Battle of Barnard's farm

   Supplying the capital was one of the most important strategic considerations that the Fascist Government Command faced if they were to win the war. While the London docks were more than able to deal with the demand that was being placed on them, Tilbury raising the Socialist flag was a major blow to the Fascist cause and had to be captured or destroyed as a matter of priority.
   Early in the war Sir Oswald Mosley personally ordered that operation Scuttle was to be launched into Essex to capture Tilbury and the lands surrounding it. The first stage of the operation was a multi-pronged assault to divide and misdirect the disunited Essex factions before a full water-borne attack on Tilbury from the Thames herself.
   But the people of Essex had been given prior warning and, while not working in concert, each group set to defending their domain. A few plucky local leaders went on the offensive, determined to take the fight to the Fascists, two of these battles would go down in local history as the Battle of Hockley Hill and the Battle of Barnard's farm.

The game:

    With the history sorted, it was time to play the game. It was only in hindsight that I realised I hadn’t actually taken a photo of the whole board, but what can you do now.

   We used Bolt Action 2rnd edition to get the game flowing nicely over the course of a weekend, and because my opponent isn’t a wargamer as his main hobby – board games and console being his main thing – I made the sides identical to make it easier to work out what we both had, so both the B.U.F and Albertines had 3 units of 10 man regular squads, with either a smg or lmg in, a smg armed officer and adjacent and a mmg to be the heavier support.

   It made for a really interesting game with basic infantry squads being the kings of the game, as neither mmg really made much of an impact, which felt right for the period we were gaming.

   The B.U.F had an early set back; losing a whole squad within the first couple of turns but a 4^th turn push up the board got the Fascists into a position near the farm that they, ultimately, could not be shifted from. The Albertines finished the game with models on the table, but without holding the important strategic location, so the way is open to Tilbury, but will the B.U.F have an easy time of it?

Thanks for reading