British Columbia Provincial Police

The British Columbia Provincial Police was a force that provided policing services in BC from the founding of the colony until it was rolled into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police "E" Division in 1950.  I was motivated to add some BCPP to my collection when I was preparing for my Battle of Ballantyne Pier labour battle games.  The BCPP sent a contingent of Special Constables to support the Vancouver Police for that event.

In their early days, BCPP constables did not have a particular uniform.  That changed in 1923 when they were issued what was called a "frontier style" uniform, similar in cut to that of the RCMP, but in khaki instead of the brown serge tunics and blue breeches of the Mounties.  The BCPP generally wore the same Stetson hats as the RCMP, but would also wear peaked caps depending on conditions.  The Special Constables called in to support the VPD at Ballantyne Pier appear to have been wearing peaked caps, but since the models I obtained from Great Escape Games are wearing Stetsons I decided it was far easier to leave them as is.

From Wikipedia, (Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1894020) , here is a photo of the Specials taken at the Vancouver Court House (now the Vancouver Art Gallery) just before the Battle of Ballantyne Pier.  You can see they are wearing peaked caps!

Researching the BCPP has been surprisingly challenging.  Information on line is scarce, and when I went to the Burnaby Public Library, I found that all the books on the BCPP are in the Special Collection and limited to use in-library only!  However I did find a few useful references and even some ideas that I might use for gaming inspiration.

As mentioned, the figures are from Great Escape Games.  GEG sells them as RCMP, clearly inspired by the wild west-style shootout scene from Brian de Palma's 1987 movie The Untouchables.  While the scene in the movie is completely fabricated, it was great fun and means that I am able to obtain police in frontier-style uniforms for BCPP, RCMP or other forces :)

I did a few hand swaps to replace revolvers with billy clubs.  Fortunately I keep all the sprues from plastic figures, so I was able to dive into my bits box to convert hands holding spears and axes into clubs.

So now I have a great selection of BCPP to supplement my growing selection of law enforcement figures!

Estevan repeat

Long gone to Saskatchewan - having refined the approach for the strikers vs cops, we had another go at Black Tuesday in Estevan.  The major difference from the previous game is changing from standard Fistful of Lead to FFoL Bigger Battles.  The two sides were steamlined:  the strikers consisted of union organiser Annie Buller with three bases of 6 striking mineworkers plus two bases of their families - one each of women and children.  The police side had two bases of 3 police (RCMP plus Estevan Town Police) led by Chief of Police Alex McCutcheon and Mayor David Bannatyne.

As a recap, in the summer of 1931, mineworkers in southeast Saskatchewan's Souris valley went on strike to protest their wages being capped and for a release from the company store monopoly.  On September 29th, the workers planned a parade through the Town of Estevan to bring attention to the reasons for their strike.  Town cancel met the night before to ban the parade, so when the mineworkers and their families arrived, they were met by a line of Estevan Police reinforced by RCMP.  

We kept the scenario objectives simple.  The strikers goal is to get to the cenotaph, and the cops goal is to stop them. Below is the table looking southeast along 4th Street with the cenotaph in the foreground.  Souris Ave runs diagonally just past the courthouse.

A farmer drives his Model T Ford past a run-down building.

The strikers, led by Annie Buller.

Against them, the police led by Police Chief McCutcheon and Mayor Bannatyne.  Mounties are in their khaki patrol tunics rather than the more famous red serge. 

Mineworkers march down 4th St.

Police form a line at Souris Ave as a local shopkeeper looks on.  Chief McCutcheon gets his loudspeaker ready to warn the marchers.

After being by a rock thrown by the miners, the shopkeeper gets out of the way!

The police chief "reads the riot act" at the marchers.  This is a contested roll.  If the chief wins the roll, he gets to put a number of shock points on each group of miners.  Shock points are shown by the black dice.

Which Side Are You On group decides that they will go via the back yards to get around the police line.

Mineworkers are reluctant to close with the police.

Another group of strikers choose to flank on the other side of the intersection.

A couple of RCMP get out the fire hose to discourage the marchers.

But they can only point the hose one direction at a time!

Two groups of workers close in on the cenotaph.

Chanting "Down with the Company Store!", Annie Buller and the mineworkers' wives keep up their advance along 4th Street.

Mineworkers reach the cenotaph, put their boots to Mayor Bannatyne and claim victory!

Overall, the rules we use for these games are getting smoother.  Deploying the groups of strikers and cops as FFoL BB units works much better than as standard FFoL skirmish mobs. We've come up with ways to use shock rather than wounds to influence the game outcomes - the cops want to inflict enough shock to force the strikers to withdraw.  There are still a few rules to fine tune but overall I think we are on the right track. 

Ballantyne Pier - third playtest

Last night, Lisa came by for our third playtest of the Ballantyne Pier game.  We leaned further into using Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles and adjusted the two sides a bit further.  This playthrough allowed us to see the effects of some of the rules we came up with for the police to inflict shock and disperse strikers.

VPD blocking the railway tracks.  Arthur selected a figure in a trenchcoat as a more accurate representation of what Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Chief Constable WW Foster was wearing on the day.  

