1930s Union Actions - more ideas for rules and scenario (DRAFT)

I had a great discussion with Lisa this evening on how to improve on the strikers vs cops scenario.  We talked about both the special rules as well as scenario design.  For the scenario, we looked to the Battle of Ballantyne Pier, which occurred here in Vancouver back on 18 June, 1935, and is still remembered by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.  The event happened when around 1,000 striking longshoremen marched to confront replacement workers (aka scabs), but were turned back by a combined force of Vancouver Police, British Columbia Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

We are looking at modifying Jaye Wiley's Fistful of Lead family of rules for this scenario.

The participants in the battle included around 1000 longshoremen on one side, against 70 VPD (50 on foot plus 20 mounted), 40 BCPP and 36 RCMP on horses.  On the table this works out to:

Police:

• VPD Chief Constable W W Foster (Veteran, d12)
• Three pairs of VPD constables (d10)
• 4 mounted RCMP (d10, individual figures) - test for arrival starting turn 2.
• 2 pairs of RCMP on foot, representing the BCPP (d10) - hidden deployment
• All police have billy clubs and revolvers.   Billy clubs roll -1 on the wound chart but always get +1 shock. 

Longshoremen's union:

• 4 union leaders (d10)
• 8 groups of four striking longshoremen, two groups per union leader (d8).    

The table setup for Ballantye Pier is a 4'x6' table.  The northern 12" band is the warehouse.  Next 6" are the railway tracks.  Next 6" is open, where the VPD deploy.  South of that is a 24" section of Heatley Street, where the union men deploy.  Mounted RCMP may arrive from the south board edge after turn two.  Roll a d6 at the end of the turn 1, if the player rolls a 1 the RCMP will arrive in turn 2.  At the end of turn 2, roll again: on a 1 or 2, they will arrive in turn 3, and so forth.  RCMP on foot represent the BCPP, who will be hidden with location written down by the controlling player.  This could be in the boxcars, or in the buildings on Heatley Street.  Other options are possible.

Scenario objectives:

• The longshoremen receive points for each leader and each group of workers that reach the warehouse.  
• The cops receive points for each union leader or group that is dispersed.
• The cops receive negative points for each striker killed.
• Strikers receive negative points for each cop killed.  

At the end of the game, test for each figure taken out of action.  On an 8+, the figure is hospitalised, on a 10+, the figure is killed.  Add +2 to the roll if the figure was shot (revolver or other firearm).

Special rules:

Individual figures vs groups:  Figures that are individuals (VPD Chief, RCMP, Union Leaders) act as normal per FFoL.  Groups (bases of 4 longshoremen or pairs of police) are similar to Grunts or Rabble.  A group activates on a single card.  Shock is shared across the entire group.  The group has as many attacks as it has figures.  Each figure has a single wound so each wound takes a figure from the group out of action.

Dispersing longshoremen:  at the start of each turn, each union leader and base that has any shock points will roll their quality die (d10 or d8).  If the number rolled is equal or less to the number of shock points, the unit will move 10" to the nearest table edge.  They will continue to move each turn until rallied or they leave the board.

Shock vs Fervour:  Shock points are as per the FFoL rules.  Fervour is like a positive form of shock.  A unit may not have both fervour and shock at the same time.  Fervour can be increased up to a maximum of 6.  If a unit suffers shock, it uses up fervour before taking any shock.

Rally/Increase Fervour:  A union leader may attempt to raise the fervour of their two union groups.  Roll d6 for each of the union leader's group within 6".   Use the same process to rally miners.  This will take one action by the union leader, but may only be attempted once per turn (so the union leader may move and rally, but may not attempt to rally twice in a turn).

• 1:  Made it worse!  Group's Fervour reduced by one or shock increased by 1.
• 2-3:  fervour increased +1 or shock reduced by 1.
• 4-5:  fervour increased +2 or shock reduced by 2.
• 6: Fervour increased +2 and random group within 8" gets +1 fervour.  This can be a group that 'belongs' to another union leader.  Also, the group is fired up and moves 2d6" distance toward the nearest police, and makes a melee attack if it makes contact.  Roll again (d6) - this is the new fervour for the group.

Read the Riot Act:  The chief of police can order the longshoremen to disperse.  As long as there has been no melee, firing or throwing of tear gas, each turn the lead police character may attempt a roll to disperse the crowd.  This requires both of the chief's actions for the turn, and cannot be spread across two turns.

