Operation Fish ‘n’ Chips - Game 1 of 5

General background fluff

Unpopular king Edward VIII is hiding out with his new American wife in Worcester having being injured by a bomb blast at his coronation. In London a Mosley led fascist rump governments attempt to remodel British society has caused whole areas to rise up in rebellion. 

There, I think that covered the essentials.

By the Engine sheds on Caldwell Lane Len Tyler and Malcolm Laidlaw police the incoming trickle of refugees from the fighting further south.

Campaign fluff

Following their failed attempt to seize the contents of the TA armoury on Billings street the Brompton BUF have been forced out of town and have regrouped at a farmhouse two miles to the east.  As further reinforcements begin to trickle in from Smethwick, failed ladder salesman and Brompton BUF supremo Eric Hartwell receives orders to go back and gain control of the important industrial zone to the north east of the town.

Meanwhile…After violent skirmishes between the townsfolk and Hartwell’s men the town council felt it necessary to raise the Brompton Local Defence Volunteers, an armed group, to patrol the towns boundaries and keep Hartwell’s troublemakers at bay.

The mission set up fluff

Normally both factions roll off to determine who is to be the attacker and defender, but given the pregame narrative I’ve allowed the BUF to have the attacker role by default. Both factions however rolled off to determine the importance of the mission to their side. As it turned out the dice (and therefore those higher in the chain of command) felt the mission was of moderate importance to both sides.

Moderate importance means that if either side have three men out of action* at any one time they automatically lose the game and retire. A win in a scenario of moderate importance grants three campaign victory points to the victorious faction - which they can spend on replacements, new equipment or bank towards the final campaign total.

Operation Fish ‘n’ Chips - Wednesday August 4th 1937

Hartwell’s BUF cadre receive a tip off that the BLDV in the Parkside area have been using the codeword Fish ‘n’ Chips to identify friend from foe, and so Eric decides to use this information to pass through his opponents defences and seize some of the key buildings behind them. What Hartwell doesn’t know is that the password is changed every Wednesday and today is…

Victory conditions. First side to have three chaps out of action at any one time is the loser and the opponent automatically the winner. If the BUF win they gain one extra point for every building solely occupied by them.

Side note: Thought I’d add an element of uncertainty to this mission. I gave the wife three post it notes each of which had a different password on them. I asked her to choose one and discard the rest. When Hartwell arrives at the check point he’ll use the Fish ‘n’ Chips one and we’ll see if it’s still in use. The three code words given to the wife were Fish ‘n’ Chips, UR Mum (done in text speak to annoy her) and The Cat’s Pyjamas.

As you can see below the games been set up and I will cover the outcome in a separate batrep soonish.

Here’s a couple of set up piccies to whet your appetite, or wet your pants if you get excited over these things.

Bernie Sykes stops the BUF lorry at the Birmingham Road checkpoint unaware of who is hiding in the back. “Alright chief. Password please?” “Yeah” says Hartwell from the cab. “Fish ‘n’ chips.”

The BUF contingent. Playing cards determine the movement order and sometimes bestow special abilities depending on type / suit. Black grenade counters on the unit cards are frag grenades and the white are smoke ones. They’re a rarity in game and only issued to the attackers troops.

Stay safe out there mes amis. Remember, there is no such thing as gravity, the world sucks!

Toodleooh.

*Down but not necessarily out. They play no further part in the action, but their final condition is determined post game.

FIBUA

FIBUA, as I’m sure most of you know, is a British army acronym for fighting in built up areas… but it’s also known by British squaddies as FISH and CHIPS (Fighting In Someone’s House & Causing Havoc In People’s Streets.

As you can see from the piccies below that’s exactly what I’m about to embark upon in the fictional town of Brompton during A Very British Civil War.

A general overview of the Parkside industrial area, north is the right hand board edge bordered by the Birmingham road. 

Since the terrain is based on interlocking tiles I can jiggle the whole lot around and reposition things for a different future layout, and It’ll also be possible to add to it with a few rows of terraced houses or even a high street with shops if my spot the ball entries ever produce a win. 

