25/28mm Chicago Mayhem Game

The Chicago Mayhem game I'd been planning with Jason for weeks finally came off, and it worked better than I thought it would. Everybody had a really good time, and Steve Robinson, our host, was really getting into the spirit of things playing the downtrodden strikers. He really made them come to life against Jason's National Guard.

Rules used were Iron Ivan's Where Heroes Dare, modified a bit for the game and they worked, though the close combat rules were still a bit clunky. I also may have overestimated the size of Steve's figure collection, as French Poilu were standing in for some of the cops. Oh well, I guess I get him some as a gift when we go to Historicon next?

The game was one where everyone played differing factions with various tasks to perform, the Italians, for example, had to steal some loaded beer trucks from the Irish mob. Meanwhile, the cops had to seize the very same beer trucks as "evidence". The Feds, independently (the cops are on the take from the Irish Mob) have to take the trucks under the Volstead act. Meanwhile, the Mob's stirred up the workers of the brewery (disguised as a bakery) into striking to cover the departure of the beer, so the National Guard's been called in to break up the strike. They're looking to goad the National Guard into doing something stupid (like firing into the crowd) so as to get it documented by the media and gain sympathy for unionizing.

Now, to the game.

The Italians used the cover of the National Guard and Strikers beating the nine bells out of each other (with the strikers giving as good as they got), to try to sneak into the brewery and grab a few trucks. The Feds on the other hand made a beeline right for the brewery, and got shot to pieces for their trouble. I got shot at by the Irish mob a little bit, and the Cops a lot, but I did kill two cops for my trouble, but there were simply too many cops and Irish between me and the beer.

As for the Strikers and the National Guard? The Strikers finally goaded the National Guard into firing, and they did, killing three strikers and finally breaking the strike, but the reporter got some good pictures for the morning edition. I can see the headline now:

NATIONAL GUARD GUNS DOWN STRIKERS; BLOOD FLOWS IN STREETS!

Fun was had by all and the game got to be raucous fun, with Steve, our host who played the Strikers having the most fun blaming everything on "management". Honorable mention goes to Dave Luff who was the police and he was referring to the strikers as "Reds, Scum, Wisconsin Teachers!"

And now, the pictures!