The lead police character rolls his quality die, and each of the union leaders or group of strikers within 12” of the chief rolls their quality die. This is like a close combat roll. Dice are modified by shock (-1 per point of shock). If the police win the roll, then roll for effect (modified based on the difference between the rolls as per close combat). Roll for each individual or group separately, so some groups may take extra shock or disperse while others remain.

Police chief rolls d10, modified based on the degree of success:

• 1-5: Strikers take one shock.
• 6-8: Strikers take two shock and fall back 4”.
• 9+: Strikers disperse and head home.

If the strikers roll higher than the chief, no roll for effect will be required.

Fire truck: There was no fire truck at Ballantyne Pier, but I copied this over for future reference.  The Fire Department has parked their fire engine on Fourth Street. It may not move during the game. A police character may attempt to use the fire hose to spray the protesters. Use the flamethrower template. The policeman will need to pass a skill test (5+) to operate the hose. Then any model under the template rolls for effect.
1-5: one shock
6-8: two shock and pushed back 4”. Model falls down and must take one action to
stand up on its next activation.
9+: wounded and falls down.

Protesters may not use the fire hose but may attempt to disable it. The figure will need to attack the fire hose as if it breaking down a door. Roll close combat with the fire hose getting an automatic 6, needing 3 wounds or an out of action result to damage the hose so that it may no longer be used. Using an axe will give the protester a +2 on his roll to defeat the hose.

Tear Gas:  Police may throw tear gas grenades.  These are thrown as per the FFoL grenade rules.  Use the standard grenade template.  Any figures under the template take a wound roll:

• 1-2:  no effect.
• 3-5: 1 shock.
• 6-8:  2 shock and fall back 4".
• 9+:  disperse - move 10" to nearest board edge each turn unless rallied.

At the end of each turn after the tear gas is thrown, roll d6.  On the first turn, tear gas effect will end on a roll of 1.  On the second turn, effect will end on a 1-2.  At the end of the third turn, the tear gas effect will automatically end.

A union leader may attempt to pick up and throw the tear gas grenade.  This will take two actions:  move up to 5" to where the grenade landed, and second action to throw the grenade.  The leader will be affected by shock and/or wounds if they attempt this, including any resulting from the tear gas.

RCMP  on horses: Mounted mounties all have the Running Attack trait.  Wounded mounted RCMP are unhorsed.  

BUF Men

 Here are some more BUF soldiers to join the BUF women.  I converted these from the Wargames Atlantic WWII Italians I posted on a while back.  It's unlikely I'd do much with them as WWII Italians, so repurposing them for VBCW seemed appropriate.  Especially as I feel it's better to make the BUF from recycled Italian fascisti, rather than spending new money on them.  I replaced their M33 helmets with WWI Russian peaked caps.  And of course as Mosley copied his BUF blackshirts from Mussolini's camicie nere, these blokes are all wearing black.

These troops are led by the local squire, a very pompous and self-important man.

In addition to the squire (who leads from the rear), they have a junior officer to put in front of the troops.

The BUF have an Italian Breda medium machine gun.  Where did the British fascists get an Italian MMG?  Does it matter?  Let's say that Mussolini wants to support his good friend Mosley.

However for a light machine gun, the BUF have managed to get their hands on a Bren gun!

And of course the rank and file.

Blonde Women in the BUF

 Some folks at the club have started talking about starting a campaign based on the Very British Civil War, aka the VBCW.  The VBCW is an alternative history focused on a fictious civil war in Great Britain that broke out in the 1930s, and features a diverse set of factions, including the actual British Army and Territorials, Socialist militias from working class and factory towns, Scottish Republicans, Church of England (known as the Anglican League in VBCW terms), Local Defense Volunteers (LDV) and more. While I have plenty of miniatures representing mid-20th Century British soldiers from both World War I and World War II and many armed civilians that could form the basis of either a socialist workers' militia or LDV, I felt there is a need to represent the baddies, Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, or BUF.  Every campaign needs its villains!

These ladies are from Pulp Figures' Weird Menace line.   

Most of the figures are armed with MP40 Schmeisser submachine guns.  Not quite appropriate for 1938 (nominally the date for the VBCW) but as it is alternative history, I'm sure it can be handwaved away.  Ten of the figures are in the same pose.  

The unit includes two figures with rifles.  The lady with the scoped rifle is also holding the lead for the wolf, so I don't know when she'll get a chance to snipe!  And of course the boss is there with a naughty looking whip.

