

--- Into the Factory ---

Kit, Watkins and Pitkin crossed the line once the goods train had gone and worked their way up by the hedge, in the distance they can see an armed guard near the factory loading dock....

They passed through a gap in the hedge and took cover while Pitkin cut a hole in wire fence ...

Once through the fence they hid behind the van and some large crates ....

With men near the large building, they headed for the offices...

Pitkin kept watch outside while Watkins & Kit searched the ground and first floors (no sign of Fisher..)

Hearing a noise down by the gate a couple of men approached, but found nothing; Watkins, Pitkin & Kit had left the offices and made their way round the back to check out the low building next door..

It housed a generator with a small store room; nothing here either ....

They slipped out of the generator house and up onto the loading bay of the main building; Pitkin checked if anyone was coming - a man spotted him and fired his pistol, Pitkin shot back - both men missed their mark.....

They hurried into the main factory building, Pitkin closed the door to the loading bay, while Watkins closed the door on the other side; Kit and his dog Ruffles went to investigate upstairs....

As Watkins closed the door a pistol shot hit the frame, outside armed men were covering the door and a couple more were going round to the loading bay door ....

as the gang members fired through the doors, the armed police rammed through the gate and leapt out of their car ....

Watkins, Pitkin and Kit moved up to the first floor and put a makeshift barricade at the top of the stairs ...

A couple of gang members were on the ground floor and fired pot shots up the stairs at Watkins

As Pitkin glanced up the stairs to the next floor, he spotted another gang member - both men fired and missed ....

Watkins fired his shotgun down the stairs, pouring down heavy fire ...  the two gang member downstairs went down hit and badly wounded ...

Pitkin has been hit in the arm and dropped back to see to his wound, Kit covered the stairs to the ground floor while Watkins started a duel with the man upstairs ...

The gang members outside came of worse from the exchange of fire (two down wounded) and the rest made a run for it over the railway line .... one of the policemen had been hit in the arm but not badly wounded.....

as they secured the area, their commander went inside ...

finding the two wounded gang members, he cuffed them and shouted upstairs to Watkins that they had cleared the ground floor ....

The accurate gun-fire from the man upstairs forced both Watkins and Kit back, one of the armed policemen came upstairs to help them and after a short exchange of fire ....

killed the gang member, Kit and Ruffles followed him upstairs ...

Kit spotted a ladder up to the next floor, he climbed up - in the corner of the room was Fisher bound and gagged ...

Kit soon had him freed and helped him down the ladder ...

They went downstairs and out into the early evening air. Fisher was glad to be outside and thanked his rescuers. As soon as transport could be organised they went back into town - Fisher had something to eat and drink while he made an initial statement for the police.... Kit sent a telegram to Sterling & Stirling...

Going down.

 Thirty foot. Twenty. Ten.  Brace yourselves!

         Flaps fully down, engine throttled back to barely above stalling speed,  

Roger Cuddlesworth fought to balance the torque of the single engine and the gusting wind.

Both wheels touched together. running smoothly across the packed sand.

Then disaster struck, a patch of soft sand or perhaps a rock, one wing pitched into the sand and the aircraft started to spin.

   Roger fought to control the aircraft, preventing it from flipping over and finally came to a standstill, half sunken in the waters of the English Channel.

     As the aircraft came to a halt, rocking gently in the waves, Roger Cuddlesworth, his face pale and his jaw clenched against the pain, ordered everybody out.

    Lieutenant FitzWindsor, being nearest to the door, was first out, he appeared unhurt, but his companion, Lieutenant Lovesett was bleeding badly from a scalp wound.

    With room to manoeuvre, Clara set about splinting the Colonels obviously broken leg, assisted by Greeves, his useless arm tucked into his jacket.

   "What about you Roger" She asked.

   " Not too good " He responded. "Arms are pretty useless, and I think I`ve cracked a few ribs"

    A new face appeared at the door, A farmer, working nearby, with a young lad, about twelve, alongside Lieutenant FitzWindsor. Together they got the Colonel out and into the dunes, returning to tend to the pilot.

