Your force is the Citroen Kegresse Trans Asia Expedition, under the leadership of famed French desert explorer Commandant Henri Lostagaine. You have successfully crossed the Sahara desert, using the latest in French automobile technology – the Citroen Kegresse half track – and now have been set the challenge of crossing the Gobi desert in Outer Mongolia.

The French government is very interested in the military potential of the Citroen Kegresse and the Citroen company is very interested in selling the half track design to the French army. As a result, you have been given a military escort and an attached army officer, Lieutenant Croissant, will be accompanying your expedition to evaluate the vehicles.

You have been warned by the French Secret Service, the Deuxieme Bureau, that foreign powers may try to steal the design of the latest half track model whilst you traverse the inhospitable and remote wastelands. As a result, you must be prepared to fight against any potential enemy force that you encounter – shoot first, ask questions later.

In addition, it is rumoured that your friend and fellow desert explorer, the eccentric adventurer and aristocrat, the Comte de Camenbert, is travelling through the Gobi on one of his famous expeditions. If you manage to meet up with him, his in depth knowledge of the terrain and his desert field craft expertise will be very useful.

(Colin’s force is based on the Dinosaur Hunter army list from the Back of Beyond supplement and a real Trans Asia Citroen Kegresse expedition in 1931. It has some nifty half tracks that he scratch built using Airfix bren carrier tracks and die cast trucks. It’s a tough little force to tackle as it is escorted by the French Foreign Legion. Zut Alors!)

Your force is the rag tag  army of His Excellency Wei Phat Mac.

You were until recently the Tuchan or governor of Suchow province but have been deposed by a rival and forced to flee into the desert. You have a poorly equipped but loyal force of warriors including your ferocious bodyguard of ‘Dare to Die’ troops.

You are seeking refuge for your force in Urga, where you hope to recruit foreign mercenaries from the large number of White Russian refugees that are available for hire in the city. You will take advantage of any opportunity to obtain equipment and weapons for your badly equipped troops, especially if they can be captured on your way to Urga.

So, if you bump into anyone on your march across the Gobi desert, you have decided to shoot first and ask any questions later.

You also hope to hire the services of the notorious arms dealer Herbert Maximoff, who is rumoured to be in the area seeking potential customers. He is an unscrupulous and greedy profiteer, so you should get on really well. If you bump into him he’ll be sure to provide you with some much needed firepower, for the right price.

(Alan’s Chinese Warlord army is very colourful and has some really ‘interesting’ units including Dare to Die sword wielding fanatics, sub-machine gun armed assault troops and well-disciplined close order infantry. It even has an executioner!).

The fourth club Back of Beyond multiplayer club campaign will soon be starting and we have seven players ready to march across the Gobi Desert in search of fame, fortune and the nearest Mongolian watering hole.

The campaign will start in November 2016 and will run for SIX turns and/or until a player wins. If there is no clear winner by the end of the campaign, the front runner will be declared the victor. There will be a final big battle to round off the campaign with all of the various factions taking part. This is always lots of fun and pretty spectacular!

The campaign is set in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. It is semi-historical and includes a briefing for each of the commanders to explain how and why they are involved. The individual players will be encouraged to take these motives into consideration, in order to give the campaign and the battles a degree of colour and narrative.

The Major Players

This is the current list of participating players.

The Chinese Warlord – Wei Phat Mac (Alan)

The Bolsheviks  – Third Peasants and Workers Shock Brigade Colonel Igor Tubugerov / Peoples Commissar Nasti Tchestikov (Jim)

The French Trans Asia  Citroen Kegresse Expedition – Commandant Henri Lostagaine (Colin B.)

The British Museum – Brigadier Henry Winstanley Arbuthnot Cholmoneley-Warner (Andy)

The Mad Baron! – Baron Ungern Von Sternberg (Chris)

The Whites – Colonel I.P.Addreski (Colin N.)

The Japanese  – General Sushi Miyagi (Gary)

The player campaign briefings, house rules and explanatory campaign notes will be dispatched soon, but there is plenty of time for a few Contemptible Little Armies practice games before the campaign begins.

If you have a questions ask Jim and he’ll try to work it out!