Scarlet asked me to do a commission for him, to add to Kamphgroup Thomaz.
Diorama based on 'Ice Cold In Alex' - "Are you sure you're an ambulance?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cold_in_Alex


Before the pedants get busy, I know Katy is a hard top Austin K2/Y, but Pendraken don't do one.


The Horsch is Scarlet's painting I just did the driver, that way it matches with his army.


I know ICIA is in black & white, and yes, I was tempted to piant in black & white...


Not as clear as I hoped


Now I need a beer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3NfOGvhpxc

Mk III, Valentine 2lbers


Reason for these is I'm fighting a slighty later Desert opponent than my Operation Crusader chums in a week or so.


And let's face it, Antrobus needs all the help he can get!


I went with the sandskirt version, just becasue I liked them.


Off they trundle - technically, in BKCIV, not as good as a Matilda II, but in real life...


Must get rid of the 2lbers though. No wonder M3s and M4s were prefered.

 

Quote from: Duke Speedy of Leighton on 11 April 2026, 07:24:33 PMNice ending

Thank you. 

Quick note:

Since this is supposed to be a RPG, I crate a story thread then game it out. Sometimes the die do not cooperate and I have to adjust the narrative. The thread for this episode when something like - Exe wakes up - PEM goes a-hunting - Warspite follows - battle - happy ending. When I started I had no idea what Rese was searching for. It was at times a fortune, a hidden city, Ancient artifacts, and the Grave of the Martyr. (No I don't know what that means either.) I've been reading some of the Sharpe books recently and the Purity banner was inspired by the Gonfalon of Sant Iago in Sharpe's Rifles. Only at the end did I discover it was tied to many, many fortunes.

Sean was late. he was supposed to have got to Rese before she could destroy PEM1. He and Rese went three rounds of hand to hand combat and he did get his backside kicked with some really bad dice rolls. Fortunately, I wasn't going to let Janey and Firz die, so they formed a convenient deus ex machina.

The Purity Cult was something that sort of got invented on the way. I mean, the flag had to belong to someone, and had to mean enough to kill for.

Yes, the raiders are Purity.
Firz is using the Purity flag as a bedspread. 

I have now generated another unresolved side quest.

• The magically appearing and disappearing life forms on Brenda
• Did Alison have a baby If so, what happened?
• Is there something odd about the origin of the twins? Are they maybe genetically modified super-soldiers?
• Melvin has to meet Bowery Lexal
• Warspite has to find Sir
• Did the Purity Cult bomb the Mind of Man?
• Find a book ship for Firz

 

For clarification, Sir and his yacht and his crew were generated when I bought the 2016 Mongoose Traveller books. I created a spreadsheet to generate the basic stats and origin planet type for any number of characters. This saved a lot of time and dice throwing except I mucked up the formulae and everyone was female. Yes I could have fixed the formula and rerun - but where's the fun in that. Yes, I did forget to fix the problem before I generated the PEM crew. Yes, I have fixed it now. 

One interesting problem in the Traveller universe is how to meet someone. There are no subspace frequencies, and messages travel only as fast as the jump drive ship. If someone is 3 jumps away, and then it will take six weeks to send them a message and for them to turn up. If you don't know where they are ... and they're constantly moving ... the maths get messy.

I apologise again for the long screed. The battles themselves were very quick in real time, but the write up was fun. Thank you. 

Nice ending

Quote from: Chris Pringle on 11 April 2026, 07:00:06 PMPlanning a heist?

Four Mini Coopers,four fast cars...

Camp Freddy, you all know.

Last bit for this round, I promise.
The cruiser Marcher Lord hung over Eric. Captain the Lord Dyer Dunn had decamped to the Town and had set up camp in the restored town meeting place. He sat behind a repurposed dining table and interrogated Patra, then Bora, the the two together. Eventually he called for dinner and dined with the crew of PEM2 in as much style as the town could muster. He was an amusing host, whose severe, professional persona had dropped when it came time to eat.
Dunn had watched the video captured by PEM2's cameras. He'd witnessed the futile battle with the raiders, and approved of the retreat to PEM1. He gasped when he saw the burning wreckage of the explorer, and nodded approvingly when Bora was seen to have entered PEM1, only to withdraw seconds later – driven back by the flames.
"I tried to extract the PEM2 log, but it had been melted to slag. The cockpit was totally wrecked, both by the blast and the fire. We looked for the bodies of the crew, but found nothing." Explained Bora.
"Indeed." Dunn swirled some local distillation with pretensions of being brandy around his glass. He sniffed and grimaced, but manfully took a sip.
"You brought back the others though." Bora shuddered at the memory of collecting the bodies of Rese, Stine and Breen.
"Was there anything else?" he asked casually.
"Like what, Sir" chipped in Patra.
"Don't know to be truthful. Why were you all out there anyway? What were they digging for?" Bora and Patra exchanged glances.
"We have no idea, Sir. We just drove the PEM."
"Quite so. Quite so."
"Can't the Professor help? She must know." Bora said brightly.
"Ah. Regrettably not. Sudden brain aneurysm. The doctors on Warspite did a good job, but ... just one of those things."  The PEM crew looked dutifully crestfallen.


