With seconds to spare he snuffed out the fuse on the bomb beneath the childrens orphanage where the plan to end the world was hidden in the library behind the secret passage, guarded by undead unnatural forces with one hand whilst he held the villain at bay, pausing only to kick a chair bring down a dozen of the dastardly henchmen, when suddenly his faithful side kick collapsed to the floor with a poison dart in his back. The antidote was in the handbag of his childhood sweetheart he'd only recently rescued as she was dragged, screaming toward a fiery death by her wicked twin sister under the mesmerising influence of the evil Hoo khan chew flinging daggers at his head, barely missing the giant spinning buzz saw as it was destroyed by the runaway locomotive loaded with an assortment of chinese bandits and tourag marksmen peppering the crumbling, tottering
tower on which he valiantly struggled above the pit of snarling tigers,cobras and alligators.
The scorpion in his trouser pocket was paused to strike
as the giant squids tentacle latched onto his leg.
But wait, a seaplane, piloted by an old school chum, dangling a rope ladder, plunged from the sky pursued by the crimson count firing streams of tracers from his Fokker quadplane. Bleeding from a dozen manly wounds,If he could just reach his trusty webley pistol, just inches away, two shots left,
it should be enough...
watch next week
Heroes, villains, criminal masterminds and detectives around the world or beneath it.
Rewriting history or making it up as you go along. There’s a wealth of figures out there with enough imagination in them to create scenarios themselves even before resorting to your own ideas.
The films of the thirties and forties and the mass of pulp fiction full of mystery, thrills and twisted plots have spawned a new generation of game concepts.
And more are produced every year.
The story so far.....
Russian Bolsheviks having gained 75% of Russian soil intercepted the Rollmeover Family enroute to safety with their cousins in germany, the Holeywoolens.
Commisar Itora Bolokhov and his able lieutenant Natasha Romanallova 
planned to ship them east when a british Admiralty Spy cell supported by White guards siezed the train and in a running gun battle effected the escape of the royals
with the exception of Crown Princess Anastasia who was callously executed by the red Commander.
Nice going Paul.
In the dying minutes, Lyndon green, admiralty agent, was invited to and engaged in a sword duel and unlike Stewart Granger was disarmed and captured by Natasha. (picture right)
In two subsequent games, the admiralty fought to release Lyndon as
the bolsheviks retreated from the Tsarist attacks until they reached
Odessa.
After the bloodiest game so far..Lyndon was freed. Natasha changed sides..Rick O' shay, the cross eyed sniper changed sides twice, and Itora Bolokhov fled for the border.
Pursued by the now refreshed lyndon Green, the white Guards and his old school chum, Marmaduke,
Itora scurried to safety across the turkish Border.
The Tsarist are are back on top as the bolsheviks fall back on the baltic ports.
France invades Palestine. Britain protests..
the Turks are having lunch..
Germany,Spain,Portugal,Austria Hungary are looking on as the Middle east
looks to sparking off the great Pan-European-African War.
America remains divided after the New orleans accord of 1890.
The N.U.S.A or Northern United States of America Patrol an uneasy
border with the Southern United States of America or S.U.S.A.
Serbia is a friendly client State of the greater Austro Hungarian Serbian Coalition.
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An Anglo-Japanese Naval force failed to re capture Itora Bolokhov who
was vilely slain by Red Guards before he could fall into the wrong Hands.
The peace conference in Turkey witnessed an attempt on the life of the Turkish Emir Moustapha Burgah by a North american Sniper.
Turkish insurrectionists rising in revolt.
The assassination of the Tsar's envoy by an Unknown assailant.
Lt. Cmdr.Lyndon Green is recovering in hospital after being run down, shot and trampled by a fleeing local mob of civilians.
Notes have been submitted by the Japanese consulate demanding apologies and recompense after being fired upon by Turkish troops whilst they attempted to assist in the ensuing confusion.
Belgium voices the same protest for the onprovoked attack on their
diplomats by red guards.
The central commitee of the Red Bolshevik proletarian greater Confederation of Russian states withdrew from Turkish territory
offering no excuses or explanations for their behaviour.
As a gun battle rages in Berlin streets the Russian Royals make their escape pursued by red agents. The French Securite take a break in a local bordello whilst their foreign minister is assassinated along with the Chinese Ambassador before they could sign the Triple accord binding them to Greater Germany.
Britain and Japan stand alone against European expansion in the middle east and Africa.