There are also a couple of junior officers with pistols and two more NCO-types with SMGs.

And a group shot to round out the post.

Black Tuesday in Estevan - 29 September 1931

 As I described in my post earlier in the week, the most recent Bonsor club night for the Trumpeters was May 1st, International Workers' Day.  This allowed me to bring together multiple concepts:  shining a light on an event in Canadian history, putting my brand new Pulp Figures construction workers and strikers onto the gaming table, more generally putting my diverse interwar civilian figures into a game.  After initially looking at the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, I determined that the Black Tuesday events of 29 September 1931 in Estevan, Saskatchewan would make the basis for the game.  The Bienfait strikers came to town with the intention of holding a parade and a rally to inform the townsfolk of Estevan of their issues.  They were met by a combined force of Town of Estevan police and RCMP intent on stopping the parade.

The toolbox of ideas from Fistful of Lead once again formed the basis for the scenario. One of the key concepts was how to present the conflict between the strikers and the police without leading straight to violence.  I decided to use Shock as a measure of the strikers' enthusiasm for sticking around.  Each individual miner or group of miners or their families will need to roll higher than the number of shock points they have at the start of each turn or else disperse.  So the next step was to give the police player some options to inflict shock.  

Firstly, the police player can speak to the crowd.  I based this on a cause fear effect from FFoL's Tales of Horror.  This is a contested roll, similar to close combat.  If the police character rolls higher, they end up adding a number of shock points based on their degree of success.

In the actual event, the Estevan police co-opted the use of the Estevan Fire Department's fire engine.  I didn't have a fire engine in my collection, so I quickly acquired a 1:48 scale WWII-era deuce and a half USAAF fuel truck and painted it red!  (check the link for what the real fire engine looks like!)

A police officer may attempt to hose down strikers.  He'll need to pass a skill test, then he'll have a chance to impose shock on any strikers under the template.  I also included an option for police to fire their weapons over the heads of the strikers to add a bit more shock.  To offset the shock imposed on the strikers, I assigned union organiser Annie Buller the Encouraging trait, which allows her to rally shock off of her allies.

Enough background, on to the game!  Kevin declared that as a former shop steward, he wanted to play the strikers, and Colin joined him.  Arthur took the police, and I took the role of a moderately biased GM.  The objective of the miners was to reach the cenotaph, and the goal of the police was to stop them.  Arthur and I made a very quick and easy representation of the cenotaph from a paper obelisk model.

The police got the fire department to park the fire engine at the intersection of 4th Street and Souris Avenue, and formed a line to confront the marchers.  Chief McCutcheon and Constable McKay of the Town of Estevan Police Department in blue, and the RCMP in their khaki service tunics.  The shopkeeper can be seen keeping a wary eye on the coming events.  I had some ideas for bystanders getting drawn into the events, but as the game played, the townsfolk stayed out of the action.

Strikers advancing down 4th Street.

Aerial shot of the pending confrontation.  Not an exact representation of Estevan, just what I was able to assemble from my existing terrain collection!

Chief McCutcheon's words didn't dissuade any of the marchers, so the RCMP turned on the fire hose and Annie Buller goes down wounded!  (the intent of the fire hose is primarily to inflict shock but I left a small chance that an injury could result - didn't expect it to happen on the first use!)

Undismayed, the kids' mob pushed forward, as some of the men attempted a flanking maneuver.  Kevin and Colin joked about the Horns of the Buffalo.  I didn't expect the strikers to draw inspiration from Shaka!

Chief McCutcheon yelled at the kids, and caused them to fall back.  Meanwhile, the women got angry at the treatment of Annie Buller and surged forward!  Small blue dice were used to track shock on each figure or mob base.

Some action on the south flank.  The mob base has multiple blue dice to show differing levels of shock after they charged the police line and were pushed back.

The mob of strikers rally off their shock, and push back into the police line, knocking down a mountie.  "Which Side Are You On" knocks down another mountie.  When the third mountie tries to shoot WSAYO, he rolls a '1'.  Out of ammo!

Mayor Bannetyne, in the blue suit, is starting to get worried as the mob base puts the boots to the downed mountie.

The gloves are off (not that they were ever really on...) and the police start shooting into the strikers.  The raging granny and WSAYO are knocked out.

Another mob of miners enters the fray, full of righteous anger at the cops for shooting the women.

The police line breaks as the strikers surge forward.

Chief McCutcheon decides that discretion is the better part of valour, and legs it.

