The Hunting Begins in Dahomey

An American Safari:

Sibley leads the vehicles in to a series of ravines where his instincts tell him there'll be good hunting. With him is a Lanchester armoured car, surely it'll be of use against these brutish beasts?



Hearing sound nearby, but unable to get a good look because of the difficult terrain, Torres leaves his touring car behind in search of the tall Iguanadons.



They spot a pair of armoured dinosaurs in the distance, moving silently across a gap in the ravine.



Heading to the right of a large copse of trees, the armoured car encounters a fierce opponent, the Tyrannosaur which surges out of the high grass towards it.



Torres and Sibley, moving towards the Edmontons on foot avoid a terrifying-looking entangling plant.



Behind them, jumping out of his truck, Shearer stumbles upon what look like the remains of Dr. Gaspard de Chateaubriant! (or at least someone with his sword)



A herd of mixed Edmontons and Iguanadons move along the ridge line, hidden from danger for the moment.



A Triceratops, previously unnoticed by any of the adventurers [literally not noticed by the adventurer player at that side of the board!] storms out of the forest having contemplating ramming the armoured car in the side, but instead running for the ravine.



The Tyrannosaur attacks Porter, knocking him to the ground and leaving him concussed and defenceless. Miraculously the Tyrannosaur leaves him alone and moves around the rocky ground to consider the armoured car.



Torres scrambles across the ridge to discover the herd of dinosaurs creeping along.



The Tyrannosaur charges towards the armoured car, and shudders into it. Trying to bite off the turret doesn't work out so well, taking a belt of machine gun ammo in the throat.



Meanwhile the Triceratops ambles up the valley floor, despite rifle fire and eventually scampers to safety.



Seeing its dead pack mate, the second Tyrannosaur leaps over the rocks but is grievously wounded as it crosses the open ground.



The Americans have taken up position on top of the ridgeline and take the Iguanadon down as well.



The Americans have taken an Iguanadon and two Tyrannosaurs today. A fine day of hunting!


British Easter Egg Hunt:

Having spotted a series of nests in the badlands, Aylward leads a column with some trusty native porters to attempt to bring back some valuable dinosaur eggs.



Raptors have spotted the column approaching and lie in wait amongst the tall grasses.



Bailey rides ahead to investigate uneasily, not trusted in his heavy-duty revolver to bring down much of anything.



MacLeod's reliable Lee Enfield shoots down the Raptors like rabid dogs.



Aylward and MacLeod surround second a second group of Raptors, destroying them without too much trouble while Bailey tries to deal with Pterodactyl



The Pterodactyl circles around and shockingly bites Aylward's head clean off.



The column on foot continues after seeing off the Pterodactyl up to a high column which holds a nest full of Pterodactyl eggs. The group is beset by even more Raptors and a second Pterodactyl swoops in. The group is decimated.



Trusty native porters recover the Pterodactyl eggs having killed the last remaining beasts with their tent poles and make way back to camp, surely to get a extra large bag of shiny beads and a few feet of copper wire for their trouble.

Incursion into Dahomey

Simpson's Expedition:

Abraham Simpson, DSO (Commander, RN) sent two parralel columns upriver towards the last known location of Dr. Gaspard de Chateaubriant. These columns, under Doherty and Nash were tasked to set up camp beyond the valleys.
There had been some signs that everything was not completely normal, and they had spotted giant lizards in the distance, the sort naturalists had convinced the world had been long extinct.

Nevertheless, when Doherty saw a pair of large armoured lizards ahead of his column, he took it upon himself to ride ahead to take a closer look. His pistol had no effect on its armoured hide, and he waited for his men to catch up.



Advancing past a large forested area Nash spooks two large bipedal lizards which he identifies as Iguanadons and therefore no threat whatsoever.



Nash's activity attracts the attention of a far more dangerous creature, the Tyrannosaur.



The first Iguanadon runs into some high grass nearby and takes cover from both the Tyrannosaur and Nash's column.



Meanwhile Doherty's column advances through high grass, attempting to stay out of sight, and hoping that Doherty removes himself from danger quickly.



For Doherty has more than the armoured quadrapeds to worry about. Another Tyrannosaur has been hunting them, and has taken an interest in Doherty instead.



Taking his cue from the second Iguanadon Nash rides into the forest to avoid the Tyrannosaur. To no avail! Skillfully avoiding the attack of the terrible Tyrannosaur on his horse, Nash hides in the bushes keeping his horse calm despite the close attentions of the giant predator.



