I'm still working my way through uploading all of Mark Luther's excellent 6mm IABSM battle reports.
For those who haven't had a look, please do so now: Mark's tables could almost be taken as photographs of the action portrayed. Ridiculously good looking!
Mark is adding new AARs to his Flickr album all the time, obviously trying to stay ahead of me, but here's the latest of my uploads: Nieuwkerk. Click on the pic to see all:
As those of you who are regular visitors know, I like to think of this site as a bit of an archive for battle reports for the company-sized games produced by the TooFatLardies (IABSM, CDS, Q13 and their variants).
Many people now just send me in their reports direct, or drop me a line to let me know they've just posted a new AAR for me to lift from their blog or website. I always link to where I get the content from, so hopefully it's all mutually beneficial and generally promoting the cause of Lard...which means more potential opponents and therefore more potential games.
It's certainly not about money. For those interested, the 2-3 ad sites on Vis Lardica have been up and running for about nine months now, and have so far returned about enough revenue to buy a single battlefront tank, and a small one at that.
It's also great to see how other people have handled the games from the specials and scenario packs that you've played (or in my case often written!) yourself: seeing what they did when faced by the same situation.
I always try and get permission to lift content from other sites, but sometimes that's quite hard to get: not because of resistance (most people are very happy to help me grow the Lard!) but because of a lack of available content details or difficulties in communication because of language.
So here's a very quick AAR from Burt, from his excellent Spanish-language blog Las Partidas de Burt, which I'm going to translate as "Burt's Stuff". I have tried to get in contact with him to check he and the photographer are happy for the lift, but so far to no avail. Let's hope they are, as there's lots of good stuff on the site just aching for a wider audience.
You can visit his site by clicking on its name, above, and read the report by clicking on the picture, below.
Fellow Lardy Algiz runs a Russian-language blog called All the King's Horses and All the King's Men covering the various wargames he and his friends play. You can visit his blog by clicking on its name, above.
He recently played an eastern front game of IABSM involving the Germans defending a village in the face of Soviet assault, and has written a lovely battle report to go with the many pictures.
I haven't been able to get hold of Algiz to ask his permission, so I hope he doesn't mind that I have used Google plus my own writing skills to translate his report into something easier to read than a raw Google Translate translation. I'd love to hear from him to confirm he's okay with that...and to find out what mostochka are, as my previous source on all things Russian is now, unfortunately, unavailable.
Click on the pic, below, to see all.
Incidentally, for those interested, this is the first AAR written using the blog function that I've switched to in the face of lack of available webpages (see post Page Limit Panic!, below).
'Twas the week before Christmas, and I was off to Benson for the last game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum of the year with John, Dave and Bevan.
The battle would take place in the Ardennes as part of the Battle of the Bulge. A strong motorised force of Germans was thrusting forward aiming to capture a fuel dump that would provide them with the petrol needed to drive to the channel ports. In their way was a company of Shermans, supported by infantry occupying a small town, and expecting reinforcements from nearby British troops.
Click on the picture, below, to see all...and the AAR contains complete briefings for each side allowing you to play the game yourselves.
Another great battle report from Mike Whitaker: this time featuring a scenario from the Cymru Am Byth scenario pack covering the actions of the Welsh Guards throughout WW2.
Click on the pic, below, to see how the game played out...
As we sit and wait for the 2016 Xmas Special, much delayed by the slings and arrows that outrageous fortune insists on hurling in Rich's direction, Mike Whitaker provides a timely reminder of how useful the specials are a source of inspiration with a rather nice little battle report taken from Nick Skinner's Vacqueville '44 scenario from the Summer 2014 edition.
For those who haven't dipped their toes in any of the specials, I would highly recommend that you do: vast, very inexpensive, collections of ideas for all the TFL games that would easily translate to other systems. An index of all articles that have ever appeared in a special can be found by clicking here. You can buy any or all of the specials from here.
To see Mike's AAR, click on the picture below, or visit his blog by clicking here.
Try saying that the first time without pausing to work it out!
Yes, it's another great 6mm IABSM battle report from Mark Luther: this time featuring a clash of armour in Belgium, 1944.
See whether the Cromwells or the StuGs will triumph by clicking on the picture below:
Zipping down the Koerselsesteenweg!