Mayor Bannetyne goes down to the strikers.

The miners catch up to the Chief.  He gives a good accounting for himself, holding off the attackers for several turns. His ability with a billy club was greater than his public speaking skill!

But in the end, numbers carried the day and the Chief went down under the combined wieght of the miners.

In the end, 5 of the initial 7 cops, plus the mayor, were taken out of action, versus 4 of the protesters.  In addition, one of the police was captured by the strikers, while RCMP Constable McKay of the Estevan Police escaped off the board. 

After the game, Arthur checked the campaign rules to see how many of the downed cops would be available for a future game. The results were:

• Alex McCutcheon - Town of Estevan police chief:  lightly injured.
• Constable McKay - Town of Estevan police:  prisoner
• RCMP Constable Sutherland:  medium injury
• RCMP Constable Palmer: medium injury
• RCMP Sgt Molyneux:  serious injury
• RCMP Constable King:  medium injury
• RCMP Detective Sergeant Mortimer:  Got away!
• Mayor Bannetyne:  killed.

For the miners, we had:

• Miner Peter Markunas (WSAYO): insignificant injury (just winged me!)
• Raging granny:  minor injury
• Mustard shirt and shovel: insignificant/just winged me
• Hands up:  minor injury.

Note that we only checked for those taken out, not just wounded.

This game was just a one-off to commemorate May Day, so I don't know if I will host it again, but it was fun to play around with some new game mechanics.  As an improvised setting, I was just guessing about how to balance the numbers on each side.  To be honest, the size of the strikers' parade was largely driven by my desire to get as many models on the table as I could!  

I'd like to play a bit further with the idea of people in authority (e.g, the cops) using their presence to dominate a crowd and encourage them to disperse.  This game took some ideas I'd tried for crowd control in Jamjhar last summer and developed them further.  It will likely take a bit of playtesting and analysis to fine tune the results to get something playable.

Construction Workers and Striking Workers

 Brand new from Pulp Figures, I just got these figures last week, and I've already planned a scenario for them!  

First up are the striking workers.  The slogans are fairly generic, taken from a list of popular labour-related terms.  The signs are cardboard glued to the laths that the figures are holding.  The chap throwing the Molotov cocktail comes with an open hand and a selection of items.  I could have given him a brick or a sign, but the bottle with the burning fuse was too tempting for me!

But they aren't always on strike!  I also painted the construction workers set.

While I was at it, I finished up a couple of figures from the old lead pile, a mechanic from Pulp Figures and a boss man of some sort from Artizan Designs.

All ready for some action on International Workers' Day!

Estevan Riot Scenario for Friday May 1st - Work in Progress!

Here is my planned scenario for the coming Trumpeter game night on Friday, May 1st (International Workers' Day).  This is a work in progress and I will revise it as the scenario gets developed further.

For more information on the real event:

https://gent.name/sask:towns:bienfait:1931minersriot:start

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estevan_riot

https://www.saskarchives.com/services/learning-packages/grade12-estevan-riot-1931

Saskatchewan's Top News Stories: Conflict And Struggle

 Estevan, Saskatchewan: 29 September, 1931

A scenario for Fistful of Lead.
Background.
In September 1931, coal miners in Bienfait, SK, went on strike demanding set daily working hours, better working conditions, the end of the company store monopoly, and a wage increase. The mining company refused to recognize either their union or their demands.
To gain public support for their cause, the miners and their union organized a solidarity parade in the nearby town of Estevan. The mayor and town council quickly declared the march illegal and called in the RCMP to reinforce the local police. On September 29, several hundred coal miners gathered, along with their families, for the parade. Waving the Union Jack and carrying banners that read “We will not work for starvation wages”, “We want houses, not piano boxes” and “Down with the company store”, they slowly drove from Bienfait into Estevan. They were met by a line of police, backed by the RCMP and a firetruck.

Scenario Objectives:
The miners’ goal is to march to the cenotaph beside the courthouse. They win a major victory if they assemble at the cenotaph. Cops may be wounded but not killed. If any police are killed by the miners, they may still win a minor victory but the post-game repercussions will be severe

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The police goal is to stop the march and disperse the miners. They get a major victory if the miners are dispersed peacefully. If any miners are killed, the best victory condition changes from major to minor.

Special Rules
In this game, shock will be a key measure of the figure’s interest in sticking around. At the end of each turn, each figure with shock rolls their quality die. If the number rolled is equal to or less than the amount of shock on the figure, they will decide it’s time to go home. Remove the figure or group from the table.

