From LeeH: Beau Hunks: Laurel & Hardy in the Foreign Legion (4 points)

My penultimate entry in this year's Challenge is a rather small one (no last-minute sandbagging from me!) which pretty much wraps up everything that I had wanted to do this Challenge. The self-imposed discipline of the event means I have managed to get an entire project completed in just three months and I can start playing with my new figures in a few days (once I've cleaned up my room of course... it's a complete mess!). I've hit my target twice, so I'm more than happy. Now, having patted myself on the back for my productivity, what massive entry am I posting today? Two 15mm figures worth just 4 points!

The plan all along was to paint two Field Forces for The Men Who Would Be Kings, one being the French Foreign Legion and the other a largely mounted band of Berber/Taureg raiders. Posties Rejects will be running on a demo table at the Broadside show on 4th June and my freshly painted figures will get their first outing as it is my turn to organise and run the demo game. Never wanting to do things the easy way, we also decided to add a little bit of fun to the game we will be running. So while the players get to have a conventional battle using TMWWBK rules, overlaying that there will in effect be a second game involving Laurel and Hardy, themed on their 1931 short film, Beau Hunks.

To get the Stan & Ollie look (ie Fat Man and Thin Man) I used two manufacturers' figures and then indulged in some conversion work. The Stan Laurel figure is a regular 15mm Legionnaire from Blue Moon. For Oliver Hardy, I needed a fatter built figure, and for this, I got a Legionary Officer from Irregular. Their models are an exact match for height but the Irregular ones are on the 'broader' side which was perfect for this little project. I had to remove the Epilettes and a pistol, then I added belt pouches and straps using greenstuff. I also extended the officer's coat so it looked more like a Greatcoat. I then cut a backpack and rifle off another figure and added them, making Oliver's pack a bit bigger (recreating a scene in the film) with yet more greenstuff. The result is, I hope, recognisably the bumbling double act of some of the best black and white comedy movies of all time. 

In the film, Hardy has his heartbroken by the unfaithful Jennie-Weenie (aka Jean Harlow) and he decides that he and Stan will join the French Foreign Legion "to forget". However, upon arrival Ollie realises that other legionaries and even the Commanding Officer have also had their hearts broken by the same woman. The aim of the game (or game within a game) is for Ollie to collect enough Jennie Weenie cards that he realises she wasn't worth it and get to leave the Foreign Legion. To that effect, I have written a simple set of rules centred around a card deck whereby Laurel and Hardy travel around the battlefield trying to catch up with various French Officers. When they get into base to base contact they check if the officer was a similarly jilted lover of the infamous Jennie-Weenie by pulling cards from the deck.

Some of the cards are pictures of Jean Harlow, but most are comic situations that have a limited effect on the game. It's a very simple mechanism that I hope will have players and the public alike quoting the Comedy legends while laughing at some truly stupid but classic moments from the film. Of course, I could have waited to do these cards until after the Painting Challenge but once the idea was lodged in my head I had to get them done. Never let it be said that I can't procrastinate with the best of them! 

This game sounds like a lot of fun, and I'm only a little disappointed you haven't presented a Jennie-Weenie in 15mm. Four of the finest points to you, sir!

Barks