In Her Majesty's Name - The Cabinet of Dr. Nebogipfel.

Robafett and I managed to get in our first 'test' game of In Her Majesty's Name the other week - we didn't have anything specifically painted for this and as it was a last minute thing we just threw a few bits onto the table, picked out some minis from my Darkest Africa stuff and got stuck in! I had not bought the rules at this point (I have now!) so it was down to Rob to do the 'rulebook page flick' honours.

The Cabinet of Dr. Nebogipfel.

Our first foray into the world of IHMN concerned the sudden discovery of a previously thought 'lost' piece of equipment designed by the insane (according to some) Dr. Moses Nebogipfel who had strangely disappeared from his study some time during the winter of 1894. No-one is quite sure what this invention is really capable of, but of course it is of great interest to those who wish to acquire power and knowledge.

The location is a small English village somewhere in the North. The device is rumoured to have been found by a schoolboy who duly brought it home. At some point an explosion occurred, destroying the schoolboys family home, though fortunately the family were not in the house at the time. The Reverend Anstey braved the ruins of the house and collected the device and took it to the only place he felt the infernal thing would be safe - the Church of St. Lucy (Patron Saint of Sore Throats etc)

A British Rifle 'Company' has been sent to clear the village and secure the device - intelligence suggests that the dastardly mercenary and adventurer, Aubrey Fallsworthy (also know as Lord Glenmore) has heard about this through his nefarious sources and (with the help of his mixed band of soldiers of fortune) intends to obtain the device for himself!

British soldiers under the command of Captain John Gideon, have ushered the villagers to safety and are making their way back to the Church to protect the device until specialists can be called in.

The Setting.

The village of Little Ribble - the ruined house can be seen in the background, the Church of St. Lucy to the fore. 

The Companies.

British Rifle Company, 24th Foot.

Captain John Gideon - Pl 3+, FV+4, SV+4, Sp+1, Ldr+2, Breastplate, Pistol, Sabre
Sergeant Thomas Webber - Pl 4+, FV+3, SV+3, Sp+0, Ldr+1, Bayonet Drill, Brigandine, Rifle, Bayonet
Doctor Donald Edwards - Pl 4+, FV+0, SV+0, Sp+0, Medic, Pistol, Lined Coat
Riflemen (6) - Pl 5+, FV+2. SV+2, Sp+0, Bayonet Drill, Brigandine, Rifle, Bayonet
Marksman Mason (1) - Pl 4+, FV+2, SV+2, Sp+0, Bayonet Drill, Marksman, Brigandine, Rifle, Bayonet

Lord Glenmore & the Rapscallions.

Aubrey Fallsworthy - Pl 2+, FV+3, SV+3, Sp+1, Ldr+2, Fearless, Hunter, Tough, Arc Rifle, Pistol, Jack
Lady Leonore Thornburg - Pl 5+, FV+0, SV+4, Sp+0, Gunslinger, Pistols, Magneto-static Waistcoat
Darragh 'Irish' McAdams - Pl 5+, FV+0, SV+2, Sp+0, Engineer, Fanatic, Jack, Pistol 3x Grenades
Mr Sohal - Pl 4+, FV+3, SV+2, Sp+1, Strongman, Jack, Machine Gun, Sword
Rapscallions (3) Ahmed, Abdul, Hammad - Pl 5+, FV+1, SV+2, Sp+0, Brigandine, Rifle
Rapscallions (2) One Eyed Old Bob, Dirk Drake - Pl 5+, FV+1, SV+2, Sp+0, Brigandine, Shotgun
Sir Neville Barrington - Pl 5+, FV+1, SV+2, Sp+0, Marksman, Brigandine, Rifle

The Game.

The approach from South Street, looking towards the Church of St. Lucy...all is quiet.

Little Ripple.

Captain Gideon and Sgt. Webber usher the men forward - they need to secure the Church at haste!

Lord Glenmores party are spotted in the distance, approaching from South Street.

Sgt. Webber barks orders, the men begin to fan out.

The hand of God is truly with Captain Gideon and his men - they grab the initiative, Sgt. Webber and two men take up a defensive position in a coal dump by the old factory. The Captain and the rest move towards the Church. He instructs Mason, the squad marksman to take a high point on the warehouse roof.

Irish McAdams and One Eyed Old Bob take a path to the left, hoping to flank the British Soldiers. Lord Glenmore, Lady Thornburg and Dirk Drake do the same to the right. Mr Sohal and Sir Neville, along with Ahmed, Abdul and Hammad take the direct route to the Church, hoping to draw fire and distract from the flanking attacks!

Abdul scouts forward a sees the British running across the village green.

Captain Gideon makes it to the Church first and secures the entrance. He spies the device sitting at the altar!

Abdul opens fire and he draws attention from the waiting British troops in the coal bunker! Nobody is hit as everyone is too busy running...

...backup is not far behind him. The British need to get to the Church pronto.

Finally the British soldiers reach the Church...just as the Rapscallions reach the crossroads - this could get messy!