Lydia and York awaited them outside. Patra nodded, and carried on, but Bora ran to them and hugged each in turn.
"I'm so glad to see you both, I hoped I would."
"How are you?" Asked Lydia. "How did it go?" Bora smiled a wan half smile."I'm fine. It went well, I suppose. The PEM2 video, shows that we were telling the truth, but I think we only know a little of the story.  Captain Dunn is going to send out some parties to investigate." She shrugged.  "I'm going back on the courier. When I get back, I think I'm going to resign and ... I dunno ...maybe go back to school or start a farm or ... "
"Start a machine shop?" Offered York.
"Yes, that would be nice."
"What about Patra?"
"Oh, she's a hero, going to lead the search parties. She'll likely get a medal and a promotion. Certainly will have more tales to embellish."
The said their goodbyes and Bora hugged them both again.

They were on the pinnace on the way back to Warspite, before they talked about what had happened.
"She's a good person." Offered York.
"Yup, and I know where she lives." Added Lydia. He looked at her askance.
"Is that a threat?"
"On the contrary, I think that machine shop could maybe do with a little seed money." He laughed.
"I like the way you think." They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Dunn is Purity?" York asked.
"For certain." Lydia agreed.
"I feel the need to be in another system." He said.

Again they sat in silence. Lydia played with the seat belt across her body. "
"This damned thing scratches." She undid the belt and then prodded her clothing. She put her hand into her top and pulled out a carefully folder piece of paper. 
"I've been fondled." She observed.
"Lucky you." York had been concerned with flying the pinnace so had missed her antics.
"No ... I have a letter. " She turned it over in her hands before unfolding it. In large girlish hand she read ...
"Dear Lydia.
I hope this finds you and York and everyone on Warspite well. I hope that includes Janey and Firz.

Rese never showed much of an interest in the PEM. If she had, she'd have known about the emergency hatches in the cockpit. When I went on board PEM1, I saw they had been tripped, and there were no bodies in the cockpit or under it. There were no raiders anywhere near PEM1, so it makes sense to me that Rese was responsible for what happened to PEM1.

On the way back to Town, I made sure to drive PEM2 in the tracks of whatever ground vehicle you came in just to hide them a bit. Patra didn't notice, she was too busy having the vapours and trying to contact someone in Town.

I don't know what was behind it all and I don't want to know. I think it is probably dangerous and I don't need that. I hope you have Janey and  Firz and they are well enough.

Yours sincerely

Bora"

"That's a very dangerous letter." Said York.
"It is. Do I destroy it?"
"Why not show it to Janey and  Firz first?" Lydia refolded the letter and put it back in her top.
"Where in blue blazes did she get paper in Town?" 


Epilogue 1
Janey lay on the bed, her body covered in bandages and burn salves. She would recover, but it would take a while. Sean stood beside her, his battered face a mask of pain and misery.
"I wish I could hold you." He said.
"I do too." She smiled through cracked lips. "But I hurt all over."
He stroked a strand of her hair that lay on the pillow.
"Your beautiful hair." He said.
"It'll grow back." Her clawed hand delicately touched the side of her head which had been shaved so the wound there could be attended to. "I hope."
Sean laughed. It wasn't much of a laugh, but it helped. His Janey was still there – broken, battered and burned, but still there and would get better.
"If I sit beside you, can I hold your hand?"  She winced as he took her fingers in a grip that bespoke desperation and helplessness and want, but the contact soothed him and he relaxed his hold without letting go. He settled in the chair beside her, the tension draining from him as he realised that things were going to be all right. Shortly, his eyes drooped and he fell into that space between wakefullness and sleep. As he drifted away, he thought he heard Janey say "do you think we could have a baby?"
The thought didn't disturb him enough to stop him falling into a deep restful sleep.