Doherty is stuck in a similar quandry but is unable to flee, and his heavy revolver has little effect on the beast.



Doherty is plucked out of the saddle by the Tyrannosaur, his upper body landing in front of his column which scatters at this grisly sight.



Recovering, they take up position to fire at the Tyrannosaur driving it away, at least temporarily.



The armoured Edmontons charge the line knocking some of the brave men aside (but thankfully to little permanent damage)



Meanwhile the other British column marches on through the forest, avoiding the Tyrannosaur which has gone after the Iguanadon.



The Iguanadon have evaded their predator, making their way past the scattered native porters and across the ford to safety.



Vanderbolt's Expedition:

Several dozen miles away the first group of American adventurers have been led by H. Jack Vanderbolt to meet up with their vehicles and supplies which are being disembarked from river boat.
They must make their way through badlands and ravines to cross at a safe ford, as they have a field gun in their possession.



Danger lurks! A Spinosaurus has been preparing to attack other dinosaur who are making their way to a nearby lake, but it spots the adventurers.



Seeing this gigantic beast approach, the Americans manhandle their field gun up to one of the heights overlooking the river ford and indeed the ravine they are about to move into. But can it get into position before the dinosaur charges?



It charges indeed, but as it lunges towards the Americans on foot they scamper out of the way (most skillful and fortuitous!)



Concerted fire from all sides sees the Spinosaurus fall, dreadfully wounded to the ground, the coup-de-grace being administered by Vanderbolt with his shotgun.



The armoured beasts, oblivious to either danger nearby continue to the watering hole. They are obscured by the large rocks on the shore of the watering hole and Vanderbolt send Rosenfeld across the river to get a better line of sight on them while he and Hannigan cover the ford.



Rosenfeld find himself in trouble immediately, barely avoiding the fatal sweep of the dinosaur's mace-like tail.

#

As the Edmonton flees back to its pasture, Rosenfeld shoots it in the spine and it thrashes around, only yards from safety.



At the fork in the river. Vanderbolt discovered the long-dead carcass of an unknown creature, within which are human remains.

#

The field gun is brought across the ford, safely covered by the others.



The second Edmonton, its speed belying it size, makes it back to the cover of its pasture.

4th Kawanakajima - Scenario

[I've just added some photos of the battlefield setup to this post].
Things have been pretty busy here, preparing for Gaelcon (next weekend), so everything else has taken a back seat. I have been tapping away at this scenario though, and it's set up now. Probably won't get to play it until November though...
It's for Piquet's 2nd edition of its medieval rules set, Band of Brothers.

The 4th Battle of Kawanakajima was fought between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province in the plain of Kawanakajima, in the north of Shinano Province in 1561.

Following the first three largely indecisive campaign, Uesugi Kenshin was determined to destroy Takeda Shingen. He took up a position on Saijoyama, a mountain to the west of, and looking down upon, Shingen's Kaizu castle. The castle contained no more than 150 samurai, and their followers, and he had taken them completely by surprise. However, the general in command of the castle, Kosaka alerted his lord by signal fire, of Kenshin's move.

Shingen approached Kawanakajima on the west bank of the Chikumagawa, keeping the river between him and Saijoyama. Neither army made a move, knowing that victory would require the essential element of surprise. Kansuke, a senior Takeda advisor formed a strategy that he believed would prove decisive.

Kōsaka left Kaizu with 8,000 men, advancing up Saijoyama under cover of night, intending to drive Kenshin's army down to the plain where Takeda Shingen would be waiting with another 8,000 men in a crane's wing formation. However Kenshin guessed Shingen's intentions, and led his own men down to the plain, descending from Saijoyama by its western flanks.

Instead of catching them fleeing Kosaka's dawn attack, Shingen's men found Kenshin's army ready to charge at them out of the fog...

Plain of Kawanakajima


Takeda Army

Morale Chips: 17
Effects: Extra Infantry Move in Open Card, Up1 for Cavalry Melee
Stratagems: Heroic Leader
Leaders:
Takeda (Army Commander) Skilled
Kosaka (Group Commander) Superior



Takeda Crane's Wing awaits


Kosaka force marches through hills


Uesugi Army

Morale Chips: 18
Effects: Extra Missile Reload Card, Cut off its Head!
Stratagems: Reinforcements

Leaders:
Uesugi (Army Commander) Skilled
Honjo (Group Commander) Average
Kakizaki (Group Commander) Average



Main Uesugi army marches towards the Takeda


Amakasu holds ford