I’ve tried to avoid my previous mistakes, made back in the day, where I went full railway modeller and created terrain that looked lovely but that I couldn’t actually fit my soldiers in, so if it seems a bit cartoony, that’s the reason.

A view to the north west showing the refugee control point on Caldwell lane. 

Looking south west from the Birmingham road.

While all this was being built I’ve been conducting test games with various skirmish rule sets and was disappointed that the ones I was expecting to use didn’t really cut the mustard. You never really know until you get the toys on the table, do you? Eventually I stumbled across Fistful of Lead which I’d discounted previously as a cowboy and injuns game. To my relief its not, and it really has everything I want out of a system, with the bonus being that its sister game of Bigger Battles works well for my Indian mutiny and possibly my HYW stuff too. Sharing the same core system (mostly) may mean that my increasingly foggy memory isn’t tested too much each time I get the boys out (I live in hope - or hippy, according to the modern marvel that is auto correct).

Proof of the new rules efficacy was provided in the usual way when No2 son turned up, ate everything in the fridge and thrashed the life out of me with them. It’s a family tradition thing.

Anywhoo… I’ll be running five games in a mini campaign, over the next few months, details of which have already been worked out and all of which will involve fighting for control of this industrial area in the North East of Brompton. The game area is about 4 x 3 and if that seems small don’t forget these will be skirmish games involving as few as 7 to 10 figures per side. I’ve had test games that lasted a mere 10 minutes (never bunch up in front of a dug in Lewis gun) and one game that I had to finish the next day so it’s going to be difficult to judge how in depth the expected bat reps will be. Hopefully we won’t have too many…Turn 1 Side (A) died to a man while entering the board. lol. 

Modelling will be taking a bit of a back seat for a while, I hope, but there are some new Army of The Severn Valley (British Army regulars), a naval landing party and a bloody great tank with numerous turrets on to get to grips with at some point, so no peace for the wicked eh.

Vickers MkIII in case you were wondering. Only three ever produced. 

Right then I’ll be back in February with some games if the Gods spare me, but before I sling my hook I came across this monstrous concoction when I was looking for advertising posters to put on the side of a building.

Jeez. Did they really drink this stuff back in the day?

*****Late Edit*****

This just in from Steve.

Gack. I presume the child is smiling cos she hasn’t tasted it yet.

Toodleooh mes amis.

Help!

I was at an indoor market in Bellac today when I chanced upon these chaps for sale. The figures may be pewter and the individual soldiers are about 8cm tall - so I’m not sure what scale that equates to. I’ve no idea of manufacturer / age / period / nationality represented but they’re 85 euro for 12 as far as I can see which seems reasonable.

If anybody is able to shine a light on this I’d be grateful for any info.

They’ve been glued to several crappy wooden bases and all of the figures appear to be individual. 

Again, any info the hive mind can provide will be gratefully received.

A plus mes amis. 

Bonne Année

Just a quickie post to wish you all a happy new year. Lovely and sunny here at the mo but ruddy cold. Fortunately my hobby room is the warmest in the house so that’s all the excuse I need to sit in there all day and furrtle around with my toys. 

I’d give you a run down of what I’ve achieved in 2025 but I’m buggered if I can remember to be honest. There was a lot of 28 mm stuff as I recall and not enough mini campaigns fully documented to completion…partly cos I ran out of puff and partly cos I often played them out and forgot to fully record them at the time. I’ll try and do better in 26…promise. 

I’ve some new 100YW figures to get on with and some Empress Sikhs (for no good reason other than they look lovely sculpts)… and that ladies and gentlemen (apart from the SCW Hotchkiss team) is the sum of my remaining lead pile. Nice.

I suspect that first part of 26 will be mostly VBCW, because I’m still pretty jazzed about it and work on the property through Feb / March (repainting the shutters on the barn and the gîte) will take the place of painting miniatures. Doh. 

Enough. Here’s a few more piccies of VBCW progress.

Welcome to Brompton, gateway to the west. I managed to get CHAT GPT to sketch out a map of the fictional midlands town in which my VBCW games will take place. For some reason the third iteration saw the Brompton Rovers FC stadium replaced with a cricket ground, the loss of the buildings in the railway station and the word Weca instead of area. (Me neither). Apparently god loves a tryer so I’ll keep on  with the AI bothering. Most of my current terrain is centred on the industrial “Weca” but I’ve plans for some terraced back to back housing too, if the money holds out. 

