Bayou Wars - Part 3

In Part 3 of my Bayou Wars report, I will post some pictures taken during the game in which I was Assistant Game Master.  This game originated in a program that was presented very early in the year at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History about the finding of the "lost mines" where the Mayans got the jade that they used in their various religious and statuary products.  About the same time the Bayou Wars Board of Directors decided that they would go with a Mayan related theme since the world is supposed to end this year with the end of the Mayan calendar.

I suggested the idea to my good friend Bill H. and together we ran with it, building a "Mayan" temple, some other ruins, and additional jungle terrain.  We both supplied about half the troops for the game.  We used the Two Fat Lardies I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! rules, suitably modified for 28mm figures and simplified for convention use.

The actual discovery of the source of Mayan jade happened in the fourth quarter of the 20th Century.  So we decided to move it "back in time" to the 1930s and have a German expedition attempt to "locate" the lost Mayan jade mines.  Opposing them would be American and British forces.  In this scenario, some local Central American banditos had kidnapped an archaeological team that had located the jade source.  They were to sell them to the German Nazis (Zeppelintruppen and Marinentruppen) and their local hired mercenaries.  The American Marines and Rocketeers, aided by part of the garrison from British Honduras, were to rescue the team and thwart the nefarious scheme of the Nazis.

Later on, I'll post some pictures of our building of the temple and the various ruins, the finished products you can see in the following pictures.

One of the jungle giant trees Bill H. built using PVC water pipe wrapped in glue-soaked toilet tissue.  They looked excellent and really added another dimension to the jungle terrain.

Bill H. explaining the scenario and rules to the players.

 I Ain't Been Shot, Mum uses a technique called "blinds" to generate some uncertainty into where the various players' troops are located.  Bill used flock covered CDs with labels and, where appropriate, national flags as his blinds, as can be seen the following pictures.

American Rocketeers advance towards the temple.  Behind the temple, some of the German Zepptruppen are deploying.

 

In the background, the banditos with the captured archaeologists have linked up with the Germans and are ready to hand them over for their reward.  The American blind on the temple is revealed in the next picture.

 

As the American Marines deploy on the temple the German Zepptruppen and joined by their Marinentruppen comrades.  Also in the area are the German-equipped Central American mercenaries (in khaki) and the banditos.

 

Frau Doktor Martha deploys her Germans to breakthrough the British (right) and American (left) troops deployed to block her path back to the Zeppelin that will take them back to Germany.

When the gaming time block ended, it was very apparent that the Germans would not be able to break through the British and American forces and make it back to their Zeppelin.  It appeared that everyone had fun.  We had an unusual mix of players in this game -- Doc Ord and his wife Martha (opposing each other with British and German troops), our fellow gamer "Electric" Ed, two father and son pairs, and another teenager.