    Clara had barely started to strap Rogers arms, when an attractive brunette, incongruously dressed in a black evening gown suddenly appeared to help her.

   Together the two young ladies attended to Rogers injuries, interrupted only by the arrival of an ambulance from nearby Nouvion. Closely followed by the local Gendarmerie.

    As the convoy moved away to the local hospital, Roger looked back at the aircraft, It was obvious she would never fly again, He,with a bit of luck, would.

    They always said a Good landing was one you could walk away from.

Small 'colonial' train ....

 The scratch-built rolling stock painted up and a small setup shown below, that could feature as part of a story line or game ...

the train awaits its passengers ...

and a suitable story/game scenario....

Flight into Danger

 Or How I learnt what happened next.

This is very much an exercise in questions, answers and probability.

• Does the sabotage work?  Probability high.
• Where and when? 
• Between London and the coast / Over the channel / in France?
• Can they land? 
• Where? 
• Safely? 
• Is anyone injured?
• Can it be mended? 
• How long will it take?

---oXo---

      Our intrepid party, sat back in their seats,.The men, ex- military, were already settling to sleep, only Cuddles the pilot and Clara remained awake.

     Clara sat gazing down at the Kent countryside worrying about her father and wondering what lay before them. 

     Flying officer Cuddlesworth seemed relaxed, but his eyes flicked constantly between the horizon, his instruments and the sun. Too many hours spent over the trenches had left their mark.

    Over the channel now, a brief stop in Northern Italy to refuel, then on to the Greek island of Pathos, before flying on to Cairo.

    His eyes lingered on the gauges, both Oil pressure and Starboard Engine temperatures were creeping up.

     As they rose steadily into the red, he made his decision, too far to turn back, the only hope lay in reaching the French coast. He feathered the engine. The plane would still fly, but a forced landing would be tricky.

    The change in engine noise roused the men and Cuddles explained his plan to land on the sandy beach dimly seen ahead.

     Getting closer he could see that the tide was out. The Lady was still at his shoulder.

    Turning as close as possible into the wind they made their final approach, there was little room for error, only a narrow strip of firm sand between waves and dunes.

To be continued........

Railway track and ballast ....

The scheme I settled on for track is to use standard OO/HO track pieces (secondhand pieces bought on Ebay and at Toy&Train fairs), on cardboard with a surface made of printed ballast effect paper.

a couple of sections done to try out the idea...

enough done to go diagonally across the game table...

If action for games ends up in UK (maybe part of the Professor in trouble series), then I have got a railway station and some suitable rolling stock

I will make up some more generic track pieces, curves, turnouts etc; then after that make any extra pieces up I need for specific scenarios.

Colonial Station ....

A quick build station ...

I had some MDF side pieces from a broken up box folder, these were just right for a low platform. Along with a suitably painted old Triang station building 

To finish of the platform pieces I covered them with a neutral slightly patterned grey paper sheet and did some edging in strips of pale stone paper sheet

now I need to make the track sections up; the overall ethos for these railway scenics is to be representative of the prototype - but not detailed models.

Small train for adventure games etc (WIP)

 I've been building up a few pieces of railway rolling stock to use in adventure games; target area is desert/arid or jungle - so need to make them as generic as possible.

I had a large'ish HO tank loco which looks suitable; I bought some cheap wagons off Ebay and discarded the tops and kept the underframes..

I lengthened one of them to provide an underframe for a 4 wheel coach and built up the others with scribed cardboard to make two flat wagons and a van.

Basic detail added to flat wagons and van using thin card and thick paper. Coach sides and ends added..

fudged up some steps and end detail for the coach using some spare suitable bits of plastic

A roof for the coach, and a little train setup on ordinary OO/HO model railway track

I have a selection of track to play with, would be nice to have it ballasted; also a small station would be handy - something to work on....