Another couple of factories have been produced. This is Farrington’s (another family member I’m afraid) famous in my alt 1937 for the production of Bile Beans. Bile Beans by the way were an actual thing. Google ‘em if you’ve a mind to. 

The new twin turreted Austin Armored car known as “unlucky for some” due its number 13 (third vehicle of the 1st troop).

And another shot from the other side because it’s crapiness is sort of sexy.

I’ve settled on the three main factions making up the Brompton Local Defence Volunteers and have created some roster sheets as an aide mémoire. They’ll be laminated and allow me to add character traits if any are generated between games.

This bunch are supporters of the King, (Edward VIII) but reject the legitimacy of the Mosley government. 

These lads are mostly workers from the Brompton Carpet Factory and they see the current troubles as an opportunity to set up a socialist utopia. They are against the monarchy and Mosley. Note Comrade Stranski doesn’t actually work at the factory, he just turned up one day with a Russian / English dictionary and a lorry load of weapons. Unusual for Russians to be fomenting strife, eh. 

The third faction are made up of those appalled by the kings marriage to an American divorcee, and his decision to empower the upstart Mosley. They demand new elections the abdication of Edward and his replacement with the stuttering Prince Albert (no, not the piercing) currently hiding out in Canada with the rest of the royals. 

Haven’t quite finished this roster yet, though the figures are painted. I’ll probably add a few International Fascist League Spanish Volunteers to the bottom somewhere.

I’m not entirely sure why I bothered dividing the Brompton defenders into three separate armed factions other than I’ve a vague notion that they could at some point end up fighting amongst themselves. We’ll see.

Right it’s time to start blanching the sprouts for next Christmas (only 350 something shopping days to go) so I’m going to sling my hook.

Play nice.

Toodleooh.

 

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me….

Come on now, sing along !

“An armored car and a Hotchkiss MMG…”

Just about works I reckon, lol.

An Austin armoured car for my non fascist forces. Just look at all them lovely rivets. You can keep yer King Tigers chum, Multiple turrets and tissue paper armour are where it’s at. 

I made a right old balls up of my Footsore Vickers MG so this is an Empress SCW Hotchkiss team which’ll work fine for the BUF, with some head swaps if necessary. 

Anywhoo, the sprouts are nearly ready (they’ve been boiling away since June) so I’ll keep this post short. 

2025 saw me move away from smaller scales and effectively start from scratch in 28mm. I’ve unexpectedly enjoyed painting in this scale and as a result I’ve now created opposing armies for the Indian Mutiny, The 100 Years War, and the alt history British Civil War. 

I suspect that 2026 will see me adding units to all three, though at a less frenetic (and bloody expensive) pace. I’ve still not entirely settled on rules for any of these periods but I’m resolved not to go about writing my own for them, since this is a rabbit hole I’ve fallen down too many times in the past, with largely unsatisfactory results. 

Talking of rabbit holes, I’ve now been 62 days without purchasing anything “shiny” or random, so, go me! Seems like the hypnotherapy tapes and counselling are beginning to work.

Right enough with the waffle! Here’s hoping you have a great Christmas and that all your battles in 2026 are toy soldier ones.

Mrs Broom’s been at it again with the deckies!

Toodleooh. 

See you on the flip side, if the God’s spare us!

I for one welcome our new AI overlords

Just thought I’d get that blog title on record as a sort of insurance policy for the future. Truth be told, despite Keith’s impressive and creative use of AI (over at his Bydand blog) my own output has so far been less than stellar. 

My upcoming VBCW project has a fair amount of background fluff, so I thought that rather than writing  a wall of text to boggle the reader I’d present the backstory in a couple of neat faux newspaper front pages from the period. 

