Green and Pleasant Land II - "Street Fighting Man"

What became known as the "Battle of Austeritylitz" Or "The charge of the Horseless Mounted Police" in the tabloids ended a week of protests across UK cities and towns.  The week has become known as Week of Marches, every conceivable protest had drawn marches to the centre of UK cities: Anti-austerity, anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, anti-Russian bombing, peace in the Middle East and anti-government. 

The anti-government marches centered around the recent SAS attack on a farm near Birmingham's airport.  It had been revealed that the SAS had used stand-off breaching rockets on buildings which may have contained civilian hostages and against a group that had yet to be proven to be criminal. 

Protests against this heavy-handed attack had ground the centre of Birmingham to a halt.  On Friday an anti-austerity march collided with a pro-government march and a running melee had ensued.  The melee had broken up into a dozen running fights and the police attempted to contain the rioters, shops were looted, cars set alight and police vehicles bombarded.

Then, in a small street near the CBD seven police officers arrived to contain a mob which had attacked a middle eastern immigrant.  Seven of the officers were from the mounted police.  Due to austerity cuts their horses had been sold (to some politicians).  Unarmed they were met by a eighth police officers, Constable Doos, who fortunately had a van of rubber-bullet guns and shot-guns with bean-bag shot.  He also had several shields.  The seven "mounted" police quickly armed themselves.  

Constable Doos entered the Red Rebecca Riders Pub and climbed to the top floor, from here he was to be an integral part of the police line, using his large grenade-sized rubber-bullet gun he was able to fire at the mobs, though his activities were caught on camera, and thereby with his excessive use of force he was to become the poster-child of a beleaguered government.

The fight begins!  Four mobs against three units of police.  The police divided into a unit of 4, a  unit of 3 and a unit of 1 (Sniper equivalent).  The battlefield: A street in Birmingham.  This will also be something new for us, a police action using the Force on Force rules.

The mob mulled around and made a few aggressive advances.  The police, also hesitant moved forward, and started firing, though the firing was "pathetic" in the words of a witness.

Turn 1 Rioters moved up, police hesitated, second police unit moved forward, but missed with it rubber bullets.  The sniper on the top storey of the pub fired at the mob and missed

The rioters face down the police shield line.  From this angle you can see the third storey of the Red Rebecca Riders Pub, from the top window the police sniper rained rubber bullets onto the rioters possibly igniting the rioters wrath.

The police and rioters both act aggressively, once again the firing is poor.  The rioters are yet to  overcome their trepidation's and charge the police line.

Turn 2 Rioters moved forward, police aggressively move forward firing rubber bullets, Sniper moves over to check the park that is parallel to the main street.  The sniper was to be instrumental in controlling the mobs on both sides of the block

The stand-off continued, rioters failing to muster a charge, police failing to push forward into the rioters and the police rubber bullets more likely to hit a innocent in one of the houses.

Turn 3 Rioters mulling around, sniper interrupts, but totally misses, police fail to charge, police fire but miss

Mob and police face one another down.

In the park the rioters begin to climb over the wall, the sniper puts and end to this idea by hitting them hard with rubber bullets.  The 3-man police team fires on the rioters now mustering in the road, but the 4-man team fails to follow-up and rout the now stunned rioters.  A reporter on the NBBC Radio as this time made comments likening the police to the "Keystone Cops".

Turn 4 Sniper hits rioters climbing over wall, in the street rioters mill around, 3-man team hits rioters in open, 2nd 4-man team fails to follow up

Once again the rioters fail to muster themselves and now are pummeled with bean-bags and rubber shot, a group of rioters decide this is too much and run from the mob,

Turn 5 Mulling rioters, police hit team in street and rioters run away, 4-man tried to charge again but never rolled, Sniper hits team in park again.

The rioters, now infuriated with the police excessive use of force charges into the 3-man team, the 4-man team hesitates, and 3-man team tries to hold fast but the rioters are upon them, hitting them with iron-bars, rocks and boots.  The three policemen go down under this viscous attack.

Turn 6 Rioters charge, defense fire does not work, mob runs over the 3-man team, 4-man team does not charge to save buddies, Sniper moves across and shoots at mob kicking the crap out of the downed police

The police fall under the vicious blows.

With the 3-man team down-and-out the rioters turn to the last four policemen in the street.  Sadly without their horses.  The rioters, their blood up, charge, but the police fire their bean-bags and rubber shot and force the rioters back.  The sniper in the pub, happy that the mob in the street is falling back from their attack moves across to remind the rioters in the park not to advance.

The police facing down the rampant mob.

Turn 7 Rioters charge 4-man team, 4-man team gets one hit, rioters run in,police beat them off, sniper moves back to shoot at rioters in the park

The rioters charge again, ignoring the desultory police fire and are into the police.  The police however make short shrift of the rioters with their batons.

Turn 8 More rioters charge, poor defense fire, but rioters pummeled

The End

In the end one policeman was killed (from the 3-man team) and two policemen were injured.  Eight rioters were hospitalised.

The New BBC - Policeman dies after mob charges the mounted anti-riot police.  Mounted police were called in to assist anti-riot police in containing an Anti-Austerity march in Birmingham yesterday.  The march began in a peaceful manner, but following a speech by one of the march leaders the protect march turned into a riot.  The riot had escalated when two protest marches had collided.  Ironically the speech concerned the revelation that the PM made fun of austerity at a fox/badger hunt, a hunt which used the recently sold police horses.  The exact horses which the mounted police did not have on hand to contain the riot.

This was a fun game set up by Mark.  Both sides suffered from truly terrible dice rolling, a matter of the Keystone Cops vs. Laurel&Hardy!  The Green and Pleasant Land campaign slowly edges over the brink.