The French take Damascus From the Anglo Turkish coalition and refuse to answer for or meet to discuss a negotiated peace. And why not?
Things are going so well for them.
Most of North Africa and half of the Middle east in their hands and almost every European nation looking to join them.
They have designs on Macedonia as Greece mobilises.
The Northern American States landed In Shanghai with no sign of leaving right away.
The local cuisine or bar girls should see them off.
MANUFACTURERS FOR ADVENTUROUS FIGURES
Pulp figures of canada.
Grabbed our interest when it came to trying out a skirmish type game system for High adventure/espionage/derring do kind of idea.
they advertised a range of 'character' figures and units for various countries.ah ha. heroic types,villains,soldiers. all it takes is
some rules and a lot of imagination. we start trawling the net for figures and we came up with a group of manufacturers with the goods.
Perry Brothers have a range of sudan war figures on the workbench, i'm thinking egypt,middle east etc. and i'm itching to get my hands on their samurai in everyday dress.
anyone who has seen their samurai in armour and the recent film 'The Last samurai' should check them out.
They're just the best around.
Trying to guide our campaign to japan isn't going to be easy.
but their ninjas too in a night scenario.Can't wait.
heroes or leaders in our games are treated as faintly super human,
ducking bullets and fighting off innumerable enemies.But can a japanese ninja successfully hit his target through a hail of maxim rounds?
RPG games are good for RPG people, but we're more hands on
And once the terrain and figures came together it was a goer.
the Rugged Adventure rules from Pulp suited the purpose and with
a little editing for our style the games run along sweet.
the really good news is from time to time there are new figures
out of the Pulp stable planned and this only fuels the fire.
Copplestone castings are a must also for their 'Back of Beyond' and 'Darkest africa' and high adventure ranges.
which has a lot of useful characters,regular or irregular types for the period.Especially Asia.
Blacktree Design has some useful figures as have West Wind especially for the macabre and civilians/villains.
With some selections from Wargames foundry thrown in and some crafty remodelled bits
you can cover most of the world as to regulars,police,criminals,spies,Natives
and hapless bystanders.
Eureka miniatures are
a must with their weird and wonderful ranges for 28mm.
Check this guy out from the Eureka range.
you could build a scenario around this alone.
Animals too, and why not.
why shouldn't the villain be foiled by a rabid squirrel?
Or your pursuing,rampaging cannibals ambushed by ravenous lions?
Guard dogs are fun, especially when the hero and gang are just
about to break in stealthily and grrrr! rooowwwrrrr!
all teeth and hair german shepherd with an attitude spoils your day.
Grand Princess Anastasia about to get a lead pill from Bolokhov( AKA Brodhurtovski )
The one huge difference between this kind of game and the more structured, planned historical Battle game is the human factor.
When someone does the inexplicable. Paul shoots poor Anastasia as opposed to the advancing rescuers because he's on a better factor for shooting at close range. Or a Bolshevik patrol changes sides, next turn attacks their former comrades but in the process runs over some newly allied White Guards with their truck.
wargaming an age of heroes and villains,damsels in distress and adventure you start thinking of films where the hero gets the girl,
fights off the villain with a smile and defeats the best warriors around with deceptive ease.
then look for the figures.
Prisoner of Zenda....West Wind
Seven Samurai.... Perry brothers
Raiders of the lost ark....Copplestone/Blacktree design
The Maltese falcon.... Pulp
Robin Hood....Games workshop/wargames foundry
Casablanca....Pulp
the Mummy.... Eureka/West wind
Zorro....Old glory
Beau geste....Renegade/Old glory
Four Feathers.... Perry brothers
The lady vanishes....Pulp/west wind/Eureka
High road to china....Pulp/Copplestone
The Rocketeer....Pulp
Jack the ripper....West wind/Pulp/Eureka
The last Samurai....Perry Brothers/Copplestone/Pulp
And when you can't find it there's always 'green stuff'.(kneadadite)
get the idea,get the figure,get some pictures and make it happen.
if they haven't made it yet or you can't wait for an order to come through, get the clay out and a suitable figure and have a play with it.
'cherry blossom', my Japanese 'Mata hari' or hari kiri, started as
an old fantasy princess.There was just the idea of having a geisha with a Japanese unit and i couldn't find any. A beautiful woman with a sharp knife. She came out of watching 'Zatoichi'. a classic Japanese film. Revenge, death, humour, fights, Honour. All good stuff.
Building,making,crafting for 28mm skirmish games.