A stonkingly huge gallery of an AAR from Mark Luther: sixty-six pics covering a 6mm game of IABSM involving a Soviet counter-attack during the battle of Kursk, 1943.
Played back in October 1914, this is a great showcase of how I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! looks when played in 6mm.
Click on the pic to see all...
Ages since we had an AAR from Mr Luther: so here's one that dates back to June 2014.
A 6mm game played at Gigabites Café, the battle represents the Soviet counterattack by the tanks of the 2nd Tank Division, 3rd Mechanised Corps on June 24th, 1941 near Rossienie, Lithuania.
Clicl on the pic, above, to see lots of really big Soviet tanks in action!
Quick IABSM battle report covering an action in Normandy in 1944.
Click on the pic to see all...
Another excellent after action report from Joe Patchen, this time featuring a game from the Where the Hell have you been, Boys? D-Day scenario pack.
American airborne troops must clear the path for their colleagues arriving from the beach. Click on the picture below to see all:
Another Saturday morning battle with the Benson boys...but what to play?
Well, my usual default here is to have a look at what hasn't been on the table recently (if ever!) so today's game must be Six Day War and must involve the Battlefront ruined fort. Add on some "tail" that's never been on the table, and Bob's your uncle: one quick scenario written!
A column of Israeli recovery vehicles has strayed too close to the front line. As they pass a ruined fort on top of a hill, they spot a force of Egyptian tanks heading towards them.
Click on the pic to see what happened...
Another great battle report from Mike Whitaker: this time featuring, as the title suggests, the biggest bloomin' convoy ever!
I'm a huge fan of tail (no sniggering at the back there), so to see such a huge collection of transport on the table at the same time warms the cockles of my heart!
Click on the picture to see the whole thing and, as I said in my last post, you can visit Mike's Trouble at T'Mill blog by clicking here.
Keep those battle reports coming in, by the way: plenty of room on the site for more!
Some of you may already know Mike Whitaker's excellent blog, Trouble At T'Mill. If you don't, I recommend a visit.
Here's a quick AAR, reproduced from T'Mill, covering a game of IABSM played in October this year: Germans versus Americans somewhere in Europe.
Click on the picture below to see all:
This report is from the game played on October 15th 2016 at the first ever TFL Llardiff Games Day that took place at Firestorm Games in Cardiff.
The idea of this games day was that gamers not necessarily familiar with TFL products could come and have a go at a variety of different games, getting a taste of Lard and then hopefully coming back for more.
I was tasked with showcasing I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!, and told that I should prepare for a series of different players dipping in and out throughout the day, with my efforts focused on setting up and umpiring one game in the morning and one game in the afternoon.
Hmmm, I thought, multiple players dipping in and out: my favourite - not! No matter: Lard calls and I answer...so I decided to bring to Cardiff one of the larger (if not the largest) games from my Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack: scenario #4C, Holm.
This is a late war game where a battalion of Soviet infantry (and remember IABSM is a company-sized game!) supported by just a few tanks tries to overrun a German force defending a small village on the Kaunas front.
Click on the picture to see all the action.
Charles Eckart and his group are playing a Battle of the Bulge mini-campaign across the winter months.
Here's the battle report from the first game: Attack on Company G.
Click on the pic to see all...
Another quick after action report from Joe Patchen. This time the action centres on a partisan attack on a German column as it moves towards the eastern front.
Will the convoy get through? Click on the pic below to find out all:
Here a battle report from a game played a couple of weeks ago featuring a scenario originally written for the TFL 2005 Xmas Special.
It's France 1940. A German probe has discovered an unguarded crossing over the river Moiste. They dig in and call for reinforcements, but the French have spotted them and send in Captain Cognac and his men to re-take the crossing.
Click on the picture, below, to see all:
Here's another after action report from Mark Luther. This time we head for France 1940, and action between the French and the Germans around Berthonal Farm, near Arras.
Click on the pic, below, to see all:
A very quick I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! after action report from the Tracks and Threads blog: a few pictures of a 6mm game with Canadians fighting Germans.
Only a few pictures, but really nice ones, and it looks like a good game.
Click on the image below to see all:
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction). There’s also a lot of content devoted to To The Strongest (Ancients/Medievals) and For King & Parliament (17th Century).
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
If you need to contact me, you can do so at:
vislardica@gmail.com
If you have enjoyed visiting this site, please add a link to it on your own wargaming blog: www.vislardica.com.
