A Very British Civil War, The Great War, 28mm

This was another profoundly silly game, based on the alternative history “Third English Civil War” in 1938. (see links below for details). The game revolved around the Durham Miners, who rebelled against King and Country, and therefore had to be taught a lesson. The “lesson” was supplied by the Durham Light Infantry (DLI), and territorials of the Northumberland Fusiliers, supported by light tanks.Meanwhile the Scots launched a raid over the border, in an effort to offer succour to the miners. As the “royalist” commander, my job was to repulse the Scots, and recapture the mine. true to form, we used overwhelming force against the miners, leaving the right-wing auxiliaries to counter the invaders.As the rules were a Warhammer derivative, bucket-loads of dice were used. In two turns the miners were wiped out, leaving the DLI to capture the mine. Naturally more miners appeared when the regulars entered the complex, but like their predecessors these poorly-armed guys were no match for the firepower of the regulars. In fact this whole game felt uncomfortably “Thatcherite”, with overtones of the Miners Strike of 1984. After gunning down the miners,  dealing with the rebellious Scots was almost a relief.Deal with them we did. The Fascist militias halted their advance in a little mining village, while Scottish attempt to reach the mine were thwarted by the machine guns of my two light tanks Alice and Annie.  My co-commander did a splendid job, despite facing two medium tanks, which roamed the battlefield, ignoring fire from our 37mm Bofors AT gun (below). Meanwhile an air duel was fought out overhead, with final victory going to Gladys the Gladiator, who drove off her opponent – a Hawker Fury.As I said, this was a dumb game, saved only by the chance to field exotic 1930’s equipment, and a mixture of figures from the First and Second World War, plus other odds and ends scraped together for the occasion. My fear though is that Colin Jack who masterminds these affairs will regard this as a real wargames period, worth of regular outings. Once in a while is fine – anything more is just sheer indulgence!

Tags: The Great War