Disperse the crowd: the police may try to disperse the miners by lecturing to them. Each turn the lead police character may attempt a roll to disperse the crowd.
The lead police character rolls his quality die, and each of the miners (or group) within 12” rolls theirs. This is like a close combat roll. Dice are modified by shock (-1 per point of shock). If the police win the roll, then roll for effect (modified based on the difference between the rolls as per close combat). Roll for each miner or group of miners separately (so some miners may disperse while others remain).
1-5: Miners take one shock
6-8: Miners take two shock and fall back 4”
9+: Miners disperse and head home.

Fire into the air: Police may fire into the air over the miners. Test for all miners or
groups of miners: on a 6+, one point of shock is applied to each miner or group.

Rally: union leaders may attempt to rally shock off of disillusioned miners, to keep
them from dispersing.

Fire truck: the Estevan Fire Department has parked their fire engine on Fourth Street. It may not move during the game. A police character may attempt to use the fire hose to spray the miners. Use the flamethrower template. The policeman will need to pass a skill test (5+) to operate the hose. Then any model under the template rolls for effect.
1-5: one shock
6-8: two shock and pushed back 4”. Model falls down and must take one action to
stand up on its next activation.
9+: wounded and falls down.

Miners may not use the fire hose but may attempt to disable it. The miner will need to attack the fire hose as if it breaking down a door. Roll close combat with the fire hose getting an automatic 6, needing 3 wounds or an out of action result to damage the hose so that it may no longer be used. Using an axe will give the miner a +2 on his roll to defeat the hose.

Riding Crop:  melee weapon.  May only cause shock.  If wound or out of action result, then count as two shock and knocked down.

Thrown rocks or bricks:  Requires an action to pick up and another action to throw.  Actions may be taken in different turns.  Place a marker on figure to show it is carrying a rock or other missile.  Range 4"/8".  -1 on wound roll.

Bystanders:  Any time a firearm is discharged that misses its target, check to see if a bystander is hit.  Draw a line from the shooter to the target and beyond to the edge of the table. Any figure on 6" on either side of this line is a potential target.  Roll 1d10 for each figure.  On an 8+ (no modifiers) the figure takes one wound.

The two sides:

Miners:

Annie Buller, union organiser.  d12 for non-fighting rolls.  d8 to fight or shoot. Traits:  Leader, Inspiring.  Unarmed.

Individual named miners (d10)  Peter Markunas, Nick Nargan, Julian Gryshko and Mike Kyatick.  These are the miners who were killed - should I include them as named characters?  Unarmed or club.  

3 bases of 3:  Miner mobs - base of 3.  d8.  Unarmed or club.

Two bases of 3:  Miner family members (women, kids).  d8.  Cannot fight.  May throw rocks.

Police:

Town of Estevan Chief of Police Alex McCutcheon.  d12.  Traits:  Leader.  Revolver, billy club.

Town of Estevan Police Constable McKay.  d10.  Revolver, billy club.

Estevan Mayor David Bannetyne. d8. 

5 RCMP constables.  d10.  As per figure (revolver, rifle, shotgun) plus riding crop, including Constable Sutherland, Constable Palmer, Detective Sergeant Mortimer, and Sergeant John Molyneux.

Townsfolk:

Spread a variety of townspeople all over the table.  Mostly they won't move, unless there is violence within 6" of the figure, in which case the figure will move 6" directly away from the trouble.

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Pulp Sci-Fi terrain and foes

 My interest in sci-fi gaming has been revived, so I have finished up some items from the lead mountain.  These are intended as suitable foes for the Pulp Figures retro sci-fi Spacers.   They are advertised as 'Radon Zombies of the Stratosphere', and Bob's sample paint schemes show them as they might appear on a black and white pulp adventure film serial.  My idea is that they are still opponents for our brave heroes, but this time the setting is a 1960s television series that has just discovered technicolor!  There is no rhyme nor reason to the colour choices, I just went for the boldest and brightest hues I could find. First up, a group shot.

Space Pistols (lasers, blasters, microwaves or whatever!).

Space Rifles!

Unarmed leaders or scientists.

This group includes an agent with a cunning disguise, that will allow him to move around undetected among modern human society!

In addition, I've added a few more pieces of scatter terrain.  A couple of larger items.  Maybe weapons, or maybe something more innocent like a communications beam!

Plus front and rear views of vital spaceship equipment.

Action shot!