300 Years In Schlegel’s Ferry

Von Greg

As part of our HMGS Cold Wars line-up, the Schlegel brothers, I and several other HAWKs ran a series of games set at 50 and 100 year intervals during the history of the fictional town of Schlegel’s Ferry. I was there for most of it…

Remember that TV show where the guy from “Game of Thrones” lived forever  as long as he remained within New York City? Well, neither do I, but I guess this would be a close approximation of that experience.

In 1664 at Schlegel’s Ferry

Official Game description:

Fri. 2:00 PM, 3 hrs, 6 players
GM: Buck Surdu and HAWKS
Age of Reason 25mm, Rules: Blood and Swash
Dutch and English settlers vie for control of the vital trading post and crossing of the Chesapeake Bay at Schlegel’s Ferry.

GM Buck Surdu explains the scenario and objectives while Eric looks on with grim determination…

As part of the Pennsylvanian force, my troops took up position on the left northern flank and prepared to raid the town.

Yes, we’re called the pink team…and we want you to respect our life choices!

I managed to move my archer to the wood’s edge and had a good sniping position to lob arrows at the force, but I failed to do any real damage.

Things went pear-shaped after that, and the Marylanders quickly closed upon and dispatched three of my troops.

My musketeer didn’t last long either…

I’m not left-handed either!

After my quick demise in the first hour and a half of the game, I took the next 200 years off, did some shopping and wouldn’t return again until 1914.

In 1914 at Schlegel’s Ferry

Official description:

Sat. 2:00 PM, 3 hrs, 10 players
GM: Eric Schlegel and HAWKS
WWI 25mm, Rules: Blood and Swash Everyone is nervous, as the Great War has begun in Europe and wild reports of German spies in the area abound. US Marines, government agents and members of the local law enforcement agencies are sent to investigate.

The town has changed a lot in the last few centuries…

This game was a mad-cap romp with a beached German U-boat, dastardly spies, corrupt cops, G-men and the Schlegel’s thrown in for good measure.

I took the role of the turn of the century Schlegel family whose goal was to capture one of the German sailors running about the town. The G-men and I joined forces to make our jobs easier, but we were soon dodging blazes set by the firebug “good” cops.

Hmmm…do you smell something burning?

Just as in the last game, things didn’t go so well for my guys. A running shoot out with another faction of cops cost me two of my crew and learning that I actually had to catch the sailor alive had me doing a mad scramble at the end of the game. The german U-boat captain shelling the town with his deck gun didn’t help at all either!

In 1964 at Schlegel’s Ferry

After a brief dinner break, Eric Schlegel and I reset the table and then set up for my 7:00 game where Doctor Who (William Hartnell incarnation) comes to town…

Official description:

Sat. 7:00 PM, 3 hrs, 8 players
GM: Greg Priebe and HAWKS
Modern 25mm, Rules: The Doctor Who Miniatures Game 2nd
Edition
A mysterious blue police box materializes in the junkyard on the
outskirts of town and a string of strange occurrences immediately
follow. Doctor Who collides with the world of Schlegel’s Ferry in
a madcap caper to mark the 50th anniversary of the Doctor’s
greatest foe.

The basic gist of the game was that a few nights before, a meteor crashed nearby and showered the town with glowing green fragments. The Doctor, UNIT, and International Electromatics all raced about trying to collect the rocks. Meanwhile during all of the chaos, a team of bank robbers (who no one really ever paid attention to) landed by boat and tried to steal a shipment of gems from the new local bank. The other plot was that Schlegel’s Ferry was in the running for a “Best Town” award with the cops and some mysterious hooded figures ran about trying to keep order and repair any vandalism that would inevitably occur.

I used a rule modification from Crooked Dice’s campaign game that had the players playing for points that once earned, could be traded in for Luck Points if their situation proved dire.

the “facilitators” steam towards the dock

Contrary to the playtest, this game started off as the least bloody of the series, each faction started far enough apart so that they could go about completing their objectives without much interference from the other players. The kid playing one faction of the police seemed a bit preoccupied with arresting the Doctor and his companions and completely missed the fact that the robbers had broken into the bank, but most player’s actually believed their far-fetched stories about being either inspectors for the contest or FBI.

International Electromatics goons speed around in a car stolen from the church parking lot and snatch up meteor fragments

the robbers easily break into the back door of the bank

Things eventually heated up when Kurt, playing the Schlegel family, completed his objectives of delivering a shipment of moonshine and pulling down a town statue, and then decided to rack up points by eliminating members of the rival factions. Several instances of vehicular homicide occurred.

the Schlegel boys, in Granny Schlegel’s 1949 Woodie, careen towards the mysterious hooded figures

In the end, International Electromatic’s nefarious plot is revealed, as a damaged Dalek is repaired and emerges from their warehouse at the edge of town. It soon goes beserk (can a Dalek really do that?) and tries to exterminate everyone in it’s path.

EX-TERM-IN-ATE!!!

As the game winds down, the Doctor does manage to fashion a weapon from a few meteor fragments and car parts, but the cops finally get to doing something and crash their car into the diabolic pepper-pot from hell. Unfortunately, the Dalek shrugs off the impact and the car’s passenger’s are sent through the windshield to their deaths. Everyone though all was lost until out of nowhere, the surviving Schlegels slammed into the Dalek again, this time with a 1959 Chevrolet 300, which proved too much for the angry squid’s compromised armor.

In the final tally, the Schlegels won with 11 points, with International Electromatics and the Robbers tying for second place with 9 points each.

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