Marksman Mason reaches the roof of the warehouse and spots Irish McAdams and One Eyed Old Bob sneaking up behind a gate, hoping to ambush the Sgt. and his men.

Fire is exchanged across the usually quiet village green - once again nobody is hurt.

Lord Glenmores men, realising they need to act fast decide to take to the offensive and Abdul, Ahmed and Hammad bravely charge across the green towards two British troops taking cover in the trees by the Church! Bullets fly in all directions - Sgt. Webber and his men target the machine-gun toting Mr Sohal...and bring the giant Sikh down! At this moment, One Eyed Old Bob appears through a gate just opposite them and opens fire with his shotgun...to no effect.

A brief gun fight occurs between the men in the Redcoats and the two Rapscallions. Everyone keeps their head down but thank the Lord for Brigandine armour.

Taking shots, Abdul, Ahmed and Hammad make slow progress moving towards the well hidden British.

Captain Gideon organises the defence inside the Church. Doctor Edwards steps back, eyeing the strange contraption by the altar with suspicion...

Reaching somewhat of a stalemate, both sides continue to pour fire at each other but neither side can be dislodged.

Meanwhile, Lord Glenmore, Lady Thornburg and Dirk Drake, cautiously make their way along the right flank - they curse as there is precious little cover though.

In desperation, and under fire from the warehouse rooftop, Irish McAdams throws one of his grenades into the coal bunker - BOOM! One of the British troops put out of the fight but the Sarge and the other man dust themselves down and breath a sigh of relief.

At the crossroads, the continued withering fire from several directions takes its toll and Sir Neville is hit and drops to the floor next to Mr Sohal...

Realising his shotgun is just hitting the side of the coal bunker, One Eyed Old Bob skirts around behind it and opens up with both barrels - to no effect...again!

Lord Glenmore and his followers meanwhile move through the trees on the outskirts of the green to get a better position.

With volley fire from the three Arab mercenaries, combined with supporting fire from Lord Glenmores group, the two British soldiers taking cover in the trees are injured!

Dirk Drake makes his way forward, taking cover where possible. His shotgun is useless at this range against the troops inside the Church. Just out of shot, Irish throws another grenade, taking out the other soldier in the coal bunker. Sgt. Webber seems to be made of steel though and still stands!

The constant battering of bullets is too much, finally Hammad falls to the ground.

One of the British troops outside the Church is dazed but is okay. He pauses briefly to look at his fallen comrade, pulls himself up and takes aim at the Arabs. Dirk Drake uses the opportunity to run to the side of the Church...almost there. Meanwhile Lady Thornburg, not known for her patience, takes matters into her own hands and rushes forward, guns blazing!

Irish jumps out from his hiding place as he spots Sgt. Webber charge into hand to hand combat with poor One Eyed Old Bob. "Dat's not a fair foit" he yells!

Trading shot for shot, a barrage of bullets fly across the village green!

Lady Thornburg blazes away at the Church door but the stiff upper lip Brits will not be moved. Lord Glenmore starts to think that today is just not his day - he curses as he realises he should have brought some heavier firepower...or maybe just more cannon fodder?

Too late for One Eyed Old Bob, under fire from above and seeing the size of the doughty British Sergeant, Irish decides that discretion is the better part of valour and looks for his escape route!

Lord Glenmore calls to his unruly band of cads and bounders to retreat. They gather up their wounded and make their way back along South Street. The small Britush garrison will soon be re-enforced and his group do not have the pluck or manpower to take on the British Army.

Trading a last few shots, the brave Sgt. Webber shouts after the fleeing group and sends them off with a flea in their ear!

Lord Glenmore and his Company move quickly onto to their waiting steamboat on the River Ribble. Captain Gideon does not have the men to give chase and watches as the Rapscallions disappear into the distance. Primary objective achieved, he gathers men to congratulate them on a jolly good show!

Although both sides still had a lot of fight still left in them, as time was marching on we decided that this was a good place to end the game. Considering Rob had only read the rules once (and myself not at all) this was really easy to pick up. By the last few moves we were both playing and rarely looking at the rulebook other than to check specifics, such as grenades. Otherwise we just found ourselves getting into the game itself rather than spending loads of time checking rules etc. To begin with, rather than faff around with pointing up groups we based the two companies on ones straight from the book, Lord Currs Company and the British Rifle Company. We chose reasonably appropriate minis to fill the roles and added our own character to this.

Now I have the rulebook myself I am quite excited at the prospect of creating other Companies. You don't require many figures, indeed you can even use what you already have available. One useful thing with the system is the amount of pre-created Companies in the three available books and the flexibility to either base your own on these or literally start from scratch.

All in all a great little game and look forward to playing more!


Figures are Foundry Darkest Africa and Wild West and the British are Empress Miniatures Zulu War.

Warehouse, factory and small house are by Sarissa, church and houses are Warbases, school house is Plasticville and the roads are Flames of War Cobblestone Roads (15mm but look great for 28mm too), the small shed by the church is from TLM/Timeline on eBay.