Being me, nothing ever goes to plan of course, so I thought I’d share my “creative experience” in the hopes that more compétant people can point out what I’m doing wrong,

First off I was trying to create a copy of the Daily Mail, infamous for its real world headline “hurrah for the blackshirts”. Given that it looked like I was trying to create something promoting fascism with prompts like… 

“Generate front page of Daily Mail May 3rd 1937. Headline «GOOD RIDDANCE » Picture of worried 1930s women and children under guard. Text around the picture Northampton has now been cleansed of communist agitators. Oxford, Cambridge and Leicester have also seen the back of these troublesome malcontents. New paragraph, WE BACK THE BOYS IN BLACK. Insert text in a border at the bottom of the page in the style of a period advert Farrington’s Bile Beans. The Perfect Restorative 2d.” 

…I got a lot of “this image generation request did not follow our content policy” responses, which was actually quite heartening to be honest. 

Being sly, and a lot less specific I pressed on and gradually worked my way through dozens of iterations where either the text was okay but the pictures were ridiculous or the pictures were okay and the text utter nonsense.

Unable to get the bugger to do what I really wanted I made a collage of the bits that were okay and created a Frankenstein version of the Daily Mail using cut and paste. 

The problem with the cut and paste was that it looked like…well… a cut and paste. Uploading my image to the AI I asked it to make it look more homogenous (ie make the background a uniform colour) which as you can see it did. The trouble is that in the process of doing that it corrupted the text, turning it into utter garbage and rendering my attempt at story telling useless. 

As you can see from the original cut and paste variant (below), it covered the deportation of communist agitators from Coventry (obviously just women and children) and Prime Minister Mosley visiting King Edward the VIII who’d been injured in a bomb attack at his coronation. 

I guess it’s reassuring to know that if AI ever becomes sentient and takes over the world it’ll probably make as big a balls up of it as we’ve done. 

Okay, frustrated semi rant over. 

Here’s a picture of a train and the new Brompton Carpets warehouse to placate those hoping for some proper wargaming content. lol.  

My new choo choo. Not bad for cardboard and mdf. Just gotta sort out the rails now.

Brompton Carpets three story factory / warehouse, where I’m told you can pick up some excellent end of roll bargains.

I’m pretty sure I’ll sneak another post in pre new year, but if not I hope you all manage to kick back and have a good one. 

Toodleooh

Gosh it’s a bit big isn’t it!

Sadly these were not the words uttered by my wife on our wedding night but it’s broadly what she said when she saw the fully assembled engine shed she’d bought me for my birthday. And she’s not wrong. It’s going to form part of the terrain for my VBCW lads to fight over but the size of this and the warehouse (which is taller and bigger) has forced a bit of a rethink. The individual terrain tiles I’d purchased are not going to cut the mustard (individually too small) so after Xmas I’m going to the Brico for a metre square piece of insulation board that I’ll cut into bigger chunks. The engine shed and the associated track can sit on one section while everything else remains movable on smaller pieces.

Oooh ‘eck it’s big. 28mm chap included for scale. Top comes off and doors open so you can fight inside it too. 

T’other end.

Also in the same vein we have 10 new combatants from the Albertine faction (he became George VI in our world) who I’ve begun to disparagingly refer to as the Rotary Club Rifles. The name might not stick. 

A poor quality picture, soz. I particularly like the crouching figure on the right with the Brompton FC scarf and the German Maxim 08. 

Here’s a better picture. Odd how you sometimes get a favourite figure isn’t it?

Finally to go with the engine shed you need an engine. Here’s mine, very much under construction. Although this is a civilian loco there are a decent selection of armored ones (eastern front?) in the same Sarissa range. 

Should look okay when it’s got the coal wagon thingy on the back. 

What else is there to show you. Ahh yes..

A nice bit of barbed wire

Fuel drums courtesy of my mates at TEMU I think.

Homemade rubble pile number 1. A good use of all the MDF off cuts and sprue.

Lots and lots of wall to duck behind.

A big old water tower with a ladder on the far side o gain access to the top. Nice kits with a decent bit of heft to them. Assembling them like the plastic 100YW infantry is a bit of a ball ache, but you can’t have the halfpenny and the bun now can you?

It’s entirely possible that I’m getting more fun out of making all this than I will playing with it, but we’ll see. Found myself looking at Battletech Alpha Strike on the internet yesterday. No Broom. Bad Broom. Broom must stay focussed. 

Toodleooh for now mes amis.