Epilogue 2
Firz lay on the bed, on her side Vargyr style, looking remarkably like her ancestral wolf. Her back and shoulders were a continuum of pain. She was considering asking for some pain medication when the door chime sounded. She reluctantly gave permission for her visitor to enter. She knew it wouldn't be one of the doctors – they just came in unannounced, but she was surprised to see Quillam shuffling nervously from foot to foot in the doorway.
"Can I come in?" he asked. More from curiosity, she assented with a nod. The engineer stood over her, unable or unwilling to speak his message. He took off his cap, to expose his balding head beaded with nervous sweat. He passed his cap between his hands for a few seconds, still apparently unsure of what to say. Instead, he reached into the multi pocketed waistcoat he always wore, and pulled a book from a pocket. He thrust it at her.
"Here." He said. "It's for you." With the dam burst, he began to babble "Janey said you liked books and I know all your books got destroyed in the PEM ... and it was Lydia's idea that we make you one ... I don't read much and a screen is so much easier ... but Alex said a physical book was something better and ... well, Janine printed it out ..." he scratched his chin, a rasping sound from the stubble "... and I didn't know we had a printer on board... and then we didn't know what book to print and York said Alice in Wonderland ..." he paused again "... don't know it, I think it's about some woman in a club or a park or something ... and I sort of put the printed pages in a cover."
He proffered it again. She took it. Quillam had never had much dealing with physical books, that was obvious. The cover was skillfully made of some resin, a dull utilitarian solid unattractive brown. Rather than being one single piece, the cover was made of three pieces, joined by hinges. On the front was stencilled "Alice in Wonderland" in stark white utilitarian lettering. It was the ugliest books Firz had ever seen, but also the most wonderful gift she had ever been given.
She nodded up at the Engineer, not trusting that her voice would not betray her emotion. It was enough for Quillam. He nodded and put his cap on and beat a hasty retreat.
Left alone, Firz clutched the book to her chest, and indulged in a few moments of ... feeling. She had lost everything in the PEM. Her personal device with the pictures of her family, her books and her career. When the PEM exploded, her life was destroyed  with it and she became no-one.  Now she was on the Warspite and no-one seemed interested in making her leave. Perhaps she could stay. Perhaps this effectively but artlessly created book was the beginning of a new Firz.
As she always did when life threatened to overwhelm her, she opened the book and began to read. "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it..."

Epilogue 3
York was sat in the crew lounge, a mug of tea in his hand. He slipped it slowly, hunched froward staring intently at the box the Purity flag had been stored in. Lydia approached, a demure smile on her face, a mini-battenberg on a plate.
"How much?" She exclaimed.
"What?" he asked. Her hand shaking slightly she as she set the plate down.
"Sorry,  I thought you said a number ... a really big number of credits."
"No ... at least I don't think so ... but I was thinking about a big number of credits." Absently he picked up the mini-battenberg and took a bite, his concentration fixed on the box.
"It's a box." Lydia prompted.
"And so much more." She waited patiently as he finished the small cake. Then she punched him on the shoulder. York rubbed her shoulder, but continued his examination of the box.
"See the markings inside?" She peered closely. York had removed the silky liner and on the black inner of the box were small etchings, coloured black so to be almost invisible.
"They're a code. It's an old code, from about a hundred years ago, so Athene was able to crack it in a few minutes." He resumed starting at the box. She punched him again on the shoulder.
"It's a list of bank accounts." York continued, rubbing his shoulder again. "Hundreds of them."
"And they add up to that really big number of credits?" Lydia asked enthusiastically. For the first time, he looked at her.
"No. That's one account."
Lydia sat down beside York, leant forward and stared at the box. For a few minutes they sat in silence.
"Whose money is it?" She asked eventually.
"I think it's the funding of Purity." She whistled.
"We're rich." Lydia's tone was flat.
"We're already rich." Without looking at her, York put his hand on hers and squeezed. Normally, this would have elicited some reaction from Lydia, but she was still trying to come to terms with the enormity of the discovery.
"It's not our money." he said.
"Do we want to give it back to Purity?" York responded with one of his rare curses.
"Then what?" Lydia reached out to the box, as if touching it would help. It didn't.
"That's the problem. I only looked at one account. I don't know about the others. I'd like the money to go somewhere ... useful and safe. To be used for good." He smiled faintly. "If that doesn't sound too ..."
"Goody-goody?" She asked.
"Goody-goody." He agreed. They returned to silent contemplation of the box.
"So we need someone to find these accounts, clear them out so that Purity doesn't get their hands on it and use the money for good."
"We do." He looked at the plate as if mildly surprised to find it empty.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes, apparently unaware that they were holding hands.
"Sir!" Lydia went to snap her fingers, but became aware that her hand was still enfolded in York's. She looked at their hands. He looked at their hands. He squeezed gently. She squeezed back.
"Sir who?" he asked mildly.
"Sir ... you know ... Sir .. the multi-billionaire who did the thing and upset all the you know and now he lives on a yacht full of women." York frowned in concentration. They mystery of the Purity box seemed more easy to decipher than Lydia on turbo-brain. He looked at her blankly. She took a deep breath.
"Sir." She began again. "He invented that fusion power thingy, then basically gave it away. He made billions – no, I don't know how you give away something and get billions from it, but that must mean he's a financial genius. Anyway, he annoyed the wrong people so they dropped a big rock on his house from orbit and killed his family. Now he lives on a super yacht, going from place to place apparently randomly doing good deeds and having a good time. He's got loads of charities and programmes and things – gives away loads of money to worthy causes. If anyone can find and reuse the Purity money it's Sir."
"A yacht full of women." York mused. It showed how excitedly distracted Lydia was that she didn't punch him on the shoulder again.
"Yes, he found out that nearly all assassins are men, so he thought that by employing only women he would reduce the chances of an assassin getting close to him."
"Sounds perfect ... Sir being the one to use the money I mean." As one, York and Lydia sat back and sighed the sigh of people who had solved a mighty problem.
"Do you want to let go of my hand?"
"Not really."
"That's fine."

Planning a heist?

Have a lot of fun