“Hel-ementary, my dear Beanz!”
After the crazyness of Salute and with deadlines looming, I still enjoy getting out and having a good game. My passion for the hobby has thankfully not diminished despite working in it everyday. With ever an eye on the next issue, I arranged to play my friend Eoghan Kelly at a game of In Her Majesty’s Name, the new game from Osprey Wargaming and next on our list to do a ‘Let’s Play…’. The previous week I’d managed a game with James Oram, testing his Braddock Down scenario for an upcoming Bitesize Battle article.
Eoghan has a busy job too, so recently there’ve been a few weeks where we’ve been unable to meet up. This is usually a 50/50 mix of either his work or my work interfering, however when we do manage to arrange a game, it’s always good fun. He’d also had time to make a scenario… so I was braced to encounter Dinosaurs Skeletons and Unicycle Lancers…
Armed with a borrowed copy of IHMN, I set off for the club. Eoghan was already there, chatting away. He informed me he’d forgotten the special scenario he’d written. Darn it! No dinosaur Skeletons to contend with… fortunately I’d borrowed a copy of In Her Majesty’s Name. Now: what company to try?
Then I had an inspiration. I’d never tried Scotland Yard in IHMN. Thus was born Albert Abernathy, the world’s greatest consulting detective (based on a friend’s old Castle Falkenstein character). Abernathy’s great cases and heroic deeds had often been stolen or misinterpreted as being the work of “That ‘Olmes fellah…”. With his faithful sidekick, Doctor Hans Beanz and his motley crew of vigilantes, the Burnt House Lane Irregulars, they went out to do battle against evil in all its forms. Would he meet his arch nemesis Jonathan Moriarty, cousin of the famous mathematician? Time would tell.
As it happens, by sheer coincidence, Eoghan had also chosen Scotland Yard as a template, except he’d neglected to give his Company or characters any names, “Obviously ‘Eemposters, my dear Beanz” as Abernathy would quip. Yes, I ended up playing the game with a Lancastrian accent!
The game we played was ‘Breakthrough’, the one company had to smash through the Burnt House Irregulars’ roadblock and exit the other side of the table. Eoghan predictably broke his forces into two to keep me guessing to his intentions, first charging one group at my weak side, forcing me to send reinforcements while his main group traded shots with my gang. My boys held out against the breakthrough - good work with their carbines and electric truncheons! However then the main group charged through and one man managed to leave the table! Damn!
The final moments of the battle were a gigantic melee where everyone pitched in (including the great Abernathy “ ‘eemself”) and my numbers started to count for the combat. I’d armed my forces with carbines (as that’s what the models had), so they were at a disadvantage against pistols. In the end Abernathy won, only to find that his foes were indeed from Scotland Yard and not “‘Eemposters”. He quickly deduced he’d been tricked by Johnathan Moriarty (somehow), into attacking genuine inspectors, damn him! Armed with this ‘knowledge’ he stealthily moved his brave irregulars somewhere less conspicuous! And so ended another chapter in the brave misadventures of Albert Abernathy, consulting detective!