Striking longshoremen marching down Heatley Ave.

A variation on the railway tracks!  With no model train tracks or trains, we substituted with cobbled streets and sci-fi shipping containers.  Chief Constable Foster started the action by 'reading the riot act'.  This was a contested roll with groups of strikers within range.  He was very successful and managed to disperse a couple groups of strikers and a strike leader right off the bat!

Police deployed tear gas near the start of the game, immediately adding shock to the strikers.  WWI British soldiers are standing in a proxies for the British Columbia Provincial Police (BCPP).

We felt that the tear gas was persisting too long, so we adjusted the duration.  At the start of each turn roll 1d4, with each cloud of tear gas dispersing if the roll is equal or less than the number of turns it has been on the table.  Strikers have white dice to show their level of 'fervour', which must be exhausted before they accumulate shock points.  Shock is then shown with black dice.  Note the photographer on the balcony on the left.

Dramatic shot showing the police holding the line just behind the area of effect of the tear gas!

The strikers tussled with the special constables of the BCPP, but could not overcome the effects of the VPD tear gas or the orders to disperse from the Chief Constable.

Following are some more game photos, no particular story for each one.

News hound catching photos of the action.

BCPP about to be rushed by more strikers after they were pushed off the street.

Battered BCPP recover after taking a beating from the strikers, as well as being affected by their own side's tear gas!

Battle of Ballantyne Pier take 2

On Friday, we had a second go at the Battle of Ballantyne Pier.  I hosted the game at my house, and invited Craig, Doug, Gord, Lisa, Kevin and Peter over to participate.  It was a tight fit in the gaming room, but we managed!  The major change from the previous game at Bonsor was that we switched to Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles.  We made a few significant errors as we missed several of the differences between the two rulesets, but despite that the overall gameflow was better. Still things we need to adjust, though!

Vancouver Police (VPD) block Heatley Ave where it crosses the railway tracks.  Lisa brought the 'Refined Pallets' warehouse, which was a pun that greatly amused the dads in the group!

Longshoremen march toward Ballantyne Pier.

VPD Chief WW Foster steps forward to order the marchers to disperse.

Press photographer records the march.  We included rules that awarded victory points if the press recorded the other side committing acts of violence, representing either lawlessness by the union, or excessive force and brutality by the police.

The march turns from Powell Street onto Heatley Avenue, observed by a couple of intrepid reporters.

A group of longshoremen head down the lane, straight into a group of British Columbia Provincial Police (BCPP).  As these men were mostly 'specials', recruited just for this event, they were rated as d8, compared to the d10 VPD and RCMP.

The confrontation is recorded by the press!

More strikers follow up to see what's happening around the corner.

Meanwhile, on Heatley Ave the main group of longshoremen confront the VPD.

Strikers battle the BCPP.  If you look closely, you might be able to tell that I recruited WWI British officers to proxy for the BCPP :)

Police deploy tear gas.  Our tear gas rules allowed for a lot of randomness.  There was a chance that the grenade could go off before being thrown, affecting the police, or when thrown it might miss the target.  Once deployed, the gas would add between 0 and 2 shock to any affected models, or possibly force the models to disperse.  At the end of each turn, a die was rolled to determine if the gas effect remained or if it dissipated.

More tear gas on Heatley Ave.  The die on the cloud marks how long it has been on the table.  A test is made at the end of each turn to see if the gas disperses.

The reporter (in brown, lower right) is affected by the gas and takes two points of shock.

BCPP stand in the face of charging strikers.

Drone shot!  Just as well that drones hadn't yet been invented in 1935.

This was about where the game ended.  Police had been effective in dispersing the strikers, but at significant cost to their reputation (as recorded by the press).

Finally, after all the action was over, the mounted police arrive!  Doug was particularly annoyed.  Each turn there was a roll to see if they arrived, getting easier each time, and somehow it still took 4 turns for them to finally come on the table.  This was a contrast to the previous playthrough, when they appeared at the first opportunity.

Lisa kept score through the game, and here is her final tally:

Police gained 9 points:

1 - Dispersed Granny Ivana

1 - Press photo of strikers throwing rocks at police chief Foster

1 - Press photo of strikers throwing rocks at VPD

1 - Press photo of strikers knocking out 2 BCPP

1 - Another photo of strikers throwing rocks at VPD

1 - Union leader Mickey O'Rourke dispersed

1 - Union charges and beats up BCPP

1 - Group of strikers dispersed

1 - Two BCPP hospitalised 

Strikers earned 10 points:

1 - Photo of BCPP beatdown of strikers in alley

1 - Photo of VPD charging and beating senseless two strikers on Heatley Ave

1 - Photo of BCPP charging out of house and beating strikers close up 

1 - Photo of striker being shot at close range

1 - Dead striker

1 - Cops deploy tear gas

0 - Cops drop tear gas on themselves, unit of 4 police disperse

1 - Tear gas thrown "at" reporter (he got in the way, but that's not how he reported it!)

1 - BCPP shoots at and wounds a striker

2 - 2 Strikers killed (one hospitalised)